I’ve given a great deal of thought to these rankings. I’ve spent plenty of hours of reading articles on the internet and pre-season magazines, pouring over schedules, returning line-ups and incoming freshman. And after all of that I still am left with more questions than answers. So I humbly present my forecast for the SEC West.
Roll Tide. I may take some heat from the Tiger faithful for this pick, but I think Alabama will win the West. However, they will have an asterisk next to their name in the standings because of probation. Which puts, drum roll please, the LSU Tigers in the SEC Championship in a rematch with Tennessee. If everyone will recall, Auburn was the last SEC team placed on probation with a post season ban back in 1993. Auburn proceeded to go 20-1-1 over the next two seasons. I’m not saying Alabama will fare that well, but they have the players and schedule to come out on top of the SEC West with a 5-3 or 6-2 conference record. Tyler Watts (QB) has loads of experience from last year and won’t be looking over his shoulder at Andrew Zow who graduated. Santonio Beard (RB) and Ahmaad Galloway (RB) provide workhorses in the backfield. The players on the squad will have a bunker mentality, as there wasn’t the mass exodus of players as some had expected. Coach Fran will have them better prepared in his second year and I expect Bama to close out some games they gave away last season.LSU will have its best defense since 1995. With Hill (DE) and Spears (DE) on the ends and Lavalais (DT) in the middle, Bradie James (LB) and company will be able to lay some lumber. The secondary will be better and less susceptible to the big play. Norman LeJeune at SS gives LSU it’s biggest hitter in that spot in many years. Fortunately for Matt Mauck (QB), LSU returns six starters from last year, and that does not even count Dom Davis (RB) and Rob Sale (OL) who saw plenty of time in 2001. The schedule is tough with road games at Florida, Auburn and Arkansas. But I’ve picked LSU almost by default. Every other team in the West has even more questions than LSU.
The Hogs are hard to get a read on. At times, they had the worst offense I had ever seen. They scored 14 points or less 5 times last season. The Hogs D bailed them out as they went 2-3 in those five games. At other points they put serious points on the board. Matt Jones needs to be given the starting job outright. He was magnificent against Ole Miss and LSU where he showed a knack for making plays. John Thompson is gone as defensive coordinator so do expect this year’s squad to be as stingy.
Eli Manning will put up big numbers this season. Unfortunately for him, Ole Miss’ opponents will put up some big numbers against the Rebel’s D. Ole Miss must replace the talented Joe Gunn at RB but they do return experienced WR’s and offensive linemen. Papa Manning squashed the Heisman campaign which should take some pressure off Eli.
Auburn is still mired in the QB controversy which lingered at the end of last season. Daniel Cobb was granted a sixth year of eligibility and will battle sophomore Jason Campbell. Cadillac Williams will provide Auburn with a nice running game, but the late season flame out of last year troubles me. Tuberville fired his long time offensive and defensive coordinators at the end of the season. Obviously the heat is on Tuberville to produce. The schedule is a wash as the other Tigers get LSU and Georgia at home while going on the road to play Bama and Florida.
MSU will struggle again this season. But they hauled in a great recruiting class and I think Sherrill can get them back to where the Bulldogs were in 1998 when they won the SEC West. The Bulldogs return 14 starters which is key against a tough early season slate which includes road trips to Oregon, LSU and South Carolina. Kevin Fant replaces Chris Rock…er…Wayne Madkin at QB. Donte Walker is back (RB) and the defense had the 2001 season to integrate a number of JUCO transfers.
