The best 2015 SEC football team previews money can buy, except they’re free

Confused? Check out the advanced-stats glossary here.

It’s been difficult to elaborate on Florida’s hire of Jim McElwain as its new head coach. It just ... made sense. The former Colorado State coach has the pro-style credentials many ruling-class programs covet. He’s got SEC experience (four seasons as Nick Saban’s offensive coordinator at Alabama).

Confused? Check out the advanced-stats glossary here.

The University of Kentucky is sinking more than $150 million into construction of better football facilities. Commonwealth Stadium has undergone a considerable facelift in advance of the season. A new football building, with better offices and practice areas, is up next.

At the end of each conference preview series (here’s the whole SEC), I look at how I perceive the conference’s balance of power heading into 2015. This is in no way based on schedules. These are not predictions. They’re just how I would rank the teams after writing thousands of words about each.

So before we get to the SEC rankings, let’s talk conference power. I wrote this part earlier:

Confused? Check out the advanced-stats glossary here.

It sure doesn’t take much to cause an existential crisis in Tuscaloosa.

Confused? Check out the advanced-stats glossary here.

Georgia blew it last year. Badly.

Confused? Check out the advanced-stats glossary here.

I used to joke that Missouri, my alma mater, figured out ways to exceed expectations in the most disappointing ways possible.

Confused? Check out the advanced-stats glossary here.

For most programs, fortunes don’t change in a single offseason, let alone a single snap. For Auburn, it’s beginning to feel like change is a constant.

Confused? Check out the advanced-stats glossary here.

Mississippi State has improved significantly for two consecutive seasons. It won 10 games for the first time in 15 years last fall.

Confused? Check out the advanced-stats glossary here.

The presidential election cycle comes with benchmarks and road signs, from the beginning of the intra-party debates to the Iowa primaries to Super Tuesday to the conventions. A news entity can dust off its coverage plan from four years ago, make a few changes, and hit the ground running.