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Sunday, September 21, 2014

Where the SEC stands now

SEC STANDINGS
EASTERN DIVISION
South Carolina             3-1   2-1
Florida                        2-1   1-1
Missouri                      3-1   0-0
Tennessee                   2-1   0-0
Georgia                       2-1   0-1
Kentucky                    2-1   0-1
Vanderbilt                   1-3   0-2
WESTERN DIVISION
Texas A&M               4-0   1-0
Alabama                     4-0   1-0
Mississippi State         4-0   1-0
Auburn                       3-0   1-0
Ole Miss                    3-0   1-0
LSU                           3-1   0-1
Arkansas                    3-1   0-1

Week 4 Scores
  Thursday, September 18th
5 Auburn 20 20 Kansas State 14
   Kansas State should have pulled this one. The Wildcats held Auburn down hogtied, and missed golden opportunities to score at least 16 points. Auburn is lucky that they came away with this one.
  Satruday, September 20th
13 Georgia 66 Troy 0
   Georgia had no competition, and started the runaway win from the first snap.
6 Texas A&M 58 SMU 6
   Texas A&M still appears to be a juggernaut that the NCAA world cannot stop. Kenny Hill was extremely impressive in action again, and the SMU defense had no way to stop the blowout.
3 Alabama 42 Florida 21
   Blake Sims left in the 3rd quarter with over 400 yards passing, but only 21 points on the board. Jacob Coker came in and led Alabama to 21 additional points, and Jeff Driskol struggled all day, ending with former Florida RB Emmitt Smith calling for Driskol to be benched.
Indiana 31 18 Missouri 27
   Indiana beats their first ranked opponent since 2006, their first road ranked opponent since 2004. They absolutely stunned Missouri by staying all through the game and keeping pressure on Maty Mauk.
Arkansas 52 Northern Illinois 14
   Arkansas has so much running talent that they may have a bowl game coming up. They simply ran over the stiff Northern Illinois defense, running for 212 yards, and Brandon Allen throwing for 199 and they steamrolled the undefeated Huskies for a big non-conference win.
Mississippi State 34 8 LSU 29
   Mississippi State upset the 8th ranked LSU Tigers in a huge game in which they outgained the Tigers by 140 yards, and a defense that held the powerful run game of LSU to 36 carries and 89 yards.
14 South Carolina 48 Vanderbilt 34
   Vanderbilt came out fast, returning the opening kick for a TD, but they couldn't hold on to upset the 14th ranked South Carolina.

Week 5 Schedule
  Saturday, September 27th
12:00 PM ET
Tennessee @ Georgia
   Tennessee and Georgia played a very close one last season that Georgia will look to avoid.
Vanderbilt @ Kentucky
    Kentucky is looking much improved as both teams look for their first conference win.
3:30 PM ET
Arkansas @ Texas A&M
   Texas A&M should be too much for Arkansas to handle, but look for it to be close through the 1st half.
4:00 PM ET
Louisiana Tech @ Auburn
   Auburn is looking to rebound from that close game in Kansas last Thursday, they will crush LTU.
7:00 PM ET
Missouri @ South Carolina
   Missouri may not have enough firepower to stay with the Gamecocks, though South Carolina may not have enough of a defense to stop the Tigers.
7:30 PM ET
Memphis @ Ole Miss
   Ole Miss looks to take home this win before moving on to play Alabama.
New Mexico State @ LSU
   LSU looks to build back confidence after the loss to Miss State.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Auburn Heads to Kansas City for a tough match-up

Photo Courtesy of Youtube.com
    The epic match-up begins at 7 PM Thursday night. Kansas State will host the Auburn Tigers, a rematch of the season opener for both teams in 2007. Auburn won the last one, 23-13, and now the teams cKome off of a bye week to play in a game that will give one of the two teams their first loss of the season. Let's take a look at the teams, and put together a preview.

