ATLANTA – Through two days, half of the teams in the SEC and enough Diet Dr. Pepper to fill a trash can, here are some of my thoughts from SEC Media Days:

Tennessee will be picked second in the SEC East

I have little doubt that the Vols will end up second in the SEC Eastern Division when the media casts its preseason All-SEC votes. The results will be announced on Thursday and I believe the Vols will be the No. 2 pick behind Georgia. That, certainly, doesn’t mean much in terms of Tennessee’s future success. However, it’s obvious that the SEC media as a whole is high on Tennessee’s program. That’s an oddity in recent memory.

The other two contenders are clear, but polar opposites. Kentucky could be picked second in the SEC East because of their recent continuity, while Florida could be chosen because of their talent level and first-year Gator coach Billy Napier, who has been a bit of a media darling this week. However, The Vols will be the team just behind the Dawgs… I think.

Tennessee will make their entrance into SEC Media Days on Thursday, the final day of the event. They will be led by coach Josh Heupel, quarterback Hendon Hooker, receiver Cedric Tillman and defensive back Trevon Flowers.

Beating LSU in Baton Rouge isn’t that much of an upset

I first discussed this topic with Tennessee players Cooper Mays and Jacob Warren on The Vol Report last month when the Vols were picked as an “upset special” by some random website. Both players were a bit surprised to already be deemed an underdog. They both were respectful about LSU, but didn’t take kindly the notion that beating the Tigers would be a monumental upset.

They appear to be in the majority. I agreed with both players and so did Matt Moscano of ESPN Radio Baton Rouge. He thinks the Vols have a good chance of beating the Tigers at home. He thought the Tigers would be favored by about three points. That wouldn’t be considered a major upset. No matter the spread, beating LSU on the road would be a big win for the Vols.

There will be an expanded playoff

I recall talking to former SEC Commissioner Roy Kramer about how his beloved BCS formula would lead to a playoff in which four teams could easily be seeded. I truly thought I insulted the late Kramer, who was one of the great sports leaders in the history of college sports.

Bill Hancock, the executive director of the College Football Playoff, just seemed to assume that the current four-team playoff will expand and it’s just a matter of when it will occur – not if. The current television contract runs for four more years. There was a proposal to ramp the playoff up to 12 games, but there wasn’t a consensus decision for it to clear. Look for college football to announce an expansion in a couple of years when the next television deal will be on the table.

As for the whippings that non-SEC teams take from SEC teams in the semifinals, Hancock said there’s no controlling how the game will play out and lopsided games can’t be eliminated. He said he has seen plenty of blowout games in the Final Four when he oversaw that event. Boring, blowout games in the semifinals will not have any effect on the pending decision about playoff expansion.

Nick Saban + NIL = Retirement, right?

The tenor from most media members I got before SEC Media Days is that the willy-nilly nature of college football would run Alabama coach Nick Saban out of the sport, that he would retire following one last championship run. Ryan Brown of The Next Round Live shed another bit of light on the issue.

Brown said Saban could view NIL and the current transfer rules as a new challenge and be rejuvenated. After all, Saban griped about high-tempo offenses and a number of other things, adapted, embraced change and made his program better. Could this be the next challenge? The rest of the SEC suddenly should feel ill if that’s the case.

Up Next

Arkansas, Florida, Georgia and Kentucky will be the teams featured during SEC Media Days on Wednesday.