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September 2008
You want a playoff? Well, here it is!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Last weekend was yet another example of why it is going to be hard to get the college football powers that be to ever buy into a playoff.
Just follow me here.
After all the craziness of 2007 there can be no doubt that college football has the best regular season of any sport. Last weekend was our first sign that the fun will continue in 2008 as three of the top four (No. 1 USC, No. 3 Georgia, and No. 4 Florida) all lost. When the carnage was over Saturday night, four of the top nine and nine of the Top 25 had lost as well. Oregon State’s upset of USC on a random Thursday night in September sent shock waves all the way from Corvallis, Ore., to Athens, Ga. On Friday the conversation on sports talk radio was dominated by college football and what it all meant.
But if we had an eight-team playoff in place, that Oregon State victory would have barely created a ripple outside of the Pac-10. Because of its impact on every national championship contender in the country, last Thursday night millions of people turned over to that game as soon as “Grey’s Anatomy” was over. With a playoff, that USC loss is not dramatic because the Trojans would still be pretty much a lock for the post-season by winning the Pac-10. But now there is the very real possibility that USC’s loss to Oregon State will eventually cost the Trojans a shot at the national championship.
The fact that a game like USC-Oregon State game can impact so many other schools has pushed television ratings higher and is keeping stadiums full. And as long as the TV ratings are high and the stadiums are full, there is no motivation (other than fan unrest) to go to a playoff of any kind. After four of the six BCS conferences shot down the idea of a four-team playoff last April, we are pretty much assured of having the same BCS format for the next six years.
Besides, who says we don’t have a playoff in Division I-A football? There are five SEC teams in the Top 13 of the Associated Press poll and given their respective schedules, each will have a chance to play their way in to a BCS championship game. I broke down the remaining games against ranked teams for the Top 13. I took the liberty of projecting some conference championship games. What it told me is that we can expect many more whacky weekends like the one we just had. It’s time to buckle up because 2008 is going to be a wild ride and we are just getting started.
Here, gentle readers, is your national championship playoff:
1. Oklahoma (4-0): No. 5 Texas in Dallas, Oct. 11; No. 16 Kansas, Oct. 18; at No. 7 Texas Tech, Nov. 22; vs. No. 4 Missouri in Big 12 championship game.
2. Alabama (5-0): at No. 3 LSU, Nov. 8; vs. No. 13 Auburn, Nov. 29; vs. No. 11 Georgia or No. 12 Florida in SEC championship game.
3. LSU (4-0): at No. 12 Florida, Oct. 11; vs. No. 11 Georgia, Oct. 25; vs. No. 2 Alabama, Nov. 8; vs. No. 11 Georgia or No. 12 Florida in SEC championship game
4. Missouri (4-0): at No. 5 Texas, Oct. 18; vs. No. 16 Kansas in Kansas City, Nov. 29; vs. No. 2 Oklahoma or No. 5 Texas in Big 12 championship game.
5. Texas (4-0): vs. No. 1 Oklahoma in Dallas, Oct. 11; vs. No. 4 Missouri, Oct. 18; at No. 7 Texas Tech Nov. 1; at No. 16 Kansas, Nov. 15; vs. No. 4 Missouri, Big 12 championship game.
6. Penn State (5-0): at No. 18 Wisconsin, Oct. 11; at No. 14 Ohio State, Oct. 25.
7. Texas Tech (4-0): at No. 16 Kansas, Oct. 25; vs. No. 5 Texas, Nov. 1; at No. 1 Oklahoma, Nov. 22; vs. No. 4 Missouri in Big 12 championship game.
8. BYU (4-0): at No. 15 Utah, Nov. 22.
9. Southern Cal (2-1): vs. No. 23 Oregon, Oct. 4.
10. South Florida (5-0): vs. No. 24 Connecticut, Nov. 22.
11. Georgia (4-1): vs. No. 19 Vanderbilt, Oct. 18; at No. 3 LSU, Oct. 25; vs. No. 12 Florida Nov. 1 in Jacksonville; at No. 13 Auburn, Nov. 15.; vs. No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 LSU or No. 13 Auburn in SEC championship game.
12. Florida (3-1): vs. No. 3 LSU, Oct. 11; vs. No. 11 Georgia, Nov. 1 in Jacksonville; at No. 19 Vanderbilt Nov. 8; vs. No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 LSU or No. 13 Auburn in SEC championship game.
13. Auburn (4-1): at No. 19 Vanderbilt, Oct. 4; vs. No. 11 Georgia, Nov. 15; at No. 2 Alabama, Nov. 29; vs. No. 11 Georgia or No. 12 Florida in SEC championship game.
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Bouncing back from Bama won’t be easy for Dawgs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Five things we learned over the weekend:
1. Bouncing back from Bama won’t be easy for Dawgs: Physically, the Bulldogs need a break after getting beat up pretty good by Alabama. Alabama is a team that will punish everybody and Georgia certainly had the battle scars on Sunday. But I believe the more important aspect of this bye week is mental. It takes time for a good team—and Georgia is still a very good team—to get over being physically dominated the way the Bulldogs were on Saturday night. Clemson, I would suggest to you, still hasn’t gotten over its 34-10 beat down by Alabama yet. That kind of loss does something to the psyche of a team, particularly a team that had national championship aspirations. What Georgia needs to do now is pretty simple: Quit thinking about national rankings, the BCS, College Game Day and focus on the task at hand, which is beating Tennessee at home on Oct. 11. Georgia still controls its own destiny in the SEC East and if the Bulldogs take care of business, they may get another shot at Alabama in the Georgia Dome on Dec. 6.
2. Bama is back: Coach Nick Saban doesn’t want to hear this. He is a process guy and not a results guy. He doesn’t want to hear about his team being hyped in the media because he knows that Alabama could easily pull a Florida and get beat because they weren’t quite ready to play. But here is what I saw Saturday night at Sanford Stadium. After last year’s collapse in the second half of the season, Alabama has gotten better in all of the right places. The offensive line, which was hurt with suspensions and injury last season, is a veteran group that bulldozes opponents. They have upgraded at running back (Mark Ingram), wide receiver (Julio Jones, B.J. Scott), and are putting John Parker Wilson in much better positions to be successful. The defense is ridiculous. As a friend told me Saturday night, Alabama plays fast and with a lot of hunger. The only question that remains is how the Crimson Tide will handle success, which has been an issue for quite some time.
3. Tennessee needs to change quarterbacks—now: The reason that Jonathan Crompton has continued to be Tennessee’s starting quarterback is that he is the best player the Vols have at the position. If Nick Stephens or B.J. Coleman were doing anything better than Crompton in practice they would be playing. But there comes a point in a season where you have to make a change simply for the sake of change. Steve Spurrier did it this week at South Carolina with Stephen Garcia. Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer said Sunday that he was opening the quarterback competition to Crompton and Stephens. They will split the reps at No. 1 and the coaches will chart every play. The quarterback who does the best in practice will start against Northern Illinois. I would maintain that unless the performance gap in practice is huge, Fulmer needs to give Stephens a shot. Tennessee needs an infusion of optimism after suffering through so many mistakes in four games. If Stephens doesn’t work out, then Fulmer has to live with it. But when the offense is playing this poorly and the play at quarterback is so clearly inconsistent, you have to do something. Tennessee needs to give its fans hope for the Oct. 11 trip Georgia.
4. You don’t tug on Superman’s cape: Florida’s Tim Tebow had a bad game against Ole Miss with a couple of key turnovers in the 31-30 loss in The Swamp. Tebow was his usual classy self by taking all of the blame for the loss and vowing to do better. But when you give up 31 points at home to a team that has lost to Wake Forest and Vanderbilt, you have to say that it was a pure team loss by the Gators. Tebow, who is one of the most competitive people you’ll ever meet, says he will work harder than ever to make sure this doesn’t happen again. I really would not want to be Arkansas this week. But I stick to what I said after Florida beat Miami. The Gators have to develop a tailback that can run between the tackles. They got stuffed on a fourth and one at the end of the Ole Miss game because the whole world knew that No. 15 (Tebow) was going to run the ball.
5. Georgia Tech-Duke could be for ACC Coach of the Year: Yes, it’s early. But consider this: Going into this season nobody talked about Georgia Tech as a serious contender in the ACC Coastal or as a bowl team. A win Saturday over Duke gives Paul Johnson’s team a 4-1 record with seven games left to play. In the 2005, 2006, and 2007 seasons COMBINED, Duke won a grand total of three football games.David Cutcliffe has led the Blue Devils to victories in three of their first four games this season. The only loss was to Northwestern (24-0), a team that is 5-0. Cutcliffe has Duke playing with confidence and even with a little bit of an attitude. So the winner of Saturday’s game at Bobby Dodd Stadium should be the early favorite for ACC coach of the year.
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Georgia could move back to No. 1
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Well, well, well.
Remember earlier this month when some wise guy sports writer told you that Southern Cal was No. 1 and that there was simply NO WAY that the Trojans were going to lose against THAT schedule? Remember how that same guy assured you that, in his infinite wisdom, everybody else in college football was playing for second place?
Silly man. He forgot the lessons we learned last season that ANYTHING is possible in college football. Last season No. 1 and No. 2 lost on the same day—three times! So what does last night’s stunning loss by Southern Cal to Oregon State mean? Two things:
1) Oklahoma, you’re No. 2 which means you should be very, very nervous against No. 24 TCU (4-0) on Saturday in Norman.
2) Georgia, you’re No. 3 and you opened up a few eyes last week when you went to Arizona State and took care of business. If you win Saturday night against No. 8 Alabama with the whole world (and ESPN’s College Game Day) watching, you could be back at No. 1 come Sunday morning.
Southern Cal’s loss, and the fact that the Trojans trailed 21-0 at halftime, means they will drop significantly in Sunday’s new polls. And even if Oklahoma beats TCU, which is 11-2 in its last 13 games against BCS opponents, Georgia could jump over them with an impressive win over the Crimson Tide. Georgia coach Mark Richt, of course, would take a 3-2 win right now if he could get it.
The point is that USC’s loss changed the whole dynamic of the race to the BCS championship. If everybody wins who is supposed to win on Saturday, the top six teams come Sunday will all be from the SEC and the Big 12: Oklahoma, Georgia/Alabama winner, Florida, LSU, Missouri, and Texas. The SEC and the Big 12 are clearly the best two conferences in college football this season.
Starting next week we could be looking at a nine-week elimination race to sort out the two champions. Or, could the Big Ten champ, Wisconsin or Penn State or one-loss Ohio State, inject itself into the mix? I doubt it. Or if everybody loses one, does USC get back into the mix at the end of the season? It will be tougher because of a weak Pac-10.
Bottom line: The crazy, fun part of college football season started last night. So buckle up. From here on out it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
And with that, fellow travelers, we bring you another edition of the Fearless Friday Forecast.
1. Alabama (4-0) at Georgia (4-0): This game really didn’t need any more energy but Southern Cal’s loss just opened up another can of Red Bull for the No. 1 game of the weekend. We’ve got all the elements. We’ve got strength coaches at Alabama talking about going to funerals. We have Georgia coach Mark Richt wearing black to practice so that he’s properly dressed for the service. We’ve got a mountain of a man (Terrence Cody) playing nose tackle for Alabama and a wild-eyed true freshman (Ben Jones) from Georgia, who is an Alabama native and can’t wait to try and move him. Man, this is going to be fun.
Both of these teams were impressive last week as Alabama dominated Arkansas (49-14) and Georgia went out to the desert and cooled off Arizona State (27-10) in a game that wasn’t nearly that close. This game is easy to analyze. Rick Bragg, one of my favorite writers, once said that every big SEC game “is like a knife fight in a ditch.” This will be one of those games.
Saban will tell his players to smack Georgia in the mouth on the first possession to see how the Bulldogs will respond. Georgia’s young offensive line will find the going kind of tough against that Alabama defensive front. But Bulldog quarterback Matt Stafford will step up and give one of his best performances at Georgia. This will be a big time football game. Georgia 21, Alabama 17.
