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Winning your conference is very important in the era of the expanded College Football Playoff.
The top four conference champions will receive byes to the second round of the 12-team postseason. With just four power conferences remaining following the demise of the Pac-12, a conference title is essentially a guaranteed off week.
With the 2024 season quickly approaching, here’s a look at the SEC as the conference enters year one of its post-Nick Saban era.
Click here for the Yahoo Sports Viewer’s Guide to the New College Football Playoff. (Taylor Wilhelm/Yahoo Sports)
SEC champion odds
Athens, GA – APRIL 13: Georgia Bulldogs Head Coach Kirby Smart looks on during the G-Day Red and Black Spring Game on April 13, 2024, Sanford Stadium in Athens, GA. (Photo by Jeffrey Vest/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Are Georgia and Texas really the clear favorites?
The Bulldogs enter 2024 as the betting favorites for both the SEC title and the national title. It’s easy to see why. QB Carson Beck is a Heisman favorite entering his second season as a starter and there’s four- and five-star talent all around him. Plus, this is a team that will surely be motivated after missing the playoff a season ago following an SEC title game loss to Alabama.
The running game should be in good hands with Florida transfer Trevor Etienne. Georgia has always gone with a committee approach at running back under Kirby Smart, but Etienne should be the lead back after averaging 5.7 yards a carry and scoring eight touchdowns a season ago.
Georgia’s defense will be incredibly deep again and should be very good against the pass. The Bulldogs were much better against opposing passers in 2023 and didn’t allow more than 200 yards passing in any of the final five games of the season.
The biggest question is a schedule that’s the toughest for any playoff…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/3-things-to-know-about-the-sec-georgia-texas-lead-big-group-of-playoff-contenders-133329711.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2024-08-19 13:33:29
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