Archive for the ‘SEC East’ Category

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Week 4

Through 27 September 2009

Here’s my ballot for this week in the SEC Power Poll, along with a feeble attempt at explaining why I’m such a moron. Hopefully most of these are fairly obvious.

Here they are, my darlins:

Rk.	Team	Change	Comments
1. (T)		—	The Florida Gators manhandled Kentucky this past weekend, but the Cats manhandled Tebow. The Gators are good, very good. They are, however, beatable. Without Tebow, they are very beatable.
	Result: UF 41 • UK 7
1. (T)		2	After seeing he Alabama Crimson Tide make short work of Arkansas, my gut is beginning to tell me that Alabama is the best team in the SEC. That’s why they are tied for first this week.
	Result: ALA 35 • ARK 7
3.		1	The LSU Tigers get the bump to number 3 this week for simply managing to not lose against Miss. St. I don’t think they are nearly as good as Florida or Alabama, but I do think they are the best of the rest.
	Result: LSU 30 • MSU 26
4.		2	The Georgia Bulldogs found their stride this past week against a solid Arizona State team. Maybe they have begun to figure out what the problem was and have started heading in the right direction. They rise shakily in my ballot.
	Result: GA 20 • AZ St.17
5.		2	The Auburn Tigers are not flashy and are not getting a lot of press, but they are disciplined and undefeated. I think that counts for something. I am not sure how well they will fare down the stretch, but for now I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.
	Result: AUB 54 • Ball St. 30
6.		3	The Ole Miss Rebels laid a huge egg versus South Carolina last week and obviously are not quite as good as I originally thought. Still, I think they have a chance to remain very relevant in the SEC West.
	Result: MISS 10 • SC 16
7. (T)		4	The South Carolina Gamecocks have apparently righted the ship and look light years better against the Rebels this past week. They played with more “fire” than I’ve seen in a long time. They have a bye this week since SC State simply doesn’t count as an opponent.
	Result: SC 16 • MISS 10
7. (T)		3	Yes, I know they lost, but Dan Mullen has the Mississippi State Bulldogs looking tough. They had LSU beaten, and let it slip away. At this point, they are definitely my most improved team. I guess this means I have to get used to hearing cowbells again. They’ll be tested again this week by the bumblebees of Georgia Tech.
	Result: MSU 26 • LSU 30
9.		2	The Tennessee Volunteers struggled this week on defense against a scrappy Ohio team that refused to die. My gut tells me they were tired from the Florida game or looking ahead to Auburn. Either way, this week looks to be a milestone game for the Vols.
	Result: UT 34 • Ohio 23
10.		2	The Kentucky Wildcats got the hell pounded out of them by Florida and they responded by sending Tebow to the hospital. Kentucky looks like Kentucky usually looks: not good, not bad, and not at all happy that basketball season isn’t here yet.
	Result: KY 7 • FLA 41
11.		2	The Arkansas Razorbacks, took it in the chops from Alabama who did everything that Georgia didn’t do against the Hogs: namely play a little defense. It’s amazing how actually defending your end of the field will keep an opponent from scoring.
	Result: ARK 7 • ALA 35
12.		—	The Vanderbilt Commodores beat up on Rice and got a much needed win. The Owls, however, are 0-4, so I’m not so sure that means much. Either way, the Dores’ are going to have to pick it up this week lest they be smitten by the ticked-off Rebels in a nasty way.
	Result: VU 36 • Rice 17

The Rest of the Power Poll

Now that you have wasted your time looking at my ballot, go check out what everybody else is saying over at Team Speed Kills, where the round-up will appear later this week.

– So it goes…

Check out the Full Poll Results at

Team Speed Kills!

Week 3

Through 20 September 2009

Here’s my ballot for this week in the SEC Power Poll, along with a feeble attempt at explaining why I’m such a moron. Not a whole lot of ways to separate between some of the teams this early on, but at least I thought up some excuses for my decisions.

