Category: Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt Preview 2018: Will the Commodores improve?

Derek Mason is a great speaker. He made us all want to walk through walls during his Media Days speech this year in Atlanta. He made you want to root for this Commodores team. You almost felt: “Screw this, I’m going to Nashville to see them play”. Of course, what Mason failed to discuss is the fact that since James Franklin left, Vanderbilt – under his charge – haven’t had a winning season. His record at Vanderbilt has been at best poor and worst atrocious (18-31), and his SEC record (6-26) would at least have had people talking about the end of the road. But for some reason – and this may be because people don’t think a lot of Vanderbilt football

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Florida 2018 Preview: Can Dan Mullen improve Florida?

Trainwreck doesn’t cover just bad Florida’s 2017 season was. There was a bit of a smile when they beat Tennessee on a Hail Mary in one of the plays of the season, but that was it, save for Jim McElwain’s nudist battle with a shark. Dan Mullen arrived to the pomp and circumstance (and some new Jordans), but he’s had to deal with non-stop disciplinary crap – something that must be weighing on Gator Nation. You know, that and the rise and rise of one of their most hated enemies. OFFENSE Every time we think about UF’s offense, we get squeamish. The Gators were 110th in total offense, good enough for the second-worst in the SEC behind Tennessee (the third-worst

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Auburn 2018 Preview: Can War Eagle fly to the promised land?

Georgia and Alabama both had something in common when they played the National Championship Game last season: They were both comprehensively beaten by Auburn. There is an argument that the Tigers could have won the SEC Championship Game if running back star Kerryon Johnson – who had ripped the Dawgs apart in the win at Jordan-Hare – hadn’t been hurt. With the team obviously deflated, the season finale bowl loss to UCF wasn’t pleasant for Gus Malzahn, either. Anyway, it’s 2018 now, and Johnson gone, but QB Jarrett Stidham is staying. As seeems usual on the plains, it should be an interesting season… OFFENSE As mentioned ad infinitum, Stidham got engaged this summer and took part in a camp or two.

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Kentucky 2018 Preview: Will the Wildcats stay middling?

Mark Stoops is under pressure, but a different kind of pressure. Kentucky Football hasn’t had a coach with a winning percentage since Blanton Collier’s seven-year period between 1954 and 1961, but Stoops has led the program to back-to-back winning seasons – the first time that has happened since Rich Brooks had four straight (2006-2009). Now, with the coaching situation in Lexington more settled than most of his competition in the conference, Stoops is expected to step up a little. During SEC Media Days questions were asked about beating Florida – a team that it hasn’t beaten in 31 years, as well as the potential of pressing on from back-to-back 7-6 years. OUTLOOK There’s a lot of love for RB Benny

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Watkins ‘leaves’ Florida leaves after second arrest

Finally Dan Mullen has an Advil to lesson his current headache – Justin Watkins, his four-star freshman cournerback – has said he’s going to leave the school, according to the Miami Herald. According to the Herald, he said in a tweet: “I am leaving the University of Florida to better my opportunities“. Watkins has been arrested twice in the last three months since his arrival. The first – which happened in May – was when he followed a female student to her car and kicked her car – after following her to her high school. He was arrested there for illegal trespass. And then Watkins was arrested for a quadruple felony. This included two first-degree counts of kidnap (false imprisonment), a third-degree count

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Why Dan Mullen has to suspend, dismiss Florida players

Every year there’s a cup called the Fulmer Cup, named after the school that gets the most arrests during the offseason and season. And as much as fun as Florida’s former head coach Steve Spurrier has made fun of Georgia in the past for the Bulldogs behavior (“I don’t know. I sort of always liked playing them that second game because you could always count on them having two or three key players suspended), suddenly there’s a bit of egg on face in The Swamp. Because at the moment it’s a damned mess at Florida. First of all, there have been the dual arrests of freshman RB Justin Watkins – both of which are incredibly disturbing. The first – which

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Mississippi State 2018 Preview: New coach, new offense?

If you’re a fan of offense, then Mississippi State got one of the hires of the season when they brought in Penn State offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead to replace Dan Mullen as its new head coach. When he was in Happy Valley, he made Saquon Barkley a top-five NFL draft pick, Trace McSorley one of the best quarterbacks in college football, and a juggernaut, lightning-quick offense that jumped from 42nd to 19th from 2016 to 2017, and ranked 12th against conference in touchdowns. Moorhead immediately comes across as a pretty affable guy – something that we’ll find interesting how this translates to the cowbells and stress that comes with a SEC job. It might not be his first job (before he got

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Tennessee Preview 2018: Will the Vols get off the mat?

2017 was an awful, awful year for the Tennessee Volunteers. Butch Jones was such an unpopular coach that signs saying “Fire Butch Jones” went viral. At games not involving Jones or Tennessee. When he was fired after the team lost to Kentucky, there was an audible sense of relief. You know, for two seconds until the Knoxville roadshow went on overdrive as they tried to find a successor (remember the Greg Schiano incident?) – with former Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt eventually coming through the mire to claim the top job. This year, there is every possibility that the Vols will be the basement-dwellers of their division. They aren’t a whole lot better than the terrible 4-8 team that stunk up the

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Florida incoming freshman player arrested (again)

Florida incoming freshman cornerback – and four-star recruit Justin Watkins has been arrested for the second time in three months. He has been suspended indefinitely by coach Dan Mullen. Watkins’ first arrest was trespassing on another high school’s grounds that he didn’t attend (which isn’t a big one), but a quadruple felony. This included two first-degree counts of kidnap (false imprisonment), a third-degree count of domestic battery by strangulation, according to records. The freshman was offered by Alabama, LSU, Florida State, Clemson and Texas before deciding to go to Gainseville. Looks as though he’s going somewhere else after this short stint.  

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LSU Preview: Can Ed Orgeron save his job?

Thanks to the firing of 50% of the SEC coaches, Ed Orgeron is on the hottest seat in the SEC. In fact, after a season when LSU was awful offensively, failed to beat Alabama, didn’t even figure in the SEC West AND was upset by Troy to boot, it’s a small miracle that he stayed in Baton Rouge for the 2018 season. Yes, the 9-4 record may have stood out with a 6-2 record in the SEC, but if you look deeply into the season, the Tigers were more unimpressive than impressive all season long – particularly on points-scoring side of the ball. Despite all of this, LSU had seven picks in the 2018 NFL Draft (yes, even Danny Etling was

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