KANSAS STATE WILDCATS (2-0)
Photo Courtesy of fansided.com
    Auburn does have a legit concern for their defense. Kansas State runs a triple option offense, led by Jake Waters, a senior JUCO transfer, Waters has a lot more confidence in himself and the team then he did last year, and he looks more poised in the pocket. With RB Charles Jones, a sophomore first year starter, they've put together an impressive 949 yards of total offense in their first 2 games. 
    They have to keep their eyes on a few big playmakers. For starters, consider Senior WR Tyler Lockett. Lockett's father, Kevin, owns Kansas States receptions, receiving yards, and receiving TD career records, which he is chasing down in his final year. He's a deep threat with his speed and hands, and he's already got 145 yards and a score on 7 catches this season. 
    Next, Charles Jones. Not only is Jones a RB, he's also a wildcat QB. He's got 130 yards and 4 TD's, split evenly at two in the last two games, this season, and he's simply a tough guy to bring down. 
    Don't forget the senior Waters. Waters has a great arm as well as good legs, and he can dazzle defenders with his pump fakes and play actions. He was ranked the 30th best player coming out of the JUCO for a reason. 
   Defensively, Jonathan Truman. This guy was a walkon in 2011, became a scholarship player, and finished 2nd on the team with 89 tackles. He's a beast on the field, and a good threat to any run game.
    My main concern with this team is in the secondary. They gave up a lot of plays to Iowa State last week because of blown coverage's, and I think that they definitely need some work on that side of the ball. They got lucky a lot, but the secondary is poor. 
    My next concern is RB depth. Do they have the depth at running back to run all day with Auburn's offense? Auburn will put a lot of points on the board, but it won't do any good unless they run right alongside them. 
    Lastly, can the defense stop the constant pounding from Auburn? They haven't struggled yet with the run, but if Nick Marshall decides to throw more, can the defense come up with a concise stop that will determine the game?
    The injury report:
                              NO INJURIES TO REPORT

AUBURN TIGERS (2-0)
Photo courtesy of fansided.com
    Auburn is under Gus Malzahn for the second season now, and are still looking strong. Wins over Arkansas and San Jose State have been spectacular, but Auburn is still questioned. What teams are they? 
    Auburn runs in a triple option attack as well, Nick Marshall, Corey Grant and Cameron Artis-Payne are the key players in this scheme. Marshall, a Hiesman trophy candidate, now enters his second year as the starter out of the JUCO. He has quick legs, a 100 yard game on his belt this season, but has some strides to improve upon him being a passer. Jeremy Johnson, his backup who has thrown a 75% completion percentage, looks more accurate as a passer then Marshall. 
    Sammie Coates has yet to play in a game, due to injuries, but D'haquille Williams, a fresh JUCO recruit, has covered for his leave. Williams had a huge day against the Razorbacks, bringing in 9 catches for 154 yards. He has 214 yards on the season. 
    Cameron Artis-Payne is a senior JUCO recruit, who backed up Tre Mason last season with 614 yards rushing. He has 2 worthy backups, Roc Thomas, the highly recruited #5 overall RB stepped into action against the Spartans and ran 9 times for 51 yards. Corey Grant would be the other one, he ran for 664 yards last season, he already has 176 yards this season. 
    Defensively, they are pretty solid. They shut down the run game against Arkansas by putting a lead up, and when they do that, the pass defense is solid. 
    My concern is can they stop their own medicine? Can they put on a lead big enough by stopping Kansas State's triple option offense and making Jake Waters throw it? And Waters is the best QB they'll go up against so far, will they shut him down?

PREDICTION
    I think Auburn has it in them to win, but so does Kansas City. It's going to come down to who will make the first mistake. Trust me, I don't think it will be Auburn. 

Auburn 38 Kansas State 31


Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Going into week 4

SEC Standings
EAST
Florida              2-0    1-0
South Carolina  2-1    1-1
Missouri           3-0    0-0
Tennessee         2-1    0-0
Georgia            1-1    0-1
Vanderbilt        1-2    0-1

WEST
Texas A&M    3-0    1-0
Ole Miss         3-0    1-0
Auburn           2-0    1-0
Miss State      3-0     0-0
Alabama         3-0    0-0
LSU               3-0    0-0
Arkansas        2-1    0-1

Week 3 Results
Alabama 52 Southern Mississippi 12
Arkansas 49 Texas Tech 28
Florida 36 Kentucky 30
South Carolina 38 Georgia 35
Missouri 38 UCF 10
Miss State 35 South Alabama 3
Ole Miss 56 Louisiana 15
LSU 31 ULM 0
Oklahoma 34 Tennessee 10
Texas A&M 38 Rice 10
Vanderbilt 34 Massachusetts 31

Week 4 Schedule
Thursday, September 18th
  7:30 PM ET
5 Auburn @ 20 Kansas State

Saturday, September 20th
  12:00 PM ET
Troy @ 13 Georgia
  3:30 PM ET
Florida @ 3 Alabama
6 Texas A&M @ SMU
  4:00 PM ET
Indiana @ 18 Missouri
  7:00 PM ET
Mississippi State @ 8 LSU
Northern Illinois @ Arkansas
  7:30 PM ET
14 South Carolina @ Vanderbilt

Off- 10 Ole Miss, Tennessee, Kentucky

Friday, September 12, 2014

A Quick Look into Week 3

This will be a brief look with predictions on the upcoming games this weekend.

UCF (0-1) @ (20) Missouri (2-0)

Had this game been played last season, it would have been an epic showdown. It will still be a good game, no doubt, so here are the pointers to watch for in this game.

