SEC Showdowns, 10/23

The leaves are dropping around the Southeast, and thankfully so are the thermometers. This is the time of the year when college football gets really interesting, especially in 2010. Florida is a powerhouse no longer, Alabama has suffered a defeat, the SEC West looks wide open at the top and the SEC East looks wide open at the bottom. In the crazed dazed word of SEC football, this is the stuff we live for. Here are a few of my predictions.

LSU vs Auburn
Auburn quarterback Cam Newtown is a favorite for the Heisman, and LSU coach Les Miles is a favorite for the Funny Farm. On one hand, you have a team in Auburn that is being carried largely on the shoulders of Newton's spectacular play, and with last week's stunning victory over Arkansas (the highest scoring game in SEC history), this pack of Tigers proved they are the real deal. On the other hand, you have the boys from Baton Rouge, who despite lacking a true starting quarterback or any sort of consistent offensive strategy, are still undefeated. Les Miles has a baffling style of syntax but something he is doing is working. Granted, the LSU Tigers also possess arguably the SEC's best defense.
Either way, this will be a fun game to watch. It will be rowdy, loud, and no doubt provoke some guffaws from Vern Lundquist. I am picking Auburn in this game, but underestimating Les Miles is like underestimating a voodoo priest.

Alabama vs Tennessee
If the Vols pull this one out of the bag, it will be the biggest upset in college football all year. As much as I would love to see it go down, I just don't smell it. These teams are too mismatched, and it would take Tennessee's best day against Alabama's worst day. I think it will be a close game though. Remember that last year, Tennessee was a blocked field goal away from victory, and that was in Tuscaloosa.

Ole Miss vs Arkansas
Arkansas is not the powerhouse they appeared to be a few weeks ago. Ole Miss is not the bag of feathers they appeared to be in weeks one and two. This could be a very interesting match, but I have to pick Arkansas in this one.

Mississippi State vs UAB
UAB generally plays SEC teams with a good size chip on its shoulder. That said, Mississippi State is looking like the real deal, especially after last week's upset of Florida. I am taking State by at least two touchdowns.

Vanderbilt vs South Carolina
Steve Spurrier and the Gamecocks will be sorely missing Marcus Lattimore this week, even against the Commodores. This is a homecoming game for Vanderbilt, and coming off an absolutely embarrassing rout at the hands of Georgia, I think they will be playing scrappy today. I have a feeling that Robbie Caldwell has been a little less Jerry Clower in the locker room this week and little more like Arthur Jensen. I am taking the Gamecocks, but I think the ever exasperating Commodores keep it close.

Georgia vs Kentucky
I know that it's basketball season all year long up in Lexington, but this year, the Wildcats actually have a shot at winning the SEC East. Granted, South Carolina would need to lose a couple of games down the stretch, but in last week's surprising victory over South Carolina, the Wildcats looked like a team that needs to be taken seriously, and Joker Phillips is getting it done as the skipper. I am picking Kentucky in this matchup, because I smell another unlikely victory for Kentucky. I think Georgia has buoyed itself with a little bit of false confidence in the last couple of weeks beating up on two different Tennessee squads.

Shooting Dirty Pool

There has been a lot of hoopla in recent days over Pittsburgh linebacker James Harrison and his perceived dirty hits, specifically one on Josh Cribs in Saturday's Pittsburgh-Cleveland matchup. I have always felt that the Steelers get away with plenty of dirty plays, in part due to their high profitability as a franchise. Still, we could see a sea change in the future, and I think it's worth remembering this perhaps forgotten play from Super Bowl 43.

From the archives of Bleacher Report:



I know it's the biggest game of the year and on the biggest stage. I know that this is a Man's game and a physical game. But did Harrison have to take it to that level? And, why was the act ignored?

Did the refs not want to be the one to kick someone out the Super Bowl? Would it have been an unprecedented toss? I truly don't know if a player has been kicked out of the Super Bowl Game or not.

