The SEC media has voted and the results show that that the South Carolina Gamecocks are the choice to repeat as SEC East champs in 2011.
However, the media got it wrong as they are predicting Alabama to win the overall SEC title. Sorry USC will do that in 2011.
Speaking to the divisions, 111 media members picked the Tide in the SEC West, outpacing predicted No. 2 LSU’s 30 first-place votes. Those two are followed by Arkansas (23 first-place votes; 717 overall points), Mississippi State (one; 455), Auburn (zero; 406) and Ole Miss (2; 214).
In the SEC East, the Gamecocks received 138 first-place votes and 931 points from the media, well ahead of Georgia (38; 794), Florida (12; 731), Tennessee (two; 496), Kentucky (one; 340) and Vanderbilt (zero; 215).
While the writers are high on the Gamecocks in the East, that’s not so much the case when it comes to winning the SEC championship which blows my mind as USC is the team to beat in the SEC, right?
The South Carolina Gamecocks only got votes from 14 media members as to the question who will win the SEC. The top three schools in first-place votes all come from the West with respect to that question, with the Tide topping the media poll on 98 ballots, followed by LSU (29) and Arkansas (18), then USC (14, Georgia (4), Florida (2) and Ole Miss (2).
The SEC also announced the preseason All-SEC teams today and the Gamecocks have a big hand in these teams as well.
Here’s a quick rundown of the Gamecocks who made preseason All-SEC teams this year:
First Team Offense
Alshon Jeffery – WR (152 votes)
Marcus Lattimore – HB (130 votes)
First Team Defense
Stephon Gilmore – DB (64 votes)
Second Team Offense
Stephen Garcia – QB (23 votes)
Second Team Defense
Devin Taylor – DL (56 votes)
Travian Robertson – DL (26 votes)
Third Team Offense
Kyle Nunn – OL (21 votes)
Rokevious Watkins – OL (18 votes)
Third Team Defense
Melvin Ingram – DL (21 votes)
Shaq Wilson – LB (18 votes)
