South Bound & Down
Fansided

SEC Football: 10 bold predictions for the 2023 season

By Elliot Reeder

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA - OCTOBER 29: Brock Bowers #19 of the Georgia Bulldogs catches a pass and runs into the end zone for a touchdown during the first half of a game against the Florida Gators at TIAA Bank Field on October 29, 2022 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA - OCTOBER 29: Brock Bowers #19 of the Georgia Bulldogs catches a pass and runs into the end zone for a touchdown during the first half of a game against the Florida Gators at TIAA Bank Field on October 29, 2022 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 5
Next
SEC Football
Arkansas Razorbacks quarterback KJ Jefferson (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images) /

3. Arkansas will finish top three in the SEC West

Arkansas returns arguably a top two QB (KJ Jefferson) and a top two RB (Raheim Sanders) in the conference. It’s also easy to forget that although Arkansas finished 7-6 (3-5 in the SEC) a year ago, that four of those losses (three in SEC play) were by a combined 9 points (23-21 to Texas A&M, 21-19 to Liberty, 13-10 to LSU, and 29-27 to Missouri).

Arkansas was only truly outplayed in two of their losses (Alabama and Mississippi State). Having four losses by three points or less shows that Arkansas was a lot closer to contending in the SEC West a year ago than you might think. KJ Jefferson also missed a pair of Arkansas’ losses (to Mississippi State and LSU) due to injury. Who knows what difference that could have made (especially in the 13-10 loss to eventual SEC West champs LSU in which Arkansas mustered just 116 passing yards without Jefferson). The Razorbacks weren’t all that far away from being a 9 or 10 win team a year ago.

Arkansas also pulls a manageable duo from the East in Florida and Missouri (who were picked to finish fifth and sixth in the East respectively in the SEC Media’s preseason poll). While close losses are going to happen in football, I believe that Arkansas will turn some of those close games around this year and finish around 9-3 or 10-2 in order to finish top three in the West.

4. Ole Miss starts the year 2-4 and Lane Kiffin Finds Himself on the Hot-Seat

After a very disappointing end to the 2022 season, Ole Miss has a fairly tough open to the 2023 season. Ole Miss opens up with an opening six games of:

  • Vs. Mercer
  • @ Tulane
  • Vs. Georgia Tech
  • @ Alabama
  • Vs. LSU
  • Vs. Arkansas

I believe that Ole Miss will struggle in this opening stretch, starting the year 2-4. The Rebels schedule is front-loaded, but that especially becomes detrimental when you consider the way 2022 ended for Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss. At one point in 2022, Ole Miss was 7-0 and ranked as high as 7th in the AP Poll. However, they then got blown out by LSU. Ole Miss then knocked off Texas A&M to improve to 8-1. It went downhill from there however. Ole Miss lost their final four games of the year with losses to Alabama, Arkansas, an Egg Bowl loss to Mississippi State, and a Texas Bowl loss to Texas Tech.

However, I still think Ole Miss can finish the season strong, going either 6-6 or 7-5. Outside of a trip to Athens, Ole Miss ends the year playing Auburn, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M, UL-Monroe, and Mississippi State. That is a stretch full of winnable games that I believe Ole Miss will use that to their advantage to end the year strong and make a bowl game after their slow start.

I doubt that Kiffin actually gets fired this season, but he would definitely find himself on the hot-seat if the Rebels open up the year 2-4. Ole Miss is far too talented in my opinion to struggle that much early in the season, but it would not surprise me if Ole Miss starts out slow before ending the year strong.

Home/SEC Football
Keep scrolling for more content below