re: Big Name Regular Season OOC Games - SEC West

As far as non-annual, end-of-season rivalry games, I see it like this as far as games the SEC should take in order to get back to where they should be in the national-consciousness.

Tier 1:
Bama/Wiscy -very important to get the league back to eyes of the haters.
Auburn/Louisville - same thing, but to a lesser degree
A&M/Arizona State - critical in the SEC/Pac 12 debate that's never settled on the field.
Tennessee/Oklahoma - would be a big plus for the SEC

Tier 2:
Arkansas/Texas Tech
LSU/Syracuse
Mizzou/BYU
USC/UNC
MSU/Louisiana Tech
UGA/Ga. Southern
Ole Miss/Memphis

Tier 3:
Kentucky/ULL
USC/UCF
Vandy/Houston
Ole Miss/Fresno
Florida/East Carolina

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A glimpse of Auburn's defense under Muschamp - 38 points

Gtfo. If Louisville scores 24 I will be shocked

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I'm more looking at Petrino (who is a solid offensive coach) vs Muschamp only having one off season to improve the D. I think AU's defense could easily be one of the better D's in the country by the end of the season, but I'm not under the thought that Muschamp will have them at that level by Game 1.

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Ags gunna boat race ASU just like USCe last year. They won't be ready for us.

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I really wish that I could agree with you, but I actually have this as one of our two regular season losses...in a very very close game.

ASU returns 16 starters, 9 of whom are on their defense. They were #81 in the nation last year in total defense and those numbers should improve with all the experience coming back for them this year. They were #103 in pass defense last year, which is good for us of course, but keep in mind they played in a conference that is pass happy and had a few mid-season injuries that contributed to that number. Their rush defense was pretty solid on paper, but again, you have to keep in mind the conference they play in.

The big question mark will be how much our defense has improved. We will put some points on the board, but ASU has a great offense (#34 in the nation in total offense last year). I am not sure that our defense will be good enough this early in the season to keep them off the board enough to beat them. I think it will be a great game, but this defense will need a couple of games under their belt before we really see the improvement we are looking for from Chavis.

Texas A&M - 38
ASU - 45

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He tried the ol' backhanded comment and it backfired

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Not really. Obvious joke was obvious dumbass.

Now THAT was a good OP. Agree with the analysis. Well done.

ASU is a tough opponent. My hope is that they aren't as cohesive on offense early in the season without Jaelen Strong at WR to bail them out often on 3rd down (like he did so often last year). So, A&M might be able to slow them down on a few drives.

Also, excited to see if the A&M run game has improved. Good measuring stick for week 1.

Optimistic, but not overconfident, bc we have seen how ASU presents challenges.

Looking forward to seeing some hot ASU girls as well.

Here's how the PAC 12 has done when playing in the Central and Eastern time zones last season:

UCLA 28, at Virginia 21
Cal 31, at Northwestern 24
Arizona 26, at UTSA 23
Colorado 41, at UMASS 38
at Boston College 37, USC 31
UCLA 20, Texas 17
Utah 26, at Michigan 10
at Notre Dame 17, Stanford 14
Arizona State 36, Duke 31
UCLA 40, Kansas State 35
Ohio State 42, Oregon 20

PAC 12 teams frequently struggle when having to play in the eastern and central time zones. This is why I see Michigan State beating Oregon in Lansing and Texas A&M beating Arizona State in Houston.