We started a tradition last season that involved centering our tailgating menu on the opponent...
The planning can get a bit tricky, especially when planning for games starting at Noon when the pre-game hoopla starts before 8 and looking for breakfast grub...
But the internet is a wonderful place that's chock full of usless info, so we were able to navigate most of that with relative ease even with four "Nooners" and a 1:30 start on the home slate last year...
It also doesn't hurt to have some damn fine cooks (not me) who aren't afraid to tackle new personally-untested recipes and have the skill to pull it off...
As well as the capability to cook in different methods on site and properly refrigerate the things that will be cooked on site...
Highlights from 2008...
Hawaii - Nooner. The plan was for luau type stuff (Kalua-style pulled pork, rice, sweet bread, etc.) for after the game but, my uncle surprised everyone by showing up early (S.O.B. was there at 5 A.M. he said)to be ready to fry up Spam & eggs with french toast made from sweet bread. He even had pre-mixed Pina Colada in a 10 gallon cooler. This made me glad I had already made my plans for a surprise for the LSU game...
Miami - Night game. Cubans (I actually rode down with a buddy to get the bread from a place in Ybor city in Tampa), ham croquettes, grilled mahi fingers, black beans and rice. We pressed the cubans, fried the croquettes and grilled the mahi on site which attracted a few passing UCG fans whom we gladly had sit down and enjoy a plate of food with us...
Ole Miss Nooner. This was a bit tricky since we were trying to avoid BBQ and looking for something a bit different. After a bit of research, it appeared that much "traditional" Mississippi grub is very similiar to Louisiana fare. However, GrandmaHippy found a recipe entitled 'Mississippi Breakfast Casserole"(or something along those lines) which in turn was pretty close to a breakfast casserole made in our family for years at Christmastime but made with sausage instead of ham and a few other minor differences. Post game was fried catfish and okra, greens (which I do NOT eat) baked beans and cornbread. For some reason (31-30 Nutt job?), it didn't taste as good as I thought it would beforehand...
LSU Night game. "wash day" fare of red beans and rice, jambalaya, grilled shrimp po'boys and of course my special surprise...CORN DOGS!!! These weren't just standard carnie variety however...I prepped two kinds of batter; regular and jalapeno; and brought both footlong hot dogs and andouille for the meaty center (Sorry TE, no nutria was available). Huge hit! Actually ran out probably an hour and a half before the 8 o'clock kick off...
Kentucky Nooner. This was a favorite for me as I lived in the Eastern Appalachia area of the Commonwealth for a few years. Fried chicken on biscuits with eggs pregame. Post-Game: the rest of the fried chicken, Burgoo Stew with Venison (thanks to my cousin!) & Mutton, Hoppin' John (black eyed peas & rice) with; of course; Derby Pie for dessert...
So Car 3:30 start. Nobody had a clue what the hell to make for this. Then somebody found a recipe for another stew called Frog-sumthin which supposedly originated up there. I think it had pork, beef and shrimp (maybe some fish). Served over rice. Pretty damn good
Citadel 1:30 start. Didn't plan anything for this game because a large crew wasn't expected. However, my uncle once again surprises those of us that did show up with about 20 MREs as a joke. I had a spaghetti and meatballs postgame of which I used not only the hot sauce in the pack but also about a half of the bottle on the table. GH Note: Not a good idea to consume hot-sauce lathered military rations on top of a half a handle of Beam. Unless constipation is a problem. Then it will be cured within minutes.
NMLSooner
· 5 months ago
Just out of curiosity where did you live in while in Kentucky? I lived in Kingsport, TN for about 6 yrs and traveled up to Holmes Mill and Cumberland and Pikeville sometimes.
Zac
· 5 months ago
I worked in the oil fields in Pikeville for a summer between semesters.
gatorhippy
· 5 months ago
London...
War_Eagle_Atlanta
· 5 months ago
Nobody had a clue what the hell to make for South Carolina?
Chicken, sir. Lots and lots of chicken!
Regan
· 5 months ago
Fried Dead Chicken. Sorry, it's a Clemson tradition. :-)
Zac
· 5 months ago
Ya meen ya spoze ta kill em 1st, a'4 yaz kook em?
USC1801
· 5 months ago
Regan - The only eating tradition at Clemson is CHOKING!
Looks to me like all of the choking in that game was committed by the visiting team.
USC1801
· 5 months ago
ouch!
"BC"
· 5 months ago
Here are my underrated teams in the SEC:
West Arkansas - second year under Petrino. they beat Auburn and LSU last year.
East Vanderbilt - they return 18 starters (most in the SEC) from a squad that beat Ole Miss, South Carolina, Auburn, Kentucky, and Boston College.
you can bet that Vandy will steal one from either FL, GA, MS, TN, or LSU this upcoming season. 18 STARTERS. including both QBs. they beat Ole Miss in Oxford last year. yet, Ole Miss is in the top 10 with less returning starters...
Clemson_Joe
· 5 months ago
...and what about overrated nationally?
PittsburghTiger
· 5 months ago
Good tailgating starts with a great Bier. Add some BBQ and then some pretty gals....Bingo, great tailgate.
TigerEducated
· 5 months ago
My Tailgating Recipe is Taaka...
Mixes Easy...Just add...
Yeah...That sucks...Anyway...Here's a good recipe...
1 Tilapia filet...thawed 1 piece of Broccoli 1 piece of decent cheese (No, Bama Fans, Kraft American doesn't count)
Place the filet in tin foil, place broccoli on top of fliet. Place cheese in, around, and over Broccoli.
Fold tin foil up and surround contents.
Throw it on the grille...With some Tony's & some Tobasco if you're a Boss like Rick Ross...a tiny dash of Crab Boil if not...
Simple...and on short notice...Very good stuff...
NMLSooner
· 5 months ago
Tilapia??? I guessing that's some sort of fish since you used the word filet after it. You cajuns. : ) You'll have to forgive me. I'm 50 miles from the closest lake, and that one is dried up. Where I'm from it's not a tailgate without dead cow on the grille! Maybe a little salt and pepper and cooked medium rare, no need to get fancy.
By the way, I'm with NMLSooner. BEEF! It's what's for tailgate'n. That, and shrimp, brats, chilli, ribs, bar-bee-q (chicken, pork, or beef), smoked...anything (OK, the smoked Twinkies a bud brought in to work...not good.), and beer; lots and lots of beer! Yeah, that should about do it.
1Tomcat
· 5 months ago
We have a lot of them down here, origianally from Africa and introduced species that feeds mainly on plants-catch them with cast nets in the shallows of fresh water lakes, I have caught a few on a hook -kinda by accident. Resemble a large Rio Grande perch- up to 3 lbs
Bama_Babe
· 5 months ago
You Cajuns love some Tony's...
I have a friend from my hometown who attends LSU, and now he puts it on EVERYTHING. Does liven the flavor though.
War_Eagle_Atlanta
· 5 months ago
Love that picture, BB. Too cool!
Bama_Babe
· 5 months ago
Thanks, WEA!
You know, just a normal day behind the podium answering questions from these ever-so-annoying media dudes...
They always seem to ask the wrong question. Fires me up every time.
Don't ask me dumb questions, WEA....a'ight?
War_Eagle_Atlanta
· 5 months ago
Yes'm!
hrposon
· 5 months ago
Just came back from the CWS in Omaha. After 5 days the LSU tailgaters are still servering up seafood gumbo. They must be running truckloads of seafood up from Louisiana daily. Texas has the barbeque and brew down to a science. They both do it very well...
The_Observer
· 5 months ago
Tilapia...good. Broccoli...good. Cheese...good. Not living within 50 miles of a body of water...completely unacceptable!
Zac
· 5 months ago
Spoken like a true Gator.
1Tomcat
· 5 months ago
NML means No Mans Land- Oklahoma panhandle
Zac
· 5 months ago
If I tailgated, I'd have to treat you guys to my Egg Plant & Chicken Parmesans. (Not as easy to pull that off in a tailgate, but deffinately worth the trouble.)
By the way, have we ever done a thread discussing recruits; i.e. how many of the 4 & 5 star variety actually contribute and go on to the NFL, as compared with the 0-3 star variety? Which teams make the most of their highly ranked recruiting classes and which seem to fall short? Any ideas anyone?
Ben Prather
· 5 months ago
Does anyone take the NFL draft and list how many stars each draft pick had when they entered college? I think that would get to the heart of your question.
A major flaw in this is that it ignores the performance of the teams on the field. SDSU certainly is not a national recruiting power but their 19 players in the NFL lead the current MWC members in 2008. This certainly has not been reflected on the field in over a decade.
In the end, I feel strongly that a 2 or 3 star recruit from a high school with very poor facilities has more potential than a 4-5 star recruit from a high school with state of the art facilities.
Adding proper nutrition and optimized weight lifting regiments to a natural talent that was able to get some attention from an obscure high school is a powerful combination MWC teams feed on.
Zac
· 5 months ago
There-in lays the silver lining within that dark cloud once referred to as Rich Rodriguez leaving WVU to coach at Michigan. As a result, WVU switched "Mikes". Mike Barwis had been the Mountaineers strength & conditioning coach. He was a tough, hard nosed, "no-pain-no-gain" type, always pushing the players to work hard beyond themselves. Odd thing: It seemed as though there were always a rash of minor injuries, ankles, knees, shoulders... He followed Rodriguez to MI.
Exit Mike Barwis, stage left. Enter Mike Joseph, stage right, as in doing it the right way. Coach Joseph took the time to evaluate the players; actually determined their true capability, before they reached a breaking, or rather, straining point. His emphasis was not just hard work, but doing that work properly, employing the proper technique. His regimens are designed to allow the players to work one muscle group as another rests. As a result, in one year there are kids who've made vast improvements in both strength and speed, without injuries, and they continue to improve.
One injury prone kid in particular, 6' 8" 215 lb, WR, Wes Lyons, was expected to do great things, given his height and reach advantage over typically shorter DB's. I remember a game against ECU, whose defense was expected to be decent. Lyons recorded a number of pancakes on the defending corners, while others caught and/or ran for 1st downs & TD's, due to the lanes he opened with his blocking. Lyons disappeared a few games later, with an injury.
Having worked with Mike Joseph for over a year now, Wes Lyons is without injury, and promises to have a break-out season; no pun intended.
I'll be the 1st to admit I didn't like the way with which Rodriguez left WVU for MI. All things considered, it's been a blessing in disguise, and Mike Joseph is a big part of that blessing.
TigerEducated
· 5 months ago
Well, I think that Kevin has touched on this before, and he really doesn't want this place to turn into Recruiting Central...
I'm hopelessly addicted to that crap, and I used to cover Recruiting for an LSU-related magazine, so I still get some info here and there...
But, I do believe that might not be such a bad thing...I know that the pre-season CFB rags-or, at least one of them-does an interesting thing each year and takes the Top 25 recruits from 4-5 years ago and runs down their collegiate careers and where are they now...
Derek Willis
· 5 months ago
Hey folks,
Been a very long time since I've posted around these parts, but I used to be a contributor way back. Since then I've been working on a college football data site and would love to get suggestions/feedback on it. One of the things I'd really like to do is flesh out my coaching information, and if anyone would like to help out with that, that would be awesome.
Well, well, well.... The prodigal son returns. Good to see ya, DW.
Nice work on http://www.fumblerooski.org/ Pretty cool to have the drive data, etc, archived. I'm not real jazzed about the design, but -- then again -- this place could use an EXTREME HOME MAKEOVER as well.
Also, you may want to look into stats for last year's FSU/UF. It felt like they beat us by more than that. :)
Derek Willis
· 5 months ago
The design is an issue - I'm a data guy, so I do what I know. But I have some ideas, and more importantly, know ppl who actually can design something.
I'm trying to do play-by-play, too, but the way the NCAA does it is really tricky to parse. An example:
[This comment appears to have been a response to spam which has since been deleted...] [It does contain some good data that I use but frequently don't cite, so consider this my bibliography]
[Apparently it has been undeleted, and the link is now lost]
Thanks, Ben. With respect, my comment was *not* spam; I am a former author here, and although I haven't posted in a long time, I thought an open thread would be ok to invite comments or participation on my project. Apparently not.
Kevin @ Fanblogs
· 5 months ago
Go easy on Ben. He's following the rules - we frown on promotion. You get a pass because you're a legacy, just as Pete Holiday is free to come on here and tell you to buy his new magazine. (Note: that's *new*, not *nude*... thank God.)
War_Eagle_Atlanta
· 5 months ago
I did it, not Ben. I have a hair spam trigger. And if Pete comes by, I may take---ooops! There he goes!!!
:-)
Derek Willis
· 5 months ago
My apologies to Ben and W_E_A; I know how dealing with spam is!
TigerEducated
· 5 months ago
Derek...You're giving Ben & WEA way too much credit...LOL...
Ben Prather
· 5 months ago
My comment above was intended to comment on your website.
I edited my comment (the parts in []) to reflect the fact that someone ... ahem ... WEA ... ahem ... deleted the post I had responded to and mine was now in isolation, removing the context it was placed in.
Great idea, and I would love to chime in here, Ron. What are we going to use as our barometer for the ratings? Once I know that, I'll make my statements on who I believe is overrated and will fall over the course of the season.
OU_Ron
· 5 months ago
Not sure CJ, I suppose any preseason poll for a start......I just thought it would be good to get a little conversation ( controversy ) going...
Clemson_Joe
· 5 months ago
Ron, I'm sure you've seen this tour before, but this thing is fantastic.
OU_Ron
· 5 months ago
CJ, that's great.....never seen that before..
Clemson_Joe
· 5 months ago
We only have this. You have to click under the zoom picture, but you can pan around on both of them. Not as cool as that thing that you have, but not bad nonetheless.
OU_Ron
· 5 months ago
Not bad at all CJ, probably look a lot better on a game day...
Clemson_Joe
· 5 months ago
Yeah, not too bad, and yes much better on game day or in person. I'd really like so see something like that Oklahoma thing for all of the major programs. It really is a good way to have a peek into another school's atmosphere.
Va Tech and Ohio State rightfully deserve to be on the overrated list. They are overrated almost every year. I have to agree that Ole Miss is overrated this year as well because of last year's overachievement. Oregon is really a toss up in my view.
Some regular powerhouses - Texas (you love it, Ron), USC, and Alabama - I also see as possibly overrated. However, Texas has the talent and something to prove, so watch out for the 'horns.
OU_Ron
· 5 months ago
Believe me Jake, I never underestimate Texas....even if they were not ranked in the top 25, the RRS would still be played as if it were a NC game...and it's usually a toss up which team comes out on top....but you're right, I do like the notion that they're OVERRATED..
