Week 5: A review of the carnage -- Alabama, Auburn and Florida

Wow. What a weekend. It has been a long, long time since college football underwent such an enormous sea change in one 48 hour period, yet here we now sit with the following improbables: USF beats West Virgina at home. Auburn defeats Florida in the Swamp. Oklahoma goes down to Colorado. Kansas State puts a butt whoopin' on Texas. Carnage, calamity, shock and awe.

But we'll stick with the big games in the SEC, and the biggest upset this week was Auburn over Florida. Let the team's bloggers and fans tell us what happened:

On a night when the rapidly aging Lou Holtz said he had a better chance of winning a U.S. Senate race in Florida than Auburn did of defeating the Gators, the Tigers delivered every county in the state for the former Notre Dame coach. -- Jay Coulter, Track Em Tigers

I'm not sure I'd totally agree with Jay that no Auburn win has ever felt better than Saturday night's signature on our Title of Ownership of the Florida Gators--those wins over the Tide in '93 and 2005, in particular, were 100 percent pure Colombian bliss--but hoo boy, after the first 13 1/2 quarters of this season, this one ain't that far behind. -- Jerry Hinnen, The Joe Cribbs Car Wash

Somehow, some way, you have our number. Even in a year in which you field one of your weaker teams, you still find a way to beat us. Your senior quarterback, who played so poorly in his first few games that the Auburn coaching staff burned a freshman’s redshirt, looked like an All-American against our defense. And our offense, supposedly ready to ring up 500 yards and 50 points against the New England Patriots, couldn’t get out of its own way for a half of football, then squandered multiple opportunities to eak out a win in the 4th quarter. -- GatorPilot, Orange and Blue Hue

Myth: Urban Meyer is truly concerned about the number of carries Tim Tebow gets and will rely on running backs to spread the load around.

Evidence:

Florida Rushing
Tebow: 19 carries
Harvin: 4 carries
Moore: 3 carries
Fayson: 2 carries

-- Year 2

But Florida losing to Auburn wasn't the only bad news for SEC teams. How about Alabama going down to Florida, and coming back with their Tide between their legs:

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. The offense seems to have overdosed on NyQuil. -- AL C. Hemist, Eight in the Box

Will people blame the coaching for this loss? Well, I’d say yes and no. Most people will probably blame John Parker Wilson before the coaching, although that will be #2 on the hit list. Personally, the only coaching I can blame is the offensive play calling. Major Applewhite is an up and coming coach, but he certainly has a lot of ground to make up if he wants to make it in the SEC. I think with time he will. -- The Tide Druid

I'm disappointed Alabama did not beat Florida State, and pretty much ambivalent about the Auburn vs. Florida result, except that it does make the UK vs. Florida game look like it could be worth a lot more and a lot more difficult for the Gators than I ever would have believed.

Of course, there is the Florida-LSU game next week. Personally, I think that game will be better than many believe. LSU's defense is probably not going to have much more luck against Tebow than anyone else has, but I seriously fear for Tebow's health -- he is going to get hurt playing like he does, and if Florida doesn't find some other offensive options, they are asking for big trouble.

But more thoughts on all this tomorrow.