SEC Talk

Patrick Beverley could be the best in the SEC.

The weekend saw a number of SEC teams begin their non-conference games and for the most part the results went as expected. The big names like number seven Tennessee and number 19 Arkansas both saw action and both won. Florida played two games, one on Friday and Sunday and won both easily. The biggest news not game related was that Kentucky was dropped from the latest AP Poll which was expected after their embarrassing loss to Gardner-Webb earlier on.

Despite winning 80-63 over Temple, Tennessee head coach Bruce Pearl was disappointed in the execution by his players. The Vols have some very lofty expectations for the season and Pearl realizes that his players cannot take games off. 60 points is too much to give up against a team like Temple. Granted, Tennessee was one of the worst teams defensively last year in the SEC, Pearl knows that in order to get to a final four or win a national championship, his team must defend the basket and not just force turnovers. As for Chris Lofton, his shot hasn’t looked good so far, but Pearl thinks it’s just a temporary slump which he should snap out of soon.

Arkansas wins it’s game of the year but not before getting a scare from Wofford. Reminiscent of the Kentucky/Gardner-Webb fiasco, Wofford actually led 10-2 halfway through the first half before Arkansas found it’s shooting rhythm to cut the lead and run away with the game winning 67-45. Arkansas was led by Patrick Beverley who looks to challenge Chris Lofton for SEC Player of the Year honors. Beverley was the leading scorer on the night with 15 points.

Don’t look now, but the Florida Gators look like the sleeper team of the SEC, if that is even possible as the defending 2-time national champions. Florida looked good, really good in their first 2 games. Granted, the opponents were North Dakota St. and Tennessee Tech, but the rookies are playing great. Nick Calathes, Chandler Parsons and Alex Tyus are looking like potential NBA players. The offense is different than in year’s past, much more perimeter shots and dribble drives, but these kids can play. I’m sticking with my prediction that Florida will be an NCAA team and possibly could go deep.

Here are some more scores from last week,

Temple 63
(7) Tennessee 80

S. Carolina St. 67
South Carolina 92

Troy 72
(41) Alabama 84

North Dakota St. 65
(35) Florida 75

Auburn 62
Tulane 77

Jacksonville St. 65
Georgia 107

Tennesse, Arkansas, Florida, Patrick Beverley

Tim Tebow celebrated 7 times last night with 7 touchdowns.

Another great weekend of SEC football action as the divisional matchups did not disappoint at all. And with the loss of previously ranked Ohio St., the LSU Tigers are poised to regain the number one ranking and looking ever closer to the National Championship. Georgia and Tennessee get big wins to stay abreast of the SEC East title and the chance to face LSU in the SEC Championship game.

Let’s start with the Georgia win over Auburn. I watched most of this game on CBS, it was well played by both teams and was close until the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs redshirt freshman running back Knowshon Moreno had another great game, 101 yards on 22 carries and 2 TD’s. He’s just great runner, goes north and south and is just a bull, very difficult to take down. He is being compared to Cadillac Williams, the great running back from Auburn several years ago. Bulldogs quarterback Matthew Stafford had another great game throwing for two touchdowns in the win. For Auburn, they kept the game close for three quarters but couldn’t stop Moreno when it mattered most.

The other Bulldogs of Mississippi St. pulled off another signature win for coach Sylvester Croom by beating previously ranked 21 Alabama in a tough 17-12 battle. The win for Croom is especially sweet considering he is a former assistant and player at Alabama. For Nick Saban, the loss is a crushing one after almost knocking off LSU last week. With a fluff game coming up against Louisiana-Monroe next week, Saban has perhaps his biggest test of the year, the annual Iron Bowl between Alabama and Auburn. A loss there would start a long off-season for Saban, whereas a win could save a lost season.

The Tennessee Volunteer alumni responded in full support of coach Phil Fulmer and perhaps that show of support inspired the Volunteers to play perhaps their best game of the season in beating Arkansas 34-14. And while Razorbacks running back Darren McFadden managed a decent 117 yards rushing, the Volunteers dominated the time of possession and kept McFadden off the field for the most part.

Kentucky will be going to a bowl game, but they kept their bid alive for the SEC Championship with a 27-20 win over Vanderbilt. In a game riddled with penalties, the Wildcats managed to slop their way through for the victory. Quarterback Andre Woodson was decent but not fantastic.

Despite not having Percy Harvin, the Florida Gators dominated the USC Gamecocks 51-31 on the shoulders of Tim Tebow’s amazing performance accounting for over 400 yards and 7 TDs, 5 of those on the ground. For the Gamecocks, it was a familiar story, the inability to stop the run was again the achilles heel.

