If you haven’t heard, there’s two pretty big games in the SEC this week.

One’s in Death Valley, LSU, where the No.3 Tigers host hated No.1 Alabama. The atmosphere will be electric….and very drunk.

The other – somewhat unexpectedly – is earlier in the day at Kroger Field, Lexington, Kentucky, where the No.9 Kentucky Wildcats host the No.6 Georgia Bulldogs. The winner of that game will win the SEC East, and keep its chances of a play-off place very alive indeed. The loser will not only lost in the East, but also not (probably) go into the play-offs.

Anyway, here are our SEC Previews in order of interest. And it’s such a huge damned week for college football, we’re actually going to preview some other games around the country, too.

1. No.1 Alabama (-14.5) at No.3 LSU: Although we probably wouldn’t have picked it as one at the start of the year, now this IS the biggest game of the year so far. Why? Alabama’s unbeaten and No.1, and LSU, by virtue of its 4-1 record over Top 25 teams (3-0 over Top 10 teams) is No.3. However, with the fact that Alabama’s destroyed anyone that’s gotten in its way, the Crimson Tie are 14-1/2 point favourites. Joe Burrow’s said: “We’re got to be perfect to win this game”, and he’s right: The Tigers too. Burrow’s decision-making is going to have to be faster. His wide receivers can’t drop a ball – let alone the 10% of passes thrown to them this year that they’ve dropped so far. The team can’t give up 58.6 yards worth of penalties (72nd in the country). The special teams has got to continue to play in dominant fashion – both in punting and kicking.  And only then might they have a prayer against Tua Tagovailoa, the probable Heisman winner. Tua has weapons. He’s got three future NFL runnings backs. His wide receiving corps – led by Jerry Jeudy, who averages 97.1 yards per game are excellent. And the defense is throttling teams when the game actually counts. The great thing that will help LSU is the atmosphere. The place will be absolutely rocking, and willing the Tigers to survive until the team’s defensive leader Devin White returns after a half-game suspension for a B.S. targeting call. We just hope that this game won’t be settled by the refs. PREDICTION: Alabama wins by 10 in a game that’s a three-point until a Crimson Tide touchdown at the end.
2. No.6 Georgia (-9) at No.9 Kentucky: Josh Allen, Josh Allen, Josh Allen. Georgia’s offensive players had better watch where the Kentucky DE is all afternoon long, because this kid is absolutely awesome. Responsible for 56 tackles and 10 sacks in 8 games, there’s been no offense who’s been able to contain the freak, so expect him to double-teamed for most of the game. Georgia will also play against a Kentucky team that plays solid defense as a unit too (it’s not just about Allen), doing most of the things correctly. The defense is going to have to extremely well, and we expect them on the field a lot. That’s because Kentucky QB Terry Wilson simply isn’t very good, and the Bulldogs  – hopefully looking at the template that Missouri and before that Texas A&M gave them for shutting Kentucky – will quieten Benny Snell, knowing that that’s Kentucky will offer. PREDICTION: Georgia rolls by 21, and they are back in the play-off conversation. 
3. No.25 Texas A&M at Auburn (-4): If you really love the SEC, then you’ll be tuning into the 2018 version of the Jefferson Sports Pilot Game. We’re neither expecting a great atmosphere or a great game. Both defenses have been excellent, and Texas A&M’s offense isn’t a lot of fun to watch on the road (see Mississippi State game last week). And Auburn’s offense hasn’t been fun to watch at home OR on the road. We expect it to be pretty damned close, but every watching it on TV and who’s actually there will come out and say: “Thank God that’s over”. PREDICTION: Texas A&M with the ‘upset’, winning by 7. But take the ‘under’ on 48-1/2, betting deviants.
4. Missouri vs No.11 Florida (-6): Missouri is winless in the SEC and Florida’s two losses have come against Top 10 teams (and it’s beaten the No.3 team in the Nation). Florida also kept close to Georgia until the fourth quarter, when Georgia’s depth took over. We still don’t trust Feleipe Franks with the ball for Florida, but we might well trust him more bearing in mind how AWFUL Drew Lock has been against ranked teams. Sorry Mizzou, but that’s another SEC loss for you. PREDICTION: Barry Odom’s hot seat gets hotter. Florida by 18.
5. South Carolina vs Ole Miss (Pick-Em): This game’s so great that ESPN’s also showing this one at 12pm. Both sides aren’t great, with Ole Miss maybe swinging the way for ‘greatness’ with its defense. South Carolina, on the other, is so bad that my buddy called me just to tell me how bad the Gamecocks were. Here’s to you, Mr Gamecock Fratboy Fan. PREDICTION: South Carolina by 3 in one of the closest and weirdly entertaining games of the day. 
6. Louisiana Tech vs No.18 Mississippi State (-23-1/2): Nick Fitzgerald hasn’t been lucky with his wide receivers catching the ball – but he was immense in the Bulldogs’ excellent win over Texas A&M last week, throwing two absolute dimes for TDs and rushing for two more. Mississippi State feels ignited again – and that’s bad news for Louisiana Tech. PREDICTION: Mississippi State by 28.
7. Charlotte vs Tennessee (-20-1/2): I expected more from Tennessee at South Carolina, and I’ll expect the Volunteers to coast against a UNC Charlotte team still trying to find itself after the injury to QB Chris Reynolds. PREDICTION: Tennessee by 35.

