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)