Should Auburn or Alabama Be the Favorites in the SEC West?
Alabama is the defending SEC champion, but its bitter intra-state rival Auburn is the team that's generating the most offseason momentum.
By now, you've seen all the Auburn hype. ESPN.com's Mark Schlabach has Auburn losing in a national semifinal, while his colleague Brett McMurphy has the Tigers playing for the national championship against TCU. SportingNews.com's Bill Bender has them losing to the Horned Frogs in the Orange Bowl national semifinal. Steve Lassan of Athlon Sports (via FoxSports.com) says that Auburn could be a "major player in the 2015 playoff."
Hello hype train.
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It's looking more and more like Auburn has a legitimate chance of being chosen as the SEC favorite when SEC media days kicks off in Hoover, Alabama, in July.
Why?
A stable quarterback position with junior Jeremy Johnson being named the starter following spring practice and the presence of new defensive coordinator Will Muschamp have a lot to do with it.
"We did lose a lot of quality players who really helped us the last two years," head coach Gus Malzahn said. "Here at Auburn, we want to win championships every year. That's the expectation. From a coaching standpoint, you don't get too caught up in preseason polls."
Should Auburn really be the favorite, though?
No.
Alabama should.
Before we go any further, I'm not using the "Alabama is the defending champ until proven otherwise" rationale. The fluid nature of college football rosters that change from year-to-year makes that argument look incredibly silly and shortsighted.
This is more about Auburn and Alabama being viewed through different lenses in 2015.
Auburn is getting the benefit of the doubt because of Johnson. He's a tremendous quarterback who's in a great system led by Malzahn and offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee that always finds a way to click. But it's not like Johnson being named the starter was breaking news. The quarterback battle on the Plains was a mere formality rather than a true battle.
Defensively, does Muschamp matter that much?
Granted, all Auburn's defense has to be is adequate to contend for the SEC title, but we really don't know much about that defense. Star defensive end Carl Lawson sat out most scrimmages this spring, the interior of the defensive line is still searching for depth behind Montravius Adams, Dontavius Russell and Maurice Swain, and star corner Jonathan Jones recently underwent foot surgery.
Despite that, Muschamp is still getting the benefit of the doubt.
Why isn't Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin?
All he did during his first season as the Crimson Tide offensive coordinator was post a program-best 484.5 yards per game with a quarterback—Blake Sims—who once was a running back during his time in Tuscaloosa.
Are there roster holes?
Sure, but players like running backs Derrick Henry and Kenyan Drake have played plenty of football over the last two seasons, and we already saw Kiffin turn around an offense last spring that was in a much more dire situation than the 2015 edition.
Defensively, you've heard plenty about Alabama's front seven. It's one of the best in college football. The big problem is at the back end, where new defensive backs coach Mel Tucker needs to find someone to step up opposite Cyrus Jones at the other cornerback spot. During the spring game, wide receivers ArDarius Stewart and Robert Foster had a field day, but there weren't many blown coverages and players like Marlon Humphrey and Tony Brown looked comfortable.
That should matter, but it hasn't seemed to click quite yet.
That's not to say that Auburn won't contend. It probably will, and that Iron Bowl matchup in late November on the Plains is shaping up to be a big one. But it seems like the two rivals are being viewed quite differently this offseason, and what counts as momentum for one doesn't even register for the other.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of cfbstats.com unless otherwise noted, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports' composite rankings.
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and college football video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on Sirius 93, XM 208.
Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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