Every year the SEC dominates other schools in bowl games (unless you’re Michigan State, but less said about that the better) quite simply because they have the most difficult conference. EVERY game is a bowl game,  a potential National Championship Game, or a big-time match-up. If you don’t believe us, ask CBS why – every year without fail – they always screen Florida vs Tennessee, even though both sides weren’t going to compete last year, and could possibly be put down as ‘afterthoughts’ for the last couple, at least.

Anyway, here’s our Top 10 games (IN-CONFERENCE) on the SEC schedule. And there should be no surprises who’s going to be No.1….

1) Alabama vs LSU (Nov 3)

Night game. LSU vs Alabama. Saban’s back in town. The LSU fans have been waiting for revenge since January for this one, and this game could well not only decide the SEC West, it could well decide who goes to the National Championship Game from the SEC. Why not both teams? Because Southern California and Oregon could well have something to say about that…

2) Georgia vs South Carolina (Oct 6)

If Alabama – LSU might be a SEC West decider, then this might be a decided for the SEC East – if both sides can get past Florida and an exception defense that’s being built in Gainseville. Can Georgia’s suddenly-vaunted ‘D’ stop Marcus Lattimore? Can Jadeveon Clowney muscle Aaron Murray out of the game? Will Georgia’s wide receivers learn to catch a pass? This is going to be a cracker of a showdown.

3) a) Florida at Texas A&M (Sept 8)

b) Georgia at Missouri (Sept 8)

These games probably wouldn’t make the list any time else, but since it’s Mizzou and A&M’s first games in the SEC, these are calendar highlights. An insider at Georgia already told the SEC Football Blog that they were “worried” about going to Farot Field – and as they should be. Will the Bulldogs have their defense after their off-season troubles. Who’s going to be running back? And for Florida, it’s guaranteed that Kyle Field’s going to be noisy and pretty unforgiving – even if they don’t have male cheerleaders (something’s that has GOT to be changed now that the Aggies are in the SEC). These two games are going to be fun.

4) LSU at Arkansas (Nov 24)

Not an easy Thanksgiving trip for the Tigers – especially as the Razorbacks will be in the mood after losing so badly in Death Valley in 2011 after starting so well. We look forward to seeing how the Mathieu-less defense deals with the one of the best QBs in college football in Tyler Wilson, as well as the ground threat of Knile Davis.

5) Florida at Tennessee (Sep 15)

Not an easy September schedule for Florida, who has back-t0-back SEC road games. The trip to Knoxville isn’t a guaranteed win in 2012, particularly as Tennessee brings back so much talent – especially WR Justin Hunter off the physio’s table, Tyler Bray’s arm and a vaunted, experienced offensive line. Personally, we can’t get enough of ‘Tiny’ Richardson, Tennessee’s 6 ft 6, 329 lb left tackle. But for the Gators, it’s all going to be about whether Will Muschamp’s worked out who he wants to be his QB (Jacoby Brissett or Jeff Driskel) and whether the offense has ‘it’ this season – something we’ll see before this game. Expect fireworks in Neyland.

6) South Carolina at Vanderbilt (Aug 30)

Vanderbilt might be good this year? Everyone loving the Commodores and James Franklin, especially when he’s talking about recruiting? Well, ‘Jay Fray’, as we’ve now nicknamed him, is going to get the surprise of his life when South Carolina roll into town, with Connor Shaw and Marcus Lattimore running things offensively and  Devin Taylor and Jadeveon Clowney preparing to do damage on the other side of the ball. Jordan Rodgers, watch out. This could be fireworks – especially if Carolina aren’t clicking properly (as they have a habit of not doing on Game 1 of the season).

7) Alabama at Arkansas (Sept 15)

We’ll make this bold-ish prediction: Both Alabama and Arkansas will be 2-0 before both sides meet in Fayetteville. Arkansas fans will be screaming blood after losing so badly at the Crimson Tide last year, and Tyler Wilson and Knile Davis will be ready to test an Alabama defense looking to prove that it’s going to win back-to-back championships and against a coach who’s one of the best in the game. This game’s going to be a war, people.

