Last Post of 2009 - Outback Edition

First, unfortunately, I have to respond to my last post. I guess the only thing that really needs to be said is NEVER EVER BELIEVE ANYTHING A FLORIDA COACH SAYS AGAIN. First, Billy Donavan pulls this stunt and now Urban Meyer. The whole thing stinks and we are obviously not getting the whole story. I think Tony Barnhart does a great job on covering this and talking about the future on this ridiculous leave-of-absence thing. I fail to understand how some time away is going to heal the things that Meyer is supposedly dealing with enough to coach college football at the highest level. Then just as Barnhart points out, the pressure and scrutiny are just going to increase on Florida and Meyer during this time away.

Back to Auburn, well we are one day away from the big Outback bowl. I am actually pumped up about this game. The only good thing about the bowl system is the occasional really cool match ups you get. Some of the teams that I have enjoyed watching Auburn play over the years are: Boston College, Michigan, USC, Ohio St, Indiana (yes I was there in 1990 to see us play in the last Peach Bowl (I think) at old Fulton County Stadium), Penn St, Clemson, Virginia Tech, Nebraska and now Northwestern. The Northwestern game is interesting because they are a team we have never played before.

I will not waste time analyzing the game as with all bowl games it is basically just an exhibition and it has been over a month since either team has played. The teams are never the same. That is why the conference championship games are the only real postseason games. I finally figured out a few years ago that other than a good feeling bowl games and the way you play in them are totally meaningless. However it is always fun getting to watch your favorite school get to play one more game against somebody they do not usually play.

The best thing for me about this bowl game is IT WILL BE THE LAST TIME I EVER HAVE TO WATCH CHRIS TODD PLAY QUARTERBACK AT AUBURN AGAIN. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Changes Abound

Urban Meyer is leaving Florida for health reasons. Obviously everyone hopes he gets better and agrees that there are plenty of things more important than football. These guys make a lot of money but there is no doubt the job is extremely stressful. I watched Pat Dye's health decline at Auburn. He aged about 50 years in a decade. I have seen many SEC coaches worn down by the job. Not much else to say there so I will focus on the future as it will effect Auburn and the SEC.

Who will Florida replace Meyer with? In my opinion (and I hope I am wrong) there is one and only choice and that is Utah's Kyle Whittingham. The guy has proven to be as good or better than Meyer at Utah. He manhandled Bama last year and had another great season with a freshman QB this year. I watched some of their bowl game the other night and one thought kept coming back... this is a well-coached team. His offensive philosophy mirrors Meyer and fits Florida. He appears to be the whole package and is a proven big-time head coach.

I just do not see another coach that jumps out to me like Whittingham. Again, I hope I am wrong because I think the Florida juggernaut will keep rolling along with him. Meanwhile I am sure the Bama faithful are rejoicing as they think this gives them sole control of the conference. However they are missing the point here. This once again proves that eras of dominance and great coaches do not last long too long. Since the SEC went to divisions we have seen several programs rise and fall and rise again and changes will continue to abound.

The long off season begins...

Well here we are, it is amazing how fast 14 weeks can pass by. The college football season has come and gone. Now we have an entire basketball season and 3/4 of an entire baseball season before college football starts up again. Of course if Bama continues to do as well as they are currently doing that will not be a bad thing anymore. The bad thing is we have not hit bottom yet. After they beat Texas it will be that much worse. I am not sure I will waste time talking much about that game. Long story short, Bama has more good football players and I think they will win the game. Not to mention Texas runs more of a spread passing game thus requiring more timing and precision which will be lost in the MONTH before the game. Again, the only sport in the world that has a month pass before their "championship game" is played.

The subject came up over at War Blog Eagle on who to cheer for in that game. There were some great responses in the comments section. Very good stuff. It restores my faith in Auburn fans. As for me I can only re-post what I wrote: "EVERYWHERE you go there is a bammer with his bammer sweatshirt, cap, car magnets and 4 flags. At work, on your street, wherever you go, you cannot dig a hole deep enough to get away from these people. To top that off I can’t even enjoy my freaking Sunday sports page now since every week it is another momentous event for them. I have NEVER cheered for them and I NEVER will. HOOK’EM HORNS!!!"

