14 in 14 kickoff: quick hits 2020 wrap up part II
The SEC West had supremacy this year, mainly due to Alabama and Texas A&M. The SEC East had an overall down year, with its top two teams not living up to expectations and the bottom half seeing three coaches fired. 2020 was a topsy-turvy season for everyone, but the SEC East especially. 2021 will prove to be an interesting year in the East as Georgia and Florida look to rebound and Tennessee, South Carolina, and Vanderbilt break in new coaches.
Let’s get to it and grade’em out.
SEC EAST
Florida
Photo: Randy Sartin, USA TODAY Sports
Oh, what might have been. That is the story of Florida’s 2020 season. What if the Gators take care of business as expected against Texas A&M? What if Marco Wilson doesn’t launch that cleat into orbit against LSU? Florida had a Heisman Trophy finalist at QB and the best tight end in the country in Kyle Pitts and the makings of a playoff team, even with their shaky defense. But it was not to be, and the Gators ended the year on a 3-game losing streak, capping it off with an embarrassing performance against Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl that should never be discussed again in Gainesville (I don’t care how many opt-outs they had). The Gators finished the year ranked 13th in the country, considerably below their talent level and preseason expectations. However, the Gators did win the SEC East and have supremacy, at least for a year, over Georgia.
With Dan Mullen’s NFL flirtations seemingly over for the time being, the Gators will be back right back in the thick of it next year. Bringing in the #13 class in 2021 along with two 5-star transfers in TE Arik Gilbert (from LSU) and RB Demarckus Bowman (from Clemson), Florida is poised to challenge Georgia again in the East, with a great shot at defending their title.
C+
Georgia
If JT Daniels had been the starter all year, the Dawgs 2020 story may have been different (Photo: Kevin C. Cox, Getty Images)
Dawg down. It could have been - and should have been - a playoff year for Georgia football. It’s still a mystery why Kirby Smart did not go to Peg Leg Daniels sooner at QB. If he had, the Dawgs are a top 5 team and fringe playoff squad. But he didn’t, instead waiting until the 7th game of the season to make the move. By then, it was already over after losses to Alabama and eventual SEC East champion Florida. We were on the Stetson “Tombstone” Bennett train, but there wasn’t enough juice to keep it going. Still, with all that adversity and quarterback woes through seven games, Georgia still went 8-2 and finished the season ranked #7 in the AP Poll, and squeaked out a win in the Peach Bowl over Cincinnati. Georgia didn’t join the elite in the playoff this year, but they’re still inside the room at elite prom. This year they were stuck with the nerds in the corner, but next year, they’ve got their eyes on the homecoming queen: the College Football Playoff.
Only Nick Saban is recruiting at a higher level than Kirby Smart. The Dawgs will be reloading next year after losing some key pieces on defense, but the offense returns Peg Leg Daniels and the duo of Zamir White and James Cook, who decided to forgo the NFL Draft and take one more shot at a title. Georgia will be right back in the hunt next year - we like their chances to win the East and reclaim their crown over Florida.
C-
Missouri
Photo: Calvin Mattheis, Knoxville News Sentinel
Eli Drinkwitz showed he can coach in the SEC. In 2019, Barry Odom’s last squad went 6-6 and 3-5 in conference play. It was obvious the Tigers were regressing. In Drinkwitz’s first year, the Tigers won five SEC games and made great strides. But there were also some head-scratchers - namely getting beat handily by Tennessee and Mississippi State. The Tigers season went like this: win the ones you’re supposed to, lose a few you shouldn’t, and show that you are miles and miles away from the zip code of the SEC elite. While two more SEC wins than 2019 is encouraging, it was in part due to the pandemic schedule change. Was this team really that much better than the product Barry Odom put on the field in Columbia? Probably not. But Drinkwitz showed he has a good offensive mind, and with a few years to recruit, Mizzou could get dangerous again.
Missouri signed the #29 class in the country in 2020, good for only 11th in the SEC. But Mizzou, like Mike Leach, has always thrived on diamonds in the rough and developing talent, so that is not too much to worry about. However, if your goal is to catch Florida and Georgia in the East, at a minimum you’ll need to recruit around the top 15. Drinkwitz has plenty of work to do.
C+
Kentucky
Photo: Andy Lyons, Getty Images
This was not the encore that Mark Stoops envisioned after his Wildcats finished 10-3 in 2018 and 8-5 in 2019. The Wildcats were on an upward trajectory, gaining plenty of respect around the SEC and shaking decades-old perceptions of Kentucky Football. 2020 brought Kentucky back to earth. Off the field situations were likely a big factor in the difficult year for the Wildcats, and it wasn’t just corona. Offensive Line coach John Schlarman tragically passed away after a battle with cancer, and star linebacker Chris Oats was stricken with an undisclosed medical issue that had him wheelchair ridden. Kentucky had much on their minds this year and much to ponder off the field. On the field, the defense was stout, but the offense sputtered. A non-existent passing attack doomed the Wildcats’ hopes of a winning season in 2020 and led to a change at offensive coordinator and quarterback Terry Wilson to transfer.
