SEC Unit Rankings: Comparing Athlon & Lindy's

One of my favorite ways to kill time in the final weeks before football season is to dive into the multitude of preseason publications out there and see if I can learn something new or find that extra piece of information to help carry an argument.  While we've all got our own passionate opinions across the SEC landscape, sometimes it's good to hear from an objective source like these magazines to get a better feel for where your team really stands coming into the season.

So while thumbing first through Lindy's, and then Athlon, I came across their respective SEC Unit Rankings, which rank each of the 12 teams from top to bottom at each position (quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers & tight ends, offensive line, defensive line, linebackers, secondary, and Lindy's ranks special teams) There are rankings for all the conferences in Athlon and the BCS conferences in Lindy's.

Here's a comparison of the two unit rankings:

		Athlon	Lindy's
QB	1	Florida	Florida
	2	Georgia	Georgia
	3	Tennessee	Alabama
	4	Alabama	Ole Miss
	5	Auburn	Auburn
	6	Ole Miss	Tennessee
	7	South Carolina	South Carolina
	8	Arkansas	LSU
	9	Mississippi State	Kentucky
	10	Kentucky	Vanderbilt
	11	Vanderbilt	Arkansas
	12	LSU	Mississippi State
		Athlon	Lindy's
RB	1	Georgia	Georgia
	2	Tennessee	Tennessee
	3	Auburn	Auburn
	4	Mississippi State	Alabama
	5	Florida	LSU
	6	LSU	Mississippi State
	7	Kentucky	Florida
	8	Alabama	Kentucky
	9	Arkansas	South Carolina
	10	South Carolina	Ole Miss
	11	Ole Miss	Arkansas
	12	Vanderbilt	Vanderbilt
		Athlon	Lindy's
WR	1	Florida	Florida
	2	LSU	Tennessee
	3	Tennessee	LSU
	4	South Carolina	South Carolina
	5	Georgia	Georgia
	6	Ole Miss	Alabama
	7	Alabama	Ole Miss
	8	Auburn	Kentucky
	9	Vanderbilt	Auburn
	10	Kentucky	Arkansas
	11	Mississippi State	Mississippi State
	12	Arkansas	Vanderbilt
		Athlon	Lindy's
OL	1	LSU	LSU
	2	Tennessee	Auburn
	3	Alabama	Alabama
	4	Florida	Tennessee
	5	Auburn	Florida
	6	Arkansas	Arkansas
	7	Georgia	Mississippi State
	8	Ole Miss	Ole Miss
	9	Kentucky	Georgia
	10	South Carolina	South Carolina
	11	Mississippi State	Kentucky
	12	Vanderbilt	Vanderbilt
		Athlon	Lindy's
DL	1	LSU	LSU
	2	Georgia	Georgia
	3	Tennessee	Auburn
	4	Arkansas	Ole Miss
	5	Florida	Tennessee
	6	Auburn	Florida
	7	Alabama	Alabama
	8	Kentucky	Kentucky
	9	Ole Miss	South Carolina
	10	Mississippi State	Mississippi State
	11	South Carolina	Arkansas
	12	Vanderbilt	Vanderbilt
		Athlon	Lindy's
LB	1	Florida	South Carolina
	2	South Carolina	Florida
	3	Georgia	Georgia
	4	LSU	Auburn
	5	Tennessee	Mississippi State
	6	Auburn	Tennessee
	7	Alabama	LSU
	8	Mississippi State	Alabama
	9	Ole Miss	Ole Miss
	10	Arkansas	Kentucky
	11	Vanderbilt	Arkansas
	12	Kentucky	Vanderbilt
		Athlon	Lindy's
DB	1	Mississippi State	South Carolina
	2	Tennessee	Mississippi State
	3	South Carolina	Tennessee
	4	Florida	Auburn
	5	Vanderbilt	Alabama
	6	Auburn	Vanderbilt
	7	Kentucky	Georgia
	8	LSU	Florida
	9	Georgia	LSU
	10	Alabama	Kentucky
	11	Ole Miss	Ole Miss
	12	Arkansas	Arkansas
		Athlon	Lindy's
ST	1		Alabama
	2		Florida
	3		Tennessee
	4		LSU
	5		South Carolina
	6		Auburn
	7		Mississippi State
	8		Georgia
	9		Ole Miss
	10		Kentucky
	11		Arkansas
	12		Vanderbilt

So, just for fun, I thought I'd add up all the rankings for each team in the respective magazines, just to try and get a sense of how each team would stack up, top to bottom, on the whole.

The results were quite unexpected:

		Athlon	Lindy's
	1	Tennessee (20)	Tennessee (31)
	2	Florida (21)	Florida (32)
	3	Georgia (29)	Auburn (36)
	4	LSU (34)	Alabama (37)
	5	Auburn (39)	Georgia (37)
	6	Alabama (46)	LSU (38)
	7	South Carolina (47)	South Carolina (46)
	8	Mississippi State (54)	Mississippi State (60)
	9	Ole Miss (60)	Ole Miss (62)
	10	Arkansas (61)	Kentucky (74)
	11	Kentucky (63)	Arkansas (83)
	12	Vanderbilt (72)	Vanderbilt (88)

Tennessee - who didn't rank atop any of the individual unit rankings - had the best combined score when they were all put together in both Athlon and Lindy's. 

Does this mean the Vols are the best team in the SEC?  Not necessarily, as any preseason Top 25 will attest.  However, it would suggest that - at least according to these numbers - even though the Vols have no positions of total dominance, they also lack any glaring weaknesses.

As a Tennessee fan myself - and remember, these are Athlon & Lindy's numbers, not mine - I find hope in these numbers.  And sure, they don't really mean anything...but the idea that the Vols may not have any superstars, but are capable at every position, gives me a greater sense of anticipation for 2008.