2. Tennessee (1-2) at Auburn (3-1): Both teams lost last week but Auburn is feeling much better about its team and life in general as Tennessee comes to town for a 3:30 p.m. game. Last week against LSU the Tigers figured out some things on offense and were able to move the ball against one of the better defenses in the country. Tennessee made a ton of mistakes and was lucky Florida did not beat the Vols worse than 30-6. Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer has his back to the wall and in the past that is when he’s done some of his best work. But the Vols are missing something and they don’t figure to find it at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Auburn 28, Tennessee 14.
3. Ole Miss (2-2) at Florida (3-0): The Gators made it look a little too easy last week against Tennessee and as a result they can pretty much put it on cruise control for the next two weeks against Ole Miss and Arkansas (Oct. 4 in Fayetteville). It’s an early start in Gainesville so it probably won’t be a very pretty game. But Urban Meyer and the gang will do what they have to do to start getting ready for an Oct. 11 visit from LSU. Florida 31, Ole Miss 10.
4. Miss. State (1-3) at LSU (3-0): Here is why this game is important for LSU. Redshirt freshman QB Jarrett Lee brought the Tigers from behind to win at Auburn last week. The job appears to be his, but can he play as well after a week of going to bed every night knowing that he’s THE guy? It’s one thing to come off the bench and play the game when you haven’t had time to think about it. But all week Lee has listened to people tell him how good he is. LSU doesn’t need to hold anything back against the Bulldogs because the Tigers get a week off after this game. Mississippi State needs some good news after losing to Georgia Tech 38-7. But Sylvester Croom won’t find any good news in Baton Rouge. LSU 35, Miss. State 7.
5. UAB (1-3) at South Carolina (2-2): South Carolina is going to win the game against a UAB team that has given up 129 points in its three losses. We are interested in this game because quarterback Stephen Garcia is going to get his first significant playing time for the Gamecocks. Coach Steve Spurrier is so frustrated with his offense that he threw every position open for competition this week. Garcia will make a lot of mistakes but Spurrier will have to live with them because the young quarterback needs to come through if the Gamecocks are going to have a decent season. South Carolina 24, UAB 3.
6. North Carolina (2-1) at Miami (2-1): The Hurricanes finally got their offense cranked up and had some big plays last week in a 41-23 win at Texas A&M. This was supposed to be a fun homecoming for former Miami coach Butch Davis, who is now the head guy at North Carolina. But Butch has to go down to Dolphin Stadium without his quarterback, T.J. Yates, who is out for at least six weeks with a broken ankle. Neither Mike Paulus nor Cameron Sexton is ready for that Miami defense. Miami 24, North Carolina 13.
7. Virginia (1-2) at Duke (2-1): This could be the game where Duke proclaims that they are not going to live in the ACC basement any more. The Blue Devils are favored to win an ACC game for the first time since 2002. The Blue Devils, whose only loss was to Northwestern (4-0), are playing with a little bit of an attitude under David Cutcliffe. Duke gets it done and gets ready for next week’s trip to Georgia Tech. Duke 23, Virginia 17.
8. Florida State (2-1) vs. Colorado (3-0) in Jacksonville: Florida State took a huge step back last week when it committed seven turnovers in a 12-3 loss to Wake Forest. Offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher said he is sticking with quarterback Christian Ponder for now. The Seminoles finally get all the players back who were suspended for the first three games because of the academic cheating scandal and that will make a difference. Florida State 24, Colorado 14.
9. Virginia Tech (3-1) at Nebraska (3-0): After a tough loss to East Carolina in its opener, Virginia Tech has bounced back to win three straight, including a couple of good ACC wins over Georgia Tech (20-17) and North Carolina (20-17). Now the Hokies travel to Lincoln to play a Nebraska program that is rebuilding under new coach Bo Pelini. Nebraska’s three wins are over Western Michigan, San Jose State, and New Mexico State so it’s fair to say that the Cornhuskers have not been test. They will be tested—and more—on Saturday. Virginia Tech 17, Nebraska 16.
10. Navy (2-2) at Wake Forest (3-0): The Deacons have forced 15 turnovers in three games and could have quite a time today against Navy’s option attack. Wake Forest could have a little letdown after beating Florida State and could be looking ahead to a big ACC showdown with Clemson on Oct. 9. Navy beat Rutgers 23-21 on a late field goal last week and is starting to get a little momentum. Brad Lambert’s defense will keep the Deacons undefeated. Wake Forest 31, Navy 17.
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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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USC, Oklahoma, Georgia: Who’s the odd man out?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ESPN.com’s Mark Schlabach raised this point to me the other night when we were getting ready for our TV show, “Talkin Football,” on CSS. I know it’s way too early to be thinking about this kind of stuff and that the odds are greatly against it. But what if No. 1 Southern Cal, No. 2 Oklahoma, and No. 3 Georgia all go undefeated?
Which team would be the odd man out for the BCS championship game?
It’s not that far-fetched. It certainly happened in 2004 when USC and Oklahoma went undefeated and Auburn, the undefeated SEC champion, finished No. 3.
In 2003 Southern Cal was No. 1 in both human polls but the BCS standings put the Trojans at No. 3 and LSU and Oklahoma played for the BCS championship. But remember that the formula for the BCS standings has been changed since then to give greater weight to the human polls.
If you don’t pay attention to the rankings and start with a blank slate on the night of Dec. 6 (championship Saturday), the odd man out would have to be Southern Cal because the Trojans’ schedule is significantly weaker than Oklahoma’s or Georgia’s. I did a little research using the 1-120 rankings on CBSSports.com. Now I understand that the rankings will look nothing like this on Dec. 6. But it does provide a pretty good early comparison of the relative strengths of the schedules that these three teams are going to have to play.
For this comparison, understand that Georgia could be replaced by Florida, Alabama, or LSU. The numbers for the SEC champion would be pretty much the same. But Georgia is No. 3 right now so we’ll use the Bulldogs for this exercise.
Here is how the schedules of Southern Cal, Oklahoma, and Georgia compare with the ranking of each opponent in parentheses. Only Division I-A opponents are included:
No. 1 SOUTHERN CAL: Virginia (89), Ohio State (13), Oregon State (69), Oregon (27), Arizona State (43), Washington State (98), Arizona (49), Washington (94), California (55), Stanford (63), Notre Dame (50), UCLA (58).
Average opponents’ rank: 59.
Worth noting: Southern Cal plays eight teams ranked No. 50 or higher and three teams ranked No. 89 or higher.
No. 2 OKLAHOMA: Cincinnati (34), Washington (94), TCU (30), Baylor (80), Texas (7), Kansas (17), Kansas State (64), Nebraska (37), Texas A&M (90), Texas Tech (11), Oklahoma State (31).
Average opponents’ rank: 45.
Worth noting: If Oklahoma plays No. 4 Missouri in the Big 12 championship game, the opponent’s average rank drops to 41.6. Oklahoma plays four teams ranked No. 50 or higher and two teams (Texas, Texas Tech) in the Top 11.
No. 3 GEORGIA: Central Michigan (71), South Carolina (53), Arizona State (43), Alabama (9), Tennessee (52), Vanderbilt (25), LSU (5), Florida (4), Kentucky (48), Auburn (12), Georgia Tech (32).
Average opponent’s rank:32.2.
Worth noting: If Georgia makes it to the SEC championship game the Bulldogs will have a rematch with Alabama, Auburn, or LSU, which are all ranked in the Top 12. Georgia plays three teams ranked No. 50 or higher and none ranked higher than 71. Six of its 11 Division I-A opponents are ranked in the Top 32. Four are in the Top 12.
Here is what will be interesting. The first BCS standings will be released on Oct. 19. Take a look at where USC will be in the six computer polls, which will reflect the strength of schedules. I’ll bet the computer rankings for USC will be pretty low relative to the highest ranked Big 12 and SEC team. And the way the Pac-10 looks right now, Ohio State will be the only Top 15 win on the USC schedule at the end of the season.
But will the voters in the Harris and coaches polls take the strength of schedule into consideration, or does USC stay at No.1 if the Trojans keep winning? That team has a lot of star power and will score a lot of points.
Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville told me that he’s concerned that the voters west of the Mississippi don’t understand how good the defenses are in the SEC and equate low-scoring football to bad football. Is he right?
Like I said, it’s way too early. But it is something to think about as we move forward.
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My Memories of Munson
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Where do you start?
With a few mere words on a computer screen, how do you adequately sum up the career of man who, unbeknownst to him, provided a big chunk of the sound track that has defined your life?
Like most people, I’ll never forget the day I first came face to face with Larry Munson. It was Oct. 11, 1975. Georgia was playing a road game at Ole Miss and I was a rookie reporter working for the Red and Black, the UGA student newspaper. Back then a member of the R&B staff got to travel with the team in order to cover the game. Coach Dan Magill saw to that. For a little boy from Union Point, Ga., this was a big deal. A really big deal.
As a green reporter should do, I arrived at Hemingway Stadium (John Vaught’s name would not be added until 1982) ridiculously early. But when I got to the press box, sitting outside in the stands waiting for somebody to open it, there was Larry Munson.
He didn’t say hello. He just looked at me and said:
“Hey, kid. You realize that we’re in big trouble over here today.”
He was right. Georgia lost 28-13.
Like most of you who grew up following Georgia football, I remember where I was and what I was doing when Larry made many of his now-famous calls:
• On Nov. 3, 1973 I was driving between Union Point and Statesboro where I was attending Georgia Southern. I had just made up mind that I was going to transfer to Georgia and attend journalism school because I had this silly idea that I wanted to be a sports writer. That’s when I heard Larry say: “My god! Georgia has just beaten Tennessee in Knoxville!” Andy Johnson had picked up a bobbled handoff on a bounce and scored to give Georgia a 35-31 win.
• On Nov. 8, 1975, I was in the dearly departed Fifth Quarter Lounge on the Atlanta highway in Athens with about 8 million other students watching the Georgia-Florida game on a big screen. Tight end Richard Appleby stopped, planted his foot and threw to Gene Washington for an 80-yard touchdown and a stunning 10-7 win over the Gators. Munson’s call that Washington was “thinking of Montreal and the Olympics” and that the “girders were bending” at the old Gator Bowl, was played over and over and over in Athens the following week. People could not get enough of it. That’s when Magill and the powers that be knew that they were on to something and started saving Larry’s calls.
• In 1978 I was working for the newspaper in Greensboro, N.C. There was no Internet and no way to listen to Georgia football. But if Georgia played on a Saturday night, you could get WSB radio all the way up there. That is how I got to hear Munson’s call of the 24-17 win at LSU and Rex Robinson immortal winning field goal, where Munson just screamed “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!” to beat Kentucky 17-16 in Lexington.
• I can’t remember the date. But I can remember calling my mother back home in Georgia and asking her just to put the phone down next to the radio so I could listen to Munson call the game for a little while. That little while turned out to be over an hour. She didn’t completely understand why her son wanted to run up his long-distance bill just to listen to a man talk about a football game. But like all good mothers do she accommodated me.
• On Nov. 8, 1980, I was in Tallahassee, Fla. on assignment for my North Carolina newspaper when Georgia and Florida played a couple of hours down I-10 in Jacksonville. I had a game that night and part of me thought about driving over and trying to make it back. But instead I sat in a small room in the Econo-Lodge and watched the game. When Buck Belue hit Lindsay Scott for the most famous touchdown in Georgia history, I jumped out of my chair and my fist went right through a hanging lamp and just destroyed it.
My first thought was that I was going to have to pay for a lamp. My second thought was that I had to hear Munson’s call because my understanding of that play, as big as it was, would not be complete I had heard what Larry said. The words “Man, is there going to be some property destroyed tonight!” became a part of Bulldog lore.
(Side note: When the hotel manager, a Florida State fan, found out that I broke the lamp while pulling AGAINST Florida, he didn’t make me pay for it.)
• I often tell people that the two happiest days of my life were when I married my bride and when my daughter was born. But No. 3 is Sept. 22, 1984. I had just gotten the job at the AJC as the UGA beat writer and I was at Sanford Stadium covering a big game against Clemson. Understand that growing up my sports writing heroes were Furman Bisher and Jesse Outlar. When I decided to become a sports writer I only had one goal and that was to work for the AJC with those two men. When that game began, Furman was sitting on my left and Jesse was sitting on my right. Needless to say, that was a big day for me.
But what I most remember was trying to listen on my little radio when Munson called Kevin Butler’s 60-yard field goal to beat the Tigers 26-23.
