Finally!

I love finally getting to preseason practice after a long summer... I love getting the season going even against a La Tech... I think you get the point and what I am leading up to is I really love that first big SEC game that will show whether you are a contender or a pretender. For so many years that game was ALWAYS against UT and was usually the third game of the season. I loved doing it that way. You play a couple of lesser teams and get going forward and then it is time to find out what you are made of.

When the SEC went to divisions we lost this great rivalry with UT but gained an equally great rivalry with LSU. That game was put right in UT's place as usually the third game of the season and like the UT game it was usually that first tough SEC game that showed where you were. I hate that Auburn has let LSU force us into moving that game to later in the season where we will have a permanent back-loaded schedule. I simply HATE it.

Back to the UT game though. Well we may not play them every year anymore and this is the 5th game of the season but for this year this game is back to being the one that will show us where we are. It will be a true measuring stick. I am really looking forward to it. I know that UT is banged up and rebuilding but we are too. There are just so many similarities between the two programs right now and both programs really need this game for respect.

It will be interesting to see who is right starting this week. I have continued to say the jury is still out on this team. I feel like I am the only one as the rest of the Auburn (Blog) Nation has this team winning 8 games at the least. Some are even more delusional even speculating on a possible 11-0 start???!!!??? That ain't Koolaid, that is something a lot stronger.

Most Auburn fans have simply lost any shred of objectivity as they have caught "Gus-mania". All I read now is that UT is not that good, Arkansas is not that good, Ole Miss is not that good, LSU is not that good and Georgia is not that good. I do know that some or most of those teams do not appear to be as good as advertised but I can tell you that it is a mistake to try and neatly summarize a team and put them in a box and try to say as a fact how good they are. After watching SEC football for 30 years I know it doesn't work that way. I know from coaching youth sports in multiple team sports for 6 years it just doesn't work that way.

If you think we see the same UT team that played Ohio, you are wrong. If you think we are going to shutdown and beat Arkansas like Bama, you are wrong. If you think that Houston Nutt cannot get this Ole Miss team up for us and whip us, you are wrong (he did it multiple times with much worse Arkansas teams). If you think LSU is going to struggle against us at home like they did against Miss St, you are wrong.

The million dollar question is how good this Auburn team is against real SEC competition. People are losing their minds over our 4-0 start however I, a "negative" fan, predicted this when I thought Chizik and Todd stunk. Therefore I am not going crazy over this start. I continue to say I will be more convinced when we finally win a game that I didn't think we would win. Well here it is. I did not think we would beat UT before the season started. Do I now? Well I will wait for my picks post to answer that question but the point is I will believe a lot more in this team if they win Saturday night.

Week 4 Review

It was not a super exciting weekend but we did have a few surprises. Here are the three that jumped out to me:

1. SUPERMAN HURT. Tim Tebow finally found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. That sound you heard was a hundred thousand Florida fans inhaling at once. It sounds like he will be OK and it is just a concussion and Florida is REALLY lucky that they have an open week before going to LSU.

2. Bama disposes of Arkansas easily. Bama completely shutdown Ryan Mallett and the Razorback offense which is a good offense. As much as it pains me to say, Bama is hitting on all cylinders and I would probably pick them over Florida if they played right now. However there is alot of football to be played though between now and December.

3. Miss St should have beaten LSU. Thanks to some horrible playcalling Coach Dan Mullen managed to grab defeat out of the jaws of victory but State should have won. Two things here, you have to say State is better than people thought after winning against Vandy and nearly beating LSU. On the flip side, LSU is not looking good. The real mystery is where their running game including monster Charles Scott went.

What does all that mean? Pretty much that the waters parting for Bama again... So what did we see from Auburn last night? The Good, The Bad and The Ugly perfectly describes Auburn last night.

THE GOOD

The Auburn offense continued to shine as it ran up another 500 yards of offense and QB Chris Todd had 5 TDs. It was his best game to date and he did really throw some nice passes. However most of the time he had all day to throw against a young and not very good Ball St team. WR Terrell Zachary had an awesome game and WR Darvin Adams was money again as well. RBs Ben Tate and Ontario McCalebb had good nights (till they got McCalebb hurt on a stupid fake punt). The OL was OK. True frosh Josh Sullen kind of brought the whole line down but like everyone said, we just have nobody behind our starters. I sure hope Byron Isom's suspension is over next week. All-in-all a good night for the offense. They better get ready and quit patting themselves on the back though because the preseason is over and we will now see how good this Auburn team and this offense is starting next week in Knoxville.

THE BAD

The starting defense did pretty well but when we started subbing it got ugly. Ball St moved the ball pretty well and scored 30 points. I am sorry there are decent cream puffs, i.e. La Tech, and there are COMPLETE cream puffs and that would be Ball St. There is no way that team should have scored 30 points regardless of subbing, turnovers or whatever. It is very frustrating to watch our soft coverage and talent dropoff on defense. It is again obvious that Tuberville left the cupboard extremely bare and it now appears the problem could be worse on defense. Looking at the totals this defense has already given up it is hard to fathom what could happen this next month.

THE UGLY

I have really not said much about the special team so far. One or two games does not tell the story about a team's special teams. However when your special teams are THIS bad against Ball St you have big problems. Another dropped punt, playing musical chairs with the punt returners, bad kickoffs, bad coverage, etc... Our special teams are AWFUL or staying on theme UGLY. At this point I am not sure it is going to get a lot better. If we have not been good against the easy part of our schedule I have a hard time believing we are going to improve against better teams.

I am not a special teams coach and I am not sure how to fix most of these problems but I can offer some common sense advice on one of them. First of all, you NEVER start a true freshman as your punt returner. It is too crucial a position to trust it to a true freshman. Sooner or later you have to pick a guy and stick with him. I still think Mario Fannin can be that guy. He did not do great but again he is a proven playmaker. I think you keep coaching him and I believe he will turn it around.

Finally, thank goodness this ugly game is done and we can now find out how good we really are...

Week 4 Picks

We enter week 4 with a number of interesting storylines developing. Thebiggest one this week has been the fallout after the UT/Florida game. Both coaches continue to pop off or indirectly slam the other and the media continues to eat it up. The stupidest thing though is this whole deal that Florida is now not any good because they didn't beat UT 70-0(???). I mean here in Alabama and in other places some people are trying to act like Florida "lost". Ah the politics you have to play in a sport ruled by subjective polls. I went 3-2 last week and am 9-3 on the season for games against BCS opponents.

That is again why I love the SECCG. Nobody can screw you out of the SECCG, it is not subjective. Back to the UT/Florida game it also gives UT fans something to be fired up about. If they can just get a QB and a couple more playmakers to help the defense out they will be back up soon enough. However at this point it looks like Georgia is a solid #2 in the East. I know UK is 2-0 and got a pretty big win over Louisville last weekend but I still don't see them as asolid contender and they have Florida this weekend.

Georgia meanwhile didn't get the memo from the rest of the SEC that you only play ONE BCS out-of-conference foe per year. You schedule one and then grab 3 patsies. Georgia messed up and grabbed one patsy and THREE BCS out-of-conference foes in Oklahoma St, Arizona St and Georgia Tech. Throw in having the play Auburn and LSU from the West and I think they have the toughest entire schedule in the SEC.