GAMES FROM ELSEWHERE

1. No.14 Penn State at No.5 Michigan (-10): Penn State pulled out its first victory against a ranked team last week when it won in the rain against Iowa, but facing this Michigan team with all its defensive firepower will be a whole other beast. We don’t know how fully healthy Trace McSorley is, and his WRs drop far too many balls for us to think of anything but the ‘Rines. PREDICTION: Michigan by 18.
2. No.4 Notre Dame (9-1/2) at Northwestern: Notre Dame is good, but games in Evanston this year are weird. Pat Fitzgerald’s Wildcats are not only in control of their own destiny in the B1G West, but they should have beaten Michigan earlier in the year. PREDICTION: ‘Book’ the Irish victory. Notre Dame by 7. 
3. No.13 West Virginia vs No.17 Texas (-2): This game – potentially for a Big 12 Championship Game spot – features two good QBs in Will Grier and Sam Ellinger. But West Virginia has more speed on both sides fo the ball. PREDICTION: I don’t understand why the Mountaineers are a ‘dog. West Virginia by 10.
4. No.7 Oklahoma (-13) vs Texas Tech: If this game’s as good as the 66-59 game in 2016, then it’ll be the Game Of The Day. Oh, and this Kyler Murray kid (Oklahoma QB) is really, really fun to watch. PREDICTION: Oklahoma by 20 in a feisty, fun game.

Awful.

Terrible.

Nope.

Why in the hell did they call that?

How could they not see that?

Those are the words usually describing a refereeing crew in ALL team sports – especially if the team’s losing. Except over and over again, we’re hearing these words about SEC officials?

Do they understand targeting? How was that clear?

How did they miss that call? 

Why did the official get in the way there? 

How did they managed to screw that one up?

Do they not know what a field goal is?

(We’re serious: That happened during Georgia vs Missouri game at Farot Field this year).

Here are some highlights of SEC stupidity.

Devin White getting booted out for targeting against Mississippi State. Some couldn’t see why it was a personal foul, some could. But everyone – including tens of thousands of LSU fans – thought White was jobbed for getting called for targetting and subsequently booted, which will make him miss one half of the small, inconsequential home game against the no-name No.1 team Alabama on Saturday.

A ref getting in the way of a blatant Ole Miss touchdown against LSU. The ball was coming straight to the wide receiver, and the referee somehow didn’t notice and seemed to get in the way of the wide receiver. It’s not really mentioned on the Ole Miss blogs or created a lot of controversy (mostly due to the fact that the Tigers eviscerated the Rebels).

The refs at the Georgia vs Missouri game, who seemed to miss a Georgia player fumbling the ball while going in for the touchdown. There wasn’t clear and conclusive evidence that it was a touchdown. But to the refs it wasn’t.

The stupidest event SO FAR wasn’t the refs – against during a Missouri game – where the refs ruled defensive pass interference on an uncatchable ball against Kentucky, when anyone – including Kentucky fans – could have seen it was the opposite way. The penalty – given in the last second game – resulted in an untimed down and Kentucky winning.

The refs not seeming to understand what a field goal was, when Missouri’s Justin Tucker made a 41-yarder when just inside the top right upright. That wasn’t stupid, it was imbecilic.

Then there are the missed targeting calls, the missed pass interference calls, which are too many mention. Or the missed ejections, like the one Raekwon Davis should have had for jumping on a player and beating the living crap out him. Davis was flagged, but there was no ejection – despite the serious violence of the player’s actions (Nick Saban kept him out for half a game though).

In short SEC refs are wafting like baseball players, lucky if they are batting .300 right now.

And if the SEC’s head offices in Birmingham, AL claim to watch over their refs as they claim to do, then they are engaging in the biggest cover-up since Watergate. It got out of jail with the ‘call went upstairs to see whether it was targeting, and it WAS targeting, so LSU can shut the hell up, y’all’, but managed to put itself further in jail.

The problem for the SEC is that no-one’s calling them on their crap. No-one saying that EVERY targeting expulsion should be reviewed by a three-man SEC refereeing committee (I mean, what are they doing all week apart from counting money made from free labour anyway?), and then decisions about banning a player for the next half game made from there. They aren’t taking action over seriously violent play. They aren’t re-looking at games and suspending players for eye-gouging (Florida vs Georgia), or out-and-out assault (Davis). And worse, no-one is suspending refs for getting in the way of would-be touchdowns, blocking players downfield, and blatantly missing field goals.

Listen, we’re not asking the SEC to suspend refs for missing holding calls. But if they blatantly screw up, they should be punished accordingly.

