Topics for Discussion // 09.06.09

I like it. Sure, no big gainers, but because it’s a zone blocking formation, it’s a good way to give an inexperienced O line a chance to gel. And it’s still a running play, which is why it wasn’t an accident that VT was gassed in the 4th quarter. Get those hosses moving downhill and a Bama team is generally gonna do well.

I’m guessing J-Mac will have a better feel for incorporating the Elephant into the game plan as the season goes on and we can assume the offense will be used to running it. Plus, no one knows if Ingram (or Upchurch) can throw out of the formation, so that’s still a possible trick up our sleeve.

1. We don’t know, as they were playing what would likely be a very average FCS team. If they hadn’t won by at least 30, it would have been an embarrassment. You could say that they ran up the score like Florida did, but I’m guessing that Kiffin was more intent on making a good showing in this game than Urban was in his.

2. I didn’t think so before the season, and I don’t think so now. Georgia and South Carolina both have good defenses and will likely improve somewhat on offense as the season progresses, but neither have what it takes to beat Florida unless the Gators really come out flat. Tennessee is still a question mark, so maybe. Vandy and Kentucky just don’t have the talent and speed, even if they do well this year.

3. They still have some questions, but I think they’ll be pretty good. They just needed to stretch the Va Tech defense out with a few plays to open things up. Let’s not forget that they were able to wear Tech’s defense out by keeping them on the field all night. With a defense as good as Bama’s, that won’t be the first time that happens.

4. I didn’t get to watch that game, but the numbers don’t look promising. I doubted that the Tigers could handle ‘Bama, anyways. They’ll have their hands full with Arkansas and Auburn.

5. The Auburn win came over a better-than-average mid-major, so that’s the one that jumps out at me. The others all came against absolute bottom-of-the-barrel competition. Maybe you could call Kentucky and Vandy notable, as both projected to have garbage offenses this year.

1) Tennessee could be the East’s second best team, but they’ll be not better than the SEC’s fifth.
2) No one is going to touch Florida in the East.
3) Alabama’s offense will only get better as the year goes on and I expect it to be good at least.
4) LSU was playing all the way across the country in a hostile environment and way past its bedtime, so don’t read too much into their struggles last night.
5) Blowing out overmatched opponents will never impress me much; that’s why those games are lose-lose propositions.

For SEC East games Tebow can go on mission trips to South West Asia, Africa, or South America. That is how bad the SEC East looks. The guy doesn’t even have to suit up. I know you are a ’Cocks fan, but they look bad offensively. The defense will carry them, but they look inept offensively and its not gonna change much from the opener.

Richt better look forward to next year and start immediately the future QB (if they have won). The season looks like a loss. Their O looks really bad. I feel bad for AJ Green, poor guy is gonna disappear off the map.

Vandy and Kentucky are irrelevant.

Tennesse now has a legit chance at second place in the SEC East. They get Georgia at home and the other four games are all winnable.

1 – They’re back in the sense that they no longer have to worry about getting beat by random patsies off the street… but that’s the kind of assessment the phrase ‘back-handed praise’ was invented to describe, since a program like Tennessee should never have to worry about a team like WKU. I’ll reserve judgement until UCLA.

2 – I’m pretty paranoid when it comes to my teams’ chances, so I’ll reserve judgement here as well; teams change a lot over the course of the season, for good and ill, and week 1 showings are far from definitive. But certainly nothing happened in week 1 to upset preseason expectations.

3 – I think they’re the same offence, really; if Bama’s MO is pounding away with the run all game, then I’d expect slow starts and fast finishes to be standard against decent-or-better defences.

4 – There are enough mitigating factors to excuse some of the problems… but not all. If you can’t contain Washington, whatever the circumstances, you’re in serious trouble. If this was just opening day jitters and rust, all is (mostly) well. If this is the real LSU, then we might have a two-horse race in the west.

5 – Miami (OH) and occasionally LaTech are decent opponents; the others are WKU/CSU level fodder, and even SEC also-rans ought to handle teams like that without any trouble. The most I’ll say is that in week 1 the SEC didn’t have the kind of hopeless weak sisters the ACC displayed in UVa and Duke.