Archive for July, 2009

Whereas previously previewed Georgia fell short of preseason expectations last year, Alabama certainly did just the opposite. The Tide spanked Clemson in the season opener in Atlanta in front of the entire nation, embarrassed Georgia with the “blackout” and College GameDay visiting Athens. In fact the Tide rolled (I know, I know…) all the way to #1 in the country in early November.

After emphatically breaking Auburn’s six-game Iron Bowl win streak (36-nothing in Tuscaloosa), Alabama found themselves leading Florida 20-17 entering the fourth quarter of the SEC Championship Game.

The final five quarters went so unlike the first 12 games for Alabama. Florida controlled the fourth quarter and scored touchdowns on back-to-back drives en route to a 31-20 win; then heavy underdog Utah came out on fire, stunning the Tide to the tune of a 21-0 lead after a quarter and a 31-17 Sugar Bowl win.

Despite a disappointing ending, Alabama was clearly a year ahead of what everybody expected of them. This year Alabama is one of the favorites to win the SEC West and one of the main contenders to the mighty Gators. Can Alabama keep the momentum going?

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This time last year everybody was pimping Georgia as the preseason SEC and national champion. They had Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno on offense, but had a summer of off-the-field problems and some preseason injuries to key players.

A year later, things are obviously different in Athens. Stafford’s in Detroit, Moreno’s in Denver and preseason expectations are much, much lower. In fact, some of the most recent buzz surrounding the Bulldog football program has been on the recruiting trail, where Georgia’s received commitments from four of Rivals’ top 50 prospects.

While Stafford and Moreno didn’t disappoint last year, it was the defense that was Georgia’s biggest flaw last year. UGA gave up 24 points per game last year, and five teams (Alabama, Florida, LSU, Kentucky and Georgia Tech) scored 38 points or more on Georgia. That’s almost hard to believe.

Now Georgia may have to rely on that defense, as fifth-year senior Joe Cox (or possibly a younger quarterback) steps in to take the reins of the offense and a stable of young backs step in for the dazzling Moreno. One thing that isn’t different from last year? Georgia’s playing another tough schedule.

Many think they take a step back this year. But Mark Richt’s won 10 games every year except for 2001 (his first year) and 2006. Will this year break that trend?

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Raise your hand if you had Arkansas – in their first year after losing Darren McFadden, Felix Jones and their top six tacklers – winning five games last year.

If you aren’t an optimistic fan in a Hawg hat and your hand’s up, you’re lying.

The first five games of the Bobby Petrino era in Fayetteville were bleak. The Razorbacks needed minor miracles to beat I-AA Western Illinois (Arkansas converted a late fourth and ten and scored with 1:49 left) and UL Monroe (down 24-6 in the third quarter, Arkansas rallied and got another late fourth down conversion) before getting blasted at home by Alabama (49-14), at Texas (52-10) and at home against Florida (38-7).

Arkansas then went to Auburn and stunned the Tigers, before falling by a combined three points to Kentucky and Ole Miss. After losses to South Carolina and Mississippi State, Arkansas got the type of win that can jumpstart a program.

Down 30-14 early in the second half, much-maligned senior Casey Dick came off the bench and led the comeback, throwing this TD pass to London Crawford with under 30 seconds left for the win and a wave of offseason optimism.

But how much noise can the Razorbacks make in a top-heavy SEC West with a difficult schedule?

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After years of coming just short of bowl eligibility, Vanderbilt finally broke through last year. The Commodores started off 5-0, hosted ESPN’s College GameDay and rose all the way up to #13 in the polls – and then proceeded to lose four straight, two of which to Mississippi State and Duke. Vandy had gotten off to good starts before, only to fall short of reaching the postseason, and everyone’s thinking, there they go again…

Fortunately Vandy went to Lexington and got a 31-24 win before losing to Tennessee and Wake Forest. Vanderbilt finally had made their first bowl game since 1982, and drew ACC Atlantic Division champion Boston College, who had won 8 straight bowls games, in the Music City Bowl. Again as an underdog, Vandy rose to the occasion and beat the Eagles 16-14.

What’s interesting about last season’s team is that they had lost their entire offensive line and had just 9 starters returning. Yet the Commodores overcame that, and made it an historic season. This year they bring 17 starters back, including their entire offensive line and front seven.

Coming off the best year for Vanderbilt football in 25 years, what will Bobby Johnson and the Commodores do for an encore? Can they make it two in a row?

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After Mississippi State beat Central Florida to win the Liberty Bowl two years ago, it appeared that State had taken a step forward. It was the Bulldogs’ first bowl since 2000 (remember the snowy Independence Bowl win over Texas A&M?). Coach of the Year Sylvester Croom had looked to finally have broken through.

But State lost at Louisiana Tech to open last year, and two weeks later gave up just three points at home to Auburn…and still lost, in arguably the most futile offensive game in the history of football. The Bulldogs did beat Vanderbilt when the Commodores were ranked in the nation’s top 15 and beat Arkansas late in the year.

