Paul Finebaum tabs Florida as toughest SEC schedule in 2025

The Florida Gators are happy to turn the page to the 2025 football season. After all, they somehow survived (7-5 overall) one of the toughest schedules in college football history this season, even with their starting quarterback (Graham Mertz) going down for the season. They’ve still got work left in the 2024 campaign, as they’ll face the Tulane Green Wave in the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl. Unfortunately for Florida fans, things won’t get any easier in the 2025 season. Wednesday evening on the SEC Network’s schedule reveal show, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum tabbed Florida’s schedule as the hardest in the conference for 2025.

“Same as last year, it’s Florida. And it’s really brutal. There’s an open week in the middle of this but Florida is at LSU, at Miami, then Texas at home, and Texas A&M. So much excitement. So much momentum with that program in DJ Lagway. But Billy Napier got his bounce back last year, but he still has to be able to show significant improvement. And this is where we are going to find out whether he has done that or not,” Finebaum explained.

Luckily for Florida, they open up with a few softballs in the LIU Sharks and then the USF Bulls (Sept. 6). Then it gets tough and tough quickly as they travel on the road to face the LSU Tigers (Sept. 13). Then they’ll hit the road to take on the Miami Hurricanes (Sept. 20). And then they face the Texas Longhorns (Oct. 4). They’ll also face their heated rivals, the Georgia Bulldogs, like they do every year. And the Bulldogs are right up there among the best programs in the country year in, year out. That’s not changing while Kirby Smart is in Athens.

Then they’ll have to go to Oxford to face the Ole Miss Rebels (Nov. 15th). The Tennessee Volunteers are one of the nation’s Top 15 program. And the Gators will finish off the 2025 campaign with their in-state rivals, the Florida State Seminoles.

The good news for Florida is while they have an extremely difficult schedule to navigate, they’ll return one of the nation’s promising stars at quarterback in former five-star DJ Lagway. While he’s definitely shown the need for improvement, he’s shown flashes this year of the tremendous talent that had him tabbed as one of the nation’s top signal-callers coming out of high school. Lagway has completed 59.2% of his passes for 1,610 passing yards, while tossing in 11 touchdowns with seven interceptions. As a runner, he’s had 47 carries for 96 yards.

The practices and game reps in their upcoming bowl game against Tulane will only be more valuable experience and reps for the Texas native. It’ll be fascinating to see what kind of developmental leap he makes in year two in Gainesville.