8) Ge0rgia vs Florida (Jacksonville) (Oct 27)

You know the drill. Show up four days before the game, drink as much as you possibly can, fight with an opposing fan, tease an opposing fan for being a redneck (Georgia) or for wearing jorts (Florida), laugh about both sides’ mascots and both join in in saying unkind things about Steve Spurrier. Then, steel yourself for a monster SEC East game, which is played in the worst possible spirit. Isn’t college ball fun?

9) Arkansas at Auburn (Oct 6)

Remember this: Auburn will upset one of LSU, Arkansas or Georgia this season. That’s because Gene Chizik’s too good of a coach to make this happen. And Jordan-Hare at night is too great of a place NOT to score a big-time win. We think it could well happen against the Razorbacks. Then again, we haven’t seen much of either team, have we?

10) Auburn vs Alabama (Nov 24)

Because it’s the biggest game on the schedule for both teams, and if there’s a National Championship to worry about from Saban’s standpoint, this one’s even bigger. We’ve got a (State of) Alabama-sized heartbeat just thinking about it…

Tyrann Mathieu won’t ever be playing for the LSU Tigers again, according to school compliance director Bo Bahnsen.

He said: “He’s permanently ineligible to play football at LSU. That’s definite. That’s what was said Friday.”

Also Les Miles seemed in slightly more forgiving mode in a press conference on Tuesday, when he said: “I certainly am rooting for Ty and whatever his future is, but I’m not focused on him. I’ve got games to play.” He added: “I’ve got 104 guys that I have to be ready for. I know this is a very key time in (Mathieu’s) life, and I hope the decisions he makes are in his best interest for the long term. We’ll help any way we can.”

He also did not remark whether Mathieu would be given a full transfer, allowing him to go to SEC rivals (after Florida was bitten by Cam Newton, who in their right mind would do that again?), although the thought is is that the ‘Honey Badger’ might go and play FCS football and try and start a NFL career a year early – thanks to his prodigious play-making and special teams talents.

As for Mathieu, he hasn’t said anything yet, and it is thought that he won’t be saying anything on Wednesday.

BOTTOM LINE: If he can’t stay at LSU, Mathieu should transfer to a FBS school and start afresh. We just don’t think at FCS school will do him – or his potential career in the NFL – any good. 

Here’s a quick tip for you: Missouri will scare the heck out of the SEC East – especially when they play teams at night in Farot Field. Remember: This is a team that’s beaten No.1s in the past on home turf (Ohio State and Oklahoma in a monster night games in front of a rabid, unforgiving crowd) and really, really wants the chance to do more damage in the future. I spoke to a buddy at Georgia about his team’s chances and he said: “We’re scared. Missouri aren’t going to take any prisoners and our guys certainly picked a time to get thrown off the team and eat hash brownies”. I think we could echo that.

But anyway, this is Missouri’s preseason preview. And if you don’t like it, you’re welcome to call me stupid….or words that effect.

What happened last season?

The Tigers lost one of the best games early on in the season when they lost at Arizona State on a stunning Friday night in front of a raucous crowd, adding more fuel to the fire that if you wanted a great game of college football, you HAD to make sure that Joe Tessitore was commentating. That game apart, the biggest thing that Tigers really did was to gain headlines for their coach, Gary Pinkel, who was arrested for drunk driving in a stupid move towards the end of the season. Really, though, the 8-5 Tigers won the easy games on their schedule and lost the hard ones (although they ensured they would be a part of the RGIII story by losing 42-39 at Baylor).

And in the draft, tight end Michael Egnew was the only player from Missouri selected. He was chosen by the Miami Dolphins, where apparently he’s struggling at fall camp.

Is James Franklin OK?

The big question on ALL Mizzou fans’ lips is: Will dual threat quarterback James Franklin be OK to start the season? The Tigers had better hope so. Last season Franklin was sensational, passing for over 2,800 yards and rushing for another 980, and he was responsible for 36 touchdowns. Unfortunately, he injured his throwing shoulder and despite Pinkel’s- and his own – insistence that he’ll be ready for the home opener against Southeastern Louisiana, a lot of people are worried.

Otherwise, if you didn’t know the name Corbin Berkstresser, you should start looking up his YouTube highlights….just in case.

Bring me your receivers….

