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SEC Sports
The SEC East has a chance to be tougher than the SEC West, with Alabama, Georgia leading
Two teams appear to have distanced themselves, while this is the first time in a while the SEC East might be stronger than the West.
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How do things shape up around the Southeastern Conference in 2019? Here's a quick look:
Team(s) to beat
Seldom has there been this much of a consensus atop both divisions entering an SEC season, but Alabama and Georgia have clearly separated themselves from the pack on both sides. Alabama received 253 of 260 first-place votes in the Western Division in a vote of the league's media last month, while Georgia received 233 in the East. With tons of depth, experienced quarterbacks, solid defenses and offensive firepower back for both, it'll be an upset if the Crimson Tide and Bulldogs aren't squaring off again in the SEC title game with a college football playoff bid on the line. After getting close the past two seasons, is this the year that UGA overtakes Bama on the field?
Ascending
This is the first time in a while that a convincing case could be made for the SEC East being top-to-bottom stronger than the West. As of right now, Missouri isn't bowl eligible because of NCAA sanctions (that decision has been appealed), which is unfortunate timing. This looks to be the Tigers' best team since former coach Gary Pinkel won 25 games in 2013 and 2014. NFL draft pick Drew Lock departs a talented team that closed with a flourish in SEC play last November, but Clemson transfer Kelly Bryant is a more-than-capable replacement at quarterback. Florida won 10 games in Dan Mullen's first season and is the top challenger to UGA in the East, and improvement should accompany Jeremy Pruitt's second season at Tennessee.
Texas A&M will probably be better in Jimbo Fisher's second season, too, but the Aggies' schedule is so brutal that it might not end up being reflected in their record. Anything more than eight wins versus that setup would be a huge accomplishment. And don't be shocked if Arkansas quietly gets back to a bowl game after going 2-10 in Chad Morris' first season.
Descending
NCAA sanctions have taken a toll at Ole Miss, which averaged nine wins a season from 2013-15 but hasn't topped six in any of the past three seasons. After losing four players selected in the first three rounds of April's NFL draft, there's not much expectation of improvement for the Rebels in 2019. This could be a pivotal season for South Carolina to get going under Will Muschamp. The Gamecocks have averaged 6.4 wins in their past five seasons after finishing in the top 10 of the national polls from 2011-13.
Wildcard — East
People are again sleeping on Kentucky, but an overlooked aspect to the Wildcats' improvement in recent years has been their offensive line. And they're good again up front. Another 10-win season is probably out of reach, but if quarterback Terry Wilson can offer more in the passing game and a young defense can mature and be better than expected, the Cats might not fall off as far as many are predicting.
Wildcard — West
Auburn has been a notoriously unpredictable team under Gus Malzahn. The Tigers went to the BCS title game in 2013 after being unranked in the preseason, and they won 10 games — beating Alabama and Georgia — in 2017. Both the Tide and Bulldogs have to come to Auburn this season, a scheduling quirk that tends to make the Tigers especially dangerous in odd years. In 2018, Auburn was ranked in the top 10 to open the season and ended up losing five games, putting Malzahn on the hot seat entering 2019. There's talent here, though. A neutral-site opener against Oregon looms as a massive bellwether game for how this season is going to play out.
Player(s) to watch
College football's best two quarterbacks that don't play at Clemson have one more season in the SEC before becoming high NFL draft picks. Recruiting has stacked the rosters around them, but Alabama's Tua Tagovailoa and Georgia's Jake Fromm are the main reasons this SEC regular season could prove to be just a countdown to the conference title game.
Game(s) to watch
Alabama visits Texas A&M on Oct. 12. The Nov. 2 Georgia-Florida game could be especially spicy and meaningful this time.
But I'll throw out a weekend in which conditions are especially ripe for fireworks: Nov. 9.
A dangerous Missouri team — coming off a bye week — visits Georgia the week after that Florida showdown in Jacksonville. For the Bulldogs, this is going to be a classic trap-game setup with Auburn and Texas A&M waiting afterward. And that same day, Alabama hosts LSU in Tuscaloosa. Very few teams in the SEC have recruited well enough to stack up talent-wise with the Tide, but the Tigers usually can. Alabama is coming off a bye week for that game, but so is LSU.
Bowl bound
Everyone except Ole Miss and Vanderbilt gets to at least six wins in the regular season (but only Alabama and Georgia get to 10).
