By Harry King
LITTLE ROCK — From Tuscaloosa to Iowa City to Boise to Gainesville, the pieces are in place to create an anomaly in the preseason college football poll for 2010.
This could be the first year since 2002 that the Southeastern Conference has only one team in the Top 10 prior to the season. Considering the national respect for the SEC, that takes some doing.
For starters, there is Alabama, ruler of the college football world and sure to be a consensus pick for No. 1 in the upcoming year. Despite the loss of some very important players on defense, the Crimson Tide is expected to dominate the SEC. At this point, identifying the next-best teams is nigh onto impossible.
That is not the case in the Big Ten, where the perceived strengths of Ohio State, Iowa, Penn State, and Wisconsin contribute to the squeeze on the SEC. More than likely, at least three of the aforementioned teams will start out in the Top 10. Also sure to occupy spots in the Top 10 are Boise State and TCU.
Already there is talk that Alabama and Ohio State, the two teams that won in Pasadena, will be in Glendale, Ariz., next year for the national title game. In the preseason poll, both Ohio State and Iowa will reap the benefits of winning prominent bowl games with quarterbacks who will be back in 2010, Terrelle Pryor for the Buckeyes and Ricky Stanzi for the Hawkeyes.
It is the lack of that very commodity — proven quarterbacks — that will make poll voters reluctant to endorse the usual suspects in the SEC.
In the Eastern Division, the norm is to go for Florida or Georgia or Tennessee. In Gainesville, Tim Tebow is irreplaceable. Joe Cox is gone at Athens and Jonathan Crompton is through at Knoxville.
Neither Kentucky nor Vanderbilt will be in the hunt and South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier is still trying to teach Stephen Garcia — second in the SEC in passing yardage and 11th in passing efficiency. Garcia was 16-of-38 for 129 yards in the Gamecocks’ 20-7 bowl loss to UConn.
Other than Alabama and Florida, Ole Miss was the SEC’s most impressive bowl winner, but the Rebels lost all chance to parlay the Cotton Bowl victory into preseason respect when quarterback Jevan Snead decided he was ready for the NFL.
Mention LSU as the most likely to challenge Alabama in the Western Division and clock management, plus the erratic play of quarterback Jordan Jefferson, is part of the conversation. Jefferson barely completed 50 percent of his 37 attempts in a loss to Mississippi and was 13-of-24 in the bowl loss to Penn State.
Like so many SEC teams, Auburn is starting over at quarterback. Mississippi State quarterback Chris Relf impressed running the ball against Arkansas and Ole Miss, but the SEC defenses will make him prove he can be a productive passer.
That brings us to Arkansas’ Ryan Mallett, the returning quarterback in the SEC with the best arm and the highest profile. After he announced that he would be a Razorback for another year, the UA arranged interviews with national media so he could spread the message.
Unless Alabama’s Greg McElroy is rewarded simply for winning, Mallett figures as the all-league quarterback. It is because of him and returning receivers that the Razorbacks will be ranked in the preseason Top 25 along with LSU, Georgia, and Florida.
The SEC teams that must replace their quarterbacks are certain to have hotshots in waiting and one or two will live up to expectations.
Two years and 13 starts under Bobby Petrino puts Mallett ahead of the others.
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Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media’s Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com.
