In Tennessee's first-ever Playoff appearance last season, the Vols embarrassed the SEC, getting routed by Ohio State 42-17. If Tennessee does not return to the Playoffs in the coming season, Josh Heupel should be fired. Why? Look at the Tennessee schedule, especially when compared to Alabama Football.
Alabama Football has one of the toughest schedules
When ESPN released a list of the 40 toughest 2025 schedules, SEC teams owned 16 of college football's 22 toughest schedules. ESPN calculates that Alabama Football has the SEC's 10th-toughest schedule, and the 11th-toughest across the entire FBS. The Vols are at 15th-toughest among SEC teams and 24th-toughest overall.
In what should be a cakewalk to the Playoffs for Tennessee, the Vols will play in Tuscaloosa and Gainesville and host Georgia in Knoxville. In every other game, they will be a clear or huge favorite. Heupel can probably survive another first-game Playoff loss, but if Tennessee falls short of the 12-team field, even delusional Tennessee fans should realize he is the wrong guy.
Unlike Alabama, Georgia, Texas, and Tennessee, which FanDuel has at 9.5 wins as the Over-Under, the Ole Miss Rebels are at 8.5 wins. The Rebels go to Athens and have LSU, South Carolina, and Florida in Oxford. ESPN gives Lane Kiffin's team the 15th-toughest schedule among SEC teams and the 23rd-toughest overall. Lane's teams seem to lose at least one game in every season to an inferior team, but the over looks like a good bet. Ole Miss has never made a CFB Playoff field, but Kiffin will have it easier than Kalen DeBoer to make the Playoffs.
ESPN also has the Georgia Bulldogs with an easier schedule than the Alabama Crimson Tide. The difference is likely that the 2025 game is in Athens, rather than Tuscaloosa. The Bulldogs have the 12th-toughest schedule among SEC teams and the 13th-toughest overall.
Other SEC teams with easier schedules than Alabama Football are Missouri and Auburn. Even so, FanDuel sees neither team having Playoff-level success in 2025.
If the scheduling inequity riles Alabama football fans, perhaps the best response is to ignore it. April is not a good time to measure degrees of difficulty. It is still hard to do, well into the fall season. Teams improve and regress. Upsets happen. Supposed 'better' teams in the spring may be awful in the fall, as Florida State was last season. Chatter from Tuscaloosa, including talk by Crimson Tide players, is that an Alabama Football resurgence is being built with a 'bring it on' attitude. That is sweet music to Alabama fans. And it includes no concern for how tough a schedule is.