LSU 41 – Texas A&M 24

1. “Now the watch begins to see if Miles can be lured from LSU to his alma mater, Michigan.”

2. Is Les Miles the change Michigan wants?

3. QB Jordan Jefferson says Miles isn’t going anywhere.

4. Three touchdown passes and one rushing TD for Jefferson.

5. The LSU running backs were effective as well.

6. Scott Rabalais: “Time for more yell practice, Aggies.”

7. Was anyone watching?

8. Since 2006, the SEC is 7-1 in BCS bowls. The Big 12 is 2-5.

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Butler begins the drive at its own 23 with 1:05 left. Mettenberger’s pass is intercepted by Chazz Edmond-Paris. Since Butler has only one timeout left, the Bulldogs can run out the clock.

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Well, I was wrong: South Carolina did not beat Auburn. In fact, we didn’t even come close, as Auburn dominated Carolina to the tune of a 56-17 final score. My hat goes off to the Tigers, who proved that they’re clearly worthy of a bid to play against Oregon for the national title. They came ready to play in this game, they came with a good game plan, and they executed more or less flawlessly other than for brief moments late in the second half. Cameron Newton put the finishing touches on an already sterling Heisman campaign. The Auburn defense did its part with a dominant performance.

Carolina cannot say these things for itself. I don’t think that our showing was quite as bad as the final score indicated. This was one of those games that proves that a few slightly off plays here and there can make a huge difference in a game’s outcome. For the first two-and-a-half quarters, Carolina hung somewhat tough with Auburn. However, we generally failed to seal the deal when we had chances to make key plays. The Carolina offense frequently moved the ball into Auburn territory only to see drives bog down. Stephen Garcia was off on a pass to Marcus Lattimore that would have resulted in a TD. On another play, Garcia made a decent third-down pass to Lattimore, Lattimore made a leaping grab, but an Auburn defender pushed Lattimore out of bounds before Lattimore could get a foot down. That play would usually be a good one, but it didn’t work out that time. Spencer Lanning closely missed two key FGs. It was one of those games where the offense seemed to be just a little off its game. The Carolina defense was similarly close-yet-oh-so-far. Carolina got pressure on Newton at times but could never seem to take him down, and in what was really one of the keys of the game, Auburn got a freak TD on a tipped ball in the end zone on a late-first-half Hail Mary.

Against a team like Auburn, you can’t afford to be anything but perfect. As the game went on, Carolina continued to fail to take advantage of its opportunities, and Auburn’s lead began to grow. Eventually, Carolina lost its handle on the game, and the flood

gates opened and Auburn rolled to a lopsided victory. Sometimes it’s only a few plays that make the difference between a close game and a blowout. That’s the difference between good and great teams, however, and after this game, it’s clear that while Carolina had a good team this year, it didn’t have an elite team. We’re not ready to consistently play with the best teams in the country yet.

A few other thoughts on the game:

• I thought that our schematic game plan on offense was fairly well conceived. We came in knowing we’d have trouble running between the tackles and that we’d have to neutralize Auburn’s defensive line, and I liked the early attempts to run Lattimore outside the tackles, and I thought we did some interesting things in the short passing game. Our undoing was our inability to deal with the blitz.
• One element of Auburn’s success was the great coverage packages Ted Roof and his staff had drawn up to deal with Alshon Jeffery. At the same time, though,  you have to wonder if we should have tried to figure out more ways to Jeffery the ball.
• Garcia–whew, man. Pick yourself up after that one.
• Our secondary has apparently not gotten as much better since the Arkansas game as I thought. A lot of the old problems manifested themselves yet again. Stephon Gilmore–get it together, man. I never expected to see you get manhandled like that.
• I take back every nice thing I’ve ever said about Gary Danielson after this game. I knew what to expect from Verne before the game, and we got the usual senility. (The best example was when Verne called a five yard gain on a 3rd-and-15 a first down.) But Danielson I usually like for his play-by-play insights. Tonight, though, he was more interested in defending the NCAA’s decision on the Newton pay-for-play situation. Listen, Gary: we know that you’re interested in promoting the SEC / CBS brand, and your discussion of the Newton scandal came off for what it was, an attempt to whitewash the SEC’s image. I don’t know what happened with the Newton case, and I’ve accordingly expressed my unwillingness to pass judgment on the situation until damning evidence comes out. What I do know is that Gary Danielson doesn’t know enough about the situation to say anything substantial one way or the other, and his attempt to do so was shameful. Gary’s claim that we were faking injuries to slow down Auburn’s hurry-up offense was also pretty ridiculous.
• The CBS crew might have outdid itself, though, when Tracy Wolfson gave herself a (money?) shot of Cammy-Cam Juice. Good God was that surreal. And WTF was up with Newton getting carried onto the field by his “supporting cast”? Ugh. I never thought I’d say this, but I think I might miss Tim Tebow after that one.

