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The SEC has released the media preseason picks for standings and the All-SEC teams.
The scribes see the two divisions as three-horse races. In the East, Georgia is the top pick with South Carolina in second and Florida in third. The Bulldogs netted about twice as many first place votes as the Gamecocks did. A large gap comes before Vanderbilt, Tennessee, and Missouri fill out the middle. Kentucky is in last by a good bit. Out West Alabama is a more convincing favorite over runner up Texas A&M, which barely edged out third place LSU. Ole Miss is by itself in fourth, with Auburn, Mississippi State, and Arkansas rounding out the division in a clump at the bottom.
Alabama is the overwhelming favorite to win the league with 182 out of 243 first place votes. Georgia's 38 votes are the next highest, followed by South Carolina's 18, Texas A&M's four, and LSU's one.
Alabama also topped the list of All-SEC offense and defense selections with 15 total, with Georgia and LSU each having nine honorees. Florida comes in fourth with seven, and Tennessee finishes the top five schools with six. Every school had at least one selection, though Mizzou came in with exactly one selection (third team DB E.J. Gaines).
Here is how the All-SEC offense shook out. The score is based on three points for first teamers, two for second teamers, and one for third teamers.
| School | First Team | Second Team | Third Team | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 4 | 1 | 1 | 15 |
| Georgia | 2 | 2 | 2 | 12 |
| Texas A&M | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| Tennessee | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Miss State | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Auburn | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Florida | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| LSU | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Vanderbilt | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Arkansas | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Ole Miss | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| South Carolina | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Kentucky | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Missouri | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The two favorites are the top scoring teams here, with A&M's potent offense coming in third. It also really says something about the quarterback depth in the league this year that Aaron Murray came in as only the third team guy behind Johnny Manziel and A.J. McCarron.
This is how the defense worked out:
| School | First Team | Second Team | Third Team | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 3 | 5 | 1 | 20 |
| LSU | 2 | 1 | 2 | 10 |
| Florida | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| Georgia | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| Ole Miss | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Tennessee | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Arkansas | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Auburn | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| South Carolina | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Kentucky | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Vanderbilt | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Missouri | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Miss State | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Texas A&M | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
What a shock; Alabama and LSU are at the top of the defensive picks. Actually, it's pretty impressive to see the Tigers up there given their heavy NFL Draft losses on that side of the ball. It goes to show just how deep the bench is there. Georgia also sustained some draft losses, but it doesn't rank as highly up there. That's the main reason why they're not as big a favorite in the East as Alabama is in the West. The fact that A&M didn't even manage a third team selection also seems ominous for the Aggies' attempt to win the division this year.