Here they are, my darlins:

Rk.	Team	Change	Comments
1.		–	Well, the Florida Gators bested my Vols, and that has to count for something. Still, I expected a bit more from the vaunted Gators — especially since they were favored by more than 3 TDs and only won by 10. On the whole, the Gators looked vulnerable when it comes to their ability to adjust to changing defenses and against a clock-control offense. Still, I think they are the best in the SEC for now.
	Result: UF 23 • UT 13
2.		–	The Alabama Crimson Tide blasted North Texas back to cowpoke-land, not that I expected anything else. They’ll have a tougher test this week against Arkansas who has players who people have actually heard of and who clearly can put points on the board..
	Result: ALA 53 • N Texas 7
3.		1	The Right Reverend Houston Nutt’s Ole Miss Rebels remain an enigma — up, then down, up then down — sort of like Nutt’s cell phone bill back when he was “textin’” in Arkansas. Still, the Rebels they look strong and will likely make a run at the west..
	Result: Miss 52 • SE La. 23
4.		1	The LSU Tigers get a nod and No. 4 from me for having actually played someone in their non-conference schedule: namely, Washington. Louisiana-Lafayette, however, was like punching little girls in the face. MSU will be better than that this week.
	Result: LSU 45 • La. Lafayette 14
5.		2	The Auburn Tigers have actually played against some real opponents, already has one win in the SEC, and notched a nice win against a decent West Virginia Mountaineers team this week. This week they look to hone their skills against 0-3 Ball State. That could get ugly.
	Result: AUB 41 • WVU 30
6.		1	I don’t know which is more significant, scoring 52 vs. Arkansas or allowing 41. Memo to the Bulldogs: a little defense would be nice. The Georgia Bulldogs are a meltdown in the making, and I imagine that Richt is beginning to feel the heat. They’re my No 6 this week, but barely.
	Result: GA 52 • ARK 41
7.		1	Sure, the Tennessee Volunteers lost to Florida. Still, the Full Monte defense managed to completely foul up St. Timm-ahy’s rhythm to the point that he was no longer able to walk on water. Add to that a nice showing by the running backs, and the Vols look to be improving. Still, it would be nice to have some semblance of a passing game, but it is what it is. Nice steady progress by the Blackjack General.
	Result: UT 13 • UF 23
8.		–	A close win by the Kentucky Wildcats against Louisville. Now, can they win in the SEC? Playing teams who name their stadiums after take-out pizza doesn’t inspire confidence, and I’m reserving judgment on the Cats.
	Result: UK 31 • Papa John 27
9.		2	The Arkansas Razorbacks, played a tough game against the Bulldogs this weekend and, on the whole, looked tough offensively. Ryan Mallett clearly has talent, a cannon for an arm, and game between his ears. The ‘Backs defense, however, was pretty much non-existent. Still, I think the Razorbacks could surprise a lot of folks this season, most notably in managing to keep Petrino in the same coaching job for more than one season.
	Result: ARK 41 • GA 52
10.		2	The Mississippi State Bulldogs are a bit of a surprise this season due to their winning record and notable lack of suckification. LSU, however, will test them sorely, I fear — as in bent over … the hard way.
	Result: MSU 15 • VU 3
11.		1	The South Carolina Gamecocks do have a winning record, but are painful to watch. The only reason that SC isn’t last on my list is because Vandy is lousy. Does the Ole Ball Coach call it quits after this season? Stay tuned.
	Result: SC 38 • Fla. Atlantic3
12.		3	All I can say is: “Damn.” Expected more from the the Vanderbilt Commodores early in the season. And what is up with the ‘Dores always losing to Miss State? Someone please tell Bobby Johnson that you get more points if you carry the ball to that big colored box at the end of the field.
	Result: VU 3 • MSU 15

The Rest of the Power Poll

Now that you have wasted your time looking at my ballot, go check out what everybody else is saying over at Team Speed Kills.

