2024 SEC Preview 

Year in and year out SEC has been the best college football conference in D1 football. A league littered with NFL talent and national championships is deemed to have another great season in 2024. But this year there is more new to the SEC than normal. 

The SEC is welcoming 2 power house names to the conference in Texas and Oklahoma. SEC fans will not only see some new teams on their screen but also a new network. In past years fans were used to seeing SEC on CBS at 3:30pm combined with some ESPN and SEC network games. Over the offseason ESPN struck a deal with the SEC that will make ESPN the exclusive rights holder of SEC football games for the next 10 years. Fans can expect to see the majority of their games on ESPN or ABC. 

The SEC will have its first season where there are no divisions. Going no divisions and adding 2 powerhouse football programs to the conference, SEC fans are gifted with some games that we don't normally see every season. The SEC will have a lot to watch week one where several SEC teams have big matchups on national tv where they face power 4 non conference opponents. 

In week one The Georgia bulldogs will face Clemson in Atlanta Georgia. Florida will host Miami. Texas AM will host Notre Dame and LSU will face off with USC in Las Vegas. No layups for these SEC teams in week 1. In a loaded SEC schedule these SEC teams will hope to start their 2024 campaign with a win knowing they will have 5-6 games of this level throughout conference play.  Florida and Texas A&M have a chance to get their season off on the right foot after having some mediocre seasons. 

The SEC slate will feature a lot of great games. A lot of those matchups SEC fans would have to wait years for in the old model. We get games like Texas A&m @ Florida, Tennessee at Oklahoma, Oklahoma @ Auburn, Kentucky @ Ole miss, Miss st @ Tennesse, Georgia @ Alabama, South Carolina @ Oklahoma, Georgia @ Texas, Auburn @ Kentucky, Oklahoma @ Ole miss, Florida @ Texas, Texas @ Arkansas, Alabama @ Oklahoma, Kentucky @ Texas, Texas @ Texas A&M.

The SEC champion will be crowned a little different this year than in years past. Instead of the east and west winners facing off in Atlanta at the end of the season for the SEC championship we will see the top 2 teams with best records face off with a no division model. We could see for the first time a match up in Atlanta that features teams with a couple losses with the depth of SEC teams and schedules throughout the SEC.

Georgia 

Georgia is coming off a one loss season where that lone loss came to the Tide in the SEC championship game causing them to miss the college football playoffs. Georgia will be motivated to dominate the Tigers and show they are geared for another title run. Georgia returns their star QB in Carson Beck who completed 72% of his passes last year with 24 tds. Carson will have WR Dominic Lovett back as well as transfer rb Trevor Etienne. 

Georgia has a tough schedule for 2024. As stated before they open with Clemson in Atlanta. They have several tough road games with trips to Alabama, Kentucky, Ole Miss, and Texas. They will also play games vs Auburn, Tennessee, and Florida in Jacksonville. Georgia will have a team capable of conquering this schedule which will be important for a SEC championship and playoff run. 

Ole Miss

Ole Miss comes into the 2024 season for maybe the first time having some high expectations for this football program. With a couple successful seasons and an expanded playoff to 12 team Ole Miss fans are expecting to make the college football playoff in 2024. Ole Miss has been very successful since bringing in coach Lane Kiffen. He is bringing back star QB Jaxson Dart who completed 65% of his passes with 23 touchdowns. Kiffen has been the master of the transfer portal. He brings in the #1 transfer class into the 2024 season. 

Ole Miss will return WR Tre Harris who was just short of 1,000 yards last season. They will also return RB Ulysses Bentley who had 540 yards and 4 tds as the back up last year to Judkins Quinshon who transferred to Ohio st. Jaxson Dart and Ole Miss will look to continue their offensive explosion with these returners. They also look to have upgrade on defense with 2 big time DL transfers in Princely Umanmielen and 

Walter Nolen. 

Ole Miss 2024 is very manageable compared to other SEC teams schedules. They start with 4 very manageable non conference opponents before SEC play. They have a couple tough stadiums to play in in 2024. They will take trips to Florida, LSU, and South Carolina. 3 teams they are better than but playing on the road in the SEC is not easy. They will host some big time games where they will welcome in OU and Georgia. I fully expect Ole Miss to come out of this schedule with 1-2 losses.  

Texas

Texas will play their first season as members of the SEC in the 2024 college football season. Texas is one of the top brands in college football and brings even more talent to an already rich SEC. Texas comes in as a program with a history of Conference championships, Heisman trophy winners, and national championships.  

The Texas program expects to come in the SEC and continue to compete for conference and national championships. Texas is coming off a big 12 championship and college football playoff appearance, finishing the season with just 2 losses. 

