2011 October | SoutheastSportsTalk.com

Week 9 SEC Football Review

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There were some very good SEC football games this past weekend. Georgia-Florida was an excellent game. Florida had a 17-3 lead but Georgia was just to much in the second half. John Brantley the Florida QB showed some signs of rust going just 2-12 for 19 yards in the second half. The Georgia defense was the deciding factor as they completley shut down the Florida running game by holding the Gators -19 yards rushing and just 32 yards of total offense in the second half. Georgia is (8-2) on the year winning 6 straight games while Florida fell to (4-4).

South Carolina found a way to win without star running back Marcus Lattimore. True freshman Brandon Wilds led the Gamecocks in rushing with 137 yards and also led the team in pass receiving yards. Of course that’s not good when you have a WR like Alshon Jeffery that you just can’t seem to get the ball to. The South Carolina offensive line blocked better against the run but continued the bad pass blocking that has hurt the offense all year. Earlier in the season people were complaining about Stephen Garcia leaving the pocket to soon but Saturday night you saw QB Connor Shaw do the same thing. The OL has to play better for the Ganecocks to have a chance against Arkansas this weekend. South Carolina improved to (7-1) while Tennessee fell to (3-5)

Auburn jumped out to a 14-0 lead only to see Mississippi bounce back to a 17-17 tie at halftime. But the Tigers blew it open in the second half to take a 41-23 victory. Auburn picked up a total of 414 yards against the Rebels defense but also gave up 382 yards. The Auburn defense has been their biggest problem this year. Auburn improved to (6-3) on the year while Ole Miss fell to (2-6).

Mississippi State improved to (4-4) with a 28-16 win against Kentucky. This has been a very disappointing year for the Bulldogs and they need two more wins to be bowl eligible. Kentucky (3-5) will have to hustle to get to 6 wins and become bowl eligible. I don’t believe they will make it this year. The Kentucky offense has showed little signs of improvement since the start of the season and they managed just 16 points against the Bulldogs defense Saturday.

Maybe the best SEC football game this past weekend was the Arkansas-Vanderbilt match-up. Arkansas outscored Vandy 11-0 in the final quarter to pull out a 31-28 victory. Vandy (4-4) outplayed Arkansas for 3 quarters but it’s a 4 quarter game. Vanderbilt is a vastly improved football team but they have to learn how to win in the 4th quarter. They had a chance to beat Georgia last week and should have beat Arkansas this week but the Hogs pulled it out. The most surprising statistic to me was Vanderbilt out rushing Arkansas 222 to 72. The Commodores have played good defense all year.

This upcoming week is the week we have all been waiting for. The game of the year will be played Saturday night between Alabama and LSU. There is also a big match-up that could determine who will win the SEC east when South Carolina goes to Arkansas Saturday night. If the Gamecocks lose Georgia will most likely come back from an 0-2 start to win the east.

Tennessee Vol Report: Derek Dooley Post-Practice (10/25/11) On South Carolina

Tennessee Volunteer head coach Derek Dooley gives a post-practice interview this week. He talks about Brian Randolph, Justin Worley and this weekends game with the South Carolina Gamecocks.

Both teams have been struggling offensively this year. Tennessee will start a freshman from South Carolina, Justin Worley at QB. Worley was not recruited by the Gamecocks and the big question is will he make them pay for that Saturday night. The Gamecocks have one of the top defensive lines in the nation and you can be sure they want to put plenty of pressure on him. It should be another great SEC battle this weekend.

twitt Tennessee Vol Report: Derek Dooley Post Practice (10/25/11) On South Carolina

Week 9 SEC Preview

Alabama and LSU have the week off as they get ready for the game of the year in the SEC amd maybe the nation next week. That game will have national championship implications. Tickets will be hard to come by for this one unless you are willing to fork over some big dough. There are several games this week that have SEC East implications this weekend. The SEC East is wide open with Florida, Georgia and South Carolina all in the running.

South Carolina 24 Tennessee 17 Both of these teams have had their troubles this year. But the Gamecock defense has come on and will be the difference in this game against freshmen QB Justin Worley. The South Carolina defense is ranked number 1 in the nation in the nation against the pass but I believe that’s more a result of the pass rush the DL puts on than anything the defensive backfield is doing. Both teams are struggling offensively but the Carolina defense seems to score a TD or two every game and I think they will make South Carolina native Worley’s first start a nightmare but the Vols will keep it close unless the Gamecock offense can figure out what they are doing..

Arkansas 31 Vanderbilt 21 The Vanderbilt offense finally woke up against Georgia but the Arkansas offense will be to much for a good Vanderbilt defense. If Vandy can stay in the game until the 4th quarter anything can happen. This should be a good measuring stick to see how much the Commodore’s have improved.

Mississippi State 21 Kentucky 17 Two teams going nowhere. I thought the Bulldogs would be contending in the SEC West but they have gone downhill since game one. The Kentucky offense is bad and the defense has not been much better. QB problems have plagued the SEC this year and these two teams especially have had problems. Mississippi State should get the win at Kentucky but Kentucky will be looking for some magic out of the all black uniforms they will wear this weekend for the game.

