The
conference races begin…
By
Jeff Sallas
Things heat up this week as conference play
begins. We have 4 conference games on
the schedule, 2 big divisional games and 2 more East/West clashes. The contenders should start making themselves
known over the next few weeks but it all starts this weekend for these 8
teams. Last week went about as
expected. I finished 10-2 missing Vandy
and Bama...
This
game and Auburn/Ole Miss have sort of become the official start to the SEC
schedule. Both are big divisional
games. Auburn/Ole Miss was the bigger
game last year as South Carolina was coming off it’s 0-11 season but this year
it is this game. South Carolina’s
coming out party last year started against Georgia as their defense forced
current Dallas Cowboy starting QB Quincy Carter into 5 INTs. Lou Holtz and Co. played a fairly
conservative offense while their defense terrorized Georgia. I think South Carolina will have a similar
game plan this year except they might open it up some more on offense. Senior QB Phil Petty leads the
Gamecocks.
Petty
was brilliant last week against Boise St going 18 for 25 for 220 yards and no
INTs. Senior WR Brian Scott was Petty’s
favorite target as he tallied 58 yards on 5 catches. Junior RBs Derek Watson and Andrew Pinnock were solid combining
for over 100 yards rushing. The South
Carolina offense is not spectacular but very steady much like their coach. On the other side of the ball South Carolina
features a senior-laden defense that lead the SEC in scoring defense last
year. Lou Holtz has certainly remade
this team to fit his style of coaching.
He has done a spectacular job.
Across
the field new Georgia head coach gets his first taste of the SEC as a head
coach. While Bama head coach Dennis
Franchione has grabbed most of the media attention I think Richt was a great
hire as well. He is definitely a breath
of fresh air after Jim Donnan and seems to have already made a big difference
as Georgia rolled up big offensive numbers last week. Now most people would say “big deal it was against Arkansas St”
but if you look back Donnan could not roll up big numbers against the
patsies. The man was a horrible
offensive coach and a bright young offensive mind like Richt was just what the
doctor ordered at Georgia. Richt
coordinated Florida St’s great offenses over the last few years.
Musa
Smith claimed the TB job for keeps from Jasper Sanks as he rushed for 158 yards
on 20 carries. Meanwhile redshirt
freshman David Green got the start and staked his claim to the QB spot. He went 21 for 29 for 285 yards. Georgia looks very good at QB with Green
doing well and experienced junior Cory Philips behind him. Philips also had 100 yards passing last
week. And in one week Richt did what
Donnan could never do, he got another WR rather than Terrence Edwards to step
up. Sophomore flanker Damien Gary led
the Bulldogs in receiving with 104 yards on 8 catches. Terrence Edwards was right there though with
74 yards on 5 catches. A lot of other
players contributed receiving as well.
The
Georgia defense is still a giant question mark going into this pivotal
game. I think they can be a solid unit
but I believe Richt has stated that depth is a big issue. South Carolina’s offense vs. this defense
ought to be a very interesting matchup while the marquee attraction will be the
rebuilt Georgia offense against the tough South Carolina defense. This is a big time SEC game. The winner will step forward to at least
have a chance at challenging Florida and Tennessee while the loser is out of
the SEC East race entirely. The loser
is in such a tough position with a big divisional loss and both Florida and
Tennessee remaining on the schedule.
This should be a close hard fought game.
South
Carolina is definitely the more solid team but I really like Richt and this
Georgia team. Georgia has had some good
offensive talent for years now that was completely undeveloped under Donnan,
the best example being ex-QB Quincy Carter.
He may not be that good for the Cowboys but the simple fact that he is
good enough to be considered for a starting position in the NFL says a
lot. Carter was absolutely horrible for
Georgia last year before he got hurt and it all started against South
Carolina! I think this year will be
different. Georgia is at home and the
offense is unchained. I am picking...
GEORGIA
OVER SOUTH CAROLINA
The
first big game in the SEC West. Ever
since Tommy Tuberville came to Auburn from Ole Miss this has turned into a much
better series. I think some of that has
died down this year as most of Tub’s big recruits have left Oxford. It was reported this week that Ole Miss
returned a small portion of their allotted tickets so that says a lot. Two years ago they brought almost 15,000
people to Jordan-Hare to watch Ole Miss win in OT. Last year Auburn won a close one in Oxford 35-27. This year the story is of course the 2 young
QBs, Eli Manning and Jason Campbell.
Eli
Manning is a bit ahead of Campbell as he is a 3rd year sophomore and
backed up Romaro Miller all last year.
He has been awesome his last 2 games, the bowl game last year and the
season opener last week. So far Manning
has looked as good as advertised. His
first real test comes this week against an Auburn defense that didn’t let Ball
St past midfield last week. It is only
Ball St but that is pretty impressive.
Auburn showed a deep defensive line and a very fast linebacking and
secondary corp. I think the key factor
will be if Auburn can cover the deep ball.
That is where Cutcliffe and Manning should strike. The only weak point to the Auburn defense is
2 untested corners.
Ole
Miss also returns an experienced OL led by LT Terrence Metcalf and C Ben
Claxton and several good RBs led by seniors Joe Gunn and Charles
Stackhouse. However I think Ole Miss
will find it difficult to run against Auburn.
The Tigers had just about the best defense in the league against the run
last year. I think Ole Miss will win or
lose the game through the air but I think Ole Miss’ veteran running backs will
play a definite role in the passing game.
Meanwhile
Auburn’s inexperienced offensive unit goes up against Ole Miss’ beleaguered
defense. Ole Miss had one of the worst
defenses in the league last year. However
Cutcliffe fired Tuberville holdover Art Kaufman and brought in veteran coach
Don Lindsey to rebuild the Rebel defense.
