Some lucky folks out there have gotten a copy of Phil Steele's magazine already. It doesn't come out until June for the rest of us.
Anyway, Pat Forde has published Steele's top 25 to Twitter: Top 10, 11-24, 25. Here's where the SEC schools landed:
3. Alabama
7. Florida
15. Auburn
17. Arkansas
19. Georgia
21. South Carolina
I'm not surprised to see the Gamecocks in there, as Phil is bullish on Steve Spurrier more often than not. I am surprised to see Auburn as his third best team in the conference. I have a feeling he might be alone on that one. His top two ahead of Bama are Oklahoma and Ohio State, who, despite having played in the national title game a combined seven times since 2000, have never faced each other there. I'll give him credit for picking someone other than Alabama as No. 1; I doubt many other people (myself included) will be quite that brave.
Also: that's six SEC teams in the top 25. If Steele's right on (and he is more so than most pundits), it won't be a down year for the conference in 2010.