Media members pick Alabama to win 2018 SEC title
Fresh off its trip to Atlanta for SEC Media Days, Alabama is projected to make a return trip down I-20 later this season. The Crimson Tide was selected by media members to win the SEC West as well as the SEC title in this year’s SEC Media Days poll announced Friday.
Alabama was selected as the SEC West champion with 1,971 total points and 263 first-place votes. The Crimson Tide finished above Auburn (1,664 points), Mississippi State (1,239), Texas A&M (1,091), LSU (1,025), Ole Miss (578 and Arkansas (412). Auburn received 19 first-place votes, while Mississippi State received two.
Georgia was picked to win the SEC East, earning 1,977 points and 271 first-place votes. The Bulldogs were followed by South Carolina (1,535), Florida (1,441), Missouri (1,057), Kentucky (874), Tennessee (704) and Vanderbilt (392). South Carolina received eight first-place votes, while Florida received four. Kentucky and Tennessee also earned one lone first-place vote apiece.
Teams were selected on a 7-6-5-4-3-2-1 scale.
Alabama was also projected to beat Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, which will be held Dec. 1 inside Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. That game would be a rematch of last year’s national championship game where Alabama beat Georgia 26-23 in overtime inside the same venue.
Unfortunately for Alabama, media members have projected the correct SEC champion just six times since 1992. Alabama was the last correctly predicted winner in 2016.
Predicted finish
SEC West (1st Place votes in parenthesis)
1. Alabama — 1,971 (263)
2. Auburn — 1,664 (19)
3. Mississippi State — 1,239 (2)
4. Texas A&M — 1,091
5. LSU — 1,025
6. Ole Miss — 578
7. Arkansas — 412
SEC East
1. Georgia — 1,977 (271)
2. South Carolina — 1,535 (8)
3. Florida — 1,441 (4)
4. Missouri — 1,057
5. Kentucky — 874 (1)
6. Tennessee — 704 (1)
7. Vanderbilt — 392
SEC champion
Alabama — 193
Georgia — 69
Auburn — 14
South Carolina — 4
Florida — 2
Mississippi State — 1
Missouri — 1