Three SEC teams in ESPN’s Top 10 running games

ESPN has picked three SEC teams in their Top 10 running games in the country for 2012. Alabama (#2), LSU (#5) and South Carolina (#9) were the teams – which is hardly surprising that Alabama boast Eddie Lacy, LSU has Spencer Ware and Michael Ford, and South Carolina has perhaps the best of the lot – if he remains healthy – in Marcus Lattimore. The biggest factor, according to the website, is the fact that Alabama and LSU both return four starting offensive linesmen, while South Carolina brings back just two. The order is: 1) Southern California 2) Alabama 3) Oregon 4) Texas 5) LSU  6) Wisconsin 7) Georgia Tech 8) Stanford 9) South Carolina 10) Nebraska

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SEC Preseason Preview: Can Texas A&M succeed out west?

On July 1st, Texas A&M was officially recognised as a SEC school. To go with the big-time money that the Aggies will receive from being a SEC school – along with the celebration-by-association of six straight National Championships- Texas A&M fans now believe that they can attract top talent from Texas to College Station. But can they be a force in the SEC West, the SEC, and on the National Grid? What happened in 2011? Despite having 18 returning starters and an expectation that they would challenge Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas for a Big XII Championship, Texas A&M entered the land of Chokeaholics Anonymous. The Aggies led 11 games by double digits – YES, ELEVEN – but they were

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Penn State: Richt looking at Penn State LB

Mark Richt has admitted that Georgia is already looking at Penn State players after NCAA sanctions on the Nittany Lions meant the school will effectively have nothing to play for over the next four years, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has reported. Richt told press at a UGA Day:  “Some colleges are going to be interested in some of their players, and we’re one of those schools. It’s pretty well-documented that we’re under our 85[-scholarship] limit. We’ll try to get in touch with some of these young men and see if they’re interested.” He added: “We do have some space available and if somebody fits a need and they’re excited about coming we would look into that possibility,” he said. “There may

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Quick reflection on SEC Media Days: Why didn’t people mention soft scheduling?

This is going to sound really nasty bearing in mind that this is a blog on the SEC and the fact that we are read by SEC fans, but we’ve been looking for the ‘juiciest’ (trust me, there aren’t very many) quotes from the SEC Media Days, and we struggled to get anything that kept us particularly awake. However, like the ghost that haunts us and never seems to give up, we couldn’t help but think: Why on earth did NO-ONE ask either Commissioner Slive or any of the SEC head coaches about Non-Conference scheduling? Here is why: When the 2014 play-offs come along and the Committee -whoever they might be – are deciding ‘strength of schedule’, they hopefully will

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Alabama receiver to transfer

Sometimes, just because you’re the son of one of the NFL’s biggest-ever receivers doesn’t mean that you’re going to be an automatic shoo-in in the arena of College Football….particularly at the University of Alabama. Duron Carter, son of NFL great Chris Carter, is leaving Tuscaloosa, ESPN has reported. Alabama became Carter’s school after he transferred from Ohio State, but he had academic problems, and he also landed in Nick Saban’s doghouse. He was suspended in March along with two players. At the time Saban said: “It’s not up to me. It’s up to them, so i don’t really need to spend time speculating on what they’re going to do. I got two adolescents at home and I can’t predict what they’re

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SEC Media Days: Mark Richt’s best quotes

Mark Richt met with journalists at the SEC Media Days in Hoover, Al. ESPN reported that he said: “No decision to dismiss a guy from the team is an easy decision. It’s always tough because I care very much about all these guys and having to make those kinds of decisions are tough. But in the end, I think we did what’s in the best interest of the program and I really do wish Isaiah the very best in his future. Hopefully things work out for him.” Otherwise, here are some of his other quotes, provided by the SEC. Defending a poor non-conference schedule: “A few years back when the extra game was added, we had the philosophy of adding another

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SEC Media Days: Nick Saban’s best quotes

Nick Saban took the stage at the SEC Media Days in Hoover, Alabama, and his address and answering to subsequent questioning answered everything from the prospect of next season (“challenging”) to the Penn State fiasco (“criminal”). Here are some of his best quotes: On the new team for 2012: “It’s really, really difficult in college football to carry momentum from one season to the next. You lose 25% of your team. That’s an understatement for us. We lost 13 starters from our team last year. And the new 25% that you bring to your team, really they don’t have knowledge and experience, they haven’t played. They’re young players. Maybe very talented players, but they’re very young players.” The new kick-off

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SEC Media Days: Les Miles’ best quotes

LSU coach Les Miles was his usual quotable self at his SEC Media Conference his Hoover, Alabama. Here are a list of some of the more juicy things he said in what was an unusually straight press conference. About the Alabama National Championship Game Loss: “‘I’ve seen [the game] a couple times. There weren’t that many plays for us on offense for me to spend that much time [on]. On his EA commercial: “I really thought that Mike the Tiger stole the show. We didn’t get along on the set. He was kind of working the camera. It was really a difficult time”. On Tyrann Mathieu and (yet another) Twitter outburst on July 13th: “I didn’t get the Twitter rant exactly.

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SEC Media Days: Chizik gives play-off thumbs up

Auburn Coach Gene Chizik gave the four-team college football play-off his approval at his SEC Media Day Conference in Hoover, Alabama on Wednesday. When asked about a play-off by journalists, he said: “With a four‑team playoff, I’m going to be honest with you, that depends on what glasses you’re wearing. Let me give you an example. In 2010, if we had the four‑team playoff in place, I was at Auburn, just went through this league undefeated, won the SEC championship game, am I in favor of playing another one to prove that I deserve getting into the national championship game? No, I don’t. But if you go back up to 2004 when we were undefeated and we didn’t get in

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SEC Media Days: MSU’s Mullen keen to preserve college football’s tradition

Dan Mullen, Mississippi State’s head coach, has said that keeping college football’s tradition is incredibly important in the face of the new play-off system coming in 2014. He said: “The one thing I don’t want to see us lose is the tradition that is college football.  The great thing about the bowl system, we like talking different ways.  We want to talk education.  These guys are student-athletes.  This is not a professional sport.  They’re there to get an education.  But on the top end, there can only be one champion, we have to have this big extended playoff.  Where at the bowl system, we had a bunch of seniors leave winning a championship in their last football game last year.  What a great educational tool that is for

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