When you've won 11 games in three straight seasons and defeated Clemson, your biggest rival, for five straight years, what in the world would possess Steve Spurrier to keep doing what he's doing at 69 years old?

"That SEC title is part of it," said South Carolina's coach for going on 10 years. "Been chasing that forever it seems like. Maybe we'll get it, maybe not. We're going to keep trying."

The only thing that Spurrier hasn't done at South Carolina, the thing that still drives him, is win his elusive seventh SEC championship.

Spurrier won five SEC championships in six years at Florida (1991-96) and picked up his sixth championship in 2000. He left Florida after the 2001 season and spent two seasons in the NFL with the Washington Redskins. He then took a year off before agreeing to replace Lou Holtz at South Carolina.

It must not matter that he's losing one of those players of a lifetime, defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, and a few others on defense, because in the AL.com/Birmingham News' 68th annual Spring SEC Football Report, his Gamecocks and Nick Saban's Alabama Crimson Tide are the teams to beat.

According to voters in the 2014 report -- the league's 14 football information directors -- Alabama and South Carolina are the choices to win their respective divisions and meet in the Dec. 6 SEC Championship Game in Atlanta.

South Carolina received five first place votes from the Eastern Division football information directors to top its division with 35 points. Alabama, in a battle with defending SEC champion Auburn, also got five first-place votes for a total of 35 points to edge the Tigers, who picked up two first-place votes and 32 points.

In the overall poll that is voted on by all 14 football information directors, Alabama and Auburn waged another close battle. The Crimson Tide received eight first-place votes to Auburn's six to finish with 164 points. The Tigers were second with 152.

Where Alabama received five seconds, Auburn received four seconds,three third-place votes and one SEC school apparently doesn't think the Tigers can chase another division title, voting them ninth. By leading the overall poll, the Tide becomes the preseason pick to leave the Georgia Dome as the SEC champion.

South Carolina was third with 134 points, and Georgia was fourth with 131. A school's football information director could not vote for his school in the polls.

Following Alabama and Auburn in the West was LSU with 26 points. Texas A&M was fourth with 20, Ole Miss was fifth with 15 and Mississippi State and Arkansas rounded out the division voting with 11 and 7 points, respectively.

In the East, Georgia was second with 30 points and defending East champion Missouri was third with 24 points.

The SEC champion is a gimme to reach the new four-team college football playoff, so if Saban's Tide can do what the voters think, check off one team down.

Of course, to get to Atlanta means beating your rival in the Iron Bowl, a team many believe will be part of a 1-2 SEC punch in the playoffs when it's all said and done. Losing to the Tigers in the final seconds last season has become almost a battle cry for Alabama in the offseason, while Auburn is using its 34-31 loss in the final seconds to Florida State in the BCS Championship Game as motivation to deliver a little something extra to make it another season to remember.

In Auburn's case, the offense is loaded, while Saban's is minus three-year starter AJ McCarron. That piece of the puzzle -- will it be spring No. 1 Blake Sims or FSU transfer Jacob Coker, or neither of them -- has to rank as one of the biggest to overcome among national championship contenders this fall.

And Saban knows it.

"Quarterback is a critical position, but we don't have to make that decision until early in the season," Saban said coming out of the spring. "Then we'll decide who has made the most improvement -- who is in the best position to play winning football? All of our quarterbacks have done a good job this spring, and we expect the same from Jacob when he gets here."

Just don't pencil in Coker throwing to Amari Cooper and handing off to T.J. Yeldon and Derrick Henry just yet. And there is work to do on defense, too, or was it a figment of our imagination that the secondary wasn't what it used to be last season?

Spurrier at least starts out knowing who his quarterback is, and that's after losing Connor Shaw, the most successful quarterback in school history with a record of 27-5 in games that he started.

Waiting to take over is Dylan Thompson, his backup for the past three seasons.

"We feel good with Dylan," said Spurrier. "He's a fifth-year player, and he wants to be our quarterback. He's played in some big games and played very well for us over the years."

