Some administrative items

I have discovered that several readers use and enjoy the newsfeed box to the right. I have been doing a lousy job of keeping that thing updated lately, but that is going to change.

Going forward, my plan for this feature is this:

• Early AM update (except weekends, when I get my beauty sleep) with news from the main stream media sources and off the wires.
  
  
• After I select the stories, I will be picking the ones I think are the most interesting and moving them to the top of the listing. I will only do this once - after that, stories will pretty much be listed in chronological order.
  
  
• In the afternoon or early evening, I will switch to stories from SEC bloggers and other select blogs that contain SEC or other interesting sports-related content.

I am also planning a few more convenience features for the site, and will be announcing them as I get a chance to implement them.

Finally, I would like to take a second to thank my readers. This site was created primarily as an experiment. I wanted to see how fast and how well I could grow a blog from dead scratch. It has been interesting and instructive, and along the way I have kind of fallen in love with both the subject matter and the multitude of other outstanding bloggers out there in SEC land. I had no idea coming in that the SEC would be so well and capably represented in the blogosphere.

So to them and those who take the time to read my drivel, thank you.

Suck it? I'd rather not, thanks.

I noticed about a week ago that a blog called Ohio State OTR took me to task over a post I made regarding my frustration with the BCS. Of course, they weren't the only ones who noticed -- Ryan Ferguson at Fanhouse also addressed my missive.

I'd like to respond, however belatedly, to the blogger with the clever handle "FuhQ2" at Ohio State OTR, who wrote thus:

According to "Best of the SEC Blogs", the BCS system is broken; what a new and unique thought. It is time this talk of Ohio State having a cake schedule be put to rest. It may be easier than most, but OSU still has to win all 12 games to make the national championship; they cannot suffer a loss, or they will only receive an invite to the Rose Bowl. On the other hand, someone from the SEC with one or maybe even two losses has a chance to make the national championship this year.

First of all, a simple style point -- how juvenile is a handle like "FuhQ2"? It's fun to watch guys like Loser with Socks spew profanity and innuendo -- they are really good at it, it's funny, and it's their shtick. But "FuhQ2"? That's just so cute, I'll bet his 7th grade classmates think he is the shiznit.

But now to the substance. First, Mr. FuhQ2 (can I call you Fuh?), I wasn't trying to innovate here. I understand that other people don't like BCS any more than I do, and have said so long before I have. My point, though, is this -- the BCS is supposed to place the best two teams against each other in the championship game. If Ohio State wins out, that will very likely not happen. It just seems wrong to me, Fuh, that while OSU gets to play a relatively easy schedule, SEC teams must toil in the toughest conference in the land, where even mid-pack teams are good enough to defeat the best teams in the nation.

It also galls me that OSU is trading primarily on reputation, not on accomplishments. Not really OSU's fault, that's just the way they are perceived, and justifiably so -- they are one of college football's historical elite. But at some point in a given year, accomplishments have to trump reputation, and you seem to be unconcerned about that. Accomplishing an undefeated season in, say, the Big East can't be seen as equivalent to even two losses in the SEC. And many would argue that the Big 10 is no stronger than the Big East this year.

Fuh, you assure us that an SEC team with only one or maybe even two losses will have a chance to play in the BCS championship game, but how do you reach this conclusion? If OSU and, say Boston College win out, how do they find themselves below LSU, who is currently third? And if LSU manages to lose again, but still win the SEC, their chances of playing in the championship game become vanishingly small.

Your conclusion is that any team that goes undefeated in a BCS conference deserves to play in a national championship. I'm sure Boise State appreciates that position after going undefeated last year and finishing 6th in the BCS rankings.

Frankly, I hope OSU does wind up in the game with Boston College or maybe Arizona State. Perhaps then, we'll get sufficient outrage in the SEC to force change, even if we do have to drag the Big 10 and Pac-10 along kicking and screaming by the scruff of their collective necks.

