SEC Preview by Triple Threat Sports!
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| Triple Threat Sports - 7/29/2010 2:58 PM |
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For our College Football Handicapper Joe Patterson, July means only one thing....preparation! Joe dives into all the preseason publications, scans the internet daily for school and local newspaper updates, and in general lives and breathes college football. Today we will start to showcase some of Joe's work with our quick reference guide SEC Preview. The SEC has had one of its member schools play in the BCS Title game each of the last four seasons, and no doubt has been the best football conference in the country in that span. This year, the second part may again be true, but it is going to be tough for the SEC to place a team in the title game for a fifth straight year...for a couple of reasons. First off, the teams at the top do not look to be the dominant editions of years past, and secondly the teams in the middle of the pack are pretty much all improved. With that in mind, lets take a look at the 2010 SEC Outlook: SEC East: Projected Winner: Alabama Darkhorse: Mississippi State Key Game: November 26th - Auburn at Alabama Went with the Crimson Tide to win this division since they have a QB in McElroy that has never lost a start...ever, and since they have the returning Heisman Trophy winner in Ingram. Whereas last year the defense was the key, this year the Tide will have a stronger offense than they do stop unit. While we look for Bama to win, both Auburn and Arkansas are very good as well, and any of the three could win it. Give the Tigers and Tide an edge over Arkansas since the Razorbacks always seem to lose a game or two they should not, and give the edge to Bama over Auburn in that aforementioned key game since the Tide is host. Miss State grades out at a +5.0 on our Plus/Minus scale, by far the best score in the SEC East. SEC West Projected Winner: South Carolina Darkhorse: See above Key Game: November 13th - South Carolina at Florida Five of the six teams in the SEC West had a winning record last year, and that could happen again if Derek Dooley can coax a winning season out of the Vols in his first season in Rocky Top. As for the probably surprising choice of South Carolina to win the league over Florida, note that SC is a very veteran team with 55 lettermen and 16 starters returning, including only one player of any real consequence on offense. The loss of Eric Norwood (LB, top sack man) will hurt, but there was a lot of talent waiting in the wings in the linebacking corps, so we think the Chickens will be fine in that department. As for Florida, sure they have great talent, but Tim Tebow was the heart and soul of that team, and he will be sorely missed on the field and in the locker room. Perhaps the latter will be the most important, as his leadership got this team though rough spots the last three seasons, and that will be missing this year. They will still be good, but the door is open for someone to unseat them this year, and our choice for that is South Carolina. The Gamecocks are +5.0 in our Plus/Minus, and get Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and Arkansas at home, and while the key game is in The Swamp, Steve Spurrier knows a thing or two about winning in that stadium. Also, this is Spurrier's sixth season in Columbia, and in his sixth year at Florida his team went 8-0 in the SEC and 12-1 on the year! Back next week with the Big 12...Have a Great Day! |
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