Tuesday, June 30, 2009

The Matador Picks The SEC


The SEC is the strongest conference overall winning the last three national championship games with a combined score of 103-52. For those not aware, the SEC is broken up into two divisions, the East and the West. At the end of the regular season, the division champs play in the conference championship game and the winner gets an automatic BCS bid to represent the SEC and it looks like Florida is on the way again.


SEC EAST
It seems almost certain the Florida Gators will win the SEC East with their very weak schedule. The only game that may pose a problem is the road game at LSU where they've recently struggled. Even if the Gators blow that game, they are still going to win the SEC East. No other team can compete with Florida in the East. The Gators return their entire starting defense and Tebow is back for his final season. For all you Bulldog lovers, without Moreno and Stafford, Georgia will be looking up all season long and their thin secondary is going to be exposed on opening day. They are going to be in the L column quickly as they have to face a very strong Oklahoma State team on the road (OSU may have the strongest offensive trio in Zac Robinson, Dez Bryant and Kendall Hunter). Tennessee has a new coach who just fired up the Gators with his most recent rants over recruiting. The Vols have an untested QB and are weak at the O line. It's not even worth my breath to talk about South Carolina, Vandy or Kentucky.

SEC WEST
The SEC West is a bit more unpredictable but with The Matador's crystal ball, the clouds are clearing. You have three teams that can legitimately win the SEC West--LSU, Alabama and Ole Miss. Most are favoring LSU. I'm not sure why. Maybe it is because of their strength at running back, but who knows. LSU will lose key games because they lost key players at the D line and O line positions. Jefferson, their QB, is still suspect at best but he did have a strong Chick-fil-A Bowl, showing signs of potential and stability. Alabama is going to have a sick defense which rivals the Gators. My concern is their offensive production. I don't see them scoring enough points to keep up with their SEC rivals. We will learn a lot about Bama on September 5th, when they face VaTech in Atlanta. Either way, the team is not strong enough to be on top. In the end, my team out of the West who will be standing strong is Ole Miss. They are bringing back all their play makers on offense including my Heisman hopeful long shot Jevan Snead. This team will score a lot of points with McCluster and Hodge catching the ball and Bolden anchoring the backfield--and most importantly they don't have to face the revengeful Gators in the regular season. I recognize they don't have a lot of depth on the O line and their defense needs improvement, but their offense should take them all the way to the promised land.


The SEC champs: Florida Gators win by trouncing Ole Miss.

Most exciting team to watch: Auburn. They have a new coach in Chiznik, a very difficult schedule, questions at QB, untested players, but one heck of a defense. They won't win the West but they sure will make it entertaining.

Next Up: The Big 10

7 comments:

floridasuxgodawgs said...

Florida sucks, I hate that team. GEORGIA ALL THE WAY

The Matador said...

Dear Floridasux,

I appreciate your passion, but your comment has no basis, but if you went to Georgia, I can see why.

Elton said...

Actually dude, Florida has owned Georgia the past decade. Get used to it too. UGA is not going to beat the Gators this year as they are going to be rebuilding and struggling to find an identity on offense. I thought Caleb King was going to be a solid replacement for "Knowshow" but the current depth charts have him at second. Joe Cox , your QB couldn't beat his own meat. The ONLY thing you have that I envy is WR A.J. Green. But what good is he going to be without a QB to get him the ball?? Get used to UF waxing that azz man. If you're brave enough to make a little wager on this year's Cocktail Party I'll give you my paypal account info. I accept all kinds of money but I prefer the kind that folds. See you in Jacksonville sucka!!!

The Matador said...

Sir Elton,

Well said. I also appreciate your passion and you make strong points. UGA is going to have a tough time against Oklahoma State and an even tougher time in conference play. There is no way they beat Florida. I'm saying it now. That's right, I said it, I said it on June 30th.

floridasuxgodawgs said...

Florida doesn't own shit. UGA has the alltime record, 46-38-2, my friend.

The Matador said...

Yes, UGA leads in overall record, but as Sir Elton pointed out, Florida has owned Georgia this past decade.

Elton said...

floridasuxgodawgs: I said that UF has owned UGAy the past decade. Florida is 8-2 the past 10 years against the leg humpers. I understand though, I'd be a little defensive too if my team suffered an LAPD azz whipping last year in the Cocktail Party.