The Big Ten has won back-to-back National Championships with two different programs (Michigan and Ohio State), and with Nick Saban handing the reins of his dynasty over to Kalen DeBoer in Tuscaloosa, the SEC’s chokehold on college football has started to loosen. 2025 could be when the league grabs control back.
If Greg Sankey had it his way, the College Football Playoff would expand to 16 teams and the SEC would be guaranteed 16 automatic qualifiers. While that dream may never come true, the conference is almost certain to represent a significant portion of the CFP this upcoming season and beyond.
Last year, however, the SEC fell short of expectations. Georgia, Texas, and Tennessee were the only three teams that the league sent to the CFP, so there is plenty of room for one of the teams that missed the Playoff in 2024 to grab one of the 12 spots this season.
Alabama finished ranked No. 11 in the final CFP rankings, but with automatic spots going to Arizona State and Clemson, the Crimson Tide were leapfrogged and kept out of the proceedings. A late-season blowout loss at the hands of an underwhelming Oklahoma team snuffed out Alabama’s chances of playing for a national championship in Year 1 under Kalen DeBoer, and 2024 was the first season with four or more losses since Saban’s 7-6 first year in 2007.
For as much talent as DeBoer was able to retain and as many holes as he was able to plug through the transfer portal, his roster was incomplete last year. Now, with another transfer portal cycle and a loaded incoming freshman class, the Crimson Tide should find their way to the SEC Championship Game and the CFP behind first-year starting quarterback Ty Simpson and superstar sophomore wide receiver Ryan Williams.
The Brian Kelly era at LSU has been highlighted by remarkable individual talents, like Jayden Daniels in his 2023 Heisman Trophy campaign or Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr. catching passes from him. However, Kelly has routinely gotten off to slow starts, and it has cost his program a chance at greater postseason success.
Kelly once again has a star quarterback on his hands, as Garrett Nussmeier enters 2025 as a Heisman hopeful and potential No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, and as long as his defense takes an incremental step forward after consecutive disastrous seasons, then the Tigers should find their way to the top of the conference and into the CFP.
South Carolina is never going to assemble the depth of talent that Alabama or Georgia boast on a yearly basis, but Shane Beamer could overcome that with superstars on both sides of the ball. Quarterback LaNorris Sellers was one of the best players in the country down the stretch last season, vaulting himself into the 2025 Heisman Trophy conversation, while defensive end Dylan Stewart is one of the most intriguing young pass rushers in college football.
Playing opposite All-American Kyle Kennard, Stewart finished with 6.5 sacks and 11 tackles for loss, but led the team with 48 quarterback pressures. The two most valuable positions in football are quarterback and pass-rusher, and the combination of Sellers and Stewart means the Gamecocks have to be taken seriously as a CFP contender in 2025.
In modern college football, rebuilds happen much faster than they used to. The transfer portal allows coaches to turnover their rosters in one offseason and hit the ground running as a contender by Year 2, especially at a powerhouse like Florida. Billy Napier, however, took the old-school approach, building through high school recruitment with a long-term vision for the program, and in 2025, that vision may finally come to fruition.
Napier has continually produced elite high school classes, headlined by the No. 1 quarterback in the 2024 class, DJ Lagway. Lagway impressed in his limited action as a true freshman, but in his sophomore season, he has the talent to be the best quarterback in the country and carry Florida back into SEC contention. The Gators have an obscenely difficult schedule with matchups against LSU, Miami, Texas, Texas A&M, Georgia, Ole Miss, and Tennessee all on the slate, but that does provide Napier’s group with a three-loss buffer to remain in consideration from the CFP committee.