SEC
West Division:
1. Auburn: For all you Bama fans, I’m afraid I have bad news for you & the rest of the congregation! From way up in the frigid North (Wausau, Wisconsin), it looks like Gus Malzahn & Company have figured out how to play & beat, Nick Saban and his Good Ole Boy coaching staff, trick door in his office and all! In 2010, Auburn (Malzahn was the OC in O10) was down to the Tide 24-0 and back come the Tigers! Auburn put up 28 points while holding Alabama to a FG, for a shocking, 28-27, win in Tuscaloosa’s Bryant-Denny Stadium! Last year, with the Tiger fan base ‘chantin’, Kick Bama Kick (4 missed FG in the game) and the scored tied at 28; Bama, on advise from the Auburn faithful, did try a 57 yard FG. This attempt led to the most exciting, bazaar, wild, whatever descriptor, one would choose to use, would be inadequate; to describe Chris Davis’ 109 yard return, for the winning score as time expiring! Ok … Sure, these games could have gone either way, so to say that Malzahn has Saban’s number is a little much … right? I’m not referring to the outcome of these games, I am referring to the pace that Malzahn’s team plays at on O! Bana’s D likes to show a look, have the QB read the D & audible to another play. Bama’s defense then morphs into the right Defensive call to effectively neutralize the adjusted play. These defensive adjustments are based on hours & hours & hours of film study … see why Coach Saban does not this “hurry up stuff” … it negates his hard-earned competitive edge! The speed at which the Tiger offense plays does not allow the defense time to show the QB a look. In fact, they really don’t care what the D is showing, their real concern is to pressure them with pace and not allow time for substitution. It works! On Offense, AU returns, QB, Nick Marshall, RB, Tre Mason is gone, yet the Tigers may be just as good with Cameron Artis-Payne & Corey ‘Tail Lights’ Grant (4.18 in the 40). The Tigers are loaded at WR, Sammie Coates, Ricardo Louis, Marcus Davis, & D’haquille Williams, the nations #1 JC receiver in 2013 are all ready to roll (so to speak). The O-Line returns 4 starters (8 of 10 who played in the rotation) from last year high performing unit! The Defense is led by D-linemen, DT, Gabe Wright & DE, Carl Lawson, LB, Cassanova McKinzy, & DB’s, CB, Jonathon Mincy & FS, Jermaine Whitehead. This #1 projection in the West will not be ‘a ride in the park’ better thought of as ‘running a gauntlet’! Games at home against LSU & South Carolina and road battles with Ole Miss, MSU, Georgia, & Bama have to be survived to plant the SEC West Division Flag in Jordan-Hare Stadium!
2. Alabama: In the last six years, Bama has won 72 games and lost 9, won 2 SEC Titles, and 3 National Championships in that time frame. Heading into the 2013 season, the Tide had won back to back BCS National Championships ( beating LSU 21-0 in 2011 & ND 42-14 in 2012). They were positioned to take a run at a three-peat until the loss in Jordan-Hare to Auburn, 28-27, in their season finale. Nick Saban (79-15 @ Bama / Overall 170-57-1) is now considered, not only among today’s best coaches, he is thought of as one of the all-time greats. That said, Saban is coaching in an environment that is all about “what have you done lately” and that seems to be the only part of the measuring stick that has any relevance! The old Al Davis’ perspective, ‘Just Win Baby’ … seems to be alive and well in college football. For the 3rd straight year, Bama opens their season at a neutral site, this time in Atlanta, against West Virginia. The Tide beat Michigan, in Cowboy Stadium, 41-14 in 2012 & in 2013, the Tide washed Virginia Tech away, 35-10, in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome. In 2014, Alabama’s offense is led by RBs, TJ Yeldon, a Preseason All-American & Derek Henry (who I think is better than Yeldon) can be argued to be the Nations best duo (apologies Georgia & Wisconsin), while WR’s, Amari Cooper is a preseason All American & DeAndrew White is receiving All-SEC mention. Bama’s TE, OJ Howard is getting All American recognition and the O-Line returns three starters, led by another All American, Arie kouandjio. At each of the D’s three levels, Alabama has a player getting preseason All American attention; on the D-Line, DE, A’Shawn Robinson, @ LB, it’s their MLB, Trey DePriest, & in the secondary, FS, Landon Collins is receiving 1st team All American chatter! Alabama is really good … Yet, so is their schedule; they take on Florida, Mississippi State, A&M, & Auburn @ home and travel to Ole Miss, Arkansas, Tennessee, & LSU. It should be noted, that the Tide gets these 4 road games in a row, in other words, they do not play a single home game September 20 to November 15. In a six week time frame, from October 4th to November 8th, they play all these road games in succession (with a Bye on 11/1 before the LSU game on 11/8)! This is going to interesting!
