Things got a bit tense in a fancy meeting room at the Hilton Sandestin. Top college football coaches and their athletic directors were arguing about the future of the Playoff. Not everyone agreed, especially about letting lots of teams get in automatically. The idea of adding a ninth conference game or a special in-league playoff at the end of the year was a big no. Since the 2025 schedule is already set, it’s about to get real for teams like Billy Napier’s Gators and Brent Venables‘ Sooners. They’re both facing super tough SEC schedules that could either make or break their year.

Brent Venables and Billy Napier had very different 2024 seasons, but in 2025, they’re both facing the same big question: Can they get into the College Football Playoff?

Oklahoma had a rough 6-7 finish, losing a close one to Navy. Their 2-6 SEC record didn’t help, and Venables is under a lot of pressure as the Sooners dive fully into SEC play. Napier’s Gators, on the other hand, showed some fight late last season. Florida ended 8-5 with big wins over LSU and Ole Miss, and then crushed Tulane in a bowl game. Napier might have some momentum, but both teams need to be consistently good, not just show flashes. If either of them makes real noise this season, it’ll depend on who truly steps up when it matters most.

So, here we are in 2025, and both coaches are in a similar spot. They’re both feeling the heat to prove themselves. Plus, both their teams’ over/under win total is set at 6.5. On the June 1st That SEC Football podcast, SEC Mike and Cousin Shane really broke down whether these teams actually have a shot at the playoffs.

Mike didn’t hold back when Florida came up in the playoff conversation. He boldly floated a 10–2 ceiling for Billy Napier’s Gators—calling their 2025 schedule a “damn gauntlet.” He dialed it back a notch, settling on 9–3 as the more realistic best-case scenario. “That would easily be Napier’s best season yet,” he said, pointing out the coach has never hit eight regular-season wins.

And when SEC Mike tossed the question to Cousin Shane—“Could you see a path to 9–3 for the Gators?”— Shane didn’t sugarcoat it: “No. No, not really.”

He doubled down on why. “I mean, you give them a zoo schedule, then they’re in. We’re talking about, you know, this is a team that’s destined for great things,” Shane said. “But unfortunately, they are going to have to have some competitive depth. That’s for sure, because they are going to be tested week in, week out just like every SEC team.” So, his bottom line? Florida’s path is just tougher than most. Still, he cracked the door open slightly: “Can 9 and 3 happen? I shouldn’t say no. I think it could. I do believe that would be the ceiling though.”

Billy Napier’s Gators are staring down a brutal 2025 schedule loaded with SEC heavyweights and marquee matchups. After opening with LIU and South Florida, Florida hits the road for early battles against LSU and Miami. October features a home clash with Texas and trips to Texas A&M and Georgia. The Gators then face Kentucky, Ole Miss, Vols, and close the season against rival FSU. With no easy weeks, this slate will test every bit of Napier’s rebuild in Gainesville.

Shane summed it up with a dose of SEC reality: “Nine and three could be on the table if everything lines up. But even then, the best might not be enough to get you in.” In other words, in a league this brutal, peaking still might not punch your Playoff ticket.

Just like Billy Napier’s Gators, Brent Venables’ Oklahoma squad finds itself staring down a gauntlet in 2025. “They were 6–7 last year. But can you go from 6-7 to 10–2? Hell yeah, I really do think you can with the changes they’ve made,” Mike said.

Brent Venables shook up Oklahoma’s offense in 2024, firing OC Seth Littrell mid-season and promoting Joe Jon Finley while naming Kevin Johns co-OC and QB coach. And the QB spot saw turmoil, with Jackson Arnold starting but benched after turnovers, handing the reins to freshman Michael Hawkins Jr. So for 2025, the Sooners brought in transfer QB John Mateer from Washington State to steady the position and launch a fresh offensive scheme under new OC Ben Arbuckle.

Still, Mike wasn’t sugarcoating the road ahead. He called it “landmines all over this damn thing,” pointing to tough matchups like Michigan and Auburn, and even predicting a win over Texas. But with a new-look offense and plenty of moving pieces, the margin for error is razor-thin.

Just like Florida, Oklahoma’s best-case scenario might not be enough in a cutthroat SEC schedule. Although a 10-2 season isn’t impossible, when Mike asked Shane what he thought, Shane was direct: “Again, they’ve made a lot of additions in the offseason that we’re excited about, but I don’t think it was enough to get us into playoff talk.”

Here’s the real deal: scheduling plays a huge role. “We can’t sugarcoat it. Oklahoma knows exactly what they’re up against. They got kind of the raw end of the deal, but they still have an opportunity to dance.” Their 2025 schedule features a tough slate with SEC rivals like Auburn, LSU, Ole Miss, Missouri at home, and road trips to Alabama, South Carolina, and Tennessee, plus a neutral-site game against Texas. They’ll also face non-conference opponents Illinois State, Michigan, Temple, and Kent State. This mix sets the stage for a challenging season as Oklahoma continues its SEC transition.

Shane is rooting for Venables to keep his job because the Sooners are really showing progress in 2025. “Because I do think that you see a noticeable improvement with the Sooners in 2025. And so much so that, you’re like, ‘hey, let’s give this another year.’ Now next year, we’re potentially talking about that playoff spot. But you have to build something. It’s not like you could just replace your roster and go out there and win a natty.” Shane is clear: you can’t just switch out players and expect to win a championship right away.

Oklahoma has to build their team piece by piece, and that’s happening now. The real talk about them making the playoffs? That’s likely for 2026. And while all this playoff chatter is going on about these two SEC teams, Rece Davis had a blunt warning for the whole conference.

The SEC Playoff fight

The big playoff drama between the SEC and the Big Ten is getting intense. The heads of both conferences, Tony Petitti for the Big Ten and Greg Sankey for the SEC, are in a big fight, each trying to get the best deal for their league. Fans are just confused, like watching a complicated TV show. All this started back in February when both conferences met and agreed on a 14-team playoff.

This plan would give four guaranteed spots each to the SEC and Big Ten. The ACC and Big 12 would get two spots each, and the last two would go to Notre Dame or a smaller Group of 5 team (if Notre Dame wasn’t already in). When this plan was announced, people got really upset, saying it would mess up college football.

On a podcast last week, ESPN’s Rece Davis gave a strong warning about the SEC’s playoff plans. He said, “They make a decision that they think is going to rectify a problem that they have identified that has shown up in the past, and then a bigger problem emerges that they didn’t foresee or they diminished. I think guys like Greg Sankey and Tony Petitti are trying to do that. I think there are more undesirable unintended consequences that would come from automatic qualifiers.” Basically, trying to fix one problem often creates bigger, unexpected ones.

The main issue is that quick fixes can cause bigger problems that no one saw coming. It’s like solving one puzzle piece, only to find many new ones pop up. There’s another playoff idea, called the 5-11 model. This one would give five automatic spots: one to each major conference winner and one to the best Group of 5 team. The other 11 spots would go to the highest-ranked teams. This sounds fair, but because the SEC almost always has so many highly ranked teams, they would still easily get 4-5 spots. This could lead to the same old complaints and frustration from other teams across the country, just like in the old BCS days.