T.J. Moe brought the house down at the recent SEC Media Days with his non-stop patter of one-liners, which immediately put him in the reporters’ good books (the words “refreshing” and “fantastic” were two quotes that came to mind from the writers who were tired of goddawful boring press conferences), and he can catch a ball too (649 yards and 4 TDs last season). He’ll team up with the No.1 recruit in the country Dorial Green-Beckham (who apparently Pinkel is already seeing improvement in), who’s 6 ft 6 and is going to scare the beejesus out of any safety or cornerback – if he makes the plays properly. Although some people believe that DJB isn’t going to be the B.I.G. this year, yours truly will be LMFAO if that’s the case. Truly, we think he’s something special. And there’s also receiver L’Damian Washington and Marcus Lucas to give Franklin options, too – which he’ll need against SEC defenses.

And running the ball?

With a knee injury to Henry Josey, who ran for 1,168 and 9 TDs last season putting the star running back out for the year, a lot of pressure is going to be Kendiall Lawrence (566 yards, 5 TDs) and Marcus Murphy to produce. Pinkel’s going to worry – as well he should – about giving more of the running game to Franklin – especially with Franklin’s shoulder which will be tested against Georgia (less so about SE Louisiana, we believe). In other words, Josey’s injury is going to really, really hurt an offense that ranked ninth in the nation in rushing last year.

On the other side of the ball…

Defensively, Missouri did what almost all Big XII teams did last season…..not play very well. The Tigers ranked 44th overall for points against, giving up 23.5 pts per game. There are going to be a lot of eyes on Sheldon Richardson and Shane Ray – the latter whom Phil Steele has called a “great speed rusher” in his 2012 preview. The Tigers have got an experienced linebacking corps in Andrew Wilson, Zavier Gooden and Wil Ebner, which they hope will be able to stop the likes of Eddie Lacy and other speedy SEC running backs.

And cornerbacks-wise, we’re always in the mood for a good-news story from the secondary (after having so many bad news ones with Tyrann Mathieu), so E.J. Gaines might be it. He’s one of the country’s best at breaking up passes (he had 16 last year).

The 2012 schedule

September 1 SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA

September 8 GEORGIA

September 15 ARIZONA STATE

September 22 at South Carolina

September 29 at UCF

October 6 VANDERBILT

October 13 ALABAMA

October 27 KENTUCKY

November 3 at Florida

November 10 at Tennessee

November 17 SYRACUSE

November 24 at Texas A&M

Run-down: Missouri jumps into the SEC in the second game of the season with Georgia, who many believe will reach their second straight National Championship Game. Farot Field at night is somewhere frightening to play – hence why the Tigers have got a 47-14 record there over the last 10 years. This is the game where we’ll see how good Missouri is – especially against a Georgia team which could still be finding their feet post-Crowell and suspensions to some of their best defensive players. However, Missouri’s not a great traveller, and we can see the Tigers losing at South Carolina before finding their feet against UCF and Vanderbilt. The games against Alabama, but the home game against Kentucky and trips to new SEC East rivals Florida and Tennessee could decide whether Missouri will go to a bowl game this year – because we see them beating Syracuse on their last home date of the season. Oh, and mark Nov 24 at Kyle Field against Texas A&M in your diary – particularly if both teams have got to fight it out for bowl eligibility.

PREDICTION: Despite the up-and-comingness of UCF, we expect Missouri to go 3-0 in its non-conference games this year. We also expect the Tigers to beat Kentucky and Vanderbilt, who they have at home. But can they beat Georgia? Or Alabama? Or turn around last season’s dreadful away record (they went 1-4) and win one out of Florida, Tennessee or South Carolina? We think the Tigers are going to end up 5-7, with a ‘shot in the dark’  loss at Texas A&M (that’s because we predicted they would lose in A&M’s preview). This won’t be bad news for Pinkel in his first season in the SEC, but Tigers boosters will definitely try to make sure this won’t become a theme.

Tyrann Mathieu was a gamechanger for the LSU Tigers. Ask Oregon. Ask Kentucky. Ask Arkansas. Ask West Virginia. Ask Georgia. And ask any team who purposefully threw away, kicked away, and punted away from LSU’s No. 7 in 2011, just to make sure that they didn’t get punished.

