SEC Power Poll Draft Ballot: Week Nine
by Gamecock Man on Oct 30, 2011 2:58 PM EDT
in SEC Football
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PrintYou know the drill. Let me know if you disagree with anything.
1. LSU Tigers
No surprises here.
I really like the way we're playing right now, and Arkansas and Auburn have been underwhelming of late, so I'm moving us up.
This team was very fortunate yesterday and is ripe for an upset.
The Tigers struggled with Ole Miss in the first half before putting away the hapless Rebels late.
Emotional win for the Dawgs yesterday, but it wasn't particularly impressive. Florida looked awful, and a better team than Georgia could have won that game big.
This team must be so frustrating to Gators fans.
8. Mississippi State Bulldogs
The Bulldogs got a win against Kentucky yesterday, finally getting a conference win after losing several close games against a tough schedule.
You have to feel sorry for these poor guys. They've had Georgia and Arkansas on the ropes but haven't managed to pull the upset. Yesterday's loss was particularly excruciating.
This team is a train wreck. It's going to get worse for them, too, when they lose to Vandy later in the season.
These two teams play each other next week to see who gets the ignominious honor of being the SEC's worst team.
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To be a homer for a moment
All the crap that was talked here about how Georgia was a crap team for struggling to put away Vanderbilt looks kinda funny now, huh? You know, considering the fact that we actually never trailed in that game unlike the team you have ranked above us. Our wins may not be impressive, but wins they are.
http://hobnailboot.wordpress.com/
by AuditDawg on Oct 30, 2011 3:06 PM EDT via iPhone app reply actions
I don't think this argument will gain much traction here
I don’t know the talk you are referring to, but even with Garcia at QB, we had to talk people down from the ledges after strangling Vandy 21-3 and holding them under 100 yards of total offense.
I think it’s pretty funny that they could finish 3rd in the East though. Their defense is solid, and they could give most prospective 7-5 bowl foes all kinds of trouble.
"Lattimore, as the kids can say, can ball, and sometimes does it to the extent one might say [he] is out of control in his balling." - Spencer Hall
by GwinnettGamecock on Oct 30, 2011 3:21 PM EDT up reply actions
Neither UGA nor USC
is going to be happy if Franklin gets Vandy rolling … and starts competing with us for metro Atlanta 3 and 4 stars on a consistent basis. It’s starting to happen now.
Hey, Audit … would y’all ask St. Mark to please lead the Dawgs in a rousing cheer of Woo Pig Sooie after you swallow your next cupcake ? The way the Dawgs sang Rocky Top after the UF game seemed to work for us!
Here's a health, Carolina, forever to thee! UNIVERSITAS CAROLIN MERID. 1801 Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros (Ovid)
Well, I wasn't singing any Rocky Top
But I definitely was a Vols fan on Saturday night and will be a Razorbacks fan come this Saturday. Speaking of Vandy, I think they’re going to get introduced to real big boy football next year. They were just as chippy and dirty in the Arkansas game as they were in our game this year. I believe there’s going to be a reckoning when they travel to Athens next year. Franklin isn’t exactly endearing himself to the rest of the conference with his childishness (I’m sure everybody saw the video of him tattle-taleing like a little girl to Mark Richt after he got put in his place by Grantham) just like most of the coaches in this conference probably have a healthy dislike for Chizik and Co. after how they let Fairley run wild on people last year.
http://hobnailboot.wordpress.com/
Well, as long as we're confessing and all
I was pulling slightly for the Jorts in the WLOCP, but I managed to resist doing the Gator Chomp. Or doing a Mr. Two Bits. I have some pride. And I will swallow the bitter pill and pull for the Barners, too – particularly if we run into trouble (as expected) at Fayetteville.
As lame-o as I thought it was for Richt to sing Rocky Top , since you bring it up I actually loved how CMR handled Franklin at the end of the ’Dores-UGA game, hand on his shoulder and his best conciliatory smile.
Franklin: "36 comes up, after a tough game, talking s— to me."
Richt: "Okay."
Franklin: "Rubbing our face in it right after the game."
Richt: "He’s a dumbass."
Franklin: "And then your coach, when I tell him about it, then he goes after me and the fight starts."
Richt: "That’s what I thought happened, I apologize.
Franklin was so pissed he couldn’t get a rise of a Mark. Bravo. I couldn’t imagine the SEC without CMR.
As for Chizik, there is zero doubt in my mind that Fairley cheapshotted Aaron Murray last year, no doubt. He should have been ejected and suspended. What Fairley did was far worse in my mind that the freshman Arky gunner blowing-up the Vandy punt-returner. Or Kwame G. retaliating against the Vandy OL.
