Late last week, after a friendly twitter exchange with colleague Clay Travis regarding the SEC and Ohio State, it led to my examining just how many starters on the SEC’s top team — Auburn, according to the league’s media — would start for the Buckeyes this year? (By my calculation, that number is six Tigers.) Alabama, which was the media’s pick to win the SEC West (yet not the SEC overall … don’t ask), figured to be a more compelling challenge when it came to my starting 22 breakdown. Several Bama fans took me to task for not using the Tide for the matchup, so I decided to do that one. By the way, in my own preseason top 10, I have Bama No. 5 — behind Ohio State, TCU, Oregon and Baylor — and I have Auburn No. 9. After getting some feedback from a few coaches I really trust and an NFL scout, the Tide, which lost to Ohio State 42-35 in the Sugar Bowl last season, would have more guys than Auburn that would start at Ohio State. But I think it’s probably only one more guy right now — seven as opposed to six on the starting 22. Both starters on offense would come from the Tide’s O-line — sophomore offensive tackle Cam Robinson, Bama’s first true freshman to start at left tackle in eight seasons (since Andre Smith), has high first-round talent. The Tide’s other starting tackle — huge former JC transfer Dominic Jackson — also has a ton of ability, but he’s not better than Ohio State’s Taylor Decker, a guy who allowed only one sack in 2014 in 15 games and is also expected to become a first-rounder. The Tide’s other offensive starter is at center, where I gave 6-foot-5, 300-pound Ryan Kelly the edge over Jacoby Boren, who’s good and tough but undersized. Kelly has been a rock for the Tide up front the past two seasons and didn’t allow a sack last year. The toughest decision on offense was at tight end, where Bama has a player with a lot of potential in O.J. …
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