For Auburn coach Gus Malzahn, this football season throughout a pandemic is all about adjusting.
The groups that can adjust to the challenges of a 10-game SEC schedule, and get used to gamers unexpectedly running out action with COVID-19, are going to be the groups that do not, for example, somehow figure out a way to lose to Arkansas and Vanderbilt.
Auburn fans may wish to adjust their expectations for this season after a lot of Tigers missed time this preseason in quarantine.
Nick Saban says the teams that “handle the unpredictability” of these extraordinary times will have the very best opportunities of winning the SEC and possibly even the national championship. Saban is currently “managing the uncertainty” of the season by not launching any data about the favorable coronavirus cases on his roster.
Anything for a competitive benefit in the SEC, and Saban isnt the only one. The most foreseeable feature of this unpredictable pandemic season was that SEC coaches were going to secure the variety of their coronavirus cases in the preseason. Keeps it intriguing for video game day a minimum of.
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Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt agrees that all things are pointing to a 16-team playoff in the future.C.B. Schmelter/Chattanooga Times Free Press by means of AP.
PREDICTION: It was Sankey who remained patient and didnt cancel the football season when the Big Ten and Pac-12 folded their camping tents. Now the Big Ten is preparing for a return in October, and their teams have to play nine video games in 9 weeks. Thats a ruthless schedule, however Ohio State has the skill to still be in the playoff discussion.
Pandemic Hot Seats, ranked: 5. Kirby Smart, Georgia; 4. Ed Orgeron, LSU; 3. Derek Mason, Vanderbilt; 2. Gus Malzahn, Auburn; 1: Will Muschamp, South Carolina.
Obviously, that currently implies advantage LSU. According to Ed Orgeron, the majority of the players have already had the pester.
FORECAST: Fans should simply be delighted were getting to have football this season. Thats not how the SEC works, however. People are never ever pleased unless their group is winning, and there is going to be a lot of losing in the SEC this season. The spot will not go cold, in other words, just since of some plague scam committed by the left-wing, football-hating media and the one-world order.
PREDICTION: Greg Sankey ought to be credited with conserving this college football season, and ideally history shows that in the future. After this season, Sankey is going to feel the pressure of making 10-conference video games an irreversible function to the season, which will cause an expansion of the CFP to consist of 16 teams.
The meat is going to be gone before the weekend. With stadiums around the SEC slicing participation this season due to the coronavirus, yard tailgate celebrations are going to become an even bigger part of our culture than before the infection.
Lane Kiffin Upset Watch, ranked: 5. Alabama; 4. Florida; 3. Auburn; 2. LSU; 1. Texas A&M.
Heaven help Mason, whose team opens the season against Texas A&M as a 30-point dog. Muschamp has it worse, though. The Gamecocks start the season with 5 ranked challengers in their first 6 video games. The only sanctuary is Vanderbilt in Week 3. Not even the reason of a pandemic will save Muschamp if South Carolina loses that video game.
Imagined, Auburn quarterback Bo Nix. The very best in the SEC?AP Photo/Vasha Hunt.
FORECAST: Georgia coach Kirby Smart is simply an upset variation of Mark Richt at this moment. What has Smart actually won? Georgia blew leads in back-to-back years to Alabama, and after that were completely blown away by Joe Burrow and LSU in the 2019 SEC championship video game. A 3rd loss in a row to Alabama will formally signify an end of Smarts kingly track record in Athens, however do not be amazed if Smart is 1-2 heading into Tuscaloosa with back-to-back losses to Auburn and Tennessee. If thats the case, Georgia will end up third in the East.
FORECAST: The SEC has actually been a pass-happy league in current years, but this season the teams that can develop a running game will have some advantages. Well-rested defenses will be crucial for a 10-game slog through the SEC, and performing complex offensive schemes without spring practice (and COVID-19 disturbances in the fall) might be a significant problem.
College football is going to need more video games that matter in the future to generate additional revenue for their schools. With the players able to cash in on their success due to altering NIL guidelines, the sport is about to open and welcome its possibilities.
The year is 2020, so do not question it.
FORECAST: If everybody stays healthy, this will be an unique season for Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide. It is extremely uncommon for Saban to utter a good word or a compliment about his group before a season, but he stated this week that he likes the “spirit” of his group.
The Tigers are going to struggle to reach six wins, and a loss to Kiffin at the end of the season might provide us the most unforeseeable surface of all to this season. That would be Orgeron getting fired the season after going 15-0 and suddenly training one of the finest teams in college football history.
Best SEC running video games, ranked: 6. Tennessee; 5. Ole Miss; 4. Auburn; 3. Kentucky; 2. Georgia; 1. Alabama.
The most predictable thing about this unforeseeable pandemic season was that SEC coaches were going to secure the number of their coronavirus cases in the preseason. People are never ever delighted unless their team is winning, and there is going to be a lot of losing in the SEC this season. With stadiums around the SEC slicing presence this season due to the coronavirus, yard tailgate parties are going to end up being an even bigger part of our culture than before the virus. I said at the end of last year that Bo Nix was going to be the best quarterback in the SEC this season, and with a few breaks Auburn might be unbeaten heading into the Iron Bowl.
The Tigers are going to have a hard time to reach six wins, and a loss to Kiffin at the end of the season could give us the most unpredictable surface of all to this season.
Joseph Goodman is a writer for the Alabama Media Group. Hes on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.
In the spirit of the excellent unidentified, and in the name of confusion and chaos, the only appropriate thing to do is begin this SEC football season with 10 vibrant predictions for whats going to be the most unpredictable couple of months of sports well ever experience in our lives. For those counting in the house, thats one forecast for each day gamers need to invest in quarantine if they evaluate positive for the Rona during the season.
PREDICTION: This season is going to be challenging for everybody, but if the 10-game schedule favors anyone then its Auburn. I stated at the end of last year that Bo Nix was going to be the best quarterback in the SEC this season, and with a few breaks Auburn could be unbeaten heading into the Iron Bowl.
Were going to experience CFP turmoil and controversy like never ever before with this season. If Ohio State makes the playoff with fewer wins than a one-loss SEC team, then the four-team playoff model ought to be eliminated right away.
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Crazy fans, were gon na miss you this season.
Despite all that, Lane Kiffin is going to score a signature victory in Year One with Ole Miss. We havent heard much from Kiffin after his relocation to Oxford, Miss., however he has an outstanding quarterback (John Rhys Plumlee) for an unforeseeable kind of season, and protective coordinator D.J. Durkin is out to prove his worth when again after his implosion at Maryland.
