Auburn 2018 Preview: Can War Eagle fly to the promised land?

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.

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Kentucky 2018 Preview: Will the Wildcats stay middling?

Mark Stoops is under pressure, but a different kind of pressure. Kentucky Football hasn’t had a coach with a winning percentage since Blanton Collier’s seven-year period between 1954 and 1961, but Stoops has led the program to back-to-back winning seasons – the first time that has happened since Rich Brooks had four straight (2006-2009). Now, with the coaching situation in Lexington more settled than most of his competition in the conference, Stoops is expected to step up a little. During SEC Media Days questions were asked about beating Florida – a team that it hasn’t beaten in 31 years, as well as the potential of pressing on from back-to-back 7-6 years. OUTLOOK There’s a lot of love for RB Benny

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Mississippi State 2018 Preview: New coach, new offense?

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

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LSU Preview: Can Ed Orgeron save his job?

Thanks to the firing of 50% of the SEC coaches, Ed Orgeron is on the hottest seat in the SEC. In fact, after a season when LSU was awful offensively, failed to beat Alabama, didn’t even figure in the SEC West AND was upset by Troy to boot, it’s a small miracle that he stayed in Baton Rouge for the 2018 season. Yes, the 9-4 record may have stood out with a 6-2 record in the SEC, but if you look deeply into the season, the Tigers were more unimpressive than impressive all season long – particularly on points-scoring side of the ball. Despite all of this, LSU had seven picks in the 2018 NFL Draft (yes, even Danny Etling was

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SEC Media Days: The important parts

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

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Saban and Smart go head-to-head on transfers

Nick Saban and Kirby Smart have gone head-to-head on transfers at the SEC Spring Meetings this week. The Alabama head coach has long been derided for denying players the right to go where they want – particularly inside the SEC. This year he’s getting the heat for not allowing graduate student (and back-up center) Brandon Kennedy the right to transfer to Auburn or Tennessee. This comes a couple of years after the Maurice Smith debacle, where the SEC eventually had to intervene and let the player transfer to Georgia. Smart wants to do quite the opposite – and let players transfer to whatever school they wish. Typically, Saban shrugged his shoulders during a press conference and said that it is not

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Top 10 SEC Games of 2017

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. 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

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SEC teams and their No.1 overall NFL draft picks

A lot of players who come out of the SEC make good NFL players. Some even make Hall of Fame players. But it’s strange to think that the biggest college football powerhouse in the SEC – Alabama – hasn’t had a No.1 overall draft pick since 1948. So it got us thinking: When was the last time every SEC school had a first overall pick? For some it was very recently (Myles Garrett, Texas A&M 2017), and for some (ie Arkansas, Florida, Missouri), they are still waiting. There are a couple of SEC times who haven’t had one in their history. Then there are some schools who seem to churn them out. So here we go: Alabama: 1948 (Harry Gilmer)

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10 SEC players we can’t wait to see in the NFL

The SEC has been a goldmine for the NFL. Players from all over the South (and Missouri) descend to the Professional-land, and every year, the leagues are stacked. Some are megastars (Odell Beckham Jr, Mark Ingram), some are bit players, but all of them played for the most passionate conference in college football. To off-quote New York: If you can make there, you can make it anywhere. Anyway, the SEC Football Blog has identified 10 players that we can’t wait to tear up the professional leagues – mainly because they are so damned exciting. Oh, and Alabama and Georgia fans: We weren’t going to put all of your players onto this list, so apologies if some of your competitors make

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The SEC produces a lot of NFL WRs and RBs, but why not QBs?

The SEC is going to continue a strong tradition of NFL wideouts come to the 2018 NFL Draft. Calvin Ridley (Alabama), and Christian Kirk (Texas A&M) are both expected to be first or second round picks in April, while it’s expected that there will be takers for DJ Chark (LSU), Antonio Callaway (Florida), JMon Moore (Missouri), Javon Wims (Georgia) and Robert Foster (Alabama). In 2019 the top wide receiver going is probably going to be Ole Miss’ AJ Brown, although Deebo Samuel (South Carolina), Tyrie Cleveland (Florida) and Terry Godwin (Georgia) could also create some noise if their 2018 seasons go as well as they are hoping for. In our opinion, Samuel was a Heisman contender before he got injured against

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