Alabama Crimson Tide
Mark Fox Is SEC Basketball
By: JJ Lanier
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
If any SEC program had a winning basketball team, excluding Kentucky and Florida, would their fan base even care?
Actually, if they were winning the fan base would probably get behind them. I guess the better question is: If any SEC basketball program were a smidge better than mediocre, would anyone truly pay attention?
I ask this because for the most part SEC fans will alter their weekend schedule depending on what time their football team plays, but will really only watch basketball if the alternative is “Once Upon A Time” and even then it may come down to whether or not the latter is a rerun.
It’s kind of shame to be honest, because over the last few seasons the level of talent and competition within the conference has continued to grow.
One of the reasons for this semi-resurgence has been coaching. While football has taken a hit over the last couple seasons, relative to where it was because of missing out on some coaching hires at high profile programs, basketball has seemingly done a much better job with who they have brought in.
Take Tennessee for example and their hiring of Rick Barnes; who after prior stops at Clemson and Texas must have a wardrobe made up completely of different shades of orange.
Even though it feels as if Barnes bases his diagramming of plays and clock management off of NBA 2K18, he does a good job of recruiting and at least gets his teams into the tournament.
Avery Johnson is looking to be the correct hire at Alabama and even though Florida is off to a less than desired start, I don’t think anyone is questioning their choice of Mike White.
Throw in proven coaches like Ben Homeland, Bruce Pearl, and Frank Martin (coming off an unexpected Final Four 4 last year) and you can see why teams have started to close the gap with Kentucky, which a few years ago seemed insurmountable.
That being said, no one coach personifies SEC Basketball more than Georgia head coach, Mark Fox.
Fox is currently in his 9th season as the Bulldogs coach, and entered this season with an overall record of 145-118 (.551), 70-68 (.507) in conference play and zero tournament wins in their only two appearances in eight years. Yet, there doesn’t seem to be much rumbling about his job security, at least not with any regularity.
Personally, I think this is for 3 reasons:
- Fox is the anti Jim Harrick. Basically, he’s a genuinely good guy that runs a clean program, and won’t embarrass the entire athletic department and university.
- Even though Fox hasn’t had all that much success in Athens, he hasn’t been an object failure, either. If Georgia were to let him go, would they really be able to bring in someone better? He’s more less become the Ryan Tannehill of college basketball coaches.
- He wasn’t that big of a name when Georgia initially hired him, so what Fox has been able to accomplish is fairly realistic to the expectations coming in. Bigger name, bigger expectations.
My point is, when you’re sitting on your couch, or laying bed, trying to decide if you should watch yet another episode of “Duck Dynasty” or something a little different, give SEC Basketball a try.
They’re still a work in progress, but it will be well worth your time. I mean, at the very least you’re guaranteed to see Barnes make a fool of himself, which is well worth the price of admission.
SEC Hardwood
By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
We’re starting to get close to conference play in college basketball.
The SEC is the deepest it has been in years. There are currently four teams ranked in the top 25 and at least two more that may join them. I’m going to take a look at these teams.
#8 Kentucky: The Wildcats (8-1) have the same story year after year. They’ve been the gold standard in the conference since the 1920’s. Ever since coach John Calipari came to Lexington in 2009 they’ve been the poster child for the ‘one and done’ players. They reload every season with a top 5 recruiting class and this year is no different.
The 2017 recruiting class was ranked second in the nation with six 5 star recruits. The only loss was to #12 Kansas by four points. The next three games are against Virginia Tech, UCLA and in-state rival Louisville.
SEC play begins December 31st at home against Georgia. I expect Kentucky to be the best team in the SEC again. They should make a deep run in the NCAA tournament.
#9 Texas A&M: The Aggies (8-1) are off to their best start since the 2006-07 season.
They have some pretty impressive wins thus far. They beat #11 West Virginia 88-65 and #10 USC 75-59.
The only loss was against Arizona by three points. The Wildcats were ranked in the top five earlier in the season. They begin conference play Dec. 30th at Alabama.
