Alabama Preview

(Try thundering Now Tide!)

The Rebs roll down to the number two team in the country this week. The Fox is 5-9 against top five teams in his career. No doubt it'll be a tough battle for the Rebels since there are match ups that favor Bama all over the field.

THE PLAYERS

John Parker Wilson is putting up a solid season. He doesn't throw for a ton of yards but that's because he doesn't have to. All Saban asks of him is not to turn the ball over. Which with 2 interceptions he's doing a good job of that this year. Glen Coffee is a stud running back who is currently leading the conference right now with 708 yards. He's got a stable of backups behind him as well in former Mississippi Player of the Year Terry Grant and Mark Ingram. The biggest reason they are doing so well on offense is a dominate offensive line. Andre Smith is the best run blocker in the conference and absolutely mauls people. He's like watching Shawn Andrews in his senior year. Bama can aways get some running yards going to the left side. They also have one of the SEC's better centers in Antoine Caldwell.

They aren't bad on defense either. They are one of the few college teams to run a 3-4 defense. They can because of nose tackle Terrence Cody and his 6'5" 370 pound run stopping frame. He's a beast and frees up the linebackers to roam. Bobby Greenwood and Brandon Deadrick are solid as well.
One of the better linebackers in the SEC, Rolando McClain leads their defense. His back up is Charlie Higgenbotham and with a name like that you know he's disruptive. They also bring in a solid secondary lead by Javier Arenas at cornerback and safety and Oxford native Justin Woodall who's second in the SEC in interceptions.

There is a reason they are number two right now.

THE HEEL

John Parker Wilson doesn't handle pressure well but he hasn't faced much this year thanks to a stellar offensive line. But he also hasn't faced a defensive front four like the Rebels have when everyone is healthy. Everyone remembers last year when Greg Hardy had three sacks and 4.5 tackles for a loss and basically scared John Parker Wilson into the fetal position. The Rebel's have to get the Freak Hardy again and get John Parker Wilson turning the ball over out of fear. If they can get 5 turnovers or more they have a shot.

Since its a Bye Week the Rebels can't lose. So I'm slightly less depressed. I do remember when I was in college and the Rebels were good.

I've decided only one man can pull the Rebels through to a winning season now.

So lets get some Phil Collins up in this bitch.

THE PICKS!!!!
Georgia by more than 14 over Tennessee
Florida by more than 4 over LSU
Arkansas to cover Auburn's 18 points.
Mississippi State to cover Vanderbilt's one point. Screw that State for the win straight up. Kentucky over South Carolina.

The Sports Wookie Will Gladly Conduct the Interview

University of Tennessee starting runningback Arian Foster, who is on the verge of becoming UT's all time leading rusher, has stated he will only take interviews now conducted in the Pterodactyl language.

"Veeeeek! Veeeeek! Veeeeek!" Foster shrieked."

If he could adjust to the Shyriiwook language the Sports Wookie would gladly conduct the interview.

South Carolina Recap

Another let down loss for the Rebels. I guess I can't really complain because we all knew it was going to happen. At least now our flukes aren't playing a team close we actually pull a Sly Croom once a year amazing upset. Maybe we should all join the Irish Historian in Canada where you can't be subjected to the amazing frustration that is Ole Miss football. It'd at least be easier to send the complaints there.

THE GOOD

Eason and Bolden scored touch downs again. Eason's proving to be a very solid player but Bolden looks like he could be truly special. Next year he will more than likely become the star of the offense. That's about it for the good.

THE BAD

Once again the Rebels played well enough to win a game. They were within 40 yards of matching South Carolina's out put. They were even up at one point 14-3. But they just couldn't hold on. One of the biggest culprits was the defensive secondary and the linebackers especially. The Linebackers just can not cover the intermediate routes. Once again a random middling quarterback gets player of the week honors just by facing the Rebel secondary. I've praised Tyrone Nix for most of the season because I think he's getting about as much out of the personnel as he can right now. But he didn't call his best game as the pressure never seemed to get there. His blitz scheme wasn't nearly as effective as it was in previous outings. Now some of the catches by the gamecock receivers were the miracle catches that just happen sometime. But the defense gave up too many big passing plays and could not get off the field on third and long.

The offense didn't help the defense much either. After generating nearly half of their total offensive yards in the first two drives the offense disappeared for the entire third quarter. The Rebels had one offensive drive in the third of which nearly the entire drive was one long Dexter McCluster run. After that the defense was spent and couldn't stop South Carolina. Still the defense held on the final South Carolina drive and got the offense the ball back down one score with a minute and a half to go. Or thirty seconds more than Wake needed to drive the field.

