Week Nine Pitching Duel In Jordan-Hare
Week #9 In College Football Brought to You by DRTWRX LLC
“Nothing is successful without a solid foundation!”
It is a lighter than normal week around The SEC and nationally in college football. Around the SEC the premiere game is in Jacksonville, FL for “The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” when state-line rivals Florida and Georgia get together for either the 100th or 101st time in football. The Gators claim their all-time record at 44-54-2 while The Dogs claim 55-44-2. Who knows what the record really is, but if our friends from across the state in Tuscaloosa have taught us anything, in college football you just claim anything you like!
Nationally we count only two AP Top 25 matchups around the country this Saturday. The best game of the week will be #8 Oregon at #13 Utah followed by #18 Louisville hosting #20 Duke. Both games will have conference championship implications but only Oregon at Utah could have national ramifications. Nevertheless, although the weekend seems like a “yawner”, any slips by Top 25 teams in this slower weekend environment could very easily end any national championship aspirations.
Four teams with championship dreams within The AP Top 25 all have bye weeks this Saturday including #2 Michigan, #9 Alabama, #15 LSU and #16 Missouri. All four of these teams could not have set this time off any better had they tried. For some reason, Halloween weekend in college football always proves to be tricky for favorites looking to “whistle past the graveyard” on their way to a college football playoff berth. Let’s take a look at a few teams nationally who should tread carefully this weekend below.
Georgia –14 vs Florida – The #1 Georgia Bulldogs will square off against an improving plus bitter rival Florida Gator program at 2:30 CST on CBS as the national SEC Game of the Week Saturday. The two-time defending national champion will be without all-world tight end Brock Bowers as he recovers from surgery for a nasty ankle sprain. Despite the injury to Bowers, both teams should be healthy and well rested with off weeks last Saturday. The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party has provided college football with some of the most memorable moments in its approximately 100-year history.
“Run Lindsay, Run”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOhWVvsrq5k
“Florida’s broken our hearts. They’ve just ripped our hearts out of our chest and stomped on our heart and ruined our national title. They’ve broken our hearts in the dark of Jacksonville night and they don’t care.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIzcqArsYwI
“Watch this for excessive celebration”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJAQjqZg_zI
“How about a little revenge?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmMGbCXmpks
These are the type of classic games that The SEC must protect on a yearly basis moving forward despite expansion. Statistically UGA leads UF in almost every category within the league offensively. Both teams are almost the same defensively. Schedule wise, Georgia has had it much easier the first half of the season while Florida has much tougher sledding at Utah and against Tennessee. Georgia’s best game this season came against an overrated Kentucky team at home and at night. Look for old-school football in Jacksonville this Saturday and perhaps another miracle “Run Lindsay, Run” play for Georgia to skate by Florida in a low scoring affair. UGA 24, UF 21.
Ohio State –14.5 at Wisconsin – If this matchup does not have a “classic letdown game” feel to it please find one better this week that does. Ohio State travels to Madtown Saturday for a rare 6:30 CST Big Ten game on NBC. The Undefeated Buckeyes are coming off a strong win at home against Penn State while 5-2 Wisconsin slipped past hapless Illinois on the road this past Saturday. Badger Head Coach Luke Fickell is no stranger to Ohio State. He played nose guard there from 1993-1996, coached there in various roles for over 15 years and was The Interim Head Coach at Ohio State in 2011. No doubt he will have his team ready for both his playing and coaching alma mater. If Wisconsin can win here at home, the rest of the season sets up nicely for a 4-0 finish. Badgers jump on the Buckeyes early but give it away late. OSU 24, UW 21.
Oklahoma –10 at Kansas – The Sooners luckily skated by Gus Malzahn and UCF last week at home 31-29. Ranked #6 in The AP Top 25, Oklahoma certainly did not look like it. The Jayhawks on the other hand watched that game while resting on their couches during the bye week. Fortunately for Oklahoma, the game this Saturday in Lawrence will be early and not at night. This will be the Kansas Super Bowl and they will be lying in wait here ready to bushwhack Boomer Sooner. Out of all the championship contenders left in The Top 25, Oklahoma seems to be the most vulnerable on Saturday. Is Kansas man enough to take down Oklahoma for the first time in 1997? Upset alert time on Halloween! UK 44, OU 41.