1Tomcat
· 5 months ago
Ron This preseason stuff is purty funny-The guys on ESPN the other day were predicting who would be in the MNC game and nothing as even started yet-remarkable-They said that the USC vs tOSU is huge, but even if one of those two go undefeated they wouldn't play in the MNC game- Do What? they are pedicting the winner of UT/OU vs the SEC champ if they are undefeated. Not a single game has been played and they are talking about these matchups- I liked better when we were under the radar and underated- seems like the boys last year had something to prove and as usual OU will probably be favored which is okay- The RRs game is one of the biggest, and your right its like a MNC game. Hookem-Horns
My overrated teams: I believe these teams will be good, but still overinflated: Alabama (6) Virginia Tech (8) Ole Miss (10) Cal (11) Boise State (12) Oregon (13) Georgia (14)
I do not believe these teams will be very good at all, and will not finish the season as one of the top 25 teams in the country: Michigan State (20) Notre Dame (24)
My underrated teams: LSU (17) North Carolina (19) Iowa (23) West Virginia Wake Forest
"BC"
· 5 months ago
yeah, i can definitely understand why Alabama can be seen as overrated. but, i think they're legit. QB will be better in some areas, worse in others. the O-line will drop off slightly. very slightly. The RBs will be better. The WRs will be better.
but the Defense will be the best in the nation next season. it's going to be disgusting. We're talking like 2003 LSU, 2005 Alabama.
Clemson_Joe
· 5 months ago
Of course you think they're legit. I wouldn't expect any less.
I still think that Alabama will finish as the 3rd best team in the SEC, and 3rd best won't get you #6 in the nation.
It's just a prediction, so we'll see what happens. We'll have to be sure to revisit this one at the end of the season.
"BC"
· 5 months ago
well see another thing is, Alabama might BE the 3rd best team in the SEC, but they have a very favorable schedule. no florida and no georgia. so really, even if Alabama drops a game to either Ole Miss or LSU, they can still easily win the west.
which will provide a crack at Florida, which will probably be a game that decides a spot in the NC game like last year. and any time you're playing a game for a chance to go to the NC, it's a good season.
Clemson_Joe
· 5 months ago
Alabama finished 6th in the AP poll from last year, while losing to the eventual #1 and #2 teams in the nation. Last season not one loss came from the SEC West. My statement was not that Alabama isn't a good team, but rather that #6 is too high. Let's say Alabama loses to LSU and Florida. They cannot be in a BCS game (assuming that LSU and Florida sustain being better teams than Alabama) which would put Alabama in the Capital One Bowl, Cotton Bowl, or something of the like. Do you really see the bowl winner of one of these games being the #6 team in the Nation? I don't, and I think most would agree.
"BC"
· 5 months ago
unless you're just a complete SEC homer and think that the #3 team in the SEC deserves to be in the top 6 in the country...
Clemson_Joe
· 5 months ago
If you lose to 2 SEC teams, about the only way to get close to the top 5 would be to beat Virginia Tech, and have them complete the rest of the season with no more than 1 other loss. I really don't see that happening with this year's VT team, but I've been wrong before and I expect that I'll be wrong more than a few times again.
Zac
· 5 months ago
Wow, BC, I just took the time to look at Bama's schedule. You're right. With a schedule like that, Bama should be legit for a Top-10 finish. I'm not sure about 6th, but with two losses, they might crack the Top-10, especially if they can pull off a bowl win.
1st, the Tide plays an arguably over-rated VA Tech at a neutral location. What with two of the best defenses going at it, I expect this game to be won by a baseball score, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was 3-2. Though, Tech could score a TD off a blocked punt or blocked FG attempt, where Bama would likely do it off an INT return. So, 10-9 is not outside the realm of possibilities, either.
But, God!!! FL International, N TX, and Chattanooga (not to mention MS St) in the same season? ABSOLUTELY OUTRAGEOUS!!!
Finally, there are 7 home games, and two normally strong teams (One's away.) have completely new coaching staffs.
Ole Miss & LSU will keep your boyz from playing FL. Though, KY & SC have been good for an early upset or two, and one hosts the Tide ahead of, while the other arrives on the heals of, one of those losses. So, 9-3 (which ain't bad) is a real possibility, and that ain't good enough for #6, even with a bowl win. Sorry BC, but were I thee, I wouldst not get mine hopes up.
TigerEducated
· 5 months ago
Slightly? Like how slightly they dropped off in their bowl game?
You lose the starting center & left tackle on the blindside, and you're starting a new QB, to boot...
I'd say that even in a homer of your magnitude's assessment, that's a bit of a stretch...
Zac
· 5 months ago
I like your list, CJ. Though under "Overrated," I must admit, I think Ole Miss is legit. I like them at #10, if not higher. I also figure Pitt as belonging in that category. Most pundits are picking them as winning the Big East; I think they've lost too much to pull that off.
As for the "Underrated" teams, I appreciate (and agree with) your listing WVU, but I'm not certain about Wake. Much as I hate to say this, one team I think may be missing from your underrated list is...gulp...Michigan. I think they'll bounce back and get to a bowl this year. JMHO, big guy, and thanks again.
fosterkeats
· 5 months ago
Ole Piss is the "Bandwagon Overhyped Preseason Rag Mag Media Jizz Fest" team of 2009...
Each of these teams were in Top 5 preseason and lost at least 4 games...
GA_Boy
· 5 months ago
Georgia only lost 3 games last year, but I can't argue that they were overhyped with that defense they had.
Clemson_Joe
· 5 months ago
I am interested in playing College Fantasy Football this year. I am looking for a good site to use. Any ideas or help on this? If you have any experience with it, anything you'd like to pass along would be appreciated.
I'm currently planning on enabling the use of players from just 3 conferences. I have played NFL Fantasy Football for a few years, so I'd imagine it will be virtually identical to that. Again, any help would be great.
OU_Ron
· 5 months ago
CJ, try this site for Fantasy Football, I've been told it's one of the better one's http://u-sports.com/
Clemson_Joe
· 5 months ago
Thanks. I'm going to check it out. I'll let you know if it's any good.
Tommy_Trojan
· 5 months ago
Is BC still babblin' bout Bama being in the Top 5? I thought we put that argument to rest?
This year Bama loses the senior QB JP Wilson, OT Andre Smith, sensational RB Coffey, and the great SS Johnson. Now, Ingram will step up nicely at RB and they have a couple of great ones coming in. Utah pulverized a line that was sans Smith. Also, both Florida and Utah totally exposed a weak young Bama secondary. So, what had Bama done to deserve to be ranked so high last year? They caught both Clemson and Georgia early nappin' (both were highly overrated to begin with). They caught a LSU squad that was in total disarray, from the loss of both a great defensive coordinator and a phenomenal QB Ryan Perrilloux, who screwed up and was kicked off the team. LSU had to rely on two freshmen QB's nearly all year. So, Bama struggles with Ol' Miss along with lackluster wins over Tulane and a few others. The handwriting was on the wall.
This year, along with Ol' Miss and LSU probably being improved, I could see where Tennessee, Auburn and Arkansas might also be greatly improved. Now, after finishing at 7-6 in 2007, Bama was able to sneak up on some people last year. That will not be the case this year. Great teams usually have great QB's. Alabama will not have a great QB this year. They will struggle throwing the ball - as usual. When they play against good secondaries - they will have problems. They have no QB's on the roster who are "Nationally Acclaimed" QB's. They like to toss around some names, but they are not the Tim Tebow's, Matthew Stafford's, Mark Sanchez's, Sam Bradford's, Colt McCoy's or anybody near these kinda caliber players. There are many great QB's that will be playing college football on these coming Saturdays. None of them will be playing for the Crimson Tide. This leaves the Tide definately out of the Top 10 in the Final Polls after the Bowl season.
"BC"
· 5 months ago
whatever Tommy. you know nothing about alabama football. you're just biased, and i don't even want to waste my time breaking down the actual team to you because you're close-minded. and the only thing i know about USC football is that they miss out on the NC game every year by dropping games to Oregon State, Stanford, and UCLA.
TigerEducated
· 5 months ago
The way you blather about your offensive line dropping off "very slightly", I'm of the opinion that you know relatively nothing about your team you don't gather from message boards, BC.
Seriously. You have good talent coming in at tailback, but you have to have a Quarterback that can check down against SEC Defenses. I'm not just talking about checking into max protect when he reads blitz.
I'm talking about being able to check away from the run blitz when he sees it coming. Being able to check into coverage schemes & protections when he feels or reads pressure from a defense.
None of which McElroy has ever had to do. He came from Chase Daniel's high school. He threw out of the shotgun, which he is not going to be able to do without your offensive completely changing its identity. I don't see that happening at all, so we can look at it like this:
You're losing your linchpins on the offensive line, along with about 85-95 combined total starts. The center position will also lose the guy that's calling out and coordinating coverages based on what he reads pre-snap. Losing the blind side tackle in a transition year at quarterback is an especially worrisome issue, as well. Especially when the replacement hasn't worked with the guard on that side, and the guard hasn't worked with the Center, either.
In other words, you have a lack of continuity along the unit that's almost singularly responsible for your offense to produce the way its designed for it to. There will be an adjustment period, with pass pro & run-blocking. You can't just run off tackle & ask the left or right side to drive block straight down the field. There's more to it than that.
Which, in other words, means your blanket statement about dropping off "slightly" makes you look like an uninformed goofball, who also happens to be the most visible fan of their team on a national website.
It also means that while they're "figuring things out" there and building a cohesive unit-which can happen, with time, talent & development-you'll have a QB taking snaps & reading defenses from there for the first time since high school. He'll be playing a different type of quarterback than he's played since prior to Junior High.
He'll be doing that against SEC Defenses. With a huge target on his back.
The sad thing is, I'd welcome some insight from you to back up your assertions, but myself-as well as most here-realize that your cursory knowledge of the team goes nowhere beyond the screen you read your message boards on, or the pages of the Phil Steele guide you just snagged in the Magazine Section at Wal-Mart...
"BC"
· 5 months ago
haha TE, you're just like Tommy here. you will never listen to reason, so there's no point in even responding to you. but i will, just to humor you.
Offensive line - apparently this is gonna be a HUGE newsflash to everyone. the line we had against Utah is not at ALL like the one we will be starting against VT. against Utah we lost our first AND second string LT, so the entire line was shifted around and patched together. you talk about the great RBs we have coming in, but of course you conveniently fail to mention the 2 O-linemen we have coming in that WILL be starting the first game of the season.
DJ Fluker - he will be one of the best LTs in the country as a freshman. you can call me all sorts of names for this statement, but he has been extremely dominant in summer drills thus far, and that's without any college coaching. my friend is working the camps down there, and says it is blatantly obvious to everyone that he will be starting next season. he's the talk of the town.
James Carpenter - here's a JUCO guy that was brought in to help out on the line. he started at LT in the A-Day game, and really impressed. but since Fluker is going to take LT, my guess is that Carpenter will be moved to RG.
the C position will drop-off a good bit, the RG position will be better, and the LT tackle position will remain about the same. so we'll see a slight drop-off in O-Line production.
as for the QB position, Greg McElroy has been at Alabama for THREE years now, are you seriously telling me he knows nothing about college football? or how to read defenses? what was the guy's name that won a NC for LSU in his first year as a starter? oh, and i haven't even mentioned the new QB LSU will be starting this season, but i'm sure there's some reason he'll be much better than McElroy.
i've realized it's really a lost cause arguing with you all, because you already have your minds made up. you're right! Alabama is going to SUCK this year. man. the O-line is gonna get tossed around like a bunch of rag-dolls, the QB is gonna throw a pick-six every quarter, the weak secondary will be exposed, and we'll be lucky to be bowl eligible... whatever. i'm through with this.
TigerEducated
· 5 months ago
You present an often found mentality amongst a youthful, immature mind: All or nothing statements.
You make broad, sweeping generalizations about your own team that are clearly debunked, and upon realizing you've just bought some new clothes off the rack of the Emperor's store, you don't backtrack, but infer everyone else is making just as much of a stretch as you did. Only, towards the negative.
No one has said that Alabama is going to suck next year. What we've said is that your opinions are offbase.
Who said Fluker isn't an amazing kid? I said so many times during his recruitment (You can thank us for him; he's a Katrina evacuee). I have also heard that Fluker may have medical issues that plague him during his time in Tuscaloosa, but I wish him all the best as a kid from Louisiana.
To say Fluker is going to start is one thing. That's a safe assumption. Ciron Black started, as a redshirt freshman, after Andrew Whitworth started for four years, after redshirting. So, its not unprecedented, as the last two Left Tackles to play and start for LSU (in other words, the only guys to play the position for us over the past DECADE were RS Frosh) could say the same thing.
To say that he's going to be a 1st team All-American is a wild generalization.
Do you honestly want to defend that characterization? By all means, go ahead.
As for JUCO OL, well...We tried to recruit one here to LSU. He just got done at Oklahoma. His name was Phil Loadholdt, and we couldn't get him into school. So, once again, that's not a huge generalization to make.
But, that's what...two new players, so far? One with ZERO collegiate experience? Hmmm...
I think I'll stick with my characterization, which is to say that your offensive line will struggle with consistency & cohesion at first.
No one has stated you won't have talent there. But, if talent alone were a requisite for success such as you're inferring, then Alabama would not have lost to Utah. USC probably wouldn't have lost to Texas in 2005. Etc., etc.
This isn't people disagreeing with you. It's not people saying your team sucks. They're saying you're being irrational. Overgeneralizing. Acting like a homer to an absolute extreme.
It's one thing to do it during game week. Or after a big win. Acting that way when we're all trying to have decent discussions is why you see the reactions you get here often.
To discuss some of the ancillary, non-germane subjects you brought up in your post:
Matt Flynn was a 5th year senior who had two starts under his belt by the time 2007 rolled around. He had started & won MOP in the 2006 Peach Bowl after the 2005 regular season when JaMarcus Russell broke his collarbone in the SEC Championship Game during Les' first season.
He had scads more experience, much less time in the program.
Oh, by the way, he had more experience with his Left Tackle, too, since Ciron Black had been his Left Tackle in HS, as well, LOL!
Our Jordan Jefferson steps in with that same sort've experience. He's gotten a large amount of snaps in SEC play. He went in & tried to rally the troops against Georgia, almost pulled off a W-short of a total implosion, or as I like to call it, "the final nail in the coffin" for our Defensive Staff-on the road in Arkansas, which was no small feat for an 18 year old.
He then went out and won MOP at-what else?-the Chik-Fil-A Bowl...Formerly known as the Peach Bowl.
LSU QB's who've won MOP there have a great track record so far. They typically go on to win at least one National Championship during their time at QB.
McElroy is not-nor has he been-in any position to gain experience that Flynn had, nor Jefferson currently has.
To be completely honest, I think if we bring in Jarret Lee due to injury, etc., we'll be better off last year, as he's got an entire year as a starting QB-as well as dealing with a lot of trials & tribulations and overcoming them-under his belt.
What was a position with a complete lack of experience-the same way you find your QB position depth chart this year-will now be a hugely talented and experienced one for us.
Not sure where else you're going with this, but hopefully I've cleared up what most anyone would respond with when faced with your rather elementary logic in a conversation here.
