SEC weak on D

The first two weeks of the college football season has delivered a mixed bag of results for SEC teams, and left us with more questions than answers. In fact there are really only two things that I know for sure at this point. First of all, there is no question that the worst three year starting quarterback playing has to be Brandon Cox. Since his injury riddled junior campaign, I am not sure he would be starting at any school in the conference outside of Mississippi. The second thing we can write in stone is that LSU is the real deal. Their defense might be the best I have seen in the last five years. Nearly every year the SEC produces a couple teams with great defenses that dominate week in and week out, but what sets the Tigers apart is having All American talent at every position. If their offense continues to play the way they have in the first two games, LSU has a very good shot at going undefeated.

The biggest question I have is if anyone besides LSU has a great or even a good defense . When I look at each team in our conference and compare their defense to their offense, I see most teams being stronger on the offensive side of the ball. This breaks the trend of years past when the SEC could usually count on at least six teams having extremely good defenses every year. Not this year. Tennessee and Florida both have major weaknesses, Arkansas and Georgia were both hit hard by graduation, Alabama, Vanderbilt, and South Carolina are all fairly decent but by no means dominate. The SEC has really looked more like the PAC 10 thus far, and that will probably continue this week with the UT vs. UF game. If you are having problems trying to make a prediction on the final score just look at the Bball score from last year and multiply by 2.

The next two weeks will separate the contenders from the pretenders. Alabama, who has looked as solid as anyone, plays two crucial games. They face Arkansas this weekend, and follow with Georgia the next. Alabama will be almost a must win games for the Georgia if they hope to fight back in the East race. Kentucky gets their chance to prove they are a threat facing in state rival Louisville, followed by a game with Arkansas. Both LSU and South Carolina face cream puffs this week before their battle. And of course the biggest game on the docket matches up the Vols and the Gators. This one has been known to make or break a season, and usually decides the SEC east. Each teams offensive strength seems to be the others defensive weakness this year. Florida is well balanced, but look for a lot of runs out of the spread as they try to exploit a vulnerable UT run defense. On the other hand, Tennessee’s passing game has picked apart opposing defenses, and Florida has really struggled in the secondary. If Ainge has time to throw it will be long night for the Florida secondary.

I think just about anybody can win the east. Obviously, Georgia with one loss has a tough road now, but they are still alive. South Carolina is not great at any position on either side of the ball, but they are solid everywhere. They also have the most experienced defense which showed in not allowing Georgia to score a TD. The winner of there UT vs UF game will have the upper hand in the east race, but who ultimately ends up in Atlanta will be determined by who can improve each week on defense. Tennessee and Florida both are playing a lot of young guys, and both can improve to become fairly solid defenses. The team that is still needing the offense to score 40 in November, likely won’t be in Atlanta December 2nd.

Here are my picks for each team when comparing their offense vs. their defense.

Tennessee-offense
Florida-offense
Georgia-offense (based solely on having knowshon Moreno)
Vanderbilt-Tie, if I had to choose one Id take the Def.
Kentucky-offense
South Carolina-Defense
LSU-Defense
Auburn-Defense
Mississippi State-Defense
Ole Miss-offense
Arkansas-offense
Alabama-offense

Guy Tiller