A look at the teams most likely to earn the SEC’s sixth straight BCS National Title…
BY JOSH
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A lot has gone down since the last time college football crowned a national champion from outside the SEC. The economy comes to mind.
In 2005, Justin Bieber was in first sixth grade. The Office, starring Steve Carrell, premiered on NBC. Grey’s Anatomy first hit the airwaves as well. Derek Dooley was the tight ends coach for the Miami Dolphins – under Nick Saban.
The likes of Alabama, Florida, LSU, Auburn, and the rest of the SEC have cuckolded the power of college football in the past five seasons. The question on everyone’s mind, as the league’s media days take place in Hoover, Ala. this week, is can they win a sixth consecutive national title? There’s an old saying about what bears do in the woods that should help find the answer.
Yes, the SEC can very easily stake claim to another crystal football. The familiar faces are leading the way, but as 2010 showed us, the deepest league in America is capable of pulling a fast one on the preseason polls. Auburn began last season ranked 22nd in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. Neither Cam Newton nor Nick Fairley made the media’s first or second-team preseason all-conference lists.
Who will carry the conference banner this year?
The contenders:
Alabama
Returning Starters: 14 (7 offense/7defense)
The Tide appear be in the thick of the championship discussion for good as long as Saban’s on the sidelines. The defensive backfield is loaded with big-time NFL talent. Mark Barron, Dre Kirkpatrick, Dee Milliner, and Robert Lester form the unquestioned most dominating secondary in America. All-American Dont’a Hightower heads the linebackers. Points will be at a premium for Crimson Tide foes.
The time has finally come for running back Trent Richardson to be climb completely out of Mark Ingram’s shadow in the Tide backfield. There are many people inside and out of the program who believe Richardson is a better talent than his Heisman Trophy-winning predecessor. Known for his astronomical numbers in the weight room, Richardson can carry as heavy of a burden as the offense needs this fall.
That could be quite a lot as Saban figures out whom his best quarterback will be going forward. A.J. McCarron and Philip Sims are both fine options if the goal is to win games. But in Tuscaloosa it’s about winning championships, and Saban has to decide which signal-caller gives him the best chance of cracking the BCS code. Greg McElroy endured his ups and downs during the 2009 season, his first as a starter, but by the end of the season he was more than capable of performing at a high level in pressure situations. Whichever player wins the starting job will have the luxury of being protected by an offensive line littered with potential All-Americans.
No team in America wouldn’t trade rosters with Alabama. The Tide are the most well-stocked program at every position, making it hard to find much to be concerned about as they try to win a second national title in three years. As they learned last year, however, the margin for error in the SEC is razor-thin. The 2010 Crimson Tide was arguably the best team in America, despite losing three SEC games by an average of six points.
LSU
Returning Starters: 15 (8 offense/7 defense)
The Tigers have high hopes after a rout of the streaking Texas A&M Aggies in the 2011 Cotton Bowl. A coaching staff shake-up, along with a scary-good defense (there’s a theme here) has the Bayou Bengals thinking about its third-ever BCS title.
Any discussion about the Tigers’ title chances begins and ends with the play of quarterback Jordan Jefferson. The senior enters his third year as the starting quarterback, but not without a heavily criticized background. He threw seven touchdowns to 10 interceptions last season, but showed improvement at season’s end and drew rave reviews for his improvements this spring.
New offensive coordinator Steve Kragthorpe has a stellar track record of developing passers, and it’s up to him to revamp Jefferson’s career. The rest of the offense is brimming with talent (keep an eye out for Spencer Ware, sophomore running back), but Jefferson holds the keys to the machine. LSU goes as he goes.
The defense lost players like Patrick Peterson, Drake Nevis, and Kelvin Sheppard, but is still well equipped for a mid-season run through the rigors of the SEC. Junior cornerback Mo Claiborne led the team with five interceptions in 2010. He took full advantage of opposing offenses throwing away from Peterson at all costs, and likely will see a similar approach taken against him this season. The Tigers can rotate players at virtually every position, a basic necessity of surviving the league schedule.
LSU has its work cut out for them, starting with week one against Oregon at Cowboys Stadium. If they can knock off the defending BCS runner-ups, they must navigate through road trips to Mississippi State and West Virginia…and that’s just September. They go to Tuscaloosa in November before finishing the season at home against Arkansas. While Les Miles’ team is known to defy the odds, it seems like the schedule sets the Tigers up for at least one, if not two or three losses.
Arkansas
Returning Starters: 12 (5 offense/7 defense)
The Razorbacks are the sexy pick to continue the five-year championship streak. Despite losing quarterback Ryan Mallett to the New England Patriots, the rest of the offense is back basically intact. Couple that with the best defense yet under Bobby Petrino, and an intriguing level of hype around Mallett’s replacement, and you have a dark horse championship contender.
In this day and age, where college football gets dissected by thousands of writers and bloggers on a daily basis, it’s hard to keep any secrets if you’re any good. Which is why Tyler Wilson enters his first season as the Razorbacks’ starting quarterback with the ungodly expectations. Of course, he’s surrounded by the likes of Greg Childs, Jarius Wright, and Knile Davis. Wilson showed in spot duty last season that he has the tools to be a very good quarterback, and with those tools at his disposal, he could easily be first-team All-SEC at season’s end.
The Hogs’ defense ranked fifth overall in the SEC last season, and returns run-stopping specialists like linebacker Jerry Franklin and lineman Jake Bequette. If they can help hold opponents under 30 points, that should frankly be enough for the Razorbacks to win every game; the offense is that good.
There’s always the danger of the preseason darling failing to meet lofty expectations (see: Ole Miss in 2009). Arkansas seems equipped to beat anyone, but as we’ve seen before, the teams that win the easiest are the ones who’ve done it before. Last year’s Sugar Bowl run was a great experience to prepare them for a memorable 2011 run, but pick the Hogs at your own risk.
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It’s become commonplace for the SEC to at least be represented in the BCS Championship Game, favored or not. As it turns out, they’ve flexed their muscles against the likes of the Big 12, Big 10 and Pac-10 during this run of dominance. Teams like Oklahoma, Florida State, Oregon, Stanford, Wisconsin, and more will try to end the run in 2011.
All good things must come to and end sometime, but as they say down South, too much of a good thing is a good thing.
Josh is the managing editor of Sports Aletheia. He can be reached at jparcel3@gmail.com, or on Twitter @JoshParcell
