Week 2: SEC and Top 25 scores

[Escambia94]

Week 2. Millions of eyes watched three ranked teams get upset. The Eyes of Texas and the eyes of millions of football fans were treated with a #11 Longhorn upset win over #3 Alabama, 34-24 in Bryant Denny Stadium. This was the Longhorns' first victory against an AP Top-3 team since 2008 (Oklahoma), first win against Alabama since the 1982 Cotton Bowl, and the first by double-digits against Alabama since the 1948 Sugar Bowl. Texas is now 8-2 against Bama all time going back to 1902. Fun fact: 19 teams own a winning record against Bama, with at least a 2-game lead held by Texas, Oklahoma, TCU, Notre Dame, and UCLA. For Alabama it was their first loss by double digits when entering the fourth quarter since 2008 against Florida in the SEC title game, and it snapped a 21-game home win streak (longest active home win streak in FBS). This was the first time Bama had been held a half without a touchdown since Saban’s first year in 2007. This could be a harbinger that historically powerful programs like Texas and Oklahoma are going to upset the balance of power in the SEC.

1. Georgia 45, Ball State 3
2. Michigan 35, UNLV 7
3. Alabama 24, #11 Texas 34
4. FSU 66, Southern Miss 13
5. Ohio State 35, Youngstown St 7
6. USC 56, Stanford 10
7. Penn State 63, Delaware 7
8. Washington 48, Tulsa 3
9. Tennessee 30, Austin Peay 13
10. Notre Dame 45, NC State 24
11. ^
12. Utah 20, Baylor 13
13. Oregon 38, Texas Tech 30
14. LSU 72, Grambling 10
15. Kansas State 42, Troy 13
16. Oregon State 55, UC Davis 7
17. North Carolina 40, App St 34 2OT
18. Oklahoma 28, SMU 11
19. Wisconsin 11, Washington St 22
20. Ole Miss 37, #24 Tulane 24
21. Duke 42, Lafayette 7
22. Colorado 36, Nebraska 14
23. Texas A&M 33, Miami 48
24. ^
25. Clemson 66, Charleston So 17

SEC scores by Week 1 power rankings from other websites:
The SEC power pyramid is starting to take shape with #1 Georgia being the last of the elite SEC teams to remain in the national top five. Next year's SEC entrant, Texas, announced their impending arrival by dethroning the longtime king of the SEC. Texas A&M fans are likely just as miserable knowing that the "big brother" program they escaped by leaving the Big 12 for greener pastures in the SEC is about to dominate the SEC before the Aggies have established a foothold in the SEC. LSU beat up a lower division team to prove they still belong in the top 15. The Florida Gators got their turn to beat up a lower division, possibly getting them artificially ranked at #25 to justify an ESPN Gameday match-up between ranked opponents in the Swamp. The 7:00 PM slot next week is ripe for an ESPN Gameday, but are the Gators ready to defend the Swamp? Florida's 113-13 (0.894) record since 1990 is best in the country, but the mystique of Steve Spurrier - Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium has been eroded as Will Muschamp went 7-6, Jim McElwain went 13-5, and Dan Mullen went 34-15. Billy Napier is 4-3 in the Swamp in just one year on the job, with rival teams like Tennessee seemingly on the rise. I am sure ESPN would love to broadcast the reemergence of the Volunteer program after Florida's decades of dominance.

1. #1 Georgia 45, Ball State 3
2. #3 Alabama 24, #11 Texas 34
3. #9 Tennessee 30, Austin Peay 13
4. #20 Ole Miss 37, #24 Tulane 24
5. #23 Texas A&M 33, Miami 48
6. Arkansas 28, Kent State 6
7. #14 LSU 72, Grambling 10
8. Kentucky 28, Eastern Kentucky 17
9. Auburn 14, California 10
10. Missouri 23, Middle Tennessee 19
11. Mississippi St 31, Arizona 24 OT
12. South Carolina 47, Furman 21
13. Florida 49, McNeese 7
14. Vanderbilt 20, Wake Forest 36

 

[DRU2012]

Geez...The thing about having all Saturday free before watching a Gator game I have little fear we'll lose (my only real fear is that we just won't look that GOOD again) is that I am meanwhile free to watch all these other games in relaxed fashion. The thing that is sinking in is how generally poorly, even sloppily so many otherwise "highly regarded" teams are stinking their respective venues UP today. If you have been skipping around all day as I have you'll know EXACTLY what I mean.
It ultimately has left me sort of giving our Gator program a bit of a "pass" for the moment on LAST week's mess after all...A LOT of these heretofore well-regarded programs haven't looked a WHOLE lot better, have displayed all KINDS of breakdowns, miscues, sequences of sloppy play and general confusion (both onfield and on the SIDELINES) in what is after all their SECOND outtings--as opposed to OUR lousy start right out of the gate in Game One. And remember, that was on a long road trip further disturbed coming and going by all kinds of weather and travel snafus...I don't mean to make excuses for our team, they HAVE to do better, in future RESPOND to adversity--but I'm seeing a whole LOT of coaching inadequacy displayed around the breadth of college football today.

