In August of 2012 I broke down what I anticipated to be the 10 Biggest Storylines in the SEC.  This is the sixth installment.

I spent the bulk of last offseason reading and hearing about the SEC West.  “Alabama this, LSU that, Arkansas the other.”  And while I was reading those things and hearing those things four distinct things were happening:

• Tyrann Mathieu was getting stoned out of his mind.
• Bobby Petrino was pretending to be Evil Knievel with a new blonde sidekick.
• Florida was getting better at tackle football.
• Auburn was getting suckier at tackle football.

The end result?  The SEC East began to shift the power.

Mathieu was kicked off the team at LSU and Les Miles’ squad was left with a poor offense and a distinct void in the playmaking department.  Petrino was canned by Arkansas and the Razorbacks were rendered all but useless.

And, as I discussed back in August, Auburn took a step back and Florida took a step forward.  I just didn’t anticipate how freakishly large those steps were going to be.  As it turns out Auburn’s step back was a five game swing from eight total wins to three.  Florida’s step was a four game increase from seven to eleven wins.

So did the divisions level out a bit in 2012?  Absolutely.  Consider these points:

• Of the seven SEC teams in the Final Coaches Poll Top-25 four (Georgia, South Carolina, Florida and Vanderbilt) come from the East.
• The order of those seven is: West, East, West, East, East, West, East – so there is some balance.
• The 14 East vs. West matchups in 2012 were split 7-7.

Sure, Alabama won the national title, but as Georgia showed in the SEC Championship Game, the East wasn’t too far behind.

That’s all I got/

Andrew