We’ve made it to SEC Preview Week on The Three Tech Pod!
Our “home” league as fans of Texas A&M has gone through some major changes - and through a media ringer - the last few years. Notably, it has now been two full seasons since the league brought home a national title. Will that change in 2025?
Whether you’re a firm disciple that “it just means more” or eager to point out SEC-bias, we’re happy you’re here!
In the podcast above, Trey visits with Chris Lee of Southeastern 16 to talk about the biggest storylines in the conference heading into 2024, and in the article below, we’ll break down Teams 11-16 (in reverse order) in the listener-made rankings by the Jimmys and Joes. Stay tuned for more throughout the week!
Without further ado, let’s jump in!
Looking for our other previews? Find them below!
B1G Part I | B1G Part II | B1G Part III | AAC Part I | AAC Part II | Sun Belt East | Sun Belt West | MWC Part I | MWC Part II | MAC Part I | MAC Part II | CUSA Part I | CUSA Part II
Mississippi State Bulldogs
2024 in Review
Jeff Lebby was going to need to be an absolute miracle worker if Mississippi State was going to compete in 2024. He wasn’t, and they didn’t. Still, the expectations were fairly low for the Bulldogs as all eyes moved towards 2025 and beyond with a young phenom QB in Michael Van Buren…until Lebby went to the portal and started flirting with OU transfer Jackson Arnold. Whether it be because Van Buren felt threatened or saw the purple pastures of LSU, the Bulldogs ended 2024 with one of the worst records in the last 20 years AND a vacancy at QB (and a bunch of other positions). To borrow a phrase: The epitome of brutality.
Key Storylines
The Bulldogs completely reset through the portal. QB Luke Kromenhoek (Florida State) was expected to compete with Blake Shapen for QB1 honors, but failed to impress during spring ball. Those struggles opened the door for the athletic freshman Kamario Taylor to show his ability. RB Fluff Bothwell (USA) brings one of the best names in the game and a well-rounded skill set to Starkville. Bothwell averaged 7.5 yards per carry for the Jags in 2024 and also caught 13 balls out of the backfield. Other notables in the 30+ player transfer class include D-Line help with Redd Hibbler (NCST) and Malick Sylla (A&M), as well as speedy WRs Brenan Thompson (OU), Ayden Williams (Ole Miss), and Jaron Glover (Michigan State).
Lebby retained more of the roster than you might think. It would have been fair to assume that Mississippi State lost everyone from the doomed season of 2024. While the Bulldogs lost their fair share of contributors, they (shockingly) ranked just 37th in ESPN’s 2025 Returning Production breakdown, per Bill Connelly. Aside from Van Buren leaving a gap in the QB room, the Bulldogs lost great production in the WR room with Kevin Coleman Jr (Mizzou) and Mario Craver (A&M). CB Brice Pollock left for Texas Tech.
What is the identity in Starkville? Lebby’s offenses are known for their creativity, their speed, and their ability to air it out. The Bulldogs finished 50th in the country in passing yards last season. That was up from the putrid 111th they logged in 2023, but still a far cry from their top 20 passing attacks of the last few years. The Bulldogs have to solidify a calling card that allows them to compete with the most talented rosters in the country. Can they find a quick passing attack behind an offensive line that is expected to struggle? Similarly, the defense has to improve…quickly. They finished 118th in scoring and 133rd in sacks…That’s a brutal combo if you plan on competing in the SEC.
The Schedule at a Glance
The schedule does the Bulldogs zero favors once again. Miss State will likely play three top 25 teams before they hit their bye week. In addition to hosting the Vols, the Bulldogs will host Arizona State and visit Texas A&M. The Vols are more of a great idea than a known commodity with all of the transfer portal spinning at QB and in the defensive backfield. Finding a way to clip the Vols away from Rocky Top would be a monumental win for Lebby’s crew.
Over/Under Projection: 3.5
The road to four wins and hitting this over seems extremely difficult. The nonconference slate includes just one layup (Alcorn State) and three other games that range from likely loss (Arizona State) to tricky land mine (@ Southern Miss, Northern Illinois). Betting the over means banking on 3-1 in that stretch and just finding a way to pick off a conference foe. It’s hard for me to bank on that at this point, so I’m leaning towards the under.
Kentucky Wildcats
2024 in Review
Pundits have often joked that Marks Stoops has the best job in college football due to the fact that his basketball-obsessed fan base will happily take a program that wins more than they lose. But after flirting with Texas A&M at the end of 2023, Stoops delivered an absolute stinker. The 4-8 mark was the worst since Stoops’ first season, and the Wildcats’ lone notable accomplishment was shocking Ole Miss in Oxford in late September. Brock Vandagriff followed in Devin Leary’s footsteps as a highly-touted but ultimately disappointing QB transfer, and as a result, the offense could not score points if their life depended on it (14.1 ppg vs P4). To top it all off, the Wildcats lost to in-state rival Louisville - in blowout fashion - for the first time since 2017. Now, Stoops enters 2025 squarely on the hot seat.
