Late last week, after a friendly twitter exchange with colleague Clay Travis regarding the SEC and
Ohio State,
it led to my examining just how many starters on the SEC's top team --
Auburn, according to the league's media -- would start for the
Buckeyes this year? (By my calculation, that number is six
Tigers.)
Alabama, which was the media's pick to win the SEC West (yet not the SEC overall ... don't ask), figured to be a more compelling challenge when it came to my starting 22 breakdown.
Several Bama fans took me to task for not using the Tide for the matchup, so I decided to do that one. By the way, in my own preseason top 10, I have Bama No. 5 -- behind Ohio State, TCU,
Oregon and
Baylor -- and I have Auburn No. 9.
After getting some feedback from a few coaches I really trust and an NFL scout, the Tide, which lost to Ohio State 42-35 in the Sugar Bowl last season, would have more guys than Auburn that would start at Ohio State.
But I think it's probably only one more guy right now -- seven as opposed to six on the starting 22