Monday, October 27, 2008

UT's Fulmer Sure Knows How to Keep a Job


"Whether it's administrative support or friends that are in crucial positions, I appreciate how everyone has handled this and has been supportive," Tennessee coach Philip Fulmer said days before his Volunteers got smashed by No. 2 Alabama 29 -9. "That's been a real positive for us. I look forward to rewarding that support."
Ah, in Tennessee support seems to be eternal: To say that Fulmer, with 17 years at the helm, is in the proverbial hot seat is an understatement. There are UT fans that loathe him. Despite this, his squad was in the SEC Championship Game a year ago, losing to LSU, the eventual national champion. But the fall this season hit everyone blindly. Not that they've lost but how bad they've looked. Against Alabama on Saturday, the Vols looked like a PAC 10 team. Of course, many say this is all just what-goes-around-style getback for a coach that hasn't been livin' right, but that's besides the point. I've never rooted for the Vols, but this free-fall has been painful to watch. The perennial 9-3 season is soooo last year. Still, Fulmer amazes me how he can keep his job. That, is truly, amazing. UT's administration must really hate going through the motions of a national hiring search, because the job ... quite literally ... is Fulmer's to lose. Forever. Of course, we all know the Volunteers program has been on a slow descent for several years. Meanwhile Alabama, Florida and Georgia, LSU have been talking about how to win championships. Maybe he peaked 10 years ago, when Spurrier's Gators were king: Then Fulmer won back-to-back SEC championships (1997 and 1998). Back then UT took a backseat to nobody, but the Gators. UT fans say the loss of David Cutcliffe, Fulmer's longtime offensive coordinator, who is now the head coach at Duke, made a huge impact. But teams lose assistants all the time. Was Cutcliffe that good?






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Sunday, October 26, 2008

5 Reasons Why LSU Lost to Georgia


Matthew Stafford showed up big-time Saturday afternoon in Tiger Stadium, leading the Dogs to a huge 52-38 win against LSU. How did that happen, you say? Here's 5 reasons how:

JARRETT LEE IS BLIND: LSU freshman quarterback Jarrett Lee has an eye affliction: He can't see linebackers. Dude has been picked off in each of the last 4 games by linebackers in the middle of the field. LSU's margin of defeat Saturday was exactly the margin of his two picks that were returned for touchdowns. “I still feel like [Lee's] a quarterback we can win with and I think Hatch is a guy we can win with,” said receiver Demetrius Byrd. Aw, aint that cute.

KNOWSHON MORENO'S RUNNING: The sophomore rushed for 168 yards the hard way: Up the middle. Georgia's offense had seven plays of 20 yards or longer, including Moreno's 47-yard run to set up the Bulldogs' third touchdown and a 68-yard scoring burst that made it 38-17 late in the third quarter. LSU's Charles Scott was valiant for the Tigers but in the end he wasn't a factor since LSU played much of the 2nd half down by 2-3 touchdowns.

UGA'S OFFENSIVE LINE: Say all you want about it being "makeshift" and "hodgepodge." It's dang good, too. Consisting of three freshmen and two sophomores, it held a blitzing LSU defense to only one sack. The Bulldogs have had four different starters at left tackle because of injuries. In fact, Georgia has allowed only one sack in its past three games. It was the difference maker in a game that had to be won upfront.

MATT STAFFORD IS A VETERAN: “He just got right back in the saddle and started throwing strikes, and started throwing some strikes under a little bit of duress,” coach Mark Richt said. He wasn't lying. Stafford (17-of-26 for 2 TDS (plus one one on the ground) made the LSU defense pay for every miscue, every blitz. “Matthew is really maturing. He is standing in there when everything is flying around him and focusing downfield and throwing strikes, and that’s what he’s got to do.”

THE BIG PLAY QUOTA: Georgia started off the game with one, and ended the game with one, big plays. None bigger than Stafford's 48-yard touchdown strike to A.J. Green to give Georgia a 31-17 cushion. Or was it Moreno's 47-yard gain on a simple toss play in the second quarter? Or perhaps it was Moreno's stirring 68-yard touchdown run in the third quarter? Or was it either of substitute middle linebacker Darryl Gamble's 2 interceptions he returned to the house? Or was it ... (get it?)