That’s a wrap on this one, folks.

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If you had told me preseason that Aaron Murray would throw for 2,851 yards, 24 TDs and only 6 INTs with one game remaining on the schedule, I would’ve thought for sure that we’d have won 9-10 games. Easily. But here we sit at 6-6.

As a point of comparison, here are the first year starter totals for other recent UGA QBs:

• Joe Cox (RSr.) – 2,584 yards / 24 TDs / 15 INTs
• Matt Stafford (Fr.) – 1,749 / 7 TDs / 13 INTs
• DJ Shockley (RSr.) – 2,588 / 24 TDs / 5 INTs
• David Green (RFr.) – 2,789 / 17 TDs
• Quincy Carter (Fr.) – 2,484 / 12 TDs
• Mike Bobo (RJr.) – 2,440 / 13 TDs
• Eric Zeier (Fr.) – 1,984 / 7 TDs

INT information isn’t as easy to get your hands on prior to 2004. Also…Bobo was technically a first year starter in 1995, but he was injured so early that I didn’t think it was fair to post those stats.

Murray’s current passer rating of 162.7 is greater than Mike Bobo’s UGA single season record of 155.8. His 61.8% completion percentage is third best in UGA history for a single season, and he’s one TD away from tying the single season Georgia record Matt Stafford obtained in his final season before being the #1 pick of the draft.

All of which baffles me when I think about us being 6-6.

PWD

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Content provided by Razorback Expats.

One of my favorite things about the Hogs’ win over LSU on Saturday was that, as KevinHog put it, no miracle was required. Sure, things did get a little wacky there at the end of the first half, but overall it was a solid, end-to-end victory. It was the kind of solid win that a BCS-bound team should produce (and that the Hogs have traditionally managed to let slip away in the past…see the 2006 LSU game for reference). LSU is a good team and put up a tough fight, as expected, but in the end there was no doubt about who was better.

Other thoughts:

* as a Little Rock guy now living far away, I always get a particular thrill from seeing War Memorial on national TV. I went to many Razorback games there as a boy, and my high school (Go Rockets) played there as well. Love that place.

* I’m guessing both teams were a little too wound up at the start of the game…the first quarter was exceedingly sloppy all around. I kept picturing people from around the country seeing the Hogs and Tigers for the first time and thinking “these teams are supposed to be good?”

* it wouldn’t be an Arkansas-LSU game without a little crazy, and the sequence to end the first half was about as crazy as it gets: LSU fumble deep in their own territory + Arkansas interception in the end zone + Les Miles actually leaving too much time on the clock with an incredibly short possession + that insane Ryan Mallett/Cobi Hamilton bomb as time expired…all in about two minutes of game time. Dizzying!

* Props to Alex Tejada for making a couple of potentially game-saving tackles on Patrick Peterson‘s painfully long kickoff returns.

* Although it didn’t feel like a great thing at the time, the decisive point of the game was when LSU took over on the Hogs’ 9 yard line after Dylan Breeding‘s muffed punt in the 3rd quarter. Instead of letting the Tigers roll in for an easy TD and the lead, the Razorback defense stiffened with three consecutive great plays: a touchdown-saving open field tackle on a screen pass, stuffing a run up the middle for no gain and batting away the corner fade pass on 3rd down. From that moment on, it was all Arkansas.

