Hands down, the best conference in the nation.  LSU, Arkansas, Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky.  Man.  So you see what most people mean when they say the SEC is the best, but who will win the Southeastern Conference?

 

 

 

5 Burning SEC Questions:

 

1.  Will the QB problem at LSU be a bane on their ability to compete for the championship?

 

The Answer:  No.

Analysis:  It isn’t really even a problem.  I know Flynn is inexperienced, but he’s a talented guy and an upperclassman.  It will not damage them as an overall team and even though there will be a bit of a drop off considering they lose Russell, Broussard, and Davis, LSU is wealthy and rich in talent.  If you don’t’ recall, it was Flynn, not Russell, who operated the 40-3 Miami Massacre of the 2004 Peach Bowl.

 

 

2.       Is this the year for Spurrier?  Yeah……click-clack.

 

The Answer:  Indeed it is.

Analysis:  This team has a lot of potential and over the years, I have noticed that many great coaches finally get their program where they want it to go, for the most part, in their third season.  This happens to be Steve Spurrier’s third season and most of his recruits are seeing the field now.  Blake Mitchell got suspended and Chris Smelley will be the main guy.  If Smelley can surprise us and be all the rage at the QB position and end up starting the game against Georgia, Spurrier’s crew should be good to go.  They’ve dealt with a bunch of off-season distractions though and that could haunt them.  They also have, like Auburn, a very inexperienced offensive line.

 

 

3.       Is Andre Woodson the best QB in the nation?

 

The Answer:  No.

Analysis:  Matt Ryan would be the answer to that question considering how well he can read defenses, how well he can make certain throws, and how tough he is.  Ryan doesn’t have the tools that Andre has to work with either.  But Matt Ryan aside, Woodson played excellent last season and should be ready to put up even more big numbers.  Kentucky gets a ton of WRs back as well as Rafael Little in the backfield, but their defense needs to help out Woodson a little bit more this season.

 

 

4.       Will Florida be capable of replacing all of the starters on defense?

 

Answer:  Sort of.

Analysis:  Let’s not forget, Zook was a recruiting god during his time at Florida and it was Meyer who was dealing with Zook’s recruits.  Urban Meyer though has been pulling in some excellent classes and they should be fine as the season progresses.  But only returning two on a defense will hurt.  Some guys that the Gators need a big year from:  Jermaine Cunningham, Markihe Anderson, Lawrence Marsh, Joe Haden, and Brandon Spikes.

 

 

5.       Will Arkansas keep focused on the season at hand and forget all of the off-the-field stuff?

 

Answer:  Yes.

Analysis:  Arkansas is a very underrated team.  The West is the weaker of the two divisions (and I use that term loosely).  Let’s not forget though, they still have Darren McFadden and McFadden could take Mississippi State to a bowl game if he was a Bulldog.  David Lee should help out the offense; he’s the new offensive coordinator from the Dallas Cowboys organization after Gus Malzahn left for Tulsa.  They do have some issues though and that will keep them from winning the West.  They have a new kicker (think the Alabama game), some secondary issues, and some offensive line problems.  Arkansas is still talented and they should still win about 9 games which won’t be that bad.

 

 

 

 

BTB All-SEC Team:

 

QB:  Andre Woodson (Kentucky)

RB:  Darren McFadden (Arkansas)

RB:  Felix Jones (Arkansas)

WR: Earl Bennett (Vanderbilt)

WR: Marcus Monk (Arkansas)

TE:  Jacob Tamme (Kentucky)

OT:  Michael Oher (Ole Miss)

OG:  Herman Johnson (LSU)

C:  Antoine Caldwell (Alabama)

OG:  Anthony Parker (Tennessee)

OT:  Andre Smith (Alabama)

 

DE:  Quentin Groves (Auburn)

DT:  Glen Dorsey (LSU)

DT:  J.T. Mapu (Tennessee)

DE:  Derrick Harvey (Florida)

LB:  Jasper Brinkley (South Carolina)

LB:  Jonathan Goff (Vanderbilt)

LB:  Ali Highsmith (LSU)

CB:  Chevis Jackson (LSU)

S:  Jonathan Hefney (Tennessee)

S:  Derek Pegues (Mississippi State)

CB:  Simeon Castille (Alabama)

 

K:  Ryan Succop (South Carolina)

P:  Britton Colquitt (Tennessee)

 

 

 

 

5 Potential Statement Games (in no particular order):

 

1.  Oct. 20, Mississippi State @ West Virginia

 

Can they realistically win?  No, of course not.  But competing with an elite school like West Virginia could do this program a lot of good.  If the Bulldogs can hang in this one (and they’ll probably have two wins or so at this point), it could save Sylvester Croom’s job.  Last year, they got their butts handed to them against the Mountaineers.  Again, they just need to compete in order to make a statement.

