SEC Week 14 Round Up: Kiffin Leaves for LSU, Texas Beats A&M, Stoops Fired, Oklahoma Escapes, Alabama Squeaks by Auburn
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This weekend marked the end of the SEC regular season. In what has been an eventful year, most of the drama from the weekend has come off the field. Whether it’s teams and fanbases jockeying for a spot in the College Football Playoff or the relentless coaching carousel in College Football, the end of the 2025 regular season was noteworthy in multiple aspects. Here are some of my biggest takeaways from the weekend.
Eight SEC teams finish out the regular season in the Top 25 Poll
The SEC finished the 2025 regular season with eight teams ranked in the Top 25. Still, more than any other conference. Here are the currently ranked SEC teams:
Georgia, No. 3 (11-1)
Ole Miss, No. 6 (11-1)
Texas A&M, No. 7 (11-1)
Oklahoma, No. 8 (10-2)
Alabama, No. 10 (10-2)
Vanderbilt, No. 13 (10-2)
Texas, No. 14 (9-3)
Missouri, No. 25 (8-4)
Ole Miss wins Egg Bowl, Kiffin torches bridges en route to LSU
Friday’s Egg Bowl should have kicked off a weekend of celebration for Ole Miss. The Rebels dominated Mississippi State 38-19, prevented their hated rival State from becoming bowl eligible, and Ole Miss locked up a College Football Playoff for the first time in program history. Freshman quarterback Kamario Taylor was a lone bright spot for the Bulldogs with 173 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns. Rebels Quarterback Trinidad Chambliss completed 23/34 passes for 359 passing yards and 4 passing touchdowns. On the surface, the stars appeared to be aligning for the Rebels.
Instead, Ole Miss fans spent the weekend fretting over whether the program’s Head Coach, Lane Kiffin, was staying or leaving. On Sunday, Kiffin announced that he was leaving Ole Miss for LSU, putting the bow on what has been a disastrous situation for the Rebels. Imagine reaching an unprecedented postseason milestone for your program, only for your coach to skip town with your key players before a playoff game. Defensive Coordinator Pete Golding has been promoted to Head Coach. This will be Golding’s first Division One head coaching job.
While Kiffin claims he wanted to coach the CFP game (which is disputed by multiple writers covering the program), if that had happened, I don’t blame Ole Miss’ Athletics Director for refusing that request. No program wants to feel like they are a feeder team for others.
Kiffin’s departure from LSU begs the question of whether the grass really is greener on the other side. LSU is undoubtedly a more prestigious job than Ole Miss, whose last claimed National Championship came in 1962. That said, although Kiffin will have more money and resources, he will never have true job security or loyalty. Had Kiffin remained at Ole Miss and won at least one CFP game, his job would have been safe for the foreseeable future. Now, Kiffin will be coaching in the shadow of Nick Saban, Les Miles, and Ed Orgeron, all of whom won a National Championship at LSU. But even if Kiffin takes LSU to the mountaintop, that will not be enough. Despite Miles and Orgeron winning titles, both were kicked to the curb. Can Kiffin win the big one and avoid the same fate? He’d better hope so.
Beyond Kiffin, there is a structural issue with College Football coaching timelines that needs to be fixed. At the same time, the coaching carousel in College Football should not coincide with the postseason. It is a problem that will keep occurring every single year unless serious changes are made. Professional sports have figured this issue out, and since the illusion of amateurism is long gone, College Football needs to do the same.
Structural issues aside, Kiffin did himself absolutely no favors with the unprofessional way he handled the entire situation. And now Ole Miss is headed to a playoff game without its head coach and with several key players on the roster likely headed to the transfer portal. A study should be done on the Machiavellian sociopath, Lane Kiffin. First Tennessee, now Ole Miss. The man is not to be trusted with an SEC program.
Georgia white knuckles win over Georgia Tech, will play in the SEC Championship
The Georgia Bulldogs remain one of the more perplexing teams in the conference. In multiple games, the Bulldogs have looked like a true contender, and in others, just a regular program. Friday was an example of the latter as Georgia defeated Georgia Tech, a team with a bad defense, 16-9.
Quarterback Gunner Stockton completed 11/21 passes for 70 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception for Georgia. Zachariah Branch scored the lone touchdown of the game, and running back Nate Frazier had 16 carries for 108 yards.
Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King completed 19/27 passes for 181 yards but had an interception. King was also held to just 39 rushing yards by the Bulldogs’ Defense, who held the Yellow Jackets to three field goals.
