Ad Disclosure
If you think it’s too early to talk about nonconference games, I don’t think we can be friends. Or better yet, I don’t think we can be friendly about the subject of football. Fair?
What’s not fair is that we still have another 6 months before our first real weekend of college football. With disappearing spring games and revenue sharing set to dominate the national conversation the next couple months, I thought now would be as good a time as any to dig into the SEC’s premier nonconference games.
To be clear, the top SEC nonconference games are mostly about national implications. There are nonconference rivalry games like Kansas-Mizzou and Georgia-Georgia Tech that could mean more to those specific fanbases, but I’m talking about the matchups that’ll bring in a national audience as appointment viewing.
These are the top 7 nonconference games involving SEC teams in 2025:
7. Virginia Tech vs. South Carolina (in Atlanta)
The Beamer Bowl! I’m all about Shane Beamer facing the team that his dad put on the map. If you know the younger Beamer’s story, you know that it took him leaving Virginia Tech — he was an assistant on his dad’s staff for 5 years — for him to get to where he’s at now. So in a way, yes, it’ll be a full circle moment for the Beamer family, who figures to be well represented in Atlanta for that opening weekend matchup. Sunday night matchups on opening weekend always yield a certain bit of chaos —it’ll be weird not having Brian Kelly be a part of that — so there’s potential that this matchup provides that after the 2 programs went in different directions in 2024. The irony is that if South Carolina capitalizes on what’ll likely be its best preseason ranking of the post-Steve Spurrier era and rolls past the Hokies, it’ll only ramp up the Virginia Tech clamoring for Beamer to succeed Brent Pry, who is trying to avoid consecutive opening-weekend losses to SEC squads. The storylines will be plentiful in Atlanta.
6. Alabama at Florida State
As much as FSU puked on its shoes in 2024, let’s not dismiss the potential of an electric season opener in Tallahassee. Alabama is coming off its worst regular season in 17 years, which featured 4 losses away from home. The Tide have a new-look offense, as does FSU with new OC Gus Malzahn, AKA the guy with 3 Alabama victories under his belt. Granted, that was a different Alabama, and FSU’s offense won’t be confused with any of those Auburn units that Malzahn coached. Well, at least not yet. Boston College transfer Thomas Castellanos will be tasked with operating a new scheme against what should be one of the better defenses in the sport. That’ll carry more weight in deciding this one than the pre-Week 1 storyline about Alabama taking FSU’s 2023 Playoff berth.
5. Michigan at Oklahoma
You know what’s wild? These teams are both considered traditional powers, yet they’ve only played once. Ever. Go figure that it’ll have been 50 years since the first and only meeting between these squads, which happened to be the Orange Bowl, AKA when Oklahoma repeated as national champs. The reason this matchup isn’t even higher on this list is because they lack any recent history against one another and they’re both coming off unranked finishes to 2024. At the same time, it’s still an elite home-and-home series involving a pair of programs who’ll talk themselves into having 12-team Playoff expectations if they win this Week 2 matchup. Also, this could be Bryce Underwood’s first true road start after his high-profile recruitment. That would make this an obvious choice for “College GameDay.” Either way, it’ll count toward the ever-intriguing Big Ten-SEC debate.
4. Texas A&M at Notre Dame
This matchup might not have followed the offensive script that points enthusiasts root for (myself included), but it was still an excellent Week 1 showdown. Why can’t that happen again in 2025? Yes, Notre Dame will be at home coming off a national runner-up finish that trumps A&M’s late-season spiral. But don’t forget that the Irish will have plenty to figure out in the early part of the season in a post-Riley Leonard world. And defensively, Notre Dame has key pieces to replace on what was arguably the best secondary in America in 2024. Compare that to an A&M squad that ranks in the top 20 in both returning offensive and defensive production. This could be another 4-quarter game that sets expectations for Playoff-hopeful squads.
3. Florida at Miami
Unfortunately, Carson Beck’s first headliner game at Miami is in the season opener against Notre Dame. Fire up the “Catholics vs. Convicts” storylines (or don’t). Fortunately, Beck will get to face a familiar foe in September. After last year’s beatdown in The Swamp, Florida will have revenge on its mind against a new-look Miami squad. DJ Lagway’s first real headliner road start will come a week earlier against LSU, which will shape expectations for the Week 4 showdown in Coral Gables. It would be quite the turnaround for Billy Napier if he went from being considered a dead man walking after last year’s blowout loss to beating the Canes in their own building a year later. Is that realistic? Maybe. At the very least, this figures to be far more competitive than last year’s matchup.
2. LSU at Clemson
Drink every time you hear someone dub this “The Death Valley Bowl.” Just kidding. Don’t do that to yourself, and don’t debate who has the better tiger mascot (only real mascots should count). This matchup has everything. It’s got a pair of elite returning starting quarterbacks who are legitimate preseason Heisman Trophy contenders, it’s got 2 of the most highly regarded defensive coordinators and it’s got the 2 coaches that are easiest to pile on when they lose. What more can you want? In most years, this would be No. 1 on the list. It just so happens that we’re getting a Playoff semifinal rematch with the 2 favorites to win a national title. Neither LSU nor Clemson won a Playoff game in the first 5 years of the 2020s. Might this game be the preamble to that changing in 2025? It’s certainly possible.
1. Texas at Ohio State
You knew what No. 1 was before you clicked on this story. And if you didn’t, it’s only because you didn’t realize that these 2 teams were opening the 2025 season against one another. For my money, it deserves to be hyped as the best season-opening game in college football history. It’s not just that we’re going to see the start of the Arch Manning era. It’s that we’ll get preseason top 2-3 teams battling on campus with the nation’s top returning defense (Texas) taking on the nation’s top returning offensive player (Jeremiah Smith). That’s on the heels of a thrilling Playoff semifinal clash in the Cotton Bowl wherein Ohio State won even thought Texas held Smith to 1 catch for 3 yards. Granted, plenty of those contributors will be playing on Sundays this fall. Texas fans can sleep well knowing that Jack Sawyer won’t be returning any scoop-and-scores this time around. Still, though. These teams reload as well as anyone in the sport. There could be more talent on the field for this matchup than the eventual national championship game.
A “G.O.A.T.” season-opener awaits in 2025.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
