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Thursday, September 25, 2008
Will UGA’s Ben Jones sleep on Friday night?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Five burning questions as we head into the weekend:
1. Will Ben Jones get much sleep Friday night? Arkansas has the nation’s best center in Jonathan Luigs, who last season won the Rimington Award, which goes to the nation’s best player at that position. Last Saturday Luigs was getting help on just about every play and he still had his hands full with Alabama nose tackle Terrence “Mount” Cody, who is 6-5 and at least 370 pounds. Arkansas had 92 yards rushing on 31 carries. Georgia’s Jones (6-2, 306) is a true freshman who just turned 19 years old. Going up against a grown man like Cody is enough to make anybody nervous. But Jones played at Bibb County High School in Centreville, Ala. And when you chose to leave that state (Ben’s dad attended Georgia) to play elsewhere in the SEC, facing Alabama is a really big deal. A lot of people are going to be watching that matchup because it’s going to be one of the factors that decide the game.
2. How big is the Auburn game for Tennessee? Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer was defiant in his press conference this week insisting that he and his coaching staff “know what we’re doing” in the wake of severe criticism after last Saturday’s 30-6 home loss to Florida. I don’t want to get too melodramatic here, but Saturday’s game at Auburn is one of the biggest in Fulmer’s 17-year career as a head coach. Here’s why: Another loss puts Tennessee at 1-3 with a non-conference game against Northern Illinois coming up next week. The media reports after that will focus almost entirely on Fulmer’s future (despite a $5.5 million buyout) and the thousands of empty seats that will surely be there for next Saturday’s game. Then Tennessee has to go back on the road to play at Georgia on Oct. 11. Fulmer proved he could coach well last season when his back was to the wall. Well, he’s there again.
3. Will Florida show us ANYTHING against Ole Miss? I expect the Gators to come out a little flat against an Ole Miss team that has already lost to Wake Forest and Vanderbilt. Florida certainly wins the game but it will probably be a little sloppy. Coach Urban Meyer will fuss a little bit about focus and a lack of execution. But understand what the end game is here. Florida got a huge gift last week when the Gators barely had to break a sweat to beat Tennessee on the road. Now they can basically put it in cruise control against Ole Miss this week and Arkansas next week. Whatever real wrinkles Meyer and OC Dan Mullen have in the offense they can save for LSU’s visit on Oct. 11.
4. Will Stephen Garcia be the answer at South Carolina? Garcia has been Steve Spurrier’s most high profile quarterback recruit in four years at South Carolina. He has also been the biggest headache for the Head Ball Coach. Based on his prior behavior, Garcia is everything that Spurrier does not like in a quarterback: Undisciplined, unpredictable, and unreliable. But here is the reality. Garcia, for all of his flaws, is the most talented player that Spurrier has at the position. So this week against a bad UAB team Spurrier is going to take off the training wheels and give the redshirt freshman a shot. Spurrier has to do something because the South Carolina offense, especially with WR Kenny McKinley hurt, is just incredibly bad. South Carolina has SEC games coming up with Ole Miss, Kentucky, and LSU before the Gamecocks get an open date on Oct. 25. So Spurrier is going to throw Garcia out there on Saturday and see what happens. Just a word of advice to the HBC: Staple that visor to your head.
5. Is Florida State’s season on the line against Colorado? After two impressive tune-ups against Division I-AA Western Carolina and Chattanooga, Florida State was supposed to take a step forward last Saturday night against Wake Forest. Instead, the Seminoles took two steps back with seven turnovers in a 12-3 loss. This Saturday against Colorado, Florida State will have no excuses. The Seminoles (2-1) finally have their entire team because the suspensions in the academic cheating scandal have ended. Colorado appears to be a decent team after beating West Virginia last Thursday night. But if the Florida State program is indeed moving forward after consecutive 7-6 seasons, this is a game that the Seminoles should win. Another loss will generate a lot of discussion that the FSU program can’t truly move forward until head coach Bobby Bowden finally retires and Jimbo Fisher takes complete control. And that won’t be pretty.
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