Replacing Clowney and the fear factor he brought to the field probably isn't going to happen, but that's where going to a 3-4 defense might pick up the slack, says defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward.

"We don't have a dominating defensive end, so we're probably going to have to do something different," said Ward. "We have a lot of good young talent at linebacker."

To see the East and West voting, click here:

To see the overall poll, click here:

Here is the All-SEC team

FIRST TEAM OFFENSE

Wide receivers

Sammie Coates, 6-1, 202, Jr., Auburn

Amari Cooper, 6-1, 202, Jr., Alabama

Tight end

O.J. Howard, 6-6, 237, So., Alabama

Center

Reese Dismukes, 6-3, 295, Sr., Auburn

Guards

Jarvis Harrison, 6-4, 325, Sr., Texas A&M

A.J. Cann, 6-4, 318, Sr., South Carolina

Tackles

La'El Collins, 6-5, 315, Sr., LSU

Cedric Ogbuehi, 6-4, 315, Sr., Texas A&M

Quarterback

Nick Marshall, 6-1, 210, Sr., Auburn

Running backs

Todd Gurley, 6-1, 232, Jr., Georgia

Mike Davis, 5-9, 215, Jr., South Carolina

Punter

Drew Kaser, 6-3, 220, Jr., Texas A&M

FIRST TEAM DEFENSE

Linemen

Trey Flowers, 6-4, 256, Sr., Arkansas

Dante Fowler Jr., 6-3, 265, Jr., Florida

Robert Nkemdiche, 6-5, 270, So., Ole Miss

Chris Jones, 6-5, 255, So., Miss. State

Linebackers

Ramik Wilson, 6-2, 232, Sr., Georgia

A.J. Johnson, 6-2, 243, Sr., Tennessee

Trey DePriest, 6-2, 245, Sr., Alabama

Cornerbacks

Vernon Hargreaves III, 5-11, 181, So., Florida

Jalen Mills, 6-0, 185, Jr., LSU

Safeties

Cody Prewitt, 6-2, 215, Sr., Ole Miss

Landon Collins, 6-0, 215, Jr., Alabama

Placekicker

Marshall Morgan, 6-3, 200, Jr., Georgia

SECOND TEAM OFFENSE

Wide receivers

Marquez North, 6-4, 215, So., Tennessee

Jameon Lewis, 5-9, 195, Sr., Miss. State

Tight end

Malcolm Johnson, 6-2, 235, Sr., Miss. State

Center

Evan Boehm, 6-3, 315, Jr., Missouri

Guards

Vadal Alexander, 6-6, 350, Jr., LSU

Alex Kozan, 6-4, 290, So., Auburn

Tackles

Laremy Tunsil, 6-4, 320, So., Ole Miss

Darrian Miller, 6-5, 285, Sr., Kentucky

Quarterback

Dak Prescott, 6-2, 230, Jr., Miss. State

Running backs

T.J. Yeldon, 6-2, 218, Jr., Alabama

Cameron Artis-Payne, 5-11, 210, Jr., Auburn

Punter

Devon Bell, 6-2, 185, Jr., Miss. State

SECOND TEAM DEFENSE

Linemen

Alvin Dupree, 6-4, 255, Sr., Kentucky

Markus Golden, 6-3, 260, Sr., Missouri

Carl Lawson, 6-2, 261, So., Auburn

A'Shawn Robinson, 6-4, 320, So., Alabama

Linebackers

Benardrick McKinney, 6-5, 235, So., Miss. State

Serderius Bryant, 5-9, 224, Sr., Ole Miss

Kwon Alexander, 6-2, 215, Jr., LSU

Cornerbacks

Tre'Davious White, 5-10, 170, So., LSU

Jonathon Mincy, 5-10, 196, Sr., Auburn

Safeties

Braylon Webb, 6-0, 205, Sr., Missouri

Robenson Therezie, 5-9, 212, Sr., Auburn

Placekicker

Colby Delahoussaye, 5-10, 175, So., LSU