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Charles Hollis
In AL.com's 72nd annual SEC Spring Football Report, reloading Crimson Tide, Bulldogs penciled in for another showdown in Atlanta
Unless you have some extraordinary power that can see beyond the tea leaves, there is no need to go to Amazon or the local grocery to pick up any.
Unless there is some seismic shift in the conference rankings by season's end, two familiar powers could be at it again. If you need that spelled out, the 2018 SEC Championship Game will be a replay of January's National Championship Game.
That's the cut-to-the-chase version of AL.com's 72nd annual SEC Spring Football Report. That's national champion Alabama, which lost its last regular season game to archrival Auburn, facing national runner-up Georgia, which lost in the regular season to Auburn before flipping the script on the Tigers in the league title game.
For the 14 football information directors who annually vote in the division and overall spring polls, Jimbo Fisher's first Texas A&M team is their shiny new West Division contender that's supposed to push Alabama and Auburn instead of LSU for a change. The Crimson Tide is picked to win the West with 36 points, having received six of seven first-place votes. Auburn, with the only other first-place vote, is picked second with 31 points. The third-place Aggies received 25 points based on two second-place votes, three thirds and one fourth. LSU and Mississippi State tied for fourth in the West with 19 points each. Ole Miss is picked fifth with 11 points and Arkansas is last with six points.
In the East, Georgia is the anointed one with 36 points, based on its six first-place votes. South Carolina is second with 30 points. The Gamecocks, who finished 9-4 and second in the East with a 5-3 record last season, had the only other first-place ballot, along with four seconds and one third.
The two East rivals lock up in an early division showdown Sept. 8 in Columbia.
Missouri and Kentucky tied for third in the East with 20 points, followed by Florida with 19, Vanderbilt with 11 and Tennessee with eight.
Like Arkansas, Jeremy Pruitt's first-year Vols didn't get a lot of love from the football information voters, who voted them last in the East. Last place in the division has usually been a Vandy thing.
In the overall poll, Alabama topped the league with eleven first place votes and two seconds for 167 points. Georgia followed with 157 points with its three first-place votes, nine seconds and one fourth. Auburn totaled 144 points for third with two second-place votes, 10 third-places and one fourth.
When all 14 football information directors voted in the overall poll -- and not asked to break down just their division -- LSU was picked fourth with
115 points. Then comes fifth-place Texas A&M with 111 points, sixth-place South Carolina with 108, seventh-place Mississippi State with 100 points, eighth-place Florida with 95 and Missouri and Kentucky in a tie for ninth with 61 points apiece.
Ole Miss (48), Tennessee (45), Arkansas (40) and Vanderbilt (22) round out the overall poll.
A school could not vote for itself.
If it does end up Alabama-Georgia II and the winner having the chance to go to the College Football Playoff, that's when Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart says he'll unpack his thoughts into what could be.
"It doesn't do us any good to look past our first game with Austin Peay," said Smart.
And just to be clear, getting over Alabama 26, Georgia 23 in overtime last January is not something he's spent time going over.
Did it hurt losing on a walk-off 41-yard touchdown pass from a true freshman quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, to a true freshman receiver, Devonta Smith, on second-and-26 on the second play of overtime?
That would be a "yes." But then comes his big picture perspective.
"The way the world is now, we had to recruit within two days of that. So I'm in homes selling the season we had and the progress we made, and you can't let that play beat you twice," Smart said at the SEC spring meetings in Destin. "In this profession, you learn quickly there's going to be plays we're going to make and win a game, and they made a great play and they won the game.
"I think it was more important for us to move on and worry about recruiting than to dwell on that."
There is also the matter of rebuilding a defense that saw all four linebackers depart that started in the Rose Bowl and National Championship Game, including SEC defensive player of the year Roquan Smith. The losses don't stop there. Two defensive backs who were four-year starters, Dominick Sanders and Aaron Davis, have to be replaced. Starting nose tackle John Atkins and lineman Trenton Thompson are gone, two pillars of a defense that ranked sixth in the nation last year in fewest yards and points allowed.
Georgia hasn't had such a massive exodus since Mark Richt's 2012 defense that saw nine players make NFL rosters.
The offense should be just fine with returning players in quarterback Jake Fromm, receiver Riley Ridley, running back D'Andre Swift and most of the line back.
"No question there is talent to work with," said Smart.
Alabama's defense was also depleted, yet there are whispers it will be reloading as usual. If true, then don't read a lot into AL.com's SEC preseason team, where only defensive lineman Raekwon Davis made first team and linebacker Anfernee Jennings is on the second team.
The offense, however, figures to be one of the league's most productive whether it's junior Jalen Hurts, the 26-2 starter the past two seasons, or Tagovailoa, the National Championship Game hero, as the quarterback.
Despite all the national attention heaped on the left-handed Tagovailoa, neither Tagovailoa nor Hurts received All-SEC mention. That wasn't the story for running back Damien Harris, center Ross Pierschbacher and tackle Jonah Williams, all first-team selections.
Missouri's Drew Lock, who set the SEC record for most touchdown passes in a single season, is the first-team quarterback and Fromm, coming off a big year as a true freshman, is on the second team. He narrowly beat out Auburn junior Jarrett Stidham.
