College Football
Clemson: Best Team In College Football?
By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
After the first few weeks of the college football season some questions have already been answered. We’re beginning to separate the contenders from the pretenders. One of the teams that has surprised me is Clemson. I think the Tigers might be the best team in the nation.
We’re aware that they’ve played against Alabama in the national championship game the previous two years. They came very close in 2015 but they found redemption and won it all in 2016.
Georgia Best In SEC East?
By: JJ Lanier
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
At the beginning of the season the SEC was shaping up to be a three headed monster.
You had Georgia, Florida, and possibly Tennessee, all favored at one point or another to contend for the division title.
I know we’re only three weeks in and things can change quicker than the cast of All My Children but right now it feels obvious that Georgia is separating itself from the rest of the pack.
Tift Too Much For Glynn
By: Christian Goeckel
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Glynn Academy’s week 3 loss to Tift County, 27-7, can be summarized into one word: Until.
The Terrors were moving the ball up and down the field, until they turned it over, when Randon Jernigan was strip sacked on Tift’s 29.
They had picked up a crucial third down, until they came up a yard short and failed on the fourth down conversion.
The defense held 4-star receiver Rashod Bateman in check, until they didn’t, when they seemingly forgot the Minnesota commit was on the field and he walked into to the endzone for an 80-yard score.
One thing remains true in football across all levels; When you face good teams, you can’t give up the ball. Glynn is a young team that is still trying to find its footing and it seems to have a propensity for coughing up the football. In an offense that puts the ball in a lot of people’s hands, like the option does, that’s catastrophic,
Tift County entered this game with a dominant defense (giving up 4.7 points per game). Much like Benedictine, Tift loaded the box all night. Glynn’s triple option, dominant last week against Ware, was held under 70 yards on the night. Caine Crews lead the way with 33 yards on 15 carries (2.2 ypc).
For the second week in a row, Glynn only completed two passes. One, a 60 yarder to Andrew Delaney, setup the Terrors’ only score.
If Glynn has any playoff aspirations they must find a passing game. Teams will continue to load the box until Jernigan can prove that he can beat them over the top. Jernigan shouldn’t shoulder all the blame, though. His line rarely gives him time to move off his first look, and his receivers can’t consistently beat their men.
Defensively, the team played well minus a couple of big plays. Tift quarterback Griffin Collier gashed the Terrors’ defense on the second play of the game for a 74-yard touchdown and found receiver Rashod Bateman for the aformentioned 80-yard bomb.
Tift had a clear game plan: Get up early and ride our defense. The Blue Devils, a pass heavy offense, threw the ball only 21 times for 198 yards. Tift felt they could shut down Glynn, so why get risky?
Glynn finds themselves at an interesting place. Again, it can’t be understated that this team is hurt, but they’re getting healthier every week.
Yet, every week the offense becomes more one dimensional. They must choose now if they open the offense up, or continue to pound the rock and trust the system.
We’ll get to see what they choose next week when they take on Camden County at Glynn County Stadium. Camden is coming off an extremely solid come from behind win at home against Fitzgerald and will look to improve their record to 3-1 when they take on the Terrors.
This is a tough match up for Glynn. Camden is another team that rides their great defense. In what should be a low scoring game, the difference will biggest factor will be Glynn’s ability or inability to hold on to the ball. Camden will pounce on any mistake you make.
Glynn is 1-2, and largely looking for consistency before region play begins. A win over a good team like Camden would not only bring the Terrors back to .500, it would be a huge confidence boost for a team that needs it.
Glynn Academy vs Camden County kicks off at 7:30 at Glynn County Stadium on Friday, September 8th.
ACC Coastal Week 1 Preview
By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
It’s my favorite time of year again, football season. Seriously, the opening weekend should be declared a national holiday. Lucky for us it coincides with Labor Day weekend, so we get three days of games.
I’m going to break down the matchups of the best conference, the ACC. I’ll focus on the weaker Coastal division.
North Carolina vs. California: The Tar Heels are replacing the No. 2 pick in the NFL draft quarterback Mitch Trubisky. LSU transfer Brandon Harris is his replacement. Frankly, Harris was not a good player in Baton Rouge so I can’t imagine him being great in Chapel Hill.
The Golden Bears were 5-7 in 2016 so they aren’t very good. Sophomore QB Ross Bowers will be making his first collegiate start so I give the advantage to UNC.
