SEC Nation Is Moving

To anyone who has read my blog I appreciate the patronage. For the good of my blog I have made the decision to move SEC Nation to a fresh looking and more interactive site. The new site will not only feature my KEEN (LOL) insight into the conference we love but will also provide a fan forum for in game messaging as well as other fan interaction. Please visit the new SEC Nation at

http://www.secnation.net/index.php

Hotty Toddy
Darryle "Speedy" Clark

Bowl Projections Round #2

Hello Sports fans, a couple of weeks ago I played a little bit with bowl projections. Since that time 2 more teams have become bowl eligible while two other teams have gotten to the do or die games, so that makes the bowl picture a little bit easier to analyze. I have also learned a little bit about the selection process in the past couple of weeks as well. The BCS is designed to find the true best in college football, it is flawed but so is Erin Andrews (I personally haven’t seen those flaws but my wife says they are there). For the purpose of choosing the Nation’s № 1 team the BCS has to go by rankings and computer programs as well as quality of wins. However other bowls have a little bit more freedom of choice and although some are tied to conference rankings, they also will work with the other bowls to get the best fit for each host city. For example, Atlanta would like to choose a team that is close enough to bring a lot of fans but far enough away that those fans have to stay in town for several nights, such as LSU or Ole Miss, Georgia fans however would tend to make a day trip out of a Chick-Fil-A bid. These extended stays in towns allow for shopping, eating out, and of course night life, all of which improves the host city’s economy. In any event, I thought it would be a good time to revisit those bowl possibilities and do what we do best….second guess ourselves.

Once again to make it easier I will begin at BCS bowls and work outward from there. The possibilities get numerous as we go down the list. I feel that with the polls looking as they do at this moment the SEC is almost assured of getting 2 teams into BCS bowls, starting with the BCS National Championship Game. As things stand right now, Alabama is the № 1 team in the nation and they earned it. The Florida Gators are playing some of the best football in the nation, but they haven’t earned that top spot. I am not playing pick-em in this article so I won’t attempt to predict a winner in the SEC Championship game….YET! For this reason I will stick to my earlier projection of placing Alabama in the BCS Championship Game which will also put Florida in the Sugar Bowl.

The next bowl tied in with the SEC is the Capital One Bowl which would normally have the choice of the SEC #2 team, However if the SEC places two teams in the BCS then all teams get to step up one rung on the ladder. Georgia will get the nod for this prestigious bowl as their SEC schedule is complete and they have locked up the #3 spot in the conference. This fit also plays in well with the location of this game; Orlando Florida.

The next bowl on the pecking order is the Outback Bowl. I think at this point one has to look at schedules, South Carolina at this moment still looks pretty good for this bowl, but with the loss to Florida last week, the Gamecock rivalry with Clemson is now much more important. If South Carolina loses to Clemson then this could open the door for the winner of this week's Magnolia Bowl (Ole Miss/LSU game). The Outback is located in Tampa Florida which may make it more attractive to bowl officials to pick the Tigers or Rebels. South Carolina fans travel real well though so this is just a small side story. At this moment I will stick by my earlier projection of South Carolina in the Outback bowl.

Here of course is where the real speculation begins and of course a whole bunch of “What If’s”. The Cotton Bowl is one of the Nation’s longest running bowl games and a favorite amongst SEC fans. Being the bigger school and well within the range of bringing a passel of fans, LSU seems like the best fit for this bowl at the moment. However the Cotton Bowl as well as Dallas wants to get the most bang for their buck I am sure. With that said, a Rebel win in this weekend’s Ole Miss versus LSU match could send the Rebs to Big D. Another possibility of course is if LSU wins this weekend but loses in their season finale with Arkansas, Vanderbilt could perceivably slide into the Cotton. Right now though, I have to place LSU in Dallas.

The Chick-Fil-A bowl is a good choice for the Ole Miss Rebels. They haven’t been bowling since 2003 so the fans are in a bowl frenzy. As a season ticket holder to Ole Miss, I have my finger on the pulse of the fan base. They may be a little bit split over which bowl they would prefer, but there is one thing they all have in common; No matter where the Rebels go, they are going with them. For this reason Atlanta should be pleased to get Ole Miss, the fans would travel well as well as being far enough away as to probably make a weeklong winter vacation out of the trip. This bowl is a possibility for the Rebels even if they win the Magnolia Bowl trophy this weekend since Dallas may still choose the larger school; LSU. Vanderbilt is also in the mix for this game as well, but being a much smaller fan base I don’t see them traveling quite as well as Ole Miss. The Rebels go to Hot-Lanta.

For the past two years, the Music City Bowl in Nashville Tennessee has picked the Kentucky Wildcats. With the list of bowl eligible teams dwindling down, I think the MCB will once again get Kentucky. It is good travel for the Cat fans and the city of Nashville knows this by the past two years attendance. Once again though, the “What If’s” play a big factor in this one, but that is what makes college football so great. All of this speculation will work itself out on the field. Kentucky to Nashville.

I look for the Vanderbilt Commodores to travel to Memphis to take on the CUSA champion. The Commodore fans are bowl eligible for the first time since 1982 so I think their fans will show up in force to support the team. Unfortunately there is no evidence of this to bowl committees. I actually think the Music City Bowl is a much better fit for Vandy than the Liberty, records wise, but like I stated earlier, the bowls will work together to get fans to stay in motels, shop in malls, and eat in restaurants. Memphis is not far from Nashville, but it is more likely to produce extended stays than Nashville itself.

The last two SEC bowls are the Independence and the PapaJohns.com bowl. At this moment I cannot predict any more bowl eligible teams so these bowls will probably, have to choose from At-Large bids to fill the spots. There is so many intangibles that can occur between now and bowl season, that it is impossible for any pundit to project the final outcome. But it is fun to speculate and possibly start with some preliminary hotel reservations.

In summary here are my projections as of the moment:

BCS National Championship Game: Alabama
Sugar Bowl: Florida
Capital One Bowl: Georgia
Outback Bowl: South Carolina
Cotton Bowl: LSU
Chick-Fil-A Bowl: Ole Miss
Music City Bowl: Kentucky
Liberty Bowl: Vanderbilt
Independence Bowl: ???
PapaJohns.COM Bowl: ???

This weekend is a rare slow weekend for the SEC with a bunch of the schools taking the week before “Rivalry Week” off. There is a small altercation set to take place in Baton Rouge though, the newly named “Magnolia Bowl” between Ole Miss and LSU that is sure to help solidify the bowl picture. Comeback on Friday as I will go over the games and give my predictions. Until Then….Hotty Toddy!

Darryle “Speedy” Clark

Monday Re-Cap

I kind of thought that this weekend would be a sort of “Cruise Control” weekend for most teams. The kind of weekend that Friday is at a PGA tournament. Teams would obviously want to win games, but for the most part don’t make mistakes. I was wrong though, for the most part, teams that needed wins for bowl eligibility went out and took care of business, teams that already have a date in the post season circled maintained the intensity of play that got them there to begin with. For the most part….this is true. I had another pretty good weekend on playing Pick-Em, with a 5-1 weekend record. I keep hunting for that perfect weekend though, the weekend where no win or loss hides from me. Let’s get down to the re-cap.

Louisiana Monroe 0 – Ole Miss 59: Bowl Eligible once again. Rebel fans, I was at this game and the Rebels finally put together a complete game. Ole Miss won on every aspect of the game. Offense, well of course the Rebs had offense! 520 yards of it. In this win Ole Miss only threw the ball 12 times but were successful on 50% of those throws for 170 yards and 3 touchdowns. The running game was the real hero in this one with 350 yards. Dexter McCluster ran the ball hard, including one run in particular where he swept to the right but quickly ran out of room, McCluster then reversed his field and went all the way to the house for what was only a 25 yard touchdown but covered probably 75 yards total. Defense, for the first time this year a quarterback didn’t have a career passing day against the Rebels. The Ole Miss “D” only allowed 131 yards of offense with only 59 being from the aerial attack. Special Teams, you betcha. The Warhawks of Louisiana Monroe didn’t exactly have the best field position to work with offensively. With the Rebs having so many kick-off opportunities the special teams really swarmed the ULM return men. If you are looking at the stats for a tell tale sign of how this game was won, there are plenty but the most important one is the turnover column. The Rebels didn’t turn the ball over at all in this contest and that is a welcome sign to the Ole Miss faithful as well as helped them put up 59 points and beat a team by its largest margin of victory since 1969. Congratulations to the Ole Miss players for giving their all for this team and becoming bowl eligible for the first time since 2003.

Mississippi State 7 – Alabama 32: The MSU Bulldogs played an inspired first half against the № 1 team in the nation, but the Crimson Tide would not allow a 3rd consecutive Dawg victory. This week Alabama used great defense coupled with a Special Teams clinic to defeat the invaders from the west. The highlight of the night was an 80 yard touchdown return for Javier Arenas, but I don’t want take anything away from a blocked punt that turned into a safety which set the tone of the evening for MSU. The Tide’s Leigh Tiffen also had a perfect night kicking 3 field goals and 3 PAT’s. As I look back over the years of Alabama football, this season fits right in. Statistically there isn’t any surprises to this one. MSU was anemic offensively as usual and Alabama controlled every facet of the game. Take your pick, from out gaining the Dawgs by 197 yards all the way over to possessing the ball for over 11 minutes longer than MSU.The Tide has never been a team to beat you with fireworks, but there is something to be said about having a good running game, strong special teams and a suffocating defense. № 1 team in the nation is a pretty good thing to be and until proven otherwise. Roll Tide Roll.

