HOOVER, Ala. – Dak Prescott found the predicted order of finish in the Southeastern Conference very funny.
After winning 10 games, finishing second in the SEC West, and being ranked No. 1 last season, the Bulldogs were picked to finish last in the SEC West this season by the league’s media.
“Preseason Ranking & Predictions #LOL,” Prescott tweeted Thursday morning.
MSU was picked to finish fifth a year ago. The Bulldogs did receive two first place votes this season.
Alabama was picked to win the West, while Georgia was the favorite in the East.
For the first time in the 23-year history in the poll, media were divided on divisional champion and overall SEC Champion. Auburn received 96 SEC Championship votes, while Alabama was close behind with 80. Georgia received 28 votes to win the league outright.
The SEC West was as follows: Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, and MSU.
The SEC East: Georgia, Tennessee, Missouri, South Carolina, Florida, Kentucky, and Vanderbilt.
Georgia
Bulldog coach Mark Richt has received much criticism during his 14 years in Athens, Georgia.
Although he has had just one losing season, two SEC championships, and six SEC East championships, Richt has received some negative feedback. It’s nothing new for him and he knows how to handle it after starting his career with coach Bobby Bowden at Florida State.
“He said, ‘It’s just the nature of the beast in the profession. If you can’t take criticism, then you shouldn’t coach,'” Richt recalls. “I think anybody who’s in a leadership role is going to get critiqued. People are going to have opinions.”
The last SEC East championship came in 2012 and the last overall conference championship came in 2005 for the Bulldogs. Georgia has finished third and second respectively in the SEC East the last two seasons.
“Obviously, you’ve got to win the East,” said Richt who has a 136-48 overall record with the Bulldogs. “That’s all there is to it. We’re going to play eight games in league play, and most them within the Eastern Division. Those head-to-head matchups are crucially important, but all the games count. So the goal is to get back to Atlanta.”
The Bulldogs boast one of the best running backs in the SEC and the country. As a freshman, Nick Chubb rushed for a team-high 1,547 yards and 14 touchdowns.
His teammates were amazed by some of the things he did last season.
“There were times Nick would find a hole, and I would try to pursue it, to catch up with him and get a block,” senior offensive lineman John Theus said. “Many times I wouldn’t be able to do it, because he’s just so fast.
“In the Auburn game last year, he broke a tackle, lost a shoe, and kept running down the field. Some of the things he’s done are very special and he’s a great kid, he’s very humble.”
LSU
After only winning eight games last year, the Tigers want more in 2015.
LSU finished last season with an 8-5 overall record and a 4-4 mark in SEC play. Coach Les Miles has set the standards pretty high for this season.
“We played some really good ball clubs in that eight-win season and played them very close, but our goal is the playoffs, our gaol is the SEC championship. We’re shy of our goals and we want more,” Miles said.
After opening last season with three-straight victories, LSU fell to an up and coming Mississippi State team that rose all the way to No. 1. That led to an 0-2 start in the league, as the Tigers also fell to Auburn on the road.
LSU did rebound, beating Florida, Kentucky and Ole Miss on consecutive weekends, but the Tigers lost three out of their last four games, including a bowl game to Notre Dame.
“Core membership of this team has had a great summer,” said Miles who will get his 11th season underway in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. “They have put it in in the weight room. I can tell you that I go in and work out, and I see a defensive back group working by themselves in the indoor, and I just marvel at how our kids work in the summer.”
The Tiger defense will see a new face in charge. Defensive coordinator John Chavis left to take the same job at Texas A&M in the offseaosn, and Miles hired former Baylor head coach Kevin Steele to lead the defense.
Tradition shows that the Tigers have always been good on the defensive side of the ball and Steele will have high expectations.
The players have already responded to their new defensive coordinator.
“We’ve adjusted well to Coach Steele,” said junior linebacker Kendell Beckwith who was second on the team last year with 77 total tackles. “We’ve been doing a great job working with him and really just working with each other. He motivates us and really gets us going early on in practice.”
Ben Wait is a sports writer for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @bcwait
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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