Storyline: The Tennessee Vols will vault to the top of the Southeastern Conference. ‘Bama, look out!
A SEC team won the national title last season. Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide ended Clemson’s perfect season with a 45-40 victory.
An SEC team winning it all again is not out of the question. This week, we’ll look at the conference’s Eastern division and how I think each team will fare this season.
Tennessee Volunteers (12-0, 8-0 SEC)
Tennessee?! What happened? (photo, profootballtalk.nbcsports.com)
Could Butch Jones’ Volunteers have possibly lost in more painful ways than they did in 2015? Probably not. Tennessee lost all four games by just a combined 17 points and the Vols could have easily had an unblemished record last season. Well, I’m about to make a bold prediction: Tennessee will go undefeated this season and win the SEC championship.
Here’s why. The Volunteers return a vast majority of their starters, including sensational senior QB, Joshua Dobbs. They also have a very favorable schedule this season, playing host to archrivals Florida and Alabama, and the only truly tough road game will be when they travel to Athens to face Georgia on October 1st.
Tennessee simply has an all-around good team this season. Saban has to be concerned about his rival to the North.
Alabama may have bested Tennessee last season, stealing a 19-14 victory in Tuscaloosa, but the Crimson Tide won’t be leaving Ole’ Rocky Top with a victory this season.
Georgia Bulldogs (10-2, 6-2 SEC)
It’s out with the old, in with the new. Georgia finally showed Mark Richt the door last season and hired former Alabama defensive coordinator, Kirby Smart, to take the helm.
Courtesy: onlineathens.com
The Dawgs’ success will heavily depend on one player: RB Nick Chubb. Bulldog fans have not seen a player this good since Herschel Walker. Chubb was actually just one game away from breaking Walker’s record of 13 straight games with 100-plus rushing yards when he suffered a season-ending leg injury in a game at Tennessee last season.
The main question mark right now is who will take the snaps behind center. An epic QB battle is going on between Greyson Lambert, Brice Ramsey, and true freshman, Jacob Eason.
Once Smart gets this ironed out, Georgia is going to be tough. I expect the Bulldogs to lose just two games this season—to Tennessee and at Ole Miss.
Florida Gators (7-5, 4-4 SEC)
Florida won the division last season, but a repeat is not in the cards for Jim McElwain’s Gators.
Florida looked impressive early last season. Standout QB Will Grier was the reason. But Grier missed the second half of last season for drug use and then transferred to West Virginia. Grier’s backup, Treon Harris, has transferred as well. Florida has good numbers at QB, but they’re not SEC-caliber. Most are FCS school transfers and freshmen.
The one thing Florida does have working for it is an excellent defense. That will get the Gators into a bowl … but nothing more.
Kentucky Wildcats (7-5, 4-4 SEC)
Courtesy: Twitter
UK posted nice records the last two seasons, going a combined 9-3 in the first half. But no such luck was had in the second half of both seasons. The Wildcats–for lack of a better phrase–choked, going 1-11 and missing a bowl each year.
Head coach Mark Stoops is starting to feel the pressure. If he wants to keep his job then he’d better get Kentucky into a bowl this season.
The good thing is that Stoops has some excellent pieces returning on the offensive side of the ball. One of the conference’s premier running backs, Stanley “Boom” Williams, returns alongside many other talented running backs and receivers. And potential-laden QB Drew Barker has made tremendous progress in the offseason.
Another thing in Kentucky’s favor is that it will play three winnable games at Commonwealth Stadium against South Carolina, Vandy, and Mississippi State.
But the Cats’ Achilles’ heel will be defense. UK was at the bottom of the SEC last season in defense. To make matters worse, their best defender, Josh Forrest, has graduated. Stoops is supposedly a great defensive coach. It’s time that starts showing it.
Vanderbilt Commodores (5-7, 2-6 SEC)
Vanderbilt head coach, Derek Maso, impressed me right off the bat. When he arrived in Nashville last year he fired the defensive coordinator and put himself in charge of the ‘Dores defense. That squad became one of the better D’s in the SEC. But Mason’s Commodores just couldn’t score, ranking near the bottom of the SEC.
Vanderbilt will be excellent on the defensive side of the ball. Of that there’s no doubt. But as long as the offense remains in a standstill, Vandy’s success will be limited to FCS opponents and fellow SEC bottom-feeders, like South Carolina and Missouri.
South Carolina Gamecocks (4-8, 1-7 SEC)
Courtesy: gamecocksonline.com
South Carolina fans would probably like to forget last season. Steve Spurrier resigned, the Gamecocks won only one SEC game, and “the cherry on top of this misery sundae” was losing to FCS opponent, The Citadel, at home.
South Carolina has brought in former Florida head coach, Will Muschamp, who’s intent on reigniting the program. That may be a challenge, though, as the Gamecocks return only seven starters from last year’s team. Despite that, South Carolina should still have a slightly better season than they did last year.
The only SEC win will likely come when they host a weak Missouri Tigers’ team on early November. This season just doesn’t look too promising for Muschamp and the Gamecocks.
Missouri Tigers (3-9, 0-8 SEC)
The Tigers, under new head coach, Barry Odom, will round out the bottom of the division.
When a fan says that their team is “rebuilding,” the question is whether the state of affairs is as bad as it is in Columbia. The Tigers are in MAJOR rebuilding mode. The defense is stellar, but the offense is atrocious.
Mizzou will go winless in conference play this season. Worse yet, it will take years of recruiting before the Tigers are even close to being a SEC threat.