Ball St at Auburn...

Ball St went 12-0 last year winning the MAC conference. This year there looks like there is a good chance they could go 0-12. There is really not much to say about this game. Auburn's only concern is injuries. They hope to get up big fast and play a lot of people. The only fly-in-the-ointment would be a forecast of rain for the second week in a row. This will be the 4th straight home game in a row in as many weeks. I bet there will be a lot of good seats available this weeken at Jordan Hare. AUBURN OVER BALL ST

Arkansas at Bama...

The high-flying Arkansas offensive attack rolls into T-town. Ryan Mallett looked like the real thing last week against Georgia once again throwing for over 300 yards and helping score over 40 points. Unfortunately his defense let him down and let Georgia score 50 points. It just does not look good for the Razorbacks. They will get some yards and points and it will not be the bloodletting it was last year but they will have a tough time against Bama. The Bama defense will make some big plays and should force some turnovers while the Arkansas defense that could not stop Georgia probably will not have better luck against Bama. BAMA OVER ARKANSAS

Florida at Kentucky...

The only matchup of undefeated teams this week. Florida comes into Kentucky after their win/loss against UT last week. It is obvious from this vantage point why Florida's offense is not as good as the last few years. Two words... Percy Harvin. Somehow overlooked in the shadow of Tim Tebow, I think Harvin was a big part of Tebow's success. Percy Harvin is one of the better pure football players in SEC history. He was part of 2 national championships and is now playing on Sunday. If I remember correctly he was Florida's leading rusher and receiver last year. He wasn't merely fast but fast and strong and with that special playmaking ability. Florida still has more talent than just about anybody in the country but they miss Harvin. Unfortunately for Kentucky they won't be missing him much Saturday. FLORIDA OVER KENTUCKY

The rest of the games...

GEORGIA OVER ARIZONA ST

LSU OVER MISS ST

TENNESSEE OVER OHIO

VANDY OVER RICE

Better Late...

Doh! I forgot about the Ole Miss/South Carolina game being played on Thursday. Tried to get the picks done today but too much going on. It is currently halftime of the game with South Carolina up 6-3. My pick for the game was Ole Miss, we will see how it turns out...

Give Gene Chizik a Lifetime Contract...

That is sure what it sounds like we need to do if you take a spin around any Auburn blog or web page. I mean I don't think I was excited as some of these people during the 2004 season, a real championship season.

Now before I get labeled a bammer or accused of not paying attention as Will Collier opines, let me state a few things. Here they are:

• I am glad Gene Chizik assembled a very good staff.


• I am glad Gene Chizik kept his mouth shut and went to work in the offseason unlike some other SEC coaches.


• I am glad Gene Chizik and his staff are seemingly taking recruiting very seriously and are thinking "out of the box" for different ways to get Auburn out there.


• I really like the fact Gene Chizik is putting a lot of emphasis on being an "Auburn man" and embracing Auburn's past.


• I am glad he hired Gus Malzahn and got out of his way and I love that we are currently one of the best offenses in the nation.


• I am glad we have started 3-0 against a decent opening slate of games in exciting offensive fashion.

Are we clear? Now with that being said, the collective Auburn community annointing Gene Chizik as the next big thing before playing one tough SEC team is simply ridiculous. I can see being optimistic and fired up but some of this stuff is simply unreadable (pick a link, any link to your right). Good gosh we sound like the Bama nation from 1997 through 2007. Call me crazy but no matter how exciting the start I would like to see us win a few tough SEC games (maybe one or two on the road) before giving Gene his lifetime contract. Also there is that nasty little matter of beating the team across the state sometime in the near future. Even Terry Bowden who started 10-0 said he was not an Auburn man till he beat Bama. Now, of course Bowden may not be an Auburn man but he was right about that being one of the qualifications of a great Auburn coach.

The same could be said of Chris Todd, how about we wait till the guy plays well on the road and actually helps us beat an upper-echelon SEC team before giving him the Davey O'Brien award. I mean I know most of the Auburn nation is now just assuming we are going to beat UT and Arkansas on the road and I can't wait to see it if that is true. However and I hate to be a buzzkill but UT's defense is much better than WVU and Arkansas' offense is better and won't make the dumb mistakes.

I mean good gosh you would think we had been down for years listening to the Auburn nation. I know the Tony Franklin debacle was horrible and Tuberville had his warts but good night people we had a winning record in the SEC every year from 2000 through 2007. We beat Bama six in a row and went 26-6 in the SEC from 2004 through 2007. I was definitely critical of Tub over the years but we were in the race for the SEC title almost the entire decade and that is the name of the game. I don't think we have been that win starved. In fact I think our expectations should be a bit higher than winning a nail biter over a Bill Stewart-coached WVU team.

However if anything good can come out of this over-the-top lovefest it would be some of these younger Auburn fans understanding why us older fans love Coach Dye. I have been pissed off and completely sickened to read what some of these losers (that say they are Auburn fans) say about Coach Dye on the various message boards. They would praise Tub and even Bowden and simply refer to Coach Dye as an "old cheater". The stupidity of trying to sum up Coach Dye like that is unbelievable.

Coach Dye definitely made some mistakes on and off the field and made another continuing mistake IMO continuing to talk to slimebaum. However, if some of these people think things were bad last year then they ought to try taking a trip back to 1980. Auburn had endured 5 years of Doug Barfield and one decent season out of those before crashing with an 0-6 SEC record in 1980. He also never beat Bama and during that time they won back-to-back national championships and then when their streak finally ended in 1980 our other main rival Georgia won one.

Coach Dye came into an absolute disaster and had us basically winning a national championship in 1983. That is absolutely miraculous. The hard work done to accomplish that feat coaching and recruiting is simply unbelievable. He then built the foundation for everything the program has done over the last 20 years. He expanded Jordan Hare, brought Bama to Auburn and won 4 SEC titles.

One thing Gene Chizik had right is when he said Coach Dye's players built this program (although one certain one in the AD office has tried hard to tear it down) but let's remember that Coach Dye and every other great coach and player in Auburn's history earned their accolades. Let's let Chizik try and earn his without going off the deep end after a trio of victories against La Tech, Miss St and West Virginia.

Week 3 Review

I think we now officially have "the monsoon game". I have been in Auburn for a lot of games but I did not mind watching this one from the comfortable dry confines of my house. I mean WOW. That was one for the books. Couple that with a game that started late and then took you from one extreme to another and I can’t imagine how tired all those people at the game were, I was completely exhausted at home.

Before delving into Auburn there were a few other surprises around the SEC. I picked Arkansas to win and blew that one but I did say "The real wildcard is Arkansas' defense. Have they improved from last year?" Uh I think we now know the answer to that question after they gave up 52 points to Georgia at home. The Auburn vs. Arkansas game in a few weeks should be a real track meet. Meanwhile how good is Georgia looking? They are 2-0 and have won two big SEC games in a row.

