By
Jeff Sallas
First
the standings...
SEC
East
1. Georgia: 11-1, 7-1 (#4 in 2001, #4 in 2000, #3 in 1999)
2. Florida: 8-4, 6-2 (#2 in 2001, #1 in 2000, #1 in 1999)
3. Tennessee: 8-4, 5-3 (#1 in 2001, #2 in 2000, #2 in 1999)
4. South Carolina: 5-7, 3-5 (#3 in 2001, #3 in 2000, #6 in 1999)
5. Vandy: 2-10, 0-8 (#6 in 2001, #5 in 2000, #5 in 1999)
6. *Kentucky: 7-5, 3-5 (#5 in 2001, #6 in 2000, #4 in 1999)
SEC
West
1. Arkansas: 9-3, 5-3 (#3 in 2001, #5 in 2000, #4 in 1999)
2. Auburn: 8-4, 5-3 (#2 in 2001, #1 in 2000, #5 in 1999)
3. LSU: 8-4, 5-3 (#1 in 2001, #2 in 2000, #6 in 1999)
4. Ole Miss: 6-6, 3-5 (#4 in 2001, #3 in 2000, #3 in 1999)
5. Miss St: 3-9, 0-8 (#6 in 2001, #4 in 2000, #2 in 1999)
6. *Bama: 10-3, 6-2 (#5 in 2001, #6 in 2000, #1 in 1999)
* Not
eligible due to NCAA probation
Individual
awards in my opinion...
(2001
pick: Travis Stephens, Tennessee)
Kind
of a weird pick but this all-senior line was the one constant for the East
champion Bulldogs all year. This line
led the way through inconsistent QB play, injuries to Musa Smith and injuries
at WR.
Honorable
mention goes to Rex Grossman, Taylor Jacobs, Jason Witten, Jared Lorenzen and
Artose Pinner.
(2001
pick: Rohan Davey/Josh Reed)
This
pick appears kind of questionable on the surface but after further examination
I think Talley maybe more impressive in some ways than some of the great RBs
that have grabbed this honor over the last few years. What do I mean? Well
Talley was not just given the job and never made the workhorse. In fact the guy has not had over 25 carries
in a game all year I don’t think. Yet
he made the most of his carries and came up big in the biggest games of
Arkansas’ season. Talley had 241 yards
in a season changing win over Auburn and another 182 yards against
Kentucky. He also had over 100 yards
against Ole Miss and played a big role in tough road wins over South Carolina
and Miss St. Finally, with his team
down 17-7 to LSU and on the ropes he ripped off a 56 yard TD to set up the
miracle finish and finished with over 100 yards. Talley was also the only RB in the West to have over 1000 yards
rushing.
Honorable
mention goes to Carnell Williams, Ronnie Brown, Domanick Davis, Michael
Clayton, Matt Jones, Eli Manning and Tyler Watts.
(2001
pick: Tennessee)
Bama
finished 3rd in the nation in total defense and top of the SEC in
sacks. Behind a dominating defensive
front, Bama’s young LBs and improved secondary made plenty of plays. A very good defense. As for Georgia they were not the best unit
statistically but they continually made the big plays at the critical junctures
in the season. They pretty much
single-handedly won the game against South Carolina. They made critical stops against Bama and finally they stopped
Auburn three-and-out 6 times in a row in the second half enabling the offense
to pull the game out. Finally these two
teams finished #1 and #2 in the SEC in the most important defensive stat,
scoring defense.
(2001
pick: Rex Grossman, Florida)
“I
look for Grossman in this space next year as well...” Those were my words last year.
It is definitely a much tougher call than I thought as Grossman had an
up and down year at best. He came up
big in some of Florida’s biggest wins of the year over Tennessee, Georgia and
Auburn but stunk it up against Ole Miss, LSU and Florida St. Grossman finished with nearly identical
stats as Eli Manning. Manning was just
a bit better but just wasn’t able to lead his team to any big wins. Honorable mention goes to Manning, Casey
Clausen, Jared Lorenzen and Tyler Watts.
Best
RB: Artose Pinner, Kentucky
(2001
pick: Travis Stephens, Tennessee)
While
Fred Talley came up big at Arkansas in the big games and Carnell Williams
blazed out of the gates before another season-ending injury in Auburn, Artose
Pinner carried the Kentucky Wildcats the whole season. He also lead the SEC in rushing yards per
game at 117 yards per game and in total rushing yards with over 1400. Nobody was even close statistically. Honorable mention goes to Musa Smith who
finished second in the categories mentioned above plus Fred Talley, Ernest Graham,
Ronnie Brown, Shaud Williams, Domanick Davis, Cedric Houston, Santonio Beard
and Carnell Williams.
(2001
pick: Josh Reed, LSU)
Not
really close. Jacobs finished with
exactly 1000 yards receiving. He was
the only one to hit that mark. Jacobs
was also first in receptions and receiving yards per game. Honorable mention goes to Fred Gibson,
Terrence Edwards, Carlos Perez, Michael Clayton, Chris Collins, Aaron Boone and
Dan Stricker.
(2001
pick: Randy McMichael, Georgia)
One
guy who helped lead Tennessee through a tough season. Witten also had plenty of big catches along with being a
devastating blocker. Honorable mention
goes to Robert Johnson, Bill Flowers and Jason Peter.
Best
OL: Georgia
(2001
pick: Florida/Tennessee)
See
the SEC East MVP. Honorable mention
goes to Arkansas and Bama.
(2001
pick: Phil Fulmer)
Mark Richt has led Georgia to the brink of
the national title game but I have give this to Houston Nutt. It is still hard to believe that he was able
to get Arkansas to Atlanta. They
are not the most gifted team, they lost their defensive coordinator to Florida,
they have had player after player arrested, the NCAA has sent a preliminary
letter, etc... I mean what else can
happen over there? That Nutt was able
to rally this team and even have them in a position to get lucky is an incredible
accomplishment. The Razorbacks were
money down the stretch. Nutt’s greatest
achievement this season might have been getting his troops back up after a 6 OT
heartbreaker to Tennessee and mauling Auburn in Auburn. Honorable mention also goes to Tommy
Tuberville and Ron Zook who both had their teams within one play of Atlanta
after a tough start and to Guy Morris and Dennis Franchione who rallied their
teams under the cloud of NCAA probation.