SEC Football – 2013′s Most Improved & Overrated Teams
Yesterday we took a look at some of the possible SEC breakout players for 2013. Today we continue with our SEC Football Q & A sessions by taking a look at some of the teams that could show the most improvement over last season, and which teams may be overrated.
We are again joined by our panel of SEC football experts, including John Pennington, the founder of MrSEC, Lisa Cornwell of SECPRESSPASS, Christian D’Andrea of the Vanderbilt blog Anchor of Gold and The Saturday Edge’s own Alabama expert Chris Richmond.
[box] Question # 3: Which team do you believe will show the greatest improvement over last season? Which team is overrated (not nearly as good as they are being made out to be)?[/box]John Pennington – MrSEC: I think Auburn is the most likely to show improvement over last year. Gene Chizik recruited well while on the Plains yet his team underperformed horribly last year. Malzahn — on paper — should have a pretty good roster with which to rebuild.
As for an overrated squad, consider A&M. Yes, they could compete for the league title if they play as well as they did last year, but will SEC defenses have caught up to Kevin Sumlin and Manziel? There’s going to be an awfully bright spotlight on the Aggies’ QB and depending on how he handles that, A&M’s season could go up… or down.
Lisa – SEC Press Pass: Missouri certainly has the most to prove in my opinion. A healthy Henry Josey should help take some pressure off of quarterback James Franklin and make this offense more balanced. Getting Dorial Green-Beckham more involved has to be a focus, too, which Gary Pinkel says will happen. The Tigers return a lot of starters on both sides. Losing Sheldon Richardson to the NFL hurts. But there is still a ton of experience on Missouri’s defensive front.
I don’t see any team being too overrated at this point. The top picks are deserving of the pre-season hype.
Missouri QB James Franklin (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
Christian D’Andrea – Anchor of Gold: Greatest improvement: Ole Miss is the popular pick here, but anyone who watched that team at the end of last season should understand that much of the improvement in Oxford has already happened. Arkansas will be better, but a brutal four-game stretch (A&M, Florida, South Carolina, Alabama) could do some serious damage to their postseason hopes. Let’s swing for the fences and say Auburn. Partially because things couldn’t get much worse, and partially because Gus Malzahn has a ton of talent on his hands, and that typically goes well for him at Auburn.
Overrated: No one. Like in North Korea, the sun always shines on the SEC, and everyone is exactly as great as we say they are.
Chris Richmond – The Saturday Edge: I covered earlier why I think Georgia is massively over-rated this preseason. As far as teams who will improve on what they did last year, I’d go with Ole Miss. They got better as the year went on in 2012, they have a lot of great pieces back, and they’re bringing in a stellar group of freshmen who are ready to contribute. Hugh Freeze might win SEC Coach of the Year in 2013 if he continues his impressive start.
Please let us know which teams you think will be overrated and underrated in the SEC this year by leaving a comment below.
4 thoughts on “SEC Football – 2013′s Most Improved & Overrated Teams”
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MAXIMIZE YOUR EDGE
liking auburn myself, not that that is worth much.
I would think UK has an upgrade at HC and it would not surprise me to see them do better than expected.
Interesting opinion re ole miss and improvement has already happened. Keen observation, and I shall be following that one.
I read what Richmond said about Georgia in the other article and found it very interesting. I’d like to hear Sabert’s take on Georgia this year. Georgia is very similar to Oklahoma in that on the years the title seems to be handed to them, they always seem to disappoint. Is this going to be one of those years? It’s hard to go with Florida based on their offensive performances under Muschamp. Yeah, Driskel will be another year experienced, but Texas said that about Ash and McCoy last year, too. Some QBs just don’t pan out like they were predicted. I personally like South Carolina better since they seem to have a more balanced team on both sides of the ball. I also like the fact that they have two very experienced QBs. They are not great QBs, but they know how to run the offense.
I have a few thoughts on UGA, and all of them are pretty good. Their offense is going to be better than it was last year, and that is pretty scary.
Last year they were 1st in Yards per Pass Attempt, 30th in Pass Yards per game, 30th in Completion % and 2nd in RZ TD %. Gurley and Marshall are complete monsters and defenses will have to respect that. Not only that, they literally return every single OL from a young 2012 line. That gives Murray tons of time to pass, which he is pretty solid at. Fact of the matter is this team is going to be absurd on offense, and I have no issue staking the claim that they will be the best in the SEC and possibly the nation.
Defense is another question. They are going to be extremely young, and are probably going to get pushed around a bit on the line. On the other hand, Georgia recruits with the best of them. They have 4 and 5 star talent up and down their depth chart. I think they will have some missed assignment here and there, and obviously losing Ogletree, Rambo, Jones, etc. hurts, but this team will be about the offense not the defense.
We’ll know by the end of September where the Dogs season is going. Clemson, SC, and LSU in first 4 weeks. Get through that and they’re dancing.
I think they can run the table quite honestly. Match-up well and have good situations against their schedule.