I Hate You, John Crist: More than fair to question level of coaching in SEC
Believe it or not, 13 weeks have officially come and gone. The 2016 regular season for the SEC is already in the books.
Unfortunately, fans of the best conference in America aren’t particularly looking forward to the league title game Saturday in Atlanta. West champ Alabama is currently a 24-point favorite over East winner Florida.
Anybody who’s actually watched these two teams play has a difficult time disagreeing with that spread, though. The Crimson Tide are the only undefeated club in the country — representing the Power 5, which is all that matters these days — and appear unbeatable. The Gators, on the other hand, are ineffective offensively and injured defensively.
The SEC is no longer unbalanced toward the West. It’s unbalanced toward ‘Bama. The Tide are simply on another level than the other 13 member institutions, and it’s tough to imagine the scale tipping back the other direction any time soon.
Here are some of my favorite comments from this past week. As usual, many revolve around the game’s most important position.
If either of Florida coach Jim McElwain’s freshman quarterbacks, Feleipe Franks or Kyle Trask, were an upgrade, he’d be playing.
Clearly they’re not, as McElwain has continued to roll with the two transfers, Luke Del Rio and Austin Appleby. I have a hard time believing he’s preserving redshirts because he’s thinking ahead to the 2020 campaign.
Did anybody really expect Del Rio or Appleby to light it up for the Gators? Del Rio was a walk-on at Alabama and then transferred from Oregon State, where he hardly played. Appleby eventually lost the starting job at Purdue — coincidentally, he had taken over for Danny Etling, who’s now at LSU. Neither is a genuine SEC talent.
That being said, it’s fair to criticize McElwain for not getting more out of them. Del Rio makes poor decisions. Appleby holds on to the ball too long. That’s less about physical ability and more about coaching.
I see McElwain continuing to ride his defense because he doesn’t have a choice. That’s his best chance to win games.
Auburn’s Sean White isn’t the most efficient QB in the SEC. He finished fifth behind Joshua Dobbs, Chad Kelly, Jalen Hurts and Austin Allen.
While it’s true that White was indeed the top-rated passer in the conference for several weeks, the egg he laid at Georgia hurt his overall numbers dramatically. Additionally, players like Dobbs and Hurts closed strong.
Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY Sports
Do I believe that Auburn would’ve had a better chance against Alabama with White (above) at the controls as opposed to Jeremy Johnson and John Franklin III? Of course. Despite all his ability — he was a highly recruited four-star prospect — Johnson has had issues with stage fright. Franklin simply won’t admit that he isn’t a quarterback.
But I don’t think White had much of a chance to pull an upset in Tuscaloosa. The Tigers were indeed overmatched, especially with Kamryn Pettway not at full strength. He was the straw that stirred the drink offensively on The Plains in 2016.
Perhaps White would’ve gotten his team into the end zone once, which the Johnson-Franklin combo failed to do, but that’s about it.
Even though I had Ohio State at No. 2 in my most recent College Football Playoff projections, I agree with most everything posted here.
From a pure talent perspective, the Buckeyes are probably one of the best four teams in the nation. Even if he’s fallen off in the race for the Heisman Trophy, J.T. Barrett is a dual-threat monster. The defense is loaded, too.
The fact that they’ll be sitting home this weekend is troubling, though. Even with an 11-1 record overall, OSU finished behind 10-2 Penn State In the East division due to an identical 8-1 mark in conference action and a head-to-head loss to the Nittany Lions. After two early defeats, PSU has been forced to play from behind in the rankings.
Remember one thing, though: The committee values conference champions. Up until last week, we didn’t have any conference champions yet. If Penn State knocks off Wisconsin on Saturday, it wins the Big Ten.
I wouldn’t be shocked at all if the Nittany Lions end up leap-frogging Ohio State in the final CFP rankings as a result.
I’ve been fairly critical of Dobbs this season because he was never able to get Tennessee over the hump in his four years.
That being said, he led the SEC in total touchdowns — 26 passing, 9 rushing and even 1 receiving — and played some spectacular football after finally being free of the Jalen Hurd albatross. Post-Hurd, Dobbs posted a TD-to-INT ratio of 11-to-1.
I trust the people I know at CBS Sports when it comes to evaluating draft prospects, and right now they’ve listed Dobbs (below) as nothing more than a sixth- or seventh-round pick and a major project at the next level. While he certainly has the mental characteristics pro scouts look for, physically he’s a limited passer at this point.
Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
However, you know who might elevate his stock? Dak Prescott. He was considered a mid-round prospect at best last year, for many of the same reasons Dobbs isn’t being taken seriously. Now he’s in the running for NFL MVP as a rookie.
Like Prescott, Dobbs is a hard worker with a phenomenal track record off the field. That alone will get him some attention this spring.
This is one of the more insightful comments I’ve read in weeks. That’s admittedly not a deep pool, but it’s no less of a compliment.
In the East alone, Georgia went from Mark Richt to Kirby Smart. Missouri went from Gary Pinkel to Barry Odom. South Carolina went from Steve Spurrier to Will Muschamp. Vanderbilt went from James Franklin to Derek Mason.
Digging deeper, Tennessee had Phillip Fulmer — a national champion and eight-time 10-game winner — prior to one year of the traitorous Lane Kiffin and three from the incompetent Derek Dooley. Even more recently, Florida had a two-time title winner in Urban Meyer before four largely forgettable seasons from the aforementioned Muschamp.
The only program in the East that hasn’t perhaps downgraded at head coach is Kentucky, which always has been and always will be a basketball school. Football plays second fiddle in Lexington, just like basketball does in Tuscaloosa.
I do think that someone like Smart in particular has a chance to be quite a good one and lead the Bulldogs to the top. Still, he’s a wait-and-see case.
John Crist is the senior writer for Saturday Down South, a member of the FWAA and a voter for the Heisman Trophy. Send him an e-mail, like him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.
