When have we ever had a better chance to win the SEC?

[blacklistedbully]

Notwithstanding 1941 and 1998, when have we had a more perfect storm of opportunity going into the year?

1999?
1981?

To me, this year seems like the best going in since either '81 or '99. And if this is the best, why should we consider anything less than 9 wins even acceptable? It's just hard for me to imagine us ever again competing for an SEC title, and the accompanying NC playoff if we can;t do it this year. Stars are aligned about as well as we could ever hope for, IMO.

Thoughts?

[Martianlander]

Baring injuries, it's ours to reach for the gold ring. I agree we should be looking for a big year.

[Coach34]

1980 was a better chance. We played Bama, Auburn, LSU, and OM in Jackson and swept that ass. But that close loss in Gainesville cost us because of ****ing Hershal Walker and Georgia. If not for the 92 yard TD poss to Lindsay Scott late in the 4th quarter- we would have won the SEC and played in the Sugar.

I dont think we can win the West playing in T-Town and BR

[MetEdDawg]

1980 was a better chance. We played Bama, Auburn, LSU, and OM in Jackson and swept that ass. But that close loss in Gainesville cost us because of ****ing Hershal Walker and Georgia. If not for the 92 yard TD poss to Lindsay Scott late in the 4th quarter- we would have won the SEC and played in the Sugar.

I dont think we can win the West playing in T-Town and BR

I agree with that this year because I'm not sure we are ready to take that elite step yet, but I do think this year's schedule setup is the best way for us to win it in the future. We need all of those swing games at home. OM is rivalry so I'm ok with that being on the road. We would have to win our other games, steal a road win from either LSU or Bama, then hope the one we lost to loses 2 games in conference. In the current SEC West, 2 losses is too many to win it so you realistically have to think that you can only lose 1 conference game.

[LeakyD]

2000 was a great team before injuries. We had no business losing to South Carolina. They converted two long 4th downs including the TD when Roberson never turned around. Blew late leads against LSU and Arkansas, and our defense was missing several key pieces against Ole Miss.

We handled East and West champions easily. (Florida and Auburn)

[BulldogBear]

2000 was a great team before injuries. We had no business losing to South Carolina. They converted two long 4th downs including the TD when Roberson never turned around. Blew late leads against LSU and Arkansas, and our defense was missing several key pieces against Ole Miss.

We handled East and West champions easily. (Florida and Auburn)

Still got that one on VHS. Still depressing to watch...

[blacklistedbully]

1980 was a better chance. We played Bama, Auburn, LSU, and OM in Jackson and swept that ass. But that close loss in Gainesville cost us because of ****ing Hershal Walker and Georgia. If not for the 92 yard TD poss to Lindsay Scott late in the 4th quarter- we would have won the SEC and played in the Sugar.

I dont think we can win the West playing in T-Town and BR

Coach, I purposely didn't include 1980 because we didn't know going into the season how good we were likely to be. In 1981 we did.

[Todd4State]

As far as the schedule goes, our best chance to win a championship would be a year where we had LSU, Bama, and Ole Miss at home. Rivalry games are unpredictable and LSU and Bama have been consistently good moreso than Auburn, A&M, and Arkansas have been the past 10 years. I think the home team in the Egg Bowl has a major advantage. Literally the only time one of us pulls off a road win is when the other is dumpster fire horrible- see MSU 2003, Ole Miss 2010. Even Croom was able to beat Ole Miss both times at home.

[Todd4State]

Notwithstanding 1941 and 1998, when have we had a more perfect storm of opportunity going into the year?

1999?
1981?

To me, this year seems like the best going in since either '81 or '99. And if this is the best, why should we consider anything less than 9 wins even acceptable? It's just hard for me to imagine us ever again competing for an SEC title, and the accompanying NC playoff if we can;t do it this year. Stars are aligned about as well as we could ever hope for, IMO.

Thoughts?

In 1999, we had lost a good bit from our o-line and JJ from 1998. And no one realized how good those JUCO guys were going to be at the time. If you asked me in July of 1999 I would have not predicted a 10 win season even though we had won the West. I was thinking we would get seven wins or so. When Kendall Roberson went down in fall practice, a lot of people were worried that his spot would be a weakness- no one had any idea that Fred Smoot would become an icon.

