SEC football talk, news and discussion.
Three Auburn players have tested positive for the novel Coronavirus, the school has said. The players – as usual with these cases – have not been named – are isolating themselves from the team. The Auburn news is hardly a surprise in the State of Alabama, which has been furiously opening up. Last week five Alabama players tested positive for COVID-19.
Read moreLSU has hired former St Louis Rams head coach Scott Linehan to be its new passing game coordinator. Linehan will replace Joe Brady, who put together a stunningly brilliant offense, won the SEC and then the National Championship in convincing fashion. Brady is now the offensive coordinator at the Carolina Panthers, where he will work for former Baylor head coach Matt Rhule. Linehan is hardly the young mind that Brady was. He’s had a 30-year career both at NFL and college level Linehan started in 1989 with Idaho before moving onto Washington and Louisville, before he landed a NFL job as OC for the Minnesota Vikings and the Miami Dolphins, before becoming the head coach of the St Louis Rams between
Read moreThe ‘Geaux Tigers’ and ‘Perfect’ newspaper front pages have long been picked up from Bourbon Street. The smell of vomit and stale alcohol still remains, but that’ll be covered up when another big party comes along this weekend. The ladies of the night are all driving Escalades now after the joyful celebrations of the Cajun many, and somewhere a story will emerge that a liver-affected Louisianan did try and hatch out of a plan to, er, visit one of Louisiana’s best-known striped friends to cap off one of the best season’s college football has ever seen. It seemed funny that the headline-stealer for the offseason was not the person who (probably) tried to play Dr Dolittle with Mike, but Odell Beckham
Read moreOn January 13th, 2020, we will see the battle. Shere Khan versus Tigger. One Death Valley against another. A recently-awoken sleeping giant from the State where Laissez Les Bons Temps Roulee isn’t so much a catchphrase as a way of being against the perennial joke that’s now put the joke on others. It’s ACC vs SEC. It’s the battle between two recruiting powerhouses. Two well-liked coaches in Ed Orgeron and Dabo Swinney. Two high-octane offenses, featuring one quarterback who was a pretty much an afterthought this season, but exploded into a Heisman winner, a feature on the front cover of Sports Illustrated, a future Top-5 round pick, and the God of one of the most spellbinding offenses college football has ever seen.
Read moreIn what should be an explosive meeting of minds, Chad Morris is joining Gus Malzahn as offensive coordinator for Auburn. Morris, who was recently ousted as the head coach of Arkansas after 2 horrific years, comes with the reputation of quick-moving, high-scoring offenses – enhanced by years at Clemson where that was the case. He comes after former OC Kelly Dillingham went to Florida State to take up the same position there under new head coach Mike Norvell. For Malzahn, who probably looking for a bit of life in an offense that looked rather listless this season – including a quarterback that went from bad to OK in freshman Bo Nix, this arrival will be well-received by the Auburn faithful.
Read moreFormer Auburn QB Joey Gatewood has transferred to Kentucky. Gatewood left the Tigers in the middle of the season when it became obvious that he wouldn’t overtake Bo Nix in Gus Malzahn’s pecking order – a move that was ridiculed by Auburn Nation (at least until the Tigers beat Alabama last week). He came to The Plains in 2018 as a highly-recruited player, where he totalled 5 touchdowns and over 200 yards in combined passing and rushing. It is expected that junior Lynn Bowden, who has carried the team with 1,235 yards and 11 TDs (including 284 against Louisville) after coverting from the wide receiver spot will return to his original place. Gatewood will challenge Sawyer Smith and Terry Wilson for
Read moreThe Super Bowl 2019 has arrived! Yes, it’s the SEC Championship Game. While it seems a bit of a relief to have someone other than Alabama or Auburn as the SEC West’s representative (LSU is there for the first time since 2011), Georgia seems to be installed in The Big Game, having been there for the last three consecutive years (1-2 record). This year, there’s all to play for. LSU, who are No.2 in the nation behind Ohio State, will definitely go to the College Football Play-Off with a win over Georgia (and probably will get in anyway!), while No. 4 Georgia will definitely get in with a win over LSU, because the Committee are unlikely to jump Utah or
Read moreGet your last dose of jam-packed college football Saturdays this weekend. On your Thursday you can drift into Turkey hell with this year’s Egg Bowl (Ole Miss vs Mississippi State), go to Friday for the ‘Thank God the Season’s Over Bowl’ between Missouri and Arkansas, then refresh again for a Saturday with ‘Good Ole Fashioned Hate’ with Georgia vs Georgia Tech , The Commonwealth Cup (Louisville vs Kentucky) or one of the more underrated hate games in the South, the Clemson vs South Carolina game. Then move onto The Iron Bowl (which you can put on silent because Gary Danielson will be commentating on it), or 30 mins later Tennessee’s continuing story of redemption at Vanderbilt and then end up
Read moreThere was no other headline than this: Missouri got screwed by the NCAA. Despite self-reporting academic cheating to the NCAA because of an academic tutor doing academic work for “12 student athletes”, including completing online coursework that “included assignments, quizzes or exams”. The NCAA added: “She completed an entire course for one student-athlete and completed portions of a placement exam for two student-athletes.” Mizzou was thumped with a bowl ban, three years of probation, a vacation of records in which football, baseball and softball student-athletes competed while ineligible, a 5% reduction in the amount of scholarships in each of the football, baseball and softball programs during the 2019-20 academic year, recruiting restrictions which included a seven-week ban on unofficial visits, a 12.5% reduction
Read moreA few days after he was announced as the head coach of Arizona State, I put a tweet out that basically said how much the hire sucked. I wasn’t the only one. After last Saturday’s stunning win over Oregon, I might well have been wrong. That got me thinking to hirings that have happened in the SEC…..and the bad ones. We’re not going anywhere near Arkansas’ interim coaching hire John L. Smith, because he inherited Bobby Petrino’s trainwreck (or motorcycle wreck) and then Brett Bielema arrived. Every SEC school has had their crappy SEC hires. Some further back in time than others. ALABAMA: Jennings B. Whitworth (1955-57): Although circumstances weren’t great for Whitworth (he came after Harold Drew’s 4-5-2 season,
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