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
6. LSU Tigers will be a borderline playoff team in Brian Kelly's pop season
Right now, LSU is probably the best team I have not making the expanded College Football Playoff. They are last year's Oklahoma. Better yet, they are who we thought they were, which is a Brian Kelly-coached football team. This is the proverbial pop year for Kelly, as he has done extraordinary things in year three at places like Central Michigan, Cincinnati and Notre Dame before. What could be in store?
This all really comes down to how bullish you are on Garrett Nussmeier as the starting quarterback, as well as how much of an impact Blake Baker will make in his first year on the job as the Bayou Bengals' defensive coordinator. Regardless, we will be talking about this team as a playoff-caliber squad all year. It remains to be seen if the Tigers will be good enough to be an SEC at-large team.
Kelly will have the Tigers back in the playoff here soon. It is not a matter of if, but a matter of when.
5. Alabama Crimson Tide will pull back considerably under Kalen DeBoer
I feel really confident that the following eight teams will make the expanded College Football Playoff: Georgia, Missouri, Ole Miss and Texas out of the SEC, Ohio State, Oregon and Penn State out of the Big Ten, and Notre Dame as a national independent. It is anyone's guess as to who will win the ACC and Big 12 next year, but I am not so sure Alabama is going to make the playoff this football season.
The Kalen DeBoer hire grows on me more with each passing day. He is a good coach, but he may be over his skis in coming down from the Pacific Northwest and into the Southeast. I still like the Crimson Tide's chances of making the expanded playoff more than I do Michigan's and Washington's out of the expanded Big Ten. However, this transition of power has not been smooth and Alabama will suffer.
It may only be a one-year absence from the playoff, but I expect the Tide will pull back considerably.