NWADG College Football

2017

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Oct. 21 ............................................at Ole Miss Nov. 4 .............................................at Alabama Nov. 11 ...............................................Arkansas Nov. 18 ....................................... at Tennessee Nov. 25 ...........................................Texas A&M OUTLOOK Ed Orgeron went 6-2 as LSU's interim coach last season, which was enough for him to be retained. It's the second go-around as an SEC head coach for Orgeron, a former Arkansas graduate assistant, after he went 10-25 at Ole Miss from 2005-07. .While the Rebels struggled to win games, Orgeron recruited well and left a talented roster that helped Houston Nutt go 9-4 in each of his first two seasons as Org- eron's successor. … Orgeron said he learned a lot from his mistakes at Ole Miss, which was evident in his 6-2 record as Southern California's interim coach in 2013 as well as the Tigers' success last season. … Org- eron understands the importance of having top coordinators. LSU defensive coordinator Dave Aranda and offensive coordinator Matt Canada are making a combined $3.3 mil- lion. … The Tigers have plenty of talent, as usual, and could challenge Alabama in the SEC West, but they have to play five confer- ence road games after the Florida game was switched from Gainesville to Baton Rouge last season because of a postponement caused by Hurricane Matthew. GAME 11 MISSISSIPPI STATE DATE Nov. 18 PLACE Reynolds Razorback Stadium, Fay- etteville 2016 RECORD 6-7, 3-5 SEC COACH Dan Mullen (61-42 in eight seasons at Mississippi State) RETURNING STARTERS 7 offense, 6 defense KEY PLAYERS QB Nick Fitzgerald, WR Donald Gray, OL Martinas Rankin, LB Leo Lewis, SS Brandon Bryant 2017 SCHEDULE Sept. 2 .....................................South Alabama Sept. 9 .................................. at Lousiana Tech Sept. 16 ..................................................... LSU Sept. 23 ........................................... at Georgia Oct. 14 .......................................................BYU Oct. 21 ............................................... Kentucky Oct. 28 ........................................at Texas A&M Nov. 4 .......................................Massachusetts Nov. 11 ................................................Alabama Nov. 18 ..........................................at Arkansas Nov. 23 ...............................................Ole Miss OUTLOOK Bulldogs junior quarterback Nick Fitzgerald may not be Dak Prescott, but he's pretty good. Fitzgerald was voted the All- SEC second-team quarterback — behind Al- abama's Jalen Hurts — at SEC media days after averaging 292.2 yards in total offense last season. … Fitzgerald, a sturdy 6-foot- 5 and 230 pounds, passed for 2,423 yards and 21 touchdowns and rushed for 1,375 yards and 16 touchdowns in his first season as a starter. With another year to learn un- der Coach Dan Mullen — who has proven to be an excellent developer of quarterbacks — Fitzgerald figures to be even better. He'll be operating behind an offensive line that returns three starters and has some good playmakers in wide receiver Donald Gray (41 catches for 709 yards last season) and run- ning back Aeris Williams (720 rushing yards). … Mullen hired Todd Grantham as defensive coordinator from Louisville to try and help turn around a unit that was 110th nationally in total defense last season, allowing an av- erage of 459.1 yards per game. GAME 12 MISSOURI DATE Nov. 24 PLACE Reynolds Razorback Stadium, Fay- etteville 2016 RECORD 4-8, 2-6 SEC COACH Barry Odom (4-8 in one season at Missouri) RETURNING STARTERS 10 offense, 5 defense KEY PLAYERS RB Damarea Crockett, QB Drew Lock, WR J'Mon Moore, LB Eric Beisel, DE Marcell Frazier 2017 SCHEDULE Sept. 2 .......................................Missouri State Sept. 9 ......................................South Carolina Sept. 16 ................................................ Purdue Sept. 23 ................................................ Auburn Oct. 7 ............................................. at Kentucky Oct. 14 ............................................. at Georgia Oct. 21 ..................................................... Idaho Oct. 28 .......................................at Connecticut Nov. 4 .................................................... Florida Nov. 11 ............................................ Tennessee Nov. 18 .........................................at Vanderbilt Nov. 24 ..........................................at Arkansas OUTLOOK It was a tough first season for Barry Odom as a head coach at his alma mater, but Missouri carried some momen- tum into the offseason after rallying to beat Arkansas 28-24. The Tigers should be able to move the ball well on offense led by ju- nior quarterback Drew Lock, who will be a three-year starter. Lock passed for 3,399 yards and 23 touchdowns last season. He completed 16 of 26 passes for 268 yards against Arkansas. … Sophomore running back Damarea Crockett, from Little Rock, was a breakout star last season when he set a Missouri freshman rushing record with 1,062 yards on 153 carries and scored 10 touchdowns. Odom, a former defensive co- ordinator, knows that side of the ball needs to improve drastically after the Tigers allowed an average of 479.7 yards to rank 116th na- tionally in total defense. … Senior defensive end Marcell Frazier had 7½ sacks last sea- son for losses of 61 yards. MEXICAN GRILL & BAR San Miguel 3722 N. FRONT ST. 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