Where every SEC team ranks in Athlon Sports’ Preseason Top 130

Preseason polls are always a fun part of the college football offseason. Many media outlets publish a preseason top 25, and a fair number do power rankings for conferences. Athlon Sports, however, has ranked all 130 FBS programs heading into the fall.

Here’s where the 14 SEC programs rank:

• No. 1 Alabama
• No. 9 Auburn
• No. 11 LSU
• No. 15 Georgia
• No. 16 Florida
• No. 19 Tennessee
• No. 29 Arkansas
• No. 30 Mississippi State
• No. 37 Texas A&M
• No. 40 South Carolina
• No. 45 Kentucky
• No. 46 Ole Miss
• No. 48 Vanderbilt
• No. 55 Missouri

It’s clear that Athlon Sports does not see the East gaining any ground on the West this season, with no mixing of either division’s Big 3 in the top six programs.

While it’s no surprise to see Alabama as the top ranked team in the SEC (and in this case, the country), until the season kickoffs, it will be debated which team is best suited to the challenge the Crimson Tide in 2017.

Here’s Athlon’s reasoning for having Auburn ranked No. 2 in the conference:

The Tigers are the biggest threat to Alabama in the SEC. With the addition of former Baylor quarterback Jarrett Stidham, the offense now has a difference-maker under center to go with one of the conference’s top ground attacks. Stidham impressed this spring and possesses the arm strength and accuracy to open up the passing game downfield. He’s also surrounded by a cast of promising playmakers on the outside, including sophomore Nate Craig-Myers. Kamryn Pettway emerged as one of the SEC’s top running backs after posting 1,224 yards in 2016. He’s joined by Kerryon Johnson to form one of the league’s top tandems, while the offensive line is once again a strength with the return of three starters. Kevin Steele’s defense also is in good shape for 2017. Sophomore Marlon Davidson should fill the void left behind by Carl Lawson in the trenches, while the linebacker unit is anchored by Deshaun Davis and Tre Williams. Depth is an issue at safety, but cornerback Carlton Davis is one of the best in the SEC. A Week 2 road trip to Clemson is a huge opportunity to make an early statement, while contending in the West is likely to come down to an Oct. 14 road date at LSU and the Nov. 25 Iron Bowl.

Explanations behind the rankings for every team can be found in the article here.

Andrew Olson

Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.