Another week of college football is ahead of us and this week on the College Football Gametime Podcast brought to you by Engineered Solutions of Georgia (ESOG), I’m joined by 92-9 The Game’s Nick Kayal. A lot to get into with Nick this week and we focused exclusively the SEC. I thought it might be a good time to roll out some of my notes on SEC football. You’ll hear a lot of this in the podcast and if you tune in to College Football Gametime with Jon Chuckery, Randy McMichael and myself Saturday morning at 9…you’ll probably hear a lot of them again. We’re not going to cover all 14 SEC teams but I wanted to touch on some of the high (and low) points from the nation’s best conference.
Georgia: JT Daniels is going to be the guy at Georgia. It’s just a matter of time. It not a matter of reps with Daniels, it’s his health and as soon as Georgia feels he ready and Daniels feels he’s good to go, he’s going to be in the game. Georgia must do two things on offense. 1.) Be more explosive. The “splash” plays have to increase. That’s how you win in college football in 2020. Great offenses are beating great defenses now. 2.) Get the ball into the hands of your playmakers. If you want to achieve number one this list, then number 2 is going to be the quickest way to get there. More George Pickens, more Zeus. Defensively, four penalties on the UGA secondary. They had a hard time running with those Alabama receivers.
Alabama: First team in SEC history with a 400 yard passer, 150 yard rusher and two 150 yard receivers in a single game. Bama’s offense has put up at least 35 points now in 17 straight games. Alabama’s offensive line is much better than I thought.
Tennessee: Jeremy Pruitt has commandeered the Vols to two of the worst losses in school history. The quarterback play at Tennessee has been, as Jon Chuckery would say…”dreadful”. The fact that Tennessee had to endure that kind of performance Saturday from a 5th year season is a direct reflection on coaching. How can Chris Wienke have a quarterback room that ill prepared? They just aren’t getting it done. Jarret Garantano is the first quarterback in Tennessee football history to lose to Kentucky…twice. At some point this offense will get turned over to Harrison Bailey. Maybe as soon as this weekend. The offensive line for Tennessee was supposed to be a strength this year. They got pushed around on Saturday and it may get worse with Alabama coming up this week. Will Friend, the former Georgia offensive line coach now at Tennessee maybe BFF’s with Jeremy Pruitt but AD Phillip Fulmer is an old offensive lineman and long time coach. I can’t see him standing by with an o-line of 4 and 5 star guys getting pushed around.
Kentucky: Mark Stoops is a heck of a coach. How long can Kentucky hang on to this guy? He was my choice to go to Florida State last year. Quarterback Terry Wilson has now beaten both Tennessee and Florida. Kentucky’s pass defense has allowed only one passing touchdown in the last 26 quarters.
Mississippi State: They scored an offensive touchdown this week. Two in fact. That’s an improvement over the previous week when all they could muster was a safety. KJ Costello leads the nation in interceptions. Mike Leach turned things over to Will Rogers last week. Rogers finished with 120 yards passing and one touchdown. State has an off week this week and Leach has said he’ll use the week to evaluate the quarterbacks.
Auburn: The most disappointing team in the SEC so far. Tank Bigsby has been the lone bright spot in this offense. 257 yards rushing the last two weeks. Puzzling that Chad Morris only got him the ball 17 times against the Gamecocks. Bo Nix has not been good. Looks like Nix is pulling down the ball and taking off or trying to scramble outside the pocket when he doesn’t need too. Something isn’t right with this Auburn offense.
Arkansas: Sam Pittman is your SEC Coach of the Year. He’s a blown call by the refs away from being 3-1. The hiring of Barry Odom as defensive coordinator is the best move by any head coach in the conference. The Razorback defense has come up with 13 turnovers in four games. In 12 games last year, Arkansas had only 16.
Enjoy some college football this weekend and remember to join Jon Chuckery, Randy McMichael and myself Saturday mornings from 9 to noon on Sports Radio 92-9 The Game and the Radio.com app.