TIDE TURNS IN SEC WEST
Monday 11/19/01
Andrew Zow. Wow. In a pretty surprising turn of events, the Alabama Crimson Tide utterly annihilated the Auburn Tigers at Jordan Hare Stadium on Saturday. Some people may have predicted a Bama win but I don’t think too many people thought it would be a blow out. I sure didn’t. I didn’t think Andrew Zow would start. He did. I didn’t think there was any way he could lead a win after sitting on the bench for the whole season. He played the best game of his career. I didn’t think Bama could drive the ball consistently on Auburn’s defense. They did not have one three-and-out all day. I thought Iron Bowl rookie Dennis Franchione was at a disadvantage. He thoroughly out-coached his opponent. I thought Auburn was the better team. They were not even close on Saturday.
Bama has not beaten Auburn that bad since 1977. Even Bama national champion teams in 1978, 1979 and 1992 didn’t beat Auburn by that much. If anything the score didn’t completely describe the game. A look at the stats do though… Bama’s Santonio Beard had nearly 200 yards rushing. Ahmaad Galloway added 127. Andrew Zow went 22 for 29 for 221 yards with 2 TDS and no INTs. A brilliant performance by the little-used senior who may have gotten the last and final word on the now 3 year old Zow vs. Watts debate. Coach Dennis Franchione came out with a brilliant game plan of a short passing game and just when they had Auburn on their heels, give it to Beard or Galloway. Auburn didn’t really come close to stopping it all day. I think the stat of the day is Bama converting 9 of 14 3rd downs. They were constantly in 3rd and short.
There really hasn’t been a day like this in Auburn/Bama series since the 1970s. As soon as Bama got the ball on offense it started. Bama’s long drives completely took the crowd out of the game. Across the way, Auburn’s Tommy Tuberville has run into his first crisis at Auburn. At this point, it is not the loss that has the Auburn faithful disgusted but the utter domination and lack of fight on the Auburn side in the game. It is just one game but a blowout loss to Bama at home when you are 7-2 and they are 4-5 is a pretty big thing. I don’t think there is any doubt to the secret of Bama’s domination of this series since Pat Dye left the plains, year in and year out they want it more. The reason for that is up for debate but the proof in on the field.
Elsewhere in the SEC there was almost another big upset but Tennessee escaped disaster against Kentucky 38-35. You have to give kudos to both teams. Tennessee had what it took to pull out the victory when Kentucky came out and jumped all over them while Kentucky continues to play much better football this year. In Oxford there was a mild upset as Georgia whipped Ole Miss dampening further the Rebels fading season. Georgia did it by going back to the running game and just pounding Ole Miss. Reserve RB Verron Haynes put on a show replacing injured starter Musa Smith shredding the Rebels for 192 yards on 26 carries. Georgia QB David Greene didn’t even have 100 yards passing. On defense the Bulldogs just would not let Eli Manning beat them deep. Manning completed 35 passes but they added it up to less than 250 yards.
Miss St played another team close but lost at the end for the second week in a row against Arkansas. The Arkansas running game was in high gear with two 100 yard rushers and another one with 84 yards. The Razorbacks just continue to amaze. Finally the Gators and Gamecocks made the SEC proud by disposing of their ACC rivals. South Carolina did it their old fashioned way running the ball a whopping 55 times and controlling the ball for over 35 minutes. Florida also ran the ball much more than usual and Rex Grossman had his first game with less than 300 yards passing (he just had 290 yards). Also for the first time this year I believe, no Florida receiver had more than 100 yards receiving but the Gators still blew out FSU, 37-13.
So where does that leave us in the SEC? The East is simple. If UT can beat Vandy next week it will set up a winner-take-all showdown in Gainesville on December 1. The West is a bit more complicated. There is a good chance of a tie between 3 teams. Auburn still leads and would automatically go if they beat LSU. However if LSU beats Auburn in two weeks and beats Arkansas this week they would tie Auburn. The same is true for Arkansas if they beat LSU (and LSU beats Auburn). Could it really be true that the Hogs could go to the title game??? I think it is. If it is just a two-way tie between Auburn and LSU or Auburn and Arkansas then LSU or Arkansas goes because they won head-to-head. However if Ole Miss beats Miss St then you would have a three-way tie. I believe the LSU/Arkansas winner would go at that point because they have a better divisional record. Both Auburn and Ole Miss have at least 2 SEC West losses while the Arkansas/LSU winner would only have 1 and their other 2 losses would be to the SEC East. Confusing? Yes but it is getting simpler every week…