SEC Media Days: The important parts

We missed the fact that SEC Media Days weren’t in Birmingham, Alabama this year. As much as people love Atlanta (apart from the terrible traffic, an even worse airport and a city climate during summer that you wouldn’t wish on Gary Danielson), it just doesn’t feel like SEC territory. SEC teams – apart from Vanderbilt in Nashville – are in small college towns all over the Southeast. The big cities don’t seem to suit them – unless they are getting paid millions to play season openers, hosting a Championship Game, or winning National Championships. Of course, the SEC regulars were there. Bespeckled SEC homer Paul Finebaum, fresh from a re-up in his contract after his agent started rumors that he was

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Missouri’s the worst team in the SEC: Week 8 rankings

OK, so I’m still trying to work out who the worst team in the conference (Missouri, South Carolina or Vanderbilt). I know one thing for certain: Missouri’s got the worst offense (and one of the best defenses). South Carolina got a win after Spurrier left, but they are still awful. And Vanderbilt is still….Vanderbilt. And that’s despite beating Missouri. Jeez, it’s difficult. Anyway, I took some smelling salts (sold to me by Maty Mauk) and came up with the answers…. After a lay-off of rankings last week, here’s our rankings after Week 8: Alabama (1): Derrick Henry will be a Heisman candidate. If it wasn’t for him – and some horrific Tennessee field goal kicking – this game against Tennessee

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Can Tennessee end the Florida Drought? Week 4 Predictions

WE’RE IN WEEK 4? ALREADY?! In eight more weeks and a lot of bluster’s time, this regular season will be over. God, I’m depressed already. Anyway, let’s change that with memories of an awesome Week 3. We saw some amazing sights. This included Leonard Fournette throwing off Auburn defenders with the ease of an elephant discarding a human (And by the Heisman hype he’s getting now, he might well be a god amongst men). We also balls bounce off Alabama special teams players, defenders, and wide receivers, and the bad bounces outnumbered the good ones. The Crimson Tide was upset in Tuscaloosa by Ole Miss in a game for the ages. And Arkansas? They lost at home to Texas Tech,

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Mark Richt: I have no idea who the QB starter will be

Mark Richt, the Georgia coach, spoke at SEC Media Days. While we’d love to try and translate something deep and meaningful into what he said, we’re just going to take his quotes out and let you decipher them. But Richt’s a pretty blunt person….so… ON CRITICISM AND LEARNING FROM BOBBY BOWDEN AT FLORIDA STATE (SARCASTICALLY) “I didn’t know I got criticism” “I think the big thing — I know when I first started coaching 32 years ago, whenever it was, with Coach Bowden and being in what we call hideaway and him talking about notes. A few things he talked about in the very beginning of those sessions, and one was criticism. He said, it’s just the nature of the

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SEC Media Days Must-Read: The best of Les Miles

Les Miles was awesome when he took the podium at SEC Media Days. Here are some of the best bits. ON …..?  “It appears to me that some of the media have not shaved and have left their car running in the back parking lot, kind of ready to get off to fishing or wherever they’re supposed to be off to. Scooter has way too much sun to be inside. I can tell you that, I did not bring tennis shoes. That is a product of a sports information director who knows that I have an attachment to those shoes. I’m wearing regular shoes and regular socks.” ON QUARTERBACKS “I think Brandon Harris has gotten most of the summer work.

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Bret Bielema: Scars are a beautiful thing

Here’s the best bits from Bret Bielema’s press conference at SEC Media Days. ON CLOSE LOSSES “We played Alabama and Mississippi State, both heart breakers at the end. Mississippi State was obviously ranked number one at the time, and we let it get away from us. All the credit in the world to Dan, his staff, and his players to make that happen. I am a big believer in life in this fact. Scars are a very beautiful thing. I have scars on my knee from an ACL surgery. I have scar on my ankle from ankle surgery. I have a scar on my left hand from hand surgery. My mom has scars from 24 years of breast cancer survival. My

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Saban blames NFL for Sugar Bowl defeat

Nick Saban, the Alabama head coach, isn’t blaming players for their lack of preparedness going into the 2014 College Football Play-Off semi-final loss to Ohio State. He’s not blaming himself. Or his coaching staff. Nope. He’s blaming the NFL. “I just felt like, in our experience last year, our team chemistry from the SEC Championship game to the playoff game was affected by something,” he said. “I think that to have a December 15th deadline from when a junior can submit for a draft grade and then you get that assessment back sometime right before or right after Christmas, and then you have a playoff game coming up on January 1st or 2nd, and I think it’s my obligation as

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Butch Jones: No backflips over Tennessee’s recruiting success

There were no backflips after Tennessee’s fantastic 2015 recruiting year, head coach Butch Jones said, adding that 2014 was an overachievement from a team that didn’t bring back anyone on the offensive and defensive lines. “Contrary to reports, there were no back flips, and there were no somersaults, but I think in the world of college football, you’re judged by wins and losses, but also you’re judged by does your team overachieve or under achieve. And I thought last year’s football team, team 118 overachieved.” He added that overachievements have also been seen in the classroom, where he saw only 12 players manage an average of a 3.0 GPA to 52 (Now, let’s not talk about what classes they were

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Dan Mullen: Dak Prescott was close to going pro

Dak Prescott was close to leaving Mississippi State and going pro, admitted head coach Dan Mullen. “He applied, got all of his NFL paperwork,” Mullen said.  He added that it was with his counsel that Prescott decided to stay in school. “We did some research and study of looking at quarterbacks that were coming out, where he might fall…..If he had gone and maybe midround draft pick that’s going to sit the bench in the NFL, he’d have a chance to get zero game reps, and I think that experience in the long run will help his career of getting those live game reps. It might not be at the NFL speed or in that offense against those schemes, but

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Kevin Sumlin: Texas A&M losses to LSU led to Chavis hiring

Kevin Sumlin, the Texas A&M head coach, has admitted that thr straight losses to LSU led him to hiring new defensive co-ordinator John Chavis. Firstly, the question: “Coach, you guys played LSU the last three seasons. They held you to under 20 points in all three games, all losses. Did you kind of take the mindset, if we can’t beat LSU and John Chavis, I’ll go hire him away?” Sumlin’s answer was brutal and to-the-point: “I didn’t kind of. That’s exactly what I did. There’s really nothing more to the answer than that. That’s true. We’ve studied the defense. We get it. We struggled. It’s a great fit for us and a great fit for him. He was ready for

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