Playoff Chaos: SEC and Big Ten Poised to Dominate the 2025 Field
The final stretch of the regular season is coming up and teams are starting to lock up playoff spots. At the beginning of the season we knew that it would be hectic but, no one thought that it would come down to the wire. This season is unique as there are multiple contenders for the championship but some may not make the playoffs.
The SEC conference has to feel great after this weekend as it looks like five of their teams will be able to make the playoffs compared to last year’s three. Yesterday, the Oklahoma Sooners were able to defeat the Alabama Crimson Tide. This creates a scenario where more teams from the conference will be able to compete for playoff spots. The race to get the the SEC championship is going to come down to Thanksgiving weekend but, as we watched last year it doesn’t matter if you make the league championship games. The undefeated Texas A&M Aggies are the only team in the SEC that would be able to withstand a loss and still make the playoffs. Georgia, Alabama, Ole Miss and Oklahoma all control their own destiny as they can get at large bids by winning the rest of their games. These teams will all be favorites against their next opponents. Barring any upsets I would expect five SEC teams to make the playoffs this year.
The Big 10 conference had hopes to have four of their teams make the playoffs this season but those hopes may have been crushed this weekend. It’s a long shot but, if any of the top five SEC teams lose an upcoming game it’s possible. According to the All State playoff predictor the best case scenario for the Big 10 includes Ohio State, Indiana, USC, and Oregon. How can this happen? Well, the USC Trojans have to win the rest of their games and Oregon would still need to beat Washington. Ohio State and Indiana would also have to play for the conference championship game. The predictor gives a 100% chance to make the playoffs for the Buckeyes and the Hoosiers in this scenario. The Ducks would have a 78% chance and the Trojans a 68% chance without making the conference championship game. Very slim possibility this could happen but, the Big 10 will have at least three teams representing the conference in the playoffs this year.
Once again the playoffs will predominantly be represented by Big 10 and SEC programs. Based on the playoff predictor and rankings there will only be one at-large bid outside of the conference champions and the teams we mentioned above. We can assume that Notre Dame (10-2) would be able to get into the playoff unless complete chaos arises the next couple of weeks. The Fighting Irish have two losses on their resume but both of those opponents are ranked inside the Top 15. Both losses came at the start of the season and they have looked like a bonafide playoff team ever since.
Playoff predictions by conference:
SEC (5): Texas A&M, Alabama, Ole Miss, Georgia, and Oklahoma
BIG 10 (3): Ohio State, Indiana, and Oregon
BIG 12 (1): Conference champion
ACC (1): Conference champion
G5 (1): Highest ranked conference champion
At-Large (1): Notre Dame
