Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chris Doran joins US SEC Network also SEC Radio. He
joins us here on the Mac m Bone Show. Chris,
how you been man? What's going on?
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Good morning?
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hey?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
My name's Chris Dorry. I used to play for the Gators.
I'm here to talk about SEC football with you.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
That's it? His dude is that might take care a
caller and running out of here.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Christ I just got a text, man, how does this
hit you? I'm sure you've already had this thought, Texter says, man,
we are halfway through the college football season. How is
that possible? Does that hit you and make you sad?
Or do you not allow your mind to go there?
I don't want my mind to go there.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Very sad. I mean, I think we wait all off
season to have the fall roll around, and then it
goes by quicker than we can ever even imagine. So yeah,
I feel like we're here at the midway point and
we know less about this team, these teams and how
things are going to play out than we ever have before.
So there's a lot of intrigue left. Still some great
(00:55):
football remains, but it's definitely gone by too quick.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Chris, when we were talking to you in the offseason
about South Carolina, the defensive losses were the concern, and
how did they replace those guys on defense where they
have Sellers? So the offense should be okay. How surprised
are you that right now the game offense is one
twenty third in the nation. And how did they get
to this point where the offense is so bad?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, I'm shocked that's the case, because I really felt
like they were going to take a step forward. You know,
added some pieces, even though you know you lose a
good amount on defense there. The recruiting on both sides
of the ball was at an all time great level
under Shane Biemer. You know, you felt like the offense,
with another year with Leonora Sellers leading, was gonna take
(01:40):
a step forward. But man, every time I mentioned this
on Saturday Night, like every time you take a look
at their offense, it's just Lenori's Sellers making some incredible escape,
scrambling for his life either making a play or throwing
it away. But man, the stress that must he must
feel for trying to carry that whole offense himself is
(02:02):
probably completely overwhelming. I give him a lot of credit
from what he's doing, but right now it just doesn't
look like they have much rhythm on offense at all.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Chris, you mentioned this, We don't know a lot, right,
We're halfway through the season and we have so many questions,
and I would put the SEC up there like this
is a fun SEC to where I don't really know
what's going to happen. Do you think we have reached
a point where you've started to figure out who the
cream of the crop is in the SEC? Or do
(02:32):
you still like Alabama and A and M probably look
the best. Are you ready to say, hey, those are
the two best teams in the SEC? Or is it
not that simple? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
I don't think it's that simple yet. I mean, Alabama
certainly has ascended to the top of my power rankings
in Texas, A and M. You know, I've talked a
lot here recently about how I feel like they may
have the best the highest ceiling of any team in
the SEC, but unlocking that potential can be challenging. Sometimes.
I still think Ole Miss is a really good team.
We'll figure it out this week when they go to
(03:01):
Athens to take on the Georgia Bulldogs. But you know,
I do think that there's less clarity than we've had
in a long time. The parody from top to bottom
is significant. Uh, you don't really have the elite teams
in the SEC, and I don't think you have elite
teams nationally anymore. I think everybody's flawed. You know, watching
that that Washington State Ole Miss game on Saturday, at first,
(03:25):
I was kind of disgusted at the way, you know
that the game was going almost going up and down
the field but not finishing drives very well.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
And it ended up leaving with a three point win.
But lank Kivit said afterwards, he said he wasn't very
pleased with it, but it's a survive in advanced situation,
and I think that's a great way to encapsulate what
the SEC is about. It's not always going to be
the most esthetically pleasing, it's certainly not going to be
a dominant performance, but walking away with a WS is
the most important thing on a Saturday in the fall.
(03:55):
And so I think, you know, we're gonna still have
I probably end up I would imagine with the four, five,
nine and three teams, I think the SEC Championship participants
probably could end up with two losses each at least.
