| FTBL SEC First Half Grades: Part One- The West ( by Porkchop)

[TerryP]

By Keith Connell (porkchop)

It's been a crazy first half of the season in the Southeastern Conference so far. We've had dark horses like BAMA come out and dominate at times to take control of their division, while perennial doormat Vandy began the first half 5-0. Vandy's short-lived rise to the top of the eastern division standings might be one of the more bizarre occurrences in all of college football.

All has not been well in the first six weeks for some teams however. For all of the feel-good Vandy stuff, we've seen programs like Tennessee and Auburn virtually implode before our eyes. Auburn has already fired their offensive coordinator and seemingly every media outlet in the state is taking bets on how long Tuberville will last.

Up north Tennessee has managed wins over only UAB and Northern Illinois and Phillip Fulmer once again finds himself on the proverbial hot-seat. What were supposed to be bitterly contested early season matchups between ranked teams in Athens and Gainesville turned into laughers by halftime.

Arkansas is muddling through a rebuilding year with a new coach, and arguably four conference teams have yet to find a quarterback in 2008. Well, finding a quarterback hasn't been the issue. Finding a competent one is another story.

All in all it's been another wacky, crazy season in 2008, and we're going to take a look at the individual teams and grade their respective performances through the first 6 games of the season. In doing this we'll keep with the "exceeded, met, below" expectations format that we've used recently in other articles. We'll also get the unique perspective of RTB.com staff and writers in this article.

Read the rest of the review in the football section of our blog

 

[Guest]

Nicely done Keith & co.

 

[imported_porkchop]

Nicely done Keith & co.

Actually B_F, I'm going to be PMing you before I start the East section. I wanted to get yours and Porter's input on the east. Maybe if there's a couple of teams you really want to comment on I'd like to use it.

 

[reger60]

Great read as always.

 

[Perdido Tide]

Good breakdown on LSU. We have a brand new DC, CB's, and QB. Most fans were predicting 9-3 so I think we are on that pace. When you combine the inconsistent QB and DB play I would say while at times it as been frustrating to watch it was what was expected. The only real disappointment is the defense as a whole, but I think Lee has played better than I thought he would.

 

[Guest]

Nice wirte up Porkchop.

 

[TerryP]

Good breakdown on LSU. We have a brand new DC, CB's, and QB. Most fans were predicting 9-3 so I think we are on that pace. When you combine the inconsistent QB and DB play I would say while at times it as been frustrating to watch it was what was expected. The only real disappointment is the defense as a whole, but I think Lee has played better than I thought he would.

While this almost applies to the way we have Steele and Smart with our defense...

TB, you know the old saying about "when you have two QB's you don't have one."

Personally, I look at Co-coordinator roles and feel about the same way. Don't misunderstand me, this isn't a knock on Peveto or Mallory. I just see having two guys, both trying to be the "guy" with the defense, leading to confusion and in a lot of cases lack of development with player personnel.

The only combination of co-DC's I can think of that actually worked was the one OU had in the early part of this decade with Brent Venables and Mike Stoops. Since that break-up, I haven't seen what I consider to be a "Oklahoma style defense" but honestly I don't know if the credit for the earlier versions should go to Stoops or Venables...cases for both, ya know?

It certainly was a weird story last year when everyone thought Tenuta was the guy and nothing ever materialized.

I don't see a reason to talk of "staff changes," at this point. But, I can see blame being thrown Mallory and Peveto's direction if the defense doesn't step up.

Hell, heard a S. Carolina fan yesterday say, "If Auburn can score 24 on LSU, we should be able to put up ___" (tuned him out when I heard Auburn)

To me, the story line isn't the QB situation anymore, it's the Defense.

 

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