Miami vs. Bethune-Cookman: This is a game against an FCS opponent to start the season. The Hurricanes are replacing their all-time passing leader Brad Kaaya. Junior Malik Rosier is hoping to take his place and lead Miami to their first ACC Championship. He’ll have the chance to build a lot of confidence in this game. This will be an easy 40-point win.
Pittsburgh vs. Youngstown State: Youngstown State is also from the FCS but their pretty good, especially against Pitt. They beat the Panthers in 2012 31-17.
They met again in 2015 and lost 45-37. Pitt is coming off of two consecutive 8-5 seasons and their looking to improve. That will be difficult because they lost five players to the NFL Draft including QB Nathan Peterman and running back James Conner.
Sticking with the theme of breaking in a new quarterback Max Browne will make his debut. I expect a close game but Pitt should win.
Virginia vs. William & Mary: The Cavaliers are one of the few teams that return their starting QB, senior Kurt Benkhert. At first glance it seems like he was pretty decent last year, throwing for over 2,500 yards and 21 touchdowns. He set the all-time record for single-game passing against Central Michigan, with 421 yards. Unfortunately, his 56% completion rate was the lowest for a UVA starter since Dan Ellis in 2000.
Coach Bronco Mendenhall is in his second season and looks to improve after a disastrous 2-10 campaign. The Wahoos lost to an FCS opponent (Richmond) to open the 2016 season so it won’t be unheard of for them to lose. I’m expecting them to win by single digits.
Duke vs. North Carolina Central: The Blue Devils got the memo to play an FCS team. They are coming off a 4-8 season and missed the postseason for the first time since 2011. They do return quarterback Daniel Jones and they’ll get a blowout win.
#21 Virginia Tech vs. #22 West Virginia: This game is played Sunday night at the home of the Washington Redskins, FedEx Field. This is actually a rivalry game where the winner gets the Black Diamond Trophy.
This is their first meeting in twelve years and I expect it to be intense. The Hokies will start redshirt freshman QB Josh Jackson. I expect him to struggle against the Mountaineers and Va Tech will lose.
Georgia Tech vs. #25 Tennessee: This is a prime time game on Labor Day at the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Both teams are breaking in new starting quarterbacks.
I think Tech’s biggest concern is replacing B-back and leading rusher Dedrick Mills. He was dismissed two weeks ago for violation of unidentified athletic department rules.
Even without Mills I believe the triple option will be too much for Tennessee and the Yellow Jackets will win.
College Football Week One
By: JJ Lanier
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
After 8 long months the wait is finally over: the college football season has finally arrived. And nothing welcomes the beginning of a new year quite like the obligatory “Five Week 1 Prognostications Guaranteed To Go Wrong, But It Doesn’t Matter Because I’ll Write About Something Completely Different Next Week And Never Mention These Predictions Again.” Sounds like a good time, right?
- Georgia will beat Appalachian State, but not by much and will actually trail at some point in the second half.
I know I’m not going on too much of a limb to predict a Georgia win, and as much as I wanted to pick an Appalachian victory, I just can’t do it. The Mountaineers return an experienced team on both sides of the ball and a 5th year senior in Quarterback, Tyler Lamb. They should’ve beaten Tennessee last year and will make UGA work for it this year. The Dawgs are too athletic and too talented not to come away with a win, though.
- Alabama will lose to Florida State.
I know it’s not all that wise to go against Alabama, basically ever, but intelligence has never really been my strong suit. What I do know is this, the last time Nick Saban lost back to back games was probably when he was the head coach of the Miami Dolphins. He handled that adversity so well he decided to leave the NFL and go back to college. My hope is that if he loses to Florida State maybe he’ll leave college football and go back to high school. One can dream, right?
- LSU will fail to score 20 points on a BYU team that thinks about defense the same way Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor think about humility.
Ed Orgeron did some good things for the Tigers last year after replacing Les Miles; mainly reinvigorating the fan base. Their offense SHOULD be better than it was last year, but then again, I should know better than to eat an entire pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream before watching Game of Thrones, yet I do it anyway. Point is, a lot of things that should be different, oftentimes never change. See, LSU Offense.
- South Alabama will beat Ole Miss.
