JD PicKell predicts SEC divisional winners, 2022 champion

The SEC powerhouses will reign for another year, according to On3’s JD PicKell.

PicKell recently predicted the outcomes of all Power Five Conference Championships in 2022, as well as the teams he believes will find themselves in the College Football Playoff come New Years 2023. When picking the SEC – he went with the obvious choices: Alabama and Georgia. Honestly though, who wouldn’t?

“‘Bama wins the West, Georgia wins the East – probably the most boring prediction you’re going to get,” PicKell said. “I wanted to look at this a million different ways and say well, ‘what if Tennessee comes out of the East; what if Florida comes out of the East? I couldn’t pick against Kirby smart is ultimately what it comes down to. Eight new guys on defense, Stetson Bennett says ‘run that back turbo, I want to win another ring.

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“Ultimately, I think ‘Bama is just motivated. To put it simply, ‘Bama has tasted their own blood. You have a motivated Alabama team – and I don’t know if there’s a more dangerous thing in college football to be honest with you – A motivated Alabama team and a smiling, positive Nick Saban is just going to wreak havoc on everybody else. So I think ultimately, Georgia puts forth a valiant efforts, they do more on offense this year to be able to get back to this kind of game but I think ‘Bama wins the SEC.”

Alabama returns Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Bryce Young on offense, and defensive stalwart Will Anderson on defense – two plays that are considered elite at their positions – to lead Nick Saban’s efforts in 2022.

Meanwhile for Georgia, they’re going to be tasked with hot-shooting inexperienced, young, talented defenders to starting roles after losing nearly their entire starting lineup to the 2022 NFL Draft. Bennett is back under center, too, and is ready to prove that the Bulldogs defense wasn’t the only reason for their 2022 National Championship victory.

Both the Bulldogs and Crimson Tide get their regular season underway on Sept. 3 during Week One. Alabama will battle Utah State, while Georgia battles Oregon in one of the marquee matchups during college football’s opening week.