Mingo, the LSU WRs, and the LSU 2-min drill Defense make "SEC Worst of 2012" list

by Russ Mitchell, lead SEC Columnist for College Football News...

--Barkevious Mingo...With great power comes great responsibility, KeKe. Mr. Mingo was supposed to be a dominate force this season playing across from All American DE Sam Montgomery. While by no means a flop, he failed to meet these lofty preseason expectations - certainly not on a consistent basis. His sack production fell to roughly half what it was last season, as did his number of tackles (both solo and assisted). He also failed to register a single forced fumble; compare that to the now departed DB Tyrann Mathieu, who had 11 in about a season and a half. Regardless, Mingo will likely be a first round NFL draft choice, and as such should depart early for the League. But 2012 should leave a sour taste long after KeKe starts cashing NFL paychecks

--LSU’s Wide Receivers...LSU finished the season ranked 78 in the nation in total offense, with a passing attack once again in the bottom 25 percent of college football. When it comes to identifying causes for the seemingly perpetual offensive woes in Red Stick, the Tigers’ wideouts are hardly the sole problem. The Bayou Bengals struggled with a plethora of key (and non-key) injuries this season, most specifically on the O line. Still, the receiving corps was relatively healthy, yet for much of the season it appeared as if LSU’s wideouts thought catching was an optional part of the job description. LSU had more drops than AT&T’s wireless coverage. Indeed, some of the early criticism of quarterback Zach Mettenberger was the direct result of poor receiving play. It wasn’t just catching, either - when not dropping passes, this unit failed to run crisp routes consistently and at times even block efficiently downfield, the latter a hallmark of LSU receivers. Sophomore Odell Beckham Jr. was particularly average in comparison to expectations after an All-SEC Freshman campaign in 2011.

--LSU’s Two Minute Drill defense...With so much riding on the line, that last minute is going to sting for a long, long time, Tiger fan. After 30 minutes of their November 3 matchup in Baton Rouge, LSU was down 14-3 to the Tide, but the Tigers would go on to simply dominate Alabama in the second half. LSU scored 14 unanswered points to take the lead, and held the defending BCS champs to three and outs on four of their next five possessions...until 1:43 to play. Then, with no timeouts and facing said defense over 72 yards, Bama scored in 43 seconds. If you were paying attention that night it was less shocking than most thought, as the Tigers did the exact same thing at the end of the first half - allowing Bama to drive 63 yards for a touchdown in just 57 seconds. The prevent defense once again only preventing a good defense from working.

http://cfn.scout.com/2/1250540.html

By Russ Mitchell

After surrendering more than twice as many yards in its toughest games of 2012 vs 2011, and benefiting from some particularly cushy scheduling, forgive us for questioning Bama’s conference supremacy


Congratulations to Alabama for clinching its second SEC championship in the last four years, and for likely being the odds-on Vegas favorite to win a third BCS title during that same span.

However, you are hardly alone if you question whether Alabama is indeed the best team in the SEC.

PULLING BACK THE CURTAIN

There will be more than enough columns praising the Capstone during the coming weeks...much of it deserved. Alabama rolled over Georgia’s defense Saturday, handing the Dawgs D its worst statistical loss of the season (in terms of total yards allowed (512), rushing yards allowed (350), etc.). More even than UGA's triple overtime loss to Michigan State in last year's Outback Bowl.

However, the 2012 Bulldogs have only played three teams in the top 25, and have now lost two of those, giving up 67 points in the process. Meanwhile, yet another freshman ran all over Alabama like Sherman through Atlanta, this one Georgia's Todd Gurley (5 ypc on 23, 2 TDs), after TAMU's Johnny Manziel (5 ypc on 18) and LSU's Jeremy Hill (4 ypc on 29, 1 TD). What’s more, on Saturday Bama surrendered seven carries to Gurley in excess of eight yards...four that went 10+.

This is the weakest Alabama's defense has looked since 2007. Granted, that’s still better than the majority of college football, though it's worth noting in light of the following observations.

In its only top-shelf games this season, Alabama is 2-1, and was truly outplayed by LSU in one of those W's. Moreover, in these games, Bama surrendered a stunning 1,247 yards, 830 of them passing. Compare that to allowing just 557 total and 353 passing yards vs. their three best opponents of 2011 (Arkansas, LSU & LSU), and only 766 total and 533 passing yards vs. their three best opponents of 2009 (Virginia Tech, Florida & Texas).

Yet here Alabama stands...Champions of the Southeastern football Conference for the year 2012.

