The Sunday Blog, Week 10

[News Bot]

So how was everybody’s Saturday night?
Better than Nick Saban’s, I’m guessing.
Geez, you oversign and boot unproductive players to get that Dream Team roster and, oh, wait, someone forgot to get a placekicker.
The Gators have one thing over the Tide — UF has Caleb Sturgis,
At any rate, it was a lovely Saturday night at the Dooley Dome with grilled chicken and the wonderful beans and dip my wife made because she knew it was a big deal for me and great company and a game that went to OT. What more can you ask for?
THE NOT-READY-FOR-PRIME-TIME
COLLEGE FOOTBALL TOP 25
1. LSU (9-0): Uh, duh, Beavis.
2. Oklahoma State (9-0): Got a scare Saturday night on the third TV on my porch. Yes, I am bragging.
3. Alabama (8-1): See below.
4. Stanford (9-0): Suck for Luck sweepstakes getting serious.
5. Oklahoma (8-1): Can Sooners survive Broyles injury?
6. Boise State (8-0): Quick, who did the Broncos play Saturday?
7. Arkansas (8-1): ‘Backs chewed up a pretty solid defense.
8. Oregon (8-1): Ducks were impressive against Washington.
9. Clemson (8-1): Season on the line against Wake Forest this week.
10. Virginia Tech (8-1): Talk about an under-the-radar one-loss team.
11. Houston (9-0): Could you make an argument the Coogs are better than Boise?
12. Penn State (8-1): I saw a game on ESPN Classic earlier this year and Keith Jackson was asking Joe Paterno is he still had the fire to keep going. It was 1985.
13. Michigan State (7-2): Really surprised Sparty struggled with Minnesota.
14. South Carolina (7-2): Gamies just couldn’t get stops.
15. Michigan (7-2): Wolverines had their chances to tie it at the end.
16. Georgia (7-2): It’s all set up for the Doggies.
17. Texas (6-2): Horns latest team to feats on Texas Tech defense.
18. Southern Miss (8-1): The team nobody wants to play in a bowl game.
19. Kansas State (7-2): Wildcats have come down to earth.
20. Nebraska (7-2): No explaining their loss at home.
21. Cincinnati (7-1): Don’t look now but Bearcats heading for BCS bowl.
22. Wisconsin (7-2): Badgers really needed a win.
23. Auburn (6-3): Can the Tigers ruin Georgia’s party?
24. Georgia Tech (7-2): Big game for the Jackets this week.
25. Notre Dame (6-3): Nice second half for the Irish.
THE SEC FOUR-PACK
1. After watching the “Game of the Century” I came away feeling like it was great TV but not really a great show. By that I mean that you could not look away for a second, but I prefer a game where someone actually scores a touchdown. And I also left that game thinking Alabama still might be the better team. As I’ve said a hundred times, college football games come down to a handful of plays and the Tide did not make them.
2. Georgia fans have to understand I am not being critical when I talk about the Bulldogs’ soft SEC schedule. It’s simply the rub of the green. If the Doggies can beat Auburn Saturday, they will be in Atlanta. And the truth is that Georgia may be the best-equipped East team to have a chance against a West team. Not a great chance, but a chance.
3. I know he has a $6 million buyout and all but there is no way Houston Nutt can survive this, is there? Kentucky is awful but obviously not the worst team in the SEC. After Louisiana Tech this week, the Rebels close with LSU and Mississippi State. There’s a good chance they could go oh-for-the-SEC. The last guy who did that (Ed Orgeron) lost his job. This will not end well. Look for Nutt to be on ESPN next year doing Sun Belt Conference games.
4. As this season winds down, the SEC is still looking for its nine bowl teams. Six have become bowl eligible and only one (Ole Miss) has been eliminated. Florida almost assuredly will beat Furman and be the seventh team and may well be heading to the Gator Bowl. While the Gator Bowl knows Florida fans wouldn’t be good for the hotel business, look at what else is out there. Mississippi State has five wins but they don’t want the Bulldogs again. Vandy didn’t even bring a band to Gainesville. Tennessee would be a real possibility. If the Gators get to 7-5, that means they’ll have either knocked off South Carolina or Florida State and that may jump them up to a different bowl like the Outback (see that before?) or Chick-fil-A. Lot of ball to be played.

Source: GatorSports.com - Dooley's Desk

 

[DRU2012]

Most of the time now I'm OK with mainly looking down-the-line, "forward rather than back", "the Big Picture", and a few other cliched pieces-of-wisdom, knowing that with everything that has happened to and been revealed ABOUT our team, getting a New Year's Day bowl game and ongoing identification of the team-to-come's needs and "keepers", their sorting, training, and hardening-of-character, all while continuing the positioning and pursuit of our ALL-IMPORTANT upcoming "Recruiting-Class-of-2012", is what the rest of the season is REALLY all about--and trying to win as many of our remaining games as we can.
However, just one quick glance at the latest "Top 25", especially with an eye for where our various SEC rivals are on it, just gets me looking backwards with frustration and regret all over again: I know all the reasons, I don't want to fall back on excuses when I ALSO know that (even with the injuries and lack of depth) it was CHARACTER that sealed our fate, but the fact still remains, "WE COULDA SHOULA WOULDA!!!". With all the things that went wrong, we STILL might have made something of this season with what were doable wins against Auburn and Georgia. At this point, aside from beating Furman to make bowl-eligibility, beating Half-Assed to end the regular string is probably the one possible not-so-small consolation left to us.