Well, they aren’t going to have that problem in 2011, because Tyrann Mathieu managed to get himself thrown off LSU’s football team – at least for the 2012 season and possibly longer. And the sad news was that it was for testing positive for drugs – the same things that had dropped him into Les Miles’ bad books in 2011 for a couple of games.

Now, Mathieu wants to ‘sit out’ the 2012 season and come back in 2013 and be a Tiger again. Why? The cards – which have never been too subtle in Mathieu’s case anyway – have been shown and he really doesn’t want to go and play at McNeese State or Prairie View A&M or Mountainside Hillock U.

LSU itself hasn’t said that Mathieu will be welcomed back, either. “If Tyrann chooses to return to LSU as a student he can do so. We are not speculating on anything beyond that,” an LSU spokesman told ESPN. We can just think that Coach Miles is absolutely furious right now, as he’s just fired one of his biggest playmakers.

He’ll just need Tharold Simon and Eric Reid (the latter who made THAT play against Alabama in the win at Tuscaloosa) to step up where Mathieu left off.

BOTTOM LINE: Let’s just say that NFL Scouts WERE worried about a short guy with attitude. Would it be better for Mathieu to simply forgo a year of eligibility, stay at LSU and come back next year as a scholarship athlete? We think so. It might also give him some chance to grow up. 

The SEC Football Blog was reading a Twitter conversation between ESPN’s SEC writer Edward Aschoff and SEC football writer for College Football News Russ Mitchell where they were discussing the firing of Bobby Petrino, Arkansas‘ former coach who was fired after some off-season shenanigans involving one of his assistants.

Without wanting to go into a deep discussion about their Twitter conversation – here’s the Twitter page of Aschoff and here’s the Twitter page of Mitchell – Aschoff thinks that Petrino should have been fired, and Mitchell thinks that Petrino shouldn’t have.

Anyway, here’s our opinion: The SEC really, really needs Bobby Petrino back – be it as an offensive co-ordinator, a quarterbacks coach, or even a head coach.

Here’s why: Bobby Petrino is one hell of an offensive coach. His offenses produce touchdowns, and his teams are successful.

Petrino’s record in his years at Arkansas were 34-17. While his first year in 2008 at Arkansas  was nothing particular to talk about (5-7), he had three winning years, which saw his team’s winning percentages escalated: 8-5 (2009), 10-3 (2010) and 11-2 (2011). Not only that, but 2012 Heisman candidate Tyler Wilson is a Petrino quarterback, and nothing offensively is really going to change under John L. Smith (a nice balance between pass and run (like any good offense should have), although we think the numbers are going to be a little lower now that talented receivers Joe Adams, Greg Childs and Jarius Wright have gone to the NFL.

Petrino would have been show us if the ‘Backs would be ‘back’ in 2012, but his own stupid behavior with Jessica Dorrell, which included motorbikes and hush money, meant that he was summarily fired in April.

But this doesn’t mean that the University of Arkansas is not going to miss Bobby Petrino – despite was Aschoff might think. Petrino is an incredible offensive influence, and his team could have been a real contender in the SEC this year – instead of being also-rans.

And while the SEC feels that it doesn’t need Bobby Petrino back, we do. Here’s why: The guy wins football games. Without him we worry about Arkansas’ effectiveness, and therefore the SEC loses a National Championship contender (note to John L.Smith: If Arkansas runs the table this season or beats one of Alabama or LSU, we’ll admit we were wrong), and therefore makes the SEC as a conference less powerful.

And regardless of what people think about Petrino – and he’s not the most likeable personality in the world (and Mitchell beautifully summed it up by this: “Bobby Petrino is a jerk. So say many of the men who have worked for or around him in the past.”) – but he wins football games. Is there a better offensive co-ordinator in the SEC? It would be hard to argue with Petrino, who coached a No.2 two offense in the conference for two straight years, if we’re going by the all-important total yards stat.

If Petrino ISN’T hired within the SEC again, then the SEC may not miss his brain from a personality point-of-view, but they certainly will from an offensive point of view. He’s consulted at Cal and the Tennessee Titans, and we wouldn’t be surprised if he takes up a coaching job in 2013. But if a SEC team is struggling mid-way through 2012 with their offense, they could do a lot worse than give Petrino a call.