Every year around this time the same discussion kicks off in bars, living rooms and around water coolers throughout the South.
Which of the Southeastern Conference’s 12 teams is tops, and even deeper, which of the SEC’s two divisions is best?
If you would have asked me last year, and as evidenced by the column I wrote in last season’s edition of this special section, I went against the home-team favorite SEC Western division and sided with the East.
To me, selecting the East was a no-brainer.
Consistent powers Georgia, Florida and Tennessee, plus a newly-hired Steve Spurrier led South Carolina and a potential first-round quarterback at Vanderbilt (forget Kentucky).
No competition right?
As good as that sounded at the time, the conferences managed to split, with each division going 24-24 in the SEC. But if you ask me, minus the whole 2005 Tennessee debacle, the SEC East, team for team, was still better than the West. Georgia even won the SEC Championship.
This season, I may get less hate mail from the LSU faithful because I agree that LSU is the best team in the best division of the best conference.
After a team goes through what LSU did last season, with the delaying of games, the moving of games and the two-bedroom apartments filled with 20-plus family members and friends dispersed from Hurricane Katrina, that 11-2 record looks like a championship effort.
From that team, it returns 14 starters and three quarterbacks who are capable of starting for most teams in the SEC, and the country for that matter. Plus it has what may be the best pair of safeties in college football in seniors Jessie Daniels and LaRon Landry.
Auburn is a close second to LSU in regards to talented teams in the SEC. It features a running back, Kenny Irons, who proclaimed on national television he would individually run for 200 yards against a team who had not given up 100 yards rushing to any team in the previous five games.
Irons went for 225 and a touchdown in Auburn’s overtime loss to LSU and returns this season to anchor the Tigers’ running game.
Another contender in the SEC West, the Arkansas Razorbacks, are my surprise team for the 2006 season.
Arkansas returns an SEC-leading 20 starters, including All-Freshmen first team member Darren McFadden. McFadden returns to solidify last season’s SEC leader in rushing.
Alabama finished 7-1 in the SEC last season but must replace departed quarterback Brodie Croyle.
It will be helped by the fact that it returns running back Ken Darby, who was the SEC’s second-leading rusher. It also adds one of the most dominant high school offensive tackles in the last 10 years to the offensive line in freshman Andre Smith.
The Razorbacks will start with junior Robert Johnson at quarterback, but waiting in the wings is High School Parade All-American Mitch Mustain.
Even Ole Miss who went 1-7 in the SEC last year has reason to be optimistic with coach Ed Orgeron heading into his second year at the helm.
The Rebels are led by Patrick Willis on defense, who may be the best middle linebacker in the country, and have generated tons of excitement by bringing in former Tennessee Volunteer quarterback Brent Schaeffer.
As for Mississippi State . . . well at least it hired the first black coach in the SEC, and that in itself has to count for something.
The SEC East will have a power team in Florida, and Tennessee should be vastly improved from last year’s 5-6 record. South Carolina should be solid, but with Georgia questionable at the quarterback position and Kentucky and Vanderbilt not having a clue, look for the SEC West to reign supreme.
—–Contact Jeff Martin at jmartin@lsureveille.com