Last Week’s Record: 10-0 (100.0%)
Season’s Record: 97-20 (82.9%)
Even during “Cupcake Week,” it’s not often that the Predictions Dept. gets a perfect score this late in the season. To close out the 2025 regular season, we of course get the far more difficult “Rivalry Week.” Alabama-Auburn is going to be the only game Alabama fans really care about this week, of course.
MISSOURI at ARKANSAS
The SEC has tried to gin up some heat here for years but the temperature is a bit tepid this year, affected greatly by Arkansas’ disaster of a season. The Razorbacks get one last chance to get a win for interim coach Bob Petrino, who will apparently not be retained for a second go-round as the permanent head coach. Arkansas has lost nine straight games, but the Razorbacks do have a functional offense and Missouri has a problem here: production at the quarterback position following an injury to its top two on the depth chart. Bo Pribula might be available this week, but he’d be limited if so. Even though Arkansas has no defense, the Missouri defense is probably not good to completely shut down the Hog offense, so this one will come down to whether Pribula or more likely Matt Zollers can be effective. Right out of the gate, we’ve got a potential Upset Special here, especially with the game in Fayetteville, but all Missouri really needs is just a couple of key stops and its own offense ought to be able to do the rest.
Missouri 30
Arkansas 27
ALABAMA at AUBURN
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FLORIDA STATE at FLORIDA
Rarely has this game meant so little. Florida State collapsed after its Week 1 upset of Alabama, and Florida was bad enough to see Billy Napier fired as head coach and follow that up with horrendous losses to Kentucky and Tennessee. The season’s end can’t get here fast enough for either team, and the bad news for Florida State is that if the Seminoles win, they’ll actually have to play another game once bowl season arrives. Could Florida beat Florida State in a season in which Alabama could not? In this crazy year, anything is possible for Florida Men.
Florida 21
Florida State 17
GEORGIA vs. GEORGIA TECH (at Atlanta, Ga.)
Three weeks ago, it looked like the Yellow Jackets might even come into this game favored, even though Tech had sold out its home game and moved things to Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Then the wheels started to come off. A loss to NC State, a closer-than-it-should-have-been win over Boston College and another loss to Pitt and suddenly Tech looks more like the team pundits thought they would be in the preseason. Georgia, meanwhile, has improved steadily and while the Bulldogs lack flash, especially on the defensive side this year, they’re making fewer mistakes and have a better track record in tough games. Getting the game out of Bobby Dodd Stadium was a coup, as it helps to keep Georgia’s playoff hopes alive.
Georgia 30
Georgia Tech 20
KENTUCKY at LOUISVILLE
Kentucky needs to win for bowl eligibility, and given the way Louisville has played over the past month, it wouldn’t surprise us to see the Wildcats get what they’re after. Louisville has lost three straight, including an inexplicable overtime loss to Cal, but for the most part the Cardinals have played the better teams close and have taken care of business against equal or lesser opponents. Kentucky is probably equal to Louisville at best and a notch below at worst, but we think the recent trends at both schools will continue. Kentucky is 3-1 over its last four, although the most recent game was a blowout loss to Vanderbilt in which Kentucky was never competitive. More noise than heat in this one.
Kentucky 24
Louisville 20
LOUISIANA STATE at OKLAHOMA
In the preseason, this looked like an intriguing Week 14 matchup between two potential contenders. It hasn’t worked out that way, though, because Oklahoma has leveled off a bit – especially on offense, where the Sooners just aren’t very good – and LSU’s struggles are well-known. Most LSU fans are more preoccupied right now with their coaching search than anything to do with this game. The fact that LSU had to scratch to get by Western Kentucky last week says a lot.
Oklahoma 24
LSU 7
MISSISSIPPI at MISSISSIPPI STATE
Speaking of coaching searches, Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin is seemingly a central figure in all of them. Competing media reports have him headed to LSU, Florida and Penn State, or in a holding pattern in case Penn State were to somehow snap up Kalen DeBoer from Alabama. There’s always the chance that Kiffin comes back to Oxford, which is not out of the realm of possibility at all. Still, the drama and overbearing attention on Kiffin’s job status could wind up the perfect recipe for an upset on the road against a team wholly capable of scoring a lot of points. There’s no comparison, roster-wise – Ole Miss is several steps above the Bulldogs, but Mississippi State has enough functionality at the passing game to not look like a total pushover. Now we find out how well the Rebels can shut out all the distractions.
Ole Miss 38
Mississippi St. 24
CLEMSON at SOUTH CAROLINA
Here’s another one that is going to wind up not living up to preseason hype. South Carolina fans thought this was going to be their year; as it turns out, bad offensive line play and a killer schedule weren’t the right mix. Clemson has been leaking oil for several seasons already but it turned into a gusher after Clemson dropped three of its first four games. The Tigers have righted the ship somewhat over the past month, winning three straight games, but a 1-point win over Louisville is the only one worth talking about. There will be no postseason in Columbia this year, as the Gamecocks have already reached the seven-loss plateau, but they can deny their rivals a winning regular season with an upset. We really can’t tell if either team has it in them, frankly.
Clemson 20
South Carolina 19
VANDERBILT at TENNESSEE
Someone almost had a heck of a research project on their hands: figuring out the last time Tennessee was a home underdog against Vanderbilt. As it turns out, the Volunteers opened as 2.5-point favorites and have since run that up to 3 points, but other than the venue, what are prognosticators seeing here? Vanderbilt can score with anyone, and Tennessee QB Joey Aguilar is prone to making mistakes under pressure. The singular question here is whether Vanderbilt’s defense can get enough stops. The Commodores are one step away from potentially knocking down the door of the playoffs, if they can just close this deal.
Vanderbilt 29
Tennessee 27
TEXAS A&M at TEXAS
We’ve heard as many rumors swirling over this one as anything involving Lane Kiffin. Steve Sarkisian’s name has also come up in the Penn State search – the Nittany Lions are apparently willing to do crazy things to get a coach they want – and Sarkisian is also rumored to be getting the NFL itch again. In the meantime, Texas A&M is playing for a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff and has a hot offense. Texas’ offense is erratic; it’s plenty good enough to cause troubles for the Aggies – especially since Texas A&M’s defense is prone to downward spikes every now and then – but you can’t count on it. For every scoreboard explosion, there’s a come-back-to-earth moment like what Texas suffered against Georgia. Were the game in Kyle Field, we’d consider this a fairly comfortable margin of victory in favor of the Aggies, but having the game in Austin does close the spread a bit. We just don’t know by how much.
Texas A&M 30
Texas 24
Follow Jess Nicholas on X at @TideFansJessN