If you ask Gary Danielson — and we did — the SEC has been a bit overrated this season, the playoff selection committee has undervalued defending national champion Florida State, and top football players should be able to turn pro sooner.
Danielson, a former NFL quarterback and CBS Sports’ lead college-football analyst, will be at the Georgia Dome, alongside play-by-play announcer Verne Lundquist, for the call of Saturday’s SEC Championship game between Alabama and Missouri.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution caught up with Danielson this week to talk football.
Q: What kind of game do you expect in the Dome?
A: I would assume Missouri is going to want to slow this thing down. I think when they look at the tape, they see how Arkansas played (in a 14-13 loss to) Alabama and would like, as close as they could, to emulate that type of a football game — no hurry on any snap, take care of the football, keep (Alabama wide receiver) Amari Cooper in front of them, and try to get it into a fourth-quarter football game.
Obviously (Alabama quarterback) Blake Sims can be made uncomfortable if Missouri moves him around, and they have a front four that can do that. … I think that’s their path to trying to upset the timing of Alabama’s passing game and get them a little bit off kilter. … And then lastly, this is not a vintage Alabama running team. They’re more of a finesse running team. If Missouri can control that running game … because Alabama doesn’t have the personnel to just roll them over like past teams, I think they might have a path to make this a football game.
It would be an upset for Missouri to win the game. I do agree with that. But I played, you know, in the NFL, and I was an underdog in a lot of games. I never went into a game thinking we had no chance to win. Missouri is playing their best football. Their last three wins have been their most impressive wins.
Q: If Missouri wins, do you think the SEC should be shut out of the College Football Playoff?
A: No, I don't. But I don't think the SEC has done a credible job of anticipating this scenario. For two years, I've been loudly voicing my opinion, whatever that is worth, that instead of the SEC worrying about getting two teams (in the playoff), they should be protecting against the possibility that they would beat themselves up and come into a scenario where the best conference in college football … would have all its teams with more losses than other conference champions.
I thought the commissioner, from Day 1 the last two years, should have been protecting his champion. … I would have made the argument that my conference can’t be left out, and that if we’re having a conference championship game and let’s assume that conference champion is a top-15 team, then that should be our representative.
Let’s suppose Alabama is the only team that loses this weekend of the top teams. Then Alabama can’t go. If you’ve got to take a team from the SEC — and I would advocate they do — swallow hard and take Missouri. … If you’re going to have conference championships, they have to matter. It’s not basketball. It’s football.
Q: What do you think about how the selection committee’s rankings have evolved from week to week?
A: I didn't think they should have been ranking every week. I thought it was premature. … What we found out here is the top 20 to 25 teams can all beat each other. There is no elite team. Especially this conference is not as strong as it has been in the past. There is poor quarterback play in this conference, and I'd say for the most part the SEC has been ranked a little bit too high all year. …
My problem is … the (selection) committee members have an impossible task. And I think they’re floating now into an area where they shouldn’t go. They’re starting to put their eye test too much into this. They’re also trying to cut it too fine. I mean, they’re getting down to the end now where they’re eliminating a head-to-head matchup between TCU and Baylor and giving more weight to the fact that one team played Minnesota. I mean, imagine that: We’re going to determine how a team gets into the final four because one team played Minnesota and the other didn’t. That just is going too far.
And they’re not giving enough weight to how tough mentally and how physically exhausting it is to go back-to-back championships. I’ve talked to three players that were NFL champions, and they talked about how mentally exhausting it was to try to repeat. This dropping of Florida State every week — I don’t think the committee is giving enough credit to what Florida State is accomplishing here.
Q: What did you think of Georgia’s season?
A: I thought they maxed out this year. You can quibble with any individual game or play or decision. I was there for the South Carolina decision, and I saw how they lost the Georgia Tech game. I get that. But I didn't think this was as talented a Georgia football team as I've seen in the past.
They weren’t as strong, obviously, at quarterback. Todd Gurley got hurt. They had multiple injuries at wide receiver. I think (coaches) Mark Richt, Mike Bobo, Jeremy Pruitt did an outstanding job of getting as much out of the team as they did. Now, was it perfect? No. Were there coaching mistakes? Yes. But I don’t think this was one of the stronger Georgia teams I’ve seen. Now, that said, I don’t think this is one of the stronger Alabama teams I’ve seen either.
Q: Do you have any thoughts on whether, or how, the NCAA rule that led to Gurley’s four-game suspension — the ban on players selling autographs or likenesses — should be changed?
A: I do. I think the mistake is made in … football (being) the only sport that if you're elite you cannot turn pro (earlier). … I feel if there was a path for elite players to turn pro, then if they didn't want to turn pro, they should just adhere to the rules. Todd Gurley knew he was making a mistake, and he was, in my mind, cheating his teammates by not being able to resist temptation. And he deserved to be punished. But I couple that with the fact you should be allowed to go pro if you want to go pro.
Q: Who is the best player you’ve seen this season?
A: Amari Cooper, by far. I've been doing this for a while. I can only remember two other receivers that I walked away from and just said, 'Oh, my gosh.' A.J. Green was close; Julio Jones was close. But the two guys that really stuck out in my mind were first Larry Fitzgerald, how good he was when I saw him as a freshman, and then Calvin Johnson when I did his (second) game at Georgia Tech against Clemson. I think Amari Cooper is just a shade below those two players on his potential as an NFL player. He's right there with A.J. Green and Julio Jones.
Q: And the best team you’ve seen this season?
A: Probably Alabama, but I don't think it's one of Nick Saban's best teams. But this year, they're all flawed. I've been (broadcasting) in the league since 2006, and this is the weakest SEC I've done since I've been in the league. The quarterback play is substandard, and there's no great team in the SEC this year, in my opinion.
