Rankings based on who I would make favored over whom in Week 1.
1-Georgia: I had a hard time settling on #1. When in doubt, go with coaching, overall talent and the reigning conference champs. UGA lost three games last year after losing only twice in 44 games from 2021-23. The Bulldogs dropped a 23-10 decision vs. Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff, but that defeat wasn’t on quarterback Gunner Stockton, who was making his first career start. Stockton threw a perfect deep ball that should’ve been a touchdown but was dropped early in the third quarter, and there was the infamous sideline interference play in the first half. With that said, I don’t think Stockton is an elite QB. Therefore, UGA needs to be really good around him. That means WR Noah Thomas and TE Oscar Delp need to have big seasons. I’ve never been a big fan of Mike Bobo as an offensive coordinator. The Bulldogs get the #1 nod for now, but I don’t think their 2025 outfit is as formidable as their last four squads.
2-Texas: The Longhorns lost four starters on the offensive line. They also lost eight of their top-12 tacklers from a unit that gave up only 15.2 points per game. However, Sark has crushed it on the recruiting trail in recent years and has elite talent at RB and WR for first-year starting QB Arch Manning, who will be making his first career road start in Week 1 at Ohio St. Ryan Wingo is now WR1 and should have a monster year. Texas gets to play Vandy, Arkansas, Kentucky and Mississippi St., who were the bottom four SEC teams according to voting by press members coming out of SEC Media Days two weeks ago. That certainly helps.
3-LSU: Brian Kelly overachieved in Year 1 getting LSU to the SEC Championship Game. In Year 2, however, the offense was good enough to win the national title, but the defense was a disaster. Kelly’s team was #8 in the rankings with a 6-1 record going into College Station last season, but the Tigers lost their next three games by double-digit margins. With strong NIL support from its boosters, LSU snagged the nation’s #1 transfer-specific class, according to the 247Sports Composite. Kelly brought in 18 transfers, including 16 from Power-Four programs and 12 four-star imports. The Tigers bring back studs like QB Garrett Nussmeier, RB Caden Durham, WR Aaron Anderson, LB Whit Weeks and LB Harold Perkins. The schedule is daunting, though, with road dates at Clemson, at Ole Miss, at Alabama and at Oklahoma.
4-Alabama: Like so many national contenders this year (Oregon, Ohio St., Notre Dame and Michigan come to mind), Alabama has a big question mark at the QB position. With that in mind, I’m not trying to form a strong preseason opinion on these teams. I like the overall roster for Year 2 of the Kalen DeBoer Era, but I need to see QB Ty Simpson (and/or Austin Mack) up against live bullets before I form much of an opinion on him. The hope is that offensive coordinator Ryan Grubbs was the missing ingredient from last year’s offense. He initially came to Tuscaloosa with DeBoer, only to head back to the Northwest to become the Seattle Seahawks’ OC. The 2024 Crimson Tide lost outright three times when favored by 23, 14 and 16 points. There were positives, though. The 2024 defense gave up fewer points than each of Nick Saban’s last six stop units. The Tide beat UGA for the ninth time in the last 10 meetings and dealt out a 42-13 assbeating in Baton Rouge. Perhaps most important in terms of keeping the fans happy, ‘Bama won its fifth consecutive Iron Bowl.
5-Florida: I shared my thoughts on the 2025 Gators earlier this month.
6-Texas A&M: The Aggies have one of the nation’s top offensive lines and they’re also elite at RB, LB, in the secondary and on special teams. They’re really good on the defensive line, too. Those are great starting points. Texas A&M lost its top-five pass catchers, though. Mike Elko is hoping NC St. transfer WR KC Concepcion will step up as the new WR1 for sophomore QB Marcel Reed, who had a 15/6 touchdown-to-interception ratio and seven rushing TDs as a redshirt freshman in 2024.
7-Ole Miss: The Rebels let a golden opportunity to make their CFP debut slip away last season, losing twice as double-digit favorites (-15 vs. Kentucky and -13 at Florida). They won 10 games by margins of 12 points or more, were +2,799 in net yards and +10 in turnover margin. Lane Kiffin’s sixth team in Oxford returns only 18 lettermen, but the nation’s #4 transfer-specific class has 10 four-star players ready to step into leading roles. QB Austin Simmons is ready to take over for Jaxson Dart in his third season with the program. Simmons has WR Cayden Lee (57 catches for 874 yards in 2024) back to team with Penn St. transfer WR Harrison Wallace and Oklahoma St. transfer WR De’Zhanun Stribling. If Ole Miss can win at home vs. LSU, there’s a chance it could be 6-0 when it visits Athens on Oct. 18.
