Tag: Saban

The forgotten men of great SEC teams

For good or for bad, SEC people can bend your ear until they’ve practically ripped it off about the Cam Newtons, Tim Tebows, Reggie Whites, Trent Richardsons and Tuas of memory. Of course Georgia fans will regale you with stories about Herschel, ‘Florida men’ will even talk about Spurrier’s frighteningly good offenses, and someone from Arkansas might chime about Darren McFadden. But there are the forgotten men. It goes without saying that most offensive and defensive linesmen are these ‘forgotten men’, but every team who’s won a National Championship tend to have a good offensive line. It helps with putting up the points. So please don’t get annoyed if we ignore them. We’re not going to just doing National Championships

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Week 7 Rankings: Has Georgia blown its Play-Off chance?

Today was a fun yet weird week for the SEC. The weird stuff happened at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia, where the  No.3 Dawgs lost in double-overtime to a South Carolina side that was a 23-point underdog, but had also lost to Alabama, Missouri and, er, North Carolina. In Baton Rouge, LSU beat Florida 42-28 in an awesome game in the Bayou, with the Bayou Bengals surviving mostly by superior firepower on a night that featured parachutists coming down from heaven, a raucous crowd, College Gameday, and a lack of Gary Danielson. And on the other end of the spectrum, an awful UNLV team ran away from a terrible Vanderbilt side, Tennessee got its first SEC win of the season

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Week 7 Preview: Who’s going to win the LSU-Florida clash?

It’s Week 7 in the SEC, and things are suddenly getting interesting. On Saturday night we’ve got the battle of the unbeatens as Florida travels to LSU. College Gameday will be there. It’s a night game in Death Valley, and thank God, Gary Danielson will not be there. Earlier, Alabama will go to Kyle Field to play Texas A&M on the CBS 3.30 game, and Georgia hosts South Carolina to start the day. Otherwise, it’s Mississippi State going to Tennessee (12pm), the battle of the NCAA-sanctioned as Ole Miss travels to Missouri, and a game that no-one should subject anyone to watch as Arkansas travels to Kentucky. Oh, and UNLV travels to Vanderbilt.   To say the least, it’s cardiac

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The SEC is a megachurch, a denomination, and a religion

It’s nighttime in Death Valley. The War Eagle Flies. We’re running through the T. We’re chomping. We’re asking how ‘bout them Dawgs. We’re clanging, pig sooein’, rammer jammerin’, Ole miss by damn’. We’re a 12th Man, the ZOU in MIZ, a Commodore, and a Wildcat. There’s even 2001 or maybe a Sandstorm. Our churches aren’t small. They are megachurches, holding a screaming congregation that will bury you with noise. They’ve even been allowed some in-game communion wine to add to their palates during services now. It should make Saturday church a little louder. When they win with a God-given upset, they jump over railings, get stuck in hedges, surf goalposts through crowded streets and toilet paper trees. When they lose,

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The most Twitter-melting SEC moments before Twitter

I read a riveting tweet to Sports Illustrated’s Andy Staples which read: “What would be the most Twitter-melting CFB moments before Twitter was around?’ In other words, moments in college football history prior to March 2007, when Twitter exploded on the scene at South by Southwest (March 2007) I added a few things, which included the B.S. call against Miami in the National Championship Game of 2003 (NCBS), any of the FSU-Miami ‘Wide Rights’ (#WDR) and ‘Wide Lefts’ (#WDL), the Convicts vs Catholics (#ConvictCath), and – of course – Vince Young (#VY) running the ball in against USC in the 2006 National Championship Game (#VYvsUSC). I also wanted ALL of Barry Sanders’ highlights from the 1988 season (#Barry) because he

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10 SEC players we can’t wait to see in the NFL

The SEC has been a goldmine for the NFL. Players from all over the South (and Missouri) descend to the Professional-land, and every year, the leagues are stacked. Some are megastars (Odell Beckham Jr, Mark Ingram), some are bit players, but all of them played for the most passionate conference in college football. To off-quote New York: If you can make there, you can make it anywhere. Anyway, the SEC Football Blog has identified 10 players that we can’t wait to tear up the professional leagues – mainly because they are so damned exciting. Oh, and Alabama and Georgia fans: We weren’t going to put all of your players onto this list, so apologies if some of your competitors make

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Suddenly Alabama has two big, big staff openings…

Every year, it seems that Alabama’s looking for a big-time co-ordinator to go and work under Nick Saban. But this year, it’s both of them. After DC Jeremy Pruitt took the Tennessee job in November (but stayed all the way through the National Championship win), the Buffalo Bills announced Sunday that Crimson Tide OC Brian Daboll had been appointed to the same job in New York state. While finding a good OC and DC shouldn’t be a problem for Saban – he’s managed to find competent people at both positions throughout his time in Tuscaloosa, it’s probably not good for recruiting – something that Nick Saban seems to crave more than winning Championships. Some of the things that Saban can

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Will Alabama or Georgia win the National Championship?

Suck it, Ohio State. Suck it, Clemson. Suck it, Oklahoma. The SEC’s got two teams playing in the National Championship game. That’s right – in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium fans all over America will tune into Monday to a game they most feared: An all-SEC Natty featuring Alabama and – to less an extent – Georgia. Listen to the pundits, and they are hoping and praying that it won’t be boring. They hope it won’t be a 9-6 slugfest. They pray that Brian Daboll or Jim Chaney will come up with some offensive invention to stop that happening. They are hoping for end-zone celebrations and while craziness. They had a lot of that in two previous National Championships – and are

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Bret Bielema is out at Arkansas

Bret Bielema is out at Arkansas after five years at the helm. ‘Bert’, as he’s ‘affectionately’ known by social media, was fired after the Razorbacks were beaten 48-45 in a thriller at home to Missouri, leaving the school with a 4-8 record. This is the second coach that has been fired this season after a loss to the Tigers – the first was Tennessee’s Butch Jones. Bielema was fired almost immediately after the game. There were rumors that he had been fired as he walked off the field, but Arkansas pointed out that they hadn’t been that cruel – it was ‘actually in the coach’s office by the visitor’s locker room’, ESPN stated. Bielema was quick to protect himself, telling the

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Previewing The Iron Bowl and every other #RivalryWeek game in the SEC

Because it gives me a chance to ignore the extended family and watch football for three days, I love Rivalry Weekend. It starts with the Egg Bowl on Thanksgiving night, and then moves through like a hurricane until the regular season (sniff! Sniff!) winds up at the end of Saturday. This rivalry week for the SEC looks pretty damned special. There’s an Iron Bowl at Auburn, with Alabama visiting. We’ll hear the words ‘Kick Six’ mentioned a lot, and Harvey Updyke’s name may crop up ever so often. The story that’ll probably get missed this week is about Rodney Alexander, an Alabama fan who shot an Auburn fan this week over an Iron Bowl disagreement. That almost puts Updyke and

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