 

[Escambia94]

Texas has held Alabama to an entire half without a touchdown for the first time since Nick Saban’s first year at Bama in 2007! Texas leads 13-6.

 

[DRU2012]

Texas has held Alabama to an entire half without a touchdown for the first time since Nick Saban’s first year at Bama in 2007! Texas leads 13-6.

I MEANT to monitor that game more closely while mostly watching THIS GATOR GAME--but our game has been so well-perfirjed most of the time by us this week that I haven't managed to pull myself away from it--Just mostly kept the "score tracker" running on my phone.
(GATORS just drove and scored AGAIN, this time by the 2nd teasers, almost before "Won't Back Down" stopped echoing around this stadium!)

 

[DRU2012]

Texas just scored TWICE in the first minute of the 4th quarter in Tuscaloosa. They are currently ahead 2 scores.

 

[DRU2012]

I can hear folks around me here in my Austin neighborhood cheering madly.

 

[Escambia94]

Texas 27, Alabama 24 with 11:04 in the 4th quarter.

 

[DRU2012]

So the Tide has hit a TD and a 2-pt conversion while I was watching our game and hadn't glanced at the "game-tracker " in a while...

 

[Escambia94]

Texas 34, Alabama 24. 8:23 4Q.

 

[Escambia94]

Same score, 4:18 4Q.

 

[Escambia94]

The Longhorns have upset the Tide!

 

[DRU2012]

It bothers me more than it ought to--but the good news is I THINK it bothered Billy TOO.
He actually SHOWED it out there on the sidelines: what happened, then the officials even reviewing it...THEN clamping down on himself and doing his best NOT to react any further when they actually GAVE IT TO THE COWBOYS...but you could tell he was (and IS) upset.
So they get to bust our shutout at the last moment in this one.
Turn the page, take the big win and begin preparing for Tennessee.
(Texas wins at Alabama, by the way: final=34-24)
In a way, I hope maybe that last little wrinkle there at the end if ANYTHING inserts a bit of a sour note into our otherwise total domination.
Remember when Mullen had the team dancing in the lockeroom in celebration after soundly whipping Samford--a similar mismatch to THIS one but one where we were fairly sloppy THROUGHOUT the win? NOT one of his or OUR better moments, and another piece in the building case AGAINST him for soon becoming our "FORMER Coach"!
This time, despite the many dominating aspects of tonight's performance, Coach uses that last bit, plus the Special Teams AND the early ill-timed penalties, as the jumping-OFF point for "all the things we still need to work on for NEXT week". They KNOW the things they did right; it's the things still glaringly WRONG that still must be addressed to get where we all want to BE, and THIS Coach I think will focus on all THAT.
HE intends to build a WINNER, "Complete" in every way at SOME point; That's one of the key DIFFERENCES between himself and a Coach (and man) like Dan Mullens. The difference between a detail-oriented PERFECTIONIST and a guy who has already exceeded his goals and expectations. Only the former can possibly see things through to the ultimate goal and prize--especially in the pressure-packed FISHBOWL that is the University of Florida FOOTBALL PROGRAM.

 

[Escambia94]

The mighty Gators got their ground game on track against the McNeese Cowboys, running for 327 yards and six touchdowns in a 49-7 drubbing of a lower division team. That was worth the $500k payment.

Montrell Johnson led the way with the three-heading running monster as the Gators ended a four-game skid and won for the first time since pummeling South Carolina 38-6 on November 11, 2022.

 

[DRU2012]

I STILL don't know quite what to expect NEXT Saturday--but I THINK I will entering with less pessimism than I was CERTAIN would continue to be deserving as we came into TONIGHT'S "scrimmage"...It was more than that, I think--and yet we responded BETTER, MUCH better than I expected us to. NOW we are back to "Let's wait and SEE..."
We have something like a seven game winning streak against the Vols in the Swamp...Don't think for one MOMENT that Tennessee has forgotten that--or that their coaches will allow them to.
But it IS at our place once more--and the place will be ELECTRIC! That squad we saw out there tonight, healthy and even close to playing up to its talent-level IS capable of doing it again.
I'm anxious to see how we come out of this injury-wise...Was our starting Cemter held out one more week BECAUSE of this week's less-threatening opponent? Will we get him back for the Vols game regardless? Who ELSE is banged up? What has the Gator coaching braintrust kept under wraps to surprise them with in the next game? There are more such questions, but we'll get to all that next few days.
Not gonna overDO it, but this team deserves a night and a morning of satisfaction anyway, at the very least. But then there's WORK to do.