Elsewhere UT surprised everyone holding Florida to 23 points. I thought Kiffin the elder would do that for most of the game but I figured the floodgates would open at some point. If only UT had a QB... Another surprise was Miss St winning a tough road game at Vandy after a tough loss to Auburn last week. It won't get much press but I think that is big win for Dan Mullen and State. On the flip side, a year after getting to a bowl Vandy looks like they are back at the bottom of the SEC.

Now to Auburn/West Virginia... Where the heck do you start on this one? Let me try and stick with the regular format...

THE GOOD
I guess the first good thing I can say is that Auburn fought back from 14-0 and 21-10 deficits. It is a good thing that both the offense and defense (especially the defense) hung in there after bad to horrible starts. Of course let us couple that fact with it is a good thing that while West Virginia has playmakers they are not a well coached team in many ways. It is good they turned it over 6 times. Without those turnovers Auburn does not win this game. However it is a good thing that we were able to grab those turnovers and take advantage of them. It is a good thing our injured defenders kept getting back up and getting back into the game. Seeing Antonio Coleman and Jake Ricks down on the field is truly frightening.

Gus Malzahn came through again. I really like offenses that are not afraid to go to whoever can be used (and then come back to the main playmakers). It is just great stuff. Our offense started slow but Malzahn seemed to get things going by a big pass play to Eric Smith of all people. Even this morning when I looked at the receiving stats I wondered for a moment who “Smith” was? I love it. The guy had 3 catches for 67 yards. Great job Mr. Smith. We then came back to our main man Darvin Adams at the times when we really needed it. Six catches, 80 yards, 3 TDs… it has been awhile since we have had a WR step up like this.

With the running game shutdown for most of the game (till Tate started hammering away late in the game) you have to give props to Todd for 284 yards and 4 TDs. At times the guy makes great decisions and he gets the ball there but my gosh it is ugly. No doubt he made some big plays but I still do not think we have played a good defense yet. WVU did a good job taking away the run and getting some pressure on Todd but they are not a good defense. I still have serious doubts about Todd against a good SEC defense but luckily for us there does not appear to be too many of those (see Arkansas vs. Georgia).

For those who had started to maybe count UT as a win (including myself) we better look out. Monte Kiffin just held Florida and Tim Tebow to 23 points (aided by a big fumble but still a great job). I think the upcoming UT and Arkansas games are getting more and more interesting. In UT we will play a team with a great defense and not as much offense, in Arkansas we will play a great offense and not as much defense. Both on the road.

Back to WVU… As always Ben Tate ran hard. The guy is simply Mr. Dependable. He always shows up. As I stated last week, Miss St figured out McCalebb in the second half and WVU started where they left off. I hope Malzahn can figure out more ways to get him involved. It was good to see Trott back out there and get his first catches of the season. Kodi did a solid job at the “Wildcat”. He missed a big pass play but made a big one as well. Him being a threat passing will be huge down the road I think.

Finally, I don’t know how many times I have to say it… GET MARIO FANNIN MORE TOUCHES. Once again the guy is one of our biggest playmakers. He proved it again last night on the 82 yard run that got us going in the second half.

THE REALLY GOOD
Watching highlights of USC losing to a team that went 0-12 last season at least 80 times… (-:

THE BAD
Since both defenses gave up over 900+ yards of offense I think we can safely start with them. I know Auburn had to be careful in fall practice to not get anybody hurt but good grief I have not seen a much worse job at tackling and containing a QB than the first half. WVU was moving and scoring at will.

Is WVU’s offense that good? Is our defense that bad? It is probably a combination of both. WVU has some great playmakers in Noel Devine and Jock Sanders and a very athletic QB but the debate has already been raging over the Auburn blogs this week about the defense. I thought WBE did a good job on it. Basically to summarize, our defense was not great last year and the spread doesn’t help. However at this point as far as the spread is concerned it is a tradeoff we are willing to make.

This in no way though excuses the awful tackling and horrible angles our guys were taking last night. It does not excuse 10 of 15 third down conversions. We have to do better and we did in the second half. Four interceptions in one quarter against BCS competition no matter how they are gift wrapped is a good job by the defense. Now the question is which way the defense will go from here. Will we wear down and resemble last year’s unit or improve over the season. There is no way we will be a great unit statistically but we can be much better than last night. Unfortunately I think injuries could make the decision for us.

THE UGLY
Fortunately I can’t put Auburn here this week. I think WVU has this one all to themselves. I think they proved how you are always in the game against a spread team. I could see why Tub played so many games like he did watching them. More kudos to Malzahn for not letting us fall in that abyss yet.

As I said before WVU has some great playmakers but their coaching on the details of the game is awful. I mean their fifth year senior QB who looked so good at times played like an undisciplined high schooler just as much. I mean most of those interceptions were horrible horrible decisions. The fumble in the first quarter slowed their momentum and allows us to score a TD and get back into the game. Then four consecutive interceptions in the fourth quarter??? It does not get any uglier than that.

Week 3 Picks

Will this guy run through the Auburn defense again this year?

Well another week has flown by and we are already at week 3 of the season. All SEC teams are back in action this week. We still have several duds on the slate but also have quite a few good games and interesting matchups. I am 6-1 on the year on games against BCS opponents. Let's get to it...

West Virginia at Auburn (6:45 on ESPN2)
This game has actually become a little bit bigger than initially expected. This is mostly due to Auburn's early success and that West Virginia is not only a BCS out-of-conference opponent but also another step up on the difficulty scale. There is a lot of buzz in the air about this game and I would expect a sold out Jordan Hare Stadium on Saturday for the first time this season. Another ingredient that makes this game bigger is the fact that West Virginia just flat out embarrassed Auburn last year 34-17. Pat White and Noel Devine sliced the Auburn defense to shreds. It was as ugly a second half as I have seen by an Auburn defense. This was the point where people started talking about the team "quitting" last year. As an Auburn fan I sure hope the defensive coaches made the players watch that second half a few times. A lot of those Auburn defenders are still around including safety Zac Etheridge. It was the worst game I have seen Zac Etheridge play in an Auburn uniform. Noel Devine just made him look foolish.

Devine returns but QB Pat White is now playing on Sundays and has been replaced by senior Jarrett Brown. West Virginia has continued to move toward more of a passing offense under Bill Stewart. Brown has already passed for almost 600 yards and 4 TDs in two games. His favorite target is WR Jock Sanders and of course the running game is anchored by Devine. Both Sanders and Devine have almost 200 yards receiving and rushing in two games. The WVU offense seems to be humming on all cylinders. The defense though does not appear to be quite as good as in previous years but to be fair Auburn and West Virginia's defenses are rated nearly the same. However WVU has played the weakest opponent in Liberty.

Auburn's offensive success has been well documented. I think this is the week we will find out what kind of defense Auburn has. This is the week they should be the unit in the spotlight. The same could be said of WVU's defense. Also, the Auburn special teams have really taken a beating this week after a dismal effort against Miss St. I think Auburn needs to decide on one guy to punt return. I still like Mario Fannin in that spot even though he has done poorly so far. The guy is still one of the biggest playmakers on the team and if he could just get a little space I think he could impact the game as a punt returner. I would think with so much emphasis on special teams this week that they should look better.