I could go on and on to include “Sugar falling out of the sky” at Auburn in 1982, the “hobnailed boot” in Knoxville in 2001 and Michael Johnson’s catch at Auburn in 2002. But you get the point. Where a lot of people use music to track the various mileposts in their lives, those of us who grew up in Georgia and followed the Bulldogs used Munson’s calls. I am one of the fortunate ones who have been around from his first call in 1966 for Georgia until his last against Central Michigan on Sept. 6. And it has been one helluva ride.
I was speaking in Macon last night when the news broke. And I told the folks there that Larry Munson was as much a part of Georgia football as Vince Dooley, Herschel Walker, Sanford Stadium, and Uga. He was the emotional connection between the fans and the program. When they couldn’t be in Athens or on the road and when very few games were on television, Munson was the one who kept that connection alive. Guys like Munson, John Ward (Tennessee), John Forney (Alabama), Bob Fulton (South Carolina) and Jack Cristil (Mississippi State) played a huge role in building SEC football into what it is today. They cannot be replaced.
Larry, if you’re reading today please consider these few words as my thank you note. You will never really know how many lives you have touched and influenced. You certainly had an impact on mine. And for that I will be forever grateful.
If any of you out there have some favorite memories of Munson, I’d love to hear about them.
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This just in: Georgia’s No. 8 is pretty good
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Five things we learned over the weekend:
1. Georgia’s No. 8 is pretty good: There are very few freshmen at this level of college football who really live up to the recruiting hype. Fortunately for Georgia, A.J. Green is one of them. It was clear going into Saturday night’s game with Arizona State that Georgia OC Mike Bobo wanted to work really hard to get the ball to Green and it paid off with eight catches for 159 yards. I’ve seen a lot of really good receivers at Georgia from Lindsay Scott, to Andre Hastings, Brice Hunter, Reggie Brown, and Gibson. It is a long list of All-SEC players.
But consider this: Georgia has never had a consensus All-America player at the wide receiver position. Green has a chance to become the first before he leaves Georgia if he stays healthy and listens to Bobo and Mark Richt.
The passing game should be open all season because opposing defenses will decide they are not going to let RB Knowshon Moreno and the Georgia running attack beat them. If Matt Stafford and the receivers keep playing like this, the Bulldogs are going to be hard to beat.
2. Tech puts the ACC on notice: Mississippi State coach Sylvester Croom told me last week that he started working on his Georgia Tech game plan back in the summer. Why? It was because Paul Johnson’s offense, when it is clicking on all cylinders, is impossible to prepare for in just four days. On Saturday we found out why the rest of the ACC has to be concerned about Georgia Tech as a force in this league-sooner rather than later.
I promise you that every defensive coordinator in the ACC already has a copy of Tech’s 38-7 destruction of Mississippi State. They are starting to wonder how they will defend this attack after watching the Yellow Jackets roll up 438 rushing yards.
And here is what’s really scary. Josh Nesbitt gets hurt and Jaybo Shaw, who is barely old enough to shave, comes off the bench and the offense never misses a beat. That’s coaching.
3. Tennessee, Fulmer, in trouble: Over 106,000 people turned out at Neyland Stadium turned out Saturday because they were convinced that Tennessee had a chance to beat Florida. After two kicks to Brandon James, who may be the best return man on the planet, Florida led 17-0 and the game was over. For the second time in three games, Tennessee made so many mistakes one hardly knows where to start. Quarterback Jonathan Crompton has an adequate arm but does not appear ready to play at this level. He is being asked to do more than he can really do and is making mistakes a redshirt junior should not make. Tennessee started 1-2 a year ago and fought its way back to reach the SEC championship game. I thought Phillip Fulmer did one of his best coaching jobs ever holding that team together.
But I just don’t get the sense that this team is tough enough to do that. Florida beat Tennessee Saturday and, if we’re going to be candid, the Gators really didn’t have to break a sweat. It was just too easy. That is what should concern Tennessee fans.
To me, it’s too early to speculate about Fulmer’s future as head coach. But here is the immediate question: If Tennessee loses at Auburn this week to start 1-3, how many empty seats will there be in Neyland Stadium for the Oct. 4 game against Northern Illinois?
4. LSU can absolutely defend their national championship: We said early in the season that if LSU could just get good-not great-but good play at quarterback, the Tigers were talented enough to defend their national championship. What redshirt freshman Jarrett Lee did in the second half against Auburn Saturday night was remarkable. After a horrible first half, he came off the bench when starter Andrew Hatch suffered a concussion. His two touchdown passes led LSU to the 26-21 win. “If they get that kind of play at quarterback the rest of the season they will be hard to beat,” Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville said Sunday. I agree. We’ll find out a lot when LSU goes to Florida on Oct. 11 and hosts Georgia on Oct. 25.
5. We still don’t know how good Florida is: Because of Tennessee’s dumb mistakes, the Gators got up 17-0 early at Knoxville and so Urban Meyer never really had to open the playbook. But it has to be encouraging for the Gators-and pretty scary for the rest of the league—to know that they can win on the road and Tim Tebow doesn’t have to do all the heavy lifting. There are a lot of different ways this Florida team can beat you and the defense does appear to be better. But Tennessee never put the Gators under any kind of pressure and Ole Miss and Arkansas don’t figure to do it either over the next two weeks. Florida will not have to pull out all the stops until Oct. 11 when the Gators host LSU,
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The Fearless Friday Forecast
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If Fresno State had not missed three field goals against Wisconsin, your humble prognosticator would have gone 10-0 last week. Then again, WAC officials admit their guy made a mistake in when a video review took away a Wisconsin fumble recovery at the Fresno State 26-yard line. Stuff happens so we were 9-1.
Virginia Tech managed to get past Georgia Tech by a field goal in a game the Hokies had to have. Georgia won ugly but we said they would win ugly. Notre Dame won despite getting its head coach rolled on the sideline and finishing up the game in a leg brace.
We are 25-5 for the season. Granted, there have been some easy pickings in the first three weeks but now, gentle readers, it is time for the real fun to begin. We’ve got some games, both conference and non-conference, that are going to tell us a lot. If you’re a real college football fan, these are the kind of weekends you live for.
So without hesitation and only a mild amount of trepidation, let us proceed with another award-winning edition of the Fearless Friday Forecast:
1. Georgia (3-0) at Arizona State (2-1): A little of the shine was taken off this game when Arizona State forgot to keep playing in its home game with UNLV last week. Were the Sun Devils peaking ahead to Georgia? Absolutely. This is the biggest game in Tempe since Nebraska, the two-time defending national champ, arrived in 1996. Arizona State won that game 19-0.
Will ASU be ready to play its best game of the year against the Bulldogs? No doubt about it. But here’s the deal. After a tough 14-7 win at South Carolina last week, Georgia needs to impress somebody, if only themselves. The pollsters have already dropped the Dawgs from No. 1 to No. 3. Arizona State has a very young offensive line and that will show in this game. The Sun Devils feed off the energy of the crowd and will hang in there for about a half. Then talent takes over and Georgia has more of it. Georgia 31, Arizona State 17.
2. Mississippi State (1-2) at Georgia Tech (2-1): The Techsters almost won their second straight ACC road game last week in Blacksburg but could not overcome three turnovers. Now the Yellow Jackets return home where they will face a pretty stout Mississippi State defense that held Auburn to just a field goal. Bulldogs coach Sylvester Croom told me that he started working on Georgia Tech’s option attack back in the summer because it is so hard to defend. But it’s the Georgia Tech defense that will win this one. The Mississippi State offense will not score a touchdown for the second straight week. Georgia Tech 14, Mississippi State 6.
3. LSU (2-0) at Auburn (3-0): Auburn’s offense is just a mess. Head coach Tommy Tuberville said so and so does his new OC, Tony Franklin. But there ain’t nothing wrong with that Auburn defense. If Tuberville gets his way this will be an ugly, ugly football game that gets decided in the final minutes. LSU has the overall edge on talent but Auburn is playing at home. Tuberville always get his guys ready to play in these kinds of games. Auburn has won 9 of its last 12 against Top 10 opponents. In our Blue Plate Double Platinum Upset Special of the week, we’re going with Auburn. Auburn 10, LSU 7.
4. Florida (2-0) at Tennessee (1-1): The Gators have had a week off since beating Miami at home on Sept. 6. Tennessee’s fans have been in a foul mood since the Vols lost to UCLA on Sept. 1 and frankly, they have a right to be. There are still a lot of questions about this Tennessee team. It hasn’t yet established a clear identity of what it wants to do on offense or defense. It better have some answers by 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.
The energy in Neyland Stadium will be high when the game starts because it’s the Gators. But that might change quickly if the Vols get down by double digits. Tennessee’s only shot is to run the football, shorten the game and limit Tim Tebow’s possessions. But I predict something will happen in the special teams that will put Tennessee in a hole and force the Vols to start flinging the ball all over Shields-Watkins Field. That will not be good. Florida 31, Tennessee 20.
5. Alabama (3-0) at Arkansas (2-1): After a sloppy game against Tulane on Sept. 6, Alabama got back on track and looked like a dangerous football team last week against Western Kentucky. But now comes the real test as the Crimson Tide goes on the road in the SEC. Arkansas caught a break last week because it did not have to play Texas in Austin because of the hurricane. So the Hogs will be a little more rested and prepared. It won’t matter. Alabama’s defense is too strong and now QB John Parker Wilson has some real weapons at his disposal. This game is always tough and Arkansas will put up a good fight. Still, the Tide rolls to 4-0. Alabama 28, Arkansas 7.
6. Vanderbilt (3-0) at Ole Miss (2-1): The Commodores have a chance to go 4-0 for the first time since 2005. This will be one of the better games of the day because both teams know that at the end of the year a win could mean the difference in going to a bowl game and staying at home for the holidays. Vanderbilt has a real shot because of a very underrated defense and quarterback Chris Nickson. If the Commodores force Ole Miss QB Jevan Snead into a couple of turnovers, they could sneak out of Vaught-Hemingway with a win. I like the Rebels at home on a field goal at the buzzer. Ole Miss 24, Vanderbilt 21.
7. Wake Forest (2-0) at Florida State (2-0): The last time the Wake Forest Demon Deacons invaded Tallahassee, they hung a 30-0 embarrassment around the neck of Bobby Bowden. That might not have been rock bottom for Bowden’s once-proud program, but you could sure see it from there. Now the Seminoles have regrouped and were impressive in their early march through a pair of cupcakes-Western Carolina and Chattanooga. If Florida State has actually improved under the watchful eye of OC Jimbo Fisher, here is where we’ll find out. I’m tempted to pick the Seminoles, but I just think Wake Forest is too solid with a really good defense and QB Riley Skinner. Sam Swank kicks another game-winning field goal. Wake Forest 27, Florida State 24.
8. Virginia Tech (2-1) at North Carolina (2-0): I said before the season that North Carolina would be the most improved team in the ACC. If the Tar Heels win Saturday in Chapel Hill against the Hokies, they just might be good enough to win the Coastal Division. The Hokies have finally settled on a quarterback in Tyrod Taylor but Bud Foster’s defense still doesn’t have the nasty streak that I’m used to seeing. Carolina’s defense, however, knows how to lay the lumber to the opposition. The Tar Heels have too many offensive weapons with QB T.J. Yates and Brandon Tate, the best all-purpose player in the ACC. North Carolina 24, Virginia Tech 14.
9. Miami (1-1) at Texas A&M (1-1): The Hurricanes showed a little life two weeks ago at Florida, losing 26-3 in a very deceptive final score. The defense has a chance to be pretty decent before the season over and will go against a bad offense with a beat up quarterback in Stephen McGee (shoulder), who might not play after starting 29 straight games for the Aggies. Miami could use a solid win on the road. They will get it on Saturday at College Station. Miami 17, Texas A&M 14.
10. East Carolina (2-0) at N.C. State (1-2): Here we are in week four and N.C. State is still looking for its first offensive touchdown against a Division I-A team. East Carolina, meanwhile, is 3-0 with wins over West Virginia and Virginia Tech. None of that matters. This is a huge rivalry with a lot of bad blood. A year ago the Wolfpack was 1-5 and went to Greenville, N.C., and spanked the Pirates, a future bowl team, 34-20. The two schools are only 70 miles apart. East Carolina wins but it won’t be easy. East Carolina 17, N.C. State 10.
