FAYETTEVILLE -- Bret Bielema and the Arkansas Razorbacks think they have the pieces in place to contend in the SEC West in 2015.
Each of the other six teams in the SEC West -- Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Texas A&M -- all think they do too.
"I think it's always been the toughest division in college football," LSU Coach Les Miles, a Michigan graduate who is entering his 11th season in the SEC, said during Tuesday's conference call for SEC West coaches.
The SEC West won five BCS national championships in six seasons between 2007-2012 before Auburn, the 2010 national champion, lost to Florida State in the final BCS title game following the 2013 season.
Alabama, the BCS champion in 2009, 2011 and 2012, lost to eventual national champion Ohio State last season in one of the national semifinals of the first College Football Playoff.
Representatives of other divisions or conferences might say any of their teams can win the championship, but recent occurrences in the SEC West make their claim more realistic.
Arkansas won two of its final three games last season, which led The Sporting News to write "somehow a team that won two SEC games was the one SEC team no one wanted any part of in November."
The Sporting News placed six SEC West teams in its latest preseason top 25 projections, including Arkansas at No. 15.
Ole Miss and Mississippi State, the two division teams with the sketchiest track records, both spent multiple weeks in the top 10 last season.
"I think top to bottom, now that Arkansas is playing well and the two Mississippi schools are playing extremely well, and you add it to the rest of the conference, there are no weeks off," Auburn Coach Gus Malzahn said. "It's a man's league, and you've got to play well each week to win."
Athlon Sports included all seven SEC West teams in its early preseason top 25 poll. A compilation of eight preseason polls conducted in January by SBNation put six SEC West teams in the top 25: No. 3 Alabama, No. 9 Auburn, No. 10 Ole Miss, No. 13 LSU, No. 22 Mississippi State and No. 23 Arkansas.
"With both Ole Miss and Mississippi State being nationally ranked for the great majority of the year just goes to show you how talented that group, the SEC West division, is and just ensures that you must be ready every Saturday," Miles said.
"I came in here knowing that we were in the SEC West," said Bielema, who is entering his third year with the Razorbacks. "I didn't get surprised my first day here.
"What was awesome for me to be able to experience was the depth and the rotation and the learning curve that evolved during year one and year two."
Mississippi State, traditionally an also-ran in the West, debuted at No. 1 in the first College Football Playoff rankings last October but stumbled down the stretch with losses to Alabama and Ole Miss.
"It certainly makes it an enormous challenge for us," said Mississippi State Coach Dan Mullen, who is in his seventh season at the school. "You've got to play at that type of level and you're playing against the top teams in the country week in and week out, but that's what we love. That's what I love about the challenge of the league and what it's all about."
Fourth-year Ole Miss Coach Hugh Freeze said he and his staff preach to their players about not getting too high after a victory or too low after a loss.
"Just kind of stay in the moment and enjoy the process of getting better and being relevant in this conference," Freeze said.
Bielema said his players know they can be competitive in the SEC and that last year's 7-6 record is simply a "launching point" for where the Razorbacks should be headed.
"I really don't worry about the people around us as much as I worry about ourselves," Bielema said when asked about the SEC's projected balance in 2015. " I don't know if that helps me or hurts me, but it's what we do."
Mullen said the SEC West's reputation helps with recruiting.
"That's why I think guys want to come play in the SEC West," Mullen said. "They want to play against the best competition every single week."
Sports on 05/13/2015