KEYS OF THE GAME
Missouri- The defense has to be better. They have allowed 386.5 yards per game the past 2 games against less then average opponents such as South Dakota State and Toledo. They have got to buckle down, and hold UCF down flat. Maty Mauk needs to continue making the the offense run smoothly, he's up to a 186.1 passer rating, 503 yards passing, with 8 TD's and 2 INTs. Take advantage of Terrance Plummers foot injury, and run the ball right at him. Missouri currently averages 196 yards per game rushing, UCF allowed 57 versus James Franklin and his Penn State Nittany Lions in Dublin 2 weeks ago. Pass the ball over them, Christian Hackenburg threw for 457 yards against this defense. Mauk can take advantage of that with his senior receivers.

UCF- Pass Defense, pass defense and PASS DEFENSE! 457 yards is a lot of ground, and 511 total yards is plain bad. They need to establish a run game offensively, Dontravious Wilson took 21 carries 45 yards 2 weeks ago in Dublin, and the run game lost yards behind him. Passing game, they have some decent receivers. Use them!

FAST STATS
Missouri
-DE's Markus Golden and Shane Ray both have 3 sacks each this season through the first 2 games.
-SS Aarion Penton leads the team with 2 INT's, returned for 38 yards.

UCF
-Despite allowing 457 yards passing against Penn State, both UCF corners Jacoby Glenn and Jordan Ozerites have an INT each.

PREDICTION
Missouri 38 UCF 20

Massachusetts (0-2) @ Vanderbilt (0-2)

Vanderbilt and UMass are 0-2, however, Vanderbilt has scored a total of 10 points this season, UMass has 45.

KEYS OF THE GAME
Vanderbilt- The offense has done nothing but struggle. Stephen Rivers, little brother of Philip Rivers, has struggled, both against Temple and against Ole Miss. So far, he's completed 36% of his passes, and gotten a total of 246 yards passing, no TD's and 2 INT's. Jerron Seymour, the teams leading running back, is questionable for Saturday's action. So far, he has yet to play in a Vandy game. Defense needs to be much better. They've allowed 449 yards per game, and a total of 78 points in 2 games. The turnover margin is -5, and they've gotten a total of 5 sacks. Lots of work required from Derek Mason to make this team work.

Massachusetts- Massachusetts enters their 3rd year in FBS ranks, with a new coach to guide them through, and possibly the worst team in college football. S D'Metrius Williams was dismissed from the team for undisclosed reasons before the season started, and OLB Trey Seals, another starter, is questionable. If UMass wants to stay in the game, they have to generate better pressure defensively. So far this season, they only have 2 sacks, and that needs to get better. Next, run the ball. Vanderbilt has given up 162 yards rushing per game, and UMass has 2 RB's, Jamal Wilson and JT Blyden, who can handle the load and get some good plays against the Commodores.

FAST STATS
Vanderbilt
-Ralph Webb has handled rushing duties so far,  he is a redshirt freshman from Gainseville, Florida. He has 32 carries for 165 yards so far this season.
-Vandy's only TD was on a blocked punt against Temple.

Massachusetts
-Junior WR Tajae Sharpe leads the team in receiving, featuring 7 catches for 173 yards and a TD, plus 2 runs for 17 yards.
-Junior Cornerback Randall Jette leads the team with the only 2 INT's the team has picked off this season, returned for 49 yards.

PREDICTION
Massachusetts 26 Vanderbilt 24

(6) Georgia (1-0) @ (24) South Carolina (1-1)

South Carolina had won 19 straight home games, but Texas A&M already snapped that streak, and now a better Georgia team visits Columbia, South Carolina. This is the Game of the Week in the SEC.

KEYS TO THE GAME
South Carolina- Want to talk about struggle? After getting blown out by Texas A&M at home, 52-28, and then struggle against East Carolina, and win 33-23, questions surround Dylan Thompson and Steve Spurrier. Starters Mike Matulis, RG, and nickleback Jamari Smith are both out, Smith for the season, Matulis, we don't know how long. For South Carolina to stay alive, they need to run the ball. Mike Davis is one of the best Running Backs in the nation, and possibly the best in the SEC. So far, he has gotten a total of 24 carries for 116 yards and 2 TDs. Get him the ball a lot more often. Dylan Thompson has a large committee of receivers to use, he has to do a better job on checkdowns and getting the ball to them. As of now, he's completed 57% of his passes. The worst part of this team is pass defense. So far, they have one sack, and just 2 INTs. That needs to improve dramatically. Yes, the defense has allowed an average of 566 yards per game. If South Carolina wants to stay alive with Georgia, they need to step up on defense.

