Sunday, September 13, 2009

What did we learn from Week 2 . . .

That as good as their defense and running backs looks, the Vols are in a fix until J. Crompton gets better or is replaced.

That Florida will beat the Vols just as badly as they can, but it should be interesting for a quarter or two to watch the Pretty Boys actually play a defense somewhat their own size.

That Stephen Garcia may turn out to be the best quarterback Spurrier has had in more than a decade. Yet the OBC's South Carolina teams' greatest strength is beating themselves. They've shot themselves in the foot so often it's a miracle they aren't playing on goat carts. For too many plays, Spurrier's defense looks like it does.

That the Georgia's defense, and I expect Mr. Tomlinson to wade in here, has real problems -- even with their pint-sized linebacker making more plays than the other 10 kids combined. Amazing that the Dawgs couldn't put more heat on Garcia, given how often he was slinging. On the other hand, Joe Cox's performance certainly eased the anxious drooling of the sensible faction of his fan base.

That LSU still sputters along on one piston. All that ability and size hasn't come close to playing as a team yet. Talent doesn't always turn the talented into good college football players, but it ain't a bad place to start. Pretty soon, Les and his boys have to start owning up to their performances or the growling already bubbling up out of the bayou will drown out Mike the Tiger.

That Auburn's momentum is building. Forty-nine points, even against the Maroons, can make for a crowded bandwagon. A win next week against West Virginia will have the Chizikians standing on each others shoulders. (Despite a few, um, small personal biases against the Plainsmen, I do believe the conference is better when both Alabama and Auburn are playing well. Just so you know, that will be the last civil comment I make to or about them for the next calendar year.)

That Alabama can gain 500 yards, give up only 1 defensive touchdown, have their rookie quarterback set an all-time consecutive completion record and still look so-so. Bright spots? A couple: The Tide's defensive intensity in the second half was scary, as was true freshman Trent Richardson's performance with the ball in his hands. The lack of consistent run blocking is beginning to be a concern. Saban's to-do list this week didn't get a whole lot shorter.

That's what I saw yesterday. What say y'all?
Michael Gordon

6 comments:

Bud said...

Problems shroblems. I've been watching this series for a long time and this was the most entertaining GA-SC game ever. We don't know how good either team is, but this game will be talked about for a long time. SC won all the stat categories: 26 to 16 on first downs, 428 to 308 total yards, and 1 turnover vs 3 for GA. In the end it was the Dawgs defense in the red zone that continued to stop the SC offense. Almost as sweet was hearing the oh-so-sure TV experts predict a low scoring snoozer and then watching 78 points get scored using a slew of different methods. Meanwhile I have a hankerin for some barbecue. Bring on the soo-eee pigs!

Observer Sports said...

Big win, for y'all, BD. But weren't you surprised that a team that managed only a gift score against NCSU poulan'd y'all?

mg

Bud said...

Totally surprised.

Anonymous said...
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Observer Sports said...

Sorry, but there's no mention of UNC or UCONN on this thread. We're thinking about starting a blog for JV sports and will let you know when we have it up.

Clear enough for you?

MG

Anonymous said...

I'd love to beat my chest and scream, but I'm still too deep in shock at the sight of a legitimate offense - our first since the undefeated 2004 team with Jason Campbell, Caddy Williams and Ronnie Brown. I sat there with my jaw on the ground for most of the game.

I'm cautiously optimistic about next week. Outscoring WVU is always challenging. But I think we'll have just enough defense to do so.