Here's a health, Carolina, forever to thee! UNIVERSITAS CAROLIN MERID. 1801 Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros (Ovid)
I'll have to admit I pulled for UGA against UF. I don't like the Gators, and as far as the standings go, I believe that we have an excellent opportunity to dispel the notion that we can only win the East in a down year by going 7-1 and beating out...
the Dawgs via tiebreaker.
Garnet and Black Attack: A Blog by and for Gamecocks Fans.
by Gamecock Man on Oct 31, 2011 4:02 PM EDT up reply actions
I think Audit has a point. I could see an argument for placing Georgia ahead of Arkansas and / or Auburn.
Frankly, there’s a lot of uncertainty in rankings 3-6 that will have to play itself out over the course of the latter part of the season. I could easily imagine UGA finishing at the top of the pile.
That said, I’m not impressed by UGA’s win over Vandy, if that’s what you’re looking for me to say. Vandy is not a good football team just because it nearly upset a couple of decent teams. I see those outcomes as reflecting poorly upon Georgia and Arkansas more so than being proof that Vandy is some kind of heavyweight. As Gwinnett points out, USC curb-stomped Vandy, despite Garcia throwing four interceptions.
I’m also not too impressed with the win over the Gators. I know beating UF is a big deal to you guys, but I’m sure you’ll agree, Audit, that a better team could have manhandled Florida yesterday. Georgia still strikes me as a talented team that shoots itself in the foot too much. That’s why you lost to us, and that’s why you couldn’t put the Gators away.
Garnet and Black Attack: A Blog by and for Gamecocks Fans.
by Gamecock Man on Oct 30, 2011 3:35 PM EDT up reply actions
I'll agree and disagree with you on this.
First, I agree that Georgia is a talented team that shoots itself in the foot too much, though I’d venture to say that we do more than shooting ourselves in the foot. We chop our leg off from the knee down, then rinse it in a stagnant pond full of fecal matter, rub some dirt on it, and keep going.
The part where I’ll disagree is not being impressed with the win over the Gators. To say, “I know beating UF is a big deal to you guys . . . but a better team could have manhandled Florida yesterday”, is kind of a cop out. First, beating UF is a big deal to anyone in the SEC (especially the SEC East), and to dismiss it the way you seemingly do in your last paragraph screams of some sort of aristocratic aloofness that I’m not used to seeing from Carolina folks. Second, the whole “a better team could have manhandled Florida yesterday” isn’t really saying much that hasn’t already been made completely clear by LSU and Alabama in recent weeks.
The story of the Cocktail Party isn’t that Georgia couldn’t put Florida away, because, quite frankly, until the fourth quarter, Georgia was never in a position to put Florida away. The story is that, down 17-3 with three minutes to go in the first half, every Georgia fan watching that game (and probably a number of the players) thought “Here we go again…”; the difference, though, is that this time, Georgia overcame all the mental blocks, hurdles, and shots to the fibula that they’d imposed upon themselves, and came back and righted the ship. When Georgia finally did take the lead (their first in the game), they played stout defense and had clock-consuming drives on offense (including multiple first down conversions when they absolutely needed them) to put the game away.
If you aren’t impressed with the final score of the game, that’s fine, you shouldn’t be. To anyone who watched the game, though, you have to be impressed with the resiliency of a team down two touchdowns to come back and win the game. Those are the types of experiences that pay dividends down the road, and that’s why I’m impressed with the team after this weekend.
by hailtogeorgia on Oct 31, 2011 11:47 AM EDT up reply actions
Hmm...
Well, I apologize if my statement suggests some kind of aristocratic entitlement. That said, what I think you’re suggesting is that we can’t criticize Florida because the Gators have always been better than us. You’re putting too much stock in names here. The point is that Florida isn’t good this year. I think that’s a more or less objective fact at this point. Danny Wuerfell, Tim Tebow, etc., aren’t walking through that door. This is not the Florida of old, and I don’t see it as being pretentious to point that out. That’s not to say that we’re going to slaughter them or anything like that. We have problems of our own. But I don’t think it will be a big deal if we do beat them. It’ll be great to beat them because they’re Florida, yes, and it’ll certainly be great if that win clinches the SEC East, but it won’t be like we beat a great team. I’ll be much more excited if we beat Arkansas next week, despite the fact that Arkansas doesn’t have the brand-name prestige Florida has.
That said, you’ve got a point about the Georgia win being impressive in some ways. I watched the game, and it was a resilient performance by the Dawgs, for sure.