South Alabama is a middle of the pack, Sun Belt conference team, that should have no business bearing any SEC team. Fortunately for them, they’re playing the one SEC team that probably doesn’t have any business winning a SEC game either. I have no idea what to expect from the Rebels this year, except it’s not going to be a pretty site in Oxford.
- The Florida/Michigan game will wind up being the most intriguing game of the weekend.
I have no idea if it’ll be because the play on the field will be that exciting or because there’s a 50/50 chance that Jim Harbaugh and Jim McElwain will fight it out Mortal Kombat style halfway through the game. Either way, one of those two things will happen and it will be glorious to behold.
Now that I have channeled my inner Nostradamus feel free to enter this most sacred of weekends with the knowledge that these outcomes have already been foretold.
Of course, if I happen to be mistaken don’t waste your time letting me know. At that point, I’ll have already forgotten what I said and moved on to my next topic. You didn’t think I would hold myself accountable for my own thoughts, did you?
Miami Hurricanes Preview
By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The University of Miami has to be one of the greatest programs in recent history. Most traditional powerhouses like Notre Dame, Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan or USC were dominant back in the 1930’s and 40’s. Miami won their first national championship in 1983 and won a total of five in 18 years (1983-2001).
The Hurricanes have also had their share of controversy, being placed on probation by the NCAA a few times. Most recently they were on probation for 3 years and that just ended October 2016.
The Canes defected from the Big East and joined the ACC in 2004 along with Boston College and Virginia Tech. Since joining the ACC they’ve never won a conference championship or even played in the ACC Championship game.
This could be the year for that to change. Long time Georgia head coach Mark Richt returned to his alma mater last season. He led them to a 9-4 record and a win in the Russell Athletic Bowl over No. 14 West Virginia (10-3).
They have to replace prolific quarterback Brad Kaaya, who left school early for the NFL. He wasn’t selected until the sixth round (215th overall) so he honestly should have stayed at U of M but that’s a discussion for another day.
Junior Malik Rosier is the only QB on the roster with any experience, throwing two touchdowns and three picks in 61 career pass attempts. The fan favorite is dual-threat freshman N’Kosi Perry.
The offensive line also needs to improve drastically. They struggled in pass protection last season. They are comprised of three seniors and two juniors so they have experience.
Junior running back Mark Walton should have another big year. He ran for 1,117 yards and 14 touchdowns in 2016. He finished second to Lamar Jackson in the number of votes for the All-ACC preseason team this year.
Ahmmon Richards was one of three Canes to be named a Freshman All-American. The speedy receiver led Miami last season in receiving yards and yards per catch.
Manny Diaz was hired as defensive coordinator in January after one year at Mississippi State. Miami has one of the best D-lines in the country, with a gifted front four of Chad Thomas (11 tackles for loss last season), Kendrick Norton (10 TFLs), RJ McIntosh (nine TFLs) and Joe Jackson (8.5 sacks as a freshman last year).
The defense only gave up 18.5 points per game last year, 12th-fewest in the country. A trio of freshman linebackers started last year. Two of them, Shaquille Quarterman and Michael Pinckney were named to the freshman All-American team. The secondary is where they might struggle. They were ranked 47th in passing defense.
Playing in the much weaker Coastal division means they have an easier chance at playing in the ACC Championship game. They don’t have Louisville or Clemson on the schedule.
The season opens with FCS Bethune-Cookman. The next week is at Arkansas State. This is basically the college version of preseason games, both easy blowout wins.
Things will get drastically harder week 3, which is in Tallahassee against No. 3 FSU. I think they’ll lose.
The only game after this that they may not be favored in is home against Notre Dame on November 11. The last out of conference game is against Toledo and the other Atlantic division opponent is Syracuse. Based on superior talent they should also run through Duke, Pitt, GA Tech, Virginia, VA Tech and North Carolina.
I think Miami can realistically win ten regular season games and finally compete to win the ACC.
North Carolina Tar Heels Preview
By: JJ Lanier
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
You’ll have to excuse North Carolina football fans if they’re simultaneously over-zealous, yet skeptical, about any decent football coach their school gets.
You see, after witnessing arguably the most successful ten year period in their program’s history during the Mack Brown era, they still vividly remember losing him to Texas after back to back 10 win seasons. It’s embedded in their psyche, really.
