Your Daily Fix, 7/20
Hey everyone. I penned a little story for Sunday's editions that reviewed how four major preseason magazines handicapped SEC this season. It's fun to read through the magazines and see how (some) people who know little about Auburn have to say about Auburn.As you'll see below, an example is saying Rod Smith has the SEC's best hands. He has good hands, no doubt, but Ben Tate is the best receiver on that team. He has the gift, No. 44.
(If the Advertiser wasn't footing the bill, I'd stick with Sporting News and Phil Steele's tome.)
The story reveals a lot of what I found. Some of it was funny. Some of it was pretty cool. As someone who used to chart stats for my NES Baseball Stars team -- I was 15 -- reading through Phil Steele's volume can be annoying in an OCD way.
There are other tidbits that deserve HOTTIE perusal. They are as follows:
SPORTING NEWS
Predicted West finish: LSU, Auburn, Alabama, MSU, Arkansas, Ole Miss
- Says Arkansas' stock is dropping
- Says Auburn and Alabama are on the up-tick
- Says Rod Smith has the SEC's best hands
- Says Sen'Derrick Marks is the SEC's top NFL prospect
- Gave Auburn and Alabama 5-out-of-5 for coaching
LINDY'S
Predicted West finish: LSU, Auburn, Alabama, MSU, Ole Miss, Arkansas
- Says Auburn's offense is "definitely on the uppity-up"
- Says a 9-win season is "the lowest of expectations"
- Rates Auburn's OL as the nation's No. 5 group
- Rated Auburn's DL as the nation's No. 8 group (Really?)
ATHLON
Predicted West finish: Auburn, LSU, Alabama, MSU, Arkansas, Ole Miss
- I saw nothing noteworthy here
PHIL STEELE
Predicted West finish: Auburn, LSU, Alabama, Ole Miss, MSU, Arkansas
- Ranks Auburn as the nation's No. 4 surprise team
- Says "If everything falls (the Tigers') way, they could have a year like 2003."
- YES, THAT'S WHAT IT SAYS. 2003.
- Says Auburn is a "darkhorse national title contender
AGGREGATE RANKINGS
I think this ran in the actual newspaper, but I cannot find this online. I found it so interesting that Florida and Georgia garnered two first-place votes each yet weren't in the top three overall.
FLORIDA's votes: No. 1 by Steele and Athlon, No. 6 by Lindy's, No. 9 by Sporting News
GEORGIA's votes: No. 1 by Lindy's and Sporting News, No. 5 by Athlon, No. 9 by Steele
Rank, team, avg. magazine rank
1. Ohio State, 2.25
2. Southern Cal, 3.25
3. Oklahoma, 3.50
4. Georgia, 4.00 (2 first-place votes)
5. Florida, 4.25 (2 first-place votes)
6. Missouri, 6.00
7. West Virginia, 7.75
8. LSU, 8.50
9. Clemson, 10.33
10. Texas, 11.25
11. Auburn, 12.25
12. *Kansas, 13.33
13. Wisconsin, 14.50
14. *Illinois, 14.67
15. *Arizona State, 15.33
16. BYU, 15.50
17. Texas Tech, 16.25
18. Virginia Tech, 16.67
19. USF, 17.00
20. Oregon, 19.25
21. Tennessee, 21.50
22. *Wake Forest, 21.67
23. *Fresno State, 24.00
24. **Penn State, 16.50
25. **Alabama, 24.75
*=appeared in three polls
**=appeared in two polls
Source: Lindy's, Athlon, Sporting News, Phil Steele's College Football Preview
posted by Jay G. Tate at
10:28 AM
13 Comments:
2 things:
1. Rod Smith may or may not have the best hands, but my main concern every year is -- Can any of our receivers get themselves open?
2. Love the love for the lines. Let's hope they earn it.
Can any of the receivers get themselves open? Seems that Smith, once again, had no problem doing so. Dunn certainly didn't. Billing seemed to be always streaming wide open on his routes. I'm telling you, Cox rarely saw the whole field. He's was accurate enough however, the pinpoint the one man he was looking at most of the time. Cox was at his absolute best when he scanned the field and operated with poise at the same time. Rare.
Hands? Smith has some damn good ones. How many people could make the catch he did in the LSU game? The one we thought iced the game.
What about Fannin? The guy has glue for finger tips.
2003? Wow. Hell yea. What a year. But I thought we scratched that one from the memory bank? I did.
I like Smith's hands. Ben Tate's are better. That's all I'm saying.
I don't think "getting open" will be as big of a deal this year. The scheme will get them open ... and there will be a lot of screens and quick slants, etc.
You heard it here first. This is the year. Laugh now, believe me later.
The year for what?
"The scheme will get them open ... and there will be a lot of screens and quick slants, etc."
Good assessment, JGT. However, I'll reserve my judgment on the "success" of the new scheme until the fourth or fifth game when Au has played some serious teams. The first two games won't tell much at all. The next two should shed a lot of light.
I can't say it out loud. But, it's two words. The first one starts with an N and the second one starts with a C.
Jay what is your take on AU telling the 4*(according to scout.com) CB Sweeting that there is no vacancy in the inn?? Since I doubt our staff has suddenly gone crazy, I'll assume that they feel pretty good about a higher ranked CB (Branden Smith maybe?) or they think we got enough usable talent at the position with the freshmen.
I was intrigued about Sweeting. That's a rarity. My guess is that Auburn, as you said, feels good about maybe 10 more kids it likes better.
Tuberville doesn't play around with the kids he really wants. They darn sure know they're wanted.
This is off topic, but what games are essential for someone upgrading to the 360?
Depends on the genre.
Shooting/violence: Call of Duty 4, Halo 3, Team Fortress 2 (part of "Orange Box")
Music (easy): Rock Band
Music (hard): Guitar Hero 3 or Guitar Hero Aerosmith
Racing: Forza 2, PGR 4 or GRiD
Turn-based stuff: Oblivion, Civilization
Kids: Lego Star Wars, Lego Indiana Jones
Puzzle: Portal (part of "Orange Box")
Thanks. I have heard good things about Call of Duty 4. I'm coming over from years on the Sony side, so I hope the learning curve is short.
The COD4 learning curve, at least on multiplayer, is long. Expect a rough ride early!
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