re: Who do you have winning the East?

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hanks for bringing your expertise to the rant

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And thank you for contributing a meaningful response

It'll probably be between SCAR and UGA with Florida the dark horse, (but dangerous), and Tennessee the spoiler for someone again.

The Dawgs will win or lose the SECe by the end of the UT game in Athens this year. I say this based mainly off homer-ism and fluff but, if this team has a chance to win and grow each game it could happen.

If UGA & Auburn are undefeated for the showdown between the hedges the rest of the SEC will be on pins and needles waiting on the outcome.

Most likely the victor of that scenario will be the 2014 SEC champ.

On a side note most likely the SECe rep will be facing Auburn twice this season in the SECCG as USCe & UGA play them during the regular schedule.

As of now in May, the pecking order should go:

UGA/SC
Mizz/UF
UT
UK/VU

Any of those tiers with multiple teams could reasonably make a case for either.

Every team in the east has serious questions. (and i'm bored)

USCe is going to take a step back at DL and a big step back in the secondary, but has a good LB corp. Overall, the defense will probably regress. The offense may be the best in Spurrier's tenure. They have a dynamic RB, good OL, above average WR's, and an experienced QB. As of today, I think they are overall the best team in the division.

UGA has a decent OL, spectacular RB's, one of the stronger WR corps in the SEC when healthy, but questions at QB. If Mason plays well, UGA will be in good shape. He certainly has a lot of talent around him on offense. On defense, the front 7 should be nasty, if it stays healthy, which may help to mask what looks on paper to be the worst secondary in the SEC east next year (although South Carolina isn't too great either, both units will play former RB's and walk ons and will have a lot of youth).

Florida is probably the biggest unknown quantity in the entire SEC next year. The defense is loaded again, returning a strong DL, LB corp, and although there is youth in the secondary, they have easily the most talented unit in the division, and maybe even in the whole conference. VH3 is one of the better cover corners in the entire country, and they have a lot of versatile options all over the unit. They will be playing a couple of freshmen, one of which may even start, but the talent is undeniable. The big mystery is offense. Florida looks to have, if it stays healthy, a decent OL, although it only goes 7 or 8 deep, so staying healthy, unlike 2013, is critical. The WR and TE corp is the most talented it has been in 5 years (the addition of Jake Mcgee was big for that unit), and the RB unit is solid. UF actually also has one of the most experienced QB's in the entire SEC in Jeff Driskel, the only question is how well he will play in the new offense. Florida, if people had any faith at all in the coaching, would be the favorite to win the division this year, easily, especially with so many big games @ BHG stadium. As of now? Just a big question mark.

Missouri is underrated so far in the division in the preseason. They have an experienced OL, a talented QB that won some big games last year as a back up, and a decent WR corp even without DGB. They have solid RB's and overall, have one of the better offenses in the conference, at least, on paper. On defense, they have guys returning on the DL that have certainly played well, although I bet they will take a step back after the great individual season that they had last year as a unit. The LB corp and the secondary lost some good players, and probably won't be as good as last year, but overall, they should still have a fairly reliable defense. This looks like the only team in the SEC east that doesn't have a glaring hole on their roster that I can see. The schedule, however, is not as favorable.

Tennessee might have more talent than a year ago, but it's young. The skill positions on offense look great. The only thing missing is an OL and a QB. There are serious questions about both. On defense, the LB corp will be one of the better units in the SEC, but the DL is probably the worst in the SEC. There is some talent, but almost no experience. UT desperately needs some guys to step up there. The secondary will probably be the best it's been in years, but that's not saying much. They are still a year away.

I know some people think that Vanderbilt might be a sleeper in the division right now, but they lost some of the best players they've ever had on offense from 2013. The biggest loss is probably Johnson on the OL, but Matthews is big too. The passing game will probably not be the greatest, although the running game should be pretty good. On defense, they have to replace a lot of starters, so i think they'll take a step back there, especially in the secondary.

