The College Football Play-Off is upon us on Saturday, and we’re all quite excited. After arguments over neutral site bowl games, losses to South Carolina/Arizona State/Kansas State, it’s all set in place, and 4 winners of 4 conferences are in the four semi-finals. As usual – it seems – the best team is being left out in Oregon, but that’s due to their self-shooting at Arizona State, so no sympathy there.

But we’re here now, and it’s LSU, Ohio State, Clemson and Oklahoma who will battle it out for the National Championship on January 13th.

On December 28th LSU will face off with Oklahoma and Ohio State will play Clemson.

The one that’s being talked about offensively is the LSU vs Oklahoma game. It features two gamechanging quarterbacks in Heisman Winner Joe Burrow, and Oklahoma QB Jalen Hurts. There is also a ton of receiving talent, but ‘feature film’ guys J’Marr Chase (LSU), Justin Jefferson (LSU) and Ceedee Lamb (Oklahoma). Burrow has excellence out of the backfield in Clyde Edwards-Helaire, although there are some who are worried about the decision to play him come game-time. On Oklahoma’s side they’ve got Kennedy Brooks, who’s an ample-enough running back but still not in the league of Tre Sermon, who went down in the Iowa State game with a knee injury and will never return.

On the other end of spectrum, Oklahoma is suffering- particularly with news that DE Ronnie Perkins has been suspended. However, first-round junior Kenneth Murray, who has led the team with 95 tackles, is still a star that LSU should be looking out for. If Cedee Lamb is covered up – which could very well happen on Saturday – then Hurts could face a gaunlet of an every-improving secondary, featuring future first-rounder Grant Delphit, who is fit again.

The biggest key to the game, if we’re honest, isn’t Burrow. We’re confident that Burrow will happily put up big numbers backed up by the insanely good offensive strategy put forward by Joe Brady. Oklahoma  – despite its improvement under Alex Grinch – aren’t a particularly great team. The biggest key to the game is Jalen Hurts.

Hurts is incredible at changing games with his feet (he’s quicker than Burrow), and his escapability has accounted for 1,255 yards and 18 trips to the end-zone. He’s also thrown for 32 touchdowns and only given up 7 interceptions – a big reason why he was second in Heisman voting this year.

All that is good, right? Well…..the only way that Oklahoma can keep up with LSU if Hurts doesn’t do something stupid. He has a capacity to turn over the ball, and there has been at least one of his efforts in the red-zone that have missed his own player and gone into a grateful defender’s arms. If he does that against LSU, then this one will get ugly. Quickly.

Anyway, here’s the prediction:

LSU 41, Oklahoma 21

In what should be an explosive meeting of minds, Chad Morris is joining Gus Malzahn as offensive coordinator for Auburn.

Morris, who was recently ousted as the head coach of Arkansas after 2 horrific years, comes with the reputation of quick-moving, high-scoring offenses – enhanced by years at Clemson where that was the case.

He comes after former OC Kelly Dillingham went to Florida State to take up the same position there under new head coach Mike Norvell.

For Malzahn, who probably looking for a bit of life in an offense that looked rather listless this season – including a quarterback that went from bad to OK in freshman Bo Nix, this arrival will be well-received by the Auburn faithful.

Well-known for developing quarterbacks as a high school coach in the State of Texas, Morris oversaw the development of DeShaun Watson and led the country in offensive efficiency.

As explained here, Morris’ and Malzahn’s offensive playbooks may look the same, but Morris’ system is slightly more organised.

And with the players already there and coming in in the 2020 class of recruits, this should make Auburn a real threat in the 2020 SEC.

Mike Bobo is returning to the SEC.

The former Georgia OC has been hired by South Carolina to be the team’s new offensive mastermind under Will Muschamp after he left Colorado State.

His job won’t be easy – He’ll be charged with improving one of the country’s worst offenses, which averaged 121st in yards per play in the country.

He will replace Bryan McClendon as OC.

Bobo started with a trio of winning seasons with Colorado State before 2-6 and 3-5 seasons in 2018 and 2019.

He was sidelined in 2018 with peripheral neuropathy after he experienced numbness in his feet.

Coaching-wise, he should be an ideal fit for South Carolina. At Georgia he was somewhat of a quarterback whisperer after tutoring Matt Stafford, Aaron Murray and David Greene from 2001 to 2014 under Mark Richt, and should recruit well in the Southland.