You know, the football season at Auburn would not be so bad if there was not Auburn basketball immediately following it. It looks like another great season as Auburn is 5-5 BEFORE Christmas. The best posts I have read so far are at Eyes On Auburn. Auburn is already out of the NCAA tourney before Christmas and another dreary season awaits after Christmas. It sure looks like last year's 10-6 SEC record will be the exception and not the rule when the Lebo era is done. The guess here is that Lebo will get to open the new arena but will not spend much time in it. I simply do not understand why Auburn cannot recruit one consistent shooter. A Ronnie Battle or a Scott Pohlman who can hit some shots when the athletic jump shooters are not hitting would sure help A LOT.

Make no mistake about it. Auburn is arguably the worst basketball program in the SEC since the SEC went to divisions. I did a breakdown a few years ago on each team's conference record since 1992. Auburn came in second to last to South Carolina when I did it. I will try to find that, update it and post it. Back to the present. Obviously Auburn's worst problem is it's atrocious shooting and shot selection. Next I think we miss Vot Barber big-time. I think Korvotney Barber was one of the most underrated players ever to play at Auburn. He was just not a scorer and he played on some really bad teams. However the guy was a great player. He was the Ben Tate for the basketball team the last four years.

I guess the biggest topic at Auburn currently is the upcoming trip to the Outback bowl and recruiting. I was definitely surprised and excited to see us get to the Outback bowl and that we will get to play a team we have never played. However let us be clear, we got lucky. With a 3-5 SEC record we did not earn this bowl trip. I also want to reiterate that the ultimate judge of a college football, basketball and baseball coach is his overall CONFERENCE RECORD. I do not care about the overall record. The conference record shows what kind of coach you have. Case in point would be Cliff Ellis.

On recruiting, things are looking up and I am a little more positive about the class as it appears we are bringing in some linemen. I still think we need more but will wait to see what we end up with. The class appears to be shaping up well but you just have to hope it is not a "Tuberville mirage". Tub's last four classes looked good as well but it was just a mirage as each class crumbled with non-qualifiers and complete busts. The first time you can really grade a recruiting class is the first day of fall practice in my opinion. The only players that should count on a recruiting grade are guys that qualify and are at the first practice. Auburn needs to get as many bodies in the pipeline as possible.

The buzz this week is this super JUCO QB Cam Newton coming in for a visit. The guy appears to be a stud but I am not real excited about bringing in JUCO QBs especially ones that got kicked out of Florida for stealing laptops. A move like this also does not send a positive message to your current quarterbacks who are working their butts off. However as long as the guy does not have a weak arm and does not pick #12 I can probably live with it...

Been out of town

Well it has obviously been a dry week here at STR. I wanted to post something on the big SEC Championship Game that starts in about an hour and half but had to go out of town on business. I had to go to West Point, the United State Military Academy. I am working on a project that required me to go up there. I just got back.

While I was there I got to check out the football facilities and they are first rate. You know that full size indoor practice field that Tub was always wanting? Army has got it. I got to play some catch in there, watch the team practice and meet the head coach plus most of the staff. It was really cool. I am going to be pretty pumped up for the Army vs. Navy game next week. Go Army! Beat Navy!

Now to the matter at hand and that is Bama vs. Florida for the domination of the world... Unfortunately I do not have time to break down the game. I am just that has been done ad nauseum all over. All I can do is give my pick and my abbreviated take on the game.

These are two very good teams and this is argubly the biggest SECCG ever played. However I do think these teams are more like 10-1 teams than the 11-0 juggernauts they are made out to be. Both teams got lucky in some close ones and had the refs bail him them out a few times as well. Nevertheless it should be a great game. You have Tim Tebow in his SEC farewell and a hungry Bama team looking to get over that Florida hump. Bama has met Florida in the SECCG after an undefeated season twice now. They met in 1994 and last year. Both times they lost.

You have to believe Nick $aban has had last years lost burning in his gut each day. I believe he has been thinking about that loss just about every day since it happened. I know he and his staff will have done everything humanly possible to prepare for this game. I would almost say the same about Urban Meyer but it is nearly impossible to stay as hungry as you were before you won the big one. I think Bama is the hungrier team, coaches and players. I think Florida has one of the best players in SEC history in Tim Tebow. I have learned a few times not to best against Tebow.

