UGA: From a program standpoint, closest thing to a lock out there. Schedule is tough though and our three toughest opponents on paper are all on the road.

LSU: It's possible, but defense needs major improvement and hard to see not having a falloff on offense when you lose two first round picks at WR and a top 5 pick at QB. That did not go well last time. Realize Kelly won't get a big head like O. did, but 50/50 shot to me.

Texas: Sark has underperformed for most of his career. And while he finally got Texas a conference championship and playoff berth last year, he had a good bit more talent than the team he lost to in the playoff. Texas should've been the favorite IMO.

On the cusp:
UT- If the dude with the difficult name is great, could make it.

Bama- Enough talent still there to do it. But it's a transition year. Everyone is learning a new offense and defense.

Ole Miss- Good shot, but it's the SEC. Even if your schedule is favorable now, it's still tough.

OU- Doesn't look ready yet and the schedule just got much tougher.

Extra thought: With the two best conferences loading up, will we see undefeated ACC and Big 12 champs get the 1 and 2 seed because they have less losses than the B1G and SEC champs. Will coaches whose teams were locks pre conference champion game, but on the bubble afterwards start complaining about playing in it?

This post was edited on 1/18/24 at 7:02 pm