Great year for Mississippi State ends with Bowl Victory

No program in the SEC made more progress this year than Mississippi State. Sylvester Croom has taken this consistent cellar dweller to Bowl game winner. The 2007 coach of the year has proven that he belongs in the fraternity of SEC coaches. The Sylvester Croom story is a great story and one that the national media is beginning to rally around. If Croom improves on his 2007 season next year expect him to be mentioned as a candidate for most of the big name program openings as well. He became a star in the SEC this year and will probably become a national star next year.

The Mississippi State boosters should start to begin raising money for their newly beloved coach because sooner rather than later he will fetch top dollar from other programs wanting to move from cellar dweller to Bowl winner. This time next year Miss State will probably be in a bidding war with another school for his services and that is the best compliment you can give a coach.

Photo by Mark Humphrey

Coaching in the SEC is the "IT" job of college football

In a move today that surprised most people in the NFL and College Football the Atlanta Falcons head coach Bobby Petrino resigned and is about to be named the next head coach at the University of Arkansas. Petrino's desire to be a head coach in the SEC is stronger than his desire to be a head coach in the NFL.

Petrino joins a coaching fraternity that until today I thought could not possibly get any stronger. You can now make the argument that 75% of college footballs elite coaches since the turn of the century are now coaching in the SEC. The allure of coaching in College Football's elite conference has proven enough for one coach to say no thanks to the Michigan job and another to say no thanks to the NFL.

We all know that the talent on the field is superior to all the other conferences and the coaches are the most talented also. Today the coaching talent level went up even more. Welcome to the SEC Coach Petrino!

SEC flexes muscle with 9 bowl teams

Not a big surprise but the SEC leads the way with number of teams going to Bowl games.

Liberty- Miss State vs. Central Flordia
Independence - Alabama vs. Colorado
Music City - Kentucky vs. Florida State
Chick-Fil-a - Auburn vs. Clemson
Cotton - Arkansas vs. Missouri
Capital One - Florida vs. Michigan
Sugar - Georgia vs Hawaii
BCS Title Game - LSU vs. Ohio State

LSU rollercoaster 10 days ends on a big high

What an incredible series of emotions that the LSU fans must have felt over the last 10 days. Over the last 10 days the LSU fans have felt the agony of a 3 OT loss to Arkansas, the frustration over potentially losing their coach, the disappointment of competing in the SEC championship game without your starting QB, having ESPN report your coach is going to Michigan two hours before playing in an SEC Championship game, the high of winning the SEC championship, the joy of seeing a Mizzou and West Virgina loss, and then the excitement of finding out that they will be playing in the national championship game. Wow, that's more drama than an Arkansas off season.

LSU fans have to like their chances against Ohio State in the BCS National Championship game and another national championship would make all of the recent highs and lows worth every minute.

Coaching carousel going round full speed in the SEC West

In what might be a first for a major conference there could be 4 of the 6 schools in one division with a new head coach when the season kicks off in 2008. If you like rumors and breaking news you are in for a treat over the next few weeks. We all know that Nutt has left Arkansas and is now headed to Ole Miss. Suddenly the Arkansas Ole Miss game just got more exciting every year. Now we are hearing strong reports that Tommy Tuberville could be out at Auburn and on his way to Fayetteville to coach the Razorbacks. I won't even speculate that Sylvester Croom may end up at Auburn, that would be too much to handle in one off-season. In addition there is a high probability that Les Miles will go to Michigan. So buckle up SEC West fans this will be an off-season like no other in history. When the season kicks off next year either Sylvester Croom or Nick Saban may be the most tenured coach at his current school in the SEC West. Wow!

Great win for Nutt

In classic Houston Nutt fashion he just defeated the number 1 team in the country on national TV at their house. That's not so much the classic Nutt fashion but being at his best with his back to the wall is.

Its going to be a tough decision for Jeff Long the new Arkansas AD on whether or not he should fire or keep Houston Nutt. Nutt certainly made that decision tougher for him today but many Arkansans still want him gone but even those fans are scratching their heads after today wondering what the right thing to do is. One thing is for sure if Houston wants to walk away with his head high he can do that now and that is probably what he should do. He loves Arkansas and all of Arkansas will have to respect him if he walks away after defeating the number 1 team in the country in his last regular season game as the head coach.

