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Cock-A-Doodle-Do Man, the South Carolina Gamecocks beat the daylights out of the Georgia Bulldogs. I really thought this would be your typical 4th quarter, tight SEC game between two rivals, but I was wrong. It was over in 15 minutes..maybe even sooner than that. The Head Ball Coach was talking smack about everybody this Spring, including Nick Saban and the Tide, and now I know why....these birds have a chance at something special this year. It's hard to believe, considering the week 1 effort and survival in Nashville against Vandy....but South Carolina's complete destruction of the Dawgs has caught the eye and concern of every team in America....and that includes Bama and Oregon. The Gamecock fans have always been a loyal bunch and they've waited their turn to be part of the "big picture". Right now, they are living in the height of the USC glory years and they are loving every second of it. While everyone in Gamecock Nation will absorb all the accolades coming their way this week, the HBC and his team will hit the road and travel down to Baton Rouge. Awaiting the #3 team in the nation will be an angry bunch of Bayou Bengals that are fresh off of a physical pounding, themselves. It should make for a great venue and tons of drama this upcoming Saturday night. The Gamecocks with their SEC and BCS national championship dreams taking on LSU hoping to stay alive in the SEC race in a stadium where the Tigers have won 21 straight games. Great stuff. The biggest college football weekend gave us premier match-ups:
But as it turns out, the biggest impact game took place in Raleigh, NC...where struggling NC State upset #3 Florida State. I've got to tell you, I'm lousy at picking winners...but this game was nowhere on the upset radar heading into this past weekend. Despite the fact that history told you that the Noles struggle against the Pack on the road....nothing leading into the game gave you warning that history was going to repeat itself. NC State had losses to both Tennessee and Miami...they had a ton of injuries to their offensive line....and the Noles were basically handed the keys to all of the ACC's championship hopes on the national level. In the end, the Pack's upset of FSU was a double-whammy to the ACC. It eliminated FSU from the national championship discussion and in the same kick to the gut, it probably guaranteed the ACC only one appearance in a BCS game (Orange Bowl). What the outcome did do, is keep hope alive for teams like NC State and Clemson that they still have a chance to make it to Charlotte for the ACC title game. This is a devastating loss for FSU. After visiting their camp in August for the SiriusXM Camp Tour Shows, there was no doubt that the school and program knew that this was supposed to be the year that the Noles arrived back on the national scene. The quick start, dynamic performance against Clemson in prime time, the schedule....you name it....it was there for the taking for FSU. And they dropped it....again. When you look at the rest of the schedule, there's only a game or two where you think they could have a problem winning the division...trips to Miami and suddenly vulnerable Virginia Tech. But for FSU, winning the ACC was just a small step on their journey to the BCS title. I wonder how their mind-set will be the rest of the year? I do know that the locals will once again be asking questions about Jimbo Fisher's ability to motivate, coach and lead this program back to the top. There's a lot of football left to be played, but FSU's loss this past weekend was the biggest jolt of the first half of the college football season. If I had a vote....and I don't.....here's how my Top 5 would look this week:
Kansas State and Notre Dame are close. The first BCS Poll comes out next week, and one item that has my attention is Bama's lack of quality wins. Think about it: at the halfway point, the Tide has been terrific, with the eyeball test...but their "big wins" are Michigan (pre-season Top 10, but turning out to be average) and Arkansas (pre-season Top 10, and turning out to be below average). They play at Missouri this week (yawn) and then they travel to Knoxville to play the Vols who have yet to prove that they can beat quality teams.....by the end of the month, they play Top 20-bound Mississippi State. I have no idea how good the Bulldogs are, but I guess we'll find out shortly. We know about the Tide's visit to LSU in November, but just how good are the Tigers? If they lose at home to South Carolina this weekend, they are toast in the SEC and BCS title races. And that's it, for the regular season tests on Bama's schedule. I know they have great tradition....I know they have an awesome coach.....I know they are damn good.....but in this goofy BCS computer world, just how good is the Alabama body of work compared to the schedules and potential quality wins by Oregon and West Virginia? It's early in the process...but just think about it. The Carolina Panthers laid another egg on their way to the Super Bowl championship. This time, it was delivered by Superman himself, Cam Newton, who couldn't complete a pass into Lake Norman if he was standing on the dock. The Panthers dropped to 1-4 and are already 4 games behind the Atlanta Falcons....unfortunately, the entire NFC South this side of ATL absolutely sucks....the rest of the NFC South trash has no more than 1 win, and that creates a log jam between Tampa Bay, New Orleans and Carolina. For all the morons that jumped on the Super Bowl chatter, how do you feel these days? The franchise continues to wallow in garbage....I'll mention it again, the team has 9 wins in their last 37 regular season games....that's a stunning 9-28 record. Sounds like a good year for the Bobcats, another Charlotte pro team that isn't worth a damn. There will still be local writers and talking heads that will have the pom-poms out and pretend that the season isn't lost......Listen up, it's over. The team will not catch Atlanta for the division title, so therefore it must be a wild card team....there are currently a few teams in the NFC already at 4-1 with a 3-game lead over the pitiful Panthers. I'm still not convinced that Ron Rivera is head coaching material....the team has a terrible defense and are the worst tackling team in the league. So, if Superman and Co. don't light up the scoreboard, they lose. And even if they find the end zone, there's no guarantee of success. Newton is still a work in progress, and it is very apparent that the NFL teams spent quite a bit of time watching tape of him in the off-season. The Panthers have not won a playoff game since January 15, 2006....and I believe more than ever before that we will be celebrating the 7-year anniversary of that distant memory in a few months. |
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