SEC Championship picks: Predicting 1 favorite and 1 sleeper for the 2026 title

AUSTIN, TX - NOVEMBER 01: Defensive end Colin Simmons #1 of the Texas Longhorns holds up his arms after a defensive stop during the SEC college football between Texas Longhorns and Vanderbilt Commodores on November 1, 2025, at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, TX. (Photo by David Buono/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images The Southeastern Conference is cooked. Yesterday’s news. The league has fallen behind the superior behemoth that is the Big Ten and its member institutions now rummage through the rubble of a fallen empire. They don’t even have a single team worthy of a No. 1 vote in the preseason AP poll. All hope is lost south of the Mason-Dixon. Ok, I’m being juuuuust a tad bit facetious. The SEC is perfectly fine entering the 2026 college football season, but no longer dominates the sport quite like it has in previous decades. Not since the early 2000’s have we gone three straight years without an SEC team hoisting the national championship trophy and it has spurred some anxiety and self reflection throughout the offseason. Even Kirby Smart weighed in on how the Big Ten has suddenly surged ahead over the past few years. We’ll have to wait until January 25 to see if the league can break this drought and in the meantime, we should be treated to a compelling conference title race. Georgia and Texas are the preseason favorites to win the SEC Championship Game and it’s no surprise why many are bullish on either juggernaut standing tall in Atlanta this December. The Bulldogs are going for a three-peat as league champs and have loads of experience returning to Athens, ranking fifth in returning snaps for the 2026 campaign. Meanwhile in Austin, the Longhorns have pushed all of their chips in for this season as Steve Sarkisian has assembled a star-studded squad chock full of future first-round NFL Draft picks on both sides of the ball. Of course, they’ll have plenty of company in a pursuit of the SEC crown as a number of other contenders will be vying for a trip to Atlanta as well. Lane Kiffin’s controversial jump from Ole Miss to LSU was the biggest story of the offseason and he’s hitting the ground running in Baton Rouge with the most expensive roster in the entire sport. The Rebel program that he left behind won’t fade into the background, however, with the likes of Trinidad Chambliss and Kewan Lacy returning to Oxford. College Football Playoff participants in Oklahoma, Alabama, and Texas A&M should also be back in the mix, but with the distribution of talent across the league, you never know who could emerge from the shadows as a surprise challenger to the throne. 2026 SEC Championship Odds via FanDuel Sportsbook Georgia+280 Texas+320 Oklahoma+850 Alabama+900 LSU+900 Ole Miss+1000 Texas A&M+1100 Tennessee+1800 Florida+2200 Missouri+400 Auburn+4000 South Carolina+4000 Vanderbilt+8000 Kentucky+15000 Mississippi State+15000 Arkansas+40000 SEC Championship pick: Texas Longhorns This will be the defining year of the Steve Sarkisian era in Austin and after failing to live up to their preseason No. 1 ranking in 2025, the head coach has left nothing up to chance by assembling what is arguably the most complete roster in the entire country. The 2026 Longhorns could possibly have up to four players taken in the top 10 of the 2027 NFL Draft with many more potentially following them in the top three rounds. That’s a lot of capital ‘D’ DUDES rocking burnt orange this season. Arch Manning steadily improved down the stretch in his first season as QB1 last fall, going from struggling early in the year to torching Michigan in the Citrus Bowl. So how do you maximize what you have in the potential No. 1 overall pick? Oh, how about spending some serious cash to surround with some of the most sought after weapons in the transfer portal? Oh hey look, Cam Coleman is freed from Hugh Freeze and is reminding people why he was the top receiver prospect in his recruiting class. Oh hey look, first-team all-conference running backs in Hollywood Smothers and Raleek Brown are here to form a lethal 1-2 punch in the backfield behind Manning. Oh hey look, All-SEC offensive tackle Trevor Goosby is back, albeit a little banged up, and could potentially be the first lineman taken off the board next April. And I haven’t even mentioned the defense yet, where All-American edge rusher Colin Simmons could wreak even more havoc after posting 12 sacks in 2025. Sark decided to arm the defensive front with another TFL by jacking All-ACC linebacker Rasheem Biles from Pitt and you know who they’re going to be coached by this year? That’s right, this guy. Say what you will about Will Muschamp as a head coach, his bonafides on the defensive side of the ball are rock solid and he could end up being the defining coordinator hire of the season. Having just come from Georgia’s staff as an analyst, he may have the secret sauce to get the Horns over the top in a potential showdown with the Bulldogs in Atlanta. UT’s SEC schedule begins with a trip to Tennessee on September 26 and will get the benefit of not leaving the state of Texas until after Halloween. The annual Red River Shootout with Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl should be a brawl and late-season road battles at LSU and Texas A&M should offer tough challenges in crunch time. But that’s why you assembled this roster in the first place. To leap over those roadblocks. Give me the Longhorns to take the SEC crown. SEC Championship sleeper pick: Tennessee Volunteers One could make the case for a team like Alabama with new starting quarterback Keelon Russell being considered a sleeper, or Mike Elko’s Texas A&M team beating people with hammers on the way to Atlanta. But c’mon, that’s boring. These were programs that made the College Football Playoff last year. Let’s get bold. How bold? Play the song: We’ll miss you Dolly. Tennessee is in an intriguing spot as Josh Heupel has handed the baton to five-star true freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon. People around Knoxville have been raving about the 6’4”, 225-pound phenom since he arrived to campus in January. We’ve seen how explosive Heupel’s attacks can be when a quarterback has full command and the feeling is that the 18-year-old can raise the ceiling of a unit that still finished seventh in offensive SP+ with Joey Aguilar piloting the plane. It also helps to have one of the most effective backs in the country in DeSean Bishop returning, coming off a season where he registered 16 rushing touchdowns and ranked third amongst rushers in total EPA. Oh, and Jim Knowles is in as defensive coordinator, which should provide a bump to a unit that gave 28.8 points and just under 400 yards per game. The Vols have a favorable slate all things considered as a late-season trip to Texas A&M is their only scheduled road game against a preseason top-25 team. The aforementioned Texas game in late September will be an early measuring stick game and if the freshman QB can hold his own even in a loss, they could start gaining serious steam at the around the midway point of the season. Look, we just watched a former New Mexico State quarterback turn Vanderbilt into a contender overnight. Anything can happen in the modern SEC, including a first-year dynamo taking the league by storm. I’ve got my eye on what’s going on in Knoxville.

Read it at SB Nation ↗

← Front page