This year he’ll have to do it without senior Jake Bentley, who has decided to transfer to Utah to play his final year. Ryan Hillinski, who will be a sophomore this year, will probably be the starter, while redshirt freshman Dakereon Joyner will battle him out for the spot.

Sadly for the Gamecocks, both  Bryan Edwards, South Carolina’s best WR, will be leaving this season as his eligibility is up. Shi Smith will be leading the receiving corps.

Matt Luke, who was fired at Ole Miss just last week, as immediately got himself a role: As the offensive line coach at Georgia.

Luke, who managed the offensive line at Ole Miss, Tennessee, Duke before returning to Oxford, comes with a heck of a lot of SEC experience.

He’ll have one heck of a stable at Georgia after Sam Pittman’s effort. Pittman went to take the Arkansas head coaching job on Sunday.

“It’s obvious after watching his teams over many years and his players love him and play hard for him”.

Arkansas was rumored to be going after Lane Kiffin. And Mike Norvell. And just about anybody else.

Then came the name Sam Pittman, the associate head coach and offensive line coach at Georgia.

The 58 year-old is not well-known until you are well-versed in the world of college football assistant coaches. Pittman has gone through 11 colleges in his 24 years in the major college system. He’s been in the SEC since 2013, working with Tennessee (O-Line), Arkansas (Assistant head coach/O-Line) and then Georgia.

He was much-loved by his players, with Georgia players stepping up to give tribute.

He will be paid $3 million per year by the Razorbacks.

Pittman has also been excellent at recruiting top offensive line talent – which Arkansas will need to right a ship that has been sinking since Bret Bielema’s final year in charge. He is expected to hire Missouri’s O-Line coach Brad Davis. Davis had previously served at Florida. Missouri former head coach Barry Odom – who was fired after the end of the season this year – is rumored to be in line for the defensive coordinator’s role. Odom is acknowledged to be one of the best defensive minds in the SEC.

He will be expected to own the state of Arkansas and also plunder from Texas, where there is the obvious widespread talent. Already Pittman’s arrival has borne fruit, with DB Devin Bush – a four-star prospect in the 2019 class – withdrawing his name from the transfer portal.  However, news has just emerged that he’s lost offensive linesman Silas Robinson, who’s decided to transfer to Texas State. He was lower down the pecking order for the Hogs, playing mostly on special teams.

“Sam Pittman has been an integral part of successful teams that have competed at the highest levels, including for SEC and NCAA Championships,” Arkansas AD Yurachek said in a statement. “As one of the nation’s premier offensive line coaches, he has built a remarkable body of work thanks to his tremendous passion for his student-athletes, including teaching the fundamentals and developing his players on and off the field. Sam instills in his players the motivation, grit and determination required to compete and win. Throughout this process, I heard from many of his former players about the tremendous influence he had on them as a player and as a man. Sam knows the Southeastern Conference inside and out and is one of the nation’s best recruiters. His connections throughout football will enable him to build a quality coaching staff.”

Things have suddenly got a little more serious for Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss.

Hired by Ole Miss as the excellent salesman who gets offensive talent from all over the country to play for him  as well as the bright mind of offensive schemes, Kiffin was suddenly hit by the news he probably wasn’t happy with.

Four-star dual-threat QB Robby Ashford, decommitted today, and his tone didn’t exactly sound like he wanted to be contacted by Kiffin again. Right now, Ole Miss stands 11th in the SEC and 32nd in the nation. He’ll also try and hold onto an Ole Miss team who were furious at Luke’s firing.

While Ashford probably saw John Rhys Plumlee as the defacto starter and thought that his chances of starting were less-than-stelllar, it’s hardly great news for the Rebels coach.

On Sunday, Kiffin’s ‘ministry’ in Oxford started as we hope it goes on.

He was welcomed like the Second Coming, where he kissed a baby, was told to buy a burner phone in the same video (I hope it’s a reference to Hugh Freeze’s dalliances with escorts rather than Ole Miss’ much-feted efforts at paying athletes), made a quip about how his runway experience was a lot better than a previous one (he was fired on the tarmac by USC), and said that he had to put on agent Jimmy Sexton’s suit for the press conference because of weight issues.

