Phil Steele ranks SEC Football schedules from toughest to easiest

The SEC again has some of the most-difficult schedules in all of college football with what they’ll face in the non-conference before playing one another in league play. How do their slates compare to one another, though, for 2025?

Phil Steele, in his annual preseason magazine, has ranked the sixteen schedules around the Southeastern Conference. All of them rate in the Top-50 nationally with a dozen in the Top-30, six in the Top-10, and three of the Top-5.

Here’s how Steele rated the upcoming schedules in the SEC for 2025:

*# notes national ranking

1. Mississippi State Bulldogs (#2)

Mississippi State would be hoping for a better season after finishing at 2-10 in year one under Jeff Lebby, going 0-8 in conference play and two in the non-conference at Arizona State and a blowout at home against Toledo, in what was rated as the toughest schedule by Steele in 2024. However, they might not be getting it in 2025 with the second-toughest schedule in the country and the most-difficult in the SEC.

The Bulldogs are playing essentially a flip of last year’s slate with Arizona State, a favorite in the Big 12, coming to Starkville along with Tennessee, Texas, Georgia, and Ole Miss while they’ll also travel to Texas A&M, Florida, Arkansas, and Missouri. With all their opponents having a winning percentage last season of .648, third-highest among all schedules in the sport, it may be difficult to have a finish that’s much better than last year for Mississippi State as the last-placed team in the league per the projections by Steele.

2. Arkansas Razorbacks (#3)

Right after them, nationally and in the conference, is Arkansas coming off of a 7-6 record. That said, this year will only be harder for the ‘Hogs going from No. 23 in this rating in 2024 to No. 3 in the country in 2025.

The Razorbacks’ non-conference will feature a game at Memphis, coming off consecutive ten-plus win seasons, and then Notre Dame, the national-runner up, coming to Fayetteville while league play will include home games against Texas A&M, Auburn, Mississippi State and a very difficult road slate at Ole Miss, Tennessee, LSU, and Texas. With that, Arkansas will play teams who had a win percentage of .667, which is the highest in the nation, giving them a tough road to not just bowl eligibility again but potentially for another season past this one for Sam Pittman.

3. South Carolina Gamecocks (#4)

The final team for the conference in the top-five is South Carolina, who went against the No. 35 schedule a season ago to finish at 9-4, at 6-0 to close, in making a run at the SEC Championship and CFP. Even so, this year’s slate goes up a notch at No. 4 nationally.

Non-conference home games versus the ACC in Virginia Tech and Clemson bookend it with conference games in between at home against Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Alabama and on the road at Missouri, LSU, Ole Miss, and Texas A&M. Their opponents went .606 last fall, which is top-ten nationally, to where the Gamecocks will have to play well in order to have the successes they had over the final month and a half of last season, with Steele having them projected in tenth in the SEC.

4. LSU Tigers (#6)

LSU, just outside the top-five here, went 9-4, with a 6-1 start, against what was a top-dozen schedule last season in 2024. Now, with conference and playoff expectations this season in Baton Rouge, the Tigers will play a slightly harder schedule in 2025.

Opening the season at Clemson in Death Valley will be the highlight of their non-con before home games against Florida, South Carolina, Texas A&M, and Arkansas and road ones versus Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, Alabama, and Oklahoma. A lot of those games could make-or-break the year for Louisiana State, a team that Steele projects towards the top of the conference, especially if they lose what would be a sixth consecutive opener.

5. Oklahoma Sooners (#7)

Rounding out the top-five in the SEC, and still top-ten in the NCAA, is Oklahoma. That’s after the Sooners, in their debut with the conference, finished at 6-7 against another top-ten schedule in 2024.

