(S, Fisher and Richt getting it done in ’12.)
My three elite teams that look like national championship material are ‘Bama, FSU and Georgia in that order at this point. Any one of those teams could beat one another on a given day, but it looks like two of those three will be playing in Miami in January for the national title. I know there is a lot of seasonleft, but four games is a good gauge. Alabama has not played terrific competition, but they have destroyed two teams that were supposed to be good this year in Michigan and Arkansas. And that argument that they haven’t played anybody doesn’t fly with me. They killed Michigan at a neutral site and pummeled Arkansas at Arkansas. Granted it was without Tyler Wilson, but he wouldn’t have made a huge difference. That team was already in disarray with a coach who’s broke financially and is out of his league in the SEC. This could be S’s best team he’s had. I mean that too. This is the most talent he’s had on his roster in his six years at the helm. He’s maybe had a few more individual superstars on one team like Mark Ingram, Julio and Trent on that ’09 team to go along with Rolando McClain and Javy Arenas and others. But this depth of talent is amazing. it’s kind of a no-name defense but that’s a good thing. Nobody stands out because there are so many stellar players. All of them seem like leaders; at least many of them do. And they are prolific players. After watching the Florida Atlantic game there was much better effort than the Western Kentucky game. And Western Kentucky is a pretty decent team as it turns out. But while Florida Atlantic wasn’t a huge margin of victory as expected, the players competed hard and did well, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. Didn’t think A.J. had his best day, but he wasn’t bad at all and still feel very good about him. He made some nice throws. Kenny Bell was fantastic on the 85-yard catch and run for a TD. Wow. He was flying. Amari Cooper is going to be incredible. DeAndrew White made that beautiful catch in the end zone. That was an All-Amerian NFL first round catch there. Getting both feet in was a phenomenal play. And I love some Kenyan Drake. Kenyan is my man. Eddie looked solid and T.J. had some pretty good runs. The defense was strong up front and the linebackers were active as usual. I was trying to think about a guy in the starting 22 who wouldn’t make an NFL roster. That’s the major question to me. Which one of these guys won’t play in the NFL? Anybody? And it’s not just the starting 22, I was trying to figure it out and to me there probably 60 guys on this roster who could make NFL rosters. That may be a stretch, but there are over 30. Chance Warmack is a first round pick, Barrett probably a late first rounder. A.J., if he continues to keep getting better and better, could go out and be a late first, early second pick in 2013, and definitely a first rounder in 2014. D.J.Fluker looks like a potential first rounder. Cyrus Kouandijo will be a first rounder when he goes out in two or three years. Anthony Steen will get a shot with a team. I believe Arie Kouandijo, Cyrus’s older brother, will start playing well that he’s now back from injury and start turning some heads.
On defense, I don’t know a player who won’t. C.J. Mosley looks like a first rounder. Trey DePriest could slip into the first round when he comes out. Xzavier Dickson is a sophomore, but he’s going to be a first rounder. Nico Johnson, of course, could be first or early second. Dee Milliner is a first rounder. Maybe Lester too, though I’d like to see him start getting some more picks. Great leader out there though and heckuva player. I know he wants to get some more picks, but there’s so much talent out there, and he is certainly giving S and his teammates good results. He’s a player. Sunseri will get drafted. He looks like he could be a second or third round guy. Ha Ha is Mark Barron reincarnated. He’s a top 10 when he goes out in two years. Jeoffrey Pagan and Ed Stinson look like first rounders when they’re eligible. Damion Square looks like he could be late first or early second. Quinton Dial is another. And, of course, Jesse Williams. He’s first round material. Don’t you think a tough defense like the 49ers, Bears or Steelers would love to have Jesse Williams in the middle. He can bench a couple of mack trucks and he’s quick. Stud there. Patriots might get him up there with Dont’a Hightower. Then on the offensive skill side you’ve got Michael Williams at tight end who will get a shot, the running backs, at least three of them, will get a shot when they go. Eddie is just going to keep getting better and better as he gets healthier. I think he’s a potential NFL player if he can stay healthy. T.J. will keep getting better and he’s NFL material for sure. Kenyan looks like he could be. He’s got a ways to go in his development, but the early returns look good. Would like to see Dee Hart do a little better and live up to his five-star rating out of high school. That knee injury slowed his progress. He’s got potential. And DeAndrew White, Kenny Bell, Christion Jones and Kevin Norwood should get shots when they come out. Didn’t see Norwood get the ball much on Saturday. He is battling a left leg problem thus he didn’t play much Saturday. These receivers are talented now. You can call them committee if you want, but it’s a superstar potential committee. All of them are excellent players. With the protection A.J. gets it should be exciting and electric seeing this passing game click. Not sure about the injury to Brandon Ivory. Know he was wearing a protective boot at the game after his injury. Will check into that and get back. Update: Ivory has a sprained ankle.
