18 ArkansasSports360.com July 2009

COLLEGE Southeastern Conference Preview

By Jim Harris

Just a few days after Ole Miss’ thrashing of Texas Tech in the AT&T Cotton Bowl, an Ole Miss athletic department insider was reflecting over the big turnaround season

engineered by new coach Houston Nutt and noted, “The interesting thing is, everything sets up for next year to be even bigger.”

Upon hearing that, the collective reaction

of Arkansas football fans who were there through Nutt’s 10 years in Fayetteville leading the Razorbacks might be, “Where have we heard that before?”

The 2008 season wasn’t the first time Houston Nutt came into a bedraggled situation with talent and convinced his players they could win and win big. He pulled off a similar run 10 years earlier in Fayetteville, and only eventual national champion Tennessee and SEC West representative Mississippi State that season got by the Hogs during a 9-2 regular season. Even a Citrus Bowl loss to Michigan didn’t dampen Arkansas fans’ enthusiasm that better days were coming.

The Southeastern Conference media bought in, tabbing the Hogs as the team to beat in the West in 1999. That was even though four-fifths of an offensive line and several key defensive seniors had moved on after the 1998 turnaround. That 1999 team failed to win an SEC road game, losing three in blowout fashion, but the Hogs did beat then-No. 2 Tennessee and walloped favored Texas in the Cotton Bowl. All was far from lost in 1999, but in some ways the Nutt express fell off, too. The Hogs tumbled to 6-6 the next season. Razorback fans would see hopes dashed time and again over the next seven years when much was expected. Yet, on the other hand, it was when Nutt’s program seemed down and out that it was most dangerous – take the 2006 season, for example.

So now, we flash forward to 2009 and Oxford, Miss., where much is expected. And, on paper, it should be, as the Rebels return the SEC West’s best quarterback in Jevan Snead, all its speedy running backs, several receivers and tight ends, and a strong core of linemen. The defense must replace All-American Peria Jerry, but the defensive line returns some big-time talent and the linebackers are top quality. Kicker, Joshua Shene, is back too – ironic in that Shene would have attended Arkansas three years ago if only Nutt had offered him a scholarship.

And then there’s that schedule, which

couldn’t be any better for a West contender. Ole Miss gets LSU and Alabama at home, along with Arkansas and Tennessee, and doesn’t play Florida or Georgia from the East. Somehow, the Rebels (5-3 in the SEC in ’08) lost at home last year to Vanderbilt and South Carolina and will have to win those games on the road. Games with Auburn and Mississippi State on the road should be winnable in ’09.

Truth is, unless quarterbacks emerge among the other West contenders, Ole Miss should get to their first SEC Championship Game.

Gators Loaded on DefenseBut in Atlanta, Houston Nutt and Ole

Miss are likely to tangle with Florida. Even with Percy Harvin having moved on to the NFL, the Gators offense likely won’t miss him these days.

It’s Florida’s defense, though, that should get most of the credit if the Gators return to the top of the national rankings. It’s usually saying something if a team returns all 11 starters on a defensive unit; in Florida’s case, the Gators return all the backups as well. All 22 first- and second-teamers who throttled Oklahoma so convincingly in last year’s BCS title game are back.

That seems a tad unfair.Then, of course, there’s quarterback Tim

Tebow, who has already won a Heisman Trophy (2007) and been part of two national championships and decided he hadn’t had enough of Gainesville. Tebow is back for his senior year, and the campaign for Heisman re-election is already underway after Tebow fell short to OU’s Sam Bradford, who was made to look hapless against the Gators’ defense.

No one in the SEC East appears skilled enough to challenge the Gators. Georgia might have been until Knowshon Moreno

and Matt Stafford exited early for the NFL. The Bulldogs will have ample talent at most positions, but that’s not near enough to deal with Urban Meyer’s Gators.

Steve Spurrier’s South Carolina Gamecocks should have their best season yet with more of his recruits in place. The offense should take a significant jump if Spurrier can settle on a quarterback or two.

