Mailbag: SEC Title Game – Alabama vs. Florida

SN Today question: Who are you picking to win the SEC Championship Title game this weekend?

Former Auburn coach Pat Dye: “I really don’t think Florida is quite as good as Alabama on defense. Mississippi State moved the ball against Florida and couldn’t at all versus Alabama. Alabama, if they get to where they can do what they did against Mississippi State, stretching the field with the deep pass on top of the unstoppable run game, they are hard to beat. But I don’t think Florida can beat them. Maybe Florida can put pressure on the Alabama quarterback McElroy, but Alabama will be tough to beat if they can get the  play action working and throw the deep ball. And Alabama only got two penalties versus Mississippi State. I think it will be a great game, but I think Alabama will win.”

Legends: No upset for Bama or Florida

Do you think Auburn can upset Alabama?

Pat Dye: Alabama’s playing Auburn Saturday, but I don’t think that will affect the game in Atlanta.  Auburn’s in the same category as Kentucky, Mississippi State and South Carolina. If Auburn is going to beat Alabama they’d have to help them a lot and Alabama hasn’t been helping anybody.  They don’t get many penalties and they do what they’re supposed to do to be a great football team.  I still think Alabama’s the best and they’re going to play to find out.

Who should be No. 1? Alabama or Florida?

Vince Dooley: You can argue strongly for both of those teams.  The thing FSU has been doing is scoring but I don’t think they’re going to score a lot against Florida.  They’ve given up a lot so I don’t think it’s going to be much of a test.  Trying to pick who is one and who is two, the only thing I think is the difference is that Tebow is still there and as long as he’s there I’m going to pick Florida.  The other kid (McElroy) is a little inconsistent.  That might be the difference.

Do you expect an upset this weekend?

Don James: I don’t think there’s any question who we think are the best but we have to remember these are all big rivalry games.  We’ve seen over the years what can happen in big rival games.  I’d take Florida, Alabama, and Texas to win but Florida State, Auburn, and Texas A&M are going to come in there flying.

Why has Texas dropped in your eyes?

Gene Stallings: I’ve watched them on the television and it seems that they’ve abandoned the running game.  I don’t know what they’re going to do against a good football team.  Unless their running game picks up I don’t think they have much chance to win it all.

Herbstreit joins the legends for a BCS roundtable

Kirk Herbstreit joined the Legends Poll voters on a conference call this week. Herbstreit and the Legends discussed the quandary that the BCS is facing with potential unbeatens: SEC Champion, Texas, TCU, Cincinnati and Boise State.

The featured roundtable discussion offered a variety of views about No. 4 TCU and their argument to be included in the BCS Championship Game.

LaVell Edwards: I believe TCU is going to come out of this on the short end.  It’s a shame they won’t get a shot at it because clearly they’re the best team I’ve ever seen around here.  They are legitimate in my mind.  We kind of lock into Florida, Alabama and Texas all year long and that’s the way it’s been.   I definitely think TCU could beat Alabama, Florida or Texas, no question in my mind they can.

George Welsh: I saw TCU play Virginia and I was very impressed.  I really like TCU.  I don’t know what they have going for them but they have a lot.  They have a great pass rush; they do a great job on defense.  Now the quarterback who was off to a slow start against Virginia is obviously playing a lot better.  I like TCU also.

John Cooper: I saw Texas play last year.  I went out and watched the Fiesta Bowl.  I like Texas and we all like Mack Brown but Gene Stallings’ right- Texas is one-dimensional.  If McCoy has a bad day, Texas is going to get beat.  Their biggest win all year was over Oklahoma State.  I don’t know about you guys but I watched Oklahoma State last weekend and I was not impressed.

We talk about TCU but TCU went to Clemson and beat a pretty good Clemson team, went to BYU and won that game pretty easily over a pretty good BYU team, they beat Utah who is 9-2.  I would give TCU a slight edge over Texas.  We don’t even need to talk any more about Alabama and Florida.  Those two teams are going to play each other and the winner of that game is going to play for the national championship.  We need to be talking about Texas and TCU and see who should play the winner of that SEC game.  I think if TCU went against Texas right now they would beat them.

Gene Stallings: I’m not sure that Texas will beat Texas A&M.

Pat Dye: Looking at those four football teams, if they all played the best they could play, Alabama’s the only one TCU couldn’t beat.  I just think physically they would beat them.  I think Florida’s got some problems and y’all say Texas has some but I don’t see any problems in Tuscaloosa.

