In three of the past four seasons, the SEC West champion has gone on to become the national champion. That's quite a statement for any conference, much less a single division of a conference.
It wasn't that long ago that the West looked like it might be losing some momentum in the battle with the East for SEC supremacy. Then over the course of 2007-09, the division traded Mike Shula, Ed Orgeron, and Sylvester Croom for Nick Saban, Bobby Petrino, and Dan Mullen. That is how you revitalize a division.
So in 2011, the West's hold over the conference is unquestioned. Its hold on the nation is pretty strong too. The division has three teams in the top 15 of the preseason consensus as it stands today, matched only by the Big 12 and surpassed only by the overall SEC's four teams. Alabama stands at No. 1, while LSU is in the hunt at No. 5.
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