C34's way too early SEC West prediction

[Coach34]

(subject to change obviously as we have not even had Spring practice yet)


1. Allllll-la-bamaaaaa (in my Keith Jackson voice- you old timers are feeling me on that)- They are physical on offense and have great RB's- all of which take the pressure off an inexperienced QB. Even Lane Kiffen can't **** that up. Yes they lose some good guys on D- but it's Bama, they have more. Plus they have Saban- the best DC in college football. They get A&M, State, and Auburn in T-Town. Bama wins the West

2. Auburn- They lost 2 really players on O but will be fine moving forward. Their passing game will need to continue to improve. Defensively, their DL is really good- but the rest doesnt scare anyone. They are probably the best team in the West, but they wont get all breaks again this year on the road. They travel to State, Georgia, Ole Miss, and Bammer- plus play LSU and SC at home. Gonna be a couple of SEC losses in there.

3. State- This team finally has a QB and more talent at WR. The run game will be strong and Prescott will be better throwing the football with a more experienced WR group and a damn good group of TE's. Best offensive talent Mullen has had. On D, the DL will challenge Bama, Auburn, and Ole Miss to see who is the SEC's best. They are also a top 4-5 LB group. Secondary played great down the stretch and only loses 1 player off the 2-deep. Schedule has them traveling to LSU, Bama, and Grenada without the Lake in the SEC- big home games with Auburn and A&M.

4. Ole Miss- Team has some talent and a decent schedule to work with. Their best TB and top 2 WR's yardage-wise have to be replaced, along with half their OL on the 2-deep. They will still be good at WR, decent at RB and QB, and their starting OL should be decent. Zero depth on the OL gives them no room for bad luck or error. Defense will be good- DL is one of the SEC's best. They will be solid at LB and good in the Secondary. Can their OL block good defensive lines? They couldnt in 2013- scoring just 13 points on offense in 3 games vs Bama, Missouri, and State. Toss-up games on the road in Vandy, A&M, LSU, and UPig. Huge home games vs Bama, Auburn, and State.

5. LSU- LSU is finally rebuilding. Nobody has ever lost this many Jr's to the draft over a 2 season span. They still have alot of talent, but nobody can overcome what they have lost. They will be good on the OL and will have to be with new QB's, WR's, and RB's. If Miles makes a run at the West with all new skill people- he has truly made a deal with the devil. On D, they will be good but not great. They have issues at DT and MLB- the heart of your defense. CB's and DE's wil be good as usual though. Road games at Auburn, Florida, and A&M will be tough- plus home games vs Bama, State, and Ole Miss.

6. UPig- Ground and Pound Piggie-style in the West begins season 2. They will be solid on the OL and good at RB. QB and WR talent is lacking for big plays or to help to pressure off the run game. Defensively, they should be improved but still wont be top half of the SEC. They are not going to win at State, Mizzou, or Auburn- and plays home games vs Georgia, Bama, Ole Miss, and LSU. Tough adjustment continues for Bielema

7. A&M- Losing college football's 2 best offensive players will hurt this team, not to mention 3 very good offensive linemen. They have a good system and some talent left on O- but it wont be like it was in 2013. And until they quit being shitty on defense, they wont contend for the title. I think they lose all 4 SEC road games- at State, SC, Bama, and Auburn...plus they have a tough neutral site game vs UPig. Home games vs Ole Miss, Mizzou, and LSU doesnt make their task any easier. Reality is a bitch in the SEC Aggie fans

[FISHDAWG]

I still think we are better than AU ... not sure I would put LSU down that far ... they reload faster than an M-60 machine gun

[smootness]

It's hard for me to make preseason predictions because the more you pay attention to college football, the more you realize that what you think is likely to happen before the season probably won't happen and that random players will pop up different places and dominate.

What I do know is that we are better set up going into next year than I think we ever have been before. You can certainly make the argument that our defense was stronger in the late 90s, but our defense next year should still be very, very good - we have a lot of legitimate NFL talent and return a ton of experience. Our least experienced group last year, the secondary, will be our most experienced returning this year. As you said, we will be one of the top DL and LB groups in the conference, and our secondary played great down the stretch last year and has some legitimate talent (Calhoun, Redmond, Cox at S, Hughes back, etc.).

And what those late-90s teams never had was much of an offense. They had some great RBs, but they didn't have a great scheme, they struggled at QB, and they only had a WR here and there. Not only will we have probably the best QB in our history, and the only one who can legitimately say he may be one of the top couple in the conference, but we still have that stable of RBs and a group of talented WRs that have plenty of size. We also will have the scheme to utilize those players like we've never had before.

I think there's a reasonable chance that both our offense and defense could be among the top 3-5 in the conference next year.

[dawgclub99]

We beat AU in Starkville. Bank on it.

