Prediction time

I think its safe to say that everybody woke up with a little skip in their step Monday morning. The sun was a little brighter and birds were fluttering outside the window. Why? Because college football season is finally here. Goodbye Baseball dominated Sportscenter. And now, without further delay, here are Sweet Emotion’s predictions in alphabetical order for the strongest conference in the NCAA.
SEC EAST
Florida
Alex – 2nd . We all know about Florida’s recruiting classes, but the
experience factor again is significant. I'll say both Tenn. and Fla go 6-2 with a tie for the eastern division championship.
Brian – 3rd. The National Champs have a rough season by their standards (great by my beloved Rebels standards). With losses to Tennessee and Florida, they fall to 3rd. They will find that it was just too much to replace the defense of last year.

Georgia
Alex – 3rd. I see a possible 3-way tie like we had in 2003, but maybe more like a 2-way tie. If i go with a two-way tie, The first team I eliminate is Georgia. Simply b/c they have so many "wildcards", their offensive and defensive lines are all brand new. I'm sure talent is there, but relatively speaking, lack of experience makes me not want to put
my $ on them.
Brian – 2nd. Matthew Stafford will have a breakout year and Georgia will finally break past Florida. Georgia is too solid all-around, but will just barely come up short of the SEC championship game as usual

Kentucky
Alex – 5th. Kentucky won't be able to handle the hype of
another possible 6 win season.
Brian – 5th. Andre Woodson will enable the Cats to play some close games with the big boys, but they will still be Big Blue

South Carolina
Alex – 4th . South Carolina will be a disaster with all the off-field distractions and suspensions. All the talented recruits did not get in school, 4-5 SEC wins at best.
Brian – 4th. I want to see Spurrier win, the conference is always more fun when he does. However, playing in the East will prove just too tough for him this year. He’ll get a big win, but will slip up over a team he should beat as well.

Tennessee
Alex – 1st . Tennessee has the least amount of 'mystery' in the division, they have experience everywhere but WR.
Brian – 1st. This is the year of Tennessee. No surprise Coach Fulmer has his star runningback on the field for the first game despite some undisclosed conduct issues. Erik Ainge will have a terrific year and Tennessee will pull off a one loss SEC season.

Vanderbilt
Alex – 6th. Vanderbilt will live in the basement...again.
Brian – 6th. The Dores show their gold again, finish last in the east, but first in team GPA

SEC West
The way Alex sent me his picks, I have to leave it in paragraph format. So I will make my picks and then follow with his remarks
.
1) LSU – Too much talent on both sides of the ball. Even Les Miles can’t screw this one up. And some inside sources tell me the new offensive coordinator will make sure enough points are put on the board. Look for an undefeated season from the Tigers.

2) Auburn – With only 2 losses, it will be a good season for the Tigers. They are solid all around, but with gimpy Brandon Cox at quarterback, they just can’t do it.

3) Alabama – I hate even picking this one. I would love nothing more than to see Saban finish last in the west…but the west is just too weak this year. So, while it will not be year two thousand Saban, they will still end the season with an annoyingly third place finish.

4) Ole Miss – Put on your red and blue tinted glasses for this one. A strong offensive and defensive line will keep the Rebels in games they have no business hanging around in. And with a win over Alabama and Arkansas they pull off 4th place. However, with Seth Adams at quarterback it will not be pretty

5) Arkansas – Darren McFadden is a freak. However, in the SEC he won’t be able to handle the full load of Arkansas expectations. Expect a great season from Darren and a sub-par performance from the rest of the team. The Nutthouse will keep flashing his fingers on the sidelines though.

6) Miss State – The beating will begin on Thursday night and just carry through the rest of the season. This might be it for Coach Croom.

Alex
SEC west story: So much talk about how incredible LSU will be. For the sake of an interesting post, I'll go against the grain. Here's why: While they have tons of talent, it is nowhere as talented as they have been the past two years - and they couldn't win a championship. I don't buy all the confidence about Matt Flynn. He had one good game against a Miami team
that cared nothing about playing in a peach bowl and simply laid down. The game before that, he was AWFUL against Georgia in the SEC championship game. Les Miles will find a way for them to lose 2 SEC games again. Arkansas (despite what their
'deliverance-like' fans say) will be a disaster. Darren McFadden will not win the heisman, and may get injured. Every team will be gunning for him, spying him, and seeking to knock him out of games. The media-hype will get to him, the off-field distractions with Houston Nutt, the injuries, etc...a losing season awaits them. My pick for the SEC west will be Auburn
at 7-1. Good defense and good coaching will get them back to Atlanta. Bama will improve, but won't win more than 8 games. Miss State will be terrible, worse than Vandy, and take home the SEC's "big ten" team of the year.

SEC Championship
Alex - If Tennessee gets to the championship game, Vols beat Auburn. If Florida gets to the championship game, Auburn revenges an earlier
season loss and wins.
Brian – LSU and Tennessee battle it out with LSU taking it home.

National Championship
Brian – Not original at all, but LSU vs. USC. LSU proves the SEC dominance again as ESPN doesn’t know what to do with their “greatest teams of all time” honors already being handed to USC before the game.
Alex - USC vs. West Virginia (USC wins)

Other notes:

Alex - Houston Nutt will get fired in November...Bama' fans will be outraged with only 7 wins...Michigan will lose to Ohio State again...Notre
Dame wins 6 games...Wisconsin wins Big 10....Even with Notre Dame starting out 1-5, Lou Holtz is still convinced the Irish can turn it around to win 10 games.....Texas beats Oklahoma and wins Big 12.....Holtz is shocked to learn that Notre Dame will not play 15 regular season games...Miami vs. Florida State becomes one of the most meaningless games of the season....Lou Holtz' slur becomes so bad, ESPN begins
to insert sub-titles during his comments....

Brian – Tim Tebow is annoyingly hyped every week by ESPN. Darren McFadden will set an SEC single game rushing record…. And Lou Holtz mysteriously “disappears” from the booth halfway through the season and ESPN acts like he was never apart of their cast from the beginning.