Based on what we saw this weekend, below are my general power rankings:

1. Alabama - That O-Line will get better
2. LSU - Good to see that they can score
3. Georgia - Still a good team
4. South Carolina - Impressive in streaks
5. Florida - That defense is going to be great again
6. Ole Miss - They've got some studs
7. Texas A&M - How do you let Rice score that much? JF has gone full villain mode.
8. Vanderbilt - They have grit and talent... can't believe I wrote that.
9. Arkansas - Biggest surprise of the weekend to me. UL should be a good team this year.
10. Auburn - Closer than it should of been, but that first win was huge mentally for them. They have life to them, and talent never has been or will be the problem.
11. Missouri - Murray State is no slouch
12. Tennessee - Hard to tell against Austin Peay, but at least they are playing some sort of defense compared to last year.
13. Mississippi State - Bland, bland, bland.
14. Kentucky - We just don't have the horses this year. Check back in 2015. In the meantime, enjoy Julius Randle and the Harrison twins.

(09-01-2013 10:05 AM)bigblueblindness Wrote:  Based on what we saw this weekend, below are my general power rankings:

1. Alabama - That O-Line will get better
2. LSU - Good to see that they can score
3. Georgia - Still a good team
4. South Carolina - Impressive in streaks
5. Florida - That defense is going to be great again
6. Ole Miss - They've got some studs
7. Texas A&M - How do you let Rice score that much? JF has gone full villain mode.
8. Vanderbilt - They have grit and talent... can't believe I wrote that.
9. Arkansas - Biggest surprise of the weekend to me. UL should be a good team this year.
10. Auburn - Closer than it should of been, but that first win was huge mentally for them. They have life to them, and talent never has been or will be the problem.
11. Missouri - Murray State is no slouch
12. Tennessee - Hard to tell against Austin Peay, but at least they are playing some sort of defense compared to last year.
13. Mississippi State - Bland, bland, bland.
14. Kentucky - We just don't have the horses this year. Check back in 2015. In the meantime, enjoy Julius Randle and the Harrison twins.

1. Agree on Alabama
2. L.S.U.: Will only get better and they looked strong on both sides of the ball. They could beat Bama.
3. Georgia Defense? Clemson's offense is very good but any SEC team that gives up 38 has a substandard conference defense.
4. South Carolina: Their offense will get a lot better. Clowney?
5. Florida: Their opponent Toledo has a danged good offense and scored two 3's. The Achilles heel of the Gators is a quarterback that can't look off a receiver and they will lose a few but still probably finish 9 - 3.
6. Ole Miss: It's hard to tell yet. They were lucky to beat Vanderbilt, but just how good is Vanderbilt?
7. Texas A&M: It's obvious now that Manziel has trouble controlling his emotions and his blow by of his coach was totally unacceptable. Still he has the best field vision and instincts I have seen at his position since Fran Tarkenton and more recently Kenny Stabler.
8. Vanderbilt: Not the Vandy of old but will have a tough time equaling last years 9 wins.
9. Arkansas: Will do much better this year than people think. The talent was still there just demoralized by Petrino's affair and a complete idiot as an interim last year.
10: Auburn: Raw talent on defense is totally undeveloped and their coverage schemes are a partial failure. There are bright spots and flashes of brilliance, but those are too rare to expect a great year. The offense will suffer like Mississippi State if the quarterback continues to overthrow all of his medium and long routes.
11: Missouri: ??? If they find some consistency they will finish 3rd in the East ahead of Florida, if not they will finish 6th behind Tennessee.
12: Tennessee: 7 to 8 unexpected wins this year.
13: Mississippi State: Their defense played well enough to win and were better than Oklahoma State's defense. A totally inept offense gave OSU an easy win so it's hard to tell really how good OSU's defense is. The receivers were running open all day with no one to deliver a ball to them.
14: Kentucky:........................some better but still waiting for basketball season.

Observations:

If our two Bulldogs combined MSU's defense with Geogia's offense we would have a clear national championship contender.

Howard Cosell once said of Doug Williams (Tampa Bay Bucs quarterback) "He has an arm that can throw a ball the equivalent distance of a 10 story building's height, but the only problem is that his receiver is on the third floor." That was a spot on quote to describe Auburn's new quarterback.

