Here are the big stories and top links for this Monday morning in the SEC West:

Folks in Alabama have already turned their eyes toward the fall of ‘09.  Following the Tide’s Sugar Bowl loss to Utah, the team will certainly have motivation.  Bama supposedly has a stable of capable quarterbacks to go with that motivation… but you saw how new quarterbacks did in the SEC this year. 

Left tackle Andre Smith, suspended from the Sugar Bowl, is indeed heading to the NFL, but his lawyer says he’s made no contact with a sports agent.  Alabama and the NCAA say there was no violation of an NCAA rule.  Smith’s agent says that should be proof that his client didn’t speak with an agent.  So what happened that led Nick Saban to suspend Smith?

Ray Melick of The Birmingham News writes something that I completely agree with today: bowl games don’t “prove” very much, they’re exhibition games played a month after the season, and half the match-ups are fruity.  Good column… you should read it.

Gene Chizik is filling out his coaching staff… and Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State probably isn’t too happy about it.  Not only has Chizik added former Iowa State assistant Jay Boulware (special teams) to his staff, he’s also hired Curtis Luper (running backs) from Oklahoma State and is wooing OSU’s Trooper Taylor, too.

Luper said he’s working hard to recruit Taylor to The Plains.  “He’s a phenomenal man.  He’s a great recruiter, great coach, great person, I could go on and on.”

John Pelphrey has been named The Northwest Arkansas Times’ Men’s Collegiate Coach of the Year.  That ranks just below the Nobel prize and the Oscar in terms of awards and honors.  Why did Pelphrey win?  He’s bringing passion back to Razorback hoops.

Indeed Hog fans are loving their team’s blue-collar work ethic.  Whether diving for loose balls will be enough to upset #8 Texas is anyone’s guess.  After seeing what the young Razorbacks did to Oklahoma, Texas’ Rick Barnes is taking UA seriously.

Garrett Temple and the LSU Tigers took their defense to new heights on Saturday night.  Against Southeastern Louisiana.  Baby steps, I guess.  Baby steps.

Ole Miss is hoping to build off of a Cotton Bowl win, a Top 15 ranking and a 9-4 record next year.  But with key losses across the board, Houston Nutt will have to do some solid recruiting in the next month.

Mississippi State’s 17-point win over Houston this weekend was a step in the right direction.  A win over Western Kentucky tonight would also help to boost the Bulldogs’ current RPI which is hovering way down in the 180s.

MSU’s RPI hole is so deep — and the SEC is so down — that Kyle Veazey of The Jackson Clarion Ledger is already thinking an SEC Tournament title might be MSU’s best shot at the NCAA tourney in March.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 5th, 2009 at 10:11 am and is filed under Alabama, Homepage . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.