CBS: 2016 SEC Expert Picks: overrated, underrated, predicted order of finish

rgw

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Sep 15, 2003
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Tom Fornelli was indeed bold with his bold prediction. I tend to think that TAMU might just be the 3rd wheel in the West this year but I don't think they'll beat both Alabama and LSU in the process. If Trevor Knight can just be steady for them, they ought to be a tough out because their defensive line is lethal.
 

CoolBreeze

Hall of Fame
Sep 18, 2002
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Great read thanks for posting! "3-13 against ranked teams in the Butch Jones era" says it all. Florida is again your SEC East Champ and TAMU is the surprise team in the West that could give us a loss this year (very barnesque in their peaks and valley production year to year). We expect to compete for a NC every season and rightly so but conventional wisdom would kick us down this year. Crimson colored vision firmly impaired I see us limping into a SEC championship game, taking out UF and being a very dangerous first round playoff matchup for...let's say Michigan. That is a good game right there and can't wait to see it!
 
Great read thanks for posting! "3-13 against ranked teams in the Butch Jones era" says it all. Florida is again your SEC East Champ and TAMU is the surprise team in the West that could give us a loss this year (very barnesque in their peaks and valley production year to year). We expect to compete for a NC every season and rightly so but conventional wisdom would kick us down this year. Crimson colored vision firmly impaired I see us limping into a SEC championship game, taking out UF and being a very dangerous first round playoff matchup for...let's say Michigan. That is a good game right there and can't wait to see it!
Limping?! [emoji848]


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk
 

selmaborntidefan

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Mar 31, 2000
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My assessment (just because):


1) I will believe in Tennessee WHEN I SEE IT and not a moment before. Tennessee has been 'this is the year we put it all together' almost every single year since 2002, and it hasn't even come close to happening yet. The Vols are getting a lot of mileage out of TWO losses last year (OU and Alabama), but the first was a blown game at home to a team that couldn't even beat 5-7 Texas and the second was to a team in the midst of a killer schedule while the Vols had an off week (oh, and that's about the time one could argue a number of Tide players were affected by the unfortunate death of Altee Tennpenny).

2) UGA will win the East. No, not a sexy or conventional pick, but there's ample proof that new coaches CAN come in and thrive that first year when they're great unknowns. The Dawgs were 10-3 last year...oh, and one could easily argue that if Nick Chubb doesn't go down on the second play from scrimmage that we're not even talking about the Vols this year. Georgia returns 13 starters from a 10-3 team and Alabama isn't on the regular season schedule. McElwain won the East his first year, Malzahn won the West his first year, and Houston Nutt even had Arkansas in the hunt until a monumental collapse in 1998 (his first year there). Some of these coaches show up and while not necessarily being 'the next Nick Saban,' they burn through the first year with their basic game plan and do well enough to win. And if UGA - like UF last year (Tennessee anyone?) and Auburn in 2013 (don't even) - can steal a win or two with a bit of luck, they'll be in Atlanta in December.

And then Kirby reverts to a .500 coach next year after all the hype.

3) The winner of the West will be (not shocking at all) the winner of the LSU-Alabama game in November. LSU WILL BE GOOD this year.

4) Texas A/M? Really? I'm trying to wrap my mind around the old "Luke Del Rio couldn't start at Oregon State" argument and try to figure out why Trevor Knight - who 'couldn't start at Oklahoma despite multiple opportunities' is really any better. I'm not sold on them. They were 8-5 last year but the Arkansas game could just as easily have been a loss and South Carolina imploded when Spurrier left, so why didn't Sumlin beat them by a bunch? Oh, and they lost Vandy on the schedule and picked up Tennessee, so there's probably a win that turns into a loss right there.

5) Ole Miss - this becomes problematic for Alabama in some ways. If FSU beats Ole Miss in the opener, it takes the luster off ANY Tide win, dominant or close. If FSU thumps Ole Miss and Alabama barely wins, the talking point becomes "FSU can beat Alabama and the whole SEC" (thanks to Pretty Boy Kanell). And if Alabama loses, non-stop appeals to how Hugh Freeze is the next General Neyland.
 