Garnet and Black Attack: A Blog by and for Gamecocks Fans.
by Gamecock Man on Oct 31, 2011 2:41 PM EDT up reply actions
To your earlier comment
That’s probably a fair assessment of this year’s version of the Dawgs. If this team eliminated the self-inflicted wounds, UGA would have likely already clinched the East division. One of my points in my earlier post was that Vandy had a team that is favored right now to beat South Carolina this week (opened at 4.5 in Vegas, I believe) down by multiple scores late in a game this past week (the same Vandy that never led Georgia). For all its warts and ugly wins this year, Georgia has only trailed in the Florida game during this six game winning streak and has statistically dominated every opponent outside of the aforementioned Vanderbilt game.
Maybe this is bouncing off hailtogeorgia’s point about “aristocratic entitlement”, if you will, but it is kind of funny to see the same logic being applied at this site to this year’s Georgia team that could very well win the East that was so vehemently denounced at this site when it was applied to last year’s Eastern Division champions (i.e they aren’t that great a team, lucky schedule, should be putting these easier teams away, the East is a dumpster fire, it’s only because Florida/Tenn is down, etc.).
If Georgia wins out, it will have gone 4-1 against the East and 3-0 against the West with the only loss to a team that’s been ranked in the top 15 the entire season. I believe this falls under the same argument you made last year about South Carolina that it took care of business against the East. Obviously, this is all contingent on winning out, but as I said it is kind of amusing to see this marginalization applied to another team when it got so many people upset that it was being seen as minimizing South Carolina’s accomplishment last year.
No, I don’t need you to tell me that the Vandy win is impressive nor was the Florida win, because they weren’t. If this Georgia team goes 7-1 in conference and makes it to Atlanta, it doesn’t matter whether they were pretty or not, they’ll still be playing in Atlanta. Obviously, as a sacrificial lamb, but that’s a helluva lot better than sitting at home the first week of December.
http://hobnailboot.wordpress.com/
You lost me in there with this statement:
One of my points in my earlier post was that Vandy had a team that is favored right now to beat South Carolina this week (opened at 4.5 in Vegas, I believe) down by multiple scores late in a game this past week (the same Vandy that never led Georgia).
But overall I think I agree with you. South Carolina fans in this thread seem to exhibit some of what we complain about Georgia. I don’t think this is intentional, winning is still new territory for USC, we’re still figuring out the etiquette of being good winners. : )
Regardless of the Auburn game, UGA will go 4-1 against the East after beating Kentucky. Just like USC did last year, you’re right about that. I like USC’s chances at home against Florida. Our defense will stuff Florida and hopefully our offense can score more than any Kick Return/Punt Return TD’s. But neither UGA nor USC’s 2011 conference schedule matches the hell USC experienced in 2010, playing Auburn, Alabama and Arkansas.
- FOW
by skandrewj62j on Oct 31, 2011 3:56 PM EDT up reply actions
To your last point...
Georgia played two of the three last year, and I’d say that Florida’s schedule this year from the West is even worse. The fact of the matter is that there will inevitably be a team from the East who has to play a killer schedule against the West in a given year. In 2008, it was Georgia with Alabama, LSU, and Auburn. In 2009, Georgia had Arkansas, LSU, and Auburn. In a normal year in the East (with one team being anywhere NEAR dominant), Carolina doesn’t make the SECCG with a 5-3 record, but the schedule is what it is.
That’s the biggest thing to me…is Florida really as bad as everyone says they are? Certainly, Georgia benefits from playing an extremely easy schedule against the West, but Florida suffers likewise.
by hailtogeorgia on Oct 31, 2011 4:06 PM EDT up reply actions
I was comparing both our 2011 schedules to USC's 2010 schedule.
Because USC was the 2010 East champion. Last year was a tough year for UGA, and it had an equally hard schedule. That wasn’t really the point I was hitting at though.
USC’s schedule in 2011 itself is significantly easier than 2010, even with roadtrips to UGA and UT.
- FOW
by skandrewj62j on Oct 31, 2011 4:17 PM EDT up reply actions
Understood.
I didn’t mean that to come off as a “we’re better than you” comparison or anything like that. I just meant that the schedule is inevitably going to be a bitch for someone in the East on a yearly basis. Often, when that happens, that team doesn’t win the East, because there’s generally another team (whether it’s Florida, Tennessee, or Carolina) who will not suck and will end up representing the East. Make sense?
by hailtogeorgia on Oct 31, 2011 4:23 PM EDT up reply actions
Yeah, fair enough.
Garnet and Black Attack: A Blog by and for Gamecocks Fans.
by Gamecock Man on Oct 31, 2011 4:30 PM EDT up reply actions
Yeah, USC played a brutal schedule last year, much tougher than what UGA is playing this year.