There wasn’t any doubt that LSU would trounce Louisiana Tech so it was a matter of what else was going on in college football that would push them back to number one overall. The Ohio St. loss and the bye week for Oregon means LSU is the undisputed number one and will probably play in the National Championship. Oregon has a relative easy schedule the rest of the way so you’re looking most likely at a LSU-Oregon National Championship this year.

All scores for all SEC teams in action yesterday,

Alabama 12
Mississippi St. 17

Arkansas 13
Tennessee 34

Kentucky 27
Vanderbilt 20

Auburn 20
Georgia 45

Florida 51
South Carolina 31

Louisiana Tech 10
LSU 58

Georgia, LSU, Florida, Tim Tebow

Dawgs freshman RB Knowshon Moreno having quite the year.

In a critical week for several teams especially in the SEC East, every team except Ole Miss are in action this week (and they’ll need that extra rest to prepare against LSU next week). Only LSU is playing a non-conference game.

(18) Auburn (Conf: 4-2) vs. (10) Georgia(Conf: 4-2)

The biggest matchup of the week pits the 18th ranked Auburn Tigers against the 10th ranked Georgia Bulldogs in Atlanta. While Georgia sits atop the SEC East, they lose the tiebreaker with Tennessee so a win here is necessary to stay atop the standings. Auburn already trails LSU in the standings and even a win would mean second as they also lose the tiebreaker with LSU.

The talk all week has been the coaching status of Tommy Tuberville, will he or won’t he bolt for Texas A&M. It will very interesting to see how the Tigers come out based on the rumors of Tuberville’s pending departure. The Bulldogs love to run the ball with freshman running back Knowshon Moreno and the Tigers have been stout on defense, which team will win out? I guess we’ll just have to sit back and watch this thing play out.

Arkansas (Conf: 2-3) vs. (22) Tennessee (Conf: 3-2)

Perhaps next to Auburn/Georgia, the next biggest game in the SEC of the week has the Tennessee Volunteers looking to close out their remaining three SEC conference games to setup a possible SEC Championship game against most likely LSU. Meanwhile, the Arkansas Razorbacks are coming off that big win over South Carolina last week.

The Razorbacks are playing their best football of the season and while Darren McFadden has dropped off from the Heisman watch, he is still one of the best running backs in all of college football. This game will come down to defense. Can Arkansas collapse the pocket on Vols QB Eric Ainge and conversely can Tennessee stop the McFadden train?

(21) Alabama (Conf: 4-2) vs. Mississippi St. (Conf: 2-3)

The Alabama Crimson Tide come off a heart-breaking loss to the LSU Tigers last week. In what looked like the defining moment in Nick Saban’s short tenure at Alabama, the Tide were just 1:30 minutes away from a huge upset win. Mississippi St. is coming of a bye week following their biggest win of the year beating then No. 14 Kentucky.

For the Tide, it will be interesting how they bounce back after the tough loss last week. Another loss here could start the FireNickSaban campaign. The Bulldogs are having a decent season and Sylvester Croom looks to have them relevant again on the national stage.

(17) Florida (Conf: 4-3) vs. South Carolina (Conf: 3-4)

The Florida Gators are coming off a complete domination over Vanderbilt, while the USC Gamecocks are trying desperately to stop this losing streak.

The UF/USC matchup always has extra significance as the Ol’ Ball Coach faces his Ol’ team in the Gators. USC has been as high as 6th in the AP Poll but their 3-game losing streak has many scratching their heads including coach Steve Spurrier. Most troubling has been their inability to stop the run. Florida has a couple of gamers in quarterback Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin, if they get into open space, watch out.

(24) Kentucky (Conf: 2-3) vs. Vanderbilt (Conf: 2-4)

Another top 25 team in the Kentucky Wildcats takes on the Vanderbilt Commodores. A promising start for Kentucky has sputtered into 2 difficult losses. Vanderbilt comes off a pasting by Florida and hopes to get back in the win column.

Wildcats quarterback Andre Woodson was high on the Heisman watch before slowing up in the losses to Florida and Mississippi St., key for the Commodores will be sending pressure and forcing Woodson to throw on the run.

The remaining game has Louisiana Tech in Baton Rouge to face LSU in what will most likely result in a lopsided win for the Tigers.

South Carolina, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Florida, Steve Spurrier

Day 2 was a complete disaster.