By not suspending referees for a game for their dumbass mistakes, the SEC is letting refs are simply get away with their stupidity over and over again. No-one is sitting them down and telling them to improve, or threatening to take away the big games and moving them from FBS to Division-III level. And worse, we desperately need younger officials who can keep up with the speed of play. We’re not being ageist, but it’s important to blood in new people. The NFL seems to be happy with blooding new refs. Why doesn’t the SEC? When one of your refs runs into a player in the end-zone, things have got to be looked at.

And bad refereeing has already cost a team one game this year, and it’ll get worse unless the SEC sorts out this problem.

There were two major games in the SEC on paper: Georgia vs Florida and Mississippi State vs Texas A&M. And Missouri vs Kentucky was meant to be an afterthought.

One untimed play later, and Kentucky was celebrating the victory that took them within one game – against Georgia – of the SEC East title. Georgia had earlier torn apart from Florid and later on Mississippi State’s Nick Fitzgerald accelerated past Texas A&M.

So, here are our SEC rankings:

1. Alabama (8-0): The Crimson Tide did not beat anyone by 60 this week, because they were off.
2. LSU (7-1): LSU keep on complaining about Devin White’s suspension, but nothing’s going to happen about it. The Tigers were still off.
3. Georgia (7-1): The Bulldogs game was close for a while, and then Georgia motored through Florida. Kirby Smart showed how much he disliked the Gators using ‘MF’ while the sea of red celebrated.
4. Kentucky (7-1): Josh Allen is one of the best defensive players in college football. Although they got some fortune with a B.S. pass interference call at the end of the Missouri game, the defense did exceptionally not giving the Tigers one first down in the second half.
5. Mississippi State (5-3): Joe Moorhead finally gave Nick Fitzgerald some running room, and Fitzgerald also made some beautiful throws to give MSU a comfortable victory. Could the Bulldogs turn into a decent team?
6. Florida (6-2): The Gators kept it close through three-quarters of the game against Georgia, but in the end the Bulldogs were a better team. Mullen’s team still has a long way to go, though.
7. Texas A&M (5-3): THE AGGIES ARE THE BEST THREE-LOSS TEAM IN THE NATION, Y’ALL!
8. Auburn (5-3): Auburn didn’t pee off their fanbase this week. Congrats.
9. South Carolina (4-3) : South Carolina is legitimately a very ordinary side….but the rest of the SEC East is worse. Maybe.
10. Vanderbilt (4-4): Crushing and impressive win over Arkansas this weekend to give the ‘Dores their maiden SEC East victory of 2018. One of the performances of Week 9.
11. Missouri (4-4): The Tigers keep on finding ways of losing. Barry Odom’s job is now on notice.
12. Ole Miss (5-3): The Rebels still have a bad defense. I’m sure they missed some tackles in their week off, too.
13. Tennessee (3-5): After one half, the Vols found ways to lose and look inconsistent again. I’m not a fan.
14. Arkansas (2-7): I thought they would be better against Vanderbilt, I really did. But they were awful.

WHO IMPRESSED US?

1. Vanderbilt: We expected Arkansas to beat Vandy – especially at home. But the ‘Dores went on the road and dropped 45 on the Razorbacks, mainly thanks to Ke’Shawn Vaughn, who had 3 TDs and over 200 yards rushing.
2. Georgia: The Dawgs went from a war with Florida to a one-sided massacre. So deep is this Dawgs team is that they can struggle but then its mojo again.
3. Nick Fitzgerald: Two money throws helped to give MSU the win over Texas A&M. He might not be a terrible quarterback, after all.

WHO DIDN’T IMPRESS US?

1. SEC Refs: Once again, SEC refs were terrible. This time, it was giving a non-existent pass interference call at the end of the Kentucky vs Missouri game (the throw from Wilson wasn’t catchable, and it was offensive PI). The next play becomes an untimed down, and Kentucky escapes with victory. But seriously: ARE WE GOING TO HAVE TO WRITE THIS EVERY DAMNED WEEK ABOUT THE OFFICIALS?
2. Drew Lock: Cannot get it done against good opposition (against UK it was 15-27 for 165 yards and 0 touchdowns). Lock is on course to get The Biggest Letdown Of 2018 Award.

Alabama’s fun to make fun of for one major reason: The fanbase. If you are nasty about the Crimson, Alabama fans take it so damned personally. I mean, this blog on Twitter just mentioned the fact that Alabama had played only one team of any note this season (Texas A&M), and comparing it to the amount of ranked teams LSU teams played, and Bama fans hit Crazytown. Of course, when the two teams clash in Week 10 it’s going to be something special. But if we’re talking about this year’s schedule for Alabama so far, it sucks. 

So why do we think they are the best team in the SEC? Because if I’m honest, I don’t see anyone beating them. LSU will be missing the best defensive player it has for half of the game because of a B.S. targeting call (while Alabama will keep one its own defensive keys due to a B.S. targeting call), and Alabama’s got a better offensive. It’ll be closer than 40-odd points, but we can’t see LSU winning.

Mind you, we couldn’t see Ohio State losing at Purdue…

Anyway, here goes….

