College football 2016 - aSECendency

[Switchback the Second]

It's Tennessee Week for the Gators, which is always a fun one.  This has been a good rivalry over the years, and was a great one in the 90s.  Our recent hot streak has tempered it some, but I still love to beat UT, and always root for them to lose.  Which puts them up around UGA and FSU levels for me (in hoping they go 0-12 each year), which means the hate is strong.  

Not sure what to expect for this year's game though.  We just lost our starting QB, who had been looking pretty decent in the first few weeks.  Commanding the offense, not turning it over, a few big plays, etc.  But he got nabbed on a cheap shot to the legs last week, and will be out at least a few weeks (lucky it wasn't a season-ender).  So in steps another QB, where have we heard this story before?  We have been QB-cursed since Tebow, it's amazing to watch.  New guy is a Purdue graduate transfer, who didn't have great stats there but at least has experience playing on the road, in hostile environments, so the stage won't hopefully be too much for him.  And we have an emerging 4-headed BEAST at RB he can rely on.

Plus... that defense.  I continue to rave about our defense, and they continue to get better.  Last week we gave up a total of 53 yards for the game.  On 50 plays.  Now, admittedly North Texas is an inferior opponent, but those stats are ridiculous regardless.  With UT having all sorts of O-line issues so far, I expect us to be living in their backfield.  Dobbs killed us with his legs last year, and that's my big worry again, so hopefully we'll have a spy on him the whole game and just rely on our secondary to be on their own for the game, which they are made for.  If we can not turn the ball over, get some rushing yards and have our defense be who they are, I think we can come out of there with a W.  My worry is turnovers snowballing, giving UT short fields and momentum.  If we can avoid that, and with our defense being the best unit on the field by a fair stretch, plus what I think is a clear coaching advantage, I like getting this streak to 12 games.  

Go Gators!

[HokieStone]

9 hours ago, Switchback the Second said:

It's Tennessee Week for the Gators, which is always a fun one.  

<snip>

If we can not turn the ball over, get some rushing yards and have our defense be who they are, I think we can come out of there with a W.  My worry is turnovers snowballing, giving UT short fields and momentum.  If we can avoid that, and with our defense being the best unit on the field by a fair stretch, plus what I think is a clear coaching advantage, I like getting this streak to 12 games.  

Go Gators!

I think you're going to beat them by 2 TDs.  I'm just not impressed with Tennessee (and I know this will sound like more sour grapes).  They should have lost to App St. (missed XP by App St. kicker), and they struggled with Ohio.  And here's the sour grapes part...I really believe they did not beat my Hokies as much as we beat ourselves - and this applies to your last sentiments about turnovers snowballing.  That's exactly what we did...gave them two turnovers within the 10 yard line, I believe.  I think they scored something like 24 points directly off of our 5 turnovers - and some of those cost us scoring opportunities, so it was probably more like a 30 point swing.  But we lost, and they won...I just think they're going to drop 3+ games this year, likely starting this week. 

[Ferrum Aeternum]

UT's offensive line is shockingly bad. Florida's front 7 is going to live rent-free in their backfield Saturday.

[Ded As Ned]

Mark Stoops continues to mystify me.  I'm quickly losing what faith I have left.  As I mentioned previously... starting QB Barker went down early last week with an undisclosed back injury, and backup Johnson shined... Stoops listed Barker first on the depth chart this week vs. SoCar anyway, and said he expected Barker to play this Saturday.  Today he straight up said Barker will be out minimum 3-4 weeks... why do that?  Couch coaching here, but why not keep it under wraps another 2 days and make South Carolina prepare for both QB's?  Now Muschamp knows he's facing Johnson and gets 2 extra days to prepare for the dual-threat.  Infuriating. Seems like such a simple thing.   

[Baitac]

Oh God, my Gators. Poor Luke. 

 

[S John]

I took Florida and Kentucky in their respective games, but I've been horrible against the spread this year.  

In addition to our board pick 'em, my uncle does one every year for $ that involves family and friends where there are something like 27 people playing.  So whoever wins is gonna get about 500 bucks, which is not a bad little bonus for doing some guesswork on college football.  

Unfortunately after 3 weeks I am in 21st place and not sure if I'll be able to chip away enough to catch up.  My girlfriend, who is playing for the first time... 1st place.    Maybe she'll take me out for a nice dinner if she wins.  

