SEC Football

It's all shaping up nicely in the SEC West.  The November 5 LSU/Alabama game at Tuscaloosa should decide the division.  The top two teams in the country both looked impressive Saturday; LSU beat up on the Florida team Alabama destroyed last week and Alabama shut out Vandy.

The East is a little more complicated.  South Carolina and Georgia are tied at 3-1 in conference action.  South Carolina has the edge after winning the head-to-head matchup last month.  But Florida is lurking at 2-2 with games still upcoming against the leaders.  South Carolina dismantled dismal Kentucky and Georgia handled Tennessee to give Coach Richt his 100th career victory.

If you're a praying person, put in a few words for the Ole Miss Rebels.  They're 2-3 overall and 0-2 in the conference.  They were off this week, but play Alabama, Arkansas and Auburn the next three weeks and then LSU a couple of weeks later.  Their November 5 game against Kentucky will probably determine the worst team in the league, depending on how the rest of the year goes for Vandy.

Week Six Scores:

#1 LSU 41, #17 Florida 11
#2 Alabama 34, Vanderbilt 0
#10 Arkansas 38, #15 Auburn 14
#18 South Carolina 54, Kentucky 3
Georgia 20, Tennessee 12
Mississippi State 21, Alabama-Birmingham 3

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SEC Football -- Week Five

Oh, doctor!  The marquee matchup of the day didn't quite live up to expectations, but there was a real doozy of a game in Baton Rouge.

Tennessee came into their game with LSU a two-touchdown underdog, and it looked to be a long afternoon for the Vols when LSU QB Jordan Jefferson scored on an 83-yard run on the Tigers' first offensive play of the game.  But Tennessee put together a 7-play, 64-yard drive and Tauren Poole capped it off with a one-yard run that tied the score just before the end of the first quarter.  It stayed that way until Josh Jasper kicked a 31-yard field goal for LSU to open the fourth quarter, but Tennessee answered with a touchdown on the next drive to take their first lead of the game at 14-10.

Fast forward to the end when things got really weird.  LSU got the ball with a little under six minutes left in the game and started a drive down the field.   On second-and-goal on the Tennessee two with 32 seconds left, Jefferson was stopped at the one-yard line, and LSU suddenly seemed to have no idea of what to do next.  Players rushed on the field and others rushed off and the LSU was running around trying to get a play called.  Tick, tick, tick.  Incredibly bad coaching and clock management.  LSU C T-Bob Hebert finally just snapped the ball as time was running out.  Jefferson wasn't ready for it, and Tennessee's Nick Reveiz fell on it as time expired.

But hold on!  The replay booth called down on the field and Tennessee was charged with illegal participation.  As players from both teams were running on and off the field, it appeared that four Vols ran on and three headed off, then one of the players that was going off turned around and came back.  Thirteen Vols on the field when the ball was snapped.  LSU got one more crack at it.  Jefferson pitched to Stevan Ridley and he punched it in for the 16-14 LSU win.

As much as I really hate Tennessee, I have to admit that they might have gotten screwed on the first "final" play.  LSU did not appear to get set before the ball was snapped, and after the play, when it looked like Tennessee had the win, an LSU lineman snatched his helmet off and threw it to the ground, which should have been a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

The final sequence really has to be seen to be believed.  Click here! 

On paper, the marquee matchup of the day seemed to be Alabama vs. Florida, the best of the west vs. the best of the east.  On the field, however, it was all Alabama in a 31-6 win.  Mark Ingram had two touchdowns, but only rushed for 47 yards.  Marquis Maze threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Michael Williams out of the wildcat formation.  And C. J. Mosely had a 35-yard interception return for another touchdown.  The final stats were actually pretty close, but four turnovers -- three interceptions and a fumble -- killed any chance Florida had of getting back in the game.  Two of the turnovers came with Florida deep in Alabama territory.

Georgia's losing streak is now at four for the first time since 1990.  The Bulldogs were down two to Colorado in the closing minutes, but were within field goal range.  They were just trying to run the clock down and maybe punch out a few more yards.  But Colorado turned LB B. J. Beatty loose on a blitz.  He got to Caleb King in the Georgia backfield just as he was taking the handoff and stripped the ball loose.  Colorado fell on it to preserve the 29-27 win.

