Time to show some love ...

to the under-served members of the SEC, at least on this blog. Looking down the tag list, I see that Auburn, Ole Miss, and Vanderbilt have not received sufficient attention. I am all about rectifying that problem.

First, a look at the Auburn world. Tiger Tales notes a Florida media outlet who argues that Tommy Tuberville is only the third best coach in the SEC, behind Urban Meyer and Steve Spurrier.

Look, I think the Ol' Ball Coach is great, but when is he going to show he can get South Carolina to the top tier of the league? Maybe this year, but if not, we are going to have to wonder when. Media voters have only picked South Carolina fourth in the East, which is still a great place to be in a conference like the SEC. Still, that's only one spot ahead of Kentucky -- can the OBC really be proud of that? Spurrier says he's "raised [his team's] goals this year", but to what?

The Hotty Toddy Blog interviews some Florida fans on the subject of Ole Miss. The answers seem pretty predictable to me:

(5) What do you dislike most about Ole Miss?

Nothing really not to like about Ole Miss and unfortunately that means that they are pretty much irrelevant.--Leak's#1

Ouch. Well, what can one expect?

The Montgomery Adviser interviews Coach Orgeron, who says Ole Miss needs a quarterback:

"We have had very inconsistent play at the quarterback position the last two years," he admitted. "We're looking for a consistent quarterback, a quarterback that can have a short controlled passing game, that can make the right decisions along the line of scrimmage, that can be a leader in the huddle."

Ole Miss also finalized its basketball schedule this week.

Turning to the Vanderbilt Commodores, Nashville Ballerz says that Vandy picked up a late basketball signee this week under "unusual circumstances:"

Under highly unusual cirumstances, Vanderbilt added a late recruit Friday to its 2007-08 recruiting class in Charles Hinkle, a 6-foot-5 swingman from Los Alamitos, Calif. With classes set to begin nationwide in about a month, Hinkle remained unsigned this summer after prepping for one year at Hebron (Maine) Academy.

The Georgia Bulldog Blog has a Vanderbilt capsule from SEC Media Days. Here is a sample:

Bobby Johnson bristles at the perception that it’s impossible to win consistently at Vanderbilt. But only a few breaths after half-heartedly disputing that assertion, he acknowledged why it’s difficult to be the little guy on the SEC block.

Unfortunately for Vanderbilt, they are essentially in the same boat as Kentucky, although at least they can use "higher academic standards" as an excuse, whereas the Wildcats really have none. Still, both Vanderbilt and UK will be making some noise in the SEC this year unless I miss my guess. Neither one will be taken for granted, even by the elite of the league.