OK, we failed to produce a prediction for Week 3 due to ‘technical difficulties’ (we stupidly forgot to press the ‘post’ button), so here were our predictions.

We said Auburn would beat LSU by 7. We said Alabama would beat Ole Miss by 21. We said Notre Dame would beat Vandy by 10. We said Missouri would beat Purdue 31-17. We thought Arkansas would be North Texas by 10, and Florida beating Colorado State by 24. We had Texas A&M, Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky waltzing away.

Straight up, we went 9-2. Against the spread, it was a little uglier.

Anyway, here we go after the mass celebrations in Baton Rouge and, er, Denton, TX (HOW ABOUT THAT TRICK PLAY?), here’s who we were impressed with after Week 3.

1. LSU: Another year, another crazy game against Auburn. The Tigers won out on a game-winning field goal, and although Auburn fans were enraged over a few pass interference plays, we think it was more due to the fact that their team couldn’t run on LSU’s defense, and Jarrett Stidham didn’t have his greatest day. Anyway, credit to Joe Burrow for the last drive – even though he wasn’t his best – and LSU’s defense looks beastly.
2. Alabama: The team’s they have faced may have been pretty ordinary, but Alabama’s racking up the points and looking fantastic all over the field. They took advantage of Ole Miss’ frailties and stopped the scoring machine. This team looks like the 2019 National Champion.
3. Vanderbilt: DEREK MASON DOESN’T WANT YOUR CHARITY. HE DOESN’T WANT YOU SAYING HOW WELL HIS TEAM PLAYED IN A LOSS. OK, Derek. But can we say that that if Vandy had executed properly the Commodores would have taken Notre Dame’s scalp back to Nashville?
4. Kentucky: The Wildcats are 3-0, and they are looking good, folks. And we’re not even comparing them to how bad the rest of the SEC East is yet, folks.
5. Georgia: In between playing to two powder-puff teams in Week 1 and Week 3 (this week’s the Bulldogs dismantled MTSU), Georgia ploughed South Carolina on the road. You might as well give them the SEC East title now, and the SEC Championship will be one hell of a game.
6. Mississippi State: Things keep on rolling under Joe Moorhead, and people are saying: “Wow, that Joe Moorhead’s a pretty good head coach”. Let’s not forget that he’s been a head coach before, so he’s used to dealing with egos (yes, it was only Fordham, but still). MSU’s is fun as hell to watch, too – as shown by the 56-10 wasting of ULL.
7. Auburn: We don’t understand why Gus Malzahn didn’t continue the ‘speed offense’ when the Tigers had the lead against LSU. It’s as though Malzahn WANTED to keep it close. I just don’t get it. On the other side, the defense is still looking strong – although the secondary could do with some work. Sorry boys, the refs got it right on Saturday.
8. Texas A&M: Dismissed Lousiana-Monroe easily, doing it through the air and on the ground. This team could give Alabama some problems this weekend….maybe.
9. Missouri: If you listen to the excellent Missouri podcast Mizzodcast, which seems to spend its time giving Barrett Sallee and the state of Kansas non-stop crap, you’ll know Missouri was awful in victory against Purdue. There is no trust for the secondary or the D-Line – especially when their best team is getting double-teamed. And the tide’s turning about OC Derek Dooley, too. Which doesn’t bode well for upcoming games against Georgia and Alabama, does it?
10. Florida: I don’t know if I should start to ‘buy into’ Florida’s offense after the Gators dismantled Colorado State, or dismiss it as a fluke after the home loss by Kentucky (or give the Wildcats either). While we won’t see how good the Gators are really until they play South Carolina, Georgia or LSU, we might see a glimpse against Tennessee.
11. Tennessee: The Vols are 2-1. So thanks, powderpuff teams who showed up to get thrashed. Next stop: Florida.
12. South Carolina: Got defeated by Hurricane Florence. So that’s the Dawgs and the wind that’s beaten the Gamecocks this season. FIRE WILL MUSCHAMP ALREADY!
13. Ole Miss: The defense is terrible, terrible, terrible. And when the offense doesn’t click, the Rebels are so freaking bad.
14. Arkansas: Getting crushed at home to North Texas isn’t a good look. Send ’em back to the Big XII. We’ll swap ’em for Texas, meaning we can get THAT rivalry back. Chad Morris seat isn’t remotely hot right now, but the locals are getting annoyed.

