Other Half of the SEC Power Poll Ballot

by Year2 on Jan 11, 2010 11:00 AM EST in SEC Football

You know what's kind of aggravating? Moving due to a bug problem only to find out your new place has a much smaller, yet still evident bug problem of the same exact nature. Looks like yet another move is coming in six months when the lease is up. You gotta love apartment life.

1. Alabama

Yes, Tide fans. Now you are back finally.

2. Florida

The Sugar Bowl was probably a preview into what life will be like with John Brantley. Not that I'm expecting the Gators to blow everyone out or anything, it's just that UF passed more than it ran and won, a rarity in the past three years.

3. Ole Miss

A disappointment relative to preseason expectations? Sure, but a second straight Cotton Bowl win is a heck of a consolation prize.

4. LSU

How in the world did the offense fall off this much? There's some serious work to do here this off season.

5. Georgia

The two game winning streak is a nice feel-good way to end the season, but overhauling the team is an off season-long project.

6. Tennessee

Call me crazy, but I think Tennessee is going to be the most fascinating team in the conference from a personnel and development standpoint over the next 12 months.

7. Auburn

A win's a win, right?

8. Arkansas

I just don't see how this team will do better than middle of the pack in the West without a new overall defensive strategy.

9. South Carolina

The Gamecocks basically no-showed in their bowl, but it might be a blessing in disguise. It will keep a lot of people from heaping Ole Miss-style expectations going into next year with the "wide open" East division.

10. Kentucky

Well done, Rich Brooks. Everyone thought you were dead in the water four years ago, and all you did was go to four straight bowls. Now it's time to see if Joker Phillips can extrend the streak.

11. Mississippi State

A good foundation in year one should lead to a bowl with the second year bump.

12. Vanderbilt

How 'bout that SEC season-opening win? It's a strong way to open conference play.

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Comments

Of course...

“but overhauling the team is an off season-long project.”

A lot of addition-by-subtraction things are happening in Athens simply by design:

- No mo Willie.
- No mo Bryan Evans.
- No mo Prince Miller.
- No mo directional/squib kick wankery.
- Cox traded out for a QB with greater upside.
- The Let’s-Piss-Off-The-Fans-By-Misusing-Logan-Gray experiment comes to an end.
- Easier schedule next year.
- Etc.

by D.N. Nation on Jan 11, 2010 11:16 AM EST reply actions

Shh

Don’t tell anyone, but the more I look at things right now, the more I think Georgia might make a reasonable preseason pick to win the East.

Team Speed Kills
SBNation's SEC Blog

by Year2 on Jan 11, 2010 12:46 PM EST up reply actions

It's not out of the realm of possibility.

The schedule opens up well. Can’t go on with another negative-a-million TO margin year, though. Not sure exactly how you fix that.

by D.N. Nation on Jan 11, 2010 1:42 PM EST up reply actions

Reversion to the mean

A large element of turnovers is simply luck. That’s partly why Florida had an outrageously good turnover margin in 2008 but had a more modest one with roughly the same cast in 2009. That’s especially true of fumbles. They’re going to happen, but it’s really hard to predict the bouncing motions of an oblong spheroid.

The rest is just taking care of what you can actually control: don’t throw into double coverage generally, teach good ball control technique, have DBs in good positions and give them the latitude to take some risks without getting chewed out if they get burned, etc.

Team Speed Kills
SBNation's SEC Blog

by Year2 on Jan 11, 2010 2:34 PM EST up reply actions