Four of the six contributors to linked article say South Carolina and two say Florida. Fwiw, I think Jeremy Pruitt and Tennessee are going to surprise some folks and be in the thick of things before long.

https://athlonsports.com/college-football/which-team-georgias-biggest-competition-sec-east-2018

Y'all will laugh, but I think Kentucky. I think they, if healthy, have an underrated group. From a pre-season perspective, I see them as potentially the most dangerous.

Kentucky Head Coach Mark Stoops has done a nice job rebuilding the Wildcats roster since coming over from FSU as their Defensive Coordinator. The past 2 seasons his teams have gone 7-6 and in 2016 almost beat UGA in Lexington (Wildcats lost the game 27-24 primarily due to WR Jeff Badet dropping a wide-open bomb for a TD and UGA walk-on placekicker Rodrigo Blankenship having a career day kicking FGs).

South Carolina

I believe Muschamp will have them playing very well. Georgia has to keep a talent advantage on them, imo.

Alapahablue1 said:

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South Carolina

I believe Muschamp will have them playing very well. Georgia has to keep a talent advantage on them, imo.

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It'll be interesting to see how former UGA player and coach Bryan McClendon does as South Carolina's offensive coordinator this season (he was promoted to that position on 5 January 2018). We know that he is a fantastic recruiter and Will Muschamp generally fields an above-average defense. IMO, QB Jake Bentley is an above-average QB so McClendon has something to work with in combination w/ RS Senior WR Deebo Samuel.

Mighty Cocks will be biggest competition until fall practice begins, then Florida. Cocks are always undefeated in June and July.

SC probably will sport the old UGA offense that He played in.

South Cackalacky.

Big drop-off after that, IMO. UT & UF probably need a year to get their act together before approaching anything remotely close to formidable. Mizzou can sling it around with the best of 'em but seem to be lacking in most other areas. They might prove to be #3 in the pecking order when all is said and done.

opiedawg said:

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South Cackalacky.

Big drop-off after that, IMO. UT & UF probably need a year to get their act together before approaching anything remotely close to formidable. Mizzou can sling it around with the best of 'em but seem to be lacking in most other areas. They might prove to be #3 in the pecking order when all is said and done.

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Fwiw, I think Mizzou's offense takes a step back this season (#14-ranked scoring offense in FBS at 37.5 ppg in 2017) since OC Josh Heupel departed (he's UCF's new head HC), Derek Dooley replaced him, and the latter is changing things up this spring.

In the category of if it's not broke, then don't fix it, the Tigers didn't heed that credo and instead changed their defensive philosophy (i.e., from attacking to gap control) in 2016 and here are the results:

- 2013: #34-ranked scoring defense in FBS at 23.1 ppg (w/ Gary Pinkel as HC and Barry Odom as DC)
- 2014: #19-ranked scoring defense in FBS at 21.2 ppg (w/ Gary Pinkel as HC and Barry Odom as DC)
- 2015: #5-ranked scoring defense in FBS at 16.2 ppg (w/ Gary Pinkel as HC and Barry Odom as DC)
- 2016: #90-ranked scoring defense in FBS at 31.2 ppg (w/ Barry Odom as HC and DeMontie Cross as DC)
- 2017: #97-ranked scoring defense in FBS at 31.8 ppg (w/ Barry Odom as HC and DeMontie Cross as DC [fired on 10 September b/c of "philosophical differences"]; Odom then called the defensive plays)

AirForceDawg said:

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opiedawg said:

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South Cackalacky.

Big drop-off after that, IMO. UT & UF probably need a year to get their act together before approaching anything remotely close to formidable. Mizzou can sling it around with the best of 'em but seem to be lacking in most other areas. They might prove to be #3 in the pecking order when all is said and done.

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Fwiw, I think Mizzou's offense takes a step back this season (#14-ranked scoring offense in FBS at 37.5 ppg in 2017) since OC Josh Heupel departed (he's UCF's new head HC), Derek Dooley replaced him, and the latter is changing things up this spring.

