Athlon ranks schools heading into Spring for 2016

[Coach34]

http://athlonsports.com/college-football/college-footballs-pre-spring-1-128-team-rankings-2016

Last in the West


1. Alabama
7. LSU
8. Tennessee
11. Ole Miss
19. Georgia
26. Florida
29. Arkansas
33. Auburn
34. Texas A&M
39. Mississippi State
58. Missouri
60. Kentucky
61. Vanderbilt
62. South Carolina

[msstate7]

Om is overrated imo. They lost a ton and really got gutted on the oline.

[Coach34]

yep

[Commercecomet24]

Different year, same predictions. I quit paying attention to the rags long time ago.

[Bothrops]

Interesting. How is Arkansas 10 spots ahead of us? They lost virtually every playmaker that scored their points last year. So people say..they're gonna be stout up front, fine, let's see how many games they win.

[mic]

Yawn...

[DawgPoundtheRock]

Oh, this is just the beginning. With the loss of Dak we will be at the bottom of everyone's poll. It doesn't matter what everybody else lost. We lost the best qb in the league, so we are going to take a big step back. At least this will be how the media will see it. I will be surprised if we're not picked to finish 8th in the west.

[msstate7]

Interesting. How is Arkansas 10 spots ahead of us? They lost virtually every playmaker that scored their points last year. So people say..they're gonna be stout up front, fine, let's see how many games they win.

Sprinkle, Williams, and Morgan return. Henry and Collins are huge losses though

[msudawg1200]

Last year we were supposed to suck because we lost everybody but Dak. This year we have most starters back but Dak, and we are supposed to suck. I say we are better or just as good as Arky, A&M, and Auburn which we all get at home. The Bears are, as usual, way overrated. Their schedule is hell, and they lost a good bit. I would say we are just as good as them also, but Freeze has owned Mullen and we play them in their POS ugly stadium.

[Dawgface]

Our normal position. Nothing new. We will finish better than that and OM will fall.

[BB30]

Do yall feel the prediction for us was that far off last year? If we don't have Dak last year we may not win a SEC west game. If our running game does not improve it could be a long year this year.

[louisvilledawg]

Sprinkle, Williams, and Morgan return. Henry and Collins are huge losses though

Don't forget Brandon Allen

[CadaverDawg]

Fitzgerald will play well this year at QB, so therefore the loss of Dak will be minimized. Losing Dak will still hurt of course, but not quite as bad as the media will expect. Relf is one of our best QB's in school history, and he didn't have a third of the talent Fitz has.

And yes, Fitzgerald will be the full time starter this season unless he gets injured, in my opinion.

[BB30]

We shall see, I hope you are right. Relf also had a pretty solid running game and decent O-line that allowed his style of play to work. We have to find a running game this year and I think Fitz or Staley will help that running game but we need a back to emerge as the guy.

[Liverpooldawg]

We have the same question marks as last year plus QB. As always the offensive line worries me the most.

[Jack Lambert]

Same thing every year. Just two years ago S. Carolina was consistently holding that Ole Miss spot.

[Jack Lambert]

Om is overrated imo. They lost a ton and really got gutted on the oline.

8 or 9 starters back and they have FSU, GA and Bama in the first four weeks.

[Johnson85]

Different year, same predictions. I quit paying attention to the rags long time ago.

The predictions this year at least aren't crazy. I don't think we'll finish last in the West as I think there will be another dumpster fire team this year (presumably Auburn? Possibly A&M) and so far Dan has avoided that. But I think looking at UM, Auburn, Arkansas, and MSU, I could make a good case for any of them finishing last in the West.

[#660000]

Enjoy!
2015 - http://www.elitedawgs.com/showthread.php?28158-Athlon-has-us-pegged-for-dead-last
2014 - http://www.elitedawgs.com/showthread.php?16699-Althon-sports-projects-football-standings
2013 - http://www.elitedawgs.com/showthread.php?2484-Athlon-s-SEC-predictions-are-out

[Coach34]

The predictions this year at least aren't crazy. I don't think we'll finish last in the West as I think there will be another dumpster fire team this year (presumably Auburn? Possibly A&M) and so far Dan has avoided that. But I think looking at UM, Auburn, Arkansas, and MSU, I could make a good case for any of them finishing last in the West.

