Greg McElroy Picks Biggest Threat to Texas Longhorns in SEC

It should be no secret that the Texas Longhorns are primed and ready for one of their best seasons yet.

The team is not only favored to win the SEC Championship, but many favorite the Burnt Orange to hoist the national championship trophy in Miami in January.

And after their successful conference debut last season that saw them steamroll through the SEC (except for Georgia, who defeated the Longhorns twice, including in the SEC title game), which saw them finish off the regular season by silencing a rowdy Kyle Field crowd to defeat the Texas A&M Aggies in the first Lone Star Showdown in 13 years.

Greg McElroy Believes Alabama Can Challenge Texas in SEC

However, there are still 15 other teams in the SEC that can serve as a challenge to Texas, and one analyst in particular believes that one team can serve the biggest competitor for the team in 2025.

On the Get Up podcast Thursday, analysts Paul Finebaum and Greg McElroy debated who they believed would be the biggest challenge for Texas in 2025, and McElroy went with a biased selection, saying his alma mater, the Alabama Crimson Tide who will be going into their second year with Kalen DeBoer as head coach.

"I'm sure this is going to shock Paul, I'm sure this is going to shock the panel, but I'm going to go with Alabama," McElroy said. "I actually look at what Alabama had to endure last year, and while people will look at the record and say 'oh, they went 9-4,' that was a pretty remarkable season considering the other coaches that lost coaches in January."

"I look at what Kalen DeBoer has coming into the season. He has established a foundation. All the guys that are there are guys that he has either recruited himself or that have bought into him."

Alabama will now have to adjust to having Ty Simpson under center with Jalen Milroe now in the NFL, but considering how well past quarterbacks have done in the Tide system, even without Nick Saban, the team very well could be back in contention for the SEC crown along with Texas and Georgia.

The Longhorns and Crimson Tide did not play last year and will not meet in the regular season this season. But the last time they did play, Texas, still in the Big 12 conference, marched into Bryant-Denny Stadium and stunned Saban and the Tide with a 34-24 win, snapping the Crimson Tide's 21-game home winning streak.