One day after the Kentucky Wildcats enjoyed their first win of the season in the Billy Gillispie era, the world came crashing down with the shocking loss to Gardner-Webb. I posted yesterday that this team had some holes, and boy did Gardner-Webb take advantage. Not only did the Cats lose, but they got absolutely spanked, 84-68.

Already, Cats fans at Sea of Blue are blaming Tubby Smith for the loss. You can point to the supposed recruiting void left by Tubby as the reason if you are playing say Tennessee or Florida, but not against Gardner-Webb, do they even have a single 3-star recruit in their lineup??

At Rush the Court, they’re wondering whether the FireBillyGillispie.com website has started yet. While I’ll readily admit, this is one of if not the worst loss ever at Rupp Arena, but this is just the SECOND GAME of the season folks, let’s not go completely loco here.

Still, you have to wonder if the sudden realization of living in a firestorm that Billy Gillispie has sunk in yet. There was a reason why Tubby Smith RESIGNED, the heat in the kitchen was too hot. And while the temperature is still bearable at the moment, it’s about to get kicked up a notch with conference play starting up in just over a months time. This is the life of being the coach at Kentucky. Yes, Tubby is very comfortable and probably laughing his ass off in Minnesota, and Billy Donovan is sitting back in his recliner saying ‘I pity da fool’.

Yes, if all eyes were not already on Billy, they are now. Big blue nation will be tracking him like a pack of hounds. Every play, every substitution, every gesture. Welcome to Kentucky Basketball….

Kentucky basketball, Billy Gillispie

Billy is victorious in debut.

Basketball season begins in the Billy Gillespie era with a win. I say that with a straight face even though the opponent was Central Arkansas. No disrespect to CA, but over the past week, we’ve seen two Division One schools get beat by Division II opponents, first there was Grand Valley St. beating Michigan St. and yesterday Findlay beat the Ohio St. I know, both were exhibitions, but that tells you the parity in college basketball.

The game, a 67-40 blowout of CA by big blue was pretty good. Considering that Patrick Patterson only played 13 minutes, dogged by foul trouble, the Cats had plenty of help from senior guard Joe Crawford and soph Mark Coury. Freshman Alex Legion, another of Gillispie’s prized recruits for ‘07 had a solid regular season debut with 6 points and some nice steals. It was a relief to see that even when Patterson went to the bench with foul trouble, there was enough depth there to weather the storm.

The best part for UK fans to see was the new emphasis on pressure man-to-man defense, something that was lacking in the Tubby Smith days. The Cats were playing tight defense all game and had plenty of steals to show for it. Despite holding CA to just 20% shooting, Gillispie still sees room for improvement, “Not very good, their 20 percent wasn’t enough us. It was more them. We set pretty high standards.”

With the win, the Wildcats hit it again tonight at Rupp Arena against Gardner-Webb in second round action of the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic. Gardner-Webb beat Alabama A&M rather easily last night. With Memphis beating Richmond yesterday, it’s looking like the expected UK/Memphis matchup will happen later this week. A big test for the Cats as the Memphis Tigers are final-four favorites heading into the season.

Kentucky basketball, Billy Gillispie

Tommy Tuberville appears to be on the move to Texas A&M.

With the college football season several weeks away from the conclusion of the regular season, it seems grossly premature to start talking about the perennial coaching carousel, but that appears not to be the case. Many media outlets are reporting that Texas A&M is looking to buyout the contract of current A&M head coach Dennis Franchione and Auburn’s Tommy Tuberville is said to be the leading candidate.

For the record, Franchione is denying that talks are underway to buyout his contract and his removal as head coach at the end of the season. And Tuberville is also denying that he has discussed the possible job vacancy. But as they say, where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and there is plenty of smoke right now.

So, how are the Tigers faithful taking the news?? Frankly, Tigers fans are in a panic. Tuberville has clearly done a fantastic job at Auburn and best yet, has absolutely owned Alabama while he’s been there, which is next on the list of priorities for Tigers fans beyond a National Championship.

It is true that Tuberville is extremely satisfied with his job at Auburn, and Athletic Director Jay Jacob has hinted at a long-term deal to lock Tubs for good. But Texas A&M has deep pockets that Auburn likely won’t be able to match. When Alabama went out and gave Nick Saban a disgustingly large amount of money, it changed the landscape for college coaches everywhere. The money we’re talking about here is absolutely nutty, it will cost $6 million just to buyout Tuberville’s contract currently at $2.5 million per.

It would be a shame if Tuberville bolts for the money, he’s built something special at Auburn and the fact that he is being pursued so aggresively by A&M goes to show how much he is respected as one of the best football coaches in the country. I’m sure this isn’t the last we’ve heard of this story in the weeks and months to come, stay tuned.

