BIG WINNERS AND LOSERS AFTER LAST WEEKEND OF OCTOBER
Monday 10/29/01
The last weekend in October lived up to the hype. It truly reduced each division race to 2 teams (most likely, in the West you never know). It separated the pretenders from the contenders and exposed overrated teams, i.e. Auburn and LSU. It was definitely a “thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” weekend. Let’s take a look at who won and who lost on this last weekend of October…
First, let’s look at the SEC East… Well it seems like the more things change, the more things stay the same. Georgia and South Carolina have come along way but it looks like it will still come down to Florida and Tennessee. Florida outlasted in Georgia in an ugly game marred by turnovers and penalties. There really hasn’t been a great game in this series for awhile. Most of the last few have been like this one, a fairly comfortable Florida win but an ugly game. Georgia came to play and had their chances but the Gators were just too strong. Florida definitely emphasized the running game after the debacle at Auburn and had a 100 yard back for the first time this year. TB Ernest Graham was back and ran good except for a few fumbles. In fact Florida ran up and down the field on Georgia but penalties and turnovers continually killed drives. However Florida got the win and if they win at Columbia in two weeks it will come down to the Tennessee game.
The Volunteers won a hard fought battle with the Gamecocks. It was a typical SEC defensive showdown. In the end UT was just a bit better. Tennessee didn’t play the greatest game on offense but did enough to win and now barring an upset to Kentucky or Vandy will have a chance to win the SEC East at Florida. I can tell you right now that my vote for the SEC East MVP has to go to Travis Stephens. He had another 2 TDs and 120 yards on 28 carries against a tough South Carolina defense. Without this guy I don’t know where UT would be. They have other great offensive talent but Stephens is really the foundation the rest of the offense rests on. Kelly Washington also came up big again with 89 yards on 5 carries. A big win for the Vols and barring an upset to either Kentucky or Vandy they will be have a chance to win the SEC East December 1st in Gainesville…
What about the West? There is but one answer to that question and it is the Ole Miss Rebels. I did not think they could do it but they did. They went into “Death Valley” in Baton Rouge on Saturday night and laid the wood to the LSU Tigers. Why did Ole Miss win this game? It was simple to me, they just wanted it more. They played with desperation and purpose. You have got to admire the job head coach David Cutcliffe and his staff has done. I have been a frequent critic of Cutcliffe since he got the job but I tip my hat to him this year. He has done an outstanding coaching job. Of course it all begins with good players especially a good QB. Eli Manning has lived up to his family name and he really does look like the best QB in Oxford since his dad.
He did a great job on Saturday night. He did toss an INT and a few bad passes but was calm and poised the majority of the game and made some great throws as well. The next thing that impresses me the most about Ole Miss is the receivers. Where did these guys come from? Again I think it starts at QB but Ole Miss’ WRs have really stepped up. The OL has been solid and the running backs keep getting better as well. RBs Gunn and Stackhouse continue to make crucial plays. Behind it all Cutcliffe has an established a good offense to let these guys make plays. He rarely uses the shotgun and balances between the run and pass very well. He also uses a lot of play actions, designed rollouts and other things to keep the opposing defense off balance.
Across the field, coach Nick Saban comes in a close second to Auburn’s Tommy Tuberville for worst coaching job of the week. Saban should really start feeling the heat as he has pulled his first “Dinardo” at LSU. Ole Miss is a good team but LSU has a lot of talent and had this game at home. They really should have played much better. Instead Ole Miss looked like they wanted it more and LSU repeatedly turned the ball over. Once again it looks like LSU has lost a crucial game at home that might cost them a trip to Atlanta. However I will say it is tough starting with UT and Florida back to back. That is no excuse for not showing up for this game but it does make winning the West very difficult. There is no doubt that Ole Miss is benefiting from not playing Florida, UT or South Carolina.
The last and least big game of the weekend was a real surprise. Arkansas blew out Auburn at home. Everybody, including me, is a “Monday morning quarterback” but moves like Auburn made beg for criticism. In my opinion, the game turned on one of the stupidest coaching decisions I have ever seen. Auburn had played a bad first half but was only down 14-10 and had the ball at their own 30 yard line with 20 seconds to go. They had just scored so they had the momentum. Easy call huh? Take a knee and then come out and win the game in the second half right? Wrong. Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville calls a screen pass that was intercepted and resulted in an Arkansas TD. So in a matter of seconds Auburn goes from going into the locker room 14-10 to being down 21-10. To me there is no argument, you take a knee. Tuberville just will not do it for some reason. The same thing nearly happened in the Florida game.
That was just one of many bad decisions by the Auburn coaching staff on Saturday. They started the day calling a “soft” defense and hoping the worst QB in the SEC, Arkansas’ Zak Clark, would just continue to be bad. Unfortunately for Auburn since he had no pass rush to deal with, he actually start completing passes. Auburn also came out with a meek offensive attack as well. It seems the game plan was to be very very conservative and hope Arkansas beat themselves. I think it really goes to show this Auburn coaching staff does not have the killer instinct yet and are still coaching like they have a NCAA-constricted Ole Miss team rather than a talented defending SEC West champion Auburn team. Meanwhile Arkansas coach Houston Nutt had his team ready to play.
In the second half Auburn made a run and had a chance but turned the ball over and for some reason stopped playing defense. They could not tackle a 6-5 freshman QB that I think my grandmother could run faster than. Arkansas inserted freshman QB Matt Jones to run the option and he rolled up 100 yards and a TD in the second half. Arkansas then blew the game open on more Auburn mistakes. You have to give coach Houston Nutt a lot of credit. Last year things looked bleak and he ended the season upsetting Miss St and LSU. This year things looked even bleaker and he beats South Carolina and blows out Auburn. He is just tough to beat at home. I think he is 20-3 at home in his time at Arkansas. He really seems to have a knack for rallying the troops when things look bad.
However, make no mistake about it, Arkansas is still not a very good team and Zak Clark is still the worst QB in the SEC. Auburn really had to work hard to get blown out by this team. I really didn’t see anything wrong with the player’s effort till things got out of hand in the second half. The Auburn coaches just came in with a bad plan and continued to make bad calls. Things continued to get worse for Auburn ending in a flurry of personal foul and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties which also reflects on the coaching. Auburn should have plenty of things to work on during their upcoming open week.
Overall Auburn still leads the West with a 4-1 record but have games upcoming at Georgia and LSU plus Bama at home. Ole Miss is right behind them at 3-1. Auburn still leads due to their head-to-head win against Ole Miss but Ole Miss has a little bit easier schedule down the stretch. They have Arkansas, Georgia and Vandy at home plus Miss St in Starkville. It is a bit easier since they have 3 home games but there aren’t any gimmes there except Vandy.
Right now it seems like it will be Auburn or Ole Miss winning the West but either of these teams could easily lose 2 more games. Bama, LSU and Arkansas are still lurking and still have a shot although I still don’t think Arkansas is that good. If Bama or LSU run the table and tie Ole Miss, Ole Miss would win the West but if either runs the table and ties both Auburn and Ole Miss, things would go to the crazy tiebreaker rules and anything could happen…