In the category of if it's not broke, then don't fix it, the Tigers didn't heed that credo and instead changed their defensive philosophy (i.e., from attacking to gap control) in 2016 and here are the results:

- 2013: #34-ranked scoring defense in FBS at 23.1 ppg (w/ Gary Pinkel as HC and Barry Odom as DC)
- 2014: #19-ranked scoring defense in FBS at 21.2 ppg (w/ Gary Pinkel as HC and Barry Odom as DC)
- 2015: #5-ranked scoring defense in FBS at 16.2 ppg (w/ Gary Pinkel as HC and Barry Odom as DC)
- 2016: #90-ranked scoring defense in FBS at 31.2 ppg (w/ Barry Odom as HC and DeMontie Cross as DC)
- 2017: #97-ranked scoring defense in FBS at 31.8 ppg (w/ Barry Odom as HC and DeMontie Cross as DC [fired on 10 September b/c of "philosophical differences"]; Odom then called the defensive plays)

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Let's face it, outside of Georgia and maybe South Carolina (maybe), the SEC East is pretty crappy and has been that way overall for a while. Georgia has absolutely no business falling short of winning that division in 2018. No, that is not overconfidence, but flat-out realism. Keep in I was raised on Dooley and Munson, so it's not like me to be this sure about something.

opiedawg said:

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AirForceDawg said:

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opiedawg said:

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South Cackalacky.

Big drop-off after that, IMO. UT & UF probably need a year to get their act together before approaching anything remotely close to formidable. Mizzou can sling it around with the best of 'em but seem to be lacking in most other areas. They might prove to be #3 in the pecking order when all is said and done.

---

Fwiw, I think Mizzou's offense takes a step back this season (#14-ranked scoring offense in FBS at 37.5 ppg in 2017) since OC Josh Heupel departed (he's UCF's new head HC), Derek Dooley replaced him, and the latter is changing things up this spring.

In the category of if it's not broke, then don't fix it, the Tigers didn't heed that credo and instead changed their defensive philosophy (i.e., from attacking to gap control) in 2016 and here are the results:

- 2013: #34-ranked scoring defense in FBS at 23.1 ppg (w/ Gary Pinkel as HC and Barry Odom as DC)
- 2014: #19-ranked scoring defense in FBS at 21.2 ppg (w/ Gary Pinkel as HC and Barry Odom as DC)
- 2015: #5-ranked scoring defense in FBS at 16.2 ppg (w/ Gary Pinkel as HC and Barry Odom as DC)
- 2016: #90-ranked scoring defense in FBS at 31.2 ppg (w/ Barry Odom as HC and DeMontie Cross as DC)
- 2017: #97-ranked scoring defense in FBS at 31.8 ppg (w/ Barry Odom as HC and DeMontie Cross as DC [fired on 10 September b/c of "philosophical differences"]; Odom then called the defensive plays)

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Let's face it, outside of Georgia and maybe South Carolina (maybe), the SEC East is pretty crappy and has been that way overall for a while. Georgia has absolutely no business falling short of winning that division in 2018. No, that is not overconfidence, but flat-out realism. Keep in I was raised on Dooley and Munson, so it's not like me to be this sure about something.

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I'm okay with that, but I don't see it lasting too much longer as I think Dan Mullen is upgrade over Jim McElwain at Florida, and Jeremy Pruitt is an upgrade over Butch Jones at Tennessee. As for this fall, UGA has a more talented roster than anybody we'll face in the regular season so we should do well as long as we don't get hit by the injury bug. On 29 September the Dawgs host the Vols w/ the chance of evening up the all-time series record at 23-23-2. Then on 27 October the Dawgs face the Gators in Jacksonville and will try to improve their all-time record vs. them to 52-43-2. Btw, I started following UGA in 1978 when my dad moved the family to Valdosta, GA. For the next 12 years the Dawgs won 10 of those games. Unfortunately, since then Florida has won 21 of 28 (75%) of the games. Thus I'm more than hungry for UGA to reverse this unfortunate streak. Hopefully recruiting continues the way it has the past 3 years for Kirby Smart, Florida, and Tennessee so that UGA always enters those games w/ a relative talent advantage (which they lacked for the majority of the time when Spurrier, Zook, Meyer, and Muschamp. It would do my heart good to see the Dawgs get a long winning streak going against the Gators where their fans pine to drop Jacksonville as a permanent game site so they can play a home-and-home w/ us (or move the game every other year to Atlanta as a neutral site). Last, I attended the UF-UGA game at Sanford Stadium in 1995 where we lost 52-17, so I'd like to see us beat them by the same score or worse in Gainesville, FL and Athens, GA.

Yep...things tend to be cyclical. Florida, especially, can't stay down indefinitely, just given that they're the flagship school in such a talent-laden state. I'm just glad that we're finally able to take advantage of their inexplicably extended downward trend before they eventually figure things out. I'm a little more skeptical in terms of how quickly Tennessee can turn things around, given their higher dependence on out of state talent.

