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Alabama: The defense did not give up their third first down until the 4th quarter when all the freshmen and walk-ons were in the game. The offense should improve once Duron Carter debuts this week and Darius Hanks next week. Superfrosh Cyrus Kouandjio is a starter by Week 4.

Arkansas: Joe Adams had two electric punt returns for touchdowns. However, part of the credit goes a lame undisciplined Missouri State team. Tyler Wilson looked pretty good at QB but Ark had 102 rushing yards.

Auburn: Last year, they made a lot of daring escapes. This year, there is no Cam Newton to help out. Auburn may have already used up this season’s allotment of luck.

Florida: Urban Meyer leaving Florida was a good thing for them. Will Muschamp will turn the program around but don’t expect them back in the top 2 any time soon. The Gators are my dark horse pick for the SEC East title.

Georgia: Everything about this match-up was bad news for the Bulldogs – the uniforms were stupid and distracting to the players; UGA was looking ahead to South Carolina; UGA did not respect their opponent;  heaping all their hopes on Isiah Crowell was a big mistake; Richt’s recruiting did not address needs. Richt has lost his edge and is not fully dedicated to the program. Time to go.

Kentucky: Rich Brooks had 4 straight winning seasons and bowl games. Last season, UK went 6-7 & a bowl game. Could that have been due to leftovers from the Brooks era? Randall Cobb, Derrick Locke and Mike Hartline are all gone. Joker Phillips’ cupboard is bare.

LSU: I fully expected LSU to beat Oregon but that was due to my lack of faith in Oregon. I fully agree that they are highly overrated despite the way Brent Musberger was gushing over them. No disrespect to the Tigers. They are a legitimate candidate for the big game. The quarterfinals begin November 5 in Tuscaloosa.

Ole Miss: I blame this on the curse of the Rebel Bear. It is so pathetic that Ole Miss gave into the politically correct crybabies and did away with the Colonel. The real curse is Houston Nutt. He can’t coach, he can’t recruit and he is finding it harder to find anyone left to believe his BS. Let the next coach speculation begin.

Mississippi State: The other Dawgs did what you’re supposed to by beating their cupcake du jour. Vick Ballard had a good game. Dan Mullen is doing good things in StarkVegas. He’ll never win big at MSU but 8-9 wins ever year might be enough.

South Carolina: I have been saying all summer that this is Spurrier’s swan song. He is putting it all on the line to win this season before he retires to the golf course. This should be evident in the fact that he has no solution at QB after Garcia finished his seventh year of eligibility. The Gamecocks are good for a couple of trap games. They may win the East but after they are trounced again in the SECCG, it’s tee time.

Tennessee: UT has some rocky roads ahead but step one is beating the teams you are supposed to beat. Tyler Bray will be a beacon of light but not much else after that. If Dooley wants to stick around in Knoxville, he needs to find his “Herschel Walker”.

Vanderbilt: They have excellent academics.

SEC WEST:

ALABAMA
Start of spring practice: March 21
Spring game: April 16

ARKANSAS
Start of spring practice: March 15
Spring game: April 16

AUBURN
Start of spring practice: March 23
Spring game: April 16

LSU
Start of spring practice: March 11
Spring game: April 9

MISSISSIPPI STATE
Start of spring practice: March 4
Spring game: April 9

OLE MISS
Start of spring practice: March 28
Spring game: April 16

SEC EAST:

FLORIDA
Start of spring practice: March 16
Spring game: April 9

GEORGIA
Start of spring practice: March 10
Spring game: April 16

KENTUCKY
Start of spring practice: March 30
Spring game: April 23

SOUTH CAROLINA
Start of spring practice: March 15
Spring game: April 9

TENNESSEE
Start of spring practice: March 22
Spring game: April 16

VANDERBILT
Start of spring practice: March 18
Spring game: April 17

It is probably best for underclassmen to declare for the NFL draft ONLy if theythink they can go in the first round. Many of these guys will, but some of them are delusional:

SEC (14)

Alabama: Marcell Dareus, DE; Julio Jones, WR; Mark Ingram, RB – these three could go in the top 15.
Arkansas: Ryan Mallett, QB – mid-first round to mid-second round
Auburn: Nick Fairley DT; Cameron Newton, QB; Darvin Adams WR – UnFairley should go top 10; SCam in late 1st round; Adams 3rd round
Florida: Will Hill, S – meh, shoulda stayed
Georgia: Justin Houston, DE; A.J. Green, WR – AJ is a top 10 pick. Houston probably 2nd round or later
Kentucky: Randall Cobb, WR/KR/QB – interesting prospect but not a first rounder; maybe 3rd
LSU: Patrick Peterson, CB; Stevan Ridley, RB – Peterson is top 5; Ridley, are you kidding me?
Ole Miss: Jerrell Powe, DT – 2nd to 3rd round
South Carolina: Tori Gurley, WR – insane

ACC (9)

Clemson: Da’Quan Bowers, DE; Jamie Harper, RB – Da’Quan is a top 10
Georgia Tech: Nick Claytor, OT
Maryland: Torrey Smith, WR/KR; Kenny Tate, S
Miami: Brandon Harris, CB
Virginia: Zane Parr, DE
Virginia Tech: Darren Evans, RB; Ryan Williams, RB

BIG TEN (7) – I am truly surprised none of the Ohio State Tattoo-gate 5 are going pro.

