Today the blog will be in a slightly different format. We will begin by recapping the madness that was last week's epic collapse of top teams, and finish with an Auburn recap and Iron Bowl preview. Enjoy. Happy Thanksgiving to all. I hope this entertains you while millions are being bored by the parade.
Nation
- So you remember last week when I said that the schedule was boring and that you should do something else? Well, I seem to have forgotten that outside of the SEC, elite teams really aren't elite and sometimes lose to Iowa State. Or Baylor. Or USC. Anyway, Alabama fans had their greatest hopes realized, while the BCS may have had their worst.
- Oklahoma State choked massively. I honestly can't fathom how a team with this much offensive talent and skill fell to Paul Rhoads's squad. I suppose 5 turnovers and 87 penalty yards will do that to you. What a huge letdown for the Big 12ish, who saw their National Championship hopes crash with the Cowboys and....
- The Sooners flop to Baylor. Robert Griffin III played like a Heisman candidate, and Landry Jones didn't. If Griffin doesn't get an invite to the Heisman ceremony in New York, then the ceremony should be ashamed. With the parody that exists this season, he may get left out, but it would be a travesty. When Oklahoma lost to Texas Tech several weeks ago, I predicted that it wouldn't be their only loss. I also predicted early that Baylor would upset someone big. I wouldn't have predicted this to be the week, however. Next week's Oklahoma-Ok State game lost a lot of its luster with these two losses.
- A week after knocking off #4 Stanford, Oregon flopped against USC, ending their chances at a rematch with LSU in the BCS Championship game. Matt Barkley looked like a Heisman candidate. LaMichael James did not. Kenjon Barner was the top back for the Ducks, but it wasn't enough, Alejandro Maldonado's kick at the end missed, and the Ducks missed their chance.
- Clemson absolutely flopped. The Tigers turned the ball over four times and lost to a pretty terrible NC State team. I don't think they would have jumped high enough even if they hadn't lost, but this only furthers the mantra that Clemson always chokes. Fortunately for Dabo Swinney, this is a relatively young team, especially on offense, so the Tigers will be back next season.
- Which brings us to the SEC. LSU, Alabama, and Arkansas are the top 3 in the current BCS. LSU and Arkansas play tomorrow and the Iron Bowl is Saturday. If LSU wins, they will face Georgia in the SEC Championship. Many of the BCS experts believe that they could lose to Georgia and still make the championship. I am skeptical. If Arkansas knocks off LSU, madness will ensue. That will create a 3-way tie for the SEC lead. What happens here is that the BCS rankings determine which team goes to Atlanta. Unless of course the top 2 teams aren't separated by more than 5 spots (which they won't be). In that case, the head-to-head will determine who gets to face Georgia. To me, that seems to give Bama the edge should LSU fall.
- Disappointing loss for Vanderbilt in overtime against Tennessee. The Dores still have a chance to get bowl eligible with a victory at Wake on Saturday, as can the Vols against Kentucky.
Iron Bowl
- Auburn and Bama bowl struggled mightily with FCS teams in the first half last week, only to pull away in the second half. It seems to reason that both were probably looking ahead and probably spent the week game planning for one another, rather than for their opponents.
- Auburn will have to play by far its best game of the season and Bama its worst if Auburn is going to come away with the victory.
- The Tigers have done decently with straight ahead running teams in the last couple years (Alabama, South Carolina), at least as compared with the overall lackluster defense. The Tigers will sell out to shutdown Trent Richardson, and make AJ McCarron beat them. Will that be enough? Probably not, but it's worth a shot.
- Both Gene Chizik and Gus Malzahn insisted that they won't change anything and won't resort to trick plays. I'm not buying that. Auburn has been planning for this game all year. With the struggles this team has had, I expect them to pull out all the stops in hopes of pulling off an epic upset and saving a bit of the season and getting momentum going into next season.
- Brandon Moseley is questionable after leaving last week's game with a knee injury. If I was putting money on it, I'd say he plays. Eric Mack played pretty well at guard in his stead, as Chad Slade shifted to tackle. Slade and Mack will both have to fight to have starting jobs next season, but even if they don't start, they will be very important backups.
Happy Turkey eating everyone!
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