Topics for Discussion // 9.19.10
by cocknfire on Sep 19, 2010 12:00 AM EDT
in SEC Football
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PrintHow good is Alabama, really? The Tide annihilated Duke 62-13 in a game that wasn't even as close as the score indicated. (Alabama could have scored 100, if Nick Saban were so inclined.) All the nightmare scenarios for Alabama this year included issues with the relatively inexperienced defense; we can go ahead and cross those off the list. Is it possible that this team is not just better than last year's Tide, but the best team Nick Saban has ever fielded?
Alabama vs. Arkansas: Who do you have? Maybe the better question would be, how much of a chance do you think Arkansas has in that game? There were some good defensive plays in the game Saturday against Georgia, but things were hardly consistent, and certainly not as consistent as the defense will have to be to defeat Alabama. Then again, maybe Arkansas isn't the team Alabama needs to worry about the most. Anybody see Auburn play Saturday?
And the favorite in the SEC East is ... who, exactly? Florida didn't look particularly good against Tennessee, but Urban Meyer-era Florida rarely looks particularly good against Tennessee. Meanwhile, South Carolina didn't look all that great against Furman, but South Carolina never looks all that great against in-state FCS programs. Is it ridiculous to think that next week's game between Kentucky and Florida might tell us who the front-runner is -- and that it might not be Florida? Or is it too soon to write off Georgia even with two SEC losses already?
What do you make of 2010 Georgia? Your humble correspondent predicted a 1-2 start for Georgia, but the Dawgs have at times looked worse than I expected. Then again, at times they've looked better than a 1-2 team. Any talk of a hot seat for Mark Richt is still just a shade or two on the right side of insane. But it might not be too soon to start wondering whether this is going to be a successful season in Athens.
Just how bad is Mississippi? The Fightin' Ackbars have now lost to Jacksonville State and Vanderbilt despite recruiting Jeremiah Masoli. Is it possible that Houston Nutt could be on the hot seat even after winning 18 games in the last two seasons? Aside from a home game against Louisiana-Lafayette, please name one game you think is a safe win for the Rebels. Could Ole Miss actually have a 2-10 or 1-11 record when the year is done?
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I think Carolina's chances live or die with the passing game.
The rest of the team will be good enough to win the division. Garcia has to stop making costly mistakes, and the offensive line needs to play hard and no one on it has the luxury of getting injured. It’s very difficult to go through an entire season without incurring an injury on the offensive line, but all Carolina’s hopes rely on it. They have zero depth.
stuff 'bout stuff.
I don't think Houston Nutt will be on a hot seat this year.
But Tyrone Nix will certainly be on a hot seat or fired if Ole Miss’ defense does not improve. The defense was supposed to be the strength of the team and is failing in that aspect.
Against the teams they have played...
They should have been able to win without any defense at all. Defense rides heavily on what the offense does. If your offense is 3 and out, 3 and out, then it’s only a matter of time before you defense gets scored on.
Alabama produces top defenses. #1 factor: An offense that chews clock. Keeps the defense off the field, keeps them fresh, keeps weaknesses hidden longer.
Against a Vandy or a FCS school, they should be able to win soley on offense. Just keep the dang ball on the field and let the clock run. They can’t score if they don’t have the ball.
It all falls on Nutt. He is the head coach. This is his 3rd year. Saban won the NC in his 3rd year, from a program that was in much worse shape than Ole Miss at the time. Those results themselves might not be realistic, but they are clearly heading down the crapper and in the wrong direction.
And his team was so unprepared for the year that they had to get an established QB and still they are losing like crazy.
He is done for unless they change things around. I guess all this good players are still in JC. Yeah, good luck building a quality team with a bunch of 1 and 2 year players.
What I saw.
Alabama was not that impressive to me. Maybe I’m getting spoiled as a fan, but the defense still scares the crap outta me. Penn St. had a couple of nice drives, which ended IMO on the mistakes of a freshman QB. Penn St. played better than 3 points and a veteran QB would have come away with alot more than 3.