Just wanted to throw that out there, but the draft is for later. There’s another SEC and national title yet to win. Game against Ole Miss this Saturday at 8:15 PM CT on ESPN. Went to the game a couple of years ago. It was weird with the same 8:15 start in 2010. I think S’s message to his players will be to stay humble and hungry. That’s the message that needs to resonate throughout the locker room and on the practice field. If they do that, good things are going to happen on Saturdays and maybe on a Monday in January.
Now to the other elite contenders. Florida State looked very impressive coming back from a 10-point deficit and defeating Clemson, 49-37, Saturday Night in Tallahassee. Very impressive. I didn’t know that quarterback E.J. Manuel was that good, but he is. Good kid, too. Really seems to have a good head on his shoulders. Throws it well in the pocket and can really run it. They’ve got a couple of awesome backs in James Wilder, Jr. and senior Chris Thompson. Thompson really looks like an NFL running back to me. He’s fantastic. He’s smaller but tough and has electric speed. Had a beautiful TD run of about 28 yards Saturday Night and I believe he had another pretty significant distance run (20+) that was called back for holding. Clemson scores a lot of points on everybody. They have great playmakers both in the backfield and on the perimeter, a fine quarterback in Tajh Boyd, and an excellent offensive coordinator in Chad Morris, who’s done tremendous things with Boyd and their offense. But Clemson can’t play enough defense. They should have a solid season though. FSU should run the table until they meet up with Florida in Tallahassee. If the game were played today, they’d win. But Florida is a team that is getting better and better every week and they could be outstanding by the end of the season. Of course, Florida will have had to play LSU and South Carolina at home (fortunate) and Georgia at the Cocktail Party in Jacksonville, which is pretty fortunate, too, that it’s a neutral site and those two teams don’t go home and home. So Florida may be in good shape for most all of their games. Still like Georgia over Florida though. Like FSU over them too at this point.
Georgia just massacred Vanderbilt Saturday Night. They’re for real. They host UT Saturday and they should win that, but then they go to South Carolina Oct. 6 in an epic SEC war. I like Georgia to go up to Columbia and get the job done. Not only are they extraordinarily talented already, but also two of their best defensive players, safety Bacarri Rambo and linebacker Alex Ogletree, are returning from suspensions this weekend. I guess Spurrier was right when he said he’d rather play Georgia at the beginning of the season when they’ve got some suspensions. I don’t know if it would matter if these guys played or not, but they’re excellent players so it will certainly help the ‘Dawgs’ cause. Linebacker Jarvis Jones is a beast. Potential top pick in the draft. Certainly top five. And Aaron Murray has saved his best football for this year. He is playing out of his mind. Todd Gurley, their freshman tailback, is a flat out stud. Keith Marshall is right there with him. Marshall is another freshman. I like Georgia playing Alabama in the championship game. Of course, you can never account for injuries–they can happen to key players and really mess up your season–so that could play a role in any of these team’s fortunes. But right now, like ‘Bama, Florida Sate and Georgia as the elite teams.
I’ve got K State, Stanford and Notre Dame as darkhorses. I haven’t seen enough of Texas, but I think they’re pretty good. The Big Ten has been a disaster, at least with the power teams. Ohio State isn’t eligible for a bowl game, and even if they were, they’d get killed in a BCS bowl if they played an elite team. The Blazers gave them a good game, and taking nothing away from the Blazers– they gave great effort– but Ohio State is nothing special. Their quarterback, Braxton Miller, is all hyped up by the media, but frankly, he’s overrated. Good athlete, but he can’t win you a championship. Michigan State has no offense and Wisconsin is down. MIchigan State is playing Ohio State Saturday in an interesting game nationally. Trying to figure out which offense is worse so I can pick it accurately. Both pretty bad. MSU has a pretty good defense so I like Mark Dantonio over Urb. Hope Urb doesn’t quit if he loses. We don’t need another soap opera this year Urb. Try to hang in there. Michigan is terrible. Northwestern the only team that’s impressed me in that league, not because they’re ultra talented, but just the way they play. They battle for 60 minutes and never quit. They’re the darkhorse in that league.
K State’s win over Oklahoma on Saturday at Norman was incredible. Bill Snyder, along with Jimbo Fisher, in my book, is right up there behind S as one of the best coaches in the country. Snyder just gets more out of his talent than any coach I’ve ever seen in college football. K State shocked OU at home. K State’s qb Collin Klein might, and I mean might, be a third string qb in the NFL next year, if he gets picked up by a team that wants a kid who is loaded with character and competitiveness. NFL aside, he is one heckuva college quarterback. What a competitor. I just love Snyder and company.
