"The SEC West is wide open."

[pseudonym]

People say the SEC West is wide open after LSU, Texas A&M, and Alabama lost a game in the first two weeks. I've heard some say all seven teams have a chance to get to Atlanta.

Am I crazy, or is Alabama still Alabama? Their SEC record is 0-0. They are still the most talented team. Nick Saban is still their coach. And with the Texas game behind them, they have the easiest remaining schedule among SEC West teams. Their remaining games vs. teams currently ranked in the top 25 are all at home (Ole Miss, Tennessee, and LSU).

Are they losing multiple games at home in a season for the first time in 16 years? Are they losing to an unranked team? Are they losing to Tennessee two years in a row for the first time in 19 years? Losing to LSU two years in a row for the first time in 12 years?

Maybe all these things happen, but Alabama is the clear favorite to win the SEC West until further notice.

Alabama has won six national titles under Saban. Four of those titles included a regular-season loss. Three of those losses were in Tuscaloosa. I think "the SEC West is wide open" talk is an overreaction to a loss to a good team.

 

[GloryDawg]

Alabama does still have the most talent in the West but they are just not as good as in past. O Line is suspected and the WR are suspected. I am not sure if the defense is as good as in the past. They are still Bama and will probably win the West.

 

[Ranchdawg]

People say the SEC West is wide open after LSU, Texas A&M, and Alabama lost a game in the first two weeks. I've heard some say all seven teams have a chance to get to Atlanta.

Am I crazy, or is Alabama still Alabama? Their SEC record is 0-0. They are still the most talented team. Nick Saban is still their coach. And with the Texas game behind them, they have the easiest remaining schedule among SEC West teams. Their remaining games vs. teams currently ranked in the top 25 are all at home (Ole Miss, Tennessee, and LSU).

Are they losing multiple games at home in a season for the first time in 16 years? Are they losing to an unranked team? Are they losing to Tennessee two years in a row for the first time in 19 years? Losing to LSU two years in a row for the first time in 12 years?

Maybe all these things happen, but Alabama is the clear favorite to win the SEC West until further notice.

Alabama has won six national titles under Saban. Four of those titles included a regular-season loss. Three of those losses were in Tuscaloosa. I think "the SEC West is wide open" talk is an overreaction to a loss to a good team.

View attachment 404998

One can only hope that they lose them all!

 

[POTUS]

I'd say this is probably Ole Miss's last chance to win the West.***

 

[thatsbaseball]

Alabama does still have the most talent in the West but they are just not as good as in past. O Line is suspected and the WR are suspected. I am not sure if the defense is as good as in the past. They are still Bama and will probably win the West.

The biggest drop off I see at Alabama is at QB.

 

[MSUDOG24]

Dare I write what I've been thinking? Call it CWS NC PTSD but please tell me OM isn't going to find a way to finally win the west in the final year of such. For what ever reason those MF'ers can go toe to toe with Bama and have them early and have their nemesis AR at home along with LSU and A&M. Just hope when we beat them at home this year it's for our second trip or forever leaves them 0 for.

 

[DoggieDaddy13]

Alabama does still have the most talent in the West but they are just not as good as in past. O Line is suspected and the WR are suspected. I am not sure if the defense is as good as in the past. They are still Bama and will probably win the West.

Suspected of what? Getting paid a buttload in NIL money? Throwing the Texas game?

Not a all that good at grammar policing, but I think you mean "suspect." And I would agree with your assessment. I also think their LB play was suspect. Not sure if it was the play calling, but they seemed to get out of position on a number of running plays.

 

[johnson86-1]

People say the SEC West is wide open after LSU, Texas A&M, and Alabama lost a game in the first two weeks. I've heard some say all seven teams have a chance to get to Atlanta.

Am I crazy, or is Alabama still Alabama? Their SEC record is 0-0. They are still the most talented team. Nick Saban is still their coach. And with the Texas game behind them, they have the easiest remaining schedule among SEC West teams. Their remaining games vs. teams currently ranked in the top 25 are all at home (Ole Miss, Tennessee, and LSU).

Are they losing multiple games at home in a season for the first time in 16 years? Are they losing to an unranked team? Are they losing to Tennessee two years in a row for the first time in 19 years? Losing to LSU two years in a row for the first time in 12 years?

Maybe all these things happen, but Alabama is the clear favorite to win the SEC West until further notice.

Alabama has won six national titles under Saban. Four of those titles included a regular-season loss. Three of those losses were in Tuscaloosa. I think "the SEC West is wide open" talk is an overreaction to a loss to a good team.

I haven't watched enough to really handicap the west race, but I would call it relatively wide open between LSU and Bama, with both of them having more games within upset range than usual. And of course A&M has the talent to compete although I assume they will fail to capitalize per the usual. Looking at schedules, I wouldn't say Bama or LSU have a clear advantage. LSU doesn't have UT and has A&M at home; Bama has UT at home and has LSU at home but plays @A&M. I would assume that losing to UT at home means there probably aren't a lot of road games in the SEC that are going to be outside of upset range for Bama.

Another way of looking at it, for the past 6 years, Bama has won the west 3 times. The first loss was 2017 when they only lost to Auburn. That's basically the most likely scenario in play for LSU, except that I'm not sure LSU can go undefeated outside of Bama. More likely Bama gets to play the Auburn role here, and win at home and get the tie breaker to offset a loss to UT.

2019 was just LSU being freakishly good. There's not a team like that this year in the SEC West, so that scenario is irrelevant.

2022 is the year that is relevant. Bama lost to UT on the road and to LSU on the road. Now they get both of them at home, but they're also probably not as good as last year, so that may not be enough to change anything. In contrast, LSU does have to go to tuscaloosa this year, but they also dropped UT. Still probably going to come down to who wins LSU & Bama game, but if LSU loses, they still have a decent path to get to the SEC CG. THey either have to win their other SEC games or hope Bama drops one to UT and a game like A&M on the road.

 

[Mobile Bay]

People say the SEC West is wide open after LSU, Texas A&M, and Alabama lost a game in the first two weeks. I've heard some say all seven teams have a chance to get to Atlanta.

Am I crazy, or is Alabama still Alabama? Their SEC record is 0-0. They are still the most talented team. Nick Saban is still their coach. And with the Texas game behind them, they have the easiest remaining schedule among SEC West teams. Their remaining games vs. teams currently ranked in the top 25 are all at home (Ole Miss, Tennessee, and LSU).

Are they losing multiple games at home in a season for the first time in 16 years? Are they losing to an unranked team? Are they losing to Tennessee two years in a row for the first time in 19 years? Losing to LSU two years in a row for the first time in 12 years?

Maybe all these things happen, but Alabama is the clear favorite to win the SEC West until further notice.

Alabama has won six national titles under Saban. Four of those titles included a regular-season loss. Three of those losses were in Tuscaloosa. I think "the SEC West is wide open" talk is an overreaction to a loss to a good team.

View attachment 404998

Saban's best teams have an early loss. This angers the Saban. The fact that this wasn't a conference game they lost makes it even more likely they run the table from here on out.

 

[Dawgg]

Rome is burnin’ Pawwwwwwwwwwwwl