I know, it’s Wednesday and there’s already a college football game on Thursday, and we haven’t really got ourselves together to write our ‘Impressed/Depressed’ list.

That’s because half of this writer was doing other things, and half of this writer was asking himself: “What in the hell happened to Florida?”

Anyway, let’s get to the list. And congratulations to Mark Stoops and Kentucky for getting a giant-sized Gator off your back.

1. Kentucky: I would have killed to be a Kentucky fan in Gainseville on Saturday. Before the game I would have been given non-stop crap by full-grown men in jorts about how the Wildcats would ‘always’ be Gator bait. In the game a group of people – probably in jorts – would have turned to me and given me the Gator Chomp over and over again. Just to bug the crap out of me. And then we see our team win 27-16 in there, and the same dude in jorts who gave you crap all day is sitting there, wondering what the hell happened. 31-year STREAK’S OVER, BABY! (Oh, and Benny Snell’s a pretty good running back).
2. Texas A&M: We didn’t think they’d keep it particularly close against Clemson, but in the end, it came down a 2-pt conversion that didn’t take off. Everyone after the game wasn’t talking about Clemson, they were talking about Kellen Mond, who gave the Tiger defense hell through his legs. This Texas A&M will cause some worries for defenses this year.
3. Georgia: OK folks, I thought this showdown on CBS with South Carolina would be close. After the Dawgs walked away in the 3rd quarter, I turned it off and watched the ending of the Colorado vs Nebraska game, which was far more entertaining. What was so good about Georgia was although the game was pretty tight in the first half, the Dawgs always looked capable of hitting another gear. Carolina, not so much? There is only one winner in the SEC East, and it ain’t gonna come from Columbia.
4. Mississippi State: Over the years Manhattan, KS hasn’t been an easy place to play for big-time opponents, but MSU trucked the Wildcats, with Nick Fitzgerald coming through nicely. Kylin Hill’s a damned good running back, too.
5. Vanderbilt: We didn’t think Vandy would impress this much in the first two weeks of the year….but they did. We’re under no illusion that they’ll do well in South Bend next week, but Derek Mason’s decision NOT to coach the offense seems to be paying off.
6. Alabama: Arkansas State is actually a pretty good FCS team. Alabama is a really, really good FBS team. And that’s why Alabama beat the crap out of them. The Tide look absolutely unstoppable right now.
7. Missouri: The Tigers weren’t great in the first half, but were really great in the second. Emmanuel Hall is flat-out a better wide receiver than J’Mon Moore, who was meant to be missed this season. Right now Moore isn’t even surfing the bench in Green Bay. If Drew Lock can continue to hit his weapons, Missouri could make a shout in the SEC East.
8. Ole Miss’ OFFENSE: We love it! Can’t wait to see it on Saturday against Alabama!
9. Tennessee: Congrats to Jeremy Pruitt on getting your first win as a head coach.
10. LSU: WE JUS’ LOOKIN’ FORWARD TO THA’ AWWWBURRRN GAME THIS WEEK. GO TIGAHS! – ED ORGERON
11. Auburn: WE JUST LOOKING FORWARD TO THE LSU GAME THIS WEEK.  – GUS MALZAHN
12. South Carolina: When the only way to beat a really, really good team is to run an offense fast and you don’t do it, you’re going to get slaughtered. And South Carolina got slaughtered. At home.
13. Florida: For some reason the Gators were given a No.25 spot against a win against nobody in Week 1. They were awful against Kentucky, and deserved to lose. Maybe Dan Mullen might have to wait a year.
14. Arkansas: I’M SORRY TO ANYONE WHO PUT THEIR HOUSE AND KIDS ON ARKANSAS BEATING THE SPREAD AT COLORADO STATE. I HAD NO IDEA HOW BAD THE RAZORBACKS STILL ARE. I AM SO SORRY.
15. Ole Miss’ DEFENSE: Oh. Dear. Lord.

This weekend, the whole country is going to be concentrating on the Great State of South Carolina.