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Burning question for Dawgs: To blitz or not to blitz?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Five burning questions as we head into the weekend:
1. Will Georgia have to blitz in order to get to Rudy Carpenter?: At times in the fourth quarter last Saturday, South Carolina’s Chris Smelley looked way too comfortable throwing the ball against the Georgia defense. I heard from a number of fans who wanted to know why DC Willie Martinez didn’t blitz more in order to put pressure on Smelley. Part of the reason is that Steve Spurrier’s quarterbacks know exactly where the ball should go when the other team blitzes. And the last thing you want to do with a 14-7 lead is to give up a big play. It may be painful for the fans to watch, but that’s the percentage play.
Georgia faces an even more difficult situation Saturday night at Arizona State. Rudy Carpenter has been around forever and has seen just about every blitz you can throw at a quarterback. Arizona State gave up 55 quarterback sacks last season so Carpenter is not afraid to get hit. If Georgia can’t get enough pressure with its front four there will be some risk involved with sending an extra man. Carpenter is good enough to burn a blitz. So the smart thing may be to back off so as not to give up the big play. But the risk there is that your defense may stay on the field too long and get worn out. This will be the most interesting chess match in this game.
2. Will Tennessee punt the ball to Brandon James? After watching this guy for two years it should be obvious. You just don’t kick it to the punt return specialist from Florida. James took one 83 yards to the house against Tennessee last year and has the ability to break open a game every time he touches the ball. If Tennessee is going to have any chance against the Gators in Knoxville, the Vols can’t have any big plays go against them in the kicking game. Tennessee may have to give up some yardage by kicking away from him, but you just have to do it. Bottom line: If he touches the ball four times in this game, he’s going to break one. But here is a concern if you’re Tennessee. The Vols are still using backup punter Chad Cunningham while Britton Colquitt serves his five-game suspension. Cunningham had one blocked against UCLA. He is a tad slow in getting his punt off. Do you want him thinking about something other than kicking it straight down the field? In an effort to avoid kicking to James, does Tennessee risk getting another one blocked?
3. Can Wake Forest make it three in a row against Florida State? Florida State is still missing some starters because of the academic suspension but the Seminoles do get WR Preston Parker, their best playmaker, back for the ACC opener against the Deacons (2-0). Wake Forest beat Florida State 30-0 two years ago in Tallahassee and 24-21 last October. Florida State and their fans need a sign that the program has taken a step forward after two straight 7-6 seasons. Wake Forest is a very good team, but Florida State should win at home. But keep this in mind. Wake Forest is a very resourceful team that has already forced eight turnovers in two games. FSU can’t turn the ball over and expect to win.
4. Will LSU-Auburn be another nail biter?: History says yes. Here are the LSU-Auburn scores from the past four years: 2004-Auburn, 10-9; 2005-LSU, 20-17; 2006-Auburn, 7-3; 2007-LSU 30-24. If LSU had not thrown a touchdown pass with one second left last season, Auburn would have won that game 24-23. On paper LSU looks like more than a touchdown favorite because what may be the best offensive and defensive lines in college football. Auburn appears to be in trouble because they are having a tough time with Tony Franklin’s new spread offense. But you just know this one is going to be close.
5. Will Georgia Tech have two turnovers or less? The Yellow Jackets had three turnovers against Boston College and won. Last week they had three more at Virginia Tech and lost. Looks like the magic number is going to be three this season. Can Georgia Tech run the option for 60 minutes against a good Mississippi State defense and turn it over less than three times? If they do, the Yellow Jackets will win.
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Arizona State will be angry, desperate
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Nobody asked me but……
1. Arizona State will be angry, desperate: My friend Lee Corso always says that nothing makes a football team play harder than the twin feelings of urgency and redemption. For the second straight week Georgia will be facing a team that is a little desperate when the Bulldogs go to Arizona State.
Understand how important this game is to Arizona State and Dennis Erickson’s desire to put the Sun Devils back on the national stage. Their fans have been talking about this week’s game with Georgia for a long time. The game is one of the hardest sellouts the school has ever had. I talked folks in Phoenix last week who have been there for huge games with Southern Cal, Notre Dame, and Nebraska but have never experienced the buzz that exists for this visit from the Georgia Bulldogs.
Now I’m hearing from people who think that buzz has been greatly diminished with Arizona State’s loss to UNLV, which had lost 21 of its last 22 road games before beating the Sun Devils in overtime last Saturday. I disagree.
Arizona State may have lost a chance to have ESPN’s College Game Day on their campus for an entire Saturday, but now the football team goes from just highly motivated to angry and desperate with a lot to prove.
Georgia has a better team. But Georgia was the better team last week in Columbia. The Bulldogs had better be prepared to match Arizona State’s intensity at the beginning of this game. Because if Arizona State gets a cheap touchdown and gets a little momentum, Georgia might not be able to get it back.
2. This will be the fastest defense that Josh Nesbitt has seen: Last night I finally got a chance to watch the entire Georgia Tech-Virginia Tech game. Virginia Tech’s defense was pretty fast. Mississippi State’s is faster.
Mississippi State has some issues on offense but the defense is pretty good. After giving up 363 yards in a 22-14 loss at Louisiana Tech, the Bulldogs allowed only 148 yards against Southeastern Louisiana and give up only a field goal to Auburn. Safety Derek Pegues could play for any team in the country. The Bulldogs are, however, missing linebacker Jamar Chaney, who was lost for the year after suffering a broken ankle in the last play against Louisiana Tech.
After watching the Virginia Tech tape, it’s pretty clear that most defenses from this point on will concentrate on limiting the number of times Jonathan Dwyer and the rest of the B-backs get the pitch. That puts more pressure than ever on Nesbitt, whose window to make decisions will be even smaller on Saturday. Mississippi State’s defense will be the best one Nesbitt will see until the Yellow Jackets play Georgia at the end of the year.
3. Auburn has to be sandbagging on offense: I’ve been watching Tommy Tuberville’s teams a long time and it always seems like the Tigers kind of stumble around a week or two before they play a huge SEC game. The offense can’t possibly be as bad as it looked in the 3-2 win over Mississippi State.
Can it?
Last season Auburn lost back-to-back games to South Florida and Mississippi State in September so no one gave the Tigers a shot when they went down to No. 4 Florida. Auburn kicked a field goal at the buzzer to win 20-17. Tuberville has won 9 of his last 12 games against Top 10 teams. He has a knack of getting his teams ready for big games like these.
I’m working on a story on the Auburn offense for Friday’s paper where OC Tony Franklin takes all the blame. That’s what coaches are supposed to do. But something tells me that Tuberville and Franklin have been holding some things back and not showing all their cards because LSU is coming to town Saturday night.
Now I could be wrong. Auburn’s offense could be just that bad. But I don’t think so.
4. Tennessee can beat Florida-if it runs the ball: It seems that nobody outside of the state of Tennessee is giving the Volunteers a chance on Saturday when No. 4 Florida comes to Neyland Stadium. They look at Tennessee’s ugly overtime loss to UCLA, which then lost to BYU 59-0. Case closed.
But it’s never quite that simple. The Volunteers are playing at home and will feed off the energy of 107,000 fans. This is Florida’s first road trip of the season and a lot young players, as talented as they are, have yet to experience a big SEC game on the road.
None of this will matter if Tennessee tries to play Florida’s game. Tennessee’s success against Florida over the years has come when it remained true to its personality under Phillip Fulmer. The Volunteers have to use a veteran offensive line to run the ball to keep Florida’s offense off the field and limit Tim Tebow’s possessions. And another thing: If I’m John Chavis, the Tennessee defensive coordinator, I am not going to let Tebow beat me running the football.
If Tennessee tries to match Florida’s speed and skill level, the Volunteers will get embarrassed as they were last year (59-20) in Gainesville.
5. Arkansas could lose the rest of its games: I know this will not break a lot of hearts in this town, but first year coach Bobby Petrino is looking at a very sobering schedule from this point on. Because of Hurricane Ike, last week’s game at Texas was moved to Sept. 27. So the rest of the Arkansas schedule, starting with Saturday’s home game with No. 9 Alabama goes like this: at No. 7 Texas (2-0), No. 4 Florida (2-0), at No. 10 Auburn (3-0), at Kentucky (3-0), Ole Miss (2-1), Tulsa (2-0), at South Carolina, at Mississippi State, No. 6 LSU (2-0) in Little Rock.
I’m just asking: Where are the wins on that schedule for a team that had to rally late in the fourth quarter to beat Western Illinois and Louisiana-Monroe? You have to figure the Hogs are going find a couple of wins somewhere. I’m just not quite sure where they are.
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SEC No. 1 but Big 12 closing fast
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We certainly don’t know everything just three weeks into the season, but here is one man’s opinion on the relative strength of the Division I-A conferences:
1. SEC: This one’s easy. Five teams are ranked in the AP Top 10 for the first time in history: Georgia (3), Florida (4), LSU (6), Alabama (9), and Auburn (10). Alabama is better than we thought. Auburn might not be as good. Of course these rankings won’t stay this way because the teams in this league just beat each other up. What’s interesting is that both Georgia and LSU play the other four Top 10 teams. Alabama plays three (Georgia, LSU, Auburn). Auburn plays three (Georgia, LSU, Alabama), and Florida plays two (Georgia, LSU).
2. Big 12: This conference is gaining fast on the SEC. No. 2 Oklahoma (3-0) has blown away the competition but I’ve been very impressed with No. 5 Missouri with QB Chase Daniel and WR Jeremy Maclin. I had Missouri ranked ahead of Oklahoma in the pre-season and I’ll stick by that. The jury is still out on No. 7 Texas and No. 11 Texas Tech. Nebraska (3-0) isn’t a really good team right now but it is just a matter of time under Bo Pelini. There are bunch of really good quarterbacks in this league (Daniel, OU’s Sam Bradford, Colt McCoy of Texas, Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell). That is always a sign of strength.
3. Big Ten: Despite Ohio State’s thumping at Southern Cal and Michigan’s numerous problems, I still have to put the Big Ten in the No. 3 spot because Wisconsin is a solid team that went on the road and beat Fresno State (13-10) last Saturday. Despite what happened at the Coliseum, Ohio State is good enough to go 11-1 and win the Big Ten. No. 16 Penn State (3-0) appears better than I thought but we won’t know for sure until the Nittany Lions get into the conference schedule. Penn State has had more cupcakes (Coastal Carolina, Oregon State, Syracuse) than a four-year old at a birthday party. Illinois (2-1) barely got by Louisiana-Lafayette and may not be as good as I thought.
4. ACC: I know, I know. After the first two weekends ACC bashing was all in vogue. But look at the quality non-conference teams the league has played (South Carolina, East Carolina, Alabama, Southern Cal, Ole Miss, Florida, California). Look at what’s happened since Clemson’s embarrassing loss to Alabama. North Carolina (2-0) went on the road and was impressive in beating Rutgers. Maryland, which lost to Middle Tennessee the week before, beat California, a team many thought was the second best in the Pac-10. Georgia Tech is better than expected. Virginia Tech is starting to figure some things out. Wake Forest had a good non-conference win against Ole Miss. Clemson is still good enough to go 11-1. Miami played Florida tough for three quarters at Gainesville. It’s early, but it appears Florida State is better. Duke (2-1) is obviously better under David Cutcliffe. The ACC doesn’t have any great teams but from top to bottom it may be the most balanced league next to the SEC.
5. Mountain West: BYU is good (59-0 over UCLA). Utah (3-0) is good, winning at Michigan in the opener. TCU (3-0) is good, beating Stanford 31-14 over the weekend. Now that Fresno State is out of the BCS picture, you have to figure that one of these three MWC teams or East Carolina is going to get an at-large bid. Air Force is 3-0 after beating Houston (31-28) in a rainstorm last Saturday. UNLV (2-1) went on the road and beat Arizona State 23-20 in overtime. I was very tempted to put the MWC into the four-hole and it could still get there.