He has 2 outstanding players in LB Eddie Strong and SS Syniker Taylor
plus a couple of senior tackles but after that the Rebels don’t have many
proven players. Strong missed the
Auburn game last year and Rudi Johnson had a field day. The Rebel defense should certainly be a
little bit better with Strong back.
I
think Auburn will chip away at the Rebels behind TB Ronnie Brown and a short
passing game occasionally going deep.
While it is well documented how young QB Campbell and RB Brown are,
Auburn has experienced playmakers all over the field catching the ball. TE Robert Johnson had a big day against Ball
St. I think Auburn will use a lot of 2
TE sets with Johnson and senior starter Lorenzo Diamond. Auburn also has experienced WRs Deandre
Greene, Tim Carter and a great 3rd down RB in Cas Moore. I think these guys will get a lot of
work. The key for Campbell and Auburn I
think is to get out to a good start.
This
looks to be a very good matchup. I
think the best unit on the field is Auburn’s defense. You add that to the fact that this is Eli Manning’s first SEC
road game and I think you have to give Auburn the edge. A sold out Jordan-Hare should provide a
pretty hostile environment. I think
Auburn’s offense will make a few mistakes but I just don’t think Ole Miss’
defense can keep them bottled up the whole game. However if Ole Miss can give their defense an early lead things
could change but I think Auburn holds off the Rebels.
AUBURN
OVER OLE MISS
A
week after one of the worst offensive showings in team history, Arkansas
welcomes the mighty Vols to town. Last
week, Arkansas only managed 114 yards TOTAL, only 5 first downs and turned the
ball over 5 times. The Arkansas running
game which was supposed to be the offense’s strength only managed 25 yards on
26 CARRIES!!! They averaged a negative
number rushing! Ouch. UNLV is good but I don’t think they are that
good. I certainly don’t think their
defense is on par with Tennessee. The
Razorbacks look to be in big trouble.
They must find a QB and establish some sort of a running game.
Tennessee
got it’s running game untracked against Syracuse with senior Travis Stephens
leading the way. He had 111 yards on 14
carries and it looked like some of UT’s super RB recruits got in the game as
well.
Meanwhile,
I am wondering about QB Casey Clausen.
He only managed 136 yards on 14 for 27 passing. The passing game was further hurt by the
injury to WR Dante Stallworth who will be out about 6 weeks it sounds
like. Stallworth led the Vols in
receiving with 55 yards. Now Syracuse
does have a pretty good defense but I think everyone expected a little more out
of UT’s passing game. I didn’t see the
game but over the past 2 seasons I think one of UT’s main problems has been an
inexperienced offensive coordinator. I
am sure Randy Sanders is a good coach but entering his 3rd year he
has not distinguished himself at all as the head man on the offensive side of
the ball. If the UT offense continues
to sputter, UT might be looking for a new offensive coordinator by the end of
the season. I doubt that it will matter
much this week but it means the world next week...
TENNESSEE
OVER ARKANSAS
Bama
heads to Nashville this week to pick up head coach Dennis Franchione his first
win as a head coach and their first conference win of the season. You usually throw out the old “Vandy always
plays Bama tough” line here but a closer look at the box score of Vandy’s loss
to Middle Tenn St tells a different story.
It is staggering. I think this
team has already quit on this coaching staff.
For most of Woody Widenhofer’s tenure at Vandy the defense has been very
good but that is NOT the case this year.
Here
are a few samplings from last week’s game...
MTSU had 37 FIRST DOWNS, they had 600 YARDS TOTAL OFFENSE and they held
the ball almost exactly 20 MINUTES longer than Vandy!!!!!!. Good gosh, did Vandy even show up for the
game? Vandy was equally awful on
defense as well. They allowed almost
exactly 300 yards rushing and 300 yards passing. MTSU is a pretty good team but I can’t believe that they are that
good! Vandy just might challenge
Kentucky for worst in the SEC. That
November 10 matchup between these two titans should be an epic battle. And we ought to find out how good MTSU is
later this year as they play Ole Miss and LSU.
Vandy
didn’t do much on offense against MTSU either.
Bama’s defense ought to hammer the struggling Vandy offense while Bama’s
offense ought to get untracked against this train wreck of a defense. I will be amazed if this one is close.
BAMA
OVER VANDY
The
Florida “air force” picked right up where they left off last year against
Marshall. Sophomore Rex Grossman played
a superb game going 20 for 30 for 375 yards and 3 TDs. Sophomore Jabbar Gaffney picked up 102 yards
on 5 catches while his partner in crime Reche Caldwell had 87 yards on 4
catches. Florida’s passing game is so
much better than any other team in the SEC it is scary. Nobody is even close. Spurrier continues to show he is a great
coach and a brilliant offensive mind.
Super
prospect Brock Berlin did get some playing time but better get comfy on the bench. I think Grossman staked his claim to the
starting job. Berlin is probably
starting to rue the day he decided on Florida since he is a sophomore as well
and will have to compete with Grossman his entire career at Florida. Steve Spurrier made a mistake last year not
redshirting Berlin but I am sure Steve will pick up another great QB prospect
this year or next. Oh and by the way...
FLORIDA
OVER LA MONROE
LSU
plays another scrimmage to prepare for the big showdown with Auburn next week. I look for coach Nick Saban to get Davey out
pretty early and get his backup some good PT.
In fact LSU will probably play a whole lot of players on Saturday to try
and build some depth and avoid injuries.
LSU
OVER UTAH ST
Again
this might be Kentucky’s only win. Next
week they go to Indiana and then they play 8 straight conference games and
probably won’t be favored in any of those games. Ball St is fresh off a pounding from Auburn so Kentucky ought to
be able to pull this one out. If they
don’t then things are even worse than I thought...
KENTUCKY
OVER BALL ST