At 3.30pm the Devils from Georgia will roll into Columbia, and we’ll have to hear some terrible EDM music, and people will be screaming and whirling towels. And it will be noisy. Because Williams-Brice is noisy. CBS will be showing it, so you can always watch it on silent if you don’t like the commentators.

Then at 7pm Clemson rolls into Kyle Field to play the 12th Man, Jimbo’s friend and benefactor, and dog-worshippers Texas A&M who had a double-whammy last week when it beat Northwestern State and a couple of days later got to laugh at Texas losing to Maryland (and got to make lots of strip club jokes at the same time). The scene in College Station should be rocking pretty early with College Gameday on the scene, which undoubtedly will show you shots of the previous day’s ‘Midnight Yell. Oh, and the No.2 team in the country is coming to town.

Anyway, here are the games from the SEC in terms of interest for us:

1. Georgia (-10) at South Carolina: For some reason, everyone’s up on Will Muschamp and his Gamecocks. They love Jake Bentley and quite rightly love Deebo Samuel. Georgia rolls into Williams-Brice for its first real game of the season, so we don’t know what really to expect, apart from some efficient quarterbacking from Jake Fromme, and a hell of a lot of talent. This should be fun. And noisy. And the game that will decide the SEC East (probably). PREDICTION: Georgia to win by 7 in one of the best games there will be this year. 
2. Clemson (-12) at Texas A&M: For the life of me I can’t work out why Texas A&M is a 12-point underdog at home. Is A&M simply that bad? Listen, Clemson’s defense is for real.We know that. They’ve got four potential NFL first-rounders on that defensive line, but offensively, is Kelly Bryant really that good? And will the offense be able to adjust with having two QBs playing (Trevor Lawrence in the other guy (he’s quite good, actually). For A&M, we expect Kellen Mond to cause Clemson some problems with his feet, but it’s going to be all about the Aggies offensive line. PREDICTION: Clemson to shade it by 6. 
3. Kentucky at Florida (-14): Kentucky stunk it out in its win against Directional Michigan, throwing up four first half turnovers in the process. Florida beat Charleston Southern and is on its way to a National Championship. Seriously though, Kentucky stunk it out for a half and got its act together, and Florida probably isn’t going to a National Championship this year. We do, however expect them to beat Kentucky for 96th time in a row. PREDICTION: Chomped in The Swamp. Florida by 18.
4. Arkansas (-13) at Colorado State: This game interests me more than the Kansas State simply for the betting perspective. I can’t for the life of me understand why Arkansas is only a 13-point favourite over a Colorado State that has sucked for the best part of two games. The Rams have given up 88 points in its last two games, and an average of 606 yards/game. PREDICTION: Arkansas by 24. 
5. Mississippi State (-9.5) at Kansas State: While Mississippi State was rolling in its first game of the year, Kansas State was struggling with South Dakota. Both are 1-0, but the Bulldogs will be more rested when they roll into THE FAKE MANHATTAN (which is occupied by a wizardy type called Bill Snyder). And to make things happier for KSU, Nick Fitzgerald’s back with a point to prove. PREDICTION: Mississippi State by 14. Easy. 
6. Nevada at Vanderbilt (-9): Vandy’s win wasn’t so much impressive from the point of view how much they mashed the spread, but for the fact that the Commodores looked very decent indeed. This week, it’s Nevada, who dropped 72 over lowly Portland State. The amazingly named Ty Gangi (Potheads on campus have already said: “How high will he go?”) might give Vandy a few fits early on, but we expect Derek Mason, and his own QB Kyle Shurmur to be fine. PREDICTION: Vandy by 14. 
7. Wyoming at Missouri (-17.5): Wyoming can’t stop the pass. We know this because Bombers are averaging 213.5 yards/game on its secondary. This week Wyoming also faces bombers, in the face of Drew Lock, and his WR corps led by Emmanuel Hall. The X-Factor? The weather. It’s meant to be terrible that night. PREDICTION: Regardless of the crappy weather predicted, this will be ugly. Missouri by 21. 
8. Arkansas State vs Alabama (-36.5): If there are any Alabama fans telling us how we should respect the Red Wolves, then please feel free to slap them in the face and say: “WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?” Prediction: Roll Bama Roll. By 48. 
9. Southern Illinois vs Ole Miss: Last week Southern Illinois scored 21 points from turnovers, so the Rebels will want to watch out for that. But saying that, this ain’t Murray State. Ole Miss – with the best WRing corps in the nation – is going to be a lot of fun to watch this season, y’all. PREDICTION: Ole Miss by 38. 
10. SE Louisiana vs LSU: If there are any LSU fans telling us how we should “respect the Lions”, then please feel free to slap them in the face and say: “WHAT ARE YOU SAYING? HOW MUCH BOURBON HAVE YOU HAD? IT’S ONLY 10AM?” PREDICTION: Grrr (for 1 quarter)….Snooore (for 3 quarters). LSU by 52. 
11. ETSU vs Tennessee: The good news for UT fans? The Vols played well for a half against West Virginia. Unfortunately, the Mountaineers coasted afterwards. Against ETSU we should see Jeremy Pruitt comfortably pick up his first victory as a head coach. PREDICTION: Tennessee by 48
12. Alabama State vs Auburn: This won’t be a let-down spot after the Tigers’ streetfight of a victory over Washington on Saturday. This won’t even be a game. Fun fact though: Alabama State beat a D-II school we’ve never heard of in overtime last week ((Tuskegee).  PREDICTION: Auburn by 60. 

