re: How tough is it to play in the SEC?

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Last years pre season rankings were an embarrassment in October.

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Yes, they were far from accurate. But part of that is at the expense of OTHER conferences being overrated.

Texas A&M started the season unranked last year. They catapulted from unranked the #16 after Week 1 because they beat a VERY OVERRATED Arizona State squad who was ranked #15 in the preseason. Yes, Texas A&M's ranking was ridiculous in October. But the preseason prognosticators actually had the Aggies projected correctly.... outside the Top 25.

They certainly missed the boat on Auburn and to a lesser extent Georgia. But there were misses from just about every league.

USC started the year ranked #8... but finished with 6 losses and unranked.
UCLA started the year ranked #13... but finished the season unranked.
Arizona State started the year ranked #15... but finished the season unranked.
Arizona started the year ranked #22... but finished the season unranked.

You can make a pretty strong argument that the PAC 12 was far more overrated in the Preseason last year compared to the SEC.

Also don't forget how badly the polls whiffed on Georgia Tech out of the ACC... a team that began the year #16 and finished with just 4 wins.