Georgia 17 – Auburn 13: This game is the longest running rivalry in the South Eastern Conference and this year’s installment showed rivalry like intensity. Mistakes were plenty for both teams as Mark Richt commented “Neither team played good enough to win. We both made enough mistakes to lose”. Georgia QB; Matthew Stafford went 15/24 for 215 yards with 2 touchdowns. Bulldog star running back; Knowshon Moreno had another impressive day as well, gaining 131 yards on the ground and also catching one of those 2 Stafford TD passes. Auburn still had the chance to win in the final seconds but the final Kodi Burns pass to Ben Tate sailed too high in the endzone. Mark Richt used the word “Perseverance” to describe how his team won this game and that is fitting so that is how I will break it down as well. The loss makes the Ironbowl a must win for Auburn if they are to get to a bowl.

South Carolina 6 – Florida 56: “A loss is a loss, whether it’s by one point or 50 points,” These words were spoken by the Ol’ Ball Coach; Steve Spurrier after he had just experienced his largest margin of defeat in his career. Never has any team hung this kind of loss on Spurrier but at least it was his Alma Mater that done it to him. This game though is not about the coaches, it is about the teams. Florida is by far the hottest team in the SEC at the moment. Tim Tebow had another good day, throwing for 2 touchdowns and rushing for another. The much talked about South Carolina defense had a little problem containing the Gators. Florida had 519 yards against the Gamecock defense, but the South Carolina offense faired no better as they only gained 173 yards total and only converting on 3rd down 6.7% of the time. The tone was set early as one of the 4 South Carolina turnovers was returned for a touchdown by Brandon Spikes. During an 8 play stretch the Gators scored 21 consecutive points and they just never looked back. Bama better have their “A” game.

Troy 31 – LSU 40: Whoa…who saw this game coming? No one could’ve predicted the type of game this turned out to be. Troy didn’t care that LSU was the defending National Champions or that the Tigers were a member of one the nation’s toughest conferences. All the Trojans cared about was winning and they came very close to doing just that in one of college football’s toughest venues. Lets give credit where credit is due though, the LSU Tigers scored 37 unanswered points to win this game. Freshman quarterback Jarett Lee said that the team never thought they would lose. I don’t know if Les Miles had designed the 28 point handicap, but his team came up big in the final quarter. The stats that will show how the Trojans lost is the turnover and penalties columns. Troy turned the ball over 3 times and was penalized 8 times for 80 yards. This game was the largest margin that LSU ever came back from to claim victory.

Vanderbilt 31 – Kentucky 24: 6 wins, Vandy finally got that elusive 6th win that they needed to get to bowl eligibility. In doing so they also gave me my only loss on the weekend. Vanderbilt has been on a 4 game skid since beating Auburn on October 4th. Saturday night however the skid stopped as well as the Commodore offensive anemia. The score makes it look closer than it really was, looking at the statistics I see one team dominating the other. Vanderbilt actually had the ball for almost a full 20 minutes longer than the Wildcats, in other words, Vandy had the ball for 2/3rds of the game. Another important statistic is turnovers. Although Kentucky only had 2, but one was a critical interception late in the game after it seemed that Kentucky had gained some momentum and only down by one touchdown. Congratulations to Bobby Johnson and his team for becoming bowl eligible for the first time since 1982.

It was a pretty solid weekend for most teams. I feel that Georgia and LSU played flat but in the end they got a “W” and that is the most important thing. Another team is now faced with a do or die game next as Auburn has now dropped to 5 – 6 over all. They join Arkansas as a team one loss away from post season death. Come back on Wednesday for another round of bowl projections. Until then….Hotty Toddy

Darryle “Speedy” Clark

Friday SEC Pick-Em

Well SEC Nation, some of the drama may be gone now that we know who will be in the Conference Championship game on December 6th in Atlanta, but it still doesn’t take nothing away from the fact that as football fans, We live for the weekend. This weekend’s slate of games still offers up plenty of chances for upsets as well as clarifying the bowl picture. It is do or die time for the Arkansas Razorbacks and the Mississippi State Bulldogs as they must win out to become bowl eligible. Let’s not wait any longer, let’s play Pick-Em.

Louisiana Monroe versus Ole Miss: The Ole Miss Rebels are on the verge of becoming bowl eligible for the first time since the 2003 season. Standing in their way though is the University of Louisiana Monroe Warhawks. These are the same Warhawks who earlier this year played to a 1 point loss to Arkansas and just last year beat the Alabama Crimson Tide. I am sure that nothing would please ULM more than spoiling Ole Miss’ hopes of going bowling this year. ULM is led by senior Kinsmon Lancaster at quarterback who has passed for just shy of 1900 yards this season. The Ole Miss defense has been playing real well against the run but the pass “D” has been questionable at best, so Lancaster will probably try to exploit this fact. Ole Miss receiver Shay Hodge is tied for first in the conference for touchdown catches. Anyone who has watched any Rebel games this year will have no doubt that Ole Miss has plenty of offensive weapons including a formation called the Wild Rebel, in which Dexter McCluster takes a direct snap and sweeps with the ball. McCluster then has the option of pitching, throwing or keeping the pigskin. It is a formation designed to get the ball into your playmakers hands, and no one can argue that McCluster can be one of the most exciting playmakers in the SEC. However the Rebels have been prone to making mistakes, more especially the turnover. ULM is not a high school team; the Rebels will have to take care of the football if they want to win. As of late though, Ole Miss has done a much better job of securing the football so for that reason, I am going to pick Ole Miss to win, hopefully by big enough margin to be able to get their younger players some game time experience.

Mississippi State versus Alabama: MSU has had a bad year! They are at 3 – 6 and on the verge of being eliminated from bowl eligibility. Alabama on the other hand has already secured a spot in the post season. The Tide is ranked № 1 in the nation and will represent the SEC Western Division in the SEC Championship game. Looking at the numbers for this game, MSU will need to do well running the ball. Sly Croom will have to get the ball to his solid RB Anthony Dixon if the Dawgs are to have any chance. However offensive anemia has been the Bulldog M.O. all year. Alabama on the other hand has not had that problem. John Parker Wilson is Alabama’s all time leading passer in the Completions, Yards, and Touchdown categories. So far this year JPW has passed for over 1600 yards coupled with 8 touchdowns. I use the word stingy for describing good defenses all the time, but when you find a better word for describing Alabama’s defense I want to hear it Mr. Thesaurus. If you put a stingy defense against an anemic offense then it is just very hard for me to pick an upset in this one. The Bulldogs have won the last two contests in this series and some may say that Alabama may be looking ahead towards the SEC championship game. I don’t however; Nick Saban is way too good at motivating players. He will have his team ready for the Bulldogs, not the Gators, or Auburn Tigers. Alabama wins this game in a run-away!

Georgia versus Auburn: Tommy Tubberville’s Auburn Tigers are sitting on a 5 – 5 record with a dismal 2 – 4 SEC mark. That is the worst I have ever seen an Auburn team look this late in the season. If they wish to get to bowl eligible they must win one of their last two games. That will not be an easy task to do though as they have Georgia this weekend and next it will be the № 1 Alabama Crimson Tide. If Auburn wishes to make the post season they will have to find something they haven’t had all year, a football team. The Georgia Bulldogs are a team that has been wounded as of late but nothing more dangerous than a wounded dog. Georgia still has a very talented quarterback in Matthew Stafford and one of the finest running backs in the country in Knowshon Moreno. Let’s not forget that the Bulldogs also have a very talented duo of receivers in Mohamed Massaquoi and A.J. Green. Defensively, Georgia still has the SEC’s leading tackler in Rennie Curran. All this sounds like overwhelming odds for the Auburn Tigers to overcome and it may very well be. This is the SEC though and we all know that any team can beat any other team on any given Saturday. I cannot pick an upset here either though; Georgia wins this game and puts Auburn one game closer to post season death.

South Carolina versus Florida: The Florida Gators, like Alabama have secured their spot in the SEC Championship game, but they still have their eye on the BCS title game. The Gators will have to continue their style of intensive play if they wish for this to come to fruition. Former Florida head coach Steve Spurrier though might have one of the SEC’s top rated defenses. It is my opinion that this Gamecock defense is the best all around defense that Florida has faced so far this year; that is referring to defending the pass as well as the run. Obviously Tim Tebow is the key to a Florida victory. Since the Ole Miss loss Tebow has been off the charts great, and that is like “Tony the Tiger” says it….Grrrrrrrrrrrrr eat! I have said it before and I will say it again, I feel that Tebow is worth 14 points by himself! I am sure that the Ole Ball Coach Spurrier has his team focused and wanting nothing more than to ruin Florida’s National Championship hopes. This game should be very entertaining, and if South Carolina can keep it close they will stand a chance late, but if the Gators get off to the kind of start that they have become accustomed to, then I give the Gamecocks little to no chance of getting back into it. I have got to go with the hot hand at this moment. Florida wins, but they will have to work for it.

