SEC's biggest sleeping giants in 2016
During the course of the football season, media attention begins to focus on the teams competing to win division championships, conference titles and, potentially, the playoffs. A team that falls out of the discussion in October can become virtually ignored by the time conference championship games are played in December.
Some of those ignored teams are better than their record suggests, and perhaps in position to surprise people next year.
One could call those teams sleeping giants. Such as these:
Tennessee Volunteers – 8-4 in 2015
This giant has a habit of talking in its sleep – loudly. Big Orange Nation trumpeted Tennessee’s 45-28 win over Iowa in the TaxSlayer Bowl as a sign that UT would be “back” for 2015. The Volunteers got off to a rocky start (3-4), but closed the season on a five-game winning streak.
Tennessee’s losses to Florida and Alabama this season might put a damper on offseason hype, but coach Butch Jones, now the longest-tenured coach in the SEC East, has maintained continuity on his staff while signing the level of talent that suggests it is a matter of when, not if, Tennessee will win the SEC East. The Vols will have one of the division’s most experienced, potent offenses with wide receivers Josh Malone, Josh Smith, QB Joshua Dobbs and RB Jalen Hurd all returning.
Georgia Bulldogs 9-3 in 2015
Does a perennial preseason favorite count as a sleeping giant? As a team unranked by the playoff committee and playing in the lower-tiered TaxSlayer Bowl, one could consider the Bulldogs off the radar right now.
Transition seasons under a new coach are often written off as a year of growing pains and figuring out a new system, but Georgia coach Kirby Smart inherits one of the most talented rosters in the SEC. He also just landed five-star QB Jacob Eason, who will be ready to contribute on Day One. And 2015 preseason All-SEC RB Nick Chubb will be back too. Anyone sleeping on the Dawgs in 2016 does so in error.
Texas A&M Aggies – 8-4 in 2015
The Aggies went from leading the SEC West to out of the race in a matter of weeks during the 2015 season. QB Kyle Allen is transferring. Things aren’t exactly looking up for Texas A&M, but it could be a contender in 2016.
Five-star freshman QB Kyler Murray flashed his potential greatness throughout the season and will get to prepare for the bowl game without looking over his shoulder at Allen. Freshman stud receiver Christian Kirk leads a solid returning supporting cast. TAMU’s defense showed improvement in its first season under defensive coordinator John Chavis and should make even more strides in the offseason.
Missouri Tigers – 5-7 in 2015
The 2013-2014 SEC East champion might not like being called a sleeping giant, but after a 5-7 season, it won’t be a popular preseason pick to return to Atlanta in 2016. Missouri’s scoring offense was the worst in the SEC last season at 13.6 points per game. MU’s scoring defense, however, was No. 2 in the conference at 16.2 points allowed per game. With Barry Odom stepping up from defensive coordinator to head coach, the defense should be able to maintain its dominance next season.
The key to Mizzou’s 2016 could be Odom’s hire for offensive coordinator. If the right offensive coordinator can get even the slightest increase in scoring production next season, the defense could be good enough to get the Tigers back in contention for a trip back to the SEC Championship Game.
Please. Please. Do not hype us at all again. I think we’ll be even better next year, but I don’t want another offseason of the media talking us up until we prove it on the field.
Am I happy we made progress this year? Yes. Is there room for improvement? Yes.
“Big Orange Nation trumpeted Tennessee’s 45-28 win over Iowa in the TaxSlayer Bowl as a sign that UT would be ‘back’ for 2015.” What?! I don’t recall any Vols fans I know ever saying that. Everyone was excited about the win, sure. But no one thought we’d be going the distance this year. We had a brutal schedule. The only people hyping Tennessee was the media, and SDS was doing it pretty loudly. Now instead of taking the blame for being wrong about the Vols, they are just trying to pass the blame by saying “Vols fans said it! How dumb were they, huh?” Whatever.
Exactly. The fans had high hopes, but I never heard anyone personally yelling that “we’re back”. On another note, I believe that Stoops is the longest tenured coach in the East, he was hired 10 days prior to CBJ.
Holy hell… Tennessee has been “sleeping” for a decade. Let’s stop hyping them until they beat someone. Anyone really, of any significance. You can’t build “brick by brick” by just beating Vandy, UK, and USC every year…
Says the Gator who backed into the championship game. Lol everyone except Gator fans know UT blew Florida game and that they were clearly best team in east. Almost beat Alabama in Alabama and gators didn’t even cause Alabama to break a sweat. Lol
I don’t think you know what “backed in” means.
I hate to tell you they still made it tk the championship game. They beat us. Its all about winning no matter how you do it. Go ask coach Jones if he would like to be in that game.
FL drugs are the best !
Nkemidche would probably say the drugs in Atlanta are the best. Believe me, he knows.
As the above Vol fans have said, and I agree – stop hyping us. We have been trying to put the brakes on this for several seasons now. I blame SEC media, not Knoxville media, nor Vol fans themselves. In addition, yes, we have been “sleeping” for nearly a decade, but we never claimed to have been “sleeping giants”. Just simply sleeping. During the Dooley years we were bad, and we KNEW we were bad.
