(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.