Another SEC regular season is pretty much done (save a couple of non-conference games with Georgia and Florida going against their rivals and the “Egg Bowl” with Ole Miss - MSU) and it seems worthwhile think about the biggest surprises and biggest disappointments of the season.
Clearly, Arkansas is the biggest surprise of the season. At 10-1, headed into the championship game with a pretty good chance at beating Florida, Arkansas has definitely exceeded expectations. Indeed, I thought at the beginning of the season that Huston Nutt would be looking for a new job in December. Darren McFadden is a hoss, as they say - anyone know whether he’s sticking around?
The biggest disappointment? I think that has to go to Georgia. Sure, Alabama’s a candidate, but I think people were just overestimating them at the beginning of the season. They’re just now getting through their scholarship penalties so I wasn’t suprised to watch them not quite get it done. (That said, Shula’s got one more year - he doesn’t deliver a stellar year next year and he’s done, especially, especially if he doesn’t beat Auburn). Georgia - while, again, I think people overestimated them - just hasn’t played consistently all year long. They were great against Western Kentucky, for a half against Tennessee, for another half against Florida, and then really showed up against Auburn. But they can’t defense against the run, their own running game is anemic at best, and Mark Richt seems to be following the Florida State model of play-calling - dull, dull, dull. And no self-respecting team loses to Vanderbilt and Kentucky in the same year. I think they’ll be much better next year - Matthew Stafford is the real deal, but how much better won’t depend on him but on the defense.
As for the SEC championship game? Arkansas 24-10. Too much McFadden…
(Oh, and did you notice that I could write a *whole post* about college football and *not* mention some other team? It’s true…)