Harrison makes one of the most exciting plays in Super Bowl History. The longest interception return for a touchdown in Super Bowl history. At that point the whole stadium, the whole world was impressed. He ran down that field in undeniable fashion.
All he had to hope for was that the penalty was not against Pittsburgh and that he could quickly get to the oxygen. He is the hero of the first half. He has the admiration from every Steeler past and present.
In the second half though the play is over and not in his vicinity: he pushes the Cardinal player to the ground, then holds the player down and punches him, pushes him again, shoves him to the ground again and then for final good measure he shoves him backwards.
Again, what were the Refs thinking? Half the distance to the goal line was not good enough. Even John Madden said, "he should be thrown out for that." The Cards got cheated gaining only a few inches for what was clearly bad sportsmanship, bad judgement by the player, and bad non-action by the refs
Now I personally think the Steelers overall play is very dirty and they did things all game and all season that were unreal. But, I am told that is the nature of the game. And, for most NFL games that I watch that holds true. I also know that hits come late and players play outside the lines.
I actually thought the Steelers v Ravens game was the most physical game I have ever watched. I can appreciate a physical game, a physical team, and a physical player. But this action went overboard. For this infraction, he should have been tossed. No questions asked and no hesitation.
Now they pose this to Jerome Bettis in postgame and he skirted around it. He never answered it. As I am sure all Steeler players would and Steeler fans. But he deserved to be escorted out. And if he had been tossed, how would that have changed the complexity of the game?
Would that have made a difference with the performance of the Cardinal O-line in the final quarter? I don't know...None of us will ever know.
But, I do wonder will Goodell have a look at this play? Will he and the League Office assess it and make some recommendation for some games suspension in 2009?
Harrison definitely deserves a hefty fine and game suspension. He should also be ashamed of himself and publicly apologize today for his action.

The "wisdom" of Les Miles

Les Miles is without question the most unpopular coach in college football whose team is 6 and 0. Yet somehow, his LSU Tigers manage to keep winning, week after week, albeit with an anemic passing offense and a huge question mark at the QB position.
Last night, the TIgers went down to the Swamp in Gainesville and pulled out another head-scratching yet very actual victory over the Gators. A week ago, it was Keystone Kops and Apocalypse Now, with a game of "who's in charge here?" as time expired against the Volunteers. Yet the Tigers were able to run one more play with no time on the clock, and in true Cajun Voodoo fashion, stunned Tennessee with a goal line touchdown. This week it was a fake field goal attempt that turned into a first down, and a touchdown drive with just seconds left on the clock.
Miles may not be a mad scientist, but his unhinged style of coaching does seem to be working, if nothing else in being able to unsettle the temperament of his opponents. This whole week I have been opining that Miles is almost like the Frank Booth of college football; I pretty much expect him to start cussing and huffing nitrous from the sideline every weekend. But I gotta hand it to him: he wins games.
So with Alabama's loss yesterday to South Carolina, it's two breeds of Tigers on top of the SEC West. Wow. Who would have thought that a few weeks ago?

Broncos Coach Josh McDaniels Apparently Unaware that Football is a Contact Sport

I gotta give props to local sportswriter/curmudgeon/Matlock doppelganger Joe Biddle. He often gives the Titans some tough love, but when they are unfairly backed into a corner, he takes up for them....

From today's Tennessean...

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Titans fans saw a hard-hitting, aggressive defensive team when they urged on their men in blue.

Denver quarterback Kyle Orton and his coach, Josh McDaniels, saw a Titans defense filled with cheap-shot artists who played dirty pool when the opportunity presented itself.

When three Pittsburgh Steelers picked Titans quarterback Vince Young up off the ground and unceremoniously planted him in the turf head first, it didn't even merit a flag from an official standing there watching it.


Young could have broken his neck, but that was judged to be aggressive, hard-hitting football, even though the NFL fined Steelers linebacker James Harrison for his part in the play.

When Titans defensive tackle Sen'Derrick Marks stumbled through the middle of the Broncos line and initially hit Orton at thigh level before he slid down Orton's body with his arms wrapped around him, it was a 15-yard penalty. Roughing the passer.

