Auburn will still very boast a very potent offense this year, with some upgrades on defense (though I still believe their defensive front will struggle against the rush and their secondary will still struggle). Everyone is talking about Jeremy Johnson and Duke Williams, but their RB Roc Thomas is a really talented back that can get YAC (something Mason did a great job of in '13) and be that bruiser that will suck safeties in and allow Gus to attack deep. I still can't see Auburn being one of the better defenses in the league this year, despite adding Muschamp. Lawson is good, but coming off an injury, there's no gurantee he will be a force to reckon with. Along with that, they have a first year starter at CB, add Tray Mathews at safety who sat out a year due to transfer and was skeptical in defending the deep ball at UGA, they replace Gabe Wright in the middle, and McKinzy at linebacker has a huge glaring issue at pass defending. Auburn does have some trap games @ Arkansas and @LSU.
Arkansas had a huge blow when they lost Williams. Their schedule doesn't set up nicely either- playing @LSU,
@Alabama, @Tennessee, and @ Ole Miss. I think Brandon Allen is a good manager of the game and is an underrated QB, but he's really going to have to rely on his TE Hunter Henry and how well Alex Collins can carry the load to run a successful offense. Defensively, even despite their losses, I think Arkansas will have similar success like they had last year. I think Bert is a very good defense coach who knows how to teach their front lines to be physical and swarm to the ball. They destroyed Ole Miss, Texas, and LSU last year. I think they get the big win on the road in Knoxville, but will ultimately be a victim of their schedule and lose @'Bama and @ LSU. Good thing though is that they get Auburn, Mizzou, and Mississippi State at home this year.
LSU returns a good bulk of their defense from last year and returns some skill players on offense. I'm not so sure of their receivers on the outside as big threats, but when you run the ball 75% of the time and usually have 3-4 running backs rotating and having fresh legs, you don't often worry about it. Brandon Harris is an alright QB with a decent arm. Kevin Steele as a DC isn't overall impressive, but their d-line coach, Ed Orgeron, was a really solid hire. I expect much of the same from LSU this year- physical defense, good secondary, solid running game, and that signature upset at home (which IMO is Auburn this year).