Georgia will face Alabama in the SEC Championship game on Saturday.
Texas beats A&M, Longhorns staff and fans have amnesia about Florida loss
Texas A&M had one job on Friday. That job was to beat Texas and end the silly debate that a 9-3 Texas deserves a spot in the College Football Playoff. Instead, Texas defeated Texas A&M 27-17 on Friday night. And now the Longhorn Lobby is at full throat. Thanks a lot, Aggies.
Despite coming out to a 10-3 lead in the second quarter on an 8-yard rush by KC Concepcion, A&M did not score again until 9:15 remaining in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, Texas’ defense smothered the Aggies in the second half, and the Longhorns outscored the Aggies 24-7 in the last two quarters.
Heisman hopeful Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed looked anything but in Friday’s game. Reed finished the game with 20/32 passing for 180 yards, 0 touchdowns, 2 interceptions, and had 71 rushing yards. The Aggies were just 4/14 on third down and had trouble moving the ball against a fast and athletic Longhorns defense.
For Texas, Arch Manning completed 14/29 passes for 179 yards, 1 touchdown, 53 rushing yards, and a rushing touchdown. The Aggies had tremendous difficulty stopping Quintrevion Wisner on the ground, who finished with 19 carries and 155 rushing yards.
With a big win over their hated in-state rival, the Longhorns Ministry of Propaganda, led by Texas Head Coach Steve Sarkisian, Longhorns fans, and some members of the media, is now operating in full force. The current goal of the Longhorns’ Ministry of Propaganda is to erase all memory of the Longhorns’ head-scratching 29-21 loss to a bad Florida team. A Florida team that was 1-3 at the time and had not scored more than 16 points against Power Four competition in the 2025 season (an 18-16 loss to USF). A Florida team that nearly doubled that scoring total against the Longhorns. Texas fans want College Football fans to erase that game like a memory stick from Men in Black.
Instead, the Ministry of Propaganda wants College Football fans to focus on its early loss to Ohio State, a quality loss. Longhorns fans claim Texas is being penalized for scheduling Ohio State rather than a cupcake non-conference team. This could not be further from the truth. A program like Texas should always schedule quality non-conference opponents. Texas is not being penalized for losing to Ohio State. It is being punished for a bad loss to Florida. While Texas certainly deserves credit for losing a close game on the road to Ohio State, it needed to take care of business against Florida and failed to do so.
There may come a year when a three-loss SEC team is deserving of the College Football Playoff. 2025 is not that season. The conference is too deep, and too many teams within the SEC are in the hunt, such as Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, and Vanderbilt, who took care of business against their in-conference opponents. If you want to pound the table and talk about quality losses, beat Florida this year. It’s that simple.
Louisville shuts out Kentucky, Stoops fired
Louisville ended Kentucky’s hopes of bowl eligibility with a 41-0 blowout. Cutter Boley completed 13/26 passes for 100 yards and 2 interceptions. The Wildcats were 2/13 on third downs and gave up 440 total yards. Louisville’s quarterback Miller Moss led the way with 12/20 passing for 182 yards and 3 touchdowns.
On Sunday night, Kentucky announced that it had parted ways with Head Coach Mark Stoops, who was given a $37 million buyout. Stoops went 82-80 during his tenure at Kentucky. Kentucky is one of the most challenging coaching jobs in the SEC, and Stoops made the Wildcats more competitive than they had been in years during his time in Lexington. The move signals Kentucky’s dedication to allocating its revenue-sharing resources to Men’s Basketball.
Clemson handles South Carolina
Clemson ended South Carolina’s regular season with a 28-14 victory. Clemson running back Adam Randall led the Tigers with 24 carries for 268 yards and a touchdown.
Gamecocks quarterback LaNorris Sellers completed 23/42 passes for 381 yards and 2 touchdowns, but also had 2 interceptions (one of which was returned for a pick-6) and went just 1/11 on third down. As talented as Sellers is, his backbreaking turnovers have doomed the Gamecocks all season. South Carolina was held scoreless after the first half. Vandrevius Jacobs and Nyck Harbor scored South Carolina’s two receiving touchdowns. South Carolina finishes the season 4-8, and Shane Beamer has some soul-searching to do this offseason if he wants to turn his program around.
Oklahoma barely escapes LSU
In yet another game where Vanderbilt needed a team to lose, things once again failed to bounce the Commodores’ way.