Duke is kind of the same story. I’m hoping it was simply a matter of the Alabama offense scoring so quickly that it was the result of many more offensive plays than normal, since Alabama didn’t even need a 3rd down in the first half on offense. Still, when you see those big plays and inability to make a stop on 3rd down it’s concerning. Also of note were the amount of penalties committed and mistakes.
That is pretty worrisome when it comes to Arkansas with Mallet. I expect Alabama will be looking to sustain some long clock grinding drives in order to keep Mallet off the field. Otherwise, I think Arkansas could score more against Alabama than SC or Georgia did.
Alabama special teams is also a concern.
But I watched the Arkansas and Georgia game too. I noticed that Arkansas defense is improved, but still not quite there IMO. And that is good news for Alabama as it makes those long clock grinding drives all the more likely. I don’t really see any way for Arkansas to not get light up on the scoreboard and Alabama comes away with atleast 40 points again this year.
And in the more bad news for Arkansas department, they don’t seem to have the ability to run the ball. So any chance for Arkansas to try and flip the tables in the clock department is almost gone. And if Alabama isn’t having to worry about the run much, they can afford that extra man in coverage.
This game is going to answer Alabama’s defensive questions. A defense I don’t think has really been challenged this year.
Haven’t seen the Tennessee / Florida game as of yet, and I feel asleep during halftime for the Auburn game. They must have had 1 heck of a 2nd half, gonna have to catch the replay on espn3.com
Ole Miss is pathetic. Down years are one thing, but the state of that program is pathetic. Footballs like to bounce funny, they will probably be the one that beats the Tide lol. But seriously, no excuse for it IMO. That goes squarely on Nutt, and anyone who thinks otherwise is fooling themselves I think. Any self respecting school in the SEC gets rid of coaches that don’t produce winning seasons, much less a failure to present a top100 team. I bet Ole Miss is already shopping for a new coach, hope they stay away from Kirby.
I tend to agree with cal n
Everyone wants to talk about Alabama now because they look like the FSU and Miami’s of the ‘90s. A lot of offense but what everyone is overlooking is a very questionable defense. Unlike cal n, I don’t think I am spoiled as a fan. It looks to me like Alabama is very weak on defense. I would go as far to say that I haven’t seen a worse defense at Alabama in I can’t remember when. They are winning games but if you look at the Penn St. game had it not been for a few turnovers and Penn St. was tied with us going into the 4th. That is not a #1 defense. We are going to see what they are made of when they visit Fayetteville next week. I can only hope that they have more heart than they have shown thus far.
As for poor Ole Nutt, that is his M.O. he puts up a few good seasons then falls off the map. I don’t understand why anyone is surprised by this. He has never been able to put together a consistant team and he won’t at Ole Miss either. He will have some upsets here and there and he will put together some winning seasons from time to time but he is never going to be consistant. In all fairness…..who could be consistant at Ole Miss?
And the best for last. Who ever thought Meyer was a coaching genius? Yes most of the nation but I have been saying for years Meyer is a fluke. He can’t coach in the SEC. Seriously, anyone that thinks that Meyer put together that winning team at Florida is fooling themselves. That was the Tebow show and the only way they win half of their SEC games is by his will to win. They haven’t had an offensive scheme with the exception of let Tebow go. It was backyard football done well. In the greatest recruiting state in the country this is all Meyer can put together? I may be wrong and I am sure that I will hear about it but I think in a few years everyone is going to begin realizing that Meyer was very lucky by having one of the greates overall football players on his team in history and now he is gone. The days of Spurrier is gone and the Florida fans are soon to realize that Meyer is no Spurrier, I would rate him in the same league as a Mullens. He is a decent coach but not a great coach. He definately isn’t good enough to be at Florida. Only time will tell. I am not knocking Florida, I have the greatest respect for Florida and their fans but I would suggest that they begin their search for a new coach sooner than later.
by DaveInHartselle on Sep 19, 2010 10:57 AM EDT reply actions
it's spelled "definitely"
I agree in regards to Alabama and Ole Miss. Disagree about Florida. You can make up excuses for any coach’s success, but after 8 straight years of 9 wins or more and two national championships, you are delusional if you’re arguing that Meyer is a fluke.
