Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Danny Sheridan: LSU ... then Alabama

The USA Today odds maker says LSU -- by a cat's whisker over Alabama -- is the SEC's best bet for a sixth consecutive championship.

Among his other pre-season observations:

*Auburn, home to the top recruiting staff in the country, has brought in far too much talent to fall completely off the map.

*Alabama is good enough to run the table, even with middlin' quarterback play.

*Mark Richt is the most likely SEC coach to lose his job. The magic number: at least 9 wins.

*If LSU were to open with Alabama instead of Oregon, the Tigers would be favorites. By the time the two play in Tuscaloosa in late fall, who knows?

Read the rest here, courtesy of al.com

MG

Remember: The EXPATS return Aug. 1.

3 comments:

Jimmymac said...

Hey Sheridan, ever heard of South Carolina ? Watch out for the Gamecocks this year !

Michael said...

JimmyMAC:

'Cocks beat Georgia and they are set up for quite the ride.

Anonymous said...

At least 9 wins for Auburn? Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one.

I have gone back and forth between laughing and seething when I see talking heads like Jesse Palmer say a "good season" for Auburn would be 6 wins and a bowl birth of any kind (and notice he didn't say a bowl win). I've heard a number of "experts" say Auburn's QB play will be deplorable because "neither Barrett Trotter nor Kalil Frazier distinguished himself" in spring practice. These same talking heads need to be reminded that Cam Newton wasn't named the starter until after spring practice last year. And last I looked, Onterio McCalebb and Michael Dyer are still on the team. The loss of all that O-line experience is the wild card. Fairley may be gone on D, but the rest of the D was so bad most of the year that even marginal improvement will help win some games.

One place where I will question Sheridan is his assertion that the winner of the Florida-Florida State game is a national title contender. Why does he say it like that? If the Lizards manage to win that game, Jimbo Fisher should be fired before he even gets back to the locker room. Muschamp isn't inheriting a ton of talent and he had a rotten recruiting class. It's Jesse Palmer's alma mater that should be thrilled with a 6-win season this year.

And no, one of them wins ain't gonna be over Auburn.