By
Brian Harbach
The SEC Bachstory will be a weekly SEC recap posted every Monday morning breaking down all the big events from the previous weekend. In order to eliminate all confusion, the Bach in Bachstory is pronounced like back (Back to the Future, The Empire Strikes Back, Back in Black), you get the picture.
This week we take a look at another crazy game in Lexington, The Importance of Terrence Cody, LSU’s turnaround game in Columbia and a juicy SEC slate for week 9. As usual the format is the same: please feel free to send me any comments or suggestions. Here we go…
The Weekend That Was
The most talked about game coming into this weekend was the South Carolina/LSU match-up and it really did deliver. Les Miles once again delivered in a big game after a loss and improved his record at LSU after losing a game to 7-0. LSU looked like the physical defense we expected to see in Gainesville last weekend and even without Rick Jean-Francois for the second week in a row, the defensive line stepped up the pressure. Tyson Jackson was a beast, the line overmatched the South Carolina offensive line that really hasn’t looked great all season.
Nothing should be taken away from South Carolina after this game because the Gamecocks played hard and Spurrier took a couple plays out of the Les Miles handbook with the 4th and goal at the end of the first half. They played not to lose that game and while they ended up losing to a better team, it wasn’t a total loss. But Miles has everything back on track after a tough loss in the Swamp. The quarterback rotation looks good, the play calling is solid and the offensive line did a good job against a great South Carolina D-line. It takes a lot to motivate a team after a blow out loss, Miles did a great job this week getting his team ready for a fired up crowd in Columbia and LSU got a big win.
The Weekend That Wasn’t
There are two things that great teams need to have to be great, the first thing is talent and the second thing is the ability to win close games. This season it is evident that Alabama is a great team because they win close games and they have quite a bit of talent. Ole Miss has a lot of talent, but they haven’t been able to win the close games yet. In each of Ole Miss’ four losses they have lost by seven points or less. Houston Nutt has done a great job with this young team and young teams need to lose close games before they learn how to win them.
The Rebels put up a great fight against the Crimson Tide and played a great second half, but turnovers once again killed them and they lost a close game. This season will be a great help to Ole Miss because they look so close and with the experience they are getting on the road in the SEC and with the ups and downs of winning and losing, they will be in a great position for 2009. A bowl game is still possible for the Rebels, but 2008 wasn’t their year. It wouldn’t be surprising that with such a young talented team that they take the lessons from 2008 and make 2009 special.
The Weekend That…What the Heck
It is never too late to start a cliché and it looks like Kentucky can officially be called the Cardiac Cats in 2008. What a wild finish in Lexington and for the second week in a row the most entertaining game of the week was played in Commonwealth Stadium. Arkansas took a 20-7 lead with about ten minutes left in the game only lose it after an amazing rally from the seemingly dead Kentucky Wildcats. Casey Dick ran what should have been a game clinching touchdown late in the 4th, but the play was called back due to an illegal shift on Arkansas and they had to settle for a field goal which gave them that 13 pt cushion.
After that drive it was obvious Rich Brooks was upset, the crowd was angry and it wouldn’t have surprised anyone if they mailed in the rest of the game, but Kentucky fought back. Kentucky scored 14 points in the final five minutes of the game, both of them Randall Cobb touchdown receptions and the Cardiac Cats pulled off an amazing comeback stunning the Razorbacks and keeping their won bowl hopes alive.
The Weekend That Will Be
The Florida/LSU game was pretty much a let down in almost every way for SEC fans, obviously not for Gator fans, but for those who wanted to see two Goliaths go head to head in an epic battle, Florida/LSU didn’t deliver. Come to think of it we really haven’t had a great SEC East, SEC West battle this season with the big boys. UGA/Bama was over at halftime, Auburn/Tennessee are two bad teams and outside of those two there hasn’t been any other big east vs. west games. That will change this weekend when UGA travels to Baton Rouge to reignite a great SEC rivalry that should be a battle.
The last time these two faced each other was in Les Miles first season in the SEC Championship, LSU was favored and UGA blew them out of the Georgia Dome. This is the first game since 2005 and Saturday can’t get here fast enough. This week also gives us another SEC team playing Thursday night with Auburn traveling to West Virginia. Preseason this game looked like it may be one of the best Thursday night has ever had, now it looks like two coaches trying to save their jobs.
Alabama and Tennessee renew their friendly rivalry Saturday night in Knoxville and the game no one is talking about yet, but will be by the end of the week is Houston Nutt’s return to Fayetteville with his new look Running Rebels in tow. The only atmosphere that should be more fun to witness will be Saban’s return to LSU, but the Reverend Houston Nutt should be welcomed back to Arkansas in a fine fashion.
Big Man on Campus (BMOC)
Randall Cobb, Kentucky WR
Not many people know the name yet, but Kentucky Freshmen, Randall Cobb will be a household name by the end of the season. The young Wildcat had a huge game against Arkansas with five receptions for 73 yards and two touchdowns, the second score being the game winner with less than two minutes in the fourth quarter. Cobb also completed two passes for 45 yards in Kentucky’s win over Arkansas. Cobb is a true freshmen from Tennessee and already this season he has already made a name for himself in the Kentucky offense and on special teams. Congrats to Randall, it is hard to believe this is the last time we will see this young Wildcat listed as the BMOC.
Player Now Doing Charlie Work (PNDCW)
As a note to those who do not know what “Charlie-Work” is, do yourself a favor and start watching It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (the episode called “Dennis and Dee go on Welfare” explains it perfectly).
