The Clemson Tigers and their legendary head coach Dabo Swinney had an amazing 2024 season, and will look to improve upon that in 2025. That won’t be hard when they’ve got a QB like Cade Klubnik. Klubnik is coming off a season where he threw for 3,639 yards and 36 TDs while adding 463 yards and 7 TDs on the ground.
Well it was another successful season for Penn State in 2024. Legendary Head Coach James Franklin will be looking for more though in 2025, and they will have a great QB returning with Drew Allar that can hopefully bring them a championship. Allar in 2024 threw for 3,327 yards and 24 TDs and rushed for 302 yards and 6 TDs while leading the Nittany Lions to 2 playoff wins.
Penn State will have some very tough competition in the BIG 10. The teams that have a shot at the BIG 10 championship besides Penn State are the Oregon Ducks at 11-1, the Michigan Wolverines at 10-2, and the Illinois Fighting Illini at 10-2.
Below is the 2025 SEC College Football Predictions. We used a bunch of different numbers and statistics to come up with the best outcomes possible. Leading the pack is the extremely talented Texas Longhorns at 12-0. A team that could potentially jump up the ranks is the Alabama Crimson Tide as they are on the outside looking in at 8-4.
The reigning National Champions are coming back in 2025, and don’t expect for much of a fall off. Head coach Ryan Day has young and insanely talented stars who will be even better than last season. Freshman breakout star WR Jeremiah Smith had 1,315 yards and 15 TDs. This kid will be back this season older, wiser, and more dominant.
With the exiting of a lot of great players including QB Shedeur Sanders, Coach Prime did his thing and got the Buffalos a shiny new QB. Coach Sanders got star QB Kaidon Salter to transfer to Colorado from Liberty. In his 2 seasons as the starter at Liberty, Kaidon Salter threw for 4,762 yards and 47 TDs while adding 1,668 yards and 19 TDs on the ground.
After a “bad” season in Alabama’s standards, Kalen DeBoer is looking for improvement, and this is the team that could make it happen. The Crimson Tide retained a lot of talent on both sides of the ball, but most notably young star WR Ryan Williams. Williams, in his freshman year, came out of the gates hot with 865 yards and 8 TDs.
Heading into his 2nd season as the Head Coach for the Texas A&M Aggies, Mike Elko has his team looking great. A major part of that is the rise of star freshman QB Marcel Reed, who while split reps with another QB, still put up solid numbers. In 8 starts, Marcel Reed threw for 1,864 yards and 15 TDs while rushing for 543 yards and 7 TDs.
Lane Kiffin has been on a roll as the Ole Miss Rebels head coach, and he has slowly established himself as one of the best head coaches in college football. Their consistent dominance has paid off as they have signed seemingly everybody in the transfer portal. The Rebels have signed the 2nd best transfer class in all of college football.
Head Coach Brian Kelly and the LSU Tigers will return for the 2025 season with as much talent and hype as ever. That stout Tiger offense will be led by their talented QB Garrett Nussmeier. Nussmeier had a terrific season passing for 4,052 yards and 29 TDs adding 3 more TDs on the ground while leading LSU to a 9-4 season. However, Nussmeier won’t be by himself out there.
Jeff Lebby is starting his second year as the head coach, and he has had time to establish a culture and has been able to build the team he needs to compliment his coaching style. The quarterback room is also looking great with Blake Shapen, who missed most of last season due to injury, coming back healthier and more familiar with the Lebby offense.
Missouri has had solid recruiting over the past few years. Their recruiting gives them the chance to be a CFB playoff bust.
Texas A&M has a great recruiting program, as they are ranked 16th in our 3-year metric. Texas A&M also has a great NIL program that could land future players and recruits.
The outlook is good for the Miami Hurricanes in 2024. With a projected 12-0 record, this team is looking to step up their previously inconsistent offense and make a playoff run. Is Cam Ward the solution to Miami’s struggles on offense? It looks like it. There seemed to be great chemistry between Ward and the receiver corps in their recent spring practice.
Recruiting. Recruiting. Recruiting. The Gamecocks ranked at 18th in our 3-year recruiting matric despite a few subpar seasons in a row.
The Gamecocks have plenty of opportunities to play spoiler after playing one of the toughest schedules in the FBS last season. The 2022 team killed Tennessee’s dreams of making the playoff after an impressive season and then beat the Clemson Tigers, who were trying to sneak into the playoff as well.
The Razorbacks did a good job of keeping players happy. They retained last year’s leading tackler Jaheim Thomas. They also kept last year’s lead reception and yards leader Andrew Armstrong.
Armstrong is just the tip of the iceberg as the Razorbacks have a top 10 receiver room according to the Impact Ball Catcher Metric
Arkansas has done a great job recruiting in the last few seasons. In the uber competitive SEC, The Razorbacks have accrued the 20th best 3-year recruiting ranking.
There is no doubt that Florida has a difficult road ahead in 2024. They have arguably the toughest schedule in the conference and one of the toughest in the nation. In order to defy the odds, head coach Billy Napier has a lot of work to do. Hopefully when the transfer portal window opens in a few weeks, Florida can pick up some more talent. They sure do need it.
It’s all eyes on new quarterback Jackson Arnold in Norman as the Oklahoma Sooners prepare for their opening season in the SEC. Oklahoma had a solid 2023 run, but a lot has changed with this program since. Quarterback Dillon Gabriel has transferred, offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby has taken over as head coach at Mississippi State and defensive coordinator Jeff Roof has also left the program. Amid all these unanswered questions, we do know that this season will be tough. The SEC is not a conference that you can just show up and dominate in your first season.
Hugh Freeze’s first year on The Plains was quite disappointing. Is it time to run him out of Auburn? Not yet. Slight improvement can be expected this year. Coach Freeze has been putting in work over the off season retooling his staff and bringing in some legit recruits and transfers. Road games against Georgia, Missouri, Kentucky, and Alabama will prove difficult for the Tigers. A 9 win season for the first time in what feels like forever for Auburn fans is within reach. While Payton Thorne is likely to start at quarterback, Freeze has said that the competition for the spot is “wide open.” Auburn needs a strong leader on offense and there is a lot of doubt in Thorne’s ability to do that.
What’s to like:
The Tigers are in arguably the weakest of the Power 4 conferences.
Dabo Swinney is still your head coach and he has proven in the past that he knows what it takes to turn a program into champions.
Cade Klubnik will likely take another step as he has improved in each of the last 2 seasons at QB.
Last year’s leading rusher Phil Mafah decided to return for his senior season.
Your defense was uncharacteristically one of the best in the nation last year and has the potential to career that over.