1. Alabama (8-0): The schedule may suck so far, helping the Tide to Top 2 rankings in offense and defense, but this side is absolutely wasting every team its playing against. No-one can seem to touch them, let alone bring them down. Tua’s hitting a breadth of receivers, the running game is a machine, and the defense is stopping everybody except, er, Arkansas. They walk into Baton Rouge in two weeks’ time, and they should be two-score favourites. If not more.
2. LSU (7-1): Despite never making it easy for themselves (apart from the Georgia game) LSU’s results have been sensational this season. The defense completely stopped Nick Fitzgerald and Mississippi State. The offense is OK with being…OK (85th in the nation) – especially when you bear in mind that they’ve played FIVE ranked teams – if you count where they were at the time – already this season. The loss of defensive leader Devin White for the first half of the Bama game due to a B.S. targeting call may loom large.
3. Georgia (6-1): Week off preparing for a Cocktail Party by burning jorts.4
4. Florida (6-1): Week off preparing for a Cocktail Party by burning bulldogs.
5. Texas A&M (5-2): Week off preparing for Mississippi State by burning cowbells.
6. Kentucky (6-1): Never a good look beating Vanderbilt 14- 7…at home. Is Kentucky trending down? Perhaps. But Benny Snell is still awesome, though.
7. Mississippi State (4-3): The defense is very good. But the offense is absolutely terrible. How could the offense regress so badly despite bringing back all the weapons that it had last year? The answer is that Dan Mullen is a better offensive head coach than Joe Moorhead. Give Moorhead a bit of time (it’s his first time as a HC at a major program), though. Still, this is a disappointment.
8. Auburn (5-3): Gus Malzahn took a little bit of the monkey off his back with a convincing performance on both sides of the ball against Ole Miss.
9. South Carolina (3-3): Whoever the QB is, the team is 72nd nationally in offense- and Deebo Samuel isn’t in the Top 100 in receiving yards or yards per catch. Missouri must be scratching their heads as to how they lost to this team….and Texas A&M must be wondering why they didn’t beat them by more.
10. Missouri (4-3): Missouri’s convincing win over Memphis proved two things: 1) The Tigers can play offense 2) The Memphis Tigers cannot play defense. The Tigers will be praying Emanuel Hall returns soon….they really need their star receiver. They also need their receivers to catch balls in SEC games, too. They are still winless in that category.
11. Arkansas (2-6): The Razorbacks have been playing a lot better lately, and they deserved their 23-0 win over Tulsa to give Chad Morris his second win as a head coach. How in the hell Vegas decided this might be a close game we’ll never know. But it was free money for those who bet Arkansas to win more convincingly than 9.
12. Tennessee (3-4): The crushing at home by Alabama wasn’t fun. Alabama could have made it a lot worse in the 4th quarter had Nick Saban and Mike Locksley decided not to totally crush the Volunteers. The biggest pain for the Vols was seeing Butch Jones get the Gatorade shower for seeing his former team win at Neyland Stadium. Butch Jones isn’t even a coordinator for Alabama, btw. He’s a freaking analyst.
13. Ole Miss (5-3): When you get shut out by a team that’s playing terribly, you’re not a good team. Ole Miss might still win a couple more games in the SEC to lift themselves off the bottom, but the team’s defense is a joke. We don’t understand why Matt Luke hasn’t fired DC Wesley McGriff yet.
14. Vanderbilt (3-4): Vanderbilt’s defense played well at Kentucky (2 turnovers created), but the offense didn’t (2 turnovers lost). The Commodores must be sick and tired of losing games that they have played well in. That’s the mark of a bad team, folks.

Texas A&M has a new sheriff in town. His new badge is an expensive one – $75 million (the badge is meant to last 10 years), but he arrived in the A&M-colored cowboy boots on the big plane. He did some good recruitin’, and Texas A&M should be primed to battle for the SEC West…..next year.

This year, Jimbo Fisher – prized from Florida State where he won a National Championship – will inherit a team that lost four out of its last six games – including a 55-52 loss to mighty Wake Forest in its bowl game – and finished 4th in the SEC West with a mediocre 7-6 record, with a 4-4 SEC record. Recruiting wasn’t fantastic by Aggies levels (6th in the SEC). Oh, and the schedule is going to pretty horrible, too.

OFFENSE

Lighting up a middling team was one exceptional player – Christian Kirk. One of the best punt and kick-off returners in the game, Kirk was also a pretty good wide receiver as well, blowing secondary and special teams players with his feats of speed and skill. The Aggies will miss his 919 yards and 10 TDs of production.

Trayveon Williams will be depended on to cause problems at running back. He put up 798 yards and 12 TDs last year, and Aggies fans will be praying he can be as good. The word ‘depended’? Williams will lose his partner-in-crime in Keith Ford, who left after putting up 500 yards. Kendall Bussey will hope to be a more dependable back-up than he was last year when he had back-to-back excellent games against poor opposition and then fell off the map, not putting up more than 12 yards for the rest of the season.

