2025 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE ANALYSIS: Dunedin looks to soar higher with alum Climan to rebuild Falcons

OVERVIEW

With Dunedin alum Greg Climan coming in as head coach for the Falcons in 2025, Climan looks to rebuild the once storied program back to winning games. However, that challenge won’t be completely easy given that at times in 2024 Dunedin was blown out in games. Here is a breakdown of Dunedin’s 2025 schedule as they look to make improvements on the field.

2025 SCHEDULE

Kickoff 7:30 pm unless noted

* – District

Week 1 – Fri. 8/22: vs. Countryside (Clearwater)

Week 2 – Thu. 8/28: at Osceola (Seminole)

Week 3 – Fri. 9/5: at Land O’ Lakes

Week 4 – Fri. 9/12: vs. Hollins (St. Petersburg)

Week 5 – Fri. 9/19: at Seminole (Seminole)

Week 6 – Fri. 9/26: vs. Hudson*

Week 7 – Fri. 10/3: BYE WEEK

Week 8 – Fri. 10/10: vs. Nature Coast (Brooksville)*

Week 9 – Fri. 10/17: at Tarpon Springs

Week 10 – Fri. 10/24: vs. Anclote (Holiday)*

Week 11 – Thu. 10/30: vs. Palm Harbor University

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE

Dunedin has been a struggling team for quite some time, so it should be no surprise that the Falcons will enter the 2025 season with a strength of schedule just north of .400 at .405. The toughest opponent is going to be a very strong Tarpon Springs program that reached the playoffs last year outside of district foes Nature Coast and Hudson who gave teams runs for their money. The easiest opponent for a team that was 3-7 in 2024? That answer is going to be Anclote who has found the winning side of the scoreboard just once – maybe twice – in the last three years alone. If it is worth noting, Dunedin walloped Anclote 50-7 last season. Overall, the schedule is slightly harder with Southeast being swapped out for Land O’ Lakes who have been either in the playoffs or a playoff contender over the last few seasons.

KEY GAMES & MUST-WATCH MATCHUPS

Dunedin defeated Countryside for the first time in almost two decades last season, setting up this year’s matchup to likely be another showdown to open the season. The biggest district game will come down to two district games with Hudson in Week 6 – who won the district last year – and in Week 8 against Nature Coast who will be another contender for the district title. To create a little more competition in the district, Coach Climan will need to have the Falcons ready to win one of these two games to make things more interesting. Tarpon Springs will be the top non-district matchup for Dunedin who was considerable playoff team last year for the first time in years.

HOME VS. AWAY BALANCE

For Dunedin, getting six games at home while on going on the road for four is something that most teams don’t usually get. However, for the Falcons most games taking place inside Pinellas County, Dunedin won’t be far from the comforts of home during the season. In fact, the longest road trip for the Falcons will be the 35-mile jaunt through traffic in Pinellas and Pasco counties over to Land O’ Lakes in Week 3, which is the new opponent on the schedule for 2025.

OPPONENT BREAKDOWN

Of the opponents on the schedule for Dunedin, just three teams were playoff teams in 2025 which includes two district foes in Hudson and Nature Coast. That means the ease of the schedule is there for the Falcons, but they will need to capitalize on winning games. With Land O’ Lakes being the new opponent on the schedule, that makes things slightly harder even though their new opponent missed the playoffs in 2024.

BYE WEEK PLACEMENT

With the bye week coming at Week 7, that is a good placement of the bye week for the Falcons who could use the rest before going into a Week 8 showdown with Nature Coast. If the Falcons are improved at this point and depending on how Week 6 goes against Hudson could determine the success of how the bye week goes.

PLAYOFF IMPLICATIONS

While Dunedin was 3-7 last season, if Coach Climan can instill improvements for the Falcons and get them on the winning path, could the playoffs be possible in 2025? That is certainly a possibility. First and foremost, as we have already stressed, winning at least one of the two games against either Hudson or Nature Coast would go a long way towards that goal. Defeating a team like Land O’ Lakes or Tarpon Springs in non-district action will also be games that will certainly boost the resume. If Dunedin does reach the playoffs, I wouldn’t expect them to get no higher than a No. 7 seed given the strength of schedule at this time.

PREDICTED RECORD & FINAL THOUGHTS

Dunedin is looking at many different types of scenarios for the 2025 season. One scenario is certainly finishing with a stronger record with a 5-5 or 6-4 record but will require winning a few more games that were lost including at least winning one more district game. Worst case scenario could be that Dunedin goes the opposite way, and things slide backwards towards 2-8, 1-9 or possibly erasing the wins gained in 2024 as Coach Climan works to build his system with the new coaching staff. However, to be more optimistic, we see the Falcons looking at about finishing near where they finished in 2024 or adding at least one more win to improve to 6-4 as the Falcons were competitively close with Palm Harbor University at the end of the 2024 season and that could be a loss from last year that can be flipped to a win the easiest.