In most cases, the teams with experience at the QB position have the best shot at success-but then you look at UGA last season-we had a true FR QB playing-but he happened to have a great group of RB's and also a defense that was outstanding-also can't overlook how really outstanding our special teams were last year.

For this season, to me the early game at SCarolina is the pivotal one. Win that one, and we will be in good shape and the mental edge that we have going for us now continues. Lose that one, we will have a fight on our hands because we crushed the SECe last year, and losing our first game in the division will do a lot of damage to the confidence this program currently has. We struggle typically in Columbia, SC while we have had nothing but success in Columbia, Missouri. I think if we avoid injury in 2018, we will win 10-12 games in the regular season. Road games are always the ones that worry you the most-and we have the two early tests as well as games at Baton Rouge and Lexington, and then neutral site of course. I don't think we lose a home game this year.

https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/florida-football/sec-east-georgia-everyone-else-dont-sleep-gators/

In SEC East, it's Georgia and everyone else, but don't sleep on the Gators

I hate to use a cliche' but I believe that our biggest competition in the East is the....Georgia Bulldogs. If we show up with focused and intense like we did last year and avoid season ending injuries to any of our key people, I really don't see another team in the East that scares me this year. Carolina will be tough over there early in the year but I really believe that we will be able to run on every team we play this year and if you can run the ball and stop the other team from running the ball you are going to win the vast majority of your games. Pruitt and the vollies are several years away from having the talent and depth that they need. Mizzou still can't stop anyone. The gayturds are quite ready for prime time and do we really know how good of a coach Mullen is? LSWho still has QB issues and we have Aubie at home. Now, I am not predicting an undefeated season but I believe that we will win enough to win the East, go to Atlanta and then who knows how things will shake out.

https://www.seccountry.com/south-carolina/south-carolina-football-clay-travis-sec-east-dark-horse

Clay Travis: South Carolina is SEC East's top dark horse for 2018

Honestly our biggest competition is ourselves. After that carolina

opiedawg said:

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Yep...things tend to be cyclical. Florida, especially, can't stay down indefinitely, just given that they're the flagship school in such a talent-laden state. I'm just glad that we're finally able to take advantage of their inexplicably extended downward trend before they eventually figure things out. I'm a little more skeptical in terms of how quickly Tennessee can turn things around, given their higher dependence on out of state talent.

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Before the HBC Florida sucked for decades. Except for Urban they've sucked since. Unless they get another coach at their caliber the sucking will continue.

I think the jury is out on Pruitt and had to chuckle a little at JPW's comment. He is more scared of Pruitt at UT than Kirby at UGA?? To me it sounds like he wants Pruitt to be successful so he can replace Saban but to suggest that a coach in a state that doesn't produce much talent can be more scary than a coach at his alma mater in a state loaded with talent, that is just a far stretch. To me Kirby was far more prepared to be a HC than Pruitt is right now. I also think Kirby is a much more proven recruiter over the years than is Pruitt.

As for Mullen, I think he is a pretty good coach BUT I don't look at him as any better than Will Muschamp-granted UF was Will's first head coaching job, but Will was a better recruiter than Mullen is, in my opinion-and that is how Jimmy Mac lasted as long as he did down there, living off the recruits Muschamp got in there-especially on the defensive side.

I think Muschamp is the better coach/recruiter than either Pruitt or Mullen, and I believe he will have SCarolina in the fight for second with UF/UT honestly. He has a better home state to recruit than does Pruitt, he has a fanbase that doesn't have as high of expectations as does UT or UF, and he has more ties to Georgia than does Pruitt or Mullen,and still has ties down in Florida.

In 2 years as UGA's HC, Smart has earned a 21-7 (75%) overall and 12-5 (70.6%) conference record and his Dawgs recruiting classes have ranked #6, #3, and #1. Entering the 2018 season, UGA has the third most talented roster in FBS only behind Alabama and Ohio State (btw, last season the Dawgs had the fourth most talented roster trailing Southern Cal by a notch). With a positive talent differential over every team it will face in the regular season, things are setting up for a 2018 SEC Championship Game between Kirby and his (de)mentor. As long as Kirby continues to recruit at a high level (players and coaches) and the UGA Athletics Association Board of Directors and ADGM (and his successor) continue investing in his program (e.g., $63M West End Zone project and 40% increased expense budget compared to Richt's last season), the future is bright.