Texas –20.5 vs BYU - #7 Texas will host a feisty bunch of Mormons from BYU traveling down to Austin from Utah Saturday afternoon at 2:30 CST on ABC. These two teams have locked horns 5 times historically with BYU actually leading the series 4 wins to 1 loss. UT starting QB, Quinn Ewers, has a shoulder injury, will not play Saturday, and may be out for a couple of weeks. Super recruit Arch Manning (you recognize the name) may see some playing time this week. Salty BYU took care of business at home last week against Texas Tech 27-14 while wounded Texas went down to the wire with old rival Houston winning 31-24. This is a Cougar program that has historically been able to not only hang as underdogs with favored teams, but to upset them as well. A loss here would devastate any Texas National Championship hopes. This game is tight, but somehow and someway, the stars of Texas will find a way. UT 24, BYU 21.
https://www.secsports.com/schedule/football
Texas A&M –14 vs South Carolina – Two programs struggling but The Gamecocks are just putrid. TAM 42, USC 20.
Tennessee – 3.5 at Kentucky – The Wildcats stayed home resting on bye last week while The Volunteers melted down against The Crimson Tide. UK 27, UT 25.
Ole Miss – 25 vs Vanderbilt – Rebels should light Commodores up Saturday Night in Oxford, MS. UM 44, UV 12.
Auburn – 6 vs Mississippi State
These two teams have met on the field 96 times with Auburn leading the series 62-31-3. The Bulldogs have taken the last two games from The Tigers under the guidance of deceased Mike Leach. RIP Pirate, the entire free world misses you! As a child of the 1980s, Miss. State was the type of team that Auburn under Pat Dye absolutely dominated.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI0uv2BMk_I
Despite the games found in the link above showcasing what Auburn once was, Auburn is 5-5 vs Mississippi State in the last ten years. My, how the program has fallen. Four hours and only a little under 250 miles separate these two land-grant universities. Expansion will unfortunately cause this long-time SEC game to be played much less. How will the SEC carry on without former gems like this 3-2 score below?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbFypMKns8w
Or how about the time Bulldog Head Coach, Jackie Sherrill, accused an Auburn punter of injecting helium into the footballs he kicked for added distance?
After the SEC's investigation revealed "no irregularities" in Daniel's ball, Sherrill disputed reports claiming that he actually accused Daniel of actually pumping his ball with helium, saying he only asked officials to check if the balls Auburn used were "illegally under-inflated."
"The facts are the balls were not legal balls," Sherill said. "The facts are the balls were taken out of the game."
Or that time Jackie Sherrill (notice a trend) castrated a bull in front of his team after practice before a game for “motivation” and “education purposes”. Yes, this actually happened.
https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1992/09/15/castration-was-for-education/
Needless to say, there have been years of crazy, characters, blow-outs, tight games, cowbells, accusations, and everything else that epitomizes the college football world between these two teams. One time, State Head Coach Dan Mullen, actually accused Auburn of buying a little known QB named Cam Newton from attending the school in Starkville for the one in Auburn. That worked out well for one of the teams involved and we will let you take a gander at which one it was.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO7RXaHDSbg
So, here we are after all these years with once again Auburn hosting Miss State in football. The Tigers have the worst offense in The SEC while Miss State has the 3rd best defense in the league according to the official SEC website. As of post time, several Bulldog players are injured including starting QB Will Rogers. With Rogers not playing against Arkansas last week, MSU had a grand total of 205 yards in a win 7-3. Despite no Auburn QBs being hurt, Auburn managed just 275 yards at home against Ole Miss in a loss 28-21. The Tigers had six three and outs while scoring ZERO points in that game during the 3rd Quarter. With such offensive production between the two teams, it is hard to understand why the over/under in this game is 43.5 and not 6.5.
Quite frankly, if Auburn incessantly continues to rotate QBs in and out between not just series of plays but sets within series of plays, it will be hard to understand if they win another game this year. Auburn fans expressed their frustrations finally Saturday Night with booing, cracks are beginning to show with players, coaches on the defensive side of the ball may have fought at practice last week, and Head Coach Huge Freeze is still searching for answers with November looming just around the corner. Why would anyone on Earth believe that Auburn is man enough offensively to not only win this game Saturday, but any game left on their schedule? Prove it to me, Auburn! Bulldogs repay the 2008 favor in Jordan-Hare this time. MSU 3, AU 2.
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