The remaining non-conference games are easy wins against Savannah State, Northern Kentucky and Buffalo. A&M should be the best team in the SEC West.
#20 Tennessee: The Vols (7-1) had a well-documented awful football season. Fans in Knoxville need something to cheer about so it’s good to see the basketball team playing well. They beat #17 Purdue in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament.
The lone loss came against top ranked Villanova. Other than those two games the schedule has been pretty weak. They’ve played Mercer, Clemson, High Point and Presbyterian to name a few.
I think they may not be as good as the schedule suggests. We will get an idea of how good they really are when they play #7 North Carolina at home Sunday December 17th. I expect them to lose that game but they should handle Furman and Wake Forest. Then the Vols will play at Arkansas to open conference play.
#22 Florida: The Gators (6-3) were ranked as high as fifth before going on a three game losing streak. It’s hard to tell if they were overrated or just inconsistent. Their best win is against #12 Gonzaga.
They lost to #4 Duke by three points, which is respectable. But they followed that with loses to Florida State and Loyola Chicago.
They snapped the losing streak by beating Cincinnati. We won’t learn much about them before SEC play begins because they play Clemson, James Madison and Incarnate Word. I’m curious to see how Florida will develop as the season progresses.
There are a few teams right outside of being ranked in the top 25. They are: Arkansas (7-2), Miss State (8-0) and Mizzou (8-2). Missouri signed the #2 recruit in the 2017 class; 6’10 forward Michael Porter Jr.
Alabama (6-3) signed the #7 recruit in the 2017 class, guard Collin Sexton. The Crimson Tide lost to #14 Minnesota by five points. They played with three players, which makes that more impressive. Teams like that with future lottery picks are dangerous because they have a chance to beat anybody.
Making The Grade In The SEC
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The regular season is over in the SEC for the 2017 football season. Nine SEC teams are going to bowl games, and two are going into the college football playoff.
Overall Conference grade: C
Ole Miss tried to cheat their way to a title and big 6 members Florida and Tennessee are dumpster fires is ultimately what kept this grade from being higher.
For the first time in the new playoff format two teams from same conference, Alabama and Georgia made the final four while the Big 10 and PAC 12 champions got passed over.
Individual Team Grades:
Alabama: B+. The loss at Auburn kept the Tide out of the SEC title game but sitting at 11-1 Alabama will play Clemson in the Sugar Bowl in a national semifinal game.
The LB corps have been decimated by injuries, and Jalen Hurts needs to throw the ball better. Nick Saban is still the best coach in football.
Arkansas: D-. Bret got fired and the Hogs looked awful for most of the season. No bowl and a 1-7 record in the conference and 4-8 overall. Enter Chad Morris to fix this mess.
Auburn: B+. The Tigers beat two number one teams Georgia and Alabama at home in November, but blew a 20-point lead at LSU who lost to Troy.
Kerryon Johnson was the SEC Offensive player of the year and the defense played well all season. The blowout loss to UGA in the SEC Title game kept this from being an A grade.
Florida: F. Worst Florida team I have seen since the late 70’s. The offense was offensive with no QB play and this team mailed it in after the LSU game. Dan Mullen has been hired to fix this huge mess. Mullen has to change the culture in Gainesville.
Georgia: A. 2017 SEC Champions. Roquan Smith is SEC Defensive Player of the year, Kirby is SEC Coach of the year, and Jake Fromm is SEC Freshman of the year. In year two Kirby has won a title and gotten a Rose Bowl against Oklahoma in National Semifinal on NYD. Could be a really special year in Athens.
Kentucky: B. A seven win football season in Lexington does not come often. The Music City Bowl game against Northwestern upcoming. Nice season for the Cats.
LSU: B-. A loss to Troy and getting blown out in Starkville won’t cut it in Red Stick but the season turned with the Auburn win and the Tigers outplayed Alabama everywhere but the scoreboard in Tuscaloosa.
A win over Notre Dame in Citrus Bowl would get the Tigers to 10 wins and set them up for an SEC title run in 2018.
