With the college football season less than four weeks away, theScore begins to examine the major conferences.
We start, of course, with the place where it just means more - a conference that could open the 2019 season with four schools ranked in the top 10.
Here are five pressing questions about the SEC in 2019:
Will anyone threaten Alabama in the West?
The gap has widened between Alabama and the rest of the SEC West.
Alabama lost at least one game to a divisional foe every season from 2010-15. In the last three years, it's 17-1 against those same opponents.
With the Crimson Tide returning Heisman favorite Tua Tagovailoa, is there any reason to think 2019 will be different?
While Alabama has reached all five editions of the College Football Playoff, the other six schools in the West have experienced nadirs. Five - LSU, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and Arkansas - have changed head coaches in the last three seasons.
If a team is coming for Alabama, it's likely LSU, Auburn, or Texas A&M.
LSU won 10 games under Ed Orgeron last season but hasn't beaten Alabama since 2011 (more on these Tigers below).
Though Auburn defeated the Crimson Tide to advance to the SEC championship game just two years ago, Gus Malzahn's team has questions at quarterback after losing Jarrett Stidham to the NFL.
Texas A&M is on the rise under Jimbo Fisher and features a talented quarterback in junior Kellen Mond. But the Aggies, projected to start just three seniors on offense and defense, aren't at Alabama's level yet.
If recent history prevails, that will prove true for the rest of the division, too.
Is this finally Georgia's year?
For the ninth time since 2000, Georgia will likely open the season with a top-10 ranking in the Associated Press Top 25.
Georgia's list of disappointing campaigns that began with high expectations is long. The 2008 team, ranked first in the preseason, lost three regular-season games - including a 39-point defeat in the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.
The Bulldogs have climbed as high as No. 2 in the AP poll in each of the past two seasons. On both occasions, Georgio failed to topple Alabama - it lost the national championship in 2017 and dropped last season's SEC title game.
But one can make the case 2019 is shaping up to be Georgia's year.
Kirby Smart's team benefits from the unbalanced SEC scheduling: It doesn't have to play Alabama or LSU on its path to Atlanta.
Georgia brings back an experienced quarterback (Jake Fromm), running back (D'Andre Swift), and offensive line. Its defense was top-25 in yards per play allowed in each of the last two seasons, and it now adds the No. 1 player in the 2019 class in edge rusher Nolan Smith.
The Bulldogs host Notre Dame in a juicy nonconference matchup Sept. 21, but they play only one road game (Auburn, Nov. 16) against a team that posted a winning record in 2018.
That might just be the recipe for Georgia's first championship since 1980.
Can LSU contend for the SEC championship national title?
LSU's widely panned full-time hiring of Ed Orgeron has aged quite well, and it's clear the jovial head coach can do more than pitch Hummers.
The Tigers finished last season ranked in the top 10 and won a New Year's Six bowl game. Orgeron's 25-9 record in purple and gold is essentially an inversion of the 10-25 mark he posted from 2004-06 at Ole Miss before getting fired.
Entering Orgeron's fourth year (third full), LSU has serious aspirations of upending the SEC hierarchy and making its first College Football Playoff. Is the belief warranted?
On paper, the Tigers are stacked.
Quarterback Joe Burrow, the Ohio State transfer, improved as 2018 progressed. After he failed to throw a touchdown pass in four consecutive games from Oct. 6-Nov. 3, he completed 66.9 percent of his throws in LSU's final four games.
LSU needs a new lead running back to emerge (five-star freshman John Emery, perhaps?) but returns four starters on the offensive line. The defense includes NFL talents Grant Delpit and Kristian Fulton in the secondary, plus experience at linebacker (Jacob Phillips) and defensive end (Rashard Lawrence).
This could be LSU's best team since it reached the national championship game in 2011. But a couple of hurdles stand in the way.
First, LSU needs to survive a Sept. 7 trip to Texas against the same Longhorns program that defeated Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. Then, Orgeron must break Nick Saban's spell. In three meetings with Alabama since Orgeron took over, LSU has scored 10 points. Total.
Which second-year coach will improve the most?
There were no coaching changes in the SEC this offseason. But there were five a year ago.
Results were mixed in 2018. Three coaches - Dan Mullen (Florida), Jimbo Fisher (Texas A&M), and Joe Moorhead (Mississippi State) - took their programs to bowl games.
Tennessee went 5-7 in Year 1 under Jeremy Pruitt, however, while Arkansas was 2-10 and failed to win a conference game in Chad Morris' SEC introduction. That means the Razorbacks have the most room for growth in 2019.
But the two SEC East programs with second-year coaches are well-positioned to succeed this season.
Florida was ahead of schedule in Mullen's first year, winning 10 games including a blowout of Michigan in the Peach Bowl. The Gators welcome back quarterback Feleipe Franks and his top receivers, including Van Jefferson. The defense returns eight starters. And the road schedule - Kentucky, LSU, South Carolina, Missouri - is manageable.
Tennessee, meanwhile, brings back 10 offensive starters, including quarterback Jarrett Guarantano. The Volunteers haven't been to a bowl game since 2016 but have the potential to be one of college football's most improved squads.
Was Kentucky's historic season a flash in the pan?
Let's not forget that five SEC teams won double-digit games in 2018. That list includes Alabama, Georgia, LSU, and Florida.
And Kentucky.
Mark Stoops' program broke through in his seventh season, defeating Florida and Mississippi State before beating Penn State in the Citrus Bowl. It marked Kentucky's first 10-win season in 41 years.
Preseason consensus, though, has the Wildcats sliding to sixth in the seven-team SEC East this year as Kentucky returns only 10 of 22 starters on offense and defense.
Running back Benny Snell is a Pittsburgh Steeler, but quarterback Terry Wilson (1,889 yards passing, 547 rushing) is back. The Wildcats' nonconference schedule (Toledo, Eastern Michigan, Tennessee-Martin, Louisville) is favorable.
Kentucky is a good bet to reach its fourth consecutive bowl game for only the second time in school history. But a year after tying for second in the SEC East, can the Wildcats be more than that? Kentucky will need receiver Lynn Bowden (745 yards) and linebacker Kash Daniel (84 tackles) to provide experience on an otherwise young squad.
More in this series:
- Five questions for the ACC (July 30)
- Five questions for the Big Ten (July 31)
- Five questions for the Big 12 (Aug. 1)
- Five questions for the Pac-12 (Aug. 2)
Mark Cooper is theScore's NCAA writer. You can find him on Twitter @mark_cooperjr.