[rabbitthedawg]

Coach...putting A&M below Arkansas? You better not quit your day job if you're bettin!

[FlabLoser]

Doesn't Ole Miss still lack a bruising RB? That was their biggest missing offensive piece in 2013.

[SignalToNoise]

Even though I agree with what you said about A&M, my gut will not let me put them below Upig. I would swap those two, but that is just me.

[Coach34]

A&M is where they are because of their schedule. They may have to beat UPig to get a 2nd SEC win in 2014

[blacklistedbully]

Ole Miss is tough to figure. I thought Freeze's endless-bubble-screen offense would get exposed vs SEC defenses this year, and it sure seemed to. One would expect that trend to continue this coming year. Is Freeze a one-trick-pony? If so, they'll struggle mightily versus solid defenses. Their saving grace should be a fast, if smaller defense, and the fact that LSU, TAMU & Arky are all likely to be down this year.

I, too, think we kick that BB ass in Oxford this year. Their offense couldn't do squat against our defense this past year, I expect us to be even better next go around. And with a, God-willing, healthy DP running a true Mullen Read-Option offense with a stable of backs that are actually threats to bust one up the middle, as well as take it wide, big WR's getting the experience that should make us a real threat in the passing game, and an O-line that should still be pretty good despite the loss of GJ, I think we just might rout them in Oxford.

Can't wait to see the meltdown from those arrogant assholes when they realize the year-before last was a fluke, and they're not only not back on top, but not even holding serve.

[chef dixon]

1. Bama
2. LSU
3. Auburn
4. MSU
5. Ole Miss
6. A&M
7. Arkansas

To me Auburn is on a fine line from being at the top of the division, to only being better than Arkansas and maybe A&M.

[spiritual_machine2005]

My completely uneducated and suspect guess-work

Bama, LSU, Auby top 3 in no particular order

MSU, UM, TAMU next 3 in no particular order

Arky at the bottom

[smootness]

I definitely think we'll have a good shot at Ole Miss next year. Our offense should be perfectly suited to exploit OM's defensive weakness, namely size and strength.

[RougeDawg]

A&M is where they are because of their schedule. They may have to beat UPig to get a 2nd SEC win in 2014

Completely agree A&M will be night and day different in 2014. Without JFF they are a 5-7 win team. He mean that much to them, and id like someone to make an argument disputing the 5-7 wins without him.

As for LSU, I expected them to be down this last year and they were to LSU standards for most parts. They also had a QB who played like a Heisman in a handful of games, and was throwing to 2 future NFL WR's which masked their deficiencies. Those 3 key players are gone and the deficiencies will shine bright down on the bayou this season. My only question is how will the LSU fan base respond if les only wins 7-8 games? The talent has been recruited. There's just something odd internally about the LSU program lately. Losing abnormally high amounts of underclassmen convective years is somewhat alarming, considering most aren't getting 1st round grades before leaving.

I'm still not sold on Auburn. They has Les Miles luck all year last year. We beat them ha deadly if Dak had gone through spring drills and Bracky had been a librarian like he should have been, instead of compliance directeor.

Ark will scrape the barrel and Freeze has been exposed.

1. Bama
2. AU
3. MSU
4. LSU
5. OM
6. A&M
7. Ark

[Technetium]

As always, I think our season comes down to OL. Losing Gabe hurts, but we have some depth behind him. However, while we may not be as thin as OM, we also can't afford injuries to starters on the OL. Keep a healthy OL most/all year and I think we'll have a "damn strong" football team.

[starkvegasdawg]

Doesn't Ole Miss still lack a bruising RB? That was their biggest missing offensive piece in 2013.

Absolute shame they didn't have room for aeris. He could have been that kind of back for them. Oh well. Guess he'll just have to become the next in a long line of elite running backs for us.

[Schultzy]

1- MSU
2- Auburn
3- Alabama
4- LSU
5- ole miss
6- Arkansas
7- A&M

I think Bama lost its mojo with that fog returned on them. Malzhan is that good on offense and their dl is good. Even Lsu can't recover from all that attrition. Um has decent players. Arkansas played decent down the stretch, had Lsu beat down there. A&M is terrible on defense.

2014 year of the Bulldog!

[mic]

(subject to change obviously as we have not even had Spring practice yet)


1. Allllll-la-bamaaaaa (in my Keith Jackson voice- you old timers are feeling me on that)- They are physical on offense and have great RB's- all of which take the pressure off an inexperienced QB. Even Lane Kiffen can't **** that up. Yes they lose some good guys on D- but it's Bama, they have more. Plus they have Saban- the best DC in college football. They get A&M, State, and Auburn in T-Town. Bama wins the West

2. Auburn- They lost 2 really players on O but will be fine moving forward. Their passing game will need to continue to improve. Defensively, their DL is really good- but the rest doesnt scare anyone. They are probably the best team in the West, but they wont get all breaks again this year on the road. They travel to State, Georgia, Ole Miss, and Bammer- plus play LSU and SC at home. Gonna be a couple of SEC losses in there.

