SEC Power Poll, Week 10

Let’s face it, folks.  The SEC is awash in a sea of mediocrity this season.  The top three and bottom one are pretty easy to designate, but it’s everywhere in between that’s a bitch to rank.

1. Georgia.  The main challenge for teams facing the Dawgs is trying to score a touchdown in late garbage time.
2. Alabama.  “All in all, we won and you can’t complain,” Saban said.  Really.
3. Texas A&M.  Winning a game by fourteen points against a ranked opponent without scoring an offensive touchdown is an impressive feat.
4. Ole Miss.  Like Georgia, OM welcomed back a former head coach.
5. Auburn.  Some days, you eat the Bo Nix Experience and some days, the Bo Nix Experience eats you.
6. Mississippi State.  The Bulldogs lost by three after missing three field goals and Mike Leach announced after the game that there’s an open tryout on campus for kickers.  Yar!
7. Arkansas.  The Hogs are bowl eligible now in what’s been an up and down season.
8. Tennessee.  The smack talk from Vol Nation this week ought to be something.
9. LSU.  The way Coach O was celebrating after the loss to ‘Bama, you’d have thought his team had won.  Then again, maybe he was just happy he wouldn’t have to go to Tuscaloosa again.
10. Kentucky.  How do you run 99 plays, gain 35 first downs, never punt… and lose?  At home?
11. South Carolina.  40 points is the most the ‘Cocks have ever scored against Florida in their series.
12. Florida.  “Dan who?” — Greg McGarity, probably.  I can’t even kid the Gators are the best 4-5 team in the country, because LSU.
13. Missouri.  Now possessors of the SEC’s worst defense.
14. Vanderbilt.  Mercifully, they had a bye week.

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Week 10 Mumme Poll ballot link

You’ll find it here.  Get your vote in by tomorrow midnight.

He **is** somebody.

Stetson Bennett now has the exact number of pass attempts necessary to qualify for stat eligibility.  He’s third nationally, and first in the SEC, in passer rating.

In the arena, anonymously

This was the text I got tonight from the coach whose comments (while discussing something for the recruiting confidential story) first gave me the idea to pursue that piece: “I told you about Florida… it’s bad…”

— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) November 7, 2021

Hmmmm… I wonder who said that.

There are no meaningless goal line stands.

There are reasons I stay ’til the end of every game.  This is one of them:

• 1st & Goal at UGA 3

  (0:24 – 4th) Tyler Macon run for 2 yds to the Geo 1

• (0:23 – 4th) Timeout MISSOURI, clock 00:23

• 2nd & Goal at UGA 1

  (0:16 – 4th) BJ Harris run for no gain to the Geo 1

• (0:15 – 4th) Timeout MISSOURI, clock 00:15

• 3rd & Goal at UGA 1

  (0:08 – 4th) Tyler Macon pass incomplete to Keke Chism, broken up by William Poole

• 4th & Goal at UGA 1

  (0:03 – 4th) Tyler Macon pass incomplete to Daniel Parker Jr.

You know the head coach loved it, too.

Final defensive sequence to get goal-line stop…
“They didn’t come to me; I think they know the answer to that. They did cheer on those other guys and in the huddle they really encouraged them. They take so much pride in keeping the scoring down. I thought the guys were over there coaching them, going over the nuggets, the red area, things we go over on Wednesdays. We go over red Area for 15, 20 minutes and concepts. And we rep everybody in practice. So those guys got quality reps and they did a heck of a job.”

Kirby had a grin on his face shortly after when he went out to greet Drinkwitz after the game.  You didn’t need to have a keen insight into the human condition to know why.

Envy and jealousy, David Hale on Dan Mullen edition

Droll.

It’s certainly possible Mullen is attempting to pull off a George Costanza move, as when the cantankerous “Seinfeld” character tried to get fired so he could accept a job with the Mets. While hiring Mullen would be exactly the type of offseason move we might expect from the Mets, however, it still seems unlikely.