I see some of the Vol fanbase touting the “sleeping giant” phrase. UT has a good team on the field right now, no doubt about, but the hype is uncalled for. I’ll say the same for anyone trying to hype UGA also, so don’t take it as a shot at UT. Like UT, UGA has the potential but needs to turn that potential into big wins before people start talking them up too much. The Vols are making the right strides under Jones…maybe the Dawgs can do the same under Smart & Co. Good luck to ya’ll in ’16.
Good luck to you guys as well maybe we can win it all next year and then you in 2017. I would be very happy to play for a championship twice every 10 years. Win one every 10 years and then play and lose one every 10 years. Jeez those players and especially fans at Alabama believe their entitled to play and win it every year. That is not how it works. That is plain and simple greedy and you cannot do that every year unless you are doing something illegal. It is not good for the game and it is terrible for the conference. Now if the conference wins it every year I am fine with that just like 1998-2014 when Florida, Auburn, LSU, won a couple each and Tennessee won one and Alabama won several 4-5 not even sure how many but it felt like at least 4-5 national championships. If Tennessee won 4-5 in 6-8 years it would be great for us but it would be boring to everybody else and most people besides the fans would hate us which is kinda what has happened at Alabama the non fans mostly hate Alabama for winning to much if they would be honest about it although as a Tennessee fan I am definitely impressed with what Saban has done there since he arrived.
I agree but UT athletic dept was hyping us alot too. How many videos of Von Pearson making one handed catches, the DBs making great catches, and Mckenzie and Tuttle videos of them blowing up our o-line did they put out? Seems like every other day the UT athletic dept was doing that. Everyone was guilty. They pumped the fans up and couldnt live up to it, well depending how you want to look at it. I still blame the coaching for losing all thise ball games, we have the talent.
more like during the Dooley years we were unconscious or “Asleep at the wheel”…
Is LSU not on the list because we aren’t considered sleeping? Our fan base certainly considers us “sleeping”. We’ve lost at least 3 games in each of the last 2 season, and lots of people are counting us out…. but we’re also one of the youngest teams in the conference and aren’t losing a whole lot. We have plenty of young stars and are bringing in a top recruiting class…. I’d say we are a sleeping giant. I guess A&M is too…. kinda…. maybe they’ll finally beat us next year after 5 straight years…. actually, nah, probably not.
Missouri? It’s East Championship in 13 says more about the weak East than Mizzou dominance, so please, if you must play this hype game ( and geez already?) at least be serious.
Everyone can play the hype train all they want. Until Jones starts beating the Bamas, Floridas, Oklahomas, hell anyone in the top 25 on a consistant basis…….I wont be on the train. I will admit, coach Jones had me believing after the bowl game last year. Until we actually beat somebody other than the bottom dwellers, I am out on coach Jones.
Brick by Brick my friend LOL Tennessee was only beating Kentucky and mostly Vanderbilt then it was Kentucky, Vanderbilt and South Carolina but this year it was Kentucky, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Georgia, Missouri. Next year Tennessee will beat either Florida or Alabama and maybe both
I hope you are right. Watching the coaching this year, my hopes for that are not as great as yours. Its all about winning, not how you played someone e close.
True, it’s about winning…but it’s also about seeing real progress in the interim. Let’s not kid ourselves, all of those 5-7,6-6 seasons we would have dreamed of being 8-4 with 4 close losses.
We went from getting beaten by Bama by 31 in 3 straight seasons, to 14 last year and 5 this year… went from losing to UF by a couple touchdowns each year to 1 the past 2 years (we let off the hook this year) and from playing UGA tight with less talented teams to finally beating them and Mizzou.
And don’t forget, half of Butch’s guys were true Freshmen this year, including all the trench talent (Jones, Hall, Richmond, Boulware, Mckenzie, Tuttle, Picou, Phillips, Taylor). That’s a huuuge talent upgrade that is coming in the trenches for us.
Well you went from losing by two to losing by 31…..So I guess we will see.
2015 season not even over yet, and SDS has already harnessed the mules and rolled the 2016 hype wagon out of the barn. They never learn.
Lol yep. I wonder exactly who these guys work for sometimes. Does anyone preread their articles before they publish them?
Offensive dumpster fire going on at TAMU
How about, ‘The entire SEC east was asleep, but FL pumped up on drugs’, LOL
But they beat Ole Miss with a freshman QB…and pretty soundly, if I recall.
Oh riiiiight…it is because that freshman was taking a GNC supplement…that is why Ole Miss lost. Keep telling yourself that.
You should really seek counseling. It’s pretty pathetic that anytime someone mentions the Gators you piss yourself and bring up the drug issue. Let it go.
Ah yes! Starting the Vol hype early again I see! They’ve been on the rise for years now. Next year will be no different for them.
The Vols talk so loudly after they finish the year on a winning streak (because their schedule is perennially front loaded) and then loudly again until the lose to UF again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again. A decade of dominance.
I agree our backend always allows for “closing strong”, but really? I can’t remember this any other year than going into this season…and we did show real progress this year and will again next year. No way anyone would have hyped us up for Butch’s first 2 seasons, total rebuilding projects there. The only “hype” those years was misinterpretation of Butch’s first recruiting class. It was good and people talked about how we (could) be good in the future. That sort of talk was taken by some to say we’d show immediate progress on-the-field, which makes very little sense.
Florida, where winning by 1 point is dominance. I think we both know we gave the game to yall.
No, but winning 11 years in a row is…..