A lot of people thought that 2001 was going to be a big year for us- including me. Rosebowl Robertson also agreed.

[Pollodawg]

It'll be hard as hell to win at Tuscaloosa, Baton Rouge, and Oxford. Other than that, every game on our schedule is winnable or should be.

[Schultzy]

I think the West will be won with two losses this year in a tie breaker situation. Bama and Lsu both are in transition with Auburn, MSU and UM in much better situations than years past. Even a&m has a bunch of talent on their roster. Arky almost won in Baton Rouge last year.

If we can upset one of the big two on the road this year and hold serve at home we have a solid chance to go back to Atlanta this year.

The west hasn't been this wide open in years.

[PMDawg]

The West is stacked this year. Two teams in the top 4 preseason most likely. Folks are selling Alabama way short. They probably have the 3 best RBs ever on a single college roster and they will have a top 3 OL. Stacked at WR and defense as sick as ever. Auburn has almost everyone back from a NC caliber team. LSU is going to contend because of their defense. A&M will be tough. Yes JFF and crew are gone, but Sumlin's offense has rolled with CUSA scrubs before so I'm sure he will be fine considering A&M has had 3 elite recruiting classes in a row. Their defense returns a lot of folks who should play a lot better this year considering they are former 4 & 5 star recruits who are all a year older and more experienced. Ole miss, like it or not, has one of the best rosters they've had since integration, and Arkansas has some good young players going into their second year under bielema. They are the weakest team, but they are better than a typical sec west doormat team. This may be the best the west has ever been. So yeah I guess it's wide open, but just because everyone is good...not because the top is down. The bottom is up. It's going to be a fun year to watch games but I think the guy who said a 2 loss team will win may be spot on. We are going to kill each other.

[smootness]

I'll be honest, I think we may need to slow down just a tad. I love a lot of what we're returning, and I do think this team looks better than any Mullen has had here on paper. But we still have to wait and see. We won 6 regular season games last year, and we wanted to fire Mullen before the late rush.

Yes, there were definitely reasons for some of that, and we look like a different team with Prescott. And the schedule sets up better. And there are a lot of SEC teams breaking in new QBs and facing some uncertainty. But I can't say we have a great chance to win the SEC until we start playing the games.

[Johnson85]

Notwithstanding 1941 and 1998, when have we had a more perfect storm of opportunity going into the year?

1999?
1981?

To me, this year seems like the best going in since either '81 or '99. And if this is the best, why should we consider anything less than 9 wins even acceptable? It's just hard for me to imagine us ever again competing for an SEC title, and the accompanying NC playoff if we can;t do it this year. Stars are aligned about as well as we could ever hope for, IMO.

Thoughts?

Have to have some weakness at the top for it to be considered a perfect storm. LSU and Bama may both step back from last year, but alabama will still probably be a top 10 team and LSU top 15. Then you have Auburn who may regress record wise when the horseshoe falls out of their ass, but they should be a better team this year. To top that off there are no real door mats this year. As bad as Arkansas was last year, they still took UM and us to the wire.

This could end up being one of our best teams, but saying this is a good chance for us to win the SEC is basically saying we have a good chance to be the best team in the nation, because that's probably what it would take to win the SEC while playing LSU and Bama on the road and finishing with a rivalry game on the road.

[PMDawg]

Have to have some weakness at the top for it to be considered a perfect storm. LSU and Bama may both step back from last year, but alabama will still probably be a top 10 team and LSU top 15. Then you have Auburn who may regress record wise when the horseshoe falls out of their ass, but they should be a better team this year. To top that off there are no real door mats this year. As bad as Arkansas was last year, they still took UM and us to the wire.

This could end up being one of our best teams, but saying this is a good chance for us to win the SEC is basically saying we have a good chance to be the best team in the nation, because that's probably what it would take to win the SEC while playing LSU and Bama on the road and finishing with a rivalry game on the road.

This guy gets it.

[blacklistedbully]

Ok guys, let's keep in mind I didn't ask or suggest we have a "great chance", just that it's possibly one of the "best chances" we've ever had. Yes, those tough games are on the road, but I don't think that trumps the loss of key starters, and besides, isn't it true Bama often plays better on the road anyway?