– So it goes…

Check out the Full Poll Results at:

Team Speed Kills!

Week 1

Through 7 September 2009

Here’s my ballot for this week in the SEC Power Poll, along with an feeble attempt at explaining why I’m such a moron. Not a whole lot of ways to separate between some of the teams this early on, but at least I thought up some excuses for my decisions.

Here they are, my darlins:

What, you were expecting more?

The Rest of the Power Poll

Now that you have wasted your time looking at my ballot, go check out what everybody else is saying over at Team Speed Kills, where the round-up will appear later this week.

Onward and upward …

– So it goes…

It was Western Kentucky and lawvol did an excellent job with his version of this post (as in better than mine’s going to be), so I’ll keep this relatively brief.

Judging by the atmosphere on campus before the game and during the game in the student section, you would in no way have thought Tennessee’s opponent was possibly the worst Division I-A team in the country. I found this out on the long walk from my apartment down the Cumberland Avenue “Strip” and through the heart of campus on my way to the Vol Walk. I managed to get an up-close spot fort the spectacle, and I’ll have a video from it at the end of this.

The new JumboTron is awesome, especially when they take the ads off and make it full screen (click to enlarge)

As for the game, I’ll start with Jonathan Crompton. Sure, the tipped balls are worrisome and the first interception he threw – though not his fault, said Lane Kiffin – was the awful kind of pass he would have made last year. Other than that, he really didn’t have that many incompletions.

He looked confident. He looked poised. He managed the offense very well (I can only remember one substitution penalty and procedure penalty). He was 21-of-28 and threw five touchdowns for goodness sakes. Sure, it was mostly the short passing game.

But if your quarterback struggles with making multiple reads (as Crompton did in 2008), you don’t make him do that. You let him take the snap and throw it to a wideout against a corner playing off the line and let the playmaker get some yards in space. You throw the short hitch. You get Crompton rolling out with options short, medium and long. Heck, Crompton even slid when he had to scramble.

The receivers played well enough to make you forget the injuries. Luke Stocker caught two scores. Marsalis Teague led the way as a freshmen and is going to be a great player. Quintin Hancock deserves a shout-out.

But this day belonged to the offensive line. Crompton had time to throw and that only helps him. And the line opened enormous holes and got great push on just about every play, as was evidenced in the stats. Hopefully they stay healthy throughout the year, because watching them open lanes for Hardesty, Bryce, Oku and Poole (let’s not forget about Toney WIlliams, either) could be really fun to watch if they are able to keep it up.

The defense was swarming and Western Kentucky had no time to do anything – at all. I thought the linebackers played pretty well, but we’ll have to see how they go up against stronger, faster opponents in the future. Janzen Jackson was the first freshman to see the field defensively, and, like Teague, he’s going to be a great player. I thought Wes Brown also played very well: well as in fresh, considering everything we’d heard about him all preseason were the bad condition of both of his knees.

To conclude, anytime you dominate a team 63-7 and outgain them by the margin Tennessee did, you feel good about it. But if nothing else, it’s a game where you get some confidence, especially on offense where those guys are trying to make us all forget last year’s atrocities. It’s a chance for the freshmen and new players to get some game action, as every little bit of experience helps. Western Kentucky was the perfect opponent for Lane and Company to open up with.

My view from Section F (click to enlarge)

Looking ahead, I think this team could be pretty tough to beat in Neyland Stadium this year. If the crowd was like it was for Western Kentucky – and those of you who were there hopefully agree with me on this – how will it be when Auburn, Georgia and South Carolina come to visit?

Which leads me to my next bold statement: I see absolutely no way UCLA comes into Knoxville next week and beats Tennessee.