6. Pac-10: Southern Cal (2-0) is the best team in the country. Oregon (3-0) is not bad but the Ducks just lost quarterback Justin Roper (knee) for 2-4 weeks. But after that it’s a long stretch of bad road. UCLA got embarrassed by BYU (59-0). Arizona State loses at home to UNLV. Cal gets beat on the road at Maryland. Stanford loses to TCU. Arizona loses to New Mexico (36-28). Oregon State (1-2), Washington (0-3), and Washington State (0-3) are just bad teams.
7. Big East: Based on what’s I’ve seen to date, South Florida (3-0) is the best team in this league and West Virginia (1-1) simply isn’t as good as it was a year ago. Rutgers has been a huge disappointment, getting ripped in two straight home games. Steve Kragthorpe at Louisville (1-1) is still in a rebuilding job. Pittsburgh was supposed to take a step forward this year but lost to Bowling Green (27-17) in its opener. Cincinnati (1-1) just lost quarterback Dustin Grutza for an extended period of time. Syracuse (0-3) may not win a game this season and will soon be looking for a new head coach.
8. Conference USA: East Carolina (3-0) is legitimate BCS contender. Tulsa (2-0) will score a lot of points. Central Florida (1-1) took South Florida to overtime. But after that there’s not much. Rice (2-1) moves the ball but was dominated in the second half by Vanderbilt (38-21). Memphis (0-3) is struggling as is UAB (0-3). East Carolina vs. Tulsa in the conference championship game will be pretty good stuff.
9. WAC: Fresno State will win this league but the jury is still out on a bunch of teams. Boise State is 2-0 but we won’t know about the Broncos until after they play at Oregon on Saturday. Louisiana Tech (1-1) has beaten Mississippi State and lost to Kansas (29-0) and is getting better under Derek Dooley. Hawaii (1-2) is not nearly as good without June Jones and Colt Brennan. San Jose State (2-1) beat San Diego State but it looks like everybody’s going to beat San Diego State this season.
10. Sun Belt: People tend to automatically rate this league 11th. But it’s time to take a second look. There are some quality wins in this league. Middle Tennessee beat Maryland (24-14) at home. Arkansas State beat Texas A&M (18-14) on the road. And Troy (2-0) may again be the class of the league and has beaten Middle Tennessee State (31-17) and Alcorn State (65-0). Saturday the Trojans go to Ohio State and will play at LSU on Nov. 15. Florida Atlantic is 1-2 but the losses were on the road at Texas (52-10) and Michigan State (17-0). The Owls could actually win at Minnesota on Saturday.
11. Mid-American: Sorry, MAC fans, but the best wins you have are Bowling Green over Pittsburgh (27-17) and Akron over Syracuse (42-28). Ohio (0-3) scared the heck out of Ohio State. The Fighting David Lettermans of Ball State (3-0) look like the best team in the league along with Central Michigan (2-1)
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No. 3 Georgia still has some work to do
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So what did we learn over the weekend?
1. Georgia still has some work to do: Bulldog fans need to be careful not to read too much into Georgia’s 14-7 win at South Carolina. It’s one of those strange quirks in college football but most of the time Georgia just seems to play an ugly game when the Dawgs go to Columbia. Any time you can win on the road in the SEC, you take it and you don’t worry about the style points. It’s just too hard.
But having said that, it’s clear that the offensive line needs to get better both in run blocking and protecting the passer. South Carolina has one of the better defensive front sevens in the SEC but LSU is better and I think Auburn may be just as good. South Carolina geared its defense so that Knowshon Moreno would not have a big day (he had only 79 yards and his longest run was 11 yards). Georgia has to get more pressure on the quarterback, even if the Bulldogs need to send an extra person. South Carolina moved the ball pretty effectively in the fourth quarter because their quarterback, Chris Smelley, was not pressured enough.
Georgia is No. 3 now and based on their play on the field, and the play of Southern Cal and Oklahoma, that is about where the Bulldogs should be. But it is no time for the Bulldawg Nation to panic and think they will be treated like Auburn in 2004.
I will stick with my original position: If Georgia goes 13-0 against that schedule, the Bulldogs will be in the big game. But Georgia will not go 13-0 unless some areas of the team improve.
2. Overcoming turnovers will be a way of life at Georgia Tech this season: Last week Georgia Tech was able to overcome its turnovers and win at Boston College. On Saturday the Yellow Jackets could not overcome putting the ball on the ground and committing way too many penalties at Virginia Tech. The learning curve and execution curve on Paul Johnson’s offense is very steep. In the short term there are simply going to be mistakes by young players who are trying to become comfortable in this system. The question will be whether or not Georgia Tech can make enough big plays on offense and defense to counter balance the mistakes. There will come a day when the offense clicks like a well-oiled machine and mistakes will be rare. But that time is not now. For now, Tech fans had just better buckle up and hold on. This season is going to be a wild ride. Fun, but wild.
3. Southern Cal can punch its ticket to the BCS championship game: Southern Cal was just toying with Ohio State Saturday night. It was men playing against boys. Sorry, Ohio State fans. It’s just the truth. The score could have easily been worse than 35-3 if Pete Carroll had wanted to run it up. As I said last week, you can go ahead and plan on the Trojans being in the BCS championship game on Jan. 8. I know that Southern Cal lost to Stanford, a 41-point favorite, last season. This team is not going to do that. It has great leadership and a quarterback (Matt Sanchez) who is a gamer. It gets Oregon, Arizona State, and California at home and after watching UCLA, California, and Arizona State get beat this, the rest of the Pac-10 looks pretty average.
This team has an awesome offense led by Sanchez and a scary defense. I could be wrong but as of today I think everybody else is playing for No. 2.
4. Auburn’s offense had better get better-and fast: Auburn’s offense made so many mistakes on Saturday’s night’s 3-2 (yes, that’s right, 3-2) win over Mississippi State that coach Tommy Tuberville basically quit counting. The installation of Tony Franklin’s spread offense has not gone particularly smoothly. All I can say is that whatever problems exist had better be worked out by the time No. 6 LSU (2-0) comes to Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday night. Auburn has a chance to win that game because its defense is really, really good. But if the offense keeps making mistakes Auburn can’t win.
Part of the problem, Franklin told me Sunday night, is that the Tigers are trying to do too much with the offense and mistakes usually follow that. Look for Auburn to really simplify things this Saturday night.
5. Tennessee may be headed for a beat down: I do not believe in comparative scores but this one is hard to ignore. Tennessee played a lousy game and lost at UCLA 27-24 (overtime) on Sept. 1. UCLA was probably feeling pretty good about things and then the Bruins went to BYU, where they were taken to the woodshed 59-0. So if you’re Tennessee, you woke up Sunday morning knowing that the team that beat you got more than half a hundred laid on them in Provo. You also know that No. 4 Florida has had a week off to get ready for Saturday’s trip to Knoxville. You also know that No. 10 Auburn, and No. 3 Georgia are coming up in the next three weeks. It’s just something to think about.
A bonus What We Learned:
It’s the SEC. End of discussion: For the first time in history there are five SEC teams ranked in the Top 10 of the Associated Press poll. They are: Georgia (3), Florida (4), LSU (6), Alabama (9), and Auburn (10). Now you know why CBS and ESPN are willing to invest $3 billion over the next 15 years into this league.
The second best conference? That’s easy too. It’s the Big 12 with Oklahoma (2), Missouri (5) and Texas (7).
Bottom line: Either the SEC champion or the Big 12 champion is going to play Southern Cal in the BCS championship game. If both are undefeated or both have one loss, it is going to be a fun argument.
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The Fearless Friday Forecast
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here is yet another reason why college football is the best game in the world. By all accounts, last week was supposed to be the lousiest slate of games for the 2008 season. But invariably, that’s when we get a couple of surprises.
I went 8-2 last week because I missed Georgia Tech’s impressive win at Boston College and East Carolina’s complete domination of West Virginia. Those two games alone have significantly changed the college football landscape. Georgia Tech now looks like a team that could have a pretty decent season under new coach Paul Johnson. East Carolina can now dare to utter the letters “BCS.” That’s a lot of change for one Saturday.
We now have a record of 16-4 over the first two weeks. Granted, there been a lot of cupcakes served to this point but now we’re finally starting to play some big boy football.
The “exhibition games,” as Steve Spurrier used to call them, are just about over and not a moment too soon. So let’s just jump in to another Fearless Friday Forecast.
1. Georgia (2-0) at South Carolina (1-1): On paper, Georgia should win this one by double digits. The Bulldogs are better at just about every position and they certainly have more firepower on offense. People point to last year’s win by South Carolina in Athens but that was before Knowshon Moreno became a star and opened up the entire offense. He only got 14 touches in that game. He’ll get that many in the first half on Saturday.
Logically, Georgia should win easily. But I just can’t shake the notion that this game is going to be close. The South Carolina defense is very good even though it gave up some points to Vanderbilt. It looks like Stephen Garcia, the star-crossed quarterback, might actually get in this game because The Ball Coach is running out of options trying to kick-start his offense. If WR Kenny McKinley can’t go for the Gamecocks, there is very little firepower there. Georgia wins, but it just isn’t going to be easy. Georgia 24, South Carolina 17.
2. Georgia Tech (2-0) at Virginia Tech (1-1): I have a feeling I am going to regret this pick but here it is: Virginia Tech (1-1), which lost to East Carolina in the opener, has its collective backs to the wall. The VT fans are actually getting testy with coach Frank Beamer on his radio show. Some of them think that after four straight seasons of 10 wins or more and two ACC championships, Beamer has suddenly forgot how to coach. So this is a rally the troops week in Blacksburg and I just get the feeling the Hokies are going to play well. But if Georgia Tech goes into that environment and wins its second straight conference road game, then I already have my ACC coach of the year. His name is Paul Johnson. Still, I’m going with the Hokies. Virginia Tech 21, Georgia Tech 20.
3. Ohio State (2-0) at Southern Cal (1-0): I could be wrong but if USC quarterback Matt Sanchez stays healthy and plays the entire game, I don’t think this one will be close. The Trojans have all those weapons on offense, but I like the Trojans because of that scary defense that features Rey Maualuga, one of the best linebackers I have seen in a long time. Now comes word that Ohio State running back Beanie Wells (foot) will not be 100 percent and may not play at all. The Buckeyes’ only shot was to control the football with Wells and shorten the game. Unless freshman quarterback Terrelle Pryor grows up in a hurry, Ohio State won’t have a lot of options. Southern Cal 28, Ohio State 17.
4. Auburn (2-0) at Miss. State (1-1): Auburn has found the quarterback that it wants to run Tony Franklin’s spread offense. Chris Todd completed 21 of 31 passes last week against Southern Mississippi and the offense, coach Tommy Tuberville told me this week, should get better every week. The Tigers will need to improve even more on Saturday against a Mississippi State team that beat Auburn a year ago. The Bulldogs (1-1) are getting better but won’t be able to keep pace with the fast tempo of the Auburn offense. Auburn sets the table for next week’s visit from LSU. Auburn 27, Miss. State 10.
5. N.C. State (1-1) at Clemson (1-1): The Tigers cleared their head of the post-Alabama hangover and took care of The Citadel 45-17 last week. But it will take more than a win over a Division I-AA team to prove that Clemson still deserves to be the ACC favorite. Clemson has won four straight over the Wolfpack and figures to make it five, which would tie its longest streak in the series. Understand that for Clemson this game, and the next two games with S.C. State and Maryland, are about getting ready for a crucial Oct. 9 (Thursday) trip to Wake Forest: Clemson 31, N.C. State 14.
6. UAB (0-2) at Tennessee (1-1): This is another set-up game. Florida comes to Knoxville next week and the Volunteers need wake up this Sunday feeling good about themselves. Tennessee and its coaching staff have been getting pretty beat up by the fans and media since losing at UCLA on Sept. 1. The only way to change the tone of that conversation is to dominate somebody and beat them pretty badly. UAB, which has given up 94 points in its first two games, should play that role well. Tennessee 45, UAB 13.
7. Wisconsin (2-0) at Fresno State (1-0): This is a big BCS buster game. If Fresno State, which hasn’t played since a 24-7 win over Rutgers on Sept. 1, can beat the Badgers, the Bulldogs jump in there with East Carolina as a leading candidate to crash the BCS party and receive an at-large bid. Wisconsin is ranked No. 10 but has yet to play a quality opponent. That will change today. Fresno State has 13 wins against BCS teams since 2000 and is 51-12 at home under coach Pat Hill. Fresno has too much speed for the slower team from the Big Ten. Fresno State 24, Wisconsin 20.