But the true story of the game was the turnovers. South Carolina made one and the Rebels failed to capitalize on it. Ole Miss had three turnovers. South Carolina capitalized on all but the final one since that was Snead interception to end the game.

It seems like for every great play like this.
The Rebels throw out another one of these.
And of course the human turnover machine contributed with his previously mentioned interception and his second quarter fumble.
That South Carolina returned for a touchdown.
That return gave the gamecocks the lead and Nutt said it looked like the team never got over it. They had a look like they just lost the game. They even scored again and lead at half 21-17 but Nutt said the players acted as if they were down at half again. They came out like a defeated team in the third quarter.

THE UGLY

I am now firmly convinced that we are suffering through the Curse of Cut. We(read Pete Boone) stupidly fired the coach with the best first seven year record in program history for a no experienced loony defensive line coach. This made the football gods angry.

Every year away from this decision looks worse and worse. Yes Cut had his flaws. And he was in poor health. But you can't say the program is in better shape now than if he had remained coach. It will take Nutt a couple of years to get back to Cut's mediocrity. Hopefully one day we'll be a little bit better or luck into a Western Division Championship.

But I've decided the football gods will not let this happen till Cut gets to a bowl game first. Luckily he's turning around the worst BCS league team faster than you'd expect. So far they've already beaten Navy by ten points (same Navy that beat Ole Miss tormentor Wake Forest) and they beat Virginia by 31-3. You may remember that former number one team in the Country was widely praised for its unstoppable offense after beating Virginia by a similar margin.

So far Duke sits at 3-2. Here's there remaining schedule to get to six wins. I will keep a running tab on the Curse of Cut until it is broken.

Miami
@ Vandy
@ Wake Forest
N.C. State
@ Clemson
@ Va Tech
UNC

Pull for the Blue Devils. It will only anger the sports gods more if you pull against Cut for whatever grudge you hold.

Status of the SEC

We're half way through the season after another 3 games. Time to assess the conference. I think the SEC is way down this year and only one team deserves to be in the top 10. The winner of the SEC will probably have 2 losses or more. Maybe three or four in the top 25.


1)Alabama
2) Louisiana State
3) Georgia
4) Florida
5) Kentucky
6) Vandy
7) South Carolina
8) Auburn
9) Ole Miss
10) Mississippi State
11) Tennessee
12) Arkansas

Weekly Theme Music

Here's to a good score when the Rebels call Elvis on the Jumbotron.

THE PICKS!

Alabama by less than 16 over Kentucky
Florida by more than 25 over a humiliated Arkansas
Ole Miss and South Carolina within a point of one another
Auburn to beat Vandy with neither team scoring the full four point spread so a cover I guess
Northern Illinois within 16 of Tennessee

South Carolina Preview

(Eat Wookie Fists Spurrier)

The Ole Ball Coach is coming back to Oxford for the first time in years.

THE PLAYERS

The Gamecocks have the top statistical defense in the SEC this year. They brought in stellar former Mississippi State defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson who has them running a 4-2-5. I'm not a fan of the 4-2-5 because I remember Eric Oliver trying to defend deep post routes but it seems to work better for South Carolina.

That probably has to do with the personnel. Their two linebackers both weigh in the 260-270 pound range and stop the run well. Eric Norwood is a great pass rusher and played end last year. Jasper Brinkley is the Defensive MVP and was the reason USC started 6-1. He got hurt and the rushing defense fell apart with Carolina loosing their last 5 games. They also have two great defensive backs in Captain Munneryln and Emmanuel Cook. Nutt praised all four of these players before the game.

They have the best tightend in the SEC this year in Jared Cook. Jared is actually Ole Miss fullback Jason Cook's younger brother. If Orgeron had recruited him at all he'd be at Ole Miss now. But Ed hated tightends and refused to sign one that stayed in the program over three years of his horrible tenure.

THE HEEL

The Offensive line is considered the weak point. They have trouble in protection and don't run block particularly well either. They've also struggled in the passing game with Chris Smelly this year since he doesn't have a very strong arm. Expect to see a guy Orgeron loves to compliment even though he won't compliment any of the guys he recruited to Ole Miss, Stephen Garcia, get a lot of playing time. He supposedly doesn't manage the game well but has a great arm.

The Rebels should be able to get a strong rush on this group and disrupt their offense. I'd actually expect a low scoring game. They have to minimize the turnovers to keep from giving up easy field position and easy points. South Carolina will play to stop the run and this is where their defense especially excels at. It will open up the quick hitches and slant patterns if Snead can audible off and hit the receivers. If he has a good day the Rebels will as well if. If the Rebels get the same Snead they got against Vanderbilt the results will be about the same as the were against Vanderbilt.