SEC Football: Power Ranking Each New Offensive Coordinator

The pressure to succeed in the SEC is greater than any other conference in America, which means that coordinators get more of the spotlight when teams succeed and fail.  

Six teams have new offensive coordinators this fall.  Here's how the newbies rank as we crank things up this spring:

6. Dan Werner and Matt Luke—Ole Miss

I am not a fan of co-offensive coordinators, but new Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze needed some friendly faces on staff.  

Werner was on the staff with Freeze under former head coach Ed Orgeron, and will coach quarterbacks this fall.  Luke, a former offensive lineman for the Rebels in the 90's, will stick primarily with the offensive line.  

But in the end, does it matter?  Freeze has stated that he will be the primary play-caller, so the impact of Werner and Luke won't be the same as offensive coordinators at other programs.

5. Scot Loeffler—Auburn

Considering the timing, it's hard to imagine that Loeffler was the first, second or even fifth option for head coach Gene Chizik.  

With that said, he does bring a solid track record of developing quarterbacks ranging from Tom Brady to Tim Tebow.  In his only season as an offensive coordinator, he led Temple to the nation's 63rd-ranked offense in 2011.  But the Owls finished ranked No. 116 out of 120 in passing offense, which the problem he was brought to Auburn to fix.  

There's talent at Auburn, but a lot of it is unproven, so he will have to be flexible with his system.

4. Kliff Kinsgbury—Texas A&M

Kingsbury called plays alongside new Aggie head coach Kevin Sumlin at Houston last season, and... let's just say... the Cougars were pretty darn good.  

Behind quarterback Case Keenum, Houston led FBS in total offense (599 ypg), passing offense (450 ypg) and scoring offense (49.2 ppg).  Kingsbury will bring the air raid offense, that he learned at Texas Tech, with him to College Station.  

The question now is, will it work in the SEC?  He will have to adapt to the speed of defensive front sevens in the SEC, and it remains to be seen if he can do that.  

3. Brent Pease—Florida

Anything is better than Charlie Weis, right?  

Well, yeah, but Pease still has a lot of pressure on his shoulders.  Solid recruiting classes over the last three years have expectations high in Gainesville, but the Gators have struggled to find a between-the-tackles running back.

That may be a problem with Pease who, according to CoachesByTheNumbers.com, has struggled in the rushing department throughout his career. If Florida can't find a running game, things won't end well; but Pease has proven to be flexible throughout his career.

2. Paul Petrino—Arkansas

Paul Petrino left Arkansas and went out on his own to try and turn around Illinois' stagnant offense in 2010, and set a school record for scoring offense (32.5 PPG).  

He learned from his older brother, head coach Bobby Petrino.  The two have worked together at Arkansas, with the Atlanta Falcons and at Louisville; so the familiarity between the two will certainly be a benefit to Arkansas' offense. 

1. Doug Nussmeier—Alabama

Nussmeier essentially runs the same system as former Jim McElwain—but he may run it better.  

His career as Washington's offensive coordinator closed with a bang, when the Huskies put up 620 yards in a shootout loss to Baylor in the 2011 Alamo Bowl.  In order to be successful in the SEC, you must capitalize on your opportunities, and Nussmeier did that last year.  The Huskies scored touchdowns on 42 of their 52 trips to the red zone.  

With the talent that head coach Nick Saban has assembled in Tuscaloosa, Nussmeier should be able to take over the SEC's No. 2 offense without any issues.

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