Jimbo Fisher doesn’t have the dazzling quarterbacks that he had at Florida State at his disposal in 2018, but after seeing Kellen Mond for a while last season, Aggies fans should be confident that he will cause defenses some problems with his legs, and we’ll expect him to cause defenses even more in his second year. He’ll be in a battle with Nick Starkel to see who’ll start, although Mississippi State QB Nick Fitzgerald thinks he’s pretty awesome.

As well as Kirk, Damion Ratley will also be missed, but there is a lot of excitement about Jhamon Austen, who averaged 11.4 yards per reception in a 574 yard, 3 TD season. Camron Buckley will also pick up some of the slack, with Roshauud Paul also expected to play more than he did in his sophomore year.

DEFENSE

Texas A&M managed to go to the north and got themselves DC Mike Elko from Notre Dame, and his biggest early gift will be  linebacker Tyrel Dodson, who led A&M’s 104-tackle, 5.5-sack and 3 INTs season as a sophomore. The kid’s a beast, and probably one of the best ‘gets’ in Kevin Sumlin’s career. His partnership with Otaro Alaka will be a lot of fun to watch.

Safety Armani Watts, who had 4 INTs as well 87 tackles, will be missed after being a four-year starter, but people are confident that the awesomely-named corner Clifford Chairman, who is 6-5 tall and is back from a season-long injury, could be someone for the future. But let’s be honest – the secondary wasn’t good last year (85th in the nation), and after Watts’ loss, we’re expecting teams to pass all over this year, too.

SCHEDULE

Sept. 1 Northwestern State  
Sept. 8 Clemson 
Sept. 15 ULM 
Sept. 22 at Alabama 
Sept. 29 vs. Arkansas (in Arlington) 
Oct. 6 Kentucky 
Oct. 13 at South Carolina 
Oct. 20 OPEN DATE
Oct. 27 at Mississippi State 
Nov. 3 at Auburn 
Nov. 10 Ole Miss
Nov. 17 UAB 
Nov. 24 LSU 

The Aggies have an evil start to the season, when they face Alabama and Clemson in the first four games of the year. We expect them to go 2-2 bearing in mind they’ve got ULM and season opener Northwestern State in that time, too. The Aggies shoot-out with Arkansas in Dallas should bring with it a lot of fun (God only knows what that result will be), and we expect a win over Kentucky. Then, the Aggies have three away trips (South Carolina, Missisisppi State and Auburn), with the only one saving grace that after the Carolina game there’s a bye week. They’ll be overjoyed to finish 2-1 in that space, but we think it could very possibly be 0-3. The Aggies should then beat Ole Miss and UAB pretty comfortably, and we think that they’ll celebrate the first win in Texas A&M’s SEC history against LSU.

Prediction: 7-5. A big look towards an exciting future, and look at Dodson being a future NFL first round pick and possible Butkus Award winner – even though he’s not on the shortlist pre-season (that’s Olaka).

It was the first day of SEC Media Days on Tuesday, and there were a couple of changes: Firstly, the crazy train rolled up to Atlanta rather than Hoover, Alabama, and second, there seem to be 401 new head coaches. Thankfully, they are all used to crazy people, so walking in the first shouldn’t have been too much of a problem.

On the first day of FinebaumStock, Texas A&M’s head coach Jimbo Fisher, LSU’s Ed Orgeron and Kentucky’s Mark Stoops took the stage to face off against such questions as: “Do you feel good about your team this year?” and “What’s it like coming to the SEC?” and “How much pressure is there to beat Alabama win the SEC West?”.

Anyway, so here we go with some quotes….

JIMBO FISHER (Texas A&M)

• The return to the SEC: “I didn’t [think I would get back to the SEC] I had no intentions leaving Florida State. I was very happy and very content there. As you know, life takes changes and decisions are made (EDITOR’S NOTE: NO MENTION OF 10 YEARS, $75 MILLION) . I was very happy and at a great university there.”
• On the SEC West: “Whoever can survive that gauntlet of games and come out of there, you know is going to compete. And whoever wins the SEC has a chance to win the national championship. You can play with anybody in the country….I know. I lived it for 13 years. I understand what’s it’s like. I understand the way your players are Monday and Tuesday after the game. You think I just played that big game, you look up and that’s a big game. That’s a big game. They’re all big games to coaches.”
• Getting Clemson and Alabama in the first 2 weeks: ” I think when you have those kind of games in the early parts of the season, I think it makes your summer that much better. I think it gets your attention. They understand the competition level and what you come to…..It’s great that we play those two teams, the top two ranked teams in the first four games of the year. I think great teams, it’s not that your opponent becomes faceless, it’s not that you disrespect them; it’s just that you understand how you want to prepare. I’m hoping that’s the way our kids go about it.”
• Pressure:  “I think the pressure in today’s world, everybody wants instant gratification. Everybody wants things quickly. That’s just the world we live in. And that’s all part of this business, is dealing with that and putting things in place to do it.
  So what you can’t worry about, suppression, you can’t work about the results, you have to go through the process of doing things the right way. Because if you don’t set things up right, you’re never going to get the results. It’s like the foundation of a house. It may come up quickly, but it will fall quickly if the foundation is not there.”
• On leaving Florida State: “Like I said, I had no intentions of ever leaving there. It was very emotional. Very tight to those players and to the people in the community. Everyone there was wonderful to me, and I have nothing but respect and admiration for what they do and wish them nothing but the best in the future. It’s a tremendous place. It really is.”

