Written by Jason Brubaker | 26 October 2009

Last year at this time, Florida was coming off of a 63-5 pounding of Kentucky, Oklahoma had just hung 58 points on Kansas State to improve to 7-1, Alabama was headed home after a 20-point victory in Knoxville, and Texas was in the middle of a three-game stretch in which they put up 129 points.

Now, fast forward back to the present. There's Florida, surviving an abysmal offensive performance to hold off an average Mississippi State team. Oklahoma, who re-wrote the offensive record books last year, is 4-3. Alabama needed two blocked field goals to hold off Tennessee at home, and Texas is just one week removed from a three-turnover, 16-point performance in a win over an Oklahoma team without its starting QB.

Get the picture? This year hasn't exactly produced the most aesthetically-pleasing performances by some of the naton's top teams. And while Florida, Alabama and Texas are all still undefeated, none of them look unbeatable. Florida's offense is shockingly average and predictable. Alabama's offense is not much better. And then there's Texas, who has seen QB Colt McCoy struggle at times from trying to carry the entire load by himself.

Add to that the surprising undefeated records of Cincinnati and Iowa, as well as the annual "BSC busters" in TCU and Boise State, and we have a bundle of teams still technically in title contention. Granted,  Boise State and TCU would likely need a miracle to climb to the top, but it's not entirely far-fetched to think that in one month, we could be arguing the merits of a one-loss SEC team vs. an undefeated Cincinnati team.

So with a little over a month left in the regular season, here's where we stand.

Read more...

Written by Ian | 22 October 2009

After a huge road win against Auburn last weekend the University of Kentucky football team hosts Louisiana-Monroe this weekend.  Monroe doesn't have a host of athletes the Wildcats need to watch out for this weekend and their starting QB is out.  Yet, the Cats have to make sure their emotions from the Auburn game don't get the best of them.

On the positive side, Monroe's biggest offensive weapon is their misdirection and trick play calling.  Kentucky looked great against Auburn's offense last week.  The Tigers used multiple looks last week but Kentucky's defenders stayed home and did a great job of staying with their assignments.  Monroe won't put Auburn's athletes on the field, and if Kentucky can continue to stay put on defense Monroe will have problems scoring.

Monroe comes into the game with a 4-2 record.  Their two losses were bad losses against a great Texas team and a good Arizona State team.  Their wins; however, aren't against anyone near Kentucky's talent level.  Coming into Commonwealth Stadium on Saturday looking for a win looks to be a tough task for Monroe.

So Kentucky has better talent, home field advantage, and I'll take their coaching staff over Monroe's.  The only thing left for UK to do is over look their oponent after a big win.  It's happened before to better teams than the Cats, but if Kentucky can just stay focused and take care of business this week they should be set up for a good run over the next four games.

Written by Grubby | 22 October 2009

Here's one more ploy for home-and-home jerseys on Saturday.  It got 3SIO on the cover of SI in 1967.  Get with it Bammers.  Stop being such snitches.

And now, a word from one of the more famous Alabama... er... alumni?

Not a dog person you say?  Or a grammar person for that matter.  To each his own.

Hate Bama!

Written by Jason Brubaker | 21 October 2009

I saw this yesterday, and it has me more excited than I could possibly imagine. I mean, who wouldn't want to spend their birthday with Eduardo Najera?

To back up a little, the New Jersey Nets are apparently broke and unconcerned with their image. That's why they're offering a deal where fans (assuming there are Nets fans out there), can purchases four courtside seats for 10 games this season for $25,000. That price also includes parking, access to a VIP lounge with free food and drinks, and the best part....a one-hour visit from a Nets player to your home, office or birthday party.

But even better is the disclaimer: "While (Devin) Harris is the most popular Nets player, (Nets Chief Executive Brett) Yormark said not everyone will get their top choice of players for an appearance."

Fantastic. So that means you can't get upset when you decide to surprise your son with a visit from Harris to his birthday party, and instead, Josh Boone lumbers through your front door and promptly starts raiding your fridge.

Read more...

Written by Grubby | 20 October 2009

Thanks to the fine folks at 3SIB, let's take a look at Alabama's 12 Mythical National Titles.

More Hate Alabama tomorrow.