Terry Donahue: I saw TCU two weeks ago play in person.  I’ve seen Alabama twice (in person).  TCU has the best defensive football team I’ve seen all year except for Alabama.  I just thought they were so fast at every position.  They have eight receivers they throw into a game and it’s hard to tell one from another.  I voted them ahead of Texas in the poll because if you consider every facet of the game I believe they could beat Texas or at least deserve a shot at beating Texas.  So I voted them ahead of Texas.

RC Slocum: I have some of the feelings that everyone else has but I think Texas is a good defensive team and an explosive offensive team.  What happens is that we talk about the Boises who beat the people they have to beat and Texas does that too.  I don’t know if we’ve seen Texas’ best game.  They came back in the second half and beat Oklahoma.  They ran the ball some then.  I have the same concern Gene has, you’d like for them to be more balanced.  That’s what they do.  They make so many big plays in the passing game.  They’ll run it in there every once and a while.  I’d be more concerned about their kicking game than anything else.

I just wonder in a match up with Florida or Alabama… all three of those teams are good defensive teams but how many can make the big explosive plays on offense and I would say Texas.  Alabama’s better at running the football and I appreciate that.  Florida is better at running the ball.  But if you ask which of those three offenses is the most explosive I’m going to say Texas is.  All three are comparable defensive teams.

Everything you hear about TCU is good and deservedly so.  That coach has done a great job.  They’re a speed defensive team that would give anybody problems.  I think that would be a good match up.  I would still take Texas in that match up maybe just for psychological reasons.  They played Texas a year ago and they played Texas for a half.  TCU was TCU and Texas was Texas.  If those two played today, I’d pick Texas.

I think they’re so good at what they’re doing that they’re choosing to throw the ball.  They’re promoting McCoy for the Heisman.  They had trouble in the Oklahoma game and they came out in the second half and gashed Oklahoma running the ball.  I thought it was the difference in the ball game.  I know Mack, way down deep, likes to throw the ball.  They do it by design and man, they do it in such a hurry.  My son’s up in Green Bay coaching and we’ve got guys who coached in the pros.  Coaches there talk a lot about explosive plays.  You can’t line up against those good NFL defensive teams and grind the ball down the field over and over and score enough points to win the game.  You have to make explosive plays.  That’s what prompts my question of which team out of Alabama, Florida and Texas can make explosive plays.

From what I’ve seen, I would take Texas first, Florida second and Alabama third in making explosive plays.  If you ask me who can grind the ball out I would put Texas third.  You get in those games and anybody’s going to have a hard time with those three defenses moving the ball.  It comes down to who can get the big chunks and I think Texas has the ability to do that more than the other two.  TCU is explosive too, they do a good job throwing the ball and they run the ball.  It would be a good match up.

Fisher DeBerry: Having played TCU for many, many years and knowing their background, they can play with anybody — I guarantee you defensively.  The reason I haven’t voted them higher than I have is because I don’t think their offense is that good.  The quarterback has played well the last three or four weeks and it would be a heck of a match up to see TCU play Texas just like it will be to see Alabama play Florida.

Kirk Herbstreit: I’m just intrigued listening to this.  I think the one thing that’s changed with the BCS from 1998 to now is non-automatic qualifier — the perception of the Utah, Boise State, TCU or whoever it happens to be.  I remember in ‘98,’99, 2000 you would never even imagine having this discussion about TCU.  I think the success of Boise and Utah and others of not just getting to a BCS bowl game but what they’ve done when they’ve gotten there, Utah beating Alabama last year in the Sugar Bowl, I think proves that these teams can play one game with these teams.

One coach was talking about the schedule and doesn’t TCU outpersonnel teams they play? I personally feel that the MWC is one of the most underrated conferences in the country because they have a TV program with Versus and nobody sees these teams.  For TCU to go to Virginia, to go to Clemson, to go to Air Force, to go to BYU, and go to Wyoming and beat these teams the way they have…I think that’s a more impressive resume that what Texas has gone through.

Texas hasn’t played anybody outside of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.  They’ve played nobody all year.  It doesn’t mean they aren’t a great team.  We just won’t know how good they are until they play Nebraska for the Big 12 championship and the national championship to play the winner of the Florida-Alabama game.  We can speculate but we really don’t know how good Texas is.

