Monday Down South: We survived 2020. Let the 2021 narratives begin
Alabama and Ohio State have one last issue to resolve in Miami, but for the rest of college football, the cursed 2020 season is in the rearview and it’s full speed ahead toward 2021. On the cusp of the new year, here are 9 initial thoughts to set the tone for the next 8 months until kickoff.
1. Bama: Still Bama
As ever, it’s easy to dwell on what Alabama stands to lose in the annual winter exodus, especially on offense: The greatest receiver in school history, arguably the greatest running back, an All-American quarterback, a pair of consensus All-Americans on the o-line, and the offensive coordinator who called the shots the last 2 years, just to hit the top of the list. Assuming Mac Jones opts for the NFL – he’s widely projected as a first-rounder, the threshold Nick Saban typically cites for advising players with eligibility remaining to go pro – the starting lineup on Sept. 4 vs. Miami will bear almost no resemblance to the lineup in next Monday’s national championship game vs. Ohio State. The 2021 Tide will be starting over from scratch with as few as 2 returning starters (Evan Neal and John Metchie III) in an offense operating under a new play-caller for the 7th time in Saban’s tenure.
But as ever, the king stays the king. If it’s not Jones behind center, it will be sophomore-to-be Bryce Young, an automatic preseason Heisman candidate based on recruiting hype and garbage-time highlights alone. Behind the outgoing starters, every other player on the offensive two-deep in Friday’s semifinal romp over Notre Dame was (as always) a former 4- or 5-star prospect except Slade Bolden. Neal and Metchie, only sophomores, are already established as rising stars. The two-deep on defense didn’t feature a single senior, and aside from Patrick Surtain II and Dylan Moses, could return more or less intact. Even by Bama standards, the incoming recruiting class is among the most celebrated in the online ranking era. Even the dang kicker is a known quantity. Whether or not it rides into the new year as the defending champ, Bama remains the team to beat.
2. Georgia is not going anywhere
There was a point around midseason, in the aftermath of lopsided losses to Alabama and Florida, when it was possible to look at Georgia’s struggling defense and rapidly unraveling quarterback situation and wonder if maybe UGA’s window as a serious national contender had just been slammed shut. The stretch run suggested otherwise: JT Daniels lived up to the hype, George Pickens got healthy, the defense tightened up, and the Bulldogs offered a glimpse of their potential at full strength.
GEORGE PICKENS WHAT A CATCH
— PFF College (@PFF_College) January 1, 2021
Like Bama, Georgia’s roster is one of the few with the baseline talent level to compete for championships year-in, year-out, regardless of attrition; unlike Bama, almost all of Georgia’s principles are expected back, including virtually everyone who touched the ball after Daniels’ long-overdue promotion to starting QB.
If Daniels’ finish is a preview of what he’s capable of over a full season, he could be the missing piece that’s held otherwise elite outfits back throughout Kirby Smart’s tenure.
Either way, we’ll will find out ASAP in the fall: Georgia opens against a rebuilding Clemson team that suddenly appears as mortal in the aftermath of a semifinal beatdown vs. Ohio State as the Tigers have looked in a long time. The anticipation for that one should sky-high.
3. Did Florida blow its best shot?
By most lights, the Gators hit every major milestone they needed to hit to claim another solid step forward in Dan Mullen’s 3rd season: They beat Georgia, won the SEC East and remained in the thick of the Playoff race well into December, all while producing the program’s first bona fide Heisman candidate since Tim Tebow.
And yet the ending – a 3-game losing streak, including humiliations at the hands of a shorthanded, lame-duck version of LSU in the regular-season finale and Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl – undeniably left a sour taste that’s going to linger well into the offseason. With Kyle Trask and his top 3 targets are all on their way out, there’s a palpable sense for the first time under Mullen that the Gators are due for a step back.
It’s difficult right now to gauge how seriously to take reports that Mullen, a college lifer with no NFL experience as a player or coach, is open to overtures from the next level. But he is facing what may be his toughest year on the job, both in terms of scrutiny after the team’s late collapse and the outlook for the team itself. In Trask’s place, Emory Jones will finally have the position to himself after spending the last 3 years as the heir apparent/change of pace off the bench; his athleticism along with the departures at receiver could mean a dramatic shift away from the pass-happy philosophy the Gators embraced in 2020.