Don't really care where people think we are after 1 game but will say this:

1) Half our D got suspended for Rice game and so we had a bunch of freshmen (15 new freshmen played Saturday) against Rice's senior and junior heavy O...so it was basically the Louisiana Tech game from last year. That was not the D that will line up against the SEC (thankfully)

2) The whole "Johnny is out of control" is 90% ESPN fabricating drama. It's painfully obvious they are trying to make A&M vs Bama the Holy Saint AJ vs the Evil Johnny Dragon game. Earlier they had a segment about AJ being the godfather to a young fan girl with leukemia followed immeadietly by "out of control and toxic Johnny Football"

Rice players talk **** to him on the A&M sideline, he responds but the ref only penalizes him. I'd be pissed off too.

The SEC is going to see the Franklin at QB for Mizzou they missed out on last year. He played very tentative and afraid of getting re-injured last year. He looked great this weekend. He will surprise several teams this year... This is still the kid who beat Texas and Texas A&M two years ago. Went 8-5 and won the Independence Bowl vs North Carolina. We also have RB Josey back this year who was carving up the Big XII before tearing up his knee and missed the whole season last year.

Missouri has a nice record against FCS opponents:

"Missouri is 10-0 against FCS teams under coach Gary Pinkel, entering with an average score of 50-7."
http://www.mutigers.com/sports/m-footbl/...13aaa.html

(09-01-2013 07:09 PM)10thMountain Wrote:  Don't really care where people think we are after 1 game but will say this:

1) Half our D got suspended for Rice game and so we had a bunch of freshmen (15 new freshmen played Saturday) against Rice's senior and junior heavy O...so it was basically the Louisiana Tech game from last year. That was not the D that will line up against the SEC (thankfully)

2) The whole "Johnny is out of control" is 90% ESPN fabricating drama. It's painfully obvious they are trying to make A&M vs Bama the Holy Saint AJ vs the Evil Johnny Dragon game. Earlier they had a segment about AJ being the godfather to a young fan girl with leukemia followed immeadietly by "out of control and toxic Johnny Football"

Rice players talk **** to him on the A&M sideline, he responds but the ref only penalizes him. I'd be pissed off too.

Good points 10th. He's gonna get this all year and has to just be the bigger man. The joke is really on the other guys as this kid will soon be stupid rich in the NFL... Will they? What is up with all the suspensions on D?

suspensions ranging from one half to 2 games for violation of team rules (dont know which ones exactly)

THAT will hurt us infinitely more than anything Johnny does because some of our D starters wont have any live game snaps before Bama and our D is really what will determine how far we go this year.

Hate it when dumb choices hurt the teams chances

After Week 2:

1. Alabama - Nick is ticked... just shows he is enjoying it.
2. LSU
3. Georgia
4. South Carolina
5. Ole Miss
6. Texas A&M
7. Florida - It is not that they lost, it is that they were totally undisciplined on offense. Inexcusable at this point. They will beat someone better than them just because of their talent, but they are not going to do it consistently.
8. Vanderbilt
9. Arkansas
10. Auburn
11. Missouri
12. Tennessee - The score was misleading because of that rash of turnovers by WKU, but at least UT took care of business.
13. Mississippi State
14. Kentucky

Not enough good competition this week to make any real moves except for Florida. Next week should be telling.

(09-08-2013 11:16 AM)bigblueblindness Wrote:  After Week 2:

1. Alabama - Nick is ticked... just shows he is enjoying it.
2. LSU
3. Georgia
4. South Carolina
5. Ole Miss
6. Texas A&M
7. Florida - It is not that they lost, it is that they were totally undisciplined on offense. Inexcusable at this point. They will beat someone better than them just because of their talent, but they are not going to do it consistently.
8. Vanderbilt
9. Arkansas
10. Auburn
11. Missouri
12. Tennessee - The score was misleading because of that rash of turnovers by WKU, but at least UT took care of business.
13. Mississippi State
14. Kentucky

Not enough good competition this week to make any real moves except for Florida. Next week should be telling.

Florida is ranked too high. They will be lucky to go 6 and 6. Georgia gets them, South Carolina gets them, L.S.U. gets them, and either Tennessee, Missouri, or Vanderbilt gets them. If two of the latter beat them they are 6-6. And that doesn't include the Noles so 5 and 7 is not out of the question.

