College Football: Only a Few More Weeks
I'm proud to announce that I will be attending the opening game at the "Rock" in Hattiesburg, MS. Unfortunately, it's not against a better team that U of Tenn-Martin. If we do not beat them by 40 I'm going to drink a fifth of Yeager. Anyways, I read where last years Ole Miss Heisman candidate will be moving to receiver. Is it me or is that a common thing at Ole Miss. Their last two QB's both move positions after a season of getting busted in the mouth by, well every team in the SEC.
I guess their fans can expect one close, nail biting game - against Memphis.
Then LSU opens with MSU. I'm not sure if I even should comment on these two teams, so I will let Brent take this one: .........
Hey Matt, How's Birmingham? Been in the middle of any circle jerk Roll Tiders (listening to journey, ha)?
posted by 4thsteagle at 1:15 PM
15 Comments:
I don't think Alabama will "roll" into a BCS bowl this year, maybe next year if this is truly their next "bear."
Actually I see them with a mediocre and still a winning season, but still not beating Auburn. They'll gripe and moan and make it hard on their coach. <-- You know typical alabama crimson tide behavior. He'll get depressed and take another job somewhere else like Texas Tech where he'll win, and win often.
I think Saben can bring them out of the small hole but they will have be patient - their young this year (if only for a year), which is hard to due for the "Roll Tiders".
The Big 12 is where the real teams play. GO HORNS!!
birdpoo, i think you are right, my crimson tide probably wont be rolling into a BCS game this season. Dont forget shula went 6-7 with this team last year. I see us winning 7-9 games this season and improving greatly throughout the year. We are going to be putting up some numbers on offense but our defense is suspect this year. We have a ton of new linebackers so stopping the run may be tough. All non bama folks like to put us down and say we will gripe and moan if our coach doesnt win big. Every coach at bama has had at least one 10 win season. Bama has the most 10 win seasons of any team in the NCAA. We expect those kind of seasons. When they dont happen, we wonder why. Bama has had its worst decade ever and we still managed an sec championship and 3 10-win seasons. Saban is about to awake the sleeping giant that is know as alabama football. Maybe not this year but watch out in a year or two. And birdpoo, texas tech, please. Saban aint going anywhere anytime soon. He just got here. Has a ton of work to do. Has lots of recruits to sign. Lots of young men to shape and mold. And he has lots of games to win. You dont come to bama as that type of coach and leave for a school like texas tech. You go on to the NFL (which he already tried and didnt like) or you go to a BIG TIME college football school. There arent too many schools out there bigger than bama. USC, Notre Dame, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Penn State all have great tradition but are lateral moves from bama. Just quit thinking saban is leaving and enjoy watching him bring back one of college footballs most storied programs.
On August 30th college football get started in Mississippi. The wait will be over. Too bad the heat won't be. A lot will be put on the shoulders of LSU quarterback Matt Flynn. I guess some people consider him a veteran, I just consider him a life long back-up. He only attempted 20 passes all year last year. LSU's leading rushers that return (Jacob Hester & Keiland Williams)didn't rush for 1,000 yards combined. The loss of Dwayne Bowe and Craig Davis at receiver is bad news but not nearly as bad as Jimbo Fisher (LSU's former O-Coordinator) heading for Tallahassee in the off season. LSU has a nasty defense that's loaded with thugs....aaahhheemmm...guys that will play on sundays. They will have to do a spectacular job opening weekend and maybe for the first 3 weeks until the offense gets clicking. blah blah...so what does all this mean Brent??? If means that outside of Brandon Cox at Auburn, MS State has the most experienced QB in the SEC West. RB Anthony Dixon rushed for almost 700 yds as a true freshmen at 4 yds per carry. Not too shabby behind State's line last year. I'm not predicting anything crazy here but if Dixon can move the chains and Henig doesn't throw that "who the hell was that to?" pass early to boost the tiger D...we could have ourselves a game heading into the 4th quarter.
LSU 17 MS State 13
Ok, so while I'm here, about this Bama thing...did any of you actually watch the crimson and white game? The O-line returns all 5 starters. The O-line is much better in pass protection than it is at lining up and just pushing people around. Or maybe it just looked that way because the lack of a pass rush from the D-line. The same line that averaged a lonely 1 sack per game last year! They did move from 4-3 to a 3-4 some to get more speed on the field, but we'll see how that pans out. Back to the offense, I think it's funny how Bama is supposed to be a state with all this premier talent each year. Has anyone looked in their backfield lately? The 2 RB's on top of the depth chart are from MS. Terry Grant (Lumberton) and Jimmy Johns (Brookhaven). A Bama team that will go another year without a 1,000 yd rusher and a Bama defense that has inexperience in the secondary, which is really bad news because of the lack of a pass rusher. Bama fans won't like to hear it but getting to the Indy Bowl again might just be a good goal for Saban and the tide this year.
We'll see how effective Saban is Sept. 8th in Nashville against a hungry Vandy team that returns 9 starters on offense and 8 on defense. Should be a great indicator of where both teams are headed this season.
Vandy 27 Bama 23
Just a hunch...Bama loses number 6 in a row to Auburn, at Auburn this year.