But on Monday on our show, we used the analytics
of what the odds of the teams reaching Atlanta for
(04:18):
the SEC Championship are and that the two favorites still
resoundingly are Alabama and Georgia. So the more things change,
the more kind of they stayed the same too, Chris.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Last week, Old miss and Tennessee kind of got in
some unexpected battles there, more so than we thought entering
the game. We start to look at the stretch run
of the season here in the second half, who do
you trust more maybe as a playoff team, potentially Old
Miss or Tennessee. Who's more dangerous to you?
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Man? I think Old Misses right now. Tennessee. I've been
very impressed with Joey Aguilar. I think one of the
best stories of the season to this point, with Nically
and maliava Levin and fans feeling a little desponded maybe
about with their quarterback situation was going to be. But
Aguilar I think has operated that offense better than what
Nico did last season. The thing that troubles me about
(05:07):
Tennessee right now is their defense and the Tim Banks
it was did a fantastic job. Really, the reason they
were in the playoff last year was because of the defense.
In a lot of ways, they're struggling right now. They're
not very healthy in the secondary, so trying to get
them back to being able to stop the run. Arkansas
ran up and down the field on them on Saturday
(05:28):
in the first half. They give up a ton of
explosive pass plays as well. They'll be tested obviously this
week with Alabama. But I have some suspicions about Ole
Mess a little bit. But I do think between Trinidad Chamblis,
who I think is another one of those great stories.
Keiwan Lacy, they're running back, is a perfect fit in
(05:49):
Lane Kiffin's offense. And then Pete Golding on the defensive side.
He's one of the best defensive minds in all of
college football. He's found a way to get that group
better and better. And so I think from a complete
look at these two teams, I trust Ole Miss a
little bit more.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
We got some fun match. We're talking Chris Doring SEC
Network SEC Radio on the Mack and Bone Show. Even
though I apparently forgot he was here, He's still nice
enough to do the interview. That's how nice he is.
Most people would have hung the hell up on us.
I fine Boum would have hung up on his phone
if I disrespected the man that way. But he's found
he's got to raise campaign fund, so he might have
to go anywhere, all right, Chris, Let's talk about though
(06:26):
some of the matchups this week. Man. As as always
this time of year, there are some good ones in
the SEC two of the headliners we've talked about. You
talk about these teams. Let's talk about the matchups Alabama Tennessee.
You just talked about Tennessee, and you know, their last
couple of weeks, you know, kind of having to fight
to win those games. It just feels like Alabama's playing
(06:48):
so much better in there at home. Old Miss Georgia
feels toss upy to me. What do you think about
those two matchups?
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Yeah, I mean I think, going back to what I
said about Alabama, I think they're playing the best right now.
And with that being said, I do still have some
suspicions about their ability to stop the run. Defensively, the
offensive line has given up far too much pressure. Unfortunately,
ty Simpson has been able to make plays when he's
under duress. But I'm interesting to see what Tennessee's strategy
(07:16):
is to try to protect that secondary, that injured secondary.
You know, do they blitz a lot more, do they
try to bring pressure. So that's a dynamic that I'm
interested in. But I think I think Alabama is the
better team Tusco. The game is in Tuscaloosa. Tennessee has
won two of the last three in this series, but
both of those in Knoxville, So it'll be a little
different challenge at Brian Penny for Ole Miss. You know,
(07:40):
as well as they've played to this point in time.
They go into Athens as a sixth, six and a
half point underdog right now, Revenge is on the mind
of Kirby smartin that defense from last year, that that
entire Georgia team. But I look at the the Old
Miss defense. The reason they won that game against Georgia
last year was because of the defensive line, their ability
to create pressure on on Carson Beck. They don't have
(08:02):
that same sort of line of scrimmage game that they
had last season, So I'm anxious to see what they
can do to affect Gunner Stockton, who was an absolute
monster last week against Auburn, kept getting hit and getting
up and battling play after play right now, third in
the country in QBR as well. So I probably lean
towards the Georgia Bulldogs, but I do think they are
(08:23):
a more susceptible version of themselves than they've been in
a long time too.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Chris, I was thinking about this driving in today, and
you're the perfect guy to ask this question, even though
it pertains still a storyline in the ACC. As you know, Chris,
things are not exactly going well right now for Bill
Belichick here in Chapel Hill, And I was thinking, could
you imagine if this was back in the day, what
your guy Steve Spurrier would be saying about the Belichick
situation right now?
