The changes coming to college football are far from over, but 2024 already has seismic alterations to the sport. The Pac-12 is now a scrapbook of amazing highlights, with its teams departed to the Big 12, the ACC, the Big Ten, and (in the case of Washington State and Oregon State) an odd alliance with the Mountain West Conference. The SEC is adding Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12, which makes football more interesting. However, the biggest change to the SEC may be the departure of Nick Saban as head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide. Saban’s replacement, Kalen DeBoer, did lead the Washington Huskies to the national championship game last year, but we will see if he can keep the Tide at the top of the conference. As you consider your College Football Betting for the fall, take a look at five bold predictions we’re making for the SEC.
College Football Betting On 5 Bold Predictions for the SEC Football Conference
The SEC sends four teams to the CFP, but Alabama stays home
Alabama has a brutal 2024 schedule. They open SEC play with a visit from Georgia. They get what amounts to an extra FCS-quality opponent when they head to Vanderbilt, but then the next three games (South Carolina, at Tennessee, Missouri) bring in three teams that are tough and on the rise. They have their second idle week of the season and then head to LSU. After another non-conference cupcake (Mercer), they head to Oklahoma, where anything can happen, and return home to play Auburn in the Iron Bowl. The Tide also lost Julian Sayin and Caleb Downs to Ohio State. Their talent is still top-notch, but the Tide will need nine or ten wins to get into the CFP, and there are five games on this schedule that could easily turn into losses.
The SEC Coach of the Year will be Lane Kiffin
Ole Miss has double-digit wins in two of the last three seasons under Lane Kiffin. The transfer portal has been kind to the Rebels, and all of a sudden, Kiffin is one of the most venerable coaches in the SEC not named Kirby Smart. Ole Miss had two regular-season losses in 2023 – at Georgia and at Alabama. With the CFP expanding to 12, Kiffin won’t have to make the SEC Championship to have a prayer at a national title, and Ole Miss has a much friendlier schedule this year. They don’t play Alabama, Texas, Missouri, or Tennessee. They get Georgia at home, and their only other ranked opposition is LSU, set for Week 7. Just getting a split there gives Ole Miss 11 wins and a potential date in the SEC title game. If that happens, Kiffin will be the Coach of the Year.
Missouri will slide back down toward SEC mediocrity
The Tigers should head into their first idle week with a perfect 4-0 record: Murray State, Buffalo, Boston College, and Vanderbilt, all at home. (Here’s a question: how much longer does Vanderbilt get to stay in the SEC? If you look back in the history of the conference, Tulane used to be part of the SEC too. However, the Green Wave left in 1966 because of its desire to focus on academics – and to have a less rigorous football schedule. Vanderbilt has a solid academic reputation, but its football and basketball teams take beatings week after week, all year long. Just something to think about.) Then they visit Texas A&M, which is a dangerous place to play. A trip to UMass is followed by a home date with Auburn and a trip to Alabama before the second idle week. Then they host Oklahoma and travel to South Carolina and Mississippi State before they welcome Arkansas in the Battle Line Rivalry. A 4-4 or -5-3 SEC record is not beyond the realm of possibility. They lost their DC, Blake Baker, to LSU, and their whole secondary from 2023 is now in the NFL. Tailback Cody Shrader was a finalist for the Doak Walker Award but is now out of NCAA eligibility.
Georgia wins the SEC
The Bulldogs don’t have a collection of tomato cans lined up ahead of their potential date in an SEC Championship like they did a year ago. They open against Clemson, and they have games at Texas, Alabama and Ole Miss, the only SEC team who has to play all three of those title contenders on the road. They get to host Tennessee in their last SEC game, but that’s a tough slate. We saw that Texas had some defensive issues in their loss to Washington in the national semifinal, though, and the gauntlet of SEC play will wear the Longhorns down a lot more quickly than the comparative cake walk that the Big 12 represented. Growing into SEC play will take adjustments from Kalen DeBoer at Alabama, and Ole Miss’ casual treatment of defense will cause them problems. The Bulldogs can win three of those four tough games and can also win an SEC title game where Smart doesn’t have to deal with Nick Saban across the field.
Texas misses the CFP
The toughest games on the Longhorns’ slate include Michigan, Oklahoma, Georgia, and Texas A&M. That date with the Aggies is on the road, and you know how raucous the 12th Man will be for the renewal of a venerable rivalry. Michigan doesn’t have Jim Harbaugh (and, presumably, the advance intelligence on opposing offenses that the Wolverines rode to dominance the last two seasons), and they’re working in a new quarterback, but that defense is still ironclad. The Longhorns also play at Arkansas and have visits from Florida and Kentucky. Slip-ups along the way will cause the Longhorns to miss their time getting to see teams like TCU and Kansas count as conference games.
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Sources: Former Washington/Nebraska tailback Will Nixon is transferring to Syracuse. He ran for 201 yards and averaged 6.1 yards per carry last year at Washington. pic.twitter.com/5H0pwIlG5C
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) May 24, 2024
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Sources: Former Washington/Nebraska tailback Will Nixon is transferring to Syracuse. He ran for 201 yards and averaged 6.1 yards per carry last year at Washington. pic.twitter.com/5H0pwIlG5C
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) May 24, 2024College Football Betting Odds
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