ESPN College GameDay’s preview show aired today ahead of the 2014 season, and Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit and Desmond Howard all made their picks for the SEC Championship and the College Football Playoff. The flagship pregame show is also undergoing some changes this season.

One of the more interesting debates the pregame show featured was the SEC vs. Pac-12 discussion and which is college football’s best conference this season.

Here’s the skinny on the analysts’ SEC and College Football Playoff predictions:

Kirk Herbstreit
SEC Champion: Alabama Crimson Tide
SEC East Winner: Georgia Bulldogs
College Football Playoff picks: No. 1 FSU vs. No. 4 Michigan State and No. 3 Alabama vs No. 4 UCLA (Picked FSU over Alabama in final)
Heisman Trophy: Brett Hundley, QB, UCLA
What he said: Herbstreit is under the impression that the Pac-12 has been closing the gap on the SEC for the last few years, but he added the Pac-12 hasn’t surpassed the SEC yet. Herbstreit also said the SEC West has never been ‘deeper and stronger’.

Lee Corso
SEC Champion: Alabama Crimson Tide
SEC East Winner: Florida Gators
College Football Playoff picks: No. 1 FSU vs. No. 4 Michigan State and No. 3 Alabama vs. No. 4 UCLA (Picked UCLA over FSU in final)
Heisman Trophy: Brett Hundley, QB, UCLA
What he said: Corso expressed that the Pac-12 is better than the SEC top to bottom, because of the veteran quarterbacks. However, Corso also said the best coaches in college football live in Alabama with Nick Saban and Gus Malzahn.

Desmond Howard
SEC Champion: Georgia Bulldogs
SEC West Winner: Did not predict but sounded like Alabama
College Football Playoff picks: No. 1 FSU vs. No. 4 Georgia and No. 3 UCLA vs. No. 4 Wisconsin (picked UCLA over Georgia in final)
Heisman Trophy: Todd Gurley, RB, Georgia
What he said: When talking about the SEC vs. Pac-12, Howard reverted back to the mentality that ‘defense wins championships’. Therefore, Howard said the SEC is still the country’s best conference.