De’Anthony Curtis, Arkansas RB
Curtis’ fumble late in the fourth quarter led to the first Kentucky touchdown that brought the Wildcats within six points of the leading Razorbacks. Kentucky had no answer for Michael Smith who rushed for almost 200 yards, but Curtis had only 16 yards on 9 carries and a number of times he was stopped for a loss late in the game. Curtis was not the only reason the Razorbacks lost the game, but the flood gates opened up with the momentum shift his fumble caused. Like Cobb he is a true freshmen, but he has a ton of talent and while he is doing Charlie Work this week, it won’t be surprising to see him in the good part of this column at some point in the future.
4 Downs with the SEC
First Down – Is Tennessee finally moving forward?
It was a good win for a Tennessee team in desperate need of anything positive, but a closer look shows this is still a team in need of work. New quarterback Nick Stephens completed 10 of his 20 passes for 136 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions. The Volunteer offense only racked up 275 total yards and while the final score looked good, 34-3, 14 of those points came from two interceptions returned for scores and they only averaged about three and a half yards a rush.
Is this enough positive momentum to get Phil Fulmer’s team ready for the second ranked Crimson Tide this weekend or will we see another woodshed beating like Alabama handed Tennessee last year? Alabama knows what kind of football team they, Tennessee is still looking. Both teams have very physical defenses, Tennessee is stronger in the secondary, but Alabama is strong in the front seven. It is always hard to know what to expect in a rivalry game, but we will know very quickly if this win over MSU was a step in the right direction for Tennessee or just a stumble forward.
Second Down – Vandy Continues to play good football
Even in defeat Vanderbilt continues to show improvement week in and week out and they are flat out playing good football. For a school that doesn’t even have an athletic department, they have held their own with the big boys and played a pretty good game against UGA on homecoming in Athens. Vanderbilt gained more yards than Tennessee did in Athens last week, they controlled the ball longer than the Vols and held UGA to fewer points. Vanderbilt is a good football team, they will win seven games this season and they will play in a bowl game. For their sake it better not be the Music City bowl because these guys deserve a longer trip, but they would probably be happy to be anywhere this December.
Third Down – How Important is Terrence Cody?
Alabama continues to win close games and continues to dominate on the offensive line, but Terrence Cody is the biggest reason for the success of the Crimson Tide. The 3-4 defense that Nick Saban likes to run needs a dominant defensive tackle, last year it didn’t work nearly as well without one and Cody is the reason they are so good this season. Alabama was coasting against Ole Miss until Cody went out of the game, the Rebels scored 17 points after he was hurt and a last minute interception put the game away for Alabama.
Alabama is not a very deep team and unlike a team like LSU who can rotate four or five defensive tackles and not have a lot of drop off, Alabama needs Cody to be great on defense. Without him they are just average. The offense seems to be struggling in the second half and their schedule will be getting tougher in the next couple weeks. If Terrence Cody is out of any of the upcoming big games it puts their conference title hopes in serious jeopardy. Let’s hope he is fine and back in the middle of the Alabama defensive line soon.
Fourth Down – November 1st and November 8th will be epic
There is a great schedule of games for this week, but after it is getting difficult to not think about the division races after eight weeks of games and we have a two team race in the East and in the West. Luckily for us we should get some clarification on those races late on Saturday November 8th after Alabama plays LSU in Baton Rouge for the western title, but the previous week we get Florida and Georgia battling it out for the east. Yes, it is still two weeks away until the Cocktail Party and the LSU/Georgia game should be amazing, but the bad blood in both those division games will be so evident it is hard not to get excited about them.
If College Game-day isn’t at these games there is something wrong in the world of College Football because I would walk to those stadiums if I was assured of a ticket. Saban’s return to Baton Rouge, Meyer facing UGA after the stomping incident and his stupid comments in his book. I am getting fired up just thinking about it. These are the games SEC football is all about and this is why we love it. Enjoy this weeks lineup, it is a great one, but the next couple will do nothing but get better.
A lot of stuff went on this past weekend, what were your thoughts? E-mail
me Brian Harbach
The Truth About Sidewalk Alumni, October 16, 2008
Y’all Play Nice - Week Eight, October 16, 2008
The SEC Bachstory, October 13, 2008
The Tony Franklin Fiasco, October 10, 2008
Y’all Play Nice - Week Seven, October 9, 2008
The SEC Bachstory, October 6, 2008
What is Wrong with Clemson, October 3, 2008
Y’all Play Nice - Week Six, October 2, 2008
The SEC Bachstory, September 29, 2008
Pac 10, you have a problem, September 26, 2008
Y’all Play Nice - Week Five, September 25, 2008
The SEC Bachstory, September 22, 2008
Harbach’s Picks - Week Four, September 18, 2008
Y’all Play Nice - Week Four, September 18, 2008
The SEC Bachstory, September 15, 2008
Y’all Play Nice - Week Three, September 11, 2008
The SEC Bachstory, September 8, 2008
Harbach’s SEC Picks Week Two, September 3, 2008
Y’all Play Nice Week Two, September 3, 2008
The SEC Bachstory, September 1, 2008
SEC Picks Week One, August 28, 2008
Y’all Play Nice, August 28, 2008
The SEC Bachstory, August 25, 2008
Y’all Play Nice, August 21, 2008
The SEC Bachstory, August 18, 2008
Has Spurrier Failed at USC?, August 15, 2008
The SEC Bachstory, August 11, 2008
The SEC Bachstory, August 3, 2008
Harbach's Top 5 SEC Offensive Players by Position, July 27, 2008
Harbach's Top 5 SEC Defensive Players by Position, July 27, 2008
Harbach's Top SEC Games, July 13, 2008
Championship Game Hurts SEC, July 6, 2008
Harbach's 2008 SEC Preview, June 30, 2008
Let's Get This Started, June 9, 2008
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