There, I said it. First off, anytime you travel across the country to play, you’re at a disadvantage. See LSU last night at Washington, Maryland getting rocked at Cal, our own Vols the past two seasons and Cal coming here in 2006. Kevin Prince is UCLA’s starting QB. He was 18-of-29 for 176 yards, and threw two picks against one touchdown. That was at home, against San Diego State.

Next week he’ll be dealing with the Tennessee defense. In Tennessee’s stadium. Against a group of players and coaches and fans that want to right the wrong of last year’s embarrassing loss. And do it emphatically in front of a national TV audience on ESPN.

Yes, yes, I know we all said the same exact thing last year. But if not for horribly inept coaching (throwing 41 passes Dave Clawson and letting Kevin Craft dink-and-dunk you down the field John Chavis), Tennessee wins that game. UCLA has certainly improved, but this time they get the dubious honor of making the long trip. We all already are aware (boom, alliteration!) of the importance of this game to the rest of the Vols’ season. Tennessee absolutely has to beat UCLA next Saturday.

As soon as the Vols had the first couple of touchdowns yesterday and settled into the complete domination they displayed, my thoughts were already on UCLA. Hence why I’ve spent the last half of this post talking about next Saturday.

Anyways, here’s the video I took of the Vol Walk from yesterday (please know it’s long and my camera steadiness was lacking…you try holding your arm up that high for that long):

– … to me.

Football season is officially upon us and last night we got a chance to get our first look at one of the Tennessee Volunteers’ upcoming opponents: the South Carolina Gamecocks.  If last night was any indication, South Carolina’s offense has a long way to go.  In their lackluster 7-3 win over the NC State Wolfpack, the Gamecocks looked fairly anemic when they had the ball and had it not been for their defense, they probably don’t win the game (considering their only touchdown came as a result of a recovered fumble in the red zone).  That is some good news for the Vols.  You can read plenty more on this game from the Thunder Chicken perspective over at Garnet and Black Attack.

Meanwhile, out in the hinterland, the Boise State Broncos managed to beat the Oregon Ducks 19-8 in a battle of fisticuffs on the Smurf Turf. Even more exciting than the game was Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount’s right hook to the jaw of Boise State defensive end Byron Hout after the game was over. CBS Sports is now reporting that Blount has been suspended for the remainder of the season by the University of Oregon.

Tisk, Tisk…

Here’s a little look at the fun that was had by Blount and Hout at the game.

Video: Smurf Punchin’

Oh yeah, and Utah beat Utah State 35-17 (if any of you cared).

Thus, we have but one day before the Vols get it going against the Western Kentucky Weird-Grimace-Looking-Walking-Amoeba-or-is-it-an-Eggplant-Guys (Hilltoppers) at Neyland Stadium.  After all these months of waiting, we finally get a chance to see Lane Kiffin’s Vols in action.  Let’s just hope no one punches anyone afterwards.

Ahh, college football, I’ve missed you…

– So it goes…

Gate 21 is proud to host this week’s Roundtable!

It’s Time…

This week’s Big Orange Roundtable is hosted by … ummm … oh, yeah, it’s our week.  We here at the Gate are proud to host the 2009 kickoff edition of the Big Orange Roundtable as we all get ready to tee it up and kick it down for the 112th season of Tennessee Volunteers Football.

With that lovely prospect in mind, let’s get down to business:

Week 8

1) (From HSH)  We’ve talked through the past month or so about just about everything we could talk about regarding this Tennessee team: the quarterbacks, offensive line, freshman, Eric Berry, finding healthy wide receivers, freshman again, etc. So the simple question is this: what do you expect or what specifically are you looking for from the Vols against Western Kentucky this Saturday?

HSH: First things first, Western Kentucky is not going to be anything close to resembling a quality football team.  They were recently a power in 1-AA, but this is their first full year in 1-A, and have the potential to be one of the worst teams to come to Neyland Stadium in a while (yes, I’m including Wyoming).  They went just 2-10 last year (the wins were Eastern Kentucky and Murray State) and return just 12 starters from that team.

