The SEC East looks to be a division of the haves and have nots this year, as Tennessee, Georgia and defending division champion Florida should contend for the top spot once again.
At Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Kentucky and Missouri though, there are serious issues to still be resolved heading into 2016 – especially on offense – and it seems unlikely that any of those four can rise up and contend for a title.
Tennessee seems to be the odds-on-favorite to win the SEC East in 2016, but we’ve heard that hype before. That said, he are the most exciting SEC East matchups to look forward to this fall:
Florida at Tennessee, Sept. 24 in Knoxville: The Vols have some serious demons to overcome in this matchup with the defending SEC East champs. You can go back to last year and be painful reminded that Tennessee blew a 13-point fourth quarter lead and lost 28-27 in a game that they clearly should have won. Want more heartache? Florida has won 11 in a row in the series; Tennessee hasn’t won since 2004.
Tennessee at Georgia, Oct. 1 in Athens: Tennessee’s two biggest SEC East games are on back-to-back weekends, which is a bad scheduling flaw. The Bulldogs are always tough at home and they will be smarting from last year’s tough loss to the Vols. New coach Kirby Smart is promising championships in Athens, and to do so means beating Tennessee between the hedges. This should be a grudge match, and it will be interesting to see if the Vols can keep their motors running at a high level two weeks in a row.
Georgia vs. Florida, Oct. 29 in Jacksonville: The third game in the round robin should be a bloodbath too. Smart’s in his first year and Florida’s Jim McElwain is in his second. Both new coaches are trying to regain recruiting footholds through these two critical recruiting states and this game always means a lot to those big recruits. Florida has won the past two.
South Carolina at Vanderbilt, Thursday Sept. 1 in Nashville: Finding SEC wins will be tough for all four of those other schools, so early matchups will be big. This one kicks off the season for both schools on a Thursday night, and both coaching staffs will look at it as a must-win situation. Vandy is hoping its offense is better, and no one has any idea what to expect from Will Muschamp’s first game at South Carolina. It will be interesting, to say the least.
Kentucky and Missouri both have offensive questions as well. They’ll have early opportunities to show some against the big boys. Kentucky’s first SEC game is at Florida on Sept. 10 and Missouri’s first is against Georgia on Sept. 17. These two games will be a chance to them to make some early noise.
Tom Brew is an award-winning journalist and author who is covering SEC football for Saturday Down South.