ED ORGERON (LSU)

First things first, Coach O managed to use the word ‘excited’ about the word 401 times in his opening statement. It’s a new SEC record, and therefore a LSU National Championship. Ironically, there was  Twitter poll about whether Orgeron would be around this time next year. 71% said ‘no’. Tough crowd.

• On firing Matt Canada: “It’s tough when you make a mistake, but it’s even tougher not to admit you made a mistake and it’s just not a good fit. And I had to do the best what I thought was for the LSU program, and that’s why I did it.”
• On hiring new OC Steve Ensminger: “And just going through last year, some of the things that we went through, I felt that Steve and I would be on the same page. The players respect Steve. He runs more of the offense than I’m used to, an offense that we won championships with in the past….So a combination of all of those things. More comfortable with Steve. He’s able to adapt to the things that we want to do as a staff. I think he’s an excellent game day caller. He knows our players, and he’s a great recruiter…..A lot of people don’t though about Steve Ensminger as a recruiter, but he’s done a tremendous job in the Shreveport area and done a tremendous job this year recruiting quarterbacks.
• On adding QB Joe Burrow: “We felt that his knowledge of the game is able, his ability to run the offense, he can be a pro quarterback. He can run the football, extend plays if he has to, he’s very tough. He’s a leader….Overall he’s very smart, throws in anticipation and accuracy. We felt that he would add to the quarterback competition that we already have.
• On the LSU’s losing streak against Alabama: “Almost is not good enough against Alabama. But we feel that a couple of plays here and there and continue to be physically, we’re going to be right in there with them.”
• On the Georgia game: “Kirby did a great job with the Georgia Bulldogs, tremendous team, tremendous recruiting classes. They’re going to be a very tough opponent to play. But that night Tiger Stadium is going to be alive. It’s going to be loud. There will be a lot of tailgating. Should be a great college matchup in the SEC.”

MARK STOOPS (KENTUCKY)

No-one ever asked Stoops the question: “How in the hell did you managed to have nine players on the field in the last second against Florida?”, which annoyed me because his answer or look of rage could have been hilarious.

Stoops gave the best rallying call for his team before the Q&A started by saying: “We expect more. We’ve been close. We’ve done some good things. I’m proud of the work that we’ve done, that we look forward to making a big jump this year. We return some players with experience. We returned some talent. We returned some players that decided to forego the NFL and come back to do more, to play with a chip on their shoulder, to win some football games.” We kinda liked that. Hopefully the Wildcat marketing department will whack “We expect more” on some T-Shirts. Or maybe they do. It’s called Wildcat basketball. Anyway….

• On coaching in the SEC: “I think that made my heart drop. I can’t believe you mentioned that. That’s not a good feeling. I’ve only been here six years. And to have that kind of turnover, obviously, the way it is right now, it’s the sign of the times. There’s some very good football coaches that have come and gone through this league, and there’s a lot of good ones in here. But I think it just speaks to the league, and, believe me, the 14 schools, there’s not one school in here that wants to take a step back.”
• On beating Florida: “I’m going to get it a thousand times between now and that game. You know, my answer, first three or four years, I really wasn’t concerned about it. I’m trying to build a culture at Kentucky and win games and get in position, but you do hear it. You can’t hide from the elephant in the room. It’s been a long time. We need to beat Florida.”
• On RB Benny Snell: “Benny is certainly worthy of the hype that he gets because of his consistency. He’s done it in this league at Kentucky his first two years, and he spent over a thousand yards each of those years, and we look forward to him doing that again this year. Certainly he deserves to be in that kind of conversation.”
• On the SEC East: “There’s no doubt in my mind some of the teams in the east were ready to make a big jump.”
• On College Football free agency: “I don’t think any of us coaches are looking forward — we’re not looking forward to a form of free agency. I think all of us — I can’t speak for everybody. I don’t want to. I think the pulse of conversations is we’re not interested in going out and recruiting players from another team. Obviously it’s illegal, but you don’t want to turn it into another form of free agency. None of us want that. We are college coaches. We like developing these players and building your teams, and that’s the way I like to do it.”

It’s a strange few weeks in college football. It’s not the summer yet so we haven’t seen SEC players get arrested for robbery, possession of weed, public intoxication, and fights. Spring practice has ended so there are plenty of questions. Players who aren’t going to start are looking to graduate to other programs. We think it’s a childish approach, but then again, that’s just us.

So we decided on a retrospective. Here are your top SEC games of the 2017 season.

