Week 6: The Week that Was

It took me a few days to come down from the college football rush that was Saturday. While I'm sure they were celebrating in Idaho, Utah and Fort Worth, they also have to realize it's weekends like this that separate them from the pack.

Saban's secondary had no
answer for Alshon Jeffrey.

Alabama was beaten on Saturday. South Carolina jumped on them, forcing the Tide to give up on the running game and putting the game squarely in the hands of Greg McElroy (and unlike the 2009 Auburn game, McElroy had to win the game and not just manage a game winning drive; there is a difference).

I obviously was off in my assessment of Alabama (nothing is ever quite as good as it seems), but I did think the Tide was vulnerable on the road against a passing team (which is why I didn't think Auburn or LSU would stop Bama). But after two rough conference games, Alabama ran into a team that could exploit Alabama's secondary and stay aggressive enough to keep the defense off balance. I firmly believe that if the schedule was different - if Arkansas and USC were flipped on Bama's schedule - it would be the Hogs celebrating a victory this week over the previously unbeaten Tide. And that's why TCU, Boise and Utah don't get the same level of respect.

Finally, South Carolina did what few teams could do against Nick Saban's team in the past two years - they finished. Bama rarely gave up touchdowns in difficult situations; countless times the Tide forced field goal attempts instead of touchdowns, especially in the red zone. On Saturday, South Carolina never gave a thought to field goals; they only scored TDs and ended red zone attempts in the end zone.

Mississipi State also took a bye before Bama.

(Also, I don't want to hear any complaints from Alabama fans about the six teams with bye weeks prior to playing Bama. Alabama's athletic director, Mal Moore, complained to the SEC office. You would think that fans who constantly beat their chest at being every SEC team's biggest game, wouldn't then cry about teams getting a bye. But it's not as bad as they claim. Sure USC had a week off, and it didn't hurt. But Bama takes a week off before it's too biggest SEC games - LSU [bye] and Auburn [Georgia State on Thursday night].

In comparison, Auburn faced Clemson [who scheduled Presbyterian College before AU], South Carolina [Furman], and still has LSU [McNeese State], Georgia [Idaho State] and Alabama [Georgia State]. Those are five teams playing FCS teams prior to the Tigers. It may not be a bye on the schedule, but it's a bye on the field.)

But as great as the CBS game was, nothing matched the LSU-Florida game. Les Miles finds an offense and goes up by 12 (and I'd say incorrectly going for two too early, but then, who am I to question the Mad Hatter?), only to see Florida storm back and take a three-point lead.

LSU coaching: as disturbing as this picture.

But that's ok, because LSU - who I didn't think would get 70 passing yards against Florida - has a minute and change to get into field goal range. And they have Miles, who I just knew would blew any opportunity that they had. And he almost did! But instead, he gets an over-the-head, bounce-pass, "lateral" to his kicker! who runs for five yards to convert on fourth and four. (Which gives Florida fans just one more reason to hate Damon Duval.)

Florida was shell-shocked and had to think that the game would just go to overtime. Instead the anemic LSU passing attack won the game and now LSU is in the thick of another national title race. And Gator fans have to stomach losing to Miles in similar fashion to Auburn in 2007. Now, LSU fans have gone from wanting him fired to realistically thinking national title.

(And is there any chance that the asteroid zipping by Earth is actually Les Miles' spaceship coming to pick him up [a la Cocoon... if so, maybe Guttenburg can show him how to wear a hat... and clap].) The level of luck he has is just scary. But now I also have to wonder where he found an offense; somehow both Jarrett Lee and Jordan Jefferson looked the part of QB against a dominant SEC defense.

Then there was the show Cam Newton put on in the first half in Lexington, which vaulted him into realistic Heisman discussion (especially since the national media is too dumb to wait and see how these spread QBs play against real defenses).  Auburn went up 31-14 in the second quarter and looked completely unstoppable. Of course, being the pessimistic AU fan that I am, I knew it was too good to be true; and it was. Auburn was forced to drive the length of the field to win, but that final drive was championship-caliber.

Last year, Auburn's offense might have been able to take the lead after UK tied it at 31-31, but it wouldn't have burned the final seven minutes off the clock like AU did on Saturday. The Auburn defense (especially the secondary) is going to end the Tigers this season's perfection - and soon - but Cam Newton is the type of game-changing player that can keep them in any game. But they now get a stretch of Arkansas, LSU and at Ole Miss that just might be too much to handle.

For the many games I got wrong over the season, I had the UGA and U-M games nailed. Georgia was a much more talented team than Tennessee and got the Vols between the hedges. Michigan was living off of Denard Robinson and had no defense - but Michigan State does. And the Spartans were able to limit Robinson's effectiveness and just pound the Wolverine defense. Suddenly, U-M is 5-1 and looking at a schedule with a team that is eerily reminiscent of last season's 5-7 team.

I wanted to write about this weeks ago, and now it's pretty much irrelevant, but it's funny how much USC is off the grid. Even though they can affect who wins the Pac-10, it's like the NCAA has sentenced them to play in Siberia. Now that Mark May isn't beating the Trojans' drum each week and they've dropped two straight conference games, USC is a ghost of an NCAA program. The Trojans will still make some national noise when Oregon comes calling in a few weeks, but their sudden demise couldn't have happened to a better coach.

TCU will not beat Utah. Not that any of you will notice.

Boise has more to worry about than just Oregon and Ohio State. They need the SEC champion to have two losses. And either Nebraska or Oklahoma will end the year unbeaten.

The final year of the Big  Ten-11 may really blow everything up. Boise's going unbeaten. So will Utah/TCU. But what happens if the only two unbeaten BCS teams come from the Big Ten? Ohio State doesn't play Michigan State and both are unbeaten. It was close to happening in 2007, when Wisconsin went 11-1 and didn't play Ohio State. This year, if the Buckeyes and Spartans are the only BCS unbeatens, they'll both head off to Tempe for a Big Ten national championship game. And if that happens, can they re-think adding Nebraska?