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Oh man, he'd be teed up on a platform, right,
I mean. And that's the funny thing about it. It's
like we all knew it was going to go this way.
I don't I don't know why, you know, we thought
they were going to be anything other than this guy
that hadn't coached in college football in a long, long,
long time, a guy that was nearing the end of
his great coaching career. I just I think the thing
(09:12):
that's maybe more surprising is how much of a dumpster fire,
it actually is. I thought they would struggle on the field,
but I didn't realize that they would have all these
shenanigans around. And for a guy that's always been as
focused and about the details and business of college of
football in general, for him to have allowed all this
stuff the sideshow off the field is really the most surprising.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Did you think that the referees and the replay folks
deserved the blasting they got for the fumble situation in
the Auburn game? Did you think that was definitely a touchdown?
And did you think they shoot the refs should get
heat for Kirby Smart, you know, in the whole time
out clapping situation. Like, what did you think about those
narratives coming out of that Auburn Georgia game.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Look, I thought I thought Saturday was a bad day
for SEC officiating across the you know, there was some
questionable calls, some some things that that certainly drew the
ire of coaches and fans. But at the end of
the day, I thought, Auburn, you know, they don't don't
fumble the ball going in. Don't give the reason that
the referee is a reason to decide an outcome against you.
(10:16):
You fumble there at the you know, the one e's
yard line. You had a chance to put what felt
like the nail in the coffin at the time. But
you don't finish the play, and still at that point
the ball is backed up. Just get a stop on defense.
Georgia's offense had did nothing to that point in time.
You get a stop, you get the ball right back,
maybe you get points before the half. But instead they
(10:36):
let Georgia go eighty eight yards get a field goal.
The momentum changes, and then Auburn goes into a shell
where they do nothing on offense I think forty yards
the rest of the game. So that's my problem with
Auburn is that, you know, yeah, you've had some calls
that have gone against you, but how about finding a
way to overcome those any any in the Oklahoma game
and the Georgia game, there was still a lot of football.
(10:59):
This wasn't I'll call on the last play of the game. Yeah,
it sucks, man, that that happens in football. Coach Burger
used to talk to us about, Hey, we're gonna go out,
We're gonna play for sixty minutes. Good things are going
to happen. Bad things are going to happen, but at
the end of the ball game, let's look up and
see how we did. And I think this this team,
I think they have a lack of real leadership. I
think they they you know, when things go bad and
(11:20):
they kind of wither into a shell. But I think
a lot of that starts with their coach talking about
officiating too much. When you when you give, you know,
your players a reason to feel like they have an excuse,
they're gonna use it.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
I was just thinking the same thing, like when Hugh Freeze,
you can tell he is shaken by the officiating. That
kind of spreads to the player, you know. And like
I say, they come out with forty yards total offense
and save its like they were done.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
There were two different games completely and all right there.
I mean, they dominated the first half and credit them
for having a great offensive game plan that allowed them
to possess the football. I want to say Georgia had
six total offensive plays in the first quarter, so it
was a dominant performance. But you got to finish the game.
And again, you got to be able to deal with adversity,
whether it's something that happens within your team or something
(12:05):
that happens with the officials.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
All right. We got Georgia fans trying to get rid
of Billy Napier. We'll deal with that next time, all right, door,
We got to leave them one more all right, leave
them one and morey. We'll let you go on that note.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Now, our new friend Peter Burns we said alone also,
by the way, he was on last week and he
said we were friends now, but I don't know if
his ears.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
You don't want to be friends with that guy?
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Oh man? All right, well, we do want to be
your friend.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Man, all right, I appreciate all
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Right, brother, be good, keep up the good work.