Scout.com: Harbach Blog...SEC Bachstory Dec 1

Harbach Blog...SEC Bachstory Dec 1

Alabama Center Antoine Caldwell

By Brian Harbach

Collegefootballnews.com
Posted Dec 1, 2008

The SEC Bachstory will be THE SEC column to catch up on the big events from the past weekend. Each Monday morning the best and worst of the SEC will be dissected and discussed.

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.

There is a lot to get to this week so don’t feel bad if your team gets left out. After an amazing last weekend of the SEC regular season we are going to look at Sylvester Croom stepping down, Alabama the undefeated, Casey Dick the Hero and one heck of a SEC Championship game. As usual the format is the same: please feel free to send me any comments or suggestions. Sorry this is a day late, but here we go…

The Weekend That Was

There may not be a better way to end a six game losing streak to your biggest rival than the way Alabama took away Auburn’s chances of seven straight Iron Bowls as they gave the Tigers their seventh loss of the season. Alabama was everything that the number one team in the nation should be, they were dominant on both lines, they did not make any mistakes and they took advantage of all of Auburn’s missteps. The fans deserved this win and the seniors who received a curtain call deserved that as well. It was very fitting to see John Parker Wilson and Antoine Caldwell subbed out late in the game so the fans could show their appreciation to the two seniors. It was a great moment in a game filled with moments the Tide players and fans will not forget for at least 364 days.

One other moment from this weekend that really stands out was the inspired play of Tennessee in Philip Fulmer’s last game as the Tennessee Head coach. They didn’t gain a lot of yards, but Jonathon Crompton completed 75% of his passes and did not throw an interception, the Vols didn’t turn the ball over the entire game. Tennessee controlled the clock for over thirty four minutes and you know the old offensive lineman Fulmer loved rushing the ball 53 times and punching in a touchdown on fourth down at the end of the first half. Fulmer deserved that win, he deserved to go leave those stands being cheered instead of being booed.

The Weekend That Wasn’t

Once again the Georgia Bulldogs fall flat in a big game that they were supposed to be fired up for. Is it possible that Mark Richt’s cheerleader antics and wardrobe planning has fallen flat in Athens or are his Bulldogs simply getting out-coached? This season has had three big blowups for UGA, it started with the third and probably last blackout against Alabama, then there was the Cocktail Party nightmare and finally Georgia gives up 45 points at home to a team that threw for a total of 19 yards in the game. That was not a typo, Georgia Tech gained 428 total yards, and 19 of them were through the air.

How it is possible to win a game with no passing threat is beyond me, but UGA pulled off their own disaster tri-fecta against the Yellow Jackets while Tech ran the same option play with no response from the Dawgs. Mark Richt’s most talented team in Athens lost three games and they will likely lose their best two players as early entries to the NFL draft. Where Richt goes from here is an interesting question. He has done a lot for the University of Georgia, the fans love him, but he has never been in a national title discussion in 8 seasons and his teams have been consistently undisciplined on and off the field. He is in no danger of losing his job or being on the hot seat, but I would not be surprised to see more of a business approach from the UGA Head Coach next season.

The Weekend That…What the Heck

Bobby Petrino has shown flashes of brilliance in his first season as the Arkansas head coach, there have not been a lot of highlights this season for the Razorbacks, but last Friday against LSU was definitely the cherry on top of a rough season. In a crazy game with both Dick brothers got significant snaps, Arkansas pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the SEC this season against visiting LSU.

LSU has struggled consistently this season, but they are still a much better team than Arkansas. The end of the game was amazing with fifth year senior Casey Dick who threw the game winning score with about 30 seconds left. This game was excellent momentum for Bobby Petrino going into 2009. He will have an excellent QB in Ryan Mallet, a great running back with Michael Smith and his team should return 19 starters next season. The Razorback fans should begin to expect big things from Petrino starting next year.

The Weekend That Will Be

The only game in town puts what are probably the two best teams in the country up against each other in the SEC Championship Game. The number one ranked Alabama Crimson Tide against the number two Florida Gators play for the right to be in the BCS National Championship game. Of course I go with the AP rankings because that is the only poll where the voters watch all the games. The two best teams in the conference, the two best coaches in the conference with two of the best programs in the history of the conference. The Georgia Dome could not ask for anything more and all eyes in the country will be on Atlanta to see who the first half of the BCS Championship Game will be. One team from the SEC will be in Miami for sure, it is unclear who will be their opponent.

Big Man on Campus (BMOC)

Casey Dick, Arkansas QB
Casey Dick started the season as a hero with two huge fourth quarter drives to save the Razorbacks from unknown embarrassment and Bobby Petrino from early pressure. Dick has come full circle in his last game for Arkansas when he threw for a last second touchdown to London Crawford against LSU last Friday. The 24-yard touchdown pass came in the last 30 seconds of the game and it was just enough to get the Razorbacks a one-point victory over LSU for the second year in a row. Both Casey and Nathan Dick played in the game, but Casey was the headliner throwing for 197 yards, two scores and no interceptions. Not a bad way for a senior to end his last game at home.