I hope I've shed some light on where we're coming from, and maybe, just maybe, clarified what you aren't understand about what you're saying.
?Capisce?
"BC"
· 5 months ago
okay. but what did you say? Jefferson and Flynn both put on absolutely spectacular performances in their first games as starting QBs. so how can you say that a guy that's been in the system as long as McElroy, won't come out and at the very least, be as good as JPW. McElroy is actually BETTER than JPW at throwing the deep ball. the coaches have said that. he's also very accurate with the short stuff. i think he'll throw more INTs than JPW, but i think he'll also be more productive. just watch the A-Day highlights. he looked very impressive. the backups however, look abysmal. keeping McElroy healthy will be absolutely paramount to our season.
the rest of the offense will be better. WRs, RBs, and TEs.
and nobody doubts the defense. the defense is going to be unreal. we're talking 2 or 3 first-rounders will be on defense next year (Rolondo McClain (Jr.), Javier Arenas, and Terrance Cody)
By the way, how is LSU shaping up for the fall? I really don't know that much about them.
TigerEducated
· 5 months ago
Chavis will mean the world to our Defense. The teaching, intensity, & fundamentals will combine with a simplified substitution scheme.
The defense will be a Chavis signature one, in that he will put a premium on forcing an offense to execute and drive the field. The biggest issue with LSU last year was big plays, & confusion on the part of our players. So much substitution & player personnel groupings, along with deficient teaching of fundamentals truly led to a degredation in chemistry, nevermind on the field play.
That has been wiped away with the guys we brought on. South Carolina had some great defensive secondaries the past few years. Captain Munnerlyn comes to mind. We hired Ron Cooper away from Spurrier, and the results have been immediate. He's an intense coach who is also the "vent/confidant" on that side of the ball. The players come to him to voice concerns, issues, homesickness, etc. Really good chemistry being brought to the table, and his reputation helps the kids buy in.
Chavis is our LB Coach. The guy has coached 11 NFL Linebackers, including the most recent, Jerod Mayo, the reigning Defensive NFL Rookie Of The Year, who started for? The Pats. We've recruited very well at the position because of the former coach, Bradley Dale Peveto. He was our ace recruiter along with RB Coach Larry Porter.
The recruits & players he left behind are getting absolutely top flight instruction and teaching, and it has shown.
Along the defensive line, we brought in Brick Haley. Haley was Lovie Smith's DL Coach in Chicago the past three or four years. When Rod Marinelli got fired by Detroit, Lovie Smith was going to bring him on as a "Quality Control" type on the staff. His background is along the Defensive Line.
Haley went ahead and accepted the LSU offer. Guys like Lance Briggs, Tommie Harris, & Tank Johnson are products of Haley's coaching in the NFL. So he's got great selling points to recruits to go along with LSU's reputation for producing starters & Top Round Draft Picks (Chad Lavalais, Marcus Spears, Marquise Hill, Kyle Williams, Claude Wroten, Glen Dorsey, & Tyson Jackson all come to mind as guys who didn't last past the 3rd round in the past 6 years of NFL Drafts to play DL for LSU).
He's also an ultra-intense, vocal coach who knows how to teach. His recruiting ability remains to be seen, but we have the reputation, the coaching, & the track record to do well at that position as we bring Haley along. We've got some big fish he's on the trail of, so I'm really pleased with him, so far.
All in all, the defensive staff is something I'm over the moon about. The schematic, teaching, intensity, & chemistry that side of the ball will have now as a result of the coaching changes will yield immediate results.
There is NO DOUBT that LSU has-and has had-much higher quality talent at every position on the field compared to Tennessee. With a talent upgrade across the board, and his coaching ability tossed in, we will be better.
Not homerism. Its the simple truth.
On offense, Jordan Jefferson & T-Bob Hebert will be the biggest pieces of our puzzle. Hebert tore an ACL in the South Carolina game last year on Special Teams.
For those that don't know, T-Bob (and that's his actual name, too) is the son of longtime New Orleans Saint & Atlanta Falcon quarterback Bobby Hebert. He was penciled in as a starter at Center prior to the injury, and his rehab is such that he went full contact in the Spring Game, and has no restrictions on working out in the 4th Quarter Program (You guys didn't invent that, by the way. Tommy Moffitt, our S&C Coach did, & Saban just brought it over to Alabama, by hiring his Graduate Asst on our S&C Staff. You're welcome, by the way).
He must stay healthy, or we'll have issues on the interior. We honestly do not foresee any, but the knee gives you pause.
Jefferson's health is important because, obviously, you want your starter to make it through the year. To be honest, though, aside from JaMarcus' junior year in 2006, the Tigers haven't gone through an entire year with the same QB starting every game since we won our 2nd National Championship in 2003.
History tells us Jordan may get knicked at some point. Thankfully, we have an elite level kid coming in that will play from day 1 in Russel Shepard. We also have a guy that everyone is sleeping on in Jarret Lee. Mr. Pick 6. Yeah, I know. But, this guy has already been through his trial by fire. He's been through the battles. He's got the experience he lacked last year. With Shepard being able to provide the running game option that Lee can't in order to make Gary Crowton & Les Miles hybrid Spread Option attack work optimally, we won't be hamstrung by the quarterback position as we were last year.
Our offensive line will be tough, seasoned, and grizzled. We have gotten all of the kids, save for Hebert, meaningful SEC snaps, and Hebert was a beast on special teams before his injury. He's been out there, though again, health is a concern there. He'll lean on the vets at first, I'm sure.
We will have two All-SEC caliber tailbacks lined up behind him in seniors Keiland Williams & returning 1st team All-SEC TB Charles Scott. He'll moonlight at FB to make sure Key & 3rd stringer RS Junior Richard Murphy into the game in split backfield & shotgun situations with Shepard & Jordan beside him.
TE we'll return the best one in the League in senior Richard Dickson. He's quite honestly an All-American candidate.
At WR, we'll return 1st Team All-SEC RS Senior WR Brandon LaFell, currently listed as the #1 prospect at the position by the NFL Draft Advisory Board, according what LSU folks have been told.
On the other side, we'll have a kid whose ready for a breakout year in Terrance Toliver. 6-5, 200+ pound kid. A 5* we beat Urban Meyer out for a few years back. He's had to wait his turn, but he will stretch defenses and has a special quality with the ball in his hands.
The slot receiver was set to be a RS Freshman Tim Molton. Until he tore multiple ligaments in his knee last week in a silly game of pickup football after their Off-Season workouts had finished one afternoon.
They said his patella (kneecap) was out of place, he attempted to bend his knee & couldn't as the patella itself had fallen around the rear of his knee.
Grizzly.
The guy was one of those Josh Reed types. If you remember him, he went for 293 yards receiving in Tuscaloosa back in 2001. Not a physically imposing type (6-2, 200), but one who could put his foot in the ground once he had the ball and come in & out of a cut amazingly. He could also really do well in creating separation through precise route running.
We'll miss him, & then again, we won't.
That's because Russell Shepard's going to run a lot of slot receiver anyway. This just opens up more room for him in the offensive gameplans.
This also opens the door for our other big True Freshman. You may have heard of him. His name's Reuben Randle.
Those two will have an opportunity to be the best Freshman wideouts LSU's seen since Michael Clayton's 1st season at LSU back in 2000.
I honestly don't see LSU turning in another 8-4, or even 9-3 type season. We will not be the hunted, though we will have a great ranking. We will have a chip on our shoulder, and other than SEC Coaching staffs, a lot of the media will actually consider us an afterthought in the West & SEC Overall race.
You have Alabama-whose artificially highly ranked in light of the questions they have at OL & QB, two huge positions of importance-and Ole Miss who most will pick for 1st place, in what they'll call a two-horse race.
Arkansas is also another feel-good story entering Petrino's 2 year with a top flight QB transfer in former Wolverine Ryan Mallet stepping in to run his pass-happy offense.
So we'll be free of the target, full of motivation, and as always, great talent with even better coaching on defense than we've had since Pelini left.
JMO, but you're talking to a fan of the SEC Western Division Champions. Not sure if we can beat the beast of whoever comes out of the East, but I truly feel like this is yet another 10 win LSU team.
"BC"
· 5 months ago
so, assuming there is one, what is the weakness of the LSU squad this year?
and how can you assume, that after playing in one SEC game, that Jordan Jefferson is ready to lead LSU to Atlanta? just wondering...
TigerEducated
· 5 months ago
Jordan Jefferson has played in more than one SEC game. So I don't make that assumption.
He's played in four games in his career, starting two, both away from the confines of Tiger Stadium, and he did enough to win them both, and win MOP in our Bowl Game against a Top 15 opponent.
He has scads more ability, much less experience, than does McElroy.
We are talking about a kid that played 4 years of HS football-aside from an injured/broken wrist his junior year-and he never lost a game as a starting quarterback while there.
Special player with great leadership abilities.
I've already stated that our offensive line in the middle will need to remain VERY healthy, and learn on the fly. T-Bob is a great talent, but he lacks starting experience.
I don't see "weaknesses" per se. I see that we need to find a fullback, but Charles Scott will fill in at times. We're thin at that position, but Jefferson & Shep will let us run shotgun far more than we have in the past, which will negate that for the most part.
We need to have health on the interior of our Offensive Line. We need to find a slot receiver. We need to keep our quarterback healthy. We need to-and will-improve on defense.
But, I don't see us having a "weakness".
"BC"
· 5 months ago
nice spin there TE. Jefferson has started in TWO games. do you really want me to list all of the SEC games McElroy has played in? With Jefferson as the starting QB, the Tigers are 0-1 in the SEC. I'm guessing Jefferson had a spectacular showing against Georgia Tech. Well that's great to hear, but don't forget that this kid is 19 and has only started 2 games in his career.
I think Jefferson has some great potential, but just from what I've seen, whenever he feels pressure he immediately turns into a RB. Honestly, I would rather have McElroy starting for me next season. He's a pure pocket passer who can make all the throws. He's going into his 4th season as a college QB. Dual-Threat QBs, no matter how good their arm is, they always have a major initial struggle with staying in the pocket. They know they're fast as hell, and they have a lot of confidence in their feet. Jefferson will learn a lot this season, but he's not ready to bring home championships just yet.
TigerEducated
· 5 months ago
This is a completely farcical post.
Let's throw out your gibberish about Jefferson, since you admit you haven't seen the bowl game, and then say, "from what I've seen," since you haven't seen a thing.
I watched Greg McElroy & Sarah Jessica John Parkker Wilson warm up next to each other pre-game before they ever put shoulder pads on.
Then I watched them make their progression throws in pre-game & warms up just before kickoff.
John Parker Wilson could NEVER make all the throws, even as a 5 year senior.
McElroy's arm is SIGNIFICANTLY weaker than Wilson's.
Seriously, tell me some more lies, BC...I get such a kick out of hearing them, man...
"BC"
· 5 months ago
well if it's significantly weaker, but he can hit Julio in-stride for a 76 yard TD bomb in the Spring Game, I'm very happy with his arm.
and i know JPW could NEVER make all the throws. i hated that guy.
I've seen several youtube videos of Jefferson. and he tucks it in A LOT. and in the Arkansas game, that usually lead to him getting tackled for a loss.
TigerEducated
· 5 months ago
LOL...
First start, on the road, in the rain, against an SEC opponent...
We scored 30 points with an 18 year old at quarterback...
But, he's gonna be GARBAGE, BC...LOL...
Tommy_Trojan
· 5 months ago
Bleed:
Now your gonna babble about a great freshmen lineman. Dude, we've had both Jeff Byers and Christian O'Dowd, become freshmen All-Americans in the last few years. Byers was rated the top offensive linemen coming out of college. Neither has made All-American yet. Are you really so mindless as to think that some snot drippin' freshman comes in and dominates a defensive line from the SEC? The best this guy Fluker is gonna do is get in the way. We may have the best SAC Coach in America in Randy Carlisle (not related to me BTW). We bring in just about nothing but Top 10 offensive linemen out of high school. It takes about three years minimum for most of these guys to be able to lace them up and play against 1st team defenses. For your information, your boy Fluker, is probably not strong enough or in good enough condition to make much impact whatsoever.
Now, lets talk about how great they all look "in practice". Really? We have lots of great "practice players" who don't play on game day. The "gamers" play on game day. Ypu don't seem to be too worried about replacing a Quarterback? Very interesting. I was very concerned about replacing Carson Palmer with Matt Leinert. I was very concerned about replacing Leinert with JD Booty (nations top QB out of high school). I was very concerned about replacing Booty with Mark Sanchez (nations top high school QB). And, am very concerned with replacing Sanchez with either Aaron Corp (California State POY - beat out Jimmy Clausen), Mitch Mustain (nations top QB) or Matt Barkley (nations top QB). All of these QB's have played shaky at best - prior to getting some games under their collective belts. These QB's are the cream of the crop and can falter at any time until they are completely game blooded. Yet your guy McElroy, will have no trouble whatsoever (even though he doesn't even register as a premier QB prospect), simply because he was recruited by the Tide (he's not even Saban's guy BTW). Bleed, you've been watching too many Trojan games from 2002-2003.
Bleed, I like Alabama football. Nick Saban is my 2nd favorite coach. I think he's great. But, he's not Pete Carroll. You don't have Carson Palmer, Matt Leinert, Reggie Bush, Mike Williams, LenDale White, Troy Palomalu, Mike Patterson or Shaun Cody. You have not won seven consecutive conference titles (in fact haven't won one), finished in the Top 5 for seven consecutive years, or had seven consecutive Top 5 recruiting classes. Alabama is not Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Ohio State, USC or even Virginia Tech. I'm just trying to help temper your enthusiasm. I don't want you to really have to "Bleed Crimson", when at the end of the year while your holding your head face down with both hands contemplating "what went wrong", that you make an unwise decision that you just can't go on anymore - just as our friend "Irish JT" must have done a couple of years back. If he had only waited one more year - he may have seen his beloved Irish begin to rebound somewhat. Remember, Charlie Cheeseburger inherited great talent, won for a couple of years and fell flat on his big fat rear end. After several top recruiting classes, Notre Dame football, is just now starting the long climb back to the top. This can happen and might happen to Alabama football before Saban can fix it for good.
"BC"
· 5 months ago
maybe you weren't aware.... Fluker is 6'7" and weighs over 350 lbs. i really don't think he's going to get pushed around.
"But just try tempering expectations about a player who took away his fellow U.S. Army All-American bowlers' breath. 'He's not even human,' joked Penn State-bound offensive lineman Eric Shrive, from Scranton, Pa. Just try quelling the excitement for a player who, after two All-American Bowl practices, caused Rivals.com recruiting analyst Barry Every to gush to his colleagues: 'I say this half-jokingly, but Fluker's family needs to petition [NFL Commissioner] Roger Goodell to allow him to be drafted,' Every told the site. 'I believe he would be drafted right now in the first day.'"
and Tom Luginbill: "he's one of the top 2 offensive linemen prospects I've seen in the last 5 years."
