SEC Archives

UT Wild Boys Strike A Pose

Where to begin with this? Why exactly is the football team posing with its shirt off in front of a Lamborghini? I mean I realize its a photo shoot, but what magazine/calendar/etc are they shooting for? I can’t imagine the everyday UT fan wants to see this? Why do some of the players have large chains on their neck and back? Why are they all flexing? What is the word I’m looking for to describe this scene? So many questions….just watch.

The Matador Picks The SEC

The SEC is the strongest conference overall winning the last three national championship games with a combined score of 103-52. For those not aware, the SEC is broken up into two divisions, the East and the West. At the end of the regular season, the division champs play in the conference championship game and the winner gets an automatic BCS bid to represent the SEC and it looks like Florida is on the way again.

SEC EAST
It seems almost certain the Florida Gators will win the SEC East with their very weak schedule. The only game that may pose a problem is the road game at LSU where they’ve recently struggled. Even if the Gators blow that game, they are still going to win the SEC East. No other team can compete with Florida in the East. The Gators return their entire starting defense and Tebow is back for his final season. For all you Bulldog lovers, without Moreno and Stafford, Georgia will be looking up all season long and their thin secondary is going to be exposed on opening day. They are going to be in the L column quickly as they have to face a very strong Oklahoma State team on the road (OSU may have the strongest offensive trio in Zac Robinson, Dez Bryant and Kendall Hunter). Tennessee has a new coach who just fired up the Gators with his most recent rants over recruiting. The Vols have an untested QB and are weak at the O line. It’s not even worth my breath to talk about South Carolina, Vandy or Kentucky.
SEC WEST
The SEC West is a bit more unpredictable but with The Matador’s crystal ball, the clouds are clearing. You have three teams that can legitimately win the SEC West-LSU, Alabama and Ole Miss. Most are favoring LSU. I’m not sure why. Maybe it is because of their strength at running back, but who knows. LSU will lose key games because they lost key players at the D line and O line positions. Jefferson, their QB, is still suspect at best but he did have a strong Chick-fil-A Bowl, showing signs of potential and stability. Alabama is going to have a sick defense which rivals the Gators. My concern is their offensive production. I don’t see them scoring enough points to keep up with their SEC rivals. We will learn a lot about Bama on September 5th, when they face VaTech in Atlanta. Either way, the team is not strong enough to be on top. In the end, my team out of the West who will be standing strong is Ole Miss. They are bringing back all their play makers on offense including my Heisman hopeful long shot Jevan Snead. This team will score a lot of points with McCluster and Hodge catching the ball and Bolden anchoring the backfield-and most importantly they don’t have to face the revengeful Gators in the regular season. I recognize they don’t have a lot of depth on the O line and their defense needs improvement, but their offense should take them all the way to the promised land.

The SEC champs: Florida Gators win by trouncing Ole Miss.

Most exciting team to watch: Auburn. They have a new coach in Chiznik, a very difficult schedule, questions at QB, untested players, but one heck of a defense. They won’t win the West but they sure will make it entertaining.

Next Up: The Big 10

SI taking some liberties with the Tim Tebow photo on their new issue

“White power, white power!”

Somehow I don’t think Billy Ocean meant for people to take him literally when he said, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” If that were the case with “Get Out of My Dreams, Get Into My Car”**, Chester the Child Molester would be using that song as his script when cruising in his cargo van at 2:30 PM Monday through Friday.

Petrino took to the podium during SEC media days and gave excuses so good that Nick Saban might have shed a tear if he had anything but coal and greed in his heart. When asked about his new job as Razorback head coach and his departure from the Falcons, the b.s. started to flow like the runs.

“Yeah [the Falcons situation] was [the most difficult time he endured as a coach],” he said. “It was a trying situation. But everybody there worked as hard as they could to do the best job they could. … The whole situation, the timing was bad, no question. With the Falcons, and with Arkansas, it was really the only way it could play out.”

Three games left in the season. Oh I don’t know. Maybe he could have finished the season then resigned to pull a Rodney Dangerfield. Maybe he could have addressed his team and the organization face to face instead of sneaking out like a Mayflower truck (not that I’m still bitter about the Colts or anything). Maybe he could have been straight up with owner Arthur Blank instead of lying to his face.

In Atlanta, Petrino found himself handcuffed by the dog-fighting controversy that surrounded quarterback Michael Vick. He said one the primary attractions of joining the Falcons was the opportunity [to] coach Vick.

After Vick was suspended by the league and eventually sentenced to federal prison, Petrino said much of the attraction was gone.

“They had a quarterback at that time that I thought could be real special, so that played a lot into it,” he said. “But, you know, it was a difficult season. You always try to look back and really try to reflect on what I could have done better here and what we could have done better.”

Billy Ocean says Petrino is very bad man. At least that’s what I think he would say. I imagine he sounds like Jar Jar Binks or Screwface when he talks unless he fakes it like Lennox Lewis.

Arkansas must be pleased to know that when things get hard, Coach Bobby will have one foot out the door. I can understand wanting to run away from the worst QB in NFL history but the city and rest of the team had no choice. Do players and fans need to worry about his commitment if they hit a rough patch or lose some of their top players to injury, arrest or ineligibility?

I can’t wait until his press conference in the fall of 2009 when he takes the Valley High job. “I love high school football. I was asked earlier what it is I like about high school football. And really the answer is everything.”


** You can’t tell me that “Get Out of My Dreams, Get Into My Car” isn’t a stalker anthem. Listen to the lyrics and don’t be distracted by the awesome animation and choreography. Every Breath You Take and Invisible could also be included on a compilation album. “Is that Stalker Rock? Well turn it up!”

Did I just admit I know a Clay Aiken song? Shit, it must be the Malibu talking. Wait, I swear someone just told me as I was writing this. I thought it was Nick Lachey. That’s better? Right? Please tell me I’m not a douchebag … Hello?


The only fraud that was committed was me thinking that I knew what it was like… that I really understood what it was like to be married, and I really didn’t.

The assclown says not so fast my friend. The other fraud was fronting like you were a Tenneesee fan when you are really a Florida fan.

The only thing worse than being a loser is being a two time loser. We’re not ones to make fun of family strife … unless sports are involved. Kenny Chesney bought into the Renee Zellweger hype and lost. Instead of learning his lesson, he decided to double up and go all in on Tim Tebow. The Georgia Bulldogs would like to thank Chesney for his interest in the Florida Gators and wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors. The Tennessee Vols wish he was never born.

Such talk began in March after Chesney performed in Gainesville, Fla., the home of the University of Florida Gators, one of the University of Tennessee’s fiercest Southeastern Conference rivals. At a concert there, Gator football fans came up on stage and put their team’s helmet on Chesney’s head.

With the helmet firmly in place, Chesney continued to entertain the crowd, who loved the sight of seeing their favorite country music star wearing the symbol of their pride.

Local fan anger was raised again in September when Chesney attended this year’s Vols-Gator game in Gainesville, which the Vols lost, 59-20. There, he was spotted mingling with Florida supporters and seen posing for photographs with cheerleaders and the mascot for the Gators.

Chesney’s lifetime loyalty to the Vols is being questioned by Tenneesee fans who are furious about his fraternization with other SEC past and present greats like the ol’ ballcoach Steve Spurrier.

“He’s been to a lot of shows,” Chesney said. “So if anybody sees me and Steve down on the sidelines, me saying ‘hi’ (to him), don’t ask for my head on Monday morning on WIVK.”

At least he’s not rubbing shoulders with original Judas Nick Saban.