Overrated, Underrated or Just Right? Breaking down SEC teams in the preseason Coaches Poll
Aside from Nick Saban tossing a faux No. 1 vote for Texas in Monday’s USA Today Coaches Poll (kidding!), the preseason Top 25 mostly looked right.
Alabama, Ohio State and Georgia are in tier to themselves, with the rest of college football looking to catch up. The SEC had six teams ranked in the preseason poll — the same amount of schools that finished the 2021 season in the final Coaches Poll. Another six SEC programs were also represented in the “others receiving votes” categories.
So, who was ranked just right? Were any SEC schools overrated? Or underrated perhaps?
Here’s some SEC reactions to the initial 2022 Coaches Poll.
Alabama, No. 1 — Just Right
The Crimson Tide remain the Death Star of college football — a nearly indestructible force with the ever-slightest Achilles heel (see: questions at offensive line and receiver). Alabama is a team lost in the national championship in a “rebuilding year,” returning the reigning Heisman Trophy winner in quarterback Bryce Young and the best pure football player in the country in outside linebacker Will Anderson. The last program to be ranked No. 1 in the preseason Coaches Poll and win the title? The Tide in 2017. Don’t be surprised if that happens again.
Georgia, No. 3 — Just Right
The Bulldogs must replace a record-setting 15 NFL Draft picks off their national championship team last season, but Georgia remains a serious contender to repeat in 2022. Just three teams have won back-to-back titles since 1980, so the Bulldogs face an uphill battle, but the “Hungry Hunters” should have an elite offense paired with another tenacious (although not historic) defense. The schedule also sets up quite nicely for Kirby Smart’s team to return to the College Football Playoff for the second-straight season.
Texas A&M, No. 7 — Overrated
Jimbo Fisher’s Aggies are seemingly always a year away from being a year away, but that really looks true this fall. The 2023 season is when Texas A&M truly projects as a Top 10 team with realistic College Football Playoff expectations. The Aggies lost four games in 2021, and while they return a strong secondary, the SEC’s best special teams and a deep defensive line, we still don’t know who is going command the offense and if the Aggies can produce more explosive plays.
Kentucky, No. 22 — Overrated
At first glance, the Wildcats’ slotting in the 20s seems fine after Mark Stoops’ team won 10 games in 2021 and returns a solid squad, including potential breakout quarterback Will Levis. You can pretty much toss teams 16 through 30 into a hat and make a case for or against their positioning in the polls. So here’s mine: Is Kentucky really the fourth-best team in the SEC this year? The ‘Cats schedule is fairly favorable, but like Texas A&M, they have a major question mark surrounding their best playmaker, as Stoops has avoided all questions regarding the status of star tailback Chris Rodriguez, who was arrested this offseason. Kentucky could finish as a Top 25 team in 2022, but it also could finish third or fourth in the SEC East and go unranked.
Arkansas, No. 23 — Just Right
The Razorbacks have become the darlings of the SEC, as folks are enamored (rightly so) with team’s lunchpail mentality and head coach Sam Pittman’s charming personality. Arkansas looks to have a solid squad this fall, returning the best overall rushing attack in the conference, led by bulldozing quarterback KJ Jefferson and a nasty offensive line. But their schedule is beyond brutal, with their typical SEC West games plus non-conference matchups against Cincinnati, BYU and Liberty. The Hogs are a fringe Top 25 team, and that’s right where they’re slotted to start the season.
Ole Miss, No. 24 — Overrated
Much like Kentucky, Ole Miss’ preseason ranking is ok in a vacuum, but when compared to other SEC schools that went unranked, the Rebels looks ever-so-slightly overrated. Are they *that* much better than rival Mississippi State, which received just a handful of votes?
Lane Kiffin’s Reinforcement Rebels could certainly finish as a Top 25 team this fall, but they have plenty of chemistry questions to sort out, as well as determining a starting quarterback.
With a breezy early-season schedule, the Rebels should find themselves ranked somewhere in the low teens come October now that they made the initial preseason Top 25. But then can they manage a very tough backloaded slate?
Tennessee, unranked — Underrated
The Vols’ offseason hype-bubble seemed to burst a bit with the initial Coaches Poll, as a bit surprisingly, Tennessee was not ranked. Considering the Vols are considered 2B to Kentucky’s 2A in the SEC East pecking order this season, they probable should’ve snuck into the bottom of the preseason Top 25. It’s not an egregious oversight, just an odd one.
LSU, unranked — Just Right
While I’m higher than most on Brian Kelly’s team in 2022, the Tigers going unranked in the preseason poll makes sense. They were just 6-7 last season and finished the year with less than 40 available scholarship players. Kelly has turned over the roster, but with so much change — both personnel and with the coaching staff — LSU is a perfect wait-and-see team. If the Tigers start out hot (potential wins over Florida State and Mississippi State the first three weeks of the season), then they’ll quickly find themselves slotted inside the Top 25.