SCHEDULING INEQUITIES, AND THE IMPACT OF CONFERENCE REALIGNMENT

Meanwhile, Florida, LSU, Texas A&M & South Carolina all stand on the sideline thinking, "But for scheduling..." They’re not alone, and as we continue expanding the size of our conferences, these growing scheduling inequities are a fact all of college football can expect to deal with on an accelerating basis.

Scheduling has always been right next to rosters and coaching in relation to winning. But with 14 SEC teams now to fit into 12 games, these inequities are beginning to stand out even more sharply. LSU and TAMU lost to Florida, the Tigers in The Swamp, while Bama skirted past Mizzou and Tennessee, with their three conference wins between them (one each vs. Kentucky, and Mizzou's OT win vs...UT).

Meanwhile, Florida played LSU (6-2) and TAMU (6-2) and beat them both (TAMU in College Station), while Georgia waltzed past Ole Miss and Auburn - again, with only three conference wins between them.

Had this Bama team played LSU's conference schedule, it's quite reasonable to see it losing to either Florida or South Carolina with a seasoned Marcus Lattimore. Even more likely had the 2012 Bulldogs played LSU and TAMU

Most importantly, this problem will only deepen in the coming years. As we have been arguing for nearly a decade, 16 team conferences are a financial inevitability. When that happens, even at nine conference games, these inequities are going to get uglier and negatively impact the sport.

As such, it is only a matter of time until college football adjusts with a 13 game regular season to support more conference games.

WIN-WIN

This year, the SEC clearly had greater parity at the top than it has for a while. Nevertheless, the bottom line is that favorable scheduling and prior year comparisons notwithstanding, Bama finished the season 11-1 - an “SEC” 11-1 - and will represent the conference against Notre Dame in the BCS title game. Likely bringing home a seventh consecutive BCS crown for the SEC.

Care to guess what Alabama's 2013 schedule looks like?

http://cfn.scout.com/2/1245619.html

Mitchell: The SEC Best of 2012

Freshman RBs...Two freshmen led the conference in rushing yards per game (Manziel and Gurley). Jeremy Hill of LSU came on midway through the season and made folks on the bayou forget five other future NFL tailbacks. T.J. Yeldon hit the ground running on day one, shining against an albeit weak Michigan run defense, but then proceeded to repeat the performance week after week. We even had a freshman duo (Gurley/Marshall) who led Georgia to the SEC Championship game. One rung down the ladder (though likely not for next year) was Brian Kimbrow at Vandy, who got more carries late in the season and made the Dores’ faithful almost forget the great Zac Stacy. Almost. Mike Davis got a bigger role at SC after the injury to Marcus Lattimore. Then to a lesser extent, though still noteworthy: Trey Williams at TAMU, Matt Jones at Florida and Jonathan Williams at Arkansas all have bright futures. A great year for freshman backs.

http://cfn.scout.com/2/1248773.html

Hard to argue with any of it, I'd put Eric Reid on that list too.

Did OBJ start off as a running back and convert to receiver, or was he always a receiver?

Why don't you know this? This is very simple stuff. You complain about fricking everything, but you have no clue about the actual LSU players.

I detect illegal drugs somewhere in all this.

LSU’s Two Minute Drill defense...With so much riding on the line, that last minute is going to sting for a long, long time, Tiger fan. After 30 minutes of their November 3 matchup in Baton Rouge, LSU was down 14-3 to the Tide, but the Tigers would go on to simply dominate Alabama in the second half. LSU scored 14 unanswered points to take the lead, and held the defending BCS champs to three and outs on four of their next five possessions...until 1:43 to play. Then, with no timeouts and facing said defense over 72 yards, Bama scored in 43 seconds. If you were paying attention that night it was less shocking than most thought, as the Tigers did the exact same thing at the end of the first half - allowing Bama to drive 63 yards for a touchdown in just 57 seconds. The prevent defense once again only preventing a good defense from working.

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The asshole had to remind us of that...there goes my appetite.

You are wrong, they just succumbed to mighty AJ. See any post since Nov from the resident gumptards that continue to think we give a shit about their homer opinions.

Selective thinking. If the writer claims that Bama's defense didn't live up to expectation, that is incorrect. What expectations? Against the elite teams, every team gets hit harder and I'm sure the stats will support that, most of the time. So what? Our superior offensive line, running game and QB play was suppose to carry this year's squad and it did just that. The fact that Bama also had the number one defense along the way, when they lost so many to the NFL, is why they are in Miami. Just another article about something that is hardly relevant in the long run. It takes TEAM.