The hierarchy in the SEC has officially been shaken up in 2025.
Joining usual suspects Georgia and Alabama in the conference’s elite tier are Texas A&M and Vanderbilt, with the likes of Ole Miss, Oklahoma and Missouri looming not far behind.
With a whopping 7 programs still having one or fewer losses at this juncture, plenty of teams within the SEC still have their sights set on the College Football Playoff. And following a Week 8 that featured plenty of separation within the league, ESPN’s Heather Dinich released her latest predictions for which squads would be selected for the bracket.
Of the five included, Dinich’s highest-ranked SEC team is Alabama at No. 3 despite Texas A&M being the lone unbeaten in the conference. Dinich cited the Crimson Tide’s recent dominance through a challenging stretch of games and their strength of schedule as reasons why the Aggies slid in at No. 4.
“With the win against Tennessee, Alabama has beaten four straight ranked opponents, including Georgia and Missouri on the road. This has been one of the most grueling stretches any team in the country has played, and Alabama hasn’t just won — it’s gotten better each week. Since the inception of the CFP, the committee has never shied away from ranking a one-loss team ahead of an undefeated team if it has played better against better competition, and the Tide has done that.“
Fresh off its gutsy 43-35 win over Ole Miss, Georgia took up Dinich’s No. 5 spot right ahead of fellow one-loss program Miami. The analyst explained that the Dawgs’ 3-point loss to Alabama looks better on paper than Miami’s recent defeat at the hands of Louisville as reasoning why.
Ole Miss (7) and Oklahoma (9) round out the SEC’s included members as one-loss participants. The Rebels and Sooners each have little room for error down the stretch and will play each other next Saturday in Norman.
Here is Dinich’s CFP top 12:
- Ohio State
- Indiana
- Alabama
- Texas A&M
- Georgia
- Miami
- Ole Miss
- Oregon
- Oklahoma
- Georgia Tech
- BYU
- Notre Dame (would be replaced in the CFP bracket by the fifth-highest-ranked conference champion)
Parker is currently the sports editor with the Enterprise-Journal in McComb, Mississippi. He's a graduate from Mizzou who has experience covering the Tiger football and basketball beats for SB Nation, and he's worked for a variety of sports news outlets in the past.
