We have almost finally made it! With SEC Media Days having come and gone in Atlanta, we now have some more interesting things to talk about. Yes, the SEC actually had the stones to have its members of the media vote on who the best teams are. And for the most part, the SEC media seemed to get it more right than wrong. There are a few areas where I disagree with the consensus, but I can get behind this.
Here is how the SEC media voted the projected order of finish for the 2025 college football season.
- Texas Longhorns
- Georgia Bulldogs
- Alabama Crimson Tide
- LSU Tigers
- South Carolina Gamecocks
- Florida Gators
- Ole Miss Rebels
- Texas A&M Aggies
- Tennessee Volunteers
- Oklahoma Sooners
- Auburn Tigers
- Missouri Tigers
- Vanderbilt Commodores
- Arkansas Razorbacks
- Kentucky Wildcats
- Mississippi State Bulldogs
And if you needed a visual representation of it, On3 put forth this incredibly sweet graphic for us all.
NEW: College Football SEC Media Predicted Order of Finish👀
— On3 (@On3sports) July 18, 2025
Do you agree? 🤔https://t.co/6jQGm41Fc9 pic.twitter.com/lDj6MYlFJJ
Although I was not in attendance at SEC Media Days this year, here is how I would have voted.
- Georgia Bulldogs
- Texas Longhorns
- South Carolina Gamecocks
- LSU Tigers
- Alabama Crimson Tide
- Ole Miss Rebels
- Oklahoma Sooners
- Texas A&M Aggies
- Florida Gators
- Missouri Tigers
- Tennessee Volunteers
- Vanderbilt Commodores
- Auburn Tigers
- Arkansas Razorbacks
- Kentucky Wildcats
- Mississippi State Bulldogs
Again, I do not have a problem with how the SEC media voted, but these are its four biggest misses.
Florida Gators are way too high coming in at No. 6
Florida may have beaten Ole Miss head-to-head last season, but since when does that matter on this list? Alabama beat Georgia, who beat Texas, but the Bulldogs came out on top over the Longhorns and Crimson Tide in the end. Make it make sense?! While I am optimistic that Florida will have a fine season under Billy Napier, I think we are putting way too much stock into the idea of what DJ Lagway might become.
If he is as good as LaNorris Sellers was down the stretch for South Carolina, then maybe I could get behind them finishing in sixth place, possibly even a few spots higher. That being said, Florida faces one of the toughest schedules in the country, right up there with Oklahoma, Texas and Vanderbilt. To me, I have my reservations about Napier being able to hold steady in critical parts of the biggest games.
While it is good to see Florida in the top half of the SEC, I would have them closer to No. 8 than No. 6.
Oklahoma Sooners are way too low coming in at No. 10
I seem to have come full circle on the Oklahoma Sooners. The offseason additions of Ben Arbuckle as offensive coordinator, John Mateer following him from Washington State to be OU's quarterback, as well as Jaydn Ott coming over from Cal to be the bell-cow back has me fired up about this team. No, I do not trust Brent Venables, and you should not either. Still, this team could win around eight games.
To me, there is not all that much difference between Oklahoma and Florida heading into this season. But why does the SEC media believe there to be a four-team gap between them? That is above my pay grade, but I will say that Oklahoma has been the better football program over the last decade than Florida. So I will be riding with that. Their schedule is so brutal, but Venables is in survival mode.
I may eat a ton of crow with this, but right now, I would rather see OU in the top half over Florida.
Alabama Crimson Tide are way too high coming in at No. 3
The top five teams are right, but they are out of order. You can pick either Georgia or Texas for No. 1 and No. 2, and nobody is going to make a big stink about it. One could argue somewhat similar things between teams slotted No. 3 through No. 5 between Alabama, LSU and South Carolina. I would flip-flop Alabama with South Carolina, mostly because I like South Carolina's quarterback so much more.
Ty Simpson could be fine, but I am not exactly brimming with confidence when it comes to how I feel about Kalen DeBoer. He has too many cooks in the kitchen at his coordinator spots. The fact that Ryan Williams and Kadyn Proctor were the only Alabama members on the All-SEC preseason team scares me. This could be a playoff team, but Alabama only has a 10-2 ceiling for this college season.
If DeBoer fails to lead Alabama to the College Football Playoff once again, people will want him gone.
South Carolina Gamecocks are way too low coming in at No. 5
This has to be because people do not trust Shane Beamer. He may be a frontrunner, but in a good way. He knows he has a strong South Carolina team, one that is led by Heisman Trophy contender LaNorris Sellers at quarterback. Dylan Stewart is expected to explode on defense this season. If Nyck Harbor can really get going in the receiving game, I do not think anybody will want to play this team.
Yes, South Carolina does have a challenging schedule, just like everyone in the SEC. The reason why I am sticking my neck out for the Gamecocks like I have all offseason long is I think their ceiling is higher than Alabama's. I also think LSU will have far more variance than them. Can the Bayou Bengals play any defense under Brian Kelly this fall? I want to see South Carolina make the Playoff this season.
If the SEC gets four teams into the Playoff, I would be stunned if South Carolina was not one of them.