* Continuing the theme of the above point, the defense played its best game of the year. Hats off to them (and especially SEC defensive player of the week Jerico Nelson). LSU had just 71 yards of offense in the second half.

* After the aforementioned defensive stand, the offense rose to the occasion with two of the best drives I can remember from an Arkansas team: first, an 11 play march that culminated in Mallett’s triumphant 39 yard TD pass to Joe Adams on 4th down (and featured a couple of huge 3rd down conversions before that), then, after a quick stop by the defense, a smashmouth masterpiece that featured nine straight butt-kicking runs by Knile Davis and Broderick Green.

* Les Miles must have still been a little sleepy from too much Thanksgiving turkey, because we never even saw a glimpse of the wackiness that’s made him famous. LSU had several opportunities to go for it on 4th down and never did…in fact, it was Bobby Petrino who broke the game open with that ballsy 4th down call on the TD pass to Adams.

* Cobi Hamilton is a proud Texarkana native, but he must feel a special connection with Little Rock: in his two SEC games at War Memorial the speedy WR has caught TD passes of 85, 80, 64 and 58 yards. And, he made the game-clinching recovery of LSU’s last minute onside kick. Not too shabby.

* I alluded to this in the intro, but in 2006 the highly-ranked Hogs took on the highly-ranked Tigers in War Memorial with a BCS bowl on the line and managed to lose in typically Nutty fashion. Very nice to come full circle and close it out this time.

* Final thought: when was the last time the Razorbacks had a win this big? Submit your suggestions in the comments section, because I’m having trouble thinking of one.

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It’s time to celebrate, Gamecocks fans! Carolina just made themselves comfortable in Clemson’s house and put a major whipping on the Tigers. The game really wasn’t even as close as the final 29-7 score. Clemson never  threatened to score after its early TD and Carolina had pity on its Upstate rival and took its foot off the gas in the second half. The gap between the two teams, especially considering that it all went down in front of what was early on a thoroughly energized Clemson crowd, was thoroughly apparent.

And that’s what’s so incredible about what Carolina did tonight. Before tonight, we hadn’t won two straight against Clemson since the 1960s, and now we’ve done to the tune of a 63-24 total margin of victory. We’ve been waiting for years for the Gamecocks to make the Palmetto Bowl a rivalry again, and Carolina just did it with a bang. This isn’t just a rivalry again, it’s now Carolina’s edge to lose. We now look to be the stronger program, and it’s easy to imagine our success against Clemson continuing next season. Clemson will undoubtedly field an improved team next year if they can keep their recruiting class together, but with all the offensive talent we have coming back and the game returning to Columbia, it’s hard to see us not being the favorite again next time around. Winning three straight against Clemson was difficult for Gamecocks’ fans to imagine a couple of years back after the Tigers whipped Carolina in 2008, but it now seems very easy to conceive. Pounding a team two straight years can do that for your confidence level.

In a season of many firsts, asserting ourselves in this rivalry is one of the sweetest. It may not have any immediate bearing on the SEC standings. However, after years of dealing with obnoxious Clemson fans look down on Carolina, it’s now Carolina’s turn to enjoy some success. That’s a great feeling. It’s what college football is all about, and it’s something we have gotten to enjoy much until now.

A few quick thoughts on the game:

1. Spencer Lanning deserves a game ball. Lanning missed a FG and had an XP blocked. (Our XP team needs some work, by the way.) However, his punting tonight was beautiful, and it allowed us to completely control field position in the second half. That was important, because I’m sure that Spurrier was happy to be able to play it safe and not ask Stephen Garcia or Marcus Lattimore to do to much in order to not have to risk injury going into the SEC Championship Game. Lanning’s punting made it easy for us to do that, because it put us in the position of not really having to worry about the outcome of the game for most of the second half.

