What we think we know: Week 12

1. On the golf course over the weekend, some Big 10 friends were amazed when I said Alabama will be a solid underdog at home against Auburn in the Iron Bowl. I'm no bookie and I've never used one, but if the line is less than 6 points for the Tigers, I will be sorely tempted.

2. Mr. St. Onge and I disagree on much of what I'm about to say, and I hope he adds his point of view. My point of view is this:

There's a microscopically fine line between hard play and violence that can be almost impossible to see, depending on which side of it you stand. From my vantage point, the atmosphere of the Georgia-Auburn game was unnerving.

Who knows what role the unprecedented weight and heat of the Cam Newton played. But both teams -- neither of whom I care for -- were chippy and mouthy from the start. An angry energy soon took hold -- from Newton's right-cross stiff arm to Georgia's tag-team assault on Nick Fairley in the final minutes.

Both teams earned equal shares of personal fouls. We also watched ample airtime of highly agitated coaches who clearly weren't concerned about keeping their players in check.

Fairley, as the best defensive player on the field -- and, according to commentator Gary Danielson, the subject of a growing number of complaints from rival coaches -- got more replay time than any other player besides Newton and Georgia receiver A.J. Green. That's rare for a defensive lineman, but the added exposure captured the mayhem of the afternoon.

This is not a game for kiddies, and I can't remember as big a man as Fairley playing so hard on every single play. Still, his helmet to the back of Georgia QB Aaron Murray was the cheapest shot we've seen this year in the SEC. His pile-driving of the QB was excessively and unecessarily violent. And though blocked late in the game, I think Fairley had time to stop himself before his helmet hit Murray's knee and put him out of the game. (Go on any message boards and you'll find widespread disagreement on this last point.)

Georgia, for its part, has never behaved under Mark Richt. The Dawg coach is still living down his role in his team's mass end zone celebration against Florida two years ago. On and off the field, the Dawgs remain undsciplined, as do at least one prominent member of Richt's staff. The inability of the coaches and players to handle the emotions of the last minutes lead to a near mob fight and speaks to a larger problem. And that may explain why Georgia, for all its talent, is not very good -- again.

Auburn, on the other hand, is very good. And more than any other team in the country this year, it has fed off the energy from its home stadium and performed at a feverishly high level when it has needed it most.

Saturday, that energy overwhelmed the players and coaches from both teams, the officials and the game itself. It was not fun to watch. And, too often, Nick Fairley played out of control.

3. Unless he gets hurt, Aaron Murray will be the best quarterback in Georgia history.

4. Can Houston Nutt survive? Expect the Right Rev to thrust his name in as many coaching vacancies as his agent can turn up. Still, the humiliating beatdown by Tennessee raises questions that have haunted Nutt wherever he's been.

5. I owe the ball coach and his team an apology. Twenty-four hours after I opined about the Gamecocks' inevitable defeat against Florida and Steve Spurrier's continued role as coach, Carolina thoroughly pummeled the homestanding Gators to win its first every SEC East crown. This was by far South Carolina's best road performance of the year, a pounding, and it came when doubts about Spurrier and his program were at their peak.

By the third quarter, Florida coach Urban Meyer was in his straight-jacket mode: aimlessly roaming his sideline, arms garroting his bent-over body, haunted eyes, the walls of a humiliating defeat closing in. Let's hope the Gamecocks play this well in Atlanta. We need a good game. For now, it will be interesting to see how much energy the team can muster for its exhibition game with rival Clemson.

6. And what of Florida? The post-Tebow fall from grace this year by the Gators has been breathtaking. Saturday night's beating by Spurrier's teams ranks right along with the thrashing in Tuscaloosa during Meyer's first year as the worst defeats of the Urban Era.

What's Meyer's next move? Does he wait for the emergence of the next generational player (both Tebow and Cam Newton, after all, were in Gainvesville for a time)? Or does he find something that works year in and year out? This year's team is chock full of veterans and the nation's very best recruits, and make no mistake, it is still bad. Something essential is missing or must change. The Meyer system and the coach's pathological dread of losing are no longer enough.

7. Sorry, it's a sign of the times. But this couldn't be an SEC football blog without someone's latest opinion on the Newton mess. This is the best we've found today.

MG