The bigger concern, though, is the defense, which hit new lows statistically and ended the year by giving up 50+ points and 600+ yards in each of its last two games. Mullen has already fired 2 assistants in the secondary in the wake of the Oklahoma debacle, but the house-cleaning apparently will not include embattled coordinator Todd Grantham, the focal point of the fan base’s angst.
Grantham’s unit was repeatedly set aflame in a year when a merely average defense might have been good enough to run the table opposite one of the most prolific offenses in school history. Instead, Florida limped in at 8-4. It’s been a long time since the Gators have had that kind of opportunity, and by the time it comes around again the current administration could be long gone.
4. LSU will be back
No one in Baton Rouge or anywhere else expected anything remotely resembling a repeat of the 2019 championship run. But the drop-off, inevitable as it was, turned out to be more like a freefall: Through 8 games, the Tigers stood at 3-5 with historically lopsided losses against Auburn and Alabama already in the books and close to half the roster on ice due to injuries, COVID-19, and self-preservation. LSU’s first losing season in two decades seemed like a foregone conclusion and the national title like a distant memory.
The Dec. 12 upset in Gainesville flipped that trajectory overnight. Rather than packing it in for the year, back-to-back wins over Florida and Ole Miss offered a glimpse of a hopelessly young team finding its footing. True freshmen Max Johnson and Kayshon Boutte connected 19 times for 416 yards and 4 TDs; the much-maligned defense forced 9 turnovers, including a pair of crucial pick-6 TDs by fledgling corners Eli Ricks and Jay Ward; juco transfer Ali Gaye completed his emergence as one of the league’s rising terrors off the edge. The energy in reduced-capacity Tiger Stadium for the finale felt almost … normal.
https://twitter.com/SECNetwork/status/1340453647080157185?s=20
Between Johnson and a healthy Myles Brennan, the Tigers will go into the season with at least one quarterback they can feel good about, and between Boutte, Gaye, Ricks and Derek Stingley Jr. (remember him?) ,they’ll have as much front-line star power as any team in the conference. For the sake of turning the page, they’ll also have new coordinators on both sides of the ball. That won’t be enough to make them contenders, but for now, leveling back into the kind of standard-issue LSU team that can be counted on to bank at least 9 wins in any given year counts as a step in the right direction.
5. Auburn is in the QB market
Gus Malzahn bet his future on Bo Nix and lost that bet. Nix showed no significant improvement form Year 1 to Year 2, Auburn scored a grand total of one touchdown in losses to Alabama and Georgia, and Malzahn was shown the door after a 6-4 finish to the regular season. After another mediocre outing in Friday’s Citrus Bowl loss to Northwestern, don’t be surprised if his hand-picked, face-of-the-program quarterback is next.
In Nix’s defense, veteran starters with a 15-9 record under their belts don’t grow on trees. But he’s been too erratic for incoming coach Bryan Harsin to anoint as QB1 without at least a token competition for the job, and given that current depth chart is effectively a Nix-or-bust situation the grad transfer market may be the only realistic option. The transfer portal still has a few intriguing names who have yet to commit to a new school, including former starters at Wisconsin (Jack Coan) and Virginia Tech (Hendon Hooker) and home-grown product Jake Bentley, an Opelika High grad with 37 career starts at South Carolina and Utah.
Are any of those candidates actually better than Nix? Not necessarily – they probably wouldn’t be in the portal in the first place if they were. But they are credible options. And as it stands, the new staff needs as many of those as it can get.
6. Corral for Heiman?
Among the likely holdovers at quarterback – again, assuming Mac Jones isn’t one of them – the most accomplished by far is Ole Miss’ Matt Corral, who just single-season school records for total offense (384.3 ypg) and pass efficiency (177.6) while ranking third nationally in ESPN’s Total QBR, trailing only the 2 starting QBs in the national championship game. The Rebels’ 26-20 win over Indiana in the Outback Bowl marked his 7th outing with a 90+ QBR score this season in 10 games, more than any other quarterback except Jones.