The scores:

#1 Alabama 31, #7 Florida 6
#10 Auburn 52, Louisiana-Monroe 3
#12 LSU 16, Tennessee 14
Mississippi 42, Kentucky 35
Colorado 29, Georgia 27
Mississippi State 49, Alcorn State 16
Connecticut 40, Vanderbilt 21

SEC Football -- Week Four

It was a big week in the SEC with three games between Top 25 teams, two of them intra-conference affairs.

Alabama survived a scare on the road at Arkansas.  Just like last week at Georgia, Arkansas was able to get the lead early, but wasn't able to hold it.  In the Georgia game, Razorback QB Ryan Mallott was able to make the big play late to pull it out; against Alabama, not so much.  Alabama overcame a 13-point deficit and took their first lead with just 3:18 to play, Mark Ingram scoring on a 1-yard run.  Two first-year starters in the secondary made big interceptions late for Alabama:  Robert Lester's second pick of the day put Alabama in position for the go-ahead score, and Dre Kirkpatrick's pick, on a ball that Mallott was trying to throw away, allowed Alabama to run out the clock on a 24-20 win.

Auburn fell behind South Carolina 20-7, but forced four fourth-quarter turnovers to get the 35-27 win.  After Stephen Garcia fumbled twice to end Gamecock drives, the quarterback was pulled for freshman backup Connor Shaw.  Shaw led the Gamecocks deep into Auburn territory twice in the closing minutes, but threw interceptions to end both drives.  Auburn QB Cameron Newton rushed for 176 yards and three touchdowns and threw for two more.

Defense and special teams carried LSU over West Virginia.  The D held the Mountaineers to just 178 total yards.  Tiger CB Patrick Peterson returned a punt 60 yards for a touchdown and blocked a field goal.  LSU continues to struggle through the air:  QB Jordan Jefferson has now thrown for less than 100 yards and no touchdowns in three straight games.

Mississippi State broke a nine-game losing streak against Georgia that dated back to 1974 with a 24-12 win.  Georgia is now 0-3 in conference play for the first time since 1993.

Tennessee led Alabama-Birmingham 23-7 at the half and it looked like it was going to be an easy win for the Volunteers, but the Blazers stormed back with two touchdowns and two two-point conversions to send the game to overtime.  After trading field goals in the first overtime session, UAB settled for a field goal again in the second.  On Tennessee's first play of the second overtime, Matt Sims hooked up with Denarius Moore for a 25-yard TD pass and the 32-29 win.  UAB dominated Tennessee in nearly every facet of the game, but kicker Josh Zahn missed four field goals in the loss.

The scores:

#1 Alabama 24, #10 Arkansas 20
#9 Florida 48, Kentucky 14
#17 Auburn 35, #12 South Carolina 27
#15 LSU 20, #22 West Virginia 14
Mississippi State 24, Georgia 12
Tennessee 32, UAB 29 (2 OT)
Ole Miss 55, Fresno State 38

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SEC Football -- Week Three

It's still real early, but it looks like a down year for the SEC -- especially in the East.

Georgia and Tennessee are both 1-2, and Georgia already has two tough conference losses, including a last second loss at home to Arkansas Saturday.  Tennessee has looked pretty rough all around.  Kentucky is winning, but against subpar opponents.  Their first real test will come this week at Florida.  Vandy is still Vandy, though they did manage to whip up on Ole Miss Saturday, snapping a 10-game conference losing streak.  Florida and South Carolina are both 3-0, but Florida continues to struggle early in every game before turning to on in the second half.  That might hurt them later on down the road.

The West looks much stronger with Alabama, Arkansas, LSU and Auburn all 3-0.  Mississippi State seems to be improving, especially on offense, but the schedule has not been kind.  They're 1-2 (0-2) after losses to Auburn and LSU.  Ole Miss is going to have a long, long season.  They're now 1-2 (0-1) with losses to Jacksonville State and Vanderbilt.  Their lone win came against Tulane 27-13 in Week Two.