Dirty football? No. Was there intent to injure Orton? No.

Hey, it's football. These are not 6-5, 300-pound young men playing patty-cake. It gets rough at times.

Titans Coach Jeff Fisher teaches his defensive players to swarm to the ball, to hit hard, wrap up and take the opponent to the ground. It's the way an undersized Fisher played at Southern Cal and with the Chicago Bears.

He doesn't apologize for it, and he shouldn't. Playing timidly will get you beat every time.

Now, do certain Titans players have a reputation for playing too rough? Current Detroit Lions defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch was one of those perceived to be a dirty player. So was recently retired center Kevin Mawae.

If Vanden Bosch was guilty of anything, it was playing until he heard the whistle. At times, Vanden Bosch's motor carried him past the whistle. Mawae played in the middle of the trenches, where you resort to hand-to-hand combat at times. During 16 NFL seasons, Mawae learned all the tricks of the trade.

Today's most visible villain is Titans cornerback Cortland Finnegan. Undersized and a seventh-round draft pick, the Samford assassin has to prove himself every game. He is driven, determined and won't back down from a cornered rattlesnake.

Finnegan is feisty. He talks more trash than a sanitation worker during a double shift. He plays on that fine line, but he is not out to intentionally hurt another player.

I think the perception that the Titans are a dirty team is just that. Sure, when their defensive coordinator flips off an official during a game, it adds to that perception.

They are tied with the Lions, both teams incurring an NFL leading 37 penalties over the first four games. Officials have stepped off a league-high 344 yards against the Titans.

The Titans are averaging about 3.1 penalties more each game than last season.

Fisher discounts any suggestion his defense breaks the rules.

"I'd like to see them play harder, play more aggressive,'' Fisher said Monday.

Maybe Orton and McDaniels expected them to wear pink dresses, in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Tennessee VS LSU: heartbreak worthy of a Yiddish folktale

Chuck Cecil apparently unaware that NFL games are now televised....

From ProFootballTalk.com...


NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator Chuck Cecil has been fined $40,000 by the NFL for an obscene gesture at game officials.

The league on Monday said Cecil violated a rule that prohibits use of abusive, threatening or insulting language or gestures to game officials.

Television cameras caught Cecil using his right hand to make the gesture when officials flagged his defense for a neutral zone infraction during the second quarter Sunday. The penalty gave Denver first-and-goal, and Kyle Orton threw a 2-yard touchdown pass on the next play for a 7-0 lead.


I am starting to wonder exactly what is so "dirty" about the Tennessee Titans. The team certainly has a reputation for hard, physical play, but when you are the Baltimore Ravens or the Pittsburgh Steelers, this seems to be something to laud. I guess when you are a small market team, you don't get the same amount of leeway.

Denver Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels certainly felt comfortable when he took a soapbox stance against the Titans supposed "cheap" style of attack..


"I was proud of our team because we knew that was the kind of game it was going to be,'' McDaniels said Monday about the Broncos win via Mike Klis of the Denver Post. "You can put any tape you want to of Tennessee and there's going to be 10 penalties. You either coach it or you allow it to happen. That's how I look at that."

McDaniels lauded his team for not being drawn into fights and went a step further, saying the Titans played dirty.

"There's a way to play tough and physical without being excessive and playing dirty after the snap,'' McDaniels said. "There's a lot of teams in this league that play like that. Tough and physical but also within the rules."


A little rub-your-nose-in-it preachy from McDaniels, but then again, this is a team who drafted a certain Promise Keeper in its 2010 draft.

In other news, Titans rookie defensive end Derrick Morgan appears to be out for the remainder of the 2010 season with a torn ACL, but with the mad wizard Jim Washburn as defensive line coach, anything is possible, even when there are some big shoes to fill.

Boilermaker brew

Stopped and ate lunch yesterday at the wonderful, yet strangely named Triple XXX Family Diner in Lafayette, Indiana. Besides being a favorite chow spot for noted Boilermakers through the years including Bob Griese and Drew Brees, the diner brews its own brand of root beer.