Matt Corral hit a NASA spaceship with this ball
— PFF College (@PFF_College) November 28, 2020
Is that enough to gin up some nascent Heisman buzz in 2021? On paper, maybe. Even without prolific WR Elijah Moore, who declared early for the draft more than a month ago, there’s no reason to expect Lane Kiffin’s offense to significantly change or decline. (In Moore’s absence, Corral accounted for 788 total yards and 6 TDs in the final 2 games.)
In reality, Corral has two significant obstacles to overcome. One: A rock-bottom defense that consistently makes his stat lines look like empty calories in a losing effort, even when it’s competitive. And two: His tendency to cluster turnovers. Thirteen of his 14 interceptions this season came in 3 games, losses to Arkansas (6), Auburn (2) and LSU (5), compared to only one INT in the other 7 games. Ole Miss went 5-2 in those games, the losses coming in early shootouts vs. Florida and Alabama.
The Rebels will have to steal enough of those types of games to sustain at least a dark horse run at the division for Corral to even begin to transcend the stat sheet. The good news is that if he delivers the exact same season with fewer giveaways, the defense doesn’t have to be much better to do exactly that.
7. The Air Raid arrives in force
In a fundamentally bizarre season across the entire sport, Mississippi State’s trajectory was about as bizarre as they come. The Bulldogs started on a high note at LSU, immediately collapsed, spent half the season battling injuries, attrition and ineptitude, slowly began to pick themselves off the mat in late November, and finished with back-to-back wins over Missouri and Tulsa. The parting shot, for good measure: A sprawling fistfight.
A massive brawl broke out at the end of the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl between Tulsa and Mississippi State. pic.twitter.com/zfaq912SWU
— ESPN (@espn) December 31, 2020
When the dust settles, there’s a lot for MSU fans to look forward too – most obviously an offense whose leading passer (Will Rogers), rusher (Jo’quavious Marks), and receiver (Jaden Walley) are all true freshmen, as was the MVP of the bowl game, WR/KR Lideatrick Griffin. In Rogers and Walley, especially, Mike Leach has a couple of long-term pieces with the potential to establish the kind of high-volume connection that has defined his best teams at his previous stops. The next step in 2021 is running a version of the Air Raid that actually looks like it deserves the distinction.
8. Tennessee is on the road to nowhere
Jeremy Pruitt is not entirely out of the woods, pending the fallout of an ongoing investigation into potential compliance violations. But the fact that the new year has come and gone without a peep from Knoxville would seem to be a good indication that Pruitt is going to survive to see Year 4 despite a 10-16 record in SEC games. Why anyone would expect anything different from a team that lost 7 of its last 8, though, remains a mystery.
The revolving door at quarterback is settled (for now) in favor of sophomore-to-be Harrison Bailey, the last man standing at the top of the depth chart following the predictable transfers of Jarrett Guarantano and J.T. Shrout. But Bailey barely saw the field in any meaningful capacity until the tail-end of the season, and with RB Eric Gray’s status in limbo – he sat out the season-finale vs. Texas A&M in connection with the recruiting probe, which may or may not have any bearing on his availability in the future – the list of returning playmakers on offense is alarmingly thin. The defense has LB Henry To’o To’o and no one else whose name rings out beyond the diehards.
One way or another, Pruitt’s last, best hope for salvaging a future at UT is a spark or a breakthrough that hasn’t been in evidence at any point over the last 3 years, including during the unlikely 8-game winning streak spanning the end of 2019 and the first 2 games of 2020.
At their best, Pruitt’s Vols have managed to muddle through. But when that’s the best you can hope for, the writing is on the wall – or in this case, on The Rock.
9. 2021 is going to be the most anticipated season ever
Yes, 2020 had its moments and its stars, and if Alabama brings home the national championship next week, the 2020 Tide will take their rightful place among the dominant teams in SEC history. When it’s all said and done, though, it will always be the Plague Year, defined less by the games themselves than by the chaotic circumstances that never quite receded into the background.
The strain of playing amid a pandemic disrupted the familiar beats and rhythms of the calendar and knocked ancient rivalries off it altogether. It forced teams to play short-handed, on short notice, with endlessly fluid lineups in front of mostly empty stadiums that palpably lacked the juice of a capacity crowd. Considering how close the sport was to pulling the plug altogether in August, it’s a minor miracle they played at all. The absolute best thing you can say about the 2020 season is that, in the end, there was in fact a 2020 season.