Give me a break, I don't run spell check on posts!
Seriously, is that all you have go to do is point out gramatical errors?
On to your comment about eight straight wins. Florida plays in the East, unarguably the weakest of the two SEC conferences. He has had a helluva a lot of winning seasons. Like I said, he is at Florida. I am not taking anything away from Florida. They should be in the top 10 every year regardless of who is coaching. But I really don’t think he is that great of a coach. Like I said, I will catch some flack for the post but I have a funny feeling in a couple of years there are going to be quite a few Florida fans screaming the same thing. Only time will tell. I will promise you one thing. Being from Bama and watching a helluva a lot of poor coaches come and go. I know one when I see one.
by DaveInHartselle on Sep 19, 2010 10:39 PM EDT up reply actions
Hasn't been the weakest throughout Urban's tenure
Georgia finished #2 in 2007. Tennessee fielded good teams in 2006 and 2007. And Alabama was pretty bad before 2008. Ole Miss and MSU were too. And Auburn was inconsistent. In fact, the only SEC West team that was consistently good during his first 3-4 years was LSU, which is Florida’s annual rivalry. Arkansas did have one good year in that span, but even that year, it’s hard to argue for the East being unarguably worse. This year, yes. But not for Meyer’s full tenure at all.
by Incipient_Senescence on Sep 19, 2010 10:44 PM EDT up reply actions
Florida has played 12 top ten teams in Urbans run at FL
8 of them has been out of the West. So in his entire tenure he has faced 4 top ten teams somewhere other than the West. Tell me which conference is better?
by DaveInHartselle on Sep 19, 2010 11:06 PM EDT up reply actions
This statistic is inherently skewed...
because Florida can’t play itself…
Dum spiro spero - "While I breathe, I hope"
State motto of South Carolina
by The Feathered Warrior on Sep 19, 2010 11:21 PM EDT up reply actions
That and because it includes 3 conference championship games
You can’t play a team from your own division in the SECCG.
by Incipient_Senescence on Sep 19, 2010 11:46 PM EDT up reply actions
Do you really think that Meyer won his first NC because Tebow was on that team?
He was a true freshman and really didn’t do too much that season. Sure he contributed a little, but he was not the reason they won the NC that year.
Without Tebow, they lose at least one more game
He
by GwinnettGamecock on Sep 19, 2010 10:39 PM EDT up reply actions
"He didn't...
have many reps, but they were generally crucial ones – 3rd or 4th and short and goal-line formations. Look at the Florida offense this year and tell me they convert those at the same rate if you take away Tebow from the first championship team.
by GwinnettGamecock on Sep 19, 2010 10:41 PM EDT up reply actions
Maybe not his first year
But who’s recruits was Meyer playing with? If not for Tebow Florida would be sreaming for a new head coach today instead of in two more years. You can’t tell me Florida would have won half the games without Tebow in ‘08 and ’09. He had almost 6000 yards in those two years. Is anyone going to tell me Florida beats Bama in ’08 if it weren’t for Tebow? Come on guys, I know you are fans but don’t believe the hype.
by DaveInHartselle on Sep 19, 2010 10:46 PM EDT up reply actions
I'm a Bama fan, not a Florida fan.
And I think Meyer is a great coach. Sure they are struggling this year, but every team has a down year. They even had a down year with Tebow there. It’s just hard for me to believe that Meyer has two NCs, two SECC, at least three division titles, etc, just because of Tebow. You have to give him some credit too.
What do you think of LSU?