Right, it’s our annual hot seat conversation, in which we rank which SEC coach is on the hot seat at the start of the year.

1. Ed Orgeron (LSU): ‘Coach O’ is beloved by his players, but his 15-6 record in Baton Rouge isn’t great, the Tigers have finished 2nd and then 3rd in the conference. If LSU fails to beat Alabama again (they haven’t beaten the Tide since 2011) there’s another major loss like they did to Troy, and seriously underperform with the talent that they have, then the tongues will be wagging. Having said that, if the Tigers fail to beat Miami on Monday night, then the knives could start getting pulled.
2. Barry Odom (Missouri): Missouri’s defense was so awful in the first half of the year that Odom needed to pull out a sermon in an effort to stand up for his team. And then good things happened. His SEC opponents fell to pieces, and Odom got his team to a bowl game. But if Missouri struggles this year, Odom might be out.
3. Derek Mason (Vanderbilt): There is no question Mason is likeable and a motivator. The problem Mason has is that he’s following on from an excellent coach in James Franklin, and he’s not getting the talent that his predecessor brought in. His 6-26 SEC record (and 18-31 overall record) hasn’t helped, either. Vanderbilt’s not exactly a prized job, but with the ESPN money, it’s certainly got cash.
4. Matt Luke (Ole Miss): We get that Luke was thrown into the fire after the different actions of Hugh Freeze, but if Ole Miss has a bad year, then he’ll be looking over his shoulder for a replacement. You know, because someone might actually want the job in 2019. 
5. Will Muschamp (South Carolina): Expectancy is high this year for Carolina to ‘do something’ in the SEC East. If they were to falter (ie lose to ‘lower grade’ SEC opponents like Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky or – shock horror – Vanderbilt), then the hatred that Muschamp faced at Florida will resurface. You know, because SEC.
6. Mark Stoops (Kentucky): Kentucky football fans are beginning to expect more and Stoops is underdelivering most of the time….including a horror-show loss to Florida. Anyway, Stoops talks a good game, but if he doesn’t deliver, then again, he could be seeing his ass get slightly warmer.
7. Gus Malzahn (Auburn): Yes, he signed a seven-year contract, but Auburn fans are crazy and they thirst for the success that their cross-state neighbors have. If Auburn falters (despite losing a lot of talent) and gets swept by Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Washington and even Mississippi State, then the seat WILL get hotter.
8. Jeremy Pruitt (Tennessee): Tennessee fans are crazy in the fact that every time someone comes after Philip Fulmer (who they ran out of town), they expect a return to the days of Peyton Manning and National Championships. So if Pruitt looks clueless (regardless of whether it’s his first job in charge), there will be questions asked. A lot of them.
9. Dan Mullen (Florida): For a very long time, Florida has had a lot of talent but hasn’t had the level of coaching since Urban Meyer left. Unfortunately, Florida has also been a crapshow in terms of player discipline. If Mullen loses AND his players can’t keep out of jail (campus or otherwise), then he’s got a problem.
10. Chad Morris (Arkansas): Er, because Arkansas fans are fed up of losing to Texas A&M and Alabama, and crappy non-conference teams. Bret Bielema managed to do all three. And if Morris doesn’t do better, then…
11. Jimbo Fisher (Texas A&M): Money ain’t nuthin’ if you aren’t winnin’ that SEC West, boss.
12. Nick Saban (Alabama): IF Y’ALL DON’T WIN A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP AND YOU LOSE TO THOSE PEOPLE AT AUBURN AGAIN, YOU’RE A CRAPPY COACH. GET OUT!  – Unreasonable Alabama fan with short memory.
13. Kirby Smart (Georgia): BECAUSE WE HIRED YOU TO WIN A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP, MAN! IF YOU DON’T DO THAT WE’RE GOING TO TAKE AWAY YOUR SEASON TICKET TO THE CHEETAH! – Unreasonable Georgia megabooster.
14. Joe Moorhead (Mississippi State): Despite people saying that Mississippi State is one of the most dangerous teams in the SEC, we don’t believe that Cowbell Nation has that level of expectation. There’s also added bonus points for the fact that he suspended QB Nick Fitzgerald for violating team rules. It’s not every day that a first-year coach suspends his star quarterback.

