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 and I am going to try to touch on as much bowl stuff as I can get to. With only one more SEC Bowl game to go this week we are going to look at the five SEC wins, the two SEC losses, the enigma that is Steve Spurrier and the end of a 53-year winless bowl streak. As usual the format is the same; if you have any feedback make sure to send it my way.
The Bowl Season That Was
So far the SEC has managed a record of 5-2 in the bowl season, a record that has actually exceeded expectations in what can be viewed as a down year for the conference. Georgia came away with a win that most expected, it was nice to see UGA actually live up to expectations at least once this season in a pretty dominating Capital One Bowl performance over Michigan State. Even with a pedestrian game from Knowshon Moreno, Matthew Stafford stepped it up in the second half and threw all three of his TD passes after halftime. Two of the most impressive victories came from SEC West teams as LSU manhandled Georgia Tech and Ole Miss did the same to Texas Tech.
Both LSU and Ole Miss’ wins were impressive, but I walked away more impressed with the Rebels victory over the Red Raiders. That is not a shot at LSU’s dominance of Georgia Tech, but that was a game that LSU should have won. With Houston’s Nutt historical inability to win bowl games and Ole Miss essentially playing a road game in the state of Texas against a top 10 opponent the way the Rebels played was amazing. All season we heard about SEC defense and Big 12 offenses. We get another example in the BCS Championship game, but the Cotton Bowl showed us that those great Big 12 offenses can’t stack up against a godd SEC defense and they can’t handle SEC offense either.
A Florida victory of Oklahoma would convince anyone calling the Big 12 the best conference this season to recant that opinion because a good SEC team whooped a one-loss Big 12 team. Ole Miss is going to be a force in the SEC next season as is LSU and it was exciting to see both those teams get big time wins and some major momentum going into 2009. Where Georgia goes from here is still to be determined, they can compete in 2009 if they Richt can recruit their two best players for another season, but it is hard for young men to turn down millions of dollars when one freak injury can end it all.
The Bowl Season That Wasn’t
South Carolina is going to get some special attention in the Four Downs section below so this space is going to be spent on Alabama. I am not going to hammer the Crimson Tide for winning the Sugar Bowl; honestly it is unfair to judge them on this football game because this is what happens when a team’s reward is a non-BCS program like the Utah Utes. This happens nearly every year when a team obviously has no interest in playing a lower level opponent and the team shows it from snap one. This is not an excuse for Alabama’s poor play and not an excuse for the loss, but they are not the first team to play flat against an opponent that not even the fans are excited about facing.
Alabama was in the same position this season as Oklahoma was when they played Boise State and West Virginia in Fiesta Bowl losses and Georgia was in when they played Hawaii and West Virginia in past Sugar Bowls. Of those four games only one of them were won by the favorite, UGA’s win over Hawaii last season, because it is so difficult to motivate a team to play against a lesser opponent.
Utah is a good team, but if this was a playoff game Alabama would have killed them, if the game had any meaning at all the Tide would have blown the Utes out of the Super Dome. Nick Saban had his biggest challenge of the year to fire up his team to play against Utah and the Crimson Tide wasn’t in it nearly all game. I blame the system more than the Alabama coaches or players. This wasn’t on Andre Smith, Nick Saban or John Parker Wilson. Their season was amazing even after a Sugar Bowl loss; you can’t blame them for not caring about the best team from the Mountain West. It doesn’t mean that Bama was overrated or the Utah belongs in the Championship game, Utah was just more motivated and they won an exhibition game. Nothing more.
The Bowl Season That…What the Heck
The two biggest surprise SEC bowl wins were by Vanderbilt and Kentucky, but the Wildcat victory was even more shocking considering they weren’t playing their bowl in their backyard and they had played terrible to finish the season. The offense still struggled, but the defense and special teams lead the way with a kickoff returned for a score as well as a fumble recovery that Ventrell Jenkins ran 56 yards with to score the winning points.
Crazy events occurred all season in Kentucky games and this one was no different, the Liberty Bowl included the already mentioned kick returned for a touchdown by the Wildcats David Jones, the fumble recovery for the TD and three blocked PAT’s. The Wildcats were never a pretty team to watch in 2009, but they have won three straight bowl games for the first time in school history. Congrats to Rich Brooks and crew, another crazy win that no one saw coming.
The Bowl That Will Be
There is only one game left that matters to SEC fans and that is the BCS Championship game, I am not going to fill up this spot with boring game match-ups and stats, I want to talk about why you as an SEC fan should be pulling for Florida Thursday night. I don’t care if you hate Urban Meyer or if you are a Georgia fan that has always hated the Gators. It doesn’t matter if Florida is going after a recruit that you hope your team will get, this is about conference pride and conference loyalty. Think about how great a third straight National Championship is going to look for the SEC.
Think about another SEC team blowing away the best opponent the nation can throw at them and watching the Gators walk all over them. A win will essentially mean that every time the championship game is discussed during the regular season that it will be some team vs. the SEC Champion. There will be no excuse to ever leave out the best the SEC has to offer because they win every time they play for it all. This Oklahoma team is the best team any SEC team has faced in a Championship game and the Gators are in for a fight. No matter who your alma-mater is from Lexington to Little Rock, pull for the SEC, in the long run a Gator will is good for the conference.
