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* McElwain: Offensive line 'the strength of our football team'
* Gators excited about addition of Zaire to quarterback room
* Notebook: McElwain discusses status of two Gators wideouts
* Inside the Gators' 20/17 for 2017 series
* Austin Appleby Parting Thoughts: I / II / III / IV / V
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For the third straight year of the Jim McElwain era, the Gators weren’t picked by attendees at SEC Media Days to win the SEC East.
A day after the event in Hoover, Alabama, concluded, the league announced that Florida was selected to finish second in the SEC East behind Georgia. Meanwhile, Alabama was picked to win not only the West division, but another SEC Championship.
As a runner-up, Florida finished with 1,526 points and 96 first-place votes, behind Georgia (1,572 points, 138 first-place votes). Tennessee finished in third, followed by South Carolina, Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Missouri.
The predicted champion at SEC Media Days has won an SEC Championship just six times since 1992 and four times in the past 20 seasons, but the eventual champion has been correctly predicted two of the last three years.
It’s a position that Florida has found itself in during previous off-seasons – not receiving as much love from the media that they feel they deserve. In 2015, Florida won the SEC after being selected to finish fifth in the division. Last year, Florida won the East over Tennessee, after the Vols were picked to win the division and the Gators were projected as a runner-up.
Florida currently holds a three-game winning streak against Georgia dating back to 2014.
“Personally I don’t really pay attention to it, but as a team we take it as motivation,” offensive tackle Martez Ivey said of Georgia being favored to win the East. “I mean we have been the underdog for the last two years that I have been at Florida. I really don’t expect anything less from the people putting us under and saying we can’t do this or that. We set our own limits for ourselves and we don’t let anyone else set them for us. ”
Added safety Marcell Harris: “We think that it is something we get every year and that it is something everybody says, and we’re going to prove everyone wrong, once again.”
During his time with reporters Tuesday, McElwain also addressed whether his team draws motivation by how their standing is perceived in the conference.
“It doesn't matter at this juncture where we're picked,” McElwain said. “And how much truly does motivation get you through the hard times? I'm not sure, right? It's the preparation and the attention to detail that you've put into it going into whatever event it is that's going to help you be successful. So, I don't know. You know, I - will somebody at least say we exist? That would be nice, I guess, right?”
Below is a full list of the media’s predictions:
EASTERN DIVISION (1st Place votes in parenthesis)
Georgia (138) - 1572
Florida (96)- 1526
Tennessee (3)- 998
South Carolina (5) - 897
Kentucky - 869
Vanderbilt - 554
Missouri - 388
WESTERN DIVISION (1st Place votes in parenthesis)
Alabama (225) - 1683
Auburn (13) - 1329
LSU (4) - 1262
Arkansas (1) - 796
Texas A&M - 722
Mississippi State - 633
Ole Miss - 379
SEC CHAMPION
Alabama - 217
Auburn - 11
Georgia - 6
Florida - 3
LSU - 3
South Carolina - 1
Vanderbilt - 1
Arkansas - 1
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