NationStates Jolt Archive

Okay, so we've got two divisions. SEC East and SEC West (I'll list the teams below). And pretty much every single year, one of these teams is on the short list of teams to possibly play in the National Championship...and it's usually pretty hard to tell which one team that will be until after the SEC Championship game, which is usually one of the best games of the season...

So, let's not worry about ranking the whole SEC, just rank each division seperately, then maybe add notes about who you think might when the championship and why, etc. etc.
(I'll list the teams, then I'll rank them.)

SEC West
Alabama
Arkansas
Auburn
LSU
Mississippi
Mississippi State

SEC East
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
South Carolina
Tennessee
Vanderbilt


----my rankings----

SEC West
1. LSU
2. Auburn
3. Alabama
4. Arkansas
5. Ole Miss
6. Miss St

SEC East
1. Tennessee
2. Florida
3. Georgia
4. South Carolina
5. Kentucky
6. Vanderbilt

SEC West
Well, LSU is definitely finishing at the top. They've got 18 returning starters between both sides of the ball. In some leagues that may not mean much, but when you consider inner-conference games, the team with the most maturity can easily beat out the team with the most talent. Not to mention, LSU has any easy schedule this year anyway. Overcoming Vanderbilt, Miss St, Ole Miss, and 'Bama on the road shouldn't be too large of a task.
Behind LSU, Auburn, Bama, and Arkansas may all be very close. Auburn is only returning 12 starters. That's not complete destruction and there's enough talent left to do well, but some of the key players are gone. 'Bama will do better than they did last year if Brody Croyle stays healthy. And behind LSU, Arkansas has the most returning starters for the SEC West (at 15, 8 of them on defense) and a new defensive coordinator. Ole Miss won't do terrible, but they've only got 5 returning on defense, they have a new head coach, and a relatively tough schedule (it's also packed full of 1-AA teams, and teams that might as well be 1-AA).

SEC East
Tennessee and Florida. What do they have in common that the other SEC East teams don't? Young, talented, athletic quarterbacks that threw up and outstanding performance. Florida has Tennessee in The Swamp this year and that may swing things in Florida's favor (that stadium is hard to play...), but Florida is dealing with a new head coach, so it will be a close one, but one of these two will definitely in the championship game.
Don't get me wrong, Georgia will still do well, but they just lost on of the best quarterbacks in their history and they have to replace him. They won't be winning the SEC East this year. And South Carolina? Well, they just got a new head coach to and an impressive on at that (Spurrier), but it's too much to ask for him to do excellent this year. The problem with the SEC East is that with the exception of South Carolina, every team in the division is a top 25 or a bottom 25 team (unlike the West, which covers the full spectrum, but mostly top 50 teams), which means South Carolina will get some easy breaks with Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and some other non-conference games, with their 9 returning starters, an early season match up against 'Bama will give some sign as to their potential, and a late season match up against Arkansas will show their growth. South Carolina, however, is probably the only team in the SEC that I don't is even capable of having any "miracle victories" (pretty much what makes the SEC so unique) this year. The will either play good and hard all game long and win or ... not.

SEC Championship
I think it doesn't matter who wins the West, the East takes the championship again this year, but this time around it'll be LSU, not Auburn, and LSU has the possibility of seeing USC in the Rose Bowl so that 2 full years after the fact...we may actually get to see the National Championship that never was...

LSU has five top-25 games, which gives them a tough schedule, but their games against #18 Arizona State, #3 Tennessee, #11 Florida, and #15 Auburn are all home games. The only top-25 away game that #6 LSU has on their schedule is playing against #24 Alabama.

I suppose I'm just so right that no one is interested in disagreeing with any of my points...

Auburn wins the SEC and actually plays for the title game they should've been in last year.

Auburn wins the SEC and actually plays for the title game they should've been in last year.

With only 6 returning starters on each side of the ball? Auburn will have to work to finish 2nd place and some of their away conference games will be REALLY tough. They have to play at Arkansas and at LSU (one right after the other). Then they have to play at Georgia.

Now, Arkansas is a likely win for Auburn (although, if Arkansas does well in the first part of the season, that'll be a really tough game for Auburn considering the crowd).

But playing in LSU and Georgia...?

Now don't get me wrong, they deserved to play USC last season...I just don't think they have it in them this year.

With only 6 returning starters on each side of the ball? Auburn will have to work to finish 2nd place and some of their away conference games will be REALLY tough. They have to play at Arkansas and at LSU (one right after the other). Then they have to play at Georgia.

Now, Arkansas is a likely win for Auburn (although, if Arkansas does well in the first part of the season, that'll be a really tough game for Auburn considering the crowd).

But playing in LSU and Georgia...?

Now don't get me wrong, they deserved to play USC last season...I just don't think they have it in them this year.

I think they do. The returning players will have something to prove and the experience they have will be passed on to the new starters. Some of those starters were also on the team that made that run so even though they may not have been a starter, knows what it takes to win games.

Look for them to win the SEC this year and play for the national title game.

Brandon Cox is supposed to be Auburn's quarterback this year, correct? Because Auburn lost their QB from last season, right?

If one of the returning starters was Auburn's QB, I'd be more tempted to easily agree with you, however, even if their defense is just as good as last season (that'd be the reason I'd agree with you, because their defense is what made them so good and you don't necessarily need tons of starters back to keep a good defense), they may be losing games simply because of bad decisions by a young quarterback.

Even if Auburn does beat out LSU for the SEC West (possibly, I don't think it's likely), Auburn will be lucky if they survive Tennessee/Florida, and at that, I don't think they'd perform well in the Rose Bowl. I also do not think that Auburn will go undefeated again, even if they do win the whole SEC. I didn't put Auburn at the top for the same reason I didn't put Arkansas in 3rd and for the same reason I didn't put Georgia in 1st or 2nd. They've all got a young quarterback with very limited playing experience (if any at all) and their season is going to depend a lot on how quickly that young quarterback can mature.

Out of all of them, I think Arkansas' quarterback has the biggest chance for success. First off, the quarterback that is leaving is so unique that no one at all expects the new quarterback to really replace him. A totally different kind of quarterback is what they're looking for at Arkansas (maybe someone a little more consistent). Also, the Arkansas quarterback has 8 returning players on offense to play with, and 2 very easy home games to start the season off with. The first game that's not a definite win is almost a definite loss (at USC) so he'll get a chance to play against an extremely good defense without too high expectations/pressure yet. Not to mention, Arkansas only finished 5-6 last year, so it won't take much to improve on that. And again, of all the SEC teams with a new quarterback who has never started, Arkansas has the most returning starters on offense.
The Auburn quarterback has to adjust to his new position with only 6 returning starters, and a whole hell of a lot more pressure.