Right now this game appears to be a shootout in the making but since nothing went as expected last week you never know. However I cannot see this game being a low scoring game. I see at least 50 points being put on the board between both teams. This is a tough call but Auburn is a hungry football team right now with a big home crowd and a defense that is fighting for respect so I will take...
AUBURN OVER WEST VIRGINIA

Georgia at Arkansas (6:45 on ESPN)
THE GAME OF THE WEEK
Many people just automatically make UT vs. Florida the "game of the week". It usually kicks off CBS' coverage of SEC football and used to always be one of the top games on the SEC schedule. However other than all the pregame hype about the coaches I just don't see a great football game. You have a #1 team in Florida playing a rebuilding UT team that lost to UCLA at home last week. I think the UGA at Arkansas is a much more interesting game and I think it is the "game of the week" this week. Auburn vs. West Virginia is close but a big SEC game is almost always more important than an out-of-conference matchup. So let's get to it...

This is a big game for both of these teams and especially for Arkansas. Bobby Petrino has his QB and has gotten a year at Arkansas rebuilding things out of the way. He is not expected to win the West but a winning season including some impact wins and a bowl are expected. That might be tougher assignment than it seems because as I previously wrote Arkansas might have the toughest schedule in the SEC. Starting this week they play Georgia, at Bama, at Texas A&M, Auburn, at Florida, and at Ole Miss with no breaks. That is a tough six week stretch. Therefore it is really important to get a win at home starting this stretch. Georgia is a tough but beatable team that has dominated Arkansas as of late winning it's last 5 games against them.

The game is big for Georgia too as they cleared a big hurdle winning against South Carolina last week. They win here and they are up 2-0 in conference. The Georgia offense was back with a vengeance last Saturday. They did it by spreading things around in the passing game. Five people had at least two catches. That really seemed to get everything going on offense. AJ Greene is still the main weapon but it appears others are now stepping up as well. Georgia's defense bent a lot last week but made some big plays as well. DC Willie Martiniez is still on the hot seat and really needs a big performance. I think he is going to have a tough time getting that this week against Petrino and Mallett.

The real wildcard is Arkansas' defense. Have they improved from last year? We just don't know and the answer to that question will probably determine the outcome of this game. Mark Richt is usually money on the road in the SEC but I think the law of averages and a hungry improved Arkansas team will spoil the Dawg's weekend...
ARKANSAS OVER GEORGIA

Tennessee at Florida (2:30 on CBS)
It is finally here, after all the talk and hype. I think everyone has heard about the various incidents involving UT coach Lane Kiffin and Florida. I think everyone knows the state of the two teams. As I said above Florida is #1 and UT is rebuilding. So what is there to watch for? I think Kiffin the elder will slow down the Florida attack some. I am not sure if he can stop the floodgates from opening at some point but I think they can slow down Florida some. I look for UT to try and take away the big play, the deep pass and make Florida be patient. Now sooner or later Florida will score and probably score a lot, they are that good. The UT defense will also need some help from their offense and QB Jonathan Crompton in not turning the ball over. However it sure looks like that there is no way UT can score enough points to win this one.

So after conceding this is an almost sure Florida victory you come to the next storyline. How bad will Urban Meyer run it up? He has been to me one of the biggest offenders in that area. Meyer, to me, has been much worse than Spurrier was in that category. Spurrier would keep the pedal down but usually got his second string in there sooner. Tebow's Heisman year was built on running up the score on outmatched teams. Florida lost just about all their big games that year. Last year I thought Tebow was much more deserving of the Heisman and he did not win it. Last year he stepped up in the big games. Meyer still tends to leave the guy in a little too long though IMO. So with that in mind I have been bringing up one scenario all week when asked about this game and it has been written up well right here.

I think that is right on. What comes around goes around and Meyer has been leaving Tebow in a little too long for a long time IMO. I think if does that in this game and it is that obvious then he could get his golden boy hurt. It will be really interesting to see how this one ends and how it is coached on both sides.
FLORIDA OVER TENNESSEE

And for the rest of the picks...
Vandy over Miss St
Kentucky over Louisville
Bama over North Texas
South Carolina over Florida Atlantic
LSU over Louisiana Lafayette
Ole Miss over Southeastern Louisiana

Week 2 Review

Ah, NOW college football has officially started as completely unexpected things are now happening (at least to me). I think I need to remove the pick post below because it is pretty much all wrong and I am left with egg on my face. Auburn and Miss St engaged in a high scoring high offensive game as did Georgia and South Carolina and UT died at home to UCLA.

Georgia and South Carolina was the biggest shocker. I mean WOW, where did all that offense come from? UT was less of a surprise as I have been telling my UT fans how bad Jonathan Crompton is all preseason. However as I stated in my picks I did not expect him to show his true colors so early. I severely underestimated UCLA or severely overestimated UT. One thing is definitely true though and that is Jonathan Crompton is just terrible. He is just not good enough to play at this level. It is going to be another long year for UT unless they can find some kind of help at QB.

Now back to the plains for “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” on yesterday’s win over Miss St...
THE GOOD
Well there is no doubt now that Gus Malzahn is for real. Yes, Auburn will hit some tough spots and will lose several games and yes Miss St is the worse team in the conference right now. However you cannot roll up over 1000 yards of offense in two games with over 600 of that on the ground with Chris Todd at QB unless you are a pretty darn good offensive coach. My hat is off to Gus Malzahn and the offensive staff.

As with every good offense, it starts UP FRONT. Lee Ziemba, Ryan Pugh, Lee Isom, Andy McCain and my main man Mike “Big Snacks” Berry are killing people. We can only pray for their safety as we all know we have nothing behind them. However for the moment they are healthy and productive and man it is a sight for these sore eyes. Great job guys, keep up the good work, you are driving this train.

Next we have some RBs good enough to do some damage behind this O-line. It is so nice to see Ben Tate finally get to run behind a good OL as he has never really had that opportunity. Ontario McCalebb has also again shown he is a legitimate playmaker and brings some much needed speed and quickness to the offense. Warning though, Miss St adjusted and started shutting down most of his plays. I think we can expect to see other defenses doing the same.

We actually had a WR with 100 yards receiving in Darvin Adams. I can tell you that over the past DECADE you can almost count the number of times that has happened with your two hands. That was VERY nice to see and also see Darvin Adams step up to right now be our main man at WR. I am assuming Miss St was intent on stopping Mario Fannin as he had only 1 catch for 3 yards. Adams also seemed to be wide open on a number of occasions making me think State was concentrating elsewhere.

At TE, Tommy Trott was hurt and that is a concern. True frosh Philip Lutz… I will just stop at Lutz (-: came in and had a TD catch but I am not sure we want a true frosh right there full-time if Trott is hurt. Open note to Gene Chizik… Hey coach I know you and Gabe McKenzie got off on the wrong foot but the guy is a senior and a good TE, please move him back and let him help out.
Let me not go to far without giving some props to the defense, they played a good game. It was good to have Zach Clayton and Eltoro Freeman on the field stirring things up. Now if we can just get Mike McNeil back as well. The D-line came to play again and we actually have LBs making plays (another rarity over the last few years). Former “invisible man” LB Craig Stevens made his presence felt several times during the night. However before I go to far let’s state for the record that State probably had the worst offense we are going to play all year outside Furman. A good defensive performance next week will be much more impressive.

