Brett Davis-Imagn Images
By Chris Marler
I’ve been watching this league play football for 39 years and I’m not sure I have ever seen a finish to the season quite like this. It was as if the 2007 season happened on and off the field. We saw six coaches fired while five teams may make the College Football Playoff.
Where does everyone stand before the postseason begins? Here are the final power rankings of the 2025 regular season.
The Sad Six
16. Arkansas
15. South Carolina
14. Florida
13. Kentucky
12. Mississippi State
11. Auburn
The Top Ten
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LSU
A horrible end to a horrible year, and there’s not much more to say. Despite not being able to move the ball at all, they were in a position to win the game late before a defensive lapse allowed Oklahoma to win.
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Missouri
Similar to Tennessee, Missouri had a very talented team this season. Ahmad Hardy was one of the best running backs in America all season, and capped off his 2025 campaign with 157 yards on 27 carries against Arkansas. But, also similar to Tennessee, the Tigers don’t hold a single win this season over an FBS team that finished with a winning record. The opponents they beat finished 26-56.
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Tennessee
This is where things get murky. I believe Tennessee is a pretty good football team, and I think finishing 8-4 with three losses to playoff teams is still about where expectations should’ve been given all their uncertainties coming into the season.
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Vanderbilt
The first ten win season in program history and it was capped off with an absolute drubbing of their in-state rival. The win should be enough to get Diego Pavia to New York, but probably not enough to get into the CFP.
Vanderbilt has as many wins against ranked opponents as Indiana and Oregon COMBINED.
The committee CAN’T leave a 10 win SEC team out of the College Football Playoff!
— SEC Numbers Guy (@secnumbersguy) November 30, 2025
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Texas A&M
I’ll say it, I don’t think Texas A&M is very good. They are supremely talented, and I really love Mike Elko as a coach and Marcel Reed as a quarterback. The receivers are awesome and watching Cashius Howell highlights could make Lieutenant Dan run through a wall. But, here’s the thing.
They haven’t played anyone. At all. Period.
A&M’s conference schedule this year was a joke. Their eight opponents combined for a record of 18-46. They played only one team who finished above .500 in league play, and they lost to them. Of the seven teams they did beat, those teams combined for a 12-44 SEC record. That’s awful. Their schedule is not their fault, and they’re still a lock to make the playoff. But, they are the opposite of battle tested going into it.
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Texas
Great win over little brother to finish the season 9-3 and 6-2 in the regular season. Yes, scheduling Ohio State to start the season will come back to bite them, but as great as their win on Friday was, it still isn’t enough to get them in the playoff.
Texas had a lot of ups and downs this season, and they were able to get better as the year went on. They’re a good team. They’re not a great team. Putting them in the CFP because they had a close loss to Ohio State and beat two top ten teams (one without a healthy QB) would be a travesty to more deserving teams.
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Ole Miss
I don’t know where to put this team without a head coach. They’ve had an incredible season, and I will admittedly be pulling for them in the CFP because of the way some of this has played out. I cannot punish a team with the greatest regular season in program history and one who is a fourth quarter away from finishing 12-0 and probably being ranked in the top three nationally.
Trinidad Chambliss is still a phenomenal quarterback, and Pete Golding will have some extra time to prepare for the playoff wherever this team ends up.
Prepared for the moment @CoachGolding 🦈#GOLDingEra | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/ZQsMbNER9u
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) December 1, 2025
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Alabama
It got scary for a minute in Jordan-Hare, but Alabama’s resiliency and fourth quarter domination gave the Tide their sixth straight win over Auburn and a trip to the SEC Championship game. Win or lose they should be in the College Football Playoff, and the can of worms that would be opened if a 10-3 team with losses to two playoff teams was left out of the 12 team field because they lost in a conference championship would be unreal. There would be no point in Greg Sankey playing the game moving forward, and I would guarantee you he’s made that clear to the committee and those around it.
Then again, a win silences all the critics once again and Alabama would secure their 11th win in their last 12 games against Georgia.
ALABAMA. GEORGIA.
THE SEC CHAMPIONSHIP IS SET 🏆 pic.twitter.com/pPC4PQZ0vQ
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) November 30, 2025
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Oklahoma
It wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win, especially when that win puts you in the College Football Playoff. Oklahoma finishes the regular season at 10-2. The offense was inconsistent for most of the season, and as we saw against LSU, this is not a very good team when they turn the football over. But, the defense will travel, and will definitely travel in the postseason. That’s a unit that finished first in the conference in yards allowed, rushing yards allowed, and points allowed.
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Georgia
Run from it all you want, but Georgia is inevitable. Georgia will play for their eighth SEC Championship in the last nine years. The only year they haven’t gone to Atlanta was the COVID season. Georgia struggled last Friday against Georgia Tech, but they were ultimately able to beat their in-state rival and finish the year 11-1. They’re a three point loss away from finishing the regular season undefeated for the fourth time in the last five seasons.
They’re favored by 2.5 points over Alabama.
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