What’s missing from Georgia? Why can’t it get over the hump? 

Some Bulldog fans would say the missing link is a different head coach, but at some point, someone as good as Mark Richt is going to catch all the breaks. The defense has the potential to be a killer with Leonard Floyd and Jordan Jenkins coming back, and the secondary is loaded. Nick Chubb will be on most preseason Heisman lists, and there’s enough talent overall on offense to expect nothing less than an SEC East title as long as the quarterback situation is figured out, but blah, blah, blah. You’ve heard it all before. Georgia is really good, it has all the talent, it has the pieces in place to get it done, but maybe it just needs the angry instinct. Maybe it just needs a different attitude. If that sounds a bit high school and hokey, okay, but the team seemed to play with a chip on its shoulder against Louisville, and the result was a bowl blowout. The Belk Bowl Bulldogs have to show up each and every week. 

Does Missouri have any shot at three-peating? 

The one big, giant difference is that the division should be far stronger. Georgia might be better, Tennessee will be a whole bunch better, Florida should be okay, South Carolina might be improved, and Kentucky and Vanderbilt will certainly be stronger. Even so, Mizzou is a factory now for pass rushers, there’s speed to burn on offense behind one of the league’s best O lines, and Maty Mauk – faults and all – now has a few years of experience under his belt. Mississippi State and Arkansas are hardly pushovers, but it’s better to get those two from the West than Alabama or LSU, and the Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee games are at home, so … it might be another interesting year. 

How far away is Florida from being Florida? 

Everyone sort of forgot about just how weird the Gators’ season was. It started out with a postponed and then cancelled game against Idaho, which might have mattered only because the team obviously needed as much target practice as possible on offense. Remember, the chance was right there to beat LSU in the 30-27 loss, and despite the 42-13 final score, the Gators actually dominated Missouri in several ways in the loss. Yeah, it doesn’t work like this, BUT, it could be argued that Florida was closer than it appeared to being a ten-win caliber team. This year, the defense should be every bit as good as it was last year, even with a great D coach like Will Muschamp gone, and if the offense can just be a wee bit more consistent, and if the passing game isn’t so pathetic, this should be a step-forward season. Anything less than nine wins will be a major disappointment for a team with this much talent. 

Is Tennessee more than just a cute, dark horse pick to win the SEC East 

At Florida, at Alabama, at Missouri. Those three games alone might just be enough to keep the Vols from taking the East, but talent-wise, they’re close. Yes, Tennessee will be one of the IT teams going into the year after closing out winning four of the last five games and with a tremendous recruiting class coming in, but there are still holes. This is still the team that struggled way too much offensively in key games, and the defense will be great, but maybe not SEC title-good quite yet. Even so, if Joshua Dobbs can continue to play like the smooth and steady quarterback he was throughout the second half of last year, and if the team can handle the pressure and the hype, it should be deep in the hunt for the East until the end. It’s that good, even with the three brutal SEC road games. 

Can South Carolina rebuild in time for one more run for Steve Spurrier? 

Helloooooo, JUCO. Spurrier isn’t kidding around in what might be his final year as a ball coach, going the junior college route this recruiting season to load up on instant players to help beef up an already good-looking team. Finding a quarterback is key, but it’s Spurrier – everything is going to be okay. The O line won’t be quite as good, and some weapons have to emerge on offense, but the defense could and should be night-and-day better if the JUCOers do their job to add depth and options to an already experienced group. More than anything else, considering Spurrier might be on the sidelines for two more years – at the most – there has to be a sense of urgency. With road games at Georgia and Missouri along with a home date with LSU in the first half of the year, there’s little time to ease into the schedule. 

Why should there be any real hope for Kentucky and Vanderbilt to not finish on the bottom of the East? 

Kentucky spent the last six games of last season chasing one more win from being bowl eligible, and didn’t get it. The team has to be hungry considering the near-miss, and it comes back more talented and experienced. The O is loaded with veterans around QB Patrick Towles, and the defense gets just about everyone of note back except for Bud Dupree and Za’Darius Smith up front. For Vandy, the first season under Derek Mason was all about lump taking. Eight underclassmen started the final game of the year on offense, and seven underclassmen got the nod on defense. This still might be the 14th-best team in a 14-team league, but it should be far more competitive and far more fun to watch after 2014’s nightmare. Don’t expect miracles, but the Commodores will come up with at least one big monkey wrench win. 

It’s all relative, but is the Alabama defense slipping? 

