AU alum 2 Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 http://www.al.com/sports/birminghamnews/in....xml&coll=2 Birmingham News' college football writers name Sylvester Croom SEC coach of year Wednesday, December 05, 2007DOUG SEGRESTNews staff writer Forget the Grammy Awards. Never mind the Oscars. With the regular college football season over, we've got two award ceremonies in one - The Birmingham News' SEC individual awards and Segrest on the SEC's look back at the autumn that was. In The News' annual league awards, Mississippi State's Sylvester Croom was the runaway winner in voting for Coach of the Year. Croom, a Tuscaloosa native, received six of seven first-place votes to beat out Georgia's Mark Richt and Tennessee's Phillip Fulmer. Player of the Year voting was closer, with Florida's Tim Tebow finishing ahead of Arkansas' Darren McFadden. Voting for Freshman of the Year was no contest, with Georgia running back Knowshon Moreno the unanimous choice. Those awards were voted on by the News' panel of college football writers. As for the end-of-the-season Segrest on the SEC honor roll, the al.com SEC blog by yours truly, read on for this year's SoS categories and winners. Best leap from a hot tin roof - Sure, Mississippi State Athletics Director Larry Templeton gave him a vote of confidence, but no one believed Croom would make it to December. Especially not after dropping the opener in blowout fashion to LSU. Now Croom is the consensus SEC Coach of the Year after guiding State to a four-win improvement. Surrounded within the Western Division by coaching heavyweights, Croom can hold his own. Best escape artist since Houdini - In something like six hours, Houston Nutt went from turmoil in Arkansas to acclaim at Ole Miss. Most figured upsetting LSU wouldn't save his job in Fayetteville. It didn't. His resignation and sudden reappearance proved this escape was in the works for weeks. Biggest bust - Nick Saban has an unquestioned coaching pedigree and a process that's proven. But after a 6-2 start, Alabama spiraled downward in Shulian form. Players in trouble, an offense gone AWOL ... haven't we seen this episode before? Worst news in Knoxville - Phillip Fulmer did one of his best coaching jobs, turning Tennessee around after a dreadful 1-2 start to win the SEC East and earning a contract extension. The bad news? Everyone wanting a change at Tennessee won't see one anytime soon. Best news in Baton Rouge, Tuscaloosa and Auburn - Was it bad reporting or simply disinformation designed to keep Les Miles from leaping to Ann Arbor? Whatever, ESPN's breaking news of the LSU coach's impending departure for Michigan dissolved in a Saturday afternoon of mea culpas. Miles says he's staying put and Alabama and Auburn fans can rest easy that their coach isn't on Skip Bertman's radar. Maybe not the best news after all - The word Tuesday was that Miles isn't signing his new LSU contract until after the BCS title game. Hmmm ... Best team at the end of the season -Georgia closed the regular season with six straight victories and is, arguably, as good as anyone anywhere. Just ask Auburn. Best reason why LSU, not Georgia, is playing for the national title - Despite two triple-overtime losses, LSU still managed to win the rough-and-tumble SEC. Georgia still has some explaining to do: seriously, how did the Bulldogs lose 35-14 to a reeling Tennessee? Wildest moment - Wes Byrum's kick to beat Florida was prime-time ready. Georgia's overtime thriller in Tuscaloosa and Kentucky's upset of LSU will be talked about for years to come. But nothing beat the dramatics of Nutt's Arkansas swan song: the 50-48 marathon that needed three overtimes to prove Darren McFadden is the SEC's greatest human highlight reel since Bo Jackson. The end of the Cotton Bowl curse - David Cutcliffe and Mike Shula won in Dallas and were unemployed less than a year later while Ole Miss, Tennessee and Alabama followed Cotton Bowl victories with losing seasons. But Auburn broke the curse by defeating Nebraska last Jan. 1 and winning eight games during the 2007 season. The loss of the mystique - Way back in October, South Carolina was 6-1 and living up to Steve Spurrier's SEC media days hype. But the Gamecocks lost five straight and were left out of the bowl shuffle. Spurrier has lost his touch as a holiday drawing card, but don't count out Darth Visor as a coach. Three hottest coaching commodities in need of a bigger stage - Auburn defensive coordinator Will Muschamp is a star in the making. Where will his first big break come? Luckily for Alabama offensive coordinator Major Applewhite, everyone remembers his spread attack at Rice. Yet the best job by an assistant this season was turned in by Georgia's Stacey Searels, the former Auburn star and ex-Saban assistant, who turned an offensive line with three freshmen into a blocking and protecting juggernaut. And the 2008 national title goes to ... - Where do you begin? LSU will be a force again and Florida will have the Heisman Trophy winner back at quarterback to go with a more seasoned defense. But the Georgia offense could be downright scary. Consider that quarterback Matthew Stafford is a sophomore and running back Knowshon Moreno and the three granite blockers up front are mere freshmen. Count on three SEC teams opening the preseason in the AP's Top 5. Our pick? Chomp, chomp ... chomp. Florida. E-mail: dsegrest@bhamnews.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthLink02 8 Posted December 7, 2007 Share Posted December 7, 2007 Croom deserves it this year I suspect MSU will go back to no-bowl next year though.... Croom hasn't exactly recruited that great the last 2-3 years. I still don't think their O is that good and the talent is still sub-par to others in the West Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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