8-Oklahoma: Like Kelly at LSU, Billy Napier at Florida and Hugh Freeze at Auburn, there are no excuses for Brent Venables this season at OU. But man, this schedule, especially when compared to the slate for fellow SEC newcomer Texas, is absolutely brutal. Washington St. transfer QB John Mateer should be an upgrade at QB and a set of healthy WRs will be a good thing. The defense returns eight starters from a salty unit that didn’t get much help from the other side of the ball last year. Phil Steele’s National Unit Rankings have the Sooners #1 on the d-line and #4 at LB. RB Jaydn Ott was an outstanding get in the late portal window.
9-Tennessee: Josh Heupel has his work cut out for him after the Nico Iamaleava saga in the spring, but the fan base has his back. He’s earned that in the first four years of his tenure. The defense should keep the Vols in games with eight starters returning from a unit that gave up an average of only 16.1 PPG. After much social-media speculation about the status of sophomore DB and return specialist Boo Carter over the last week and change, ESPN’s Chris Low reported Tuesday that Carter is still on the team. That’s a good thing.
10-South Carolina: The Gamecocks had five defensive players selected in the first four rounds of the 2025 NFL Draft. DE Dylan Stewart is back after a stellar freshman campaign, though. Most importantly, QB LaNorris Sellers returns after nearly leading South Carolina to the CFP as a redshirt freshman. Shane Beamer needs WR Nyck Harbor to reach his unlimited potential in 2025. The Gamecocks are still awaiting word from the NCAA on the eligibility of Utah St. transfer RB Rashul Faison, who is a beast and not much of a downgrade from the departed Rocket Sanders.
11-Auburn: Freeze’s first two teams have limped to a 2-6 record in eight one-possession games. Maybe that changes with improvement at the QB position? Oklahoma transfer QB Jackson Arnold doesn’t have to live up to his five-star billing coming out of high school. That’s because the Tigers might have the nation’s premier WR room with Cam Coleman, Malcolm Simmons, Wake Forest transfer Horatio Fields and Eric Singleton, a transfer from Ga. Tech who had 1,468 receiving yards in the last two seasons. Freeze brought in the nation’s #6 overall recruiting class and the #8 transfer-specific group. He easily has his best team after heavily upgrading the roster’s talent. Auburn nearly upset Georgia and Alabama at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Freeze’s first year, and it says here that the Tigers will get at least one of those games in 2025.
12-Missouri: If Penn St. transfer QB Beau Pribula turns out to be a better-than-average SEC signal caller in 2025, then Missouri will finish much higher than this. Eli Drinkwitz has won 21 games in the last two years, and he has nine starters back from a defense that gave up just 20.4 PPG in 2024. The Tigers imported the country’s #14 overall recruiting class and the #7 transfer-specific group. The incoming transfers include studs like WR Kevin Coleman (Mississippi St.), RB Ahmad Hardy (first-team All-Sun Belt Conference as freshman at ULM), LB Josiah Trotter (West Virginia), DE Damon Wilson (Georgia), DE Nate Johnson (Appalachian St.) and safety Jalen Catalon (UNLV).
13-Vanderbilt: I had plenty to say about Diego Pavia and the Commodores in this preview.
14-Arkansas: I love QB Taylen Green, OG Fernando Carmona, DT Cameron Ball, LB Xavian Sorey, OT Corey Robinson and OC Bobby Petrino. I’m a big fan of HC Sam Pittman, too. I was surprised to see that the Razorbacks were +1,084 in net yards in 2024, but a -8 turnover margin was a killer. The Hogs went 1-3 in one-possession games and still managed a 7-6 straight-up record and 8-5 against-the-spread mark. If transfers like RB Mike Washington, WR O’Mega Blake and WR Raylen Sharpe can produce solid seasons, the offense will score a lot of points as long as Green is healthy. We’ll see on the defense.
15-Kentucky: UK struggled to a 4-8 record last season that ended an eight-year run of postseason appearances. The defense wasn’t to blame, giving up only 22.1 PPG despite minimal help from an offense that mustered just 20.6 PPG. The Wildcats lost a pair of stud WRs when Dane Key (Nebraska) and Barion Brown (LSU) bolted out of Lexington. Mark Stoops landed the nation’s #10 transfer-specific class that includes six four-star imports. The ‘Cats better hit on all six of those and get a solid year out of veteran QB Zach Calzada, who is back in the SEC after two seasons at Incarnate Word.
16-Mississippi St.: Jeff Lebby’s team was more competitive than its 2-10 record suggested in 2024. He was able to play a lot of young guys and is hoping that experience will pay dividends this season. Five of 10 losses came against foes ranked in the Top 15 nationally and a sixth defeat came at Arizona St., which ended up in the CFP. With the exception of the 30-23 loss at ASU, the other five setbacks came after QB Blake Shapen went down with a season-ending injury and with a true freshman under center. Shapen is healthy now and hoping to lead the Bulldogs to a bounce-back year.