The SEC: Not as good, but still really good
Did you know the SEC isn't any good anymore? That, of course, is bunk, but the idea that the SEC is no longer the dominant conference in college football is actively being peddled around the interwebs. SI put out a story today blaming the "downfall" of the conference on poor quarterback play. I guess Kyle Allen, Dak Prescott, Chad Kelly and Greyson Lambert, to name a few, all stink.
Whatever.
But there is a somewhat painful truth here: it's not the best of years for the SEC. The depth of tremendous teams that we've grown used to doesn't look like it's there in 2015, even though there are still some truly outstanding ones. The most glaring example, of course, is Auburn. For the SEC to maintain its claim as the unquestioned top dog, Auburn needed to be as good as advertised. They aren't even close. They'd probably lose to their preseason press clippings by two touchdowns. Arkansas appears to be a bust. Tennessee's the same. Mizzou is down this year. South Carolina has disintegrated.
Heck, even Alabama finds their season on the possible precipice this weekend if they lose to UGA. Two losses in conference for both Alabama teams by the end of the first week of October? Nobody would have expected that.
But, for all the haters, go take a look at the polls. Ole Miss is a top 3 team. LSU is in the top 10. A&M is on the verge and could jump in with a win Saturday. Alabama's still up there. Georgia's there. Mississippi State is ranked, and so's Florida. Some of those teams may be knocked off this weekend due to in-conference games, but that's more evidence of how good the conference is. Nobody else is knocking them off. The Aggies took on an alleged Top 25 team and ran them; Alabama did the same. Heck, so did Auburn! The naysayers can point to Arkansas, Vandy and bottom rung programs for their examples. Ok, fine.
Here's the deal: nobody's perfect this year. Everyone has a weakness. We've discussed that a lot. But the fact of the matter is that, even if you don't have Auburn and Tennessee pulling their weight, find me another conference that has six teams in the top 25 in a down year. There isn't one. The SEC has three games this weekend where both teams are ranked: A&M-Mississippi State, Ole Miss- Florida and Alabama-Georgia. The rest of the nation has ONE.
Oh, and check back in 2016 when some of these younger teams get more experienced, naysayers. It may sting a little.
Why the fuss about the Arizona kids?
Since we came back from Baltimore, I've been talking a lot about how I'd like to see Byron Murphy and N'Keal Harry end up at A&M. But I don't think I've ever really gone into why. Having gotten the chance to see them in person, it was great to see exactly why they're a high 4-star and a 5-star.
Murphy is a kind of slight, as evidenced by being listed at 167 lbs. in spite of that, he's a very aggressive corner and isn't afraid to pop somebody, even if he's not wearing pads. He's extremely aggressive, which John Chavis has to love. Another thing that gets your attention is his footwork: it's outstanding, really to the point of remarkable. I've never seen a high school corner who has footwork like his. He's very fluid and can change direction rapidly. During 7-on-7, he was on the same team as Jack Jones, the #3 athlete in the nation (who will be in town this weekend, by the way). They stopped throwing at Murphy and started going after Jones. He got one ball thrown his way and it was a pick six. He reads plays and breaks on the ball as well as anyone you'll see. With A&M's lack of depth at corner, he's a must-have.
Harry is 6'3", 211. Right there, you know teams are going to be interested in him if he can catch a cold. He can, and then some. He's a very long strider, doesn't mind contact and can really jump to go after the ball. He's not the fastest guy you'll see, but he's still plenty fast -- if you had to grade such things, he's probably in the 90th percentile. I don't think he's maxed out his potential, either, because he can still get better as a route runner and had a few drops he probably shouldn't have. Still, he's very fun to watch and very explosive. He may be the closest thing to Mike Evans (even if he's a couple inches shorter) that A&M has had since he left. He's willing to use his lower body strength to knock defenders off him if he needs to. If I can have one offensive player out of the 2016 class that's uncommitted, he's the guy.
My picks for the weekend (Your cue to take the other guys)
Mizzou over South Carolina (this game will suck)
Georgia over Alabama
Ole Miss over Florida
Arkansas over Tennessee
A&M over Mississippi State
Auburn over San Jose State (embarrassingly close)
LSU over Eastern Michigan
Vandy over Middle Tennessee
Kentucky over Eastern Kentucky
Out of conference:
TCU over Texas
Tech over Baylor (!)
Clemson over Notre Dame
And, the big daddy of them all...
