SEC Football Unfiltered

The SEC became the nation’s best conference because of its strength at the line of scrimmage, punishing running backs and perimeter speed. Somewhere along the way, though, this conference began attracting the best quarterback talent, too. That’s especially reflected this season. The SEC's crop of quarterbacks includes a crowded top tier, resulting in a heated debate about who's the No....

The company line within the SEC is that no other conference matches the gauntlet of its conference schedule. Perhaps, but it's also true that no other conference plays as many cupcake games as the SEC. That's a sticking point for the Big Ten as the conferences try to reach an agreement on a College Football Playoff format for 2026 and beyond. The Big Ten wants the SEC to join it in playing nine co...

Tennessee’s mid-April quarterback swap damaged the Vols’ chance of making the College Football Playoff, but did the Nico Iamaleava for Joey Aguilar swap make the Vols one of the SEC’s weakest teams? That’s what one preseason publication thinks. Lindy’s magazine picked Tennessee 11th in the SEC in its conference picks. Might want to take a peek at that schedule, though...

Several SEC coaches enter this season facing an inflection point in their tenures. That doesn't necessarily mean each of these coaches is on the hot seat (not yet, anyway), but this projects as a defining season for coaches like LSU's Brian Kelly , Florida's Billy Napier and Auburn's Hugh Freeze . Kelly says he's got his best LSU roster to date. No argument here. Napier's Gators finished last seas...

Battle lines are forming in the ongoing debate for the College Football Playoff's future format . The Big Ten wants to rig the playoff. The Big 12 and ACC fight against that. The SEC hangs out in the middle, unsure whether to side with the Big Ten or the other power conferences. To rig, or not to rig? That is the question. On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams unpack the leading...

The SEC's scheduling debate will renew when the conference's spring meetings begin later this month. It's that age-old question of whether to stick with eight conference games or bump up to nine. On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams debate the merit of adding a ninth conference game versus sticking with the status quo. Retaining the eight-game format would sacrifice the annual...

Did Texas just assemble the best team money can buy? Maybe. Alternatively, it spent big for a playoff-caliber roster that will come up short of the national championship game once again, after two straight years bowing out in the semifinals. This much we know: The Longhorns spent big. Just how big? Well, the Houston Chronicle recently reported that Texas’ budget for its 2025 squad is expecte...

Kirby Smart remains the No. 1 coach in the SEC. Any naysayers, consider the reigning SEC champion. It's Georgia. When ranking SEC coaches , 1 through 16, the debate becomes lively after Smart, the obvious starting point. On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams reveal their lists, from first to last.  Auburn's Hugh Freeze becomes the subject of the biggest disagreement among t...

Tennessee slapped a tire patch in the gaping hole in the rubber of its quarterback situation. UCLA’s disposable goods became the Vols’ prize. Tennessee is expected to add transfer quarterback Joey Aguilar from UCLA , after the Vols lost starter Nico Iamaleava to none other than UCLA. In other words, UCLA decided it would rather anoint Iamaleava as its starter than Aguilar, who transfer...

Nico Iamaleava reportedly wanted more money from Tennessee. The Vols wouldn’t meet his demands, so, Tennessee’s starting quarterback entered the transfer portal. Iamaleava now needs a new school to pay him to be its starting quarterback, while Tennessee needs a transfer to stay in the playoff contender column for this season. This public breakup between a quarterback and a school that...

March Madness just does not miss . This year’s tournament served fewer upsets but made up for it with an epic Final Four .  The 68-team tournament provided another reminder that this annually stands as one of the best postseason events in all of sports – not just college sports. In contrast, college football supplies maybe the best regular season in sports, but its postseason ofte...

The nation's best basketball conference supplied half the teams in the Final Four . Bravo, SEC. The SEC lived up to the hype throughout March Madness, taking the Sweet 16, Elite Eight and now Final Four by storm. Even so, oddsmakers point to Duke as having the best team, and if you've watched the Blue Devils throughout the tournament, you know that's a fair projection. So, which SEC team is better...

Cinderella went home before curfew, and true madness never appeared this March. That’s fine by the SEC. The relative lack of chaos in this NCAA Tournament proved good for the conference that qualified the most teams. The SEC advanced a record seven teams into the Sweet 16, and the conference retains an opportunity to sweep the Final Four spots. In today’s basketball-themed episode, hos...

