SEC Media Days have come and gone, and it’s clear that the Gators enter the 2021 season as underdogs in the SEC East. Florida was picked to finish second in the division, receiving seven first-place votes. Georgia, the division favorite once again, received 124 first-place votes.
Kentucky also received two votes, while South Carolina received one.
The Gators are the defending division champions, but they lose a lot from a record-breaking 2020 offense including their starting quarterback and top-three receivers. UGA, meanwhile, returns its starting passer from the second half of the season in J.T. Daniels.
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UF coach Dan Mullen scored the first win of his career over Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart last season, but Florida has a tough task ahead if that’s going to turn into a streak.
The media picked Alabama to win the SEC West by an even wider margin, with the Crimson Tide receiving 130 votes while no other program received more than one. The voters were a bit divided on who will win the SEC Championship, though, as Alabama received 84 votes while Georgia received 45.
Florida was one of five programs to receive a single vote to win the conference, alongside Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Kentucky and South Carolina.
Though the media expects UF to be one of the SEC’s top teams once again, it doesn’t think the team will be able to repeat as SEC Champions. The Gators were a slim favorite to win the division last year, and they ended up capturing the first division title of Mullen’s career. They’ll hope that the media isn’t right this time around.
Full projections:
EASTERN DIVISION (1st Place votes in parenthesis)
| Georgia (124) | 923 |
| Florida (7) | 784 |
| Kentucky (2) | 624 |
| Missouri | 555 |
| Tennessee | 362 |
| South Carolina (1) | 355 |
| Vanderbilt | 149 |
WESTERN DIVISION (1st Place votes in parenthesis)
| Alabama (130) | 932 |
| Texas A&M (1) | 760 |
| LSU (1) | 633 |
| Ole Miss (1) | 529 |
| Auburn | 440 |
| Arkansas (1) | 241 |
| Mississippi State | 217 |
SEC CHAMPION
| Alabama (84) | 84 |
| Georgia (45) | 45 |
| Ole Miss (1) | 1 |
| Texas A&M (1) | 1 |
| Florida (1) | 1 |
| Kentucky (1) | 1 |
| South Carolina (1) | 1 |
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