LESSONS LEARNED ALREADY IN WEEK TWO
Monday 9/10/01
Well it doesn’t take long for football to teach you some lessons and leave you mystified as well. Conference play started in the SEC this week and things heated up (or got very wet depending on where you were). At Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn the sun beat down the whole game while in Arkansas it rained the whole time. From watching, listening and seeing how the games came out I definitely learned some lessons this week…
Lesson #1: Never bet on a rookie head coach against Lou Holtz when he has a good team. I guess Bama could invalidate this lesson in a few weeks but this week it proved true as South Carolina won a tough game at Georgia. The Bulldogs almost had it but South Carolina drove down for a big-time game winning TD late. It sounded like Georgia had several opportunities to blow it open but couldn’t convert. Even #1 playmaker Terrence Edwards dropped a sure TD pass. Georgia ran the ball well as they rolled up 113 yards to South Carolina’s 43 yards rushing. However young Georgia QB David Greene threw 2 INTs while steady SC senior Phil Petty threw none. This was a big win for South Carolina as they went into hostile territory and got the win. My hat is off to the Gamecocks.
Lesson #2: I guess Bama/Vandy games will always be close no matter how bad Vandy is. There is no doubt that this Vandy team is not as good as Woody Widenhofer first few teams in Nashville yet the result is the same vs. Bama. This is the lesson that just leaves me mystified. Vandy gave up over 600 yards and 37 first downs last week to Middle Tenn St. That is not bad, it is hideous. Yet this week they keep Bama out of the end zone? Now Bama is certainly no offensive powerhouse but is MTSU that good? I just don’t know the answer. I guess we will find out in a few weeks when MTSU plays Ole Miss and LSU.
Now I will say that it is becoming more obvious what Bama coach Dennis Franchione is doing. Most of us said it before the season but it is still hard watching it. Franchione is playing Gene Stallings football. He thought he could beat Vandy playing conservative and he got away with it. The stats bear out this point, Bama threw the ball 17 times and ran it 43 times. Just do the math, they ran it more than double the times they passed it. Unfortunately Bama’s defense hasn’t been quite as good as expected. Vandy ran up over 300 yards total offense but Bama did keep them out of the end zone. In the coming weeks Bama’s offense or defense must get much better to win. It could happen, like I said before this game can mystify you. Look no further than Tuberville’s first year at Auburn. Auburn barely got by Div 1-AA App St and almost got beat by Idaho the next week. Auburn looked like they wouldn’t win an SEC game all year. The next week they destroyed LSU at home. I guess these football coaches might be able to explain these things but I sure can’t…
Lesson #3: Never forget how big an impact weather can make on a game. It was unanimous all around that UT would crush Arkansas and then the rains came and helped the Arkansas defense a lot. The game stayed close and UT didn’t pull it out till the end. However the final stats bear out the fact that Arkansas currently has one of the worst offenses in the SEC. They can not throw the ball at all and because of that they can’t run the ball. Arkansas had 19 yards rushing and 73 yards passing for sum total of 92 yards total offense for the game. Yeech. It continues to look like it is going to be a long year for the Razorbacks.
Lesson #4: Travis Stephens is the man at RB for the Vols. Many people including myself had their doubts whether senior Travis Stephens could step into the tailback position at UT and do the job that Travis Henry and Jamal Lewis had done before him. Well I think those doubts have been erased as Stephens carried the Vols Saturday night. He carried the ball 41 times and rolled up over 200 yards rushing. That is a player of the week performance.
Another interesting note from the UT game was the emergence of Kelly Washington at WR. He had 96 of UT’s 136 yards passing. There has been a lot of talk about this guy and it looks like he is starting to live up to the hype. UT is going to need him and Travis Stephens big time this next week…
Lesson #5: One of the oldest lessons in sports… It is never over till it is over. Auburn led Ole Miss 27-0 midway through the 3rd quarter and ended up winning 27-21. Auburn had to convert a few crucial first downs at the end to keep Ole Miss from getting a shot at a winning TD. Ole Miss QB Eli Manning lived up to his family name and caught fire in the late stages of the game and finished with 265 yards passing. Manning started tentative mostly due to a stifling Auburn defense but finally loosened up and started picking on Auburn’s inexperienced corners in the second half. He threw some very nice passes very quickly.
Though Manning lost he got most of the attention after the game because of his valiant comeback. I give all due credit to Manning but I also say lookout for Auburn QB Jason Campbell. He threw some clutch passes and showed a few glimpses of his running ability. Both of these guys could be very good very soon.