Alabama won last year's College Football Playoff without even winning the SEC title, but the Crimson Tide are the favorites to take that conference championship this coming season.
Good luck telling that to fans at Georgia, Auburn or Mississippi State, though, as they all have teams capable of strong seasons.
But we're not just talking SEC football today. In fact, we'll be talking about all 10 FBS conferences, projecting the champion and top challenger of each league.
Picks are based on a combination of roster construction and conference schedule. In most cases, the latter detail was more important.