Kiffin has been the SEC before. He made fun of the Alabama fanbase at Tennessee before leaving suddenly to USC – much to the consternation of his players, who probably would have not let him let the locker room alive if it hadn’t been either for the media or the fact that murder gets you the death penalty in the Great State of Tennessee. Then there was his adventures at Alabama, where he did what Nick Saban wants all coordinators to do and shut his mouth. He did it aptly, and also put together a wonderful offense that scourged defenses all over the South. He left for Florida Atlantic before the National Championship Game, annoying Nick Saban so much about the manner of his departure that he didn’t get to wear the Crimson in The Big Game. At Florida Atlantic, he went 26-3 and took home two Conference USA titles in three years, showing aptitude for a fun offense.

In terms of staff, he brings over Kevin Smith as running backs coach, but that’s about all there is. Kiffin is also rumored to be bringing the offensive side of the ball to Oxford alongside running backs coach Kevin Smith, who was already named for the position. Red Cup Rebellion – the Ole Miss site – mentions that Kiffin is looking at Kendal Briles and current UCF OC Jeff Lebby for his offensive coordinator job, while Mike McIntyre might well keep his job as defensive coordinator.

It won’t be known if Chris Kiffin, FAU’s former defensive coordinator will come to Oxford to coach again, particularly as he was slammed with a show-cause penalty in 2017 for recruiting violations while he was in Ole Miss.

Lane Kiffin said about his conversation with Chris in the press conference: “He said, ‘I think that you’ll kill it there. I’ve coached for you and see where you’re at.’ FAU had won three games three years in a row, so those seniors never won more than three games. In our first year, we won 11 games so he was there to see that so he really excited me. I have confidence, I know we’re going to win but he really cemented that by some things he said.”

Ole Miss fans will hope Chris is right.

After a lot of quick hot stove conversation, Eli Drinkwitz was named as Missouri’s coach on Tuesday.

36-year old Drinkwitz, who comes from Appalachian State after posting an 11-1 record last season, was in the SEC for Auburn in 2010-1 as the quality control coach, before going to Arkansas State with then-OC Gus Malzahn and then onto Boise State and NC State as he moved furiously up the coaching food chain.“

“Coach Malzahn and I actually got together this past summer and talked and I think there was some surprise, on both sides, about how far we both evolved from those (early) points together — but we still have that foundation of our time together, too.”

He will be the youngest coach in the SEC.

“I’m excited for the opportunity of a lifetime to be the head football coach at Missouri,” he said in a statement. “This is a special place with special people. I know this is the Show-Me State, and I’m fired up to show this state what our football program is going to be all about.  My wife, Lindsey, and our four girls are excited to join the Columbia community and be a part of Mizzou.”

For some, it’s the monster hire that Missouri would have wanted. They would have wanted some bigger commodity who was well-know in the Mid-West to be able to take over the St.Louis region and venture into Chicago to go head-to-head with some of the bigger recruiting schools in college football.

Under Barry Odom, Missouri simply hasn’t done that.

But after the Barry Odom miscues, Drinkwitz is a refreshing change. He’s not a big-name coach, and while the money offered – $4m per year over six years- which is considered the medium in the SEC. It’s a huge raise from the $1.7m he made from Appy State.

He’s by all accounts a brilliant offensive mind. His Appalachian State team averaged 39.4 points per game and at his spots in Boise and Raleigh his teams all put up monster offensive numbers.

He explained this in his introductory press conference: “Bryan Harsin come to Arkansas State, he came from Texas, and we were able to blend our offensive identities — the philosophy of no-huddle attack with multiple personnel, shifts, motion, pro-style concepts. And that’s really were this offense began to take root and became my own and that’s really where it’s grown from and so that’s how that transition occurred.”

Missouri fans are going to have to acknowledge that the Missouri team might not return to competing for the SEC East again like they did under Gary Pinkel, where the Tigers won two SEC East Championships for a while. There is still the ghost of Derek Dooley, who managed to make Kelly Bryant a worse QB than he was when he came along from Clemson.

The Missouri program is going to have to  take its punches – particularly in recruiting where Missouri is just 52nd in 247’s recruiting standards and 12th overall in the SEC, ahead of Vanderbilt and one of the worst team in college football, Arkansas.

