RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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The SEC might be the deepest conference in college football and college basketball this year. How do you pick a league champion when seemingly all 16 teams have at least some redeeming qualities, if not nationally renowned traits? We put our experts up to the task, and they delivered with football superlatives, quarterback rankings and picks for the regular-season basketball title.
Our six-man panel picked the conference's order of finish in football . All but one of them have both Texas and Georgia in the top two, and the Bulldogs have the edge in first-place votes. Just as interesting as the championship picks are the teams our experts selected as the most overrated and underrated. While Alabama picked up two fourth-place votes, Chris Hummer says the consensus is too high on the Crimson Tide.
Speaking of Russell, he is one of five new starters to be announced thus far. Our Brad Crawford is betting on his pedigree as a former five-star recruit, because he has the Alabama signal caller at No. 7 in his SEC quarterback rankings . Here's where he landed:
SEC football is less than two weeks away, but don't forget that basketball is right around the corner, too. There are four squads at the front of the preseason race with Florida , Kentucky , Tennessee and Texas carrying stacked rosters into 2026-27. But our Cameron Salerno says not to count out the field.
It was always going to be nearly impossible to match 60 home runs and contend for the American League MVP again. But to bat a measly .167 with 17 round-trippers? That is beyond disappointing. Cal Raleigh simply has not come even relatively close to living up to the high expectations he set for himself in his breakout 2025 season. He even regressed defensively, too.
"Big Dumper" is just one of many disappointing major-leaguers this year . Look at Edwin Díaz and his unsightly 11.85 ERA, or Jazz Chisholm Jr. and his .220/.297/.397 slash line.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is up there with the biggest letdowns, too. Take it from our Dayn Perry:
⚾ LLWS: Nicaragua vs. Curaçao, 1 p.m. on ESPN
⚾ Rays at Tigers, 1:10 p.m. on MLB Network
⚽ Carabao Cup: Second round, 2:45 p.m. on Paramount+
⚽ UEFA Champions League qualifying playoffs, 3 p.m. on Paramount+
⚾ Cubs at Diamondbacks, 3:40 p.m. on ESPN Unlimited
⚾ LLWS: Canada vs. Japan, 5 p.m. on ESPN
⚾ Red Sox at Marlins, 6:40 p.m. on Peacock
🎾 US Open: Mixed doubles semifinals and final, 7 p.m. on ESPN
⚾ LLWS: Alabama vs. Ohio, 7 p.m. on ESPN
⚾ Astros at Yankees, 7:05 p.m. on ESPN Unlimited
⚾ Dodgers at Braves or Brewers at Mets, 7:10 p.m. on MLB Network
⚽ Leagues Cup: Toluca vs. Austin, 8:30 p.m. on FS1/Apple TV
⚾ Twins at Athletics, 9:05 p.m. on Peacock
🏀 Tempo at Storm, 10 p.m. on USA Network
⚽ Leagues Cup: Club America vs. Crew, 10:45 p.m. on FS1/Apple TV
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