I promise you he's much better than the freshmen linemen you're speaking of.
also, just for the record, i believe Alabama would beat USC if they were playing in the first game of the season. despite what most people are led to believe, the Trojans actually aren't the best team every year. That's why they've only won one NC under Pete Carrol, despite having schedules filled with teams with vastly inferior talent.
Tommy_Trojan
· 5 months ago
Bleed,
You've just drank so much of the kool-aide that's it's hard to even laugh at you anymore. It's more like pity for that poor drunk who has keeled over on the sidewalk. You'd like to be able to help him - but you know that he's never gonna check back into reality until he's ready.
BC, I'll give you a clue: there all at least 6'6 and at least 320 pounds these days. It's called baby fat. Look at that blob Cody that you guys stuck in the middle of the DL last year. If for some miracle that guy ever plays on Sunday's - they'll beat him for a month of Sunday's until that guy gets into playing shape. There a plenty of big fat underacheivers lacing many college rosters. Phil Loadholt of Oklahoma comes to mind. When was he draftd? Six or seventh round - can't remember which. The giant Herman Johnson of LSU was taken about the same time. Now, Fluker may end up good. But, it certainly isn't gonna happen because you said so. It's gonna happen because he can go out there and play. And, we'll all just have to wait and see about that.
As for beating us in the 1st game, your better off going back to sleep, where your dreams are only just that. Rather, you might wake up in a real life nightmare. Your team would have no chance whatsoever to beat USC this year. Early, Late, in between - makes no difference at all. You better wait until you witness what Southern Cal does to Ohio State in Columbus before you start dreamin' of wantin' any of this. Just think Utah x10. That's what it will be like for you.
The whole offensive line returns. None are freshmen. The top four running backs will be back there. All the best receivers and tight ends. This will be the most dominate offense in the country - regardless of what defense they do not play in the Big 12. All three QB's are better than Mark Sanchez. Whichever one starts will never even be touched. And, wait and see, the defense will be every bit as good as last years was. In fact - the linebackers are considerably faster. The DT's are gonna be even better along with the secondary. Two of the DE's are rated as the very best in the country.
Nope, no chance for Alabama in that one. Just grab your teddy and go back to sleep. And, try not to wet the bed. You don't want the Sandman to get upset with you.
"BC"
· 5 months ago
wowwww. can't wait to see that. apparently every team this year is going to be better than last year, so i'm getting pretty excited.
but really, all Saban would have to do is phone up the Oregon State HC, and with a quick phonecall we'd have everything we need to beat the Trojans.
Tommy_Trojan
· 5 months ago
BC,
Let me make this as easy as I can for you. Anytime that a freshmen matters - your team isn't there yet. Do you understand this concept? We might play a few freshmen here - but we really don't need them. In fact, nowadays, if we have to play any freshmen - something is probably wrong.
We have a whole slew of future NFL stars backing up our offensive line. None can break through. You want names? A couple of them were rated #1 at their positions. They can't play here. DJ Fluker would not start at Southern Cal - let alone make 1st team All Pac-10. That's why he's at Alabama. He probably wouldn't start at any of the other established football factories in the SEC either.
Bleed, it is not a good thing when freshmen start. That is why you are a ridiculous little man. You speak of National Championships in the same breath as gloating that inexperienced players must anchor your offensive line. This is quite pathetic. We've had several OT's here at Southern Cal that were rated the most incredible tackles that have ever graced the field. Anthony Munoz, Don Mosebar, Fitzgerald, Tony Boselli. None have dominated college football in their 1st years. Recently, Sam Baker was a freshmen All-American and a two-time 1st team All-American. Nevertheless, as good as everybody thought he was, injuries held him back somewhat. OG Jeff Byers was rated as the #1 player in the country period. Injuries have slowed him considerably and he may still be a 1st round pick. Unlikely though. TE is absolutely correct in many regards here. With all of the war going on in those trenches, your guy will be extremely lucky to come out unscathed, let alone totally dominate anybody. There are some really mean people out there and some even meaner defensive coordinators. If your boy is too good - they'll simply take his legs away from him. You can wake up now, BC.
"BC"
· 5 months ago
wake up TOMMY. what does it say for Pete Carrol when your team is 2-deep with future NFL stars and you can't get past the beavers?
Either Pete Carrol is overrated, or you have an inflated perception of the talent-level on your team.
my pick is "C," all of the above.
Tommy_Trojan
· 5 months ago
BC,
If Alabama ever had to play at Oregon State - they would lose by alot more than one score. That's a fact.
fosterkeats
· 5 months ago
That's an opinion...
Tommy_Trojan
· 5 months ago
Keats:
That Jeanie that sits up there in that bottle is never wrong. In fact, it's flat out uncanny, how often that Jeanie is correct. Blows my mind...What little there is left...
fosterkeats
· 5 months ago
It's just a hard argument to prove or back up by making a statement like that... You don't know all the variables that would lead up to an Ore St/ Bama game... or any unnatural matchuo like that...
Kind of like saying "If USC was in the SEC, they'd lose 3 games every year..." That's just a dumb thing to say b/c you don't knw who the Trojans would play, where they would play, injuries, recruiting, etc...
BC is not making a whole lot of sense...
Tommy_Trojan
· 5 months ago
Bleed Crimson,
Some more fun facts for you:
In the last three years Oregon State sports a 28-12 overall record. They own a (3-0) record against OOC patsies (E.Washington,Idaho and Idaho State). They also have three straight bowl victories over Missouri, Maryland and Pittsburgh.
Meanwhile over the same period:
Alabama owns a (25-15) record overall. They have accumulated a (7-1) mark against OOC patsies the likes of UL Monroe (twice), Duke, Florida International, Western Carolina, Tulane, Western Kentucky and Arkansas State - actually losing to UL Monroe (14-21) in 2007. Meanwhile, Alabama is (1-2) in bowl games beating Colorado in 07' while losing to Oklahoma State and Utah.
BC, I think it's very clear that Alabama isn't even in the same league that Oregon State is as far as being a legiimate football program is concerned. Maybe in a few more years, with some more decent recruiting, you guys can finally reach the stature of the Beaver football program.
fosterkeats
· 5 months ago
Oregon St is always picked 5th or 6th in the Pac 10, but they always end up 3rd... they'll be tough again this season...
TigerEducated
· 5 months ago
Tom Luginbill offered to make AJ McCarron a 5* recruit according to his service if he'd commit to the Luginbill All-Star game...
Please don't act as if recruiting services are credible sources of information. You need to take a large sample before making assumptions, or just trust your coaching staff.
This doesn't apply to Fluker, as he'll be a great player, if he stays healthy.
Herman Johnson was 6-8, 370 when he signed with LSU. He ended up 6-6 1/2 & 335-350 when he graduated. He was not a 1st team All-American Offensive Lineman his first year. Matter of fact, though he probably would've broken the starting lineup as a true frosh, he got a spider-bite in his dorm room and an infection caused him to have to redshirt.
You simply can't defend that this kid is going to be better than kids who've already played at this level. It's simply impossible to do, on any level. It's an opinion that is not supported, grounded, or based in any logic, whatsoever.
You need to lean back on what I said, which is this:
Fluker's going to be great, but you're saying he'll be better than Andre Smith. It's simply not going to happen. He won't be the best Left Tackle in the SEC, in the Western Division (That award will go to Ciron Black of LSU), and he quite possibly won't be the best tackle on his team (Your JUCO signee may be, honestly).
You need to learn when to back down from silly statements, BC. Everyone makes them from time to time.
"BC"
· 5 months ago
as far as run blocking goes, he'll be better than Andre Smith. Just plain and simple, there's nobody that's going to over-power him. as far as pass-blocking, he'll probably be a bit worse than Smith. he'll probably get beat a few times by some of the better DEs out there. but, speaking of freshmen LTs, Andre Smith started as a freshman and was arguably the best LT in the SEC. so, it's not like what i'm predicting is absolutely unheard of. and from what i hear, Fluker is better than Andre Smith was as a freshman.
This is a PREDICTION based on numerous eye-witness accounts, scouting reports, and highlight tapes. sure the prediction may be wrong, but so can every prediction. and predictions are the livelihood of the offseason.
TigerEducated
· 5 months ago
You really should look into learning about the game.
Smart Football Talk is a blog that you should resolve to read-daily.
Seriously.
Brute Strength is the only requisite for run-blocking now?
What about pulling for the counter? Kick outs? Seals? Cut-blocking, perhaps? Pad level? Hip level? Leverage? The footwork needed for all of them? The ENDURANCE needed to be able to perform them all for 60 minutes?
The knowledge necessary to execute your assignment on every play? Or to know what your new assignment is based on what your new QB-whose got no starting experience-checks out to? Snap counts?
You're oversimplifying things. I agree that the offseason's all about conjecture and opinion. But, over and over again, folks are owning you regarding this one, and rather than back up your assertions in the same manner that they're deconstructing your argument, you just keep reiterating what you've already said.
I know you said you were a HS QB, so its rather surprising to me that you don't have more than what seems to be a rudimentary knowledge of some of the technical aspects of the game...
You can espouse an opinion, but around here, or at least with myself, and someone like Tom_Troj, you need to be able to back them up much better than you are and have been.
Like I said...Smart Football Talk is a GREAT start to begin to increase your knowledge base about the game itself...
Go check it out...Even if you say you'd rather not...I promise, nobody will know!
Porcine
· 5 months ago
Was HS QB? I'm surprised we haven't heard about scoring 6 touchdowns in one game.
TigerEducated
· 5 months ago
I'm guessing he was more like the End/Guard/Tackle in HS...
Sat on the End of the Bench, Guarded the Gatorade Jugs, & Tackled anyone who came near them...
"BC"
· 5 months ago
TE. obviously he has a lot to learn as far as the offense goes. but Saban starts teaching guys the offense as soon as they commit, and then has them enroll in the summer. DJ was one of the first to commit. As far as run-blocking goes, that is Fluker's specialty. If he gets his hands on you, you're done. haha, and people act like kids don't learn anything about football in high school. DJ already knows basic blocking techniques. and again, I'm PREDICTING he will be a better run-blocker than Andre Smith. And yes, the combination of size, strength, and athleticism he possesses is the main reason why he is so great at run-blocking.
TigerEducated
· 5 months ago
Do you think Nick Saban is the only person who sends a playbook & enrolls the kids in Summer School?
Saban never did that before he realized DiNardo had kids at LSU during the Summer for the Offseason program-which was much weaker than it is now-through something called the "Summer Scholar" program at the time.
Our kids actually get workout training guides specific to their position & S&C staff member, ALONG WITH their playbook, and the kids who aren't December graduates and enroll in the Spring for Spring Football have been here since early June (The last of the Frosh reported for June 6th, I believe).
You aren't reinventing the wheel over there, BC, but you find new & inventive ways every day to show just how big of a tool you are.
I guess we're through here...
fosterkeats
· 5 months ago
You're 100% RIGHT ON about all those internet recruiting sites, they're all about politics...
And they're all full of SHIT...
If a kid coommitts to a "flavor of the month" school who's been winning lately, like Texas or Florida, they add stars to all their committments. On the flip side, if a "4 Star" recruit committs to Vandy or Baylor, they get dropped down to a "3 Star"...
I can't believe people pay attention to those hacks, how can some 40 yr old white guy tell if some 17yr old black kid is ever gonna amount to anything???
Personally, I think they are creepy, any 40+ yr old guy who knows the 40 times of high school kids just creep me out, either the numb nuts writing that garbage or the obsessed couch potato reading it...
Tommy_Trojan
· 5 months ago
Keats:
Hard to understand how a guy who looks exactly like Charlie Manson could get "creeped out" by anything (LMFAO). Nevertheless, it's very silly and you are absolutely correct in all of that assumption. We could wait until the last day before signing day, go out and recruit some kid who picked up towels around the locker room, and he'd instantly become a four-star recruit. It's a total joke. But, every other job in America is half-assed these days, so why not the job they do at Rivals and Scout?
fosterkeats
· 5 months ago
Go back and look at all the "5 Star" recruits those Numb Nuts at Scout and Rivals have drooled all over every year... At least 25%-30% of those recruits never qualified, or were arrested, or were patted on the back so many times they underachieved.
I'd rather have the "3 Star" recruits who have to work their asses off and were never given anything for nothing, if you have a good coach, they can turn that player into a star... Look at Rashad Johnson of Bama last year. He was a walk on, had to work his ass off just to make the team, then ended up starting for 2+ years, became an All American, then drafted high... For every Rashad Johnson, there are 50 Willie Williamses, he was constantly wined & dined, told over & over again he was "the best", got arrested 10+ times, got thrown off 3 teams, and now is playing for some NAIA team in the middle of bumf*ck Tennessee(are there any parts of Tennessee that AREN'T bumf*ck???)
TheMayor
· 5 months ago
"Irish JT" reference...I love it. Free drinks for eberyone!
Clemson_Joe
· 5 months ago
I have to agree with your assessment here, TE. It's going to be interesting to see how Alabama's offense handles VT's defense. Alabama will probably have some serious trouble throwing the ball in that game. It will just have to be seen if they can run the ball enough to counteract it.
Tommy_Trojan
· 5 months ago
TE,
That's some funny shit there about WalMart and Phil Steele. I've been thinking about it for a few days.
Anyway, I'm over at WalMart getting my wife's prescriptions filled (got her about a six-month supply - should keep her out until after the bowl games), and I just had to walk over to the rack and check it out. Bigger than shit, there it is, Phil Steele's College Football 2009. Couldn't resist. Actually bought the dayum thing.
Now, according to Phil Steele, Ciron Black is the top rated tackle in the entire country. Joseph Barksdale is listed at #14. Southern Cal tackles are Charles Brown at #9 and Butch Lewis at #33. Nowhere is there an Alabama tackle rated in the Top 65 - not even DJ Fluker! In fact, Xavier Nixon is the top incoming OL at Florida, while DJ Fluker is not slated to start at Alabama. He'll backup Senior Drew Davis at the RT position while LT will belong to rFR Tyler Love.
Phil Steele lists only LG Mike Johnson #6 as noteworthy Alabama offensive linemen. OG Lyle Hitt is rated at #14 for LSU, while USC lists OG's Jeff Byers #2, Thomas Herring #38, Zack Heberer #44 and C Kristofer McDowd as #1. Southern Cal rates as the #1 offensive line in the country while LSU is rated at #15. Alabama is nowhere to be found in the Top 33.
Now, about what a load of shit this rag is: He lists the Southern Cal receivers as the #4 unit in the country, yet, the QB position is rated #34. Say what? Do you realize that Houston, C. Michigan, Nevada, Florida Atlantic, UTEP, W.Michigan, Hawaii, UAB, Duke and TCU will all be stronger at the QB position than USC will be? My most glaring question is: how can you have the 4th best receiving corp without anybody to get them the ball?
