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The 2025 SEC football season is officially just 100 days away.
Thursday marks 100 days until the first full college football Saturday of the year. With just over 3 months remaining before the start of the 2025 campaign, we decided to ask 100 questions that will determine the outcome of the 2025 season.
100 questions to define the 2025 SEC season
This is the first installment of that series, which will be completed in the coming days. Without further ado, here are questions No. 100 through No. 76 — along with, in some cases, a predicted answer:
100. Can Kalen DeBoer stabilize after a volatile Year 1?
It’s never easy replacing a legend, but it’s impossible to say Kalen DeBoer met even the most reasonable expectations for Alabama in 2024. The Crimson Tide suffered 2 embarrassing losses and ultimately wasted an iconic win over Georgia. The floor must be higher in Year 2 or DeBoer will quickly be on the hot seat — whether that’s fair or not.
99. Who will start the year as Alabama’s starting quarterback … and will he keep the job?
Ty Simpson is certainly the favorite to win the job out of fall camp. But I wouldn’t discount the chance that Austin Mack or Keelon Russell is able to rip the job away from him. If Simpson does begin the year as the starter, there will be immense pressure for him to perform right away.
98. What will Georgia get out of Gunner Stockton?
With Carson Beck enjoying South Beach, the Bulldogs will be turning to Gunner Stockton for the 2025 campaign. Stockton isn’t exactly Stetson Bennett — he’s a former 4-star prospect with plenty of pedigree. Stockton should benefit from a better receiving corps than Beck had a year ago. Will that be enough to improve Georgia’s passing offense in 2025?
97. Will this be the end of Mike Bobo in Athens?
Georgia fans calling for Mike Bobo’s job was a near-weekly occurrence last season — and for good reason. The Bulldogs endured 5 games where they averaged under 5 yards per play. That really shouldn’t be happening at this stage of Kirby Smart’s program. For context, they had 0 such games from 2022-23.
96. Can Nate Frazier fix his fumbling woes?
With Trevor Etienne gone, Nate Frazier will be asked to assume a much bigger role for Georgia in 2025. But Frazier had some major fumbling issues as a freshman last fall, coughing it up 3 times on just 133 total carries. Frazier also reportedly dealt with fumbling issues in practice early in the year. Georgia will need him to consistently be ball-secure in 2025.
95. How good is John Mateer?
Oklahoma put together one of the best transfer portal classes in the country of this offseason, with no addition being more important than quarterback John Mateer. He put up impressive numbers with new Sooners OC Ben Arbuckle at Washington State last season, but will their previous success translate to the SEC? The rest of the Brent Venables era likely depends on the answer to that question.
94. Can Deion Burks (and the rest of Oklahoma’s wide receivers) stay healthy?
Oklahoma’s wide receiver corps had a dreadful year last season. Injuries were the biggest factor, as all 5 of OU’s projected top receivers missed significant time. Deion Burks is the best of the bunch and he’s back in Norman for another year in 2025. If healthy, Burks can be one of the best receivers in the SEC. If not, it will be even tougher for Mateer to adapt to the SEC game.
93. Has Eli Drinkwitz stabilized the floor at Mizzou?
Mizzou enters the 2025 campaign coming off of back-to-back double-digit win seasons. Eli Drinkwitz and the Tigers could have opted for a rebuild after losing Brady Cook and numerous other key players, but that doesn’t appear to be goal. Mizzou was aggressive in the transfer portal and seems intent on competing for a CFP berth again. Gary Pinkel is really the only Mizzou coach in program history who has been able to establish a floor this high.
92. Will Beau Pribula be a good passer?
The answer to the previous question may depend on heavily on what the Tigers get out of Beau Pribula. He arrives from Penn State after serving as mostly a runner with the Nittany Lions. His passing efficiency stats are solid, albeit on a very small sample against mostly bad teams: 7.6 yards per attempt to go along with 9 touchdowns and 1 interception on 56 total carries. His ground game should provide some reliable offense regardless as he consistently picked up north of 6 yards per carry across 2 years in Happy Valley.
91. Can Oklahoma beat Michigan?
And…
90. Can Texas beat Ohio State?
These are 2 high-profile nonconference matchups between the SEC and the Big Ten. Texas and Ohio State will garner more headlines, and deservedly so. But Oklahoma’s home game vs. Michigan will also be extremely important for the narrative of the season — and could have an outsized impact on how many CFP berths the SEC is able to earn.
89. Can LSU beat Clemson?
Similarly, LSU’s Week 1 matchup vs. Clemson will have a huge impact on perceived conference strength at the end of the year. Clemson is the early favorite to win the ACC and is coming off of a CFP berth. The Tigers are hoping to get back to that stage for the first time under Brian Kelly. LSU also hasn’t won a season-opener since 2019.
88. Is Ole Miss vulnerable to a bad portal class a la Florida State in 2024?
Despite a top-5 transfer class, Ole Miss is outside of the top-100 in ESPN’s returning production rankings on both sides of the ball. That could spell trouble for Lane Kiffin and the Rebels if they missed on too many evaluations both in the portal and in previous high school classes. Austin Simmons is receiving plenty of hype, but he may have an uphill battle to matching Jaxson Dart’s production in 2025 if the Ole Miss supporting cast is diminished.