So there you have it. The unstoppable force (Tebow) vs. the immovable object (Bama's defense). Who will prevail and who will win the other side of the football game, i.e. Bama's offense vs. Florida's defense. This is obviously a tough call but my gut says Bama finally gets over the hump. I will say... BAMA OVER FLORIDA

Week 13 Review - A LOT of good coaching

WOW. That would be my first response to the last 48 hours of SEC football. I journeyed to Auburn Thanksgiving afternoon, HAD MY GUTS RIPPED OUT FRIDAY AFTERNOON and returned home later that night completely drained. I then crawled from my bed to my favorite chair yesterday and for the most part watched on-and-off 12 hours of SEC rivalry football. I feel like one of the survivors walking out of the rubble in one of those disaster movies.

OK obviously the first place I am going to start is Auburn vs. Bama. If you have read anything on this blog you know I am not one of these emotional super-positive cheerleaders. I leave that to others. I try to make accurate analysis based on the facts. For the most part (as detailed in my last post) the outlook for Auburn has not looked good and I have said so. I have been a consistent doubter of Gene Chizik and just did not buy in into any of this "special team" stuff I have seen written elsewhere. I just don't think a season where you lose to Arkansas, Kentucky, LSU, Georgia and Bama is special. I still believe that but I will now certainly concede that the coaching and effort displayed by the Auburn Tigers in the Iron Bowl was special and that I was wrong about how the game would go. A loss is a loss and nobody has said that more than me but the effort displayed on Friday was something special.

I honestly did not think we had that game in us. I really did not, not even deep down. I can see getting a 14-0 lead on Georgia but to come out and blitzkrieg the Tide is a special effort indeed. Auburn threw everything at them including reverses, onside kicks and QB-to-QB-down field passes. Everything in the world went right and the mighty Tide was knocked back into the ropes. It finally made them shut up and sweat for a few minutes. It also made all the people wearing those "shutout" stickers at the game look foolish. As any champion would do Bama fought back and tied it. I thought like the Georgia game we had shot our wad and that was it. However Malzahn and Co made that super aggressive defense pay for jumping routes and Auburn made it 21-14.

Then a series of dumb moves by Auburn put the Tide in position to score twice. First after kicking away from him the whole game we for some reason actually punt to Arenas (???) and he has a big return. On the next series Chris Todd then tosses a critical interception. A defense that I thought and predicted would break wide open somehow held the Tide to field goals both times. Incredible effort. Even at this point I did not think we would win. However after we pinned them near the goal line, held them and got the ball back near midfield with about ten minutes left in the fourth quarter I texted my Auburn buddy "WE CAN WIN THIS GAME". It was there for the taking. Oh my gosh it was there for the taking. Even a field goal might have been enough. Unfortunately at that game-winning point we went straight backwards, punted to them and the rest is history. MAKE NO MISTAKE though Auburn, flawed and lesser talented Auburn, could have won this game against one of the better Bama teams fielded post-Bryant.

They did not and this Bama team did show the heart of a champion by first stopping us and then gutting out that final drive. I think Bama fans can stop putting Auburn down for not beating their 2004 team worse. I have heard that for years. The Auburn 2004 team did better than this Bama team. I think the Bama fans that went on about that then and since then look pretty bad now. Bama fans are crowing now but they were sweating it most of this game. Since I had tons of them around me at the game I saw it first hand. The coaching staff also seemed to be feeling it as well. Bama's offensive play calling seemed to tighten up at times. $aban knew he had the better team and was desperately trying to avoid a turnover (which he did) and hoping a conservative play would break big. However the attempted halfback pass and the final touchdown were gutsy calls. Now to the Iron Bowl edition of "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly"...

THE GOOD
The Auburn defense. A defense with only two linebackers, a true freshman at the other linebacker making his first start (in the Iron Bowl???), another true freshman at safety, a first year JUCO subbing in at the other safety and a defensive line that got pushed all over the field by Georgia. This defense stood strong all day against one of the top teams in the country with the front runner for the Heisman trophy. The Auburn defense completely shutdown Mark Ingram giving him on 30 yards on 16 carries. The Auburn defense stood strong in spite of Bama having great field position most of the day. The Auburn defense held Bama to field goals twice after a big punt return and after a critical interception. The Auburn defense completely stuffed Bama on a late critical fourth and one. The Auburn defense made Bama earn every inch on the final drive faltering one play from giving the offense a chance to win the game with a field goal.

Bama got the score and the win but I can still only say how proud I am of the defensive players and the effort they gave. Outstanding job by Coach Roof and Chizik for a great game plan and on-the-field coaching. I was sure glad to be completely wrong about our defense. They played 60 minutes of great football. They absolutely gave everything they had and played an extremely smart game. It was great to see a warrior like Antonio Coleman go out like that.

