SEC Football Year in Review with Barrett Sallee
You wanted it, you demanded it, well here it is.
As has become a tradition every holiday season, it is customary to go back and check out what was said in the college football preseason and give the readers something that is often demanded but rarely delivered.
Accountability.
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Did you take exception to that crazy preseason prediction? If you did, this column is for you.
Who was right, and who was wrong?
Let's wrap up 2014 with some "end of the season accountability."
The Good: South Carolina's Struggles
Remember this summer when South Carolina was all the rage?
Head coach Steve Spurrier's Gamecocks were picked to win the SEC East by the assembled members of the media in Hoover, Alabama, at SEC media days.
"Defensively we lose some good players," Spurrier said in July. "Of course, Jadeveon [Clowney], Chaz Sutton, the two ends, Kelcy Quarles inside, Victor [Hampton] and Jimmy Legree, our two corners. But we got all of our linebackers back, a bunch of guys. So we should have a good defense, hopefully a real good one."
He didn't.
South Carolina finished 13th in total defense (433.6 yards per game), last in yards per play (6.26), 13th in rush defense (214.42 YPG) and ninth in pass defense (219.2 YPG).
The defensive line and the defensive backfield were two major problems for the 2014 Gamecocks, just as I said in July when I wrote that the Gamecocks were getting way too much preseason hype.
It was a rebuilding year in South Carolina, and those are allowed. This is a program that has reached unprecedented heights under Spurrier, winning 11 games in a season for the first time in school history in 2011 and then repeating the feat in each of the next two seasons.
But it isn't Alabama, and rebuilding years will be more pronounced than those at, say, Alabama or LSU.
The Bad: Georgia's Playoff Run
This summer, everybody had an "Auburn." You know, that team that wasn't the safe pick to make the inaugural College Football Playoff but, with a few bounces here and there, could evolve into a national championship contender overnight.
Georgia was that team for me.
I picked the Bulldogs to go 12-0, no 13-0, no 14-0 and lose to Oklahoma in the national championship.
Apparently overlooked in that process was the annual inexplicable Georgia loss—which this year produced a sequel, as it lost to 6-6 South Carolina and got run by 6-5 Florida, which fired its coach just a couple of weeks later.
Toss in the second loss to Georgia Tech since the Y2K bug had just been dodged, and it was a disappointing yet totally normal Georgia season.
Georgia's going to have to earn my trust moving forward.
The Good: Dak Prescott's Heisman Push
It may have seemed crazy this fall when Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott jumped from seemingly out of nowhere to become not only a candidate for the Heisman Trophy but, at one point, a favorite.
It shouldn't have seemed crazy.
Way back in January, I called Prescott a dark-horse candidate for the Heisman Trophy.
The reasons were simple. We knew Prescott would put up filthy numbers—which are pleasing to Heisman Trophy pollsters—thanks to his ability to put pressure on defenses with his legs and work within head coach Dan Mullen's offense, which is predicated on passing efficiency.
Prescott's biggest Heisman hurdle was getting his Bulldogs into the national discussion by winning big games, and they did just that, beating LSU on the road and Auburn at home to earn the first No. 1 ranking in program history.
Prescott finished eighth in Heisman voting, which is the highest finish in program history and also a far cry from where he was in late October and early November. That should tell you just how good his season really was.
The Bad: Auburn's Secondary Renaissance
Auburn's defense was more punchline than power during its run to the 2014 BCS National Championship Game following the 2013 season, and its pass defense was the biggest reason why.
The Tigers finished that year giving up 257.7 yards per game through the air but had a solid supporting cast returning that could help them get to the inaugural College Football Playoff.
"The Tigers will be in the mix for a College Football Playoff berth regardless, and if the secondary takes just a small step forward, it will go a long way toward securing one of those four coveted spots," I wrote in July.
It took a small step forward (239.2 yards per game), but Auburn took a big step back in the process.
Auburn lost four regular-season games, including a rather inexplicable loss to Texas A&M at home, and will be spending the holidays at the Outback Bowl instead of the Sugar Bowl or the Rose Bowl.
Sometimes "baby steps" aren't the answer.
The Good: Leonard Fournette's Debut
LSU running back Leonard Fournette came into his freshman season at LSU with a ton of hype.
Big things were expected from the former No. 1 overall prospect in the class of 2014, not only from himself (telling WAFB's Jacques Doucet in August that he expected to win the Heisman), but from his head coach Les Miles, who compared him to NBA legend Michael Jordan at SEC media days in July.
My predictions were a bit more conservative.
Way back in April, I predicted that Fournette would rush for 850 yards and six touchdowns during his freshman year in Baton Rouge. He finished the 2014 regular season with 891 yards and eight touchdowns.
Perfect? No. Close? Yes.
Consider it a "gimmie."
The Bad: Alabama's Path to the Playoff
In July, I wrote that Alabama's playoff hopes would rest in the arms of the secondary, not the quarterback decision—which, at the time, was a battle between Blake Sims and Jake Coker.
I was wrong. It has everything to do with the quarterback.
Without Sims, there's no way Alabama would be spending the holidays on Bourbon Street and playing in the Allstate Sugar Bowl national semifinal. Sims set the single-season school record with 3,250 yards, tossed 26 touchdowns and only seven picks, leading top-ranked Alabama into the showdown with Ohio State.
What's more, Sims helped new offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin get into a play-calling groove. He also helped head coach Nick Saban usher in an era of a more flexible offense in Tuscaloosa that thrives on tempo and uses the attributes of mobile quarterbacks.
Meanwhile, the secondary struggled in a similar fashion as last year's group.
The Crimson Tide gave up 223.7 passing yards per game in 2014; they've shown the susceptibility to be burned deep often, particularly in the last two games to Missouri and Auburn.
Sims' ability to lead the offense as a game manager and a difference-maker makes up for those deficiencies, whether games are slugfests or shootouts.
The Ugly: Florida, Jeff Driskel for Heisman and Hope
I was all aboard the Florida-rebound train this offseason, saying that the Gators could not only contend for the SEC East (and that the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party would decide the division), but that quarterback Jeff Driskel was a dark-horse contender for the Heisman Trophy.
Needless to say, none of that worked out the way I had planned.
Driskel was benched for good on Oct. 18 after throwing 10 picks in six games, Florida was eliminated from SEC East contention with a loss to South Carolina on Nov. 15 and head coach Will Muschamp was informed the next day that he won't be back to coach the 2015 Gators.
I went all in on the Gators, and I rolled snake eyes.
You don't hit home runs unless you swing for the fences.
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and video analyst for Bleacher Report, as well as a co-host of the CFB Hangover on Bleacher Report Radio (Sundays, 9-11 a.m. ET) on Sirius 93, XM 208.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of cfbstats.com, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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