ILLINOIS: Mikel Leshoure, RB; Corey Liuget, DT; Martez Wilson, LB
INDIANA: Tandon Doss, WR
IOWA: Tyler Sash, S
WISCONSIN: John Clay, RB; J.J. Watt, DE

BIG 12 (3)

MISSOURI: Blane Gabbert, QB; Aldon Smith, DE – not good for Mizzou. Blane will be 2nd or 3rd rounder
TEXAS: Aaron Williams, CB

BIG EAST (5)

CONNECTICUT: Jordan Todman, RB
PITTSBURGH: Jon Baldwin, WR; Henry Hynoski, FB; Dion Lewis, RB
WEST VIRGINIA: Robert Sands, S

PAC-10 (7)

ARIZONA STATE: Lawrence Guy, DT
CALIFORNIA: Shane Vereen, RB
OREGON STATE: Jacquizz Rogers, RB
UCLA: Akeem Ayers, LB; Rahim Moore
USC: Jurrell Casey, DT; Tryon Smith, OT

CONFERENCE USA (1)

SOUTHERN MISS: DeAndre Brown, WR.

MID-AMERICAN(1)

TEMPLE: Muhammad Wilkerson, DT

MOUNTAIN WEST (2)

UTAH: Brandon Burton, CB;  Sealver Siliga, DT

INDEPENDENT (1)

NOTRE DAME: Kyle Rudolph, TE

Damian Swann – UGA
Harvey Langi – Utah
Tobias Singleton – Ole Miss
Colt Lyerla – Oregon
Donovan Smith – Penn State
Lateek Townsend – Clemson
Gerrod Holliman – Louisville
James Sample – Washington
Wayne Lyons – Stanford
Viliam Moala – Cal
Kris Frost – Auburn
Odell Beckham – LSU
Dee Hart – Alabama
Brent Calloway – Auburn

After last week’s snoozefest of games, we finally got some exciting games.

In the SEC, Auburn wins at Alabama 28-27 to stay undefeated. Arkansas upsets LSU 31-23 to possibly sneak their way into the Sugar Bowl. UGA and Tennessee both win to become bowl eligible.

Going Bowling:

SEC will again send ten teams to bowl games. The Pac 10 currently has THREE teams bowl eligible. Oregon State would need a miracle win over #2 Oregon to get to 6 wins. Washington has to win at Washington State.

SEC – 10

ACC – 9

Big Ten – 8

Big XII – 8

Pac 10 – 3

To date, there are 35 bowls and 70 bowl eligible teams including such 6-win stalwarts as UTEP, Western Michigan, Florida International and Troy.

Army (Armed Forces), Navy (Poinsettia) and Air Force (tba) will all go bowling. Congratulations to our awesome military academies!

Teams that needed a home win to become bowl eligible and lost:

Texas A&M defeated Texas 24-17 in Austin. Sad.

All Louisiana-Monroe had to do was beat lowly La.-Lafayette (3-9). Laffers win 23-22.

Cal and shifty head coach Jeff Tedford lose in Berkeley to Washington (5-6) 16-13.

Now to the fun part: the HAHA awards.

Top HAHA this week goes to Boise who lost to Nevada 34-31. God bless the Wolfpack for exposing these imposters. You did not belong. Now go away.

Georgia Tech (6-6) fans got pretty cocky after beating UGA in 2008 and then winning the ACC in 2009. It’s been all downhill from there. The Jackets lost their second straight to a weak Georgia (6-6) team who was looking to become bowl eligible 42-34.

Miami loses to South Florida? At home? Pathetic.

Rich Rodriguez might be on his way out in Ann Arbor finishing 7-5 and losing yet again to Ohio State 37-7. This was the Buckeyes 7^th straight win over Michigan.

Kansas finished 3-9 under coach Turner Gill. Professional loudmouth Charles Barkley called Auburn racist for not hiring Gill. I think things turned out okay for the Tigers.

Mixed feelings HAHA of the Week:

Despite three Notre Dame interceptions and a fumble, Lame Kiffin and his uninspired USC Trojans lost to the Irish in L.A. 20-16. Both teams finish 7-5.

Game of the WEAK:
Buffalo (2-10) feeling charitable, allowed Akron to get their first and only win of the season 22-14.

