With the college football season rapidly approaching, Gatorsfirst.com is presenting a different take on the 2009 season every day for the entire month of August. We call it our ''Full Month of College Football Previews''. As part of the project, we are having fellow bloggers and other college football personalities from around the SEC and the rest of the nation give us their take on the current state of college football. This approach will allow us to bring you a much more in-depth look at the 2009 season than we could possibly provide on our own.

 

 

The next in this series is an SEC preview by Mississippi State blogger Brett Holloway. Brett covers all things maroon at his aptly named blog, All Things Maroon. Please check out his site, as he features excellent coverage of his team, and is a huge fan as well.

 

Conference Championship: Florida over LSU*

 

Florida

USC

UGA

UK

UT

Vanderbilt

 

LSU

Ole Miss

Bama

Mississippi State

Arkansas

Auburn

 

 

*Pick LSU to beat UF in Reg. Season, UF gets payback in ATL

 

1. Andre Debose, WR/RB, Florida

2 Pernell McPhee, DE, MSU

3 Stephon Gilmore, S, South Carolina

4 Chad Bumphis, WR, MSU

5 Russell Shepard QB/WR LSU

 

1. Aaron Hernandez, TE, UF

2. Caleb King, RB, UGA

3. Jordan Jefferson, LSU QB

4. Brandon Bolden, RB, Ole Miss

5. Robert Elliot RB, MSU

 

Player of the Year: Tim Tebow, QB, Florida

Offensive POTY: Jevan Snead, QB, Ole Miss

Defensive POTY: Eric Berry, FS UT

Overrated POTY: Nu'Keese Richardson, WR, UT

Underrated POTY: Ben Tate, RB Auburn

 

BCS Championship Game: Florida v. Texas

Sugar Bowl: LSU v. Ok State

Capitol One Bowl: South Carolina v. Penn State

Cotton Bowl: Ole Miss v. Oklahoma

Chick-Fil-A Bowl: South Carolina v. Miami

Outback Bowl: Alabama v. Michigan

Liberty Bowl: MSU v. ECU

Music City Bowl: Arkansas v. FSU

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(BH): Well, I’m a Mississippi boy, born and raised, and at some point you have to draw the line in the sand, and say I’m a Dawg or a Rebel. I can say for certain that I did that at an early age, and can even remember my first State game, which was the 87 Egg Bowl, State won 30-20. But, I would say in MS, your background determines a lot of who you pull for. You end up pulling for the team that embodies your identity. Coming from a ‘blue-collar’ family, we just didn’t care for the arrogance of the majority of Ole Miss fans we came across, and the hard-nosed, grind it out style of MSU just described who we were, and the side of the tracks we grew up on. One other thing to point out, is when I could really grasp the game-was when Coach Sherill stepped on campus, and as a State fan the atmosphere that existed in Davis Wade Stadium throughout the 1990’s-2000 was amazing and addictive. I’ve bought season tickets since my Junior yr of high school, just love the Dawgs, no matter what.

 

 

 

 

 

(BH): One thing is for sure, cowbells are ringing. I love that tradition, and usually on gameday almost everyone you walk past has one in hand. Usually our fans will offer you some food from their tailgate-even if you have on the wrong colors that day. And to be honest, unless you are a Reb or a Bama fan, you’re not going to have anything inappropriate said to you. We have a very diverse atmosphere, sometimes laid back, but when the D is on the field on a pivotal 3rd down, I truly think we are probably the 5 th or 6th loudest stadium in the SEC. The stadium is the 2nd oldest in CFB, and we just installed the 2nd largest big screen in the country-next to Texas, but it still needs renovations. I guess you could say, with our lack of success in the history of our football program as compared to others, you can’t ask for more loyal fans. I do expect the atmosphere to improve a lot more with the arrival of Mullen, mainly because I believe a fanbase takes on the energy level of their leader, and let’s not even talk about the energy level of the last guy.