Oklahoma once again found itself on the ropes and defeated LSU 17-13 on Saturday. At the start of the fourth quarter, the Tigers had a 13-10 lead after a 43-yard field goal. With 4:16 remaining, Sooners quarterback John Mateer threw a game-winning 58-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Sategna.
Mateer finished with 23/38 passing for 318 yards, 2 passing touchdowns, and 3 interceptions. With Garrett Nussmeier benched, LSU went with Michael Van Buren, who threw for just 96 yards on 14/25 passing for 1 touchdown and 1 interception.
While Oklahoma will most likely be a College Football Playoff team, Saturday did little to answer questions about the team’s ability to score points and generate offense. Oklahoma was just 4/15 on third down. In the CFP, the Sooners will eventually face a team that can protect the football and score points. Of all of the SEC teams that appear CFP-bound, Oklahoma looks like the biggest one-and-done candidate.
As for the Tigers, LSU fans are already eager to see what Lane Kiffin can do in the transfer portal. Kiffin is undoubtedly an upgrade over Brian Kelly, and the Tigers have found a new head coach who is hated even more than Kelly.
Missouri cruises by Arkansas, Arkansas hires Ryan Silverfield
Missouri finished the regular season strong with a 31-17 victory. The Tigers had monster days from running backs Ahmad Hardy and Jamal Roberts. Hardy finished with 157 yards and a touchdown on 27 carries, and Roberts finished with 11 carries for 100 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Beau Pribula also had 78 rushing yards and a touchdown of his own. With an 8-4 finish, Missouri will find itself in a respectable bowl game.
For the Razorbacks, quarterback KJ Jackson completed 11 of 17 passes for 126 yards and a touchdown to end a miserable 2-10 season. In some good news, Arkansas hired Memphis Head Coach Ryan Silverfield, who is 77-25 overall at the collegiate level. Silverfield brought Memphis to the brink of a College Football Playoff berth in 2025 and has the chance to turn things around in Fayetteville.
Florida crushes Florida State, hires John Sumerall
On Saturday, the Florida Gators defeated in-state rival Florida State 40-21 to end a disappointing season.
Gators quarterback DJ Lagway completed 15/24 passes for 168 yards, 3 touchdowns, and an interception. Running back Jadan Baugh had 38 carries for 266 yards and 2 touchdowns to punish the Seminoles’ defense. The Gators’ defense also generated 4 sacks and an interception.
On Sunday, Florida announced that it had hired Tulane Head Coach John Sumerall to lead its program. Summeral is 42-11 overall as a head coach and brought Tulane back to respectability and the verge of a G5 College Football Playoff selection. Sumerall has a big decision to make about whether to move on from DJ Lagway following his arrival in Gainesville.
Alabama squeaks by Auburn, and Auburn hires Alex Golesh
Another game where Vanderbilt needed a key SEC team to lose? More disappointment. Alabama defeated Auburn on Saturday night, 27-20, in a sloppy game. The win sends Alabama to a showdown against Georgia in the SEC Championship.
Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson finished with 19/35 passing for just 122 yards and 3 touchdowns, all to receiver Isaiah Horton. After trailing 17-0, Auburn fought back to tie the game at 20 with 11:43 remaining on a Jeremiah Cobb touchdown, but the Tigers could not close. Despite holding Alabama to 4/17 on third down, the Tide went 3/3 on fourth down. With 3:50 remaining, Simpason found Isaiah Horton for a game-winning 6-yard touchdown pass. Four fumbles down the stretch doomed Auburn, the last of which was a backbreaking fumble by star receiver Cam Coleman in the final minute. The fumble killed a drive by Auburn that could have tied or won the game.
With freshman Deuce Knight waiting in the wings, Auburn elected to start Ashton Daniels in this game and not redshirt the Stanford transfer. Daniels finished 18/39 passing and 259 yards for 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Malcolm Simmons led the Tigers with 3 catches for 143 yards and a touchdown.
Although Auburn will miss bowl eligibility in 2025, the Tigers announced they have hired South Florida’s Alex Golesh as their next head coach. Golesh is considered to be one of the top offensive minds in College Football and should help a Tiger offense that was starved for production for much of the 2025 season. Golesh is 23-15 overall as a head coach.
Thank you to everyone who followed along with SEC Round Up this football season. This was the most fun Vanderbilt regular season of my lifetime, and I am excited to see where this team ends up, even if it does not make the College Football Playoff.
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