Kentucky 2015 Preview: Better Second Half This Time?

For Kentucky, it was a tale of two seasons in one in 2014. The first half, the Wildcats went 5-1, with the only loss coming in triple overtime to Florida. In the second half of the season, the Big Blue Nation got the blues, losing six straight and failing to get in a bowl game. Some people thought “What a great season going 5-7 and just missing out on a bowl game! 5-7 used to be unimaginable!” and some people – who suddenly are expecting some more of the Kentucky Wildcats – thought “Well, that was a bit of a let-down.” THE OFF-SEASON Mark Stoops hired Shannon Dawson, West Virginia’s former OC and QB coach, to be their offensive co-ordinator

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Florida 2015 Preview: In Defense We Trust

Will Muschamp pissed off a lot of Florida Gators fans in 2014, as the team stumbled to 7-5 and 4-4 in the SEC. It wasn’t really about the defense- they were great – it was about the goddawful offense. The goddawful offense was — you’ve got it — goddawful. The great defense simply couldn’t do anything about it. And now Jim McElwain’s been hired away from Colorado State, and Florida Gators fans are already furious at McElwain for his failure to choose between Treon Harris and Will Grier as to who will be the starting QB on Saturday. His line: “Treon Harris will start but Will Grier will play some” didn’t exactly sit well with a Gator faithful destroyed by

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Texas A&M Preview: Will ‘The Chief’ Change The D?

Texas A&M’s 2014 was an interesting one. After slaughtering South Carolina on the road, their QB Kenny Hill trademarked his nickname to “Kenny Trill”, and subsequently sucked. So much so he had to be replaced by Kyle Allen. The Aggies could have easily gone 7-6 instead of 8-5 — with a two SEC wins — if Arkansas hadn’t choked at JerryWorld. This was a pretty ugly season, so head coach Kevin Sumlin (possibly to deflect anger from pissed-off Aggies fans) had to make some changes…. OFF-SEASON Mark Snyder, as we’d be saying for a good couple of seasons, finally got the boot. Texas A&M – in true Texas fashion – had to go big, so they did, getting LSU defensive

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Vanderbilt 2015 Preview: Will the disaster continue?

2014 was a disaster for Vanderbilt head coach Derek Mason in his first year. There’s no other way to look at it. The three victories in the season included a win by 3 over UMass, a win by 1 over Charleston Southern, and 14 over Old Dominion. They were played off the field in virtually every SEC game they played (apart from Tennessee when they lost by 7), going 0-8 and immediately putting Mason on the hot seat. THE OFF-SEASON Derek Mason went on the rampage, firing OC Karl Correll, DC David Kotulski, and WR coach Marc Lubick. His new OC is former Wisconsin OC Andy Ludwig, while he’s appointed himself as defensive co-ordinator (as he should have done originally, bearing in

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Missouri 2015 Preview: QB Controversy Brewing?

We hadn’t heard of Drew Lock before we listened to the excellent Missouri-dedicated podcast ‘Mizzodcast’, but everything’s going to be pretty interesting under center if he continues his off-season challenge to QB Maty Mauk. Last season Missouri – in another stunning season – won the SEC East and was then brutalized in the SEC Championship Game by Alabama. OFF-SEASON The biggest story was very nearly a tragic one. Defensive lineman Harold Brantley was caught in a car crash that seriously injured him. Thank God he’s still alive. He’s done for the season, but not for life. Aside from that, the team lost defensive co-ordinator Dave Steckel, who went to coach Missouri State. Pinkel hired Memphis DC Barry Odom to fill

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Ranking and Predicting Saturday’s SEC games

Right, so it’s Christmas Day on Thursday, with Steve Spurrier dressed up in a garnet and black Santa costume, ready to deliver us all presents. It’s going to be a phenomenal day out, and we can’t wait. The biggest pity? South Carolina – and North Carolina – screwed over their season ticket holders by having the game in Charlotte. We’ll be stunned if the stadium’s sold out. Anyway, here’s our previews, in terms of importance. HINT: South Carolina vs North Carolina isn’t No.1 on the list. 1) AUBURN VS LOUISVILLE Trying to work out what the best game of the day was between this one and Texas A&M vs Arizona State, but we’re going with this one because of the Bobby

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Auburn 2015 Preview: Is this the Tigers’ year?

After starting the season 5-0, a lot of was expected of Auburn when they went to Mississippi State. After losing 38-23, it was obvious that something was missing from Gus Malzahn’s team….a good defense. And for the rest of the season, the defense rotted, basically mailing it in against Georgia and Alabama. Of course, Ohio State will thank Auburn for exposing the Crimson Tide’s weak secondary (they did the same thing a few weeks later), but this team was a real disappointment, culminating in a 34-31 loss to coach-less Wisconsin. THE OFF-SEASON Auburn made the biggest splash of the off-season in hiring defensive co-ordinator Will Muschamp, who had been fired at Florida as the Gators’ head coach. Muschamp was an

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LSU names Harris as starter

LSU has named Brandon Harris as the starting quarterback of Saturday’s game against McNeese State. Harris and Anthony Jennings battled over QB duties during the Spring. Harris was named starting QB in the 2014 season, and struggled, ending the season going 25-45 for 452 yards, 6 TDs and 2 INTs. He also rushed for 3 TDs and 159 yards. Although the numbers weren’t terrible, Harris looked out of his depth against stronger opposition, and had to be replaced by Anthony Jennings as the season wore on. Jennings struggled too. BOTTOM LINE: It’s still difficult to be confident about LSU’s prospects this season with Harris as QB, but he at least has two elite WRs in Malachi Dupre and Travin Dural and

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Mississippi State 2015 Preview: Dak Attack!

Last season was a stunning one for Mississippi State. They went to No.1 in the polls. They beat LSU on the road for the first time in their history. They had their second 10-win season in their history. Their QB, Dak Prescott, was a Heisman contender. OK, so underestimating the Bulldogs was our mistake, Starkville. OFF-SEASON Dak Prescott had an awful Spring Break when he was blindsided by some douchebag in Panama Beach. He didn’t press assault charges, which is a shame. He should have done. Coaching-wise, Dan Mullen lost defensive co-ordinator Geoff Collins to Florida, and replied by bringing in Manny Diaz as his DC, who did a terrible job at Texas where he was DC there. Seriously, the

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Georgia names starting QB

Georgia has named Greyson Lambert as its starting quarterback for the season opener against Louisiana-Monroe. Lambert, a graduate transfer from Virginia, threw for 1,632 yards for the Cavaliers, including 10 TDs and 11 INTs. He also completed 154 passes in 261 attempts. Lambert beat out Brice Ramsey and Faton Bauta. Georgia coach Mark Richt said: ““There may be other or others who get in the game. But right now the thing that I know that he’ll start the game. Very, very close competition. Still being contested in my mind. But at this point we felt it would be wise to name a starter and get him ready to play in this ballgame. …  We’ll start playing ball that way and see

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