Mississippi State: B: Nice season in Starkville. The loss to Ole Miss was a fluke with the Nick Fitzgerald injury 5 minutes into the ball game.
Missouri: B. Most improved team in the SEC in the last half of the season and a Bowl game against Texas. Drew Lock throws the best deep ball in the league.
Ole Miss: F. Matt Luke will clean up that stinking cheating culture in Oxford.
South Carolina: B+. I like where Coach Muschamp is taking this program. The Gamecocks will beat Michigan in the Outback Bowl to get to 9 wins.
Tennessee: F-. 0-8 in the SEC and it has taken almost a month to find a coach. This program has hit rock bottom. May take 3-4 years to recover from this train wreck. Phil Fulmer is on the job as AD now and that is good unless Steve Spurrier takes an AD job in the conference. Spurrier owns Fulmer.
Texas A&M: C. Kevin Sumlin got fired with a 51-26 record in College Station. Enter Jimbo Fisher at a price tag of $75 million.
Vanderbilt: C. About what I expect from Vandy. Derek Mason is a very good coach who deserves a better opportunity to win at a bigger program.
What if we have a Bama/UGA national title game? The national media will want to blow up this current playoff format.
The Perfect Playoff System
By: JJ Lanier
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Let me start by saying that I have absolutely no issue with Alabama receiving the fourth and final spot in the College Football Playoffs.
It’s not so much because I think the Tide deserve to be in the playoffs, but rather because of this lesson I learned at the age of 14; if you don’t want to be left out of something then don’t give them a reason to leave you out.
In this instance, both Alabama and Ohio State gave the committee reasons not to be chosen as that fourth team. Because of that I would’ve been fine with either of those teams making in.
The issue I have isn’t with who made the playoffs, it’s with the system itself. And no, I’m not listening to the Danny Kanell “Everybody is sucking at the SEC teet” greatest hits that he brings out this time of year.
Most everyone was pleased to get rid of the BCS because it didn’t allow for any subjectivity, so now we have a process that is almost completely subjective.
The guidelines with which the committee follows are reminiscent of a Jackson Pollack painting, they just throw whatever criteria they decide to use that particular season and voilà, by the end of the year they have four teams and a playoff.
One of the things I hate the most is that only the Power 5 conferences truly have a shot at making the playoffs. I have no idea how Central Florida would contend with Clemson in a opening round game, but I’m sure nobody gave the Coastal Carolina baseball team a second thought last year, until they won the College World Series.
And please don’t tell me teams like UCF need to schedule better out of conference games either. Did you not hear the all knowing and powerful Nick Saban talk about P5 schools only playing other P5 schools? No legit playoff contender wants to schedule someone like the Knights; if you win you were supposed to; if you lose it could all but end your playoff hopes.
There’s just something wrong with a competition that basically excludes half of participants before it even begins.
They also need to figure out something with conference championships, too. As I mentioned, under the current rules I have no issue with Alabama being in the playoffs.
However, those rules are stupid if a team that didn’t even participate in their conference title game, makes it the final four.
Notice I’m not talking about a team that loses in their conference title game, but rather a team that doesn’t even get there. The fact it’s happened two years in a row makes me trust this process about as much as I’d trust a male politician at a high school prom.
The solution is simple, if you don’t make it to the conference title game you don’t make it to the college football playoffs. I know that can be harsh when you’re looking at a team like Alabama this year, who’s only lost happens to be within the conference, but timing is everything.
You think Georgia’s in the playoffs if they win that first meeting with Auburn, but lose by 23 in the rematch? Possibly, but I doubt it.
Of course, I’ll end up watching all three of the games, which is exactly what the NCAA is counting on. So, they win yet again and it’s likely nothing will change.
Sorry UCF, I really did try my best.
Survival Saturday
By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
We have several heavyweight matchups taking place in Week 11 of the college football season.
Games like #12 Washington vs. #21 Stanford and #11 Oklahoma State vs. #15 Iowa State are on the backburner. Let’s look at some of the marquee matchups.
