Will Texas play in the SEC title game in its first season in the conference?
The Longhorns were picked to finish second in the SEC behind Georgia in the conference’s annual preseason media poll released Friday. The Bulldogs received the vast majority of first-place votes; 165 voters picked Georgia to win. Texas came in second with 27 first-place votes ahead of Alabama with 12 and Ole Miss with four.
Vanderbilt got two first-place votes, a tradition that seems to continue every year. There are always a couple of media members who like to vote for the Commodores, even though they start the season as the team favored to finish last.
Based on the number of voting points, media members are convinced that the top four teams in the conference will be the Bulldogs, Longhorns, Crimson Tide, and Rebels. After that, it’s close for fifth through eighth place. LSU was picked in fifth place, just ahead of Missouri, Tennessee, and Oklahoma. Just 300 points separate LSU and Oklahoma in fifth and eighth place. More than 400 points separate Ole Miss in fourth place from LSU.
If Georgia wants to win the SEC, it needs to navigate one of the toughest schedules in the conference. Georgia visits each of the three teams that will finish directly behind it in the conference.
Georgia quarterback and Heisman co-favorite Carson Beck was… Named First Team All-SEC QB ahead of Texas’ Quinn Ewers on the second team and Alabama’s Jalen Milroe on the third team. Georgia running back Trevor Etienne, a transfer from Florida, is also a first-team selection, as the Bulldogs have six players voted to the All-SEC first team before the season.
1. Georgia (3,340 points)
2. Texas (3,041)
3. Alabama (2,891)
4. Ole Miss (2,783)
5. Louisiana (2,322)
6. Missouri (2,240)
7. Tennessee (2,168)
8. Oklahoma (2,022)
9. Texas A&M University (1,684)
10. Auburn (1,382)
11. Kentucky (1,371)
12. Florida (1,146)
13. South Carolina (923)
14. Arkansas (749)
15. State of Mississippi (623)
16. Vanderbilt (293)