Finally I would like to give kudos to “The Closer” Kodi Burns. This guy is coming in and getting us in the end zone. Of course again, the O-line is the foundation but Burns is doing a great job building on their effort. We are making it look easy but taking care of business in the red zone is really a big thing to not take for granted. The pass to PLutz was a thing of beauty and I am glad we showed that off to give teams in the future something to think about. Not to mention Kodi might get used a little bit more as the season goes on because of…

THE BAD
There is one name on offense I have not mentioned. Chris Todd. Yes the guy can throw a nice pass several times a game but people he can also throw some downright horrible ones and miss easy connections as well. We should have been up 21-0 last night if Todd could be consistent but he is just not. He finished a poor 10 for 23. It is completely unacceptable with that much help up front and from the running game. Yes he had 186 yards but a big chunk of that was Zachary bailing him out on another “punt pass” he put up for grabs. The guy cannot throw the deep ball and is not consistent. For the millionth time, I cannot believe Kodi or one of our other QBs under Malzahn’s tutelage could not do better. I will also say it again with emphasis; the better teams on our schedule are going to eat Todd alive.

THE UGLY
How can you say anything bad or ugly about Gus Malzahn after the last 2 games? Well if he continues to get our offense to produce anywhere close to this high level through out the season I can think of something really bad and this he will be gone at the end of the season. Just like Bobby Petrino and about every other good OC we have ever had, he will be gone. It is downright depressing. We will then be stuck with a defensive head coach who is completely reliant on having a good OC (boy that sounds familiar) and will once again maybe have a section of the fan base that would rather have the offensive guy as head coach…. (this is also a familiar theme).

THE REALLY UGLY
Unbelievable. The SAME guy who was giving Julio Jones and Mark Ingram a free fishing trip is also handing out free laptops to another star from that recruiting class, Jerrell Harris. All we heard was how this guy was lifelong friends with Jones and he had absolutely nothing to do with football and wasn’t even a fan of Bama. Now we find out this guy is also giving out freebies to monster recruit Jerrell Harris???

What is the guy’s alibi NOW? I think this proves this guy is a liar, he is a Bama fan and he is giving illegal gifts. This whole thing stinks to high heaven. Yet it appears this too will be swept under the rug as well. Again if this whole story was about Auburn doing all this when they were on top a few years ago? Oh my gosh I could not imagine the venom and gnashing of teeth that would be going on.

Week 2 Picks

Well here we are ready to go for week 2. However week 2 looks alot like week 1 with only 2 maybe 3 tough picks on the schedule. Initial impressions after week 1... It is going to be an interesting race in the East behind Florida. Everyone except Georgia (who played the toughest game) came out with a win and all except South Carolina won big. Who is going to come out of that group next to Florida? My pre-season thought was Georgia but watching them struggle so much on offense and seeing them lose LT Trinton Sturdivant again makes me wonder.

In the West, Bama and Ole Miss staked their claims as the two front runners in the division. LSU looked surprisingly shaky although they did get the win and were a long way from home. Arkansas' Ryan Mallet opened with a 300 yard passing game and both Auburn and Miss St got big opening wins for their new coaches.

So what is on the menu for this week? Last week, I went 3-0 on the games against BCS opponents correctly prediciting Bama's win and Georgia's loss.

Miss St at Auburn (6:00 on Fox Sports South)
This may be the most interesting Auburn/Miss St game ever. Yes that was not a misprint or an exaggeration. As a 40 year old Auburn fan I have watched my share of Auburn/Miss St games. These games personify the "old fashioned SEC slugfest" stereotype. Either that or other than the Jackie Sherill era a blowout win for Auburn. I can't remember an Auburn/Miss St game where both teams were trying to run exciting fast paced offenses. I can't remember it because I don't think it has ever happened. Now both teams run a version of the "spread" offense. I am actually really looking forward to an Auburn/Miss St uh shootout?

Both teams opened with big wins last week although Auburn opened with a tougher opponent in La Tech who I believe beat Miss St last year. Miss St beat FCS SWAC opponent Jackson St. Both teams started a bit slow but got in the groove in the second half and put the other team away. Both teams still appear to have pretty salty defenses so while I have talked about the offenses alot this game will probably end up being like most Auburn/Miss St games, a defensive struggle.

Who could forget last year's classic 3-2 Auburn win. I believe it was the ugliest game I have ever seen. Here is hoping for something better than that. The analysis on this game is pretty easy, I think Auburn simply has more offensive playmakers than State including SEC freshman of the week Ontario McCalebb who rushed for 148 yards against La Tech. That will be the difference...

AUBURN OVER MISS ST.

South Carolina at Georgia (6:00 on ESPN2)

THE GAME OF THE WEEK
Always considered the start of SEC league play. This game is usually always the first big SEC game of the year. It has also in the last few years also always been a defensive struggle devoid of much offense. I definitely see more of the same this year. There will not be alot of points scored in this one. Ellis Johnson has the South Carolina defense looking really good in his second year at DC. They just choked the life out of a decent NC State team last week. Meanwhile Georgia's defense did a pretty good job against one of the best offenses in the nation at Oklahoma St.

Unfortunately both offenses could only manage 1 TD a piece. I look for the OBC to take some chances in this game and try to manufacture some big plays. He has made comments about opening it up this week. However I have to agree with Mr Barhart here that he should probably reconsider. Meanwhile I look for Mark Richt to do what he has always done when his offense has struggled and he is playing a team that he probably has more talent than and that is RUN THE BALL. I look for Georgia to pound the SC defense and then play-action to AJ Greene.

They have to get somebody else to step up catching the ball though. Georgia went right down the field throwing to Greene and scored on their first possession against OSU. OSU then quickly worked to take away Greene and Georgia could not get anything else going. I look for SC to do the same thing. This really looks like it is going to be really tough low scoring game. However with Georgia at home and more talent on offense I have to go with...

GEORGIA OVER SOUTH CAROLINA

UCLA at Tennessee (3:00 on ESPN)
Lane Kiffin gets his first chance to shine on the national stage. This game last year really was the beginning of the end for Phil Fulmer. Tennessee started pretty strong but their offense collapsed in the second half and a bad UCLA team beat them. Both teams are supposed to be better this year and both have confident outspoken coaches trying to make a splash on the national scene.

UCLA opened with a decent win over San Diego St while UT crushed Western Kentucky. UCLA is starting freshman QB Kevin Prince and he did OK last week although he did toss 2 INTs. UCLA's RBs and WRs are also almost all freshmen and sophomores. This caused 3 fumbles last week. Their defense was OK but allowed SDSU's best WR 139 yards receiving. This is just not a tough pick. UCLA is bringing a very young and inexperienced team to Knoxville to face a VERY hungry Vols team that has alot more talent than they do. Also, as I said Lane Kiffin is trying to make a big splash nationally. I still think QB Jonathan Crompton will be a liability for UT in games against tougher competition but not this week. I look for the Vols to win BIG... TENNESSEE OVER UCLA

As for the rest...
LSU OVER VANDERBILT

BAMA OVER FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL

FLORIDA OVER TROY

ARKANSAS, KENTUCKY AND OLE MISS ARE OFF THIS WEEK

Week 1 Review

First, I am sorry for the lateness of this post. I was always upset in previous years when nobody posted on Sunday and again I am doing the same thing. So let's get to it...

