Published August 26, 2011 - 11:05pm
NEW: Discuss this topic in the Google+ community for SEC fans.
This video was recorded on Wednesday before the LSU player suspensions, but that doesn’t change Kirk Herbstreit’s final predictions in the SEC. Watch it here:
What do you think? What team is he overlooking?
Kirk Herbstreit: “How much is Jordan Jefferson improved?”
Somebody take a stab at answering that…
It doesn’t matter, he’ll ride the pine pony this season and I guess he’ll be pretty good at that.
I think Georgia will give South Carolina a run for their money in the east! Go Dawgs!
I like Herbstreit he is good BUT here he is being a homer choosing Alabama over South Carolina in the Championship game. He is following conventional wisdom. Let me tell you why. Herbstreit even gives you the reasons why in his interview. First off Carolina beat Alabama last year. They did not squeak by they beat Alabama. Second South Carolina is a much better team than last year. MUCH better. Thirdly and heres where Herbstreit nails it. Alabama replaces McElvoy and Jones. Garcia shoulda woulda coulda beat Auburn at home last year but had a brain fart. Carolina as a defense lost the Kentucky game. The last two games were the coaches losses IMHO. So Garcia can be accredited with one game loss last year. So enough of the Garcia bashing. Not to mention he will have a solid frontline this year. He was sacked 35 times. Thats a lot. As far as Georgia beating SC let’s see, freshman running back, replacing several OL, new receivers, sophmore QB, losing key LB’s and DB’s. I don’t care how good your incoming players are they don’t have SEC experience. Carolina IS a SEC quality team. Plus Mark Richt he is in a downward spiral and not much chance of him stopping it. It was truly over for Richt when he pulled that ridiculous celebration stunt agaisnt Florida. That showed me he has nothing as a head coach.
As long as Garcia is the quarterback you cant put blind faith in South Carolina. Dont expect South Carolina’s defense to be oh so spectacular this season, they returned alot of players last season and vastly under peformed in every game except against Alabama so what makes you think they will be able to shut down defenses enough to win the SEC? Yeah the East will be cake walk once again but Arkanasas will put up big numbers on USC. Also watch out for ECU, they could very well cause one of the biggest upsets of the year. If SC cant put pressure on their QB on every single play watch out because theire QB/WR combo will put points on the board fast.
JamesKeith you are absolutely correct. Because, as I’m sure you keep up with the team as much as I do, we know the Defense is much better. It’s funny reading from people like tideroller. Everyone repeats exactly what the here on ESPN it’s disgusting. No one has good enough sense to go to that teams blogs, coaches and players interviews, or for the most part even kept up with the previous season enough to know that what they are regurgitating is complete mindless BS. We have the best/fastest Dline in the league. Swearinger is finally back at SS where last year he was playing CB which he was not very comfortable at. CC Whitlock is back, Devonte Holloman is much improved, Shaq Wilson is Back at LB from being out the entire season last year to injury with Rodney Paulk. Our Secondary is going to be just fine and MUCH MUCH better than last season. We have some new speedsters and a new special teams coach that will finally give our Special teams a boost. Not to mention the Other receivers we have that are incredible. I know Arkansas claims they have the best corp in the league and they probably do, just for the sheer fact that they proved it last season. But after this season I bet our receiving corp as a whole out preforms theirs. Lastly our O-line is more experienced and from the spring/summer practices it has been very positive talk about them compared to last year. They should be better going against the best pass rush in the league.
So like you said we dominated Alabama last season when they were at the top of their game (with the exception Julio was playing with a broken bone in his hand) , it will happen again this season if we are fortunate enough to meet each other in the SECCG.
Sir, South Carolina is a good team, the best team in the east even, but from top to bottom i am sorry but they have nowhere NEAR the talent at Alabama. Nick Saban is a recruiting genius. Alabama’s front 7 is no doubt the best in the SEC and maybe even the country. They have players on their second string that could start for most teams. Alabama will by far have the best defense in the SEC. and to say that South Carolina beat Alabama last year while Alabama was on top of their game is insane. that was one of their worst performances that year. it took Alabama to play their worst game and South Carolina to play at home and their best game for them to win. If you would like to hang a SEC championship banner from your stadium, you better hope Alabama isn’t on the other side of the ball, otherwise it will just be another sec east champions banner.
Tennesee wins the east. Tennessee will have an amazing rushing attack this year and not to mention the best young passing game in the entire country with Bray, Da’Rick Rodgers and Justin Hunter. Tauren Poole rushed for over 1,000 yards last year with a very young inexperienced line last year. Add a year of depth and experience to the line and that rushing attack will only get better. Now you have a vertical threat down the field to help open up the run also. Tennessee has a solid front four with very little depth and the linebacker position is suspect, starting two true freshmen AJ Johnson and Curt Maggit, but the volunteer secondary is still one of the best in the country even with the loss of Janzen Jackson. Tennessee’s defense will be slightly weak but as far as offense they will be able to hang with anyone in the country. Tennessee vs Alabama in the SEC championship. Go Vols!