RUNNING THE BALL IS THE ANSWER

Here's some fun stats:

Rushing Offense

2008 

1. Florida (SEC & national champ)
2. Ole Miss
3. Bama (SEC west champ)

2009 

1. Miss. St.
2. Florida (SEC east champ)
3. Bama (SEC & national champ)

2010 

1. Auburn (SEC & national champ)
2. Miss. St.
3. Ole Miss

2011 

1. Bama (national champ)
2. LSU (SEC champ)
3. South Carolina

2012 

1. Texas A & M
2. Bama (SEC & national champ)
3. Florida

2013 

1. Auburn (SEC champ & national runner-up)
2. Mizzou (SEC east champ)
3. Arkansas

2014 

1. Georgia (Leads east - ranked #9)
2. Miss. St. (Leads west - ranked #1)
3. Auburn (ranked #5)

You know, we say that the league has changed and that Spurrier and then the spread changed things.  They certainly did, but it ain't all that different.  You gotta run the ball to win.  In fact, what is unequivocally true is that the SEC champ has finished in the top 3 of the league in rushing in the last 5 years.  Many times, both division champs were in the top three.  BTW, we were #4 in 2012.  It really shows what a mess that 2010 season was.  It is the outlier as South Carolina finished 8th and won the East at 5-3.  It was an unheard of year.  We finished 7th in 2011, too. But that year was a weird one, too, in which the best team in the nation didn't even go to the SEC.  Shows you how good Aaron Murray was that year because South Carolina finished 3rd and was a superior team to us in a lot of ways.  Pretty much, if you want go to the SEC championship game, you need to finish in the top 4 in rushing.  If you want to WIN the SEC, you pretty much have to finish in the top 3.  Alabama is 5th this year.  Hard to imagine that top four deal won't continue to hold form.  That doesn't bode well for Ole Miss, which currently ranks 11th.  Their stuffy defense might can offset that, but my guess is that it will catch up with them, maybe Saturday night down where Dreams Come to Die.

It ain't changed much from Dooley, Bryant, Vaught and Jordan's day.  You wanna win in this league, you better run the football.  BTW, I so want the first play in Jax to be Wild Gurl w/ Chubb as the offset back.  Does it give it or keep it?