 

[DRU2012]

The mighty Gators got their ground game on track against the McNeese Cowboys, running for 327 yards and six touchdowns in a 49-7 drubbing of a lower division team. That was worth the $500k payment.

Montrell Johnson led the way with the three-heading running monster as the Gators ended a four-game skid and won for the first time since pummeling South Carolina 38-6 on November 11, 2022.

I hadn't THOUGHT of things that way (ie. counting losses back straight into LAST season)...Glad I HADN'T--Would likely have had me even MORE frustrated and depressed after the season's opener.
I WAS in much better overall frame-of-mind by the last moments of tonight's game--but THEN felt side-swiped, BLIND-SIDED by that terrible call at the very end that handed the Cowboys the ball deep in our territory in the game's final seconds--where the refs took the ball away from the 3rd string offense as it was otherwise seemingly successfully running out the clock after their Punter had pinned us inside our one. We had gotten it put to the 15 when a bad call had us having in some ref-ruled phantom loss-of-possession awarded the COWBOYS the ball inside our 1p with seconds left, 1st and goal. They banged it in and WE lost the shutout: Our deserving Defense handed up having its achievement STOLEN from them, imho.
I know it doesn't really change ANYTHING--But such outcomes are rare at this level, and as I say, this Gator defense worked HARD tonight and DESERVED its WELL-EARNED "donut" COMPLETELY. AS I said online here at the time on the Game thread, it is my HOPE that (given both Billy's AND his players' unhappiness with how it all played OUT there at the end, and given how unusual HIS emotional display, even in its short duration, WAS--perhaps, rather than being swept aside, the "lost shutout" MIGHT, along with other less-than-perfect parts and factors earlier in this one serve as a starting point in a list of "things we need to continue WORKING ON" in this ongoing "respond and rebuild" that is required of us even now: Maybe we carry a valuable "CHIP ON OUR SHOULDERS" heading into the Big One next Saturday. That could even HELP, rather than HURT us as we get back to work come Monday.

 

[DRU2012]

I am too tired now to get into this right this moment, but based not just on our experience at the end of tonight's game but as a growing feeling I've had before now AND in a whole bunch of previous games and it seemed even MORE these first couple of weeks THIS season, I am more and more convinced further analysis and reconsideration must be given to the manner in which the replay booth and the rules associated with and depending upon it are handled.
As I said, now isn't the time (too TIRED), but I invite you all to reflect on these things with me here, in light of what we're more and more witnessing in college football play in this regard of late. I will reraise these concerns here, as necessary in days ahead.

 

[Escambia94]

Quinn Ewers for Heisman? 3 of the last 5 quarterbacks to beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa won the Heisman Trophy

• 2019: Joe Burrow, LSU
• 2015: Chad Kelly, Ole Miss
• 2012: Johnny Manziel, Texas A&M
• 2011: Jarrett Lee/Jordan Jefferson, LSU
• 2010: Cam Newton, Auburn

 

[Escambia94]

The Gators have the #1 or #3 defense in America.

Rk	Team	G	Plays	Yd/A	YPP	Off TD	Tot TD	YPG
1	Air Force	2	94	236	2.51	1	1	118.0
2	Memphis	2	119	305	2.56	0	2	152.5
3	Florida	2	93	382	4.11	4	4	191.0
4	Ohio St.	2	113	387	3.42	1	1	193.5
5	Michigan St.	2	120	412	3.43	2	3	20

 

[DRU2012]

The Gators have the #1 or #3 defense in America.

Rk	Team	G	Plays	Yd/A	YPP	Off TD	Tot TD	YPG
1	Air Force	2	94	236	2.51	1	1	118.0
2	Memphis	2	119	305	2.56	0	2	152.5
3	Florida	2	93	382	4.11	4	4	191.0
4	Ohio St.	2	113	387	3.42	1	1	193.5
5	Michigan St.	2	120	412	3.43	2	3	20

Kind of tough to evaluate--depends too much on WHICH set of stats one uses to judge such things. I suppose that's exactly why you qualified your rankings with that "either #1 or #3".
One thing seems clear: From the relatively small sampling of games and plays thus far, the Gator Defrbse sure appears to have improved somewhat.