8. Western Kentucky (1-1) at Alabama (2-0): The Crimson Tide was less than impressive in last week’s 20-6 win over Tulane, but that was to be expected. Alabama was without two offensive linemen and the players had spent and entire week listening to people tell them how good they were. The tempo for Saturday’s game will be different as the Crimson Tide sets the table for next week’s SEC opener at Arkansas. Western Kentucky will also be without starting quarterback K.J. Black, who has a pulled hamstring. Alabama 45, Western Kentucky 10.
9. Navy (1-1) at Duke (1-1): It may not be two high-powered teams but this one is going to be entertaining and close. Paul Johnson is gone as coach but Navy is still leading the nation in rushing with an average of 452 yards on the ground in the first two games. Duke lost to Northwestern 24-20 last week after opening the season with a 31-7 win over James Madison. These are the kind of games you really must win if you’re Duke coach David Cutcliffe. Duke will not be outmanned in this game so execution will be the key. Duke 28, Navy 24.
10. Michigan (1-1) at Notre Dame (1-0): Here is everything you need to know about this game. San Diego State lost its opener, 29-27, to Cal Poly, a Division I-AA school from the Great West Conference. Last week San Diego State lost at Notre Dame 21-13. San Diego State coach Chuck Long was asked which team was better: Notre Dame or Cal Poly?
His response?
“That’s a tough question,” he said.
Has there ever been less buzz about a Notre Dame-Michigan game? Notre Dame gets the edge at home but it’s going to be ugly. Notre Dame 14, Michigan 13.
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Does Spurrier have anything up his sleeve for Dawgs?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Five burning questions as we head into the weekend:
1. Does Spurrier REALLY have anything up his sleeve for Georgia? In years past Steve Spurrier has been at his very best as an underdog. Just when people were starting to count him out, the Head Ball Coach has been able to come up with something to confound the opposition and find a way to win a big game. Two years ago at Florida, for example, his offense rolled up over 400 yards against a defense that would eventually lead the Gators to the national championship. South Carolina had the potential winning field goal blocked on the last play of the game and the Gators survived 17-16.
It’s Thursday, and there is still this nagging sense that Spurrier, who loves to beat Georgia more than anything in the world, will figure out something to keep this game close on Saturday.
The problem is that his best offensive option, wide receiver Kenny McKinley, has a pulled hamstring and might not be able to play. The South Carolina defense looks good on paper but was a little slow/tired in the second half against Vanderbilt.
A year ago Spurrier sandbagged the Bulldogs by praising them early in the week and then beating them 16-12 in Athens. But does he have any real options for this game?
2. Can Georgia Tech find more road magic in Blacksburg? More than anything, the Yellow Jackets were impressive for their sheer persistence last week at Boston College. It’s early, but there appears to be a mental toughness to this team that is going to serve them well.
But here is a word of caution, Tech fans. Going to Virginia Tech this Saturday will be a totally different and definitely more intense experience. Virginia Tech has gotten out of the gate slowly (1-1) and looks to have some real issues. Fans are complaining openly, something that has been rare under Frank Beamer. As our Thomas Stinson reports this morning, the Hokie Nation is not happy.
Beamer is going to rally the troops this week as the conference season begins. The Hokies need something to jump start their season and a win over Georgia Tech would do just that. I’m anxious to see how Josh Nesbitt and his offense react to what will be a much rowdier crowd. In short, Chesnut Hill, Mass., ain’t Blacksburg, Va. The Jackets will have to take it up a notch.
3. When is Clemson going to catch a break? The offensive line was already greener than the field turf at the Georgia Dome. Now comes word that sophomore offensive tackle Chris Hairston will miss Saturday’s game with N.C. State because of an accident on a motor scooter. That means Clemson will start three freshmen on the offensive line. Thanks to some research by Tim Bourret, Clemson’s sports information director, we now know that the last time Clemson started three freshmen at the same time on the offensive line (1943), FDR was president. There is some good news on the Clemson front. It looks like DE Da’Quan Bowers, a big time freshman recruit, is going to get his first career start. It also looks like veteran DE Ricky Sapp, who tweaked his knee against Alabama, may come back and play a little bit. But more than anything, this is a statement game for Clemson. The Tigers are a better team than N.C. State. They are playing at home. You don’t put the Alabama loss behind you by beating The Citadel. Clemson needs to play well or the questions continue.
4. How good is North Carolina? Georgia Tech fans should be tuning in tonight as the Tar Heels travel to Rutgers. Because if the Yellow Jackets win at Virginia Tech on Saturday, it looks like North Carolina and Miami will be the biggest remaining hurdles in the ACC Coastal. North Carolina was less than impressive in its opener with McNeese State, a 35-27 win. But I have to believe a part of that was Butch Davis keeping some of his cards close to the vest. We’ll learn more tonight when the Tar Heels take on Rutgers. Davis is looking to get his team ready for next week’s visit by Virginia Tech and he needs to make a statement about where the program is under his leadership. This would be a statement game for North Carolina because the Tar Heels have lost 20 straight games outside of the Tar Heel state dating back to a 38-35 victory at Arizona State on Oct. 5, 2002.
5. Will Tennessee get back to basics against UAB? I’m not real smart (as many of you remind me from time to time). But I do know this: If you’re averaging over six yards every time you run the football, you should probably keep doing that until the other guy figures out a way to stop it. Tennessee’s Arian Foster and Montario Hardesty rushed for 162 yards on 25 attempts against UCLA while rookie quarterback Jonathan Crompton threw the ball 41 times in the 27-24 overtime loss. Call me old fashioned, but I don’t think a team from the SEC should be throwing it 62 percent of the time against a team from the Pac-10, especially with a new quarterback.
Florida comes to Knoxville next week. Tennessee’s best wins over the Gators have come when the Vols have run the football. So will Tennessee line up and play smash mouth against UAB in order to get ready? Just asking.
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Danielson breaks down Georgia, the SEC, Spurrier
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former Purdue and NFL quarterback Gary Danielson is set to begin his third season as the analyst on the SEC game of the week on CBS with Verne Lundquist. Their first assignment of the 2008 season will be Saturday’s showdown between Georgia and South Carolina in Columbia.
First on a CBS conference call and later in a private conversation, I had a chance to visit with Danielson on Tuesday to discuss Georgia and the rest of the SEC. Here are a few highlights:
1. On the importance of the Georgia game to South Carolina and the future of coach Steve Spurrier:
“This may be THE game of Steve Spurrier’s coaching era at South Carolina. If you look at Spurrier’s history, he is not one to stress or go back to fundamentals for a big game. He tends to search for something to pull out of his hat. The Florida people will tell you about the 1997 game with (No. 1) Florida State when he rotated quarterbacks on every play. I think South Carolina is an extremely talented team. These guys don’t lack talent. They just aren’t getting it done. But I also think South Carolina will be more comfortable playing Georgia. South Carolina has already played N.C. State and Vanderbilt and I don’t think Georgia’s opponents-Georgia Southern and Central Michigan-compare.
2. On Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford, who appears poised for a big year:
“When I watch quarterbacks work our I rarely say “wow.” But with Matt it’s kind of like the other players on the PGA Tour who watch Tiger hit tee shots. It gets their attention because they see something they can’t do. When I watch Matt I realize he has something that I didn’t have. He also has more weapons around him now. He has also grown up. He has become a man in all parts of his life.”
3. On the injuries at Georgia to OT Trinton Sturdivant, DT Jeff Owens, and FB Brannon Southerland:
“When I look at a team I try to rank their top players 1 through 22 in terms of importance. And if you were ranking Georgia’s players obviously Stafford and Knowshon Moreno would be the top two. But somewhere in the top six you would probably have Sturdivant, Owens, and Southerland. When you lose three of your top six players it has to have an impact.”
4. On whether or not the SEC will play for the national championship for the third straight season:
“I think there are five teams—Southern Cal, Georgia, Oklahoma, Florida, and Ohio State—that are basically going to separate themselves from everybody else. And over the course of the season things are going to shake out. The strength of the conference will be the tiebreaker at the end. Two years ago Florida got the nod over Michigan because of the strength of the SEC. Given the fact that the SEC has won the last two national championships, you have to believe that if it comes down to several teams with only one loss, the SEC is going to win that tie-breaker. Under that scenario, I can’t imagine the SEC champion getting left out of the game.”
“The only addition I would make to that list of five might be LSU. Their top 21 players can line up with any team in the country. And if they get something out of the quarterback position, they are going to be very, very good.”
5. The impact of the spread offense in the SEC:
“I’ve been on record, and I’ve kind of been out there on a lonely limb by myself, but I think the spread offense has peaked. I think teams are now going to go the opposite way. I think Michigan will be the last team to go to the spread. When your quarterback gets hit as many times as a quarterback does in the spread, you just can’t afford it. When your quarterback gets hurt, you not only lose your running game, you lose your passing game. Look at what happened to (Florida’s Tim) Tebow at the end of last season.”
Bonus point, No. 1: The question was about the fact that Spurrier, in his fourth year at South Carolina, has yet to develop a better than average quarterback:
“Steve Spurrier without a quarterback? I’ve heard a lot of good analogies. It’s like Barbra Streisand with a sore throat.”
Bonus Point, No. 2: Former Georgia All-America David Pollack, who now works for the CBS College Sports Network and 790 The Zone in Atlanta, was on that conference call yesterday. He was asked which play was the more athletic: His now famous takeaway/touchdown against South Carolina in 2002 or Knowshon Moreno’s leap over a Central Michigan last Saturday?
Pollack has a sense of humor, which is why people like him. Pollack’s NFL career was cut short by a serious neck injury and he used the question to poke fun at himself:
“From an athletic standpoint Moreno’s play was the best, hands down. My play impacted the game more. If I had done that (Moreno’s play) I would have broken my neck sooner.”
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Official’s call was correct, but it wasn’t right
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Pac-10 supervisor of officials said his guy got it right when he called an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Washington QB Jake Locker at the end of last Saturday’s game with BYU.
Based on my conversations with several people on Monday, I say this: The call was correct. But it certainly wasn’t right.
In case you missed it, here is what happened. Washington trailed 28-21 but Locker drove his team down the field and scored on a three-yard run with only two seconds left. Locker jumped off the turf, flipped the ball over his shoulder into the air, and started celebrating with his teammates.
Locker was called for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Washington had to kick a 35-yard extra point that was blocked. BYU won 28-27.
Pac-10 referee Larry Farina said after the game that under the celebration rule, as written, that his crew was required to make the call. “It is not a judgment call,” he said. And the Pac-10 office backed him up.
So I called Rogers Redding, the SEC supervisor of officials, and Doug Rhoads, the ACC supervisor of officials, and asked them to help me understand this. It just didn’t make sense to me that an official would not have the discretion to keep a flag in his pocket in an end of the game situation like that.
There are two full pages in the rulebook on this. Rhoads read the whole thing to me. And the way the rule is written the official was supposed to call that penalty. There is a laundry list of specific acts in the rulebook and if the player commits any one of them, it’s 15-yards, period.
But that still doesn’t make it right.
Here is the problem that got us to this point. The excessive celebration rule was put in many years ago to clean up some of the excesses in player behavior: Simulated throat slashing, taunting, the real knucklehead stuff that has no place in the game.
But coaches and school officials were complaining that the rule was applied inconsistently from conference to conference. Based on my very unscientific observation, I found that to be true. What was an unsportsmanlike act in Baton Rouge might get overlooked in Boise.
So the NCAA football rules committee, which includes coaches, decided to simplify things and just list a bunch of those specific acts that would draw an automatic unsportsmanlike penalty. It is kind of like a zero tolerance policy. If a player commits one of these acts, you throw the flag, no questions asked.
And before the season started the various supervisors of officials made their stops and told coaches that player behavior and safety was going to be a point of emphasis for this season. When they say it is a point of emphasis, that means the officials are going to be looking for these kind of fouls and making sure they are called when committed.
So you ask, and logically so, why didn’t the official just say “To heck with the rule? I ain’t calling it because it takes the game away from the players.” For making that independent judgment that official could get downgraded in his evaluation and possibly lose his next assignment.
