1. Tebow won’t lose
if he doesn’t miss any significant playing time, the gators will run the table and repeat as national champions. Of course, if he does get hurt and misses some games, florida will not go undefeated in 2009. John brantley is going to be a great quarterback, but losing tebow would be a huge psychological blow.
2. A rematch in atlanta
no, not the one you’re thinking about, not florida vs. Alabama. How about florida vs. Mississippi for the sec championship in a rematch from last year’s rebel upset in the swamp, the gators’ only loss in 2008. In the spring, i predicted alabama would win the west. After more thought, i’m flip-flopping and going with ole miss. Here’s why: Great teams have great quarterbacks. Alabama doesn’t have one right now. Ole miss does. So, it will be tim tebow vs. Jevan snead.
3. Ut will be better
with all the smack he’s been spewing the past few months (and all those minor ncaa violations he’s committed), new ut coach lane kiffin does not have many (if any) friends in the sec, especially among the other coaches, and especially urban meyer. Because kiffin has done so much talking, the summer speculation has been that he’s going to get his fanny spanked in a big way in the swamp on sept. 19. He might. But the thought here is the vols will be much better than most people think, especially on defense, and this will be a tough game.
4. Breakthrough for spurrier
we keep waiting and waiting and waiting for steve spurrier to get things cranked up at south carolina, but it just hasn’t happened. In four seasons, he’s won only six more games than he’s lost, and he’s coming off back-to-back seasons of 6-6 and 7-6. Very unspurrierlike. Many are predicting another rough season, but i’m predicting stephen garcia will give spurrier the quarterback play he’s been looking for and the gamecocks will be in the race in the east.
5. Tough season for mullen
given the track record of mediocrity at mississippi state, dan mullen knew what he was getting into when he left florida to take over this program. Mullen will make the games more entertaining for the bulldog faithful (especially after the weak offensive performances in starkville the past few years), but he’s going to have a hard time winning games. Looking down the schedule, it’s hard to see mullen winning more than four or five games this season.