Georgia- What more can they do? Todd Gurley would be the man you would make a case against Mike Davis being the best back in the league, and he has the stats in one game up in Clemson to back him up. Gurley has 15 carries for 198 yards and 3 TDs, plus his 100 yard KR TD. Hutson Mason completed 18 of 26 passes for 131 yards against Clemson, and the defense registered 5 sacks, 2 each to OLB Leonard Floyd and ILB Amarlio Wilson. For Georgia to win, just run the ball all over the South Carolina defense, then hit them with a powerful pass play, and Georgia is going to rack up 50+ points.

KEY STATS
South Carolina
-Dylan Thompson has passed for 632 yards so far, with 5 TDs and 2 INTs, and an efficiency rating of 141.8.

Georgia
-Georgia's starting Linebackers have combined for 32 tackles and 4 sacks.
-Against Clemson, Georgia gained 328 yards rushing, and 459 yards of total offense.

PREDICTION
Georgia 49 South Carolina 38

Arkansas (1-1) @ Texas Tech (2-0)

Arkansas is coming red hot off of a 73-7 win over Nicholls State, a game which resulted in 684 yards of total offense, 495 of those coming off of 40 carries by the Arkansas running back committee. Texas Tech, however, comes off a tough and close 30-26 win in Texas El-Paso.

KEYS TO THE GAME
Texas Tech- Texas Tech is a highly explosive offense with a poor defense, and that's why they struggle. Offensively, they have Davis Webb, a sophomore QB in his 2nd season as a starter, who has 730 yards passing and a 7-2 TD-INT ratio. Webb compares to a Alex Smith with a bigger arm, due to his able legs. He moves around, and so far, has scrambled 4 times for 18 yards. Then the running backs, Texas Tech has 2 right now with over 150 yards rushing. Deandre Washington and  the true freshman Justin Stockton, the teams biggest recruit, offer a strong run attack. Washington is a grinder averaging 5.1 yards per carry, Stockton only has 14 carries for 175 yards, very strong long gain blaster. Senior WR Bradley Marquez leads the team in receiving, 14 catches for 217 yards and a team high 5 TDs. He's having a big year. Defensively, they have yet to take the ball away, and that is a weakness Arkansas will look to exploit.

Arkansas- With 2 strong RB's now with over 175 yards, and QB Brandon Allen, Arkansas is becoming a force to be reckoned with. Alex Collins and Johnathan Williams, both returning leaders with over 900 yards each last season, are the biggest threat to this team. Collins and Williams have now combined for 376 yards and 5 TD's rushing. The big turnoff from the passing game are the receivers. Arkansas is missing the key receivers they need, and that limits Allen to keeping the ball on the ground. Defensively, they gave up 45 points to Auburn through 4 quarters, so against a high profile offense, they're going to struggle. However, they do have 8 sacks now, sophomore DT Taiwan Johnson leading the team with 4, the other DT, Darius Philon, has 2.

KEY STATS
Texas Tech
- Texas Tech has 9 players with 10 or more tackles this season, 3 of them are backup players. While not the most talented, they have depth.
- Kliff Kingsbury faces his first SEC opponent in his career as a head coach. However, last week 3, he faces a #24 ranked TCU as the underdog, Texas Tech won by 10.

Arkansas
-The turnover margin is 0. The offense, even against Auburn, has given up one turnover per game, and the defense has taken it back.
-648 yards of total rushing, 1012 yards of total offense. Against Auburn, this offense gained 328 yards, and still managed to gain 5.3 yards per running carry.

PREDICTION
Arkansas 49 Texas Tech 42

The next games are simply predicted...

Ole Miss 38 Louisiana-Lafeyette 13
Mississippi State 45 South Alabama 24
Alabama 42 Southern Mississippi 7
Florida 34 Kentucky 20
Oklahoma 35 Tennessee 28

Pre Game Analysis coming for the other 5 games!

Thursday, September 11, 2014

SEC Standings going into week 4 of the college football season

The standings going into week 3 of the college football season.

EAST              DIV   TOTAL
Missouri          0-0      2-0
Kentucky        0-0      2-0
Tennessee       0-0      2-0
Florida            0-0      1-0
Georgia           0-0      1-0
South Carolina 0-1     1-1
Vanderbilt       0-1      0-2

WEST            DIV   TOTAL
Texas A&M   1-0       2-0
Auburn           1-0       2-0
Ole Miss         1-0      2-0
Mississippi St  0-0      2-0
LSU               0-0      2-0
Alabama         0-0      2-0
Arkansas        0-1      1-1

Week 3 schedule
Saturday, September 13th
12:00 ET
UCF @ (20) Missouri
Massachusetts @ Vanderbilt

3:30 ET
(6) Georgia @ (24) South Carolina
Arkansas @ Texas Tech

4:00 ET
Louisiana- Lafeyette @ (14) Ole Miss
Mississippi State @ South Alabama

6:00 ET
Southern Mississippi @ (3) Alabama

7:30 ET
Kentucky @ Florida

8:00 ET
Tennessee @ (4) Oklahoma