South Carolina, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Florida, Steve Spurrier

Bruce Pearl says he has something better in store this season.

After a couple of dominating seasons for the SEC in basketball, the season begins with tempered expectations for most SEC teams. The latest AP Poll ranking the top 25 teams only has 3 SEC teams in the top 25, two in the lower half. The Tennessee Volunteers start the season as the seventh ranked team in the country while the Arkansas Razorbacks crack the list at 19 and the big blue Kentucky Wildcats enter right behind at 20.

The Volunteers enter the season in quite possibly the highest ranking they have ever garnered to enter the season. Much of that has to do with the returning seniors including guard Chris Lofton who is a pre-season candidate for the NCAA Player of the year. The Vols could not put away the Ohio St. Buckeyes in their sweet sixteen matchup in March but are fully expected to make a big push for the final four this season, something they have never done in their history. Part of the new resurgence in Vols basketball on the men’s side has been due to popular coach Bruce Pearl. Pearl made headlines for bearing his chest in support of the Lady Vols, meanwhile women’s head coach Pat Summitt donned a cheerleading outfit to a UT men’s basketball game.

Anticipation for Razorbacks basketball is at a high not seen since the Nolan Richardson days. They return one of the most exciting guards in the country in Patrick Beverley and start a new era, the John Pelphrey era. With the season hardly begun, head coach Pelphrey put his stamp on the program coming down with the suspension of 3 players for the red-white game due to conduct detrimental to the team. Pelphrey comes to Arkansas following the dismissal of Stan Heath. At age 39, Pelphrey is one of the youngest head coaches following a head coaching stint at Southern Alabama and several assistant gigs under Eddie Sutton at Oklahoma St. and Billy Donovan at Florida.

The Billy Gillespie era begins in earnest tomorrow night in their first official regular season game of the season for the University of Kentucky Wildcats. Gillespie won the job after Billy Donovan passed on what appeared to be the dream job. After several sub-par years under Tubby Smith, big blue is high on the upcoming season and Gilliespie is a major reason why. However, if the exhibition game the other night against Seattle U is any indication, the Wildcats have plenty to work on especially on defense. But clearly, Gilliespie’s influence is already paying dividends as true freshman Patrick Patterson will most likely be a major contributor this season. Patterson comes to Kentucky after a heated recruiting battle between Duke and UK with Gillespie winning out after getting the head coaching job.

I leave you with Coach Pearl in support of the Lady Vols,

And Coach Summitt in support of the men’s basketball team,

basketball, Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky

Les Miles likes living on the edge.

What a fantastic football weekend this has been so far, first the LSU/Bama game, then the Pats/Colts game today which Brian at Talking NFL broke down for you all.

Back to the SEC, you couldn’t have asked for a better game between the LSU Tigers and the Alabama Crimson Tide. The game lived up to all the hype, all the talk, and the 4th and long touchdown from Flynn to Doucet to seal the win for the Tigers at 41-34 was simply unbelievable. As I outlined in another post, the ramifications for the game for LSU were monumental. With the win, LSU moves to 2nd in the latest top 25 poll behind Ohio St. and has the National Championship clear in their sights. I thought the game was well played on both sides, and what about Glenn Dorsey, what a warrior, he is going to be really good in the NFL, mark my words.

In another high scoring affair, Darren McFadden went crazy as predicted scoring 2 TDs on over 300 yards rushing to lead the Arkansas Razorbacks over the South Carolina Gamecocks 48-36. After such a promising start, the Ol’ Ball Coach, Steve Spurrier is wondering if maybe he’s lost his mojo since leaving Florida.

Speaking of Florida, they dismantled Vanderbilt at home again for the 17th straight time in the last of the three conference matchups. Vandy’s tough defense was no match for the dynamic duo of Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin. The Gators are a tough team to play against in the swamp, regardless of who you are.

All scores for all SEC teams in action yesterday,

Troy 34 at
Georgia 44

Northwestern St. 31 at
Mississippi 38

Tennessee Tech 3 at
Auburn 35

LA Lafayette 7 at
Tennessee 59

LSU 41 at
Alabama 34

South Carolina 36 at
Arkansas 48

Vanderbilt 22 at
Florida 18

LSU, Alabama, Nick Saban, Les Miles, Glenn Dorsey

Billy is back, but with modest expectations.

I know that everyone is probably watching the thrilling LSU/Bama game or CFB game of the week ASU/Oregon right now but I thought I would share with you Billy Donovan’s interview with ESPN on the upcoming basketball season. As many of you know, the Florida Gators are coming off back-to-back National Championships but Donovan does not return a single starter and loses alost 100% of his scoring from last year.

