Tag: SEC West

SEC Preview 2014: New coach, New Vanderbilt?

There’s a new era at Vanderbilt. Derek Mason’s replaced James Franklin as the new head coach, and he arrived at the SEC Media Days looking AWESOME in a bow tie (he won the best-dressed contest by some mile). But can Mason’s awesomeness translate into a good Vanderbilt team in 2014?  LAST SEASON Vanderbilt finished with a 9-4 (4-4 SEC) record, which includes wins over Georgia, Florida and Tennessee. They also managed to lose one of the games of the season on Opening Day against Ole Miss (by damn that was a good game!). OFF-SEASON After all the showmanship of head coach James Franklin, you wouldn’t have thought that he was just auctioning for a bigger job. Well, Bill O’Brien left Penn

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2014 SEC Preview: Ole Miss, by damn?

Ole Miss has always been a pretty interesting school. It’s got one of the best tailgates in College Football (although opposing fans insist The Grove’s like a cocktail party you’re not invited to). It’s got ‘The Blind Side’. It’s got previous history we don’t want to go into. And right now, it’s got energy with head coach Hugh Freeze recruiting like a God. But don’t get us wrong – if Freeze loses two straight to Dan Mullen and Mississippi State, he won’t be popular in Oxford… LAST SEASON The end-of-season, 2-overtime loss to Mississippi State stands out as probably the worst loss of Ole Miss’ season, considering they stood out early on with a heart-attack victory at Vanderbilt, a stunning

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2014 SEC Preview: Can Tennessee overcome weakness on the lines?

Let’s be honest: It hasn’t been the greatest few years at Tennessee. The fans on ‘Rocky Top’ haven’t had a winning record since 2009, and one double-digit win season in seven years. In other words, UT fans have spent a lot of time finding game tailgates as a chance to catch up and hate life together. Neyland’s a pretty easy ticket now. Butch Jones coming in last year, though, has threatened to turn things around. Tennessee was perhaps the best 5-7 team in college football, and this year, recruiting’s going well and smiles might just be returning again. LAST SEASON Tennessee had a winning record early on in the season because they beat very substandard competition. And beat ’em well.

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2014 SEC Preview: Is now the time to take Mississippi State seriously?

Everyone seems to be pretty confident in Starkville right now. It must happen when your team expands its stadium, wins their bowl game by 37 (losing me money in the process) and beats Ole Miss in The Egg Bowl. Anyway, Dan Mullen’s chest was very puffed when he walked into SEC Media Days. We’re glad he didn’t come in wearing a visor. Only Steve Spurrier looks cool in one of those. LAST SEASON Is the fact that people are referring to Mississippi State as some sort of SEC dark horse because the Bulldogs beat their biggest rival? Or because they finish the season on a three-game winning streak? Or only lost to Alabama by 13, and Auburn by 4? Or

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2014 SEC Preview: Can Florida rebound from a goddawful 2013?

Florida head coach Will Muschamp knows he’s on the hot seat. Everyone knows he’s on the hot seat. He’s one terrible season from getting his ass booted out of The Swamp, and we all know it. You can blame a lot of things for an awful 2013. You can blame the mound of injuries. His bad offensive co-ordinator. A difficult schedule. Or just simple blame Muschamp, as a lot of people have done.  Anyway, we look ahead to 2014, for what a lot of Gators fans hope will not be a repeat of 2013. If it is, then The Swamp will be less full of Gators than full of wide, open spaces…. LAST SEASON Before we start on last season’s

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SEC Preview 2014: Can Leonard Fournette and LSU’s young talent bring them unexpected glory?

Stop if you’ve heard this before: LSU was ravaged by NFL Draft in 2013, and was ravaged by the NFL Draft in 2014. Les Miles lost NINE players for the 2013 season to the NFL Draft, and lost a further NINE to the 2014 Draft. And there were others who left for the NFL Draft and didn’t find a suitor because they had such an overrated and crappy 2013 (we see you, Anthony ‘The Freak’ Johnson!). Anyway, Les Miles has had to reload yet again. So what’s going to happen in 2014? Probably something crazy. LAST SEASON With your head coach being bats*** crazy (remember, this was a guy who let his TEAM vote on whether they wanted to keep

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SEC Preview 14: Gurley to New York, Georgia to Atlanta?

Aaron Murray’s graduation is going to leave a monstrous hole at QB for the Georgia Bulldogs. But all new QB Hutson Mason may have to do is hand the ball off to Heisman contender Todd Gurley, and the Dawgs – armed with a strong linebacking corps, could be in the mix for a trip to Atlanta as SEC East Champion LAST SEASON The biggest highlight of Georgia’s season was the secondary’s screw-up of a pretty easy knock-down/interception to gift Auburn a victory in a titanic battle. Of course, the decision of Lee Corso to pick LSU instead of UGA in Athens ‘led’ the Dawgs to victory in one of the games of the season, and Georgia beat Florida and South

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2014 SEC Preview: Where is Texas A&M going to be without Johnny Football?

The last two years in Texas A&M history haven’t been the most successful, but hell, they’ve been the most fun. That’s because Johnny Manziel was there, tearing up the SEC, stealing the headlines, winning a Heisman, and giving heart attacks to every head coach and defensive co-ordinator he faced. He made head coach Kevin Sumlin into a God and himself into a NFL first-rounder. Well, he’s gone now, and we see what A&M’s going to do in 2014 without him. LAST SEASON While the Johnny Football offense continued to be fun (5th in the country in scoring) and tight, the defense really wasn’t. We’d dare to say that if it wasn’t for Johnny Manziel and Mike Evans’ heroics, Texas A&M probably

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2014 SEC Preview: Can South Carolina FINALLY win a SEC title?

Despite all the talk that comes out of Steve Spurrier’s mouth, there one thing that’s for certain about his South Carolina Gamecocks: They’ve never won a SEC title under him. Sure, they went there in 2010. But they lost, and despite Spurrier’s annoyance at the schedule, they haven’t been back since.  But this year the Gamecocks are favored for the SEC East. Can they make it? LAST YEAR Despite the excellence of QB Connor Shaw and RB Mike Davis, the whole of the 2013 season was really about one player: Jadeveon Clowney. If there was another player in the game who’s name wasn’t Johnny Manziel who was more focused-on than Clowney, we’d like to know who it was. It never

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Georgia D-Lineman arrested: Dismissal pending?

Georgia starting defensive tackle Jonathan Taylor has been arrested on a felony charge of aggravated assault. Taylor – who was part of the group who arrested and charged with ‘theft by deception’ for depositing his stipends twice – was jailed early this morning after allegedly strangling a woman in his college dorm room. According to the Athens Banner-Herald, “There was evidence that the female victim had been “possibly strangled by the offender,” in the incident in Taylor’s dorm room….There was evidence that the victim and another individual had been involved in an argument in McWhorter Hall, police said. Officers determined an established relationship and “co-habitation” with Taylor and the victim…” “There were visible signs of injuries around her neck”, police

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