Sobered Up - Week 3

Any Georgia fans losing their shit over Saturday's effort really need to calm the fuck down. A win on the road in the SEC is still a win on the road in the SEC. The proliferation of penalties is something that can be worked on, as are the missed blocking assignments (on both the pass and run) on the offensive line. I have faith in those problems being fixed by next week or by the Bama game.

Owner of the most impressive 79-yard performance in recent history.

That being said, the lack of a legitimate pass rush is going to hurt us against a team without the awful QB issues S.C. has. In the last few years, Marcus Howard (2007) and Quinten Moses (2006) did not emerge as forces against the pass until later in the year. Hopefully someone can do likewise this season. The return of butterfingers by our wide receivers is another issue that makes me ugh too much to even extrapolate upon. Just catch the damn ball. I'd really like to see Massaquoi and Green get the majority of run at the two wideout spots with Demieko Goodman lining up in the slot. I don't seem to understand the fascination Georgia coaches and fans continue to find with Kris Durham. I don't see what he brings to the table than almost any other receiver on the roster doesn't.

At the end of the day...our offense ran up against an excellent defense and our defense played well enough versus an anemic offense. As always, it was a close game against S.C., and we found out what needs to be improved upon. Let's see how the guys respond.

Luckily (or not so, for those that were hoping for a big prime-time hyped matchup), Arizona State looks eminently beatable following an embarrassing at-home loss to friggin' UNLV. Between that, UCLA and Washington getting crushed 59-0 by BYU and Oklahoma, respectively, Arizona losing to New Mexico, Maryland somehow coming back from the dead to defeat Cal, Oregon needing double OT to beat mediocre-at-best Purdue, and TCU repping the MWC in their stomping of Stanford, the Pac-10 seemed to have a terrible Saturday, until...

USC showed the nation who's fucking boss against Ohio State. Not much to say about the Trojans except that they're stacked, as usual, on both sides of the ball and dominating out-of-conference competition. However, let's see if they can keep themselves from tripping up against a mediocre Pac-10 opponent. Even with one loss, though...these guys are looking like prohibitive favorites for Miami.

Compared to Saturday, this was like Christmas for Boecks...

Note to Jim Tressel: The Todd Boeckman era...end it. It's over. You're not winning a national title with him as your fulltime quarterback, ever. Terrelle Pryor is raw, sure, he'll make his mental freshman mistakes, but he's athletic and not the turnover machine Boeckman is. I think it's safe to say my dream of seeing Ohio State lose a third consecutive BCS title game to an SEC team is over, mostly because...

The Big 10 wins the ACC Iron Stomach Shitfest Memorial Award of the week for their pathetic showing on Saturday. Ohio State, Michigan losing to Notre Dame and their beached whale of a coach on crutches, Wisconsin needing four missed field goals to hang on against Fresno State, Illinois dominating 20-17 win over Louisiana-Lafayette...and those are the four best teams in that conference!?! Right now, it's safe to say that the Big 10, Big East, ACC and Pac-10 are in a ferocious battle for the right to play the Ralph Nader to the SEC and Big 12's McCain and Obama.

Kudos to Texas Tech for still managing to annihilate the over, even when their field looked like this 24 hours before kickoff:

Best. Slip-n-Slide. Ever.

If every Friday night game was as high-quality and entertaining as Kansas-South Florida, maybe I wouldn't be so taken aback by the NCAA bogarting the limelight on a night that has been and should be dominated by high school football.

UCONN 45, Virginia 10. The Al Groh era might be even more dead than the Todd Boeckman era.

And, Rick Neuheisel, I'm sure you'll do a fine job at UCLA, and maybe even one day you'll make a BCS bowl. But as far as I'm concerned, the football monopoly in LA lives on.

My ass it is.

And now, the Top 10 heading into Week 4:

1. USC - After disemboweling OSU yesterday, they get to enjoy their second bye in three weeks. All's well in the land of Troy right now.
2. Oklahoma - Georgia could just as easily go here, and might be here again next week, but the Sooners are just straight killin' folks right now. How's that for in-depth analysis?
3. Georgia
4. LSU - Looking forward to seeing what their defense can do against Auburn's offense next weekend...although the same could be said for Auburn's defense against their offense, which has seen spotty QB play, and more completions to running backs than any receivers. This one could be REALLY ugly.
5. Florida - Speaking of situations that could get ugly...it's also Urban Meyer vs. Phil Fulmer week!
6. Missouri - Alright, I'm officially impressed with Mizzou's offense and their douchebag looking QB's ability to drop 50+ on weak opponents. Wake me up in two weeks (@ Nebraska).

Yeah, I workout there on Tuesdays. So do you ladies come here often?

7. Texas - If I'm Mack Brown, I'm furious that damned hurricane not only forced me to move the Arkansas game to kick off a brutal stretch of games (Ark, @Colorado, Oklahoma, Missouri, OkState, @TexTech), but didn't drop a fucking inch of rain in Austin on Saturday. Something tells me this may not be their year...
8. Alabama - Congrats for beating a 1-AA opponent the way an SEC team should beat a 1-AA opponent. Still not sold on John Parker Wilson.
9. South Florida - With a boatload of veteran talent and that easy ass schedule...these guys could legitimately run the table. Not saying I'd bet on it...but it's there for the taking. They've already played their toughest game.
10. Texas Tech - I can't really ever fathom TexTech being an actual Top 10 Division 1 team...but as long as Auburn is operating with 50% of a football team, I can't put them here.

Until next week...