If there is one surefire way to get to Atlanta from the SEC East, there’s a stat that’s held true virtually every year in recent memory.

While the preseason favorite has not routinely won the division recently, the team with the best overall pass rush has, especially when it topped the 40-sack mark.

In three of the past four seasons, the East champion has collected more than 40 sacks. And every year since 2012, the SEC East leader in sacks has won the division. In fact, of the past eight seasons, only the Jadeveon Clowney-led Gamecocks won the sack title without the team title in 2012, when he had 13 sacks alone and Georgia won the East.

Florida led the division with 31 sacks last season, and the Gators had 40 in 2015, while Missouri had 42 and 41 in its back-to-back division title seasons in 2013 and 2014. Missouri also led the league overall in those seasons.

SEC East sack leaders past 10 seasons

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A marked improvement is certainly possible given Georgia’s rapid rise from 21 sacks in 2015 to 29 last season under the new regime of Kirby Smart and Mel Tucker.

Of course, the bar is set in the SEC West, where Alabama has won the sack crown the past two seasons with 54 and 52, respectively.

Georgia and Florida appear to have the best shot at winning the sack title in the East this year.

The Bulldogs’ big three are Jonathan Ledbetter, Lorenzo Carter and Davin Bellamy. Ledbetter is expected to have a larger presence following a six-game suspension in 2016, when he registered just one sack. Carter, Bellamy and Trent Thompson each had five sacks last year, and Thompson is expected to re-enroll in classes this summer after he withdrew in the spring. Carter is among the players who passed on the NFL to return and further develop to prepare for the NFL.

In Gainesville, Jabari Zuniga, similar to Ledbetter, started just three games in 2016 but led Florida with five sacks. He appears to have the most potential next to Cece Jefferson and Jordan Sherit. Jefferson has underperformed his recruiting expectations and Sherit has battled injuries. But Sheri last year finished second on the team with 3.5 sacks.

At Tennessee, after a wave of NFL departures, the Vols have retooled their defensive line behind the experience of tackle Kendal Vickers. The Vols also hope Shy Tuttle and Kahlil McKenzie bounce back from injuries.