2. The secondary has come full circle. Sure, they got some help from Clemson’s anemic passing game. (What happened to Kyle Parker, by the way? That was some noodly-armed QBing from the Clemson signal-caller. I take it this wasn’t what he came back for.) But Carolina’s secondary, outside of the early TD, again looked miles ahead of where it was earlier this season. They were consistently in position and showed a nose for the ball. What we’ve been doing since after Arkansas has worked, and it’s helped this defense morph into an elite unit.

3. Did Alshon Jeffery give the Biletnikoff folks something to think about? I’m watching Oklahoma wrap up a victory over Oklahoma St., and Justin Blackmon has been good but not great. I still think Blackmon wins the award, but Jeffery may have given himself a chance to put himself closer to contention for the award for the nation’s best receiver.

That’s a wrap for tonight. We’ll be back tomorrow with more coverage and analysis.

Cobi Hamilton's 80, 85-yard TD catches key 10th victory over LSU.
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Cobi Hamilton's 80, 85 yard TD catches key victory over LSU
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On a night where fortune met misfortune on numerous occasions, #21 MSU fell to #13 Arkansas 38-31, in one of the most intense and emotional games, that’s ever been played on the surface of Scott Field. MSU and Arkansas, alternated the role of the victim, as closed doors seemed to open at the most inopportune time for both teams throughout the night. The end result left MSU fans stunned, disappointed, but mostly PROUD of their team’s effort. Long story short, State could not have had worse things happen to them when they did. We’ll talk more about some of those misfortunes, as we make our way through our game recap. Here’s my game notes from the match up between the Bulldogs and Hogs.

(1) The BAD…Defense? What happened to BEND but don’t BREAK?: One thing was clear on Saturday night, and that’s that we didn’t force one of the best QBs in the country, to make tough throws. Mallet benefited from quick screens, open WRs, and allowing his target’s feet to do the dirty work. On his 26 drop backs, Mallet was sacked twice (LB White and DE McPhee), and hurried just 2 other times. One of those hurries resulted in an INTby Nickoe Whitley, which was easily one of the top plays in College Football on Saturday. Other than that, poor tackling, and blown assignments opened the door for big plays, taking away the need to drive the ball down field. Against Bama, State gave up big plays that were uncharacteristic of Manny Diaz’s Defense, allowing scores of 45, 78, and 56 yards. Nails, coffin, ballgame. State has forced teams to drive the length of the field for the entire year, but vs Bama and Arkansas, the Bulldogs have seemed to have lost their identity. Against the Hogs, State gave up scores of 62, 25, and 89 yards. On the 62 yd run by Kniles Davis:Dawg DE Pernell McPhee penetrated the backfield, but was held from behind, and brought down from behind by his blocker (no call). Even after Davishit the hole, the MSU secondary didn’t show the physicality that it takes to shed a blocker, both Safeties over pursued the play, which eliminated the second level of defense. No second level, means all a runner has to do is make it past the line of scrimmage. Easy TD. On the 25 yd Screen pass to DJ Williams: Diazed dialed up a blitz from the strong side, while the Hog OL patiently waited to allow State’s blitz to once again-over pursue. As Whitley and others came after Mallet, not one MSU player put their hands up to bat the pass (which was a low dart), and Williams simply cut across the Secondary by following his blocks. Easy TD. On the 89 yd TD pass to Jarius Wright: Busted zone coverage. We disguised the look by having Chris White shading Wright from the snap, as Wright’s pattern broke off, and another WR entered White’s zone that he is responsible for, White correctly shifted to his zone and shaded the new receiver. The problem is, KJ Wright was caught eyeing the back field-about the same time he realized his zone was uncovered. After that, it just got worse. Nickoe Whitley, who was not only out of place to start the play, ended up in pursuit of Arkansas’ Jarius Wright (who caught the pass). Nickoe sacrificed a TD saving tackle opportunity around the MSU 30 yd line, for the chance to re-adjust his angle for a strip. The Speed of the WR won the race, and MSU found itself down 3. Easy TD. And a BONUS break down for you readers, 7 yd TD pass to Kniles Davis in Double OT: MSU Safety Charles Mitchell showed blitz on the edge, while DE Sean Fergeson was supposed to show a zone read on the perimeter, in the flat. On the snap, Mitchell blitzed, Fergeson did not keep an eye on Davis the RB, who became a receiver out of the back field on a short delay. Fergeson saw the play developing, but was too far inside to recover.Easy TD. Anyone throwing up on their keyboard yet? The fact is, this HAS to be FIXED. The Offense was responsible for State’s 2 week long identity crisis, but the night they return to MSU’s style of football, the D performs poorly for the 2nd week in a row. Poor tackling, missed assignments, and a lack of physicality cost us. When the Offense plays as well as they did, there’s no way you can let them down with that kind of performance. We forced Arkansas into our kind of game on Offense, but not on Defense. We handed the Hogs the game on D. Now, with that said, we forced 3 turnovers, and showed some grit when we had to, but we have A LOT to clean up, with just a few days to do so. Either we are displaying a lack of execution, or other teams have figured Diaz out. Too many plays where guys went ‘untouched’. One more thing, Corey Broomfield needs to stop playing ‘shy’ football and man up and hit somebody. Poor, poor play from a good football player.