3. Mississippi State: I know I’m a minority in picking MSU this high in the west, but with 16 starters who have experienced the SEC West, a duel threat QB, and playing Vandy & Kentucky (2 must win games) in their divisional crossover games, MSU needs to make its move … if not now … when?. Danny Mullen’s team has to step up this year or pretty much just sit down for a long while! The challenge for the Bulldogs is their swing games, LSU on September 20 & Ole Miss on November 29th, both on the road. The last time MSU won in Louisiana was in 1991, in other words, they have lost 11 straight times in Tiger Stadium. That said, while LSU has better 85 man roster than the Bulldogs, the Tigers are really young, especially at the skilled positions. I’m counting on the fact that the MSU/LSU game on Sept. 20th will be the first taste of SEC football for LSU’s young talent and that, in combination with the experience of the MSU players will be enough to pull the upset! The Ole Miss game or the Egg Bowl, clearly favors the home team, as the visitor is 2-13 in the last 15; yet, Ole Miss won in Starkville (MSU Davis Wade Stadium) 17-10 in OT in 2013 … is payback in the air? MSU has to win at least one of these games, and @ home, beat A&M (post Manziel) & Arkansas (Bielema’s work-in-progress) to get to 5-3. Clearly, this will not be easy, however, MSU has the experience to get this done in 2014. On offense the Bulldogs feature QB, Dak Prescott, RB, Josh Robinson, WRs De’Runnya Wilson & Jameon Lewis, TE, Malcolm Johnson & an O-Line that returns three starters. On defense, the D-Line returns 7 of their top 8 & is led by DT, Chris Jones, the LB corps is headed up by Benardrick McKinney, while the secondary returns 3 starters, including CB, Jamerson Love.
4. LSU: If success in the Real Estate industry is location, location, location, then one could argue success in college athletics is recruit, recruit, recruit! LSU does this just about as well as any program in the FBS! In this incoming freshmen class, the Tigers have the #I, RB, Leonard Fournette, the #I WR, Malachi Dupre, & the #2 ILB, Clifton Garrett. WOW, is really all one can say! Yet, before we give them the ‘keys to the West Division’ consider what they lost! QB, Zack Mettenburger, whos passed for over 3000 yards, Gone; Jeremy Hill, who rushed for over 1400 yards, Gone; & WRs, Odell Beckham & Jarvis Landry both had over 1100 yards receiving, Gone. These numbers were never achieved, in a single season, by any previous LSU team, quite a feat given the Tigers illustrious history. Wes Miles’ team opens their 2014 season in Reliant Stadium, against Wisconsin, an excellent way to get their very young talent introduced to smash-mouth football. LSU will be a very good team in 2014, the real question is; how quickly will their skill become reflective of their talent? Oh yeah, one other guy I wanted to mention, DE, Danielle Hunter, a 6’6” 241, who has the dimensions of past greats, Sam Montgomery & Barkevious Mingo. I can still see those two guys roaring in off the edge and taking aim at the QB! The September 20 game vs MSU will be a key factor in measuring how fast LSU’s talent is ascending!
