The
info you need to start the season…
By
Jeff Sallas
I
tell you if I read another bland “SEC Preview” I think I will puke. Now I don’t mind anybody expressing their
opinion since that is what I am doing here but you kind of expect more from
people who do this for a living or that run a major web site. Obviously that is expecting too much.
As
I am reading the umpteenth one of these previews I thought to myself… What a
complete waste of time. Here is your
standard “preview template”: First you
make your predictions and then put some blurb beside each team about the team
or certain players. These blurbs are
sometimes laughable when written by someone who knows nothing about the SEC.
Alright
so I decided I am not going to write another one of these previews using that
template. As always I want to write
something that presents a situation or set of facts and lets the readers decide
what they think. So I started thinking:
what do you need to get a handle on the upcoming season? Two things came to mind… Each team’s schedule and depth chart.
I
searched for a 2001 depth chart for each team and then organized them all into
a single file. I would like to pause to
give a big thumbs down to the LSU and the South Carolina “official” web sites
for not even having a depth chart available.
I had to go search one out on the “homer” web sites. A slight thumbs down to UT for their depth
chart links not working. I had to go to
Fulmer.com to for that one.
Now
of course depth charts are always in flux especially now that fall practice has
started. However I think these are
pretty accurate for how things looked coming into fall practice. I think you can see who the playmakers are
and how the team stacks up experience-wise.
I have gone through the depth charts and put the label “PLAYMAKER!” on
different players that have made big plays before or if they are an experienced
senior player.
As
for the schedules, I compiled everyone’s schedule and also listed out separate
the three conference games from the “other” division that everyone has to
play. It is different for everyone and
makes a huge difference.
So
here are the schedules and depth charts for each SEC team:
I
also made an Excel spreadsheet for the SEC schedules:
SEC2001schedule.xls (You need Internet Explorer and Excel 2000
to see this)
NOW
that I have provided you with some decent information I think I can share my
comments now. However I freely admit
that I can’t put the whole season in a neat little nutshell. I am not even going to attempt to predict
what every team is going to do for the season.
I would rather do that week to week.
However I would like to start with some “power rankings”. This is not a prediction of how everybody
will finish but more like a tournament seed.
I keep hearing people say, most notably SEC commish Roy Kramer, that the
regular season in college football is a like a playoff. Here is how I would rank the teams to start
the year:
SEC
WEST 2001 “POWER RANKINGS”
1.
LSU
2.
MISS ST
3.
AUBURN
4.
BAMA
5.
ARKANSAS
6.
OLE MISS
SEC
EAST 2001 “POWER RANKINGS”
1.
Hmmm… FLORIDA?
2.
TENNESSEE
3.
SOUTH CAROLINA
4.
GEORGIA
5.
VANDY
6.
KENTUCKY
SEC
WEST COMMENTS:
Coming
into the season I think LSU is the strongest team. That is no guarantee for a title and LSU has a hard conference
schedule but I really think they are loaded.
They have established playmakers in RBs Toefield and Davis. I think QB Rohan Davy and WR Josh Reed are
the best at their positions in the West.
I think TE Robert Royal is one of the best TE’s in the SEC. Although let me say the SEC is absolutely
loaded at TE. Back to LSU, they also
return 10 starters on defense led by All-American candidate LB Trev Faulk and a
senior-laden secondary. They have depth
problems at certain positions but so does everybody else.
As
for Miss St, I don’t think their defense will be as dominant as in year’s past
but it will be good as always led by Joe Lee Dunn. I think their offense is very good and they have the best running
attack in the SEC. I think Madkin is a
solid veteran QB but he is going to have to do better passing the ball and his
WRs must step up. Miss St had the SEC
West in hand last year but faltered at the end. This was due to a lot of injuries more than anything else but it
has been a problem for State the last few years. That second to the last game against Arkansas has really hurt
them several times.
As
for Auburn and Bama, these teams are surprisingly similar. Both teams feature question marks at QB,
talented but inexperienced RBs and a solid core of WRs. Auburn has a better OL but Bama might have
more depth on the line. On defense both
teams are stacked at the DL and LB but have a questionable secondary. I am amazed at how similar these two teams
are. Their schedules are very similar too.
They both have one tough out of conference game, UCLA for Bama and
Syracuse for Auburn. They both play
very similar “other” division schedules.
Auburn plays Florida, Georgia and Vandy while Bama plays Tennessee, South
Carolina and Vandy. A good break or
bounce of the ball could give both of these teams a great season or it could
just as easily go the other way. It
should be very interesting to see how the year pans out for these two teams…
And
rounding out the West are Ole Miss and Arkansas. Here is where schedules really come into account. I think Arkansas has the hardest schedule in
the SEC and maybe the nation. I
actually think they are a better team than Ole Miss but they will simply be
overwhelmed by a BRUTAL schedule. It is
going to be a tough year for Arkansas.