Troy versus LSU: No one, including the author, gave LSU much of a chance last week to beat Alabama, and although they didn’t win, they more than had a chance to. If LSU had more experience at the QB position, they could very well be undefeated. This week they go up against a team that is badly out of their league. Normally you wouldn’t hear me make that kind of statement, but for Troy, they couldn’t have caught the LSU tigers at a worse time. Not only is this LSU’s homecoming game, but they are coming off of a “Bitter Pill” type of loss to Alabama, a game that many an LSU fan and players alike think they should’ve won. The Tigers are at home, they are mad, and they will prevail. No surprises in Red Stick Country…..This weekend!

Vanderbilt versus Kentucky: The 5 – 4 Vanderbilt Commodores have been in search of the elusive 6th win since October 4th. After starting out 5 – 0 and entering the AP poll, the Dore’s have dropped 4 straight decisions including a 17 – 14 loss to Mississippi State. To say the final few games have been frustrating for Vanderbilt fans would be an understatement. Kentucky likewise started the year out strong at 4 – 0, but has a 2 – 3 record since, but unlike Vanderbilt, Kentucky is already bowl eligible. Kentucky also had a very impressive outing last week out of their QB Randall Cobb in a loss to Georgia. Cobb is a threat to run as well as pass and he may have Kentucky back up to their winning ways. When Vanderbilt was winning games they were doing it on defense. A defense that could bring pressure in the passing game as well as snuff out the run. This kind of defense keeps you in a game long enough for you offense to put together something, in the first 5 games, the Commodore offense found that something. In the last 4 contests however they have not and in fact in the Florida loss last week, the defense didn’t even show up. But a lot of teams have had that problem against Florida this year. I don’t see Vandy being able to pull out their 6th win this weekend though. This game will be a close one in my opinion but Kentucky at home wins in the end.

Well there you have it sports fans, the SEC match ups as I see them unfolding. On the national stage, № 2 Texas Tech is taking the weekend off, but № 4 Texas is in action against their conference foe Kansas. Looking at the rest of the national schedule, I don’t see any upset possibilities out there. To all of SEC nation, enjoy yourself this weekend and come back on Monday as I re-cap the action, brag about my victorious picks and give excuses for my defeated picks. Until then….Hotty Toddy!
Darryle “Speedy” Clark

SEC Coach Of The Year

Houston Nutt, Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, Other than being head coaches in the South Eastern Conference, What do these three men have in common? Well I don’t know about the rest of the nation, but I would have to believe that these three men are the front runners for the SEC Coach of the Year award. What is the defining characteristic that makes up this distinguished honor? To me it is the coach that accomplished the most with what he had. The coach that got his team to gain every yard they could and score every point that was available to them. Today I will look at each of these great coaches and tell you what I see, to make me believe the honor will go to one of them.

Houston Nutt: After 10 very successful years at Arkansas, Houston Nutt decides to move a little to the east and start over at a school hungry to return to their glory days. Almost everyone in college football knew that Ed Orgeron was recruiting well at Ole Miss, but why weren’t the Rebels winning ballgames? Ole Miss never was out of any ball game they played, but they just couldn’t get that signature win, that is until Houston Nutt took over the program. Nutt knew there was talent at Ole Miss, but that talent was raw, virtually un-coached, and none of them knew how to win. It took 5 games for the Ole Miss Rebels to get that signature win, a win that came on the road in Gainesville Florida over the then № 4 team in the nation, the Florida Gators. Now I am not saying that Ole Miss was the better team than Florida, but the Rebels took advantage of costly Gator miscues and turned them into scores, something that an Ed Orgeron coached Rebel squad never did. These Rebels believe that they can win on any given Saturday and that is a direct result of strong coaching. The Rebels have had their share of miscues and mistakes this year that can very well be the cause of their 4 losses, but due to Houston Nutt, Ole Miss has not been outclassed on the football field this year by anyone; not even the nation’s №1. If you don’t believe this man is a motivator and an inspiration, just visit some of the Ole Miss Message boards. Nutt has brought fire and intensity back to one of the SEC’s proudest of institutions.

Urban Meyer: Coaching a team in a National Championship game, winning that game, and coaching a Heisman Trophy winner are things a Division 1-A coach dreams about. Urban Meyer was able to do this in just 3 years as the University of Florida’s head coach. Now in his 4th year he has the Gators back on track for another National Title. In 2006 Coach Meyer was ridiculed all over the country for going out and “Politicking” to get his team into the BCS National Championship game. I never ridiculed him because I think that this is exactly the kind of thing a head coach is supposed to do for his school. There is no doubt in my mind that the 2006 Florida Gators could’ve beaten anyone that wanted to strap up against them in that game, I also believe that it was 100% due to the diligent coaching of Meyer. Urban Meyer has proven his ability to motivate, and to coach winners. Of course it doesn’t hurt to have one of the nation’s best quarterbacks on your team, but that quarterback is just one man. To win a National Championship a team must be just that, a TEAM. Good players can get you only so much, they have to be coached. Urban Meyer is definitely the man to coach them. Meyer has their ear, and their trust. Meyer and his Gators have set the stage for a great SEC Championship game with the Alabama Crimson Tide in Atlanta on December 6th, win that one and look out BCS. Looks like Coach of the Year credentials to me.

Nick Saban: I may have saved the best for last. In just 2 short years Nick Saban has brought the Alabama Crimson Tide back into the national spotlight. Ranked №1 in the nation and undefeated at 10 - 0, Alabama is the other player on that stage in Atlanta on December 6th. Coach Saban may not be the second coming of Bear Bryant, but for the first time in a long time, I don’t think the Bama faithful are hunting for him. Coach Saban is a recruiting machine, and it hasn’t taken long to show up in the win column. Any college football fan will tell you that recruiting isn’t everything, you still have to coach them and boy howdee can this man coach? He teaches fundamentals better than anyone I’ve seen. He has turned the Crimson Tide back into the Rock-Em Sock-Em team that we can remember. Run the ball; chew up the clock, ball control and dominating defense. These are the things that the Tide has been missing since the days of Bryant, and Stallings. Coach Saban has brought them back and the entire SEC knew it was just a matter of time. Alabama holds the keys to their own destiny and in my opinion; Nick Saban will have them prepared for that destiny. What else can you ask for when giving the Coach of the Year award?

In closing, any of these great coaches are good choices for this year's SEC Coach of the Year honor. I really don’t see how the conference can go wrong in its choice. If I had a vote, and I could discount the rest of the season, I would have to give the award to Nick Saban at the moment. But alas, there is still a lot of football left to be played, and even more for Saban and Meyer with the SEC Championship Game, a lot can happen so let me hear your opinions on this subject. Come back on Friday as I will run down the weekends match ups and give you my picks. Until then….Hotty Toddy

Darryle “Speedy” Clark

Monday Re-Cap

Boy! What a weekend that was. There were a few nail biters and one run-away but we all have come to expect that out of South Eastern Conference football games. I ended up the weekend winning 6 out of the 7 games, with only Tennessee failing to give me a perfect Pick-Em record. Last weekend I picked a Non Conference Tulsa team to win against Arkansas, I vowed to not do that again, but by doing that I allowed the Wyoming Cowboys to spoil my record. Well without any further delay, let’s get started re-capping the action.

Alabama 27 – LSU 21: This is what SEC football is supposed to be like. Two evenly matched teams, slugging it out over 4 quarters of football, and it still taking an overtime period to decide who wanted to win it the most. In the end, coming off a Rashad Johnson interception in the first OT, Johnson’s third of the game, the Crimson Tide scored the game wining touchdown on a John Parker Wilson quarterback sneak form one yard out. The win secured the SEC western division title for Alabama and they will be headed to Atlanta for the SEC Championship game on December 6th. The win also ended an emotional week for Alabama head coach Nick Saban, who just 4 short years ago was the coach of the LSU Tigers. After losing last years “Saban Bowl” in Tuscaloosa, this victory was made it all worthwhile. The stats in this game are a little bit misleading, most of which lean towards the advantage of the home team, but turnovers were the major one here. Both teams turned the pigskin over numerous times but LSU seemed to do it at the worst of times. The last turnover was the worst of all, after blocking a game winning field goal attempt by Leigh Tiffen to keep the score tied at the end of regulation, Jarrett Lee threw his 4th pick of the day in overtime. Alabama only took 3 plays to get it into the end zone for the winning score. Alabama remains unbeaten at 10 – 0 and defends the №1 ranking. The Crimson Tide cannot relax yet, for it isn’t just about winning the SEC, it’s about the BCS National Championship. To win that they will have to continue to dance with the one that brought them, fundamentally sound football. One other note worth mentioning: Congratulations are in order for Alabama’s Safety Rashad Johnson whose 3 interception game earned him the National Defensive Player of the Week award. KUDOS

Florida 42 – Vanderbilt 14: When I say the University of Florida football team is on a mission I am not kidding around people. These Gators are not leaving anything up for doubt as they are chomping opponents down at an amazing clip, winning the SEC Eastern Division along the way. Saturday night’s victory over the Vanderbilt Commodores clinched the division for the Gators. Florida started out like a house on fire against the Dores and just never relented. In my opinion nation, Tim Tebow is the most phenomenal college quarterback to play the game in a long time. Saturday, Tebow threw 3 touchdowns and rushed for 2 more, and he done all that in only a little more than one half of the game. Tebow was given the rest of the night off after only a little more than 5 minutes into the 3rd quarter. Vandy had not allowed an opponent to score more than 24 points on them all year, but the Gators had no problem. Florida out gained Commodores with 422 yards of total offense versus 264 yards for Vanderbilt. As I stated about Alabama, Florida cannot relax just yet either, they still have a conference match-up with South Carolina coming up as well as their annual rivalry game with Florida State and we all know that nothing would please the Gamecocks and Noles more than to spoil Florida’s year.