 

 

2.       Sept. 8, Missouri @ OIe Miss

 

Now, they probably have a better shot at the Tigers than MSU does West Virginia, but Ole Miss needs to be close in this game.  This would give the conference major bragging rights that one of their “bottom-dwellers” can compete with a top-tier Big 12 team.  Likewise with Croom, this game is huge for Orgeron’s future at Ole Miss.

 

 

3.       Nov. 24, Wake Forest @ Vanderbilt

 

This will be the first test for the Commodores in their OOC schedule.  Before this, they play Richmond, Eastern Michigan, and Miami OH.  They should be in a position to go bowling if they can win this game.  Plus, we’re talking about last year’s ACC champions!  This would go a long way for Vanderbilt should they pull off this victory.

 

 

4. Sept. 8, Virginia Tech @ LSU

 

The SEC doesn’t schedule tough OOC games?  If you haven’t noticed, the reason why there hasn’t been an SEC powerhouse listed in this segment before this is because they don’t really have to make a statement, they just need to avoid upsets.  This however, would seal the deal for whatever LSU doubters there are (and there are some out there).  Should they win this game, they should ride the momentum into the SEC schedule.  It will be a gigantic win over their rival conference, the ACC.

 

 

5. Sept. 1, Tennessee @ California

 

Cal got drilled in last year’s matchup.  Now, there are still people out there who like the Golden Bears to defeat the boys from Rocky Top.  We all are aware of the Pac-10/SEC feud that goes on for years on end.  This would be an excellent shot to silence those who don’t think as much of the SEC as others do.  Going into Cal and getting a win would be big for Tennessee.

 

 

 

Take These to the Bank (at your own risk!):

 

1.       Kentucky will not be bowling.

 

Have you seen the schedule?  I know Kentucky’s offense is lights-out potent, but they need a defense to win some of these games.  I just don’t think they have it in them to pull off another upset of a team like Georgia or Tennessee.  There’s a possibility that they’ll be beaten down so much mentally by the time they play Vanderbilt in Nashville giving the Commodores the edge there.

 

 

2.       Nick Saban will make a big splash.

 

And he’ll do it by knocking off LSU.  The Crimson Tide have enough talent, but they just broke down at the end of games.  They’ll be somewhat inexperienced this season, but John Parker Wilson will be good enough to take them to the Outback Bowl.

 

 

3.       The SEC will have 9, count ‘em, 9 bowl teams.

 

They have eight bids to hand out, but if they make it into the BCS, they should have NINE teams bowling.  Just look at it:  Auburn, Alabama, Arkansas, LSU, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Vanderbilt.  They should flex their conference muscle and win most of their bowls as well.

 

 

4.       Auburn will disappoint somewhat.

 

After having a great year (the only team to defeat two BCS teams), the Tigers will drop off a little bit. They lose Kenny Irons and even though Brad Lester should be pretty solid, he won’t be as good as Kenny was.  The offensive line will come along later in the year but it will hurt them early on in SEC play.  Cox is a serviceable QB, but he’s not JaMarcus Russell.  Auburn has been one of the best teams in college football over the last five years or so, they’re due to have a “down” 8-4 kind of season.

 

 

5.       The rivalry games will be turned upside down.

 

This is the year that Georgia beats Florida, Spurrier also gets revenge from last year, Mississippi State closes out with an upset over Ole Miss, and Nick Saban will be hailed as The Second Coming after defeating Auburn and LSU.

 

 

 

 

Projected SEC Standings (including tiebreakers):

 

East

 

1.       South Carolina (6-2)

2.       Florida (6-2)

3.       Georgia (5-3)

4.       Tennessee (4-4)

5.       Vanderbilt (3-5)

6.       Kentucky (2-6)

 

 

West

 

1.       LSU (6-2 SEC Champions)

2.       Arkansas (5-3)

3.       Alabama (5-3)

4.       Auburn (4-4)

5.       Mississippi State (1-7)

6.       Ole Miss (1-7)

 

Eric also writes for the blog, Saturday Sound Offs.