5 SEC players who should go off in bowl games
I think more than 5 SEC players will go off in bowl games. Let me be clear.
There are some extremely favorable matchups for SEC offenses, and it wouldn’t surprise me if we were talking about a whole bunch of teams hitting 35 points en rout to a bowl victory.
That’s what made narrowing this list extremely difficult. I decided to keep it to just offensive players for the simple fact that predicting defensive stats is a bit of a crapshoot, at least in terms of interceptions and sacks.
So while I think many more than 5 SEC players will go off this bowl season, here are the 5 (or so) that I chose to focus on:
1. Larry Rountree III, Mizzou RB
All of Oklahoma State’s attention is going to be on Drew Lock. With a month to prepare, the Cowboys will do whatever they can to drop back and make sure that Lock and Emanuel Hall aren’t burning the Cowboys deep.
In other words, hello running lanes.
Rountree was one of the quieter 1,000-yard backs this season, which was a product of him slowly taking over a crowded backfield. One of the blessings of Derek Dooley’s system has been the balance. The commitment to the run game certainly benefitted the sophomore tailback, who averaged 97 rushing yards and a score in the second half of the regular season.
I’d expect Rountree to hit triple digits for the third consecutive game running against an OSU defense that ranks 81st against the run having allowed 25 rushing touchdowns this year.
2. Nick Brossette, LSU RB
Speaking of tailbacks who don’t face very good defenses, this game has Brossette written all over it. You get the feeling that LSU is going to want to impose its will against a smaller, less talented UCF defense. What better way to do that than to give Brossette the rock 20-25 times.
Even though Brossette didn’t continue the torrid pace he started the season on, he still had a rushing score in 8 of his final 9 games (nobody scored against Alabama). It wouldn’t surprise me if game flow allowed for Brossette to wear down a UCF defense that’s been subpar during this impressive 2-year run. The Knights enter the Fiesta Bowl ranked No. 117 out of 129 teams against the run.
There’s no doubt the home-run plays will be there for Brossette. I’d expect him to come out swinging in his final college game.
3. Ryan Davis, Auburn WR
I know, I know, I know. Predicting someone to go off in Auburn’s 2018 passing game might seem a bit ambitious, especially someone who didn’t score a receiving touchdown this year. But the Tigers’ all-time receptions leader is a good candidate to do so for a variety of reasons.
Davis, in his final college game, is going to get fed the ball. A ton. Purdue struggles to tackle in space. That’s why the Boilermakers rank No. 123 against the pass.
I also have a feeling that back calling plays, Gus Malzahn is going to want to flex his muscles a bit, especially against a great offensive mind like Jeff Brohm. Meaning, Malzahn is going to want to get creative with how he gets Davis his touches. Maybe Davis, who has a pair of passing touchdowns in his only 2 attempts, will be involved in some trickery.
Auburn goes with a little trickery. WR Ryan Davis to Sal Cannella for the TD. pic.twitter.com/Bn942gFdUd
— Ben Baby (@Ben_Baby) November 3, 2018
Whatever the case, it wouldn’t surprise me if Davis finished his career with double-digit catches and his first receiving score of 2018. Better late than never, right?
4. Jake Fromm, Georgia QB
With all the drama over Justin Fields’ transfer going on around him, I think the Georgia quarterback stays locked in. He has had a history of getting more focused when adversity hits the locker room. Couple that with a month to prepare for the Texas defense and yeah, I don’t think Fromm will have any problem racking up numbers.
I’m not sure that Fields left because of how well Fromm played after the LSU loss, but it couldn’t have helped matters. In his final 6 games, Fromm put up a 14-1 touchdown-interception ratio and he completed 70 percent of his passes for 9.1 yards per attempt. And in case that wasn’t enough, he threw for 301 yards and 3 TDs against Alabama.
So against a Texas defense that ranks No. 114 against the pass, I like Fromm’s chances of putting up 300 yards easily. Like Fromm, Georgia still has plenty of underclassmen skill players who should be plenty motivated for this one.
This is just a guess, but something tells me Fromm and the Dawgs won’t have to put up 54 points to win like they did the last time they faced a Big 12 team in a New Year’s 6 Bowl.
5. Jaylen Waddle/every Alabama pass-catcher
It’s boring to say that just Tua Tagovailoa — that guy who finished second in the Heisman voting — will put up big numbers against the second-worst pass defense in America. So instead, let’s dig into why Waddle and the Alabama pass-catchers will dominate the Orange Bowl Playoff semifinal.
My guess is that Oklahoma does whatever it can to shut down Belitnikoff Award winner Jerry Jeudy. They’ll sell out to make sure that he doesn’t beat them deep, though he’ll probably get them at least once. That’s going to open up pockets for the ever-slippery Waddle to make some big-time runs after the catch.
In the second half of the season, the true freshman really developed as a route-runner with finding the soft spots in zone coverage. Tagovailoa should have plenty of time to go through his progressions and find a streaking Waddle.
Along those same lines, I’d expect this to be a big Irv Smith Jr. game, as well. There should be space in the middle of the field with Oklahoma so focused on containing Alabama’s outside weapons of Jeudy and Henry Ruggs III. This is a pick-your-poison game for the Sooner defense.
Waddle could easily provide the nail in the coffin to Oklahoma’s season.