Key Storylines
Zach Calzada is still playing college football and will take over starting duties behind center for the Wildcats. You may remember him as the man behind Texas A&M’s upset of Alabama in 2021, but he’s been refining his craft for the last two seasons at Incarnate Word. In 23 games in San Antonio, Calzada threw for 6,144 yards and 53 touchdowns, and the coaching staff is hoping he can provide some desperately needed consistency in the passing game.
The offensive supporting cast is a mixed bag. The running back room looks like a solid stable with last year’s leading rusher Jamarion Wilcox (590 yards last season) returning alongside transfers Dante Dowdell (Nebraska) and Seth McGowan (New Mexico State). The receiving corps is a question mark though, and replacing Dane Key (1,870 yards over the past three seasons) will be essential for the offense to find success.
The secondary brings back three starters, and that experience will be needed to compensate for a front seven that has a grand total of one proven commodity (WLB Alex Afari) heading into the year. That front seven will need guys that have done well at lower levels of college football to make the jump to the SEC seamlessly to find success. Keep an eye out for Mi’Wuise Humphrey-Grace, a first-team FCS All-American who had 9.5 sacks at South Dakota last year, and David Gusta, a multi-year starter at DT for Washington State.
The Schedule at a Glance
Stoops will have his work cut out for him trying to bounce back against one of the toughest schedules in the league. The Cats draw both Georgia (away) and Texas (home), in addition to road trips to South Carolina, Auburn, and Vanderbilt. They’ll also welcome Ole Miss, Tennessee, and Florida to Lexington and travel to Louisville for the Governor’s Cup at the end of the year. To top it off, they’ll open the season against MAC favorite Toledo who blew out Mississippi State in Starkville last season.
Over/Under Projection: 4.5
The path to five or more wins is narrow, but not impossible. Kentucky would need to start by making sure they avoid upsets against Toledo and Eastern Michigan. Provided they can do that, stealing a game against Ole Miss, Tennessee, or Florida at home and splitting against Vanderbilt and Louisville at the end of the year gets them to the over (assuming a win over Tennessee Tech). I think Stoops finds a way to get them to five, but falls short of a bowl.
Vanderbilt Commodores
2024 in Review
Was this the most exciting 7-6 team in the history of college football? Judging by the fact that my phone still auto-corrects Pavia to all caps PAVIA, I’m inclined to say so. With Clark Lea’s future hanging in the balance, Jerry Kill and his electric quarterback brought their magic with them from New Mexico State. It immediately made an impact, as the ‘Dores knocked off trendy ACC darkhorse Virginia Tech as 13-point underdogs on opening weekend. The much more seismic upset, of course, came on Oct. 5, when the top ranked Tide left Nashville with a 40-35 loss. It was the first time Vandy had beaten Alabama since 1984, and in 2024, it had a direct effect on keeping Alabama out of the Playoff. The wins kept coming, and Vanderbilt made it to a bowl for the first time since 2018. Winning that matchup with Georgia Tech cemented the first winning season for the program since James Franklin went 9-4 before bolting for Penn State in 2013. Now, Lea will look to show it was not a fluke season and contend for more than just making a bowl in 2025.
Key Storylines
Pavia is back for more after leading the charge for reform (to put it nicely) on the rules for how JUCO seasons count for eligibility. Regardless of how you feel about that decision, it signifies a massive boost for a Vanderbilt program that will not have to find a new identity this season. Pavia, who ended the year as the Commodores’ leading rusher with 801 yards on 192 carries, can pick up right where he left off running a tricky spread option attack that keeps defenses guessing.
Quarterback is not the only position to enjoy the benefit of experience, as Vandy is one of eight teams to return at least 70% of production across the board. Also returning on offense are the top two backs - Sedrick Alexander and AJ Newberry - and three of Pavia’s top four targets from last year, including TE Eli Stowers who is already getting hype as the TE1 in next spring’s draft. On defense, three starters return on the d-line, and the top four linebackers return, led by Bryan Longwell and Langston Patterson, to form one of the better front sevens in the conference.
Time to build a program. With so much returning, a built in identity, and legitimate success to build off of, Clark Lea has a lot going for him as he enters year five in Nashville. Now, I’m not saying they’re on the precipice of being the best program in the country, as Lea infamously said at SEC Media Days in 2022, but it goes without saying that stacking another successful year on top of last season would do wonders for the long-term trajectory of a school that has been a historical after-thought on the gridiron. Lea has a huge opportunity here he needs to take advantage of, but no one will take them lightly after what they have already accomplished.
