SEC First Half Grades: Part One—The West

By Keith Connell

It's been a crazy first half of the season in the Southeastern Conference so far. We've had dark horses like BAMA come out and dominate at times to take control of their division, while perennial doormat Vandy began the first half 5-0.

Vandy's short-lived rise to the top of the Eastern Division standings might be one of the more bizarre occurrences in all of college football.

All has not been well in the first six weeks for some teams, however. For all of the feel-good Vandy stuff, we've seen programs like Tennessee and Auburn virtually implode before our eyes. Auburn has already fired their offensive coordinator, and seemingly every media outlet in the state is taking bets on how long Tuberville will last.

Up north, Tennessee has managed wins over only UAB and Northern Illinois, and Phillip Fulmer once again finds himself on the proverbial hot seat. What were supposed to be bitterly contested early season matchups between ranked teams in Athens and Gainesville turned into laughers by halftime.

Arkansas is muddling through a rebuilding year with a new coach, and arguably four conference teams have yet to find a quarterback in 2008. Well, finding a quarterback hasn't been the issue. Finding a competent one is another story.

All in all, it's been another wacky, crazy season in 2008, and we're going to take a look at the individual teams and grade their respective performances through the first six games of the season.

In doing this, we'll keep with the "exceeded, met, below" expectations format that we've used recently in other articles. We'll also get the unique perspective of RTB.com staff and writers in this article.

Alabama Crimson Tide

Going into season two of "the process," Saban cautioned BAMA fans about unreasonable expectations. After six games, you can pretty much bet that statement has fallen on deaf ears.

Six games into the season, Alabama is undefeated and ranked second in the country. Even many of the most ardent BAMA fans would have expected, if not been satisfied with, a 4-2 record through the first half. Now factor in the blowout of preseason top 10 Clemson and a victory over the preseason No. 1 team Georgia, and expectations are off the charts.

Seemingly all of the major question marks coming into the 2008 season have been answered in the first half. Senior quarterback John Parker Wilson is completing almost 60 percent of his passes, the offensive line has been a major strength instead of a major weakness, and the ground game has produced about 1,300 yards to go with 12 touchdowns.

Even the defense, loaded with young players, has been impressive for the most part.

Expectations Exceeded

Terry Pellman: Exceeded my expectations, by far. I thought we'd have a good chance to be 4-2, with losses to Georgia and Clemson. I did think we'd be in the top 25 but had no dreams or even thoughts we'd be top 10, much less No. 2.

Arkansas Razorbacks

Out with the Nutt, in with the new, I guess? After years of dealing with Houston Nutt's three yards and a cloud of dust-style of offense, the Hog faithful pulled a 180 and hired Nutt's polar opposite in former Atlanta Falcon head coach Bobby Petrino.

Hog fans are expecting a more exciting brand of offense in the future that will utilize that thing referred to as the "forward pass." Petrino is sure to deliver too, but only after some growing pains first.

The growing pains were alleviated just a bit with a huge win over Auburn this past Saturday, this coming on the heels of blowout losses to Alabama, Texas, and Florida. To give you an idea of where the talent level on defense is at, Arkansas lost these games by giving up an average of 46 points per contest.

To give you an idea of the talent level on offense, once need look no further than the starting quarterback Casey Dick. With Dick at the helm, there's probably a good reason Houston Nutt ran it as much as he did in the past. Tailback Michael Smith has been fairly impressive this season, given the conditions he's playing under, but all in all, that's the highlight reel.

The offensive line is bad, the quarterback play has been bad most of the time, and the defense is just terrible, even for rebuilding standards. However...having said all of that, a win over a rival like Auburn (no matter how much that rival is struggling) is big.

Unfortunately for Petrino and company, it might be remembered as the season's high-water mark.

Below Expectations

Greg Truelove: No one expected Casey Dick to win the Heisman this year. No one expected Petrino to win SEC Coach of the Year, although he probably is checking his contract right now to see if it would be feasible to coach at Auburn or Tennessee should an opening come available.

Besides all of that, Coach Nutt left Petrino a good running back in Michael Smith and a couple of other pieces of a quality team, but this is certainly not an Arkansas-quality team. The Auburn game will most likely stand as Petrino's signature win for 2008—and that's not saying much.

Auburn Tigers

Wow! Just wow! I mean, what can you really say here? Coming into the season there was talk of championships and offensive proliferation. Since then, Auburn is 4-3 with losses to lowly Vandy and Arkansas.