Any good feelings created by the Arkansas win were squashed by an abysmal performance in the 45-0 Egg Bowl loss to Ole Miss, in which State had just 37 yards of offense. Croom resigned the following day.

State hired Florida offensive coordinator Dan Mullen a couple of weeks later, and he brought in a recruiting class ranked #19 by Scout and #25 by Rivals. Mullen coached quarterbacks under Urban Meyer at Bowling Green and Utah, becoming Florida’s offensive coordinator when Meyer was hired in 2005.

So now a team that’s been known for their ability to run the football now begins the transition to Mullen’s spread-type offense. There’s obviously reason for optimism surrounding the Mississippi State program (starting at the top…), and it’s possible Mullen can bring success to Starkville. But then again, it’s Mississippi State. All I know is that Mullen’s got quite the work ahead of him to get State back to a respectable level, and it could be a rough year.

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Three years, three bowl games, three bowl wins.

The last time Kentucky football had seen a similar stretch of success, they had Tim Couch throwing the ball all over Commonwealth Stadium in the Fun’N’Gun-on-steroids offense of Hal Mumme.

After Jared Lorenzen became the school’s all-time career passing leader and a combined 5 wins in Rich Brooks’ first two years, Andre Woodson came in and by his senior season had not only made the Wildcats a competitive team that couldn’t be taken lightly by the SEC heavyweights, but had Kentucky ranked in the top 10 in the country after knocking off top-ranked LSU.

However, the bottom fell out on the rest of that 2007 season, and after Woodson graduated, along with a trio of targets currently on NFL rosters (Keenan Burton, Steve Johnson and Jacob Tamme), many – including myself felt Kentucky was going to fall back a little bit into their normal role of fighting with Vanderbilt to stay out of the SEC East cellar.

But, despite averaging only 18 points a game in the conference, Kentucky managed six wins (the Wildcats went just 2-6 in the SEC) and capped it off by beating Conference USA champion East Carolina in the Liberty Bowl. However, with the departure of the majority of the defense Kentucky relied and the struggles of the offense, can Kentucky reach a fourth straight bowl, something they’ve never done in 120 years of playing football?

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Are YOU Ready?

With the conclusion of SEC Media Days today with our very own Lane Kiffin, Montario and Hardesty and Eric Berry (all the coverage you want from the SEC website and a look from Joel at Rocky Top Talk, representing all of us here in the blogosphere), the opening of fall camps around the South are just a couple of weeks away. So I’ve taken it upon myself to take a late July look at the 2009 SEC team-by-team to get you ready for the season.

Starting Sunday and continuing through next Friday, I’ll be giving my thoughts, observations, concerns, etc. on the 11 SEC teams not named Tennessee and the prospects for each for this upcoming season. I probably won’t be breaking any new ground or giving any earth-shattering information, but it’s certainly going to be a different look.

I’ve structured these previews a little differently than last year, when I took it upon myself to preview every SEC team and every Division I conference on my own site before joining the Gate. I’ve done this for a couple of reasons: first, to make these previews ever-so-slightly different from the others thousands you’ll find on the internet. Secondly, I had to structure them, otherwise I would babble on – likely incoherently – for about 2,000 words and thus defeating the purpose.

Anyways, here’s the five areas I’ll be highlighting in these previews:

• Schedule Breakdown: I’ll be taking a look at each team’s schedule – one of the most important factors in my opinion in being able to assess a team’s odds of success a month before a season starts. What games can said team expect to win? To lose? Which games are the key to the season? I’ll take a look at that.
• STUDS: Who’s each team’s best players? I’ll take a look at three players or pairs or groups of players from whom you can expect big things in 2009.
• X-Factors: Every team in the SEC outside of maybe Florida has some questions marks, areas of concern. I’ll make my picks for those keys in determining the difference for a team’s season being good or being great.
• What’s New, and What’s (Not Necessarily) Improved: For it’s been a offseason of serious change for three schools (Auburn, Mississippi State and our own Vols), each team in the SEC will be featuring some new things from last season. And just because it’s new doesn’t mean it’s going to be better. I’ll be focusing on these things in this section.
• On-the-Record Prediction: Yes, believe it. I’ll be putting my credibility and reputation on the line and to stay in the Gate 21 archives with a basic prediction for each team. I won’t be picking individual games – I’m leaving myself some wiggle room with these – but I’ll forecasting a number of wins that you can expect. If you disagree with my assessments, by all means feel free to tell me how silly I am.

I’ve been working rather feverishly on these profiles the past couple of days to get them done. To prove how dedicated of a writer I am, I’ll be posting these from Gulf Shores, Alabama, where I’ll be vacationing next week. Hence why I’m working on them now as opposed to next week…

Here’s the schedule – one East school, one West school each day (sans Auburn):

• SUNDAY: Kentucky and Mississippi State
• MONDAY: Vanderbilt and Arkansas
• TUESDAY: Georgia and Alabama
• WEDNESDAY: South Carolina and LSU
• THURSDAY: Florida and Ole Miss
• FRIDAY: Auburn

… to me.