The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is renowned for its grueling football gauntlets, and the 2025 season promises no shortage of challenges. With the conference slate flipping home-and-away matchups from 2024, teams face a reshuffled deck of elite opponents, treacherous road trips, and marquee nonconference clashes. Drawing on team trajectories as of March 10, 2025, here are the five SEC programs staring down the most formidable schedules this fall.
The Dawgs had the most demanding schedule in the country a season ago. An opener against Clemson had much to do with that, in addition to road games at Alabama, Ole Miss, and Texas. This season, Clemson drops off, so the out-of-conference schedule is more manageable, but Georgia still has the Crimson Tide, Rebels, and Longhorns traveling to Athens. Home games are welcomed, and the atmosphere in Sanford Stadium will be unrivaled, but those are still three massive contests. Add in an early trip to Knoxville to take on a desperate and talented Tennessee team and a road rivalry game against Auburn between Kentucky and Ole Miss at home, and there is still plenty of rigor to the schedule for Georgia this season. Georgia Tech plays pretty well against the red and black under Brent Key. Georgia and Georgia Tech square off in Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta to end the regular season.
South Carolina’s path starts deceptively light, with winnable early tilts against Virginia Tech and South Carolina State. Vanderbilt and Missouri will be stout tests for the Gamecocks, especially with the Missouri game on the road. Then comes the gauntlet: a mid-to-late-season stretch featuring road games at LSU and Ole Miss sandwiching home contests versus Oklahoma and Alabama. Shane Beamer’s squad ends the regular season with a stretch that includes a trip to College Station to take on Texas AM, a home game versus a Coastal Carolina team that knows how to win, and the annual rivalry with Clemson. That matchup is at Williams-Brice Stadium this time, and you know the Columbia faithful will be rocking.
Florida’s 2024 schedule was a beast, and while 2025 swaps venues, the intensity holds firm. The Gators host Texas and Tennessee—likely top-10 squads—while facing perennial power, defending SEC Champions Georgia in Jacksonville, and traveling to LSU, Texas AM, Kentucky, and Ole Miss. A late non-conference clash at Florida State, a rival poised for a resurgence, adds to the difficulty of this schedule, and the Gators will have to travel southward to take on Miami in an attempt to avenge a terrible loss from a year ago. Florida defied the odds last year against a stacked deck, but this year’s lineup, with its blend of home showdowns and road gauntlets, demands another Herculean effort. From September 13 to November 29, there is no game that you can automatically put in the win column for Billy Napier’s team.
Mississippi State’s 2025 docket is a punishing lineup that offers scant reprieve. After a dismal 2-10 finish in 2024, Jeff Lebby sees a second-year slate loaded with five home games against teams eyeing playoff berths, including Arizona State—a 2024 CFP qualifier—and SEC playoff contenders Georgia, Ole Miss, Tennessee, and Texas. The SEC road games aren’t a walk in the park either with the Bulldogs having to travel to Arkansas, Florida, Missouri, and Texas AM. Throw in an in-state rival on the road in Southern Miss to open the season and a home game versus Northern Illinois, who beat Notre Dame at Notre Dame last season, and it’s not an enviable schedule that Lebby and company have to navigate this year.
Oklahoma’s inaugural SEC campaign in 2024 was a baptism by fire, and 2025 dials up the intensity. The Sooners’ calendar is a brutal odyssey, particularly over the final nine weeks, where seven consecutive foes finished among the SEC’s top nine last season. Picture this: road battles at South Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama—venues where dreams often crumble—paired with home showdowns against Auburn, Texas, Ole Miss, Missouri, and LSU. Toss in an early non-conference contest at home vs. Michigan, a Big Ten titan, and Oklahoma’s schedule becomes a test of endurance. The Red River rivalry with Texas, followed by late-season treks to Tuscaloosa and Baton Rouge, will test Brent Venable’s squad in a pressure-packed year.
Oklahoma HOSTS Michigan. They don’t travel there.
Thanks Ivan. That was my bad. I just looked at it wrong. It’s been fixed. Thank you
A late non-conference clash at Florida State, a rival poised for a resurgence, adds to the difficulty of this schedule,
Florida State might go 0-12……
The Sooners really went out of their way to make up in case they lose at Michigan – FCS Illinois State, perennially struggling Temple, and winless Kent State from a year ago. In the end, they can add their 3-1 non-conference records to other similar SEC non-conference records to indicate how powerful the SEC is. Same thing every season.
You got that right! Most of the SEC play no out of conference true road games and at least one FCS team. All this talk about going to nine league games is great yet only if they play at least one true out of conference road game and stop with the FCS games. Look, I am not a Notre Dame fan, yet you have to respect the Irish scheduling.
True SEC OOC Road games scheduled for 2025:
Alabama @ Florida State
Auburn @ Baylor
Florida @ Miami
Georgia @ GA Tech
Kentucky @ Louisville
LSU @ Clemson
Texas @ Ohio State
Texas A&M @ Notre Dame
Vandy @ VA Tech
Neutral site SEC OOC games:
South Carolina v VA Tech (ATL)
Tennessee v Syracuse (ATL)
Alan Miller Georgia-Georgia Tech is among My top four games that I enjoy during CFB Thanksgiving rivalry weekend along with Michigan-Ohio State, Arizona State-Arizona & Northwestern-Illinois actually I like both Northwestern & Illinois since I live in Chicagoland plus, I like Michigan too.
Have a safe & happy day Alan.
Alan Miller: That Georgia – Georgia Tech game is at the Benz thus it’s really a neutral site game (even though it will be mostly Bulldog fans in the stands). So yes, 8 SEC teams will play a true OOC road game in 2025 while 8 SEC teams will NOT play a true OOC road game in 2025. Meanwhile 15 SEC teams will paly an FCS home game. Apparently, Texas was already committed to playing Sam Houston in 2025 prior to the Bearkats move from FCS to FBS. I’m not saying the SEC isn’t the best conference in the NCAA, just that the conference needs to either play 9 conference games or at least get a more competitive 4 game OOC schedule.
It’s a neutral site, but considered a Georgia Tech home game and tickets are sold through GT. It’s part of GT’s contract with M-B Stadium.
You’re right. They should have tried harder to disrupt the already scheduled games they kept running into when they had a year to schedule their non-cons 2 years ago. That’s SOOOOOOO SEC.
Casuals always miss the context for the incorrect point they really want to make. Same thing every season.
You have somebody is pulling for SEC going to nine game conference schedule klutckpike.
Tough or easy Go Bulldogs!!!
Tough or easy Go Georgia Bulldogs!!!
Couldn’t believe Florida wasn’t #1 but then I looked at Oklahoma’s schedule and understood
I still think Florida should be number 1. But you are right that it´s understandable for Oklahoma to be there.