We have reached the end of SEC Media Days. The long haul begins as we await the start of the 2019 football season. The appetizer begins August 24th, with the big entrée on August 31st. We have one final day to preview inside the SEC. Our final feature includes Vanderbilt, Kentucky, and Auburn, in this SEC Media recap.
SEC Media Day Teams
Vanderbilt:
Vanderbilt has been at the bottom of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) for many years. The Commodores have sustained recent success since we entered the new decade. It began with a bowl appearance in 2011 under new Head Coach James Franklin. Franklin proceeded to lead the Dores to back-to-back 9 win seasons in 2012 and 2013. In 2012, a season that started 2-3 ended with a 7 game win streak. Vanderbilt picked up their first bowl win since 1955 that year in the Music City Bowl. The following year, the Commodores won their final 5 games, triumphing in the Compass Bowl against Houston.
The celebration was short lived when James Franklin traded in the black and gold for the blue and white of Penn State. Who would step in and keep the success going? Vanderbilt hired Derek Mason in 2014 to take over the team. The first 2 years for Mason returned Vanderbilt to their cellar status, finishing with a combined record of 7-17. Mason has turned things around the last 3 seasons making 2 bowl games.
The three year success story features a road win over Georgia, 2 wins over Ole Miss, and 3 wins in a row over rival Tennessee.
As we forecast 2019, we find that Vanderbilt will have a new signal caller with the graduation of Kyle Shurmur. Whomever the new signal man is, he will have talented skill players around him. The Dores return leading rusher Ka’Shawn Vaughn, top all-around receiver Kalija Lipscomb, and senior tight end Jared Pinkney.
The defense has some holes with only 5 returning starters this year. Derek Mason is a defensive guy by trade and will look to transform this defense into a top contender in the East. This is much easier said than done. The success of this team will depend on the offenses ability to get the ball to Vaughn, Lipscomb, and Pinkney as early and often as possible.
Vanderbilt opens with a monumental home conference game against Georgia. Two weeks later they welcome in LSU. Other SEC home games include Missouri and Kentucky with road trips to Ole Miss, South Carolina, Florida, and Tennessee. The ideal situation is for Vanderbilt to split the Georgia and LSU games, as well as the back-to-back road games against South Carolina and Florida. Kentucky and Missouri are no easy feats and Ole Miss is going to be motivated to avenge the loss from last year.
Not to mention, you are in a game 7 type environment against Tennessee the final game of the season. Excluding the 4 games against the “top” teams, every other SEC mathcup can go either way. It would be cool to see Vanderbilt be an 8 to 9 win team again. The two times it happened before, added some much-needed parody to the SEC Eastern Division.
Kentucky:
What sport do you associate with the University of Kentucky? For most, it is the 8 time national champion men’s basketball team. Head football coach Mark Stoops has given Wildcat fans a different point of view. Kentucky hired Stoops in 2013 to replace Joker Phillips. The Wildcats were hoping Stoops could duplicate the last 4 years of the Rich Brooks era, which resulted in 4 straight bowl games. 2013 was forgetful as Kentucky finished 2-10. The next two years started promising for Stoops with combined record of 9-2. However, they finished with a combined 1-12 to miss the bowl season both times. Stoops was on the brink both times, but they could not break through did not fall. Fighting for his job in 2016, Stoops got the Cats to the postseason. Kentucky followed up the 2016 season with another appearance in the NCAA bowl season.
It was not until last year that Kentucky showed us, they are a football school too. The Cats finished 10-3 which included snapping the 31 game losing streak to Florida. Kentucky was a win against Georgia from going to the SEC championship. Unfortunately, Georgia brought them back down to reality with a 34-17 victory. Mark Stoops still deserves a round of applause for the product he has put on the field during his tenure.
The 2019 Kentucky football team will be without one of the most impressive players we have ever seen play at Kentucky. Running back Benny Snell has moved onto the NFL but not before he put up 1,484 yards and 16 touchdowns. Replacing Snell will be one of the hardest things to do. The good news is quarterback Terry Wilson is back under center. Wilson will have to play a bigger role this year with Kentucky in search of a new bell cow running back. Wilson will have leading receiver Lynn Bowden to throw to, but he is the only top receiver that returns. It does not get much better for Kentucky on defense with just 4 returning starters.