3. State- This team finally has a QB and more talent at WR. The run game will be strong and Prescott will be better throwing the football with a more experienced WR group and a damn good group of TE's. Best offensive talent Mullen has had. On D, the DL will challenge Bama, Auburn, and Ole Miss to see who is the SEC's best. They are also a top 4-5 LB group. Secondary played great down the stretch and only loses 1 player off the 2-deep. Schedule has them traveling to LSU, Bama, and Grenada without the Lake in the SEC- big home games with Auburn and A&M.

4. Ole Miss- Team has some talent and a decent schedule to work with. Their best TB and top 2 WR's yardage-wise have to be replaced, along with half their OL on the 2-deep. They will still be good at WR, decent at RB and QB, and their starting OL should be decent. Zero depth on the OL gives them no room for bad luck or error. Defense will be good- DL is one of the SEC's best. They will be solid at LB and good in the Secondary. Can their OL block good defensive lines? They couldnt in 2013- scoring just 13 points on offense in 3 games vs Bama, Missouri, and State. Toss-up games on the road in Vandy, A&M, LSU, and UPig. Huge home games vs Bama, Auburn, and State.

5. LSU- LSU is finally rebuilding. Nobody has ever lost this many Jr's to the draft over a 2 season span. They still have alot of talent, but nobody can overcome what they have lost. They will be good on the OL and will have to be with new QB's, WR's, and RB's. If Miles makes a run at the West with all new skill people- he has truly made a deal with the devil. On D, they will be good but not great. They have issues at DT and MLB- the heart of your defense. CB's and DE's wil be good as usual though. Road games at Auburn, Florida, and A&M will be tough- plus home games vs Bama, State, and Ole Miss.

6. UPig- Ground and Pound Piggie-style in the West begins season 2. They will be solid on the OL and good at RB. QB and WR talent is lacking for big plays or to help to pressure off the run game. Defensively, they should be improved but still wont be top half of the SEC. They are not going to win at State, Mizzou, or Auburn- and plays home games vs Georgia, Bama, Ole Miss, and LSU. Tough adjustment continues for Bielema

7. A&M- Losing college football's 2 best offensive players will hurt this team, not to mention 3 very good offensive linemen. They have a good system and some talent left on O- but it wont be like it was in 2013. And until they quit being shitty on defense, they wont contend for the title. I think they lose all 4 SEC road games- at State, SC, Bama, and Auburn...plus they have a tough neutral site game vs UPig. Home games vs Ole Miss, Mizzou, and LSU doesnt make their task any easier. Reality is a bitch in the SEC Aggie fans

Good stuff..
I will give my 2 cents without the research. In no particular order

1. Yes Bama will always be Bama. But apparently Saban isn't sold on his QB's. They are trying to get the FSU backup in to run the show. That's very un-Saban like. Usually he has a Qb there and redshirt and learn the way Saban wants to control the game. Not having that year or 2 in his system could be interesting. They always lose upperclassman to the draft but usually just fill in without missing a beat. I do think they are the team to beat just like they are every year.

2. Aubbie.. I still cant believe they did what they did this past year. One of those magical years that should have resulted in a NC. Losing Tre is huge he fit that system perfect. Marshall is an avg passer at best but should get better. And I read above who and where they play. Tough schedule. Games in Starkville and Oxford will be huge..

3. LSU. NFL hit them hard again. New QB, new RB, new WR's.. Thats basically all of their offense last year .. They will fill in with very good players but have lost a lot on both sides. I wish we had them at Home this year. But they are LSU so I don't expect too much fall off.

4. MSU. Will be best team Mullen has had since being here. We have Depth still lots of underclassmen and I think this team has GREAT chemistry. Could be a great year. Auburn and at Oxford are the key games. Wins those 2, 10 wins is very very reachable.

5. TAM. Guess we will see how good a coach Sumlin is. I think they take a big step back . I don't see how that defense can make that big of an improvement to keep them in games and theres no JF to bail them out. And they lost best players on offense and best OL

6. Arky. I still think they are a few years away. Stud RB for sure. And its still going to be tough to go into Fay'vile and get a W

7. BearSharks. Very good DL. I think their starting 5 OL will be good. But Depth huge issue they better stay healthy. Huge loss with Moncrief . Paidwell will get lots of double teams unless someone else steps up. Should be ok at RB. They don't have a big boy back which hurts but that's their own fault in recruiting. CHF has had 3 classes to fix that and hasn't yet. I think they may have major chemistry issues. The one person at OM right now that probably wishes RN didn't come to Oxford is big bro DK. He has to play babysitter for 2 more years..
The whole season depends on Bo. That has to scare the hell out of the Rebs. Of course they say Kincaid is the next great thing. maybe he is. We may find out soon next year how good he is. Big games at home to Aub and Msu. I think they drop the game at Texas Am and Arky on the road is always tough..

