SEC Readies For The Season to Begin

As SEC Media Days continue on, fans are gearing up for the 2009 season.  The time between zero's on the clock on January 8th and the first press conference this week has been anything but dull.  With coaches sending snipes back and forth at each other (mostly through the media), accusations of cheating, hirings, firings, projections, and ahem, arrests, it would seem everyone is ready for that opening game.  While the caliber of opponents the first week is less than stellar for most, there are a few games that are certainly worth watching. 

Alabama opens up the season with another marquee game taking on Virginia Tech (at a neutral site) and the new-look Georgia Bulldogs play a formidable foe in Mike "I'm a man!" Gundy and the OK St. Cowboys. 

While those two games are certainly the headliners in the SEC for opening games, there are two more that may also be entertaining: South Carolina against NC State and Auburn v LA Tech.  While NC State finished with a record of 6-7 (4-4 in the ACC), and couldn't even muster a single point in last years match-up with USC, they did manage to knock off 3 ranked opponents.  They finished the season fairly strong, winning their last 4 regular season games before dropping their final game to Rutgers 29-23 at the Papajohns.com bowl.  If last year's 34-0 beat-down is any indicator of what is to come, well, then NC State probably doesn't have much of a chance.  However, USC generally plays Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde throughout the season and ended their 2008 campaign with three straight losses including a 21 point loss to Iowa in the Outback bowl. 

As far as the Auburn/LA Tech game goes, Auburn is largely an unknown commodity with a new coach and LA Tech always seems to hang around and beat someone they probably shouldn't (They beat Mississippi in a minor upset to open the season in 2008).  LA Tech has a beast of a running back in Daniel Porter and finished last season winning 5 of their last 6 games(ending with an 8-5 record) including a bowl win over Northern Illinois.  Gene Chizik had better make sure his team comes to play or he might find himself on the hot seat much sooner than he wants. 

After the first couple weeks, the SEC schedule launches into mid-season form when Lane Kiffin and his Volunteers head down to the Swamp to take the Field against Urban Meyer and the Gators.  There aren't many who won't be tuning into this game as it has been built up since there were some ruffled feathers in the off-season between the coaches.  It certainly looks like it will be an interesting season in the best conference in the country with story-lines galore. 

One thing that will certainly be a story throughout the media days this week is: Who in the world didn't vote for Tim Tebow as the preseason first-team All-SEC QB?