Georgia 42 – Kentucky 38: Now this was an SEC slobber knocker. I, as was a lot of SEC Nation was very surprised as Kentucky came within1:54 of knocking off the №14 team in the nation. Randall Cobb, Wildcat freshman quarterback, looked great all day. Cobb rushed for 82 yards and 3 touchdowns but with only 46 seconds left and the game in his hands, Cobb threw an interception to DeMarcus Dobbs at the Bulldog 13 yard line. Matthew Stafford looked wonderful as well, He threw for 376 yards and 3 touchdowns, and when you add in Knowshon Moreno rushing for 123 yards, that makes for a very exciting day of football, If you like offense that is. Defensively both teams struggled as the offensive numbers reflect. Georgia was able to amass 520 yards of total offense and Kentucky put together 331 yards. The Wildcats won the first downs (20 – 17), third down conversion (47.1% - 40%), as well as time of possession (34:50 – 25:10), but once again the scoreboard is them most important stat.

Arkansas 21 – South Carolina 34: Musical quarterbacks, a 54 yard field goal, a suffocating defense, and a fist fight. All of these things helped make up the events of the 34 to 21 South Carolina victory over Arkansas. Steve Spurrier would rotate his two QB’s, Chris Smelley and Stephen Garcia almost on every other snap. South Carolina got it done on defense as well, stopping Arkansas’ SEC leading rusher Michael Smith and holding the Razorbacks to only 54 yards rushing. Week in and week out every person who writes anything about football stresses the turnover statistic. This game will be no different; Arkansas thrice turned the ball over to South Carolina and in the SEC that will not win you any ball games. The Gamecocks improve to 7 – 3 on the season and will look to better advance their bowl possibilities as they move onto an SEC eastern showdown with Florida next weekend. T

Wyoming 13 – Tennessee 7: What a year for Phillip Fulmer and his Volunteers. The Wyoming Cowboys came to Knoxville and spoiled Homecoming for Tennessee. It was the end of a very emotional week for the Tennessee team, fans, and coaches, as Phillip Fulmer announced his resignation, effective at seasons end, on Monday. Miscues and a stagnant offense were the real undoing of the Vols. Tennessee quarterback Nick Stephens was picked off twice which directly led to the Cowboy’s 13 points. The first INT was returned to the UT 4 yard line, scoring on the next play. The second was a “Pick 6” interception by Ward Dobbs, the PAT would be missed and the score would remain 13 – 0. Backup Volunteer QB Jonathan Crompton replaced Nick Stephens after the second interception and accounted for the only Tennessee score of the day; An 8 yard touchdown pass to Gerald Jones in the 3rd quarter of play. For the most part the statistics look about as exciting as the score but Wyoming did hold a slight edge in the 3rd down conversion, turnovers, and time of possession categories. I picked UT to win this game and the loss is the only one I acquire on this weekend.

Tenn. Martin 20 – Auburn 37: The UTM Skyhawks came to Auburn with winning on their minds and for the most part stayed with their SEC foe for longer than anyone imagined. The game was actually tied at 20 all halfway through the third period. Auburn QB, Kodi Burns though finally was able to break free and score from 31 yards out to give the Tigers a 27 – 20 advantage. UTM had other second half opportunities but interceptions killed promising drives. On the statistical side of the game though, Auburn pretty much man handled the Football Championship Subdivision Skyhawks. The Tigers finished the day with 452 yards of total offense, 290 of which were on the ground. Auburn had 26 first downs, and converted on 3rd down 61.5% of the time. Auburn also held the ball almost a full 10 minutes more than did Tenn. Martin. Former Ole Miss receiver, Mike Hicks, had a big day for the Skyhawks though. Hicks came down with 12 receptions for 132 yards with 2 touchdowns. Auburn now is 5- 5 on the season and will try to reach bowl eligibility next week when they play host to Georgia down on the Plains.

Ok SEC Nation, there you have it. The opponents in the SEC Championship game are now decided and the jockeying for bowl position has begun. I am looking forward to what our 12 teams have in store for us the rest of the year. I would love to hear comments on who you think will win between Bama and the Gators come December 6th in Atlanta. Come back to the Nation on Wednesday as I will have my usual commentary about the good of the conference. Until then…..Hotty Toddy

Darryle “Speedy” Clark

Friday SEC Pick-Em

Here we go sports fans, another exciting weekend of SEC football. The division leaders have the chance to clinch this weekend, but both Bama and Florida will have their work cut out for them. November is the month to remember, as we are coming down the homestretch towards a great post season. Ole Miss and Mississippi State are idle this weekend but the rest of the conference schools are in action. Wednesday I posted about SEC bowl possibilities, and that job will get a little easier at the conclusion of this weekend. So what do you say? Let’s get started with Pick-Em!

Alabama versus LSU: This is what it is all about sports fans, Saturday in Baton Rouge with the SEC Western Division title on the line. Alabama is 9 – 0 (5 – 0 SEC) and №1 in the nation. A Tide win puts them in Atlanta playing for the SEC championship, a loss and they will have to wait another week. What is in their way? A bunch of angry Tigers, and not to leave them out, the Tiger Fans. Alabama’s head coach Nick Saban is going to make his first appearance back in Death Valley since his departure from there in 2004, when he left the Bayou Bengals to coach the NFL’s Miami Dolphins. The Cajuns in Baton Rouge are licking their chops for a chance to beat up on Saban and his herd of elephants in the second installment of “Saban Bowl”, the first was played in Tuscaloosa last year with LSU claiming the 41 – 34 victory. This however is a new year and Bama wants to repay the favor. LSU is relying on freshman Jarett Lee as their quarterback. I still haven’t heard any news on the recovery of backup Andrew Hatch. This means that the game is on Lee’s shoulders, but there is a slight possibility of true freshmen Jordan Jefferson getting some playing time as well. Lee has made some good throws but some awful ones as well and those awful ones were not against the Crimson Tide defense. I look for Alabama to key their defense on Tiger running back Charles Scott, in turn forcing Lee to beat them in the air, something I just don’t think he can do. I just don’t see the Tiger offense matching up against the Tide defense. Let’s take a brief look at Alabama’s offense. Quarterback John Parker Wilson is having a great year and with hoss running backs like Glen Coffee and Mark Ingram, why wouldn’t he? I have no doubt that the Tide will be capable of scoring points against LSU. The big question this week is can LSU answer the scoring of Alabama? I don’t think so! The Tide should get some help from turnovers as well, with two freshmen quarterbacks having to throw the ball, look for the Tide DB’s to come down with a few interceptions, possibly of the “Pick 6” variety. Alabama wins Saban Bowl II.

Florida versus Vanderbilt: This game can decide the SEC Eastern Division champion if Florida can get out of Nashville with a victory. That is a big if! I have seen Vanderbilt play some real tough games against Florida. Some would speculate that those close games were the result of Florida looking past Vandy to a later opponent. Whatever the case may be, Florida better not get caught looking forward in this one as this is not your father’s old Vanderbilt. The Commodores have fallen a little flat after starting the year 5 – 0, but I still believe in them. Coached by Bobby Johnson, the Commodores are a pretty sound football team. Vanderbilt has a QB seeking missile in Broderick Stewart, and that is exactly what he will have to do this Saturday. Tim Tebow has more rushing touchdowns than some Division 1-A teams, eight total, so not only do you have to get pressure on him when he is passing, but Mr. Tebow can run, so DE’s and LB’s will have to stay at home and guard the running lanes. It is hard to get a lot of pressure doing that. The Mackenzie Adams led Vanderbilt offense has been a slight bit anemic as of late, and I just believe that the Dores will have to score some points if they are to beat Florida. When I think of the Gators, all I can think of is Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin. These two guys are point and yard machines. Even in their one loss on the season, they were awesome. You add in a kick return man like Brandon James and all this adds up to a very dangerous Gator football team. I have a soft spot in my heart for Vanderbilt, but I just can’t pick them to beat Florida. The Gators will take this one and secure their spot in the SEC Championship Game.

Georgia versus Kentucky: Both of these teams are already bowl eligible but this game could greatly improve which bowl they receive. Georgia I know is disappointed after last week’s loss to Florida but they will be looking to bounce back and improve their bowl choices against the Wildcats and what a difference a victory over Georgia would do to shift the Kentucky season into a higher gear heading down the homestretch? Kentucky started freshman Randall Cobb at quarterback last weekend against Mississippi State and he came through for them by passing for one score and running another in himself. Wait a minute, isn’t he a receiver? Yes he is, and he actually leads the team in receiving. But now he is at the QB position and he will have to score more than 14 points to beat the Bulldogs, whose defense is led by the SEC leading tackler Rennie Curran. The Georgia offense isn’t so bad either. QB Matthew Stafford has two great targets to throw to in A.J. Green and Mohamed Massaquoi. Stafford and company are sure to put up some points so the Wildcats will have to be able to answer. I just don’t believe this answer will come for Kentucky. Georgia will bounce back from an embarrassing outing in the Cocktail Party and beat Kentucky.

