Responses to Van's SEC East Predictions Post:

I think the East will resemble the West of years past - 3 or 4 teams all knocking each other off - I think the winner be decided by a tiebreaker. I am not sold on Cutcliffe making UT great again - I think the talent is just down a notch or two there, and I think the Mannings made Cutcliffe look smarter than he is......

UF may be the best team, but they also have the toughest schedule (at Auburn, UT and FSU, home with LSU, UGA, South Carolina and Alabama.) And UF had real weaknesses at running back and the offensive line last year - are they significantly better in those areas? I don't think so.


So I see a lot of 9-2 of 8-3 teams tied for the SEC East lead....

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As for Notre Dame, they will be excellent on offense, but the defense was weak last year and I don't expect it to be better than mediocre this year. And the schedule? At Southern Cal is still the toughest game. Penn State and Michigan visit and either one could be ND on a good day. But still, they are 10-2 at least.

Van's Quick Early SEC EAST PREDICTIONS

(SEC WEST to follow soon)

Oh the headaches that arise when trying to assess the SEC East.

The "Big Three" (Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee) all have things that argue against them... and for them.

Will Florida play to its strengths? Can they win in places like Jordan-Hare?

Can UGA replace so many pieces, and survive a potential QB controversy?

Can the fractured and fractious UT squad put last year's debacle behind them and come together?

And then there's the mystery of South Carolina and the Evil Visored Chikin-Wrangler.

And two other teams play here, as well... but best not to dwell upon them, lest we sink with them into their melancholy funk of post-hoops depression.

It's really a toss-up to me--the East could easily resemble those years in the West where LSU, Auburn, and Arkansas all finished 9-2 and two good teams were left out of the Dome. But...

1. Florida.
They have the talent, and I think Urban Legend will set his ego aside and run an offense this year that takes advantage of his personnel and their strengths, moreso than last year. Plus they get an automatic "W" for the UGA game, which certainly helps.

2. Georgia and Tennessee.
While the Gators get to the Dome, I think these two will end up tied for second. UT won't have two awful years in a row. Florida gets in by virtue of beating both head-to-head, but Florida will also lose to Auburn and maybe one other team. Richt will have the Dawgs competitive. I hate it, but he's a very good, very solid coach.

4. South Carolina.
The Mighty Chikins go maybe 6-6 or 7-5 in the Coop, but will be very impressive in their losses.

And how funny would it be if the Chikins end up in the Chik-Fil-A Bowl?

5-6. Who cares? Though I do want to see Kentucky perform, given that they have more players on the preseason All-SEC team than bama does!!

Yes, it's "The Wishbone." Where there's always a "triple option"-- of wacky SEC sports opinions! John's, mine-- and yours.

GROAN.

Okay, sorry. On to business, with my replies to John's points:

1: College football totally outclasses the pros in every regard. One of the great things about college football is that, every year, there are lesser-talented teams that "gel," with leadership and teamwork, while other, "more talented" teams, fall apart. And that's as it should be.

2: Pre-season polls are silly. And the worst part is this: There's no consistency regarding whether predictors are saying "This is how the teams will END the season" or "This is how I see them RIGHT NOW."

My point is, if someone predicts TEAM X will finish at #15 in the country, by losing maybe three tough games on the schedule, that's fine. But then don't drop them from 15 to 20 (or even out of the Top 25 altogether) when they actually lose the games you thought they'd lose!

Later, TEAM X ends up on a winning streak (maybe because they have entered the easy portion of their schedule) and they suddenly are ranked in the Top 10-- for winning games they were expected to win!

This drives me nuts.

Consistency is all I'm asking for. If you rank them #15, and then they lose to a higher-ranked team as you expected them to do, then leave them at 15!

3: Notre Dame is OOOH-ver RAAAY-ted. I doubt they'll lose to the hapless Georgia Tech MellowJackets (Copyright 2006 Van Plexico), but to rank them this high, based on playing USC close.... I mean, look what Fresno State did to Notre Dame's "vaunted" defense. Defense wins championships, boys. The Irish will not be playing on whatever day the BCS Championship is decided. (More on the ridiculousness of the alleged "BCS" later.)

Pre-season Polls are Bunk.

Most college football pre-season polls should taken about as seriously as Vanderbilt's chances of going undefeated in the SEC.

Why? Why are pre-season polls so flawed?

1) Every year is completely different. One of the great things about college football is that every team is completely new each year. Yes, you know who is coming back to the team - but you are talking about an organization that lost (on average) its 20 most experienced people and added 20 new people to the mix. As they say in the stock market, past results are not an indicator of future success. Sure, the team may have lots of high-school all-americans on the depth chart, but maybe all the hard-working, selfless leaders graduated and the people taking their place are not quite as selfless or dedicated. The result?? A team that does not meet expectations.

2) Pre-season polls are based on how the 'experts' feel about the team at the moment, not on who they really expect to win the national title. Who was hot at the end of the year? Who was impressive in a bowl game? (which may have a had a lot more to do with matchups that future greatness.)

3) Some teams traditionally get a 'bump' in pre-season polls because of their big name. Michigan is Exhibit A. They haven't lost less than 4 games in several years and are always in the pre-season top 10.

4) Schedules change in strength from year to year. So a team has a great season in the SEC one year - the next year they might get all their tough games on the road.

So what really matters when considering teams in the pre-season?

1) Overall talent in the depth chart.

2) Schedule. How many road games to really hard places to win? (ie LSU, UF, FSU, Oklahoma, etc.)

3) Returning experience at quarterback. This is always under-rated. Nothing matters more when visiting a loud, hostile stadium than experience at quarterback. So teams that have lots of talent but an unproven quarterback can be assured of one or two losses in tough road environments. (I think UGA is textbook case for this case this year. Mucho talent, unproven QBs.) Talent is nice, but until you have 'been there and done that' you are a loss waiting to happen.

Welcome to the Wishbone!!


I felt this was a very appropriate name for this blog since it can mean both a great old option formation and the bone from a turkey that two people can pull on. And since Van and I are going to be going back and forth on football stuff all season long on this website, the analogy works.

What are we going to do here? Talk about games, predict games, provide links to entertaining articles or websites and have fun with football.

If you want non-biased, non-judgment discussion go to Fox News. (ha ha ha ha). Sorry. We call it like we see it from our own strange little corner of the football universe.