Two Daves Pick The SEC

We’ve been putting out our “Five Things” column almost every week now. When we first came up with the idea for writing about the five things we learned the previous week, we expected that we would run out of things to write very shortly. Well, that hasn’t been the case, as each week brings us something new and/or surprising, or at least confirms what we may already suspect. So, what’s new from last week?

Dave says:

1. LSU is lucky and good. That combination can lead to national championships and conversely, immense frustration and disappointment.
2. Mississippi State is improving. They are moving the ball up and down the field, at times with ease. Turnovers are killing them. You simply cannot turn the ball over 4-5 times per game and expect to win.
3. The earth continued to function just fine even though Tim Tebow did not play last weekend.
4. Auburn is playing good football. Gene Chizik has won as many games in five tries at Auburn as he did in two years at Iowa State. Look no further for your frontrunner for coach of the year.
5. Arkansas is playing great on offense. They really racked up points and yardage against Texas A&M. There was even a hint of defense played in that game.

Doug says:

1. Dave Matthews Band sucks. You know, I was a fan and enjoyed their music, but with the overexposure that comes with ESPN football coverage, I’ve had my fill. If I hear Ants Marching one more time, I might go postal.
2. I agree with Dave that Mississippi State is improving. Offensively. Defensively, they are terrible. I don’t think they could’ve stopped Georgia Tech with 14 players. Mediocrity, thy name is Carl Torbush.
3. I’m really surprised that Ole Miss wasn’t more dominating last week against Vanderbilt. They had something to prove, and they played well at times, but they weren’t very consistent. Snead still isn’t living up to his billing.
4. Auburn continues to surprise and impress. The schedule is getting tougher, but the Tigers look to be bowl bound and I don’t see them as a pushover to anyone, including Bama.
5. Lester Miles must have made a deal with the devil. They win a game they should’ve lost against MSU, and then they sneak out of Athens with the W. Now, they likely get a Tebow-less Florida team. The LSU coaching staff should head out and buy lottery tickets this week.

This past weekend may have been the best college football weekend of the season so far.  We saw some entertaining match ups with some interesting results.  What did we learn?

 Dave says:

 1. Vanderbilt is terrible.  When you get totally dominated at home as a 9 point favorite by a team that had just given up 600 yards in its previous game, you’ve got a serious problem. 

2. Georgia and Arkansas both possess either outstanding offenses or hideous defenses.  Both team cobined for over 1,000 yard of offense in the shootout in Fayetteville.

3. Tennessee is a quarterback and a few receivers away from being a pretty good team.  Monte Kiffin, Tennessee’s defensive coordinator is one of the highest paid assistants in college football.  He showed you why on Saturday.

4. Alabama is the team to beat in the West.  Even thought they played lowly North Texas, Alabama has been executing plays very well, and will only get better as the season progresses.

5. Auburn is good and lucky.  After spotting West Virginia 14 points in the first five minutes of the game, the Tigers fought their way back into the game and won it in the fourth quarter.

Doug says:

1.  God must not be a fan of USC.  It seems like every year now, you can count on them losing a game to an inferior Pac-10 team.  Or maybe God is protecting them from having to face off against an SEC team in the national championship game.   

2.  Georgia can score some points.  Okay, Arkansas is just not that good defensively, but that was still an impressive showing.  Also, Arkansas is going to be hell on wheels in another year or so.  If Petrino sticks around, they are going to be frightening. 

3.  UT fans have lost their minds.  Sure, the Vols kept the score a lot closer than most of us expected (me in particular), but they lost by double digits. Why are their fans suddenly crowing about this accomplishment?  The most compelling thing I learned about UT this week is that Lane Kiffin’s wife might be the hottest woman on the planet.

4.  I’ve been saying it for three weeks now, and it continues to be true:  Auburn is better than everyone thought.  That wasn’t Mississippi State or Louisiana Tech that they beat Saturday night.  Am I saying they’ll win the west?  Of course not.  But they should go bowling and will give a lot of teams fits.  Six weeks ago, a lot of folks were putting them in the cellar.  So far, Gene Chizik is the coach of the year, and I can’t believe I just typed that.

5.  Ole Miss can beat crappy football teams.  We’ll see this Thursday how they do against mediocre-to-decent SEC teams.  I think they’ll be fine this week, but they’re not the fourth-best team in the nation, and that will prove itself out over time.

What do you think?  Let us know in the comments section.

Well, another week, and another educational experience.  This is shaping up to be an interesting year on the gridiron.  What did we learn last week?

Dave says:

1.  Jonathon Crompton is Tennessee’s version of former Mississippi State Michel Henig.  Henig was often viewed as the opponent’s 12th man, throwing picks left and right and making bad decisions.

2.  Lane Kiffin is a bigger idiot than we knew.  After losing at home to UCLA, Kiffin laid blame everywhere except on the play of his quarterback.  Opening the game by kicking the ball out of bounds, poor offensive line play, defense only recovering one of UCLA’s six fumbles – those are the excuses offered by Kiffin.  Only one of them is even remotely related to the play of his qb.  Have fun in the Swamp this weekend Lane.