[CadaverDawg]

1. Auburn
2. Bama
3. OM
4. MSU
5. LSU
6. A&M
7. Arkansas

I think we end up with the same conference record as OM, but they sneak by us in Oxford. But this is a super early pick that I will likely change.

[Coach34]

There is no doubt that winning the Egg will be tough in Oxford. Our DL will have to wreak havoc for us to pull it off

[blacklistedbully]

There is no doubt that winning the Egg will be tough in Oxford. Our DL will have to wreak havoc for us to pull it off

Not getting this pessimism. We beat them this year with one-arm tied behind our back. With a healthy DP playing the whole game it sure seems likely we would have routed them. Yes, it helps them to have the game in Oxford, but that's worth only so much. I don't see them being much, if any better offensively next year.

Let me put it this way, if we had to play them at their place under the same conditions, Frosh QB making his first start and playing all but the last 9 minutes, then I'd give them a slight edge based on home-field advantage only. But if we have DP and the stable of RB's we have coming back to go along with the defense likely getting even better, that seems to me to be more than enough to eclipse their HFA.

[Coach34]

Not getting this pessimism. .

Last 15 years at home:

State 7-1
Ole Miss 6-1

visiting team has 2 wins in the last 15 years- we won on their field against a Nutt team that had quit...they won in Starkville vs a Jackie team that had quit

[blacklistedbully]

Last 15 years at home:

State 7-1
Ole Miss 6-1

visiting team has 2 wins in the last 15 years- we won on their field against a Nutt team that had quit...they won in Starkville vs a Jackie team that had quit

But how many times in the past 15 years have we had as good and deep a team, and as good a QB for our system? And another way to look at it is we are 1-1 in the last 2 games at Ole Miss, and have won 4 of the past 5. I'd put WAY more emphasis on the recent past.

[Coach34]

Look, I think our DL is going make it tough on them. And Dakota is the man.

But it wont be easy in Grenada Without The Lake

[paco]

1. Bama - Saban will correct their shortcomings.
2. Texas A&M - Sumlin's offense will hardly miss a beat. The O is designed for the QB in waiting. The 'D' has 9 starters returning.
3. Auburn - they'll be improved but AU was little more than an 8-4 team this past season. Surely they won't win 3 games on luck as in 13'?
4. MSU - good defense and the best offense since Mullen arrived. Special teams????
5. LSU - as stated, rebuilding. The Mad Hatter makes the Cajuns made in 14'.
6. ole miss - this spot may be one spot too low but I didn't see any improvement from year 1 to year 2 with Freeze.
7. Arkansas - there's a lot of work to do here.

[blacklistedbully]

Coach, don't forget our program was crippled during that 15-year period by probation and the outrageous NCAA investigation that dragged on for years on our campus. That was a dark, dark time for us. I would expect us to do better now and going forward. I just don't think the same rules apply.

[blacklistedbully]

1. Bama - Saban will correct their shortcomings.
2. Texas A&M - Sumlin's offense will hardly miss a beat. The O is designed for the QB in waiting. The 'D' has 9 starters returning.
3. Auburn - they'll be improved but AU was little more than an 8-4 team this past season. Surely they won't win 3 games on luck as in 13'?
4. MSU - good defense and the best offense since Mullen arrived. Special teams????
5. LSU - as stated, rebuilding. The Mad Hatter makes the Cajuns made in 14'.
6. ole miss - this spot may be one spot too low but I didn't see any improvement from year 1 to year 2 with Freeze.
7. Arkansas - there's a lot of work to do here.

Having 9 starters returning is not a good thing when the 9 starters weren't that good this past year.

[Coach34]

If A&M can win on the road at State, Bammer, Auburn...etc- then they deserve it. Their terrible D plus their schedule, not to mention losing the 2 best players on offense in college football to me says dropoff

[OurState]

OM loses 3 offensive linemen off of a line that was a sieve. That is their problem. The RB issue isn't as big as the OL issue. Moncreif was good if they can't replace him teams can focus on Paidwell.

Defense should be good. Doesn't lose much, gets CJ back. Gets older.

If OM can figure out the OL they could be ok. If not this will be Freeze's test. Tough to do much with one WR and a stable of 135lb RB's if your OL has 3-4 turnstiles.

[Political Hack]

Bama
State
LSU
Auburn
A&M
OM
UPig