SEC preseason power rankings: The bottom half

Although the bottom half of the SEC is certainly not as talented as the top half, the SEC's bottom seven would still be better than a couple of the Power Five Conferences top half.

Here's how teams eight through fourteen rank:

8. Mississippi State

One of college football’s biggest storylines last season was Mississippi State rising of out nowhere and being ranked number one in the country for five weeks.

It didn’t last, as the Bulldogs lost three of their last four games to finish 10-3 (6-2 SEC), but Mississippi State will still carry some momentum into the 2015 season, something that they haven’t had in a while in Starkville.

If it weren’t for quarterback Dak Prescott’s decision to return for his senior season, the Bulldogs would probably be lower in these rankings.

Along with Prescott, Mississippi State returns their top two receivers, De’Runnya Wilson and Fred Ross, but lose huge contributors like leading rusher Josh Robinson, receiver Jameon Lewis, and linebacker Benardick McKinney.

Overall, the Bulldogs return only nine starters, 121st in college football.

Mississippi State will have a hard time replicating their historic 2014 season, but the Bulldogs will have the talent to achieve a winning season and knock off some teams in the stacked SEC West.

If the Bulldogs do go back to an average record after last season’s ten wins, it’s hard to envision Dan Mullen remaining in Starkville.

9. Missouri

Usually a team that has won back-to-back SEC East titles would not be ranked number nine in Preseason SEC Power Rankings, but despite winning last season’s East crown and finishing 11-3 (7-1 SEC), Missouri was not dominant in doing so.

Taking away the blowout loss to Georgia and the blowout win over Florida, the Tigers won their remaining four divisional games (at South Carolina, vs. Vanderbilt, vs. Kentucky, at Tennessee) by an average of 7.25 points.

On top of that, they also had a terrible home nonconference loss to an Indiana team that would finish 4-8. But even with non-impressive wins and one really bad non-conference loss, Missouri won the SEC East.

But 2015 will be different than 2013 and 2014 for the Tigers. Missouri loses many contributors including SEC Defensive Player of the Year Shane Ray along with SEC Special Teams Player of the Year Marcus Murphy.

Overall the Tigers lose nine starters from last season, and besides their quarterback Maty Mauk, most of their offensive skill players will be new starters.

Also, Missouri’s strength in 2014, its defensive line, will lose its two best pass rushers.

Though Missouri loses a lot from last year’s divisional champion team and probably won’t reach Atlanta for the third straight year, they do have the talent to finish in the top three in the SEC East and win eight or even nine games.

10. Texas A&M

After Texas A&M blew out then number nine ranked South Carolina on opening night of the 2014 college football season, it seemed like it might be a special season for the Aggies.

Quarterback Kenny Hill was already getting Heisman talk and the Aggies were considered to be a major contender for the College Football Playoff.

But after a 5-0 start, it went downhill for A&M. They went on to lose three games in a row and five of their last seven to end the regular season. A Liberty Bowl win over West Virginia put the Aggies at 8-5 (3-5 SEC) to finish the 2014 season.

But despite the bad second half of last season, things could be looking up.

Texas A&M returns 15 starters from last year’s team and had a recruiting class that finished 11th in the country.

The Aggies get Alabama, Auburn, and Mississippi State at home in 2015, and if they can win two of those games and steal some SEC games on the road, Texas A&M, like pretty much every team in the SEC West, has a shot to finish high up in the Western division standings.

11. Florida

Following a 4-8 season in 2013, there was anticipation that Florida football would bounce back in 2014 behind new offensive coordinator Kurt Roper.

But even though Florida’s offense did take a step forward last year (18.8 points per game in 2013, 30.3 in 2014), the team as a whole did not.

Florida finished 7-5 (4-4 SEC) in 2014, and head coach Will Muschamp was fired following a November loss to South Carolina.

Following Muschamp in leaving Gainesville were 12 starters from the 2014 team, ranking Florida at 114th in the country in returning starters for 2015.

But this season will be a new era for the Gators.

Former Alabama offensive coordinator and Colorado State head coach Jim McElwain will take over for his first season this fall.

McElwain got off to a rough start in recruiting when he first took the job at Florida, as the Gators were behind everyone in the SEC at one point.