It is a toss-up between LSU and Arkansas as to has the harder schedule
but I think Arkansas does. They both of
course play all the other West teams.
Then LSU plays Florida, UT and Kentucky while Arkansas plays UT, Georgia
and South Carolina. Now LSU plays the 2
best teams in the conference but gets almost a sure win against UK while
Arkansas has no easy games.
MEANWHILE
Ole Miss plays the EASIEST schedule in the nation. I am sickened by Ole Miss’ out of conference schedule. I could understand them playing cupcakes a
few years ago trying deal with the major NCAA sanctions. However they are almost back to full strength
and should be playing some better teams than this. Out-of-conference this year they play MURRAY ST, ARKANSAS ST AND
MIDDLE TENN ST. I don’t think I have
ever seen a more pathetic out-of-conference schedule than that list. Then out of the SEC East they play Kentucky,
Vandy and Georgia. They are the only
team in the West that get to play both Vandy and Kentucky. I think both of these teams have some
playmakers and I think they will spoil somebody’s season but I just don’t think
either are strong enough to win the West.
SEC
EAST COMMENTS:
Florida
is once again the “Beast of the East”.
Their great players, team speed and great coaching make them the team to
beat once again. They get 2 of their
toughest games at home in Tennessee and Miss St. However they face 3 stern road tests in LSU, Auburn and South
Carolina. LSU will probably be the
toughest. If Florida wins the SEC this
year they really will have earned it. I
think they have to play the toughest “other division” schedule in the league as
they travel to LSU and Auburn plus play Miss St at home. It should be interesting to see how Spurrier
handles the QBs this year and how each young QB handles the pressure this
year. Last year steady senior Jesse
Palmer was there to relieve.
Tennessee
is just about reloaded and ready to make another run at a title. However they must travel to Gainesville
where they have not won in forever and that game always means so much. The winner must lose 2 more conference games
for the loser to get back into the race.
However other than the Florida game, UT has a good schedule. Their only other tough conference road games
are at Arkansas and Bama. They get
Georgia, South Carolina and LSU at home.
It should be interesting to see how Casey Clausen does over a full
season. However I think he showed
himself capable last year. I wonder if
senior Travis Stephens will hold on to the TB job. I kind of think that one of UT’s many blue-chip RBs might take
over about midseason. UT is always
strong at WR and will have a big strong OL.
The defense should be ever better than last year. I think the Vols will be back in the BCS
this year.
South
Carolina comes into the year pretty strong.
I think they lost some guys on defense but the main guys on offense are
back and the defense should still be pretty good. The defense is led by a hulking senior linebacking corp. They were one of the best defenses in the
league last year and should be again.
Offensively they bring back QB Phil Petty and RBs Derek Watson and
Andrew Pinnock plus Outback bowl hero Ryan Brewer. South Carolina should be bowl-bound again this year.
Georgia
is my surprise team this year. I really
thought Mark Richt was one of the best coaching prospects in the country. He is a breath of fresh air at Georgia. I totally agree with the decision to axe Jim
Donnan at the end of last year. I think
Donnan was a pretty good football coach but was headed down hill. You hear all about his winning percentage
but losing to Florida, UT, Auburn and Georgia Tech the majority of the time is
not going to keep you employed at Georgia.
The guy was vocal in his disdain for dealing with fans and a lot of the
other parts of his job off the field.
The guy turned fans off left and right.
I think Georgia did the right thing.
Richt
was the perfect guy for the job since Georgia desperately needed an offensive
mind. The offense had continually
underachieved under Donnan. Georgia has
some good players and Richt should be able to do a lot with playmakers like
Terrence Edwards and RBs Jasper Sanks and Musa Smith. He should be able to continue improving QB Cory Philips as he did
for so many QBs at Florida St. Georgia
returns a pretty strong OL led by junior John Stinchcomb. Defensively Georgia lost a lot on the DL
last year but return a boatload of senior LBs and in the secondary. I look for Georgia to have a very good
season this year.
Now
we come to Vandy and Kentucky. Kentucky
is not even worth analyzing. They are
the worse team in the conference and I will be surprised if they beat anybody
including Vandy. They are this bad now
and will seen be mauled by the NCAA. It
looks like it will be a long time before Kentucky gets out of the
basement. Vandy is better than that but
still will have a tough time competing.
Woody Widenhofer has delivered with better players and a consistent
defense but that is just not enough in the SEC. Although Vandy might have won a few more games over the last few
years if not for the unbelievable bad offensive coaching. Over the last 3 years the play calling has
been just horrible at times. Also Vandy
has consistently turned the ball over in tight situations late in the
game. I don’t really think firing
Widenhofer is the answer. I think
finding a decent offensive coordinator would be the thing to do.