#1 Georgia at #14 Auburn: So, the Dawgs are 9-0 for the first time since Herschel Walker was on campus (1982). They have an embarrassment of riches at running back with Nick Chubb, Sony Michel and D’andre Swift.
True freshman quarterback Jake Fromm has that ‘it’ factor and he made Georgia fans forget all about Jacob Eason.
The defense has been stellar ranking fourth in the nation in total defense, only giving up 254 yards per game.
Auburn looks like they finally found their stride on offense. The last time the Tigers were really explosive was 2013.
Baylor transfer quarterback Jarrett Stidham received a lot of hype to before the season began. He struggled initially but he looks more comfortable running Gus Malzahn’s offense. He’s also able to rely on the power running of Kerryon Johnson. Auburn is also exceptional on defense, ranking 14th nationally in total D.
Fromm went on the road and played well in Knoxville in front of over 100,000 fans but the Vols are terrible. I think playing a good team in front of 87,451 screaming fans might cause him to make freshman mistakes. I give the edge to War Eagle.
#3 Notre Dame at #10 Miami: It’s crazy to think undefeated Miami (8-0) is only ranked tenth. They have had some luck on their side against Florida State and Georgia Tech. They are coming off of a 28-10 win against #13 Virginia Tech so their confidence is high.
The Fighting Irish are thirteenth in total offense. Quarterback Brandon Wimbush is a good runner and he’s improved his passing game.
RB Josh Adams has rushed for nearly 1,200 yards and averages 8.7 yards per carry. I think this will be a close game but Notre Dame should win.
#5 Oklahoma vs. #8 TCU: Both teams have one loss. The only chance the Big 12 has to make the college football playoff is for one of these teams to win out. The Sooners are led by Heisman frontrunner, quarterback Baker Mayfield.
The offense is clicking, coming off of a 62-52 win over in-state rival Oklahoma State. That’s also alarming that the defense gave up so many points. They’ve looked bad since the Ohio State game.
Both teams lost to the Iowa State and you know the Cyclones aren’t a great team. That tells me they both lack focus.
I think the Horned Frogs are a more complete team. TCU is sixth in total D and Oklahoma is 87th. That’s going to cost them against a good team like TCU.
#2 Alabama at #16 Mississippi State: The Bulldogs looked like contenders at the beginning of the season. They had a blowout win against LSU and we didn’t know the Tigers were overrated at the time.
Then Georgia and Auburn blew them out in consecutive weeks. Miss State is on a four game winning streak.
The Crimson Tide get to play with a chip on their shoulder after being demoted to number two.
They rank second in defense and 17th in total offense. They’re the most complete team in the nation. Mississippi State has shown that they can’t compete with elite SEC teams so this will be another bad loss.
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?
ACC Is Better Than SEC
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Let me start by saying I picked North Carolina to cut down the nets this past Monday night and I have the SSE article from a couple of weeks ago to prove it.
I have been mulling this article over on my mind for a few weeks now. Folks that know me know that I am a die-hard SEC supporter and I make no bones about it.
So, take notice when I type this this next sentence. The ACC is better right now than the SEC. Yes, I said it. Now that I have that out of the way here is why.
SEC Odds
By: Drayton Hogarth
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
While spring practice is going on all over the college football world, The Golden Nugget in Las Vegas released their odds to reach the Southeastern Conference championship game.
It is really a mystery as to how they handicap a league even before an entire recruiting class, however Vegas wasn’t built on winners so it often pays to heed their prognostications.
2016 SEC Rankings
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Now that college football season is over and we must wait another 9 months for the joy of fall to arrive back in God’s Country also known as the SEC. Here are my final 2016 SEC power rankings.
14. Missouri: The Tigers finished the season with the worst overall record in the SEC, but closed with a big win over the Arkansas Razorbacks. Mizzou will always be decent on defense, but must find a way to score points in 2017.
13. Ole Miss: Yes, the soon to be NCAA poster child for sanctions finished at 5-7 with all of that talent. The Bears/Rebels will bounce back hopefully in next 5 years after sanctions beat them to a pulp.
