SEC media predicts order of finish, has Auburn finishing 6th in the West

On Tuesday, July 12, members of the media that attended the 2016 SEC Football Media Days were given a ballot to predict the order of finish in the SEC for the upcoming football season. An all-time high of 331 media members in attendance participated in this year’s vote.

The predicted 2016 SEC Champion was Alabama, with 246 first place votes. Tennessee was selected to win the SEC Eastern Division with 2,167 points, including 225 first-place votes. Florida was second with 1,891 points and 57 votes to win the division, while Georgia was third with 1,860 total points and 45 votes to win the division. The points were awarded on a 7-6-5-4-3-2-1 scale.

Alabama had 2,220 total points, while LSU was second with 1,984. LSU was third total in first-place votes, collecting 76. Ole Miss was third in the West with 1,479 points and five votes to capture the division title. 

Auburn was predicted to finish sixth in the west with a total of 890 points and had zero first place votes this year. Last year, the Tigers were the predicted SEC Champion, receiving 96 total first-place votes. Alabama had more total points with 1,405, but Auburn had 96 first-place votes compared to Alabama's 80. 

History shows that Auburn tends to have a better football season when the team is not projected to do as well as other teams in the west. In 2013, Auburn was predicted to finish fifth but the Tigers won the SEC and played in the national championship game. 

The media has only been correct in predicting the champion of the SEC three times in the last 20 years. 

EASTERN DIVISION (1^st Place votes in parenthesis)

WESTERN DIVISION (1^st Place votes in parenthesis)

SEC CHAMPION