Thursday Thoughts on the SEC and My Crystal Ball Friend

Swami says no. Kiffin will get better results over the next three years than Fulmer would have.

Vanderbilt

I was wondering, what if Vandy bought into football fever in the 1960s, lowered their standards of admission and gone football mad? Would Vanderbilt be a power today?

Swami's ball didn't need any warm up for this.  With the lack of talent that exists in Tennessee already, Vandy would still be Vandy.

SEC West

Auburn

What would have happened if Pat Dye had not gotten the Auburn program in trouble and eventually gotten fired? Could he have been Auburn's "Bear" Bryant and created a dynasty? 

Swami says no. Dye was already on a downhill slide and was never the sharpest knife in the drawer of SEC coaches.

Mississippi State

Since we're on this theme of old coaches: If Jackie Sherrill had run a clean program, not gone into bull castration, and stayed on for years at State, could he have kept them in the hunt for bowl games and possible titles?

Swami says yes. But the problems would not be Sherrill's ability to win, but simply to run a clean program.

Arkansas

If Arkansas had stayed in the Big 12, would they have found more wins than they have in the SEC?

Swami says yes. The SEC is no place for a mediocre team with big aspirations, but the Razorbacks could have found more success staying in what would have been the Big 12 North.

In fact, they could have owned it.

Ole Miss

Looking ahead, will Houston Nutt lead Ole Miss to an SEC championship and glory?

Swami says no. But he'll do good enough to jump ship to Auburn after they've realized Chizik isn't the answer.

LSU

Will Les Miles win another championship at LSU? Will he jump ship to Michigan?

Swami says no to jumping ship—he'll go down with it at LSU. 

Swami says Miles has already peaked, and despite his ability to bring in good classes, LSU will not win again as long as Saban stays in the SEC West. Miles will eventually bow out before getting fired and will not coach again in the SEC.

Alabama

A friend of mine asked me where Alabama would be if Franchione had "held the rope" with them during their probation and stuck around. 

I wondered, too, so I asked Swami.

Swami was as flabbergasted at the answer as I was. Fran would have led Bama through the trials and won a SEC Championship in doing it. 

It would have only gotten better, and he would have continued to build recruits and wins, and they would be measuring for his statue outside Bryant-Denny Stadium following his national championship year.

As it is, he's an unemployed coach with a rotten reputation and will never head a major program again. 

Boy, karma is a bitch isn't it?  Swami says yes, it is.

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