In 9 years as MSU's HC, Mullen earned a 69-46 (60%) overall and 33-39 (45.8%) conference record and his Bulldogs recruiting classes ranked #18, #30, #41, #22, #24, #36, #18, #28, and #24 nationally. Note that pre-Mullen, MSU Football won 48% of its overall and 34% of its conference games. Moreover, Mullen's immediate predecessor won 37.5% of his overall and 25% of his conference games. Considering the Bulldogs relatively poor history prior to his arrival and the inherent difficulty recruiting elite prospects to Starkville, MS, I think Mullen's going to compete quite well in Gainesville, FL before long. Given that his talent base has vastly improved (his first UF class ranked #14 nationally) and the SEC East is an easier row to hoe than the West, I anticipate the Gators rebounding sooner than later under his leadership.

As for Tennessee, Pruitt inherited a dumpster fire that's been raging for nearly a decade. Fortunately for Volunteers fans, his DC pedigree (led FBS #1 scoring defense 3 out of the past 5 years) and recruiting chops (2012 FBS Recruiter of the Year) are impeccable. Unlike many others, I think Tennessee made a good hire in selecting former HC Phil Fulmer as their Athletics Director. With 33 years of experience as a Volunteer player and coach, he's going to ensure Pruitt gets what he needs at Tennessee to be successful. As for the upcoming season, Jeremy has made some good hires in DC Kevin Sherrer, DL Coach Tracy Rocker, and Director of S&C Rock Gullison (former Houston Texans Head S&C Coach). Pruitt also has 35 4- and 5-star rated players on his roster to work with this fall, so the cupboard isn't bare.

In 4 years as UF's HC, Muschamp earned a 28-21 (57.1%) overall and 17-15 (53.1%) conference record and his Gators recruiting classes ranked #11, #3, #3, and #9 nationally. In 2 years as USC's HC, he's earned a 15-11 (57.7%) overall and 8-8 (50%) conference record. Meanwhile, his Gamecocks recruiting classes have ranked #25, #21, and #19 nationally. Since he's not going to be able to recruiter better at South Carolina than at Florida, I don't anticipate the Gamecocks winning more than the Gators did during his tenure there. By 2019 I anticipate both Florida and Tennessee bypassing South Carolina in the SEC Eastern Division standings.

In 5 years as UK's HC, Mark Stoops earned a 26-36 (41.9%) overall and 12-28 (30%) conference record and his Wildcats recruiting classes have ranked #34, #22, #38, #34, #30, and #38 nationally. While his teams have earned back-to-back 7-6 record the past two seasons (a vast improvement from his 2-10 debut season in 2013), Kentucky simply doesn't recruit well enough in football to upend more talented teams.

In 2 years as Mizzou's HC, Barry Odum earned a 11-14 (44%) overall and 6-10 (37.5%) conference record and his Tigers recruiting classes have ranked #43 nationally for 3 consecutive classes. Despite his proven chops as a DC (he led FBS scoring defenses that improved from #68, #34, #19, to #5 in 4 years), his scoring defenses as a head coach have been terrible the past 2 seasons (#90 and #97). This has somewhat been offset by improved scoring offenses (#48 and #14) during that timeframe, however, OC Josh Heupel was hired by UCF as their new HC on 5 December 2017 and replaced by Derek Dooley.

In 4 years as Vandy's HC, Derek Mason earned a 18-31 (36.7%) record overall and 6-26 (18.8%) conference record and his Commodores recruiting classes have ranked #71, #49, #54, #65, and #40. In a league where 72% of games are won by the team w/ the most raw talent, Vandy's chances of winning big going forward are dim.

My prediction for SEC East teams over the next decade:

1. UGA
2. UF
3. UT
4. USC
5. UK
6. Mizzou
7. Vandy

2018 SEC Eastern Division Football Roster Talent Levels (currently enrolled + summer inbounds):

1. UGA (84 rated players avg. 3.86 stars): 13 5-stars, 47 4-stars, 23 3-stars, 1 2-star [note: doesn't include Chigbu or Gibbs]
2. UT (86 rated players avg. 3.36 stars): 2 5-stars, 32 4-stars, 47 3-stars, 5 2-stars [note: 1 or more rated players is a preferred walk-on not on scholarship]
3. UF (74 rated players avg. 3.32 stars): 2 5-stars, 25 4-stars, 43 3-stars, 3 2-stars, 1 1-star
4. USC (79 rated players avg. 3.23 stars): 0 5-stars, 23 4-stars, 51 3-stars, 5 2-stars
5. UK (78 rated players avg. 3.12 stars): 0 5-stars, 13 4-stars, 63 3-stars, 1 2-star
6. Mizzou (75 rated players avg. 3.08 stars): 1 5-star, 6 4-stars, 66 3-stars, 2 2-stars
7. Vandy (84 rated players avg. 2.99 stars): 0 5-stars, 8 4-stars, 67 3-stars, 9 2-stars

