Previewing the SEC East

Folks, we're getting down to the nitty gritty. Kickoff is in 9 days, and everyone's favorite team to mock will be playing on national television against ACC foe, NC State. It's a game that South Carolina should probably win. But even more importantly, it's a game that South Carolina has to win. Because once conference play starts up, the road usually just gets too hard. The SEC East is one of the most interesting divisions in college football. In no other division is there such a clearly defined hierarchy of teams. There's the Big 3, and then there's the other 3. Moving up in the chain is about as difficult as going from dirt farmer to Prime Minister in India(get some, Dennis Miller). It just doesn't happen. Sure, every now and then Kentucky or South Carolina make a little noise, but isn't that really just the result of Tennessee or Georgia having a down year? The answer is yes, and no rational person can disagree. Expect this year to be no different.

Predicted Order of Finish:
1. Florida
2. Georgia
3. Tennessee
4. South Carolina
5. Kentucky
6. Vanderbilt

1. Florida - It's pretty rare that I don't have at least one thing bad to say about a football team, but in the Gators' case, I am just drawing a blank. Their defense was pretty suspect at times last year, but it was loaded with young talent. Now that talent has a full season under its belt, and I expect them to be much improved. And that's all they really need to be, because Florida's offense this year is going to put on a show for the ages. Don't be surprised, if when it's all said and done, people remember the '08 Florida offense as one of the all-time greats. Tim Tebow, despite what opposing fans say, is worthy of every bit of praise he recieves. His numbers last year were staggering, and now he's got more weapons to work with. Running backs Chris Rainey and Emmanuel Moody provide some much needed relief to the Gator rushing attack, and will certainly take the burden off of Tebow's shoulders. Percy Harvin, while technically considered a wideout, is a do-everything superstar. This year's Cocktail Party will decide not only the division winner, but likely one of the 2 schools that face off in the BCS Title game.
Season Outlook: 11-1

2. Georgia - I would like to pick the Bulldogs to win this division, but I can't get past the schedule. An early season road trip to Arizona State, plus a 4 game stretch later in the year that includes Tennessee at home, LSU on the road, and Florida in Jacksonville, might just be too much for Richt's bunch to overcome. The loss of tackle Trinton Sturdivant didn't help things either. He was the anchor of a strong, young line last year. Hopefully they can find someone to fill the void, but even without Sturdivant in there, I expect Knowshon Moreno to put up another big year. After all, he is the best running back in the league. Matt Stafford, while still not quite a complete quarterback, has all the ability in the world. I expect a big year out of him now that Georgia has shored up some problems at wideout. The defense is just fast, athletic, and nasty. Watching them last year, I did notice a tendency to ease up at times, but when they are going full throttle it's very tough to move the ball. Georgia has the talent to win it all this year, and I'm pulling for them to get through that schedule. Again, it will probably all come down to that game on November 1st.
Season Outlook: 10-2

3. Tennessee - This UT team is an interesting one. People seem to have completely written them off, even though they actually won the division last year, and were a couple of plays away from winning the entire league. Arian Foster is a special running back, and they have good receivers. The question on everyone's mind is how will Jonathon Crompton do under center. Based on conversations I've had with people inside the program, I don't Vols fans need to worry much. Nobody knows until the love bullets start flying, but don't be surprised if Crompton has a great year. Other than Eric Berry, I don't know a single player on their defense. I do know they have a white guy starting somewhere on the defense though. That might not be a good sign. All in all, I expect Tennessee to turn in a pretty solid season, and just like last year, it would totally shock me if they were playing in Atlanta again this December.
Season Outlook: 8-4

4. South Carolina - 3-5 in the SEC, lose to Clemson, finish 4th in the division, maybe go to a 3rd tier bowl. What else needs to be said?
Season Outlook: 6-6

5. Kentucky - The Wildcats lost a bunch of their best players, and they don't really seem to have good ones to replace them with. I don't think Kentucky will be very good this year at all, but I do like their coach, so maybe he can make a little magic happen. And they do return 8 of 11 starters on defense. Problem is, that defense wasn't very good. Kentucky was able to stay in shoot-outs last year. This year, not so much. Right now, I expect them to remain status quo and finish 5th in the division.
Season Outlook: 4-8

6. Vanderbilt - Vandy only returns 9 starters from a team that went 5-7. Now, I like Vandy, and I absolutely loved watching them pulverize South Carolina last year in Columbia when the gamecocks were 6-1 and #6 in the nation, but I don't have high hopes for the Commodores this year. Frankly, I think things could get a little ugly. Gone is all-SEC wideout Earl Bennet, who was easily their best playmaker. Although, they do return a very solid secondary to a defense that is usually pretty salty. The good news is, they have a nationally televised home game against those same gamecocks early in the year. If they can somehow pull off another upset, it would make what is sure to be a long season seem a bit shorter.
Season Outlook: 2-10

So, there it is folks. Tell me what you agree with and what you disagree with. One more note I would like to add, is that South Carolina just lost out to Duke on yet another recruit today. I think that makes 3 now this year. Ouch.


Now MOAG.

On Clemson:

- My God, what could USC do with that powder-puff schedule?

- special teams cost us the game last year. plain and simple. we got Coach Ray now, so that shouldn't be a problem anymore.

- a win this year by the Cocks will make it 2 out of last 3..then they will go away permanently

- the ('06) game we won in taterville shouldn't have been close.

- Keep on believing that, Tater. Maybe someday you'll see the painful truth

* editor's note - the above post was a response to this statement by a Clemson fan, "Year in, year out we just have a better team."

- I would say the past three years, their offensive coaching vs our defensive coaching has been better when it counted. We could have easily won all three games.

- I would give them an advantage at RB and QB, just based on past performance. Everywhere else I would say we have talent equal to or better than theirs.

- If the taters have all these "world class sprinters" why aren't they in Bejing, winning us Gold Medals?

- The fans at CU see no difference in their football program than Ala, Fla, So Cal, LSU, OSU, or anybody else. They are all dillusional.

On the '06 Florida game(for some reason):

- Should've won that damn game. Florida didn't win it, we lost it.

- There was a big call that went against us as I recall, but I can't remember what it was.Typical protection of a highly-ranked conference team by SEC officials. They weren't going to let Florida lose that game at that point in the season, too much on the line.

- The SEC refs couldn't dare give us another crack at a game-winning FG, so something had to be called to bring that play back.

- We certainly deserved to win that game. --------->We should be 2-1 against Florida, Ga & Tn.<----------

On Georgia:

- Georgia at best is 3rd in the SEC behind LSU, FL, and possibly Auburn.

On the conspiracy against South Carolina:

- Just a thought, but is there a connection between the State[newspaper] and some of these arrests? Lets just say I am on a cops salary and a reporter asks me for some juicy material in exchange for a little cash. It would definately motivate me to go out and follow certain individuals, expecially if I was a campus cop.

- suddenly 2 Tater commits go to 4 stars. Keep trumping those ratings up, Rivals. It's good for business.

- chris ard goes out of his way to make sure clemson commits' ratings are as a high as possible. there is no conspiracy theory. the new guy rating the southeast is also a joke. probably hasn't seen half of these kids play. that allows ard to give his "opinion" and help inflate ratings.

On what might've been:

- Could you imagine if SOS had a QB like Tanneyhill, Ellis, or Petty !!!

On the ACC:

- How many SEC teams would win that conference?... hell 4 teams in our division would be considered the team to beat.