Alabama Joke of the Day:  "Why do all the trees in Georgia lean West?

Because Alabama Sucks."

ZING!

Written by Grubby | 16 October 2009

Hey look everybody, Georgia got something right.  I mean after that woodshed beating of the Dawgs last weekend (which by the way, lead the leader of UGA Blog Nation to decree that the Vols suck... not exactly how I would have handled that televised brutality, but to each his own) at least they're taking baby steps in the right direction.

It takes a big state to know when to bow down.

One of the greatest high school players Atlanta has ever produced is Tennessee All-America safety Eric Berry.Remember the hit he had last year vs. Knowshon Moreno? Anyways, tonight “Wild Boyz” Berry will have his jersey retired during halftime of the Creekside’s game vs. Lovejoy.

Now, if they could only find a quarterback.  (All Nelson-esque haha's implied)

[AJC]

Written by Grubby | 15 October 2009

Cincinnati vs. South Florida. I take no responsibility for...

Written by Grubby | 15 October 2009

I know all you guys usually like to head over to EDSBS for the usual Thursday live blog shenanigans with the funnies kids around, but since Holly and Orson are out of commission for the weekend, we're going to pop our live-blog cherry here at SD.

You'll recall the digressing diatribical nonsense from the APIAS days.  It'll be like that but cleaner.  Mostly.  No promises.  Made up words are okay.

We'll see you at 7.  Bring your own beer.

Written by Jason Brubaker | 12 October 2009

 The Weekend in the SEC has come and passed. Two matchups of top-15 teams were supposed to separate the contenders from the pretenders. Florida at LSU. Alabama at Ole Miss. Two great games. Four alleged great teams. So what did we learn? Well for one thing, Alabama has a pretty darn good running game. And Florida can play a little defense.

But what else do we know about the SEC near the halfway point of the season? Here's a look at the East, with a few predictions for the rest of the way.

Florida: The Gators still haven't found suitable replacements for Percy Harvin or Louis Murphy, which has limited their passing game. But led by a stable of speedy running backs, and of course, Tim Tebow, the offense is still powerful enough to put points on the board. But any talk of a title defense starts with the Gators defense, which features as many as four first-rounders. Everyone knew about LB Brandon Spikes, but DEs Carlos Dunlap and Jermaine Cunningham have spent a ton of time in opposing backfields, and CBs Joe Haden and Janoris Jenkins showed their coverage skills in shutting down LSU's receivers. Having cleared their biggest hurdle, the Gators should remain undefeated until the SEC Championship game, where they're likely to meet Alabama in what could be another classic. A road game at South Carolina could be tough, but look for the Gators defense to carry them to Atlanta and possibly further.

South Carolina: The surprise of the young season, the Gamecocks are a four-point loss at Georgia away from a perfect 6-0 start, which few saw coming. They're led by a stout defense, but after years of frustration, Steve Spurrier finally appears to have found a suitable QB to run his offense. Stephen Garcia still is prone to poor decisions, but he has improved his maturity level and has shown some mental toughness in helping lead the team in close games against NC State, Kentucky and Ole Miss. The Ganecocks have some talented young players at the skill positions, led by WRs Tori Gurley and Alshon Jeffrey. They still have road dates at Alabama and Tennessee, as well as home games against Florida and Clemson, but there's no reason this team shouldn't push for nine wins and a New Year's Day bowl this year.

Georgia: Things are quickly getting ugly in Athens, where a porous defense can no longer count on being bailed out by an explosive offense. Despite an impressive array of athletes, the Dawgs can't seem to stop anybody, having given up at least 37 points three times already this year. Offensively, Joe Cox is solid, but hardly spectacular, and they still haven't found a capable replacement for Knowshon Moreno. WR AJ Green is one of the league's best, but he can't do everything. The Dawgs will still go bowling this year, but if their defense doesn't get better quick, they could struggle to exceed eight wins.

Tennessee: I was all set to write how Jonathan Crompton was among the worst QBs in the country...until his 310-yard, 4 TD performance on Saturday. The Vols picked up a huge win by pounding Georgia, especially with games against Alabama, Ole Miss and South Carolina remaining. The Vols are still led by their running game, but if Crompton can give them something resembling a passing attack, they could find themselves bowling this season. Their defense, led by safety Eric Berry, is again solid, although the loss of LB Nick Reveiz has hurt. Lane Kiffin certainly won't win any popularity contests, but he appears to have the Vols believing in him and his staff. Look for UT to end up with seven wins.