12. South Carolina: The Gamecocks will get better under Muschamp. The Ole Ball Coach left a mess behind for will to clean up. A loss to a directional Florida school during the bowl season lands South Carolina here.
11. Mississippi State: Tough year in Stark Vegas, but a bowl win and winning the Egg Bowl helped the Bulldogs stay out of the number 13 spot in these rankings.
10. Vanderbilt: Wins over UGA and Tennessee and a trip to Shreveport made the season one to remember in Nashville. I like Derek Mason and think he will continue to do a fine job in the Music City.
9. Arkansas: How do you blow a 24-point lead at the half in a bowl game? Well the Piggies did, and this team is hard to figure so they land here.
8. Kentucky: The season was a success for the Wildcats. The Cats made a bowl. Now just go do your job its basketball season.
7. Texas A&M: Start fast and finish slow is the Aggie blueprint. Top 5 in October and unranked in the final polls. Kevin Sumlin’s seat is red hot going into 2017.
6. Auburn: You finish the season with a loss to UGA, Alabama, and Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl a place you had no business being at. Florida should have received the Sugar Bowl bid.
5. Georgia: A nice win over TCU in the Liberty Bowl. But 8-5 with home losses to UT, Vandy, and GT just will not cut it moving forward Kirby. Help is on the way with this monster recruiting class. This is a team on the rise.
4. Tennessee: Who did less with more than the Vols in 2016? The jury is out on Butch Jones. 2017 will be a make or break year for Butch.
3. LSU: Coach O turned it around down the stretch and the Tigers looked great in their bowl game in Orlando. A team to watch in 2017. I like the Coach O hire.
2. Florida: Back to back East titles and a nice win in Tampa during Bowl season. I think the Gators drop back a little next year.
1. Alabama: The gold standard of the SEC. The Tide just keeps on winning. The title game loss to Clemson which I predicted in the preseason by the way does not tarnish a great season. Alabama is not going anywhere soon. The rest of the Sec must catch up.
The SEC was down in football in 2016. It was Alabama and the 11 Dwarfs. The rest of the SEC must pick up its game in 2017.
The ACC from top to bottom was the best football conference in America in 2016. Ouch!!!!
What’s Next For Bama and Clemson?
By: Jason Bishop
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
What a game, right? Clemson came from behind twice in the fourth quarter to take down the Giant Alabama, 35-31.
Whether you like Alabama or not, the truth of the matter is the last two touchdowns passes for Clemson were illegal rub routs that were not flagged. That is not to say Clemson still would not have scored if they had been called by the officials, but we will never know. Nor, is that taking away from the amazing game the Tigers played.
The difference was, of course, Deshaun Watson. Watson threw for over 400 yards and 3 touchdowns. For those of us that have followed Watson his entire career we should have seen that final drive coming.
When Watson was a senior at Gainesville he eclipsed record after record in the state of Georgia for the Red Elephants. Watson and Gainesville found themselves in the GHSA State Finals in the Georgia Dome against the Ware County Gators and what was then, the best defense in the state.
Most said Ware would shut down Watson and that he had never seen a defense as fast or as physical as what the Gators put on the field that season. Ware was led by two amazing linebackers that season, Xavier Tobler and Dedrick Mills. Tobler is now at Georgia Southern and Mills at Georgia Tech.
None of that would matter as Watson carved up that vaunted Ware defense en route to a 49-13 woodshedding of the Gators and State Title.
So, what is next for both programs? Obviously, Watson will head on to the NFL and will likely not only be the first QB taken but probably the first pick overall.
If Clemson is going to stay at the elite level and build a juggernaught as Bama has they will have to reload at QB.
On the other side, Alabama will lose a good bit on defense but they have shown us the program is littered with 5-star talent up and down the roster and will not skip a beat.
That coupled with Jalen Hurts only being a freshman the Crimson Tide program will continue to dominate the SEC west and likely the SEC.
Bama may start getting a challenge out of Athens in the next few years as Georgia looks to be in good shape to make huge strides in where the program is.