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).

The LSU Defense
The LSU defense has been inconsistent to put it nicely this season, but when the team is winning by six points with 30 seconds to go you just can’t give up a 24 yards touchdown pass to lose the game. The Tiger defense could be one of the most talented groups in the country with future NFL stars up and down the field and on the bench. The depth at defensive tackle is unheard of and rivals Southern Cal, but they did not play like it all season long. The last second TD pass against Arkansas was the final straw in a seriously underachieving season for the LSU defense. They need to spend some serious time doing Charlie Work before the bowl game because there are a lot of things to fix before they step foot on the field again.

4 Downs with the SEC

First Down – Spurrier has failed at South Carolina
Earlier this summer I wrote a column. questioning the job that Spurrier had done at South Carolina so far. I thought considering his SEC track record that he had not lived up to the hype that a coach of his stature brings in and bottom line he has not been great for South Carolina. I received a lot of heat from the Gamecock fan base and while most of them thought I was a little dramatic, a 7 win this season was something they were not willing to accept. We sit at the end of season with a 7 win South Carolina team after another bad loss to Clemson and my opinion on Steve Spurrier’s job at South Carolina has not changed a bit.

One of my favorite e-mailers is a South Carolina fan and back in August this was his assessment of the South Carolina and Spurrier this year. ”I didn’t wake up one morning and expect to win 10 games but I thought for sure last years team was an 8-win caliber team and 7-5 at the absolute worst. If Spurrier goes 7-5 with the team this year, it is basically inexcusable.” That could not be more dead on. Spurrier’s inability to groom a quarterback and bring in an SEC quality offensive linemen has been his downfall. The Gamecocks have always had better than average talent, they are getting below average coaching right now. I am not sure if Spurrier has lost something or if the South Carolina job is just too difficult, but he isn’t getting the job done and it is safe to say now that he has failed.

Second Down – Sylvester Croom will be missed
I am not ashamed to admit that Sylvester Croom was probably my favorite coach in the SEC. I had so much respect for a man that took on an extremely difficult job in Starkville, ran the program the right way and obviously cared about every one of his players. While I have no connection to MSU at all, I always pulled for his team because he was a man that you wanted to succeed. I feel that it was his decision to step down and I can’t see MSU putting him under any pressure to resign. From what I have read he was just too loyal to his assistants to make changes and instead of change, he resigned. Loyal to a fault, he stepped down Saturday and the SEC lost a great man.

The next coach at Mississippi State will have a better record than Croom simply because Sylvester carried MSU through a very tough time and put them in a position to be successful in the future. He has recruited talent to a place that is not known for always having an abundance of it and if he had stayed longer they would have had a great 2009 season. His failure was honestly down to one thing and that was never bringing in a quarterback who could be consistent. College football is a team game, but teams need a leader and every school will struggle without a leader under center. Croom never had that and in the end that was why he did not win more games. Sylvester Croom was a great representative of the SEC, a great representative of college football and he will be missed.

Third Down – Tuberville will be saved by circumstance
Any other season Tommy Tuberville would have been fired from Auburn and collecting a huge buyout over the next 365 days. Tuberville would have been owed six million dollars if he were fired, 3 million within the first 30 days and the final 3 million within the year of his dismissal. You can blame the economy, but the bottom line reason that Tommy Tuberville will be coaching at Auburn next year is because there is no one better. Auburn does not have any other option right now in a year where there are no valuable coaching commodities available and the status quo is better than the status unknown.

The decision to keep Tuberville around was not because he convinced the President or AD that he wanted to make up for the worst coaching job in the country this season, the decision was made the second Auburn had no chance at guys like Will Muschamp and Lane Kiffin. Do you make a change for the devil you don’t know if the devil you do know wants to still work for you? Auburn will go into 2009 with a situation worse than Clemson went into 2008. Clemson was predicted to win the ACC, Auburn will be lucky to make a New Year’s Day bowl in 2009. The schedule is tough for the Auburn Tigers next year, this will not be a rehash of 2004 when Tuberville kept his job and went undefeated. Auburn will be a punching bag with a new offensive coordinator; the Tigers will be starting all over on offense and well behind most of the SEC. Tuberville still has his job, but for how long?

Fourth Down – Final Bowl Predictions

BCS National Championship- Florida vs. Texas
Sugar Bowl- Alabama vs. Utah
Citrus Bowl- Georgia vs. Michigan State
Outback Bowl- South Carolina vs. Iowa
Cotton Bowl- Ole Miss vs. Texas Tech
Peach Bowl- LSU vs. Georgia Tech
Music City Bowl- Vanderbilt vs. Clemson
Liberty Bowl- Kentucky vs. Tulsa

Another crazy weekend in the SEC, what did you guys think? E-mail me Brian Harbach

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