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Friday, October 24, 2008

3 Ways UGA can win, 3 Reasons Why They Won't


This one goes out to Free Man:
The Georgia Bulldawgs are gonna walk into Tiger Stadium tomorrow and be in their most hostile environment yet this season against their 2nd-most formidable opponent (Alabama). Here's 3 ways Georgia can escape with the W:

(1.) BLITZ UP THE MIDDLE: LSU's bread and butter running plays are to send Charles Scott and Kieland Willaims straight up the gut. This has been so effective that Scott led the league in rushing until Florida plugged the center of the field up by sending 8 in the box. LSU has yet to prove it can or even wants to run around the ends, but it'll have to if it wants to get close to 200 yards on the ground.

(2.) ZONE, ZONE, ZONE: LSU's quarterback Jarrett Lee can sling the ball down the field quite well even when not set, but he tends to loft balls across the middle on slant patterns. South Carolina and Florida both got gifts from him that way, and both dropped at least 1 other sure interception. I don't see any reason why that will change against Georgia.

(3.) CRANK DAT SOULJA BOY: UGA got in a zone last season only when it let the music blare in practice and during the games in the locker room. They need a spark, a motivational ploy to raise them to the next level. In Tiger Stadium, they'll need it.


Here are 3 reasons why Georgia won't escape with the W.

(1.) LSU WILL GO DEEP, YOUNG MAN: LSU's receivers Demetrius Byrd and Brandon Lefell are both excellent speedsters. They have an advantage that UGA's freshman sensation A.J. Green doesn't have: experience. They've got to take advantage of it. Byrd can run a fly pattern like nobody's business, get him the ball. If LSU connects on just one of these balls its 7 points.

(2.) MORE KIELAND WILLIAMS: LSU entered the season looking to establish Williams as the go-to back, but that was before Scott got some huge runs in the first couple games this year. Bested on the field, Williams had to sit and watch as Scott got the majority of the carries. But now defenses know the plays that Scott is running, so he's being bottled up. Enter Kieland Willaims again: Last week against South Carolina, it was Williams that broke the back of the Gamecocks churning out more than 40 yards on the last drive to seal the victory.

(3.) PRESSURE ON STAFFORD: Matthew Stafford will carve you like a Thanksgiving turkey if you give him time. Jump out on him early and often. Send a defender from the corner, send one from up the middle. Send them all. If not, you're gonna have a time stopping A.J. Green and Knowshon Moreno, who can break a game open.

There, I've said my piece. Now look for the score: LSU 28 - UGA 24.






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Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Alabama DOES Have A Weakness: The Second Half



The Crimson Tide has rolled early and often this season in grinding out a 7-0 record. The feature a power back, Glen Coffee (760 yards this season, averaging 7 yards a pop), that compares favorably with the conference's best (Knowshon Moreno, who has 762 yards at 6 yards a pop). They've got a steady quarterback, John Parker Wilson (8 TDs) that can manage a game. A more than serviceable defense. So, what's their weakness, you say?
It's the second half of games.
If the second half of the Georgia game (one in which Bama raced to a 31-0 lead) didn't raise an alarm - final score Tide 41, UGA 30 - then last week's near debacle against Ole Miss did. Bama held a commanding 24-3 in the first half, then was outscored 17-0 in a second-half drop-off that was not unlike the stock market the same week. In fact in the last 3 games, Bama has not showed a willingness or aptitude to finish those games.
In those three first halves, Alabama has outscored opponents 69-3. In the second half, the combined count is an alarming 61-13 in favor of the opponents.
For Bama opponents, that's a startling silver lining: Stay in the game in the first half, and you can pound them out in the 2nd. A second-half slide is usually a result of conditioning. Maybe Nick Saban's workout programs don't emphasis staying power or energy retainment, whatever. With games against Tennessee (this Saturday), LSU and Auburn remaining, Bama is sure to stumble at least once (could it be LSU)? The loss of Terrance Cody is a big one, but it won't matter much in the big scheme. Bama's that good.








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Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Georgia Dawgs Coming to Town (Hide the Crawfish!)


The game SEC fans have circled on their calendars since the schedules came out is upon us this weekend.
Saturday afternoon when No. 11 LSU (5-1, 3-1 SEC) faces No. 9 Georgia (6-1, 3-1) at Tiger Stadium. A loss by the Tigers and they effectively cede the SEC West to Alabama. A victory by the Dawgs and they can remove one hefty rook from the chest game which is their schedule. SEC immortality awaits (Florida's got one more loss in them, and Alabama's loss is coming speedily).
Georgia has a habit of going nuts on an opponent once every season. Last year Florida got their bell rung. This year it has yet to happen, but precedent is against the Tigers. In the 2005 SEC championship game a No. 3-ranked LSU team went to Atlanta and got pimp-slapped by the Bulldogs 34-14.
They did what no other SEC team could do: Knock 260-pound JaMarcus Russell out of the game.
LSU defensive end Tyson Jackson recently recalled the humiliation.
"It was a real bad feeling," guard Herman Johnson said. "Nobody liked that plane ride home, everybody was real upset. I've wanted to play them ever since that game."
This year Georgia, as good as they are, is struggling to find an identity. This year there's no soldier boy, the blackout didn't work, they need a gimmick. What will it be?