UCF (0-4) over Tulane (1-2)
Did you know the SEC isn't any good anymore? That, of course, is bunk, but the idea that the SEC is no longer the dominant conference in college football is actively being peddled around the interwebs. SI put out a story today blaming the "downfall" of the conference on poor quarterback play. I guess Kyle Allen, Dak Prescott, Chad Kelly and Greyson Lambert, to name a few, all stink.
Whatever.
But there is a somewhat painful truth here: it's not the best of years for the SEC. The depth of tremendous teams that we've grown used to doesn't look like it's there in 2015, even though there are still some truly outstanding ones. The most glaring example, of course, is Auburn. For the SEC to maintain its claim as the unquestioned top dog, Auburn needed to be as good as advertised. They aren't even close. They'd probably lose to their preseason press clippings by two touchdowns. Arkansas appears to be a bust. Tennessee's the same. Mizzou is down this year. South Carolina has disintegrated.
Heck, even Alabama finds their season on the possible precipice this weekend if they lose to UGA. Two losses in conference for both Alabama teams by the end of the first week of October? Nobody would have expected that.
But, for all the haters, go take a look at the polls. Ole Miss is a top 3 team. LSU is in the top 10. A&M is on the verge and could jump in with a win Saturday. Alabama's still up there. Georgia's there. Mississippi State is ranked, and so's Florida. Some of those teams may be knocked off this weekend due to in-conference games, but that's more evidence of how good the conference is. Nobody else is knocking them off. The Aggies took on an alleged Top 25 team and ran them; Alabama did the same. Heck, so did Auburn! The naysayers can point to Arkansas, Vandy and bottom rung programs for their examples. Ok, fine.
Here's the deal: nobody's perfect this year. Everyone has a weakness. We've discussed that a lot. But the fact of the matter is that, even if you don't have Auburn and Tennessee pulling their weight, find me another conference that has six teams in the top 25 in a down year. There isn't one. The SEC has three games this weekend where both teams are ranked: A&M-Mississippi State, Ole Miss- Florida and Alabama-Georgia. The rest of the nation has ONE.
Oh, and check back in 2016 when some of these younger teams get more experienced, naysayers. It may sting a little.
Why the fuss about the Arizona kids?
Since we came back from Baltimore, I've been talking a lot about how I'd like to see Byron Murphy and N'Keal Harry end up at A&M. But I don't think I've ever really gone into why. Having gotten the chance to see them in person, it was great to see exactly why they're a high 4-star and a 5-star.
Murphy is a kind of slight, as evidenced by being listed at 167 lbs. in spite of that, he's a very aggressive corner and isn't afraid to pop somebody, even if he's not wearing pads. He's extremely aggressive, which John Chavis has to love. Another thing that gets your attention is his footwork: it's outstanding, really to the point of remarkable. I've never seen a high school corner who has footwork like his. He's very fluid and can change direction rapidly. During 7-on-7, he was on the same team as Jack Jones, the #3 athlete in the nation (who will be in town this weekend, by the way). They stopped throwing at Murphy and started going after Jones. He got one ball thrown his way and it was a pick six. He reads plays and breaks on the ball as well as anyone you'll see. With A&M's lack of depth at corner, he's a must-have.
Harry is 6'3", 211. Right there, you know teams are going to be interested in him if he can catch a cold. He can, and then some. He's a very long strider, doesn't mind contact and can really jump to go after the ball. He's not the fastest guy you'll see, but he's still plenty fast -- if you had to grade such things, he's probably in the 90th percentile. I don't think he's maxed out his potential, either, because he can still get better as a route runner and had a few drops he probably shouldn't have. Still, he's very fun to watch and very explosive. He may be the closest thing to Mike Evans (even if he's a couple inches shorter) that A&M has had since he left. He's willing to use his lower body strength to knock defenders off him if he needs to. If I can have one offensive player out of the 2016 class that's uncommitted, he's the guy.
My picks for the weekend (Your cue to take the other guys)
Mizzou over South Carolina (this game will suck)
Georgia over Alabama
Ole Miss over Florida
Arkansas over Tennessee
A&M over Mississippi State
Auburn over San Jose State (embarrassingly close)
LSU over Eastern Michigan
Vandy over Middle Tennessee
Kentucky over Eastern Kentucky
Out of conference:
TCU over Texas
Tech over Baylor (!)
Clemson over Notre Dame
And, the big daddy of them all...
UCF (0-4) over Tulane (1-2)
