At the annual SEC Media Days event this week in Dallas, the media selected the Tennessee Volunteers to finish seventh in the Southeastern Conference 2017 football season. After Texas and Oklahoma joined the league, this season’s poll had 16 teams for the first time history.
Once again, Texas, a newcomer, was ranked second, while Georgia was predicted to win the SEC. In the survey, the Bulldogs were voted in first place with 165 votes. Texas was given 27. In Kalen DeBoer’s debut season, Alabama was picked to finish third in the league and garnered twelve votes to win the conference. The other three teams predicted to finish ahead of Tennessee were Ole Miss, LSU, and Missouri.
The top two teams in the SEC this season are going to Atlanta, so the conference will look very different. Since there are no longer any divisions, the SEC Championship may include some matches that we aren’t accustomed to.
Since 2007, Tennessee has not participated in an SEC Championship game.
In a highly competitive conference, the Volunteers’ victory this season will come despite facing five of the bottom six teams according to the media poll. With Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Florida, Arkansas, Mississippi State, and Florida State all ranking close to the bottom of the media poll, Tennessee may have to play games against Alabama, Georgia, and Oklahoma to find out if they advance in conference play.
See the complete survey down below.
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