What we learned
It won’t take long for the ESPN publicity push to begin, lining up Heisman Trophy candidacy for three players, all quarterbacks in the SEC.
Johnny Manziel is the trophy-holder and did nothing to hurt his football skills image with his performance against Alabama. And Aaron Murray has a chance to set career records that will stand for a while at Georgia. He gets to boost his bid in two weeks against LSU, later against Florida and possibly in an SEC title game.
But it’s beginning to look like Alabama’s AJ McCarron is moving past growing pains to set himself up to be this year’s top candidate in September.
Bama coach Nick Saban and offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier are listening more to what the senior quarterback has to say.
“Coach allowed me to check in and out of plays literally the whole game,” McCarron said after leading the Tide past Texas A&M 49-42 on Saturday. “He gave me a run call and then I had certain checks and a way to get out of it. He kind of left it in my hands to make a play.”
That philosophy was especially apparent on the Crimson Tide’s game-clinching touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
McCarron knew that tight end Jalston Fowler had been roaming free in the Aggies’ secondary for most of the game. McCarron told his coaches that a run/pass option would work if the Aggie defenders bunched the run on a crucial third-and-goal play.
“He wanted to have the ball in his hands on that play at the end of the game,” Saban said of McCarron’s clinching 5-yard touchdown toss. “It was a well-executed play-action pass.”
McCarron’s 334 passing yards and four touchdowns didn’t match Manziel, but he left with the satisfaction of another victory.
TV chatter
The show put on by Alabama and Texas A&M drew the highest preliminary rating for an afternoon regular-season college football game on CBS in 23 years.
Defending national champ Alabama won 49-42 and the thriller earned a 9.0 overnight rating (percentage of homes tuned in) and a 21 share (percentage of all homes with TVs in use at the time). That’s the best since Miami vs. Notre Dame on Oct. 20, 1990 (10.1 rating).
The rating was triple that for CBS’s first SEC broadcast of the season last year, a 3.0/7 for Alabama-Arkansas.
Poll chatter
Alabama’s victory persuaded all but one voter (who chose Oregon) to rank the Crimson Tide No. 1 in this week’s AP poll.
Seven SEC teams are in the top 25 with two more receiving votes (Auburn got nine votes and Arkansas two) and the league continues to boast four teams in the top 10.
The Aggies fell to No. 10 and LSU moved up to No. 6. Georgia remained No. 9, South Carolina moved up one spot to No. 12 and Ole Miss moved four spots to No. 21 after thrashing Texas. Florida dropped one spot to No. 19.
Crimson Tide leftovers
- Alabama running back T.J. Yeldon received a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and a stern lecture from coach Nick Saban after he mimicked Johnny Manziel's money hands gesture and then made a throat-slash imitation after scoring a touchdown late in the second quarter. "That's not us. That's not our program and that's not what we do," Saban said. "We've never ever tolerated that and we never have. I don't think there's any place for it in college football. I can't control what other people do, but I can control what our guys do."
- Alabama starting free safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix was briefly ejected late in the second quarter after he was flagged for targeting on a hit on A&M receiver Derel Walker. But after viewing replays, officials let Clinton-Dix remain, but enforced the personal foul penalty. Alabama safety Vinnie Sunseri knew that Clinton-Dix wouldn't be ejected. "Ha Ha isn't a hitter. He likes to get the ball," Sunseri said. "When he did it, he got emotional, but I told him to relax because they would see it on the film. He just happened to hit him and I'm glad the refs reversed the call."
Sound bites
"You know, we're playing with a quarterback who has been on campus for six or seven weeks and he's going to get better each time out. … We're learning him as he goes. He's a calm guy. He doesn't get too high or too low." — Auburn coach Gus Malzahn on quarterback Nick Marshall.
"We did not finish. I mean, it is a pretty simple deal. We had the opportunity to finish on offense and did not do it. We had the opportunity to finish on defense and did not do it. That is coaching. That is on me." — Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen on the 24-20 loss to Auburn.
"Last year we beat Alabama and they won the national championship. The season isn't over." — Texas A&M offensive tackle Cedric Ogbuehi.
"I told them it's unacceptable to play football like this at the University of Tennessee. It's unacceptable, whether you lose by two or lose the way we lost. We expect to win football around here, so it better hurt." — Tennessee coach Butch Jones after the Vols' 59-14 loss to Oregon.
By the numbers
279
Receiving yards by Texas A&M’s 6-foot-5 receiver Mike Evans, breaking a school record that had stood since 1965, when Ken McLean had 250 against Texas.
2
AJ McCarron’s career standing at Alabama in total offense and pass completions, reaching the total offense mark in the first half with 251 passing yards, surpassing Brodie Croyle, and the completion record with 13, moving past John Parker Wilson.
115
Rushing yards vs. Southern Miss for Arkansas freshman Alex Collins, the SEC rushing leader who spurned Florida, Miami and Florida State to sign with the Razorbacks. Collins has three 100-yard rushing games in his first three collegiate games.
8
Consecutive victories in the series by Florida against Tennessee, including 37-20 last season in Knoxville.
Twitterati
Waka Flocka Flame @WakaFlockaBSM
#RollTide my boy AJ got four touchdowns #IseeYa
Mike Davis @Mike28davis, (South Carolina running back from Stephenson High who had 77 rushing yards and 67 receiving yards vs. Vanderbilt)
My ankle is great people thanks for the concern !
B§~ @TennVols3
Justin Worley just tried to throw his helmet to the ground in frustration on the sideline. He missed.
Conventional wisdom
Thumbs up: Ole Miss. Despite trailing at the half at Texas, coach Hugh Freeze continued to run the same freeze option play with quarterback Bo Wallace and running back Jeff Scott. The Longhorns couldn't stop it, Freeze kept calling it and ran the Longhorns out of their own stadium. Wallace gained 57 yards and Scott 164 in a 44-23 Ole Miss victory. We'll know more about Ole Miss soon. Upcoming games between Sept. 28 and Oct. 19 are at Alabama, at Auburn, vs. Texas A&M and vs. LSU.
Thumbs down: Tennessee. The Vols lost 59-14 at No. 2 Oregon, as the Ducks handed them their largest margin of defeat of the modern era and the second-worst margin of coach Butch Jones' seven-year head coaching career. It only gets tougher from here: at No. 19 Florida this week and then an October gauntlet of No. 9 Georgia, No. 12 South Carolina and No. 1 Alabama.
Saturday’s schedule
Noon: Vanderbilt at Massachusetts
12:21 p.m.: North Texas at No. 9 Georgia
3:30 p.m.: Arkansas at Rutgers
3:30 p.m.: Tennessee at No. 19 Florida
7 p.m.: SMU at No. 10 Texas A&M
7 p.m.: Colorado State at No. 1 Alabama
7:30 p.m.: Troy at Mississippi State
7:45 p.m.: Auburn at No. 6 LSU
8 p.m.: Missouri at Indiana
Copiled by Ray Cox from staff and wire reports.
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