LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — There were a pair of teams last season which creeped out of SEC Media Days with middling expectations. Ole Miss (No. 4 West) and Missouri (No. 6 East) weren’t not seen as contenders in conference play but finished the season in New Year’s Six bowl games.
The SEC has ballooned to 16 total members with Texas and Oklahoma jumping aboard will make the league tougher than ever. NIL and transfer portal are two definite factors for the Rebels and Tigers rise to conference relevancy in this new era of college football. With rising expectations coaches Lane Kiffin and Eli Drinkwitz are tasked with continue their winning ways.
That now brings the question if an SEC school not touted to compete for a conference title, playoff berth or even a significant bowl game will rise from the ashes of doom. The bottom 30% of league members are expected to miss postseason play this season with four of the coaches constantly listed on ‘hot seat lists’ headed into 2024. Florida (No. 12), South Carolina (No. 13), Arkansas (No. 14), Mississippi State (No. 15) and Vanderbilt (No. 16) have all waded through the waters of irrelevancy for a few seasons now and fanbases are starting to grow weary.
Florida’s Got It Tough
The Gators are led by third year coach Billy Napier who enjoyed a high level of success at Louisiana in the Sun Belt. Florida’s brand has maintained a solid level of recruiting throughout the three cycles but wins haven’t come.
After a 5-2 record going into a rivalry game matchup against Georgia, the Gators were routed and floundered to a 5-7 regular season. An unexplainable loss to Arkansas cost the program a bowl game which led to Napier approval rating suffer.
Luckily, Florida recruited extremely well with the No. 7 freshman and No. 6 portal haul. With eight games scheduled against AP Top 25 opponents scheduled it will be very tough to move upward in a very deep conference.
South Carolina Receives Blessing From ESPN
Coach Shane Beamer heads into a pivotal year four in Columbia hoping to help the Gamecocks to its firm footing in 2022. South Carolina finished 2023 with a disappointing 5-7 record due to offensive line struggles and deficiencies in the secondary.
With a solid true freshman class and impressive transfer portal haul it’s still going to take a few weeks to see if Beamer and his staff can turn things around. He named redshirt freshman LaNorris Sellers as starting quarterback over Auburn transfer Robbie Ashford which will be a decision to monitor closely.
The Gamecocks have added senior running back transfer Raheim Sanders to the mix in the backfield who will likely be the starter. Sanders was a darkhorse Heisman candidate last season before being sidelined with injuries throughout the year. Do-it-all athlete Nyck Harbor enters into his sophomore season with plenty of hype as a former 5-star signee. The 6-foot-5, 235 pound wideout played in 12 games last season for South Carolina and caught 12 passes for 195 yards and one touchdown.
If Harbor can find a way to breakout this fall it will go a long way in the success of Beamer’s program. Now, South Carolina plays one of the SEC’s hardest schedules with LSU visiting week three before a four-game stretch which sees the Gamecocks host Ole Miss, travel to Alabama and Oklahoma before coming back home to host Texas A&M. Each of these five opponents are ranked inside the AP Top 25 preseason poll.
Its rigorous schedule doesn’t conclude there as the Gamecocks host No. 11 Missouri and travel to No. 14 Clemson in the season finale. Honestly, a 6-6 record is attainable but due to schedule strength a losing season won’t catch anyone by surprise.
Will Petrino’s Presence be Enough to Help Pittman Right the Ship?
Arkansas is another program that is hard to get a gauge on how well it will do this season. Expectations surrounding the program are always to make a bowl game and have a 9-10+ win season every cycle. Now, things are much different than they were during the height of Razorbacks football success from 1998-2011. That was a special time to be in Fayetteville as the Hogs were very competitive and weren’t dropping games to opponents it wasn’t suppose to.
One wild aspect that has been glazed over since the 2023 season came to a close was the hiring of Bobby Petrino. Yep, the old head hog who experienced the height of Arkansas’ success in the SEC is back and ready to bring the program back to respectability as offensive coordinator.
He knows his role and has a sense of urgency to turn things around compared to a 15 years ago when he arrived at Arkansas. This job is considered an overnight fix, not a multi-year overhaul thanks to the transfer portal. Either Arkansas is banking on a return to respectability or will be starting all over if things go south once again in the win-loss column.
The Razorbacks will play most of its toughest games in the friendly confines of Razorback Stadium hosting preseason AP ranked teams Tennessee, LSU, Ole Miss and Texas in a seven week span. The only road game in that stretch will be in Starkville, a revenge game from its 7-3 loss to Mississippi State last season.
Honestly, any form of over .500 ball will be known early following a week two road matchup against No. 17 Oklahoma State. If the Razorbacks can somehow upset the Cowboys and Heisman hopeful Ollie Gordon, Arkansas’ could return to a bowl game this fall.
A Wing, Prayer and More Cowbell
First time head coach Jeff Lebby inherited a mess following the firing of former coach Zach Arnett. Coming from the Art Briles School of High-Powered Offense, the Bulldogs will at least be entertaining to watch even if the program doesn’t win many games in year one.
If any school in the article has a chance to turn team fortunes around this season it will be State. There’s a completely new slate with no returning starters to an offense which was highly potent under Mike Leach [we all miss him] just two years ago. However, starting from scratch may exactly be just what the doctor ordered to move forward.
His resume as a play caller speaks for itself leading the Sooners to finish as the nation’s third-best offense last season at 507 yards per game. Lebby’s unit that was sixth in passing at 326 yards per game and fourth in scoring at a shade under 42 points per game. The Bulldogs offense only needs to be moderately successful this year to exceed any type of expectations this fall with a manageable schedule to start with home games against Eastern Kentucky and Toledo with a road matchup with Arizona State sandwiched between.
Florida will enter David-Wade Stadium in week four with hopes of staying above water which makes 4-0 perfectly within reason for Mississippi State. The Bulldogs welcome Arkansas in after whatever type of game that was last season which likely won’t be duplicated again. Then, it has UMass and Missouri coming to town with a win in either of those likely helping State reach a bowl game in Year 1 under Lebby.
SEC FEED:
• Giant 4-star Offensive Lineman Announces Commitment
• Former SEC Coach Claims Ole Miss Looks Like Complete SEC Team Now
• Auburn Lands Another Highly Recruited Defensive Commitment