1. Georgia 54, Oklahoma 48: Down 31-17 at the half of the National Championship Semi-Final, Georgia takes the game to double-overtime before Sony Michel takes it to the house for a 27-yard touchdown. Talk about redemption for Michel: It was his fumble with 6:52 left in the fourth quarter that came back for a TD and nearly blew the game for the Bulldogs (and then Nick Chubb saved the day).
2. Alabama 26, Georgia 23: Alabama sometimes wins driving a stick up your behind, and sometimes they win dramatically. But Nick Saban knows one thing: How to win. After an awful first half by Jalen Hurts, Alabama switches its man behind the O-Line to Tua Tagovailoa, who is sensational, throwing the ball to DeVonta Smith for the winning TD. The coaches watching the game as part of the live feed saw the bad coverage coming a mile off, but for UGA fans, it meant yet another wait for a major championship. Still, what a game….
3. Missouri 48, Arkansas 45: Missouri showed us for one final time in the 2017 season: The offense was awesome, the defense was clueless. And Bret Bielema was fired after the game. The game itself was a fun one, featuring FIVE lead changes, and over 1,300 yards of total offense (and three turnovers).
4. Florida 26, Tennessee 20: Winning a game on a Hail Mary is always a cool thing to do. I was watching the game in a bar in California waiting for the Ole Miss vs Cal game to start, and everyone was stunned. Particularly the dude in the orange. The reaction from the UF Student Section is just amazing. I would have sworn too if I was there.
5. Texas A&M 50, Arkansas 43 (OT):  This rivalry has never failed to deliver in JerryWorld. Razorbacks’ hearts were once again broken, and Aggies fans had something to smile about. It might not have been one for the defensive purists, but SEVEN lead changes makes it quite the game for anyone who loves watching football (unless you’re a fan of either team, and then you’re probably still recovering from your heart attack).
6. Alabama 31, Mississippi State 24: After having an awful first half, Jalen Hurts comes back from the dead to lead Bama to an unbeaten season-preserving victory, throwing the game-winner with 25 seconds left. Mississippi managed to get two tries at a Hail Mary, but college football’s rule about pass interference saved the day.
7. LSU 27, Auburn 23: With two minutes to go in the first half of of one of the hottest games in LSU history, Ed Orgeron was out of a job. LSU was down 23-7 to one of their biggest SEC West rivals. Then with 32 seconds left, Russell Gage scored to make it 23-14. The Tigers held Auburn in the third quarter and scored 13 in the fourth to win out, and no-one could quite understand what had happened. Suddenly, the seat was warming for Gus Malzahn. And then Auburn smashed Georgia and Alabama on successive weeks.
8. Ole Miss 37, Kentucky 34: Kentucky once again find a way to lose. This time it was with 5 seconds left. Oxford crowned a new king of The Grove, Jordan Ta’amu.
9. Georgia 20, Notre Dame 19: Georgia fans certainly got their mouths moving before this one, crowding out Wrigley Field , getting screwed over for game tickets , and Calling The Dawgs during Brian Kelly’s Notre Dame Radio Show in a bar. The game was pretty good, too, with QB Jake Fromm getting crowned as the New King Of Athens.
10. LSU 17, Florida 16: You think it’s strange why I put this exhibition of inept offense as one of the games of the season, but I give you two things. The Florida fans’ excellent rendition of Tom Petty’s “I won’t back down” , other UF fans getting upset at the LSU band for playing “Neck”, and Florida’s kicker Eddie Piniero made a pinata of himself in the third quarter by missing an extra point that ended up winning the game for LSU.

After a week of speculation, the Texas A&M Aggies have their home run hire: Jimbo Fisher.

Former Florida State head coach Fisher came to a 10-year, $75 million agreement with the Aggies on Friday, in a deal that has Aggies fans abuzz with excitement.

Fisher will earn $7.5m per year at College Station, making him the SEC’s second-best paid head coach. Alabama’s Nick Saban is the best-paid.

Texas A&M fired Kevin Sumlin on Saturday despite Sumlin posting one of the best records the school has ever seen.

Fisher brings with him an excellent recruiting reputation, as well as a National Championship that he won while being the head coach in Tallahassee. Fisher will walk into Texas – one of the best recruiting territories in the country. Now, Agggies fans can expect A&M to beat SEC and Big XII rivals to coveted recruits in the Lone Star State – something that Sumlin was able to do at the start of his career but increasingly worsened.

Sumlin’s 2017 recruiting class was ranked 13th in the nation but only 6th in the SEC. Florida State’s was ranking 6th and No.1 in the ACC. It would not surprise anyone if Fisher took some of the 2018 class over to College Station from FSU – particularly as now Florida State is coachless, and that the Seminoles had to schedule a game against Louisiana-Monroe this Saturday to guarantee bowl eligibility.

Fisher’s job will not be easy. Texas A&M never beat LSU, only beat Alabama once, and had a losing record against Auburn under Sumlin. He will be expected to turn those around, as well as Sumlin’s awful recent home record (the Aggies haven’t won a SEC West home game since October 2015).

We think he will.

This weekend, Georgia and Auburn are playing for the SEC Championship, with the winner going into the College Football Play-Off.

But if we’re honest, all eyes (that aren’t in Athens and Auburn), are on College Station, Texas.