3.  Mississippi State still sucks.  While play on offense has improved, they apparently don’t play defense any longer, giving up almost 600 yards to Auburn.  Dan Mullen’s posture makes him look like a hunchback, the hunchback of Starkville.  If he keeps defensive coordinator Carl Torbush around, Mullen will be looking for a job in three years.  Bulldog fans, think Ron Cooper.

4.  Georgia and South Carolina decided they can play offense, both teams put up over 30 points in their game between the hedges.  So either both teams’ offenses were off in week one, or both teams’ defenses were not so hot last week.

5.  Florida looks as close to unbeatable as a team can be, while Alabama still has some room to improve.  Unless some major upsets happen, that’s your SEC Championship game matchup.

Doug says:

1.  Vandy isn’t starting 5-0 this year.  They hung tough for a while with LSU, but they couldn’t pull the upset.  To Vanderbilt’s credit, they aren’t as interested in moral victories as they used to be, and they are looking forward to being double-digit favorites next week against Mississippi State.

2.  Speaking of Mississippi State, we’ve learned that Carl Torbush is still a bad defensive coordinator.  Auburn could’ve named their score.  Don’t tell me that State is untalented on defense:  they have some good talent on the line and have probably two pro prospects at linebacker.  It’s all about the scheme and the scheme was hideous against Auburn.

3.  South Carolina can put up some points.  The USC-UGA game was the conference game of the week, from an entertainment standpoint.  Georgia’s point outburst was even more impressive, given that it came against Carolina’s defense.  I don’t know what to think about Georgia and how good they really are at this point.

4.  Nothing sucks like a big orange.  Now, most of us have known this for years, but it was reaffirmed last week with the Vols’ home loss to UCLA.  Is this something UT will learn from, or will it start a downward spiral?  Most importantly, did Orgeron take his shirt off in the locker room after the game?

5.  Florida and Alabama aren’t completely invincible.  Well, for a quarter, anyway.  I’m still looking forward to their clash in Atlanta (provided Alabama doesn’t stumble somewhere along the way).

Opinions?  Share them in the comments section.

The 2 Daves are now much more than just a weekly picks column.  On our new blog site at 2daves.org, we will be posting random streams of stupidity for your reading pleasure.  Our hope is that the site will become a regular destination for college football fans who can’t get enough football discussion.  We’d also like to see how fast we end up being blocked by evil corporate web filters.

For us, week one was highly educational.  We decided to put our heads together and talk about the five things we learned last weekend. 

Dave says:

1.  South Carolina’s offense is hideous when held to Spurrier standards.  How many times have you seen a Steve Spurrier coached team only put up one TD?  If it doesn’t get better, and fast, this is going to be a long season for the cocks.

2.  LSU’s defense apparently didn’t make the trip to Washington.  Washington hasn’t won a game since 2007, and they piled up the yardage on LSU.  Glenn Dorsey, Tyson Jackson, where art thou?  The Tigers have a lot of work to do if they want to win the West.

3.  Kentucky and Vanderbilt both posted shutouts on the same weekend.  Has that ever happened before?

4.  Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford probably wishes he had gone ahead and entered the NFL draft.  Hindsight can be a real bitch.

5.  Memphis is apparently the home for wayward football players.  They’ve got discipline rejects from Wisconsin, Auburn, and Mississippi State, among others.  Tommy West must believe in third, fourth and fifth chances.  If given the opportunity, Shawn Merriman would make West the NFL commish.

Doug says:

1.  To Dave’s point, you gotta be concerned if you are an LSU fan.  Sure, Washington’s QB can play, but you’re the LSU-By-Gawd Tigers, and they are coming off an 0-fer season and have a brand new coach in place.  Sure, it was a long way to go to play the first game of the season, but the weather should’ve been more of a blessing than a curse this time of year.  Sure, the crowd was boisterous and really helped the Huskies, but that was because the Tigers didn’t take them out of the game early.  I think the seat is going to be getting warm for Lester if he doesn’t shape this team up.

2.  Alabama is good.  They didn’t exactly burst out of the gate, but they finished.  Their defense is scary.  Julio Jones is a freak of nature.  And McElroy is a perfectly acceptable quarterback.  While the rest of the SEC (for the most part) were playing the sisters of the poor, Bama knocked heads with one of the best in the country, and they made a statement.

3.  It’s going to be a long year for Mississippi State.  They played Jackson State, who is barely tougher than playing against a pile of pillows, yet they could only manage 14 first-half points and couldn’t get out of their own way at times with penalties, fumbles, and missed field goals.  It’s easy to overcome that stuff against a stack of pillows, but it will be much tougher at Auburn. 

4.  Speaking of Auburn, I think they will be better than people thought.  Louisiana Tech isn’t exactly LSU, but Auburn handled them easily.  Sure, they have QB issues, and they’re in for a fight to get bowl eligible, but things aren’t as bleak as first feared.  They’re good defensively, and Malzahn’s offense might just help them score enough points to win some games. 

5.  Ole Miss is overrated.  Yes, they will get better and play better, but the final score of their game with Memphis is the most misleading thing ever.  Ole Miss didn’t do much of anything on their own to earn that victory; Memphis gave the game to them.  And shame on Houston Nutt for running the score up late.  He may have picked up some style points, but he lost some respect, too.  We’ll learn more about the Rebs when they play Vanderbilt.

What do you think?  Share your comments below.