Top 5 Offenses in SEC 2013

Edited for Ole Miss nominations-

Ole Miss:

QB Bo Wallace threw for a respectable 2994 yards in 2012. 63.9% completion is just a hair lower than what you expect to see from an elite quarterback. Also, he threw 17 interceptions to 22 touchdowns. That ratio needs to get a little better. He was also sacked 28 times.

Leading running back Jeff Scott will be returning for his senior year. In 2012 he failed to break the 1000 yard mark, ending with only 846 for a 4.3 average. So, he must have been sharing alot of yards with someone else, right? Wrong. The second most yards were QB Wallace with 390 yards (2.7 avg).

Ole Miss did finish with more points than both South Carolina and Florida, but other than that statistic, nothing about their performance in 2012 gets me excited about them going into 2013. Maybe Wallace and the OL improve tremendously, and new recruits light the place up. Who knows. But right now, there isn't enough evidence to put them in the top 5 for 2013.





5: Florida

Muschamp has been quoted as saying the SEC is a line-of-scrimmage league, which is why he has been spending time recruiting kids like 5 star #1 OL DJ Humphries. While he loses several veterans from the offensive line, he's got plenty more where they came from. They entered the 2012 season three-deep at every offensive line position, and Muschamp believes that bigger is better.

Returning quarterback Jeff Driskel (JR), who was a scout 5 star QB with 4.6 speed coming into Florida two years ago, has been less than average since he won the starting position in the Spring of 2012. Despite his numbers, he led his team to an 11-1 regular season record which included wins over highly ranked teams Texas A&M, FSU, and a wholloping of South Carolina.

Florida came into 2012 with 13 wide receivers on the roster. Only 1 senior leaving.

Losing TE Jordon Reed to the NFL hurts, but Muschamp saw it coming and converted 6-5 265# defensive lineman Tevin Westbrook to tight end in the Summer of 2012, playing behind Reed. He'll be a guy to watch if his hands are sticky.

Losing Gillislee at running back isn't as big of a deal to Florida as it could be, because Trey Burton averaged 6.6 yards per carry in his backup role. Burton will be a senior for the 2013 season. The Gators also have 6 more sophomores and juniors at the running back position to choose from, all highly rated guys coming out of high school. Someone is going to step up, there is too much talent on the roster and the current recruiting class for Florida to not have a fantastic running back for 2013.








4: South Carolina


Steve Spurrier is one of the best minds in football, offensively and defensively. Senior Connor Shaw will miss Spring practice to surgery, but finished 2012 with a 67.5% completion rate and almost 2000 yards. Dylan Thompson got some playing time too, he put up 310 and 3 TD's vs Clemson at the end of the year, finishing with just over a thousand yards. The two quarterbacks combined for 2983 yards.

Mike Davis will likely replace Lattimore. 2012 was his freshman year with a 5.2 average on 50+ carries. He was a highly rated back coming out of high school, 8th best prospect in GA. He's 5-9 #216 of solid muscle. Another Spring and Summer of workouts and he should have no problem busting through the line and falling forward on linebackers, much the way Lattimore did. He's got to stay healthy though, there is no go-to backup in this position. Edit: Brandon Wilds is coming off a redshirt sophomore year and had really good numbers playing Latti's backup in 2011. Carolina has depth.

Offensive tackles Robinson, Matulis, Gibson, and Shell all return, under Coach Elliot, one of the best position coaches in the game.

The Gamecocks lose Ace Sanders to the NFL, but Bruce Ellington will be back. Despite only being 5-9, he was an All-SEC freshman on the basketball team last year, and is playing basketball again this season. An all-around great athlete, he'll be the go-to wide receiver for the Gamecocks again in 2013.













3: Texas A&M

For no other reason than the fact Manzeil can turn nothing into something, he alone makes this offense one of the best in the country. He led the conference in rushing yards (beating out both Lacy and Gurley) and passed for just over 3700 yards. There is a reason he was the first freshman to ever win the Heisman. The lack of a total package on offense is the only thing that keeps them out of the top spot because so much of their success depends on one single player in a very violent game.








2: Alabama

Returning AJ McCarron with 2 national championships under his belt and finishing the season with the highest efficiency rating in all of college football, along with TJ Yeldon who proved he's one of the best running backs in the country, despite his #2 role behind Lacy, makes this a ridiculous offense for 2013.

The two leading receivers are also both returning: Cooper and Norwood.

Alabama loses their 6-6 starting senior Michael Williams from the tight end position, but they are deep with several other giants waiting in the wings.

Had Lacy been returning for 2013, along with superstar offensive linemen Barrett Jones, DJ Fluker, and Chance Warmack, they'd be a distant #1, but these losses makes them a very close #2 with some very, very big holes to fill.






1: Georgia

Returning Aaron Murray who already has 10,000 yards and 99 touchdowns, finished the 2012 season at #2 behind only Alabama's AJ McCarron in passing efficiency nationally, gets UGA in the conversation.

Murray's top 4 targets all return: Bennett, Mitchell, Conley, and 6-5 TE Arthur Lynch. The addition of redshirt sophomore 6-6 Jay Rome puts two potential All-SEC tight ends at offensive coordinator Mike Bobo's disposal.

The entire offensive line returns. Gates, Lee, Burnette, Andrews, and Theus combine as 3 seniors, a junior, and a sophomore, all of whom started throughout the 2012 season, 3 of whom had little experience. They combine for 1544 pounds and the shortest one is 6-2. These are big and now experienced guys who were the cornerstone of UGA's passing and rushing attack that averaged the team 37.8 points per game in 2012, 3rd in the conference behind only national champions Alabama (38.6) and Texas A&M (44.5).


Both running backs return. Gurley ran for 1385 yards (6.2 avg) as a freshman in 2012, leading the conference for rushing yards by a running back. Only Manzeil had more. His backup, Keith Marshall, also a freshman in 2012, ran for 759 and an even better 6.5 avg. Maybe they hit a sophomore slump, or maybe they get even better and combine for 3000 yards. If they just stay the same, it's good enough to keep UGA at the #1 spot going into the 2013 season.