2016 SEC Thread

Here's what I've seen or read so far in the SEC, 2016 season.

Auburn and georgia both played a good, experienced Clemson team in the first two weeks of the season--and both lost. Clemson beat auburn 2-0 and defeated georgia 3-1.

Last night a talented, technical UCLA team beat a solid texas A&M team 1-0 in front of a big a&m crowd. A&M is a tough place to play with spectators seated all around the field and very close to the field. It was a competitive game. IMO UCLA was the better team in run of play and was rewarded for its composure, scoring a nifty goal with 7+ minutes remaining. But a&m, well-organized, got 10 corner kicks.

Arkansas, one of the worst teams in the SEC last year, shocked a highly ranked Duke team last night, beating the blue devils in Fayetteville 2-1. That's got to be the upset of the season. Playing at (off the beaten track) arkansas is never easy, but credit to the hogs for a big win.

Tennessee finally got Hannah Wilkinson back after she has missed nearly two seasons with knee problems, but the Vols scoring problems continue. UT outplayed Washington, from the Pac12 conference, dominated possession for much of the game and got 12 corner kicks, but could not put the ball in the net and lost 0-1. The Vols have scored 1 goal in three games. Washington defenders kicked two UT balls off their goal line and won it with an absolute belter of a goal, from some 30 yards out, in the first half--one of the best strikes of the year.

Memphis beat a ranked Ole Miss team last night, 2-1., in Oxford. Memphis played well--scored two early goals--and outplayed Mississippi for much of the match.

Florida is in the middle of a murder's row schedule. The gators started the season well but lost to a talented Stanford team in OT last night 1-0. (I somehow missed that game on the tv schedule--would have loved to watch it.). Based on the stat lines, sounds like florida was on the back foot for a decent part of the game, but someone who actually saw it can add more. The gators play UCLA tomorrow followed by florida state. Now that's a three-game stretch!

 

Thanks for that video, WWC.

 

Tennessee has a nice group of athletes but they are young--except for Wilkinson, who is finally playing against after missing nearly two years with knee injuries. (For some reason Wilkinson's knees are always OK when she is playing for the New Zealand national team, then as soon as she sets foot back in Knoxville she is limping again!) Their other forward is a first-year player--talented, but young. They need to play better soccer in the attacking half and put the ball in the net--scoring is the problem. They completely controlled the second half against a pretty solid Washington team had numerous corner kicks and did not score a goal.

Still, arkansas beating duke is the biggest upset in the country so far, IMO.

I was surprised that florida scored 4 on UCLA, which shut out texas a&M in college station a couple of days earlier and looked very solid in doing so. One doesn't see two good teams score 7 goals between them very often at all--in fact, it's rare.

We'll probably see a lot of tight games in the conference.

 

Last week a good Southern Cal team beat both georgia (3-0) and auburn (2-0).

Florida went west and got beat by Stanford then beat UCLA 4-3 in a high-scoring game.

Arkansas lost to George Washington after Beating northern Iowa two days earlier

Tennessee lost to a good BYU team in Provo, then beat a weak American University team in D.C..

LSU beat Indiana and Butler last week after losing to George Washington and Colgate the week before.

Ole Miss lost of Michigan (0-2) then beat Troy

Georgia, after losing to USC, lost to Iowa State

Kentucky beat Louisville and High Point

Missouri beat San Francisco then lost to Notre Dame (away) 0-1.

Alabama lost to South Florida, then beat Florida Gulf Coast Miss. State beat South Alabama and Southern Miss.

The conference schedule starts end of this week, and then we'll start to get a better read on all these teams.

 

Apologies to the obvious south carolina fan. I thought i covered everybody. After starting the update, I quickly came to regret it as the big five conferences are...too big.

 

South Carolina seems the class of the conference. I haven't seen them play much, but they are very sound defensively, it seems, and McCaskill seems to get at least one goal a game, despite defenses focusing on her, and that attention on McCaskill seems to free up others for scoring chances as well. McCaskill is not the graceful of forwards--she is built like a linebacker but can run and has ball skills. Like Jordan at florida, she has an uncanny knack for putting the ball in the net.

Arkansas continues to get results--how, I'm not sure. They nipped alabama in overtime, and then beat ole miss by a goal. I have a feeling they will return to earth, but they're probably better than I realize--they have to be, having beaten both duke and florida. Vanderbilt is playing well--a good possession team. Texas a&m and Kentucky are struggling. Florida lost two in a row but is young and talented and just beat Tennessee. Tennessee is young and showing talent but lacks depth and needs to be better in possession. Pensky took a talented freshman forward, Maya Neal, who is also a heptathlete, and put her at centerback and she could very well be all conference at that position before long--if she agrees to stay there. Auburn will be buoyed by its victory over florida (two howlers by the florida keeper).

It is, as usually, a very competitive conference: there might be a couple of pacesetters at the top of the league, a couple of weak teams at the bottom--and 10 teams in the middle all battling for position and not a lot of difference among them except the luck/ability to nip a result.

 

That was a rather bizarre tactic against a South Carolina team that, yes, has McCaskill but is not what I think of as a high-scoring team. And it's not like Kentucky is a bad team, though they are struggling at the moment. We know about parking the bus but that seems a little absurd and probably threw Kentucky off more than SC.

 

I saw kentucky play alabama a week or two ago and the wildcats completely dominated alabama, had more than 20 shots in the game--and at least 5+ gilt-edged chances, as some commentators like to say, and could not finish. A wide-open net and they hit the ball six feet over the crossbar. In fact, had alabama not been called for a handball in the box/penalty kick, which kentucky converted, the wildcats would have lost. Ended in a 1-1 tie, as I recall. So much of this game is taking your chances.

 

alabama and arkansas have both been very opportunistic this year--both seem pretty effective in counterattack. Alabama, in particular, doesn't get many shots but has been very good about converting--which in the end is key. I don't think they are especially good, but as mentioned, taking your chances will get results even if you're not great in run of play. As for arkansas, I want to watch them them play again and see what they are dong well. I think they've got one forward who is dangerous in counter. I saw a bit of their game against florida, on a very wet field, and they scored two early and held on. I also some of their games against alabama and ole miss--and while I can't say I was wowed, they won both games by a goal. Nipped on in OT to beat bama 2-1 and beat ole miss by the same score! They're doing something right.