Kentucky is in the middle of a transition. I think it will take a couple of years for Stoops to recruit (and he is doing that at a high level) enough talented players to really be a threat in this conference. The whole team returns a lot of starters, especially on defense, so you would hope that would mean better numbers than last year, giving UKs offense a chance to maybe win some close games. The offense though, is breaking in a new QB if you believe the post spring depth chart, and the rest of the roster isn't exactly filled with scary skill position players. The OL looks like it could be decent though.

Given all that, here's the schedule:

Schedule

The schedule is the most favorable, actually to Florida:
Florida - Mizzou, USCe @ home, UGA in Jax - no tough east games on the road, do get @ bam a tho
USCe - Mizzou and UGA @ home, AU and UF away
Mizzou - USCe and FL away, UGA at home, no games against west big 3
UGA - @ USCe, @ Mizzou, UF in jax, AU @ home. No home games against other good sec east teams.

I think ultimately, because of the schedule and relative equal strength of all teams, that it'll come down to UF vs USCe at the end of the year to see who wins the division.

I think USCe will win it as of today.

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Basing a secondary on height is a big mistake...a damn lot of NFL DBs are out there who are 5'10 or 5'11. UF has Tabor, a true frosh AA corner who is going to play this year...but I wouldn't dare say he will start...first year players don't always adjust as we think they will.

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Oh, I agree 100%. It was an Auburn fan that said Georgia's secondary would not match up well because we were too short.

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Bottom line is...this is just idle talk and we will see how it shakes out this fall. We are all 12-0 right now

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True. I have enjoyed the past two years and Florida being weaker than normal. I am dreading the inevitable come back from you guys.

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Mizzou. They have the best QB.

Best DEs too.

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No, to both, especially DEs, IMHO, but it would be great to see you try to prove your case.

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secondary looks taller than Auburn's projected secondary

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I am not sure if Auburn even knows who their starting secondary is going to be except for 1 or 2 guys.

And we have a 6'2" juco corner coming in the fall, a 6'2" juco safety who will play somewhere, and a bunch of highly recruited freshman defensive backs who are all over 6 foot

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BTW the last time UGA had a fifth year sr qb lead the team was Joe Cox and we know how well that went

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Let's compare those full teams then to see who had the better positional groups:

QB: TBD
RB: lol huge advantage '14
WR: '14
TE: 05
OL: 05

DL: Wash
LB: 14
Secondary: 05

You can't just say "well cox was also a 5th year starter and look what happened". Greene and Murray both started game 1 of their redshirt freshmen years with very different outcomes. Each team is different. Mason is going to have far more support around him than Cox, especially on defense. Not that I'm claiming world beater status for Pruitt, but our 05 defense wasn't all that. The only reason it didn't totally suck is because it was still a somewhat BVG defense. 06-09 it was awful.

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No, to both, especially DEs, IMHO, but it would be great to see you try to prove your case.

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Markus Golden as a backup DE last season:

55 tackles, 6.5 sacks, 13 TFL, and a 70 yard INT return for a TD.

Some of Golden's highlights from last season:

Markus Golden 2013 youtube highlights

Golden is really an amazing player. He played LB/RB in high school, committed to Mizzou, but had to go to JUCO. He played LB at JUCO, but had like 19 TFL his last season. We switched him to DE, and last season was his first playing DL. He moves like an LB, but is really powerful. Played at around 260 last season.

Shane Ray as a backup DE last season:

39 tackles, 4.5 sacks, 9 TFL, and a 73 yard fumble return for a TD.

Ray is fast. He's been clocked in the 4.4s, but that is realistically more like 4.5 or 4.6. He played at around 6'3 245 last season, and he'll replace Sam as our speed rusher on the weakside.

Golden will be a senior and Ray a junior. Both are already being mocked as first rounders in the next draft. They're really good. The question is their backups, but that's looking good too.