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Joel Klatt picks Texas A&M over Alabama in SEC Championship game

by: Alex Byington4 hours ago_AlexByington
NCAA Football: SEC Championship-Georgia vs Alabama
Dec 4, 2021; Atlanta, GA, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide linebacker Will Anderson Jr. (31) and defensive lineman Phidarian Mathis (48) celebrate with the trophy after a victory against the Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt unveiled his latest pre-Halloween projection of how the 2025 College Football Playoff’s 12-team field could shake out during Wednesday’s episode of The Joel Klatt Show podcast. Within it, Klatt broke down how he expects each of the Power Four conference races to play out, including the uber-competitive SEC race to Atlanta.

And based on everything he’s seen through the first nine weeks of the season, Klatt is all-aboard the Texas A&M hype train and expects the third-ranked Aggies (8-0, 5-0 SEC) to finish the drill this season and secure the program’s first-ever SEC Championship inside Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. There, Klatt is projecting A&M will play — and beat — No. 4 Alabama (7-1, 5-0 SEC) to claim the program’s first conference title since 1998, when the R.C. Slocum-led Aggies beat Kansas State in double-overtime to win the Big 12 Championship.

“I really like A&M right now. The way that they’re playing, the rest of their schedule, they’re going to be favored in the rest of their games,” Klatt said on his show, projecting Texas A&M will finish the regular season undefeated. “So, let’s go 12-0 (overall), 8-0 (in SEC play) … against, if you look at their schedule, the way that they’re playing, even though I know they have a couple of flaws and there, but let’s say Bama were to (go unbeaten in) the month of November, and they’re 11-1 (overall), they’d be 8-0 in the SEC at that point, and they’d face Texas A&M in the SEC Championship game.

“So let’s go A&M against Bama, (and) I’m going to go with A&M in that game,” Klatt continued. “A&M is 13-0, Ohio State is 13-0, you’ve got Indiana at 12-1 and Alabama at 11-2 as an SEC championship game participant but not the champion.”

The road ahead for Alabama, Texas A&M

If the SEC race were to play out as Klatt projects, it would mean an absolutely historic season for the Aggies and second-year head coach Mike Elko, who has A&M facing its first undefeated season since Slocum went 10-0-1 in 1994 — when the program was ineligible for championship opportunities while serving out NCAA sanctions.

Of course, Texas A&M’s remaining regular-season schedule in November is hardly a walkthrough, beginning with a Top-20 road game at No. 19 Missouri (6-2, 2-2 SEC) next Saturday. After a pair of home games against South Carolina and FCS-level Samford, the Aggies close out the regular season with another potential ranked road game in Austin against bitter rival Texas (6-2, 3-1 SEC). And given the Longhorns have won four of the past five in the series, including Texas’ 17-7 win last season in College Station, an undefeated regular season is hardly a guarantee for Texas A&M.

Alabama’s November road is also treacherous, beginning with the always-challenging Nov. 8 machup vs. rival LSU, which could be motivated after Sunday’s firing of fourth-year head coach Brian Kelly. And let’s not forget about the Iron Bowl against bitter rival Auburn inside Jordan-Hare Stadium, never a friendly place to play for the cross-state Crimson Tide.