The prospect of normalcy and predictability has never sounded so good. Thankfully, 2021 promises a standard offseason, a full, fixed schedule that kicks off on time, and maxed-out rosters that remain essentially intact from one week to the next. It promises big nonconference games, in-state rivalries, full crowds, marching bands, and zero arguments over how many games is enough to qualify for the Playoff. (Arguments over expanding the Playoff are another story.) It promises to reset the clock, to restore the natural order.
At this time a year ago, in the Before Time, we had the luxury of taking that order for granted. Now, on the other end of what felt like 6 or 7 years in 1, it’s more obvious than ever just how easily it can be thrown off-kilter. More than anything else, 2021 will be a celebration of those rhythms. I can’t wait.
Bo Nix was vastly overrated and over hyped as a 5* savior QB. Gus did him zero favors in developing him into a solid QB. I think he deserves a chance with Harsin coaching him up. He’s a good offensive/QB mind that can help Nix improve.
Gus always did best with athletic QBs who could run and weren’t asked to do too much in the passing game beyond throwing to wide open receivers who were wide open because of the very real threat of the QB run game.
It is very much his fault that he couldn’t find any of those guys after Nick Marshall exhausted his eligibility, or that the ones he did recruit like the perpetually media-over-hyped Jeremy Johnson were just not any good.
My favorite over-hyped Auburn QB is Kiehl Frazier, whose parents paid a PR firm to hype him while he was still in high school.
Ironically, Kiehl now works in the mail room of that PR department.
You serious?
That’s dead on 17Tide. I didn’t see them developing Nix much at all.
Nix was a great QB that got NO coaching. I think some coaching can help reverse some of his problems. AU may not get the chance. People seem to forget that after 2 miserable years, performance wise, Nix could leave. Then AU has none. AU id going to be pretty depleted talent wise, with nothing much coming in, as of now. Fans want to say that their O-line will be better next year because of their experience, but they fail to remember that the O-line in 2019 was 4 seniors and a junior and they stunk it up too and caused a lot of Nix’s problems.
Wow. This was actually a balanced, good piece of writing.
Am I on Saturday Down South?
[checks url]
Yep. Even more impressive!
Ha! Ditto!!
Tennessee hasn’t had a star player in over 10 years
Not true at all. We just didn’t use them properly, so they were wasted.
Barnett was good, but he was never really a star. Kamara could’ve been a star if used properly. Cam Sutton also couldve been a star. My point is we dont know how to develop ANYONE
Ah I got ya. I thought you were saying we didn’t have any star players. Because we did. We just wasted every single one of them. Looking like we might do the same with Gray and To’o To’o both of whom are excellent players in a bad team.
Pretty sure I’d be a better AD than Fulmer, because Pruity would be gone, and I’d find the best combination between player development and playcalling. Maybe someone from UCFs coaching staff, or maybe a Mack Brown disciple(NOT MUSCHAMP(
Oops spelling errors lol
UCF Coaching chain???? you mean 3-30 Scott frost or the gets blasted by real competition Josh Hueple? If you want a good coach that will beat Saban, you have to find a championship caliber coach. Hugh Freeze is a cheater, so he wont get the job done. Lincoln Riley, Jason Day, James Franklin, or dare I say it, Gus Malzahn would be the right targets. franklin and Malzahn are the only realistic targets.
Yes Tenneessee has. But like CVOL sais, they were not allowed to play to their potential. I think Tennessee has plenty of talent to be #2 in the east (Not a dig at TN, GA is simply loaded). TN has been cursed with second rate coaches. Which is surprising, because I thought Pruitt was a homerun hire.
We chiefs fans loved Eric Berry.
You guys have a good one in Harrison Bailey. He should’ve been starting sooner if you ask me. Been watching him since middle school. Talented kid.
I’ve been wanting Bailey to start since probably the 3rd or 4th game this season.
Surely bama realizes that you can’t lose your offensive coordinator and 9 out of 11 starters and expect to be competitive vs LSU next year who will be returning boutte and the baws!?