Georgia and Alabama both had something in common when they played the National Championship Game last season: They were both comprehensively beaten by Auburn. There is an argument that the Tigers could have won the SEC Championship Game if running back star Kerryon Johnson – who had ripped the Dawgs apart in the win at Jordan-Hare – hadn’t been hurt. With the team obviously deflated, the season finale bowl loss to UCF wasn’t pleasant for Gus Malzahn, either.

Anyway, it’s 2018 now, and Johnson gone, but QB Jarrett Stidham is staying.

As seeems usual on the plains, it should be an interesting season…

OFFENSE

As mentioned ad infinitum, Stidham got engaged this summer and took part in a camp or two. His first year went down a storm on the plains, where he threw for 3,158 yards, 18 TDs and 6 INTs. It’s widely expected he’ll have the same sort of year, with the potential of a Heisman thrown in.

He’s going to have top WR Eli Stove (815 yards, 5 TDs) and Darius Slayton (643 yards, 5 TDs, 22.2 yds/catch) back, and Will Hastings (525 yards, 4 TDs) should return by midseason after knee surgery. Four-star frosh WR Seth Williams, who had offers from Alabama, Georgia as well as a host of other SEC schools could also be fun to watch.

Running backs-wise, there’s no question they’ll miss Johnson, who ran for 1,391 yards and 18 TDs. Kam Martin (453 yards, 2 TDs) is predicted to get the starting job, although it’ll be a bit of a mess behind  him, with freshman JaTarvious Whitlow, Asa Martin, Chandler Cox, Malik Miller and Shaun Shivers all battling it out for time. We’re not sure it’s a ‘wealth of options’ for Malzahn, but it’s not the worst.

DEFENSE

Auburn’s going to bring back one hell of a defensive front this year, with Derrick Brown, Dontavius Russell and Marlon Davidson all back. LB DeShaun Davis, who led the team in tackles (82) last year is also back alongside Darrell Williams, but top sack machine Jeff Holland (9) is gone for a pro career with Denver.

We’re not convinced how the Tigers will do with balls thrown over the top – they are going to be reliant on Javaris Davis and Jamel Dean, with Noah Igbinoghene expected to take up some of the workload.

But we would beg offenses not to run on the Tigers, because they probably won’t go anywhere.

