SEC Preseason Preview: Can Alabama reload and re-win?

Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer, Ready to reload Alabama? It’s no secret that 2011-2012 National Champions Alabama lost a load of talent to the NFL, but this is Nick Saban. He’s recruiting brilliantly (again), he’s one of the best coaches in the game (name us someone better), and Alabama ought to be OK for the 2012-3 season – which is why they are again one of the favorites to go to the National Title game. LAST SEASON Y’all know what happened last season. Alabama won the National Championship, hammering LSU 21-0. Should they have actually been in the National Championship Game? Well, the argument is is that the Crimson Tide didn’t even get to their Conference Championship Game. The other argument

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SEC Schedule: Top 10 In-Conference Games You MUST watch this season

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

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So now Tyrann Mathieu CAN’T play for LSU again…

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

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Tyrann Mathieu: What happens now?

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

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Quick reflection on SEC Media Days: Why didn’t people mention soft scheduling?

This is going to sound really nasty bearing in mind that this is a blog on the SEC and the fact that we are read by SEC fans, but we’ve been looking for the ‘juiciest’ (trust me, there aren’t very many) quotes from the SEC Media Days, and we struggled to get anything that kept us particularly awake. However, like the ghost that haunts us and never seems to give up, we couldn’t help but think: Why on earth did NO-ONE ask either Commissioner Slive or any of the SEC head coaches about Non-Conference scheduling? Here is why: When the 2014 play-offs come along and the Committee -whoever they might be – are deciding ‘strength of schedule’, they hopefully will

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SEC Media Days: Nick Saban’s best quotes

Nick Saban took the stage at the SEC Media Days in Hoover, Alabama, and his address and answering to subsequent questioning answered everything from the prospect of next season (“challenging”) to the Penn State fiasco (“criminal”). Here are some of his best quotes: On the new team for 2012: “It’s really, really difficult in college football to carry momentum from one season to the next. You lose 25% of your team. That’s an understatement for us. We lost 13 starters from our team last year. And the new 25% that you bring to your team, really they don’t have knowledge and experience, they haven’t played. They’re young players. Maybe very talented players, but they’re very young players.” The new kick-off

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SEC Meetings: What to Expect From Media Days 2-3

A few months after the SEC Meetings in Florida, we’re getting a play-off in college football – and it’s all to the SEC’s advantage, because if that group is going to sit and talk about ALL schedules – not just non-conference schedules – then it’s going to be SEC all the way. So anyway, here’s what we expect the coaches to talk about at the SEC Media Days from now on in (sorry about missing Mssrs Pinkel, Spurrier, Franklin and Sumlin, but we’ve been away (but you will be caught up on what they said). We expect: Nick Saban to talk about Alabama’s recruiting, re-tooling after another National Championship, and of course – as happens every year – oversigning. And how

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Feeling the loss: Key players out on each SEC team

Big-time players have gone from SEC schools around the country. The SEC Football Blog outlines which players are going to be missed the most…. SEC West Alabama Let’s get this straight first and foremost, the loss of most of their defense isn’t going to make life as easy for the Crimson Tide in 2012 and it was in 2011, but the big loss is running back, Heisman contender and bulldozer Trent Richardson, who destroyed the opposition week in, week out. Sure, Ed Lacy’s going to be good – but we’re going to give him a year to be Trent-good, if that’s at all possible. Arkansas  First of all, let us say that the biggest loss isn’t going to be on

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It’s Official: College Football Has Its Play-Off

After 100 years of controversy, College Football at last has its play-offs, starting in 2015, the NCAA has said. The four-team play-off will start in 2015, and the first ‘Final Four’ will be chosen by Selection Commiteee – and teams will be ranked on Win-Loss record, strength of schedule, head-of-head and then if a team is conference champion, USA Today reporter Nicole Auerbach tweeted. She added that the make-up of the selection committee is still to be decided. Virginia Tech president Charles Steger told a press conference: “I am delighted to report our endorsement of a four-team seeded play-off”, and added that they will be taking fan suggestions for a new replacement name for the BCS, which has caused so

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