I expect at least 3 losses from bama next year. And look for LSU to make it back to the playoffs and win it! Geaux tigers!
You serious, Clark? Other than Saban’s inaugural season at Bama in 07, he’s only loss 3 games once in a season. In the meantime his recruiting has gotten better. I honestly don’t think they’ll lose 3 next year. They might not win another championship, but to think that LSU will be better than Bama next year is just silly.
Dude, even in a “down year” for Bama, like in 2019, they’re only losing 2 games.
Next season, they could lose to LSU and Ole Miss maybe, and that’s about it. Auburn ain’t beating them. Floriduh ain’t beating them, either.
And Nick Saban losing an OC isn’t like anyone else doing so, because he almost never makes a wrong decision in hiring coordinator replacements. Not like Kirby did in 2019 or LSU did in 2018 and 2020.
Maybe Auburn could beat them because its @ Auburn
They have home field sorcery like no other team on the planet.
Saban always struggles against scramblin qbs… look for Miami to skull fug em week 1!
Yeah… no.
Don’t be delusional like Floriduh ‘turds.
At Florida at auburn at tamu at miss state even vs lsu Miami neutral site game peeeee mother effn you I cannot wait!
Gonna be little nickys worst season yet!
Corch, Fantasy is delusional. He is your version of negan.
And next year without a doubt will be a down year for bama… I can not wait. Geaux buckeyes!
Bama kicking your arse in recruiting. Seven five stars to your two.
Bama lives in your head rent free lol. Lsu is your team but all you can talk about is bama
I would expect someone that is so completely over impressed with themselves as you are, would realize that those players play against Bama’s defense, not the offense that is losing players. Bama has lost players before, and still beaten LSU.
5. Auburn is in the QB market…..
How AU fairs under Harsin will interesting.
7. The Air Raid arrives in force…..
I wanna see what MSU looks like after Leach gets a couple of recruiting classes under his belt.
8. Tennessee is on the road to nowhere…..
Good (that’s for all the butthead Vol posters and not directed at the good Vol commenters).
I still don’t have a definitive answer regarding future scholarship limits. When you grant a free year of eligibility to 85 scholarship players, does that mean a temporary increase in scholarship limits, or does that mean they can hang around and pay their own way for one year? Because if the cap is going to remain at 85, coaches are going to have to cut scholarships. I doubt whether they will voluntarily limit signing classes, so it would mean effectively cutting players currently on scholarship. If I’m off base on this question, someone explain to me how they are going to keep all of their current scholarship players on scholarship, plus add full signing classes.
In 2021 you can go over the 85 scholarship limit… not sure how it translates for 2022… good question.
As I understand it, the 85-man limit will still apply, but any players who would have normally exhausted eligibility in 2020 (by playing 4 years in 5) can return (or transfer elsewhere) and not be counted against the 85-man limit. Call it 85-plus, and it will vary from school to school depending on the number of 5th-year returnees offered scholarships.
I had the same question a couple of weeks ago.
“normally exhausted eligibility in 2020”–that’s a key phrase. I read that everyone gets a free year, so a freshman this year will be a freshman next year. It adds a year for every player, if I’m not mistaken.
That is the way I look at it. That would mean increased limits for 4 years. Right?
That’s the way the NCAA described it – blanket eligibility extension for all fall sports athletes, so yes, it would appear to have a ripple effect for the next few years.
The NCAA allows individual schools to determine if they will fund the additional scholarships. Some from a cost perspective have said no thanks. This eligibility extension applies to walk-ons as well, so the monied programs could support gigantic, Bear Bryant-like rosters for a while if they choose.
Loved the 10 game SEC schedule. Wish they would keep it going forward.
…for those teams that actually got 10 games. If the CFPs are expanded I agree…
UGA’s window as a serious national contender has been slammed shut since 1980. Georgia’s roster is one of the few with the baseline talent level to compete for championships year-in, year-out, regardless of attrition and yet they come close enough to tease their desperate fans but fail again and again. The most underperforming team in the history of the recruiting rankings, keep winning recruiting national championships and come in at best 3rd in the SEC. But in the puny brains of their ignorant fanbase, next year will be different. As the headline reads, Georgia is not going anywhere, you got that one right
So funny to watch you Gator Trolls. Your program has gone from Playoff Contender and “going to be beating UGA for a decade” to total and complete dumpster fire. Yep, down year, QB issues and everything else and Georgia managed to win all of the games they were supposed to win and build as the year went forward.