Barnhart asks Legends about Alabama

Tony Barnhart from CBS Sports joined the Legends Poll on the weekly conference and asked some burning college football questions.

Barnhart: Obviously they are a great defensive team but what are Florida’s offensive issues?

Vince Dooley: Obviously they are not as good as last year and the QB has taken on the role. And we have said all along ‘how long until he gets hurt?’ He keeps pounding the ball and they still win. They then use the fast guys to try and run by people once they wear them down pounding the ball. I think it will be interesting to see them play Alabama, but as long as Tebow is there they will compete and win.

Pat Dye: I really don’t think they are quite as good as Alabama on defense. Miss St. moved the ball against Florida and couldn’t at all versus Florida. Alabama, if they get to where they can do what they did Saturday stretching the field with the deep pass on top of the unstoppable run game is hard to beat. But I don’t think Florida can beat them.

Barnhart: Talk to me about Alabama’s Defense.

Gene Stallings: You never see a receiver wide open. They pressure you and blitz you, but they still have the coverage so they can really hurt people. They have a kicker who can kick it just about anywhere and the best punt returner on top of a Heisman candidate at running back. I worry about the quarterback with his lack of experience. Our ‘92 team stayed healthy but this year they have only lost a few.

Dye: Maybe Florida can put pressure on McElroy, but Alabama will be tough to beat if they can get the play action working and throw the deep ball. And Alabama only got two penalties Saturday. I think it will be a great game, but I think Alabama will win.

Legends answer Mr. College Football’s questions

Tony Barnhart from CBS Sports joined the Legends Poll on the weekly conference and asked some burning college football questions.

Barnhart: I would like to ask you about TCU, they look like a very fast, athletic team. What are your impressions?

LaVell Edwards: I think in the first place they are outstandingly coached. I knew they were going to be good on defense, but their quarterback has come a long way. I think he has made the difference; he can run the ball and throw it. They are a very, very solid football team and could stand up with anybody in the country.

Terry Donahue: I had not yet seen them play in person, but only on our DVDs. But I was really impressed with them. They can run everywhere on defense. And offensively the quarterback is very good and just knows how to play. They have a lot of dimensionality to their offense. It’s hard for defenses to find the ball and they have a great kicking game.

Barnhart: What do you like about Georgia Tech?

Pat Dye: Nobody has stopped them. I thought that defensively they are about average. And I wouldn’t have given Georgia any chance against Georgia Tech, but after Saturday verses Auburn they fought the hell out of Auburn. I don’t know, but if they don’t have some new defensive schemes they won’t be able to stop Tech. The Tech quarterback is starting to throw the ball a little better now.

Barnhart: Can Cincinnati play the power game vs. TCU?

Don Nehlen: Offensively this guy (Brian Kelly) is amazing. The big question is they have a week off with Pitt and Illinois left. Their problem defensively is they are small and can’t stop the run. I think they will have trouble with Pitt. It will be interesting, but I think they are more of a # 9 or # 10 team, not in the top 5.

Mock Match-up: No. 3 Texas vs. No. 4 TCU

On this week’s conference call, the Legends discussed what would happen if Texas and TCU met head-to-head.

How would No. 4 TCU match up with No. 3 Texas?

RC Slocum: TCU played a good Texas team a year ago and played them close for a half. Then Texas pulled away.  You know playing Texas, obviously they’re a good team and a lot of it hinges on the quarterback.  If I were playing them I think we’d match up pretty good because TCU is a pressure, quick pressure defense and they’d probably give Texas some problems.  You’ve got to do something to disrupt their quarterback and don’t let him get into a rhythm.  If you affected the production of the quarterback you would greatly slow their offense down.  They’re not a great running team.  The quarterback opens things up.  Shipley is a great player but if you get the quarterback you don’t have to worry much about Shipley except on special teams.  I think it would be a good match up.

What is your impression of TCU?

Slocum: I think TCU is a very good football team and over the years they’ve lined up and played Oklahoma and played Texas and teams like that.  This year they went to Clemson and beat Clemson.  That impresses me because I think Clemson is pretty good.  When you look at Boise or someone like that, you don’t see the same caliber athletes that you see at some of the big time SEC schools and other schools like that…and that’s where I think the matchup is significant to me, that a team like TCU, who you might question their talent and say they’re just a Boise, you know they went into Clemson against one of those big physical teams.  TCU, to their favor, played that kind of team and matched up pretty well.