Arkansas versus South Carolina: South Carolina has secured a 6 win season for bowl eligibility but the Razorbacks are still hoping. A loss this weekend would give the Hogs 6 losses, meaning that the R-Backs would have to put together back to back wins versus Mississippi State and LSU to get bowl eligible, the latter will probably present some problems. Arkansas pulled off a great victory last weekend over №18 Tulsa, and Casey Dick had a career day doing it. The Hogs also have the SEC leading rusher Michael Smith so Arkansas has plenty of offensive weapons, and they will need them all. South Carolina possibly has the best defense in the SEC. The Gamecocks will make it a very difficult day for Smith so Casey Dick will have to be exceptionally sharp to win this one. Gamecock Redshirt freshman QB Stephen Garcia is throwing the ball at a 57.5% completion percentage but has also thrown three interceptions. This game is hard for me to pick but the coin just landed on heads and that means I am going with the Spurrier coached Gamecocks. I actually look for this game to be a squeaker

Wyoming versus Tennessee: Phillip Fulmer, well what else can someone say about this man? Fulmer has had a great career at UT but now it is coming to an end. I have hinted all year long about his possible dismissal, but this week he made it official by agreeing to step down at seasons end. There is still football to be played in Knoxville though so I will leave that story for later. This week’s Volunteer game pitches the SEC against the MWC. The Wyoming Cowboys are coming off a 35 – 10 victory over SDSU last weekend and boasting a 234 yard rushing performance from running back Devin Moore in the process. This performance by Moore earned him MWC player of the week honors and rightfully so. The reservation I have about this though is the fact that SDSU isn’t Tennessee. The Vols may be having a bad year but they are still a team in the toughest conference in the nation. UT has only lost one non-conference game all year and have never lost to any team presently in the MWC, including a 2 – 0 advantage over Wyoming. I just don’t see the Cowboys being able to beat the Vols. The Tennessee players will be inspired to give their coach wins as his going away present, and that will begin this weekend.

Tenn. Martin versus Auburn: This game shouldn’t hold much in the way of surprises to the SEC Nation. UTM is a capable ball team inside the Football Championship Subdivision, but in Division 1-A, I cannot foresee any upsets here. So far this year though the Skyhawks have really scored some points, averaging 40.7 PPG, but again this is in the Football Championship Subdivision. The Auburn Defense just needs to watch out for the pass, UTM will probably let a few fly in order to set up some sort of run game led by Brandyn Young. The Skyhawks also have Cade Thompson, an SEC transfer (South Carolina) at the Quarterback position and one of his favorite targets is Mike Hicks, another SEC transfer (Ole Miss). Auburn has had offensive woes all year, but not this week. Kodi Burns is coming off his first 300 yard passing performance in the game versus Ole Miss, and he will continue this weekend. Auburn wins their Homecoming.

There you have it SEC fans! There is plenty of action going on in the SEC as well as the country. №2 Texas Tech is in action against a very tough Oklahoma State, I am sure that the №3 Penn State fans are going to watch that game very close as well as Saban Bowl II, hoping for a Cowboy or a Tiger upset. All SEC eyes turn to Red Stick country and to Music City to see if the “Big 2” can finalize their Atlanta itineraries. Come on back here on Monday as I will be re-capping the action for you, right here on SEC Nation. Until then……Hotty Toddy!

Darryle “Speedy” Clark

Bowl Projections

First off I have to report the news, by now everyone in SEC Nation knows that Tennessee’s head coach, Phillip Fulmer will be stepping down at the end of the season. This news isn’t surprising as the Vols are in the midst of their worst season in many years. Fulmer, 58 years old, has spent 17 years as the Volunteer head coach with a record of 150 – 51 including a National Championship. Duke Head coach David Cutcliffe would be the logical choice, but Cuttcliffe has stated that he will not leave Duke. Speculation all over the internet is at a high. Here are a few names high on the list of bloggers: Mushchamp, Kiffen, and Davis. I even saw one mention of John Gruden and Bill Cower. I will not speculate as I am not too close to the situation in Knoxville, so I am going to get down to the tricky business at hand. And that is…..

Bowling anyone? After writing an article a few weeks back about Jinxes, Hexes, and Curses, I am afraid to actually write this article. I don’t wish to “Jinx” any of the teams I write about, but I cannot resist. Let us take a look at what the SEC Nation may have in store for them come the post season. First let’s talk about the SEC bowl tie-ins and their criteria for team selection; afterwards we can break down possible scenarios for each of these bowls. Shall we?

The South Eastern Conference has 8 bowl tie-ins coupled with an automatic BCS bid for the conference champion in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. The 8 remaining bowls are the Independence Bowl, Papajohns.com Bowl, Chick-Fil-A Bowl, Music City Bowl, Outback Bowl, Capital One Bowl, Cotton Bowl, and the Liberty Bowl. The criteria for these bowl’s selection process gets a little confusing. I will try to be as brief as possible. The Papajohns.com gets the SEC’s #9 team, followed by the Independence Bowl getting the #8 SEC team. The Liberty and Music City Bowls have choice of the SEC’s #6 and #7 teams, I couldn’t find any information on who picks first, but I would have to think that proximity of available teams may play a part in the selection process. The same goes for the Chick-Fil-A, Cotton, and Outback Bowls; these three get the choice of the #3, #4, and #5 teams. The SEC # 2 gets the Capital One Bowl and as stated earlier the SEC champion has an automatic BCS bid in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. This year however, if the SEC champ gets the BCS National Championship game, then the SEC #2 can move into the Sugar Bowl. I told you it can get tricky.

As of right now, six SEC teams are already bowl eligible with 6 wins. These are Alabama (9-0); Florida (7-1); Georgia (7-2); LSU (6-2); South Carolina (6-3); & Kentucky (6-3). Four SEC schools are still alive in the bowl hunt; these are Vanderbilt (5-3); Ole Miss (5-4); Arkansas (4-5); & Auburn (4-5). Mathematically, out of these 10 teams, only Arkansas & Auburn are completely out of the conference championship game. Alabama however can clinch the western division this coming weekend with a win over LSU while Florida can do the same with a victory over Vanderbilt, neither victory is set in stone though. There is no way to get this right at this point in the season, but one can kind of look ahead at schedules and see possibilities.

It is easier to predict the higher up bowls so that is where I will attempt to get this started. At the moment I feel that Alabama is a better team than Florida, not by much, but call it a gut feeling, I do however reserve the right to change that opinion at a later date. With Alabama taking over the top spot in the polls, I have them winning the conference championship game and moving to Miami to play in the BCS National Championship game. This will move Florida into the Allstate Sugar Bowl. At this moment I think Georgia looks good for the Capital One Bowl. Here is where it gets kind of cloudy.

Remember that geography could play a part in the selection process. For this reason I feel that Georgia would also be good in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl which is held in Atlanta, but that would make LSU have to travel to Orlando for the C.O.B., For this purpose I am going to move LSU into the Cotton Bowl, and South Carolina goes down to Tampa for the Outback. Boy! The clouds are really starting to roll in, because here is where we have the most possibilities. Kentucky has 1 very tough game with Georgia left on their schedule and Vanderbilt the following weekend. If the Wildcats can earn a split over those two games and a win in their season finale against Tennessee then they are looking good for the Chick-Fil-A Bowl. I feel that Vanderbilt will get the bid for the Music City Bowl simply because of the geography, but they have a very difficult schedule ahead of them, but at this moment I will assume they get 2 more wins. I see Ole Miss getting the nod for the Liberty Bowl, once again for the geography, but if that tough Vanderbilt schedule hands them defeats, the Rebels could improve to the MCB or possibly even one of those #3 thru #5 bowls if the Rebels can muster enough game to run the table, that would shake up the top part of my predictions so I am going to have to wait awhile to revise them. This leaves Arkansas & Auburn available for the remaining two bowls. But actually, looking at the schedules, I only see Auburn winning one more game; this will not give them 6 wins. Arkansas has a tough row to hoe as well, I actually only see one more win for the Razorbacks too. This will leave 2 SEC bowl tie-ins open for At-Large bids to outside opponents.

Whew that was tough! To summarize; at this moment this is how I have the SEC bowl picture:

BCS Championship Game: Alabama
Allstate Sugar Bowl: Florida
Capital One Bowl: Georgia
Cotton Bowl: LSU
Outback Bowl: South Carolina
Chick-Fil-A Bowl: Kentucky
Music City Bowl: Vanderbilt
Liberty Bowl: Ole Miss
Independence Bowl: ???
PapaJohns.com Bowl: ???

Well SEC Nation, you now have my picks for the post season. Do you agree? If not let me hear your thoughts on this tricky subject. You may point out something to me that I haven’t thought of. Please come back on Friday and read my picks for the upcoming weekend. There is a real pressure cooker with National Championship implications set to take place in Baton Rouge that you will surely not want to miss. The opponents for the SEC championship game could be decided this weekend as well, so until then…..Hotty Toddy.