[Ded As Ned]

I'm not sure what to expect tomorrow in UK v SoCar... it's the movable object meets the resistable force.  One of the worst defenses against one of the worst offenses.  I think UK wins in a high-scoring affair, or SoCar wins if it's low-scoring.  

Other games of interest:  Michigan St/Wisconsin, Tenn/Florida, Georgia/Miss, Arkansas/TAMU

My internal clock is screaming that it's time to whip up a batch of my famous gameday chili, but I can't get motivated when summertime weather is still hanging around these parts.  

[S John]

WVU playing BYU tomorrow.  Might be the first ever meeting, first time I can remember playing them anyway.  They are 1-2 but lost to Utah and UCLA by a combined 4 points so there is no reason to doubt that they are a solid team that could potentially beat WVU.   Their D is pretty legit, but O hasn't really clicked yet.  We have already played a team like that in Missouri and won, but obviously that doesn't mean much since BYU is a different team.  Not a lot of material to go on with WVU having only played 2 games (one against an FCS) and then a bye week.  Will know a lot more about what kind of team they are by tomorrow evening.

WVU is favored by 7.  I expect a close game that could go either way.  WVU's game plan will almost certainly be to come out and run the ball right at BYU in an attempt to set up some deep bombs, which our QB is actually good at throwing even though he struggles underneath.  If WVU is successful running the ball, I think we win.  If BYU can force WVU into intermediate passes, it'll be an ugly battle.  

[Ferrum Aeternum]

SWAG doing work early, just hummed one about 70 yards in the air for a score, 24-0 Ole Miss.

ETA: Yeah I don't think Georgia's coming back from this. Maybe now ESPN will shut its piehole about OM blowing big leads.

[Rhom]

Impressive win for the Rebels.  Wonder if Kirby'S seat is hot yet?  

[Ferrum Aeternum]

19 minutes ago, Rhom said:

Impressive win for the Rebels.  Wonder if Kirby'S seat is hot yet?  

Heh, don't think so. They've just got a long way to go. Plus he's a UGA guy, which will help his long term prospects.

ETA: "How to shut up 100,000 hillbillies in a minute and a half," starring Jim McElwain.  

[Rhom]

Yeah, rough opening sequence on both defense and offense for UT.

[Ded As Ned]

Nice win for Ole Miss!  Watched the majority of that game... I almost came to post about it 2 or 3 times, but then the announcers kept talking about the blown leads by Miss 

Peeking in on UT/Florida as I'm watching UMass hang with Mississippi St!  Go Minutemen!

[Ded As Ned]

2 hours ago, Ferrum Aeternum said:

ETA: "How to shut up 100,000 hillbillies in a minute and a half," starring Jim McElwain.  

ETA:  Why is Tennessee wearing Boise State knockoff uniforms?

[Ferrum Aeternum]

30 minutes ago, Ded As Ned said:

ETA:  Why is Tennessee wearing Boise State knockoff uniforms?

They seem to play poorly every time they wear those black or grey abominations, which begs the question why they bother.

Although to their credit, they've rallied to make it a game here in the 2nd half. 

 

[Ded As Ned]

UT is owning this game now.  Further proof my posts in this thread have instant quantum effects on games I have nothing to do with.

[Ferrum Aeternum]

10 minutes ago, Ded As Ned said:

UT is owning this game now.  Further proof my posts in this thread have instant quantum effects on games I have nothing to do with.

Ha, yeah, the Tennessee people thought would show up this year has finally shown up. Dobbs has looked like a different player in the 2nd half.

[Jace, Extat]

This ND game is disgraceful.

[Ramsay B.]

Fair catch at the 1. 

[S John]

Whew.  

Damn near snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, but I'll take it.

There was on real bad playcall in the 4th quarter where WVU had 10 point lead and threw a failed bubble screen where it was inexcusable to do anything other than run it up the middle.  That incomplete pass seriously allowed BYU back in the game.  WVU is a good team, but we need to learn how to close out games.  We have the personnel to run out the clock and it drives me absolutely insane when Holgs gets cute when he just needs to get 2 or 3 yards and keep the clock running.  

 BYU is a good team, and they play hard, but we were on the verge of a 10 - 14 point victory and nearly lost the game because of that bone-headed decision.  I'll take the win though.  BYU has played 4 power 5 teams and played all of them close.