The SEC has taken March Madness by storm , and the conference enjoys a strong chance for multiple Final Four berths due to its sheer volume of qualifiers and the lofty seeding of several of its teams. It’s not all that far-fetched to consider the possibility of the SEC claiming every spot in the Final Four. Among the SEC’s top teams, which faces the toughest path to San Antonio ? That...

The conversation of best active coaches without a national championship begins with Gonzaga's Mark Few. You won't get very far down that list, though, before arriving at Auburn's Bruce Pearl and Tennessee's Rick Barnes. They're career winners. They've been great for their respective universities. Each owns a Final Four appearance. But, they continually come up short of the top prize. This could be...

We’re doing this again. SEC brass are debating whether to go to a nine-game conference schedule, up from eight, for the 2026 season. The SEC has considered adding a ninth conference game for more than a dozen years but never before made the move. Commissioner Greg Sankey wants an additional conference game , but some within the league are hesitant, wondering if adding another tough game is w...

Pressure’s on the football coaches in the state of Alabama, but for different reasons. Kalen DeBoer knows the Alabama standard creates a playoff-or-bust mentality. That means his debut season ranks as a bust and ratchets up the pressure on his second season. At Auburn, the Tigers last tasted a winning season when Gus Malzahn coached the team. Hugh Freeze ’s buyout offers insufficient p...

A great annual offseason debate hinges on whether college football would benefit from an overarching commissioner – and whether Nick Saban would be the prime choice for the job, if ever created. We agree that a college football commissioner could enact some meaningful, widely popular changes within the sport, but we're not ready to cede this responsibility to Saban, who likely would foremost...

As many as 10 or more SEC football teams might be ranked in the preseason top 25 , but the playoff chances of those teams are far from equal. Take, for instance, Texas and South Carolina. While they might be about 10 spots apart in the rankings, their playoff outlooks are dramatically different. Some SEC teams enjoy schedules built for playoff qualification, while others face doomsday schedules. O...

No SEC quarterback is more proven than Garrett Nussmeier, but if you're building a depth chart, would you go with the LSU quarterback first, or gamble on the upside of Texas' Arch Manning or Florida's DJ Lagway?  Our annual SEC quarterback draft is back! On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams go head-to-head trying to build the best four-deep roster of SEC quarterbacks. Adam...

The SEC endured a rough showing this season. Short-term problem? USA TODAY's too-early preseason top 25 suggests as much. The rankings are loaded with SEC teams, but is it too much love? On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams react to the rankings and offer verdicts of overrated, underrated or just right for each SEC team.  Mostly, they think SEC teams are being overrated, i...

Kalen DeBoer needs a quarterback. Now, who's it going to be? Alabama took a turn for the worse in DeBoer's first season, despite him inheriting a proven starter in Jalen Milroe. The position heads toward an uncertain future. Ominous or opportunity? On today's episode, Blake Toppmeyer of the USA TODAY Network is joined by Chase Goodbread of the Tuscaloosa News to unpack Alabama's quarterback situat...

Let Arch-a-palooza begin.  The Quinn Ewers era at Texas sunsets after the Longhorns lost to Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. Arch Manning takes the keys to the Texas engine now, and the hype for Manning leaps off the charts. But, what are fair expectations for Manning in 2025? On today's episode, host Blake Toppmeyer of the USA TODAY Network is joined by David Eckert of the Austin American-Stat...

The SEC helped engineer the 12-team playoff. The powerhouse conference ruled the BCS. It dominated the four-team playoff. And, it planned to rule this format. Four bids? Five bids? More? A mirage, the SEC's vision became. The SEC regressed this season. The conference ain't what it used to be. As the College Football Playoff semifinals arrive, Texas stands as the SEC's lone representative. The Long...

More teams, more drama, more bellyaching . The College Football Playoff's first round served a series of blowouts, resulting in blowback that the selection committee whiffed on its at-large picks.  But, is the committee really to blame for the first-round drubbings, and if so, which teams would have been better qualifiers? Hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams debate that question on today's e...