Changes reconfigure SEC, college football landscape

The start of the college football season is on the horizon and it will look much different than it did a year ago.

The Southeastern Conference will feature a different look with the addition of Texas and Oklahoma, giving the league 16 teams. The Longhorns and Sooners bring a competitive edge to the conference and both teams will challenge Georgia and Alabama for conference supremacy.

Fpr the first time since 1992, the SEC will no longer be comprised of two divisions and the top two finishers in the league standings will play in the conference championship game.

That makes it harder for Kentucky to reach the conference finale, but also makes it even tougher for league superpowers Alabama and Georgia to remain atop the league and on the national stage with the playoffs expanded from four teams to eight beginning this season.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart said winning an SEC title is special and will remain unique under the new format.

"I still think there is value in winning an SEC championship," he said. "The unique thing about the career that I've had coaching, I've almost won as many SEC championships as national championships, and I've won two national championships when I didn't win an SEC championship as a program. That is unique."

Technology takeover

For the first time this season, helmet communication between some players and coaches on the sidelines will be used this season. The quarterbacks and most likely the linebackers will be taking advantage of the new technology.

"Basically I can get the whole play and I don't even have to look to the sideline," Kentucky quarterback Brock Vandagriff said. "I'm getting it, telling the (offensive) line the play, and I can go ahead and do my little pre-snap routine.

"Being able to see that, I don't even have to get my eyes to the sideline, that's basically just for the skill guys. So I hear it, tell them the play and it gives me a lot more extra time at the line while guys are getting lined up."

Vandagriff thinks the helmet communication will "help tempo across college football."

""When you think about it, even the quarterback doesn't have to look to the sideline now. So basically, he's being able to get on the ball."

No Saban

For the first time since 2007, Nick Saban won't be on the sidelines and things will look much different in Tuscaloosa with Kalan DeBoer now calling the plays for the Crimson Tide.

DeBoer considers the task of following a legend a "challenge, honor and opportunity."

Although some coaches have failed at succeeding veteran coaches, many have succeeded, including Joe. B. Hall, who won a national title at Kentucky six years after taking over for legendary coach Adolph Rupp.

Smart thinks Alabama will still live up to its tradition under DeBoer.

"I don't expect them to change," he said of the Crimson Tide and his Bulldogs. "You're talking about two teams that have been at the forefront of college football, and it's probably going to be that way for a long time."