It could be that because of this one call and the uproar that it has created, this won’t be an issue for the rest of the season. You can bet that a lot of coaches have shown this film to their players this week and said: “Give the ball back to the official when you score. Gift wrap it and say “thank you” if necessary. Offer to buy him lunch. Ask about his family. Just don’t get a penalty that will get us beat.”
But the fact that it might not happen again misses the larger point. In my opinion there has to be a happy medium between officials having total discretion over when to call the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and the rigid set of standards in the current rule. One of the things that makes college football a better game than the NFL is that the emotion is real and it’s spontaneous. There is a reason that the NFL is called the “No Fun League.” College football does a lot of things to imitate the NFL. It doesn’t want to do that.
The rules committee needs to go back to the table and address this. And here’s why: The game and the stories about the game should be about the players. The officials I know are hard-working guys who are really dedicated to being good at what they do. The last thing they want is to be a part of the game story. In this case, even though the rulebook was followed properly, the story was about the officials.
And that is not good for the game.
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Georgia Tech can win the ACC Coastal
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Five things we learned over the weekend:
1. Georgia Tech can win the ACC Coastal: As our Mark Bradley wrote on Sunday, there were a lot of things, tangible and intangible, that went into the Yellow Jackets’ 19-16 win at Boston College. But more than anything, the victory was a testament to the ability of Paul Johnson and the Georgia Tech coaching staff to get their guys in a mindset to keep playing and keep pushing for the entire 60 minutes of the game. People forget how long a college football game really is and a lot of times the biggest challenge is to forget mistakes and just keep playing hard and believing that good things are going to eventually happen. Georgia Tech did that and did what well-coached teams do: They made their own breaks when the game was on the line.
So let’s look at the landscape of the ACC Coastal: Virginia Tech struggled for the second consecutive week before finally putting away Furman 24-7. Miami is better on defense but does not have many playmakers on offense. North Carolina struggled with McNeese State. Virginia got its doors blown off by Southern Cal and led Division I-AA Richmond by only 3-0 midway through the fourth quarter before winning 16-0. Duke is going to be better but still doesn’t have the athletes it needs to win more than just a few games.
If Tech can win at Virginia Tech this week, the Jackets will be 2-0 in the ACC with both wins coming on the road. Put another way, Tech will have four of its final six conference games at home. That’s huge.
2. Georgia needs to find a pass rush: When you’re No. 2 in the nation and thinking SEC championship, it is necessary to nitpick and find whatever weaknesses you still have and address them before the conference season starts.
Georgia was impressive in the 56-17 win over Central Michigan but after the game it was clear that the Bulldogs still need somebody to step up and assume the David Pollock—Quentin Moses—Charles Johnson—Marcus Howard role as the overwhelming pass rusher off the edge.
The Bulldogs had only one quarterback sack (that coming from linebacker Rennie Curran) against Central Michigan but there may be a couple of opportunities coming up. South Carolina’s offensive line continues to be a mess with poor protection and a lot of false starts. Arizona State gave up 55 sacks a year ago. If Georgia can pressure the quarterback the Bulldogs will win both games.
3. Florida needs to find a running back not named Tebow: Florida has more guys who can run fast and make plays than any team in the country. The Gators had enough to beat Miami 26-3 Saturday night because the Hurricanes don’t have any playmakers other than QB Robert Marve.
But sooner or later Florida is going to have to run the ball between the tackles in order to hold on to the lead against a quality SEC opponent. Florida needs a big, durable back in the Erict Rhett mold who can pound on defenses and wear them down. Emmanuel Moody, the transfer from Southern Cal, was supposed to fill that role but he has somehow found his way into Urban Meyer’s doghouse.
Florida appears to have improved on defense so this, in MHO, is the Gators’ most glaring weakness as they head to Tennessee on Sept. 20 after being off this week.
4. East Carolina is not a Cinderella: I thought East Carolina’s best hope of beating West Virginia on Saturday was to control the football on offense, kind of hang close and find a way to steal the game in the fourth quarter. East Carolina had a better idea. The Pirates simply lined up and kicked the Mountaineers’ butt from the opening whistle to the final horn.
This is a good football team with a great quarterback (Patrick Pinkney) and a very good defense that has now beaten the defending champions in both the ACC (Virginia Tech) and Big East.
East Carolina, now ranked No. 14, is capable of winning every game it plays this season. And if the Pirates go 13-0 and win the Conference USA championship, they will have beaten four BCS teams (Virginia Tech, West Virginia, N.C. State, Virginia) in their non-conference schedule. None of the other leading potential BCS party crashers (Fresno State, Utah, BYU) can make that claim.
5. Ole Miss is going to beat some people: The Rebels got a very tough pass interference call (Coach Houston Nutt would probably use another word) that put the best place-kicker in college football (Wake Forest’s Sam Swank) in position to kick a 41-yard field goal to beat the Rebels 30-28. It was a heartbreaking loss for Ole Miss, but when I talked to Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe on Sunday, he predicted that good things are ahead for the Rebels.
“I know that there are some great teams on that side of the SEC, but I’m telling you that Ole Miss is going to beat some people before this season is over,” Grobe said. “That was a really good football team we beat and we were fortunate to win.”
Ole Miss found out this weekend that QB Jevan Snead is the real deal. He led the Rebels down the field and had apparently won the game with a five-yard touchdown pass with 1:05 left.
“I was proud of the way Jevan played. He has become the leader on this team,” Nutt told me on Sunday. Ole Miss gets Samford and Vanderbilt at home in the next two games before going to Florida on Sept. 27.
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The Fearless Friday Forecast
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Your Fearless Forecaster went 8-2 in the first week because he didn’t have the guts to pick Alabama, despite hearing reports that the Crimson Tide was beginning to figure things out. But who knew that Clemson would get smacked in the mouth and not fight back? Who knew that there was not a soul on the entire Clemson roster who could block Terrence “Mount” Cody, Alabama’s massive nose tackle?
Who knew that Tennessee would fly all the way out to the West Coast and get outplayed and out-coached so badly?
It’s kind of a thin week but there are a few tasty morsels worth your consideration this morning. So let’s get on with another award-winning edition of The Fearless Friday Forecast.
1. Central Michigan (1-0) at Georgia (1-0): Georgia will win the game but the Bulldogs have to decide if they want an easy afternoon or if they will have to work for four quarters to put the Chippewas away. CMU’s Dan LeFevour is one of the best quarterbacks who will play in Sanford Stadium this season. But a fast, aggressive defense can keep LeFevour under control as Clemson proved last season when the Tigers mashed Central Michigan 70-14. Despite the loss of DT Jeff Owens, Georgia still has a very fast and very aggressive defense. Georgia needs to put this team away early and start getting ready for next week’s trip to South Carolina. And here is my first early warning to my Georgia friends. If you’re feeling more confident about the Gamecocks because they lost to Vanderbilt last night, don’t. We’ll have more on that next week. Georgia 45, Central Michigan 17.
2. Georgia Tech (1-0) at Boston College (1-0): Georgia Tech plays its first road game under coach Paul Johnson and quarterback Josh Nesbitt gets his first start in a hostile stadium. I think the Boston College defense is a little too strong. The Eagles return eight starters from a defense that was second in the nation against the run last season, giving up 72.2 yards per game. BC’s Frank Spaziani is one of the better defensive coordinators in the country and will have a plan to make Nesbitt uncomfortable. But if Georgia Tech does not turn the ball over, it will be a four-quarter game and the Jackets will get a chance to steal it at the end. Boston College 21, Georgia Tech 17.
3. Miami (1-0) at Florida (1-0): This used to be one of the best rivalries in the South. Now the programs are in two decidedly different places. Florida gets WR Percy Harvin back this week giving the Gators yet another player who can take it to the house every time he touches the ball. Miami crushed Charleston Southern 52-7 in the opener and its players believe they are due for a breakout game under coach Randy Shannon. The Hurricanes are certainly due after bottoming at 5-7 last season. But it’s not happening on Saturday night at The Swamp. Miami will come out on fire and very motivated to play. Then the talent takes over. Florida 35, Miami 14.
4. Wake Forest (1-0) at Ole Miss (1-0): For my money this is the best game on the board on Saturday. Ole Miss got off to a pretty impressive start with a 41-24 win over Memphis. Wake Forest went on the road and beat Baylor 41-13 and looks like a team capable of winning the ACC. Quarterback Riley Skinner, who completed 72.4 percent of his passes last season, completed 27 of 36 passes with no interceptions against the Bears. When Skinner does not throw interceptions, Wake Forest is hard to beat. Ole Miss is very athletic and has a new burst of energy under coach Houston Nutt. This could be a good one. Wake Forest 24, Ole Miss 20.
5. Southern Miss (1-0) at Auburn (1-0): Auburn won its opener 34-0 over Louisiana-Monroe but coach Tommy Tuberville believes he needs better play from his quarterbacks. Kodi Burns got the start last week but will give way to JUCO transfer Chris Todd. Southern Miss, under new coach Larry Fedora, has installed the spread offense and will try to control the ball and shorten the game. The Eagles have a running back who can do that in sophomore Damion Fletcher, who had 222 yards rushing in last week’s 51-21 win over Louisiana-Lafayette. Auburn wins this one because of defense. Auburn 28, Southern Miss 10.
6. Tulane (0-0) at Alabama (1-0): After last week’s 34-10 win over Clemson, Alabama fans are excited again and convinced the Crimson Tide will be a force in the SEC West. Coach Nick Saban is preaching that it is only one game of 12 and that everybody, fans and players included, needs to calm down. Good luck with that, coach. With games against Tulane today and Western Kentucky next week, Alabama has two weeks to get ready for its first SEC match-up at Arkansas on Sept. 20. Saban will ride his team pretty hard so that they don’t look sloppy against the overmatched Green Wave. Alabama 42, Tulane 10.
7. The Citadel (1-0) at Clemson (1-0): It’s been a long week at Clemson. Good thing for the Tigers and Tommy Bowden that they have four straight very winnable games at home (The Citadel, N.C. State, South Carolina State, Maryland). There is no way that Clemson is as bad as Alabama made the Tigers look last Saturday night at the Georgia Dome. There is just too much talent there. Clemson can come back and win the ACC championship. That journey begins today as the Tigers take their frustrations out on the Bulldogs. Clemson 48, The Citadel 7.
8. Western Carolina (1-0) at Florida State (0-0): The decision to start red-shirt sophomore Christian Ponder at quarterback over senior Drew Weatherford speaks volumes about where the Florida State program is headed. It shows that offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher, the head coach in waiting behind Bobby Bowden, is exerting his influence in Tallahassee. Weatherford has started 33 games and would have been the safe choice. After two straight 7-6 seasons, it’s time for Florida State to quit making the safe choice. This game, and next week’s game against Chattanooga, is about getting ready for Wake Forest’s visit on Sept. 20. Florida State 45, Western Carolina 10.
9. Stanford (1-0) at Arizona State (1-0): We’re going to follow Arizona State as they run up to the Sept. 20 game with Georgia. The Sun Devils rolled over Northern Arizona 30-13 last week as Rudy Carpenter threw for 388 yards. Stanford, which opened last week with a 36-28 Pac-10 win over Oregon State, has one of the league’s better running backs in Toby Gerhart, who ran for a career-high 147 yards against the Beavers. The Sun Devils have too much firepower. Arizona State 35, Stanford 21.
10. West Virginia (1-0) at East Carolina (1-0): East Carolina is coming off one of its biggest wins in years in last week’s 27-22 victory over Virginia Tech. If the Pirates can knock off West Virginia then the team of Skip Holtz will thrust itself into the picture for a BCS at-large bid. West Virginia was impressive last week when Pat White threw for five touchdowns in a 48-21 win over Villanova. This game has a chance to be close but in the end the difference will be White. Now let’s just hope that Hurricane Hanna cooperates and allows the game to be played in Greenville, N.C., which is located in the eastern part of the state. West Virginia 31, East Carolina 24.
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Can Nesbitt handle the BC defense?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Five burning questions as we head into the second weekend of the season:
1. How will Josh Nesbitt handle the Boston College defense? The Georgia Tech quarterback played well in the opener against Jacksonville State. He showed more poise and good decision making than I expected for a first start.
