Georgia is the pick to win the SEC East. Now comes the pressure, as one Bulldog admitted.
In the annual media vote, Georgia was the clear choice to win the East, receiving 166 first-place votes, with the rest of the division combining for 59.
“Now that people are saying that, it’s more pressure for us to win it,” senior outside linebacker Jordan Jenkins said. “We’ve got to approach it as professionals and accomplish what other people are saying, not just for them but for ourselves, mentally, and just to finally get over that hump and win big, like we have in the past.”
Georgia has not won the East since 2012, and has not won the SEC championship since 2005.
“Oh yeah, we need to (win one),” coach Mark Richt said. “But that’s our goal every year. It’s a great league and we’ve been in Atlanta a few times. It’s been a long time since we’ve won it last, we haven’t been able to win that game. But we’ll keep banging away and we’ll get there.”
Last year the Bulldogs were picked to finish second in the East, which is where they finished, though behind Missouri rather than South Carolina, which was the preseason pick.
In this year’s media vote, Tennessee was the second choice in the SEC East, and two-time defending East champion Missouri was third. South Carolina, Florida and Kentucky each received one vote, and Vanderbilt received none.
In a separate vote, Georgia received the third-most votes to win the SEC championship. Auburn (96) led the way, followed by Alabama (80), Georgia (28), LSU (9), Ole Miss and Arkansas (3 each), Texas A&M and Tennessee (2 each), and Mississippi State and Florida (1 each).
Curiously, Alabama was picked to win the SEC West, while Auburn was picked to win the SEC.