Darryle "Speedy" Clark

Monday Re-Cap

How about an SEC №1 team in the nation! Congratulations to Alabama on taking over the top spot in the poll also thanks and Congratulations to Texas Tech for knocking off the №1 Texas Longhorns. I trust everyone had a great weekend of college football, especially SEC football. The “Cocktail Party” is over now and I hope no-one had too bad of a hangover from it. Now that we are one game into the final third of the season the bowl picture is beginning to take shape and it should be exciting watching the final weeks of the season. So without any further adieu, let’s see how I did on this weeks picks.

Auburn 7 – Ole Miss 17: Hotty Toddy Reb fans! A couple of things happened Saturday at Vaught Hemingway Stadium. Number one, and the most important thing, we got a win. Two, that win was an SEC win at home. These are things that as Ole Miss fans we should be very proud of. This team is the best 4 loss team in the country in my opinion. Sophomore QB Jevan Snead started out slowly but got better as the game progressed, throwing 2 touchdown passes with no interceptions. I think Snead is learning humility in that when it isn’t there, don’t force it, sometimes a sack is the best thing that can happen. The stats in this game look very close, Auburn actually had more total yards than the Rebels but only by 21 yards (AU – 394 ; UM – 373). Ole Miss had the more balanced attack, splitting their yards up with 140 yards passing and 233 yards rushing. The key stat in this game is the turnovers. Auburn turned the ball over 3 times via the errant pass, once when the Tigers had the ball at the Rebel 17 yard line. The Ole Miss defense deserves all credit for this win. They have given up a ton of yards this season through the air but seem to find ways to stop the threat and give Snead and the offense another chance. Auburn never crossed the midfield stripe the entire first half and ended up with only 75 yards rushing. These Rebels have not been outclassed on the football field yet this year. Ole Miss is 5 – 0 when turning the ball over two or less times. One more win away from being bowl eligible, this Rebel squad has came a long way from last year, and this Rebel fan is proud of them.

Arkansas State 0 – Alabama 35: The Crimson Tide moves to 9 – 0 (5-0 SEC), and can clinch the SEC Western Division title next week with a win over LSU in Baton Rouge. As predicted Friday the Tide handled the Red Wolves of ASU with ease, never once being in danger of losing the game. Nick Saban said “We’re starting to develop that attitude of be as good as you can be, don’t play to your opponent…” I would sure say that the Tide didn’t play down to this opponent. Bama took their opening drive 89 yards and capped it off with a Glen Coffee touchdown run and the Tide never looked back. Glen Coffee sat out the second half with a bruised bicep but don’t worry Tide fans, he isn’t expected to miss any practice. The Crimson Tide defense even added a score as well on a 32 yard interception return by Rashad Johnson. The “Overlook Syndrome” was avoided and Bama was able to work on several parts of their game that will need to be firing on all cylinders come next weekend in Red Stick country. The Stats reflect the final score, showing a completely one sided affair. Their isn’t one single stat that doesn’t show 100% Crimson Tide domination. The Tide has to keep up this intensity, but their chances of getting to the BCS championship game are looking better and better week after week.

Tulsa 23 – Arkansas 30: The Razorbacks upset the № 19 team in the nation! Some may call it an upset anyway. I actually picked the Golden Hurricanes to win this one Friday and now I am kicking myself in the butt for that prediction. However I don’t see it as an upset victory in that, like I stated Friday, Tulsa hasn’t played any SEC quality opponents. I am not trying to take anything away from them, they are a good football team, I am just stating the obvious truth. The Razorback defense held the Golden Hurricanes to their lowest point total all year long; they had scored at least 37 points in all of their preceding contests. The stats in this one may mislead you. Tulsa ended up the day with 528 yards of offense. The R-Backs only had 435 total yards….ONLY…I would take that total any day. Both teams had outstanding aerial attacks (Ark. – 385 yds; Tul. – 344 yds.), but Tulsa was able to stop Michael Smith and the Razorback rushing attack, holding them to only 50 total rushing yards. Penalties and turnovers are the stats that hurt Tulsa’s bid to remain undefeated. They turned the ball over 3 times and were penalized 6 times for 57 yards. You have got to hand it to the Arkansas defense; they bent all day, but in the end preserved the victory.

Kentucky 14 – Mississippi State 13: The obvious two words that describe this SEC dual is “Defensive Struggle”. MSU has been offensively hampered all year, but I really thought that Kentucky would put up a little more of an offensive showing than this. In the end though, I predicted a Wildcat victory and that is what happened. I don’t want to sound as if the Bulldogs didn’t have a chance to win, they left points on the field in this one, missing a 27 yard field goal midway through the 4th quarter as well as having a PAT blocked; The latter proving to be the game winner for Kentucky. Defense and special teams, head coaches preach about them every week, well both teams had the defense part of this equation right and Kentucky made the special teams play that won the game. The stats in this game lean towards Mississippi state, albeit slightly, but the scoreboard is the one that counts the most.

Florida 49 – Georgia 10: I cannot speak for the rest of the country or for other SEC fans, but this game disappointing to me. You look at a Georgia team that was a pre-season №1, has one of the most talented running backs in the nation; the Bulldog quarterback is one of the most solid players in the SEC, possibly the country. One would have to think that this game would be whole lot tighter than this. I think all of the SEC nation knew going in that Tim Tebow and his entourage of talented teammates would be able to put up some points, but I surely thought Matthew Stafford coupled with Knowshon Moreno would be able to answer. Well at least I wasn’t wrong about the outcome, I thought the Gators would prevail and they did. Would someone please tell me why no one thinks Tim Tebow is on track for a second Heisman? In this installment of the “Cocktail Party” he only ran for 3 touchdowns and threw for 2 more. Bulldog quarterback: Matthew Stafford couldn’t seem to get his rhythm in this game though, credit the Gator “D” for that. Stafford threw for 265 yards but was only 18 for 33 (0.545 %) with 3 interceptions….NOT STAFFORDESQUE. The Gator defense also stopped cold, one of the nation’s most talented running back, Knowshon Moreno, with only 65 total yards. Believe or not, the Dawgs actually out gained Florida with 398 yards to the Gators 373 yards, but talk about a balanced attack. Florida had 188 yards passing with 185 rushing yards. The big stat is the 4 Georgia turnovers. Bulldog fans may be a little worried about Matthew Stafford who left the game late with an ankle injury, his x-rays were negative. Stafford was sacked twice as well which was a big factor in his interception woes. All in all I would say that the Gators got their revenge for last years loss and subsequent Georgia celebration.

Tennessee 6 – South Carolina 27: The Gamecocks are tired of losing to Tennessee! The Vols have always seemed to have South Carolina’s number, no matter how much talent either squad fielded. This SC victory is only the 4th victory over a UT team in 16 years. Gamecock freshmen QB: Stephen Garcia threw 2 touchdowns in this game and totally dominated the beleaguered Tennessee defense. The Volunteer offense didn’t fair well either against the SEC’s top rated defense. SC cornerback Stoney Woodson also had a 68 yard interception return for a touchdown to give the Gamecocks a defensive score as well. The stats in this one are not as whopsided as I had thought they would be the turnovers were probably the biggest stat that could have any reflection on the outcome. Tennessee had 3 turnovers including the before mentioned “Pick 6”. One other stat to mention just shows how anemic Fulmer’s offense is without David Cutcliffe, the Vols could only squeak out a meager 34 yards on the ground. This loss drops UT to 3 – 6 (1 - 5 SEC) on the season and out of bowl contention. It also just might be the final nail in the coffin for 17 year Tennessee head coach Phillip Fulmer. It kind of seems odd to me that a lot of Phil’s worst losses come at the hand of Steve Spurrier.

Tulane 10 – LSU 35: This was another disappointing game to me. I really thought LSU would build an early lead and then rest their starters. Most of the first half was a accented by very flat play from the Tigers. LSU came alive late in the second half though, scoring 2 touchdowns in 27 seconds. Tiger running back: Charles Scott had another huge rushing outing, gaining 114 yards. 84 yards of his total came on the very first LSU possession. Still, LSU fans have got to be happy that their team didn’t fall victim of looking ahead to next weekends SEC west showdown between the Tigers and division leading Alabama. The stats pretty much tell the same story as the scoreboard. LSU won them too….oh was that too obvious? One stat I think LSU fans will like was the Tiger’s 50% conversion ratio on 3rd down. They will have to be able to convert those next weekend as Alabama can play some very stingy defense.

Well that’s it for this past weekend’s action. This has been one of my best weeks at picking the winners, finishing up at 6 – 1, but I was little off on the particulars. I will apologize to the Razorback fans for not picking them or I could’ve been 7 – 0 this weekend. What kind of SEC fan am I that I picked out of the conference? I will be back on Wednesday for my editorial as usual. My topic for that editorial just might cause some people to ponder my sanity, certainly wouldn’t be the first time that has happened. Until then….Hotty Toddy

Darryle “Speedy” Clark

Friday SEC Pick-Em

Hello out there in SEC Nation. Here it is Friday again and time for another round of SEC Pick-Em. We have a lot of games this weekend with only Vandy having the week off. One game in particular has National Championship implications. So Nation! Are we ready to play Pick-Em?….Ready Break!