Photo by Ann Heisenfelt

Rebel Thugs

Ole Miss Athletic Director Pete Boone announced Sunday that approximately 20 Rebel football players were being suspended from the team. The reason given was the standard behavior unbecoming of a student athlete. However the most disturbing part was that included in these behaviors were allegations that some Ole Miss football players stole property from hotels including radios and pillows. These athletes have already repaid the hotel for the cost of the property but coach Orgeron is not happy about it. "Any actions similar to this will result in severe penalties including dismissal from the team" said coach Orgeron.

Congratulations Ole Miss fans, not only do you have the worst team in the league on the field it also appears you have the worst team off the field too. Go Rebs!

SEC Talent rises to the top of the Heisman Trophy Race

This year it seems like every week there is a new front runner for the Heisman trophy. One thing has remained constant though, there seems to always be someone from the SEC at or near the top of everyone's short list. This year there have been 3different SEC players that have been at top or near the top of those short lists.

Darren McFadden, Arkansas RB - Last years Heisman runner up as a sophomore started off this season as the front runner and did not disappoint in the first couple of weeks. His bruising performance in Tuscaloosa of 195 yards rushing was truly memorable. In this game he suffered a concussion and bruised ribs that really put him at less than full speed for at least 5 weeks. Then there was the SEC record tying performance against South Carolina where he put 321 yards rushing on the board. A game that caused the nation to once again bow in his presence. This vaulted him once again to the front of the pack in the Heisman race until his mediocre performances over the last 2 weeks have him number 2-3 in most polls.

Andre Woodson , Kentucky QB - The towering 6'5" 230 pound QB impressed the Heisman voters early this season and was the front runner in most polls week 4-6. So far this year he has thrown for 30 TDs and has completed 63% of his 406 attempted passes. He like most great QBs seems to be at his best in the biggest games like against Florida where he threw for 415 yards and 5 TDs in a losing effort. He will most likely be the first QB drafted in the upcoming NFL draft.

Tim Tebow, Florida QB - The Mr. everything QB is having one of the best seasons that any QB has ever had and he is only a sophomore. This week he became the first QB ever to rush for over 20TDs and pass for over 20TDs in a season. His best game of the year so far was against South Carolina where he rushed for 5 TDs and passed for another 3 TDs. He has been Mr. steady in the Heisman race this year and voters have taken notice.

Perhaps the best thing about this year's race is that the top two vote getters will probably both be from the SEC. Tim Tebow will probably win and Darren McFadden will come in second place for a second year in a row. This is a year to remember in the SEC as far as top talent. Don't worry next year should be even better, a three man race between Tebow, Knowshon Moreno, and Matt Stafford could be even more entertaining for SEC fans.

Job well done Sylvester Croom

The closest thing to an automatic win in the SEC used to be against Mississippi State. Not anymore. Sylvester Croom has his team playing as well as anyone in the SEC West with the exception of LSU. After State beat Auburn earlier in the year most SEC fans thought of this as an upset, and it was. However after State beat Bama last weekend it was viewed as more of a sign that the Bulldogs had turned the corner rather than an upset. Mississippi State has now beaten 3 ranked teams this year. A very impressive statistic that signals that the Bulldogs are for real. Seeing the Bulldogs in a Bowl game this Holiday season is something that all SEC fans should get used to because a foundation has been established in Starkville that will probably lead to bigger and better things in the future.

Sylvester Croom deserves the credit for this turn around and should be awarded the SEC Coach of the year award in a few weeks.

