College football season 2019 predictions: SEC, playoff and Heisman picks
Projected 2019 SEC Standings
SEC East
- Florida Gators
- Georgia Bulldogs
- Missouri Tigers
- Tennessee Volunteers
- Vanderbilt Commodores
- South Carolina Gamecocks
- Kentucky Wildcats
The story here is the Florida Gators finishing ahead of the Georgia Bulldogs. Yes, Florida wins the East. Dan Mullen’s history of offenses taking off in his second year and coming off a 10-3 season is reason for us to believe in this. Combine that with UGA losing Jim Chaney to the Vols, and Florida has the slight advantage despite having slightly less talent this year.
Threatening them both could be the Missouri Tigers. They are loaded with offensive weapons and may not miss a beat with Kelly Bryant replacing Drew Lock. However, their bowl eligibility status remains in question.
Tennessee football will finish fourth with a 3-5 conference record. That’s because we have them beating the South Carolina Gamecocks and Vanderbilt Commodores, and both teams have four divisional losses and an SEC West loss coming. Vandy, despite losing Kyle Shurmur, is still loaded, so they’ll finish ahead of South Carolina. The Kentucky Wildcats are rebuilding, so they’ll be last.
SEC West
- Alabama Crimson Tide
- Texas A&M Aggies
- Auburn Tigers
- LSU Tigers
- Mississippi State Bulldogs
- Ole Miss Rebels
- Arkansas Razorbacks
No surprises here. Nick Saban has the Alabama Crimson Tide looking as great as ever, and that should be enough for them to win the SEC West again. However, their big competition will be the Texas A&M Aggies. Jimbo Fisher has talent in College Station now, he remains an offensive genius, and his players are more familiar with his system. So this will be a close race.
Behind those two, the Auburn Tigers have tons of talent returning on defense and on the offensive line, where they struggled last year. As a result, they’ll be somewhat of a surprise and finish ahead of the LSU Tigers, who still seem like they are slowly fading away as a program under Ed Orgeron.
Joe Moorhead is in his second year with the Mississippi State Bulldogs but lost a lot of talent, so it’s almost like a first year. They’ll be the bridge from the bottom to the upper echelon. Matt Luke’s Ole Miss Rebels could just barely make a bowl game, but the Arkansas Razorbacks will still be horrible this college football season.
SEC Championship: Florida over Alabama
Yes, we are going with the shocker. While it’s down to Georgia, Florida and Alabama, this college football season is the season somebody not from Georgia or Alabama takes the cake in the Southeastern Conference.
Mullen’s offense taking off in Gainesville will catch the entire SEC off-guard, and the Gators will return to prominence with an SEC title. Alabama will be so focused on getting revenge on Clemson that they’ll forget they have the conference to get through, and they will come up short in Atlanta.