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Thursday, November 13, 2008
Can the HBC keep South Carolina close?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Five burning questions as we head into the weekend:
1. Can the Head Ball Coach keep South Carolina close? Two years ago South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier returned to Florida for the first time and almost broke the Gators’ hearts. His offense rolled up over 400 yards and Florida needed to block a South Carolina field goal attempt on the last play of the game to win 17-16. It almost cost Florida the 2006 national championship. Florida is again knocking on the door of a national title as Spurrier arrives on Saturday at The Swamp. He’s got a great defense. But Florida has scored 243 points in its last five games. Can his offense do enough to keep this one close?
2. Does Auburn have one good game in them? On paper there is no way that Auburn should even be close to Georgia on Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Yes, the Georgia defense is struggling but the Auburn offense really isn’t good enough to take advantage of that in a big way. But this game has a strange feel to it. I have seen some bizarre things happen in this rivalry over the years. You have to figure that sooner or later Auburn’s offense will have one decent game where the Tigers finally put it all together. Could that game be on Saturday?
3. Will Alabama come out flat against Mississippi State? Every week Alabama coach Nick Saban warns about complacency and making the effort to improve over what you were the week before. Alabama had a very tough overtime win (27-21) at LSU last Saturday. Fans are already talking about the SEC championship game and perhaps the BCS title game. Auburn comes up in a couple of weeks. It would only be natural for the Crimson Tide to look past the Bulldogs (3-6). Mississippi State has won two straight against Bama. Sylvester Croom, an Alabama grad, will have his guys ready.
4. Can Virginia Tech break Miami’s hold on Thursday nights? Virginia Tech goes to Miami tonight for a huge game in the ACC Coastal as both teams are 3-2 in the division. Miami is 12-1 in Thursday night games and 8-0 when it plays on Thursday nights at home. It is also the last home game for the Hurricane seniors. Virginia Tech looked pretty good in bouncing Maryland 23-13 last Thursday. This has a chance to be a pretty good one.
5. Can Vanderbilt FINALLY become bowl eligible? For the fifth time this season Vanderbilt (5-4) will try to win game No. 6 and become eligible for its first bowl since 1982. Here is a fun stat if you don’t pull for Vanderbilt: Since 1982 the Commodores are 0-17 in games where a win could have made them bowl eligible. In that stretch of four losses this season Vanderbilt has lost close games to Mississippi State (17-14), Georgia (24-14), and Duke (10-7). I know the SEC is pulling for the ‘Dores. If Vanderbilt doesn’t became bowl eligible, the SEC may come up two teams short of filling its nine bowl slots.