I’ve already talked about how impressed I am with David Shaw and his Stanford bunch. They play hard-nosed, smash-mouth football. Just like the Green Bay Packers used to play the game when they dominated, or the great Steelers teams, or the Cowboys or some of the teams under Bear. They just come out and physically whip you on the line of scrimmage and their running back, Stepfan Taylor, is a horse. He’s a starter in the NFL in the future. Quarterback play is pretty solid post-Luck. Josh Nunes is doing a good job and a had a fine game in Stanford’s 21-14 victory over USC. Still have to play @ Oregon. Oregon looks like a bunch of Ninja Turtles out there playing the game in those uniforms those puke green jerseys. They’re extremely fast; lightning fast actually. De’Anthony Thomas and Kenjon Barner are world class burners at running back. It’s a potent offensive attack. But I still don’t think they’re physical enough on defense. I know they shut out a supposedly high scoring Arizona team Saturday Night, but I watched a lot of it and they just aren’t a dominating team. I think a power team like Alabama, FSU or Georgia would handle them. Stanford may pull it off. Have to see how the Cardinal keep progressing. I like Stanford if they can stick with Oregon’s speed. Oregon may be too fast for them, but I sure like the way Stanford plays the game better. They’ll meet Nov.17 in a huge game at Eugene, Oregon.
TCU and Texas are two other teams to watch for. Need to watch more on TCU, but Gary Patterson has a proven track record with a Rose Bowl victory over a very good Wisconsin team on Jan.1, 2011, the 2010 season. He’s had some solid seasons to go along with that crowning jewell. He’s the real deal and his team may be for real again this year. Still not sold onTexas. They beat Ole Miss pretty easily, but I’d like to see the Tide against Ole Miss and watch another Texas game before I say Texas is in the discussion. They do look pretty solid though. LSU looks good not great. Offensive line hurt by some injuries against Auburn. Talented, but typical Miles teams. The chemistry is just not there. Believe the Tide will take care of business in Baton Rouge.
Finally, Kiehl Frazier is a disaster as I’ve said before. That’s all you can say about him. Auburn played too well on defense to lose that game. Chizik punted when he should have gone for it on fourth and one. A couple of the other fourth downs that Scarbinsky pointed out, I thought Chizik did the right thing in punting. Field position was critical in that game and the defense was playing very well. Should have gone for it on fourth and one though. That was a big mistake. But on those fourth and sevens, fourth and elevens, there was no trust in Frazier. What do you do when your quarterback can’t throw a seven yard pass and have a high risk of an interception which would probably lose the game. I thought two of those fourth down decisions were OK. Frazier’s like the replacement refs. He’s totally clueless. Give Clint Moseley a shot. Or something needs to be done to give this kid something he can run effectively. What’s a shame is there are receivers who can catch the ball downfield and make plays once they catch it, but Frazier can’t get it to them.
I did think Brian VanGorder had the defense ready to play. They played hard, aggressively and well. Very impressed with Dee Ford and Corey Lemonier. They played physically and they attacked. Thought the secondary did some good things as well. No problem with the job VanGorder did. The defense was prepared and performed. Linebacker needs to get better, but everybody else was good. Frazier will be the reason for this teams’ demise, but I’m not sure if there are any other options. Wallace looks like an athlete, but I don’t think he can throw much. Not sure what’s going on with Moseley. His shoulder must be the issue. Surely they’ll try him against Arkansas if Frazier stays abysmal. They have to. The season is going down the drain, so Chizik and Loeffler need to try something else. The Frazier project is a total failure.
Maybe a better word would be not to be average. I see what he’s saying on the field. A couple of his players, a recruit and a player on the team, aren’t too normal off the field, and that isn’t what you want from your players off the field, but I know he wants them to commit to excellence on the field. Thus, not to be “normal.” Tomorrow night, the Tide plays host to Ole Miss and they need to keep playing well with a stretch coming up that includes, after a off week, at Missouri, at Tennessee, home versus Miss. State and on the road at Baton Rouge, Nov. 3. It’s a gauntlet for a lot of teams, but if this team can stay healthy, particularly at quarterback, it should be in pretty good shape going forward. Ole Miss is very young under first year coach Hugh Freeze. I went to the game two years ago in Tuscaloosa with the exact same start time on a Saturday Night and the Tide looked sluggish winning only 23-10. They need to keep the momentum going this week. I think this could be the best team S has had providing A.J. doesn’t get hurt. They just need to play their game tomorrow night and they’ll be fine.
This should be a classic weekend as all 30 players have a shot at winning the Fed Ex Cup and the $10m bonus that goes with it. Any of the top five, Rory, Tiger, Nick Watney, Phil or Brandt Snedeker can win it with a victory this weekend. The other 25 have a shot if they win, but they’ll need some help. Now that the PGA resets the points after the BMW Championship it gives everyone a shot. A guy from the PGA told me that when Vijay won it in 2008, he had already clinched the cup before the Tour Championship. The PGA rep compared it to the Braves winning a seven-game playoff series in five and then playing the last two 
games out. It takes the fun and drama out of it.
