This year is unique in that three East rivals have new coaches.
South Carolina - Will Muschamp. All I can say is
. I still can't believe they hired him, but he can recruit. I think SOS for most of his time at USCe was a still top notch coach who really raised the program up. Even if he recovers from his disastrous performance at Florida, Muschamp is still not the guy to keep them at the "good SOS" level. Good news is, there will be some payback for the frustrating 2014 loss to Muschump this year. Looking forward to it!
Missouri - Whatever the merits of Barry Odom, he is no Gary Pinkel (who we finally beat decisively last year). I think it's universally acknowledged that Pinkel got a lot out of his perpetual 3* talent, even in the SEC. That he was able to take Missouri with their middle of the pack talent to back to back East championships is quite impressive no matter how "down" the East was in 2013 and 2014. And their loss to Auburn in 2013 was somewhat respectable. I can't see anyway that Odom is not a big step down from Pinkel.
Collectively I see the above two teams being perpetual mid-pack teams at best under their new coaches. Which leaves...
Georgia - Kirby Smart is certainly an excellent DC and that may or may not translate to HC success. If you look at recent history, Muschamp was for years the hottest name in the SEC HC market but as a former DC could not coach offense worth a lick at a place naturally set up talent wise to excel at offense. Will Kirby be a similar bust at Georgia? I hope so! Balance that against the fact that Georgia has long been billed as underachieving for their talent level under Richt (which I think is overstated) and Kirby might click like McIlwain did at UF last year (well....at least early on). But...Georgia was only 85th in scoring offense in the country last year, and they are bringing in a guy known for defense. Whatever his long term prospects, I am not sure a Smart regime will score very many points this year, so regardless of his long term prospects at Uga, we should win this year at any rate.