And USC curbstomped its East opponents. 17-6 over UGA, 38-24 over UT, 36-14 over the Gators, the last one in the Swamp. There was no question who the best team in the East was last year. This year, there will be doubts regardless of which team wins it.
That said, I can see your point. And I certainly won’t discredit Georgia if it wins the East. A win is a win, and the Dawgs will have won it fair and square. You won’t hear any sour grapes from me. The ‘Cocks have their chance to win the division by beating Ark. this weekend and then taking care of business against the Gators. As far as I’m concerned, if we can’t do that, we don’t deserve it.
Garnet and Black Attack: A Blog by and for Gamecocks Fans.
by Gamecock Man on Oct 31, 2011 4:07 PM EDT up reply actions
I'll give UGA credit if they win.
Man it’ll sting if we go 5-0 vs the East and lose the division. It happens. Gotta win conference games regardless of division, doesn’t mean it won’t sting. UGA deserves a whole lotta credit, with this winning streak they are on.
I tip my hat to ’em.
- FOW
by skandrewj62j on Oct 31, 2011 4:19 PM EDT up reply actions
Yeah...that read kind of funny
Let’s see if this works better. My point was that Georgia got blasted by most SEC partisans for struggling with Vanderbilt (albeit never trailed for one second in the game), yet it seems Arkansas is getting a pass here when it took a couple of flukey plays for them to pull that win out of their backsides (seriously, how many times does a fumble get taken back 90 yards??). I understand your point about the scheduling, but as hailtogeorgia has made clear somebody is going to get screwed in the East every year. Last year it was Carolina, this year it is Florida, and in 2008 it was Georgia. You can only play who’s on the schedule and aside from a mind blowing loss to Carolina earlier this year, Georgia has done its part and has only trailed in one conference game since the Carolina loss.
http://hobnailboot.wordpress.com/
I, for one, am not giving Ark. a pass on almost losing to Vandy.
I can see your points otherwise. Like I said, I won’t begrudge Georgia its divisional title if it wins.
Garnet and Black Attack: A Blog by and for Gamecocks Fans.
by Gamecock Man on Oct 31, 2011 9:10 PM EDT up reply actions
I don't give Arkansas a pass for struggling with Vandy.
Nor do I give them a pass for struggling with Ole Miss. I know Houston Nutt probably coached them up for his former team, but Ole Miss had no business even being close to Arkansas.
If anything, I am unimpressed with our offense and hesitant to really talk trash about Arkansas, because we have a chance to beat them IF our offense can score 20 or more points.
I think as underwhelming as Arkansas was against Vandy, they’re still a team that can hang 50 points easy.
Hearing a lot of talk on the radio in Atlanta about this year’s UGA team compared to 2007. It’s an interesting comparison, considering all the doom and gloom beginning the year and to think about how good that 2007 team was. Do you think 2011 Dawgs are as good as 2007?
- FOW
by skandrewj62j on Nov 1, 2011 10:33 AM EDT up reply actions
Hard to compare the two teams. Early 2007 UGA stunk, but they came on very strong at the end of the year and had several convincing wins against very good teams.
If UGA stomps Auburn and GT, I might be ready to make the comparison. However, it should be noted that the Florida team UGA beat that year was much, much better than this year’s Florida team.
Garnet and Black Attack: A Blog by and for Gamecocks Fans.
No, that wasn't what I was suggesting re: Florida.
The piece that reeked of entitlement was the “I know beating UF is a big deal to you guys…”, as if it’s not a big deal to every other team in the conference…but if that’s not how you meant it, then that’s fine.
The part that irks me is the complete dismissal of Florida as a bad team. I realize they’re not the Florida of old, and you’re right that Tebow and Wuerffel aren’t coming around any time soon, but are they really as bad as they’re being made out to be? They were destroyed by the numbers one and two teams in the country, they lost a game to Auburn without Brantley (seems like someone else from the East lost to Auburn…), and they lost a close one to Georgia. The Georgia result aside, how are they really that much different than Carolina?
Again, I’m not here to make it out as if Georgia beat a stellar team in beating Florida, because they didn’t, but I’m just tired of the complete dismissal of Florida as if beating them is the same as beating Vanderbilt or Kentucky.
by hailtogeorgia on Oct 31, 2011 3:57 PM EDT up reply actions
Florida isn't much different than Carolina, actually. They're both teams with questionable offenses and good defenses.