Don James: That’s their last tough game — Utah this week.  If you look at their schedule there’s not much left

Fisher DeBerry: Having played TCU for many, many years I think it would simply boil down to the fact that Texas’ defense would make a lot of difference because I don’t think that TCU’s got quite the offensive people on that side of the ball that they have on the defensive side of the ball.  Like R.C. said, they’ll put some pressure on McCoy and if his offensive line can hold up and he can hold up because they’re a defensive pressure blitzing team, they’ve got people who can run on defense and keep up with anybody in country and I guarantee you that.  But I think Texas would eventually wear them down, and I think the difference would be at the quarterback position.

Would Texas would wear down TCU?

Pat Dye: Texas has got to be good.  Even though their schedule has been in their favor.  They’ve got to be good.  You can build up all kinds of statistics against weak football teams.  Top-ranked defense, tops in passing and the quarterback can stand back in the pocket and hold the ball all day long.  Auburn’s quarterback against Furman Saturday was 17 for 18 and he ain’t that good.  So your competition percentage has a lot to do with the way you look.  But I think they would wear down TCU.

No QB, no prayer for Iowa vs. OSU

No need to wait a week to make those Rose Bowl reservations, Ohio State fans. The Buckeyes are BCS-bound, 17 of college football’s coaching greats say.

What was a much-anticipated battle for the Big Ten title this weekend in Columbus lost a lot of luster Saturday when 9-1 Iowa lost a game (to Northwestern), a starting quarterback (Ricky Stanzi), and any prayer of beating the 8-2 Buckeyes, the Legends say.

Click on the image below to read the full story in SN Today

	Legends Poll
November 9, 2009 – Week 10

Legends say Oregon can play with the big boys

After Oregon dismantled perennial Pac-10 power USC in Eugene on Saturday, the Legends Poll became the only collegiate top-25 poll to rank the Ducks in the top-5. The Legends Poll voters were overwhelmingly impressed with the way Oregon dominated the Trojans. On this week’s conference call, the Legends Channel had a roundtable discussion with the voters, and former BCS commissioner Roy Kramer joined us to offer his take on the fifth-ranked Oregon Ducks.

Dick MacPherson: Everybody who plays Oregon better know how to defense the spread or they’re in trouble.  Because they’ve got a guy who knows exactly what to do if they don’t have the defense right and I think USC blew it.

Frank Kush: I watched that game very closely and I was so impressed with the diversity of their offense.  Not only the quarterback running the ball. Masoli, he’s very capable of passing, running, etc but their running backs too.  They’ve got two running backs —James and Barner — that I think are exceptionally good.  But above all I think the coaching is remarkable and the diversity of their offense is just as good as I’ve seen in the country.  They attack just about every hole at the line of scrimmage.  Whether it’s the quarterback or the running backs, whoever it may be, they’re pretty dog gone athletic.  James, that running back, to me has to be one of the quickest I’ve ever seen.  I was really impressed with them.  They just kicked the hell out of (USC).

Kush: I don’t think the entire Pac-10 matches up with the SEC what I’ve seen of them.  Southern Cal has talent but I don’t think they were into it for some reason.  Just watching the Pac10, Cal was over here (Arizona) and I wasn’t impressed with them even though they kicked Arizona State’s butt.  But the interesting thing about it is that Oregon and Oregon State, in my opinion, get the maximum out of what they have from the standpoint of talent.  But I think the Southeastern Conference, from what I see, has a heck of a lot more talent than the other conferences.

John Cooper: I’m going to tell you guys, Southern Cal has as much talent as anyone in the country — including Florida, LSU, and any of those teams down South.  And for Oregon to beat up on them like they did…I think if they play like that I think if you were to play them on the west coast or in Pasadena they could beat anybody in the country.  Based on what I saw.

Kush: They were remarkable.  No question about it.

John Robinson: I think SC hasn’t developed as a team.  They started out having to replace 10 defensive players and they just couldn’t do it.  They just haven’t matured as a team.  They got preoccupied with the quarterback position and it seems like they just forgot about the rest.  Now Oregon. Utah was like Oregon a year ago.  I think they had an undefeated year and nobody thought they were any good and they go down and beat Alabama badly in a bowl game.  So those teams out West don’t see the spread as much and it’s effective especially when you put the speed element with it.  SC hasn’t seen it very much, doesn’t know how to defend it.