Auburn versus Ole Miss: The Rebels were able to hold on and pull out an SEC victory on the road last weekend against the Arkansas Razorbacks. Playing well on the road has not been the Rebel’s problem this year. Good games against Wake Forest & Bama coupled with wins against Florida and Arkansas, all were on the road. It is the home field that the Rebels cannot protect. There the Reb’s seem to hand the games over on a silver platter to the opposing team. Make no mistake Reb fans, Auburn may be struggling this year but they are a very capable football team. We may not like him but they are well coached, especially on defense. I’ve heard a lot of rumblings about Tubby being fired, but I don’t want to report on rumors. The Tigers have a good running back in Junior Ben Tate. Tubba-BS-Ville has also alternated between two QB’s all season so it makes it hard for Ole Miss to prepare defensively. On the offensive front; Ole Miss will have to figure out a way to move the football against a very stingy defense. AU’s “D” is ranked 5th in the SEC in total defense and 4th in the SEC against the pass. Will the “Wild Rebel” loosen up that great secondary? I would love to see The Rebels pass more out of that formation but the passes will have to be complete. Every time McCluster throws from it this year it seems he is either intercepted or the pass falls harmlessly to the ground. This means the corners can ignore their assignments and come up and make a play on the runner. That brings me to McCluster: He is such an exceptional and exciting athlete, but dangit, he has got to hold on to the ball. I don’t think anyone on Auburns “D” will try to tackle him this weekend; they will go straight for the ball. They’re a lot of variables in this one that should make for an entertaining game. I will pick my Rebels to win this game but it will be a tight one.

Arkansas State versus Alabama: Alabama is already warming up for an SEC Western division title, but I sure hope they can keep their minds on the Indians of Arkansas State this weekend. ASU has a very competent QB in Junior Corey Leonard and a very talented running back in Jahbari McLennan. Alabama is coming off a solid victory over the Tennessee Volunteers and has a game against LSU coming up next week; the Tide should beware of the “Overlook Syndrome”. We all know what I am talking about so I won’t explain it. Alabama really needs to come out and take control of this game early on, build a big lead and let some of their younger players get some game experience in the second half. I believe they will do this too, but ASU isn’t a high school. The Tide will have to play fundamentally sound football so there won’t be any surprises in T-Town. I think Bama takes care of this one big, because the Pachyderm are on a mission that will take them to Atlanta; No Indians (Correction: Red Wolves)are going to be able to stop them.

Tulsa versus Arkansas: Coming off a hard fought home loss to Ole Miss the Razorbacks are not going to get any rest this weekend either. Tulsa is nationally ranked at № 19 in the nation in the AP Poll (№ 18 BCS) and they are coming off of a 49 – 19 shellacking of Central Florida this past Sunday. They have a very good quarterback in David Johnson who threw for 264 yards with a touchdown against UCF. Johnson ran in two TD’s in that game as well, so he is a threat to bolt on you. Defensively, Tulsa has a fumble forcing machine in a kid named Malcolm Sheppard. He can cause problems for Razorback QB Casey Dick all day long by getting in his face, batting down passes, and intercepting them as well. I don’t want to count the Hogs out of it yet though. Running back Michael Smith leads the SEC in rushing yards and Casey Dick is 2nd in the conference in passing. Looking at Tulsa’s schedule, I am not really seeing SEC quality teams, but you know what? They are undefeated and most are run-away victories. Boy I hate to pick outside the conference. I would rather take a walk through hell with gasoline drawers on than to do that, but I have to pick Tulsa to win this one. The Razorbacks just aren’t firing on all cylinders this year.

Kentucky versus Mississippi State: After a great 2007 season, Mississippi State is just struggling to find a groove this year. The Dogs have been anemic on offense and other than Auburn (Another anemic offense); have had a hard time keeping the opposition out of the end zone. The Kentucky Wildcats are not fairing much better either. They had a great start, opening up with 4 consecutive wins, but then came the SEC schedule; Losing to Bama & South Carolina before bouncing back in a come from behind victory over Arkansas. The Cats are still 5 – 3 with only 1 SEC win. Their last outing was a dismal contest as the homecoming victim of the Florida Gators. There are reasons to pick both teams, I wont list them all, but I am just going to go with my gut and pick Kentucky to win this one on the road in Starkville.

Florida versus Georgia: Here it is SEC Nation! The Worlds Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. These two teams look forward to this game every year, and so does SEC fans. This time both squads are ranked inside the top 10 in the nation. What a showdown this promises to be. The AP has Florida ranked higher than Georgia but that is reversed in the BCS standings. Whatever the rankings…it doesn’t matter! Florida has the best SEC player on their team…..The best! I know that is just my opinion but to me; Tim Tebow is worth two touchdowns. The Gators have all the weapons they need to win the SEC and make a run for the National Championship. Since losing to Ole Miss, Florida has been on a mission to silence the Nay Sayers. Likewise for Georgia; since losing to Bama, they have bounced back to National Championship contender status as well. The Dawgs have all it takes to win the conference too. I do have reservations with Georgia resulting from some flat play following the Alabama loss, what I call “Get By” football, but the offense came back roaring against LSU. The Georgia defense allowed too many points though in the LSU game. If LSU can score like that on you? Then who knows how many points the Tebow led crew of Gators can turn in. On paper this game has the recipe for a high scoring affair, with two very good offensive squads. So many times though when someone says it will be a high scoring game, it turns out to be a defensive struggle. We shall see, and I am looking forward to it. I am going to pick Florida to win this game.

Tennessee versus South Carolina: The Vol’s are having the worst year that I believe I have ever seen them have. Losing David Cutcliffe to the head coaching ranks again has not helped UT offensively, that’s for sure. Lack of a sure-fire SEC quarterback is another factor as well. On the QB front though; Nick Stephens is starting to come around. Stephens has started 4 games now and has a .633 completion percentage at a clip of a little over 13.5 yards per completion. Another tidbit is that he hasn’t thrown an interception while amassing these numbers. South Carolina Head Coach: Steve Spurrier has decided to go with Stephen Garcia as his starting QB Saturday; this will be Garcia’s second start of the year, in his first start he threw for 215 yards and a touchdown against LSU. The Gamecock defense is playing tough as well so in my humble opinion that should make the Gamecocks the favorites in this match up. Some more interesting news to me is Phil Fulmer defending his resume earlier this week with the Tennessee faithful. Why would he do that unless he is getting scared? Just a thought. I will take South Carolina to win this one.

Tulane versus LSU: Like I stated in my Alabama preview, LSU has got to beware of the “Overlook Syndrome”. It would be very easy for the Tigers to look further down the road towards their November 8th contest with the Tide. Also unclear is the status of backup quarterback: Andrew Hatch! He has still gotten considerable game time in sort of a platoon type roll since losing his starting position to Jarrett Lee after the 3rd game. Hatch is suffering from a leg injury. Tulane has some C-USA stat leaders on their squad among which are running back Andre Anderson, who is averaging a little over 123 yards a game. Still I don’t see the Green Wave having enough weapons and depth to beat LSU in Tiger Stadium. I am picking LSU to basically do what I predict Bama to do: Build a big lead early and then rest up key players as well as get experience for the younger ones. LSU wins big!

Well that’s it for this week’s edition of SEC Pick-EM. I am looking forward to all these games and coming back on Monday to re-cap them with the SEC Nation. Until then…….Hotty Toddy

Darryle “Speedy” Clark

What Do You Have To Do To Win A Heisman Around Here?

Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow! What crosses your mind when I say that sentence? When I think of this college football phenom I think a touchdown is only one play away. I see excitement and love for the game. Lastly I see a dedication to his team and teammates. Now I am not sure if this spells H-E-I-S-M-A-N, but it definitely spells M-V-P.

Is Tebow immune to bad days? Certainly not, but even his bad days are good ones to other college quarterbacks. The one Florida loss came at home against Ole Miss. Now everyone knows that I am an Ole Miss fan but this article is about Tebow, I will attempt to maintain my objectivity. In the UM ball game, Tebow was 24 for 38with 1 touchdown and no interceptions. Those numbers translates into 319 yards passing for the day. His rushing totals were down for the day but only because sacks count as negative rushing yards in the college game. He rushed for a net of 7 yards with one touchdown. He was stopped on the 4th & 1 play, but Florida fans cannot blame him for that loss. I would take his numbers any day of the week if I was his coach.

Now we will talk about the LSU game. In this contest, Tebow was 14 for 21 with 2 touchdowns and no interceptions, that all totals up to 210 passing yards. He rushed for a net of 22 yards and a touchdown in this game as well. In this game he led his team to a 51 – 21 victory over the then №4 team in the country.

Fast forward 7 days to this past weekend’s shellacking of Kentucky. Only one word comes to mind: WOW! Mr. Tebow was 11 for 15 with 2 touchdowns; He did throw one interception in this game that is the only flaw I could find. He totaled up 180 passing yards against Kentucky and rushed for another 48 yards on 9 runs. Among these 9 rushes were 2 runs for touchdowns. Florida had a lot of other weapons against Kentucky, but by far if you had to pick a single gun in this one, it was hands down Tim Tebow!