But despite the slow start, McElwain and Florida finished very strong, bringing in three four stars and two five stars on National Signing Day.

In McElwain’s first season, Gator fans shouldn’t expect much.

A seven-win season seems like about the ceiling for year one under McElwain, and that certainly would be a success. Though 2015 might be rough, the Gators will be contending in the SEC East sooner than later under McElwain.

12. South Carolina

In 2014, South Carolina finished 7-6 (3-5 SEC). But the Gamecocks easily could have finished 10-2.

Four of South Carolina’s losses from last season came by an average of 4.5 points. South Carolina also blew two possession leads in the fourth quarter of three different games (vs. Missouri, at Kentucky, vs. Tennessee).

With those three losses and a close loss at Auburn, the Gamecocks finished with their worst season since 2009 in a year where they were predicted to win the SEC East at SEC Media Days in the preseason.

From 2011-2014, South Carolina won an average of ten games per year.

2015 looks like it will be more of a rebuilding year for the Gamecocks, due to the fact that they will lose ten starters, many of them skill position players.

South Carolina will lose their leading passer (Dylan Thompson), their leading rusher (Mike Davis), and three of their top five receivers (Nick Jones, Davis, and Damiere Byrd).

But one player that the Gamecocks do have coming back in 2015 is wide receiver Pharoh Cooper. Cooper will be South Carolina’s main weapon this season, and his statistics show why.

Cooper accounted for 1,414 yards and 13 total touchdowns last season, some of them coming as receptions, some coming as rushes, and some even coming as passes.

But even with Cooper, breaking in a new quarterback is not easy.

South Carolina will most likely be looking at a season where they enter November needing a couple wins to clinch bowl eligibility.

The Gamecocks have the talent to get to a bowl game, but a tough schedule might leave them near the bottom of the SEC East and home during bowl season.

13. Kentucky

In mid-October 2014, the Kentucky football team was 5-1, and turning heads across the college football world.

Mark Stoops was gaining all kinds of praise, and the rebuilding project in Lexington seemed to be ahead of schedule.

But then Kentucky got to the tough part of the schedule.

The Wildcats lost six games in a row (by an average of 22 points) to end the season 5-7 (2-6 SEC) and miss becoming bowl eligible for the fourth season in a row.

But even though he and Kentucky ended the season badly, Stoops has Kentucky football headed in the right direction.

Success in 2015 for UK will start with Patrick Towles at quarterback. Going into this season, Towles will be the second best quarterback in the SEC East (behind Josh Dobbs), and he should do a good job leading an offense that loses just four starters.

But offense was not the problem last season for Kentucky, it was defense.

Kentucky gave up 31.3 points per game (95th in the country), and for the Wildcats to get any better as a team, the defense has to help out the offense.

If the defense can improve enough, Kentucky will be able to pull some upsets in 2015 to reach their goal of bowl eligibility. But if the defense does not improve, the 2015 season will probably end up looking a lot like the 2014 season.

14. Vanderbilt

The gap between teams three and ten on this list is small, but the gap between team number 13 and team number 14 is pretty big.

Vanderbilt finished 3-9 (0-8 SEC) last season, but they were actually worse than the record indicates.

The three wins came against UMass, Charleston Southern, and Old Dominion, and they weren’t blowouts either. The Commodores need a last second missed field goal to beat UMass, and they beat Charleston Southern by only one point.

Vanderbilt’s offense was very inconsistent in 2014, and for the Commodores to improve at all this season their offense, starting with the quarterbacks, has to get better.

Four different quarterbacks started games for Vanderbilt in 2014, and the frontrunner to take the job in 2015 is sophomore Johnny McCrary after the best signal caller of the group, Patton Robinette retired from football.

In the Commodore’s spring game, the team’s quarterbacks combined for seven interceptions.

To help his team’s offensive struggles, head coach Derek Mason fired offensive coordinator Karl Dorrell in the offseason and replaced him with Wisconsin offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig.

This hire is a step in the right direction, but even a great coordinator cannot make up for the fact that Vanderbilt has a lack of NFL type talent.

In the past couple years, the SEC East has been down, but now the division is rising up.

Unless some dramatic changes occur on both sides of the ball, it looks like the Commodores could be headed for another winless season in the SEC, and possibly be searching for a new coach in December.

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