It is also very interesting that Zack Heberer (#44) is not slated to start at RG. That distinction belongs to Alex Parsons - who is not rated. Also, not only is Thomas Herring (#38) not going to start at LG, he's gonna be 3rd string behind rFR Khaled Holmes. Again the question is: How can two guys who are not even the starters be rated higher than the people who are?
Thomas Herring is an interesting case. About 6'6 370 when he walked in here. Rated the 3rd best DT in the country. A real monster. Switched to OT then OG and cannot get on the field. Many lower rated players have moved past him including Alex Parsons, Charles Brown, Zack Heberer and Nick Howell. This is our guy who has never lived up to his potential. BTW, he's now only 6'6 330, and maybe he can somehow move his ass sans the extra forty pounds.
Your point on this rag is well taken. But, it may help clear everything up for BC. I just could not resist. Hopefully, he can come back now with some rant, about how you just can't rely on ratings. That would be fun.
1Tomcat
· 5 months ago
Great post Tommie T-- I couldn't agree more, they showed some great defense, but I thought the offense was kinda lack-luster-pro-style --run -run -pass that couldn't outscore a really good team. The dream season the Tide had in 08 had a few near misses the KY and Ole Miss games coulda went either way and the Tide will not enjoy the same success next season- Coffee was a big part of their attack and he's gone. Breaking in a new QB will be tough and Ole Miss and Ark will both be improved.
PittsburghTiger
· 5 months ago
Is there a chance Alabama's non-conference schedule, minus Va. Tech, will hurt them?
Bama_Babe
· 5 months ago
If they win the big games, no. The team who should be worried is Ole Miss.
Everyone thinks Ole Miss is going to be the team to beat this year, and I agree. But they WILL have to win all those big games to make up for their OOC schedule. They play two teams in D-2...excuse me, FCS.
Not exactly a championship team schedule there....
Clemson_Joe
· 5 months ago
You're exactly right about that. Ole Miss will be left complaining about being "screwed" at the end of the season, and the only thing to blame will be their own schedule. They have a horrendous out of conference schedule, and the SEC East teams they face are Vanderbilt and South Carolina. I'm not downing on those two, but Ole Miss will not play Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, or Kentucky. To say the least, this schedule leaves a lot to be desired and it will almost certainly come back to bite them in the ass. Hence, one of the reasons I consider them to be overrated.
Porcine
· 5 months ago
Ole Miss gets Tenn at home.
Clemson_Joe
· 5 months ago
Ah, right you are. That only slightly helps Ole Miss's schedule though.
fosterkeats
· 5 months ago
If Alabama's non-conference schedule hurts them, then Ole Piss' should destroy the Rebs...
SE Louisiana, Memphis, Northern Arizona & UAB...
They play TWO 1AA teams
PittsburghTiger
· 5 months ago
I mean more in the way it hurt Auburn by playing the Citadel in 2004.
fosterkeats
· 5 months ago
It certainly could... HYPOTHETICALLY, if Bama ends up 11-2 and SEC Champs, along with Ohio St at 10-2 and Oklahoma at 11-2, look at the non-conference schedules of each... who would be ranked higher???
Bama: Va Tech, North Texas, Fla Intl, Chattanooga Ohio St: Navy, Southern Cal, Toledo, New Mexico St Oklahoma: BYU, Idaho St, Tulsa, Miami
Right now, it's a toss up for better or worse, but what if North Tx wins 7 games instead of 2??? What if BYU stumbles to 8-4??? What if Southern Cal loses 2-3 games??? These non-conference opponents will look a lot different in November...
We just need to wait and see...
Zac
· 5 months ago
Yo, Bro's, to who this applies, HAPPY Father's Day!!! May your relationships with your immediate family be at least as good as mine. ENJOY!!!
South Carolina governor Mark Sanford has been charged with killing Michael Jackson so that it would divert the media attention away from him...
more to come...
Zac
· 5 months ago
I really enjoy your CF analysis much better. PLEASE, let's let the dead rest in peace.
Clemson_Joe
· 5 months ago
FEEDBACK REQUESTED:
I just fried my wonderful huge Sony HD TV. So, obviously I have to buy a new one before football season. So, here's the question: DLP, LCD, Plasma? Please give a reason for your answer. LED is too high to cost justify at this point.
War_Eagle_Atlanta
· 5 months ago
I bought a Toshiba 50" plasma for my bedroom from Brands Mart last Fall for $900. They're probably cheaper now. I'm totally satisfied with it--even more so than with my 42" LG plasma.
I think plasma has a better picture than the rest, There's some concern that they may not last as long, but with prices dropping the way they have, you don't have to do as much homework as you once did when they were $3000.
Clemson_Joe
· 5 months ago
I was leaning towards plasma to be honest with you, so I'm glad you said that.
The only thing really intriguing me now is that DLP 60" TVs are cheap. I just don't know anyone who has one to ask about them.
BTW, I had not heard of Brands Mart. I just checked out their site and they have some really good deals. Thanks for the heads up!
War_Eagle_Atlanta
· 5 months ago
Yea, I bought both of my HDs from them. They always had the best deals--even better than places like Wal Mart and Sam's club.
How much is a 60" DLP running these days? Is it a flat-panel? I've never cared for the screen projection TVs. Also, I've heard that DLPs have some issues, but you know how that goes.
Clemson_Joe
· 5 months ago
60" Mitsubishi DLP is under $1000. It's 14" deep so you can't mount it, but if you've got the spot for it, it's not a bad deal.
I've also heard of some issues with DLP but I never know if that's legit or just the rare person who got screwed who is yelling the loudest. I'm also not at all informed about Mitsubishi as a TV manufacturer.
At this point, I think plasma will probably be the winner.
The_Observer
· 5 months ago
The LCD vs Plasma debate has always confused me. It seems to go back and forth every couple of years, so I haven't been able to keep up, but this is what I "know" about them...
Plasma are supposed to have deeper blacks and richer colors.
Plasmas supposedly wear out quicker than LCDs
Plasmas can get "screen burn" by pausing the screen for too long
Take all that with a grain of salt because that is just what I have heard. Good luck with your purchase.
The_Observer
· 5 months ago
With DLP's you have to watch out for the maintenance costs. The bulbs WILL burn out and they can be hundreds of dollars to replace.
I have a 46" Sony lcd that is pretty good, but my brother-in-law has a 7 series Samsung (lcd I think) and that thing has the most ridiculous picture I have ever seen!!! I am not even kidding! The picture is so realistic that it is almost hard to get used to. Check one out.
Clemson_Joe
· 5 months ago
Thanks for the advice. DLP is out then.
I am a huge fan of both Sony and Samsung. I'll be sure to check that one out before I buy anything. Thanks again!
OU_Ron
· 5 months ago
My TV is a Mitsubishi, not sure what size, but it's a big one...must be a DLP, because I have already replaced the " gold plated " bulb once....great picture, but buy a extended warranty in case the bulb goes out...believe me, the price of the bulb will pay for the warranty..
Clemson_Joe
· 5 months ago
Thanks for the advice. I certainly don't want to spend any more money after the initial purchase, so the warranty seems like a must. I am going to go give the 3 types (LCD, Plasma, and DLP) a trial run this evening to compare pictures.
1Tomcat
· 5 months ago
What happened- Power surge or something- Might get your stuff paid for by the utility company-I don't know much about T.V's we have a 42" Visio LCD- I dunno so far so good I guess- same model is like 699 at wallyword You might want to check consumer reports
Clemson_Joe
· 5 months ago
Convergence is shot. I'm not really sure of the cause, but I think it's probably that woman that lives with me.
Either way, it doesn't really matter who caused it. Now I have a fantastic excuse to blow some money on a nice new TV before football season.
1Tomcat
· 5 months ago
Gotcha Mine conveniently played out just before I received a stimulus check-I need to add Versus before the season starts this year, they had some good ones last year MWC,B-12 and P-10 games
Mr2Bits
· 5 months ago
Lane Kiffin has lost his mind and oh yea, commited another recruiting violation. This tool needs to escorted out of college football before he ruins the sport.
I found that on another site, one of the comments was " Kiffin finally recruits someone that looks younger than he does "
Mr2Bits
· 5 months ago
Nice. Its just really getting re-damndiculous. I mean 13. Kid doesn't even have small dark and curlys yet and thinks he knows what he wants. I mean what’s next, they going to have kids commit at birth?
Regan
· 5 months ago
I'm in a really good mood. Alestorm came out with a new Pirate Metal CD.
The drive to work this morning will be really inspired...
All Comments
The planning can get a bit tricky, especially when planning for games starting at Noon when the pre-game hoopla starts before 8 and looking for breakfast grub...
But the internet is a wonderful place that's chock full of usless info, so we were able to navigate most of that with relative ease even with four "Nooners" and a 1:30 start on the home slate last year...
It also doesn't hurt to have some damn fine cooks (not me) who aren't afraid to tackle new personally-untested recipes and have the skill to pull it off...
As well as the capability to cook in different methods on site and properly refrigerate the things that will be cooked on site...
Highlights from 2008...
Hawaii - Nooner. The plan was for luau type stuff (Kalua-style pulled pork, rice, sweet bread, etc.) for after the game but, my uncle surprised everyone by showing up early (S.O.B. was there at 5 A.M. he said)to be ready to fry up Spam & eggs with french toast made from sweet bread. He even had pre-mixed Pina Colada in a 10 gallon cooler. This made me glad I had already made my plans for a surprise for the LSU game...
Miami - Night game. Cubans (I actually rode down with a buddy to get the bread from a place in Ybor city in Tampa), ham croquettes, grilled mahi fingers, black beans and rice. We pressed the cubans, fried the croquettes and grilled the mahi on site which attracted a few passing UCG fans whom we gladly had sit down and enjoy a plate of food with us...
Ole Miss Nooner. This was a bit tricky since we were trying to avoid BBQ and looking for something a bit different. After a bit of research, it appeared that much "traditional" Mississippi grub is very similiar to Louisiana fare. However, GrandmaHippy found a recipe entitled 'Mississippi Breakfast Casserole"(or something along those lines) which in turn was pretty close to a breakfast casserole made in our family for years at Christmastime but made with sausage instead of ham and a few other minor differences. Post game was fried catfish and okra, greens (which I do NOT eat) baked beans and cornbread. For some reason (31-30 Nutt job?), it didn't taste as good as I thought it would beforehand...
LSU Night game. "wash day" fare of red beans and rice, jambalaya, grilled shrimp po'boys and of course my special surprise...CORN DOGS!!! These weren't just standard carnie variety however...I prepped two kinds of batter; regular and jalapeno; and brought both footlong hot dogs and andouille for the meaty center (Sorry TE, no nutria was available). Huge hit! Actually ran out probably an hour and a half before the 8 o'clock kick off...
Kentucky Nooner. This was a favorite for me as I lived in the Eastern Appalachia area of the Commonwealth for a few years. Fried chicken on biscuits with eggs pregame. Post-Game: the rest of the fried chicken, Burgoo Stew with Venison (thanks to my cousin!) & Mutton, Hoppin' John (black eyed peas & rice) with; of course; Derby Pie for dessert...
So Car 3:30 start. Nobody had a clue what the hell to make for this. Then somebody found a recipe for another stew called Frog-sumthin which supposedly originated up there. I think it had pork, beef and shrimp (maybe some fish). Served over rice. Pretty damn good
Citadel 1:30 start. Didn't plan anything for this game because a large crew wasn't expected. However, my uncle once again surprises those of us that did show up with about 20 MREs as a joke. I had a spaghetti and meatballs postgame of which I used not only the hot sauce in the pack but also about a half of the bottle on the table. GH Note: Not a good idea to consume hot-sauce lathered military rations on top of a half a handle of Beam. Unless constipation is a problem. Then it will be cured within minutes.
Chicken, sir. Lots and lots of chicken!
Looks to me like all of the choking in that game was committed by the visiting team.
West
Arkansas - second year under Petrino. they beat Auburn and LSU last year.
East
Vanderbilt - they return 18 starters (most in the SEC) from a squad that beat Ole Miss, South Carolina, Auburn, Kentucky, and Boston College.
you can bet that Vandy will steal one from either FL, GA, MS, TN, or LSU this upcoming season.
18 STARTERS. including both QBs. they beat Ole Miss in Oxford last year. yet, Ole Miss is in the top 10 with less returning starters...
Mixes Easy...Just add...
Yeah...That sucks...Anyway...Here's a good recipe...
1 Tilapia filet...thawed
1 piece of Broccoli
1 piece of decent cheese (No, Bama Fans, Kraft American doesn't count)
Place the filet in tin foil, place broccoli on top of fliet. Place cheese in, around, and over Broccoli.
Fold tin foil up and surround contents.
Throw it on the grille...With some Tony's & some Tobasco if you're a Boss like Rick Ross...a tiny dash of Crab Boil if not...
Simple...and on short notice...Very good stuff...
You'll have to forgive me. I'm 50 miles from the closest lake, and that one is dried up.
Where I'm from it's not a tailgate without dead cow on the grille! Maybe a little salt and pepper and cooked medium rare, no need to get fancy.
Man...Good eats...
Don't you mean Velveeta?
By the way, I'm with NMLSooner. BEEF! It's what's for tailgate'n. That, and shrimp, brats, chilli, ribs, bar-bee-q (chicken, pork, or beef), smoked...anything (OK, the smoked Twinkies a bud brought in to work...not good.), and beer; lots and lots of beer! Yeah, that should about do it.
I have a friend from my hometown who attends LSU, and now he puts it on EVERYTHING. Does liven the flavor though.
You know, just a normal day behind the podium answering questions from these ever-so-annoying media dudes...
They always seem to ask the wrong question. Fires me up every time.
Don't ask me dumb questions, WEA....a'ight?
They both do it very well...
By the way, have we ever done a thread discussing recruits; i.e. how many of the 4 & 5 star variety actually contribute and go on to the NFL, as compared with the 0-3 star variety? Which teams make the most of their highly ranked recruiting classes and which seem to fall short? Any ideas anyone?
A major flaw in this is that it ignores the performance of the teams on the field. SDSU certainly is not a national recruiting power but their 19 players in the NFL lead the current MWC members in 2008. This certainly has not been reflected on the field in over a decade.
Here is some links measuring recruiting vs. performance:
Recruiting top 10 vs. AP results 4 years latter
Top 20 overperforming teams
BCS only, but better analysis.
The feed back loop that dynasties are made of:
Good recruiting -> good teams -> good recruiting, thus the observed stability of the top 25 year to year.
In the end, I feel strongly that a 2 or 3 star recruit from a high school with very poor facilities has more potential than a 4-5 star recruit from a high school with state of the art facilities.
Adding proper nutrition and optimized weight lifting regiments to a natural talent that was able to get some attention from an obscure high school is a powerful combination MWC teams feed on.
Exit Mike Barwis, stage left. Enter Mike Joseph, stage right, as in doing it the right way. Coach Joseph took the time to evaluate the players; actually determined their true capability, before they reached a breaking, or rather, straining point. His emphasis was not just hard work, but doing that work properly, employing the proper technique. His regimens are designed to allow the players to work one muscle group as another rests. As a result, in one year there are kids who've made vast improvements in both strength and speed, without injuries, and they continue to improve.