You see, on Sunday the Aggies let go of head coach Kevin Sumlin. To a lot of the fanbase, it was hardly a surprise.We didn’t like the fact that Sumlin was fired at first, and then we were reminded of his SEC home record. Sumlin hadn’t won a SEC home game since October 2015, which is a hell of a long time if you think about. The team had regressed since Johnny Manziel’s Heisman year, and there hasn’t been a quarterback that has been able to recreate his heroics. To make matters worse, after Kenny Hill transferred to TCU after rumored issues with alcohol, he’s been excellent. And despite the massive investment going into the program, Sumlin could never really challenge the might of Alabama (he only beat them once) and could never beat LSU.

Anyway, there are rumors flying around that Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher will be soon packing his bags and going to Texas A&M.

Fisher, who is paid $5.5 million per year by Florida State thanks to a contract extension in 2015, could have earned $40 million by 2022 if he’d stayed in Tallahassee.

But apparently, that’s not the case. Fisher has implored the team to ignore the ‘distraction’ of the Texas A&M rumors, but he’s been extremely evasive when it’s come to speaking to the media about a possible move.

Fisher said: “I never comment on jobs,” Fisher said. “My focus right now is winning against ULM and playing our season. I don’t get in to the rumors and the rumor mill. If there was ever something to it then at the appropriate time, but right now there’s no reason to comment and I’m focused on beating ULM.”

While we don’t think that Fisher would be leaving a sinking ship if he left Tallahassee, it certainly hasn’t been an easy season for him. Having lost starting QB Deondre Francois in the blowout loss to Alabama at the start of the year when the Seminoles were ranked No.3 in the country, he then had a sea of injuries throughout the season.

But with a team like Florida State who recruit as well as Fisher did, it was extraordinary that the Seminoles were as bad as they were. While the loss to Miami and Louisville (both who had servicable quarterbacks) was excusable, the 35-3 blowout loss to Boston College, the struggles against Wake Forest and Duke were not.

During the season Fisher also exchanged words with a Seminoles fan after the Louisville loss, and seemed permanently under pressure.

If Fisher does move, we all know what he’ll get. He’ll get a bump in pay, the fertile recruiting ground that is Texas, and facilities that rival any school in the country. He’ll also get to play in some of college football’s biggest games, although in 2018 he’ll be going on the road both to Alabama and Auburn, and get LSU at home, as well as a small ACC team called Clemson (at home). And he’ll also get one of the most passionate fanbases in the country. If you don’t get what we’re talking about, then we advise hitting up Kyle Field for a game. And bring earplugs.

And if Fisher does move to Aggieland, Texas A&M will get themselves a coach who has won two National Championships (one as an assistant at LSU and one as head coach at FSU), various ACC titles and is a fantastic recruiter.

One person we know who is going to make out like a bandit from these affairs is Jimbo Fisher’s agent, Jimmy Sexton, who is college football’s chief powerbroker, and arguably, chief mischief-maker. He’s already cashed in on the buyouts of Sumlin as well as other coaches who have lost their jobs recently (Butch Jones at Tennessee and Jim Mora at UCLA), and will make a small fortune for himself and his company CAA if the Fisher deal goes through – or if Fisher’s given another bump in pay in Tallahassee. He wins either way from this poker game. Like he always does.

But for Seminoles and Aggies fans who are checking social media 100 times a day, they are just going to have to wait.

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 press that six out of his Top 10 players were available to play a ‘significant’ time for the Razorbacks, and he also admitted that that team didn’t have the depth of SEC West competitors. He also noted that in the five years that he’s been at the helm, he had the toughest schedule in the SEC.  Arkansas finished 1-7 in the SEC this year, with their lone win coming over Ole Miss this season in what was ironically one of the most exciting games of the conference’s fairly-moribund season.

Bielema’s SEC record was outright terrible, with a 10-24 SEC record, and a 27-29 overall record that included some embarrassing losses, particularly to Toledo. His only positive win percentage with the Hogs was bowl games (2-1).

There were some good wins during Bielema’s time, including shut-outs of ranked opponents LSU and Ole Miss in 2014, and a bowl trouncing of former hated rival Texas in the Texas Bowl in 2014.

But they weren’t enough to paper over the cracks of what was a disappointing reign for a state employee that was being paid $4.1 million by the school as well as having a contract buyout of $5.1 million.

OUR TAKE

If we’re honest, the fact that Arkansas finished bottom of the SEC West behind an Ole Miss team (who it ironically beat!) that had the shadow of NCAA sanctions floating over them and an interim coach, their second straight losing SEC record, and the fact that in Bielema’s time, they couldn’t beat their SEC West rivals very much (they had a 0-5 record against massive rival Texas A&M, which included THREE overtime games in four years, was 0-5 against Alabama, 1-4 against Auburn, 1-4 against Mississippi State and 2-3 against LSU. The only SEC West team Bielema ended having a winning record against was Ole Miss, with a 4-1 record). We all knew (pretty much) that the writing was on the wall for Bielema when Arkansas fired its head coach Jeff Long earlier this year.