Thursday Thoughts on the SEC and My Crystal Ball Friend

Could've, would've, should've.

Yes, we all love hindsight. That, or we hate it. There's not much ground for the middle here. 

I've been thinking this week of all the things that could've, would've and should've in the SEC, and thought I'd share them with you.

SEC East

South Carolina

What if Steve Spurrier would have had a quarterback that first year in South Carolina after his NFL fiasco? 

What if he had been a contender that first year and started attracting top talent to the Gamecocks? 

Would they be in the talk as a contender every year?

I don't really think the old ball coach has gotten stupid over the years, but I do think he's gotten a little lazy when it comes to recruiting. He didn't have to recruit too hard at Florida because guys were busting the doors down to come.

If that had started at South Carolina, could he have established another Swamp?

Swami looks into the crystal ball and says no.

Kentucky

What if they had given Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant a car and the same money they gave basketball coach Adolph Rupp? 

Coach Bryant led Kentucky to their first consecutive bowl games and their only first place ranking when they shared the national title with another team. He was upset that the university there gave him a cigarette lighter and the basketball coach a car, so he decided to leave.

What if Coach Bryant had stayed at Kentucky? 

Would he have given them the glory and championships that he brought to Alabama? Would Kentucky have owned the SEC as Alabama did during his reign?

Swami looks into the ball and says yes.

Georgia

If Georgia had not suffered those 13 injuries last year, would the Bulldogs have played in the SEC Championship Game? 

Florida was ripe for the picking earlier in the season, as demonstrated with the loss to Ole Miss. A healthy kennel of dogs may have been too much for Florida to have dealt with going into the critical last few games of the season. 

Alabama certainly gave Florida a game in the championship. A healthy Dog Pound may have caused a Georgia -Alabama rematch in the championship.

Swami says 50-50 chance

Florida

If Tim Tebow had not gone to Florida, would it have been the same Florida today?

He provided the spark as a freshman that helped Chris Leake win Urban Meyer's first title and single-handedly willed the team to a championship this past season.

Looking into the crystal ball, Swami sees a much different Florida team with no championships since the one Chris Leake led them to, and that one is cloudy.

Swami says the swamp would be drained without Tebow.

Tennessee

What about another current what if? 

What if Fulmer had squeaked a win out at UCLA and beaten a terrible Wyoming team at home? That would have given him seven wins and and an automatic contract extension.

What would the fortunes of Tennessee football have been going forward?

Swami says two more years of mediocre football.

Would it be better or worse for Tennessee to have kept Fulmer over Lane Kiffin?

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.