No. 1 Texas at No. 3 Ohio State and No. 9 LSU at No. 4 Clemson are the spotlight games involving SEC

By Canadian Press on August 28, 2025.

Things to watch this week in the Southeastern Conference:

Game of the week

No. 1 Texas at No. 3 Ohio State, Saturday, noon ET (Fox)

Texas is the preseason No. 1 for the first time and the fifth straight SEC team to sit atop the Associated Press poll entering the season. The Longhorns are being put to the test right away with a game against the defending national champion Buckeyes in the Horseshoe in a rematch of a College Football Playoff semifinal.

It’s a grand stage for Texas’ Arch Manning, next in a family line of quarterback royalty. He started two games last year in place of an injured Quinn Ewers, but this is viewed as his coming out party. Julian Sayin will make his first start for the Buckeyes.

A couple streaks are on the line. Texas leads the nation with 11 straight wins in true road games; Ohio State leads the nation with a 25-game win streak in openers.

BetMGM has Ohio State as a 1 1/2-point favorite.

The undercard

No. 9 LSU at No. 4 Clemson, Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET (ABC)

This is a battle of Heisman Trophy hopefuls in Clemson’s Cade Klubnik and LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier. Klubnik is the first-team quarterback on the Associated Press preseason All-America team and Nussmeier is the second-team pick.

The teams are meeting for the first time since Joe Burrow threw five touchdown passes and ran for another in a 42-25 win in the 2019 season CFP championship game.

BetMGM Sportsbook has Clemson as a 4-point favorite.

Impact players

Vanderbilt TE Eli Stowers: The first-team AP preseason All-American’s 638 receiving yards last season were second-most by a Vanderbilt tight end since 1996, and his 49.1 receiving yards per game tied for first among SEC players at the position. He also was Vandy’s first tight end since 1996 with multiple 100-yard receiving games.

Texas A&M RB Le’Veon Moss: He’s back for his senior season after rushing for 765 yards and 10 touchdowns on 121 carries and catching 10 passes for 141 yards. He did all that in the first nine games before sustaining a season-ending injury.

Georgia CB Daylen Everette: The Bulldogs lost NFL first-round draft pick Malaki Starks from the secondary but return Everette, the MVP of the SEC championship game. Everette led the Bulldogs with three interceptions and was sixth on the team with 58 tackles. He enters the season with 28 consecutive starts.

Inside the numbers

The SEC has a record 10 teams in the AP Top 25: No. 1 Texas, No. 5 Georgia, No. 8 Alabama, No. 9 LSU, No. 13 South Carolina, No. 15 Florida, No. 18 Oklahoma, No. 19 Texas A&M, No. 21 Mississippi and No. 24 Tennessee. … The SEC hasn’t had a team in the national championship game since the 2022 season. In the 17 seasons before that, an SEC team had played for the title 16 times. … Since 2006, the SEC has posted the highest nonconference winning percentage (regular season and bowls). The league has a 927-232 record for an .800 winning percentage. The SEC was 63-16 (.797) last season. … Florida enters the season having not been shut out in a Football Bowl Subdivision-record 461 games since a 16-0 loss to Auburn in 1988.

Get to know him

QB Joey Aguilar will be Tennessee’s fourth starting quarterback in four years when the Volunteers open against Syracuse in Atlanta. The Vols started Hendon Hooker in 2022, Joe Milton III in 2023 and Nico Iamaleava in 2024.

Aguilar took a circuitous route to Knoxville. He played at City College of San Francisco in 2019, Diablo Valley Community College in California in 2021-22 and Appalachian State in 2023-24. He spent the spring at UCLA and entered the transfer portal on April 21.

Aguilar is the FBS active career leader in total offense per game (288.5) and second in passing yards per game (270.4). He’ll be making his 25th FBS start.

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Eric Olson, The Associated Press