One injury prone kid in particular, 6' 8" 215 lb, WR, Wes Lyons, was expected to do great things, given his height and reach advantage over typically shorter DB's. I remember a game against ECU, whose defense was expected to be decent. Lyons recorded a number of pancakes on the defending corners, while others caught and/or ran for 1st downs & TD's, due to the lanes he opened with his blocking. Lyons disappeared a few games later, with an injury.
Having worked with Mike Joseph for over a year now, Wes Lyons is without injury, and promises to have a break-out season; no pun intended.
I'll be the 1st to admit I didn't like the way with which Rodriguez left WVU for MI. All things considered, it's been a blessing in disguise, and Mike Joseph is a big part of that blessing.
I'm hopelessly addicted to that crap, and I used to cover Recruiting for an LSU-related magazine, so I still get some info here and there...
But, I do believe that might not be such a bad thing...I know that the pre-season CFB rags-or, at least one of them-does an interesting thing each year and takes the Top 25 recruits from 4-5 years ago and runs down their collegiate careers and where are they now...
Been a very long time since I've posted around these parts, but I used to be a contributor way back. Since then I've been working on a college football data site and would love to get suggestions/feedback on it. One of the things I'd really like to do is flesh out my coaching information, and if anyone would like to help out with that, that would be awesome.
http://www.fumblerooski.org/
Thanks!
Nice work on http://www.fumblerooski.org/ Pretty cool to have the drive data, etc, archived. I'm not real jazzed about the design, but -- then again -- this place could use an EXTREME HOME MAKEOVER as well.
Also, you may want to look into stats for last year's FSU/UF. It felt like they beat us by more than that. :)
I'm trying to do play-by-play, too, but the way the NCAA does it is really tricky to parse. An example:
http://web1.ncaa.org/mfb/driveSummary.jsp?expan...
[It does contain some good data that I use but frequently don't cite, so consider this my bibliography]
[Apparently it has been undeleted, and the link is now lost]
here are the current coaches.
You have a nice presentation but you should evaluate your competition. In addition to Wikipedia I use these sites for my numbers:
For old seasons I like James Howell's site. It should probably be referenced by me in more posts, but I am lazy with my data sources like that.
The college football data warehouse is another excellent data source.
:-)
I edited my comment (the parts in []) to reflect the fact that someone ... ahem ... WEA ... ahem ... deleted the post I had responded to and mine was now in isolation, removing the context it was placed in.
http://cfn.scout.com/2/873231.html
This was discussed Here.
Some regular powerhouses - Texas (you love it, Ron), USC, and Alabama - I also see as possibly overrated. However, Texas has the talent and something to prove, so watch out for the 'horns.
Hookem-Horns
My overrated teams:
I believe these teams will be good, but still overinflated:
Alabama (6)
Virginia Tech (8)
Ole Miss (10)
Cal (11)
Boise State (12)
Oregon (13)
Georgia (14)
I do not believe these teams will be very good at all, and will not finish the season as one of the top 25 teams in the country:
Michigan State (20)
Notre Dame (24)
My underrated teams:
LSU (17)
North Carolina (19)
Iowa (23)
West Virginia
Wake Forest
QB will be better in some areas, worse in others.
the O-line will drop off slightly. very slightly.
The RBs will be better.
The WRs will be better.
but the Defense will be the best in the nation next season.
it's going to be disgusting.
We're talking like 2003 LSU, 2005 Alabama.
I still think that Alabama will finish as the 3rd best team in the SEC, and 3rd best won't get you #6 in the nation.
It's just a prediction, so we'll see what happens. We'll have to be sure to revisit this one at the end of the season.
no florida and no georgia.
so really, even if Alabama drops a game to either Ole Miss or LSU, they can still easily win the west.
which will provide a crack at Florida, which will probably be a game that decides a spot in the NC game like last year.
and any time you're playing a game for a chance to go to the NC, it's a good season.
1st, the Tide plays an arguably over-rated VA Tech at a neutral location. What with two of the best defenses going at it, I expect this game to be won by a baseball score, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was 3-2. Though, Tech could score a TD off a blocked punt or blocked FG attempt, where Bama would likely do it off an INT return. So, 10-9 is not outside the realm of possibilities, either.
But, God!!! FL International, N TX, and Chattanooga (not to mention MS St) in the same season? ABSOLUTELY OUTRAGEOUS!!!
Finally, there are 7 home games, and two normally strong teams (One's away.) have completely new coaching staffs.
Ole Miss & LSU will keep your boyz from playing FL. Though, KY & SC have been good for an early upset or two, and one hosts the Tide ahead of, while the other arrives on the heals of, one of those losses. So, 9-3 (which ain't bad) is a real possibility, and that ain't good enough for #6, even with a bowl win. Sorry BC, but were I thee, I wouldst not get mine hopes up.
You lose the starting center & left tackle on the blindside, and you're starting a new QB, to boot...
I'd say that even in a homer of your magnitude's assessment, that's a bit of a stretch...
As for the "Underrated" teams, I appreciate (and agree with) your listing WVU, but I'm not certain about Wake. Much as I hate to say this, one team I think may be missing from your underrated list is...gulp...Michigan. I think they'll bounce back and get to a bowl this year. JMHO, big guy, and thanks again.
They join these other winners:
2008: Georgia
2007: Louisville
2006: Miami
2005: Tennessee
2004: Florida St
2003: Auburn
2002: Tennessee/ Florida
2001: Florida St
2000: Alabama
Each of these teams were in Top 5 preseason and lost at least 4 games...
I'm currently planning on enabling the use of players from just 3 conferences. I have played NFL Fantasy Football for a few years, so I'd imagine it will be virtually identical to that. Again, any help would be great.
http://u-sports.com/
This year Bama loses the senior QB JP Wilson, OT Andre Smith, sensational RB Coffey, and the great SS Johnson. Now, Ingram will step up nicely at RB and they have a couple of great ones coming in. Utah pulverized a line that was sans Smith. Also, both Florida and Utah totally exposed a weak young Bama secondary. So, what had Bama done to deserve to be ranked so high last year? They caught both Clemson and Georgia early nappin' (both were highly overrated to begin with). They caught a LSU squad that was in total disarray, from the loss of both a great defensive coordinator and a phenomenal QB Ryan Perrilloux, who screwed up and was kicked off the team. LSU had to rely on two freshmen QB's nearly all year. So, Bama struggles with Ol' Miss along with lackluster wins over Tulane and a few others. The handwriting was on the wall.
This year, along with Ol' Miss and LSU probably being improved, I could see where Tennessee, Auburn and Arkansas might also be greatly improved. Now, after finishing at 7-6 in 2007, Bama was able to sneak up on some people last year. That will not be the case this year. Great teams usually have great QB's. Alabama will not have a great QB this year. They will struggle throwing the ball - as usual. When they play against good secondaries - they will have problems. They have no QB's on the roster who are "Nationally Acclaimed" QB's. They like to toss around some names, but they are not the Tim Tebow's, Matthew Stafford's, Mark Sanchez's, Sam Bradford's, Colt McCoy's or anybody near these kinda caliber players. There are many great QB's that will be playing college football on these coming Saturdays. None of them will be playing for the Crimson Tide. This leaves the Tide definately out of the Top 10 in the Final Polls after the Bowl season.
and the only thing i know about USC football is that they miss out on the NC game every year by dropping games to Oregon State, Stanford, and UCLA.
Seriously. You have good talent coming in at tailback, but you have to have a Quarterback that can check down against SEC Defenses. I'm not just talking about checking into max protect when he reads blitz.
I'm talking about being able to check away from the run blitz when he sees it coming. Being able to check into coverage schemes & protections when he feels or reads pressure from a defense.
None of which McElroy has ever had to do. He came from Chase Daniel's high school. He threw out of the shotgun, which he is not going to be able to do without your offensive completely changing its identity. I don't see that happening at all, so we can look at it like this:
You're losing your linchpins on the offensive line, along with about 85-95 combined total starts. The center position will also lose the guy that's calling out and coordinating coverages based on what he reads pre-snap. Losing the blind side tackle in a transition year at quarterback is an especially worrisome issue, as well. Especially when the replacement hasn't worked with the guard on that side, and the guard hasn't worked with the Center, either.
In other words, you have a lack of continuity along the unit that's almost singularly responsible for your offense to produce the way its designed for it to. There will be an adjustment period, with pass pro & run-blocking. You can't just run off tackle & ask the left or right side to drive block straight down the field. There's more to it than that.
Which, in other words, means your blanket statement about dropping off "slightly" makes you look like an uninformed goofball, who also happens to be the most visible fan of their team on a national website.
It also means that while they're "figuring things out" there and building a cohesive unit-which can happen, with time, talent & development-you'll have a QB taking snaps & reading defenses from there for the first time since high school. He'll be playing a different type of quarterback than he's played since prior to Junior High.
He'll be doing that against SEC Defenses. With a huge target on his back.
The sad thing is, I'd welcome some insight from you to back up your assertions, but myself-as well as most here-realize that your cursory knowledge of the team goes nowhere beyond the screen you read your message boards on, or the pages of the Phil Steele guide you just snagged in the Magazine Section at Wal-Mart...
you will never listen to reason, so there's no point in even responding to you.
but i will, just to humor you.
Offensive line - apparently this is gonna be a HUGE newsflash to everyone. the line we had against Utah is not at ALL like the one we will be starting against VT.
against Utah we lost our first AND second string LT, so the entire line was shifted around and patched together.
you talk about the great RBs we have coming in, but of course you conveniently fail to mention the 2 O-linemen we have coming in that WILL be starting the first game of the season.
DJ Fluker - he will be one of the best LTs in the country as a freshman. you can call me all sorts of names for this statement, but he has been extremely dominant in summer drills thus far, and that's without any college coaching. my friend is working the camps down there, and says it is blatantly obvious to everyone that he will be starting next season. he's the talk of the town.
James Carpenter - here's a JUCO guy that was brought in to help out on the line. he started at LT in the A-Day game, and really impressed. but since Fluker is going to take LT, my guess is that Carpenter will be moved to RG.
the C position will drop-off a good bit, the RG position will be better, and the LT tackle position will remain about the same.
so we'll see a slight drop-off in O-Line production.
as for the QB position, Greg McElroy has been at Alabama for THREE years now, are you seriously telling me he knows nothing about college football? or how to read defenses?
what was the guy's name that won a NC for LSU in his first year as a starter?
oh, and i haven't even mentioned the new QB LSU will be starting this season, but i'm sure there's some reason he'll be much better than McElroy.
i've realized it's really a lost cause arguing with you all, because you already have your minds made up.
you're right! Alabama is going to SUCK this year. man. the O-line is gonna get tossed around like a bunch of rag-dolls, the QB is gonna throw a pick-six every quarter, the weak secondary will be exposed, and we'll be lucky to be bowl eligible...
whatever. i'm through with this.
You make broad, sweeping generalizations about your own team that are clearly debunked, and upon realizing you've just bought some new clothes off the rack of the Emperor's store, you don't backtrack, but infer everyone else is making just as much of a stretch as you did. Only, towards the negative.
No one has said that Alabama is going to suck next year. What we've said is that your opinions are offbase.
Who said Fluker isn't an amazing kid? I said so many times during his recruitment (You can thank us for him; he's a Katrina evacuee). I have also heard that Fluker may have medical issues that plague him during his time in Tuscaloosa, but I wish him all the best as a kid from Louisiana.
To say Fluker is going to start is one thing. That's a safe assumption. Ciron Black started, as a redshirt freshman, after Andrew Whitworth started for four years, after redshirting. So, its not unprecedented, as the last two Left Tackles to play and start for LSU (in other words, the only guys to play the position for us over the past DECADE were RS Frosh) could say the same thing.
To say that he's going to be a 1st team All-American is a wild generalization.
Do you honestly want to defend that characterization? By all means, go ahead.
As for JUCO OL, well...We tried to recruit one here to LSU. He just got done at Oklahoma. His name was Phil Loadholdt, and we couldn't get him into school. So, once again, that's not a huge generalization to make.
But, that's what...two new players, so far? One with ZERO collegiate experience? Hmmm...
I think I'll stick with my characterization, which is to say that your offensive line will struggle with consistency & cohesion at first.
No one has stated you won't have talent there. But, if talent alone were a requisite for success such as you're inferring, then Alabama would not have lost to Utah. USC probably wouldn't have lost to Texas in 2005. Etc., etc.
This isn't people disagreeing with you. It's not people saying your team sucks. They're saying you're being irrational. Overgeneralizing. Acting like a homer to an absolute extreme.
It's one thing to do it during game week. Or after a big win. Acting that way when we're all trying to have decent discussions is why you see the reactions you get here often.
To discuss some of the ancillary, non-germane subjects you brought up in your post:
Matt Flynn was a 5th year senior who had two starts under his belt by the time 2007 rolled around. He had started & won MOP in the 2006 Peach Bowl after the 2005 regular season when JaMarcus Russell broke his collarbone in the SEC Championship Game during Les' first season.
He had scads more experience, much less time in the program.
Oh, by the way, he had more experience with his Left Tackle, too, since Ciron Black had been his Left Tackle in HS, as well, LOL!
Our Jordan Jefferson steps in with that same sort've experience. He's gotten a large amount of snaps in SEC play. He went in & tried to rally the troops against Georgia, almost pulled off a W-short of a total implosion, or as I like to call it, "the final nail in the coffin" for our Defensive Staff-on the road in Arkansas, which was no small feat for an 18 year old.
He then went out and won MOP at-what else?-the Chik-Fil-A Bowl...Formerly known as the Peach Bowl.
LSU QB's who've won MOP there have a great track record so far. They typically go on to win at least one National Championship during their time at QB.
McElroy is not-nor has he been-in any position to gain experience that Flynn had, nor Jefferson currently has.
To be completely honest, I think if we bring in Jarret Lee due to injury, etc., we'll be better off last year, as he's got an entire year as a starting QB-as well as dealing with a lot of trials & tribulations and overcoming them-under his belt.
What was a position with a complete lack of experience-the same way you find your QB position depth chart this year-will now be a hugely talented and experienced one for us.
Not sure where else you're going with this, but hopefully I've cleared up what most anyone would respond with when faced with your rather elementary logic in a conversation here.
I hope I've shed some light on where we're coming from, and maybe, just maybe, clarified what you aren't understand about what you're saying.
?Capisce?
Jefferson and Flynn both put on absolutely spectacular performances in their first games as starting QBs.
so how can you say that a guy that's been in the system as long as McElroy, won't come out and at the very least, be as good as JPW.
