AJC > Sports > Blog > Archives > 2007 > October > 04
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Five burning questions
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Five burning questions as we head into the weekend
1. How many times will Georgia pass against UT? If you do the math, it shouldn’t be many. In four games, Tennessee has given up 753 yards rushing on 146 attempts, or an average of almost 5.2 yards every time an opponent has run the ball. Take out the Southern Mississippi game (32 carries, 90 yards), and Tennessee has given up 663 yards rushing (221 average) against California (230), Florida (255), Arkansas State (178). Tennessee has had a week off to work on its running defense, but I’m not sure the talent is there to fix the problem.
2. Can Kentucky keep it rolling tonight against South Carolina? This will easily be the best defense Kentucky has faced this season. The Gamecocks lead the nation in pass defense, giving up only 106.40 yards per game. Opponents have completed only 46.21 percent of their passes against South Carolina, which also has six interceptions. South Carolina DC Tryone Nix is good at turning up the heat on quarterbacks but Kentucky’s Andre Woodson (16 touchdowns, 1 interceptions) is special. He threw an NCAA-record 325 passes without an interception until getting picked last week against Florida Atlantic.
3. Is the Fridge really playing smash mouth? Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen has one of the best offensive minds of this generation of coaches. But he beat No. 10 Rutgers last week with a strong running game and a good defense. Keon Lattimore is averaging 106.6 yards per game and Maryland second in the ACC (behind Georgia Tech) in rushing at 176.8 per game. Should be a pretty quick game on Saturday in College Park because both guys want to keep it on the ground.
4. Which way will Clemson go? Everything that could go wrong did go wrong for Clemson last week at Georgia Tech. Now what happens to Tommy Bowden’s team? Last season Clemson started 7-1 and then fell apart. Now adversity has hit and here comes Virginia Tech to Death Valley on Saturday. Clemson has more offensive weapons and should win the game. But will they?
5. Will LSU live up to the hype? The Tigers are No. 1 in the AP poll for the first time since 1959. There hasn’t been a regular season game in Baton Rouge as big as Saturday’s meeting with Florida in a long, long time. ESPN’s College Game Day will be there and CBS is going to show it in prime time. The whole world will be watching. How will LSU handle the spotlight?
Bonus question. Every now and then I run across something a little off the beaten path of college football. When I do, I’ll throw in a bonus question.
Why is James Carville doing sports talk? He was a political strategist in the Clinton White House, where he was known for his Cajun accent and his ability to argue on just about anything. Now he’s doing sports talk on XM Satellite Radio with Luke Russert, son of NBC’s Tim Russert. According to their publicist Carville, an LSU grad, is old school on the subject of sports. Russert, a senior at Boston College, is new school. The show is “60/20 Sports” at 8 a.m. on Fridays. Carville will also be in Baton Rouge this weekend to do a pre-game show for the Florida-LSU showdown.