Auburn 33 Ole Miss 27 The Rebels have struggled this year but looked better against Arkansas even though they blew a 17 point lead. I have to wonder if the Mississippi players can bounce back after that disappointing loss. Auburn has their own problems but they should be able to take care of the Rebels at home.

Georgia 24 Florida 21 Florida gets their QB John Brantley back for this big showdown. Georgia has been one of the hottest teams in the nation since starting 0-2. Florida has dominated this series going something like 18-3 the last 21 games. John Brantley is 12-6 as a starter for the Gators. The Georgia running attack is tough to stop and the Florida defense has had some troubles this year. It will be a tough battle and will probably come down to a late 4th quarter field goal for the Bulldogs to pull out the victory. If the Gators can find a way to win I will not be surprised at all.

Florida Head Coach Will Muschamp Press Conference Oct. 24

Florida Head Coach Will Muschamp talks about John Brantley’s status and getting ready for Georgia at a press conference on October 24, 2011

twitt Florida Head Coach Will Muschamp Press Conference Oct. 24

South Carolina Head Coach Steve Spurrier Press Conference Oct. 25

South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier speaks to the media on October 25, 2011 prior to the Tennessee game.

twitt South Carolina Head Coach Steve Spurrier Press Conference Oct. 25

Week 8 SEC Football Preview

Several SEC teams have much needed breaks this week with a week off. I don’t see any upsets happening this weekend in the SEC. I see a few upsets coming in the next few weeks though. Stay tuned.

Alabama 46 Tennessee 14 The Vols have to travel to Alabama to play one of the toughest defenses in the nation. Tennessee has had trouble putting up points on offense and that will continue this week. This one should be over by half time. Tennessee is a year away from being competitive.

Arkansas 41 Mississippi 10 Arkansas takes their high powered offense into Rebel country to take on an Ole Miss team that has very little going for it right now. They have tried playing a lot of different players but nothing is working. The Rebels will hang in there for a half but after that the Hogs should roll up the score as much as they want.

Vanderbilt 28 Army 14 The Commodores get a little break this week after several tough SEC games in a row. They will get back on track this week against Army. The offense finally came around last week against Georgia. A win this week will leave them needing 2 more victories to be bowl eligible this year. This team is improving and will upset somebody before the year is over.

Kentucky 24 Jacksonville 17 Kentucky has had a rough season so far. They are coming off a week off and play Jacksonville this week. That should add up to a victory. This team has to find some offense to beat anybody else this year though.

LSU 31 Auburn 17 Auburn has been improving each week but they are not ready to go into Baton Rouge and come away with a victory even if it’s a day game. LSU should bring Auburn fans back down to earth this weekend.

Week 7 SEC Review

This was a tough week again for injuries in the SEC. The biggest injury was the knee injury to RB Marcus Lattimore that will sideline him for the year. As if thats not bad enough the Gamecocks their number 2 running back Shon Carson was lost for the season with a knee injury also that happened a few weeks ago. It gets worse. The number 3 and 4 backs are hurt also. There is a chance they will be back in two weeks for the game against Tennessee. If not that means a 5th string true freshmen Brandon Wilds will start with a couple of walk ons as his backup. Whew, Spurrier will earn his money now!

If you follow South Carolina you know the OL has been bad for the last month. They did manage to hang on and beat Mississippi State 14-12 in Starkville. This could mean big trouble for them if the OL does not step up fast. Their defense is probably good enough to get them through the Tennessee game but after that they could have a hard time finding a victory if the offense does not get their act together. The Bulldogs have not had good QB play this year and it’s killing their offense. Mississippi State has been the biggest disappointment in the SEC this year if you ask me.

Auburn continues to improve after this past weeks 17-6 victory over Florida. The Florida offense is struggling without their starting QB John Brantley. He should be back in two weeks when the Gators have their big game against Georgia. There are QB problems everywhere in the SEC this year due to injuries, poor play by young QBs and bad offensive line play.

LSU had an easy game this past weekend against a weak offensive Tennessee team that was without their starting QB Tyler Bray. LSU came away with a 38-7 victory in Knoxville. The Vols did play good football in the first half but got worn down in the second half.

Georgia beat Vanderbilt 33-28 in a very good college football game Saturday night. The Vandy defense is pretty good and the offense finally got something going in the second half against Georgia. But Georgia held on for the win and they are sitting in a tie with South Carolina for first place in the SEC East. If they can get by Florida I think they can win the east. South Carolina has a tough away game coming up against Arkansas that I don’t see them winning the way they are playing now.

Mississippi took a beat down from Alabama 52-7. This is just a bad Rebel football team. Alabama is one of the top teams in the nation. That was very obvious Saturday. The Rebels like South Carolina have injuries at running back and have tried 3 different QBs. Result a very bad offense.

Bad offense and great defense makes for some ugly games in the SEC in 2011.