SEC football 2018 preview: Breakout stars, biggest games, predictions

Predictions, players and coaches to watch, potential surprises, games of the year and more. We take a look at everything SEC fans can look forward to this fall with our 2018 SEC football preview. 

Last season, the SEC became the first conference to send a pair of teams to the College Football Playoff, then the first to send a pair of teams to the College Football Playoff National Championship game. The eventual national champions, Alabama, were the fourth seed coming into the playoff, the No. 2 team in the SEC West and yet they were favored 14 times in 14 games last year. That makes for a tough act to follow.

With all that being said, the SEC was nowhere close to being the best conference in college football from top to bottom last season. It was the least balanced the conference has been between the Eastern and Western divisions in five years. Four head coaches were fired in-season and as much as the top of the SEC accomplished, you could find at least eight teams (and their fans) that would just as soon forget 2017.

Entering 2018, the very upper-echelon of Alabama, Georgia and quite possibly Auburn will be competing to repeat or surpass what they accomplished in 2017. Across the rest of the conference, five teams will be breaking in first-year head coaches and ten of the SEC’s 14 teams are expected to win less than eight games.

On the upside, there might be seven or eight teams with legitimately good, if not great, quarterbacks. And although 2018 may look like a rebuilding year coming in, there are several teams with the ingredients to quickly turn things around and surprise with a bounce-back in 2018, rather than spending the season in transition.

SEC Offensive Player of the Year

After sitting out as a transfer in 2016, Jarrett Stidham stepped in as Auburn’s starting quarterback last year. As a first-year starter, he led the conference in completions and completion percentage, finished second in passing yards and was near the top in almost every other major passing category.

He had SEC Offensive Player of the Year, Kerryon Johnson behind him at running back last season. With Johnson, his 1,400 rushing yards and 20 total touchdowns from 2017, now gone, Stidham will likely be asked to carry much more of the load in his second season running Gus Malzahn’s offense. He’ll have a new running back but returns a supporting cast in the passing game that includes all five of his leading receivers from 2017.

In big games at home, Stidham has been great. Against Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi State last season, Stidham completed 74.6 percent of his passes for 715 yards, five touchdowns and zero interceptions. On the road or in neutral site games, he’s struggled. In road games against Clemson and LSU, the SEC Championship against Georgia and Peach Bowl against UCF, Stidham completed only 48-percent of his passes for three touchdowns and two interceptions while being held to under 200 passing yards in three of the four games.

Although he was far from his best at times, Stidham never lost games for his team with turnovers. If he can carry that into 2018 and take the step to improve his production and consistency from week to week, regardless of venue, he’s likely to lead the conference in every major passing category. If that’s the case, Auburn will have a lot to say about the 2018 SEC Championship and who represents the conference in the four-team playoff.

Others to watch: Tua Tagovailoa (QB, Alabama), Jake Fromm (QB, Georgia), Drew Lock (QB, Missouri), Damien Harris (RB, Alabama)