WOW! Ingram, The TIDE Pull It Out!

TIDE WINS! TIDE WINS!

Talk about a 'nail-biter'! Ryan Mallett and the 10th-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks took advantage of a tentative, young BAMA secondary to take a 20-7 lead, but the CRIMSON TIDE fought back with three picks and a late Mark Ingram touchdown to top the Hawgs 24-20.

Hard-fought, tough SEC matchup by some tough teams. Arkansas shouldn't drop too much after this game, but the pollsters are a bit unpredictable.

Auburn stymied my picks by taking advantage of a couple of Stephen Garcia fumbles (from HARD, clean licks, I might add) and an interception of his backup. Another tough nail-biter.

Ole Miss even got lucky and beat Fresno St. Houston Nutt's Akbars live to fight another week.

Mississippi State...?? Are you KIDDING me...? Boy, is Mark Richt ever on the hot seat... AGAIN...!

UCLA upset Texas in one NOBODY saw coming.

Boise State foiled my upset pick by making some big plays.

I LOVE college football.

P.S.: NOTE TO EVERYONE- Functions, showers, Weddings and ALL non-football-related events should NOT be scheduled during FOOTBALL SEASON. This makes for poor attendance, and for a miserable experience for the half of the guests who can't concentrate on the festivities.

Just sayin'......

Referees Robbing Razorbacks

Sitting here watching Arkansas get robbed.
TWO bogus calls in a row.
I mean, I KNOW they want Florida to win, but COME ON!
Let 'em play!

Picks Coming Tomorrow PM

I will be posting my SEC picks tomorrow evening......

BAMA Homecoming & Other Picks....

Okay, it's homecoming, THE University of ALABAMA Crimson Tide is undefeated at 8-0, and a seemingly easy Arkansas State team is coming to town. Well, nothing is a given, and you can be SURE that Coach Saban will have The TIDE ready for a team that beat Texas A&M a few weeks back. Three letters have been prominently displayed throughout the entire athletic complex all season as a reminder of what can happen if you don't pay attention and play at 100%: "ULM". All he has to do is point to last year's homecoming defeat at the hands of Louisiana-Monroe to motivate this team. Alabama needs to pile up some points to stay at the forefront of the pollsters, or we could end up like the cow college a few years back: outside looking in when they play for all the marbles. If Texas Tech upsets Texas.....?
ALABAMA 49, Arkansas State 10


Georgia and Florida face off in what both university's presidents try not to call "The World's Largest Cocktail Party" (which is really inaccurate if you've ever been to ANY game in the cesspool that is Baton Rouge). All of the 'spite' crap aside, this looks to be an exciting game. Georgia, for the second year in a row, actually matches up pretty well against the Gators across the board. That being said, if they come out and play like the first half of the Bama game, Florida will put this so far out of reach it won't even be funny. But I don't think that will be the case.
Florida 45, Georgia 38

Kentucky 28, Mississippi State 10
LSU 28, Tulane 24
South Carolina 14, Tennessee 13
Arkansas 24, Tulsa 21

auburn at Ole Miss is really an enigma. Sure, some will say there is still some bitterness on the part of the Rebels toward Tommy "I'm not going anywhere" Tuberville in lieu of his leap to the tigers/plainsmen/war eagles/whatever. Different teams, different decade. The bottom line, two similiar teams heading in different directions. Sadly, this could possibly be the week auburn rights itself.
But probably not.
Ole Miss 21, auburn 14

Tubby Talks Tiger Turmoil

Arkansas 25, Auburn 22

The More Things Change.......

Wow! Other than Georgia and Penn State, virtually EVERY one of my college football picks was WRONG!
And now it looks like BAMA should have backed into the #1 spot IN AN OFF-WEEK! But, probably not. Texas will now be #1 after their victory over then-#1 Oklahoma, Notre Dame lost and should jump to #2, Florida won big over LSU to move to #3, Southern Cal moves to #4, and we'll probably be #5.
And auburn fires the offensive coordinator, but STILL loses. Running the same plays. Wow! Pure GENIUS!
STAY TUNED...!