(09-08-2013 11:23 AM)JRsec Wrote:  

(09-08-2013 11:16 AM)bigblueblindness Wrote:  After Week 2:

1. Alabama - Nick is ticked... just shows he is enjoying it.
2. LSU
3. Georgia
4. South Carolina
5. Ole Miss
6. Texas A&M
7. Florida - It is not that they lost, it is that they were totally undisciplined on offense. Inexcusable at this point. They will beat someone better than them just because of their talent, but they are not going to do it consistently.
8. Vanderbilt
9. Arkansas
10. Auburn
11. Missouri
12. Tennessee - The score was misleading because of that rash of turnovers by WKU, but at least UT took care of business.
13. Mississippi State
14. Kentucky

Not enough good competition this week to make any real moves except for Florida. Next week should be telling.

Florida is ranked too high. They will be lucky to go 6 and 6. Georgia gets them, South Carolina gets them, L.S.U. gets them, and either Tennessee, Missouri, or Vanderbilt gets them. If two of the latter beat them they are 6-6. And that doesn't include the Noles so 5 and 7 is not out of the question.

Very possible, but no team ranked below Florida played a noteworthy game. Like I said above, this week will be telling. If Florida performs as you predict, JR, then Muschamp may need to get that DC resume polished up.

If Florida beats FSU, people will say they're not ranked high enough...

1. Alabama
2. LSU
3. Georgia
4. Texas A&M - OK, I'm a believer again, Johnny. Still not sure they can stop anybody.
5. South Carolina - If Connor Shaw could do more than "first read, run", they would be higher.
6. Ole Miss
7. Florida
8. Vanderbilt
9. Arkansas
10. Auburn
11. Missouri - Will not play anyone until October 5.
12. Mississippi State - That's better...
13. Tennessee - Showed that Oregon is a powerhouse.
14. Kentucky - Showed that Louisville is not a powerhouse.

1. Alabama
2. L.S.U. (It's just hard to tell if they are truly as solid as they appear)
3. Texas A&M (would beat Georgia head to head since neither have a defesne.
4. Georgia
5. South Carolina
6. Ole Miss (They still haven't played anybody in spite of Texas)
7. Auburn (None of these have done anything to separate themselves from the others.)
7. Arkansas
7. Florida
7. Missouri
11. Mississippi State (Hard to tell yet which is the stronger of these)
11. Vanderbilt
11. Tennessee
14. Kentucky

Yeah, that Georgia/TAMU game would be a shootout. I still think that Georgia would have an advantage because their running game can keep the ball out of Johnny's hands, but it would be a very close game. I do think that Vanderbilt is a bit stronger than you do, though, JR. A loss at South Carolina is not a season breaker (see 2012 Georgia), and that thrilling loss to Ole Miss is looking more and more like a legitimate loss to a pretty good opponent.

In my opinion, Missouri and Arkansas are the only two teams that have not played a good enough opponent to really tell where they stack up against other SEC schools. It looking more like WKU played their best game in Week 1 against UK, so that UT win over WKU is dwindling a bit. Next week is not going to tell us much, either, assuming Florida and LSU easily take care of business, but several of the September 28 games are huge (Bama-Ole Miss, Arkansas-TAMU, Georgia-LSU).

(09-17-2013 10:54 AM)bigblueblindness Wrote:  Yeah, that Georgia/TAMU game would be a shootout. I still think that Georgia would have an advantage because their running game can keep the ball out of Johnny's hands, but it would be a very close game. I do think that Vanderbilt is a bit stronger than you do, though, JR. A loss at South Carolina is not a season breaker (see 2012 Georgia), and that thrilling loss to Ole Miss is looking more and more like a legitimate loss to a pretty good opponent.

In my opinion, Missouri and Arkansas are the only two teams that have not played a good enough opponent to really tell where they stack up against other SEC schools. It looking more like WKU played their best game in Week 1 against UK, so that UT win over WKU is dwindling a bit. Next week is not going to tell us much, either, assuming Florida and LSU easily take care of business, but several of the September 28 games are huge (Bama-Ole Miss, Arkansas-TAMU, Georgia-LSU).

Auburn and Arkansas are getting better week by week. How much better can they each get before they reach their potential for the season who knows yet? Florida does have a great defense that will keep them in any game, but their quarterback's fundamentals stink and if he hasn't acquired basic skills by this point in his Florida career he's not going to acquire them. I think Florida could easily lose 5 games that's why I put them in a tie with Arkansas and Auburn who would be maxing their potential with a 7-5 season. Missouri is just a big question mark to me. Their soft schedule should help them to be at least 7-5 especially if they take care of business against Indiana this weekend. I will say however that Kentucky if it finishes last is still a much better team than last year and proved that against Louisville. I think they illustrate an overall improvement in the SEC this year.