One good part about waiting a little late is getting to surf around a bit and gauge the AU reaction to the game. The reaction to this game is well I am starting to wonder if we beat LSU instead of La Tech. Yes they had a winning season last year and won a bowl game (over a MAC team) but they are still just La Tech. I mean I am excited we played fairly well and the new offense showed some results but let's not completely lose it here.

I have decided to title my AU game reviews: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. I mean everyone and their brother does "game grades" and I have always found grading individual units in a team game like football rarely accurately reflects what happened. This also provides me a format to be positive first and then get an extra rant on something in at the end (-:

Alright AU vs. La Tech, THE GOOD...

The game stats.

In my previous predictions post I put the thing to watch for in our game was Malzahn and our offense. Well things started slow as I believe the coaches were trying to protect and build Todd's confidence. I thought we finally broke through with the big pass to get us a field goal before the half. That was nice. The long pass play was of course awesome. I was so happy for Terrell Zachary. The guy has waited a long time for that.

McCalebb put up the best freshman rushing performance in AU history so I would say that is good. Ben Tate also put up his usual solid performance. Mario Fannin also made some big plays as you would expect. Darvin Adams made some plays giving us actual production from both our starting WRs which is a nice change from the previous regime. The "Wildcat" package was largely ineffective but Kodi Burns did score a TD which was nice. Finally, all this was powered by the OL so props to them as well.

All in all, it was a pretty good night on offense. I have said again and again over the years that offensive coordinators doing good put up good stats. It is as simple as that. It is not the only way to determine a good offense but it is a large one. On Saturday night we put up 500 yards of offense and scored almost 40 points. Those are good stats and are indicative of a good performance.

There was not quite as much buzz about the defense as not much changed on that side of the ball formation and strategy-wise from the Tub years. However other than stupid penalties we played pretty good. It was also nice to hear of an actual effective halftime adjustment that really worked...

"I think it was a combination of things," said Bulldogs coach Derek Dooley. "Once we got behind them a little bit, it changes a little bit of your mentality, and then they switched to man-to-man in the second half. They were playing zone early on and we were able to pick at it early on. Once they covered us up, their guys were playing better than our guys and we just couldn't win."

DL Nick Fairley really had a good first game as did freshman safety Darren Bates. The rest of the guys including former "invisible man" Craig Stevens did as well. Bottom line we held them under 2 TDs and with less than 300 yards total offense.

THE BAD...

Alright folks, the sunshine and lollipop time is over with. How do you determine bad or be critical of a team? What is your point of reference? I don't know about other people but mine is comparing us to an SEC West champion. Mine is seeing if we are showing what it takes to compete with the best in this conference. If your point of reference is just knowing that we played pretty good and we have some good players then hey just stop here and stick with the sunshine and lollipops.

I still don't see a team that is going to beat the good teams in this conference. It starts with QB. Chris Todd did some nice things but he also did some nice things and had about the same stats against Southern Miss last year. The guy is still slow, he still cannot throw the deep ball and he is still indecisive at times. The rainbow "punt pass" he lobbed to Fannin almost got Fannin really hurt. I still think good SEC defenses are going to eat Todd alive.

A basic theme of the spread no matter what variation you are running is that you have to have a good QB. It emphasizes the QB. There is no hiding the QB some as you can do in a more traditional offense. I also think our current group of WRs will get pushed all over the field by a good SEC defense. I think McCalebb can be effective against better defenses but he will not get all those cheap yards outrunning the defense to the corner like he did Saturday.

Next, just like I knew, the myth that the spread will get "so many people involved" is still just that, a myth. Other than Zachary's big play we basically only had 2 guys catch balls. Yes we ran the ball much more but if you think it is just going to suddenly happen when you travel up to Knoxville in a big game I think you are wrong. Tommy Trott and Deangelo Benton got one pass each I believe thrown their way. Kodi Burns only got "Wildcat" carries except for the trick play to Trott that failed. There is still a chance for us to change this somewhat so we will see.

Defensively we did not seem to get a lot of pressure on the passer in the first half and they made some plays passing short. I am hoping we turn up the pressure against some of the tougher teams we play.

THE UGLY...

Commercial breaks on a game being broadcast on ESPNU. I mean COME ON. It is simply amazing that any QB and offense on any team can ever keep a rhythm in a televised football game.

THE FINAL WORD...

Andy Bitter actually beat me to it. This mirrors what I wanted to say exactly:

"So in summary, a good first game. Is it enough for me to change my 6-6 prediction? Not yet. I don't like being one of those people who see one game and convince myself that will be the way things happen for the rest of the season, and that would have been the case had Auburn lost as well. But I do have to say that after seeing what Malzahn did with this offense after one game (just to reiterate, 556 yards!), that things looked to operate much better than I thought they would. Now let's see how it works against a defense from the SEC. It should be interesting."

Week 1 Picks

Well FINALLY we are here. College football basically only runs September through November and then you are basically done except for the bowls. It is always a LONG offseason but this one for Auburn fans has seemed longer than most. It is finally over with and we are ready to kick things off for another season. Week ones are always filled with a lot of creampuff games and this is no exception but we do have several interesting matchups. Let's get to it...

BAMA VS. VIRGINIA TECH AT THE GEORGIA DOME (7pm ABC) - THE GAME OF THE WEEK
Definitely the game of the week this week. This whole Chick-Fil-A SEC vs. ACC kickoff game played at the Dome is brilliant. $aban and the boys were smart to jump on this thing and use it for all it is worth and now they are in it for the second year in a row. The competition gets a little stiffer though this year. Clemson came in all hyped up last year but was proven that night and over the season to be much less. This year Bama gets a Va Tech team that won the ACC and the Orange Bowl and are expected to win the ACC again this year.

Also unlike Clemson, Va Tech is an tough in-your-face type defensive team. In fact both teams seem to have the same defensive philosophy of a big aggressive blitzing pressure defense. It will be fun to watch two of the best on defense, $aban and Va Tech DC Bud Foster, take their shots at each other.

Over the summer I pretty much had Va Tech penciled in winning this game. They bring a lot of guys back from last year's ACC champion team including their QB and leading rusher. They always have a great defense. However they definitely took a big blow when TB Darren Evans who ran for 1200 yards and 11 TDs last season tore his ACL. Bama also suffered a blow this week when DE Brandon Deaderick was shot in the arm during a robbery attempt at his residence. However I think Bama has enough bodies to better replace Deaderick than Va Tech has talent to replace Evans.