(2) The Good…Hats off to the Offense:If you would have told me on Friday that State would have finished with 32 First Downs, 486 total yards, with a 15 minute advantage in the Time of Possession battle, there’s no way I would have picked us to lose (I didn’t anyway). QB Chris Relf had thebest game of his career, finishing the night 20-30 for 224 yds, with another 103 yds on the ground. Relf tallied 1 TD, on his 23 yd TD run. Say what you will about the kid, but it was his reads and scrambling abilities that led to scores on MSU’s final 2 drives in regulation, that resulted in 10 points, and new life for the Bulldogs in O.T. Relf did a great job of protecting the ball in the passing game, with all but one of his passes having the possibility of being picked. There were a few not-so-great throws, but there werealso some catches that needed to be made. Like I always say, playmakers make plays. He missed all of his deep shots, but they ended up being effective in loosening up the Hog D, with the exception of the game’s final possession. Relf had a chance on 3rd down, but misfired to the inside of WR Arceto Clark on the goal line. Could this be the confidence building game that Relf needed, in order to become a duel threat QB? Anyway, RB Vick Ballard played his heart out. 33 carries for 150 yds, and 3 TDs. I believe he is 1 shy of the school season record. His heart, motor, and physical nature, earns him 2-3 yds more than is actually there. Enough cannot be said about his effort and determination. If I can’t have Anthony Dixon, give me Vick Ballard. I think we all saw the emergence of a future star on Saturday night, in WR Chris Smith. The Meridian native was clutch, pulling down 5 catches for 78 yds. 3rd Down go-to guy? I think so. WR Chad Bumphis was solid (5 for 45), and Arceto Clark made some difficult catches to extend drives (3 for 29). I’m really liking what I’m seeing from Michael Carr, though he finished with just 1 catch for 9 yds, he is doing a lot of the little things right, such as blocking. MSU finished with 262 yds on the ground, 224 yds through the air, and with 37:24 of possession time. The Dawgs had scoring drives of 86, 70, 60, 75, and 47 yards. Keep this up, and a 9 win season is completely a reality.