This was an odd weekend. There were not a lot of high profile games and no real upsets.

Several teams were on the brink of big upsets and blew it:

#5 LSU survived Ole Miss 43-36. The Rebels led 36-35 with under 5 to play.

#17 Iowa seemed pretty content to lead #9 Ohio State 17-10 in the 4^th because they could not stop the Buckeye offense after that while twice going three-and-out. Final: OSU 20 Iowa 17.

San Diego State was up on #23 Utah 34-24 but details are what usually separate good teams from not so good teams. After the Utes cut the lead to 3, they blocked a 4^th quarter punt and recovered it on the 3 yard line. You know what’s next.

Purdue on the brink of a big win over #12 Michigan State blew a 15 point 4^th quarter lead. The Spartans took the win 35-31.

HAHAs:

#8 Nebraska proved once again, they are NOTHING without quarterback Taylor Matrinez. Texas A&M wins 9-6.

The Big 10 looked like chumps this week. With Illinois playing Northwestern at Wrigley Field, it should have been a great celebration of college football, but they turned it into big friggin’ joke. First was the release of photos of the playing field showing one end line ¼ of a stride from a brick wall. Then the Big 10, Illinois and Northwestern officials knocked their three stooges heads together two days before kickoff and decided it was unsafe – this coming months after all had approved everything. Both teams were forced to attack the west end zone – even on a Northwestern interception return, the refs made the Wildcats go to the other end to kick the extra point – as well as sharing a sideline. The Big 10 looked like idiots.

I cannot sign-off without throwing out the HAHA of the Week: Lame Kiffin and his lame-o daddy D-coordinator lost to Oregon State 36-7. Pat Haden would be best served to give Kiffin and his goons (coaching staff) pink slips and start fresh in 2011.

#5 Utah hosts #3 TCU. Both are undefeated and good teams. Neither has any business being in the Top 5. TCU should win but the game is played in Salt Lake City. It would be nice if Utah could win since they have a better chance of losing later.

• TCU remaining opponents: San Diego State, @New Mexico.
• Utah remaining opponents: @Notre Dame, @San Diego State, BYU.

#6 Alabama at #10 LSU is always a big game but this year’s game will help determine the winner of the SEC West. Both teams are 7-1, 4-1. If Bama wins, they still have a shot at the BCS. If the Tigers prevail, they have a chance but need to defeat Arkansas and have Auburn lose to UGA or the Tide.

* For those of you out there that want a playoff in college football, open your eyes! You have one. Michigan State and Mizzou were eliminated last Saturday. This weekend, two of the above teams will be gone.

Shhh. Sleeper alert: Hawaii has quietly gone 7-2 including a win over Nevada and putting up 36 points on Southern Cal (but giving up 49). On Saturday, they travel to that idiotic blue field in Boise. Shhh. Don’t tell anyone, but might the Rainbow Warriors pull an upset? How awesome would that be?

Week 4 brings some really interesting games that will help sort out what some teams are really made of.

#1 Alabama at #10 Arkansas – it’s Heisman hopeful Ryan Mallett vs. the young and inexperienced Alabama defensive backfield. The winner emerges as the SEC West favorite, as well as a BCS Bowl aspirations.

#12 South Carolina at #17 Auburn – Both teams are 3-0 and looking to show they are for real. SC has probably the best team under Spurrier in his six mediocre years in Columbia. The Tigers are coming off a hard-hitting OT win over Clemson.  This game is BIG for both teams.

#24 Oregon State at #3 Boise – We all know about Boise trying to bust their way into the big boys’ dance. Their answer to lame scheduling was to play Va Tech, OSU, Wyoming & Toledo. IMHO, if they wanted to be taken serious, those last two games should’ve been harder opponents since the WAC sked is SO lame. But anyway… The Beavers are like Jekyll & Hyde. For the sake of College Footbal, let’s hope they bring their A-game.

Nevada at BYU – Why is this important? Because we will get to see if Nevada is for real. The ‘Pack has rolled to a 3-0 start in three home games including a 52-31 romp over Cal. They may be the last shot at beating Boise who travels to Reno on November 26th.

Also watching:

• #22 West Virgina at #15 LSU -  Tigers fans are getting restless in Baton Rouge. A loss might cause a riot.
• #5 Oregon at Arizona State – The Ducks are my #3 behind Alabama and Ohio State.
• Kentucky at #9 Florida – Cobb and Locke should not be taken lightly as Florida tries to find their way.
• #16 Stanford at Notre Dame – the sun is always sunnier, the birds sing more merrily, everything is right with the world when Notre Dame loses.

Worst game of the Week: #118 New Mexico at #110 UNLV (rankings according to cbssports.com) – Both are 0-3. NM has given up 180 points in three games. I am taking Vegas.