The Cats are without top defensive end Josh Allen, who has moved onto the NFL too. This will be a good test to see if Stoops can do more with less. For Kentucky to be successful, Wilson will need to take charge of the offense and a leader will need to emerge defensively. Kentucky should begin 2019 2-0 before hosting Florida. They then hit the road for games against Mississippi State and South Carolina. The remaining SEC home games include Arkansas, Missouri, and Tennessee while the road schedule features Georgia and Vanderbilt. Best case scenario Kentucky is 3-2 heading into the bye week. Win the next two out of three and become 5-3.
This makes you bowl eligible with a win over UT-Martin, but we know Kentucky will want more. Worst case it is 3-3 into the bye and 4-5 into the Tennessee game. That can get a little dicey. Being in the middle of the pack, anything can happen. Look for Kentucky to build on last years success and maybe they can catch lightning in a bottle. You might have to name something in Mark Stoops’ honor if he leads Kentucky to Atlanta.
Auburn:
Does anybody remember the wavelength diagram from physics class? Do you remember the hills and valleys discussion? This metaphor seems to describe Auburn’s tenure under Gus Malzahn. It started out great with a SEC Championship victory and a runner-up finish in the National Championship. In 2014, the Tigers were 7-1, with an eye towards the College Football Playoff, hosting Texas A&M at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Auburn fumbled one their final 2 drives and were upset by the Aggies. This loss derailed the season as the Tigers lost 4 of their last 5 games. 2015 began with a #6 ranking and a projected Heisman winning quarterback in Jeremy Johnson.
The Tigers fell well short of those goals finishing 6-6 with a Birmingham Bowl victory over Memphis. Year 4 for Malzahn saw 6 game winning streak before loses to Georgia and Alabama put Auburn back at 8-4. A Sugar Bowl loss to Oklahoma again frustrated the Tigers. Auburn returned to glory in 2017 defeating Alabama to win the SEC West, but again faltered with a SEC Championship game loss to Georgia. The disappointment was magnified in the Peach Bowl when UCF defeated Auburn 34-27.
Last year, Auburn had expectations of repeating as Western Division Champions, but with back-to-back losses to Mississippi State and Tennessee, those goals evaporated. Auburn did battle back to beat Ole Miss and Texas A&M and earned a berth in the Music City Bowl. Auburn carries momentum into 2019 with a that bowl victory over Purdue. As you can see, Auburn has had many ups and downs under Malzahn. Insert whatever metaphor you see fit to describe the Malzahn tenure. Despite the constant ups and downs, Malzahn and company hope to establish consistent success beginning this year.
The big off-season news for Auburn is Malzahn will be calling plays on offense this year. He took a break from the last 3 years but returns to those duties in 2019. Malzahn will have 7 returning starters on offense. This includes running backs JaTarvious Whitlow and Kam Martin, wide receivers Seth Williams, Anthony Schwartz, and Sal Cannella, and all 5 offensive linemen. The big piece that is missing is quarterback Jarrett Stidham. Malzahn will have to figure out if he wants to start Joey Gatewood or Bo Nix. Kevin Steele’s defense, likewise, returns 7 starters.
Auburn is without leading tackler DeShaun Davis but returns 3 starters on the defensive line and the entire secondary, excluding Jamel Dean. The Tigers begin 2019 with another Pac-12 showdown. The opponent this year is Oregon from AT&T Stadium in Dallas. Auburn travels to Texas A&M in week 4 with other road games against Florida, Arkansas, and LSU. Home games include both Mississippi Schools, Georgia, and Alabama. The Oregon game will be a nice tone setter for 2019. If Auburn wins, I see the Tigers going 5-0 heading to Florida.
Auburn will need to split the road games against Florida and LSU to have a chance at the SEC West. If Auburn is 7-2 heading into Georgia, that is a lot of work to get back to Atlanta. Best case scenario, Alabama has already lost in the SEC and Auburn is ahead of Texas A&M and LSU in the standings. This means a win against Georgia 2 weeks prior and win over Alabama puts Auburn in the SEC Championship. If Auburn loses to Oregon, then I foresee a 3-2 record heading into the bye week.
Add in losses to LSU, Georgia, and Alabama and that leaves the Tigers at 6-6. That would be a devastating situation. The quarterback position has been the key cog in the machine for Auburn’s success. If Malzahn and the offense can make the right decision, we can expect big things from the 2019 Auburn Tigers. These odd years are favorable for Auburn at the end of the year. Look for the magic of 2017 to be shown by the 2019 Auburn Tigers.
That’s the conclusion of SEC Media Day 4.