So if Tennessee hangs 60 points on the Hilltoppers, oh, well it was just Western Kentucky, right?  Not exactly.  I want to see Tennessee score lots of points Saturday afternoon.  I expect Lane Kiffin will want to pound the rock with the running backs.  I want to see a confident Jonathan Crompton that doesn’t make any mistakes and crisply runs the offense.

Defensively, I want to see which freshmen make an early impact in their first games, and how they handle playing for real.  On both sides, I want to see swagger—OK, it’s WKU, but we could be playing my high school’s team and I would still want to see our players have a wealth of confidence in themselves and their coaches that creates said swagger.

Lawvol: I expect and hope to see a few things.  First, I am not exactly expecting grandeur for this first game of the 2009 season, but what I am expecting to see is poise and purpose.  I am hoping that this team brings their attitude—one which was sorely missing last season—and refuses to play down to the level of their opponent which they should beat under almost any circumstance.

Let’s be honest, Western Kentucky went 2-10 last season which made even the Vols’ 5-7 campaign seem decent.  Prior to 2008, however, Western Kentucky had a streak of 12 straight winning seasons, and look to be on the upswing.  That said, The Vols have got to play with a little spark and bring their best game to their opponent—regardless of the quality of that opponent.  The Vols have to play their game and not let it be dictated to them by their opponent.

Most of all, I am looking to see a team that is glad to be on the field playing once more.  I hope that we begin to see the development of the new Kiffin system and hopefully get a huge relief when the quarterback play is surprisingly crisp and effective.  This is a confidence game which is only a good thing if you perform in a manner that inspires confidence

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This Week’s Roundtable is hosted by:

Your Mother Slept with Wilt Chamberlain

This week’s Big Orange Roundtable is hosted by Thomas the Terrible over at YMSWWC.  As you may have noticed, I have been a bit scarce this week, while HSH has been burning it up with his awesome series of 2009 SEC Football Previews (which, by the way, are now linked and accessible via the links on the countdown widget in the sidebars).  Given the fact that he has done yeoman’s work this week already (and the fact that I have been so un-helpful due to a spate of pesky depositions), this week I am flying solo on the Big Orange Roundtable.  Which pretty much means that this set of responses will suck more than usual.

At any rate, here are my thoughts for the week:

Week 3

1) Now that we have covered the receivers & QB’s, let’s get to the running game.  Just how much improved do you think the running game will be??

Lawvol: Every time I make predictions about how good someone is going to be, how many games someone will win, or how likely it is that Charlie Weiss develops a gravitational field and causes opposing coaches to go into orbit, I look like a fool.  I am awful at this sort of thing.

I suppose that Niels Bohr got it right when he said “Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future.”

All that said, I do think that the running backs this year have the chance to really do some special things … or fall flat on their faces.  We really have no choice but to lean on them.  My gut tells me that Bryce Brown will be great someday, but that it is simply unreasonable to expect him to come exploding out of the gates from day one.  While he might end up factoring-in significantly by mid-season I don’t see him being the cure-all for the Vols offensive woes from last season immediately.

For this reason, I see Montario Hardesty as the man on which the Vols’ early-season offensive hopes hangs.  If he can stay healthy and stay focused, I think he has the potential to really put up some gaudy numbers behind the re-tooled offensive line with its zone-blocking scheme.  Of course, no matter how good Hardesty may be, if Tennessee cannot improve its passing game at least a little, then defenses are simply going to stack-up to kill the run all day long.  As a result, I think whether Hardesty is able to actually make things happens depends a great deal on whether the quarterback under center can play his role effectively.  If so, then I think that Tennessee’s backs should be more than strong enough to score some points.  If not, then the scores may be low—and the risk of injuries to the running backs great—as opposing defenses pound away at the Vols ground attack.

Still, I am hopeful and optimistic that running backs, now coached by Eddie Gran, are up to the challenge.

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