5. Ole Miss: The talent in this league just keeps coming and Ole Miss is part of that reasoning not the exception. Last year, SLB, Denzel Nkemdiche went down with an injury, Serderius Bryant not only stepped up, he earned second team All-SEC honors. In 2013, the Rebels played a 12 man rotation on the D-Line and 10 return, including Robert Nkemdiche, for the 2014 season! The LBs are experienced and deep. Phil Steele has the Ole Miss D-Line as the 12th best in the country & the LB corps as the Nations 3rd best! The Secondary is led by 1st team Preseason All American, FS, Cody Prewitt and returns 8 of the 10 who saw action a year ago. Ole Miss’ defense is one of the best in the SEC! The answer to the question, “How good will the Rebels be in 2014″ will be determined by the play of the offense! QB, Bo Wallace has had moments of stardom and then, not so much. For Ole Miss to become an efficient offensive unit, it has to start with Wallace becoming consistent! If he does … watch out! The RBs need to improve, in 2013, I’Tavius Mathers ran for 563 yards & Jaylen Walton rushed for 523, and to that end, JC transfer, Akeem Judd should help. WR, Laquon Treadwell, who was the #1 receiver coming out of high school, caught 72 passes last year for 608 yards and an average of 8.4 yards per catch. Treadwell stats are to low on the total yards (based on the # of catches) and yards per catch (he’s 6’3” 225 pounds & runs a 4.5 … This guy can run over or away from DB’s). Compare Amari Cooper, a WR for Alabama, who caught 45 balls for 736 yards and an average of 18.4 yards per catch. The truth is Treadwell is better than Cooper and he and Wallace need to perform with that kind of confidence! The O-Line returns 2 of 5 and are led by Preseason All-SEC, LT, Laremy Tunsil. Ole Miss could finish anywhere from 2nd to 6th in the West and I, for one, would not be surprised with the Rebels finishing in any of those places.
6. Texas A&M: The Post Johnny Manziel Era has arrive, as A&M fans look back fondly at those two SEC championships, wait a minute, Johnny’s teams never won the SEC, well, ok, those two hard earned West Division Championships, hold it, they didn’t win the division either! Manziel was 5-1 in the West in 2012 (6-2 in the SEC) and 3-3 in the Division in 2013 (4-4 in the Conference). So it begs the question, how does this guy’s time @ A&M get an Era attached to his last name. Do not blame Manziel, he never referred to his time in Aggieland as anything remotely like an Era, in fact, he seemed to indicate, at least at times, that he was looking forward to the day when he would have College Station in his rear view mirror. The simple truth is that when A&M & Missouri came into the SEC, the general feeling was they do not belong in this league and they are going to get hammered! Most of the talking heads thought that A&M was a better fit (wild crowd, 12th man, & et al) than MU, but still not SEC quality. As a result of the low expectations for the Aggies coming into the League, their 6-2 conference record and going 5-1 in the Mighty West Division surprised to shocked college analysts. These perceptions, coupled with Manziel’s style of play, the win at Bryant-Denny, his off field adventures, and the Legend/Era was born! No question he was fun to watch and I, for one, will miss him on Saturday’s. The Aggies offense will be led by, LT, Cedric Ogbuehi & LG, Jarvis Harrison. The Defense will have to ‘carry the ball’ so to speak if they are to get anywhere near where they were in 2012 or 2013. The D will be led by the secondary, which will feature CB, Deshazor Everett!
7. Arkansas: Bielema’s O-Line in Fayetteville is starting to look like his O-Line @ Wisconsin; C, Mitch Smothers, 6’4” 313; RG, Denver Kirkland, 6’5” 348; LG, Luke Charpentier, 6’4” 320, RT, Brey Cook, 6’7” 328, & LT, Dan Skipper, 6’10 (that’s right six foot ten) 315. That said, this unit is not getting a lot of love in Preseason All-SEC selections, only Cook is being mentioned as a potential All-Conference player. Bielema’s RB are getting plenty of attention, Phil Steele has Jonathon Williams, 2nd team All-SEC & Alex Collins as a 4th team selection. The RB’s are in place and the O-Line, if nothing else, is huge and will be better in their second year of this “smash mouth” Badger style of football. The WR are big, and should preform better in 2014, they are led by, Demetrius Wilson & D’Arthur Cowan both 6’3″ and Keon Hatcher (6’2” 210) returns with his 27 receptions, 346, & 2 TD’s. TE, Hunter Henry is getting All-SEC Preseason recognition, Henry was the second leading receiver on last years team and will figure big into the passing game! DE, Trey Flowers leads the defense, he will get help from DT, Darius Philon in the middle. The LB corps has two starters back and the secondary returns 3 of 4. Arkansas will be better this year, the problem is their SEC schedule. The Razorbacks are the only team in the SEC, scheduled to play against 8 conference opponents who all made a bowl in 2013. While a bowl game is unlikely, they are headed in the right direction and 4 or even 5 wins are possible this season!
Up Next: Power Conferences vs FCS Teams
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