I'll only say this on the fly after a quick glance not taking anything into account or knowing what we have or what might show up as a pure homer.
W over Utah St. eh
W at Clemson- phuk 'em
W over FL Atl. but a trick game
L at So Car.
L at Arky
Toss-up at home with UF- still scrambling?
L at LSU Corndog's revenge
W over Ole Miss
W over Samford
Toss-up at UGA
open
L Bama
That's six wins, allowing for two more with the toss-ups, six getting us to a bowl for another possible win...uh yeah it could happen.but I think 7 seven regular season wins would be my sight unseen opening prediction.
I don't think predicting seven wins this early is conceeding a phuking thing especially with the loses on both sides of the ball, mainly in the trenches.
S.C. and Arky are back to back road games before the halfway mark immediately catching Muschamp then off for a Louisiana excursion. Bama is last but not least. Forget UF, I already counted them in the win column.
But those 4 games together are the daunting task (emotionally) for any team even if Florida is a bump in the road. Can Grimes get the fat raise to stay and gel a bunch of rookies? Not to forget that for all of the "unproven", even less experience exists. That's why I said late in this year that we will find out more about Gene Chizik from the coming season...and so far it's a perfect match.
And I agreed with Eneq that 8 or 9 is possible...just add one win or more from those below.
Columbia,SC. ret.8 off/6 def
Fayetteville,AR. ret.6 off/7 def
Baton Rouge,LA. ret.8 off/7 def. and
Alabama ret.6 off/10 def.6/10 @ AUBURN
Furthermore: It would not surprise me to see Mettenberger give LSU what it lacks. Jefferson will either play back-up, share duties or go the way of our own Kodi Burns. I'm not convinced that McCarron can outright beat out Simms at Bama.
MSU-Relf is mosly a run guy that can throw enough on a deep team
SC-Garcia is the SEC veteran on the most polished offense
UGA-Murray had a sub-par bowl game but can run and throw when Nick isn't gnawing on him
Arky-Wilson/Mitchell at least WE think it's Wilson but there must be two or three others better
Tennessee-Bray/Simms Bray looks like the guy that can move the Vol offense that now lacks WRs
FL-Brantley/Reed Who the hell knows? Brantley is staying so I guess it's a pro-style conv. for the Gators
not to forget:
Ole Miss returns 9 on off/3 def no Masoli
KY returns 6off/10def Hartline,Locke and Matthews gone
Vandy returns 10 on off/8 def Larry Smith is back