Well, so much for all the “SEC is dead” talk. Sure, that’s a stupid conclusion to run to after only a week of games… but you can say the same thing about shoveling dirt on the conference’s reputation after a round of bowl game flops. The reality is that this is a conference that recruits too well to write off.
Anyway, on to the rankings. And, yes, I know it’s an exceedingly small sample size. Except for Vanderbilt.
- Alabama. The Process Abides.
- Texas A&M. It was staggering to see how well TAMU’s defense played. If that wasn’t a temporary illusion, you have to figure this team just inserted itself into the fight to win the division.
- Georgia. There’s vanilla, and then there’s the Georgia playbook against ULM. Still, there was no way to hide how fast and athletic this team looks.
- Ole Miss. I really, really like this defense.
- Auburn. Auburn beat a P5 team, but hardly looked like the team many pundits guaranteed would make the CFP. Gus has some coaching up to do with Jeremy Johnson.
- LSU. I had to put the Tigers somewhere.
- Arkansas. Played like a team that knows what it wants to do.
- Mississippi State. Put MSU in just about any other division in college football and you’d be taking them a lot more seriously. But there are enough flaws to make the Bulldogs likely to finish down in the SEC West.
- South Carolina. Spurrier squeezed as much as he could out of his team in beating North Carolina, with an assist from Larry Fedora’s playcalling. He’ll take it.
- Tennessee. Nice defense you got there, Vols.
- Missouri. Defense looked solid, but I’m not sure how far you can go in this day and age being offensively challenged.
- Florida. Before you get too OMG!!! about a 48-point win, remember that the Gators started last season with a 65-0 seal clubbing.
- Kentucky. A win’s a win, yes. But that defense sure looks like it needs a ton of work.
- Vanderbilt. At least they covered the spread.
Get The Picture 
Can’t say I disagree with any of these. A&M looked really good on defense and Florida wasn’t nearly as dominant as the score would indicate.
Alabama and Georgia are mirror images of each other. Great defense, great running game, adequate QB play and no “go to” receiver. Play action and TE’s are both of these teams best friend in the passing game.
Auburn was less than impressive on offense and marginally improved on defense. If UL had put the freshman QB in sooner they may have won.
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Bama has us in spades throughout the interior lines. Bigger, stronger and better depth. The Dogs are more athletic and match up nicely at skill positions. Coaching should be a edge to Bama, with Special Team giving Georgia the nod.
Gonna be a nut-cuttin’ come Oct 3.
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I think the receiving corps is fine with Foster, Stewart and Ridley. Main problem I saw was timing of Coker on deep balls. He doesn’t seem to have McCarron’s timing – or even Sims’ for that matter.
BD
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Georgia is hiding it. We saw a shadow of what this team has.
They may still be hiding a lot of it right up till the ‘Bama game.
Vanilla offense and defense..playing four running backs, playing lots of freshmen…cutting the game short…
As impressive as ‘Bama is..and they always seem to start the season in mid-season form..we haven’t seen Georgia out of low gear…The Dawgs can only get better and better and better.
Alabama played a slow Wisconsin team without it’s best defensive player/captain….Bama was able to rest and catch their defensive breath between plays..When they face a real fast HUNH team with real talent, they might not be so dominating.
The ‘Bama running game is surely manly, though..but a defense that is a cut above Wisconsin’s will slow it down…and a good offensive opponent will keep it off the field enough to make a big difference in a game. Getting a lead on ‘Bama with a HUNH would be huge. But what a bunch of beef they have on the los..both sides.
Didn’t get to watch A&M, but I wonder how good the competition really was. I suspect the high ranking of AzState stemmed from a lot of hype being generated by Herbstreit….He picked them to be in the final four…But I hope TAM is the real deal. I’d love to see them beat the shit out of Auburn…and at least harrow Alabama a little.
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You gotta realize Bama’s running game has a problem in that Derrick Henry is too big. 🙂
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Attaboy! Start a riot early Monday. The Senator smiles.
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Gotta start skipping over your early posts. I get all excited and sweaty reading your take on what we have. I’ll return to read it after I make an objective 🙂 post.
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Take a peak….have a gander.
Yeah we barely saw what were going to see.
On the punt block the punters protection barely moved. I thought that was weird. MM’s leap and catch reminded me of a Conley catch against UT? And after tossing that TD to Mitchell the new qb gave a very Aaron Murruy like smile and head tilt as he strolled back to the sidelines.
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I think there is plenty of D-line depth to offset trouble with HUNH. I think the problem is a suspect LB corp vs passing game and smaller, less physical safeties.