(3) The Ugly…Unfortunate Happenings:I know you guys are already asking yourselves about why I haven’t mentioned the fumbles, etc., but as you can see, I was saving it for this section. In my opinion, 5things killed MSU on Saturday night. State was up 21-17 in the 3rd Qtr, and had 2 things go against them. (1) When driving across midfield, MSU faced a 3rd Down and 7: Relf threw to an open Arceto Clark (out of his break), but was hit extremely early before the ball arrived…NO call. Even Arkansas’ sideline knew it. Killed a nice drive, and the officials HAVE to throw the flag there and didn’t. (2) After stopping Arkansas, State’s ensuing possession was moving along smoothly, until Chris Relf fumbled. Relf fought for a 6 yd gain, and as he was being brought down at the Ark 22, took a helmet to his ball-carrying arm. The hit knocked the ball loose JUST before Relf’s knee was down. After a personal foul after the play on the Hogs, the next play went for an 89 yd Arkansas score. (3) The heartbreaker. During MSU’s first O.T. possession, Vick Ballard hit the outside edge on a 13 yd run, did all he could do to stay in his feet, and dove for the pylon with the ball extended, only to have the ball knocked out of his hands. The ball carried over the pylon in the air, resulting in a touch back for Arkanasa. No doubt that MSU had ALL the momentum at that point, and the score probably would have been the game winner. (4) On back-to back plays, MSU hurt themselves once again. On the first play, State faced a 3rd down in Double O.T., and Chris Relf missed an open Arceto Clark on a slant route. The pass and the extra point, would have tied the game, and extended the Dawgs’ life. (5) On the next play, something that I have preached all year long, happened once again. Chris Relf was left all alone in the backfield in a critical passing situation, this time on 4th Down. I’ve discouraged empty sets for the MSU QBs, because it eliminates the extra protection that they are more than likely going to need. As soon as the ball was snapped, State’s most reliable OL for the past 3 years, missed the end-around block (Derek Sherrod), and Relf hardly had time to think. Relf was sacked, and Arkansas prevailed 38-31. It really hurts, when your top guys, and your most reliable guys fall short. To me, the Defense rarely made Arkansas work for their points, and made costly mistakes. With that said, Relf, Ballard, and Sherrod played their butts off.

(4) Grading the Coaches:Def. Coordinator Manny Diaz ( C-) has a lot to clean up, in order to properly prepare for TSUN. Their misdirection and option game is very STRONG. We need to practice tackling, and find some toughness before Saturday night. The D created 3 turnovers, but the quick and easy scores cannot continue to happen. Off. Coordinator Les Koenning (B+) had a much better game than I expected. I think there was 2 or 3 terrible play calls, but to be 4 of 5 on 4th Downs, you are doing something right. Stay away from 3rd Down calls that have any hesitation, and empty sets for our QBs. Dan Mullen (A-), I really like the fake punt, even though we got the first down by a literal inch. His time management was strong, he gets after the officials, and keeps his emotions in check. Gotta light a fire under Diaz to make an adjustment or two. Something.

(5) Stadium Atmosphere: Amazing. I went back and watched the replay, and I can tell yall that we are slowly but surely becoming an extremely LOUD enviornment to play in. UK struggled with the noise, and I believe we drew Arkansas offsides 3 times. Not bad. The stadium looks great (full), people are learning to yell, and we make quite the impression on TV. Keep doing our job, and Maroon out Oxford this weekend. Make no mistake, we are a big part of our Bulldogs’ 5-2 mark at home. 10th straight home sell-out. Great job of remembering Nick Bell. Loved his #36 out there on the field, along with the maroon 36 yardlines. When I heard that lone cowbell ringing during the moment of silence, and looked up to see Nick Bell’s mom ringing her cowbell, that was an emotional moment. 

Mullen on the loss: “For us to continue to build, for our young players to develop, it’s not that they have to make 25 plays in a game, they have to make the one big play at the key moment in the game. That, for us, is what we need to take that next step to be right at the top in the SEC instead of the middle.”

Anyway guys, you thoughts on the game? Best loss you’ve ever seen?

Agree or Disagree with any of my Game Notes and Opinions?

How would you grade the coaches?

Where are we going bowling?

Looks like Saturday is going to come down to the team that responds better after a tough loss, huh?

We’ll start talking about the Black Bears tomorrow.

-2 game season for Auburn. Link

-What we learned in the SEC during Week 12, Chris Low. Link

-Bowl Projections. Link

-We are now ranked #25th and Arkansas is #12.