Top 10 Reasons why the SEC is superior to the Big Ten

10. The SEC has led the nation in attendance of football games for the last 9 years. In 2006 6.6 million people watched SEC football games in person vs. 5.2 million in the Big Ten. The per game average in the SEC was 75.7 thousand vs. 69.6 thousand in the Big Ten. Actually the average per game attendance in the Big ten declined in 2006 by almost 3000 fans.
9. Last year’s Super Bowl MVP was from the SEC – Peyton Manning
8. The defending national champion is from the SEC, Florida. Anyone remember who they beat in the BCS national championship game last year? Hmm
7. This year there are 263 players on NFL rosters from SEC schools vs. 234 from Big Ten schools. There are 5 SEC schools that have over 30 players active in the NFL. The Big Ten only has one school with over 30 players in the NFL, Ohio State.
6. In 2006 9 SEC schools went to bowl games vs. 7 in the Big Ten.
5. In the AP poll that came out on Nov 11th 9 SEC teams were either ranked or received votes vs. 5 in the Big Ten.
4. There are 4 coaches in the SEC that coached a team to the National Championship (5 if you include Auburn’s undefeated season) vs. 3 in the Big Ten.
3. Our women are hotter, anyone who has been to the Grove at Ole Miss will not argue with that.
2. The SEC is undefeated this year vs. Division 1 –AA teams.
1. An SEC reject coach Ron Zook just beat your best team in their house!

Fire Houston Nutt Sentiment at all Time High in Arkansas

It was not a good week for Arkansas head coach Houston Nutt. First of all a story about his wife's alleged email surfaced in the states largest newspaper. In this story Nutt's wife allegedly said that she wished she could have participated in a past beating of a players mother with a 2x4 board. A beating that required 20 staples in the head to repair. To add fuel to the Arkansas fans' anti Nutt feelings was the fact that this player was none other than 2006 Gatorade National high school player of the year Mitch Mustain who has since transferred to Southern Cal. Can you blame him? That conversation is for another day. Also for another day is all of the other off the field drama between Nutt and ex players and coaches. I'm not going to revisit that.

On top of this email drama was the most embarrassing loss of the season for the hogs. What made it so embarrassing was the hogs inability to do anything at all. What made it even more frustrating especially for the anti Nutt crowd was a particular call on 4th and 1. Is there anyone out there that if faced with a 4th and 1 would not want to give the ball to the best running back in the nation? I know at least one person, Houston Nutt. Not only did he decide not to give it to Darren McFadden, but he took it a step further and left him on the sidelines. What!? This was not first and ten or second and 3 this was 4th and 1. This particular decision by Nutt may well have been the nail in the coffin for his tenure at Arkansas. A recent poll done by one of the most popular TV stations in Little Rock asked the question should Houston Nutt be the coach of the Razorbacks next season. Over 80% of the fans said no, I wonder what they number would be today.

It was indeed a bad week for Nutt and probably a week that will lead to his firing at the end of the season given the teams sub par performances over the past few years and all of the off the field drama.

Honeymoon over for Billy Gillispie

Not exactly the opening to the season Billy Gillispie dreamed of when he agreed to become the Kentucky basketball coach last spring. Things begin brewing Tuesday night when Kentucky escaped a hungry Central Arkansas team. A team that in only its first game of its second season as a D1 team gave the Cats all the could handle before they eventually pulled away late. There were slight concerns last night around Kentucky about the performance of the Cats but many chalked it up to a young team learning a new coaching system. Tonight those concerns have erupted. As I write this, a popular Kentucky message board that requires payment to view has over 9000 fans currently online complaining about the embarrassing loss that they endured tonight against Gardner Webb. It may go down as the most embarrassing loss in Kentucky history because it wasn't just a loss but a tail whipping. We all know that there is parity now in college sports but this is beyond parity. We could have argued parity if the game was close but it was a blowout. Kentucky fans are hurting tonight because they were on such a high this off season with the hiring of Gillispie and to go from that high to tonight's low of getting beat by 18 to a team that only won 9 games last year is almost as low as it gets.

One thing is for sure tonight, Tubby Smith probably went to sleep with a smile on his face.

LSU is better than Ohio State and Kansas

LSU has endured the toughest schedule in college football with only one loss that came on the road to a top 20 team in triple overtime. Deservingly so they are currently at the number 2 spot in the BCS. If LSU wins out including the SEC championship game they will probably be in the National Championship game. The only wildcard team is the Kansas Jayhawks who if they win out including the Big 12 championship may leapfrog the Tigers because they have two top 10 teams left on their schedule. LSU will not leapfrog Ohio State if they win out even though many believe they are better. I am one of them. LSU is the best team in college football and their results on the field prove it. Lets compare the results the Tigers have put on the board this year to those of Ohio State and Kansas.

