By Matt Perkins
With the college football season less than a week away, let’s break down how the SEC should shake out this year. Georgia continues to be the prohibitive favorite, but there’s a ton of talent across the conference.
East:
1. UGA
2. Tennessee
3. South Carolina
4. Kentucky
5. Florida
6. Missouri
7. Vanderbilt
The Dawgs continue to have the deepest roster in all of college football, so even with a new starter behind center in Carson Beck, they’ll have the ability to bully anyone they play. They’re the favorites for a reason. Tennessee’s offense, even with the erratic Joe Milton, should continue to put up points, and their defense should improve with key transfers Keenan Pili and Gabe Jeudy-Lally from BYU. South Carolina came on strong at the end of 2022 and are looking to carry that into 2023, but their offensive and defensive lines leave something to be desired and are a clear step down from UGA and Tennessee.
It’s a toss-up between UK and UF for fourth in the division, but the quarterback situation in Lexington is far superior to that in Gainesville so that puts the Wildcats ahead of the Gators, in my opinion. Missouri has a couple of nice pieces, but their roster, on the whole, still has a lot of areas that need to be addressed. And Vanderbilt is gonna Vanderbilt – Clark Lea‘s team might pull off a couple of upsets like they did last year, but you can’t count on them to be a factor.
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West:
1. LSU
2. Alabama
3. Ole Miss
4. Mississippi State
5. Arkansas
6. Texas A&M
7. Auburn
I’m splitting hairs between LSU and Alabama, as they’re two of the deepest rosters in college football, so I’ll take the better quarterback in this situation, which is clearly Jayden Daniels. So while I’m not entirely sold on any of the options that new OC Tommy Rees has in Tuscaloosa, the rest of the roster will make them the favorites in nearly every game they play. Lane Kiffin has more options than anyone at quarterback, and his offense will continue to put up points as long as Quinshon Judkins, arguably the best back in the country, is on the field. I’m bullish on Mississippi State this year with Will Rogers back and a team that is clearly locked in and playing in honor of the late Mike Leach.
Sam Pittman‘s Arkansas teams have one of the best QB-RB combos in the country with KJ Jefferson and Raheim Sanders, but their defense lost a lot of pieces from last year, and the talent on the offense outside of the two key players in the backfield leaves something to be desired. The Aggies will continue to be as volatile as anyone, as they’ve got loads of talent but an unproved quarterback in Conner Weigman and a coaching staff full of red flags. Auburn is a clear rebuilding project for first-year head coach Hugh Freeze.
