Entering the 2011 season, the SEC remains the premier conference in college football, at least according to the 2011 preseason college football rankings. The preseason USA Today poll is almost one-third SEC teams, with a nation-leading eight schools in the top 25.
2011 Coaches Preseason Poll: SEC Leads Nation With Eight Top 25 Teams
No. 2 Alabama leads the conference in the poll, but No. 4 LSU isn’t far behind. Those two teams are the only top-10 SEC schools, but they’re also only two of the five SEC West teams ranked in the top 20. No. 12 South Carolina is the first SEC East team to earn a spot, and the third of the four top-15 SEC teams, with No. 14 Arkansas sliding in two spots back of the Gamecocks.
But the glut truly begins at No. 19, where defending national champion Auburn lands. SEC teams occupy four of the five spots from No. 19 to No. 23 — Auburn, No. 20 Mississippi State, No. 22 Georgia, and No. 23 Florida — meaning that of the top 23 teams in America, according to the coaches in the 2011 preseason, more than a third are from the SEC.
Better still for Mike Slive’s cabal of champions — the SEC has won the last five BCS national championships — no two other conferences combined have more teams ranked in the top 23, and the Big Ten and Big 12, with four each, are tied for the second-most teams in that number.
Here’s the full list of SEC teams in the 2011 USA Today preseason coaches poll:
No. 2 Alabama
No. 4 LSU
No. 12 South Carolina
No. 14 Arkansas
No. 19 Auburn
No. 20 Mississippi State
No. 22 Georgia
No. 23 Florida
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