SCHEDULE

Sept. 1 vs. Washington (in Atlanta)
Sept. 8 Alabama State
Sept. 15 LSU
Sept. 22 Arkansas
Sept. 29 Southern Miss
Oct. 6 at Mississippi State
Oct. 13 Tennessee
Oct. 20 at Ole Miss
Oct. 27 OPEN DATE
Nov. 3 Texas A&M
Nov. 10 at Georgia
Nov. 17 Liberty
Nov. 24 at Alabama

This is one of the toughest schedules in the country. This team could quite easily go 10-2, or just as easily 7-5. Please people, name me an easy game out of Washington, LSU, a trip to  CowbelLand against Mississippi State and battles against Alabama and Georgia…both of their turf. We envision the Tigers taking wins against Washington, LSU and Mississippi State – albeit in tightly-fought games, before losing to the Dawgs and Crimson Tide. But as we’ve seen so many times with Auburn – one of the most entertaining teams in the country on its game – and those ancient clashes, anything could happen. And probably will. But if the Tigers end up 7-5, will Gus Malzahn’s name will be on the chopping block? We don’t suspect so. But then again, weird things happen on the plains.

If you’re a fan of offense, then Mississippi State got one of the hires of the season when they brought in Penn State offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead to replace Dan Mullen as its new head coach.

When he was in Happy Valley, he made Saquon Barkley a top-five NFL draft pick, Trace McSorley one of the best quarterbacks in college football, and a juggernaut, lightning-quick offense that jumped from 42nd to 19th from 2016 to 2017, and ranked 12th against conference in touchdowns.

Moorhead immediately comes across as a pretty affable guy – something that we’ll find interesting how this translates to the cowbells and stress that comes with a SEC job. It might not be his first job (before he got the PSU job he was the head coach at Fordham).

Anyway, this season the SEC Media types project MSU to be the third-best team in the SEC West. But will they threaten the Auburns and Alabamas to be even better than that?

OFFENSE

As we may have mentioned a little bit, Joe Moorhead’s good at firing up his offense. And while last year his weapon was McSorley, this year’s weapon is as good on the ground as in the air too in Nick Fitzgerald. But while McSorley’s been nicknamed as a magician making plays from nothing, Fitzgerald’s your Ben Roethlisberger-type who can smash his way through defensive lines. Oh, and he’s got a cannon of an arm to boot, too. Before he was injured against Ole Miss, he passed for 1,782 yards, 15 TDs and 11 INTs and rushed for 984 yards and 14 more.

The great thing for Fitzgerald and Moorhead is that 9 offensive players and 8 defensive players will come back to Starkville. This will include RB Aeris Williams, who ran for 1,106 yards and 6 TDs. However, any idea Moorhead has of hitting big-time wide receivers seems to have fallen a little out of the way after Reggie Todd was suspended for the whole season after he was arrested for simple battery, although Jesse Jackson, Jordan Thomas and Deddrick Thomas will lead the way. But make no mistakes – this will be a run-first offense.

Helping the run-first offense will be an experienced O-Line, although there will be a huge gap to fill now that Martinas Rankin has gone to the NFL. 6-8 monster Greg Eiland will be expected to fill Rankin’s place.

DEFENSE

Last U star Chauncey Rivers has arrived on campus a monster JUCO DE and if he stays on the right side of ‘good’ academically eligible, then he’ll be another fascinating piece to a deep DE rotation that includes Marquiss Spencer, Kobe Jones and Fletcher Adams.

Secondary-wise, defensive backs Mark McLaurin and Jonathan Abram can both PLAY, but our question is this: If McLaurin is left alone, how will the rest of the secondary cope with the pressure? Cameron Dantzler will try to answer.

SCHEDULE

Sept. 1 Stephen F. Austin
Sept. 8 at Kansas State
Sept. 15 Louisiana-Lafayette
Sept. 22 at Kentucky
Sept. 29 Florida
Oct. 6 Auburn
Oct. 13 OPEN DATE
Oct. 20 at LSU
Oct. 27 Texas A&M
Nov. 3 Louisiana Tech
Nov. 10 at Alabama
Nov. 17 Arkansas
Nov. 22 at Ole Miss

It’s probable that Mississippi State will come out of the blocks with five straight wins over Stephen F Austin, Kansas State, Louisiaina-Lafayette, Kentucky and Florida. They’ll certainly be favoured. We think they’ll lose their next two games against Auburn and at LSU, and then beat Texas A&M to become bowl-eligible and then Louisiana Tech to continue the run. They will then lose at Alabama by two touchdowns before bouncing back for back-to-back wins over Arkansas and in the all-important Egg Bowl.