If we're ever going to be capable of contending for the West, I think we need to be able to win regardless of home or away. Also, our loss at Oxford seemed to me more of a problem with our shitty DC at the time. I'm not as concerned as many here about the home-team thing, as I see it as us being 1-1 @ Oxford under Mullen, and tend to think Freeze benefited from a "quirky" offense that was new, thus had to be figured out. We return damn near the same defense that completely shut down their offense this past year. Hell, it will probably be even better. I don't see home-field advantage trumping all that, nor do I think the extra year for their talent being enough to overcome what I expect to be a much improved offense, assuming DP is healthy and plays the entire game.

[blacklistedbully]

Ok, so it's on to the next season. I was right about contending, and win totals, but wrong about UNM.

This year, we should again accept nothing less than 9 wins, and this year we will take UNM down in Starkville. Personally, I think we have as good a chance to go 11-1 as we do to go 9-3.

[Jack Lambert]

Notwithstanding 1941 and 1998, when have we had a more perfect storm of opportunity going into the year?

1999?
1981?

To me, this year seems like the best going in since either '81 or '99. And if this is the best, why should we consider anything less than 9 wins even acceptable? It's just hard for me to imagine us ever again competing for an SEC title, and the accompanying NC playoff if we can;t do it this year. Stars are aligned about as well as we could ever hope for, IMO.

Thoughts?

We had the talent in 2000 and the SEC West was down. We could have easily won the West three years in a roll.

[missouridawg]

As bad as Arkansas was last year, they still took UM and us to the wire.


Arkansas took us to the wire... They took UM to the woodshed.

[maroonmania]

As far as the schedule goes, our best chance to win a championship would be a year where we had LSU, Bama, and Ole Miss at home. Rivalry games are unpredictable and LSU and Bama have been consistently good moreso than Auburn, A&M, and Arkansas have been the past 10 years. I think the home team in the Egg Bowl has a major advantage. Literally the only time one of us pulls off a road win is when the other is dumpster fire horrible- see MSU 2003, Ole Miss 2010. Even Croom was able to beat Ole Miss both times at home.

I fully agree because Bama and LSU on the road are incredibly difficult and its gotten to where the road team has a very tough time trying to win the Egg Bowl. We've been smoked in Oxford our last 2 trips and OM hasn't won in Starkville in quite some time.

[CadaverDawg]

Arkansas took us to the wire... They took UM to the woodshed.

He bumped a year old thread for some reason. That post was referring to 2013 games vs the Hogs I believe. Took me a minute too.

[maroonmania]

Yea, just now realized this was an old thread.

[blacklistedbully]

Yep, I did it mainly to annoy Dawg61. :D Also thought it would be fun to capture some comments from last year.

[Dawgtini]

Notwithstanding 1941 and 1998, when have we had a more perfect storm of opportunity going into the year?

1999?
1981?

To me, this year seems like the best going in since either '81 or '99. And if this is the best, why should we consider anything less than 9 wins even acceptable? It's just hard for me to imagine us ever again competing for an SEC title, and the accompanying NC playoff if we can;t do it this year. Stars are aligned about as well as we could ever hope for, IMO.

Thoughts?
Last year. //just noticed it was an old thread too

[Bully13]

It'll be hard as hell to win at Tuscaloosa, Baton Rouge, and Oxford. Other than that, every game on our schedule is winnable or should be.

I'm missing something here. ..don't we have all those at home this year?

[BulldogBear]

I'm missing something here. ..don't we have all those at home this year?

old thread

[PMDawg]

I was too down on us last year too. Hope I'm wrong again

[Dawg61]

Yep, I did it mainly to annoy Dawg61. :D Also thought it would be fun to capture some comments from last year.

Herp da derp derpa derp. A derpity

derpity herpa derp derp. Derp derp

derp. A herp derp herpity derpity derp.

[blacklistedbully]

Herp da derp derpa derp. A derpity

derpity herpa derp derp. Derp derp

derp. A herp derp herpity derpity derp.

In your case it should be:

Slurp, slurp, a slurpity-slurp, Dickbreath61.