Dooley’s Dozen: 12 things that would shock us in the 2022 SEC season
We have this expression in our little clique of friends who talk a lot about Gator football. When someone says something obvious or silly or just plain stupid, it is often followed by, “Shawking!”
Sometimes it is shocking, but more often than not it is meant to be sarcastic. Or maybe it’s like that scene in Dodgeball.
Cotton McKnight: “And the Average Joe’s beat the Germans in a shocking upset.”
Pepper Brooks: “I feel shocked.”
OK, enough with this silliness as we explore another episode of Dooley’s Dozen. Because we think we have everything figured out for this season, but we know that in the unscripted world of college football, the next shocking thing is right around the corner.
Still, we can’t predict the shocking things that will happen or else they wouldn’t be shocking.
Am I making ANY sense?
Here we go with the 12 things that would really shock me about the 2023 SEC season.
Florida leads the SEC in penalties
Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
Billy Napier was brought in here for many reasons: recruiting, accountability, recruiting, player relationships, and did I mention recruiting? But one of the big ones is discipline. Florida’s penalty differential last year was negative-311. That cannot — and will not — happen again.
Vanderbilt wins the East
Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
I am not picking on the Commodores, but we all know no sane person could pick them. Clark Lea may think he is building a national power in Nashville. Who wants to tell him?
Texas and Oklahoma move up the timetable
Tom Pennington/Getty Images
Unless the Big 12 totally crumbles like a stale cookie, that league isn’t going to make it easier on the two schools that bolted. When it was announced a year ago, we all dismissed the 2025 move and assumed it would come earlier. Nope.
No SEC team makes the playoffs
Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
Come on. That just does not happen. Even a two-loss LSU got in when there were only two teams allowed to play. Besides, if the SEC doesn’t get a team in, would anybody watch? And wouldn’t Greg Sankey find a way to push up the expanded playoff?
The SEC announces the 16-team schedule
Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
There is no hurry, especially because this league did a 10-game SEC-only schedule with only weeks before the COVID season was to begin. There is still a division between the eight-gamers and the nine-gamers and no signs of compromise.
Texas A&M beats Alabama again
AP Photo/Sam Craft
It was a bit of a fluke in 2021. This one is in Tuscaloosa. And they ticked off Nick Saban something good. When Will Anderson says the friction between the two teams will be settled on the field, I get a little scared.
Georgia doesn’t lose two games
Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
I know the schedule is soft. I know Kirby Smart has been so good in recruiting that the Bulldogs are just reloading. I know the quarterback returns. I also know Smart has lost at least two games every season except last year.
Florida goes unbeaten in September
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Utah and Tennessee are favored right now. Kentucky no longer has the Gator curse hanging over its head. Billy Napier can’t turn the culture around overnight, and there are some real issues on the roster. If he goes 4-0, it would make everyone recalibrate their expectations.
Bryan Harsin is in a New Year’s Six game
Jake Crandall-USA TODAY NETWORK
After the attempted coup last season, Harsin changed a lot of things, including bringing in [autotag]Ike Hilliard[/autotag]. But the media boys and girls picked the Tigers to finish last in the SEC West for a reason.
Bryce Young wins the Heisman
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
What’s that you say? Well, he could have a better year and Alabama could be in the hunt for another national title and there will still be the unwashed masses who choose not to vote for him because he already has one. Ask [autotag]Tim Tebow[/autotag] about it.
Urban Meyer is Mr. Two Bits for a game
Jason Parkhurst-USA TODAY Sports
Well, he does have a job on Saturdays. Look, the events of the last year made it very difficult for Florida to do anything for him – let alone the Ring of Honor or Mr. Two Bits. Florida administrators would not want people booing their two-time national championship coach.
Our next piece is about how great the SEC officials are
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Not gonna do it. Wouldn’t be prudent at this juncture. John McDaid is the new coordinator of officials, and maybe he can get these guys on the right page. But as I say, you have to play around bad calls.
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