Yesterday, we revealed the can't miss predictions from Rasputin, our staff soothsayer, for the upcoming Razorback season (just for fun, here are his visions for the 2007 and 2008 campaigns). Although the experience of looking so deeply into the future left him exhausted and spent, we were able to force convince him to use his amazing powers of prognostication one more time to break down how the entire SEC will fare.
Remember, these are 100% accurate, absolutely guaranteed, bet your paycheck, totally can't miss predictions.* With that in mind, read on:
SEC East
1. Florida - Rasputin really stretched his predictive abilities on this one. He also says that the sun will rise in the East and Tim Tebow will be the subject of one or two positive stories in the sports media.
2. Georgia - Conference power has definitely shifted to the West this year...Georgia is good, but there's a huge drop-off after the Gators.
3. South Carolina - Some experts are concerned that the Gamecocks will be distracted by Steve Spurrier's #1 spot in our prestigious Road Trip Rankings, but Rasputin assures us that they'll fight through it.
4. Tennessee - On the bright side, they're the runaway favorite to win the SEC in the "most secondary recruiting violations" category.
5. Vanderbilt - Nerds! Nerds! Nerds!
6. Kentucky - The good news is that John Calipari's prodigious use of Twitter will keep UK fans happily enthralled during the long weeks leading up to the basketball team's Midnight Madness in October.
SEC West
1. Alabama - The Tide loses 8th year senior John Parker Wilson and a bunch of other key contributors from last year's team, but that defense remains positively frightening (and Julio Jones isn't too shabby either).
2. LSU - We're bullish on the Tigers...if not for their road games at Oxford and Tuscaloosa they'd be our Rasputin's pick to win the division. More importantly, though: will they win back the Boot?
3. Ole Miss - They bring back Jevan Snead and a bunch of other stars from last year's Cotton Bowl winners, but we'll remain skeptical about Houston Nutt's ability to win consistently as a front-runner until proven otherwise.
4. Arkansas - The Hogs are a year away from being in the conversation about potential division winners, but they definitely have the potential to make life miserable for a few of the other more-hyped teams on this list.
5. Auburn - Gene Chizik is eager to show skeptics that he truly deserved all five of the wins he earned during his two years at Iowa State.
6. Mississippi State - The Bulldogs are at the bottom of the conference and all is right with the world.
* Actually, that sentence is completely untrue.