Not the SEC's Year
I'm watching this Big 12-like contest between Georgia and Kentucky, while keeping an eye on Tennessee losing to 3-6 Wyoming (who is 1-5 in the MWC).
Seriously, what the hell happened to the SEC? Especially the defenses?
I'm afraid to watch LSU - Alabama. They may score 80 points.
Mentioned in Austin Murphy's book 
8 comments:
So, a bad SEC team is worse than a bad MWC team?
Tennessee may be worse than several FCS teams...
'The 2008 SEC - we're the Big 12, without as many good QBs.'
Keep in mind the SEC earned its recent rep through POSTSEASON play, when facing supposedly superior conference champs and demolishing them. Before we crown the Big 12 the season's great conference we should wait and see how the title game goes. Remember also that Florida looked pretty shabby in-conference in 2006, but torched OSU in the title game.
And Tennessee sucks. It isn't like they're beating anyone in the conference either. And they just fired their coach. Florida lost to Georgia the week Zook was fired (validation?).
Well, since a conference is made up of several teams, let's take this on a team by team basis, shall we?
Gators and Bama are clearly better than last year. Ole Miss is also better. HOWEVER...a lot of other SEC teams are clearly worse. Georgia, LSU, Auburn, Arkansas, the Vols, Mississippi State (they did go to a bowl last year remember). IMO Kentucky, Vandy and South Carolina are about the same.
So that's 3 SEC teams who are better, 6 who are worse (some of them much worse) and 3 who are about the same. When the ratio of declining teams to improved teams is 2 to 1, it's no surprise that the whole conference is suffering.
As to exactly *why* half the SEC is now worse than last year, I'll leave it up to you guys to discuss.
big 12 without as many good QBs... so nothing good?
"Gators and Bama are clearly better than last year. Ole Miss is also better. HOWEVER...a lot of other SEC teams are clearly worse. Georgia, LSU, Auburn, Arkansas, the Vols, Mississippi State (they did go to a bowl last year remember). IMO Kentucky, Vandy and South Carolina are about the same."
For once I agree with you. Arkansas is going though a coaching transition with a different system, so it's only fair to cut them a little slack.
Where Florida and Alabama stand right now can be attributed to smart recruiting and top-notch coaching; Urban Meyer and Nick Saban are two of college football's best in the business right now. Florida has balance on both sides of the ball now, and sharp special-teams players who've made key plays in big wins.
South Carolina's strength right now is on defense, which seems like a paradox for a SOS-coached team but keep in mind that they're unsettled as to their QB right now.
The sports media was so gung-ho on Georgia pre-season, but both Bama and Florida exposed the chinks in their defensive armor. Vandy came out strong at the beginning of the season, but went into a funk during October. They still could come back and win out their schedule to become bowl-eligible, and I for one see this happening.
Ole Miss has improved thanks in part to Houston Nutt taking over for Ed O and bringing in a decent QB in Jevan Snead; however, Orgeron was a defensive mind and did have some recruiting savvy in this area even though he wasn't head-coach material. if Nutt can recruit well, he could have that team competing for the SEC West in another year or two.
LSU lost a lot of defensive power after their NC win last year, and that episode with QB Ryan Perilloux hurt them to some extent. Kentucky lost some power players from their 2007 team due to graduation, and from this year's team due to injuries. Miss. State can't seem to compete with the rest of the SEC West, and Auburn is in a state of flux right now.
Tennessee sucks, period. They lost a key recruiter when Trooper Taylor bailed on them to go to OK State and their OC as David Cutcliffe went to Duke after 2007; they also have instability at QB. Randy Sanders (now Kentucky's QB coach) was their scapegoat in 2005 when they were only so-so since he took a brunt of the blame as their then-OC, but now they realize the crux of the matter was Phil Fulmer only three years afterward.
Still, we have 5 SEC teams ranked in the BCS at this point in time, so that in a way speaks well for our conference.
Addendum to my post: Nick Saban descends from the Bill Belichick "defense wins championships" credo and coaching tree, and defense is his modus operandi. Defense was the key to LSU winning the NC back in 2003-04, and he's brought that same philosophy to Bama.
Florida's defense wasn't as potent in 2007 compared to 2006, but good recruiting and a year of experience did wonders for this year's sophomores and juniors who are starters, especially in our secondary. Should attrition not affect us after this season, look for more of the same in 2009 from them. Also, new blood as far as defensive assistants (Dan McCarney and Vance Bedford) may have played a role as well.
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