A Look At The SEC Midway Through The Season

"Inside the SEC" With Tony Barnhart



As amazing as this seems, we have reached the midway point of the 2010. So let’s present our Mid-Year Awards:

Conference Game of the Year: South Carolina 35, No. 1 Alabama 21. It was the biggest win in South Carolina history and broke Alabama’s 29-game regular season winning streak.

Conference Game of the Year, Honorable Mention: LSU 33, Florida 29. The game had a little of everything, including a successful fake field goal in LSU’s winning drive at The Swamp.

Non-conference Game of the Year: Auburn 27, Clemson 24 (OT): It was one of the hardest hitting football games I have ever seen.

Offensive Player of the Year: Based on the impact he has had I’m going with Auburn quarterback Cameron Newton. The junior college transfer leads the SEC in rushing (112.0 ypg), is fifth in passing (189.7 ypg), is second in total offense (310.7 ypg) and is first in passing efficiency. Auburn is 6-0 and ranked No. 7, the highest of any team in the SEC. The Tigers don’t do that without Newton.

Offensive Player of the Year, Honorable Mention: There are so many who deserve this slot but I have to give a shout out to South Carolina wide receiver Alshon Jeffery. He leads the conference in receptions with 6.8 per game and in receiving yardage at 125.0 per game. Alabama’s defense had no answer for this guy.

Defensive Player of the Year: Drake Nevis, DT, LSU: The Tigers lead the SEC in total defense (246.0 ypg) and rushing defense (80.7 ypg) because Nevis (6-2, 285) has been virtually unblockable. He has five sacks in six games and is second in the league in tackles for loss with 10.5.

Defensive Player of the Year, Honorable mention: Auburn’s defense is significantly improved this season because of defensive tackle Nick Fairley. Fairley, leads the SEC and is fifth nationally in tackles for loss with 12.5. Auburn is second in rushing defense (95.7 ypg) because Fairley is so solid.

Rookie of the Year: Marcus Lattimore, RB, South Carolina. Lattimore has changed the way that Steve Spurrier calls a ball game. South Carolina ran the ball 37 times and only threw it 20 times in last week’s win over Alabama. Lattimore had 93 yards rushing against a defense that has gone 30 games without allowing a back over 100 yards. And when South Carolina gets into scoring position, Lattimore has a knack for getting the ball in the end zone.

Rookie of the Year, Honorable Mention: Aaron Murray, QB, Georgia. The redshirt freshman from Tampa has been solid despite Georgia’s early troubles. He has a great pocket presence and surprising speed. He is going to be a very, very good quarterback for the Bulldogs.

Coach of the Year: Steve Spurrier, South Carolina. A lot of people said the game had passed the Head Ball Coach by. But Spurrier showed last week that when he has good players—and he has some really good players this season—the ball plays still work. He has built this team around defense and the ability to run the football with Lattimore. South Carolina now has a legitimate chance to win its first SEC East title.

Coach of the Year, Honorable Mention: Les Miles, LSU. This may seem like an odd choice, given the fact that a bunch of LSU fans wanted to run this guy out of town just a couple of weeks ago. But Miles just kept coaching his team through the tough times when the offense simply wasn’t very good. Now the Tigers are 6-0, ranked in the Top 10, and should be 7-0 when they go to Auburn next week.

FIVE GAMES I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE SEASON

1—Arkansas at Auburn, Saturday: Will feature the two most productive quarterbacks in the league in Ryan Mallett of Arkansas and Cameron Newton of Auburn.

2—LSU at Auburn, Oct. 23: If Auburn takes care of business against Arkansas, this will be a Top 10 nationally-televised showdown for first place in the SEC West.

3—Alabama at LSU, Nov. 6: Alabama knows that it must win out to get back to the SEC championship game. There will be a lot of great athletes on the field at Tiger Stadium.

4—South Carolina at Florida, Nov. 13: Both teams have to keep winning, but Spurrier could return to The Swamp, where he was the head coach for 12 seasons, with the SEC East title on the line. That would provide some serious drama.

5—Auburn at Alabama, Nov. 26: There can be no greater drama than to play the Iron Bowl with a trip to Atlanta hanging on the outcome. It will happen if both teams win out.

If you think Florida will still be in the race by the time SC comes in, I've got some bad news for you.

ANd if you think the Gamecocks are going to just run away with the lead and hide, well, you're badly misinformed. These are the Gamecocks that we are talking about. No disrespect to UK, but look at last week. Had a chance to put the choke hold on them in the first half and didn't. USC has never handled prosperity very well.

Yeah but we are going to be 2-5 by that game.