Jimmy Johns did look impressive in his time on the field last year. I agree Bama will be looking for Indy or Memphis come bowel time.
I couldn't imagine being at that LSU v. State game. Talking about two groups of annoying fans.
What's up with TN BOC3? Ainge out? Starting RB may be suspended?
UT huh? well even with the loss of the best offensive lineman, Aaron Sears, the unit as a whole should be better. TE will be a strength for the first time at Tenn since the Jason Witten era. Ainge is healthy again after the knee problems back in the spring. The key to the season will be who steps up at WR. There is tons of talent being brought in but none have set foot on a field against Florida in the swamp...or Scott Field in Starkville HAHAHAHA!!! sorry i can't help myself sometimes. State and Ole Miss just are an embarassment right now. Tenn was hoping to lean heavily on the running game and its 3 tailbacks in the opener against Cal who is relatively weak on the DLine this year. Arian Foster and Montario Hardesty (when healthy) are above average RB's but Lamacus Coker was by far the best gamebreaker the vols had lining up behind Ainge. Until he decides he would rather play football instead of staying "stoned" Tenn will lack big play ability from that position.
Defensively it's gonna be a wild ride for a couple weeks. The vols front 7 is healthy again and has linebackers with safety speed! An improved pass rush is needed to prevent teams from bombing away on a secondary that lost Jon Wade and Antwan Stewart to graduation, Inky Johnson to injury, Reshaun Fellows and Demetrice Morley to academics (or the lack there of). Jonathan Hefney is the lone starter to return but is definitely an All-SEC performer. 2 JUCO's will be given the opportunity to play as well as Eric Berry. The #1 rated corner back in the nation coming out of high school last year. Berry has impressed coaches with his work ethic and knowledge of the game in his first couple weeks in Knoxville.
I'm ready to watch my boys run thru the "T" on a Saturday night beside the TN river. I will be 1 out of the 106,000 fans inside Neyland Stadium on Sept. 8th for the home opener again Southern Miss.
Thats a nice assesment and I have to say I'm jealous that I will not be on hand for that game..I guess watching it on TV will be the best I can do.
I'm calling it now...biggest shocker of the year...Mississippi State vs. LSU...
No, I'm not predicting an MSU win, only that they won't lose by 40 points for the first time in like 5 years...I'll say the Dawgs hang tough in the first half and final score will be sometime like 27-13 LSU.
I think State can win 5 games this year and possibly get lucky enough to win 6 and make a bowl game. Damn, that would be nice. I remember not going to the Independence Bowl (aka Snow Bowl) in 2000 because that was my freshman year and I thought there would be plenty other opportunities to go to a bowl game while I was in school. Guess I was wrong on that one. I think for Croom's sake, he needs to win at least 5 games. With a new Athletic Director coming in July 1 next year, it will be awfully hard to keep a coach around with seasons of 3, 3, 3, & 5 wins. I am not totally sold on Sylvester at this point, but I'm not down on him as much as some MSU fans are. I know he inherited a total mess from Sherrill and that takes some time. He just has to show improvement this year or I'm not sure he's gonna be able to do it. I'm rooting for him though.
On to my other team, those infamous Miami Hurricanes. There's alot of intrigue here in South Florida as to the changes being made by Randy Shannon. We'll see if it translates to more wins on the field and staying out of fights, shootouts, etc off the field as well. I know everybody loves to hate the 'Canes, but I love the U and their swagger. I think that within 3 years, Miami will be playing for another national title.
I'm ready for college football season. It's gonna be a great year.
GO DAWGS!!
GO CANES!!
I'm no expert but I felt like giving out my preseason top 25. This way at the end of the season we can sit back (with a cold beer) and laugh at the teams that disappointed and praise the teams that busted their tails to get to a good bowl game. Feel free to comment or disagree. This is just MY opinion. We begin out west...
1. USC
2. West Virginia
3. Virginia Tech
4. Texas
5. Louisville
6. Michigan
7. Oklahoma
8. Penn State
9. Auburn
10. Florida
11. UCLA
12. LSU
13. California
14. Georgia
15. Ohio State
16. TCU
17. Nebraska
18. Florida State
19. Arkansas
20. Rutgers
21. Texas Tech
22. Tennessee
23. BYU
24. Georgia Tech
25. Hawaii
10 Others Considered: Missouri, Texas A&M, Clemson, Boston College, South Florida, Southern Miss, Boise State, Miami, Oregon State, Wake Forest
BOC3 is that straight from espn, ha. That looks pretty fair, except maybe move Michigan a little higher.
Josh you may be correct with the game being closer than usual.
Actually ESPN has LSU at #2 and Florida at #3...and Wisconsin in the top 10. They have a lot more confidence in unproven QB's than I do obviously. Only 5 or 6 of my whole top 25 have new starting QB's. Either 5 or 6 because Sam Keller (Nebraska) was a starter at Arizona State until an injury and was replaced by Rudy Carpenter. New team so not necessarily a lock for success in the cornhuskers passing attack.
I also think GA Tech being in the top-20 is a little much.
Personally I think you have TCU ranked to high. Everybody does though. I can't wait to see some of these teams fall flat off of all these poles.
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