The Schedule at a Glance
I’m struggling to remember a team in my time paying attention to college football that played in as many big time, bucket list environments as Vanderbilt will in 2025. The Commodores will hear Enter Sandman at Lane Stadium and Sandstorm at Williams-Brice in back-to-back night games in September, followed by trips to Bryant-Denny, DKU, and Neyland later on. For a fan, that’s a dream come true, for a team trying to make back-to-back bowls, it’s an absolute nightmare.
Over/Under Projection: 4.5
To hit this over, it feels like Vandy will need to go undefeated in nonconference play. That task is much easier said than done considering they travel to Virginia Tech (a close win at home last year) and face a Georgia State squad that beat them a season ago. Assuming they can go at least 3-1 there, the easiest path seems to be winning two of three SEC home games against Missouri, Auburn, and Kentucky. Vandy was able to win two of those games last year when they were all on the road, so I’ll lean going over the number.
Missouri Tigers
2024 in Review
After finishing the 2023 season at 11-2 and knocking off an under-manned Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl, Eli Drinkwitz and the Tigers followed it up with another ten-win campaign in 2024. The schedule certainly helped them out, as all five of their conference wins came against the bottom half of the league, but they took care of business and did not lose to anyone they were supposed to beat, something not every team gifted an easier slate can say. By capping the season with a hard-fought win over Iowa in the Music City Bowl, the 2024 Tigers became just the fourth team in school history to win back-to-back bowl games and just the third to win ten or more in consecutive years.
Key Storylines
It’s a new era on the offensive side of the ball as Mizzou fans will need to get acquainted with a large flock of new players. Beau Pribula will come in to play quarterback and replace Brady Cook after spending two seasons as a backup and gadget player at Penn State. At running back, Nate Noel and Marcus Carroll depart, making way for ULM freshman phenom Ahmad Hardy (1351 yards last season). Dynamic receiver duo Luther Burden and Theo Wease head off to the NFL, and Kenneth Coleman will attempt to be Pribula’s go-to guy after a solid season at Mississippi State.
The defense will enjoy continuity with the fifth-most returning production in the country according to ESPN’s Bill Connelly. The biggest question mark on that side of the ball will be finding a pass rush without Johnny Walker. Look for Zion Young to have a big year getting after the passer in an expanded role. The secondary should be dependable as well, with three starters returning to pair with portal pickups Mose Phillips (Virginia Tech), Santana Barber (NIU), and Stephen Hall (Washington State).
What will the identity be? The Tigers have fielded some solid defenses under Drinkwitz over the past five seasons, but the far more consistent unit has certainly been the offense. With the offense likely needing time to gel, will the coaching staff and program be able to adjust to being led by the defense? Or will Pribula and Co. find their footing quickly and take advantage of some softer defenses in the season’s first five games?
The Schedule at a Glance
This is one of the more unique setups I have ever seen, as the Tigers will not leave their home stadium until October 18th when they travel to Auburn. That tilt on the plains is one of only four road games, and all four are certainly winnable. The home slate includes the revival of the Border War against Kansas (first meeting since 2011), South Carolina, Alabama, and A&M.
Over/Under Projection: 7.5
The schedule sets up nicely for a run at another special season. As highlighted in the previous section, the toughest games of the season are at the friendly confines of Farout Field. There’s a legitimate chance to start the season 5-0, but the games against Kansas, South Carolina, and even Louisiana are potential stumbling blocks before Alabama comes calling. With a potentially elite defense and an offense with high potential, I see no reason why Missouri can’t win at least eight.
Arkansas Razorbacks
2024 in Review
After a 4-8 season in 2023, Sam Pittman entered 2024 needing to perform in order to keep his job. And while he was ultimately retained, the 7-6 season filled with ups and downs was not enough to get Pittman off the hot seat heading into 2025. The highlight was undoubtedly the upset of Tennessee in front of a raucous crowd in Fayetteville and on the back of one of the best defensive performances of the Pittman era. But the Hogs could never capitalize and build momentum, largely because the offense struggled to consistently get out of first gear. They averaged just 23.8 points per game in SEC play, and that number drops to 18.6 if you take out the outlier 58-point outburst against Mississippi State. Failing to eclipse 20 points cost them winnable games against A&M and Texas, and cost Pittman some breathing room.
