Preseason team superlatives for 2022 season

With spring practice already in the books and teams gearing up for fall camp in a couple of months, the 2022 college football season will be here before we know it.

When the next campaign kicks off, the SEC is sure to be at the forefront of the national conversation, as it is every fall. The league has captured the national championship in each of the last three seasons, and it’s looking to make that four this year.

There will be a lot of intrigue around the league this season, especially as two of its blue-bloods will trot out first-year head coaches in LSU and Florida with Brian Kelly and Billy Napier, respectively. Here’s how we see the season playing out with our preseason superlative predictions.

Here, we’ll cover the team side of things. You can check out the preseason individual superlatives by clicking here.

Best Team – Alabama Crimson Tide

Syndication: The Knoxville News-Sentinel

This one shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. The Crimson Tide returns last year’s Heisman Trophy winner in quarterback Bryce Young, who has as good a chance at becoming the first repeat winner since Archie Griffin in 1974 and 1975 as any player has in that span.

Alabama may have lost its top-two receivers in John Metchie III and Jameson Williams, but it added a pair of transfers in Jermaine Burton from Georgia and Tyler Harrell from Louisville. The Tide also returns arguably the best defensive player in the country from last season in edge rusher Will Anderson, who could be the No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft.

‘Bama came up short last season, but it is the prohibitive national title favorite entering 2022.

Dark Horse – Tennessee Volunteers

Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images

Yeah, yeah. I get it.

It feels like the Vols are one of the primary beneficiaries of the hype machine every offseason only to disappoint each fall. I’ll happily eat crow if the same happens this time around, but I truly think…