PREDICTION: 9-3. A strong start to Joe Moorhead’s first season. 

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).

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

Of course, the SEC regulars were there. Bespeckled SEC homer Paul Finebaum, fresh from a re-up in his contract after his agent started rumors that he was moving to Fox Sports was there, running everything for the SEC Network. We still ask where Phyllis was. Sadly, Tim Tebow didn’t show up. He’s still chasing a major league baseball future.

REACTIONS FROM THE BLEACHERS

• VANDERBILT WON THE SEC MEDIA DAY. Why? Because Derek Mason was frickin’ Braveheart. From basically telling the critics to go **** themselves (“There’s been media out there that spoke to the idea that our game is one to be overlooked, watch out” to saying: ” I’m telling you right now, this team is going to show up. We’re going to play well. We are going come out the blocks and play the way we need to, and we’re going to finish this the way we should.” He also said **** you to Notre Dame, courtesy of the SEC (“We play in the SEC. I don’t worry about going to South Bend”).
• Will Muschamp was funny. You get added points for comedy by saying the media was “looking rough”. He was the last coach on the podium for the second year running was about right,and most of us (the journalists and those – like me – watching from their TVs) needed smelling salts by Wednesday afternoon. I mean, did we have to hear the word “excited” one more damned time? Oh, and he managed this little mic-drop about Kirby Smart. “Kirby wanted more vacation, maybe work on his basketball game because he never beet me at Valdosta State. So I switched with him, just trying to be a good teammate.”
• Jimbo Fisher gave his usual pitter-patter of nothing, told everyone how sad it was that he left Florida State, and didn’t mention the $75 million reasons why. He also didn’t say: “Why in the hell did those Aggies give me a National Championship plaque with an empty date on it? Can’t they see who I’m coaching against in the West?”
• Matt Luke took time away from Atlanta’s vaunted strip club game to give the press their time. But didn’t mention it, sadly.
• Mississippi State’s new head coach Joe Moorhead compared the media fracas to his times in the Patriot League. “Not to take away from Patriot League Media Day, which was held at Green Pond Country Club in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania certainly this is a little larger in scope and significance”. He also added this about Nick Saban: “When I saw the list earlier in the spring and saw I was speaking on the same day as Coach Saban, I was a little worried I was going to have to go after him. It would be like taking the stage and performing after the Beatles and no one is going to be in their seats and paying attention to what you’re doing.” And he didn’t make jokes about financial gifts, either.

SABANTICS

Saban himself – Controller of the SEC, College Football and enforcer of good media behaviour under threat of banishment – and Gus Malzahn made their usual sermons about wanting to play only a Power-5 schedule. This time, Saban was talking about the fans. “I think we need to get — have more really, really good games on TV for the players. We can’t have fans who pay a lot of money for tickets and boxes and loges who support our programs to pay for games that no one is interested in watching.”

We were a little bit annoyed that no-one had the temerity to ask God this question: “So Mr Saban, you talk about the importance of the fans who pay a lot of money for tickets and boxes and loges who support your programs. Would you mind telling us why Alabama’s best regular season game seems to always be played outside Tuscaloosa? The last big non-conference home game the Crimson Tide had was in 2011 against Penn State. They haven’t scheduled a big non-conference home game since. Auburn has entertained Clemson.

It’s strange, because every SEC Media Day Nick Saban has got a sermon to give about something, yet no-one challenges him on this. Could it be that he will scream: “I hate you!” and throw fire from the podium? We think so.

