Killin’ Time: 10 things to keep us occupied this offseason
By Will Heath
Published:
By this time tomorrow, the 2015 football season will officially be over.
Of course, if you’re a fan of college football, football’s already been over since Jan. 15. But, depending on how you feel about the NFL playoffs and National Signing Day, there’s at least been enough actual things happening to keep advancing the conversation up until now.
After the clock strikes 0:00 on tonight’s Panthers-Broncos game, though, that’s it. Nothing but hoops and baseball — and soccer, I guess, if you’re into it, though I can’t keep straight which league is playing in which tournament — until SEC Media Days in late July.
It can be a slog. So here are 10 things that might hold your interest in the interim.
10. How much of Georgia’s roster will remain intact until camp opens? The ongoing narrative from the Mark Richt era at UGA was how, ahem, laissez-faire his program tended to be (arrests and off-field troubles and whatnot). The common belief among people who know things is that new head coach Kirby Smart — whose boss at Alabama famously ran off a number of players when he got to Tuscaloosa — will be less forgiving than his predecessor. It’s worth watching, in any case.
9. Spring game attendance boasting. My inclination was to type something lewd to describe this particular phenomenon, but my mother reads this, so I’ll attempt to avoid working blue. Anyway, ever since Alabama fans showed up en masse for Nick Saban’s first A-Day game, it’s become something of a tradition around the league (and around the nation) to boast about your spring game’s attendance. In 2015, the Big Ten took the three top spots in national spring game attendance (Ohio State, Nebraska, Penn State). Don’t think our people didn’t notice.
8. The NFL draft. All of it. One of the really cool things about the current era of SEC football is that more people like me pay attention on Sundays, if only because every pro game I watch I see names I recognize (“Hey, that’s the guy from Auburn!” … “Hey, I remember him from LSU!”). This will manifest itself in a number of ways during the walk-up to the draft, as our favorite players go through pro days on campus and the NFL Combine. It will also create a series of hilarious reactions in fans who read and hear negative things from the experts about their favorite players. Good times all around.
7. Conference comparisons. I am convinced Danny Kanell is basically working a pro wrestling character at this point. There’s no other explanation. But his heat with SEC fans is solid, and no doubt we can spend all offseason arguing that the 2015 postseason — bowls and playoff results — proved the league is back on top, with the same vociferousness we did last offseason when we hollered that the bowl and playoff results don’t matter that much.
6. The ongoing conspiracy theories. Say, did you know Alabama is responsible for the NCAA investigation at Ole Miss? Did you know ESPN is conspiring to secure playoff spots for the SEC and the B1G? Did you know SEC officials are biased against LSU? Did you know you can spend an entire offseason wading through these conspiracies and never leave you house?
5. The ongoing NCAA saga in Oxford. I’m man enough to admit I don’t know much about what’s happening at Ole Miss right now with regards to the NCAA investigation. I can say with some confidence that the NCAA is a poorly run mockery of a regulatory body, though, and so whatever happens, I’m sure it will be terrible for everyone involved.
4. SEC Media Days. Media Days are a little bit like prom night, in that we spend a long time preparing for them and usually go home frustrated. Still, it’s the first sign we’ll have that the 2016 season is nearly here, so that’ll be worth celebrating on its own.
3. Trying to place Nick Saban in history. We’re going to spend most of the offseason trying to figure out where the man belongs in the history books — I have already heard one argument that his four national championships have come in a time in which it’s nearly impossible to sustain a dynasty, and then another argument that it’s actually easier (because the postseason is more forgiving and we don’t finish the year with four undefeated teams anymore). It’s a fun topic that will be argued poorly on talk radio all across the globe.
2. Tennessee fans shout down expectations. OK, let’s just get this out of the way now: Tennessee will be the overwhelming favorite to win the SEC East. Why shouldn’t they be? The Vols have virtually their entire offensive and defensive starting 11 returning (including Josh Dobbs, who may be the league’s best player), have a favorable schedule — Florida, Alabama and South Carolina all come to Knoxville — and their division rivals all got weaker (Georgia and Carolina have new coaches, and Florida currently has no quarterback). Now … before we go on, find your nearest UT fan and tell them they will be in Atlanta in December. Seriously, do it. I’ll wait.
1. Quarterback competitions. Easily the most intriguing stories from around the league this spring and summer. Aside from Tennessee and Ole Miss, virtually every program in the league will spend this offseason hunting a QB. Alabama must replace Jake Coker. Auburn fans will spend all offseason arguing about Jeremy Johnson and Sean White. Florida has to find a QB from somewhere. So do LSU, Arkansas and Texas A&M.
You get the idea. It ain’t actual football, but it’ll do till football gets here.
(Seriously, please get here quickly.)
Will Heath is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers SEC football.