Also, consider the fact Bama played in this game last year and ended the season on a two-game losing streak. Much has been made of Bama having to do some retooling on offense with a new QB and OL and I definitely think that will slow them down some. But you look at Va Tech's championship team last year and even with Taylor and Evans they were 103rd in the country in total offense and 128th in points scored. Va Tech won with defense pure and simple. Bama's offense might slip some from last year especially starting the year but they won't slip that far. I think Bama will have more playmakers on the field and that will give them the edge in this game.
$aban has done a great job over his college career of putting his QBs in good situations. I think McElroy will probably not be different from Rohan Davey, Matt Mauck, JaMarcus Russell and SJPW last year. It is also a nice luxury to have Julio Jones to loft the ball to in man-on-man coverage when Va Tech is sending the house after you. Even with a new QB I think Bama's passing game will be a bit better than Va Tech's.

Tyrod Taylor is a playmaker but he will probably not see a faster or stronger defense all season long. I think the trademark SEC speed on defense will limit his effectiveness scrambling. It will be as it always is in defensive struggles important for each team to get ahead. Both of these teams play for that and are awfully hard to beat when they get the lead. It should obviously be a defensive struggle but I think Bama has a few more weapons on offense and that is why I will go with... BAMA OVER VA TECH

GEORGIA AT OKLAHOMA ST (2:30pm ABC)
Most years this game would be the game of the week. You have the #9 team in the country vs. #13. Very interesting matchup between two very different teams. The Cowboys have their highest preseason ranking in their history. They have an unbelievable offense with QB Zac Robinson rolling up over 3000 yards passing, RB Kendall Hunter with 1500 yards rushing and WR Dez Bryant with almost 1500 yards receiving. A college version of "the triplets". These guys also accounted for 60 TOUCHDOWNS last year. I mean wow. They are definitely a big-time Big 12 offense. The problem would be defense. Their defense unlike their offense is down near triple digits in most of the team categories.

Meanwhile Georgia is replacing #1 NFL draft choice Matt Stafford with steady senior Joe Cox and TB Knowshon Moreno with a stable of RBs let by Richard Samuel. I think they will be OK at RB but the jury is still out on Cox. Most importantly for the Bulldogs though they return their entire offensive line including start Trinton Sturdivant who missed last year with a knee injury and whose injury doomed any championship chance Georgia had. People just don't seem to understand that just about every championship caliber team has an awesome LT and this guy is it for Georgia.

The wildcard will be Georgia's defense. They were not terrible last year but they were not as strong as in years past. This is a tough one. I do think Georgia is going to be stronger than expected this year and be a pretty good football team. However I think I am going to go with the high flying Cowboys at home... OKLAHOMA ST OVER GEORGIA

SOUTH CAROLINA AT NORTH CAROLINA ST. (THURSDAY 6:30pm ESPN)
The ol' Ball Coach heads further and further into the sunset of his career. It is looking more and more than he is not going to be able to break through in South Carolina and will probably not last much longer. I think the main problem for Spurrier is he simply cannot get championship caliber football players or enough of them to Columbia. He is definitely slipped some as a coach but recruiting has turned into the toughest part of college coaching.

Back to the game at hand... South Carolina opens the college football season again for like the 4th straight year on Thursday. They have been pretty successful. This South Carolina team looks like more of the same from the last few years. A pretty good team but not a serious challenger for the SEC East.

Meanwhile Tom O'Brien is in year 3 of his rebuilding job at NC State. He is a proven winner from his time at Boston College and it was in his third year at BC when he started a string of 8 straight bowls and 7 seasons of 8 wins or more. I look for more of the same at NC State.

I see more improvement from NC State and not much from SC but Carolina did crush NC State last year 34-0. With that in mind I think I will go with... SOUTH CAROLINA OVER NC STATE

Most of the other games are pretty clear cut although an upset or two is possible...

OLE MISS OVER MEMPHIS... Seemingly an easy game but this game is always a tough one for the mrs. They better be careful. What to watch for: The Ole Miss offensive line.

LSU OVER WASHINGTON... A BCS conference matchup but Washington was one of the worst teams in NCAA football last year. What to watch for: John Chavis' LSU defense.

AUBURN OVER LA TECH... The Gene Chizik era looks to open with a win although La Tech won the Independence Bowl last year and returns a lot of players so Auburn better be careful. What to watch for: The new Gus Malzahn spread offense.

Elsewhere...
TENNESSEE OVER WESTERN KENTUCKY

MISS ST OVER JACKSON ST

FLORIDA OVER CHARLESTON SOUTHERN

ARKANSAS OVER MISSOURI ST

VANDY OVER WESTERN CAROLINA

T-3 Days to Kickoff: Depth Chart Revisited

Well I have already gone over our offensive and defensive depth charts in previous posts but when I saw the way Goldberg organized the official depth chart pictured above I was shocked. This was a great way to organize the depth chart BTW and I will be sticking with it myself from now on with the complete first team in one column and the complete second team in another.

The first team looks pretty good with a few exceptions to me in Chris Todd, Andy McCain and true frosh Darren Bates. I would also like to see Billings and Hawthorne back at the top at WR but overall it looks pretty good. However the second team is pretty terrifying. There is basically not ONE player other than Zach Clayton that has ANY experience at the position he is backing up. Look closely. I mean WOW. I have seen alot of optimistic predictions out there but after looking at that depth chart I will stick with mine.

To just get a winning season Auburn will need a lot of injury luck, a lot of young players that step up and a lot of great coaching...

Finally, from surfing around I find that I am "fandumb". I definitely have #1 down that anyone can see from reading this blog (while I do "wear the ring" I do not and have not played football at Auburn (-: ). I also have #2 down pretty good but hopefully I have not yet descended to #3 although if I have to hear "Rammer Jammer" over and over in our house this year (yes I said "our") then I might... (-:

T-5 Days to Kickoff: Overall Predictions

Well it was a busy weekend SEC sports-writing wise but it was seemingly alot of sound and fury signifying nothing. Every newspaper did their big football preview sections. For Auburn it was a a lot more quotes about how everything is completely different than last year (except we are still running the majority of our plays from the shotgun and starting Chris Todd).

There were a few useful nuggets I saw in between all the previews and predictions. One, Mario Fannin will return punts. After 3 years of watching Robert Dunn return punts that is very good news. Dunn had a few bright spots but I think Fannin is a much more explosive player.

Brand new post from Bitter breaking down the freshman and their playing time predictions. Good stuff. We also learned yesterday that Chizik is supposed to actually release a depth chart this week (!!!). Actual real info released to the masses??? Of course that "official release" might also come over the loudspeaker about 30 minutes before the game.

Speaking of the actual game, this humble blogger will be there. I was there to see most of the Dye era and was there to see the openings of the Bowden era (vs. Ole Miss) and the Tuberville era (a near loss to App St). I guess now I can add to that list the opening of the... Chizik era. So I should have plenty to say on all of it on Sunday or Monday.

However it is now officially prediction time here at STR... No real surprises here. I see Florida coming out of the East. Even with a loss I don't see them in any trouble there. I see Georgia coming in second with a surprisingly solid season. They have senior Joe Cox stepping in and he will have AJ Greene to throw to. They have a solid stable of talented RBs to replace Moreno and I believe they have kept their OL healthy this year. The wildcard for Georgia will be their defense which was not very good last year. DC Willie Martinez is definitely on the hot seat this season. That will be what I am looking at for Georgia. I think it will be a tussle between UT and South Carolina for third place. I, like everyone else, am definitely looking forward to see how Lane Kiffin and UT do this year. If he is smart he will lean on his dad and what should be a very good defense. So Florida is in Atlanta for the East with probably 1 loss.