Arkansas vs. Georgia was the most exciting game of the week.  Georgia overcame a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter, but Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett threw a 40-yard pass to Greg Childs for the go-ahead score with just 15 seconds left.  Mallett was 21-of-33 for 380 yards and three TDs for the afternoon and was later named the SEC Offensive Player of the Week.

The scores:
#1 Alabama 62, Duke 13
#10 Florida 31, Tennessee 17
#12 Arkansas 31, Georgia 24
#13 South Carolina 38, Furman 19
#15 LSU 29, Mississippi State 7
#16 Auburn 27, Clemson 24
Vanderbilt 28, Mississippi 14
Kentucky 47, Akron 10

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SEC Football Wrapup -- Week Two

Week Two of the college football season found most of the Southeastern Conference teams facing stronger opposition -- too strong for some.  There were even a couple of conference games on the schedule.

It looks like Steve Spurrier might be giving the ground game a try at South Carolina.  Freshman RB Marcus Lattimore rushed 37 times for 182 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Gamecocks over the Georgia Bulldogs 17-6.  Georgia tried to make a game of it.  Down 14-6 in the third, the Bulldogs drove to the South Carolina three.  An offsides penalty pushed them back five, then Washuan Ealey fumbled to end the threat.

With injured RB Mark Ingram on the bench for the second straight week, Trent Richardson stepped up and carried Alabama to 24-3 win over Penn State.  Richardson rushed 22 times for 144 yards and a touchdown.  He also caught four passes for 46 yards.  Coach Nick Saban said that Ingram could have played, but he didn't want to put him in without sufficient practice time.

Tennessee led Oregon 13-3 in the first half, then the Ducks went to work.  RB LaMichael James ran right and was stopped for a four-yard loss, but stayed on his feet, reversed direction and rumbled 72 yards down the sideline to break a 13-13 tie.  It was all part of 45 unanswered points Oregon scored to beat the Vols 48-13.

The scores:
#1 Alabama 24, #18 Penn State 3
#7 Oregon 48, Tennessee 13
#8 Florida 38, South Florida 14
#14 Arkansas 31, Louisiana-Monroe 7
#19 LSU 27, Vanderbilt 3
#21 Auburn 17, Mississippi State 14 (Thursday, 9/9)
#24 South Carolina 17, #22 Georgia 6
Kentucky 63, Western Kentucky 28
Mississippi 27, Tulane 13

SEC Football Wrapup

The first weekend of the 2010 college football season is in the books.  Since most of the SEC teams were playing tuneups against Sisters of the Poor teams, there weren't many surprises.  Just one, in fact:

The Ole Miss Rebels blew a 31-10 halftime lead and ended up losing to Jacksonville State 49-48 in two overtimes.  It was JSU's first win against an FBS school since September 2007 when they beat Arkansas State, and the largest deficit overcome in the school's history.  JSU, a FCS school from the Ohio Valley Conference, outscored the Rebels 21-3 in the fourth quarter to force overtime, then completed a pass to get the two-point conversion and the win.  JSU's final touchdown came on fourth-and-30, a pass from Coty Blanchard to Kevyn Cooper.

The North Carolina-LSU game was somewhat of a surprise to me.  Although UNC was the higher ranked team going in, I was surprised that LSU had such a hard time in earning the 30-24 win.  With 13 players benched due to an NCAA investigation and down 20 at the half, the Tarheels put on a furious rally that came up just a little short.  With seconds left on the clock, UNC was on the LSU six-yard line, but two pass fell incomplete.  Either UNC has made great strides or LSU has fallen off worse than expected.  UNC did capitalize on a bad call on an onside kick and got their final chance after a costly fumble while LSU was trying to run out the clock.

The Scores:
#1 Alabama 48, San Jose State 3
#4 Florida 34, Miami (OH) 12
#17 Arkansas 44, Tennessee Tech 3
#20 LSU 30, #18 North Carolina 24
#22 Auburn 52, Arkansas State 26
#23 Georgia 55, LA-Lafayette 7
Jacksonville State 49, Mississippi 48 (2OT)
Kentucky 23, Louisville 16
Tennessee 50, TN-Martin 0
Mississippi State 49, Memphis 7
Northwestern 23, Vanderbilt 21
South Carolina 41, Southern Miss. 13 (Thursday, 9/2)

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