Also on the good side I have to again give kudos to the coaches. I did not think they had that in them either. Overall it was obvious Coach Chizik got the team prepared and ready to play. Defensively as documented above Coach Roof did his best job of the year. Coach Malzahn's opening salvos were stuff of legend. Bama was down 14-0 before they knew what hit them. From Terrell Zachary taking it to the house on the first drive to the Burns-to-Todd-to-Adams play it was awesome. The stop-and-go touchdown burning Bama's aggression was also a perfect call at the perfect time. Those offensive moments were some of the best of the season.

THE BAD
Unfortunately the offense and Coach Malzahn finds themselves on this side as well. I just do not understand the stubbornness of spread coaches. Again just like last week we faced a critical 3rd and 1 and we threw a screen pass (???). I saw Tommy Tuberville call the quarterback sneak dozens of times over the last decade on 3rd and 4th and short. I think we converted over 90% of those. I don't care what offense you run, when it comes to those situations you just get the first down and quarterback sneaks or dive plays to your senior tailback with a fullback in front of him are the BEST WAY to get it. That is a fact not an opinion. It has been proven over and over again this season as we continue to line up in the shotgun and FAIL in these situations. Unless you have Tim Tebow it is simply stupid to run out of the shotgun on these downs.

I was wrong about a lot of things on this game (see my last post) and maybe a few over this season but once again I was not wrong about Chris Todd. Thankfully he did not paint his "final masterpiece" as I feared in my previous post and he actually made a few great throws. However he also missed a lot of throws, held the ball too long and made two critical mistakes. Of course one reason he did not make more mistakes is smart game planning and play calling by the coaches. They were dedicated to running the ball and for the most part getting the ball out of Todd's hand quickly. Unfortunately there comes a time when you cannot trick the other guy. You have to drop back, run the route and simply execute. Chris Todd could not do this.

Early in the game Auburn was stuck deep in it's territory and Todd tried to hit an open Tommy Trott over the middle twice and missed him badly. The first one was at least eight feet over Trott's head. A safety back would have had an easy interception and of course that is what happened later on. Todd narrowly escaped at least two more interceptions. On one occasion he tried to force a ball into triple coverage and the Bama defenders basically stopped each other from catching it. He held the ball far too long on obvious blitzes and gave up over 30 yards on sacks and a critical fumble. Auburn wins this game with a little bit better play from the quarterback position. No one will ever be able to convince me one of our other quarterbacks could not have done better with a whole season under their belts.

I am sad to see many of our seniors leaving. Ben Tate has been the one constant on this team through four years of turmoil. The guy came to play and played solid every game. The same can be said of Antonio Coleman and several others. Good job guys and best of luck. I simply cannot say the same thing about Chris Todd. If he was coming back next year I would have to seek psychiatric help. It has been four years of watching a weak armed #12 at quarterback and in those four years we have had constant offensive problems because neither Brandon Cox (post 2005) or Todd could consistently throw the deep ball. I wish we could retire the number because if I see another weak armed #12 I am going to lose it. It is hopefully your time Mr. Rollison and it cannot come soon enough.

THE UGLY
I have simply never and I mean EVER seen a worse special teams unit in my life than the 2009 Auburn special teams. Keep in mind that this unit has one of the best place kickers in the country and it is STILL that bad. I have never seen a team give up more return yards. I have NEVER EVER seen a team give up more FUMBLED PUNTS. I am sorry, these coaches are paid a LOT of money and not being able to find or train SOMEONE to simply be able to CATCH A PUNT WITHOUT FUMBLING IT is pathetic. My gosh what a disaster. It is arguable that we lost this game on special teams.

Let's go to the low lights... We start the game off kicking it out of bounds which is just an inexcusable mental error. After our last touchdown we kick a perfect kickoff making Arenas field it at the goal line corner yet somehow still let him return it almost 50 yards. We spend the whole day punting it out of bounds which was GOOD but then inexplicably kick it to Arenas in the third quarter who then brings it back almost 60 yards setting up one of Bama's scores. Throw in another fumble on a punt return that we somehow got back and that pretty much says it all. The special teams other than Byrum and Washington's kickoff return at Georgia were simply horrible or should I say UGLY the entire year. I certainly hope we make a LOT OF IMPROVEMENT next season.