BAMA's OFF-WEEK & PICKS

Well, BAMA is 6-0 and has a mid-season bye week. This is the way it's supposed to be, the way I was brought up to enjoy CRIMSON TIDE Football. We're back where we belong (ahead of schedule), everyone's jealous and hatin', and we have a breather before resuming our rise back to the top of the college football world. The posers and pretenders see the writing on the wall and hear the thunder of the mighty crimson herd rumbling ever closer.

This was stated so eloquently on the GUMP for HEISMAN Blog seen here: http://www.gump4heisman.com/my_weblog/2008/10/the-alabama-football-fans-guide-to-following-the-2008-auburn-tigers.html?cid=134236075#comments

**HIGHLY RECOMMENDED READING!**

(So highly, in fact, that I've added a permanent link over in the right-hand column!)

On a totally un-related note, I am compelled to comment on the sorry state of officiating that has been rampant this season. At first, I thought it was just a conspiracy directed at my beloved Crimson Tide, but as I see more and more games, I realize it is much more than that. Is it incompetence? Is it a visual disability? A failure to properly train the officiating staff on the rules and etiquette of the game? All of the above? Or is it something more sinister...?

I was still agitated about the 'no-calls' on obvious infractions during the Georgia game-- a block in the back AND a tackle of our guys during the Dawgs' return for td, for example -- I couldn't see straight. Then, during the Kentucky game, Julio Jones and the defender are running down-field, jockeying for position. The defender is grabbing Julio's jersey, and then pushes him off! Julio makes a great catch anyway, fights for more yardage, AND IS FLAGGED FOR INTERFERENCE!!! WTF...?!

I was really agitated until I saw the officials helping Missouri against Nebraska later that evening. Then a phantom call gives Michigan another chance to win. I sure hope something is done about this before some coach goes all "Woody Hayes" on a deserving referee...!

Stay tuned....!

Now to this week's picks. Pretty good slate of games on tap, beginning with the Wildcats of Kentucky hosting the South Carolina Gamecocks. Kentucky played tough defense and had a LOT of help from the officials, or ALABAMA would have beaten them by 3 touchdowns last week. (Watch the replays if you don't believe me!)The Cocks finally played like Spurrier intended last week, so this will be a good match-up. Surprisingly, the Wildcats are more talented, maybe too much for the ol' ball coach. KENTUCKY 28, South Carolina 24

Just what the Bulldogs need: GEORGIA 34, tennessee 10

Poor Tony Franklin. He can't take the blame for this one. auburn 17, Arkansas 14

The Bayou Bengals visit the Swamp (which will be a suitable name after two days of rain!) as Florida hosts LSU. The Gators want to prove they're better than they've shown. The Tigas want the same. I think LSU might be a little too strong, and if they get to Tebow a few times this could get out of hand. LSU 38, Florida 28

Nationally, Oklahoma probably holds off Texas, 35-31.

Penn State 28, Wisconson 17

Missouri 38, Oklahoma State 17

Picks

ALABAMA 45, ULM 7
LSU 45, Ole Miss 17
Arkansas 24, MSU 21
Georgia 31, Kentucky 21
tennesee 21, Vanderbilt 20
Florida 51, Fla Atlantic 3

WRONG.......AGAIN...!

WTF...?
Bama.
Arkansas.
Vandy.
auburn.
Can you say "Belly up"....?
The Tide slogged around and were beaten--again--by Mississippi State and Sylvester Croom. Arkansas apparently sent McFadden alone out to lose to the vols. Vanderbilt let Kentucky get by them. And the cow college looked helpless in the fourth quarter against Georgia.

It's official. I have proven again that I know absolutely nothing about college football, specifically SEC teams.
ROLL TIDE ANYWAY.

