ESPN’s Bill Connelly published his 2025 SEC preview earlier this week.
As part of the preview, Connelly identified 6 teams in his SEC contenders tier: Alabama, Georgia, Texas, LSU, Ole Miss and Tennessee.
Alabama is the highest-ranked team in the SEC entering the year according to Connelly’s SP+ metric, which considers factors such as recent performance, returning production and overall roster talent. The Crimson Tide are hoping to make it back to the College Football Playoff this winter after missing the cut a year ago.
Connelly is a bit lower on Texas than the general public — and the betting markets. While the Longhorns are the preseason SEC favorite according to most betting apps, Connelly’s model has them in the preseason No. 3 slot behind Alabama and Georgia. Texas has a 13.6% chance to win the SEC this season, according to Connelly.
LSU, Ole Miss and Tennessee round out the top tier of SEC contenders, although Connelly’s model doesn’t give any of those programs greater than a 10% chance to win the SEC Championship Game. All 3 have significant question marks on at least one side of the ball going into the 2025 campaign.
Although they missed the top tier, Connelly ranked 6 more teams in the next group down: Texas A&M, South Carolina, Mizzou, Florida, Auburn and Oklahoma.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
