SEC Power Rankings going into spring practice
- How will the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns factor into their new league?
- What SEC teams have a realistic shot of making it into the College Football Playoff?
- What programs will be scraping for wins to hopefully achieve bowl eligibility this year?
By John Buhler
12. South Carolina Gamecocks must go bowling for Shane Beamer's sake
If there was a third head coach to be fired after next season in the SEC, my money would have to be on Shane Beamer. Two years ago, the South Carolina Gamecocks went on a Beamer Heater of a lifetime. They upset rivals Tennessee and Clemson before falling to Notre Dame in Jacksonville. Clearly, the mystical powers of the Duke's Mayo bath are real and must be taken incredibly seriously.
Right now, South Carolina is in the same group of teams with Arkansas and Florida where getting to a bowl game should be priority No. 1. While the Gamecocks could surprise us all with an 8-4 record, they are much closer to being a 4-8 team. Unless the fan base completely turns on him, Beamer should be back in Columbia for another season after this. He cannot have three bad years in a row...
A lot can change between now and then, but I have no interest in watching South Carolina play ball.
11. Auburn Tigers could be markedly better under year-two Hugh Freeze
Look. I am still very bullish on the Hugh Freeze hire made by John Cohen at Auburn last offseason. In time, I would suspect that the Tigers will at least challenge rivals Alabama, Georgia and LSU in conference games, possibly making the expanded College Football Playoff in either 2026, maybe even 2025? But right now, Auburn needs to show us that it can be an 8-4 program again in the new SEC.
I have major quarterback concerns about the Tigers, but this team is well-coached. More importantly, being one more year removed from the Bryan Harsin/Allen Greene dumpster fire is only a good thing for the Tigers. Although losing former Auburn players off his coaching staff in Zac Etheridge and Cadillac Williams does not land well with me, eventually, the Tigers are going to win big under Freeze.
Auburn is a year away from being a year away, but this will be a highly-competitive football team.