McElroy is actually BETTER than JPW at throwing the deep ball. the coaches have said that. he's also very accurate with the short stuff.
i think he'll throw more INTs than JPW, but i think he'll also be more productive.
just watch the A-Day highlights. he looked very impressive. the backups however, look abysmal. keeping McElroy healthy will be absolutely paramount to our season.
the rest of the offense will be better. WRs, RBs, and TEs.
and nobody doubts the defense. the defense is going to be unreal.
we're talking 2 or 3 first-rounders will be on defense next year (Rolondo McClain (Jr.), Javier Arenas, and Terrance Cody)
By the way, how is LSU shaping up for the fall? I really don't know that much about them.
The defense will be a Chavis signature one, in that he will put a premium on forcing an offense to execute and drive the field. The biggest issue with LSU last year was big plays, & confusion on the part of our players. So much substitution & player personnel groupings, along with deficient teaching of fundamentals truly led to a degredation in chemistry, nevermind on the field play.
That has been wiped away with the guys we brought on. South Carolina had some great defensive secondaries the past few years. Captain Munnerlyn comes to mind. We hired Ron Cooper away from Spurrier, and the results have been immediate. He's an intense coach who is also the "vent/confidant" on that side of the ball. The players come to him to voice concerns, issues, homesickness, etc. Really good chemistry being brought to the table, and his reputation helps the kids buy in.
Chavis is our LB Coach. The guy has coached 11 NFL Linebackers, including the most recent, Jerod Mayo, the reigning Defensive NFL Rookie Of The Year, who started for? The Pats. We've recruited very well at the position because of the former coach, Bradley Dale Peveto. He was our ace recruiter along with RB Coach Larry Porter.
The recruits & players he left behind are getting absolutely top flight instruction and teaching, and it has shown.
Along the defensive line, we brought in Brick Haley. Haley was Lovie Smith's DL Coach in Chicago the past three or four years. When Rod Marinelli got fired by Detroit, Lovie Smith was going to bring him on as a "Quality Control" type on the staff. His background is along the Defensive Line.
Haley went ahead and accepted the LSU offer. Guys like Lance Briggs, Tommie Harris, & Tank Johnson are products of Haley's coaching in the NFL. So he's got great selling points to recruits to go along with LSU's reputation for producing starters & Top Round Draft Picks (Chad Lavalais, Marcus Spears, Marquise Hill, Kyle Williams, Claude Wroten, Glen Dorsey, & Tyson Jackson all come to mind as guys who didn't last past the 3rd round in the past 6 years of NFL Drafts to play DL for LSU).
He's also an ultra-intense, vocal coach who knows how to teach. His recruiting ability remains to be seen, but we have the reputation, the coaching, & the track record to do well at that position as we bring Haley along. We've got some big fish he's on the trail of, so I'm really pleased with him, so far.
All in all, the defensive staff is something I'm over the moon about. The schematic, teaching, intensity, & chemistry that side of the ball will have now as a result of the coaching changes will yield immediate results.
There is NO DOUBT that LSU has-and has had-much higher quality talent at every position on the field compared to Tennessee. With a talent upgrade across the board, and his coaching ability tossed in, we will be better.
Not homerism. Its the simple truth.
On offense, Jordan Jefferson & T-Bob Hebert will be the biggest pieces of our puzzle. Hebert tore an ACL in the South Carolina game last year on Special Teams.
For those that don't know, T-Bob (and that's his actual name, too) is the son of longtime New Orleans Saint & Atlanta Falcon quarterback Bobby Hebert. He was penciled in as a starter at Center prior to the injury, and his rehab is such that he went full contact in the Spring Game, and has no restrictions on working out in the 4th Quarter Program (You guys didn't invent that, by the way. Tommy Moffitt, our S&C Coach did, & Saban just brought it over to Alabama, by hiring his Graduate Asst on our S&C Staff. You're welcome, by the way).
He must stay healthy, or we'll have issues on the interior. We honestly do not foresee any, but the knee gives you pause.
Jefferson's health is important because, obviously, you want your starter to make it through the year. To be honest, though, aside from JaMarcus' junior year in 2006, the Tigers haven't gone through an entire year with the same QB starting every game since we won our 2nd National Championship in 2003.
History tells us Jordan may get knicked at some point. Thankfully, we have an elite level kid coming in that will play from day 1 in Russel Shepard. We also have a guy that everyone is sleeping on in Jarret Lee. Mr. Pick 6. Yeah, I know. But, this guy has already been through his trial by fire. He's been through the battles. He's got the experience he lacked last year. With Shepard being able to provide the running game option that Lee can't in order to make Gary Crowton & Les Miles hybrid Spread Option attack work optimally, we won't be hamstrung by the quarterback position as we were last year.
Our offensive line will be tough, seasoned, and grizzled. We have gotten all of the kids, save for Hebert, meaningful SEC snaps, and Hebert was a beast on special teams before his injury. He's been out there, though again, health is a concern there. He'll lean on the vets at first, I'm sure.
We will have two All-SEC caliber tailbacks lined up behind him in seniors Keiland Williams & returning 1st team All-SEC TB Charles Scott. He'll moonlight at FB to make sure Key & 3rd stringer RS Junior Richard Murphy into the game in split backfield & shotgun situations with Shepard & Jordan beside him.
TE we'll return the best one in the League in senior Richard Dickson. He's quite honestly an All-American candidate.
At WR, we'll return 1st Team All-SEC RS Senior WR Brandon LaFell, currently listed as the #1 prospect at the position by the NFL Draft Advisory Board, according what LSU folks have been told.
On the other side, we'll have a kid whose ready for a breakout year in Terrance Toliver. 6-5, 200+ pound kid. A 5* we beat Urban Meyer out for a few years back. He's had to wait his turn, but he will stretch defenses and has a special quality with the ball in his hands.
The slot receiver was set to be a RS Freshman Tim Molton. Until he tore multiple ligaments in his knee last week in a silly game of pickup football after their Off-Season workouts had finished one afternoon.
They said his patella (kneecap) was out of place, he attempted to bend his knee & couldn't as the patella itself had fallen around the rear of his knee.
Grizzly.
The guy was one of those Josh Reed types. If you remember him, he went for 293 yards receiving in Tuscaloosa back in 2001. Not a physically imposing type (6-2, 200), but one who could put his foot in the ground once he had the ball and come in & out of a cut amazingly. He could also really do well in creating separation through precise route running.
We'll miss him, & then again, we won't.
That's because Russell Shepard's going to run a lot of slot receiver anyway. This just opens up more room for him in the offensive gameplans.
This also opens the door for our other big True Freshman. You may have heard of him. His name's Reuben Randle.
Those two will have an opportunity to be the best Freshman wideouts LSU's seen since Michael Clayton's 1st season at LSU back in 2000.
I honestly don't see LSU turning in another 8-4, or even 9-3 type season. We will not be the hunted, though we will have a great ranking. We will have a chip on our shoulder, and other than SEC Coaching staffs, a lot of the media will actually consider us an afterthought in the West & SEC Overall race.
You have Alabama-whose artificially highly ranked in light of the questions they have at OL & QB, two huge positions of importance-and Ole Miss who most will pick for 1st place, in what they'll call a two-horse race.
Arkansas is also another feel-good story entering Petrino's 2 year with a top flight QB transfer in former Wolverine Ryan Mallet stepping in to run his pass-happy offense.
So we'll be free of the target, full of motivation, and as always, great talent with even better coaching on defense than we've had since Pelini left.
JMO, but you're talking to a fan of the SEC Western Division Champions. Not sure if we can beat the beast of whoever comes out of the East, but I truly feel like this is yet another 10 win LSU team.
and how can you assume, that after playing in one SEC game, that Jordan Jefferson is ready to lead LSU to Atlanta?
just wondering...
He's played in four games in his career, starting two, both away from the confines of Tiger Stadium, and he did enough to win them both, and win MOP in our Bowl Game against a Top 15 opponent.
He has scads more ability, much less experience, than does McElroy.
We are talking about a kid that played 4 years of HS football-aside from an injured/broken wrist his junior year-and he never lost a game as a starting quarterback while there.
Special player with great leadership abilities.
I've already stated that our offensive line in the middle will need to remain VERY healthy, and learn on the fly. T-Bob is a great talent, but he lacks starting experience.
I don't see "weaknesses" per se. I see that we need to find a fullback, but Charles Scott will fill in at times. We're thin at that position, but Jefferson & Shep will let us run shotgun far more than we have in the past, which will negate that for the most part.
We need to have health on the interior of our Offensive Line. We need to find a slot receiver. We need to keep our quarterback healthy. We need to-and will-improve on defense.
But, I don't see us having a "weakness".
Jefferson has started in TWO games. do you really want me to list all of the SEC games McElroy has played in?
With Jefferson as the starting QB, the Tigers are 0-1 in the SEC.
I'm guessing Jefferson had a spectacular showing against Georgia Tech.
Well that's great to hear, but don't forget that this kid is 19 and has only started 2 games in his career.
I think Jefferson has some great potential, but just from what I've seen, whenever he feels pressure he immediately turns into a RB.
Honestly, I would rather have McElroy starting for me next season. He's a pure pocket passer who can make all the throws. He's going into his 4th season as a college QB.
Dual-Threat QBs, no matter how good their arm is, they always have a major initial struggle with staying in the pocket. They know they're fast as hell, and they have a lot of confidence in their feet. Jefferson will learn a lot this season, but he's not ready to bring home championships just yet.
Let's throw out your gibberish about Jefferson, since you admit you haven't seen the bowl game, and then say, "from what I've seen," since you haven't seen a thing.
I watched Greg McElroy & Sarah Jessica John Parkker Wilson warm up next to each other pre-game before they ever put shoulder pads on.
Then I watched them make their progression throws in pre-game & warms up just before kickoff.
John Parker Wilson could NEVER make all the throws, even as a 5 year senior.
McElroy's arm is SIGNIFICANTLY weaker than Wilson's.
Seriously, tell me some more lies, BC...I get such a kick out of hearing them, man...
and i know JPW could NEVER make all the throws. i hated that guy.
I've seen several youtube videos of Jefferson. and he tucks it in A LOT. and in the Arkansas game, that usually lead to him getting tackled for a loss.
First start, on the road, in the rain, against an SEC opponent...
We scored 30 points with an 18 year old at quarterback...
But, he's gonna be GARBAGE, BC...LOL...
Now your gonna babble about a great freshmen lineman. Dude, we've had both Jeff Byers and Christian O'Dowd, become freshmen All-Americans in the last few years. Byers was rated the top offensive linemen coming out of college. Neither has made All-American yet. Are you really so mindless as to think that some snot drippin' freshman comes in and dominates a defensive line from the SEC? The best this guy Fluker is gonna do is get in the way. We may have the best SAC Coach in America in Randy Carlisle (not related to me BTW). We bring in just about nothing but Top 10 offensive linemen out of high school. It takes about three years minimum for most of these guys to be able to lace them up and play against 1st team defenses. For your information, your boy Fluker, is probably not strong enough or in good enough condition to make much impact whatsoever.
Now, lets talk about how great they all look "in practice". Really? We have lots of great "practice players" who don't play on game day. The "gamers" play on game day. Ypu don't seem to be too worried about replacing a Quarterback? Very interesting. I was very concerned about replacing Carson Palmer with Matt Leinert. I was very concerned about replacing Leinert with JD Booty (nations top QB out of high school). I was very concerned about replacing Booty with Mark Sanchez (nations top high school QB). And, am very concerned with replacing Sanchez with either Aaron Corp (California State POY - beat out Jimmy Clausen), Mitch Mustain (nations top QB) or Matt Barkley (nations top QB). All of these QB's have played shaky at best - prior to getting some games under their collective belts. These QB's are the cream of the crop and can falter at any time until they are completely game blooded. Yet your guy McElroy, will have no trouble whatsoever (even though he doesn't even register as a premier QB prospect), simply because he was recruited by the Tide (he's not even Saban's guy BTW). Bleed, you've been watching too many Trojan games from 2002-2003.
Bleed, I like Alabama football. Nick Saban is my 2nd favorite coach. I think he's great. But, he's not Pete Carroll. You don't have Carson Palmer, Matt Leinert, Reggie Bush, Mike Williams, LenDale White, Troy Palomalu, Mike Patterson or Shaun Cody. You have not won seven consecutive conference titles (in fact haven't won one), finished in the Top 5 for seven consecutive years, or had seven consecutive Top 5 recruiting classes. Alabama is not Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Ohio State, USC or even Virginia Tech. I'm just trying to help temper your enthusiasm. I don't want you to really have to "Bleed Crimson", when at the end of the year while your holding your head face down with both hands contemplating "what went wrong", that you make an unwise decision that you just can't go on anymore - just as our friend "Irish JT" must have done a couple of years back. If he had only waited one more year - he may have seen his beloved Irish begin to rebound somewhat. Remember, Charlie Cheeseburger inherited great talent, won for a couple of years and fell flat on his big fat rear end. After several top recruiting classes, Notre Dame football, is just now starting the long climb back to the top. This can happen and might happen to Alabama football before Saban can fix it for good.
Fluker is 6'7" and weighs over 350 lbs.
i really don't think he's going to get pushed around.
"But just try tempering expectations about a player who took away his fellow U.S. Army All-American bowlers' breath. 'He's not even human,' joked Penn State-bound offensive lineman Eric Shrive, from Scranton, Pa. Just try quelling the excitement for a player who, after two All-American Bowl practices, caused Rivals.com recruiting analyst Barry Every to gush to his colleagues: 'I say this half-jokingly, but Fluker's family needs to petition [NFL Commissioner] Roger Goodell to allow him to be drafted,' Every told the site. 'I believe he would be drafted right now in the first day.'"
and Tom Luginbill:
"he's one of the top 2 offensive linemen prospects I've seen in the last 5 years."
I promise you he's much better than the freshmen linemen you're speaking of.
also, just for the record, i believe Alabama would beat USC if they were playing in the first game of the season.
despite what most people are led to believe, the Trojans actually aren't the best team every year. That's why they've only won one NC under Pete Carrol, despite having schedules filled with teams with vastly inferior talent.
You've just drank so much of the kool-aide that's it's hard to even laugh at you anymore. It's more like pity for that poor drunk who has keeled over on the sidewalk. You'd like to be able to help him - but you know that he's never gonna check back into reality until he's ready.
BC, I'll give you a clue: there all at least 6'6 and at least 320 pounds these days. It's called baby fat. Look at that blob Cody that you guys stuck in the middle of the DL last year. If for some miracle that guy ever plays on Sunday's - they'll beat him for a month of Sunday's until that guy gets into playing shape. There a plenty of big fat underacheivers lacing many college rosters. Phil Loadholt of Oklahoma comes to mind. When was he draftd? Six or seventh round - can't remember which. The giant Herman Johnson of LSU was taken about the same time. Now, Fluker may end up good. But, it certainly isn't gonna happen because you said so. It's gonna happen because he can go out there and play. And, we'll all just have to wait and see about that.