The Alabama defense was hardly awful last season, finishing fourth in the nation against the run, 12th overall, and sixth in scoring defense, but it’s not like it was the brutally dominant brick wall it was during some of Nick Saban’s national championship seasons. The mystique was erased a bit by Johnny Manziel and then Trevor Knight, but last year it was hard to argue with 11 straight games to start the season allowing 24 points or fewer and with six games giving up 14 or fewer. Auburn’s Nick Marshall exposed the secondary a bit, and then Ohio State got nasty and pounded its way to national title game, but that doesn’t mean the wheels are coming off. This year, there’s way too much talent up front – as always – not to expect yet another huge year from the run defense – Wisconsin will test that out right away – but that’s not the real problem. Forget how Ohio State gashed the front seven – the real key is a secondary that has been way too soft at times and hasn’t come up with the lockdown cover-corners it needs. It’s a bit much to call the Bama corners an Achilles’ heel, but they have to be better. Everyone of note at corner is back, but losing SS Landon Collins is going to hurt. 

Is the Auburn offense going to be more 2013 or 2014? 

Gut feeling – everyone is going to assume the Auburn offense will be fine, but it’s not going to get the play it received coming off the whopper of a 2013 season, and then … boom. Nick Marshall was a far, far better passer than he ever received credit for, and Cameron Artis-Payne had a nice year as the main back, but this season it’ll be extremely interesting to see what Jeremy Johnson does. Everyone around the program swears that the 6-5, 230-pound quarterback has the ability to take things to a whole other level, and with D’haquille Williams back as a dangerous No. 1 target, watch out for the passing game. It’s Auburn, so the running game will rock even with changes in the backfield, but if this is going to work, and if this is going to be a really, really big year, Johnson has to be a Heisman-caliber baller. 

What’s the deal with the LSU quarterbacks? 

Uhhhhh, Everett Golson? Anthony Jennings wasn’t totally miserable, and Brandon Harris wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t pretty. Jennings didn’t hit half of his passes, and Harris just didn’t provide any spark. It would’ve been interesting to see if the quarterback play was any better if Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry were still around, but Travin Dural, Malchi Dupre and John Diarse are players. Remember, the top four receivers from last year were underclassmen, so as they mature and improve, and as Leonard Fournette becomes more and more of a factor as a next-level looking running back, the quarterback play should be better, too. 

Let’s be honest. Is Texas A&M really a threat to win an SEC title, or is it just a fun novelty? 

The offense came into the SEC like a thunderstorm with Johnny Manziel, Mike Evans, and the devastating attack rocking and rolling, but without winning anything. It’s not A&M’s fault that it’s in the SEC West, but that’s the deal, and now Kevin Sumlin has to figure out how to navigate through it. Last year showed that you need a little bit of a defense, too. For as much success as A&M has had, it’s still a young group program in the SEC world that’s still maturing after some great recruiting classes. The D loses three of its top four tackles, but the depth and talent level is starting to build up. The Aggies might be one more year away from truly challenging for the SEC title – and they need QB Kyle Allen to develop and be better – but they’ll be dangerous. 

Just how close is Bret Bielema to making Arkansas a contender for the SEC title? 

The Hogs might be right there. While Texas A&M made a splash with a devastating, high-flying offense, Bielema’s style might work better for the long haul with the emphasis on physical play on both sides of the ball, a tough defense, and a ball-control attack that could be better suited to deal with the Alabamas and LSUs of the division. No, Arkansas isn’t going to win the SEC West, but could it be a Mississippi State and be America’s darling for a long stretch? With almost everyone back on offense, a dominant ground game, and a better-than-you-think QB in Brandon Allen, the success from the end of last year should continue. The defense loses some key parts, but it’s going to be really, really good. It takes something absolutely amazing to with the SEC West, and Arkansas might not be that, but it’s going to be a tough out each and every week. 

Were Ole Miss and Mississippi State a mirage over the first half of last season, or was that a sign of better things to come? 

Ole Miss, blowout to TCU and all, appears to have a bit more staying power with the great recruiting class of two years ago maturing and with more talent beefing up the depth. It’s hard to know quite what the Rebels would’ve been had everyone stayed healthy, and that’s part of the war of attrition in the SEC West, but this was still the team that whacked a Boise State team that won the Fiesta Bowl, crushed a strong Memphis squad, and blew out Tennessee and Texas A&M – and, of course, beat Alabama – before the two heartbreakers to LSU and Auburn changed everything around. Mississippi State did its part beating LSU in Death Valley and Texas A&M, Auburn and Arkansas, but last year was the year. It was a matured team that was peaking at the right time and with the right players in place, but overall, the talent isn’t quite there compared to others in the SEC West – but that’s splitting hairs. Expect a step back this year for the Bulldogs, and for Ole Miss to be dangerous.