The past decade of Southeastern Conference football was defined by two men: Roy Kramer and Steve Spurrier.

Commissioner Kramer was the driving force behind expansion to 12 teams, creation of the first league-championship game and the birth of the Bowl Championship Series, all of which helped make the SEC the richest conference in the land. The league might be facing more ethics questions than Corporate America these days, but the revenue checks sure look good.

	Around The SEC
	Alabama Crimson Tide
	Arkansas Razorbacks
	Auburn Tigers
	Florida Gators
	Georgia Bulldogs
	Kentucky Wildcats
	LSU Tigers
	Ole Miss Rebels
	Mississippi State Bulldogs
	South Carolina Gamecocks
	Tennessee Volunteers
	Vanderbilt Commodores

Florida coach Spurrier handled the on-field evolution. He dragged the SEC out of the Pat Dye days, when creative offense meant mixing a screen pass into the playbook. He was not only the league's best coach, he also was its most unconventional, unafraid and easily its most captivating personality.

With both men gone, the SEC suddenly finds itself facing a charisma crisis. Southern football is in transition.

Mike Slive is the new league boss, and his background suggests that he might well be a very good choice. But he's also stepping into a gaping power vacuum, with something to prove.

"I hope my last day here everyone will walk away saying that no one thought he could make a contribution, but he did," Slive said at the SEC Media Days gathering in late July, sounding well aware of the wing tips he's filling.

First thing we'll see is whether Slive wants to maintain the Saturday pace Octogenarian Kramer kept up. Commissioner Roy was known to hit three SEC games in a single day, flying in a private jet from a noon kickoff to a mid-afternoon game to a night game. The man was a true fan of the game.

But filling Spur Dog's visor is the more visible challenge. Fall Saturdays in the South are facing their biggest change since Bear Bryant hung up the houndstooth in 1982..

The year before Spurrier arrived in the SEC, LSU led the league in passing offense at 258 yards per game; last year the Gators led at 405.

The total offense leader in 1989 was Alabama at 434 yards per game; last year Florida averaged nearly 100 more.

Pre-Dog, the league had a single passer who had thrown for 3,000 yards in a season in Vanderbilt's Kurt Page. Since 1990 it has had 16 -- five of them Spurrier's quarterbacks.

But Spurrier wasn't just a strategist. He was a stylist. And that style created a with-him-or-against him aura that charged the atmosphere around the league.

The Neyland Stadium crowd will still boo when Florida comes to Knoxville Sept. 21 -- but not with the same venom. The Georgia fans will chant "It's great ... to be ... a Gator hater!" -- but not as loudly. The Florida State fans will still consider Florida utterly irredeemable -- but might not have to listen to accusations of cheap shots from the Head Ball Coach.

That man is now Ron Zook, who is hoping that hyperactivity goes a long way in the legend-replacement business. He may well win a lot of games at Florida (if he doesn't, he'll be Gator Bait in no time). But can he entertain like Spurrier, infuriate like Spurrier, captivate like Spurrier?

Uh, no. And neither can anyone else in the league -- or, for that matter, around the nation. But Zook is the one coaching on Spurrier's old sideline.

"Learned a long time ago, I have to be me," Zook said, in trademark staccato cadence. "In the jobs I've had, I've been able to be me. I've been able to coach the same. I can't come in here and try to be somebody else. I have to be me. Whether that's good or bad, we'll find out."

We will soon enough. But even if it's more good than bad, it also figures to be more dull than the Dog.

Game of the Year
Tennessee at Georgia, Oct. 12. Seems a bit sacrilegious to pick a game -- especially an SEC East Division game -- as the most important of the year without Florida involved. But welcome to the New World Order. This is the rematch of a thrilling Bulldogs victory in Knoxville that gave first-year coach Mark Richt instant credibility, given his predecessors' futility against both Big Orange North (Tennessee) and South (Florida).

Offensive Player of the Year
It's a gloriously flush year for quarterbacks in the SEC, but nobody comes in bigger than Florida's Rex Grossman. Just the fifth sophomore ever to finish in the top two in the Heisman Trophy voting, he'd be the prohibitive preseason favorite if Stevie Boy were still calling the plays. Nevertheless, it's hard to see too much dropoff for the NCAA's top-rated quarterback ever with a minimum of 325 completions.

Defensive Player of the Year
What was a tossup between Arkansas safety Ken Hamlin and LSU linebacker Bradie James became an easier call when Hamlin was hit last month with his second DUI, putting his status in doubt. The 6-foot-3, 228-pound James not only has 264 career tackles and NFL speed, he's been nothing but pleasure off the field, making the SEC Honor Roll last year.

Pat Forde covers college football for the Louisville Courier-Journal.