Kentucky: Well, only a few more weeks until basketball season starts. The Wildcats have some moxie, but unfortunately, just not the type of talent to be a consistent threat to the league's elite. Randall Cobb and Derrick Locke are explosvie weapons, and Trevard Lindley and Micah Johnson are talented defenders, but the depth of talent on both sides of the ball just isn't there. Now, faced with the prospects of throwing an inexperienced QB on the field for the next few weeks, the Cats could find themselves in a deep hole as they try to make it to their fourth straight bowl. Six wins is still certainly possible, but any more than that might just be a pipe dream this year for UK.

Vanderbilt: The Commodores won a bowl game last year for the first time in 53 years. To have a repeat of that, they may need divine intervention. Vandy is coming off an overtime loss to Army, which bowl-bound programs don't usually do. They fought hard against LSU, Ole Miss and Mississippi State, but managed a total of just 19 points in those three games. The schedule also doesn't do them any favors, with games against South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Georgia Tech still ahead. The Vandy defense isn't bad, but their offense has been virtually non-existent. QB Larry Smith was being counted on for big jump in production during his sophomore year, but so far he has only 2 TDs against 6 INTs, and he's also been sacked 14 times. In short, barring a miracle, Vandy should not plan on making any postseason plans this season.

Check back this week for the state of the West.

Written by Josh Cohron | 12 October 2009

A few quick-hitters from a good Saturday of football...

• True freshman quarterbacks are true freshmen.Saturday night at Iowa, it was cold and the environment was pretty hostile. Tate Forcier never looked completely comfortable. He completed less than 50% of his passes and didn't even tally 100 passing yards. Denard Robinson came in down the stretch and led an exciting scoring drive (which appeared to be comprised of two plays: run left and throw right), but threw a costly pick on Michigan's last offensive possession. While the future in Ann Arbor is still bright, the true freshmen have each thrown late INTs in close games in the past two weeks. Delaware State comes to town this week, for what should (hopefully) be a game to get everyone firing back on all cylinders.
• Kentucky fans will soon pine for Mike Hartline.Hartline went down with a nasty knee injury on Saturday afternoon. Will Fidler was less than spectacular in his relief effort. Randall Cobb, however, led a dynamic drive down the field to get the Wildcats within two points. For some reason, Fidler was put in for the two-point conversion that failed. Freshman Morgan Newton and Fidler are expected to battle it out this week to see who starts at Auburn, but Cobb will be in the race too. If Newton wasn't good enough to be the backup, why should 'Cats fans expect him to be able to play well in his first start on the road against an SEC opponent? I've thought that Cobb is best when playing WR, but if there isn't a QB that can get him the ball, he may be most effective under center. As frustrating as Hartline may have been, he was the best QB on the team.
• Florida and Alabama are the two best teams in college football.I know I'm not saying anything you don't know, but both teams cemented themselves as #1 and #2 on Saturday. Florida went to the craziest environment in college football (Death Valley at night) and dominated LSU. LSU's offense looked pathetic for most of the game. Sure, Florida didn't put up many points (13), but few teams would score more than that in the same situation. Alabama was also extremely impressive in their manhandling of Ole Miss. Alabama has one of the fastest defenses I have ever seen, they have guys flying all over the field. It's a shame these two teams will have to play in a conference championship game and not the BCS Title game.
• Tennessee appears to be going bowling once again.The Vols didn't make a bowl last year, but Lane Kiffin has his squad poised to be playing in the postseason again this year. They drubbed Georgia by 26 (with Grubby watching in person... for a while at least) on Saturday to move to 3-3. They play Alabama in two weeks, but then have five winnable games to end the season. Finding three wins against South Carolina, Memphis, Mississippi, Vandy and Kentucky shouldn't be tough. Come on, Jonathan Crompton deserves this... kind of.

If you're missing football that bad already, ESPN has games every night this week. At the very least, it's something to gamble on until Saturday.