I'm gonna go
1. UGA
2. USC
3. UF
4. UT

Muschamp always has great defenses. But I think he has an untapped goldmine in BMAC. The kid can recruit and he learned offense from two masters.

https://www.seccountry.com/missouri/missouri-football-greg-mcelroy-georgia-sec-upset-drew-lock

Greg McElroy: Missouri-Georgia is SEC's biggest 'upset alert' game of 2018

Article's author, a UF Alumnus, thinks the Gators will defend the pass, sack the QB, and run the ball better than UGA this season:

https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/florida-football/3-things-florida-will-better-georgia-2018/

3 things Florida will do better than Georgia in 2018

Tony Barnhart thinks UGA will win the SEC East this year, but lose to South Carolina:

https://tmgcollegesports.com/2018/05/22/projecting-the-sec-east-georgia-wins-gamecocks-2nd/

Georgia has a lot of rebuilding to do, especially on defense, but they are going to rebuild with very talented players. So the best time to play the Bulldogs will be early. I went to Columbia twice in the spring and the Gamecocks are very much looking forward to Georgia's visit on Sept. 8. Georgia gets upset at Williams-Brice Stadium and then runs the table to the SEC East championship.

Kevin McGuffey picks South Carolina as the division's second best team:

http://lastwordoncollegefootball.com/2018/05/27/very-early-2018-sec-east-predictions/

Handicapper Danny Sheridan says UGA will be favored in every game, including 2 TDs vs. S. Carolina, 3.5-4 points vs. Auburn, and 6-7 points vs. LSU. He also thinks the Dawgs will win 11 games this (regular) season.

https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/georgia-football/handicapper-danny-sheridan-georgias-2018-season-will-favored-every-game/

Our biggest threat to winning the East is LSU and Auburn. Now yeah, I know they're in the West, but the only way we don't win the East is if we lose to both LSU & Aub AND someone like Fla or S.Car only loses one conference game. And since tennessee plays both Bama and Aub, it ain't gonna be them. Fla plays LSU & MissSt from the West while USC has A&M & Ole Miss, so it's pretty unlikely to be either of them either. (I'm not even going to entertain the thought of Kentucky, Vandy, or Mizzou).

And no, we are not going to lose to South Carolina next year. Fugghettaboutit. Ain't gonna happen. Everyone wants to be so apprehensive because they "played us close" last year. Are you freaking KIDDING me?? Last year they were a true trap game between Florida and Auburn, plus we made every mistake in the book in the 1st half (including that brain fart of an onside kick to start the dang game) and STILL beat them by 2 TDs! If you look at that game everywhere but the scoreboard, we pounded them. Despite it being "close" (if you can call 2 TDs "close"), at no point was USC ever in danger of winning the game. Not for one second. And this year, they're sitting there all nice and pretty between Austin Peay and Middle Tennessee. Give the points. I don't care how many.

And you can forget about tennessee while you're at it. They've had a fork stuck in them ever since the schedule was released. Seriously, they've got Florida, at Georgia, at Auburn, Bama then at South Carolina all in a row. It's not out of the question they lose all 5 of those. Then the honeymoon will be long over.

So unless we have a complete melt-down, we're winning the East next year.

https://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/2018/6/14/17464436/lets-answer-some-questions-about-the-sec-east

Let's Answer Some Questions About the SEC East
By Spencer Hall
Posted on 14 June 2018

https://www.dawgnation.com/football/opinion/who-is-georgias-biggest-threat-in-the-sec-east

According to Phil Steele, over the past 11 years 56.3% of teams that lost 34 or more starts due to injury/suspension improved their win total the following season. Thus, chances are Tennessee, Florida, South Carolina, and Kentucky will have better records this season than in 2017.

https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/tennessee-football/injury-bitten-tennessee-led-nation-in-starts-lost-due-to-injury-suspension/

Tennessee led the nation in 2017 with 58 starts lost due to injury or suspension. Florida ranked third in the nation and second among Power 5 programs with 49 starts lost. South Carolina ranked eighth overall on his list with 42 starts lost while Kentucky ranked 15th in the nation with 37 lost starts.

https://www.rockmnation.com/missouri-tigers-football/2018/6/25/17487002/sec-east-2018-forecast-georgia-missouri

What does it take to win the SEC East? Let's let the past 10 division champions tell us.
By David Morrison
25 June 2018