Tag: Nick Saban

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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Alabama boots former four-star linebacker

Alabama has booted sophomore linebacker VanDarius Cowan for a violating team rules. Cowan’s issues included getting arrested for a fight in Tuscaloosa where he punched a 26-year old man in the face, and he was also sidelined from some of Alabama’s Spring Practice for his poor academics – something that’s quite a feat at the 110th university nationally for academics. “VanDarius has been dismissed from the team and is no longer a part of our football program due to a violation of team rules,” Saban said in a statement. “Each of us has a responsibility to represent The University of Alabama in a first-class way, and failure to meet those standards can’t be tolerated. We wish VanDarius the very best

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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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Georgia gives Kirby Smart massive new contract extension

Georgia has given Kirby Smart a massive contract extension following the Dawgs’ SEC Championship-winning season (and heartbreaking play-off loss). Smart will earn $49 million over seven years, making him one of the highest-paid coaches in the SEC, as well as the country. “I’d like to first thank President [Jere] Morehead and athletics director Greg McGarity for allowing me to lead this program,” Smart said in a statement. “I’m humbled by the faith they’ve placed in me and won’t ever take that for granted. I’d also like to thank our staff and our entire football family. Without their hard work and dedication we wouldn’t have been able to have the kind of success we’ve had in such a short period of

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The future doesn’t look good for Jalen Hurts, either way

As much as Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts respects his father Averion, I’m sure there’s a little bit of him that wishes his Dad would have shut up. Jalen Hurts didn’t need his father to tell the world about the man-to-man conversation they had in an interview with Bleacher Report. He certainly didn’t need Averion to repeat the words that he said to Jalen after his awful National Championship Game performance: “You f–ked up, you opened the door and put yourself in this situation…”Now it’s up to you to dig yourself out”. Jalen Hurts certainly didn’t need Averion to practically threaten Alabama head coach Nick Saban LaVar Ball-style with his son’s transfer should he not get the starting job by saying: “My job

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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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