Never too early to start thinking about fall

Western Kentucky coach Bobby Petrino could be making a return to the Natural State soon if War Memorial Stadium lands a bowl game.

Western Kentucky coach Bobby Petrino could be making a return to the Natural State soon if War Memorial Stadium lands a bowl game.

Sunday, June 23, 2013

A few thoughts and predictions during the dog days of summer while wondering what happened to my tomato plants, which haven’t grown since planted six weeks ago:

If Arkansas gets to play host to a bowl game, Bobby Petrino will bring Western Kentucky to play in it within three years of its inception in 2014. That is if Petrino doesn’t get snatched up by a bigger program that wants to win. Petrino will have the Hilltoppers competing for the Sun Belt title by his second season.

Georgia has been a hot name during the spring and summer to win the SEC Eastern Division. That’s based on the fact that it returns most of its offense, but the Bulldogs lost seven starters from their defense and the SEC has always been - and always will be - about defense. The Bulldogs do have a favorable schedule.

A team to watch out for in the Eastern Division could be Missouri. The Tigers return 15 starters, but Gary Pinkel returns as the head coach, too.

Next month’s SEC football media days in Birmingham, Ala., will have a record number of media representatives attending. By being the first of the major conferences to have its media days, the SEC garners all the national attention. It also doesn’t hurt that the SEC has won seven consecutive BCS championships.

The most attended day of the three in Birmingham will be the final one, when Alabama takes center stage.

The prediction here is that it will be very difficult for the SEC to win an eighth consecutive national championship, although it would be extra sweet to close out the BCS - the college football playoffs start after next season - with another title. It is going to be extremely difficult for the SEC to have an undefeated team, and there are a couple of big-name schools that have easy schedules.

Another thought on Arkansas and a bowl: If you thought there were a lot of bowls with 35, wait until the NCAA moratorium comes off. There could be as many as 44 bowls by 2014, and the reason is the NCAA no longer cares about bowls now that it has the playoff in place, something it has privately wanted for years because of control.

The SEC team that is under the radar going into the fall but could be dangerous is Ole Miss. Hugh Freeze had a really good year and returns 18 starters. The Rebels won seven games last year, but three of their six losses were by less than a touchdown. The big Saturday for the Rebs will be Sept. 14, when they play Texas in Austin. A victory there gets them national attention.

LSU returns 13 starters, and Les Miles is usually more dangerous - seriously - when there are fewer expectations. He does need to spice up his offense.

Alabama will win the SEC West and the SEC championship. Nick Saban’s recruiting has been so great the past four years that when he loses a great player to graduation, the NFL or injury, he just looks down his bench and sees two more potential All-Americans.

Johnny Manziel will not win the Heisman Trophy. He may still put up some gaudy numbers and Texas A&M may still win some games - although it lost 10 starters - but too many of the voters will be looking for a reason not to vote for him this season.

Vanderbilt will be even better than last season. The Commodores lost just six starters and had a great recruiting class.

While fan expectations will be high for Bret Bielema and the Arkansas Razorbacks, the Hogs may have lost too much on offense. If they had lost just Tyler Wilson and Cobi Hamilton it would have hurt, but they lost seven starters on offense. Bielema definitely will need a ground attack to keep games close.

Sports, Pages 21 on 06/23/2013