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LSU, Referee Edge Gamecocks, 24 - 17

LSU, like many teams, has frequently needed the referees to nip a persistent opponent at one time or another. Sad is the day when the LSU Tigers need a tackle from a referee. Sadder still is when the major footnote of a major LSU game is the fact that the ref tackled somebody (of course,
Spurrier investigated it). But in Baton Rouge, that's what it's come down to. The LSU-South Carolina game will be forever remembered (and immortalized) as the day an SEC ref forearm-stabbed a Gamecocks player.
The funny thing? LSU needed it.
Gone are the blowouts and wildly superior physical performances of last year. This bunch has to all-out blitz - every time - to ensure a sack. I'm not down on my boys when it comes to a championship, I'm just not particularly bearish this year, not with the re-emergence of Joe Eterno, er, Paterno's Penn State. Not with the unflappable Texas Longhorns playing a schedule every bit as rough and rugged as Georgia's. Not with a 1-loss USC team blowing teams out the stadium. And I didn't even mention the best Alabama team in nearly 20 years. But we'll be alright. TRANSLATION: Lester Miles bought himself at least 2 years of mediocrity with last year's championship, so if we lose two it's still a bonus.







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Friday, October 17, 2008

Spurrier, Gamecocks Will Be Ready


The diabolical Steve Spurrier has had 2 weeks to prepare for the Tigers. No doubt he has some razzle-dazzle planned for one of the Gamecocks' biggest games this season at home. Look for something worthy of YouTube, and something ESPN would want to lead off with. For it was only one year ago that LSU went into its bag of tricks and did a fake field goal that ran on all the highlight shows for about 2 weeks. Spurrier's not one to rest on his Florida trickery, he's got at least one, maybe two in the bag. Thing is, LSU is smarting from the worse loss since the David Green-led Georgia Bulldogs smoked them in 2004. Les Miles and Gary Crowton will no doubt dial up a few things to get ready for the Gamecock Nation. South Carolina is playing for respectability, LSU is still playing for a national championship. Saturday's game will go a long way to establish both ends, but unfortunately, only one team can win.
PREDICTION: LSU 28- SC 24






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Tebow, Florida Run LSU Out of the Stadium, 51- 21


Oh, it was ugly, no doubt about it, it was horrible (not to mention confirmation of what many Tiger fans know to be true). So bad was the whipping that Florida put on LSU on Saturday night that I actually had to turn the channel, yep, and watch C-SPAN.
Do you know what it means to choose C-SPAN and listen to some irrevelant author ramble on about the post-9/11 gentrification in Idaho when your team is playing on television?
I have always said that I was scared of Tebow. Did I know he could hang 51 on us? Sure did.
Did worse to Tennessee last year.
And you know what? Saturday could have been worse, too. If not for an irrelevant fumble midway through the 4th quarter, the Gators would have had almost 60 points.
LSU's defense made ordinary players look like superstars: Gator back Jeffrey Demps got 13 yards per carry on LSU, needing only 10 of them to do uncontrollable damage on the ground. Percy Harvin got 112 yards through the air, with 70-plus coming on a fluke 3rd down which should have been batted down. Tebow's ground game looks pedestrian on the stat sheet, but what isn't recorded is how many times he lounged forward to start a play only to pull back and loft a pass over outstretched purple-and-gold fingers. Jarrett Lee? Played like a redshirt freshman, no more, no less. Andrew Hatch? I like him. Scored with his feet and is more flexible than Lee (if only he could throw the dang ball.). Is this the end for LSU? No, it's just a much-needed and belated round-spanking. The defense needed a game like this in October, so that it can have a perfect November, which is when it plays a surprisingly scary Alabama team. Florida? We'll see them again in December. Trust.






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Friday, October 10, 2008

Operation Take Down Tebow Begins


We actually tried to take him out last season, but alas, he's a toughie. Saturday's game in the swamp between LSU and Florida is just unfinished gumbo. Last year LSU knocked every single quarterback they faced out of the game up until Tebow. This week, LSU defensive lineman Ricky Jean-Francois just made it public knowledge when he told reporters that LSU would “try our best to take (Tebow) out of the game.”
LSU officials quickly defended the statement, but is there really a need? This is the SEC. Tebow already has guaranteed employment on Sundays as soon as next year, if he wants it. It's gonna be even worse then. And know what? Jean-Francois will be there, too. And the mission will be the same.