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Hmmmm… now I think you’re hiding something. I didn’t see anything wrong with those Bama safeties. 😉
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hmmm……….my Saturday ratings go like this:
Alabama
Georgia
Ole Miss
Tex A/M
Arky
Mizzou
Aubbie
(fill in the blanks here…..)
Vandy
Just my .02 cent$.
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Yeah, that’s a little more toward the way I see it plus it doesn’t have the SEC East filling the last 6 slots (as someone who remains nameless ( 🙂 ) posted above).
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“at least they covered the spread” LOL!!!! Hat tip to you Senator!
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I tried to watch Aandm…too late in the day…eyes too tired to watch a HUNH offense…they oughta be a law or something. Chief is the real deal, always has been.
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January 6,2012
Chavis has been the man behind the Tigers’ stifling defense this season, and it sounds like he’ll be sticking around. According to Knoxville radio show host and reporter Jimmy Hyams, Chavis turned down a chance, and $1 million, to return to Tennessee as the defensive coordinator again after he wasn’t retained as part of Phillip Fulmer‘s firing in 2008.
“I won’t ever forget,”Chavis said Thursday. “Loyalty is supposed to be a two-way street. That’s one of the lessons I learned at Tennessee. It isn’t always like that.
“I learned that it doesn’t matter where you are or what you’ve done, sometimes you’re nothing but a commodity in this business. When you’re hot, they want you. When you’re not, they don’t. Those were some of the lessons I learned. I’m blessed to be at LSU, and I’m staying here.”
I’m guessing there are Eeyore Fans of every team. 😉
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Off topic but my prediction for tonight is that Ohio State pulls off a squeaker just to piss me off due to some bone headed call by VT or an official. They then coast through the rest of the season on a wave of ESPN man crush love while eating delicious cupcakes and giving middle fingers to everyone who has to play a real schedule. Rant over.
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Although he is one great SOB, Corch can coach and he is vengeful as hell. He will beat VT as badly as he can.
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Yea I forgot about that. That’s a possibility too.
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Regardless of who wins tonight..your second sentence is written in stone.
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Last year’s loss will forever remain in the mind of Dickhead, living there, fermenting, with all the other slights the mind of Dickhead has perceived:
celebrations, parking in his space, missing his little girl’s volleyball all that stuff.
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I’ve suspicioned for some time that Bama will run a HUNH against our HUNH. They have everyone looking askance from such a happening and if I can trust Kiffen for anything, it will be his plan for Georgia. Mark those words.
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Words marked and agreed with..
And I almost hope they do. Anything to maximize their time on defense.
With Georgia’s depth at running back, it would be nice to see their defense a little ragged out late in the game…we might get that late shot again.
And if I’ve understood correctly..Bama’s defensive backs run kind of smallish..So the Sony-Chubb-Marshall express should be running right on time..And finally, if they run the HUNH as a new twist..they may be prone to making a few mistakes on offense…
Yes. This is wishful thinking, but it’s original. 🙂
Alabama’s gonna be a tough out..but Georgia is well positioned to take a shot at them.
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I’ll withhold judgement on how good Gerogia is until the SC game. ULM was smaller, slower and had less depth than even Vandy. We looked very good, but I couldn’t help but feel like I was watching a senior laden high school team play a middle school team. Say what you like about Wisconsin, but they are a legit P5 program with legit D1 athletes.
I still have some concerns about our defense against the run in the middle. We look great against the outside run/screen game but we still look like we can be pushed around in the middle. I also noticed Lambert tends to throw off of his back foot and holds the ball too long sometimes. An SEC pass rush will eat him alive and SEC corners and safeties will get some picks if he doesn’t step into his throws better and pull the trigger quicker.
I think we will know more about how we really look this week against Vandy. Vandy is clearly the worst SEC team, but they are an actual SEC team and we are going on the road. I have no doubt we will win, I want to see how we look against a team with players at least close to our players size.
I’m sure if I notice these things, our coaches do too. I’m glad we have Vandy to tune up on before we get SC.
I don’t put too much weight on the first game for anyone, but Bama looked very, very good and aTm’s D looked like a different team, they could be a force in the West. SC looked very mediocre but I’m sure they’ll look like the New England Patriots against us. I didn’t see much of anyone else.
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So, based on your stated opinions about your expectations of CMR, should the coaches of Stanford, Ariz St, Wash St, Nebraska, and Penn St all be fired? They all lost to teams the “experts” said they should beat.
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Agree with all except Lambert throwing off his back foot necessarily being a bad thing. P. Manning once said at least 30% and sometimes 70% of throws in a game have to be made off your back foot because of the rush. If you step into the throw you’ll get killed. The ability to throw well off your back foot can be a great asset.