The advantage we have this coming year is that all the swing games are at home. That certainly helps. Auburn is going to be improved, A&M is a wildcard with big potential, and UPig will be solid. Its going to be an interesting year

[blacklistedbully]

Do yall feel the prediction for us was that far off last year? If we don't have Dak last year we may not win a SEC west game. If our running game does not improve it could be a long year this year.

Last year we were a missed FG away from 3rd in the West. We were also that missed FG and a freak give-away by Bama to UNM from going to the Sugar Bowl in 2nd place.

The point is, though we did finish next-to-last due to tie-breakers, everyone was predicting us to not be good at all. We had our problems, but we were at least as unlucky as we were flawed.

[Commercecomet24]

The predictions this year at least aren't crazy. I don't think we'll finish last in the West as I think there will be another dumpster fire team this year (presumably Auburn? Possibly A&M) and so far Dan has avoided that. But I think looking at UM, Auburn, Arkansas, and MSU, I could make a good case for any of them finishing last in the West.

I agree that you could make that argument however you could just about every year. Some perspective here too, I know we all want to win the west. You could also make the argument that every team in the west is a top 25 team. Also we are now consistently considered a top half of the entire sec program. When's the last time we could say that? I'm not blind and I know there's things that have to improve and I think Dans doing that. From a historical perspective we are healthier and more respected than we have ever been.

[HSVDawg]

Oh, this is just the beginning. With the loss of Dak we will be at the bottom of everyone's poll. It doesn't matter what everybody else lost. We lost the best qb in the league, so we are going to take a big step back. At least this will be how the media will see it. I will be surprised if we're not picked to finish 8th in the west.

We complain about media perception, but we get picked last in the West in the preseason last year and finished just one spot out of last. It sucks but its not like they weren't right about our outlook, at least last season.

[Ifyouonlyknew]

We complain about media perception, but we get picked last in the West in the preseason last year and finished just one spot out of last. It sucks but its not like they weren't right about our outlook, at least last season.

Yes & no. They picked us last but they also said we'd struggle to reach 6-6. We won 9 games & yes I know who we beat & who we lost to. They knew our schedule coming into the season also & still predicted 6-6.

[blacklistedbully]

We complain about media perception, but we get picked last in the West in the preseason last year and finished just one spot out of last. It sucks but its not like they weren't right about our outlook, at least last season.

They picked us last because they thought we would suck, not because they thought we could be a missed FG away from 3rd in the West.

As it is, we finished 1-spot out of 3rd place, too.

[Commercecomet24]

Yes & no. They picked us last but they also said we'd struggle to reach 6-6. We won 9 games & yes I know who we beat & who we lost to. They knew our schedule coming into the season also & still predicted 6-6.

THIS! ^^^^ Thank you!

[Jack Lambert]

I agree that you could make that argument however you could just about every year. Some perspective here too, I know we all want to win the west. You could also make the argument that every team in the west is a top 25 team. Also we are now consistently considered a top half of the entire sec program. When's the last time we could say that? I'm not blind and I know there's things that have to improve and I think Dans doing that. From a historical perspective we are healthier and more respected than we have ever been.

Bama is winning the West next year. If you took Bama out of the West it would be a toss up between the other schools.

[Commercecomet24]

Bama is winning the West next year. If you took Bama out of the West it would be a toss up between the other schools.

Exactly!

[Political Hack]

Yes & no. They picked us last but they also said we'd struggle to reach 6-6. We won 9 games & yes I know who we beat & who we lost to. They knew our schedule coming into the season also & still predicted 6-6.

This. They always say we're going to be worse than we are.

[Coach34]

Bama is winning the West next year. If you took Bama out of the West it would be a toss up between the other schools.

Dont be surprised if LSU takes it

[Political Hack]

Dont be surprised if LSU takes it

Agree. They should've been better this year.

[BB30]

LSU underachieves just about every year.Unless their QB position drastically improves they will have a tough time getting through unscathed.

[Coach34]

LSU underachieves just about every year.Unless their QB position drastically improves they will have a tough time getting through unscathed.

They had alot of OL injuries people dont talk about for some reason. They had to trot out 2 Freshmen on the OL that werent starters out against Bama and the rest of their schedule due to injuries. I also look for Harris to continue to improve.

They havent been nearly as talented the last 2 years as they are this coming season.