I think you’re taking some of the things I’m saying to reflect more on Carolina than I intend them to. I’ve admitted multiple times in this thread that I don’t think there is a lot of separation between Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. I do think Carolina is the slightly better team of the group (after all, we did beat UGA in Athens, and UGA beat UF), but not by a large margin. I’m in no way claiming that Carolina is a powerhouse, i.e., on a level with ‘Bama or LSU. And like I said, I won’t be ready to crown Carolina as a national title contender if it beats the Gators. If I had to say, I would say that Carolina and Georgia are good (i.e., rankable, New Years Day bowl) teams, Florida a mediocre (i.e., Weedeater Bowl) team. This year’s Florida team is essentially what a lot of the old 7-5 Carolina teams were.
And please don’t tell me that you guys don’t care more about Florida than the rest of us do. That’s just nonsense. Of course we all love to beat Florida, but any brief review of the last week’s writing at Dawg Sports reveals a fanbase completely obsessed with the Gators. And there’s nothing wrong with that; I didn’t mean it as an insult. It’s a rivalry, and one that you’ve struggled in over the past few years. Trust me, the Gamecocks still liked beating Clemson last year, despite the fact that Clemson finished 6-7.
Garnet and Black Attack: A Blog by and for Gamecocks Fans.
by Gamecock Man on Oct 31, 2011 4:17 PM EDT up reply actions
We're clear on all accounts.
I should have made it more clear that I don’t mean that beating Florida isn’t important to Georgia (it definitely is)…my point was more that there’s no team in the SEC that reacts to beating Florida with “meh, we beat Florida.”
Also, yes, you’re absolutely right that it’s a bigger game for Georgia than for some other SEC institutions. I’ll go on record and say that it’s the game I most want to win every year.
by hailtogeorgia on Oct 31, 2011 4:39 PM EDT up reply actions
Yeah, that's all I meant. Glad we're on the same page now.
Trust me, if Carolina beats Florida, I won’t have a “meh” reaction. We’ve endured many beatdowns at the hands of the Gators and will relish the chance to return the favor. We enjoyed beating Tennessee for the same reason, even though they’re particularly bad this year. That said, I also don’t think beating UT or potentially beating Florida say much about whether or not we’re a great team or not. I’ll save those kinds of reactions for Ark. or Clemson.
Garnet and Black Attack: A Blog by and for Gamecocks Fans.
by Gamecock Man on Oct 31, 2011 4:47 PM EDT up reply actions
Can't say I disagree with you there...
…and honestly, had Georgia beaten South Carolina or Boise, I think you’d see some(keyword there) Georgia folks who would agree with you on Florida not being that good. Right now, though, they’re our signature win, and when those aren’t at a premium, you won’t see me degrading them. Perspective and bias is all it really boils down to.
by hailtogeorgia on Oct 31, 2011 7:05 PM EDT up reply actions
Fair enough.
Garnet and Black Attack: A Blog by and for Gamecocks Fans.
by Gamecock Man on Oct 31, 2011 9:09 PM EDT up reply actions
My thoughts
I think you need to keep Arkansas ahead of us until (if) we knock them off. So I would switch 3 and 4.
With all due respect to Audit’s position, you have Aubie and UGA correctly ranked. They will settle it on the field soon enough. So keep 5 and 6 as is.
I could see an argument to advance Vandy ahead of MSU. But I would accept 7 through 12 as is.
Here's a health, Carolina, forever to thee! UNIVERSITAS CAROLIN MERID. 1801 Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros (Ovid)
I had also thought of moving Vandy ahead of MSU. I'd like to see Vandy finish an upset, though, or at least beat Tennessee.
I’ll think about Ark.-USC. I’m pretty underwhelmed by Ark. right now, but they did beat an Auburn team that beat us.
Garnet and Black Attack: A Blog by and for Gamecocks Fans.
by Gamecock Man on Oct 30, 2011 6:07 PM EDT up reply actions
Yeah I agree about Arky.
It sure stings to see writers treat this USC @ Ark as a foregone conclusion, but until we beat them I still think they deserve to be ahead of us. With us playing them away, I believe Arkansas is justifiably favored in this game. I really don’t think either fanbase has a good leg to stand on if they try to say “no way in hell we lose to them”.
Also, resume. They beat Auburn, we lost to Auburn. We are at home at 3rd until we beat them.
- FOW
by skandrewj62j on Oct 31, 2011 9:01 AM EDT up reply actions
Arkansas SEC West Champions?
That is something that is possible that not many people are discussing. If LSU beats Bama, and then Bama loses to Auburn and then Arkansas wins out, they could very well win the west.
All of those scenarios are believable. Arkansas seems to have a knack for throwing wrenches in the works of LSU, and with the Iron Bowl, I don’t care how good Bama is and how down Auburn is perceived to be, anything goes in that game.
- FOW
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