Intl.Aperture

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Aug 12, 2015
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5) Ole Miss - this becomes problematic for Alabama in some ways. If FSU beats Ole Miss in the opener, it takes the luster off ANY Tide win, dominant or close. If FSU thumps Ole Miss and Alabama barely wins, the talking point becomes "FSU can beat Alabama and the whole SEC" (thanks to Pretty Boy Kanell). And if Alabama loses, non-stop appeals to how Hugh Freeze is the next General Neyland.
Flipside, if Ole Miss WINS against FSU then gird your loins and pick up the shield of faith because that game will be brutal yet again. I'm with you, I expect FSU to thump them and I hope to high heaven we thump them as well.
 

Chukker Veteran

Hall of Fame
Feb 6, 2001
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I noticed they seem to use different measures for Bama's record, and potential record if we win a title this season too. This quote is from the main article, and is talking about what Bama (under Saban) has done to date:
Four championships in seven years.
Later, they quote Jerry Palm's prediction about how Bama's record will be described if Bama wins it all this season:
Alabama will win its fourth national championship in six years, and like the other three, do so with one loss.
Palm seems to be tossing out the window Bama's undefeated title season, I guess to condense the won-loss ratio (?) and to make his point...Bama will win a title with another one loss season.

But what I was interested in... if Bama was to run the table again this season...would you describe it as having won four in six years, like Palm does, or go with Saban's overall record at Bama, which at that point would be five titles in eight years?
 

selmaborntidefan

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Flipside, if Ole Miss WINS against FSU then gird your loins and pick up the shield of faith because that game will be brutal yet again. I'm with you, I expect FSU to thump them and I hope to high heaven we thump them as well.
And for the third year in a row, I'm basically going to miss it.

I better figure out a way to see it here at work. Since I've been a Tide fan, these are our losses to Ole Miss

1988
2001
2003
2014
2015

The only one I saw parts of were the final five minutes of 1988 and some of the first half of last year (I was in Tampa at my sister's, and kickoff was at 9 pm, and we got home around the end of the first quarter).

So I better figure out a way to watch - because when I do, we beat them every time.
 

Intl.Aperture

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Aug 12, 2015
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And for the third year in a row, I'm basically going to miss it.

I better figure out a way to see it here at work. Since I've been a Tide fan, these are our losses to Ole Miss

1988
2001
2003
2014
2015

The only one I saw parts of were the final five minutes of 1988 and some of the first half of last year (I was in Tampa at my sister's, and kickoff was at 9 pm, and we got home around the end of the first quarter).

So I better figure out a way to watch - because when I do, we beat them every time.
I'm a superstitious fella (played baseball for a decade - all ball players are superstitious) so maybe we need to get a pool going to make sure your compensated for a day off! I actually saw Kenyan Drake break his leg while changing terminals at an airport so I missed all of that game except for the worst part but had to watch every second of last years slog.
 

DzynKingRTR

TideFans Legend
Dec 17, 2003
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we might be in for a bad year. every saturday morning I bike and we win. last year I missed one morning because i biked heavily the night before. the one morning was the Ole Miss game. I currently cannot bike at least not for 5 more weeks, so we might as well cancel the season.
 

deliveryman35

Hall of Fame
Jul 26, 2003
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Trevor Knight is one of only two active college qb's to beat us(Chad Kelly at Ole Miss is the other). I think the aggies may surprise a lot of people this year.
 

rgw

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Sep 15, 2003
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Trevor Knight doesn't even need to be a star. He just needs to be low-turnover, high-completion%. They have enough WR talent that he ought to be able to avoid risks and make safe throws most of the game. That DL can get after it on passing downs...they just need to create a few more passing situations for the opposing offense. They've done a poor job at that the last two years, we've mostly just ran right over them.
 

dvldog

Hall of Fame
Sep 20, 2005
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Trevor Knight doesn't even need to be a star. He just needs to be low-turnover, high-completion%. They have enough WR talent that he ought to be able to avoid risks and make safe throws most of the game. That DL can get after it on passing downs...they just need to create a few more passing situations for the opposing offense. They've done a poor job at that the last two years, we've mostly just ran right over them.
So they are going all "game manager" now vice "Johnny Football." Interesting.
 

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