It may be that it’s some sort of elaborate piece of performance art, like when Joaquin Phoenix pretended to go off the deep end on Letterman, but it was just for a movie. Mullen’s probably not that good an actor, though.

It’s possible that Mullen and Ron Zook were in the same hot tub when it was struck by lightning and they switched bodies in some sort of “Freaky Friday” situation, but if that was the case, why isn’t Mullen recruiting better?

All that’s missing is some sort of shark reference.  But I’ll take it.

“We took a 3-0 lead.”

And it was all downhill from there, Eli.  Not that your defensive players noticed.

“I think we did a great job of stopping the run today,” said junior linebacker Chad Bailey, who totaled a game-high 10 tackles. “They (Georgia) got some really elusive backs that can get out and make some plays, but I think we did a really good job of containing them.”

Sophomore defensive back Jaylon Carlies agreed with his fellow Tiger defender.

“I honestly feel we held our own out there. We did a great job stopping the run,” said Carlies, who also totaled 10 tackles and intercepted a pass. “We just need to do a better job pass-game wise. But I feel like we came out and held our own.”

My dudes, you gave up 43 points and 505 yards of offense (8.01 ypp)!  A week after Bennett posted a 120 or so passer rating against Florida, he put up an effort that scored a 215.9.  If that’s what holding your own feels like, I’d hate to hear what qualifies as a bad job for y’all.

Coach has your backs, though.

“We were trying to stop the run. That’s what they do (run the ball),” Drinkwitz said of Georgia. “When you [try to stop the run], you’re susceptible to the pass yards. Credit [Georgia]. They made a couple of really good plays, and a couple of really good catches.”

At this point, I don’t understand why selling out to stop the run remains an attractive option for defending Georgia.  Stetson Bennett may not be perfect, but he’s proven that he will absolutely roast a team that sells out on run defense.  Todd Monken may not be the most cutting edge offensive coordinator on the planet, but he’s right up there with the best at taking what a defense gives him.

“I was proud of the way our team fought. They came out with the right energy and attitude,” Drinkwitz said.

Well, at least you got that.  And you’ll always have that three-point lead.

Today, in stopped clock

Imagine, a Danny Kanell tweet in which he’s not totally off base.

Dan Mullen last year admitted his team threw in the towel after the SEC Champ game. And he seemed cool with it. When you allow quitting to become acceptable behavior it becomes habit.

— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) November 7, 2021

The right playoff format for the right time

If there’s any season to convince college football executives that a 12-team expansion is needed, it’s this one. Especially the ACC.

Wake’s loss likely means no ACC team in the CFP for the first time since its inception.

The league needs 12, not 8.https://t.co/JLmB36DlZd

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) November 6, 2021

Remember, peeps.  It ain’t about the best.  It ain’t about the deserving.  Playoff expansion is about the money.

And Dellinger’s right.  At some point in time, the ACC commissioner will get his head out of his ass about Sankey hurting his precious fee fees (or his presidents will make him) and vote with his wallet.

Junior, embarrassed?

Inconceivable!

Oh, Ole Miss can delete the tweets, but the internet will ALWAYS have receipts. pic.twitter.com/LQgOXHjs0z

— Kevin McGuire (@KevinOnCFB) November 6, 2021

Okay, maybe not.

“I have no affiliation with the Ole Miss football Twitter site, even though it may sound strange, and I first learned about the tweets after my press conference when Keith Carter told me about them,” Kiffin told ESPN. “I’m completely embarrassed that anyone would put something out there like that making it look like it was a part of Ole Miss football. It was extremely disrespectful, bush league and classless, and I apologize, even though I had nothing to do with it, to Liberty and Hugh Freeze.”

Although I can’t help but wonder if deep down in places the Laner doesn’t talk about at parties, he gave a silent thumbs up.

By the way, it wasn’t that it was just making it look like it was a part of Ole Miss football, dude.  It came from Ole Miss football’s Twitter account.