Florida on the other hand. This was their year. All that first round talent…Mullen finally getting the monkey off his back aaaaand…they are throwing shoes and losing bowl games by 5 touchdowns.
Your absolute dumpster fire of a program snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and your coach’s antics have made you the lauging stock of the conference. You won’t be as good next season as you were this season. You are going somewhere alright. It ain’t Atlanta though…unless of course That crapshow of an NFL franchise up their hires your coach away from you. Enjoy the Armed Forces Bowl.
I was reading the top 10 winning teams of the last decade in all of college football…Bama 4th, LSU 5th, Humpers 6th, guess where UF was?
…interesting eh?
Nahh, what’s really funny is to watch a legion of puppy fans piling on two articles about the possibility of Mullen leaving Florida. Then we have another legion of deluded mutts proclaiming this time is different and this is the year Kirby will win it all. Two years ago it was the best O line in football, this year it was the best defense ever, now it’s you finally found a QB. UGA is always on the cusp of winning it all and yet………1980.
Stupid is as stupid never learns
As for UF what do 2010, 2013, 2015, 2017 and now 2020 have in common? Here’s a hint, UGA last time was 2010, Alabama 2007 btw…
Come on man this ain’t school so stop the quiz BS. The only dates that matter for our programs are 2008 and 1980.
Not a good look for you bro
Humor me…for UF what do 2010, 2013, 2015, 2017 and now 2020 all have in common?
And humor me some more, if Kirby had gone 10-3, 11-2 then 8-4 would that be deemed COY worthy just because he beat UF, and would that demonstrate improvement or regression?
Mullen has made you the joke and embarrassment of the SEC. Enjoy your probation.
When saying that even an average defense will do, define average. As spreading the field and a fast pace, I’m not sure any geniuses have a grip on just how to counter. But I suspect average will have to be defined by allowing more than 20 points a game, and more. Better have that spread working or someone could find themselves scoring 20 something but losing by 30-40 points.
No doubt the targeting rule has forever changed what is considered GREAT defense, defensive players are now handicapped with having to pause and think about how they are going to dissect a receiver from a well thrown spiral, and receivers have no fear running across the middle of the field anymore. Add in that illegal rub routes are never called anymore and one must recognize the NCAA has destroyed college football defenses…I miss Jack Tatum…
Good points humper, but I would argue the laxness of pass interference sorta make up for it. Remember the days if you *touched* the receiver it was a flag?
I think it’s pretty clear that Mullen is looking for an opportunity to jump ship at Florida.
Why, just take a look at what happened to the LSU 2020 offense. Not to mention how Mullen’s antics have clearly not put the school in the best light. It won’t likely be quite as bad for Florida, but there’s no way Emory Jones running the wildcat and passing at 56% is going to come close to matching this years production.
You can call the NFL interest rumors, but if that’s really the case, why hasn’t Mullen denounced those reports and proclaimed his intentions to stay at Florida? That can’t be good for recruiting.
Yes. The demise of Georgia football was drastically exaggerated. Way too many injuries, along with Florida having an extra week to practice for Georgia is what lead to Florida beating Georgia. And look at how Mullen and Florida handles that success.
Florida won’t be able to do it again next year. Georgia is already back to being the real Beast in the East.
Harsin will be back out West in three years but with about $20 million in his pocket
Yeah. He is pretty much set up to fail.
3: Did Florida blow its best shot?
I really doubt it. Their second string QB looked like the real deal. He looked look a scary dual-threat. I mean… I hope they blew it. And yeah, Pitts is gone, but if Mullen stays (as there are rumors he might leave), they should reload with minimal problems…unfortunately.
Lev, E Jones will need to make a lot of improvement. He’s a great running QB. After that, he’s a 56% passer.
I would be much more worried if Mullen brought in a good passing QB off the transfer market. I think Kirby’s defense can handle a running QB.
