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Saturday, July 28, 2007
Five things to expect in the SEC
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The SEC preseason meetings are over, which means it’s time to start getting serious about the 2007 season. The meetings were pretty uneventful, but I did learn a few new things — or at least I think I did. Here are five things I think I know as the SEC begins preseason practice:
1. I don’t know how many games Alabama is going to win, but this season is really about one thing: Using the star power of Nick Saban to remind people that the Crimson Tide has one of the most tradition-rich programs in the history of college football. Granted, Saban may rub some folks the wrong way. But I believe this is all very calculated. The Alabama people believe, with some justification, that their program should have an aura around it like Notre Dame, Michigan and Southern Cal. Having a rock star coach is a big part of creating such an aura.
2. If Houston Nutt has another good year, he’s out of Arkansas — and it will be his choice. If he has a bad year, he may be asked to leave. Nutt continues to circle the wagons after portions of his fan base got up in arms over the departure of blue-chip quarterback Mitch Mustain. Athletics director Frank Broyles, Nutt’s safety net, will retire at the end of this year. There is a lot of talent on this team and it could, with a couple of breaks, win the SEC West again. (Although winning at LSU seems unlikely). Still, if the right offer comes along, I think Nutt walks away from all the silliness in Fayetteville.
3. Brent Schaeffer will not be the starting quarterback at Ole Miss. The word we hear out of Ole Miss is that Schaeffer, the one-time Tennessee signal caller, just doesn’t understand the level of commitment necessary to play quarterback at this level. He was the best Ole Miss had last year and so coach Ed Orgeron went with him. Seth Adams doesn’t have half the talent, but he’s a Mississippi kid who grew up dreaming about playing for Ole Miss. He knows how to manage a game and won’t make a lot of mistakes. Ole Miss will go with Adams but that could change once the Rebels get behind. Then the Rebels may have to go with Schaeffer. When it comes to the quarterback position, Ole Miss is just holding the fort this season until next spring when Jevan Snead, the transfer from Texas, becomes eligible.
4. Neither Vanderbilt nor Kentucky will win the SEC East. But each of them will upset somebody and those games will have a major impact on the race. If you’re looking for an early upset, the smart money appears to be on the Sept. 8 game between Vanderbilt and Alabama in Nashville. It will be Alabama’s first road game under Saban. Vanderbilt, which opens with Richmond, should be relatively healthy. Tennessee had better be careful when it goes to Kentucky on Nov. 24, the last game of the regular season.
5. Georgia’s offensive line is going to be OK. When a team has six freshmen or redshirt freshman among the top 10 linemen, that would appear to be a recipe for disaster. But here’s the reality of the situation: This group is young, but it is very, very talented. Stacy Searels, Georgia’s new offensive line coach, will make this a tough bunch. “I feel much better now about this group than I did going into spring practice,” coach Mark Richt says. If Georgia’s offensive line jells sooner rather than later, the Bulldogs could be pretty good come October.
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Five things to expect in the ACC
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The ACC and SEC preseason meetings are over and next week the players start reporting to camp. After sitting down with all of the coaches and a bunch of players last week, here are five new things that I think I know about the ACC as we get ready to start preseason practice. Come back Sunday and I’ll give you five new things I think I know about the SEC.
1. Florida State is going to run the football. No, really. This time the Seminoles really, really mean it. FSU hasn’t had a 1,000-yard rusher since Warrick Dunn in 1996 and in the past few years that has cost the Seminoles, especially when the quarterback play dropped off the table after Chris Weinke. You can’t have mediocre quarterback play and a bad running game and hope to win a lot of games. There is only one problem. We hear new offensive line coach Rick Trickett was shocked by the lack of toughness in the group of big guys he inherited. There is no excuse for Florida State having a bad offensive line.
2. Taylor Bennett is going to get tested early. The word around the league is that when you play Georgia Tech this season, you can’t let running back Tashard Choice and that big offensive line beat you. Teams are going to load up on defense and stop the run and challenge Bennett to pass them out of it with a group of receivers that is good, but not great. Opponents were impressed by what Bennett did in the Gator Bowl (326 yards passing). But they also note that the West Virginia pass defense, which was ranked 109 out of 119 in Division I-A, was not very good. They also noted that Calvin Johnson caught a lot of jump balls in that game.
3. Miami is going to leave the Orange Bowl. The powers that be at Miami, namely athletics director Paul Dee and president Donna Shalala, are giving the city every chance to come up with a plan to renovate the Orange Bowl and keep the Hurricanes there. But the financial numbers just don’t add up. The Miami athletics program is not exactly swimming in money so they need the financial boost that Dolphins Stadium can give them. The Orange Bowl has a lot of history but that’s all it is — history. It will be a tough decision and in many areas an unpopular decision. But it is the right decision.
4. Sean Glennon is going to bounce back. The Virginia Tech quarterback suffered a severe meltdown in the Chick-fil-A Bowl and is considered by the “experts” to be the weak link on the Hokies team this fall. But not long after the 31-24 loss to Georgia Glennon met with his teammates and asked them to have confidence in him. They do. “Sean took that loss all on himself and he shouldn’t have,” offensive tackle Duane Brown said. “We’ve got his back.” If Glennon plays well — or if he just plays OK — the Hokies are going to be hard to beat.
5. Florida State athletics director Dave Hart will retire/resign after the football season. Hart has two years left on his contract, but FSU President T.K. Wetherell has informed Hart that his contract will not be renewed. The fact that it was made public makes Hart, who has been at Florida State for 13 years, pretty much a lame duck. Now it is just a matter of getting the lawyers together and hammering out a settlement that satisfies both sides. It’s a raw deal for a guy who has built an impressive program at Florida State. But Wetherell and Hart have been clashing off and on for the past three years. Everyone close to the program saw this coming. They just never thought it would be this public.