Charles Hollis
A&M, South Carolina could be roadblocks to Alabama, Georgia reaching SEC title game
Unless you have some extraordinary power that can see beyond the tea leaves, there is no need to go to Amazon or the local grocery to pick up any.
Unless there is some seismic shift in the conference rankings by season's end, two familiar powers could be at it again. If you need that spelled out, the 2018 SEC Championship Game will be a replay of January's National Championship Game.
That's the cut-to-the-chase version of AL.com's 72nd annual SEC Spring Football Report. That's national champion Alabama, which lost its last regular season game to archrival Auburn, facing national runner-up Georgia, which lost in the regular season to Auburn before flipping the script on the Tigers in the league title game.
For the 14 football information directors who annually vote in the division and overall spring polls, Jimbo Fisher's first Texas A&M team is their shiny new West Division contender that's supposed to push Alabama and Auburn instead of LSU for a change. The Crimson Tide is picked to win the West with 36 points, having received six of seven first-place votes. Auburn, with the only other first-place vote, is picked second with 31 points. The third-place Aggies received 25 points based on two second-place votes, three thirds and one fourth. LSU and Mississippi State tied for fourth in the West with 19 points each. Ole Miss is picked fifth with 11 points and Arkansas is last with six points.
In the East, Georgia is the anointed one with 36 points, based on its six first-place votes. South Carolina is second with 30 points. The Gamecocks, who finished 9-4 and second in the East with a 5-3 record last season, had the only other first-place ballot, along with four seconds and one third.
The two East rivals lock up in an early division showdown Sept. 8 in Columbia.
Missouri and Kentucky tied for third in the East with 20 points, followed by Florida with 19, Vanderbilt with 11 and Tennessee with eight.
Like Arkansas, Jeremy Pruitt's first-year Vols didn't get a lot of love from the football information voters, who voted them last in the East. Last place in the division has usually been a Vandy thing.
In the overall poll, Alabama topped the league with eleven first place votes and two seconds for 167 points. Georgia followed with 157 points with its three first-place votes, nine seconds and one fourth. Auburn totaled 144 points for third with two second-place votes, 10 third-places and one fourth.
When all 14 football information directors voted in the overall poll -- and not asked to break down just their division -- LSU was picked fourth with
115 points. Then comes fifth-place Texas A&M with 111 points, sixth-place South Carolina with 108, seventh-place Mississippi State with 100 points, eighth-place Florida with 95 and Missouri and Kentucky in a tie for ninth with 61 points apiece.
Ole Miss (48), Tennessee (45), Arkansas (40) and Vanderbilt (22) round out the overall poll.
A school could not vote for itself.
If it does end up Alabama-Georgia II and the winner having the chance to go to the College Football Playoff, that's when Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart says he'll unpack his thoughts into what could be.
"It doesn't do us any good to look past our first game with Austin Peay," said Smart.
And just to be clear, getting over Alabama 26, Georgia 23 in overtime last January is not something he's spent time going over.
Did it hurt losing on a walk-off 41-yard touchdown pass from a true freshman quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, to a true freshman receiver, Devonta Smith, on second-and-26 on the second play of overtime?
That would be a "yes." But then comes his big picture perspective.
"The way the world is now, we had to recruit within two days of that. So I'm in homes selling the season we had and the progress we made, and you can't let that play beat you twice," Smart said at the SEC spring meetings in Destin. "In this profession, you learn quickly there's going to be plays we're going to make and win a game, and they made a great play and they won the game.
"I think it was more important for us to move on and worry about recruiting than to dwell on that."
There is also the matter of rebuilding a defense that saw all four linebackers depart that started in the Rose Bowl and National Championship Game, including SEC defensive player of the year Roquan Smith. The losses don't stop there. Two defensive backs who were four-year starters, Dominick Sanders and Aaron Davis, have to be replaced. Starting nose tackle John Atkins and lineman Trenton Thompson are gone, two pillars of a defense that ranked sixth in the nation last year in fewest yards and points allowed.
Georgia hasn't had such a massive exodus since Mark Richt's 2012 defense that saw nine players make NFL rosters.
The offense should be just fine with returning players in quarterback Jake Fromm, receiver Riley Ridley, running back D'Andre Swift and most of the line back.
"No question there is talent to work with," said Smart.
Alabama's defense was also depleted, yet there are whispers it will be reloading as usual. If true, then don't read a lot into AL.com's SEC preseason team, where only defensive lineman Raekwon Davis made first team and linebacker Anfernee Jennings is on the second team.
The offense, however, figures to be one of the league's most productive whether it's junior Jalen Hurts, the 26-2 starter the past two seasons, or Tagovailoa, the National Championship Game hero, as the quarterback.
Despite all the national attention heaped on the left-handed Tagovailoa, neither Tagovailoa nor Hurts received All-SEC mention. That wasn't the story for running back Damien Harris, center Ross Pierschbacher and tackle Jonah Williams, all first-team selections.
Missouri's Drew Lock, who set the SEC record for most touchdown passes in a single season, is the first-team quarterback and Fromm, coming off a big year as a true freshman, is on the second team. He narrowly beat out Auburn junior Jarrett Stidham.
Charles Hollis
A&M, South Carolina could be roadblocks to Alabama, Georgia reaching SEC title game
