some thoughts on the SEC at this point....

Ole Miss came in to the season over rated. You can't expect a build up of 25th rated recruiting classes to be the 4th best team in the country can you? I think the top 5 is a scarey place to be right now b/c everyone there loses and I think Bama will lose this weekend if Ole Miss can tackle the run and Snead can avoid interceptions.

South Carolina will be an interesting team to watch from here on out. I didn't anticipate Garcia playing as well as he has this year or them running the ball as well and supposedly their recruiting had been rated very well the last few years. They could be the second best team in the east and with Tebow out at FL maybe the first.

Georgia's defense hasn't really impressed me much. Neither has Lsu's offense (or their d). We were not watching a vintage GA vs Lsu football game yesterday in my opinion, but 2 coaching staffs who could be burned out on the grind of the SEC life. Georiga gave up a ton of yards to a mediocre Arkansas offense who was held to 7 points the following week. I think Georgia could use a staff shake up defensively at the end of the year.

Alabama I like the defense but the loss of Hightower hurts. Everyone has them penciled in to win the west. At this point I think it will be either Lsu or Ole Miss. If OM wins saturday they are in the drivers seat. I think OM will have the best defense Bama has seen and it will be too much.

Tennessee has no problems at coaching like most of their fans think. They need patience and a couple more recruiting classes.

Auburn did something I didn't think they'd do as much of and that is move the ball last night. I think it's a gimmick offense that will fail in pressure situations more times than not. Does Malzhan have a goalline package where the QB is under center? You remember that 4th and 1 stop Ole Miss had against Tebow to end the Florida game last year? had Tebow not started in shotgun they most assuredly would have made it. Auburn hasn't played particularly well in my opinion but basically found ways to make fewer mistakes and not lose. It will also be interesting to see how well Malzhan can recruit and develop his own QB but his offense has situational things it won't be good at against a good front.

Arkansas won their game last night for one reason. The freshman tackle for A&m could not block anybody. If you are an ole miss fan and you watched that game you see what a weakness at OT can be; the difference in a bunch of points. Arkansas' identity is offense and they proved they are light years away last week at Bama from having a top-tier offense. I don't see Arkansas doing better than 1-7 in conference at this point and they'll have a good look at 0-8. When they've needed to run the ball early in games the push is just not there anymore like it was under Nutt. At one point last night about 15 carries in they were averaging about 1 yard per carry.

MSU is better than I thought they would be. They can move the ball to but like Auburn and Arkansas when your main focus is getting as much yardage as possible for some reason it always seems to put your defense at a disadvantage. You have to figure if you were to put Croom, Tuberville and Nutt back at their old schools their D's wouldn't be giving up this much yardage. In fact I know they wouldn't. So in essence, it's all a "wash". I think Msu is going to have a chance to pull some upsets in the coming years but for the most part I see them battling Arkansas for fifth in the division for the next few years.

I think Florida is in trouble this weekend if Tebow does not go. I can imagine the spread going from about a 14 point swing depending on if he projects to play. Brantly will not beat that defense in death valley so Lsu will have to stink things up to lose.

right now the SEC is an interesting league but it's not vintage mid 2000's football we are watching. I suspect alot of the critical internet blogging and call in shows these days has alot to do with as well as the trickle down effect of Saban coming back into the league and everyone wanting their own new coaches and systems.