NCAA Tournament: Sweet 16 Schools That Could Also Make the 2025 CFB Playoff

While most of the sports world is immersed in March Madness, college football teams around the nation have an eye toward spring success.

For some universities, basketball is just a nice diversion to pass the time until warmer weather gives way to fall days on the gridiron. But there are more than a handful of “everything schools” out there that have all-around athletic success.

There are a handful of Sweet 16 teams that could even experience the same success when it comes to football season. 

While a few of these are a stretch, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that eight remaining basketball programs’ players could be watching their football brethren in the College Football Playoff later this year.

Of course, this list is SEC-heavy because the Sweet 16 has a record seven conference teams in it. Don’t be surprised if this season’s playoffs follow suit. Yes, Greg Sankey has a powerhouse on his hands down South.

Let’s take a look at some of the basketball powerhouses whose fans could have a big ’25 later down the road, too. 

No matter what anybody wants to tell you about Alabama being in the playoff hunt late in the 2024 season, coach Kalen DeBoer’s first season in Tuscaloosa was a disappointment.

A 9-4 campaign simply didn’t happen in the Nick Saban era, and the season-ending bowl loss to Michigan put the exclamation point on a thud of a campaign. But don’t expect DeBoer to be down for long.

He’s too good of a coach, and the Crimson Tide is the standard-bearer of college football. They will be back, and it may be as soon as this year.

It’s a stretch to think of ‘Bama as a title contender considering the Tide are breaking in a new quarterback from the trio of Ty Simpson, Austin Mack and true freshman Keelon Russell, but there is immense talent. If one of those guys can be dynamic, the College Football Playoff is definitely in the picture.

Alabama should have a championship-caliber defense in ’25, and that can carry a team a long way. Yes, DeBoer needs to get the ball to Ryan Williams more on offense, but he will.

Just don’t call Alabama a “basketball school,” even though Nate Oates’ high-octane Tide can score with anybody and are a dangerous out every year now. Fans are excited about Mark Sears and Co.’s deep hardwood tourney run, but they’re just biding their time.

Tuscaloosa is a football Mecca, and everybody cares about DeBoer getting back on a championship track. A playoff run in Year 2 would get him back in good graces.

Bruce Pearl's Auburn Tigers basketball team has it all. They're the top seed in the NCAA tournament, and despite a late-season swoon, they seem to be hitting their stride again in March.

They've got veteran stars like Johni Broome and a stud freshman in Tahaad Pettiford. They could win it all, and Auburn fans have the fever for this coach and program.

But they pine for football to get back on track. Alabama, after all, is a football-crazed state, and while basketball has its attention right now with the Tide and Tigers in the mix for a title, everybody loves the pigskin.

Coach Hugh Freeze is entering Year 3 in the Loveliest Village on the Plains, and the first two haven't gone according to plan. Of course, the Tigers were way down at the end of the Gus Malzahn era and for the disastrous, two-year Bryan Harsin era, but this hasn't been an overnight rebuild.

Freeze's second foray into the SEC hasn't been easy, but Auburn is a proud program with a rich history, and the Tigers went all-in with the portal, grabbing talented Oklahoma transfer quarterback Jackson Arnold, elite receiver Eric Singleton and more.

With the way Freeze has recruited, you'd think all that talent will start showing up soon. Outfitting the roster with some of the top players in the portal could pay immediate dividends.

It's a stretch to think of Auburn as playoff contenders in '25, but the portal is the great equalizer. Stranger things have happened.

For the majority of the 2024 college football season, Kalani Sitake’s BYU Cougars were right up there with Arizona State and Indiana when it came to the feel-good stories in the sport.

They were 9-0 late in the year and appeared to be a lock for the Big 12 title game with an automatic bid to the College Football Playoff on the line. Then, suddenly, things came crashing down in a bitter two-week stretch.

After a stunning 17-13 upset loss to Kansas, the Cougars turned right around and lost to the Sun Devils in another close one, 28-23, ending their conference title hopes. The College Football Playoff dreams were dashed at the same time.

But on the flip side of the disappointment, the Cougars were nine total points away from an unbeaten season and finished 11-2 after dominating Colorado in the Alamo Bowl.

Simply put, BYU may be loaded in ’25 with quarterback Jake Retzlaff and running back LJ Martin back. Receivers like Keelan Marion and Jojo Phillips return, and so does a slew of defensive starters led by the linebacking trio of Isaiah Glasker, Harrison Taggart, and Jack Kelly.

Improving on an 11-win season seems tough, but Sitake’s team should be better. Truthfully, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see BYU picked at the top of the Big 12 in ’25, and that’s a very winnable conference.

The Cougars play Alabama in the Sweet 16, which may seem like an uphill battle. But the football team may even be better than this year’s hoops group.

The most dangerous team in the NCAA tournament right now may just be coach Todd Golden's Florida Gators. They're deep, talented and seem to have it all. They're also playing some great basketball at this time, despite a narrow win over UConn.

This is definitely a team that can win it all.

But what should we make of the Gators on the gridiron in '25? The Swamp is dying to watch some quality football again, and the glimpses the team showed late last year, going on a run and especially upsetting Ole Miss gave the fans so much hope.

With talented, young quarterback DJ Lagway leading the way and a loaded recruiting class coming to Gainesville, the Gators are one of the popular teams-of-destiny picks of the offseason.