Key Storylines
Taylen Green returns after a successful first season that did not begin that way. In his first four games against FBS competition (sorry, UAPB), Green completed just 51.8% of his passes and threw five interceptions. After the A&M game, he did not dip below 60% in his remaining SEC starts, and threw ten touchdowns compared to just four interceptions. By the end of the season, Green looked like a serviceable signal-caller to build around, and threw for the second-most yards in a season in school history.
The rest of the offense is a work in progress as RB Ja’Quinden Jackson and the top seven receiving targets from last season have departed. Mike Washington comes in from New Mexico State to co-lead the backfield with returnee Braylen Russell (5.3 ypc last season), so the RB room should be okay. The receiving corps, on the other hand, feels questionable, with just one option returning that logged more than 100 yards last year (Jordan Anthony), and players transferring in from the G5 level looking like they’ll need to be acclimated in a hurry.
The defense will face turnover as well with just two starters returning in the front seven and an overhaul in the secondary. The latter was necessary, as the Razorbacks surrendered 247 yards per game through the air, dead last in the conference. The former turns a position of strength - they surrendered just 124 yards per game on the ground - from last season into a massive question mark. Figuring out what the defense can hang their hat on, quickly, will be the most important question the coaching staff must answer.
The Schedule at a Glance
Just like last season…it’s brutal. In the nonconference portion, the Hogs will face Notre Dame, travel to Memphis, and play an upset-minded Arkansas State team in Little Rock in the first-ever matchup between the schools. The conference road trips are to Ole Miss, Tennessee, LSU, and Texas. Mercy.
Over/Under Projection: 5.5
To make it back to a bowl game - and potentially save Pittman’s job - the Razorbacks will have to make hay at home and do it against teams that have dominated them in recent years. The path of least resistance likely involves finding wins against A&M (1-12 since 2012, mostly in Arlington), Auburn (lost four straight matchups in Fayetteville), and Missouri (2-9 since 2014). There’s too many questions for me on both sides of the ball despite good QB play to say they get to six, but they likely will ruin at least one of those teams’ days when they travel to the hills of NW Arkansas.
Auburn Tigers
2024 in Review
What a ride the Hugh Freeze era has been. Year one went like this: three straight wins, followed by a four game losing streak, a three game winning streak, and then three more losses - including an embarrassment against Diego Pavia and New Mexico State and a gut-wrenching defeat on 4th & 31 in the Iron Bowl. If that wasn’t enough, year two included a head-scratching loss to Cal, four straight losses to open conference play, another loss to a Pavia-led team, an exhilarating win in 4 OT over a ranked A&M team, before another loss to Alabama. If you were expecting anything less from a program led by Jimmy Swag, I’m not sure what to tell you. Who’s ready for Round Three?
Key Storylines
All the chips are on Jackson Arnold improving the offense by bringing in consistent QB play. Arnold, a former five star and the number four QB in the vaunted 2023 class, was the hand-picked starter that caused Dillon Gabriel to spend his last year of eligibility at Oregon instead of Oklahoma. But inconsistent play exacerbated by WR injuries and a porous OL saw Arnold benched for portions of 2024. Now, he’ll look to re-ignite the Auburn offense - and his career - on the Plains.
The receiving corps should not be a problem for Arnold this year. In fact, they might be the best in the entire conference. Keandre Lambert-Smith is gone, but the Tigers retain homegrown five star Cam Coleman (37 rec, 596 yards, 8 TD as a freshman last year) and fellow freshman phenom Malcom Simmons (40/451/3). If that wasn’t enough, they brought in former Georgia Tech #1 Eric Singleton to round out the room. Good luck, SEC DBs!
The defense has been a strength for the past two seasons, but there are some questions heading into this year. The d-line in particular has been a huge advantage, allowing just 3.1 yards per carry last season. But just one starter returns from that group, and DJ Durkin will rely on transfers from Western Kentucky, FAMU, and Sam Houston to try and fill the void. The linebacker room is inexperienced as well, but they did bring in Caleb Wheatland from Maryland and bring Champ Anthony back from injury to the star position.
The Schedule at a Glance
The Tigers will hit the road in three out of the first five weeks of the season, facing a tricky test week one at Baylor and conference games in Norman and College Station. The final seven games, bookended by home rivalry games against Georgia and Alabama, provide a bit of a runway to rack up some wins, and some magic as often seems to happen when both of those games are at Jordan-Hare.
Over/Under Projection: 7.5
Getting to eight wins from five might seem like a big jump in just one year, but this is a team that was 1-5 in games decided by ten points or less last season and lost three games where they out-gained their opponent. Auburn feels like they’re due for a jump, and if they can beat Baylor, split Oklahoma and A&M, and then just win the ones they’ll likely be favored in, 8-4 will be the floor with a chance to do even better. Give me the over.
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