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 the end at Tennessee showing some heart, LSU losing at home again, Houston Nutt in Baton Rouge and Rivalry weekend in the SEC. We are going to change up the format a little bit this week since there were so few games last weekend. Instead of our normal 4 downs, we are going to do 5 predictions for rivalry weekend…
The Weekend That Was
The state of Mississippi woke up this weekend and decided to make a couple statements, starting with Ole Miss’ beat down of LSU. The Rebels put it on the Bengal Tigers as the Rebel defense played their best game of the season and the offense got the performance they needed out of Jevan Snead. Snead passed for 274 yards and two touchdowns in the victory and he was able to avoid making any costly mistakes that had hurt the Rebels in big games earlier in the season.
Houston Nutt managed to pull some plays out of the Les Miles playbook with a perfectly timed fake punt that ended up with a 33 yard pass for a first down. LSU was on their heals the entire game, they were unable to run the ball, Jarrett Lee made a number of bad throws before being knocked out of the game with an ankle injury and once Jordan Jefferson had to come it, the Rebels had the game well in hand. Ole Miss controlled the ball for nearly 35 minutes in a game that was never close and LSU was unable to make the same comeback they had a week earlier.
Speaking of comebacks, the Mississippi State Bulldogs showed a ton of heart in a comeback victory over Arkansas that had them down 14 points early in the game as they rallied to beat the Razorbacks 31-28 in their final home game of the season. Anthony Dixon showed up big for the Bulldogs with 3 touchdowns and over 200 yards rushing and receiving. An upset over Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl could give State the momentum they need to move into 2009.
The Weekend That Wasn’t
Mercifully Jarrett Lee was injured in the game against Ole Miss and this was probably a good thing for him because if he would have stayed in and lost that game he may not have made it out of the stadium alive. Lee has regressed in every game since his amazing performance against Auburn in September. He has thrown 16 interceptions this season, seven of which have been returned for touchdowns by LSU’s opponents. It is so strange to see him on the sidelines after a mistake because no one goes near him.
It is like he is a pitcher who is throwing a no-hitter, every one ignores the pitcher so he doesn’t get jinxed or lose his focus. In Lee’s situation they are ignoring him because they don’t want to make the situation even worse. He seems like he could fall apart at any minute and he has a severe lack of confidence in his abilities. Keep in mind that Jarrett is a very young player, he is only a red-shirt freshman and other young SEC quarterbacks have struggled this season as well. The injury may be a blessing in disguise so they can shut him down and get him prepared in the off-season to play in 2009. His psyche is hurt badly and he needs to take a couple steps back and just relax on the sidelines.
The Weekend That…What the Heck
In what may have been the second ugliest game of the season, Tennessee upset the home team Vanderbilt Commodores to save some of Phil Fulmer’s dignity before he is gone as head coach. Six turnovers, two pick six’s and under 500 yards of total offense between the two teams tried to show up Auburn and Mississippi State’s epic 3-2 battle from early September, but this one had more points. Tennessee threw a total of 9 passes in this game and while they managed only 243 total yards, it was enough to beat their in state rival.
The Weekend That Will Be
There is not a better weekend in college football than rivalry weekend, Championship Saturday is fun, but it has been ruined by other teams playing games on a previously special day. Rivalry weekend gives us Florida State/Florida, Clemson/South Carolina, Good Old Fashioned Hate, the Battle for the Boot, the Egg Bowl and the Iron Bowl. No games matter more to the players and no games are more talked about by the fans.
Every game in college football matters, but this weekend is the one every team looks forward to all season long. The drama is always better, the stakes are always higher and the losses last a lifetime. This weekend I hope to be sitting in a bar with one of my high school buddies that was in my wedding while the drama unfolds in front of our eyes. This weekend kicks off with LSU/Arkansas and Ole Miss/MSU on Friday and the rest on Saturday, make sure you don’t miss a minute of the games, it is going to be a great weekend of SEC football.
Big Man on Campus (BMOC)
Peria Jerry, Ole Miss Defensive Tackle
The Ole Miss defense looked incredible against LSU, but the man who stood out the most was Peria Jerry. The senior defensive tackle had two and a half tackles for loss and helped lead the Rebels in giving up only 37 rushing yards to a very good LSU rushing attack. It was Jerry’s tackle of Jarrett Lee that knocked Lee out of the game and caused Jordan Jefferson to run the show for the rest of the game. Jerry committed to Ole Miss in 2004, went to prep school and was on campus in 2005. He has been a great player for the Rebels for years and now with a good team behind him he should be able to reap the benefits in January and possibly in the NFL draft in April.