Missed a Follow-Up

Well, following the games last week, issues with either my browser or my Blogger service prevented me from giving my take on the ALABAMA-GEORGIA game. It was a fairly even match-up, as I predicted, only The Dawgs came out on top in overtime.
Quite honestly, there's not a hair's bit of difference between ALABAMA, Georgia, Arkansas, Kentucky, and whoever else in The SEC other than LSU and Florida.
And auburn might just surprise the Gators. (Please ask Ed O for details....!)
Bama will surely rise back to the top--eventually. We're not quite ready to assume the top of the heap just yet, but give Coach Saban a couple of years hoarding the studs and star recruits. Once we get his players assimilated into the system -along with the skeletal talent already in place- we will be dangerous. Dominant, even.
Watch out, Meyer. Move over, Spurrier. Quit crying, Miles. Everyone prepare to resume your positions. Behind Bama. It won't be this year. Maybe not even next year. But just wait.
There's a new Dark Lord in town. His Force will be strong.
And Crimson.
ROLL TIDE.

ROLL, TIDE, ROLL!

Pass the defibrillator.


41-38.
Or, more accurately, ALABAMA 41, Arkansas 38.
Familiar hard-fought nail-biter. With a twist. Bama jumps out to a big lead, Razorbacks make comeback. Tide extends lead, Razorbacks make comeback. I was starting to get nervous, as I had seen this all-too common scenario before.
But the $4 million a year paid off as ALABAMA CAME FROM BEHIND IN THE FOURTH QUARTER TO WIN, OVER A TOP-20 TEAM to boot!
I was wrong in some of my picks, but it doesn't matter. ALABAMA won, AT home, AT night, on National television, to a divisional SEC opponent.
And Florida pounded tennessee.

And auburn lost. To Mississippi State. And, as evidenced below, the plainsmen-war eagle-tigers or whatever have been up-ended. Again.
....And when they turn up-right, this is what they look like:
Go, Bulldogs!
I shall sleep well tonight.

Arkansas Week

Well, here we are again. EVERYBODY knows we had the Razorbacks beaten last year (in spite of McFadden & Co. & poor Bama coaching decisions which shall remain nameless here) but inexplicably let the game get away. This is also bizarrely historical, harkening back to the 90's. Twice in three years (home & home rotation), Arkansas beat us at home on late or last-play touchdowns which left the Bryant-Denny crowd speechless. I honestly don't think that will happen this year. I believe that with an actual strategy in place, we match up with the Hawgs pretty well.
Coach Saban hasn't unleashed Major Applewhite's offense, so we haven't shown nearly all we can do offensively. The defense, loaded with true freshmen, has been surprisingly effective, for the most part. Other than a few big scares (which were fortunately nullified by legitimate Vandy penalties-- watch the tape), we've been consistent. We'll have to step it up a notch to stop the Arkansas running backs and the newly-installed trick plays.
Speaking of trick plays, how about our special-teams return guys...? And I like to think that Terry Grant will soon be in the same category as McFadden and Jones.
I think Bama was so close last year that leadership makes the difference.
Prediction: ALABAMA 28 Arkansas 14

Florida and tennesee meet in their annual hate match this week, as well. Vols looked vulnerable against the Golden Bears and got whacked. The Gators aren't Cal.
FLORIDA 45 tennessee 16

The tigers try to rebound from last week's snafu with a welcome opponent in Mississippi State. USF was surprisingly ready and snuck up on the plainsmen. Earlier in the week, the Bulldogs' defense matched up well with LSU, stopping those tigers the entire first half. Henig and their offense killed any real chances they had with the crippling turnovers. NOBODY's defense should be on the field that long, and the game was a lot closer than the lopsided score.
Still, the cow college is a little better than MSU. This one goes to the plainsmen. Or the war eagles. Or the tigers. Whatever.
alabama polytechnic:28 Mississippi State:14

Kentucky hosts Louisville this evening in a bluegrass shootout. Looks to be a high-scoring and interesting contest. TOSS-UP
Everyone else in the SEC has weak non-conference opponents, but I will be keeping my eye on the Georgia-West Carolina game after ours is done. We get the 'Dawgs next week.
ROLL TIDE!