Catching up from way behind

Yeah, yeah, I know. I haven't blogged in two days. Well, I have an excuse -- I was behind really bad at work on Friday, and on Saturday, I was ...um, watching football games. I just didn't have the energy to blog last night after the LSU game. So sue me.

Anyway, there is sure plenty to talk about today. What a killer game between LSU and Auburn last night! It looked for all the world like Auburn was going to pull another upset like they did in The Swamp, and it was a very near thing.

But what I really want to know is, what kind of psychotic call was that last play from scrimmage? I mean, Les Miles came away looking like ... well, Orson Swindle says it better than me:

Holly: Tell us about that last call, Coach.

Les: (Pauses, looks blankly at her.) Which call?

Holly: (Dumbfounded.) The touchdown call to win the game. Tell us a little about that.

Les: Oh, that call. Sure. It’s because, where other men have brains, I just have more balls. Just a skull full of testes–that’s what you’ll see if you take an MRI of my head, actually. It’s like looking at an x-ray of a beanbag in profile when you look at my head. I jostle when I walk. Why? It’s the balls jangling and boinging around in my head. Don’t ask me if it’s awesome. There’s no brains up there, only balls. And balls always have the same answer to that question: it’s awesome having a brain full of balls like Les Miles does. It sounds awesome when I say that, actually. Balls. BALLS BALLS BALLS BALLS BALLS. That’s it in short, Balls.

That was just sick, insane, cluelessness, or the case of a coach having way more balls than brains. I'll leave it to you to decide which. Anyway, if that particular ball had been tipped or bobbled around before being incomplete, the clock would have expired. Les Miles would suddenly find himself with a first-person understanding of how Steve Kragthorpe feels. If he is just looking to pave his way to the Michigan job, this sort of thing could eventually get it done.

Just plain wow.

At least some Auburn fans see this as more of a victory than a loss:

Auburn will likely not play for an SEC Championship this season or figure into the SEC West race. LSU now must lose two more games for Auburn to sneak in.

But I don’t care. And I hope you don’t care. This Auburn team is special. It’s been like watching a child grow up. We should all be proud of this Auburn team.

Great game by both Tigers. I had a feeling LSU was going to pull this game out, and they did, but Auburn was truly impressive in defeat. Given the way Alabama performed against Tennessee, I believe this year's Iron Bowl is going to be one hell of a game.

Speaking of UT at Alabama, that was the other side of the coin from Auburn/LSU - an ugly blowout, the second one the Vols have suffered this year. Losing huge to the powerful Gators in The Swamp is one thing, but being handed your buttocks by a rather pedestrian Alabama team is ... well, different. Pat Forde writing for ESPN has an interesting take:

Throw in Alabama mugging Tennessee after suspending five players, and you have the Karl Marx dream standings in the Eastern Division. Everyone is equal, or nearly so.

Wow, Pat, that's some serious geopolitical allegory to hang on a football game, dude. UT Vols Football says Phillip Fulmer finds himself in a familiar place. All I can say is that DJ Hall and John Parker Wilson looked like Steve Young and Jerry Rice respectively against the Vol defense. That can't make Big Orange fans happy and Third Saturday in Blogtober confirms this perception.

From a Bama perspective, the fan blogs are decidedly more upbeat, perhaps even ... dare I say it ... giddy ?

It was an amazing game. Not only did Alabama beat the Vols, we CRUSHED the Vols. I’ve seen plenty of smack talk coming from the orange nation, so this victory is all the more sweeter. Plus, we have a bye week, so we can gloat for an entire week and not have to worry about LSU. Nick Saban improves to 3-1 against Phil Fulmer, starting a new daddy trend.

Ouch. But that's not all. Memphis Tider can't help but jump up and down in pleasure, and just a wee bit of schadenfreude. The Capstone Report is rather more circumspect, and highlights a different theme:

In what might have been the best executed and conceived Alabama game plan since the 1999 SEC Championship Game, Alabama mauled Tennessee 41-17; Nick Saban made a definitive statement that he understands the importance of winning over rivals.

But the bigger statement than even the game, was Alabama’s willingness to suspend players before a big game for potential violations. It was the failure to act swiftly that began Alabama’s decades of misery. Not this time. The administration and coaches made clear they want to win the right way.

I hate to burst anyone's bubble, but the last chapter is yet to be written on the book issue. I think Saban clearly did the right thing suspending his players given what we know, and that is a very good sign. But there may be more to this than meets the eye, and the Alabama program, who can ill afford another group of NCAA sanctions, cannot be feeling too good about this. Mike Silve, you may have to wait awhile to have a sanction-free SEC.

South Carolina found itself on the wrong end of a fired-up Vanderbilt team yesterday, and South Carolina fans are understandably upset. Some of them are placing the blame on Spurrier's decision to give Blake Mitchell a chance to recapture the quarterback spot:

I said it on the radio and I will say it again, Spurrier should have never put Mitchell in this game. Stick with your QB and move forward. Smelley should have played every snap this game. Mitchell is our albatross.

This is the first time in three years that I have questioned Steve Spurrier and I stick beside it. Spurrier should have never put Mitchell in the game. Ever.

Flounder at Leftover Hot Dog thinks this is arguably the worst loss in Spurrier's tenure at USC. I'm not sure who is to blame, but you have to believe this QB situation is a distraction to the team. I have never liked the idea of changing quarterbacks midstream unless there is clear and convincing evidence the one you have isn't going to be able to get the job done.

Vanderbilt bloggers are understandably pleased with sending The Visor home with mud in his eye. But as of this writing, there has been little Vanderbilt blogging to talk about. Well, it is only Sunday, and I think we can infer from the result that Commie fans are smiling.

Finally, the big game of the weekend, Florida at Kentucky. As a Kentucky fan, I do have a dog in this fight, and I think it was a case where the Wildcats simply didn't execute well enough to win. It was a well-played game by both sides, but Tim Tebow, the obvious result of some sort of illegal eugenics experiment, was just way too much for the Wildcats:

Also very difficult to watch was Kentucky's relative inability to stop Tim Tebow at much of anything. For the past two seasons, teams with running quarterbacks have caused Kentucky fits and tim Tebow may be the best we have seen in some time. Time after time when Kentucky needed a third down stop, Tebow would either scramble for a first down or make a perfect pass in order to move the chains. Had Kentucky been more efficient in the first half, its inability to get the big stop in the first half wouldnt have been so crucial and Tebow and company may have felt their own pressure to come up with a big score. But the hole dug in the first half could not be overcome and Tebow was pretty sensational throughout the game.

Tebow was indeed special, and deserves his plaudits. The Gators are beating their chests a bit over at Saurian Sagacity and Orange and Blue Hue. I suppose they have earned it, in that they won the game. Still, it strikes me as odd that both these bloggers spend a bit more time defending their own comments and assuring anyone within blogshot of their superiority. Well, this is the SEC, not finishing school.

Still, perhaps Gator fans should try not to break their arms patting themselves on the back, there is still a lot of football to be played, and a rested and healed-up Georgia will be waiting for the dinged up Gators in Jacksonville. Can you say, "Sauce for the goose ...?"