TFW you’ve got to stretch a narrative

So, the AP is going with this theme for SEC Media Days.

This year, though, a group of talented and experienced quarterbacks could lead to a little more drama in the SEC — maybe. Georgia’s Jake Fromm, LSU’s Joe Burrow, Florida’s Feleipe Franks and Texas A&M’s Kellen Mond are major reasons those teams feel they have a realistic chance of knocking Alabama off its title perch.

If I may be so bold as to suggest that one of those names is unlike the others…

Advertisements

Living up to it

It’s no great surprise that the media’s preseason predictions at SEC Media Days aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on.  As Barrett Sallee observes, the media has predicted the eventual SEC champion just seven times in the 27 years since the divisional split in 1992.

Sallee goes on to break down the predictions versus results by team for the seven seasons since the last round of expansion.  Alabama’s pretty much spot on, because Alabama.  I’m amused to see the same people who loudly proclaim what a great coach Dan Mullen is have consistently underrated the chances of his Mississippi State teams.

As far as Georgia goes,

(-4) Georgia has matched its hype five times over the last seven seasons. The two misses were in 2013 and 2015, when they finished third after being picked to win the SEC East. All three of Kirby Smart’s teams have matched their prediction.

He labels Georgia over-hyped, but that’s a little unfair.  If the media had known in advance about the rash of injuries that hit the team in 2013, the Dawgs wouldn’t have been the preseason divisional favorites.  That leaves one season out of seven in which Georgia under-performed the media’s expectations.

I expect after this one, it’ll be one season in eight.

How hot are those seats, anyway?

As you know, this is the first year in a while when the SEC boasts no new head coaches.  For what it’s worth, here’s how Dennis Dodd sees the warmth of the seats under the current bunch.

First, his rating system:

Now, the coaches, by school, in alphabetical order:

• Saban 0
• Morris 2
• Malzahn 3
• Mullen 1
• Smart 0
• Stoops 2
• Orgeron 2
• Moorhead 1
• Odom 2
• Luke 2
• Muschamp 1
• Pruitt 2
• Fisher 1
• Mason 3

The only coach who Dodd sees as being on shakier ground in 2019 than last year is Malzahn.  Even then, he’s only good for a “Pressure is mounting” rating.

All in all, this appears to be a pretty secure bunch, at least in Dodd’s lights.  Your thoughts?

Okay, you convinced me.

I have to admit that I’ve finally found a positive to moving the Cocktail Party out of Jacksonville.  It would eliminate the topic as a source for this kind of dreck from Connor Riley.

I mean, Steve Spurrier, “power player”?  Seriously?

The “U” word

Urgency.  It’s what’s for Georgia’s breakfast, served up by the national media in the preseason.

What makes 2019 particularly urgent?  Beats me.  If you listen to Barrett Sallee in that audio clip, he admits that the program was actually ahead of schedule the past couple of seasons.  Kirby Smart is recruiting like nobody’s (well, other than Nick Saban’s) business and I think it’s fair to say that Georgia’s joined the “reloading, not rebuilding” club at this point.

I’m not even sure the biggest potential threat Sallee and others cite — Fromm leaving for the NFL after his junior season — is that looming, as next year’s NFL draft projections for him are all over the board.

I imagine Kirby’s response to the question would be something along the lines of “every year is urgent” coachspeak, but is there anything special about 2019 to justify the nascent media narrative here?

Nothing like playing both sides of the street

Mike Bianchi has some advice for Dan Mullen and it doesn’t involve how to troll Kirby Smart.

The suspense is killing me.

Be forewarned, college football world.  The Notre Dame-Georgia game could be ugly, sez the AJ-C’s Connor Riley, because… well, because a troll’s gotta troll.

Factor in the potential for bad blood stemming from last year’s College Football Playoff, and there’s a chance that it might be one of the biggest games in Sanford Stadium in quite some time.

Yeah, if it hadn’t been for some of Georgia’s players noting that ‘Bama Clemson rolled the Irish last year, hardly anyone would pay attention.