Jeff Schultz's 2010 SEC Football Rankings

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Jeff Schultz's 2010 SEC Football Rankings

Photos of teams listed in the AJC's Jeff Schultz's 2010 SEC Football Rankings.

The AJC's Jeff Schultz ranks the SEC, starting with.. 1. ALABAMA: It was funny when Nick Saban lost to Louisiana-Monroe in 2007. There haven't been many opportunities to laugh since. Alabama is 16-0 in the SEC's regular season in the last two seasons (it only lost to Florida in the 2008 conference title game). The Tide is coming off a BCS title and could repeat. Direction firmly established.

2. FLORIDA: The Gators are 26-2 with a BCS title in the last two seasons. To recruit, they open the front door. The only questions center on the health of their head coach (Urban Meyer) and the success of Tim Tebow's replacement (John Brantley).

3. LSU: Almost placed the Tigers fourth but they did win the BCS title only three years ago. The question is: How much of Les Miles' early success was residual from the Saban era? His SEC records in his first three seasons: 7-1, 6-2, 6-2. In the last two (with most of Saban's players gone): 3-5, 5-3. Miles is catching as much heat as Mark Richt. This year's rebuilding effort includes replacing seven defensive starters.

4. GEORGIA: Richt went 4-4 in the SEC in two of the last four years, not catastrophic. The 2008 Bulldogs underachieved. The 2009 team was bad enough that Richt finally felt compelled to dump three assistants This year's team should fare well, partly because of an easier schedule. But there are questions at quarterback (freshman) and on defense (new scheme). Richt needs to firmly establish direction.

5. SOUTH CAROLINA: Steve Spurrier made his mark on offense. His South Carolina teams have been strong on defense. South Carolina is a stable and competitive program with a great fan base. But Spurrier can't recruit talented skill position players to Columbia.

Ryan Mallett set or tied 16 different school records in his first season as the Razorbacks' starting QB in 2009. And he looks pretty cool under pressure at the podium, too.

7. MISSISSIPPI: Almost put Ole Miss ahead of Arkansas. Head coach Houston Nutt (right) inherited a team that had four straight losing seasons and is 18-6 in two years. He has done better with Ed Orgeron's players than Ed Orgeron did. But the Rebels have lost eight starters on offense.

8. AUBURN: The Tigers were a punch line when they hired Gene Chizik to replace Tommy Tuberville. But just because Auburn didn't fold up last season (8-5, 3-5), let's not assume greatness just yet. The Tigers went 2-5 after a 5-0 start before beating Northwestern in the Outback Bowl.

9. TENNESSEE: Derek Dooley inherited a mess, on and off the field. Dooley has all the makings to be a great head coach but he might be overmatched at this point of his career. The Volunteers are short on talent and too much of Dooley's time right now is being occupied by just giving the team structure and discipline.

10. MISSISSIPPI STATE: Dan Mullen (left), a former Florida and Utah assistant, still needs to separate himself from Urban Meyer's shadow. But he did a solid job in year one and made a terrific hire in defensive coordinator Manny Diaz (Middle Tennessee State). These Dogs may be moving up.

11. KENTUCKY: Joker Phillips (above) usually had great offenses as an assistant, but this is a program that went 16-39 in the SEC under Rich Brooks. Three months to basketball practice.

12. VANDERBILT: New coach Robbie Caldwell has a lot of one-liners. He'll need them.

1/12

The AJC's Jeff Schultz ranks the SEC, starting with.. 1. ALABAMA: It was funny when Nick Saban lost to Louisiana-Monroe in 2007. There haven't been many opportunities to laugh since. Alabama is 16-0 in the SEC's regular season in the last two seasons (it only lost to Florida in the 2008 conference title game). The Tide is coming off a BCS title and could repeat. Direction firmly established.

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