10 predictions for SEC football season

[aubiefifty 18,231]

al.com

 

10 bold predictions for an unpredictable SEC football season

By Joseph Goodman | jgoodman@al.com

8-10 minutes

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For Auburn coach Gus Malzahn, this football season during a pandemic is all about adjusting.

The teams that can adjust to the challenges of a 10-game SEC schedule, and adjust to players suddenly being out of action with COVID-19, are going to be the teams that don’t, for example, somehow figure out a way to lose to Arkansas and Vanderbilt.

Auburn fans might want to adjust their expectations for this season after so many Tigers missed time this preseason in quarantine.

Nick Saban says the teams that “manage the uncertainty” of these unprecedented times will have the best chances of winning the SEC and maybe even the national championship. Saban is currently “managing the uncertainty” of the season by not releasing any data about the positive coronavirus cases on his roster.

Anything for a competitive advantage in the SEC, and Saban isn’t the only one. The most predictable thing about this unpredictable pandemic season was that SEC coaches were going to guard the number of their coronavirus cases in the preseason. Keeps it interesting for game day at least.

T A L T Y: Top 25 Most Influential in the SEC

G O O D M A N: Hold your breath, SEC football is here

In the spirit of the great unknown, and in the name of confusion and chaos, the only appropriate thing to do is start off this SEC football season with 10 bold predictions for what’s going to be the most unpredictable few months of sports we’ll ever experience in our lives. For those counting at home, that’s one prediction for every day players must spend in quarantine if they test positive for the 'Rona during the season.

Apparently, that already means advantage LSU. According to Ed Orgeron, most of the players have already had the plague.

PREDICTION: Fans should just be happy we’re getting to have football this season. That’s not how the SEC works, though. People are never happy unless their team is winning, and there is going to be a lot of losing in the SEC this season. The hot seat will not go cold, in other words, just because of some pestilence hoax perpetrated by the left-wing, football-hating media and the one-world order.

Pandemic Hot Seats, ranked: 5. Kirby Smart, Georgia; 4. Ed Orgeron, LSU; 3. Derek Mason, Vanderbilt; 2. Gus Malzahn, Auburn; 1: Will Muschamp, South Carolina.

Heaven help Mason, whose team opens the season against Texas A&M as a 30-point dog. Muschamp has it worse, though. The Gamecocks start the season with five ranked opponents in their first six games. The lone oasis is Vanderbilt in Week 3. If South Carolina loses that game, not even the excuse of a pandemic will save Muschamp.

PREDICTION: Get to the store early this week, folks. The meat is going to be gone before the weekend. With stadiums around the SEC slicing attendance this season due to the coronavirus, backyard tailgate parties are going to become an even bigger part of our culture than before the virus. After this is all over, attendance will never return to pre-pandemic levels around the SEC. The numbers were already trending downward around the country, and smaller crowds are probably here to stay.

Crazy fans, we're gonna miss you this season.

PREDICTION: New coaches in the SEC were thrown into an awful situation this year. They couldn’t run spring practice due to the coronavirus outbreak, and they couldn’t hit the road recruiting due to an extended dead period. Despite all that, Lane Kiffin is going to score a signature victory in Year One with Ole Miss. We haven’t heard much from Kiffin after his move to Oxford, Miss., but he has an excellent quarterback (John Rhys Plumlee) for an unpredictable kind of season, and defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin is out to prove his worth once again after his implosion at Maryland.

Lane Kiffin Upset Watch, ranked: 5. Alabama; 4. Florida; 3. Auburn; 2. LSU; 1. Texas A&M

PREDICTION: If everyone stays healthy, this will be a special season for Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide. It is extremely rare for Saban to utter a nice word or a compliment about his team before a season, but he said this week that he likes the “spirit” of his team. That’s bad news for everybody else. If Saban goes undefeated one year after losing the best quarterback Alabama has ever had, then this team will go down as his best ever.

PREDICTION: Greg Sankey should be credited with saving this college football season, and hopefully history reflects that in the future. After this season, Sankey is going to feel the pressure of making 10-conference games a permanent feature to the season, and that will lead to an expansion of the CFP to include 16 teams.

College football is going to need more games that matter in the future to generate additional revenue for their schools. With the players able to cash in on their success due to changing NIL rules, the sport is about to open up and embrace its possibilities.

Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt agrees that all things are pointing to a 16-team playoff in the future.C.B. Schmelter/Chattanooga Times Free Press via AP

PREDICTION: It was Sankey who remained patient and didn’t cancel the football season when the Big Ten and Pac-12 folded up their tents. Now the Big Ten is planning for a return in October, and their teams have to play nine games in nine weeks. That’s a brutal schedule, but Ohio State has the talent to still be in the playoff conversation.

We’re going to experience CFP chaos and controversy like never before with this season. If Ohio State makes the playoff with fewer wins than a one-loss SEC team, then the four-team playoff model should be killed immediately.

PREDICTION: The SEC has been a pass-happy league in recent years, but this season the teams that can establish a running game will have some advantages. Well-rested defenses will be important for a 10-game slog through the SEC, and executing complicated offensive schemes without spring practice (and COVID-19 disruptions in the fall) could be a major problem. Advantage: Smash-mouth football. Kentucky is my darkhorse out of the East, Auburn can be a major threat in the West if Malzahn can take advantage of this opportunity with his spread-offense power running game. It could all be pointing to an epic Iron Bowl in Tuscaloosa.

Best SEC running games, ranked: 6. Tennessee; 5. Ole Miss; 4. Auburn; 3. Kentucky; 2. Georgia; 1. Alabama

PREDICTION: This season is going to be difficult for everyone, but if the 10-game schedule favors anyone then it’s Auburn. The Tigers are positioned for an excellent season if Gus Malzahn and his assistants can keep their players out of quarantine and onto the field. The Tigers have Georgia early, and home-field advantage will be minimal at Bryant-Denny. I said at the end of last year that Bo Nix was going to be the best quarterback in the SEC this season, and with a few breaks Auburn could be undefeated heading into the Iron Bowl.

Pictured, Auburn quarterback Bo Nix. The best in the SEC?AP Photo/Vasha Hunt

PREDICTION: Georgia coach Kirby Smart is just an angry version of Mark Richt at this point. What has Smart actually won? Georgia blew leads in back-to-back years to Alabama, and then were completely blown away by Joe Burrow and LSU in the 2019 SEC championship game. A third loss in a row to Alabama will officially signal an end of Smart’s kingly reputation in Athens, but don’t be surprised if Smart is 1-2 heading into Tuscaloosa with back-to-back losses to Auburn and Tennessee. Georgia will finish third in the East if that’s the case.

PREDICTION: The party is over for LSU. It was tough seeing LSU lose receiver Ja’Marr Chase to COVID-19 concerns, but who could blame him after coach Ed Orgeron announced that most of his team has already had the virus? The Tigers had three key defensive starters opt out of the season, as well. The Tigers are going to struggle to reach six wins, and a loss to Kiffin at the end of the season could give us the most unpredictable finish of all to this season. That would be Orgeron getting fired the season after going 15-0 and unexpectedly coaching one of the best teams in college football history.

The year is 2020, so don’t doubt it.

Joseph Goodman is a columnist for the Alabama Media Group.

[LKEEL75 2,567]

11 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

PREDICTION: Fans should just be happy we’re getting to have football this season. That’s not how the SEC works, though. People are never happy unless their team is winning, and there is going to be a lot of losing in the SEC this season. The hot seat will not go cold, in other words, just because of some pestilence hoax perpetrated by the left-wing, football-hating media and the one-world order.

Pandemic Hot Seats, ranked: 5. Kirby Smart, Georgia; 4. Ed Orgeron, LSU; 3. Derek Mason, Vanderbilt; 2. Gus Malzahn, Auburn; 1: Will Muschamp, South Carolina.

Heaven help Mason, whose team opens the season against Texas A&M as a 30-point dog. Muschamp has it worse, though. The Gamecocks start the season with five ranked opponents in their first six games. The lone oasis is Vanderbilt in Week 3. If South Carolina loses that game, not even the excuse of a pandemic will save Muschamp.

No way this is accurate.  No way Orgeron is on hot seat!  Smart, might be if he was to lose several games but I don't see that happening.  IMO: The only coaches that are likely to really be on hot seat are Mason & Muschamp and unfortunately for them, they have 2 of the hardest schedules of the horrible 10 game schedule.

[AuCivilEng1 12,096]

I don’t see how the schedule favors us. We have to play 
 

23Kentucky - Who seems to be a sleeper in the east. And we are opening with them with tons of new players. 50% chance to win

4Georgia - absolutely loaded with talent. 40% chance to win

Arky is a win

SC is a win

Kiffin - On the road against him is scary 70% chance.

