1. SEC
The SEC was the best conference in college football last year, and that’s with half the league in a funk.
That’s how good this thing was up top.
LSU, Georgia, Florida, Texas A&M, Kentucky and Tennessee all won their bowl games, and Auburn came up with one of the biggest keys to the season with the opening win over Oregon. But there was a whole lot of dead wood to carry around.
Arkansas was miserable. South Carolina was a dud. Vanderbilt was a disaster, and Ole Miss didn’t do a whole lot to get excited about.
Missouri would’ve gone bowling if the NCAA wasn’t so weird, and Mississippi State at least got an extra game, but overall, things weren’t all that great outside of the superstars.
Five of the top 14 teams in both of the final polls were from the SEC, but five of the top 15 were from the Big Ten. The difference? Four of the top eight teams – LSU, Georgia, Florida and Alabama – were SEC, and one of those was a dominant national champion.
This year, LSU should take a step back with a gajillion parts gone from its epic former self. Alabama will be back to being Alabama, and Florida, Georgia and Auburn will all be as good as anyone in America on the right days.
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The difference this year should be the rise of the rest of the league out of the blahs.
The coaching changes at Ole Miss (Lane Kiffin) and Mississippi State (Mike Leach) will do wonders, and Arkansas can’t be any worse under new head man Sam Pittman.
If Leach and Kiffin can go Leach and Kiffin right away, the West is going to be amazing.
Unlike the 2019 version, South Carolina has a more manageable schedule and should go from 4-8 to bowling, and the bowl ban is lifted off of Mizzou.
The rest of the country will hate it, it’ll scream and yell that the SEC is overrated and overblown, and it won’t matter.
The talent is there, the coaches are there, and the SEC is there as the best conference in college football … again.
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