SEC Preview

There is nothing better than SEC football. I am not the biggest college football fan but I am jacked myself to be inside an SEC stadium this Saturday afternoon. The conference is deep as it always is when you consider some of these things; maybe the best coach Steve Spurrier at South Carolina, perhaps the best player is Andre Woodson the QB at Kentucky, one of the top 3 or so running backs is BenJarvis Green-Ellis at Ole Miss and the best receiver is Earl Bennett is at Vanderbilt.

EASTERN DIVISION

Whoa nellie, I am a big believer of Mark Richt and his 2007 squad down between the hedges, and the main reason why is Mathew Stafford, the sophomore starter for the Georgia Bulldogs. I think Stafford has what it takes to be an elite QB in the country and I think he will show that this year. The coaching staff was unsure of the offensive line but they seem to have sured that up especially with JUCO transfer Scott Haverkamp which gives them a solid right side. The Dawgs certainly don't lack depth in the backfield with seniors Kregg Lumpkin and Thomas Brown, blocking full back Brannan Southerland led the team in TD's with 10. Junior Mohammed Massoquoi is the top target for Stafford, but look for the QB to spread the ball around to TE Tripp Chandler and WR Sean Bailey. Defensively they have moved to more of a speed attack taking oOLB MArcus Howard to end and Brandon Miller into the Middle linebacker spot. If they get solid coverage from the secondary they will be tough to beat. Lastly, they have the best kicker in the league Brando Coutu who can win a game by himself. The schedule is balanced with South Carolina and Auburn coming to Athens and going to Alabama and Tennesee and of course the neutral site game with Florida in Jacksonville.



Gainesville has turned into Titletown USA over the last 2 years in college sports, but they may come to end this football season (and basketball season for that matter). This season the Florida Gators will have to start winning without the fabulous recruits of Ron Zook. They only return 6 starters off of last years team and most notably only one on defense. Gone are Brandon Siler, Jarvis Moss and Reggie Nelson, they will have to rely on newcomers like Brandon Spike at LB, Jermaine Cunningham at DE and two freshman cornerbacks. The offense also has a slew of new starters. The most notable is at QB were the ever hyped Tim Tebow gets his chance to run Urban Meyers spread offense. Tebow will be behind some new offensive lineman and has inexperienced RB with Kestahn Moore and Mon Williams. They have big playmakers on the outside with Andre Caldwell and the versatile and dangerous Percy Harvin. The Gators have a tough 22 days stretch in late September early October where the play Tennessee, at Ole Miss, Auburn and at LSU. Having four straight SEC games like that is never easy; include a trip to Jacksonville to play Georgia and having to go up to Columbia to take on Spurrier and South Carolina (who had Florida beat last year except for three blocked kicks by Jarvis Moss) and the Gators could have a tough defense of their national title.



The Ole Ball Coach believes he has a team that can compete for the SEC championship, and he may be right. The South Carolina Gamecocks come in to this season full of promise after finishing last year strong and returning their starting QB, entire backfield and 9 starters on defense. Fifth year Senior Blake Mitchell is the starting QB (don't be fooled by his game 1 suspension for class attendance) for good reason, while starting most of the first two seasons for Spurrier Mitchell has completed 61.2% of his passes(the best for any returning SEC starter). His favorite target Sidney Rice departed for the NFL but Junior Kenny McKinley is ready to step up his role and the Gamecocks have a core of young receivers who were all highly recruited including JUCO transfer Larry Freeman and Freshman stud Chirs Culliver. The defense which was stout last season, giving up only 18 ppg., is lead by All American candidate MLB Jasper Brinkley, he is flanked by his twin brother Casper at WLB and Sophomore standout Rodney Paulk. The line brings back most of its sacks from last year and adds depth with a solid freshman class. The defensive backfield has big play potential but struggles to tackle especially corners Captain Munnerlyn and Carlos Thomas. Spurriers team is talented but the schedule is brutal with road contests at Tennessee, Georgia, LSU and Arkansas.



Recently the Tennessee Volunteers have fallen on hard times, at least for a program of their stature. Offensively they return QB Erik Ainge who sometimes looks spectacular but all too often looks average. He lost his top target to the NFL so Coach Fullmer will turn back to his ground game where they will use tailbacks LaMarcus Coker and Arian Foster to control tempo. The line is a definite weak point and may not be able to protect the fairly immobile Ainge. On the other side of the ball the Vols have playmakers at linebacker with Jerod Mayo and Rico McCoy. The defensive line gives some cause for concern with underachivers like Demonte' Bolden and Antonio Reynolds and the defensive backkfield is young. It seems like Fullmer doesn't have a stronghold on his players like he used to and with the improvements at South Carolina and Georgia it is an automatic for the Vols to bein the running every year.