Big Men on Campus (BMOC)
UGA, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt
Bowl games are rewards for all the hard work the players put in during the season, off-season, spring practice and two-a-days. Any team that wins a bowl game, no matter if it is the Eagle Bank bowl or the Sugar Bowl deserves the respect and love of the fans. All five of these teams won their bowl game this season and they all deserve the title of BMOC’s. Congrats to the winners, hopefully one more SEC team will get to join you in this section on Friday.
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 South Carolina Offense
This year the PNDCW section has listed players, coaches and entire positions as needing to be punished by doing Charlie Work, for the first time an entire offensive unit is being listed. The South Carolina offense was responsible for 5 turnovers and 7 of the teams 10 penalties against Iowa in the Outback Bowl. The offense looked unorganized, uninspired and continued to play dreadful football in Tampa on New Year’s Day. It is going to take a lot of hard work by Steve Spurrier and his staff this off-season to get this team ready to compete in 2009. The schedule is going to be tougher for the Gamecocks and I am not sure if they are going to be better. Maybe all the Charlie Work will motivate them to a great 2009 season.
4 Downs with the SEC
First Down – …And Justice for All
Most people expected Vanderbilt to play well against Boston College in the Music City bowl. The list of intangibles was a mile long, playing in Nashville, no bowl win since 1955, no bowl game since 1982, playing an ACC team that has never beaten an SEC team in the Music City bowl, the list goes on. Vanderbilt was expected to play inspired, but they were not expected to win. Once again Bobby Johnson proves the rest of the SEC and the country wrong by putting out first time starter Larry Smith at quarterback and playing the way that the Commodores have won games all season long.
Vandy had two zeros in this game, zero turnovers and zero penalties. The Commodores forced three Boston College turnovers and even though the Eagles didn’t commit a lot of penalties, they made three more mistakes than Vanderbilt did. Bobby Johnson may not get his team to a bowl game every season in the future, but he has a team that can win any week in this league. They are never going to be an SEC favorite, but they are going play smart and focused week in and week out. The rest of the league is on notice that if you overlook Vanderbilt in the future; you are going to lose.
Second Down – The Four Horsemen
Alabama’s Andre Smith suspension for the Sugar Bowl was hard on the team and that was evident with the eight sacks that the Crimson Tide gave up. The four remaining starting offensive lineman were shifted all over the place to make up for the loss of the teams best player. There is not a program in the country that can lose their left tackle and go on like nothing has changed. That position is the most important on the offensive line and when you have an All-American like Smith, irreplaceable is an understatement.
Alabama never recovered with him not being able to play and expecting the chemistry to be the same with all the changes on the line is crazy. Add in the fact that they were playing a game they were not very motivated to be playing against a team that was David against the Crimson Tide Goliath you end up with a 14 point beat down. Smith is probably the best offense tackle the league has seen in years, he has overshadowed Michael Oher, who will probably be the tackle selected after Smith in this April’s draft, but that is how amazing Smith is at his position. It is sad when a player is suspended for a game like this, but a school doesn’t have a choice when an agent is involved.
Third Down – The Unforgiven
South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier has been given the benefit of the doubt for four years in a Columbia and the honeymoon is a officially over. For the longest time I said there was no way that the Gamecock program could ever think of firing the legendary coach, but unless something miraculous happens next season it is obvious that 2009 will be his last. Resignation, forced resignation or just a flat our firing is how South Carolina will likely be the end to the Steve Spurrier Saga in Columbia. There is no way fans will be able to forgive a third straight collapse and after the way the last two seasons have ended they shouldn’t forgive it.
The team’s effort in the Outback bowl was atrocious; once again the quarterback play let the team down, but just as soon as the game was over players announcing they were heading to the league was just as disturbing as the awful play on the field. Eric Norwood and Captain Munnerlyn are good players, but these are not players that are going to be high draft picks. They were players who just wanted to get out as quickly as possible; it looks like Spurrier has lost control of the team and the players. Maybe the players he had 10 years ago at Florida could live with the quarterback changes, but it has had a huge effect on his current players at South Carolina. Obviously the QB position and O-line have been problems and they will be addressed this off-season, but if year 5 is anything like year 4, it will be his last.
Fourth Down – The End of the Line
A number of players will be moving on to the league after their bowl games this seasons, some players who didn’t even make it to a bowl like Auburn’s Sen’derrick Marks have already announced they are leaving school early to enter into the NFL draft. Some big time SEC players have very tough decisions to make over the next couple weeks, guys like Knowshon Moreno, Matthew Stafford, Tim Tebow, Percy Harvin and many more who are predicted to be high draft picks will leave school to become professionals.
All players who leave their school as graduates or early entrants into the NFL should be appreciated for what they have done and wished well for what they will do. We are lucky to have them representing the SEC for any period of time whether it is 3 years or 6 due to a medical redshirt. Don’t be mad if your favorite players leave early, wish them luck and remember all the great moments they provided.
I hope everyone had a Happy New year; there is still a ton of stuff going on in the SEC even after the bowls are all over. National Signing day is a month away, Spring practices are right around the corner and Collegefootballnews.com will have you guys covered all off-season long.
Seven Games down and one more to go, what did you think of the SEC bowl season and what do you expect from Florida in the Championship game? E-mail
me Brian Harbach
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