The offense isn’t that good, but it’s improving. And the Defense is nasty; in my opinion, perhaps the best defense in the SEC right now (with the one except of the meltdown in the 4th quarter of the UNC game). I don’t think LSU can beat Bama—they simply run the ball much too well—but beating Arkansas and Florida are quite possible IMO. LSU’s secondary is scary good, and it will only get better with Morris Claiborne and Tyrann Mathieu getting more snaps (let’s be honest, if Patrick Peterson gets better, he’ll be a top 3 draft pick). But, again, the offense has been none too impressive (even though they only punted once against MSU). Any thoughts on the team from yall?
Devery Henderson, making absurd grabs for my teams since 2001.
Hey Andrew
I’ll be honest man, I like LSU. I have a dear friend that graduated from the university and I hope they can run the table with the exception of Bama. My biggest problem with LSU is consistency. Man, I can’t tell what they are going to do from one week to the next. Do I think they have potential? Hell yes. It is LSU. Miles has got to leave a coaching staff in place long enough for them to be effective. It seems like every year he is firing and hiring. My biggest gripe is that he needs a quaterbacks coach. Needless to say he needs to sign some quarterbacks as well but he needs someone dedicated to coaching those guys. He has a good defense every year but it doesn’t look to me like they spend enough time maturing the quarterbacks. Granted Perrilou or however you spell his name, left them high and dry but that isn’t much of an excuse. I don’t see a problem with them beating W. VA., they will wax Florida’s ass in the swamp, mark my words. They will have a fight with Auburn as usual and they will have a fight with Bama. My question is…..will Miles be back next year? What do the LSU fans think?
by DaveInHartselle on Sep 19, 2010 10:56 PM EDT up reply actions
As far as the QBs go, yes, Miles hasn’t really developed many QBs; however, I think it’s partly his recruiting which is to blame. Miles is a great recruiter. However, when you get one hell of a prospect at QB, the other prospects tend to leave (when LSU got Perriloux, other QBs de-committed). So essentially you’re left high and dry if they a) get kicked off or b) leave (in case you didn’t know, LSU’s big-time QB prospect this year was drafted in the MLB… and left LSU for a $5 million signing bonus. I can’t blame him for it either). Ironically, Miles might just need to recruit less uber-recruits for QB, so he can have two or more on the roster at the same time. But that’s just a theory of mine.
As far as Miles’ job goes, I think that the season mostly shapes it. Watching the D though, I’d bet that Miles will keep his job. If LSU wins 8 or 9 in the regular season, he’s fine. With the way the team looks now, I’d say that’s definitely possible (I can see LSU winning all but the Bama game in conservative optimism; LSU losing to Bama, Auburn/UF, and Arkansas in conservative pessimism). Also, a rumor to note, Louisiana is supposed to have a once-in-a-decade recruiting class coming up this year. They might keep Miles on just to get a monster class; if he leaves, there’s no guarantee that LSU will get those guys. Also to note, though, is Michigan’s woes…..if they win 7 games, Rich Rod can stay. If they get 5 like last year, then Miles might get an offer. Not that he’d take it without a thought, but it’s a possibility.
Devery Henderson, making absurd grabs for my teams since 2001.
by Andrew Tessier on Sep 19, 2010 11:49 PM EDT up reply actions
My thoughts on the SEC so far...
Alabama is the real deal…Ole Miss is not that impressive even though Masoli has been solid…I don’t see why people are saying Florida is struggling so much…Maybe too much was expected of them to begin with, which is not their fault…Georgia is average at best even with all of that talent on their roster…Vandy better savor that win, it’ll probably be their only one in conference this year…And finally, the Cats came out flat against a very bad Akron team…They’ve got to learn that every posession is important and they can’t afford to have quarters like the first quarter last night…Should be an interesting matchup in the swamp next week as Florida’s pass offense has been suspect, but I saw too many Akron receivers running wide open in the secondary…KY will score points, but who will win the turnover battle and can Demps be contained?
I will be glued to my seat.
