HOLTZ CONTINUES TO AMAZE
Monday 9/24/01
Old Lou really does continue to amaze me. The man goes from 0-11 his first season to 8-4 the next and then starts out this year with 2 road wins over Georgia and Miss St. Incredible. The man still has the fire. Anyone could see that in the first quarter of the game against State as he ran out on the field during a time out and just read the players the riot act. He was up in their faces just giving it to them. To see a small 60 year old man doing that is really something.
When Lou was hired I was one of those who thought it was a joke. I thought the guy was completely washed up. I thought he just went back partly to get his son the job when he finished up. I think a lot of people thought that but Holtz has completely turned the South Carolina program around. They have recruited better and the players there now are starting to play like they expect to win. Speaking of Holtz’s son, there might be something there too. The guy called an excellent game considering he doesn’t have the greatest offense. He consistently outwitted Joe Lee Dunn and that is a pretty good achievement.
The Gamecocks currently stand at 3-0, 2-0 in the SEC. If they can beat am improving Bama team at home this week they have a good shot at being undefeated and 6-0 (!!!) in the SEC going into Neyland Stadium on October 27. After Bama, they get Kentucky, Arkansas and Vandy and I think it is safe to say they will be favored in all those games. If they can pull it off the UT game could be one of the biggest games in the SEC this year. Who would have thunk it???
Elsewhere in the SEC… The young Auburn Tigers received a sound whipping from Syracuse. Syracuse DE Dwight Freeney lived up to his press clippings and helped terrorize the Auburn offense. Meanwhile the Syracuse offense just ran over the Auburn defense. I wasn’t surprised to see Auburn lose though I did pick them to win but I was surprised to see them get manhandled. The two things that really stuck out to me was the Auburn run defense and the lack of imagination (and blocking) on offense. The Auburn defense was spectacular against the run all last year and started out good this year. However Syracuse RB James Mungro shredded the Auburn defense for 142 yards on 23 carries. Syracuse burned Auburn repeatedly using counters and draws.
Meanwhile, you really have to wonder what Auburn has been practicing on offense. ESPN listed a stat late in the game that showed that Freeney had not even been blocked on over 10 plays. How can that happen? Now some of those plays were runs going away from him but several weren’t and he was all over who had the ball. The other curious thing was the Auburn coaches not using Jason Campbell’s mobility. Auburn’s only touchdown was on a spectacular run by Campbell but most of the time Campbell was a statue in the pocket, a sitting duck for Freeney and Co.
In Tuscaloosa, Bama soundly beat the Razorbacks. Nothing surprising in this game but it was probably a breath of fresh air to Bama fans after the Dubose era where you never knew how any game was going to go. Bama just went out and beat a lesser team fairly convincingly. It sounds easy but it never was for Dubose and Co. I guess the other plus was Tyler Watts efficiently running the offense and tossing a long TD. He seems to be doing the job the coaches want.
In Lexington, Florida slogged its way to a rout of Kentucky. It was a hard game to watch with flags flying every other play. Both teams weren’t playing too well to start but Florida picked it up in the second half and took care of business. It is funny that this is considered a bad game for Florida and QB Rex Grossman. They won the game 41-10 and Grossman threw for 300 yards and 3 TDs with 1 INT. Most SEC teams would kill for a “bad” game like that. I only missed 1 thing in this game, I thought Jabar Gaffney would get his 100 yards receiving too. He only got 80 while his partner Reche Caldwell got the 100 yards.
Well enough about the past, I think everybody is pumped about this next week. It is the biggest week of football in the SEC this year. It is the only week that every team plays, plays in the conference and plays on Saturday. There are so many huge games. We have LSU/Tennessee, Miss St/Florida and South Carolina/Bama plus Arkansas/Georgia, Auburn/Vandy and Kentucky/Ole Miss. It is basically the East vs. the West. It will be a great Saturday of SEC football. It should be fun to watch.