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I know they can’t always step into a throw. I noticed a few where he was under little pressure and he still got some happy feet and ended up throwing off the back foot. He locked onto his primary receiver a few times and that won’t hurt you against a ULM, but an SEC safety will make you pay for that. He didn’t look “bad”, he looked like a guy making his first start and being a little tight. I’m sure the coaches will look at the film and they will work with him and he’ll get better, especially as he gets more comfortable in the role as starter.
I figure if we had played the last 9 minutes, we would have scored two more times for a 65-14 final. It’s hard to ask for much more than that.
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Bama – ate up Wisky and the slow version of the B1G
UGA – 10/3/15 may be the biggest game in Athens since Bama ’76
A&M – I’m not sure they are as good on the LOS as either Bama & UGA
LSU – Bayou Bengals are going to be as good on the LOS as Bama & UGA
Ole Miss – they beat UT-Martin, so who knows how good they really are?
Barn – good-bye, Heisman, Mr. Johnson. Way to go, Petrino.
Arky – if they can throw the ball, the ‘Backs could be dangerous in the West
Everyone else (except Vandy) is trying to be bowl eligible. Vandy will be trying to win a game.
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And I’m not sure there’s a team in the conference with DEs as good as TAMU’s.
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I would agree with that. Good point but I don’t think they are as good across both lines as Bama and UGA. I’ll take our skill guys over TAMU all day long.
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Really? I think TAMU’s got the best receiving corps in the SEC.
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I agree the Aggies have some good WRs. But seems to me they drop a heck of a lot of balls. One would think Eason was their WR coach.
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I’ll take our combined skill guys (Backs, receivers, and tight ends) over TAMU’s right now.
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I am not sure I have ever seen a better pass rusher than Myles Garrett at this stage. Much faster than Clowney, and doesn’t have the ‘tude, or take plays off.
Still way too early to know but I still think LSU will be a factor and will be at/near the top of the West along with Bama, Arky, Ole Miss, and maybe A&M. Going to be a lot of close battles with position changes in that Division.
Easy money alert: OU only giving one point against TN this weekend. Should know better given the series history but also took some action on UGA -17 1/2.
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“since Bama ’76” oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord
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Last years first game proved TA&M’s offense otherworldy. Now, we’re saying the same thing about their defense.
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Watch yourself newbie. Cojones has a lot of friends around here. And we don’t play.
just sayin’
😉
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Which is why I’m qualifying my impression of TAMU. But I only think it’s fair to say that Chavis isn’t some flash in the pan DC.
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“First Game Syndrome” is enough to qualify all of our impressions of every team…Second games tell us a lot more..unless your playing Vandy.
But with Chavis as the DC, that defense is most likely for real.
I hope so. It will take some great defensive ends to pressure that Heisman Candidate QB at Auburn.
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Chavis with Texas HS talent to draw from will be a solid….if not this year, in the near future. Marry that with Sumlin’s offense and TAMU will keep that new stadium full and add some title flags. Love their addition to the SEC, and would love to see Sumlin on the UGA sideline when the time comes that we need someone. But if he is successful, he may not be obtainable. Classy guy, who handles himself well in every situation and puts a fun product on the field.
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Hell, we won’t even charge him for meals when he eats with the team.
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Brain fart. Sorry.
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My thoughts… reduce the butter in those cookies. 😉
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A&M with a defense is scary… probably ends the career of sos.
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The amazing thing about the ratings, which I think make sense, is that the worst six teams on your list are all SEC East teams. Think about that for a second. That’s why our goal should not be to win the SEC East; Tech could probably do that with ease. Our goal is the SEC title. Period. We have four seniors on the defensive line two deep, the best linebackers in the SEC, and the best secondary coach in the SEC. Bama should not be able to dominate us, and a close, competitive loss just sets us up for a rematch in ATL. And they have little RB depth and have to play an SEC West schedule, so I like our chances there.
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Alabama proved once again that Saban has been right. The bowl games are not relevant now that the CFP is here and if you are not in the show it will be hard to get your team up for a post season exhibition. When there is still the hope of the CFP SEC teams are still the dominate teams.
Vote is still out on ASU, ESPN’s meme for a few years has been that the PAC12 is just as good as the SEC top to bottom. ESPN memes die hard. They were already covering their butts this morning with the “much like Ohio State last year ASU can still make the CFP” BS. They have to keep stirring the crap.
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ESPN’s main concern is to keep all those Pac 12 viewers tuned in. They would say anything to try and keep interest up in those West Coast tv markets.
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Think that Eason’s coming here will steer some Pac-12 folks to SEC games.
We oughta just rustle their whole herd and head them SE.
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Nah, we don’t start watching tOSU games because some Georgia kids make terrible life choices and go play there.
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