The expectations are high in Alabama for coach Mike Shula and his Crimson Tide as the pollsters have put them in the top 10. There is no doubt about their talent and team speed, but the big question surrounds quarterback John Parker Wilson. He took most of the snaps last spring and summer when Brodie Croyle was recovering from knee surgery. This time hes taking them knowing that hell be the man under center. If he plays well the Tide could be rolling into a BCS bowl.

Arkansas finished just 2-6 in conference play a season ago, but the Razorbacks are hoping that they can turn things around quickly with a new play caller. 1st year assistant coach Gus Malzahn will be calling the offensive plays instead of head coach Houston Nutt who made plenty of suspect calls a season ago. Malzahn will also coach the receivers and you will see an extra effort by him to get the ball in the air so that his receivers can make some big plays. Expect big things from Marcus Monk who caught 7 touchdown passes last season. Although things appear to be headed in the right direction as Arkansas coaching staff appears to be focusing their talents better, things wont come out smelling like roses in Malzahns opening act. Expect just a 1 or 2 game improvement in conference play.

Things are looking good for Auburn who finished 7-1 in the difficult SEC last year as they get their big time passer, Brandon Cox, back to run the show. In his first season as at the helm, Cox passed for more than 2300 yards and threw 15 touchdowns. Hell be even better with another year of experience under his belt this season which leads me to believe that Auburn will take the SEC.

LSU has the most depth at quarterback in the conference, but it will be JaMarcus Russell under center this fall. Russell won 10 games for the Tigers last season before suffering an injury in the SEC title game but will be on a short leash with Flynn and Perrilloux showing that they can get the job done as well. LSU will have their work cut out for them to make it back to the SEC title game.

Ole Miss has a hard time stacking up against the elite team in the SEC and its even harder to compete without a Manning on their team as we saw last couple seasons. It has set them back even further that they didnt get to have this seasons QB, Brent Shaeffer, taking snaps until this summer as he had to finish junior college. Former Miami assistants Werner and Kehoe will try to jumpstart the Rebels offense this season and prove that they arent washed up, but the harsh reality may be that Ole Miss just doesnt have the talent that the conference giants have.

Ole Miss neighbor was also its twin sister last season as they both finished 1-7 in the SEC and 3-8 overall. But Miss State got the better of Ole Miss by beating up on them 35-14 in the season finale. This season Mississippi State is set up to take down the Rebels once again as the freshman that coach Croom brought in are now juniors and hes confident in their abilities and can see experience paying off.