As for beating us in the 1st game, your better off going back to sleep, where your dreams are only just that. Rather, you might wake up in a real life nightmare. Your team would have no chance whatsoever to beat USC this year. Early, Late, in between - makes no difference at all. You better wait until you witness what Southern Cal does to Ohio State in Columbus before you start dreamin' of wantin' any of this. Just think Utah x10. That's what it will be like for you.
The whole offensive line returns. None are freshmen. The top four running backs will be back there. All the best receivers and tight ends. This will be the most dominate offense in the country - regardless of what defense they do not play in the Big 12. All three QB's are better than Mark Sanchez. Whichever one starts will never even be touched. And, wait and see, the defense will be every bit as good as last years was. In fact - the linebackers are considerably faster. The DT's are gonna be even better along with the secondary. Two of the DE's are rated as the very best in the country.
Nope, no chance for Alabama in that one. Just grab your teddy and go back to sleep. And, try not to wet the bed. You don't want the Sandman to get upset with you.
apparently every team this year is going to be better than last year, so i'm getting pretty excited.
but really, all Saban would have to do is phone up the Oregon State HC, and with a quick phonecall we'd have everything we need to beat the Trojans.
Let me make this as easy as I can for you. Anytime that a freshmen matters - your team isn't there yet. Do you understand this concept? We might play a few freshmen here - but we really don't need them. In fact, nowadays, if we have to play any freshmen - something is probably wrong.
We have a whole slew of future NFL stars backing up our offensive line. None can break through. You want names? A couple of them were rated #1 at their positions. They can't play here. DJ Fluker would not start at Southern Cal - let alone make 1st team All Pac-10. That's why he's at Alabama. He probably wouldn't start at any of the other established football factories in the SEC either.
Bleed, it is not a good thing when freshmen start. That is why you are a ridiculous little man. You speak of National Championships in the same breath as gloating that inexperienced players must anchor your offensive line. This is quite pathetic. We've had several OT's here at Southern Cal that were rated the most incredible tackles that have ever graced the field. Anthony Munoz, Don Mosebar, Fitzgerald, Tony Boselli. None have dominated college football in their 1st years. Recently, Sam Baker was a freshmen All-American and a two-time 1st team All-American. Nevertheless, as good as everybody thought he was, injuries held him back somewhat. OG Jeff Byers was rated as the #1 player in the country period. Injuries have slowed him considerably and he may still be a 1st round pick. Unlikely though. TE is absolutely correct in many regards here. With all of the war going on in those trenches, your guy will be extremely lucky to come out unscathed, let alone totally dominate anybody. There are some really mean people out there and some even meaner defensive coordinators. If your boy is too good - they'll simply take his legs away from him. You can wake up now, BC.
what does it say for Pete Carrol when your team is 2-deep with future NFL stars and you can't get past the beavers?
Either Pete Carrol is overrated, or you have an inflated perception of the talent-level on your team.
my pick is "C," all of the above.
If Alabama ever had to play at Oregon State - they would lose by alot more than one score. That's a fact.
That Jeanie that sits up there in that bottle is never wrong. In fact, it's flat out uncanny, how often that Jeanie is correct. Blows my mind...What little there is left...
Kind of like saying "If USC was in the SEC, they'd lose 3 games every year..." That's just a dumb thing to say b/c you don't knw who the Trojans would play, where they would play, injuries, recruiting, etc...
BC is not making a whole lot of sense...
Some more fun facts for you:
In the last three years Oregon State sports a 28-12 overall record. They own a (3-0) record against OOC patsies (E.Washington,Idaho and Idaho State). They also have three straight bowl victories over Missouri, Maryland and Pittsburgh.
Meanwhile over the same period:
Alabama owns a (25-15) record overall. They have accumulated a (7-1) mark against OOC patsies the likes of UL Monroe (twice), Duke, Florida International, Western Carolina, Tulane, Western Kentucky and Arkansas State - actually losing to UL Monroe (14-21) in 2007. Meanwhile, Alabama is (1-2) in bowl games beating Colorado in 07' while losing to Oklahoma State and Utah.
BC, I think it's very clear that Alabama isn't even in the same league that Oregon State is as far as being a legiimate football program is concerned. Maybe in a few more years, with some more decent recruiting, you guys can finally reach the stature of the Beaver football program.
Please don't act as if recruiting services are credible sources of information. You need to take a large sample before making assumptions, or just trust your coaching staff.
This doesn't apply to Fluker, as he'll be a great player, if he stays healthy.
Herman Johnson was 6-8, 370 when he signed with LSU. He ended up 6-6 1/2 & 335-350 when he graduated. He was not a 1st team All-American Offensive Lineman his first year. Matter of fact, though he probably would've broken the starting lineup as a true frosh, he got a spider-bite in his dorm room and an infection caused him to have to redshirt.
You simply can't defend that this kid is going to be better than kids who've already played at this level. It's simply impossible to do, on any level. It's an opinion that is not supported, grounded, or based in any logic, whatsoever.
You need to lean back on what I said, which is this:
Fluker's going to be great, but you're saying he'll be better than Andre Smith. It's simply not going to happen. He won't be the best Left Tackle in the SEC, in the Western Division (That award will go to Ciron Black of LSU), and he quite possibly won't be the best tackle on his team (Your JUCO signee may be, honestly).
You need to learn when to back down from silly statements, BC. Everyone makes them from time to time.
as far as pass-blocking, he'll probably be a bit worse than Smith.
he'll probably get beat a few times by some of the better DEs out there.
but, speaking of freshmen LTs, Andre Smith started as a freshman and was arguably the best LT in the SEC.
so, it's not like what i'm predicting is absolutely unheard of. and from what i hear, Fluker is better than Andre Smith was as a freshman.
This is a PREDICTION based on numerous eye-witness accounts, scouting reports, and highlight tapes.
sure the prediction may be wrong, but so can every prediction. and predictions are the livelihood of the offseason.
Smart Football Talk is a blog that you should resolve to read-daily.
Seriously.
Brute Strength is the only requisite for run-blocking now?
What about pulling for the counter? Kick outs? Seals? Cut-blocking, perhaps? Pad level? Hip level? Leverage? The footwork needed for all of them? The ENDURANCE needed to be able to perform them all for 60 minutes?
The knowledge necessary to execute your assignment on every play? Or to know what your new assignment is based on what your new QB-whose got no starting experience-checks out to? Snap counts?
You're oversimplifying things. I agree that the offseason's all about conjecture and opinion. But, over and over again, folks are owning you regarding this one, and rather than back up your assertions in the same manner that they're deconstructing your argument, you just keep reiterating what you've already said.
I know you said you were a HS QB, so its rather surprising to me that you don't have more than what seems to be a rudimentary knowledge of some of the technical aspects of the game...
You can espouse an opinion, but around here, or at least with myself, and someone like Tom_Troj, you need to be able to back them up much better than you are and have been.
Like I said...Smart Football Talk is a GREAT start to begin to increase your knowledge base about the game itself...
Go check it out...Even if you say you'd rather not...I promise, nobody will know!
Sat on the End of the Bench, Guarded the Gatorade Jugs, & Tackled anyone who came near them...
DJ was one of the first to commit.
As far as run-blocking goes, that is Fluker's specialty. If he gets his hands on you, you're done.
haha, and people act like kids don't learn anything about football in high school. DJ already knows basic blocking techniques.
and again, I'm PREDICTING he will be a better run-blocker than Andre Smith.
And yes, the combination of size, strength, and athleticism he possesses is the main reason why he is so great at run-blocking.
Saban never did that before he realized DiNardo had kids at LSU during the Summer for the Offseason program-which was much weaker than it is now-through something called the "Summer Scholar" program at the time.
Our kids actually get workout training guides specific to their position & S&C staff member, ALONG WITH their playbook, and the kids who aren't December graduates and enroll in the Spring for Spring Football have been here since early June (The last of the Frosh reported for June 6th, I believe).
You aren't reinventing the wheel over there, BC, but you find new & inventive ways every day to show just how big of a tool you are.
I guess we're through here...
And they're all full of SHIT...
If a kid coommitts to a "flavor of the month" school who's been winning lately, like Texas or Florida, they add stars to all their committments. On the flip side, if a "4 Star" recruit committs to Vandy or Baylor, they get dropped down to a "3 Star"...
I can't believe people pay attention to those hacks, how can some 40 yr old white guy tell if some 17yr old black kid is ever gonna amount to anything???
Personally, I think they are creepy, any 40+ yr old guy who knows the 40 times of high school kids just creep me out, either the numb nuts writing that garbage or the obsessed couch potato reading it...
Hard to understand how a guy who looks exactly like Charlie Manson could get "creeped out" by anything (LMFAO). Nevertheless, it's very silly and you are absolutely correct in all of that assumption. We could wait until the last day before signing day, go out and recruit some kid who picked up towels around the locker room, and he'd instantly become a four-star recruit. It's a total joke. But, every other job in America is half-assed these days, so why not the job they do at Rivals and Scout?
I'd rather have the "3 Star" recruits who have to work their asses off and were never given anything for nothing, if you have a good coach, they can turn that player into a star... Look at Rashad Johnson of Bama last year. He was a walk on, had to work his ass off just to make the team, then ended up starting for 2+ years, became an All American, then drafted high... For every Rashad Johnson, there are 50 Willie Williamses, he was constantly wined & dined, told over & over again he was "the best", got arrested 10+ times, got thrown off 3 teams, and now is playing for some NAIA team in the middle of bumf*ck Tennessee(are there any parts of Tennessee that AREN'T bumf*ck???)
That's some funny shit there about WalMart and Phil Steele. I've been thinking about it for a few days.
Anyway, I'm over at WalMart getting my wife's prescriptions filled (got her about a six-month supply - should keep her out until after the bowl games), and I just had to walk over to the rack and check it out. Bigger than shit, there it is, Phil Steele's College Football 2009. Couldn't resist. Actually bought the dayum thing.
Now, according to Phil Steele, Ciron Black is the top rated tackle in the entire country. Joseph Barksdale is listed at #14. Southern Cal tackles are Charles Brown at #9 and Butch Lewis at #33. Nowhere is there an Alabama tackle rated in the Top 65 - not even DJ Fluker! In fact, Xavier Nixon is the top incoming OL at Florida, while DJ Fluker is not slated to start at Alabama. He'll backup Senior Drew Davis at the RT position while LT will belong to rFR Tyler Love.
Phil Steele lists only LG Mike Johnson #6 as noteworthy Alabama offensive linemen. OG Lyle Hitt is rated at #14 for LSU, while USC lists OG's Jeff Byers #2, Thomas Herring #38, Zack Heberer #44 and C Kristofer McDowd as #1. Southern Cal rates as the #1 offensive line in the country while LSU is rated at #15. Alabama is nowhere to be found in the Top 33.
Now, about what a load of shit this rag is: He lists the Southern Cal receivers as the #4 unit in the country, yet, the QB position is rated #34. Say what? Do you realize that Houston, C. Michigan, Nevada, Florida Atlantic, UTEP, W.Michigan, Hawaii, UAB, Duke and TCU will all be stronger at the QB position than USC will be? My most glaring question is: how can you have the 4th best receiving corp without anybody to get them the ball?
It is also very interesting that Zack Heberer (#44) is not slated to start at RG. That distinction belongs to Alex Parsons - who is not rated. Also, not only is Thomas Herring (#38) not going to start at LG, he's gonna be 3rd string behind rFR Khaled Holmes. Again the question is: How can two guys who are not even the starters be rated higher than the people who are?
Thomas Herring is an interesting case. About 6'6 370 when he walked in here. Rated the 3rd best DT in the country. A real monster. Switched to OT then OG and cannot get on the field. Many lower rated players have moved past him including Alex Parsons, Charles Brown, Zack Heberer and Nick Howell. This is our guy who has never lived up to his potential. BTW, he's now only 6'6 330, and maybe he can somehow move his ass sans the extra forty pounds.
Your point on this rag is well taken. But, it may help clear everything up for BC. I just could not resist. Hopefully, he can come back now with some rant, about how you just can't rely on ratings. That would be fun.
The dream season the Tide had in 08 had a few near misses the KY and Ole Miss games coulda went either way and the Tide will not enjoy the same success next season- Coffee was a big part of their attack and he's gone.
Breaking in a new QB will be tough and Ole Miss and Ark will both be improved.
Everyone thinks Ole Miss is going to be the team to beat this year, and I agree. But they WILL have to win all those big games to make up for their OOC schedule. They play two teams in D-2...excuse me, FCS.
Not exactly a championship team schedule there....
SE Louisiana, Memphis, Northern Arizona & UAB...
They play TWO 1AA teams
Bama: Va Tech, North Texas, Fla Intl, Chattanooga
Ohio St: Navy, Southern Cal, Toledo, New Mexico St
Oklahoma: BYU, Idaho St, Tulsa, Miami
Right now, it's a toss up for better or worse, but what if North Tx wins 7 games instead of 2??? What if BYU stumbles to 8-4??? What if Southern Cal loses 2-3 games??? These non-conference opponents will look a lot different in November...
We just need to wait and see...
Kevin's favorite subject......
http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindducksbeat/2009...
South Carolina governor Mark Sanford has been charged with killing Michael Jackson so that it would divert the media attention away from him...
more to come...
I just fried my wonderful huge Sony HD TV. So, obviously I have to buy a new one before football season. So, here's the question: DLP, LCD, Plasma? Please give a reason for your answer. LED is too high to cost justify at this point.
I think plasma has a better picture than the rest, There's some concern that they may not last as long, but with prices dropping the way they have, you don't have to do as much homework as you once did when they were $3000.
The only thing really intriguing me now is that DLP 60" TVs are cheap. I just don't know anyone who has one to ask about them.
BTW, I had not heard of Brands Mart. I just checked out their site and they have some really good deals. Thanks for the heads up!
How much is a 60" DLP running these days? Is it a flat-panel? I've never cared for the screen projection TVs. Also, I've heard that DLPs have some issues, but you know how that goes.
I've also heard of some issues with DLP but I never know if that's legit or just the rare person who got screwed who is yelling the loudest. I'm also not at all informed about Mitsubishi as a TV manufacturer.
At this point, I think plasma will probably be the winner.
Plasma are supposed to have deeper blacks and richer colors.
Plasmas supposedly wear out quicker than LCDs
Plasmas can get "screen burn" by pausing the screen for too long
Take all that with a grain of salt because that is just what I have heard. Good luck with your purchase.
I have a 46" Sony lcd that is pretty good, but my brother-in-law has a 7 series Samsung (lcd I think) and that thing has the most ridiculous picture I have ever seen!!! I am not even kidding! The picture is so realistic that it is almost hard to get used to. Check one out.
I am a huge fan of both Sony and Samsung. I'll be sure to check that one out before I buy anything. Thanks again!
You might want to check consumer reports
Either way, it doesn't really matter who caused it. Now I have a fantastic excuse to blow some money on a nice new TV before football season.
http://www.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=960207
The drive to work this morning will be really inspired...
Hey, it said 'open thread'...
I had no idea that Japan had high school and college teams. I also didn't realize that so many countries had pro teams.