PLAYERS GONNA PLAY

• As usual, no-one seemed to want to select their starting quarterbacks unless it was in place (and no, Saban still doesn’t have any idea who his will be) – although Ed Orgeron (from what we could understand) did seem to lean towards Joe Burrow in some of the stuff he said. Malzahn and Missouri’s Barry Odom said nice things about Jarrett Stidham and Drew Lock respectively. Apparently Stidham recently got engaged to a possible future millionairess, while Lock is going to marry someone who’s not going to have to work again, either. “We need him to play well,” said Odom, matter-of-factly. But then again, Odom could probably do with some defense, too.
• For player PR, you gotta give it to Kentucky’s Mark Stoops. Not only did he manage to skillfully avoid (OK, so he didn’t get asked the question: “HOW IN THE HELL WERE THERE ONLY 9 PLAYERS ON THE FIELD IN THE LAST SECOND AGAINST FLORIDA, AND WHY DIDN’T YOU CASTRATE YOUR DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR THERE AND THEN?), but he managed to pour love onto Benny Snell….something that we think a lot of people will do come the end of the season.
• And for coaches PRing each other, we’ll go with Georgia’s Kirby Smart: “You know, I think you always learn. I learned that from the best. Whether it was Coach Bowden, Coach Richt or Coach Saban that you’re always learning as a coach. When you’re green, you grow. When you’re ripe, you’re ripe.”

THREE QUICK RIVALRY POINTS 

1. Kentucky can’t get over the hump against Florida, and Stoops got asked questions about it (Florida has won 31 straight).
2. Every SEC West coach apart from Mr Alabama seemingly got a question about beating Alabama.
3. Chad Morris said that Arkansas’ biggest rival was the team itself. He’s obviously watched a lot of team tapes over the summer!

A COUPLE OF THINGS WE NEVER KNEW ABOUT

1. Jeremy Pruitt took Kirby Smart’s pregnant wife to the hospital as she started contractions when they were both working in Tuscaloosa. Jeremy had to tell the nurses he wasn’t the father.
2. Nick Saban runs a basketball league, played by his rules. He had an unbeaten season in 2017, by the way. We would kill to see him get postarised, but the postariser might go missing in suspicious circumstances.
3. Dan Mullen‘s loving his shoes.

Anyway, SEC Media Days are out, school’s out, and me, Kirby, Nick, Paul and Will are in a rush get to the Clermont Lounge. If you want to get an interview about crushed beer cans, that’s the place to be. See you there, SEC fans.

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 came at the cost of one athletic director and a lot of red faces in Knoxville. A lot of Volunteers fans were the butt of jokes about the social media. And then Tennessee hired a former head coach as an AD, and within a few days, the school had installed a new coach from hated rival Alabama – defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt.

While details on Pruitt’s contract are not known, Pruitt was hired over Georgia defensive coordinator Mel Tucker and Auburn defensive coordinator Kevin Steele. All three had done fantastic jobs at their respective schools this season.

Of course, the hiring of Pruitt did not come without its controversy. Apparently Jimmy Haslem, the school’s powerhouse booster, wanted Tucker for the job, but Philip Fulmer – who was driven out in 2008 for not taking the Vols to the heights he took them in 1998 when he won Knoxville a National Championship – would have none of it. He plumped for Pruitt.

It’s hard to argue with Pruitt when it comes to his defensive numbers. Pruitt’s one of the best – if not the best – defensive coordinator in college football.

Working under Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher at Alabama and at Florida State before that (with a trip under Mark Richt at Georgia in between), Pruitt’s defenses were always in the top five in their respective seasons. The amount of defensive players who have left Alabama and Florida State after playing for him is staggering.

Pruitt is also seen as a fantastic recruiter, and with the name Alabama, Florida State and Georgia carried he was able to get talent from all over the country.

What’s interesting about Pruitt’s resume is that he’s never stayed anywhere for very long. He’s had five jobs at big schools (Alabama/Florida State/Georgia/back to Alabama) in 10 years. We don’t know whether that was his own hot feet or whether it was created by Jimmy Sexton, his agent who is renowned for placing his head coaches and their assistants in well-paying jobs.

It’ll be interesting if he’s loyal to Tennessee – or the people in Knoxville are that loyal to him.

This season he’s got quite the turnaround to do, with home games against Alabama as well as Florida (who will almost certainly be revitalised under head coach Dan Mullen), and evil road games at Auburn and Georgia. He also opens his Tennessee career with a tricky opening game against West Virginia in Charlotte. He’ll be happy it wasn’t Morgantown.

BOTTOM LINE: Despite all the stumbling around, Tennessee has made a fantastic hire on paper in Jeremy Pruitt. He knows the area, he’s a fantastic career, and he also knows the SEC as well as anyone in college football. Having said that, Tennessee’s schedule is hardly easy, so a bowl game would be a success for the Vols in 2018.