LSU games of note
* Beat #9 Virginia Tech 48-7 on the road (the game wasn't even that close)
* Beat # 12 S. Carolina 28-16
* Beat # 9 Florida 28-24 (beat defending national champs)
* Lost to # 17 Kentucky on the road in 3 OTs
* Beat # 18 Auburn 30-24
* Beat # 17 Bama 41-34 on the road (beat Nick Saban in the one game of the year he wanted to win the most)
Yet to play Arkansas who will probably be ranked when they play

Ohio State games of note
* Beat # 20 Purdue 23-7 on road (blah)
* Beat # 25 Penn State 37-17 on road (big deal)
Yet to play Michigan on road who will probably be a top ten team

Kansas games of note
* Haven't played a ranked team (how embarrassing)
Yet to play Missouri who will probably be a top ten team and Oklahoma who will probably be a top ten team in Big 12 Championship

Not only is the LSU schedule far superior to OSU and Kansas but even if you combined the toughest games on their schedule into one schedule it would still not be as tough as the LSU schedule.

Hopefully it is clear to you now why LSU is the best team in college football.


Photo by Rob Carr

A Healthy McFadden is the best RB in all of football, sorry LaDainian

After watching tonight’s performance by Darren McFadden I am speechless. In case you missed it McFadden rushed for 323 yards against South Carolina and he seemed to not even break a sweat doing it. With this performance and the many many other amazing performances we have seen from him over the last 2 and a half years we must begin to ask, Is Darren McFadden the best RB in SEC History? I don’t yet know if he is but its time to start the debate. What makes DMac so great is the fact that his best games come against his toughest competition. Against Arkansas' 4 cupcakes this year they were his worst performances but against stiff SEC competition he becomes superman.

Ask yourself this, if LaDainian Tomlinson, Reggie Bush, or Shaun Alexander would have played in the game tonight do you think they would have had 323 yards rushing? I don’t think so. Forget about college football DMac is the best RB in college football by far, not debatable. He is the best RB in all of football including anyone that is currently earning millions of dollars to run the football in the NFL.

Photo: Beth Hall

Florida returns to old ways against Vandy

Sophomore duo Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin proved too much for Vanderbilt today. Harvin rushed for over 100 yards and had over 100 yards receiving, a first in Florida history. Speaking of Florida history, Tim Tebow tied the single season rushing TD record (14) today a record held by none other than Emmit Smith.

Florida still has much to play for this year. Sure they are disappointed that they will not be a BCS participant this year but Meyer knows that they should be the top team in the land next year (see above). The lessons learned by this team over the next few weeks will not only pay off this year but will pay dividends next season. Take note, next year’s BCS championship team is being groomed right before our eyes.

(AP Photo/John Raoux)

Trick or Treat- McFadden and Jones style

It’s not everyday that you see two future 1st round NFL draft picks dressed as Fred Flintstone and Barny Rubble but today we did in Fayetteville. The University of Arkansas conducted an online poll allowing fans to vote for the costume that they would like to see Darren McFadden and Felix Jones wear to campus on Halloween. The Flintstones beat out Sonny and Cher, and the Blues Brothers. The University decided to do this after the popularity of pictures that circulated of McFadden wearing a clown suit to class last year on Halloween.

There is no word from the University of Arkansas on whether or not the decision to have McFadden & Jones dress up as prehistoric icons had anything to do with the fact that they are used to playing in Houston Nutt’s prehistoric offense.

SEC Toast Player of the Week - Knowshon Moreno Georgia RB

This was an easy one. On Saturday the entire nation watched Knowshon Moreno go for 188 yards rushing and 205 all purpose yards against Florida. Knowshon scored the first Georgia TD that caused the celebration heard round the country. For Knowshon to have such a prime time performance and to do it as a redshirt freshman is amazing. Those that hadn't hear of Knowshon before Saturday definitely know about him now. His performace was eye opening and worthy of praise.

