| | | |
 Friday, December 13, 2002
Crouching Tiger in West
By Terry Bowden
Special to BCSfootball.com
Bowden's Weekly Chat Show
Skip to your team: Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Tennessee and the BCS
SEC players in the NFL
The SEC West appears to be another tight race for the divisional crown. Last year, five of the six teams made it to a bowl game with preseason favorite Alabama being the only one left out. With the talent the Crimson Tide have coming back, all six teams could earn bowl spots this season.
However, the best in the west looks to be LSU.
|  | | Josh Reed led LSU receivers with 10 TDs last season. |
The Tigers' fortunes revolve around the knee of QB Rohan Davey, which he has had problems with in the past. He has great leadership skills and he may be the most talented quarterback in the country. If he stays healthy and performs the way he did against Tennessee and Georgia Tech last year, LSU will end up in Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game.
In all, seven starters return on offense with exceptional talent at running back, wide receiver and tight end. Only the offensive line needs some young guys to step up in the fall.
The defense is in even better shape with 10 starters returning. The newest face on the block is defensive coordinator Gary Gibbs, who comes to Baton Rouge after one season at Georgia. The former Oklahoma head coach is a proven commodity and will adapt quickly to Nick Saban's style of play.
Anyone who knows anything about the SEC knows that the LSU-Auburn game on September 15 is huge. The home-field advantage gives LSU the edge in that one. LSU also hosts Florida in Baton Rouge, but I still don't see the Tigers pulling that one out. A loss to Florida will not keep them out of the SEC Championship Game, but it does mean they'll get two Ls from the mighty Gators next season.
The swagger is back at Tennessee
All the talk in the Southeastern Conference is about the Florida Gators. They are pretty much the consensus offseason pick to win the conference title. However, now that spring football is over, I am seeing some of that same old bounce in Tennessee head coach Phillip Fulmer's step.
|  | | Casey Clausen led Tennessee to the Cotton Bowl last season. |
No one has recruited more consistently in the SEC than the Volunteers, and because of that, they seem to reload more often than rebuild. Last year's disappointing 8-4 record was really more a case of not being able to find the right quarterback than an indication of a downturn in the program.
But Casey Clausen is back at QB, and although he had an uninspiring spring, he gives them talent and maturity at that position. The defense looked awesome this spring, and the addition of walk-on and former minor league baseball player, Kelley Washington at wide receiver, just adds to the excitement.
The Gators just might get to the SEC Championship game next year, but they'll have to beat a very good Tennessee team on Sept. 15 to get there.
QB shuffling in Gainesville
Is there going to be another quarterback shuffle this year at the University of Florida? Now that spring ball is over, it looks like redshirt freshman Brock Berlin has a chance of replacing returning starter Rex Grossman. You remember him, he's the quarterback that came in midseason last year and replaced senior Jesse Palmer. You remember Palmer -- he's the quarterback who came in the season before that to replace senior Doug Johnson. You remember him, he's the quarterback that came in to replace Noah Brindise. Oh well, same 'ol same 'ol at The Swamp.
Trouble ahead for the Wildcats
Now that the smoke has cleared a little bit at Kentucky, what kind of sanctions can we expect from the NCAA? There's no need to worry about the death penalty, but this isn't going to be pretty. Kentucky has admitted several major violations. where a member of the coaching staff intentionally broke the rules in order to gain an advantage in recruiting. It is the one type of violation that can never be tolerated. Look for massive scholarship reductions, reduced visitations and possibly one or two coaches being taken off the road. If you thought getting six wins and going to a small bowl game was difficult in the past, you better get ready.
Georgia leaves Dooley out to dry
Georgia athletics director Vince Dooley has to be feeling a little left out in the cold these days. Last season, he made a public statement to the effect that football coach Jim Donnan would have another year at Georgia regardless of what happened in the final games of the season. Two weeks later, school President Michael Adams issued Donnan a pink slip. Now, we find out that Adams promised Donnan a secret severence check of $255,000 back in 1998 without ever informing Dooley. "There is no question I have the authority to exercise judgement in personal matters," Adams said in a statement. There is also no question he has the moral authority not to leave his A.D. out to dry.
Messing with a good formula
John Swafford is trying to take margin of victory out of the BCS equation. Fuhgetaboudit. Nothing he does is going to satisfy those that want a playoff. Nothing shows the difference between a dominant team and a good team like margin of victory. At the most, there could be a cutoff, at 21 points or so, after which the margin of victory would not be factored in. Besides, you have to be a coach to understand the feeling on the sideline that no lead is ever good enough. I was watching ESPN Classic the other night and they showed the 1984 game between Miami and Maryland. The Hurricanes were up by 31 points at halftime and ended up losing the game. Besides, there's an old saying that you can't legislate morality. If a coach tacks on a few more points at the end of a game that he already has won it's still a ridiculous thing to do just like it always was.
SEC players in the NFL
For all you SEC fans, I thought you'd like to see how many players each of you have on rosters in the NFL at this very moment.
| School |
Players in the NFL |
| 1. Tennessee |
57 |
| 2. Florida |
55 |
| 3. Auburn |
44 |
| 4. Georgia |
40 |
| 5. LSU |
39 |
| 6. Alabama |
38 |
| 7. Mississippi State |
35 |
| 8. South Carolina |
29 |
| 9. Mississippi |
29 |
| 10. Arkansas |
24 |
| 11. Kentucky |
23 |
| 12. Vanderbilt |
7 |
You make your own conclusions.
Terry Bowden was the head coach at Auburn from 1993-98. He is ABC's college football studio analyst and writes a daily notebook for BCSfootball.com.
Comment to Terry Bowden:
| | | |
|
|
