SEC Extra Points with Barrett Sallee: Why Notre Dame Is a Threat to the SEC
The second edition of the 2015 College Football Playoff rankings were released on Thursday, and to the surprise of nobody, Alabama kept its spot in the top four, jumping to No. 2 following its 30-16 win over previous No. 2 LSU.
What might have been a surprise, though, is Notre Dame moving up a spot to No. 4 despite Oklahoma State's 49-29 demolition of TCU last weekend.
It's no secret that Notre Dame is an attractive playoff possibility. If it wins out and beats No. 7 Stanford to finish off the regular season, it will become even more attractive and it would be difficult to keep the Fighting Irish out.
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Is Notre Dame a threat to the SEC's playoff hopes?
For Alabama, no. For Florida, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Arkansas—all of which have chances at winning the conference title, according to ESPN's Football Power Index, absolutely.
Let's throw the teams with two or more losses out, because it's obvious that Notre Dame would be above them. Would Notre Dame be above Florida (with an SEC title in hand) or LSU (with or without an SEC title)?
I doubt Notre Dame would be above a one-loss SEC champ regardless of which team it is, but that's far less a certainty than it is with Alabama.
This situation isn't that far-fetched, either.
What if Clemson, Ohio State and either Baylor or Oklahoma State win their conference championships without a loss? One-loss Florida would certainly have a strong case if it had just topped either one-loss Alabama or LSU in the Georgia Dome, but that pesky eye test might come back to haunt the Gators—who just looked sloppy at best in a 9-7 win over Vanderbilt at home.
For LSU, it'd be more of the same. The eyes are drawn to running back Leonard Fournette, but it's clear the Tigers struggle in the downfield passing game and are one-dimensional both by choice and by necessity this year.
Assuming there's no more chaos and Alabama wins out, claiming the SEC title, Notre Dame isn't a threat. If Team Chaos gets some momentum down the stretch, watch out for the Fighting Irish.
Distractions?
Missouri has been a complicated place over the last week, as the football program decided to quit practice in support of a protest that ultimately led to the resignation of the school's president and chancellor.
Now that the Tigers are back practicing, it's back to business—under a slightly condensed time frame, of course.
The 4-5 Tigers have to win two of their final three games to ensure a bowl appearance, and that's tough considering they have a tough game vs. BYU this weekend in Kansas City, a home game vs. Tennessee next week and a road trip across the boarder to Arkansas in the final week of the season.
"I trust the leadership of our team," Pinkel said. "Obviously, as coaches, we have to do a great job. This is on our football team. If you're not ready to play, it's going to be difficult."
How have the Tigers handled the crash course this week in preparation for the Cougars?
"For the most part, we're pretty good," head coach Gary Pinkel said. "We lost a little bit [of preparation time] on Sunday, and Monday we usually have completely off. The biggest concern as a football coach is the video study not that we do, but they do on their own. They all have it on their iPads, so they can watch it. It takes a lot mentally to get in the right frame of mind to play. Of all of the distractions going on, those are what I'm more concerned about. We'll practice well, I know that."
From a football perspective, this is an enormous game for the Tigers. With so much youth—especially on offense—earning a bowl berth and getting those precious 15 bowl practices would be huge to the development of the program.
Heisman Rebound
It's safe to say that, on his biggest stage of the season, LSU running back Leonard Fournette rolled snake eyes.
The Tigers' star running back managed just 31 yards on 19 carries, including an 18-yard run in the fourth quarter in garbage time that made his final stat line look much better than expected.
Simply put, he got shut down.
Now Fournette has to rebound against a suddenly hot Arkansas team that found a passing attack under Brandon Allen and can force the Tigers into a shootout if they're not careful.
"I think Leonard Fournette is a guy who understands football, first and foremost," head coach Les Miles said. "I think he recognizes that there's another Saturday and an opportunity to show your body of work. I don't think he's putting much into the last game."
That's important, because LSU will need to go old-school this week to keep the ball out of the hands of sudden gunslinger Brandon Allen, who threw six touchdown passes last week in that overtime win over Ole Miss.
Surprising Star
Speaking of Allen: Back in August, how many of you thought Allen would have a legitimate shot at becoming the SEC's first-team All-SEC quarterback by mid-November?
(No, you didn't, please put your hand down).
Allen not only lit up Ole Miss last weekend on the road, but he has evolved into a weapon through the air for head coach Bret Bielema's Arkansas Razorbacks. He has 2,476 passing yards on the season, has thrown 21 touchdowns, just five picks and is making a strong case to not only get into the All-SEC discussion, but perhaps even beat out Mississippi State's Dak Prescott.
"It's something that's been growing in him and is so much of a blessing to see it finally come through and have so many people eat a little crow," Bielema said. "It's something we saw coming all along, and it makes me take a lesson for the ages, because it proves to me that he was put into a situation early in his career that he wasn't ready for and got scarred, got sideways with his confidence and his faith. To me as a coach, it's a reminder to never open that wine before it's time."
When you look at the numbers, it's hard to argue that Allen doesn't deserve serious consideration.
| Chad Kelly | Ole Miss | 65.7 | 3,224 | 23 | 12 | 272 | 7 |
| Brandon Allen | Arkansas | 64.9 | 2,476 | 21 | 5 | 121 | 1 |
| Dak Prescott | Miss. St. | 66.7 | 2,351 | 18 | 1 | 418 | 7 |
He's put together a tremendous season and is hot at the right time. If Allen and the Hogs can orchestrate an upset of LSU this weekend in the Battle for the Golden Boot, don't discount the possibility of him being recognized as the SEC's best quarterback.
South Carolina 2.0
When Steve Spurrier walked away from the South Carolina program in October, the offense was in disarray. The quarterbacks were banged up, the offensive line was a mess and an identity was absent.
Since then, though, things have changed. Former walk-on Perry Orth has settled in at quarterback, interim head coach Shawn Elliott has brought in some elements that he used during his time at Appalachian State and there's only one voice at play-caller with offensive coordinator G.A. Mangus.
"It's great. It's fantastic. It has helped our offense run smoothly," Elliott said. "There's one voice, other than the fact that I throw my two cents in there. We have our ideas, of course, but the communication between players and one particular coach—one strong coach—you don't have an indecision between two or three guys (and that) really helps us out."
Because of that, the Gamecocks have averaged 5.92 yards per play over the last three games, have run no less than 66 plays in any of those games and have quietly become dangerous on offense.
"Now, you're seeing these last three games, you see the thumb print—going back and looking at App State stuff—some of the things that (they) do, especially with the option games and special plays," Florida head coach Jim McElwain, who faces South Carolina on Saturday, said this week. "Their team right now is playing awful loose and playing really hard. They're a good football team, and those guys are doing a heck of a job there coaching."
If that South Carolina offense can have success against this Florida defense, it would be a huge bullet point on the resumes of Elliott, Mangus and the entire offensive staff.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Statistics are courtesy of cfbstats.com.
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and national college football video analyst for Bleacher Report, as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on SiriusXM 83. Follow Barrett on Twitter, @BarrettSallee.
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