To the surprise of probably no one, Georgia football was picked to win the SEC in the preseason conference media poll released Friday.

What is hard to believe given Georgia’s success under Kirby Smart, the Bulldogs were selected to win the conference just the second time in his nine seasons.

The other time was last season when the Bulldogs lost in the SEC championship game to Alabama.

Nick Saban’s Alabama team was the projected winner in Smart’s first seven seasons, but Georgia won the league in 2017 and 2022 and won the national championship in 2021 and 2022.

Now the Bulldogs are the overwhelming pick to win the league that will play with 16 teams for the first time and with divisions scrapped. Saban is now an ESPN analyst and Texas and Oklahoma are on the scene.

“We want to keep the standard the standard, and that's not to talk about games, go win them,” junior safety Malaki Starks said. “I think that's the biggest thing for us, and we just want to be able to do what we know we can do and just keep doing it at the highest level.”

Texas, in its debut SEC season, was picked to finish second and meet Georgia in the SEC championship game. The teams will play Oct. 19 in Austin in one of the most anticipated games of the season.

Georgia, coming off a 13-1 season, received 165 votes to be champion with Texas getting 27 and Alabama 12.

Smart said Georgia isn’t leaning in to being motivated by falling short in the SEC championship game last season, which knocked it out of the playoff.

“We're dealing with new challenges this year,” Smart said. “We don't have a chip on our shoulder in terms of people trying to use that as motivation.”

Six Georgia players were selected first-team preseason All-SEC: quarterback Carson Beck, running back Trevor Etienne, offensive guard Tate Ratledge, defensive lineman Nazir Stackhouse, linebacker Mykel Williams and Starks.

Making the second team from Georgia: offensive linemen Xavier Truss and Dylan Fairchild, inside linebacker Smael Mondon and punter Brett Thorson. Third-team selections were wide receiver Dominic Lovett, tight end Oscar Delp, offensive tackle Earnest Greene and cornerback Daylen Everette.

Predicted Order of Finish

Georgia 3330

Texas 3041

Alabama 2891

Ole Miss 2783

LSU 2322

Missouri 2240

Tennessee 2168

Oklahoma 2022

Texas A&M 1684

Auburn 1382

Kentucky 1371

Florida 1146

South Carolina 923

Arkansas 749

Mississippi State 623

Vanderbilt 293

SEC champion

Georgia 165

Texas 27

Alabama 12

Ole Miss 4

Vanderbilt 2

LSU 2

South Carolina 1

Preseason All-SEC media

OFFENSE

First-Team

QB –  Carson Beck, UGA

RB - Trevor Etienne, UGA

RB – Jarquez Hunter, AU

WR -  Luther Burden III, MIZ

WR -  Tre Harris, UM

TE - Caden Prieskorn, UM

OL - Tyler Booker, UA

OL - Will Campbell, LSU

OL - Kelvin Banks Jr., TEX

OL - Tate Ratledge, UGA

C - Cooper Mays, UT

Second-Team

QB – Quinn Ewers, TEX

RB -  Raheim Sanders, SC

*RB - CJ Baxter, TEX

*RB - Montrell Johnson Jr., UF

WR - Isaiah Bond, TEX

WR - Kyren Lacy, LSU

TE -  Mason Taylor, LSU

OL - Emery Jones, LSU

OL - Kadyn Proctor, UA

OL -  Xavier Truss, UGA

OL -  Dylan Fairchild, UGA

C -  Parker Brailsford, UA

Third-Team

QB – Jalen Milroe, UA

RB -  Justice Haynes, UA

RB -  Ulysses Bentley, UM

WR - Deion Burks, OU

WR - Dominic Lovett,  UGA

TE -  Oscar Delp, UGA

OL -  Earnest Greene III, UGA

OL - Marques Cox, UK

OL - Trey Zuhn III, TAMU

OL - Jaeden Roberts, UA

C - Jake Majors, TEX 

DEFENSE

First-Team

DL - James Pearce Jr., UT 

DL - Walter Nolen, UM 

DL - Deone Walker, UK

DL - Nazir Stackhouse, UGA

LB -  Harold Perkins, LSU

LB -  Danny Stutsman, OU

*LB - Deontae Lawson, UA

*LB - Mykel Williams, UGA

DB -  Malaki Starks, UGA

DB -  Malachi Moore, UA

DB -  Billy Bowman, OU

DB -  Maxwell Hairston, UK

Second-Team

DL - Shemar Turner, TAMU

DL - Landon Jackson, ARK

DL - Nic Scourton, TAMU

*DL - Tim Smith, UA

*DL -  Jared Ivey, UM

LB - Debo Williams, SC

LB -  Anthony Hill Jr., TEX

LB - Smael Mondon Jr., UGA 

DB - Jahdae Barron, TEX

DB - Major Burns, LSU

DB -  Andrew Mukuba, TEX

DB - Malik Muhammad, TEX

Third-Team

DL  - Tim Keenan III, UA

DL -  Princely Umanmielen , UM

DL - Trey Moore, TEX

DL - Tonka Hemingway, SC

LB -  Jamon "Pop" Dumas-Johnson, UK

LB - Jihaad Campbell, UA

LB -  Eugene Asante, AU

DB - Domani Jackson, UA 

DB -  Daylen Everette, UGA

DB -  Jason Marshall Jr., UF

*DB - Keon Sabb, UA

*DB -  Nick Emmanwori, SC

SPECIALISTS

First-Team

P -  James Burnip, UA

PK - Bert Auburn, TEX

LS - Kneeland Hibbett, UA

KS – Alex McPherson, AU

RS  - Barion Brown, UK 

AP - Zavion Thomas, LSU

Second-Team

P - Brett Thorson, UGA

PK - Graham Nicholson, UA

LS – Hunter Rogers, SC

KS -  Will Stone, TEX

RS - Zavion Thomas, LSU

AP - Dillion Bell, UGA

Third-Team

P - Jeremy Crawshaw, UF

PK - Alex McPherson, AU

LS - Slade Roy, LSU

KS – Trey Smack, UF

RS - Keionte Scott, AU

*AP - Barion Brown, UK

*AP - Jaydon Blue, TEX

* - Indicates a tie

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia football is the pick to win SEC by media for 2024 season