Mullet is ready to go. Admin already exploring how to can him. Embarrassing pressers and throwing players under bus and can’t recruit. Even his old lady had to go to Orlando to get groceries first time around. This time who knows. She probably kisses delivery guys.
Keep on forgetting the Wildcats… We are the story for next year that no one gets but us
my only question is who are the clear cut contenders in 2021? Bama’s got an OC to fill, new QB’s coming in, and some top quality players leaving… UF loses a ton of offensive production, needs a new QB, and they’ve got to figure out what to do with Grantham and possibly Mullen… the Aggies lose Mond (I swear he’s been there since the 1980’s) and a large chunk of their O-Line (I think)… LSU has a lot to do still to get back on the right path… UGA seems like it might have an edge given returning production, but I’m not sold yet on them… and who else could step up? Ole Miss? maybe, the offense is as good as any in the conference but the D is atrocious… Year 1 under Harsin seems like a retool/rebuild year… IMO the conference is wide open. Even nationally too, Clemson has got to reload (and OSU exposed some cracks in their team that need to be addressed), OSU loses some really quality players, Notre Dame does too. So who steps up?
Boutte wins a natty… book it!
Sanctions will win a natty. Finish what Katrina started.
that’s a crappy thing to say. you got any idea the suffering that went on??????????????????????????
F you
just lost all respect for you
Congrats for biggest douche of the day. Not cool.. not cool at all…
Bama goes rolling along. They may not win it next year, but folks leaving have never really been an issue there and I don’t see it becoming one.
CATS CATS CATS!
I’m not sold on Bama losing that many players. Saban has historically been the best at getting draft eligible players to stay unless they are sure fire first round draft choices and sometimes he even gets them to stay. Managing an 85 man roster means some seniors will have to go but it wouldn’t likely be current starters if they want to stay.
I think Dylan Moses returns next year. He has gone from a projected 1st round draft choice to a 4th to 5th in many mocks. He had a bad year. He was called for many interference penalties because he grabbed many receivers that he could not or did not cover. Those he did not grab many times gained big yards. This and his statements show he was not back from his knee injury though he was medically cleared. I think coming back will help him raise his draft status and get back to the guaranteed money.
Personally I am not sold on Leach. He is pretty average, with a 59.4 winning %. Though they were at some tough schools to win at, winning is still the metric coaches are judged by. I also think his personality is going to get old fast. Though admittedly if he starts winning big it will be easier to ignore.
I’m not sure Moses returns. With the way he was feeling he may look to move on and take what money he can get at this point.
LSU IS BACK! back to 7-win seasons
Are you kidding me? Coach zee-r0 has a Joe Brady clone coming in at OC and that freshman QB is the next Joe Burrow.
Ummm….who are you?
Corral has another obstacle to the Heisman even if his stats and record are great–Ole Miss doesn’t have the right brand name. The Heisman is basically a popularity contest between the QBs of the top 4 teams, with the occasional stray skill position player.
He also is fighting the perception that its the system and not his talent
Who has a chance to have a winning record ?, everybody if the SEC only edict expires.
Who has a chance to have winning records over-all ?, the teams who can score touchdowns against above average division defenses.
Who has a chance to win the division ?, the teams with the lines on both sides of the ball.
Who has a chance to win the SEC championship and the biggest bowl games?, the team that can win an SEC division AND score points against the top 10 defenses in the NCAA. That’s a broad statement on purpose, because we just don’t know how brute force and fine skills are going to match up now, maybe halfway thru 2021, maybe.
Just once I would love for the SEC head office / Officials go an entire season without inventing a rule or bastardizing the interpretation of an existing rule to screw the Razorbacks out of a game or an important turnover during a game…enough is enough.
ALL communications between the field umpire and replay booth should be recorded so that any controversial call can be replayed at a later date for review by the teams involved and head of officiating…that simple act would give incentive for more fair decisions down the road.
Probably will never happen, but at least we can dream about it.
If pruitt stays he MUST fire Chris weinke. That guy couldn’t help coach a hs qb let alone a power 5 qb. Major changes must happen and it looks like he is pretty much cleaning house. Even tho he is the problem
Alabama will likely lose 1 game next year— back in the playoffs probably with Georgia , Oklahoma, and Ohio state. With their talent — nick gets another ring.