But on Saturday Nesbitt will take a definite step up in class when he faces the Boston College defense. If you count linebacker Brian Toal (injury) and DE B.J. Raji (academics), who both sat out last season, the Eagles return eight starters from a defense that finished No. 2 nationally against the run (75.5 ypg). Last week Boston College held Kent State’s Eugene Jarvis, the nation’s leading returning rusher (1,669 yards last season), to just 51 yards on 11 carries. DC Frank Spaziani will make sure that Nesbitt will be under a lot more pressure in this game.
2. What will be Dan LeFevour’s final numbers against Georgia?: The junior quarterback from Central Michigan had 3,652 yards passing and 1,122 yards rushing last season. He’s only the second player (Vince Young of Texas was the first) to pass for 3,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in a season. He is used to putting up big numbers. He had 213 yards passing and three touchdowns last week against Eastern Illinois. He’s a big guy (6-3, 226) who has a knack for getting down the field. But good defenses can contain him. Last season against Clemson LeFevour completed 20 of 34 for 204 yards and two touchdowns. He ran for only 31 yards in five carries. Hold him to those numbers on Saturday and the Dawgs will have another comfortable win.
3. Will the Florida-Miami game be competitive? It’s hard for me to get a handle on this one. My gut says Florida has too many weapons and gets a big edge by playing at home. WR Percy Harvin is scheduled to play for the first time this season. I also believe the Florida kids are going to get geeked up to play Miami with a chance to break the Gators’ six-game losing streak to the Hurricanes. I also think that while Miami has improved its talent base in two years of recruiting under Randy Shannon, the Hurricanes are still a long way off from where they used to be. Other people have told me that Miami is due for a breakout game under Shannon and that this might be it. With an 8 p.m. start at the Swamp, it should be quite an atmosphere.
4. Will Chris Smelley lock down the QB job tonight for South Carolina? Tommy Beecher still has a bad shoulder after getting his bell rung last Thursday against N.C. State. So Chris Smelley, who came off the bench to play well against the Wolfpack, gets the start tonight against Vanderbilt (8:30 p.m., ESPN). The South Carolina defense pitched a shutout (34-0) last week and looks like the real deal. If the Gamecocks can just get decent play at quarterback, they could have a respectable season. But keep this in mind. Vanderbilt had the SEC’s No. 4 defense last season and the Commodores are pretty good again on that side of the ball. They will try to turn this into an ugly game.
5. Will Alabama be sharp, or flat, against Tulane? The Crimson Tide will certainly beat Tulane Saturday at Bryant-Denny. I don’t normally look for style points in a game but in the case of Alabama, it will be instructive. How will they play after receiving almost universal praise for a week for their dominating performance against Clemson (34-10) last Saturday? In my conversations with Nick Saban he is always concerned how this group of players will handle both adversity AND success. Both, an old coach used to tell me, are poison if you swallow it.
If Alabama builds on the Clemson win and comes out and takes care of business against the Green Wave, there is reason for optimism in T-Town. If they take a step back and sort of slop their way through this game, that means there is still a lot of work to do.
Fortunately for Alabama, it has one more exhibition game next week against Western Kentucky before opening the SEC season at Arkansas on Sept. 20.
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Why the voters dropped Georgia to No. 2
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Some Georgia fans may be scratching their heads today wondering how you get dropped from No. 1 to No. 2 in the polls after beating somebody (Georgia Southern) by 24. But understand that when the final BCS standings are released on Dec. 7, it doesn’t matter Who’s No. 1. The only thing that matters is Who’s No. 2.
I was a voter in the Associated Press poll for 15 years and I had a standing rule: If I put a team No. 1 at any point during the season, they would stay there as long as they won. There may have been once or twice in 15 years that I went against that rule. I think I moved Auburn to No.1 ahead of Southern Cal in 2004 after the Tigers really got it going.
But not every pollster feels that way. Here are some reasons that could have factored into their reasoning to move Southern Cal ahead of Georgia:
**—Performance on the road counts big. Southern Cal was scary good in winning 52-7 on the road against Virginia, which won nine games a year ago. Remember that in the preseason there were questions about quarterback Mark Sanchez, who suffered a dislocated kneecap in practice. Sanchez was brilliant against a BCS team on the road. That counts for something.
And you can mark this down. If Southern Cal beats Ohio State next week at the Coliseum, the Trojans will be in the BCS championship game on Jan. 8. The only question will be the opponent.
**—It is a weekly poll. Some voters believe that every Sunday, particularly early in the season, you should sit down with the results from the day before in front of a blank sheet of paper and rank the teams based on their performance to date. They believe the previous week’s rankings should not be a major factor. That’s what happened here. A talented Southern Cal team with a healthy Sanchez flew all the way across the country and played very well. Georgia played well at home against a Division I-AA opponent. So for this week, in the voters minds, Southern Cal deserves the No. 1 spot.
**—Georgia’s injuries: Voters watch injuries. They know that LT Trinton Sturdivant) was lost in preseason. They know what DT Jeff Owens was a big-time leader on that Georgia defense. Some teams start to unravel when big injuries start to hit. Some voters will drop teams a notch because of injuries.
**—Next week’s game: With No. 3 Ohio State coming to Southern Cal next week, some voters no doubt feel like the winner of that early mega-game deserves to be No. 1. So they were simply positioning Southern Cal for that game. If Ohio State beats Southern Cal, you can expect the Buckeyes to jump over Georgia into the top spot.
The bottom line is that the human polls are like a beauty contest. It’s in the eye of the beholder and each voter sets his or her standards. Is that fair? Probably not but it’s the system we have, at least for the next six years.
But here’s the bottom line. These same voters know how hard Georgia’s schedule is. If Georgia wins them all, or finishes with one loss as the SEC champions, I believe the Bulldogs will be there in South Florida with the Ohio State-USC winner. Now if the Big 12 champ (Oklahoma or Missouri) is 13-0 and Georgia is 12-1, that’s a different story. That would be an interesting vote.
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Is Tennessee looking at a 2-4 start?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tennessee does not play again until Sept. 13 against UAB. For the Volunteer football team and coach Phillip Fulmer, that is going to be 11 very long days.
For so many reasons, it was a bad, bad loss for Tennessee last night against UCLA (27-24 OT) in Pasadena. The Volunteers did so many things wrong it’s hard to know where to start.
The Tennessee defense had four interceptions in the first half, one that was returned for a touchdown, but led by only seven, 14-7, at the intermission.
Tennessee had a chance to put the game away in the opening possession of the second half but Arian Foster’s fumble on the UCLA six-yard line was a killer. That would have made it 21-7 against a beat up UCLA team that lost three starters in the first half. The Bruins could not have recovered.
Once UCLA regained its confidence, the Tennessee defense could not stop the Bruins and quarterback Kevin Craft, who bounced back nicely from those four picks before intermission. The front seven of the Tennessee defense is still a problem. We knew that.
What we didn’t know was that the offense, under new coordinator Dave Clawson and new quarterback Jonathan Crompton, would look so inconsistent. First game jitters was part of it but so was Tennessee’s inability to block UCLA’s defensive tackles. When Crompton didn’t get pressure, he was fine. When pressed, he was not fine completing only 19 of 41. That will not go unnoticed by the defensive coordinators in the SEC. A veteran offensive line should have given Crompton more protection than he got.
Fulmer’s decision to suspend punter Britton Colquitt for the first five games came into play as UCLA blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown. There were missed snaps, a bunch of penalties, plus Crompton running into Foster because the two apparently weren’t running the same play. Every team makes mistakes in the first game but Tennessee’s all seemed to come at crucial times.
Despite all that Tennessee should have won the game but it didn’t. And here is what the Volunteers are facing now: The Vols play UAB at home on Sept. 13. Three of the next four games are against Florida (Sept. 20 in Knoxville), at Auburn (Sept. 27), and at Georgia (Oct. 11). There is a non-conference game with Northern Illinois on Oct. 4.
A 2-4 start will make things pretty restless on old Rocky Top, especially with Fulmer’s new contract in place. But I believe, and I’ve written this before, that Fulmer got the new deal just in case something like this happened. It takes the issue of his job security off the table.
But that doesn’t mean that Tennessee fans won’t raise the issue in the coming weeks. In a poll conducted by the Knoxville News-Sentinel in the wee hours of his morning, 67 percent blamed “coaching in general” for the loss.
Did you Beat Barnhart? Check the results from the Week One “Beat Barnhart” contest. Tony went 9-3 with his picks. How’d you fare?
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Thanks to Bama, Georgia’s schedule just got tougher
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Five things we now know after the first weekend of the 2008 college football season.
1. Thanks to Bama, Georgia’s tough schedule just got even tougher: After back to back road games at South Carolina and Arizona State on Sept. 13 and Sept. 20, Georgia thought it would have a tough, but manageable, game against Alabama at home on Sept. 27. But with the way the Crimson Tide manhandled Clemson on Saturday night, it looks like the Bulldogs will have another 15-round fight on their hands when the Tide rolls into Sanford Stadium. Alabama should be 4-0, coming off a road win at undermanned Arkansas the week before. Alabama will be very motivated after losing to the Bulldogs in overtime last year in Tuscaloosa. After two draining road games, will Georgia have enough juice to take on the Tide in Athens?
2. Clemson’s players should be embarrassed: It’s easy to blame the coaches when a team gets beat the way the Tigers got beat (34-10). And Tommy Bowden and his staff deserve some criticism. Clemson was not ready to play at the level that Alabama played Saturday night at the Georgia Dome. The head coach is responsible for getting his team ready to play and at times Clemson looked like they were going through the motions.
But the Clemson players should be taking a hard look in the mirror this morning. Not to get too dramatic here, but Alabama just basically came out and challenged their manhood in the opening possession of the game. Good teams that aspire to greatness know how to respond. Clemson did not. Clemson backed down.
Having said all that….
3. Clemson can still win the ACC championship: Two reasons: 1) Clemson is not as bad as Alabama made them look on Saturday and 2) it is clear after the first weekend that the ACC is down. Virginia Tech lost to East Carolina. Virginia got embarrassed by Southern Cal. N.C. State was shut out by South Carolina (34-0), a team still having quarterback issues. North Carolina had to struggle to beat McNeese State. Maryland barely got past Delaware, 14-7.
Clemson has too many weapons and too much overall talent to fall apart. The Tigers have the next four games at home: The Citadel, N.C. State, South Carolina State, and Maryland. Clemson should win them all. But then comes the critical Oct. 9 Thursday night game at Wake Forest, which won impressively at Baylor (41-13) last Thursday.
Here’s a game to watch this week if you’re an ACC fan. Wake Forest hosts Ole Miss in Winston-Salem. If the Deacons win that game, they can win the ACC championship.
4. Georgia Tech should be feeling much better about things today: Granted, Jacksonville State didn’t provide the stiffest test, but Josh Nesbitt executed the offense better than I thought he would in a opening game. The Yellow Jackets are on the way to establishing a clear identity of what kind of team they want to be. I saw enough last Thursday night to believe that Georgia Tech will be competitive in every game it plays this season and, at some point, the Yellow Jackets will beat someone they are not supposed to beat.
And it is now clear that there is no team that is going to physically dominate the ACC. In games that come down to coaching and execution, Georgia Tech will be very competitive.
5. The Chick-fil-A College Kickoff was a huge success: The game may have been one-sided, but the idea of putting together a high-profile event to kick off the season is going to stick. At kickoff the atmosphere was electric. No other sport, other than NASCAR with the Daytona 500, can start its season with so much energy.
ESPN has bought in and will bring College Game Day as long as the match-up is strong. Because of the exposure in prime time, teams in the future will be falling all over themselves to get in this game.
I know some Georgia and Georgia Tech fans have expressed concern to me about having such a high-profile game right in their back yard. I say embrace it. If I’m Tech, I play on the Thursday night before, like the Jackets this year. You’ll pick up some fans who want to come in a day early and make it a long weekend. If I’m Tech, with the excitement that is coming along with coach Paul Johnson, I’m going to play in this game if I get a chance.
Shoot. Let’s think outside the box. What about Georgia and Georgia Tech playing EACH OTHER to kick off the season at the Georgia Dome? Sure, it would be different. But wouldn’t it be fun?
.JPG)
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