At this juncture I don't believe Alabama is a great as they were last year, but still very solid. L.S.U. may be the best team overall but it is too early to be sure and they did struggle with Auburn last year.

Things I hate about this year.
1. *@#& Georgia. Since Richt they have never been up to a season opener. They are a team that must schedule a week #1 patsy because they are never ready to play and weren't against Clemson either.

2. Florida stinks offensively and their loss to Miami was due to their ineptitude and not to the U being back. Too bad Miami has a soft schedule.

3. Oregon is very good and Tennessee is very weak and the Vols are lucky that no SEC team would run the score up on them just out of mutual respect. Oregon would run the score up on the Little Sisters of the Poor and then steal their alms if they thought they would get a headline out of it.

Speaking of Oregon, I am really glad to see the PAC as the emerging 2nd best football conference. It makes total sense based on recruiting grounds. The B1G is really going to have a hard time catching up at this point.

(09-17-2013 11:07 AM)JRsec Wrote:  At this juncture I don't believe Alabama is a great as they were last year, but still very solid. L.S.U. may be the best team overall but it is too early to be sure and they did struggle with Auburn last year.

The fact the LSU appears to actually have a quaterback will make the race for the SEC West interesting.

Quote:Things I hate about this year.
1. *@#& Georgia. Since Richt they have never been up to a season opener. They are a team that must schedule a week #1 patsy because they are never ready to play and weren't against Clemson either.

We talked about that. Honestly though Clemson REALLY wanted that game and that was the only time in the respective schedules that would accommodate such a matchup. Rest assured Dabo was fully aware of UGA's limitations.

Quote:2. Florida stinks offensively and their loss to Miami was due to their ineptitude and not to the U being back. Too bad Miami has a soft schedule.

Playing VT and GT and FSU should provide a decent evaluation of the 'Canes credibility.

Quote:3. Oregon is very good and Tennessee is very weak and the Vols are lucky that no SEC team would run the score up on them just out of mutual respect. Oregon would run the score up on the Little Sisters of the Poor and then steal their alms if they thought they would get a headline out of it.

Clay Travis suggested that the Vols should have bought out of this game. I like that fact the UT schedules OOC opponents, but if I had my pick I would have kept the UNC game and got out of this one. While I feel the Ducks are legit, there's no need for UT (and the SEC by proxy) to validate them.

(09-17-2013 10:02 PM)vandiver49 Wrote:  

(09-17-2013 11:07 AM)JRsec Wrote:  At this juncture I don't believe Alabama is a great as they were last year, but still very solid. L.S.U. may be the best team overall but it is too early to be sure and they did struggle with Auburn last year.

The fact the LSU appears to actually have a quaterback will make the race for the SEC West interesting.

Quote:Things I hate about this year.
1. *@#& Georgia. Since Richt they have never been up to a season opener. They are a team that must schedule a week #1 patsy because they are never ready to play and weren't against Clemson either.

We talked about that. Honestly though Clemson REALLY wanted that game and that was the only time in the respective schedules that would accommodate such a matchup. Rest assured Dabo was fully aware of UGA's limitations.

Quote:2. Florida stinks offensively and their loss to Miami was due to their ineptitude and not to the U being back. Too bad Miami has a soft schedule.

Playing VT and GT and FSU should provide a decent evaluation of the 'Canes credibility.

Quote:3. Oregon is very good and Tennessee is very weak and the Vols are lucky that no SEC team would run the score up on them just out of mutual respect. Oregon would run the score up on the Little Sisters of the Poor and then steal their alms if they thought they would get a headline out of it.

Clay Travis suggested that the Vols should have bought out of this game. I like that fact the UT schedules OOC opponents, but if I had my pick I would have kept the UNC game and got out of this one. While I feel the Ducks are legit, there's no need for UT (and the SEC by proxy) to validate them.

Nice post vandiver49! I agree, especially with the last remark.

After Week #4
1. Alabama
2. Texas A&M
3. L.S.U.
4. Georgia
5. South Carolina
6. Ole Miss
7. Florida
8. Auburn
9. Missouri
10. Mississippi State
11. Vanderbilt
12. Arkansas
13. Tennessee
14. Kentucky