O’Gara: 10 storylines that I actually care about at SEC Media Days in Dallas

Maybe I’m in the minority here, but I hope that SEC Media Days doesn’t turn into a 4-day conference about revenue sharing and the future of athletic department spending.

Sorry. That doesn’t excite me.

What excites me is football and the people who play/coach/analyze football. That’s what I’m looking forward to (hopefully) discussing at SEC Media Days, which will begin on Monday and go through Thursday.

These are the 10 storylines that I actually care about this week in Dallas:

1. Welcome, Texas and Oklahoma

The SEC has a couple of new members. You know, in case you haven’t heard. SEC Media Days being in Dallas is the first official sign that this is a new SEC. It’s easily the 2 splashiest additions that the established SEC has ever had. That’s going to dominate the conversation and understandably so. Two programs that rank in the top 10 in terms of talent, history and resources will be dissected by their new conference foes. Are they SEC-ready? How do other SEC teams and players feel about that? Where does everyone stand on Horns Down? That’ll be the top subject in Dallas.

2. The post-Nick Saban world

I’m still sort of expecting Saban to walk out, step up to the podium and talk about the 2024 season like it’s business as usual. That would be incredible. I mean, it’d be super awkward for Kalen DeBoer, but what a sight it would be. I bet we’ll set plenty of comments about a post-Saban world, most likely from Kirby Smart and Lane Kiffin. If Kiffin doesn’t have an entire standup bit prepared related to that, it’ll be a letdown.

Related: Placing a wager on the national championship? SDS has you covered with all the latest odds!

3. EA Sports college football video game anticipation

I mean, even Arch Manning is on board now. Manning won’t be in Dallas, but there’ll be plenty of opinions on the game itself, which is set to be released next Friday. Who has played it? What are their thoughts on player and/or team ratings? Which team will they pick to start a dynasty with that isn’t their own? Which other player are they most looking forward to playing with? Something tells me we’ll get a lot of that content this week. I just want offensive linemen banging the drum for 99 speed.

4. 12-team Playoff hope

Look. I’m guilty of offering up some hope here. I said that 8 SEC teams deserve to have 12-team Playoff expectations. Who is that, you ask?

• Alabama
• Georgia
• LSU
• Mizzou
• Oklahoma
• Ole Miss
• Tennessee
• Texas

So if those are the teams that I think have Playoff expectations — I only think 4 will make it — does that mean those are the only teams who’ll talk about the Playoff? Nah. Shoot, last year, Mississippi State was already talking about the 12-team Playoff. For all we know, Vanderbilt will be talking about realistically making the 12-team Playoff after failing to beat a single SEC team. Welcome to the new age.

5. Quarterback “disrespect”

Get ready for that storyline. Why? Carson Beck, Quinn Ewers, Jalen Milroe, Jaxson Dart and Brady Cook all either played in a Playoff game or won a New Year’s 6 Bowl. There are only 3 preseason All-SEC spots. In other words, multiple SEC quarterbacks will miss out on that honor. In plenty of years, all 5 of those guys would be first- or second-team All-SEC guys entering the season. Shoot, even guys beyond that group would be in that position. But that won’t be the case. Instead, the release of the All-SEC teams will prompt that storyline. Well, I suppose that’ll be voted on next week, but it won’t be released until after the week concludes. Nonetheless, QB disrespect will be discussed.

6. Harold Perkins discussing LSU’s defense

That’ll be interesting to hear from the decorated linebacker, who hasn’t exactly been a staple of LSU press conferences. What will he say about his usage under Matt House? And what about how Blake Baker still intends to line him up as an off-ball linebacker? Personally, I’m more interested in what Perkins does post-snap, but even if he doesn’t get in depth about his 2023 season, he’ll be a popular person in Dallas because of his well-documented adjustments in LSU’s defense.

7. Any and all mentions of Bobby Petrino

Lost in the shuffle of this wild offseason has been Petrino’s return to Arkansas. It’s a message board fantasy that became a college football reality. Of course, Petrino isn’t returning as the head coach, so he won’t be in Dallas. We will, however, get Sam Pittman speaking on that, as well as offensive players Taylen Green and Andrew Armstrong. Has he had any classic Petrino blowups yet? Do they know about the first version of Petrino at Arkansas and how that ended? Speaking with Luke Hasz in the spring, Petrino seems to have an exceptionally high approval rating.

8. A confident Eli Drinkwitz

Drinkwitz wasn’t afraid to stir the pot when he was in the midst of 3 consecutive losing seasons to start his time at Mizzou. Now he’s coming off an 11-win season with a likely preseason top-15 team and all sorts of recruiting momentum. Do I think Drinkwitz will be feeling himself a bit? You bet. Perhaps he’ll give us a standup routine of sorts. Post-Saban jabs? I wouldn’t rule it out. A Horns Down joke? Absolutely. If Drinkwitz is really on one, he’ll even have a Kirby Smart joke ready to roll. But above all else, get ready for Drinkwitz to try and embrace his inner Steve Spurrier with a Tennessee Citrus Bowl reference.

9. Seeing everyone react to how big Deone Walker is

Don’t know the name? You should. The Kentucky defensive tackle is a 6-6, 350-pound man child … who plays 50-plus snaps per game and will occasionally drop into coverage. Yeah. Scary. He’s the closest thing to Jordan Davis we’ve had in the SEC since he went to the NFL. Walker is a first-round prospect after a breakout Year 2 in which he earned All-SEC honors. For plenty of media members who haven’t watched Walker closely, he’ll get the most “who’s THAT guy?” reaction of anyone in Dallas.

10. Are we actually going to get a new SEC tiebreaker?

This is the first year that we’ve ever had an SEC Championship without divisions. Ergo, we need a new tiebreaker system. Has that been decided yet? Nope, though I did come up with a 5-tiebreaker system that Greg Sankey is more than welcome to adopt. I’d love to know what the progress is on that. In 2003, the SEC had to pivot in November because it realized that it had a tiebreaker that was athletic directors voting on which tied team to send to Atlanta. Don’t let that happen again, SEC.

And 1 for the road … Quinn Ewers talking about Arch Manning

Kidding. Sort of.

Connor O'Gara

Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.