SEC Coaching Boards - Week 1

For more information on the coaching boards, click here.

1 Urban Meyer
Florida W
It wasn't a great win on Saturday; things appeared shaky in the first half, but UF had little trouble with a team named Hawaii with no where near the talent Hawaii had last year. I expect Meyer to lead his team to a 21-point victory over Miami this weekend.

2Nick Saban
Alabama W
So much for those critics speaking of the 6-6 season in Bama. Few at LSU remember that UAB loss in his early career in the Bayou, and it appears that he might finally have the mind set in Tuscaloosa to dominate like he expects. Not to mention getting the phone call from Bowden this week on just how his team kicked the Tigers' ass. Bama is expected to be undefeated headed to Athens in late September, so no chance of Saban to move higher. But a 5-0 record with a victory over UGA, would move Saban to the top of the conference.

3 Les Miles
LSU W
Miles avoids pulling a Lloyd Carr, keeps his team (and fans) up with a game moved due to a hurricane, dominates a confident team with a Harvard QB, and yet falls to No. 3? This isn't as much to do with Les as to do with how great Bama looked under Saban against Clemson.

4 Mark Richt
Georgia W
Richt's team came out and dominated a lesser opponent at home. Good to see that UGA had some swagger and handed a big loss to an opponent that was foaming at the mouth to beat up on big Brother. With the Bama win (which appears to be dominating this post),, Richt will look even more impressive if he can get through the first half of the season unscathed - Central Michigan, at South Carolina, at Arizona State, Alabama. Whew.

5 Tommy Tuberville
Auburn W
Tommy's decision to go to the spread has already been ridiculed, as the Tigers garnered less than 100 yards passing* in its first outing. While Auburn's offense hasn't been exactly explosive since the 2005 season, the change to the spread was suppose to open up the Tigers. After one game, some Tigers are hunkering for the days of Gorgeous Borges. With Burns' play limited, Tommy needs to find a QB before the showdown with LSU on Sept. 20.

6 Steve Spurrier
South Carolina W
Written prior to Thursday night game: Spurrier tried to make a switch at QB. Was finally getting away from the Smelley O, but his QBs haven't exactly been dependable. Garcia was too much of a thug, even having Spurrier leave it to the S.C. administration (who somehow let him back into school and back on the team), and then Beecher, who according to Gamecock fans, has told many that he was given this position by the grace of God, found out that God must really like NC ST defensive backs. Now Smelley is back to the starter, and Spurrier's O is back to an amusement. Still he rises over the horrible coaching done by Fulmer in L.A and NC St playing it's gymnastics team at offense.

7 Phil Fulmer
Tennessee L
Fulmer drops a spot, and is barely holding this over Houston Nutt. Tennessee was suppose to have a breakout year, and apparently thought they had the game in the bag at halftime. UCLA's 3rd string QB had 4 interceptions, one returned for a TD to end the first half, and other than a blocked punt, UT was in control. Then the Vols gave up two TDs in the 2nd half only to lose the game in OT. This game should've been out-of-reach by halftime, but instead, UT drops the ball and loses respect for the SEC. Nice Job Phil.

8 Houston Nutt
Ole Miss W
I know that the days of DeAngelo Williams are long gone in the land of the Liberty Bowl, but Ole Miss has struggled with this Memphis opener for the past decade, but Nutt's team cruised to an easy victory, and scored more points than in the entire Oregeron era. While that might be a (small) exaggeration, I think that Ole Miss is poised to have a good year, and Nutt will lead the way.

9 Rich Brooks
Kentucky W
While Louisville doesn't have the raw talent of the 6-6 2007 team, their current QB is supposedly a potential NFL starter that put up zero points against Kentucky. The Wildcats hadn't won in Louisville for almost a decade, and now under Brooks, they have a two game winning streak. UK was suppose to struggle on offense, and while UL isn't near the competition of an SEC team, I was impressed by UK dominating it's opponent. Brooks won't move any higher than this unless he can get UK into another bowl and a big win (or two) over SEC teams.

10 Bobby Petrino
Arkansas W
Arkansas came out and won a game in the first day of a new era, which is better than can be said than in AnnArbor or College Station. Petrino won't rise in these rankings until I see him compete competitively each week.

11 Sly Croom
Mississippi State L
This wasn't just a hiccup against an inferior CUSA team; this was a major warning that MSU might have played far beyond themselves last year and are headed back to the poor times. Croom is a good coach and a great man, but his preseason ranking was for the SEC Coach of the Year season, and now with this 5-turnover loss in Ruston, Croom is going to find it difficult not to drop back to bottom of the SEC. A loss to Southeastern Lousiana on Saturday would send Croom to the back of the SEC bus.

12Bobby Johnson
Vanderbilt W
Written prior to Thursday night game: Vandy defeats Miami of Ohio. Bobby stays at No. 12. Win 4 games, you'll move up to 11; win 5 games you'll move up to 10. Win 6 games and get to a bowl game? I'll put him at 6. (well, probably not).

*Originally, I had 100 yards of offense; I meant to say 100 passing yards. Auburn had more than 400 yards of total offense against LaMonroe.