6LSU - I think they struggle but it’s still LSU. 55%
 

MSst - Their offense is going to be ridiculous to play against. I hope our secondary is healthy. 85%

16Tennessee- This one scares me, because of 2 years ago. 

2Bama - Loaded again and they are going to be pissed after last year. 35%
 

10Texas AM - I think they’re overrated.  But I could see them playing us hard. 50% chance. 
 

That’s a brutal schedule.

 

 

[Win4AU 4,182]

Miss State will beat LSU week 1.  No way Kirby or Orgeron are on any kind of hot seat this season.  Florida wins the East but loses to Auburn in the SECCG :).

[DAG 34,754]

2 hours ago, AuCivilEng1 said:

I don’t see how the schedule favors us. We have to play 
 

23Kentucky - Who seems to be a sleeper in the east. And we are opening with them with tons of new players. 50% chance to win

4Georgia - absolutely loaded with talent. 40% chance to win

Arky is a win

SC is a win

Kiffin - On the road against him is scary 70% chance.

6LSU - I think they struggle but it’s still LSU. 55%
 

MSst - Their offense is going to be ridiculous to play against. I hope our secondary is healthy. 85%

16Tennessee- This one scares me, because of 2 years ago. 

2Bama - Loaded again and they are going to be pissed after last year. 35%
 

10Texas AM - I think they’re overrated.  But I could see them playing us hard. 50% chance. 
 

That’s a brutal schedule.

 

 

Unless you are one of the big dawgs, every single other school has the same brutal schedule as us. Welcome to the SEC

[AuCivilEng1 12,096]

5 minutes ago, DAG said:

Unless you are one of the big dawgs, every single other school has the same brutal schedule as us. Welcome to the SEC

I know that. I’m referencing the guy saying Auburn has a favorable schedule. I’m trying to figure out in what world that schedule is “favorable”.

[DAG 34,754]

26 minutes ago, AuCivilEng1 said:

I know that. I’m referencing the guy saying Auburn has a favorable schedule. I’m trying to figure out in what world that schedule is “favorable”.

Compared to others in our conference it is favorable. I am pretty sure that is his point. We could be playing Florida this year. We play Tennessee who has done nothing to be ranked that high and UK who is going completely off of potential. Those are two very winnable games IMO. Otherwise, everyone else is per usual.

[AUwent 3,831]

Yeah, there is no way Orgeron will be fired even at 5-5.

[Sully to Beasley 643]

Auburn finally breaks the long winless streak in Athens, GA this season.

[McLoofus 35,182]

17 hours ago, DAG said:

Compared to others in our conference it is favorable. I am pretty sure that is his point. We could be playing Florida this year. We play Tennessee who has done nothing to be ranked that high and UK who is going completely off of potential. Those are two very winnable games IMO. Otherwise, everyone else is per usual.

I almost rebutted this but that's because I had forgotten it's Upside Down Year and we're basically all playing each other. Which means that several teams in the conference will have a rougher go of it than usual while we're just kinda yawning over here because at least we don't have to play a top-5 OoC game to start the season for once. 

[DAG 34,754]

45 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

I almost rebutted this but that's because I had forgotten it's Upside Down Year and we're basically all playing each other. Which means that several teams in the conference will have a rougher go of it than usual while we're just kinda yawning over here because at least we don't have to play a top-5 OoC game to start the season for once. 

Pretty much this and even in our lighter year, our OOC would’ve been UNC who everyone thinks will challenge Clemson for the ACC championship. 

[AUFriction 1,179]

Amazing. I think I disagree with every one of these.

[GrantMeeks 0]

I predict every SEC team loses at least once but also that nobody finishes winless.

[AUpreacherman22 3,945]

I had 2004 deja vu reading that article. It would not surprise me if there was a lot of uproar because a 6-0 (or however many games they play) OSU gets in the playoff over a 9-1 SEC team with multiple signature wins.  That totally sounds like a JABA situation.  🤦‍♂️

[Win4AU 4,182]

On 9/23/2020 at 4:49 PM, Win4AU said:

Miss State will beat LSU week 1.  No way Kirby or Orgeron are on any kind of hot seat this season.  Florida wins the East but loses to Auburn in the SECCG :).

I just wanted to toot my own horn.  Toot toot

[AUGoo 2,703]

RBU with 91 yards of rushing yesterday and 3 yds/rush.

Anyone else concerned?