After the coaching carousel they went through after Brown’s departure- Carl Torbush (the Matt Doherty of Carolina football coaches); John Bunting (nice guy, bad coach); Butch Davis (NCAA investigation ring a bell)- you can understand their trepidation when it comes to current head coach, Larry Fedora.
Kennesaw State Owls Preview
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Entering its third year of existence the Kennesaw State University football program, by playing well and providing some big wins for two years, has something it didn’t have before. It has something that, usually, no third-year program has any right to have. It has expectations.
Mississippi State Bulldogs Preview
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Richmond Hill’s own Nick Fitzgerald is back for his junior season in Starkville, Mississippi as he leads his Mississippi State Bulldogs into SEC play.
When Fitzgerald played for Richmond Hill he ran the triple option system and dominated Coastal Georgia during his time as the Wildcats starting quarterback. He was rated a three star QB when he signed with the Bulldogs in 2014. Fitzgerald redshirted in 2014 and served as Dak Prescott’s back-up in 2015.
Fitzgerald got his chance in 2016 to be the face of Bulldog football and did not disappoint. Fitzgerald led the Bulldogs to an upset win over No. 4 Texas A&M, recording 391 yards of total offense and scoring 4 total touchdowns, including a 74-yard touchdown run on the Bulldogs’ first offensive play.
In the Egg Bowl, the Bulldogs’ annual season finale against in state rival Ole Miss, Fitzgerald led Mississippi State to a 55-20 victory and accounted for 5 total touchdowns (3 passing 2 rushing) while setting a Mississippi State single game rushing record with 258 yards.
Here is a mind blowing stat; Fitzgerald, who plays QB, was the second leading rusher in the SEC in 2016 with 1375 yards and a 7.1 YPC average.
Derrius Guice of LSU led the SEC with 1387 yards rushing. Fitzgerald had more rushing yards in 2016 than Leonard Fournette, Nick Chubb, and Kamryn Pettway. That is saying a lot folks.
Fitzgerald also passed for 2400 yards. He accounted for 37 TD’s in 2016 (21 passing and 16 rushing) and accounted for 3,800 yards of total offense. Fitzgerald has the perfect skill set to run Dan Mullen’s spread attack in Starkville. Fitzgerald is a developing passer who must improve on his completion percentage. It was 54.3% in 2016.
Offensive line is a huge question mark for the Bulldogs. Donald Gray and Keith Mixon lead the WR group. Farrod Green and Justin Johnson are good TE’s and could be good options as well in the passing game.
Aeris Williams is a solid RB who had 720 yards in 2016 and could take on a bigger role in running game and could take some of the rushing load off Fitzgerald.
Former UGA DC Todd Grantham takes over the MSU defense in 2017. Grantham is the 4th DC in 4 years in Starkville. Grantham has an attacking style and has some players in place to make a difference.
Defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons, a former five-star recruit, and linebacker Leo Lewis are both top tier talents in the SEC. Chauncey Rivers road to Starkville was chronicled in Last Chance U and he will provide a spark on defense. Johnathan Abram a UGA transfer will help in the secondary.
The Schedule/Predicted win/loss: The Bulldogs will beat Charleston Southern, Louisiana Tech, UMass, BYU, and Ole Miss who will be beaten to a pulp by the NCAA. That is five sure wins I see.
Losses: I don’t see the Bulldogs beating UGA and Auburn on the road. They will not beat Alabama at home.
So the Bulldogs are sitting at 5-3. Let’s take a look at the toss-up games I see on the MSU schedule:
September 16th LSU in Starkville. I’m not sold on LSU in 2017 yet. Especially at the QB position. I think the Bulldogs get Davis Wade Stadium rocking and pull the upset.
October 21st: Kentucky comes to Starkville in an evenly matched game. Nick Fitzgerald will be the difference and MSU wins.
October 28th @ Texas A&M: MSU upset the Aggies in 2016. That won’t happen in 2017 in College Station.
November 18th @ Arkansas: Tough game for the Bulldogs. I think they find a way to beat Arkansas on the road.
Season Record: 8-4 and 4-4 in the SEC with a Liberty Bowl berth in Memphis.
Georgia State Panthers Preview
By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
As an Atlanta native I’m still getting used to Georgia State having a football program.
The Panthers began playing football in 2010. By comparison Georgia and Georgia Tech’s inaugural season was 1892. Georgia Southern started playing in 1924. So, it’s an understatement to say GA State lacks in tradition.
