The No. 25 Gators (5-0) matched Alabama’s dominance in a 38-10 victory against the Rebels (4-1), who went from looking like No. 1 to being overmatched. With a new AD on the way, and an embarrassing, program-crushing loss to TCU, in which the 50-7 score was a gift from Gary Patterson (it was 30-0 very early, with little sweat broken), the writing is on the wall.
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It is believed to be the greatest week of practice in the history of Division I football. It was the second straight shutout for the Wolverines, who have allowed a total of 14 points in their last four games.
“The clock started, and you saw what happened”. Despite doing everything they could to hype the game up, Georgia pulled a Georgia and fell apart after against big competition. An 0-2 league start would have all but eliminated the Tide from playoff consideration. “I think our players showed a competitive character today that I hold in really high esteem, because that’s what you want your players to do”. By the second quarter, he was standing next to Jim. Perhaps because they’ve seen this movie before.
After the Blackout came the Washout. The scar tissue is still visible here from that one. Much like past year, the defending champions have been less than dominant.
Missouri is 4-1 overall, and is coming off a 24-10 home win over South Carolina. You could do a lot worse. “Gone! So if that was the case, we’d have to get respirators or something down there to put life back in people”. And they know the rest of the SEC is watching.
There are at least 110 lesser coaches at the FBS level.
They wore their regular red jerseys against the Crimson Tide this time. Given the mother lode of talent within range of Athens, that doesn’t seem unreasonable. I’m coaching and working for our players and our team to be as good as they can be, and if that’s not pleasing to somebody else then that’s not pleasing to somebody else. There was one SEC title, back in 2002, and that’s it. Because there’s always that nightmare performance lurking somewhere on the schedule.
“Tonight it was BYOG”, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said.
Nick Saban is fond of saying he pays the media no attention. And while Richt downplayed the pregame confrontation, Saban did not.
After his team defeated Notre Dame in a driving rain, Swinney gave a dissertation on what it means to be recruited to a town that paints Tiger paws on the street leading to the stadium. Midway through the third quarter, Georgia fans were streaming toward the exits on a dreary evening that thoroughly matched the mood of the red-clad crowd in Athens. That loss to Mississippi doesn’t disappear off the Tide’s resume. He wasn’t going to tolerate that happening a second time. “Then the momentum got away from us, and we didn’t have a counter”.
“I thought we played great defensively minus the one play”, Saban said.
Alabama settled down and did exactly that.
The Bulldogs, meanwhile, added another grim performance to their reputation of flopping in the biggest games.
There was a long drive for a Derrick Henry touchdown. The Crimson Tide special teams unit also got on the board with a blocked punt and quick touchdown.
A minute later, on Alabama’s next offensive play, Coker found another freshman, Calvin Ridley, for a 45-yard touchdown that pushed the Crimson Tide halftime lead to 24-3.
It was that kind of day for Georgia’s quarterback: The starter was pulled, the backup was actually worse, but when the starter went back in he still struggled.
“We’ve got to re-evaluate everything”, coach Mark Richt said. “We’ll watch the film and face the truth”.
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A few truth to chew on: Georgia might still win the SEC East this year, but it’s hard to envision the Bulldogs being good enough to beat the SEC West representative if it comes to that.
