Tag: Auburn

Arkansas Preview 2018: Can Chad Morris resurrect the Hogs?

So much for the #winning. Bret Bielema is now out after never finishing higher than 3rd in the SEC West, and finishing 7th in three out of seven years in his reign. Oh, and he went 11-29, which probably didn’t help him. Anyway, Chad Morris has been ‘prized’ away from SMU, and he’s an exciting prospect for an offensethat depended on a heavy line but really went nowhere (94th in the country) and a defense that went nowhere too (102nd last year). So what do we think will happen in 2018? OFFENSE Giant QB Cole Kelley (he’s 6-7) is loved by just about everybody, and we really like him, too. He threw for 1,038 yards and 8 TDs, and if

Read more

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

Read more

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.

Read more

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

Read more

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

Read more

Missouri 2018 Preview: Will Drew Lock light up the offense?

Midway through the 2017 season, Missouri was the Titanic. The ship was leaky, the wide receivers were dropping catches like there was no tomorrow, and everything was bad. After the Tigers were slapped by Auburn, head coach Barry Odom became the laughing stock of the SEC – and college football – by giving a sermon. But after they rattled off six games in a row at the end of the season (before they lost to Texas in the Texas Bowl), there is a degree of confidence for Missouri. And that’s been heightened by the decision by quarterback Drew Lock to stay. The press doesn’t believe it. They believe that Missouri will finish 4th in the SEC East. The Mizzodcast – one

Read more

SEC Media Days: The important parts

We missed the fact that SEC Media Days weren’t in Birmingham, Alabama this year. As much as people love Atlanta (apart from the terrible traffic, an even worse airport and a city climate during summer that you wouldn’t wish on Gary Danielson), it just doesn’t feel like SEC territory. SEC teams – apart from Vanderbilt in Nashville – are in small college towns all over the Southeast. The big cities don’t seem to suit them – unless they are getting paid millions to play season openers, hosting a Championship Game, or winning National Championships. Of course, the SEC regulars were there. Bespeckled SEC homer Paul Finebaum, fresh from a re-up in his contract after his agent started rumors that he was

Read more

Alabama boots former four-star linebacker

Alabama has booted sophomore linebacker VanDarius Cowan for a violating team rules. Cowan’s issues included getting arrested for a fight in Tuscaloosa where he punched a 26-year old man in the face, and he was also sidelined from some of Alabama’s Spring Practice for his poor academics – something that’s quite a feat at the 110th university nationally for academics. “VanDarius has been dismissed from the team and is no longer a part of our football program due to a violation of team rules,” Saban said in a statement. “Each of us has a responsibility to represent The University of Alabama in a first-class way, and failure to meet those standards can’t be tolerated. We wish VanDarius the very best

Read more

CBS announces first 3.30pm SEC games

gamCBS has announced its first trio of SEC games that will be played at 3.30pm. The first game on September 1st will see Tennessee host West Virginia – some people’s favorite to win the Big 12 – in Jeremy Pruitt’s first game as head coach of the Volunteers. The next week will see Georgia go to South Carolina in an SEC East clash, and then on September 15th Auburn will try and avenge their horrific 2017 loss in Tiger Stadium when it hosts LSU. Later in the year on October 27th, the bastion of sobriety known as The World’s Biggest Cocktail Party between Georgia and Florida in Jacksonville will be a 3.30pm game (CBS will be playing that it’s not

Read more

Saban and Smart go head-to-head on transfers

Nick Saban and Kirby Smart have gone head-to-head on transfers at the SEC Spring Meetings this week. The Alabama head coach has long been derided for denying players the right to go where they want – particularly inside the SEC. This year he’s getting the heat for not allowing graduate student (and back-up center) Brandon Kennedy the right to transfer to Auburn or Tennessee. This comes a couple of years after the Maurice Smith debacle, where the SEC eventually had to intervene and let the player transfer to Georgia. Smart wants to do quite the opposite – and let players transfer to whatever school they wish. Typically, Saban shrugged his shoulders during a press conference and said that it is not

Read more
1 … 17 18 19 20 21 … 67