I thought it was interesting in the way Billy Donovan explained how the expectations from last year weren’t to win the championship. As all summer long last year, I heard Joakim Noah proclaiming that they would repeat. But Donovan is right in that this year’s team needs to build it’s own identity. The Noah, Horford, Brewer, Humphries group was totally unique and something we won’t see at Florida or any team for a long time yet. I also found it interesting to hear Donovan talk about running a different offensive style to compliment the talent he has now. I guess we won’t see as much spread pick and roll with Joakim Noah that we saw the last two years.

Still, the Gators bring in a top 10 recruiting class and have some real talent in Nick Calathes and Jai Lucas. Though, a national championship is far too much to expect out this group, certainly an NCAA appearance would not be. I think that with Donovan coaching, and the talent he is bringing in, the Gators could be final four contenders in less than one year.

Lastly, I also found it interesting how Billy Donovan danced around the whole Orlando Magic fiasco, Kentucky flirtation and his big fat contract extension. He is clearly still bothered by some of those events and it’s yet to be seen if it will have any effect on his coaching. The full interview is below,

Florida Gators, Billy Donovan

The Ol’ Ball Coach remaining optimistic for BCS.

The colossal matchup of the week of course is the LSU/Bama game this Saturday, Les Miles vs. Nick Saban. But there are two other divisional SEC matchups and four non-conference contests to tickle your SEC fancy.

(23) South Carolina (Conf: 3-3) vs Arkansas (Conf: 1-3)

A big time matchup between a couple of teams fighting for a post-season game. USC is reeling after two tough consecutive losses, the Ol’ Ball Coach still has hope though saying, “We still have a chance for an excellent season, we’re not out of the SEC. We only have two conference games left while most teams still have three left.” Biggest problem all year for Spurrier and the Gamecocks has been stopping the run. That’s a good think for the Razorbacks as they have Darren McFadden, a Heisman trophy candidate. Last year, McFadden rushed for over 200 yards and had 2 TDs en route to the win. This should be a good game with a lot riding on the win for both Spurrier and Nutt.

Vanderbilt (Conf: 2-3) vs (18) Florida (Conf: 3-3)

The loss to Georgia last week all but sealed the Florida Gators chances at a repeat for the National Championship. Still Urban Meyer isn’t about to lay down on this team. The Gators have a chance to right the ship against Vanderbilt, a team which they have owned beating them 16 straight times. However, this Vanderbilt team ain’t no pushover, they shocked South Carolina a few weeks ago and bring their 14th ranked defense into the swamp tomorrow. The key of course will be to contain dual-threat quarterback Tim Tebow.

The four other non-conference games include:

Tenn Tech at (19) Auburn

LA Lafayette at (24) Tennessee

Troy at (10) Georgia

N’western St at Mississippi

I doubt any of the non-conference games will be close and should allow the freshman to get plenty of valuable playing time.

South Carolina, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Florida, Steve Spurrier

Big 72, Glenn Dorsey could sit this one out.

As if these two SEC west teams needed any extra motivation to bash each others skulls this coming Saturday, the addition of the Nick Saban storyline makes this the must see matchup of the week. Saban, as many of you will remember coached the LSU Tigers to the National Championship four years ago before bolting for the NFL’s Miami Dolphins a year later. Les Miles and company want nothing more than a beatdown of the Tide and Saban, Miles has been living in Saban’s shadow as LSU’s head coaching replacement since and a win here could finally cement his legacy in the minds of many Tigers fans.

Underlining all of the periphery storylines are the implications for the National Championship. LSU is 7-1 on the season, sits at number 3 in the top 25 poll, and still has hopes for the National Championship. A win here is mandatory for them to stay in the hunt and keep their number 3 ranking and depending on how number one Ohio St. and number two Boston College do.

As for the Tide, they’ve been playing decent football themselves. At 6-2 and ranked 17th in the top 25 poll, the Tide have reeled off 3 wins including a complete dismantling over rival Tennessee. Saban’s influence on the offensive side of the ball has been impressive and the Tide could be primed for a huge upset here.

The key to the game will be the playing status of LSU’s all-american defensive tackle, Glenn Dorsey. The Heisman trophy candidate is the key to that front-four push by the Tigers and if he sits this one out, the Tide may just have enough to come away with the win.

Enjoy this LSU hype up preview for the game,

LSU, Alabama, Nick Saban, Les Miles, Glenn Dorsey