How's this for a wild scenario? USA TODAY Sports' college football expert believes Alabama will face this SEC rival three times in 2025.
Feel like a wild prediction for Alabama football just days before the start of the 2025 season?
On Monday, USA TODAY Sports expert Erick Smith unveiled his 2025 bowl projections and which teams he forecasts to make the 12-team College Football Playoff. The veteran analyst sees Alabama as the SEC champion and playing in the Sugar Bowl on New Year's Day as the top overall seed.
Alabama making the playoff, even as the No. 1 seed, isn't such a crazy thought. Entering 2025, the Crimson Tide return a lot of talent on both sides of the ball, especially up front, at wide receiver and in the secondary. They're ranked No. 8 in the preseason US LBM Coaches Poll and AP Top 25 poll.
Where Smith's prediction gets a little uncommon is who Alabama will play when coach Kalen DeBoer's team gets to the playoff, and how many times.
Could Alabama and Georgia meet three times in 2025?
In addition to Alabama as the projected No. 1 seed, Smith believes the 2025 CFP bracket will feature three SEC rivals joining the Crimson Tide: Georgia, LSU and Texas.
While the USA TODAY Sports analyst sees Alabama beating the winner of a first-round game between LSU and Oregon, he sees the Tide falling in the CFP semifinals to Kirby Smart's Georgia Bulldogs.
Alabama faces Georgia in the SEC opener for both teams on Sept. 27 at Sanford Stadium (6:30 p.m. CT, ABC). Based on Smiths' projected playoff seeding, the Tide and Bulldogs would seemingly meet again for a rematch in the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta -- then meet for a third time at the Peach Bowl, also in Atlanta.
Sound crazy? Perhaps, but with playoff and conference expansion, and both the SEC and Big Ten lapping the field in both seeding and on-field results (the last team from neither league to win a national title was 2018 Clemson), it's probably only a matter of time before two conference opponents meet three times in one season.
Alabama opens the 2025 season Saturday against the Florida State Seminoles at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on ABC.
SEC football expert bowl projections for 2025 season
Here's a look at every SEC team that USA TODAY Sports projects to make a bowl game or College Football Playoff appearance in 2025.
College Football Playoff projections:
- Alabama: Sugar Bowl (No. 1 seed in CFP)
- Georgia: Cotton Bowl (No. 4 seed in CFP)
- Texas: first-round CFP game vs. Illinois
- LSU: first-round CFP game at Oregon
Non-playoff bowl projections:
- Auburn: Birmingham Bowl (vs. Virginia Tech)
- Florida: ReliaQuest Bowl (vs. Nebraska)
- Missouri: Liberty Bowl (vs. TCU)
- Oklahoma: Gator Bowl (vs. Miami)
- Ole Miss: Citrus Bowl (vs. Michigan)
- South Carolina: Duke's Mayo Bowl (vs. Duke)
- Tennessee: Music City Bowl (vs. Indiana)
- Texas A&M: Texas Bowl (vs. Kansas State)
Mississippi State, Kentucky, Arkansas and Vanderbilt are the four SEC teams who will not make a bowl game, per USA TODAY Sports' 2025 bowl projections
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This article originally appeared on Roll Tide Wire: Alabama football will face SEC rival three times in 2025, expert says
Category: General Sports