Coach Rich Brooks saved his job last season by taking the Kentucky Wildcats to their first bowl victory in 22 years. Brooks has a high powered offense at his fingertips, starting with All American candidate Andre Woodson at QB. Teh numbers on Wodson are astounding; 162 consecutive passes without an interception, bet TD/INT ratio in SEC history, and 3500 yards and 31touchdowns last season. Woodson has all his top weapons back, wideouts Kennan Burton (and All SEC candidate), WR Dicky Lyons, TE Jacob Tamme and RB Rafael Little; with all that the Wildcats will be able to score points. The defense returns 8 starters to a unit that often struggled to stop teams from scroing on the big play. Senior LB Wesley Woodyard is the anchor of the defense, and along with Braxton Kelley and Johnny Williams they form a solid linebacking core. The defensive line has struggled to put pressure on the QB last year and that will force the young corners to step up their game and become playmakers. The Wildcats have the ability to pull off some upsets like they did last year but not enough to sustain a climb to the upper part of the division.



Much like Kentucky the Vanderbilt Commodores have at least brought themselves to a level of respectability, they are not an automatic 30 point win anymore. The talent in Nashville is up all across the board most notably at receiver where the SEC's best Earl Bennet resides. Throwing him the ball is dual threat Junior QB Chris Nickelson who led the team in rushing last year. He will need help from the running backs if the Commodores want to win some games, Bennett and him cannot do it alone. Last season the Commodore defense struggled especially giving up the big play. The defensive line will need to apply pressure on the QB with end Curtis Gatewood to help a young secondary. Linebackers Jonathan Goff and Marcus Buggs provide good senior leadership.



WESTERN DIVISION

This preview was written mostly before the LSU Tigers swatted the Mississippi State, but in case you weren’t sure how good they were they beat a conference opponent by 45 points. The Bayou Bengals are talented, but some will point to their inexperience. And yes on offense QB Matt Flynn is starting for the first time really, RB Keiland Williams is only a Sophomore, and WR’s Early Doucet & Brandon LaFell weren’t “starters” last season. But this unit is talented, Doucet has All-American potential and behind a massive and experienced line LSU will be just fine. The main reason they will be fine is because the defense is too darned good. Up fron they have the best defensive player in the country in Glenn Dorsey, they have all their linebackers back and have two Senior CB’s, Chevis Jackson & Jonathan Zenon. A very favorable schedule where the toughest road game is at Alabama provides LSU with an open invite to Atlanta for the SEC Championship game.



After the Tigers who knows where this division can go, but I like the Arkansas Razorbacks. Well let’s be honest, I have a huge man crush on Darren McFadden. Junior QB Casey Dick has a firm grip on the QB job, not looking over his shoulder and he has the two leading rushers in the SEC lining up behind him. There is some rebuilding to be done on the offensive line but Dick has a big weapon on the outside in Marcus Monk. They lost a bunch of defensive starters but senior MLB Weston Dacus and CB Materral Richardson anchor the returning starters and they should be pretty strong. An early season match-up at Bryant-Denney stadium may decide who take second in this division.



Down on the plains Tommy Tubberville is convinced he has a really good this team this year, but his Auburn Tigers don’t have me convinced. On offense Brandon Cox is back for a third campaign under center and he has receiver Rod Smith to throw to again this year. But the Tigers have to replace the entire offensive line and have a new set of running backs. Tailback Brad Lester has seen time as a backup but now the job is his to carry the ball 25-30 times as a game. On defense the Tiger have a strong defensive line with end Quentin Groves and a solid secondary. The linebacking core was hurt through graduation, if they can find replacements they could keep themselves in games. Unfortunately the tigers have to go to Fayettnam, Gainesville, and Athens.



Nick Saban rides into Tuscaloosa as the savior, but again he is not Bear Bryant. The Alabama Crimson Tide return a slew of starters on the offensive side, but a new defense could kill Alabama down the stretch. Quarterback John Parker Lewis returns with his offensive line in tact and his top two targets seniors Keith Brown and DJ Hall to throw too. Look for sophomore Glen Coffee to get the nod at running back but junior Jimmy johns will get plenty of carries. On defense they basically only bring back one player on the front seven, end Wallace Gilberry. The secondary is experienced and should give the team some good coverage, considering the fact that they only had 13 sacks as a team last year the pass rush will need to improve if they want to win games this season.


There are two teams that I think play football in Mississippi but they stink beyond words. Seriously both these programs are in the absolute toilet, and honestly for Ole Miss I couldn’t be happier. They had a solid coach who was winning them games and taking them places, David Cutcliffe, and they fired him for no reason.


LSu versus Georgia for the SEC Championship in Atlanta, and I just don’t see LSU losing. Take the Bayou Bengals and I say put them in the title game against Southern Cal.