You expect the Tigers to try and raid junior colleges like 2019 NJCAA National Champion Mississippi Gulf Coast, Lackwanna in PA, Hutchinson in Iowa and Butler in Kansas.

Joe Burrow is the unaninmous Heisman favorite, and that’s all you can really say on that.

His incredible season has dropped the jaw of the nation, as the QB put up astronomic numbers all season long, and then showed off his brilliance at the SEC Championship Game with a stunning 28-38, 349 yard, 4 TD performance as well as 41 yards of tidy rushing on 11 attempts. While J’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson were certainly the saws into Georgia’s defense, he was the blade.

Alabama fans will have something to celebrate bearing in mind that former QB Jalen Hurts is in the conversation as Oklahoma’s starter, and there is also incredible Ohio State DE Chase Young, as well as Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields, who has also had an incredible year.

While Wisconsin RB Jonathan Taylor 299 carries, 1,909 yards, 21 TDs at an average of 6.4 yards per game (including 148 against the Buckeyes in the B1G Championship Game) and Oklahoma State RB Chuba Hubbard (309 carries, 1,936 yards and 21 TDs at an average of 6.3 yards per game) should at least have been in the conversation too, there is one player that we don’t understand didn’t get a sniff of things.

In a lesser category, the SEC Awards and other awards came up.

Predictably, Ed Orgeron won the SEC Coach of the Year after the team’s 13-0 season, while Burrow won the offensive player of the year award, Auburn’s Derrick Brown won defensive player of the year (and should have been considered for a Heisman considering how much of the load he had to put on his team’s back week in and week out), and Derek Stingley won Newcomer of the year. Clyde Edwards-Helaire won first-team SEC honors at running back alongside Mississippi State’s Kylin Hill, while Ja’Marr Chase accompanied Alabama’s Devonta Smith as all-SEC WRs.

The list of the Associated Press was dominated by LSU and Alabama, who took over 21 awards, while Kentucky had three awards, and Auburn, Tennessee and Florida took home two awards each. Missouri and Georgia had one each.

Former Auburn QB Joey Gatewood has transferred to Kentucky.

Gatewood left the Tigers in the middle of the season when it became obvious that he wouldn’t overtake Bo Nix in Gus Malzahn’s pecking order – a move that was ridiculed by Auburn Nation (at least until the Tigers beat Alabama last week).

He came to The Plains in 2018 as a highly-recruited player, where he totalled 5 touchdowns and over 200 yards in combined passing and rushing.

It is expected that junior Lynn Bowden, who has carried the team with 1,235 yards and 11 TDs (including 284 against Louisville) after coverting from the wide receiver spot will return to his original place.

Gatewood will challenge Sawyer Smith and Terry Wilson for the starting role in 2020, with the ‘spot loser’ transferring.

The Super Bowl 2019 has arrived!

Yes, it’s the SEC Championship Game. While it seems a bit of a relief to have someone other than Alabama or Auburn as the SEC West’s representative (LSU is there for the first time since 2011), Georgia seems to be installed in The Big Game, having been there for the last three consecutive years (1-2 record).

This year, there’s all to play for.

LSU, who are No.2 in the nation behind Ohio State, will definitely go to the College Football Play-Off with a win over Georgia (and probably will get in anyway!), while No. 4 Georgia will definitely get in with a win over LSU, because the Committee are unlikely to jump Utah or Oklahoma over them, despite the Bulldogs’ stunningly-awful loss to South Carolina, which should be punished really more than it has been.

The only sad thing about this awesome match-up is that Gary Danielson’s going to be on the call with Brett Nessler.

HOW WILL LSU WIN?

LSU’s offense is amazing. There’s nothing else to say. Joe Burrow is playing like a Heisman winner, picking defenses apart for 4,336 yards and 44 touchdowns with a 78.6% passing average. Because he can scramble too, he has run for 248 yards and 3 TDs – something he would be well-advised not to do against a very, very good Bulldogs defense who will be keyed-in to stopping him in any way, shape or form.