Looking forward to this coming up weekend’s Georgia versus Florida Football Classic, or “The Worlds Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party”. I can’t wait to find out what this outstanding young man has in store for us. I can’t help but remember his post game interview after losing to Ole Miss, where he promised the Gator Nation that good things would come out of that loss. I think that he has made good on that promise. I also think he will continue to make good on it. Just this past week Tebow gave his Heisman vote to the University of Texas’ QB Colt McCoy, but McCoy showed this last weekend that he can have a bad day as well when faced with a tough opponent. I know I have a shallow mind when it comes to college football, I don’t look too far outside of the SEC for talent, unless another team (Non Conference) has a game that will directly affect an SEC team, such as this last weekends game between №1 Texas and №7 Oklahoma State. For this reason I may miss a lot of the talent that is out there in this nation, but listen close to this my friends. My prediction in last Friday’s Pick-Em column that Tebow was going to make a charge and that he still had Heisman in him is still valid and I stand behind that statement 100%. He may not be what some would say is an NFL type QB, but if he keeps racking up passing yards like he has in the past 3 games, including the one loss, he will be looking more and more like a Sunday player to me. In any event, the Heisman Trophy isn’t given to the best NFL prospect of the year; it is given to the best College Player. At this moment, my shallow mind can’t look past Tim Tebow.

As usual friends, I will be back on Friday for another round of SEC Pick-Em. I think we have a great weekend of football in store for us. Until then…..Hotty Toddy

Darryle “Speedy” Clark

Mondays Weekend Re-Cap

Hello out there in SEC Nation. I hope that everyone enjoyed a fun filled weekend of SEC football. I fell a little short of a good mark on my picks this weekend but was able to keep it above .500 at a record of 4 - 3 so I guess I should be thankful. Everyone has an off week right? When it comes down to it, I will take a 4 - 3 record every weekend if the Rebels can get a “W”.

Ole Miss 23 – Arkansas 20: Emotions were high as Houston Nutt went back to Arkansas this weekend. This time as the head coach of Ole Miss and he was in the other dressing room and sidelines. This game was a hard fought victory for Ole Miss; my opinion is that it was a game of answers. The Reb’s scored early on a Joshua Shene field goal to take a 3-0 lead. Arkansas answered when head coach Bobby Petrino made a gutsy call; having already missed a field goal earlier on, he opted to go for it on 4th and 1 from the Ole Miss 13 yard line, Michael Smith took the pitch and ran untouched for the first answer of the game and a 7-3 Arkansas lead. Ole Miss answered that though with 10 points in the final 2 minutes of the 1st half. I won’t re-cap the entire game as there are plenty of those kinds of articles all over the internet, but I think you see what I mean by a game of answers. Looking at the stats I see that the Hogs actually out gained Ole Miss with 386 yards to UM’s 369 yards, but 3rd down conversions is a huge stat in this one. UM converted on 3rd down 52.9% while Arkansas only managed a 21.4% mark in that category. Once again the Rebel “D” played the run well holding Arkansas to only 104 yards rushing. Michael Smith had almost 4 times that many yards by himself in his last two outings. In Summary the Rebels kept mistakes to a minimum with only one turnover and the penalties at 6/45 yards. This formula spelled victory. Congratulations to Houston Nutt for surviving his much anticipated return to Fayetteville.

Alabama 29 – Tennessee 9: Well Tide fans, you can breathe easy for another week. Your Crimson boys protected the № 2 ranking for another week. This is a special game for these two schools; it’s the annual “Third Saturday in October” rivalry that has had so many memorable moments. Although Alabama never seemed in danger of losing this one unless you count being tied at 3 in the first quarter, it is still an energy packed, rock-em sock-em SEC game. UT’s defensive unit actually played well enough to keep their team in a position to win; they held Alabama out of the end zone once from inside the red zone and twice outside of it, the Tide having to opt for field goals on those drives. In the end though the stats tell the story of just one team holding the football and winning the game. Alabama out gained the Vol’s with 366 total yards to UT’s 173 yards. The Vol’s could only manage 36 yards on the ground and 10 first downs. Another big stat is penalties. UT was penalized for 60 yards in this game and a couple of those penalties came within the red zone. I don’t know Phil, your days of glory at UT may be over, and there is probably room for you in Peyton’s entourage if you want to reminisce. I shouldn’t have said that.

Kentucky 5 – Florida 63: WOW!!! What can be said about this? I predicted a Gator victory but I had no idea it would be like this. I have searched my memory for a game that was so one sided, I haven’t found it yet. Florida had 28 points before Kentucky got their first 1st down of the game. The Gators dominated in every aspect of the game, Offense…obviously, Defense…obviously, Special Teams…..Obviously. I am telling you sports fans, there is nothing I could write here that could put this game into perspective. The stats look just like the scoreboard, one sided. One trick stat in this one though is the time of possession. Florida made such quick work out of their scores that Kentucky had the ball longer by almost 5 minutes. Tebow looked awesome and my prediction that he still had Heisman in him is looking more like a prophecy. We shall see.

Georgia 52 – LSU 38: Well I predicted LSU to protect their yard and I was wrong. Georgia is attempting to match last years late season surge and doing a pretty good job of it. This game was a showcase game for two of the best SEC running backs. Knowshon Moreno of Georgia and Charles Scott of LSU. Both backs had huge games. Moreno rushed for 163 yards and Scott rushed for 144 yards. A leader at the quarterback position is what the Tigers are missing though as Georgia’s Matthew Stafford led his team to victory in front a hostile crowd of Cajuns. LSU holds the statistical edge in total yards and first downs but turnovers and 3rd down conversions are in the Bulldog favor. We all know how important it is to hold onto the football not only by not turning it over, but by making 1st downs. I won’t continue to state the obvious. Georgia deserved a victory and they got one. I just wish I would’ve picked them on Friday so my record could be better, oops! There I go stating the obvious again.

Auburn 17 – West Virginia 34: Auburn handed me my first loss of the weekend, I picked them to prevail over WVU simply because I am a conference first kind of guy. That is why I don’t bet on football my friends. I can never get away from picking with my heart. Early on I thought the Tigers would make good on my promise of an SEC victory, jumping out to a 17-3 lead. The Mountaineers had other plans, scoring 31 unanswered points to win this one big. WVU out gained the Tigers with 445 total yards to Auburns 260 total yards. Auburn held the ball for almost 11 minutes longer than the Mountaineers but that is misleading. AU was penalized 5/49 yards while WVU only had 1 penalty for a net 7 yards.

Middle Tennessee 22 – Mississippi State 31: “At home against a weaker opponent, the SEC will always prevail.” That was my statement on Friday’s blog entry for this game. MSU tried to make a liar out of me as MTSU made it interesting. Interesting indeed after a 14 play , 67 yard drive capped off with a 23 yard field goal to take a 16-14 3rd quarter lead over the Bulldogs. MSU had an answer for it though by scoring 17 straight points for a 31-16 lead. MTSU would add a late 4th quarter TD but fail on its 2 point conversion attempt. Statistically speaking it was a very tight ball game. Mississippi State has a slight 18 yard lead in total yards, but if you look closer at the stats you can see that MSU was a much more balanced team that the Blue Raiders. 197 yards in the air coupled with 169 yards on the ground combine to make up the Dawgs 366 total yards. MTSU was much more effective through the air than on the ground. Football fans will all tell you that a balanced attack has a much better chance of winning the tight ballgames. Whew! A win for me, but barely.

Duke 10 – Vanderbilt 7: Turnovers and missed scoring opportunities tell the story of the Vanderbilt loss to Duke. I know all too well what happens to a team that cannot hold on to the football. The offensive line of Vandy also failed to protect Mackenzi Adams as well, allowing 4 sacks in the contest. It is awful hard for a quarterback to perform when he is worried about being hit. You have to give credit where credit is due, and the Blue Devils defense got it done against a good football team. I know Vandy has now lost 3 games in a row, but sports fans, I am telling you they are a good football team. Here is an interesting bit of information I didn’t know about David Cutcliffe: Coach Cutt is now 24 – 2 against the Commodores, this record as the Tennessee OC and the Ole Miss HC, and he is 6 – 0 versus Bobby Johnson. Congratulations to a good man! The Commodores though have got to get back up off the mat and correct their ship or they may not get that elusive 6th win that will get them to bowl eligible for the first time since 1982. They have an off week to prepare for their home match-up with Florida on November 8th. Boy! It just doesn’t get any easier in this league, but they have got to find a way to make it happen.

Well that’s all the games for this past weekend. I finished up the week with a 4 – 3 record. This next weekend offers some very exciting match-ups; one in particular as the annual “Cocktail Party” is set to take place in Jacksonville. Kickoff for the Georgia vs. Florida Football Classic is set for 3:30 P.M. ET with Georgia being this year’s home squad. Ole Miss will be back at home for their rivalry game with former Rebel head coach Tommy Tubba-baldfacedliar-Ville and his Auburn Tigers. And as usual, Wednesday I will publish my weekly editorial. I have picked a great topic for this week’s installment but I am not going to give away the surprise. Until then…….Hotty Toddy

Darryle “Speedy” Clark