87. What will the post-Jaxson Dart era look like in Oxford?
We got a glimpse of what Simmons could offer last season when Ole Miss faced Georgia. He came in at the end of the first half and completed 5 of 6 passes for 64 yards before Dart ultimately returned to the lineup. That’s the basis for a lot of the excitement around Simmons this offseason, but make no mistake about it, Dart will be difficult to replace. He led the SEC in passer efficiency rating in 2024 and was experienced as it gets in college football.
86. Can Jeff Lebby prove there are signs of life in Starkville?
Jeff Lebby is in a tough situation. He’s just now entering Year 2, but the Bulldogs are coming off of a disastrous 2024 campaign where they were clearly the worst team in the SEC. A bowl game is likely out of reach regardless, but how much patience will Mississippi State fans and boosters have if 2025 is still a disappointment? Two-and-done doesn’t seem to be completely off the table for Lebby if he can’t show signs of life.
85. Who will win the Jon Sumrall sweepstakes?
Looking ahead to the 2025 coaching carousel, there’s one name that sticks out: Tulane coach Jon Sumrall. While he was linked to the North Carolina job this past year, he decided to stick around at Tulane for Year 2. But this is a coach who appears to be on the fast track to an SEC job, likely as soon as this next cycle. Kentucky is an obvious program to watch out for as he played for the Wildcats once upon a time. But depending on how the 2025 season goes, Auburn, Oklahoma, LSU and Florida could all be interested.
84. Will HS recruiting rankings improve across the SEC?
As of this writing, there are 0 SEC teams ranked in the top 5 of the 247Sports composite. USC has the No. 1 class, although there are still a few months before signing day. Since at least 2010, no non-SEC program has signed the consensus No. 1-ranked high school recruiting class.
83. Who are the SEC’s Heisman Trophy contenders?
The SEC has dominated the Heisman Trophy in recent years, but it went to Colorado’s Travis Hunter last season. Texas quarterback Arch Manning is currently the Heisman Trophy odds leader. A brief look at the SEC’s other top contenders for 2025: LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers, Florida quarterback DJ Lagway, Alabama wide receiver Ryan Williams and Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton.
82. Will any SEC quarterback have a passer efficiency rating over 185?
To be clear, this is asking for a lot. There have only been 17 QB seasons in the history of college football to hit that threshold. But the SEC is in a bit of a drought in this regard. In the last 4 seasons, only Jayden Daniels in 2023 has eclipsed a 185 passer rating while playing in the SEC. That bucks a trend we saw at the end of the last decade when Tua Tagovailoa (2018), Joe Burrow (2019) and Mac Jones (2020) all did it in successive years.
81. Will Jackson Arnold break the mold of bad Auburn QB seasons?
I did a deep dive on Jackson Arnold’s outlook earlier this offseason. To make it brief: I’m cautiously optimistic based on some of the internal factors we saw at Oklahoma last season. But the reality is that Auburn’s QB position has been dreadful since Cam Newton left. The Tigers have one 3,000-yard passer over that span (Jarrett Stidham in 2017). By passer efficiency rating, Nick Marshall in 2014 has the best mark at 151.1. It’s been bleak, but Arnold could turn things around.
80. Will Rahsul Faison be eligible for South Carolina? If not, what’s the plan to replace Raheim Sanders?
South Carolina is still waiting to hear on Rahsul Faison’s eligibility waiver from the NCAA. Shane Beamer spoke about it earlier this month, expressing frustration at the lack of a resolution. He’s a potential starting running back for the Gamecocks — something they sorely need with Raheim Sanders now in the NFL.
79. What if Texas A&M is a surprise Playoff team?
Is Texas A&M flying too far under the radar? The Aggies looked like a potential Playoff team during the middle of last season before sputtering in November. In Year 2 with Mike Elko, I wonder if A&M can improve to 9 or 10 wins and get back in the Playoff hunt. The schedule is manageable aside from tough road games against Texas and Notre Dame. But with that strength of schedule, 9 wins might be enough to squeak into the Playoff. Texas A&M is currently +1400 to win the SEC, per BetMGM.
78. What does Diego Pavia’s encore look like?
Diego Pavia was one of the best stories in the SEC in 2024. What does he have in store for 2025? Some of it could depend on a new-look offensive line that will feature 4 new starters. Vanderbilt will be an underdog in almost every game it plays next season, but that was the case last year, too, and it didn’t stop the Commodores from having a historic season.
77. What does a more-refined DJ Lagway look like?
DJ Lagway was absolutely electric last year. He posted an average depth of target of 11.8 yards and had a big-time throw rate of 8.8%, per Pro Football Focus. He ranked in the top 10 in both of those categories nationally (min. 200 dropbacks). But now for the bad news: his TD-to-INT ratio was just 12-to-9 and he completed under 60% of his passes. Can Billy Napier refine Lagway’s talent into a more-efficient player? If so, the best quarterback in the country might just reside in Gainesville.
76. Can Tennessee effectively move on from Nico Iamaleava?
No one had a more disruptive spring transfer portal window than Tennessee with Nico Iamaleava bouncing for UCLA. Replacing Iamaleava is two-fold question: How can Josh Heupel and the Vols recover from his absence, both emotionally and practically? The practical side is easier to dissect. The Vols have brought in Joey Aguilar (more on him later) to replace Iamaleava. But Tennessee has unproven players all over its offensive depth chart going into 2025. That was already going to be a problem for UT when it looked like the Vols would have continuity at quarterback. Now it’s a real difficult challenge for Heupel and Co. to sort through.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
