There should be a lot of debate on which coach in the South Eastern Conference has done the best job so far. Of course, you have Gene Chizik who has taken Auburn to an 8-0 start and has the Tigers at the number one spot in the BCS Standings. But I think if you have Cam Newton on your team playing the way he has this year, any coach could be in the same spot Chizik is.
Then you have Nick Saban, who even though his Alabama Crimson Tide team lost early in the year to South Carolina, still has a shot to get to the BCS National Championship Game. Saban’s Crimson Tide team looked a little rough for a few weeks but over the last few games have started playing with more fight and is starting to look like the Alabama team that everyone was scared of before the season started.
Now you have to look at Bobby Petrino and the Arkansas Razorbacks who are off to the best start since Petrino took over for Houston Nutt. The Razorbacks are sitting at a 5-2 record with the two losses coming from the teams above late in the fourth quarter of each game. The Razorbacks still have a shot of a 10 win season and a major bowl bid if they can hold on to their leads. They have 3 ranked opponents left which can help them tremendously in the BCS standings.
We can’t forget about the Mad Hatter and Les Miles down in the Bayou Country either. LSU is #12 in the country with only one loss to an Auburn team that is playing better than anyone else in the country right now. Les Miles has done some crazy things this year, but in the end a win is a win. He has a shot to redeem himself when the Tigers play host to Alabama on Nov. 6, before finishing the year off at Arkansas in Little Rock.
Last but not least is Dan “The Man” Mullen over at Mississippi State University. He has taken a non-bowl team and turned them around in less than two years. The fans have supported him from day one and so far it has proven to be right. He has the bulldogs ranked for the first time in 9 years and bowl eligible in 8 games so far. His only loses have come against Auburn and LSU. Mullen and the Bulldogs have their toughest challenge ahead playing Kentucky, at Alabama, Arkansas, and finishing up at Ole Miss. If Mullen can win just two of the four games in the stretch, his name will be hard to not say for the Coach of the Year.
There is still a lot of football left to play in a conference that has been all shaken up from week one. With controversy around every corner, who knows what we are in store for as we prepare for the second half of the year.
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