Alabama picked to win yet another SEC crown
Alabama picked to win yet another SEC championship
Even after losing 10 players to the NFL draft, including six first-round selections, Alabama is still viewed as the team to beat in Southeastern Conference football.
The Crimson Tide have been pegged to win the league championship in a vote of SEC Media Days attendees earlier this week in Hoover, Alabama. Should the projection released Friday prove accurate — which has occurred only eight times since the league went to divisional play in 1992 — it would mark Nick Saban’s eighth SEC title in his 15 seasons in Tuscaloosa. That’s no misprint.
Eight times in 15 seasons, and it also would be eight of the last 13 with Auburn (2010), LSU (2011), Auburn (2013), Georgia (2017) and LSU (2019) comprising the exceptions. The Crimson Tide still managed to win national titles in 2011 and 2017.
Alabama received 84 votes to emerge victorious inside Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium in early December, while Georgia was second with 45 votes. No other team received multiple votes to win the league, as Florida, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and South Carolina each received a single tally.
Given that the Gamecocks went 2-8 last season and enter this year on a sixgame losing streak, the seriousness of that vote certainly could be questioned.
Alabama was picked to win the Western Division, with the Tide followed by Texas A&M, LSU, Ole Miss, Auburn, Arkansas and Mississippi State. The Eastern ballot had Georgia trailed by Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, South Carolina and Vanderbilt.
The Crimson Tide also dominated the preseason All-SEC team with 16 representatives on the first, second and third units. Georgia had 10 representatives, though it’s unknown whether second-team receiver George Pickens will be able to return from an ACL injury in March.
Tennessee had three representatives on the three teams — offensive lineman Cade Mays (first team), punter Paxton Brooks (second team) and defensive
(third team).