Within the SEC alone, Auburn's offense ranks ninth in points per game average, 11th in yards per game, 10th in first downs, last in third down conversion percentage, and eighth time of possession.

The long and the short of the Auburn situation is this in summation: Auburn came into the season believing the team had two quality quarterbacks, yet it now appears they don't even have one. The offensive coordinator brought in to install the new system is gone, and now a certain percentage of the fanbase is rumbling for Tommy Tuberville's head.

Below Expectations

Drew Lambert: Half the country had them winning the SEC and going to the NC game. PLEASE! I'm not even going to explain this one! If you want more info, Google "disaster" and Auburn should turn up!

LSU Tigers

LSU is an interesting team to try to pin a grade on simply because so much has happened within the program since last season. If you're going into the season with an experienced quarterback, like say...Ryan Perrilloux, then expectations would certainly be at a high level, especially coming off a national championship season.

However, if you're coming into the season with two inexperienced quarterbacks, then the dynamics change a bit.

Maybe what we need to try to decipher is what expectations and timeline we are going to use here: the pre-Perrilloux expulsion timeline, or the current Lee/Hatch platoon timeline? Let's go with the Lee/Hatch on this one.

It's not like the Tigers lost Perrilloux in midseason. His expulsion occurred months ago, so LSU knew what they had going into the season. But it's still a tough call to make, and here's why.

Everyone knew LSU had a ton of talent. Everyone assumed LSU would likely finish the regular season as one of the top teams in the country and might have to dispatch only Auburn to win the West.

I don't think anyone foresaw what would happen against Florida though. That one game leaves LSU looking vulnerable right now, doesn't it?

Still, the Tigers are 4-1 with one of the best backs in the conference, and Jarrett Lee appears to be showing flashes of the player he could turn out to be in a year or two.

Met Expectations

Terry Pellman: Met expectations in terms of wins and losses, but I expected their defense to be stronger than it has been so far this season. Breaking in the new quarterback has taken its toll. The reliance on the running game was expected.

Ole Miss Rebels

Ole Miss is another team that might be difficult to categorize and pin a label on. The Rebels come into the season with a new coach and a new system, and transition takes time. However, unlike Arkansas, Ole Miss actually has a considerable amount of talent on the roster. That's partially the reason Ole Miss is so hard to figure this season.

If we're talking history here, then one can reasonably assume that Ole Miss has exceeded expectations. The team has already matched their win total from all of last season, and the upset over Florida (IN THE SWAMP) is huge.

Here's the thing though.

Ole Miss could easily be undefeated right now but continually find new and creative ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Some people attribute that to youth and inexperience, while others cite the system change and the lack of continuity that routinely goes hand in hand with change. Some people look at the head coach as the reason the team plays on such an uneven keel from game to game.

Whatever the reason is, one thing is certain: Ole Miss is an inconsistent team with quality talent. That makes them dangerous.

Met Expectations

Kirk Dill: Met, for the Florida game alone. Houston Nutt is the difference for that team. Great motivator but a sub-par coach. They play big games well and fall asleep against middle of the road teams.

Mississippi State Bulldogs

With Sylvester Croom leading the Bulldogs to an 8-5 record last season in 2007, fans in Starkville had a right to believe that the program was finally getting over the hump. That hasn't happened through the first half of this season.

Although the defense has not been nearly as good as last year, the primary reason for the Bulldogs' 2-4 start can be attributed to a sputtering offensive attack.

Tailbacks Anthony Dixon and Christian Ducre have done their part (each averaging over four yards per carry with a combined five scores), but the quarterbacks have struggled mightily. Tyson Lee and Wesley Carroll have combined to throw for only five touchdowns. Carroll has tossed six interceptions by himself.

Through six games the Bulldog offense is averaging only 16.3 points per game, while scoring fewer than 10 points on two separate occasions. Unless the quarterback play gets decidedly better, State has a chance to finish the season with a minimum of four more losses.

The Bulldogs' second half includes trips to Tennessee and Alabama. They host Kentucky and Ole Miss.

Below Expectations

Greg Truelove: "Cow bells will be ringing a sad, sad tune. Oh what a lack of offense, this season too..."

Croom's offensive prowess has reared its ugly head again this year, and the Bulldogs find themselves ranked 103rd in the country in total offense. Who can forget that two-point classic against the Auburn Tigers? The Bulldog defense has been a little better, but you must be able to score to win ball games.