Michigan, a brand opponent and national title winner two years ago, will be the biggest name in the non-conference as they’ll come to Norman before OU plays Auburn, Ole Miss, Missouri and LSU at home, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama on the road, and Texas at the Cotton Bowl for Red River. That’s a schedule with opponents who combined for a top-ten win percentage from last year at .611, which, while quite difficult, is something Steele thinks they’ll overcome in year two in the league with his projections having them headed towards the top of the SEC and as his No. 1 Surprise Team and at No. 3 for Most Improved.

6. Kentucky Wildcats (#9)

Kentucky had a disappointing season last fall at 4-8, their worst finish since the first year of this tenure, against a top-ten schedule in 2024. They’ll now try to not do so again playing another top-ten slate in 2025.

Toledo, with wins against both of their power opponents last season, is not to be overlooked in the opener, Louisville will come in the finale after their first win in the rivalry in seven years, and UK will host Ole Miss, Texas, Tennessee, and Florida while going to South Carolina, Georgia, Auburn, and Vanderbilt in the SEC. That has the win percentage of the Wildcats’ opponents at .650, second-highest in the country, which has them projecting as the second-to-last team in the league for Steele and for a long, and possibly final, season for Mark Stoops in Lexington.

7. Florida Gators (#12)

Florida had one of nation’s toughest schedules a year ago in the top-ten, which they went 8-5 against following a 5-2 finish, including two big upsets in The Swamp, from mid-October on. Now, their slate, while still tough, is ever so slightly easier at No. 12 nationally in 2025.

Their non-conference will included in-state games against South Florida, at Miami, and versus Florida State before hosting Texas, Mississippi State, Georgia, and Tennessee and going on the road to LSU, Texas A&M, Kentucky, and Ole Miss in the SEC. That has the Gators projecting well for next season, and certainly so if they can carry over what they did over the final two months of last fall.

8. Texas A&M Aggies (#14)

Texas A&M went 8-5 last season, in year one for Mike Elko, against the No. 20 schedule in 2024. The Aggies now face a slightly more challenging one this fall at No. 14 overall, which has A&M rounding out the top half of this rating of the ones in the SEC.

The Aggies will make a return trip to South Bend to play the national runner-up in Notre Dame as their biggest non-conference matchup before, in conference, hosting Auburn, Mississippi State, Florida, and South Carolina while going on the road to Arkansas, LSU, Missouri, and then Texas in the finale. That’s a similar-enough schedule for them in College Station as they hope for a similar, or better, record in 2025, being the No. 2 Surprise Team for Steele.

9. Texas Longhorns (#15)

Texas continued their trend upward under Steve Sarkisian last season at 13-3, tying for their most wins in a season all-time, in making the SEC Championship in year one in the league and a consecutive appearance in the CFP. They did so against a Top-40 schedule in 2024 with them now set to play against the No. 15 one in 2025.

The Longhorns will open the season against Ohio State, the defending national champions, in Columbus in a rematch of their playoff semifinal in the Cotton Bowl before hosting Vanderbilt, Arkansas, and Texas A&M, traveling to Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi State, and Georgia, and facing OU in Dallas for Red River. Still, with their roster, Steele projects them to handle it well as the second-place team in the SEC, and the highest one in his Top-40 Poll at No. 4, and a contender for the CFP.

10. Auburn Tigers (#17)

Auburn also will be going from a Top-40 to a Top-20 schedule nationally at No. 17 overall and rounding out the Top-10 in the SEC. That’s after going just 5-7, although winning three of their final five, last season in year two under Hugh Freeze.

The Tigers will open the season against Baylor, who Steele projects as the top team in the Big 12, on a Friday night in Waco before, in conference play, facing Georgia, Missouri, Kentucky, and Alabama in The Iron Bowl on The Plains while going to Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Arkansas, and Vanderbilt. That’s a level up in competition for Auburn as they play for their first winning record since 2020 in what’s a key year three for Freeze, with Steele having them finishing outside the Top-10 in the SEC.