(Photo by: Radi Nabulsi)

Brilliant Move by Richt ultimately wins game for Dawgs

Hats off to Mark Richt for out coaching Urban Meyer yesterday and coming up with a game plan that the Gators could not stop. This game plan did not include the usual Xs and Os rather it included something else, pure emotion. For the first time in recent years the Dawgs had 2 weeks to prepare for their rival and the world’s largest cocktail party. Emotion was the one consistent message that Richt preached to his players over the last 2 weeks and they got that message. “I saw it in his eyes, we’ve been talking about playing with more emotion all week, and I could just see it burning in coach’s eyes. I could see it in everybody’s eyes from the training staff to the equipment managers; you could just see they were fired up because everybody wanted to get rid of this streak of Florida winning” said Georgia DB Thomas Flowers. Not only did Richt preach and teach emotion for the last two weeks but he instructed his team to get a penalty for excessive emotion after they scored their first TD of the game. This brilliant move ensured that the highest levels of emotion made it onto the playing field and didn’t stay in Athens. Ultimately I believe it was emotion that won the game for Georgia. “I told them two weeks ago that I was going to create enthusiasm whether they liked it or not. I told them if they didn’t get a celebration penalty after our first score, all of them would be doing early morning runs. I wanted to make sure we left this game with our hearts on the field” said Richt after the game. After the touchdown by Knowshon Moreno the entire team ran into the endzone and celebrated with the offense. The celebration drew a penalty of course but it gave the Bulldogs the emotional lift they needed to defeat the defending national champions. The celebration after the TD will go down as a classic moment in Georgia football history and will go along way to propel the Dawgs to a strong 2nd half of the season.


Both Georgia and Florida are loaded with talented and highly recruited players at every position. This difference on Saturday was emotion and Georgia wanted this game more than the Florida Gators.

Mississippi State Humbles Kentucky

Up until Saturday many in Lexington were starting to believe that their football program had turned the corner. Coming off of one of the biggest wins in the history of the program over number 1 LSU and then a narrow defeat by the national champion Florida Gators I can see how they could draw that conclusion. Not to mention they had a leading Heisman trophy candidate behind the center. Everything seemed just perfect...until Saturday. The Wildcats were dominated in every aspect of the game from the opening drive to the final second. This "all systems failure" game as coach Brooks called it was a major setback to the program. Not only did the Cats play themselves out of the SEC East race they also lost all hopes that Andre Woodson would win the Heisman trophy. The truth is other than the defeat of LSU which they deserve a lot of credit for they have only beaten a mediocre Arkansas and a mediocre Louisville team. Enough about the Cats until basketball season lets talk about the better team - Miss State.

This was the best win for the Bulldogs in the Sylvester Croom era. Yes the beat Auburn at Auburn early this year but this performance was a total domination. They marched the ball down the throats of the wildcats the first drive of the game and that was a crucial statement that Kentucky wasn't expecting. After all didn't this team get embarrassed last week on the road?After the game coach Croom said "The season is a metamorphosis and you either get better or worse and we are getting better". Croom is doing a great job at Mississippi State and deserves a lot of credit clearly they are getting better. They can potentially finish second in the West and end up playing in a great Bowl game. Well done coach!

As for the Kentucky Wildcats, take your Independence Bowl bid at the end of the year and move on to basketball because your season as you previously envisioned it ended yesterday.

Week 9 Upset Prediction - Ole Miss beats Auburn

Every week in the SEC someone gets upset. After all that is what makes it the SEC. You can not let up any week or you will get beat. It is so easy to overlook teams by looking forward to the big game next week or suffer let downs after big games. I think everyone understands that except for football players it seems. However that is not why I am predicting Ole Miss to beat Auburn. The fact is that Auburn is at home this week and I think that hurts their chances of winning. Auburn is the best road team in the SEC but a marginal team at home. In additional Ole Miss seems to play their best the week after a crushing defeat which they had last week.

Don't be surprised if the Rebels walk out of Auburn on Saturday night with their first SEC win of the season. It is my upset pick of the week.

