Earlier this week, The Golden Nugget out in Las Vegas revealed their college football over/under win totals for the upcoming 2016 college football season. The SEC was pretty prominently featured amongst the teams revealed to this point, as win total over/unders came out for Florida, Auburn, Georgia, Ole Miss, Tennessee, LSU and Alabama.
Here are those win totals:
Team | Total |
Alabama | 9.5 |
LSU | 9.5 |
Tennessee | 10 |
Ole Miss | 7.5 |
Georgia | 8.5 |
Auburn | 7 |
Florida | 8 |
Perhaps the most surprising mark is Tennessee's over/under being set at 10. While it's clear that the Vols are getting all of the hype heading into 2016 as the strongest of contenders in the SEC East with Josh Dobbs leading the charge on offense with Jalen Hurd tagging along with him and a talented defense on the other side, that mark is very lofty. Not since 2007 have the Vols reached 10 wins and 2015 marked the first time since 2007 that they even reached more than seven. There's talent all over the place on the Volunteers, but that hasn't always translated to success.
LSU is also an intriguing look with 9.5 wins being set for them. The Tigers haven't had more than nine victories since 2013, which was the fourth season in a row at the time that they hit 10 or more. Junior running back Leonard Fournette is the leader of what will be an awfully talented team in Baton Rouge but they will have their work cut out for them in the SEC West as always this year. With that said, a majority of their big games do come at home as they'll host Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Alabama this year with trips to Auburn and Florida on the docket as well as Texas A&M. While it won't be easy, LSU does have the advantage of playing in a friendly environment for them, which likely justifies the lofty mark.
Aside from that, nothing really catches much attention. Perhaps Georgia is high at 8.5, but in the SEC East, it is awfully difficult to envision a too bumpy road for Kirby Smart in his first season as the Bulldogs' head coach. The defending SEC East champion Gators were given a even mark of eight wins, which seems pretty reasonable all things considered. Alabama meanwhile hasn't won less than 10 games since 2007 so pushing the button on the over isn't unreasonable.