Kentucky’s Rich Brooks has built a competitive Wildcat program and has a handful of skill players who could line up anywhere. And Vanderbilt, which finally broke though with a bowl bid (and win) last year, continues to compete hard with Bobby Johnson. But neither team will win week-in and week-out in the SEC.

Tennessee isn’t likely to threaten in Lane Kiffin’s first season as the Vols’ coach, but he appears to be recruiting UT back to the level Phil Fulmer had the program in the 1990s. Kiffin’s liable to pay on the scoreboard this year for offseason comments he made toward Meyer, Spurrier and Nick Saban.

West UpheavalAlabama very likely could field the

best 21 starting players, outside of quarterback, in the West, but it will be that deficiency at quarterback that probably holds back the Crimson Tide and Saban for this season, at least. The recruiting classes of the past three years, though, can’t be denied, and Alabama will only have a brief hiccup, if that, before reasserting its dominance in the West.

LSU and Les Miles should be back stronger in ’09, or else Miles may not be back for 2010. All healed up for the Peach Bowl in late December, the Tigers destroyed Georgia

Tech and showed the kind of awesome power they’re capable of after things went south in November. All that’s needed is consistency at quarterback. The backs, receiver offensive line and defensive talent are all in place, and the defense should be back up to LSU standards with the hiring of coordinator John Chavis from Tennessee.

The SEC’s biggest game likely could be LSU playing host to Florida Oct. 10.

Arkansas and Bobby Petrino might be the wildcard in the West. Petrino’s history

at Louisville indicates that his offense takes hold in its second year, and a more potent offense

for the Hogs could result in 2-3 more conference wins in 2009. The running game should be better, and the defense should be significantly better. But Arkansas is still a year away in top line quality – on both sides.

Auburn and Mississippi State welcome new coaches. New Tigers coach Gene Chizik has tapped former Arkansas offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn to pull out all of the offensive stops for the new look Tigers (who still have the same quarterbacks, including Fort Smith’s Kodi Burns). Chizik’s forte is defense but Auburn may need a couple of recruiting classes before big improvement is seen on that

side.Dan Mullen coached Florida’s offense

for Urban Meyer, but the talent level will be significantly less for him at Mississippi State.

Mullen, though, took a page out of Kiffin and went verbal on State’s biggest rival, Ole Miss, referring to it as “that school to the north”.

For the time being, that school to the north is likely the best in the West. ❍

Florida Will Be the Class of

OFFENSEQB TIM TEBOW, Florida

WR JULIO JONES, Alabama

WR A.J. GREEN, Georgia

RB CHARLES SCOTT, LSU

RB MICHAEL SMITH, Arkansas

OL CIRON BLACK, LSU

OL JOHN JERRY, Ole Miss

OL MIKE JOHNSON, Alabama

OL MAURKICE POUNCEY, Florida

OL RYAN PUGH, Auburn

TE D.J. WILLIAMS, Arkansas

DEFENSEDL GREG HARDY, Ole Miss

DL CARLOS DUNLAP, Florida

DL ANTONIO COLEMAN, Auburn

DL TERRENCE CODY, Alabama

LB BRANDON SPIKES, Florida

LB ROLANDO MCCLAIN, Alabama

LB ERIC NORWOOD, South Carolina

DB JOE HADEN, Florida

DB TREVARD LINDLEY, Kentucky

DB ERIC BERRY, Tennessee

DB AHMAD BLACK, Florida

SPECIAL TEAMSK JOSHUA SHENE, Ole Miss

P CHAS HENRY, Florida

PR/KR BRANDON JAMES, Florida

ALL-SEC TEAM

PREDICTEDORDER OFFINISHEASTFloridaSouth CarolinaGeorgiaKentuckyTennesseeVanderbilt

WESTOle MissLSUAlabamaArkansasMississippi StateAuburn

reflecting over the big turnaround season engineered by new coach Houston Nutt and noted, “The interesting thing is, everything sets up for next year to be even bigger.”

the collective reaction of Arkansas football fans

PRESENTED BY

, Florida

Houston Nutt, Ole Miss

, Auburn

, Alabama

, South Carolina

SPECIAL TEAMS

ALL-SEC TEAM

Tim Tebow, Florida

Nutt Has Ch

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