 

 

 

 

 

(BH): Right now its wait and see. I feel confident that Mullen is a great hire, and by no means did we get ‘crumbs’ from the table. I feel that he is a great fit and ready to be head coach. As far as his staff, I was impressed with the names he brought in, be that Matt Balis (one of the country’s leading strength coaches), or D- Coordinator Carl Torbush. I am very happy with the switch to the spread styled offense, even though I love the Keiffer McGee/Dicenzo Miller/JJ Johnson days, I feel its what we need to do in order to survive and have success. As far as recruiting, I was really impressed with Dan the Man. That was literally his audition as head coach, and he passed with flying colors. The class ranks as high as 19th in the country, to as low as 25th-depending on your source. But bringing in Chad Bumphis, Tyler Russell, Pernel McPhee, Montrel Conner, and others, shows he’s capable of doing this on a yearly basis. Mullen has re-energized Starkville, the fanbase, and the team.

 

 

 

 

 

(BH): I’ll give you one on “O” and one on “D”: On offense, I have to say I am most excited about Chad Bumphis. He is a WR/RB who can do a lot of different things, and harldy any writer can go without comparing him to Percy Harvin. I would have said Tyler Russell, but we are still trying to see if he can grasp the system. If he can, then he’ll break every MSU QB record, which isn’t saying much, but the kid is special. On D, I have to say Safety Charles Mitchell. He is only a sophomore, and plays like a Senior. He is what we need in a ‘centerfielder’ now that Pegues and Fitzugh are gone. He is always around the ball. Also glad Chaney is back, but yall already know about him.

 

 

 

 

 

(BH): I think that on the national level, a lot of people forget that State has made it to Atlanta for the SEC Championship in football, to the Final 4 in basketball, and Omaha in baseball (plenty of times). Some schools, even SEC schools, can’t say all of that.

 

 

Other conference’s BEST teams would not and could not survive the week to week, wind n’ grind of the SEC.

 

 

 

 

 

(BH): I have no problem with the way the SEC is set up, be that scheduling, championship games, or divisions. I also think that the Pac 10, Big 10, or any other conference that doesn’t play a Conf. Championship, should not be allowed to play for a Nat’l title. The country needs to realize that if you go head to head with an SEC team in the Nat’l Championship, you are getting the best of the best, and more than likely, you are gonna get your butt handed to you…see Ohio State.

 

 

 

 

 

(BH): I like the BCS better, but would love to see some type of playoff for the top 4-5 teams. I guess you could say that the BCS is the best thing the ‘powers that be’ have come up with, but I would like a little tweaking to be done. As much as I pull for the SEC come bowl time, I loved what Utah did last year, they deserved more respect, and earned it in the end.

 

I think the whole Nat’l Championship thing takes on way too much emphasis. I just feel that there are great teams out there, year in and year out, that get overlooked due to not winning it all.

 

 

As a MSU fan, I feel that we’ve only had once chance at winning it all, and that was 98, when we went 10-2, with the #1 D in the nation. But as a State fan, laughing and shaking my head, no I have never entered a season saying this is the year, undefeated or bust! But I can definitely see, and rightly so, how LSU and UF look at their upcoming season.

 

 

 

 

 

(BH): That’s a tough one. I think approval of the BCS and the desire for a Playoff, end up in a slit decision, be that amongst fellow Dawgs or around the country. I would like to see the current bowl system make accommodations for the top 4-5 teams, with a playoff system of some sort. Tubervile had an excellent idea a few years back-as far the formula to solve this problem. But I don’t have it all figured out. One thing I do hate, and I do mean hate, is when you have a team like USC in 2003, who did not even play in the BCS Championship game-claiming a piece of the title. Last time I checked, LSU defeated OU, and they raised the trophy. With all that said, I’m not a BCS hater, but I don’t stand by it either.

 

 

 

 

 

(BH): Polls are great for CFB, no doubt, I mean its how we get up for the games on Saturday. The rankings are the fuel for underdogs, and self advertisement for matchups. But, I think there should be only ONE poll, so that-as I mentioned earlier, you don’t have USC claiming a title they didn’t win outright. So, I’m ok with one, universal poll, that would dictate a Champion and final standings.

 

 

 

 

 

(BH): I would say ‘no’ to inclusion now, because the Mountain West accepted a BCS bid, and that was the only conference as of last year, that I felt should have been included. When you consider that Air Force, Utah, and TCU are in that conference, I think they should be invited. The WAC has a decent argument with Boise and Fresno, but don’t see them getting the green light any time soon. But, I have to admit that I really like watching these teams on Thursdays and late on Saturday nights.