Screaming GO CATS!!!!!!!!
by DaveInHartselle on Sep 19, 2010 10:59 PM EDT up reply actions
Anybody see Auburn play Saturday?
LoL. Um yes..Did you? Cause if you did, you would have seen a team with a pores at best defense, a High School gimick offense and a QB who’s inconsistent at best….
Nothing and i mean NOTHING about Auburn scares me.
Alabama football....The only addiction God wholeheartedly approves of..
by bammer on Sep 19, 2010 4:36 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Nothing should scare you about Auburn...
…except when they decide to actually play well.
Auburn played awful during the first half. It reminded me of 2008 and the hapless offense and uninspiring defense. The third quarter was absolutely dominating but both offense and defense let off the accelerator during the fourth. Not to mention the brain dead penalties. Annoyingly inconsistent. This was the same case during the MSU game as well. Are the coaches even paying attention?
by AuburnMisfit on Sep 20, 2010 9:45 AM EDT up reply actions
Malzahn is 100% overrated...
Chizik seems to be doing ok, other than his “It was a God thing” comment…Your defense needs a lot of work and i dont beleive Roof is the man for the job.
Cam needs to grow up fast if he wants to survive the SEC schedule…
Alabama football....The only addiction God wholeheartedly approves of..
Bama/Duke
It’s hard to imagine anyone in the country playing as well as Alabama did for the first 5-7 minutes of this game. No BS required, either, just putting skill players in space and letting talent take over. You’re totally right that they could’ve gotten to 100 if they so chose.
The thing is, though, Duke didn’t even play that bad. You know, for them. They didn’t play scared (for the most part), they ran their sets, they didn’t cough the ball all over the place. And yet, there was no chance from the onset of getting within 30 points of Bama.
Playtime’s over, of course, with the ARK/USC/FLA assault ahead. But I’ll believe those three really testing Alabama when I see it.
Bama is the best team
its hard for a team like bama to get up for duke,
The old bama played down to their competition, not any longer. I questioned if this team wouldn’t be satisfied with a NC, obviously they are not. Darius is back on the d line Bama will go undefeated AGAIN.. Are you telling me ANYONE on here is goint to bet against SABAN? I didn’t think so.
Yeah my team sucks ( Ole Miss) and NO we will not fire Nutt ,i(t’s the economy ),and there is no one out there right now to hire. I am giving him 1 more year at least. Hiring a new coach after 1 bad season ( we were picked last anyway) is a knee jerk reaction. We have a great recruiting class coming in. I am not willing to throw all that away in order to get a coordinator and a makeshift staff.
Dooley at TN has done a good job with no depth and limited talent or else they might have gotten Florida …they will go bowling.
If Carolina keeps improving they will beat the gators. The gators have a lot of talent ,but too much attitude and not enough leaders to keep them in line, they don’t play as a team like bama.
It may just be 1 bad season
But it seems to me that Nutt has consistently disappointed. 2009 Ole Miss wasn’t bad, but they certainly underachieved given the expectations.
I would tend to agree about it being difficult to find a replacement, but it seems like that will always be an issue.
"You know, we had a lot of fun tonight. But there's nothing funny about vapor lock! It's the third most common cause of cars stalling. So please, take care of your car and get it checked!" -Joe Namath
by billycthulhu on Sep 20, 2010 12:34 PM EDT up reply actions
I think they'll test us
I do think we should win each of those games, but I could definitely see them testing the defense if we don’t fix tackling issues (we should) and do a better job of applying pressure from the line and getting the secondary consistently in position (a little harder to do in the span of just a couple weeks).
I do think Alabama is the best team in the SEC this year, but that’s not to say we couldn’t get upset at some point if we’re not careful.
"You know, we had a lot of fun tonight. But there's nothing funny about vapor lock! It's the third most common cause of cars stalling. So please, take care of your car and get it checked!" -Joe Namath
by billycthulhu on Sep 20, 2010 12:33 PM EDT up reply actions
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