Texas was a loaded team last year. They lost several key pieces to the NFL especially at the WR position. Coach Steve Sarkisian responded to this by going to get highly talented Isaiah Bond from Alabama and Silas Bolden from Oregon State. Texas also returns star QB and Heisman hopeful Quinn Ewers. 

Texas will experience their first SEC conference schedule in 2024 . Texas has a couple easy non conference games on their schedule. They have a trip to the Big House in week 2 that will be a test early in the 2024 path to the playoff for the longhorns. Texas will play their annual rivalry game vs Oklahoma and host Georgia in the month of October. If they can get through these back to back games I expect them to be in Atlanta for the SEC championship. In November they host Florida and Kentucky while heading to Arkansas. I expect the Longhorns to take care of November with ease. The hig

Alabama 

Kalen DeBoer was the coach of selection by Alabama administrators after legendary head coach Nick Saban decided to retire. Its never easy being the guy that follows THE guy. But that is what Kalen Debore has signed up for taking over the Alabama sidelines. DeBoer comes from Washington where he went 11-2 in 2023 and 14-1 with a trip to the national championship game.

Kalen knows how to coach and be successful in D1 football but as I’m sure he knows, coaching Washington in the now dissolved Pac 12 vs coaching the brand with the most success in the SEC and postseason over the last decade is very different. Kalen will have to prove to the Bama fans and the rest of the SEC, Alabama isn’t going anywhere.  Tide fans will expect to win and do it like they’ve done for the last 20 years with championships.

DeBoer will have plenty of talent to work with on this Alabama roster with the #2 overall recruiting class in 2024 and the #3 overall transfer class. DeBoer will have the benefit of returning an experienced QB in Jalen Milroe. DeBoer put up crazy offensive numbers in Washington with a veteran QB Michael Pinix and fans hope this translates to his time at Alabama with Milroe.

DeBoer’s first season at Alabama will consist of 2 non power 4 conference games vs WKU and South Florida before they hit the road for their first big test of the season. In week 3 the Tide will travel the Wisconsin to take on the Badgers. This will be the first big test for DeBoer and the Tide.

The Tide get into conference play week 5 where they will welcome in the Georgia Bulldogs. A matchup that will have all the country’s eyes. They follow that up with a couple winnable games vs Vandy and South Carolina.

The back half of the schedule will get more difficult with trips to UT, LSU, OU while hosting Missouri, and Auburn. Playing 3 rivals this season DeBoer will hope to prove to them they are staying at the top and plan on going nowhere.  

DeBoer success will depend deeply on the development of QB Milroe and If he can acquire and develop talent for years to come like Alabama has for the last decade. DeBoer’s time at Alabama needs to get off to a good start because of the depth of the SEC. Just a couple rough seasons can take you from the top to the middle of the pack in a heartbeat.  

The middle tier: Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, LSU, OU 

Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky have made their way from a bottom tier SEC team to a middle tier team over the past couple years. Missouri is coming off a 11 win season in 2023. Which is the first time they've had a 10+ win season since 2014. Missouri has some good momentum coming in to 2024 with the #21 overall recruiting class and the #14 overall transfer class. Missouri will also return their starting QB Brady Cook. Missouri has a couple tests on the road this season going to Texas AM, Alabama, and South Carolina. The question for Missouri is can they put together a couple upset wins to contend for the SEC championship and a playoff spot.

Tennessee is in a similar position as Missouri. Tennessee followed up their magical 2022 season with a 9-4 record in 2023. Josh Heupel has brought excitement and offernse back to rocky top after some hard years for the Vols. Heupel will have to prove this again this year with first year starting QB Nico Iamaleava taking the snaps this year. Coach Heupel bring in the #14 recruiting class as well as the #32 transfer class. Tennessee fans hope this is the year they can get back to Atlanta for the SEC championship but that won't be easy with the Vols schedule. The Vols take trips to OU and Georgia while hosting Kentucky, Florida, and Alabama. 

The Bottom tier: Florida, South Carolina, Vandy, Texas AM, Auburn, Mississippi State, Arkansas  

The bottom of the SEC is compiled of some teams that hope 2024 leads to more success than past years. Florida may be at the top of that list. Most believe Billy Napier is coaching for his job in 2024 which won't be easy with the hardest schedule in the country. Texas A&M and Mississippi State brought in new head coaches this offseason and hope 2024 is the first season of long term success for these guys. Auburn, South Carolina, and Arkansas have experienced coaches that have had some success but hope that 2024 is a year of getting over those hurdles that make them a bottom of their program.