Burrow’s receivers are exceptional, with J’Marr Chase (1,457 rec yards, 17 TDs) and Justin Jefferson (1,092 rec yards, 13 TDs) leading the way. Clyde Edward-Helaire – the hero from the win against Alabama – leads the way out of the backfield, putting up 1,233 yards and 16 TDs on top of 338 yards receiving (1 TD). Burrow also has two receivers (Thaddeus Moss, Terrance Marshall Jr) who have 400 yards per person receiving each, with Marshall putting up 8 TDs.

The key to the offense has been off the field with offensive coordinating mastermind Joe Brady, who is from the Joe Moorhead coaching tree from Penn State, went over to the New Orleans Saints and then plopped into Death Valley at a time when LSU was searching for something good offensively. Since then, LSU’s offense – which has actually been more balanced that people give it credit for – has been unstoppable, scoring 48.7 points per game.

But while we’ve droned on a lot about the offense, LSU’s defense is going to have to show up to the party. Until the Texas A&M game last week, it didn’t. Of course, you could argue that the 38 against Vanderbilt was because of garbage time, but the secondary was hardly great against Florida, Alabama or Texas, either. However, against Texas A&M it all came together. LSU spent all night in Kellen Mond’s backfield, sacking him 6 times, defending 6 passes, and grabbing three interceptions (two of them from Mond’s point-of-view were admittedly garbage), and kept the Aggies to just 169 yards total. If LSU’s secondary can perform at this level, then Jake Fromm’s going to have his work cut out – especially as there have been injuries and suspensions at receiver.  And if LSU goes 14 points or 18 points to the good, it’s going to force Georgia OC James Coley’s hand and make Fromm throw – something that he’s not been doing well in the last three games. 

HOW WILL GEORGIA WIN?

Defense, defense, defense. Georgia has prided itself on defense this season (4th in the nation in total yards allowed) – and for good reason. They’ve got the second-best rushing defense in the nation, giving up just 2.54 yards per game, and has just given up ONE rushing touchdown this season (and that was Auburn’s Bo Nix).

Passing-wise, Georgia gives up 185 yards per game, and they are ranked 8th in total passing touchdowns given up (11th). They don’t intercept the ball all that much (6 all year, good for 109th in the nation). Interestingly enough, the defense has been sorely tested when Kirby Smart has decided to let his players play soft coverage, and quarterbacks and made 15-20 yard plays. When Georgia’s let the – excuse the pun – Bulldogs loose, any offensive line would do well to stop them. They aren’t big sackers of players (11 all season), but they can really pressure a QB. Teams have been able to convert 3rd downs just 28% of the time (49 successes in 175 tries this year), which is excellent.

On the other side of the ball, the Bulldogs will look to control the ball for what will seen an interminable amount of time against the quick-strike character of the LSU offense. The machine will whirr, picking up 3 yards and a cloud of dust. That’s why they are ranked 16th in the country in time of possession, but never seem to blow anyone out. Some might call it conservative, but others would call it “Grind you the **** down”. Against a LSU defense that’s given up 12 TDs on the ground and allows 124.50 yards per game, it will be interesting to see the dynamics. D’Andre Swift – even though he’s injured with a shoulder contusion – and Brian Herrien will be expected to pick up a lot of slack.

Passing-wise, it’s obvious who has the edge. As mentioned, Cager’s not playing (ankle), and nor will we see 30 minutes of Pickens (fight during Georgia Tech game). Cager and Pickens were far and away the top receivers for the Bulldogs, so the responsibility will fall on Demetrius Robertson and Dominick Blaylock to pick up some slack. Also needing to pick up the slack will be Fromm, who has completed under 50% of his throws in each of each last four games. The good thing for Georgia is that while Fromm might miss a few passes, if he doesn’t see an opportunity, he’s not one to try and thread the needle. He’s been intercepted just three times all year- and all of them came in an awful game against South Carolina. Having said that, Fromm might be forced to pass a lot more if Georgia is chasing, and that will put him well out of his comfort zone of 30 attempts.

AND SO WHO’S GOING TO WIN?

The spread’s of 7.5 points in favour of LSU. Georgia’s going to try and grind LSU on the ground, and LSU will be facing a markedly better defense than it has all year. If you’re expecting a blow-out, it’s not going to happen. Georgia’s defense is too good for that.

LSU wins by 10. LSU will lead by a touchdown going into the 4th quarter and hit a field goal to put this one away, and go into the College Football Play-Off as the No.1 team in the nation.