Detailing teams that could compete for third in the SEC West

Everyone has locked in on Alabama and LSU as the contenders in the SEC West. However, after that, someone has to finish in third. The only issue is even On3’s Andy Staples isn’t certain of who that will be in 2023.

Staples examined the SEC West on Thursday ahead of SEC Media Days in Nashville next week. Staples admitted that he, much like other media members, doesn’t exactly know who to vote as the division’s third-place team behind the Tide and Tigers. He hinted at Texas A&M as a possibility but said that didn’t yet feel right considering what happened last season, what happened this offseason, and some of their overall struggles during the duration of Jimbo Fisher’s tenure in College Station.

“I don’t really know who to put there,” Staples admitted.

“If we’re going based off the sheer talent of the starting 22? I feel like that’s Texas A&M,” said Staples. “But I watched Texas A&M play last year. And I know what’s going on (with) Bobby Petrino coming in as the offensive coordinator. And I wonder if they can keep it together. Can they win the games that they’re supposed to win? I’m just not sure of that. I haven’t seen them really do that under Jimbo Fisher yet.”

From there, Staples went team by team in the SEC West as potential possibilities. Along with the Aggies, all five have both positives and negatives when it comes to their case for third in the race,

“That one’s hard for me to pick. Arkansas’ got KJ Jefferson back, Raheim Sanders. What about them? They should’ve beaten Texas A&M last year, they were fairly evenly matched with a lot of other teams in the SEC West,” said Staples. “What about Mississippi State under Zach Arnett? Will Rogers entering year four as a starting quarterback at Mississippi State. It’s a new offense but this is a guy with a lot of experience. They have a very experienced defense.”

“Ole Miss? We’ve seen Lane Kiffin put together great seasons in Oxford already,” Staples continued. “And now Hugh Freeze is at Auburn. He inherited some fairly good players but, obviously, there was quite a bit of roster turnover when Bryan Harsin was fired. But Hugh’s been active in the portal, he got Payton Thorne at quarterback from Michigan State. I’m very curious to see what he does because we saw when he got to Ole Miss the last time around? Even before he really started rebuilding that roster, he made them scary to play.”

Staples isn’t certain of this year’s finish in the division from three through seven because all of their matchups, in his words, will be “like a coin flip”. They can shuffle that deck any sort of way in those slots and, for the most part, it’d make sense.

We’ll all just have to see how the votes shake out at the Grand Hyatt next week as well as how the respective teams live up to it by the end of the season. Still, at this point, Staples confessed that there’s no shame in not yet knowing considering the parity and question marks that five of the seven teams in the SEC West provide.

“I don’t know who to pick for that third-place team in the SEC West,” Staples said. “I think that is going to be a fascinating race and might help set up what things are going to look like when they go division-less in 2024 when Texas and Oklahoma get in the league.”

“It feels like every game between those teams that I just mentioned that aren’t Alabama and LSU feels like a coin flip,” said Staples. “And so who’s everybody going to pick? I don’t think they’re going to pick Texas A&M. (But) I would not be shocked if Texas A&M finishes there at the end of the season though. We’ll see.”