2010 SEC Football Preview is Off The Mark

by sportidiotur
(Arkansas)

Your first 3 picks are fine, but while I agree that Mississippi will likely be better than most people expect, I have serious reservations over placing them at number 4. The SEC is too tough to rate a team so high based on the development of young talent: especially when developing that talent depends upon a coach who's not very respected in that regard. The only thing the Rebels have going for them is their schedule, but that's almost always true.

Georgia could very well finish in the 5th spot, but this is a team that is seriously hurting at the QB spot and has big strides to make defensively before it can be considered legitimate as an upper-tier SEC team.

Auburn was vastly over-rated last season, when they were lucky to have finished in the middle of the pack, and I believe they have a more difficult schedule this time around. This is a team that could be pretty good by season's end, but I wouldn't look for Auburn to finish any higher than last season.

Tennessee at 7th is so surprising that I don't even know what to say, so I'll just mention that with all the losses surrounding the program, most people have Tennessee finishing somewhere near the very bottom. Placing Tennessee before Arkansas and South Carolina is ludicrous.

Given Arkansas's difficult schedule last season (the Razorbacks played all of the best teams in the conference, and if you consider Ole Miss one of the top 4, then they played the top 4 teams -- Alabama, Florida, LSU and Ole Miss -- all on the road), their 3-5 conference record was pretty respectable. This is a team that nearly beat Florida and LSU on the road and returns most of it's team. Their defense was troubling, but it wasn't as bad as it seemed. Auburn and Georgia both had poor defenses also, but the idea that they will improve, while Arkansas will not, is quite inaccurate.

Some are expecting big things out of South Carolina this year: I am not. However, the Gamecocks return most of a team that played Alabama and Florida very well and expecting them to finish 4th from last is ridiculous. At worst, the Gamecocks finish atop the second-tier of conference teams, and at best, they finish middle of the pack in the first-tier.

I'm a big fan of your website, but I have to say that I'm astonished by some of your 2010 picks here. I mean, some of these are really bad.