I think Bama will repeat in the West. I know, I know, they are rebuilding their offensive line and starting a new QB. That is all true but they should have a heck of a defense and a favorable schedule. I think that puts them well out in front. Big news yesterday, $aban actually released a depth chart. They are able to actually list a 3-deep depth chart at just about every position. Compared to say, Auburn, that is incredible. Also check out the WLB position as the first, second and third string positions are the 3 of the most widely recruited and hyped LBs in this part of the country. Of course as an Auburn fan I could point out that any of Bama's big LB recruits who are not starting and don't play much would be starting and playing a lot in Auburn (-:

Back to the West race and Bama's depth chart... Their defense is deep and strong with some good depth. Their offense has several good RBs and of course Julio Jones. They also appear to have a number of pretty talented guys at WR to help Jones out as well. I think McElroy will also be solid at QB. Finally, the schedule. I think the Va Tech game could go either way but it doesn't really matter win or lose in the SEC. In the SEC Bama does not play either Florida or Georgia and their SEC road games are Kentucky, Ole Miss, Miss St and Auburn. It is going to be hard for them to screw that up.

Meanwhile, everyone's other favorite LSU has to play FLORIDA AND GEORGIA BACK-TO-BACK. They also have to play Bama at Tuscaloosa. I just don't see LSU overcoming that handicap. I do think they will have a strong team. I think bringing in John Chavis at DC from Tennessee was a brilliant move. The guy is one of the best around and LSU's defense was horrible last year. I look for big improvement there as they have plenty of talent for him to work with.

I think Charles Scott is maybe the best RB in the SEC. The guy is a monster. The only problem I saw with him last year was they didn't use him enough. Against Auburn, LSU would line up in the I-formation on first down and hand off to Scott. The guy would then mow through the defense for 6 to 8 yards. LSU would then immediately go to the shotgun the next two downs (???). I just did not understand it. Finally, I hear a lot of people saying that they cured their QB problem with Jordan Jefferson. I am not buying it yet. The guy had some highlights at the end of last year but the jury is still out on him IMO.

Next up is the mrs... Ole Miss. They have their most highly anticipated team maybe ever. They really finished last season on a roll and bring back a lot of talent. The schedule looks pretty favorable as they get their top 2 competitors, Bama and LSU, at home. They also, like Bama, avoid Florida and Georgia, the top 2 teams in the East IMO. This is definitely about as good a shot as they are going to get to win the West (they are the only team in the West not to make it to a SECCG). They have a good QB, several good RBs and a lot of playmakers on defense. Unfortunately for them I think Bama's defense is better and that will be the difference. I think Ole Miss will probably be the runner-up in the West for the second straight year with LSU right there as well.

Watch out for... Arkansas. Bobby Petrino is a heck of a coach. He finally gets his highly touted QB Ryan Mallett who transferred from Michigan last year on the field. If this guy is anywhere near as talented as he is hyped to be look for Arkansas to make some noise. Bobby Petrino has a long history of doing a great job developing QBs. He also has a proven 1000-yard rusher in Michael Smith and some new guys coming in at RB and WR that are supposed to be pretty good. If the offense improves as it is expected to and the defense can improve just a little I think Arkansas will be a much better football team. Unfortunately Arkansas might have the toughest schedule in the SEC and that might annihilate any chance of this team showing improvement record-wise. My gosh look at this schedule... after opening with Missouri St and then having a bye week, Arkansas plays Georgia, at Bama, at Texas A&M, Auburn, at Florida, and at Ole Miss with no breaks. WOW. For a rebuilding team that is a tough road to hoe.

Next we come to Auburn and Miss St who are both breaking in new coaches. Unfortunately both teams most important season will be the recruiting season. New State coach Dan Mullen is putting in his spread offense at State and after 5 years of Sylvester Croom's bad offensive recruiting he is really going to have to work to get some playmakers to Starkville. I don't see good things for State this year after watching Auburn try to go to the spread and looking at their schedule. States’ non-conference schedule looks like it could be a real pain. It doesn't appear that way on the surface but when you look closer it is. They get one creampuff in Jackson St but then have to play Georgia Tech, Houston and at MTSU. That is a lot tougher than it looks. To win some games State and everyone else should follow Bama's example. Schedule one tough game (Va Tech) and then 3 complete creampuffs (FIU, North Texas and UT-Chat). My gosh that is three light scrimmages.

Finally we get to the Auburn Tigers. For just about every team the preseason is the time of relentless optimism and that is definitely true at Auburn. However like former Auburn coach Pat Dye once said "there are no miracles on the football field" and there won't be for Auburn this year. For the first time in a decade Auburn is not a serious contender for the SEC West title. Auburn has some very good football players but not enough of them. They also have a very unproven head coach and a new staff that has not been through a tumultuous football season together. Baton down the hatches boys because it is coming. However it should not be here till October. The schedule is kind to Auburn early on and I think they have a very good chance to start 4-0 with West Virginia at home as their toughest game. Once we hit October it gets tough pretty quick with back-to-back road trips to UT and Arkansas. Auburn then gets a breather with UK at home and then takes on LSU at Baton Rouge and Ole Miss at home back-to-back. They then get another breather at Furman before going to Georgia and then a bye week before welcoming Bama to the plains.

I had kind of thought Auburn had a pretty tough row to hoe this year and they do having to go on the road at UT, Arkansas, LSU and Georgia. However while they have some tough back-to-back games they don't have a murderer's row like Arkansas. They have seem to have well placed breathers throughout the schedule. I am not sure how much it will help but it could especially for a team as thin as Auburn. Unfortunately I am pretty much going to go with what I have been saying throughout the summer. My preseason prediction for Auburn is 6-6, 2-6 in the SEC. I think we beat La Tech, Miss St, West Virginia, Ball St, Kentucky and Furman. I just don't see many wins elsewhere. UT and Arkansas could be definite possibilities but they are both away and for the UT game I just don't see us beating one of the best defensive coordinators in NFL history on the road with Chris Todd. I just don't see it. As for Arkansas Petrino beat us at home last year with absolutely nothing. Again I think we have a shot in that one but initially I have to pick Arkansas.

I see no chance at LSU and little at home against Ole Miss. Houston Nutt has proven time and again he knows how to beat Auburn and with us being so thin at LB, look for him to just pound us. It was Nutt who welcomed Chizik to the SEC back in 2002 (Chizik's first year as DC under Tub) by putting up 400 YARDS RUSHING on us at home against a thin Auburn defense. Finally, I see us putting up a good fight but being outmanned by both Georgia and Bama. I hope I am wrong but that is how I see it.

If things fell right we might could grab one or two of those and put up an outstanding season everything considered but with a few injuries it could get really bad as well. Meanwhile as this season plays out these coaches better be working feverishly behind-the-scenes recruiting. I will be back with picks for this weekend later...