re: When did it first occur to you LSU and Tennessee will meet in Atlanta?

quote:

---

It feels very awkward being reasonable on the SEC-R -- like a crabwalk at a cotillion -- but I will concede that point. If Tennessee suffers a major loss, like UF and UGA have done in recent years, it's hard to hold the coach accountable. Barring significant injuries or one of the new QBs for UGA or UF being the greatest thing since sliced Newton, though, I can't think of a clearer-cut favorite for a division title since...Urban's Florida, really.

---

I'm going to have to steal that.

And yeah, I do think that we're seeing a clearer cut favorite than is normal and it probably is comparable to Urban's Florida as weird as that sounds to me since we've been down for what seems like eternity. The vestiges of Battered Fan Syndrome that Dooley left us with are real.

I do think that UGA is probably being a bit underrated by everyone -- they finished with a good season and return a talented to roster. Yes, they have a new coach and maybe a new QB but they managed to win games last year with a very meh QB.

UF is such a wild card with how they played last year that it's hard to really pinpoint where they're at. Are they the team of the first half of last season or the very bad one of the latter half or something in between? While I expect their secondary to still be strong losing VH3 will effect Tabor's production. But it would be a mistake not to think their defense will still be stout.