Elsewhere on rivalry week in the SEC I had my first losing week on the picks. Saturday was certainly a reminder that the SEC has some of the best football coaches. First, as detailed above, Gene Chizik nearly engineered the biggest upset in the country. There was more where that came from. Steve Spurrier and South Carolina routed ACC Atlantic Division champion and 15th ranked Clemson even after Clemson scored on the opening kickoff. South Carolina's awful late season slumps are over. At the same time Coach Dan Mullen and Miss St made a MAJOR statement routing Ole Miss. Dan Mullen has really shown something this year at State. This guy is the real deal. The last time I said that about a coach in the state of Mississippi was when a guy named Tommy Tuberville arrived at Ole Miss.

Sandwiched between the early games above and the nightcap was Florida vs. Florida St. There were no surprises in Gainesville as Tim Tebow put up one more legendary performance in his finale at "The Swamp". Everyone is sick of hearing about the guy but there is no denying he is one of the greatest players in SEC history. The nightcap on Saturday lived up to it's billing with three awesome games, two of them going into overtime. Tennessee, as always, nipped Kentucky in one of the overtime games. LSU did an about face from last week and somehow pulled out a victory against Arkansas in the other overtime game. Unlike last week this was an extremely well-coached game that went back and forth till the end. Bobby Petrino and Ryan Mallett came back strong after a slow start and it appeared they were going to win the game. Unfortunately for the Razorbacks much maligned Les Miles and Jordan Jefferson were able to get LSU in position for the tying field goal to send it in to overtime and then win it. This was another great game in a series that is starting to become full of them.

Finally another much maligned coach and team rose from the ashes to win a big one. Georgia pushed ACC Coastal champ and top ten ranked Georgia Tech all over their own field. Georgia ran for over 300 yards and held on late to get a big big win. If you are keeping count that makes the SEC 3-0 vs. the two best teams in the ACC and Florida St this weekend. The two best teams in the ACC were physically manhandled by the 3rd and 4th place teams in the SEC East. It appears the ACC still has a long long way to go in football.

All in all, like I say in the title there was a LOT of coaching going on in the SEC this past weekend. After the smoke cleared the SEC has 10 teams bowl eligible and if Miss St did not schedule such a tough out-of-conference slate they would certainly be eligible as well. There are SIX 7-5 teams and LSU at 9-3 and Ole Miss at 8-4 and of course the two big dogs. Now all that is left is the most anticipated SEC Championship Game ever and the bowl exhibitions. I will be back later this week with thoughts on the big game.

Week 13 Picks - End of the Road

Well here we are at the end of another regular season. The fastest thirteen weeks of the year have come and gone. As always it ends with the Iron Bowl for Auburn and Bama. The swings in this series the last two years have been astounding. In 2007 Auburn with coordinators Al Borges and Will Muschamp beat Bama for six-in-a-row. Last year the streak was terminated with extreme prejudice by Bama in a 36-0 behind-the-woodshed whipping. Auburn is just now beginning to recover from the disastrous decisions made at the end of the Tuberville era. That lovely night in 2007 is definitely the last good point before the train started to run off the tracks as I documented to open this season.

After averaging over 10 wins a season for most of this decade Auburn dropped to 5-7 last year and currently stand at 7-4 this year. Meanwhile Bama is one game from putting together back-to-back undefeated 12-0 seasons. The player talent swing at both schools of course mirrors the record switch. Bama behind $aban (and who knows what else) have brought in a ton of top talent and currently stand as one of the deepest most talented teams in the country. In the same three years Auburn has gone from regularly producing NFL players to being one of the thinnest teams in the country. Auburn has been able to dodge disaster this year not having any injuries to offensive linemen or their two best linebackers. Auburn has some talented players but the All-SEC talent is few and far in between. The sheer depth problems are going to take years to solve.

Unfortunately that is our intro coming into this game. I could try to break down the game and come up with ways Auburn could somehow win this game but it is not going to happen. As a lifetime Auburn fan I have seen Auburn pull the underdog miracle out many times but it is not going to happen this game. On one hand Auburn simply does not have the football players to get it done and on the other hand I do not think they match up well with Bama at all. Auburn's defense is on track to be one of the worst defenses statistically in Auburn history. They give up numerous big plays every game and Friday should be no exception since Bama has several big time playmakers. Look for Mark Ingram to clinch Bama's first Heisman Trophy and Bama to hit several deep balls like Georgia did.