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).
CBS Sports
This weekend CBS decided to use its second double header of the season and instead of putting the two games on in the normal 3:30 PM and 8:00 PM time slots, they decided to go for earlier starts of 12:00 PM and 3:30 PM. The Georgia/Georgia Tech game will kick off at noon, which is always a disadvantage for the home team. Of course the home crowd is always ready for a rivalry game, but that early a kickoff is just stupid for such a big game. This is just another reason why CBS is bad for the SEC and why I was so upset that Fox didn’t attempt to steal the SEC away from CBS this past summer.
5 Predictions for Rivalry Weekend
1) Tommy Tuberville saves his job this weekend It seems like the Auburn decision makers are in need of a reason to keep Tuberville around for another year. A win over Alabama would do that improving his record to 8-2 against the Tide would be enough to keep him in Auburn for another season. Tuberville has never lost to Georgia and Alabama in the same season as the Auburn head coach, Auburn pulls the upset of the season this weekend.
2) Rich Brooks will retire Sunday after beating Tennessee Rich Brooks already has named his successor in offensive coordinator Joker Philips. A win over Phil Fulmer at home would be the icing on the cake for a nice three year run at Kentucky where the team will have gone to three straight bowl games. This has been Brooks’ best coaching job at Kentucky with all the players they lost last season on offense, he steps down Sunday afternoon.
3) South Carolina will make Dabo Sweeney a hero in Clemson South Carolina has pretty much sewed up the Outback bowl and the game against Clemson will be all about pride for the Gamecocks. Dabo Sweeney is desperate for a win and a chance to guarantee one more game as head coach in a bowl. Clemson will play inspired and South Carolina will play sloppy, Sweeney gets the Clemson job on the heels of a big win over their in state rival.
4) Florida/Florida State will be over by Halftime Florida State has played one other team this season that runs the ball out of an option or spread format and that was Georgia Tech. Tech ran for 288 yards against the Seminoles and Tech is not the Florida Gators. Home game or not, the Gators are going to run all over FSU and the game will be well in hand by halftime. The next two weeks will be Tebow’s chance at a repeat Heisman and he will show up big this weekend to get some good voter momentum.
5) Georgia will blowout Georgia Tech UGA has had a relatively disappointing year and they really haven’t played great in any game this season. This is there chance to come out and reassert their dominance in the state of Georgia and remind everyone why they were a preseason number one. This game has typically been close, but with it being the possible swan songs for Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno in Athens, they go out with a bang.
Special Note
I want to take a second to mention a couple things for those of you who will be traveling for Thanksgiving and to games this weekend. If you are unable to read Russ Mitchell and my “Y’all Play Nice” column this Thursday this is my only chance to get this in. I want to wish everyone a fun and safe Thanksgiving weekend, I hope you all get to spend time with family and eat some great food.
I am thankful for a lot this year starting with all the people who have read my columns and sent me emails. It means a lot to me that you guys let me know what you think and let me know when you disagree. I also want to thank Pete Fiutak for giving me the opportunity to write for CFN, there is nothing better than talking SEC football and interacting with the fans who love it as much as me. Finally, I am thankful for the next two weeks of SEC football we have. I love rivalry weekend and the SEC Championship Game, College Football doesn’t get any better than this.
Another crazy weekend in the SEC, what did you guys think? E-mail
me Brian Harbach
Y’all Play Nice Week Thirteen, November 20, 2008
So You Want a Playoff, November 19, 2008
The SEC Bachstory, November 17, 2008
Y’all Play Nice Week Twelve, November 13, 2008
The SEC Bachstory, November 10, 2008
Y’all Play Nice Week Eleven, November 6, 2008
The SEC Bachstory, November 3, 2008
Y’all Play Nice Week Ten, October 30, 2008
The SEC Bachstory, October 27, 2008
The Return of Houston Nutt, October 23, 2008
Y’all Play Nice - Week Nine, October 23, 2008
The SEC Bachstory, October 20, 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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