10 biggest SEC surprises in 2014

Every year, college football experts make their predictions as they envision how the upcoming season will pan out.

Without fail, there are always aspects within each season that no one sees coming and the 2014 season was no different in the SEC.

Here are the 10 biggest SEC surprises in 2014.

10) Shane Ray’s emergence as top NFL prospect — When Missouri lost both Kony Ealy and Michael Sam from last year’s team, many wondered how the new crop of defensive linemen would perform. Despite a role as a reserve in 2013, redshirt junior Shane Ray quickly emerged as the top pass rusher for Missouri and in the SEC.

He broke the school record for sacks in a season and improved his draft stock from second-day player to potential No. 1 overall pick. Ray’s speed proved to be too much for opposing offensive linemen all season and he’s become a game-changing pass rusher off the defensive line.

9) Blake Sims keeps QB job all season — The Alabama starting QB position was up for grabs all throughout the summer and FSU transfer Jacob Coker was expected to be the winner. But surprisingly it was fifth-year senior Blake Sims who was named the start.

Many still thought Coker would eventually push out Sims as the starter, but it never happened. Sims was more than capable of leading the Alabama offense helped lead the Crimson Tide to a 11-1 regular season record and even some individual consideration for the Heisman Trophy at different times during the year.

8) Missouri’s home loss to Indiana — Eventual division champs usually have some hiccups along the way, but Missouri’s loss to Indiana was virtually unbelievable.

The Hoosiers came into the game as 14-point underdogs and not expected to give the Tigers much of a challenge in Faurot Field. Instead, Indiana racked up 503 total yards of offense and had their way with a talented Missouri defense. Indiana scored the game-winning touchdown with 22 seconds left and broke the hearts of every Missouri fan.

7) Where did South Carolina go? The Gamecocks lost some serious talent from 2013, but South Carolina was still expected to be a contender for the school’s first SEC Championship. Despite a preseason top-10 ranking, South Carolina’s season got off to a terrible start with a 52-28 defeat at the hands of Texas A&M.

Steve Spurrier’s team never quite recovered and it appeared the defense was in much worse shape than everyone originally thought. Thanks to a couple of wins late in the season and an upset win against Georgia in Week 2, the Gamecocks managed to finish with a 6-6 record but far below preseason expectations.

6) Vast improvements made by Arkansas — In Bret Bielema’s first season with the Razorbacks, Arkansas didn’t win a single SEC game and the Hogs were expected to improve, but not this quickly. Although the record only says 6-6, Arkansas is considered by many to one of the most improved teams in all of college football.

The Razorbacks came within a few points of beating Texas A&M, Alabama and Mississippi State in addition to their wins against LSU and Ole Miss. Based off their 2014 season, the Hogs should be a team to watch out for in 2015.

5) Jeff Driskel loses starting job — Newly hired offensive coordinator Kurt Roper’s hurry-up, spread offense was supposed to be a lightning rod for Jeff Driskel. The redshirt junior quarterback was finally healthy again and in an offense that suited his skillset.

Yet, Driskel’s season quickly went downhill. He couldn’t get over the turnover bug and at times he looked lost out on the field. He finished the season with just nine touchdowns and 10 interceptions and eventually lost his starting job to true freshman Treon Harris prior to Florida’s matchup against Georgia on Nov. 1.

4) Todd Gurley’s NCAA rules violation — Situations like these are always tough to predict and when news broke of the Heisman Trophy candidate’s suspension, everyone was shocked. Todd Gurley was the SEC’s leading rusher at the time, but was suspended due to receiving extra benefits for signed memorabilia.

The official ruling from the NCAA took a few weeks, but in the end he was suspended for a total of four games when it was revealed that he had received thousands of dollars in impermissible benefits over the years. Unfortunately for Gurley, he tore his ACL in his first game back from suspension, cutting short what was supposed to be an outstanding year for the junior.

3) Missouri repeats as SEC East Champs — With South Carolina, Georgia or even Florida viewed as potential SEC East contenders, last year’s winners were hardly considered a real threat. Of course, that didn’t really matter to Missouri who seemingly found a way to win when it needed to the most. The Tigers finished the year on a six-game conference winning streak and took home their second-straight division title despite embarrassing losses to Indiana and Georgia.

2) Nick Chubb’s dominance in the SEC — Nick Chubb wasn’t even supposed to be the best freshman running back in the SEC (see Leonard Fournette). As Todd Gurley’s backup, Chubb shined in his limited playing time, but it wasn’t until Gurley’s suspension that Chubb became one of the SEC’s top running backs.

Since his first career start against Missouri, Chubb never rushed for less than 129 yards in a full game (he rushed for 113 against Charleston Southern and played only one half) and recorded 10 touchdowns during that seven-game stretch. He finished the season as the SEC’s second-highest rusher, despite starting just half the season.

1) The rise of the Mississippi schools — Ole Miss and Mississippi State’s dominance this season comes in as this year’s biggest surprise in the SEC. If one of the two schools was likely to make a run, it would have been Ole Miss behind senior quarterback Bo Wallace and a bevy of young playmakers, but no one expected a combined 16-0 start from these two teams. Dak Prescott and Josh Robinson became the SEC’s top QB-RB duo and even led to serious Heisman consideration for Prescott.

Both teams eventually suffered some losses towards the end of the season, but this year’s Egg Bowl was one of the most anticipated matchups of the season, a credit to the jobs Ole Miss and Mississippi State did this season. They both finished the season ranked in the top-15.

Plus, I’m not sure anyone will forget the season in Oxford following Ole Miss’ victory over Alabama. The Rebels and Bulldogs provided some very special moments this season.