Mississippi State and Georgia have a big weekend

What a weekend. I am out doing stuff for one weekend and come back to find -- more upsets, more weirdness more ... well, just more.

First of all, home stuff. My UK Wildcats got drubbed by a Mississippi State team that is beginning to show signs of relevance in the SEC East. That makes two (2!) ranked teams that have been Croomed this year in the SEC, Auburn and UK. I'm thinking the Bulldogs are doing something right, and it's beginning to show. Yes, Kentucky had numerous offensive skill players out and had to run most of the second half with a fifth-string halfback, but part of being a good football team is finding ways to win when you have injuries.

MSU proved that while UK may (I say may -- I have a few more doubts now) be a good football team, they sure can suck in a given game. But lest we be guilty of the false assertion that MSU was handed the game by UK, let me point out that the Bulldogs played outstanding, smash-mouth football and beat the Wildcats in every way possible. It was a big win for the Dawgs, who now are only one game away from bowl eligibility, and a big loss for the Cats, who have justifiably dropped precipitously in the polls and limp into their bye week loosing 3 of their last 4.

The Wildcat Fan Report wonders what happened to the Cats:

The Kentucky offense, on the other hand, seemed like they were just meeting one another for the first time. Woodson threw several passes behind receivers and apparently thought Derrick Locke could catch a ball with his ankles as that’s where he threw at least three screen passes. And Joker Phillips astute play calling was on display late in the game on 3rd-and-2 in two down territory when he lined Woodson up in the shotgun and called a draw to Moncel Allen that went nowhere and then put Woodson back in the shotgun on 4th-and-2 only to see a collision between Woodson and Allen result in a turnover on downs. Why are you running a draw and trying to fool the defense when you have two downs to get two yards? Line up and go off tackle twice!

I also felt like I was watching a team from the twilight zone, somehow stuck in a 1992 time-warp and through the magic of a space-time discontinuity, manifesting itself in the bodies of current UK players. Well, who said the Universe makes sense?

Georgia had no such issues with Florida in the Cocktail Party, though. I had a feeling the Dawgs were due, and they punched the Gator's ticket to 3 SEC losses yesterday. Welcome to the world of getting smacked in the puss by a bye-week team, Gators. You did it to Kentucky, now Georgia showed you how it feels to be on the wrong end.

GatorPilot at Orange and Blue Hue is suffering from some vapors -- of the equine excrement variety:

Congrats to Georgia, the better team on this night. May God have mercy on the souls of Gator Nation. This is the kind of loss that makes a Gator fan’s heart explode.

Tonight I dream dark, cloudy, troubled dreams… and I’ll wake up screaming on 3rd and short every time.

Which is horseshit.

I know just how he feels, but probably don't feel it as sharply. At Kentucky, we have just figured out that losing a game is actually a bad thing, not something that should be expected. It will take a lot more success for our hearts to start exploding, I'm afraid.

What is interesting is that both Kentucky and Florida seemed to lose the game almost the same way -- an unsatisfactory defensive effort compounded by futility on the offensive end. Sacks of your previously-Heisman-contending quarterback, fumbles, interceptions, oh, my!

Mergz at Saurian Sagacity had this to say:

We were out coached, outplayed, and just plain beaten, which is made all the more the shame by the fact the ticky-tacky antics of the Georgia coaches should have allowed us to beat them silly. The same group of players that stamped on Vandy’s logo thought is somehow advisable (assumedly with the nod of the coaches) to all run on the field after the first TD. There is an old saying about “acting like you have been there before” when you score a TD. Instead, the entire Georgia team acted as if it was the first TD they hade ever seen. If the Gators did that, I would be embarrassed beyond belief.

Well, I sense frustration with the Dawgs' antics. Since I didn't see the game, I'm going to look to some Bulldog blogs for an explanation (an doubtless, a defense). David Ching of the Georgia Bulldog Blog had this contemporaneous post expressing incredulity:

Rushing the field after that touchdown is either the smartest thing Mark Richt has ever allowed or the dumbest. We're going to find out shortly.

Given the implied criterion of outcome here, I'd say David's a firm vote for "smartest", as his follow up post suggests. Over at Dawg Sports, a diarist named randomterrace addresses this article by Terence Moore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution blasting the Bulldogs for conduct unbecoming a football team. Dawg Sports makes several points athwart those of Moore, but concludes thus:

Mr. Moore - your column was stupid. You are a fool. But it's hard for me to stay mad at you, because I know you didn't mean it. I suggest your editors shove your computer off your desk, get in your ear about lazy, self-serving contrarian columns, and demand something more from you, something the AJC can be proud of. In short, they should follow the estimable example of Mark Richt.

Undoubtedly, this was a stunt designed to inspire the Dawgs who have played anything but inspiring football this season. But the apparent domino effect on Georgia was that it had multiple personal fouls called for everything from facemasking to unsportsmanlike celebration.

Kevin Brown of the Bleacher Report condemns Richt for allowing the celebration, suggesting that it could have provoked a bench-clearing brawl, while Mike Bianchi, a notorious Gator homer writing for the Orlando Sentinel, applauds the move as "brilliant."

In the final analysis, it probably wasn't Richt's finest moment, nor the Bulldogs when it comes to sportsmanship. This is a symptom that we are seeing more and more often -- the idea that winning is more important than what happens along the way. But Urban Meyer has no cause for outrage. That last-second time out against Auburn in their home loss earlier in the year is an example of how a coach can do something totally unsportsmanlike and get applauded for it. I think, in the end, it was karma from that action that got repaid in kind on Saturday.

Yeah, Georgia was wrong. But Florida deserved it, Urban Meyer in particular. So if you want to take some high ground, Gators, try earning it with your actions. That way, condemning others who act classlessly will ring a bit less hollow.

Better late than never

OOPS! Wednesday I said I would look at two teams today, and two teams tomorrow, meaning Thursday -- and yet, I didn't post on Thursday, or Friday for that matter. Oh, well, life happens.

So now, we shall proceed to look at the two SEC games I didn't look at Wednesday, and without further ado ...

Mississippi State at Kentucky

This game is important for Kentucky. They are still in the SEC East race, but there is no way they can get to Catlanta without help. But more important even than that is the perception shared by many in the SEC that Kentucky cannot sustain their level of play, and is due to return to form and drop games they should win.

Kentucky Sports Radio takes a look at the UK-MSU game, and raises the specter of Happy Gilmore:

After a hard-fought, human-growth-hormone induced loss, it will be nice for the Cats to get back to their winning ways by going all Bob Barker on the Bulldogs (Does he mean Bob Barker as in when Bob Barker fought Happy Gilmore, or is that an allusion to neutering your dog? Both, kids.) The thought here is that Kentucky wins in such convincing fashion that College Gameday will actually be on the Vanderbilt campus in a couple of weeks to again witness the majesty that is UK Football.

Heh. Well, whatever, but if the Gameday boys show up in Nashville, be looking for the 5th Horseman to ride into town as well.

Greg Ellis from Inside Mississippi State was flying to Lexington for the game, but wound up in Louisville:

I was supposed to land in Lexington. Funny thing, though. I didn’t. Instead, I landed in Louisville. Thanks, Northwest, for overbooking. Wouldn’t have been so bad had my hotel not been in Lexington, along with the rental car. Oh well, that’s baseball. But, I finally made it. That’s all that counts. Just three hours late.

Man, what a drag. Enjoy the game, Greg.

Ole Miss at Auburn

The Tigers are coming off a disappointing loss at LSU in a game they arguably should have won. Ole Miss comes off a brutal beating at the hands of the Arkansas Razorbacks. Ryan at The Auburner hasn't quite moved on from LSU:

The general reaction on the plains has been mostly depression mixed with anger… if that’s even possible. The emotional cycle that has been going on this week goes like so:

1) Remembrance: The worst part of the cycle. Just when you think you have forgotten about the weekend and had moved on with your life only to relive the moment that Les Miles escaped death… again. This phase is often brought about by something that slightly resembles the… ‘Incident.’ For instance, I was driving up Donahue and noticed a sign for “Gourmet Tiger”… WRITTEN IN PURPLE! After that blow to my mood, I had trouble driving faster than 5 miles per hour.

2) Anger: Comes about 45 seconds after the first phase. It’s hard to beat ourselves up for losing on a roll of the dice. This stage consists mostly of questioning the referee’s sexual orientation and Les Miles’ alliance with Satan.

3) Arrest: Vandalism, assault, tax fraud, you name it. You can’t be held responsible for your actions as a result of phase 2. Les Miles took unnecessary gambles and it worked out great for him, why not me?

4) Bail: This is where you find out who your true friends are.

5) Trying to forget: It’s hard, but at some point you gotta move on… or just try to think of something else. Hakuna Matata anyone?

6) Remembrance: Rinse and repeat.

The Plainsmen are playing some of the best football in the league right now, and have redeemed their earlier loss to the MSU Bulldogs. But they have to beat Ole Miss to retain even an outside shot at the West, and even then, they will need help from LSU.

WorldClassGlass thinks the Rebels will have difficulty defeating the Plainsmen in Jordan-Hare, and isn't looking forward to the game:

We all know the Rebels story and it has been a bad season for them. They have been competitive in their two biggest games at home, but are coming off a week in which they played their worst football in the Coach O era.

While I think the Rebels will not play as bad as they did last week, I think they will have a lot of trouble hanging with the Tigers. This is a very big game for the future of the season for the Tigers. With an early evening kickoff(UMAA does not know what that is), the atmosphere at Jordan Hare should be rocking and the fans should be pumped up.

All that being said, I think the Tigers will beat the Rebels by about two or three touchdowns. It will be interesting to see if Seth Adams will return to play similar to earlier this season or if he will continue his interception filled play as the past several games.

I always enjoy the trip to Auburn and look forward to another trip, however I am not looking forward to the game.

As a Kentucky fan, I know exactly what this feels like. Up until the last couple of years, any fine Kentucky blogger could have written sentiments exactly like this one. Rebuilding is difficult, even near-impossible in the SEC when you are are mired in the lower tier. Every year brings more of the same frustration.

Ole Miss, at one time, was a dominant power in the SEC. Will we ever see a return of those halcyon days?

Week 9 -- Fewer games, higher stakes [UPDATED 10/25 0900]

This week is the first week so far this year where we have had two teams with byes in the SEC, and as it turns out, we also have two teams with games against theoretically inferior out-of-conference opponents -- Vandy faces Miami (OH) and Arkansas hosts Florida International, while LSU and Alabama have the weekend off.

That pretty much leaves me only four games to talk about -- two today and two tomorrow.

Georgia at Florida [Jacksonville]

This game has become known as the "Worlds Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party" (someone probably knows why, but I really don't), but the bitter rivalry between these two teams makes it an exciting game. The fact that the loser of this game becomes a likely non-player for the Eastern division championship makes it a huge in terms of conference standing, as well.

NOTE: Paul Westerdawg of Georgia Sports Blog has thoughtfully explained the "WLOCP" moniker to me in a comment below. Here it is so you don't have to hunt:

If you ever come to the Cocktail Party, you will understand how it got its name. Particularly, if you come with people who know how to handle the entire 4 days of the thing.

As Lewis Grizzard once said, another name for it would be the "Annual Celebration of the Repeal of Prohibition".

It's 84k people split equally. Most of whom have been drinking for 3 straight days. Hell, UGA schedules its Fall Break so the students can get down there in a safe and orderly fashion...to drink more.

If you've seen the absurdity of it, you'd understand the name.

Mergz at Saurian Sagacity has the statistics on how the teams have fared historically. Paul Westerdawg of Georgia Sports Blog has relatively low expectations for the contest:

I'm generally a sunshine pumper or at worse a realist. I rarely go into my dark cave of pessimism. But let's look at facts. In 2007, we have struggled with teams that have equal or lesser talent. The Gators are most certainly more talented than the Bulldogs, and you'll have to make one helluva argument that they aren't better coached right now.

Seems a lot of the Georgia bloggers are pessimistic about this game. Doubledawgs at Third Saturday in Blogtober is picking Florida in an ugly blowout. Senator Blutarsky of Get the Picture, however, is keeping the faith, sort of:

The Tennessee game was simply inexplicable. The tough thing right now is that no realistic observer of the Georgia program can say it won’t happen again. That being said, I wouldn’t put it past the coaches and players to put together their most complete effort in a conference game since Auburn last year, either - and, to be fair, under MR, there always seems to be one game every year like that when it all comes together. But I’m not gonna deny that I feel a little shaky about Saturday’s game.

Mlmintampa writing for Alligator Army worries that since Urban Meyer has let the world know about Tim Tebow's injured shoulder, the Dawgs will try to pick on that weakness in an effort to get him out of the game:

Meyer never should have admitted that Tebow has a sore right shoulder. If he had said "upper body injury" like a hockey coach, we wouldn't have to be concerned about things like this;

[Florida center Drew] Miller said there's no question opposing teams have been trying to knock Tebow out of the game, and he's been the subject of cheap shots all season.
"Oh, definitely," Miller said. "In piles, people are grabbing . . . it's just the way it is. They are trying to get any edge that they can have.
"You can't blame them, a guy like that who makes so many plays for us, they're going to do anything they can to get him off the field."

I expect the Dawgs will have a mental target drawn on Tebow's right shoulder, at least in the back of their minds. They know how effective Tebow is, and they also know that Florida without Tebow probably can't beat them.

I have said (and continue to say) that as long as Tebow represents 70% of the offense, the Gators are vulnerable. Unlike Kentucky, they can't just go to the ground game if their starting QB gets hurt -- Tebow is their ground game and their passing game. It is a very strange situation for the normally multi-dimensional Gators, and fraught with peril if Tebow gets hurt any more than a bruise or two.

South Carolina at Tennessee

Wow, what a weird game this is. Normally, we'd be talking about how big the margin is likely to be for the Vols, but not this year. Unfortunately, even with Tennessee's woeful showing against the better teams they have played this year, the Vols still have a chance to win the East. But as in the Florida-Georgia game above, the loser likely becomes lost in the crowd.

Chuck at The Cool Chicken thinks it's a coin toss between the two teams, but picks the Gamecocks to win a fairly close game. Scott Hood writing for Gamecock Central says that this game is "a test of leadership and character":

This week leading up to the Tennessee game in Knoxville is a stern test of the character and senior leadership of the Gamecocks. As Spurrier said at his weekly press conference on Tuesday, USC doesn’t have any players who scream and yell a whole lot. Cory Boyd may come the closest to filling that role.

A team’s psyche is a fragile thing, as USC fans have painfully discovered in the past. A series of unfortunate events can send team morale plummeting.

Garnet and Black Attack takes a look at some of the games both teams have played so far. He says the combination of the Gamecock's futility throwing the ball and the utter failure of the UT defense to stop anyone gives the game an interesting dynamic:

The formula established so far is relatively simple: To beat Tennessee, you need merely to outscore them.

The Gators rolled up 554 yards against Tennessee. California put up 471. On average, the Vols allow 249.0 yards through the air and 157.7 on the ground. The Gamecocks could have some succeess if they focus on getting yards out of Cory Boyd and Mike Davis, as Spurrier has suggested they will.

But the passing game will have to do much better than it did against Vanderbilt.

The closest passing offense of any Vol opponent, statistically, to South Carolina's is Arkansas State, which ranks 60th in the country with 227 ypg. The Gamecocks are 62nd with 225.5 ypg. That's right, South Carolina's passing offense is stastically worse than Arkansas State.

Bottom line -- Can the Gamecocks outscore the Vols with their relatively low-scoring offense? I don't know, but I suspect if Spurrier keeps playing this crazy Chinese fire drill with his quarterbacks, the answer may well be no. This illustrates once again the importance of having a balanced attack -- you never know where opponents will offer you opportunities to score. If UT manages to take away the run from USC, how will the Gamecocks get it in the end zone? Maybe the OBC can put on a helmet and show them how an SEC quarterback is supposed to do it. Barring that, I don't have a clue.

Then we have Tennessee fans, and a more grumpy group can hardly be found anywhere except College Station, Texas. Maybe Fulmer and Franchione should just swap jobs for the rest of the year and see how that works out. Lexvol at Vol Nation is ready to heave coach F under the nearest Greyhound:

The blog today is not some fabricated hack piece written to create a debate. To use stronger terms, this is no longer opinion. This is not a shot at CPF’s weight, or off the field issues. This is not intended to denigrate the body of work that he has amassed at the helm of the UT program. This is stone cold fact in classic Guitar Shots fashion. Phil Fulmer has lost this football team. Either we do not have the talent, or these players have no faith in the current system. The more probable answer is that we are witnessing a combination of both. Look no further than the Hardesty situation to prove this point. This football team needs leadership on the sidelines, and on the field. Until changes are made, the Volnation should realize that 1998 was as good as it gets.

I remember a time when the Volunteer fans used to actually talk about football before a big game. My, how times have changed.

Meyton Panning, a diarist at Rocky Top Talk, takes the opposite tack:

Give Coach time folks. He's proven he can do it. Or do we want to turn the Tennessee Coaching Job into the orange version of the pressure cooker hot seat of schools like Notre Dame or Alabama? Do you want to see Tennessee go through four or five coaches like ND and Bama did? We, the fans, are going to make the Tennessee job look way too daunting and miserably tough for a young hot shot coach to take as he looks to get into a big time program. Why do you think Urban Meyer passed up on his dream job at Notre Dame? Maybe it was because he took an objective look at how demanding and ruthless the ND job is and decided that he would rather seek greener pastures.

Unfortunately, the Alabama drubbing has thrown the Tennessee bloggers into a state of despair, and interest in the South Carolina game among the Vol faithful seems to have given way to ambivalence.

I have witnessed a similar situation at Kentucky during the latter days of Tubby Smith (basketball, I know, but ... Hello! Kentucky fan!). That worked out OK for everybody in the end, but not until a gigantic schism developed in the fanbase which degenerated into hundreds of thousands of vitriolic comments and blog posts, and that rift has yet to fully heal. The Alabama, Florida and Notre Dame quick-fire jobs are not really comparable -- none of those coaches had been their a long time like Fulmer has, and none of them had brought a national championship to their team. Fulmer's situation is frighteningly similar to Tubby Smith's, despite the fact that they coach different sports.

I sincerely hope our neighbors to the South do better than Kentucky did.

South Carolina and the Commodores (Sounds like a singing group!)

Today, I want to get to a game from Week 8 that I have neglected so far, but that is quite significant -- Vanderbilt at South Carolina.

After a couple of days, the blogs on both sides have had a chance to react. First of all, we have Sennsm at The Vanderbilt Tailgate:

DEFENSE. Man that was a great defensive effort. Although I didn't see it I did listen to all of it. Everytime I thought the Gamecocks were going to make a run at us, the defense stood strong. We all know in the past that the defense probably would have wilted. The big stat was that the Gamecocks were 1-12 on third down conversions.

So what happened here is the Commodores beat the Gamecocks at their own game, in their own house. Folks, that just can't be good. I didn't see any of the game, but I do know that the Commodores were #22 in total defense in the nation going into the game, and USC was #35. So you have to think that based on that, the two teams were pretty much true to form -- except when it comes to the final score.

Star & Stripe calls it the most important game since 1937:

On October 23, 1937, the Vanderbilt Commodores hosted the Louisiana State Tigers at Dudley Field in Nashville.

Earlier that year, Leon Trotsky and his associates were executed for trying to assassinate Stalin.

FDR was president of the United States, and he was flexing his muscles in the Supreme Court court-packing scheme.

Daffy Duck premiered for the first time.

The Golden Gate Bridge opened to traffic.

Amelia Earhart disappeared in her bid to become the first woman to fly around the world.

J.R.R. Tolkien's book The Hobbit was published.

And then, on the third Saturday of October that year, the Men of West End wearing Black-and-Gold defeated the sixth-best team in the country, by one point: 7-6.

It was the highest-ranked football team that Vanderbilt had ever beaten since the days that rankings had begun to be given.

And it would be the highest-ranked team Vanderbilt had ever beaten for a long, long time. Then, seventy years later, almost to the day, the Commodores finally, finally did it again.

I'm not quite sure whether to be impressed or depressed by that. I thought Kentucky had it rough, but man, that's just a long, unbroken line of futility right there. Nothing but props to the Commodores, though, they did in this case what Kentucky could not -- come into Spurrier's stadium and hand him a big, fat "L".

But there is still more great Vandy reax to this upset. Matt Wilson at Nashville Ballerz says the time for VU jokes has come to an end -- Vanderbilt is officially ahead of Tennessee in the BCS standings. Man, I thought Fulmer's seat was hot before, but when the Vol faithful here this news ... well, I just don't know what they'll say, but I doubt the Vol fans will be jumping for joy, especially since Vandy just beat Tennessee a couple of years back. I'm thinking the annual grudge match is going to be good, and if Vandy wins again, Flumer is going to find out what it's like to be Zookered.

So how are the Gamecock fans feeling now that they've had a few days of humiliation assimilation? Garnet and Black Attack lists 5 reasons why the result went against Carolina, and I found this one to be the most ironic:

3. The quarterback play was ... ahem ... uneven. Sure, you could look at one half of the line on the Gamecocks' signal-callers and say, eh, not awful. They went 23-of-43 for 256 yards. But the other half of the line is terrible: No TDs, 3 INTs. What do you make of that?

It's truly incredible that a Spurrier-coached team should be so futile at the quarterback spot. It's also questionable coaching by the OBC to keep trying out candidates for the starting spot 8 weeks into the season. The Cool Chicken says something similar:

The loss yesterday to Vanderbilt however, falls squarely on the offensive genius’ shoulders. For the first time, Coach Spurrier did not put us in a position to win the game. For the first time, Coach Spurrier made a decision before the game began that doomed our chances of competing. That decision was to rotate quarterbacks.

I hate to break it to you, CC, but it's gonna get worse before it gets better:

New starter?Meanwhile, Tommy Beecher could compete for the starting job against the Vols. SAVIOR OF THE PROGRAM Stephen Garcia? Not so much.

The Gamecocks might add a third quarterback to the mix. Redshirt sophomore Tommy Beecher, who has not played since the S.C. State game on Sept. 15, could see action because of his mobility. ...

Heh. This looks to me like the Steve Spurrier version of a Chinese fire drill. Gamecock fans are so confusticated and bebothered by this whole debacle that some of them think it might be time to chuck a few boos down from the stands:

I agree that fans should not boo their own team especially when they struggle and especially when it is more the coaches fault. I don't think fans should boo opposing teams either as they enter the stadium. But what was on display this past weekend was, how should we say, "not so good" and a boo was deserved (let the record show however I was not one of those that did boo yet feel the performance by USC deserved it).

Ouch. I don't think we fans should ever boo our teams, ever. Boo the opponent if you must, but support your team. That's my opinion anyway. But I do understand the frustration.

Week 8 -- Some thoughts and some fun

Well, well, some very interesting things going on in the SEC today, some of it just frankly freaking amazing.

It seems that in spite of the absolute pasting they took at the hands of the Crimson Tide this weekend, the Chattanooga Times Free Press thinks that the Vols still have a shot at the SEC title game:

Five of the SEC East's six teams have two league losses. The Vols (4-3, 2-2 SEC) have played two of them, going 1-1, and they will play the other three.

Four of Tennessee's last five regular season games are at home, starting Saturday night with South Carolina -- another two-SEC loss team.

"Like Coach (Phillip) Fulmer told us, the season's not over. Not one bit," UT middle linebacker Jerod Mayo said.

But have the Vols shown anything to make anyone this that optimism is realistic?

Uh, let me answer that for you -- not really, at least, not given the schizophrenic nature of the game they have been playing in place of actual football. Unsurprisingly, Rocky Top Talk agrees:

Despite gross coaching incompetence in all major games but one, UT still has an outside chance at contending for the SEC East. But someone (ahem, Georgia) would have to beat Florida, and UT would have to beat South Carolina, Arkansas, Kentucky and Vandy. I'm tempted to say Florida can punch their card to rematch LSU in the SEC title game, but things have been strange this year. I'm done with predictions.

Well, I can't blame him for that. This SEC season has been full of bizarre twists and turns, and there is no real reason to think that the thing will turn back to normalcy anytime soon. Nobody really would have expected Alabama to obliterate Tennessee like they did, but then again, almost nobody expected LSU to have a loss to Kentucky.

Now, here is an interesting tidbit -- Les Miles says he is going to "review the block on Dorsey". What the hell is there to "review?" All you have to do is look at the thing once.

For any of you that didn't see the game, the Auburn right guard made an egregious chop-block on Dorsey's right knee while he was engaged with another player. How the officials could have missed that call is beyond me, but it was really blatant. Fortunately, Dorsey seems to be OK, but that is the kind of thing that should get players thrown out of the game and suspended for long periods of time.

The thing looked very deliberate to me, as the right guard was going right for Dorsey's knee, which collapsed at an odd and scary angle. How he escaped serious injury is simply beyond my comprehension. Predictably, there is some displeasure among LSU bloggers. Here's what Richard Pittman of Geaux Tuscaloosa had to say:

My third thought is that there is no way in hell the hit on Dorsey was legal. I understand that the Auburn boards are aflutter with activity justifying and/or rationalizing the hit, but there's no way. It wasn't in any respect a legal hit. I'll give the player the benefit of the doubt that he was not out to injure Dorsey, particularly if he comes out and says it publicly.

Obviously, there are some who just a little bit more incensed, but I think Pittman gets it right. Senator Blutarsky at the Georgia Blog Get the picture thinks this was the cheap shot of the year in the SEC.

Auburn, on the other hand, feels there was a bit too much home cooking down on the bayou:

What's up with SEC refs this year? They are absolutely horrible. Are they making up their own rules? In the Florida/LSU game, they called back a kick return from a replay that was definitely disputable. In the Florida/Auburn game, they called a penalty that was eliminated in 2003. Who can forget the replay call in the Ole Miss/Bama game (aside from Bama fans)? In the LSU/Auburn game, they nullified a penalty from a replay, and gave LSU a first down with a horrible spot.

That spot was pitiful, no question.

So Kentucky beats the Tigers after a tough game and a long week. Then, dinged up Kentucky gets beat by Florida after a bye week, resulting in a tough game and a dinged up Florida team. Now, Florida faces a Georgia team coming off a layoff this weekend. Anyone sense a pattern here?

Georgia must be chomping at the bit to get to the Gators, especially on a "neutral" field in Jacksonville. This game could truly be a season changer, put Georgia back into the SEC East hunt and deal a fatal blow to their hated rivals from Gainesville. But David Ching is wary about Tebow's injury, and Paul Westerdawg says Tebow is the reincarnation of Biff Tannen. Twin sons of different mothers, indeed.