Robinson: I think Oregon for the last few years has really recruited speed.  They’re little guys, they all look like midgets when you see them but they can RUN.  And they teach speed.  I remember back in the wishbone, teams like Oklahoma were faster than everybody.  I think Oregon and Texas who throw the ball a lot are tough to handle.  And I know we’ve been talking about all this conference stuff, but what it comes down to is one team playing one game.  We don’t know that Oregon doesn’t match up with anybody in the country for one game.  Now, they’ve lost a lot of defensive players.  I think they could get embarrassed on defense against a really strong powerful team.

Robinson: SC is not the team it wanted to be and it’s slipped away from them.  The good players are not playing the way they’d like to be playing and it’s an anomaly for them because Pete Carroll’s teams have always played really well.  The story out here is Oregon, and I think they’re going to go the rest of the way and that’s a great thing for the Pac-10.

Pat Dye: I was impressed with Oregon’s defense against Southern Cal, and I know everyone’s going to be impressed with their offense…that quarterback is like Houdini, but I thought their defense was quick and they ran to the football.  After looking at them against Southern Cal, I guarantee you that you can call Nick Saban or Urban Meyer and neither one of them is going to want to play them.

Roy Kramer: I think Phil Knight gave Oregon new shoes to wear because I’ve never seen so much speed against Southern Cal as I did that night.  They were impressive.  You know they’ve got that loss to Boise State and in all fairness if you look at the ratings across the board, Boise State is riding Oregon’s balloon.  And if that balloon were to burst it would affect Boise State as much as Oregon.  This makes TCU a much stronger outside candidate because they beat Clemson at Clemson, they had that good win over BYU and if they beat Utah they’re going to have a better resume across the board than Boise does.

The only good thing about it at the BCS is that it sort of plays out with the rankings because Florida and Alabama play each other and I think Texas can ride it out to the national championship game.  You can argue about the other people but I think it’s hard to argue against Texas and the SEC champion playing for the national title.

If you asked me about the two best-coached teams in the country I agree that Oregon and Iowa should be it from what I’ve seen based on what they’re playing with.

McCoy could be back on track

Texas jumped to No. 2 in the Legends Poll for the first time since Week 4, coming off a strong performance from Colt McCoy against Missouri. Former Texas A&M head coach RC Slocum and Auburn legend Pat Dye believe that Colt McCoy might have broken out this week.

What was the difference this week for Texas?

Slocum: I said last week that I was concerned that McCoy was not playing as well as a year ago, he had a much better game.  He completed the first 11 passes he threw against Missouri and ended up 26 out of 31 I think.  They beat the heck out of Missouri for what that’s worth.  They rushed for 150 yds — 3 yds a carry. I wish they rushed the ball a bit better, but they’re playing really good defense.  If the quarterback can come on out, he’s been sick and hurt a little bit. I talked to Mack Brown this week and he said the kid was healthy really for the first time this week.  He finally had all the little things work out. So with him playing well, they’re one of those teams.  I watched Florida and I watched Alabama and I watched Texas and I certainly think they deserve to be in that mix.  If I had to pick one of those teams, I might pick Texas to be number one right now.

How does their defense match up?

Slocum: I think they’re a comparable defensive team to those two other teams.  I think they might have a wider array of weapons on offense.  I think they might be a little better over all offensively than the other two teams.  That’s saying a lot, I know.

Why are the heralded quarterbacks struggling?

Dye: All these quarterbacks in the Southeastern Conference are going backwards because they’re playing in this conference and getting a heck of a lot more pressure than they’ve been getting earlier in the year.

Slocum: I saw Tebow get hit early in that game and man he got blindsided.  Guy just came off that right edge and just drilled him.

Dye: Florida’s so good on defense and Alabama too but I agree with you RC that over all, I don’t know how much Florida or Alabama would neutralize McCoy with their defense. I know he wouldn’t have time to throw like he did against Missouri but I don’t know if they’re better than Texas over the last three weeks.

No respect for ‘ugly’ Hawkeyes

They are No. 1 in the Big Ten, off to their best start ever and owners of the second-longest winning streak in Division 1-A, behind only Florida.

So why do no Legends Poll voters have 8-0 Hawkeyes in their top five?

Click on the image below to read the full story in SN Today

	Legends Poll
October 26, 2009 – Week 8

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