11. Alabama Crimson Tide (#21)

Alabama, against the No. 15 schedule in 2024 for year one under Kalen DeBoer, went 9-4 for their most losses since the arrival of Nick Saban in 2007 while dropping three games in the conference for the first time since 2010. Still, the Tide were in the running to be in the SEC Championship and the CFP.

Now, in 2025, the schedule gets a tad easier at No. 21 nationally with non-conference games at Florida State and versus Wisconsin before ones at home against Vanderbilt, Tennessee, LSU, and Oklahoma and on the road at Georgia, Missouri, South Carolina, and Auburn. That, paired with a year on the job now for DeBoer in Tuscaloosa, has ‘Bama projected to finish in third in the SEC.

12. Vanderbilt Commodores (#28)

Vanderbilt plays the last of the Top-30 schedules nationally in the SEC at No. 28 overall and No. 12 in the conference in 2025. That’s after going 7-6, their best finish in eleven years as one of the surprises of the season, against a Top-25 schedule in 2024.

The Commodores will make a return trip to Blacksburg to play Virginia Tech in the non-conference before hosting LSU, Missouri, Auburn, and Kentucky and going to South Carolina, Alabama, Texas, and Tennessee in the SEC. Those are some tough matchups overall but, after shocking many last year with some of their wins, Vandy will have their chance to shock more this fall despite being the third-from-last team in the SEC per Steele’s projection.

13. Georgia Bulldogs (#44)

Four schedules in the conference fall from No. 44 through No. 50, starting with Georgia being the first following that margin from those in the Top-30 nationally. That’s after the Bulldogs, who won the SEC Championship and again appeared in the CFP, went 11-3 against a Top-10 schedule in 2024.

No marquee non-conference game plays into that with the only one of note being a neutral-site game against Georgia Tech in Atlanta in the finale after home games against Alabama, Kentucky, Ole Miss, and Texas, road games against Tennessee, Auburn, and Mississippi State, and another neutral-site game against Florida in Jacksonville in league play. That slate, with only three true road games and, is in part of why the ‘Dawgs find themselves in first in Steele’s projection of the SEC.

14. Tennessee Volunteers (#47)

Tennessee played the easiest schedule in the SEC last season at No. 64 overall in 2024. They would go 10-3 against it in going on to make their debut appearance in the CFP.

The slate in 2025, while taking a step up nationally, is again one of the easier ones in the conference, with a non-con, neutral site game against Syracuse before games against Georgia, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Vanderbilt on Rocky Top and road ones at Mississippi State, Alabama, Kentucky, and Florida in conference. That accounts for the second-easiest schedule by win-percentage in the conference at .507, which could lead to another quality finish for Josh Heupel in year five for him in Knoxville.

15. Ole Miss Rebels (#48)

Right after them, overall and in league, is Ole Miss, who went 10-3, their third finish of ten-plus wins in four years time, last season against the No. 54 schedule in 2024. The three defeats, though, cost them a chance to play for the SEC or in the CFP.

With a slightly more-difficult slate at No. 48 in 2025, the Rebels will play host to Tulane and Washington State in Oxford in the non-conference with the league games at home against Arkansas, LSU, South Carolina, and Florida plus on the road at Kentucky, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Mississippi State. It may not matter with what all they lost from last fall but, per these projections, they’ll at least have a favorable schedule this year in The ‘Sip.

16. Missouri Tigers (#50)

Missouri will play the easiest schedule in the conference this fall, finishing up the SEC and the Top-50 overall for Steele. That’s after finishing at 10-3, their second-consecutive finish of double-digit wins, against the second-easiest schedule in the conference last year at No. 56.

The Tigers will host non-conference games against Kansas and Louisiana before conference matchups at home against South Carolina, Alabama, Texas A&M, and Mississippi State and road ones at Auburn, Vanderbilt, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. However, despite their slate of opponents combining for a win-percentage of just .500, Steele isn’t high on Mizzou, having them outside the top-ten to top-dozen in the SEC.