Fulmer's approval rating is at stake this weekend

Coming off of a total meltdown in the 2nd half of last weeks game against Bama perhaps no one in the SEC is feeling the pain this week like Phil Fulmer. His team played great in the first half of that game and then he was out coached in the 2nd half by Nick Saban. It doesn't get any easier for Fulmer this week as he faces his nemesis and SEC legend Steve Spurrier. Fulmer is 4-8 against Spurrier and this game will go a long way in silencing his critics who have been on him since the Vols were embarrassed by the Razorbacks last year on national television. South Carolina will be up for this game. They were probably looking forward to this game too much last week when they forgot to get up for the Vanderbilt game first. Big coaches like big stages and this weeks national TV prime time game will be a great chance for the nation to observe the talent on the field and on the sidelines.

This game is a potential page turner for the South Carolina program. If they win this game they will officially be granted top tier eastern division team status. A place that they haven't been since joining the SEC in 1992. I believe they will turn that page this weekend. Never bet against Steve Spurrier on National TV. Everyone in Kentucky knows that. If I were Fulmer I would be a little nervous about this game because if he loses this game he will likely lose the confidence of his fan base as well. Waking up on Sunday morning faced with the reality that Tennessee is the 4th best team in the SEC East is not something that the Volunteer nation will accept.

Muschamp's enthusiasm something to watch

If you watch the Auburn Tigers on TV this year and here strange voices in the background chances are there is nothing wrong with your TV set rather its probably just Auburn defensive coordinator Will Muschamp yelling at his defense. Muschamp's passion for his job clearly motivates his Auburn defense. Its not unusual to see Muschamp jumping up and down yelling and celebrating with his players. His enthusiastic outbursts are a favorite on the web, especially the video of him calling Arkansas Mother F'rs.

The Auburn defense has played spectacular over the last 4 weeks. This defense has shut down the defending national champions, Darren McFadden, and came within one second of beating the best team in the SEC. That is impressive and Muschamp deserves the credit. He has produced amazing defenses twice before at LSU and for the Miami Dolphins.

Muschamp will be a great head coach someday and his name will probably be on many Athletic Directors short list this winter. I just hope he stays in the SEC because his enthusiasm and sideline dynamic is fun to watch.

Darren McFadden.. good but not yet great this year

His statistics through his sophomore year are only bettered by the likes of Bo Jackson and Herschell Walker. SEC fans, pause to recognize the significance of that feat. In plain English Darren McFadden is the best back in the SEC since these two hallowed names of SEC greatness took of the collegiate jersey for the last time some 20 plus years ago. Think of the greats that have come through this league in the last 25 years and none of them did what McFadden did his first two years in the league. Yet something seems off this year for the preseason Heisman favorite and last years runner up for the Heisman. Over the last two years we were familiar with his regular 60,70,and 80 yard TD runs against the best defenses in the SEC. This year we haven't seen those runs. It seems this year he is being used as a power fullback rather than a lightning fast tailback. His bruising performance for 190 yards against Bama at Bama was one of the most amazing performances we have seen in this league in a long time. Make no mistake about it, Darren McFadden is a stud and will probably be an all pro in the NFL someday. However he is not the superman running back I expected him to be this season. There is plenty of blame for this. Many in the state of Arkansas blame Houston Nutt for asking him to run the ball 30+ times a game with a majority of those runs up the middle. It would take a miracle from up above to keep anyone asked to do that healthy. Darren McFadden has been banged up all season with a concussion and a nagging rib injury. Because of these injuries I believe that SEC fans are being denied the opportunity to see one of the best RB in the history of our league at his best.

SEC Toast Player of the Week

After watching 6 different SEC games in their entirity this weekend it was clear to me who the players of the week is and the Crimson Tide nation should have no objection.

John Parker Wilson - QB Alabama - Saturday JPW toarched the Tennessee Volunteers for a career high 363 yards. He was 32-46 with three touchdowns. At the end of the season we may look back on this performance as a turning point in the season for the Tide. The junior from Hoover Alabama is beaming with confidence going into the offweek. This is exactly the type of performance that the Crimson Tide nation was hoping for going into the crucial LSU matchup in 2 weeks.