It's worth noting, however, Florida still has an absolutely daunting schedule again, just like they did last year. Yes, this team won four consecutive games to close the season, but they're going to have to be battle-tested again.

Lagway's development is crucial, and the blending of the talented freshmen into the rotation is a major deal. This is especially the case at receiver, where Florida lost some weapons and on the defensive side of the ball where key pieces are gone to the NFL.

If you want to have a feeling about the Gators, "hope" is one thing, but there's a reason to be cautiously optimistic. It feels like coach Billy Napier is firmly off the hot seat, but he has to keep things moving in the right direction.

The 2024 college football season was never going to be an easy one for the Michigan Wolverines. Yes, they were the defending national champions, but they lost a ton of elite playmakers on both sides of the ball.

They also lost head coach Jim Harbaugh, who left for the NFL.

It was going to be an overhaul and a bit of a rebuild in Ann Arbor, and there were major bumps in the road and spots of horrific offense and awful quarterback play. However, you wouldn't know about that from the offseason excitement.

The upside of last year's 8-5 campaign were late-season wins over national champion and hated rival Ohio State and traditional powerhouse Alabama in the bowl game.

It sounds a little bit like the surprising job basketball coach Dusty May did in his first year leading the Big Blue. Few thought the Wolverines would amount to much, yet here they are in the Sweet 16 with a chance to make a splash.

The future is bright in both sports.

Football coach Sherrone Moore followed the late-season excitement by landing a bunch of elite recruits, highlighted by the nation's top-ranked player and Michigan native, 5-star quarterback Bryce Underwood.

Will he start as a true freshman? The Wolverines got Mikey Keene transferring in from Fresno State, but they're paying Underwood a ton of money, and he's too talented to watch.

How they handle the quarterback situation may determine just how good the Wolverines can be. But this could be a surprise team that's right back in the playoff hunt.

Arguably one of the biggest remaining surprises in the NCAA tournament is the Ole Miss Rebels, who have caught fire at the right time under second-year coach Chris Beard.

Basketball isn't something they're normally known for in Oxford, but then again, it had been a while for football, too, until Lane Kiffin came to town. It's all about who you hire, and it turns out the quaint little Southern campus has become quite the haven for athletics.

Kiffin is expected to have yet another quality team again in 2025 after hitting the portal hard once again and surrounding talented, young sophomore signal-caller Austin Simmons with a wealth of talent, especially in the wide receiver room.

Nobody loaded up on pass-catchers like the Rebels, and they still have a lot of difference-makers on defense returning, too. Kiffin has shown recently he isn't scared to try to build title-contenders with transfers, and Ole Miss was one win away from the College Football Playoff last year.

Could they take a step back in '25 with so many new faces? Of course. Nothing is guaranteed in a loaded SEC and portal guys aren't always a lock to jell. But Kiffin is a terrific coach who knows what he's doing.

The Rebels could be right back in the thick of the race.

As Rick Barnes and the Tennessee basketball team search for that elusive first Final Four for the program and Barnes’ second in his career, the fans on Rocky Top are in a Big Orange frenzy.

What a special time it is to be a Vol with the football program making it to the College Football Playoff last year and Tony Vitello’s baseball team winning the national championship. Tennessee fans hope basketball can follow suit.

It’s always going to be about football in Knoxville, though, and a fan base that is as rabid as they come and has wandered through the wilderness in that sport for years has soaked in the improvement under coach Josh Heupel.

There’s no question the coach has brought Tennessee back, but the question is can the Vols take the next step, win an SEC championship and compete for a national title?

If so, they’re going to have to get better production out of talented quarterback Nico Iamaleava and find some capable receivers in a depleted pass-catching room.

There are holes for the Vols, yes, but Tennessee always recruits top-tier talent, and they have a favorable schedule again this upcoming season—well, as favorable as things get in the SEC.

At this point, fans expect Tennessee to compete for the playoffs every year. Can they do it again? If so, it’ll start a trend.

The 2025 college football season is a very big one for Texas Tech and coach Joey McGuire, who needs to start showing he's much more than just a legendary high school coach from the Lone Star State.

This is big-time college football, and they are wanting to break out in the Big 12 in Lubbock. While McGuire has shown his recruiting chops by landing talented players throughout the hotbed that is Texas, things haven't meshed altogether yet.

The Red Raiders could change all that this year after going heavy in the transfer portal and landing some quality pieces with the nation's third-ranked portal class.

Much like Grant McCasland's Red Raiders basketball team, McGuire's football bunch could be a high-scoring unit with the return of veteran quarterback Behren Morton.

But they brought in reinforcements on both sides of the ball like 4-stars linebacker Romello Height, defensive lineman Lee Hunter, offensive linemen Howard Sampson, Will Jados and Hunter Zambrano, tight end Terrance Carter Jr., defensive backs Brice Pollock, Cole Wisniewski and Amier Boyd, and running back Quinten Joyner. That's a massive haul.

If McGuire can find the right formula to mesh everything together, the Red Raiders could contend in a wide-open Big 12.

That would be a big deal in Lubbock where they love their Red Raiders and haven't had the type of excitement around the program since Mike Leach was the coach. There are some pretty lofty expectations surrounding McGuire this year.