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5 Reasons Why Auburn Fired Franklin


Say what you want about Tommy Tuberville and those Auburn Tigers, but complacent they aren't. How to explain the sudden firing of offensive coordinator Tony Franklin after only 6 games? There's gotta be a reason, right? Here's 5 reasons why Tubby had to do it:

THE NEW 2-LOSS STANDARD: After LSU's helter skelter championship run last season with 2 losses, it's no longer an excuse not to keep BCS goals in order. Doing the math, Auburn is still in the race, of course they need crazy help. But to close ranks and circle the wagons with 2 losses is a way of saying, "War Eagle!" If Tubby didn't act now, especially after that close win over Mississippi State, the Arkansas game would have been needlessly suspenseful (Quote me: It won't be now.)

THE CHRIS TODD FACTOR: Let's be honest, here. Aside from Tebow the SEC is not a quarterback factory. The guys that line up behind center here on a little more than middle-manager punching bags. They're not supposed to win games, just manage them. In the spread, Todd can do neither. What bites is that Todd knows the spread offense, he ran it in high school (Franklin was the offensive consultant at Todd's high school). The spread offense is not for game managers, but for real efficient, aggressive, mobile quarterbacks, in other words, those not at Auburn.

THE VANDY LOSS: Contrary to popular belief, Tuberville, while not okay with losing to them, had actually nursed his wounds after the LSU game. A loss to a top 10 program can actually help your cause late in the season when rankings get a big muddled. But the Vanderbilt loss? After being up 14-0 in the first quarter? Tuberville knows full well that he recruited better athletes than Vandy did. He knew full well that in a smashmouth, slugfest his team would win, perhaps easily. The spread offense made him a liar. Auburn's first 2 possessions they lined up like a normal offense and crisply, quickly scored two touchdowns. They went to the spread after that 2nd possession. They didn't score a single point after.

THE TIDE IS RISING Ask any Auburn fan what game is a must-win in any season and it's the Iron Bowl. Losing 3 to 4 games this season is not an option, not with a potent Alabama at the other end of the state (Auburn still must play Georgia and at West Virginia). Tuberville in the last 5 years has endured an unrewarded perfect season, a failed coup at the university and a bunch of bad calls, but one thing he can hang his hat on is his 5-year dominance of the Tide. Threaten that and the claws pretty much come out.

THE FREE KODI MOVEMENT: Quarterbacks Kodi Burns and Chris Todd have alternated during games and are still battling for the starting job. Despite Burns being way more mobile and versatile in the offense, his playing time has diminished in recent weeks. Tuberville likes Burns and looks to Florida, LSU and South Carolina (well maybe not the Gamecocks so much) as running effective dual-quarterback systems. Auburn never could master it. Tubby wondered why.









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Saturday, October 04, 2008

2 Losses? LSU Gave Everybody Hope


Before LSU's 2-loss national championship last year, no school in the nation gave much credence to losing a couple games and still being a national champion. Not until LSU and college football's wacky year did such a thing ever enter the mind of college football fans, coaches and players. But now? Everybody cites LSU as the reason why they still have their eyes on the prize.
Don't get me wrong now, people complained, but the arguments were not consistent. Still, this year everyone from South Carolina Gamecocks to the Florida State Seminoles believes it can still win the big one. Why? Because of what LSU did. Truth be told, LSU needs to thank Pittsburgh for edging West Virginia, and Oklahoma for whipping Missouri. If those two games didn't turn out the way it did, with one week left in the season, we were looking at a West Virginia-Mizzou championship (and they both were deserving).





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Friday, October 03, 2008

Will Kentucky Upset Alabama?


Yes, if:
KU senior receiver Dicky Lyons Jr. mans up and becomes an outspoken leader to his freshmen cohorts. Coach Rich Brooks has endured bad route-running, dropped passes, fumbles and plain ineptitude through the first 5 games this year. Alabama may embarass them.

And if 3 key players, receiver/quarterback Randall Cobb, linebacker Micah Johnson, and defensive tackle Ricky Lumpkin play up to their potential after being out last week.

If KU doubleteams Julio Jones, the sensational freshmen receiver for the Tide.

And if the Kentucky fans can make righteous noise like they did last year against LSU, which catapulted KU into the national championship.
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