By: Robert Craft

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Finally, the coast is clear to make grand proclamations about the upcoming SEC football season. The transfer portal has closed (at least for departures), and there are no season-changing athletes on the market.

So, as we unwind this offseason and take a look around, here are two grand proclamations:

1. The SEC’s two best teams are clearly Texas and Georgia, and in that order.
2. After that, it’s wide open.

What did we expect? The two best teams are the two that made the conference championship game and were the last two SEC teams in the College Football Playoff.

It’s just the obvious conclusion, especially after a spring that saw both programs only solidify their spots, especially through the portal.

When predicting third place and onward, a glut of candidates exists and none is a clear favorite? Inevitably, some team will emerge to challenge or perhaps leapfrog Texas and Georgia, maybe there’s more than one team who does it.

At this stage, picking teams requires a confidence level that today’s facts don’t match. There are plenty of candidates with plenty of flaws among them. There will be carnage in any SEC schedule; each team saw plenty of injuries last year, and this year’s slate is essentially the same, just with the home sites flipped.

Texas and Georgia meet on Nov. 15 in Athens. They met in October last year and managed a rematch in Atlanta. That they could do so again was buttressed by their offseasons.

Texas: In perhaps the smoothest quarterback transition ever, Arch Manning steps in after two years of occasional starts for Quinn Ewers, who played well for Texas but wasn’t so irreplaceable that the NFL deigned to pick him in the first six rounds of the NFL draft.

The Longhorns then armed Manning this spring with help from the Bay Area: receiver Emmet Mosley V (Stanford) and tight end Cal Endries (Cal). These additions will pair with Ryan Wingo and DeAndre Moore returning this season, both finishing in the top five in receiving yards on last year’s team .

On defense, Texas signed five defensive linemen between the two portal periods. Right now, they have one of the best front sevens in college football, if not the best.

Between that, the projected passing game and the program’s status as the only team to make the last two CFPs.

Not to mention their surprisingly manageable schedule this year,  it’s easy to pick the Longhorns as national preseason No. 1.

Georgia: Kirby Smart has never been heavy on the portal.

He prefers to use it strategically. This year’s portal haul is consistent to previous years, but this year, especially if Georgia ends up returning to the national championship game, transfers will be the reason they got there.

The post-winter window was successful enough. Georgia needed receivers and got them: Noah Thomas (Texas A&M) out wide and Zachariah Branch (USC) in the slot, plus Zachariah’s brother Zion Branch and two others for depth at safety.

The post-spring window may have been just as big.

Elo Modozie (Army) could start right away, and tailback Josh McCray (Illinois) gives the Bulldogs an experienced tailback, which was badly needed after Trevor Etienne went pro.

These weren’t eye-popping, multi-million-dollar deals, but they shored up weak spots.

Also, Georgia didn’t lose any key players in the post-spring window AND didn’t suffer any long-term injuries during spring practice.

Georgia’s roster is fortified for another national championship run, with things depending on two spots: starting quarterback Gunner Stockton and a young offensive line. The theme of spring practice was that the team feels good about Stockton.

There’s no guarantee Texas or Georgia win the conference title or even make the Playoff, but would you bet against it?

As things stand now, they are clearly the two best teams in the SEC. And the teams who emerge behind or through them  will be fascinating to watch.

Well over half the league has an argument to make a push into the top tier, and that should make for a compelling season.