Yahoo Sports 2021 SEC preseason poll: Alabama and Georgia are the favorites yet again
Alabama and Georgia are the clear favorites in the SEC.
The defending national champion Crimson Tide were voted the preseason pick to win the SEC in the league’s annual media preseason poll. Alabama got 84 votes to win the conference while Georgia received 45 votes to win the SEC.
Alabama got all but four first-place votes to win the West. Texas A&M is the clear No. 2 in the West ahead of LSU and Ole Miss. The Crimson Tide are favorites yet again, despite replacing a lot of key contributors from that dominant national title team. Heisman winner DeVonta Smith, Jaylen Waddle, Mac Jones, Najee Harris, Alex Leatherwood and Landon Dickerson are all in the NFL. And that's just on offense.
In the East, Georgia got all but 10 votes to win the division. Florida was voted second and got seven first-place votes, while third-place Kentucky got two.
Georgia is -400 to win the SEC East at BetMGM while Alabama is at -450 to win the West. Texas A&M is at +600 to win the West while Florida is the No. 2 favorite in the East at +450.
Alabama is also -165 to win the conference.
The outliers in the first place voting are South Carolina and Arkansas. A media member picked the Gamecocks to both win the SEC East and the entire SEC while another voter — maybe even the same one? — picked Arkansas to win the West. A South Carolina-Arkansas SEC championship game would be the most unexpected in league history.
Here’s a look at how the media poll shook out. There was, unfortunately, no hypothetical media poll that included Texas and Oklahoma in the conference.
West
1. Alabama (130 first-place votes)
2. Texas A&M (1)
3. LSU (1)
4. Ole Miss (1)
5. Auburn
6. Arkansas (1)
7. Mississippi State
East
1. Georgia (124)
2. Florida (7)
3. Kentucky (2)
4. Missouri
5. Tennessee
6. South Carolina (1)
7. Vanderbilt
More from Yahoo Sports:
