Wow, talk about a long, wonderful day. Haha. I woke up WAY late, left Memphis around 7:30, pulled into Nashville right at 11 and made it to my seats 10 minutes before kickoff. After the game, my better half and I sat behind our car in the parking garage, drinking our Coca-Cola and eating peanuts, and watched Oregon thrash Michigan pretty soundly in the first half en route to a 39-7 victory.
We stayed in Nashville for a while and made a day out of it, shopping, then eating at Cracker Barrell, etc. We headed home, and I got to listen to the entire first half of South Carolina and Georgia, So Miss give Tennessee everything they had, then some of Missou and Ole Miss, a lil Kentucky vs Kent, the weather delay that was Arkansas St and Memphis (lightning is serious, ya'll), the Mississippi State / Tulane game, and LSU's thumping of Va Tech. This game was over before it started.
Either way, we got back to Memphis, picked up my daughter from her grandparents' house, and headed home. And when I got home, much to my surprise, Auburn and South Florida were in a knock-down-drag-out fight. I got to see Fannin fumble the football two straight plays. I got to see Brandon Cox look about as bad as JP Wilson did yesterday, and I got to see South Florida have worse kicking woes than us.
And then I got to see the overtime. GLORY, GLORY, HALLELUJAH! Haha. What an awesome day.
Anyway, here we go with a recap from not only yesterday's Bama game, but other games I DVR'd yesterday and went back to watch quite a bit of.
John Parker Wilson looked God-awful today. We sat in the endzone near the Vandy student section, and were able to see a good bit of what he was seeing on the field, and the bottom line is that he just couldn't make the throws. He hit a 30+ yarder to DJ Hall early in the first "real" drive (after we were already up 7-0) that was as beautiful a fade route as you'll ever see, but he missed several guaranteed touchdown passes, and over/under-threw his receivers all day. He threw the ball behind them, too far in front, led defensive backs all day, and basically telegraphed everything he did. Which leads to the next point...
The offensive line is a BEAST. They came out and smacked Vandy in the mouth early and often, and opened up holes for not just Grant, but Coffee and Johns as well. I like the multiple running backs scheme...keeps everyone fresh. I mean, seriously, could you imagine this team with Mike Ford and Jamar Taylor (the two backs for South Florida) on it as well? We wouldn't ever have to throw a pass. Haha.
The defense is, of course, BIG TIME underrated. If you're paying attention, more often than not, Saban is running with 4 down linemen. This so called "3-4 defense" is really just a 4-3, with versatile defensive ends. They stay on the line of scrimmage, and it's awesome.
The secondary is telegraphing when they're going to blitz and when they're not. They need to change their body language because good teams will pick up on this. Castille and Johnson both need to work on it. I called it three times from sitting in the stands, so I know they had to have seen it on the field.
Rolando McClain is a man. Period. He put some hits on some of Vandy's players that they'll be feeling for a couple of weeks. Very fun to see another guy that hits similar to DeMeco Ryans. Very very very fun.
Watching Coach Saban get onto Marcus Carter in the 3rd quarter for trying to pick up a fumble and run with it - rather than just fall on it - was absolutely awesome. Another fun thing to watch was Coach Saban basically riding Nick Walker all day like a beat-down mule. If kids make mistakes, they have to learn what the consequences are. And the consequences just so happen to be Coach Saban up your ass for the rest of the game. Next time, Marcus, just jump on the football. Don't be a damn hero.
I know we've talked about this before, but jeez. How bad would you feel to be booed when you run onto the field at your home stadium? It was probably 3/4ths Alabama fans. The entire endzone, and both sides of the stadium were nothing but Bama fans with some Vandy fans stuck in the middle. It was ridiculous - but incredibly awesome to see. The streets were nothing but Bama fans before and after the game. Props to Vandy's fans though. They're an incredibly classy bunch. Even after the game was over, the students still in the student section were still cheering on the team. And I don't think it was because they had been drinking.
We've got a lot to work on before next week, but I think we're playing solid, aggressive football right now. Tweaking the quarterback play and working on hiding things with the defense a little more will surely lead to good things. Also, for the love of God --- somebody tackle somebody please.
Steve Spurrier actually may have a team that could win the SEC East this year. They get Florida at home, but sadly they've gotta go play LSU in Baton Rouge. With the win over Georgia, they've proven they can win on the road...but I don't know if this is a year where they can beat LSU. Not that Va Tech has really proven they're a good team...but damn that was whoopin.
Georgia looked like they didn't have a clue what they were doing offensively or defensively, and if South Carolina could pull that off, just imagine what Coach Saban can do. Of course, we're not thinking about them yet. Saban was already breaking down game film of Arkansas on the trip back to Tuscaloosa from Nashville. The question will be asked all week...can we stop McFadden? I think so.
South Florida lined up and just smacked Auburn in the mouth quite a few times. Tiger mishaps really killed them in this game - most notably the turnovers, but mainly the boneheaded decisions by the players and coaching staff alike.
Mike Ford is the REAL DEAL. And so is Taylor. Having these two on our team would almost be like the stockpile that USC has - just a stable of running backs that could all start pretty much anywhere in the country.
Grothe is a gamer, straight up. That kid, no matter what happened, always knew they were going to win the football game, and he showed it. His poise is absolutely ridiculous. With South Florida's win over Auburn, and Cincinnati's beatdown of Oregon State this past Thursday, along with Louisville, Rutgers, and West Virginia, the Big East looks like they may be something serious this year. Of course, they could end up like the SEC and have everybody knock off everbody else, which could be somewhat comical...but either way.
LSU absolutely beat the dog-shit out of Virginia Tech. And that's about as nicely as I can put it. LSU's offense just pushed around Tech's defense. LSU's defense just pushed around Tech's offense. The game was over after the first quarter, where LSU had a 24-0 lead. Flynn led LSU to scores on four of their first five drives. Perriloux got more work after he came in, leading them to two more scores.
Of course, you can always look at the other side. Virginia Tech didn't play very well last week either, and they were at home against East Carolina (who isn't awful, but isn't top-notch competition either). It is extremely possible that LSU has just destroyed two not-very-good football teams. That's my guess for right now because there are still holes in that offense that I saw against Mississippi State, and if Henig hadn't thrown more interceptions than completions, then that would've been a different game.
LSU fans were actually nice before the game. They didn't throw any beer bottles. They didn't chant "Tiger Bait." They didn't try to tip over the Va Tech buses. It was an overall friendly attitude - until kickoff. Then it got nasty.
Michigan looks like the worst coached football team in the country. And I don't think Lloyd Carr really cares. It's a shame for the Wolverine faithful, but damn - 39-7 at home to Oregon? God bless America.
BYU didn't cover the spread against UCLA this weekend. Neither did Hawaii. Those two teams ALWAYS made money last year. What the hell?
I REALLY wanted Fresno to beat Coach Franphoney. Oh well.
I think Kentucky will beat Louisville in a couple of weeks. They're really clicking. Kent State isn't a bad football team (they just beat Iowa St last weekend) and they put the whoopin on em by 42. Louisville couldn't stop Middle Tennessee from scoring, so they sure won't be able to stop Kentucky.
You remember a couple of years ago when Oklahoma absolutely steamrolled everybody before they got clobbered in the Big 12 title game and the Sugar Bowl? This year's Oklahoma team is looking eerily similar. Fran talked a little bit of trash in the pre-season, and it's possible his team could get spanked to the tune of 77-0 again. Haha.
Notre Dumb got smacked around some. Penn State looks like a pretty damn good football team. I dig it.
Well, I suppose that's it for now. We'll get into Arkansas preview mode tomorrow.
¶ 9:30 AM
John Parker Wilson looked God-awful today. We sat in the endzone near the Vandy student section, and were able to see a good bit of what he was seeing on the field, and the bottom line is that he just couldn't make the throws. He hit a 30+ yarder to DJ Hall early in the first "real" drive (after we were already up 7-0) that was as beautiful a fade route as you'll ever see, but he missed several guaranteed touchdown passes, and over/under-threw his receivers all day. He threw the ball behind them, too far in front, led defensive backs all day, and basically telegraphed everything he did. Which leads to the next point...