A Gator Bowl win over #23 ranked NC State gave some hope, and Stoops has been very active in the transfer portal, landing five players (one 4-star and four 3-stars). The recruiting class sits at 33rd in the 247 Composite Rankings, good for 12th in the SEC. Stoops has a lot of work to do to keep Kentucky above water. He’s proven he can do it at Kentucky, so he’ll have a long leash, but the program cannot afford another losing season in 2021 if they want to keep their momentum.
C-
Tennessee
Merle Haggard famously wondered if the good times were really over and done, and described the feeling as “rolling downhill like a snowball headed for hell.” This is an apt descriptor of Tennessee’s season. A promising start led to loss after stunning loss, and it snowballed and went straight through hell and into McDonald’s.
What a freefall from where the program was in 2019. After finishing the year 8-5 after a thrilling Gator Bowl victory over Indiana and recruiting picking up steam, it looked like Jeremy Pruitt was on his way to rebuilding a once-proud program. And then...Smokin’ Jarrett Guarantano never developed. The offensive line didn’t mesh. And the defense didn’t hold up. Temperatures rose, the administration got fed up, and the dogs were called on. The writing was on the wall when UT invited the NCAA Federales in the door to snoop around, putting a pause on any hiring for Pruitt and putting the program in a state of purgatory. Instead of trying to quench the fire from the outside, the Tennessee administration decided to pour gasoline on it and take a flamethrower to it, just so they didn’t have to pay Pruitt’s buyout.
The Vols are now back to square one. The roster is depleted after players ran for the transfer portal hills following Pruitt’s sacking. The NCAA is breathing down their necks because they invited the wolf into their henhouse. Big-time coaches wouldn’t touch this job, so they decided to open a new branch campus for UCF, UCF-Knoxville, hiring Danny White and Josh Heupel. Heupel was somehow able to keep the recruiting class in the top 20, just ahead of the other UT at #16.
This is a significant rebuild, no two ways about it. The Waco Kid doesn’t think it’s going to turn out well, and I have my doubts. You’re not only rebuilding a depleted program under NCAA investigations, but you have to rebuild the battered psyche of a fanbase and school that have been beaten down time after time since Phil Fulmer’s last game roaming the sidelines. Pass me a glass of that Heupel Hope, cause that’s what Vols fans are riding on.
D+
South Carolina
Many South Carolina fans were cheering because this team was ugly - they were tired of the “Muschamp mediocrity” and were ready for some new blood in the program. Well, they got their wish, and I don’t know if it’s better than what they had, despite all the manufactured marketing optimism being blasted out of Columbia. The Gamecocks mustered two wins on the year, one against Vanderbilt, which is more like playing a middle school team, and one against #15 Auburn. That was a nice win at the time, but it turned out to be false hope - Auburn was a mirage, and ended the year unranked and got whipped against Northwestern in their bowl game. After starting the year 2-4 and coming off back to back blowout losses at the hands of LSU and Texas A&M, Muschamp was shown the door. Our roast chicken Muschamp meme ended up being more prescient than we knew at the time.
Oil on canvas (2020).
The outlook for South Carolina is this: it’s going to be a tough road for a minimum of two years. Florida and Georgia are the kings of the East and that does not seem to be changing anytime soon. With Hugh Freeze and other interesting candidates out there, it was a surprise that Shane Beamer was hired. He has South Carolina ties, but he was certainly not the splash that Gamecocks’ fans were originally hoping for. Shane Beamer is an experiment, not a home run. Sometimes experiments win the prize, and sometimes the whole thing blows up. Muschamp recruited well in his time in the Palmetto state, so Beamer has some pieces to work with. But it’s not enough to climb the ranks of the East, let alone the SEC, and bringing in the #78 ranked class in the nation (30 spots behind Vanderbilt!) is not a good omen. Next year won’t be pretty, and Beamer and new Vanderbilt Head Coach Clark Lea are battling for who has the toughest rebuild job in the conference.
D-
Vanderbilt
Photo: USA TODAY Sports
This is the easiest one to write. Derek Mason is a good man and we are big fans of his. But his football team was terrible. It’s not even fair to put the full blame on Mason - the Vanderbilt administration has not put the resources behind their football program necessary to compete in this league. They have fallen far behind their peers, which handcuffed Mason in recruiting and put the Commodores in the position to go 0-9 in 2020. It starts at the very top in Nashville. We’ll get more in the weeds when we take a look at Vanderbilt, but what happened this season was hopefully a wakeup call - more must be done, much more, if Vanderbilt is to ever compete in football in the SEC.
Sarah Fuller was a bright spot and we don’t think this is very polarizing. Congratulations to her for being the first woman in a major DI football game. Duty called, and she answered. That’s worth celebrating.
Now, former Notre Dame defensive coordinator Clark Lea will get the chance to put his imprint on the program. Lea is also a Vanderbilt alumnus and former fullback for the football team. It seems that the Vanderbilt administration understands the need to improve facilities and give Lea some help, but time will tell. Vanderbilt’s class ranks #48 according to 247, which won’t bring much help right away. It will be a long rebuild in Nashville, and it will take prolonged, sustained effort to bring about a winner.
F
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