On offense Auburn has a little more talent to work with (except at quarterback). Auburn has a veteran offensive line, a senior tight end and All-SEC talent in Ben Tate and Darvin Adams. Unfortunately I do not think Auburn's spread offense will dent Bama's big fast defense. Bama has arguably the best defense in the country and Malzahn still makes quite a few lower league calls. For example he will call for a shotgun handoff or sweep on third and inches. None of those type plays will work against Bama. Also all the wide runs and swing passes will not work either. Auburn will need to mirror Utah's game plan last year that included a lot of crossing patterns in spots that blitzing linebackers left open and will have to hit some shots down the field.

However none of this will really matter as Chris Todd will paint his final masterpiece. The horribly slow weak-armed quarterback will be eaten alive in his final game at Auburn. Chris Todd has never led Auburn to a win over a really good team with a good coach (no Ole Miss and a Tennessee team that lost to that Ole Miss team do not count in my opinion). I think he lacks the basic abilities to even give Auburn a puncher's chance in this one. I will actually be surprised if Todd makes it through this game. His indecisiveness against better defenses and slow release spell big hits on Friday. His weak arm will mean Bama will be able to play to even more aggressive. It is not going to pretty.

I really cannot even envision a scenario where Auburn wins this game. If they somehow did I would be about the most shocked person in the world. As I said last week it would make the "Miracle on Ice" look like just another game. There have been worse Auburn teams with less talent that played tough against Bama. I see this game being so hopeless because in my opinion Auburn doesn't match up with Bama at all and our quarterback. I wish I could say something different but that is how I see it. I look for the score to look a lot like last year except hopefully we will score something. It will be close for a little bit but the defense will crack as it has all season and the offense will go in the tank as it has many times this season. For the record, I will be down there in person to support my team and see it all. I believe I will also have to suffer through hearing that @#%@#%#@ obnoxious cheer as it will be...
BAMA OVER AUBURN

I went 3-1 last week in SEC games against BCS competition to put me at 39-10 for the season. Here are the rest of the picks for this week:

CLEMSON OVER SOUTH CAROLINA... Another tough loss and bad ending to a season for South Carolina and Steve Spurrier. Clemson is on a high heading to their first ACC championship game.

OLE MISS OVER MISS ST... Dan Mullen has done a great job at State but the mrs has more talent on both sides of the ball and are also in a good place after the big win over LSU.

FLORIDA OVER FLORIDA ST... This one should be closer than expected as Florida's offense has not been dominant and while Florida St has not been good they have consistently battled.

TENNESSEE OVER KENTUCKY... Everyone has been down on Tennessee since the Dexter McCluster debacle but a two game sweep of Vandy and Kentucky has padded many a Tennessee season. Kentucky is a good tough team but I think the Vols come out on top.

ARKANSAS OVER LSU... Les Miles has been roundly criticized and laughed at. The coaching against the mrs was abysmal. It cannot be positive for the team. Meanwhile Arkansas and Ryan Mallett have steadily gained steam. Mallett is now one of the best in the country.

GEORGIA TECH OVER GEORGIA... Look for Georgia to come back and play tough as they did against Auburn. Unfortunately it is not Chan Gailey on that other sideline anymore. It is Paul Johnson and while it should be closer than expected Tech will win.

Week 12 Review - Thanksgiving Early

As an Auburn family heading down to the game we had thanksgiving dinner this weekend with my family. Since Auburn was not playing we could actually enjoy it. Not only that after enjoying turkey and all the fixings we sat down and watched the end of the LSU and Ole Miss game. It was a rare SEC game that I did not really care who won or lost. What an ending! Late touchdowns, recovered onsides kicks and a crazy last few seconds. Nice time management by "The Hat". That win and another one next week against State puts Ole Miss at the top of the non-BCS heap. That should put them in the Capital One Bowl and that is a big deal for the mrs.

Next, hey what a surprise, Kentucky beats Georgia at home. It is the second time this year Kentucky has made Auburn look bad (and me as I picked Georgia). However Ryan Mallett did prove me right as he was the best player in the Arkansas and State game. He threw for another 300 yards and five touchdowns. This guy is the real deal and if Bobby Petrino can just put a few more players around him Arkansas will be a real challenger next year. Elsewhere Tennessee took care of Vandy plus Bama and Florida had light scrimmages.

So with one game to go in the regular season I think we can say as a FACT that the SEC is DOWN. NOBODY outside of Bama and Florida currently has a winning record in conference. The mrs and LSU have a shot at 5-3 but I think only the mrs will get it. I think surging Arkansas and Ryan Mallett will take out LSU next week.