SEC football 2018 preview: Breakout stars, biggest games, predictions
Predicted Order of Finish
SEC East
It would be a major upset to see anyone other than Georgia representing the East in Atlanta at season’s end. There are a few teams with chances to finish second but for the most part, the order of the other seven teams feels like anyone’s guess.
Missouri had the conference’s top offense in last season. Former Tennessee coach, Derek Dooley, steps in as first-year offensive coordinator at Mizzou hoping to guide quarterback Drew Lock to a repeat of last year when he led the SEC in passing yards and set the single-season record for passing touchdowns (44).
South Carolina also has a proven quarterback in Jake Bentley and several players back on defense from a 9-4 team. The Gamecocks will get a huge boost with the return of receiver Deebo Samuel who missed all but three games last year. Florida and Tennessee both have a talented teams, eager to bounce back under first-year head coaches. Florida has a very forgiving schedule and Tennessee has the opposite.
Kentucky has improved tremendously under head coach Mark Stoops and is coming off back to back winning seasons for the first time since 2008 and 2009. Vanderbilt leads the nation in winners of TV’s The Bachelor (former QB Jordan Rogers) and they’ve also upset a few conference foes the past two seasons.
- Georgia
- South Carolina
- Florida
- Tennessee
- Missouri
- Kentucky
- Vanderbilt
SEC West
We’ve covered Alabama and Auburn extensively in the previous slides and as mentioned, they are the two teams expected to compete atop the SEC West.
Among the five other teams in the division, three are breaking in first-year head coaches — Texas A&M, Mississippi State and Arkansas. Both A&M and Mississippi State return talented quarterbacks among several other key positions and add new coaches with strong track records coaching quarterbacks in highly productive offenses. First-year Arkansas head coach Chad Morris brings drastic changes in style and systems and may need at least a season or two to bring in the personnel that allow the Hogs to take off.
LSU was up and down in 2017 and has questions on offense coming into this year but their defense should be good enough to keep them in games against just about anyone. They’ll likely be a better team than their record suggests as they face one of the toughest schedules in the country. Ole Miss is playing under NCAA sanctions but they’ll have maybe the best group of receivers in the conference. Given the circumstances, they exceeded expectations last season and could again this year.
- Alabama
- Auburn
- Texas A&M
- LSU
- Mississippi State
- Arkansas
- Ole Miss