Top 5 surprising storylines from 2024 SEC preseason rankings ft. Alabama
The SEC released its preseason football media rankings and honors and needless to say, there's some controversy. From team names to unusual rankings for specific teams, everybody's got a talking point. Here are the five biggest storylines that emerged from the SEC's preseason announcements.
Top 5 questionable storylines from SEC preseason rankings
#1. Vanderbilt?
Opinions are fine. But sometimes, people go overboard. Consider the SEC's preseason rankings for an illustration. 165 media members chose the Georgia Bulldogs to win the league. Reasonable. 27 picked the Texas Longhorns and a dozen picked Alabama. Those are plausible, surely.
Ole Miss got four votes and Lane Kiffin's Rebels are fierce. Two votes for Brian Kelly's LSU Tigers. They've got a shot, certainly. A vote for South Carolina is eye-raising, but is positively sane compared to two first-place votes for Vanderbilt.
Yes, the 2-10 Vanderbilt. Yes, the same Vanderbilt that is 2-22 in SEC play under coach Clark Lea.
#2. Alabama is No. 3?!
Yes, the Alabama Crimson Tide is somehow No. 3 in the preseason rankings. In a brutal 16-team SEC, that's certainly not bad. Georgia is a predictable favorite at No. 1, but Kalen DeBoer's team is ranked below SEC newcomer Texas. So yes, two people chose Vanderbilt as No. 1 (and thus over Alabama) despite that team having two 0-8 SEC seasons in the last three years.
To encompass eight SEC losses for Alabama, you're reaching back to 2015. The Tide haven't lost more than two games in a season since 2010. But here they are – ranked No. 3. If Kalen DeBoer needed any bulletin board material, he's got some.
#3. The real UT?
It'll be silly to some, but others will be interested to see that the SEC has decided who the real UT is. Of course, the league has called the University of Tennessee "UT" for decades. But Texas has an equally lengthy streak of being "UT."
In the new SEC? Well, it's the Vols, apparently. The All-SEC teams differentiated between Tennessee players listed as coming from UT, while Texas players were listed as coming from "TEX."
Maybe the league missed a massive marketing deal by not having a battle for the UT handle. If the Horns won, they could banish UT to TENN.
#4. Player picks
Nobody can ever be happy with the All-SEC picks and 2024 will be no exception. For instance, take All-SEC QB. Carson Beck from Georgia is a solid choice. Unless you're sure it should be Jalen Milroe (Heisman finalist) or Quinn Ewers (who led his team to CFP a year ago).
Running back Rocket Sanders was bypassed on the first team for Florida transfer Trevor Etienne at Georgia. Georgia linebacker Smael Mondon was left off the first team. Everybody is angry about somebody getting disrespected. But that's preseason football.
#5. Georgia's margin at the top
Picking Georgia as the top dawgs (pun intended) isn't exactly an upset. But it might be a surprise how many voters picked UGA over Texas or Alabama. Notably, adding up the first place votes for all other teams than Georgia combines to just 48 votes. The Bulldogs got more than triple that total at the top. UGA certainly can't play the disrespect card.
Are there any big SEC surprises? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.