Monday, October 18, 2010

What we think we know: Week 7

1. I can't remember a year when the gap between HOME and AWAY performances has been so vast. A week after beating Alabama, South Carolina takes a short plane ride to the Bluegrass and looks . . . like South Carolina. On Friday, we predicted a Gamecock victory because Steve Spurrier had Marcus Lattimore on his side. Except, he didn't in the second half Saturday. OBC kept making pilgrimages to where his star freshman runner was sitting, but that's where Lattimore stayed, and Spurrier kept returning to the sideline with that sour smirk on his face, as his team blew its 18 point lead and its fleeting control of the SEC East. Once again USC's pass defense -- where all its stud young players are supposed to reside -- was lit up like a bug lamp. And how, even in the annals of a Gamecock ineptitude, could Randall Cobb go uncovered on a fourth-down pass so late in the game. That's one for the record books, even a record book as soiled as South Carolina.

2. Things Mrs. Meyer might say to her husband at bed time: 1. Wake up, honey. 2. Your offense isn't working. 3.) You don't seem to have the players or ideas to fix it. 4.) Doing the same things over and over again when they don't work is a definition of insanity. 5.) Mississippi State?

2B. That said, here's a guy who has won two national championships in five years and would have won three had it not been for Alabama. And yet, Gator fans want blood. It's the same moronic virus now sweeping through a segment of Alabama's fanbase who demand vengeance because their team is ONLY 21-1 in their last 22. Clearly, someone must die. Reminder to Bama fans: Nick Saban says he will retire at Alabama unless expectations get so out of whack that he'd head elsewhere.

3. The SEC East reminds us of the ACC. Mediocrity as far as the eyes can see, which means we have the equivalent of a NASCAR restart midway through the season. Only Vandy is out of the race. And here comes Georgia on the outside, which beat two SEC lowlifes and now is only a 1/2 game out of the lead. Dogs still have Auburn on their schedule, which means they'll have to beat at least one good team. But that hasn't stopped the Wet Noses from now trumpeting their team's resurrection -- two weeks afer most of them wanted their coach fired.

4. Les Miles has clearly sold his soul. But in a one-on-one matchup at Auburn between the Devil and Cam Newton, I'm taking Newton. Auburn, which is in the police jurisdiction of hell but just outside the city limits, gives the Tigers perhaps the SEC's srongest home field advantage.

5. I'll make a deal with you: We'll talk about Arkansas again when somebody on the team makes a tackle. Until then . . .

mg

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

My thoughts:

1) Best picture of the year: Spurrier, snapping off his headset in frustration, which pushed his visor down over his face. I'm guessing Shaw gets 40% of the snaps in the Vandy game after that awful last play.

2) Memo to Tomlinson and other salivating Dawgs: Remember, you just beat Tennessee and Vanderbilt. Neither of these teams could post a winning record if they were in the ACC. Win in Lexington this week and we'll talk.

3) Auburn is overrated. There, I said it. I've been telling Panther fans everywhere to hop on the War Eagle bandwagon, where you can see more points scored in any given quarter than the Panthers will score in any given month. But Gawd, our defense is awful. You heard it here first - the pathetic LSU offense will threaten to score 30 this week. That's not enough, of course, but a testament to how bad our D is. Can you imagine what Boise or Oregon would do to our D? I try not to think about it too much, although the idea of a 77-70 football game sounds fun. And that's why the #4 ranking is too high. The consumption of copious amounts of Maalox will continue.

4) To MG - of course the fan base wants someone killed because you're only 21-1 in the last 22. I tell people that a major factor in 'Bama-Auburn being the single most personl hate-filled rivalry in all of organized sports is because it's in Alabama, where there really isn't anything else to do, except maybe go sit on the back porch and watch the cotton grow. So, with plenty of free time on their hands, 'Bama fans call for blood because the winning percentage has dipped to .955 and Auburn fans go to the intersection with the tiger paw in the middle and express their emotions through toilet paper. And don't worry; if we go into the Iron Bowl undefeated and lose, there will be plenty of calls for Chizik's head. Stupid, to be sure, but they'll be there.

5) Did anyone notice that Misipi St made the BCS rankings? Not a dynamic offense by any means (I think Mullen should pull a Tom Berenger and tell his QBs, "Since we might throw the ball twice in a decade...") but it works for them.

6) And speaking of the BCS, here we go again. Six SEC teams in the top 25, 2 in the top 6, 3 in the top 10. Nothing new under the sun there. But 5 SEC West teams are ranked. So, assuming Misipi St and Ar-Kansas can stay ranked, it's logical to assume a 1-loss team from the SEC West would get to the BCS title game ahead of an undefeated team. That'll get the chat rooms and message boards all a-flutter...

Michael said...

J, check out the Danielson post I just put up. He thinks out loud about how to stop the Auburn offense, but only comes up with theories.

Your defense is suspect, but it's suspect in interesting ways. At this point, it tackles hard and defends pretty well against what's in front of it (runs, short passing game). Most importantly, it knows it only has to make about three stops a game, which is more than a little liberating.

Danielson says teams need to start attacking more, then see if Cam and his mates can adjust and make plays. Sitting back is death, and not even a slow one.