SEC Media Days, the Southeastern Conference’s annual event showcasing the league’s 14 football programs, starts Monday and runs through Thursday in Hoover, Ala., a Birmingham suburb.
The event was birthed in 1985, replacing the legendary Skywriter’s Tour, and it has mushroomed from fewer than 100 attendees to more than 1,000. Voters there have correctly picked the league champion only six times in the 25 years since the conference split into divisions and unveiled a championship game, though Alabama has been tabbed accurately twice the past three years.
Here are five storylines expected to be discussed at this week’s event:
Saban’s stronghold
Had it not been for Auburn’s “Kick Six” triumph in the 2013 Iron Bowl, the chief topic for the 2017 SEC season would be Alabama’s bid for a record sixth consecutive league championship under coach Nick Saban. The Crimson Tide still are bidding for a fourth straight title, which would match Steve Spurrier’s accomplishment with Florida from 1993 to ’96 and get within one of Bear Bryant’s five titles in a row with Alabama (1971-75).