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IT’S NOT EASY BEING GREEN SEC primedfor big finish as pivotal matchups highlight weekend As year draws to close, postseason hopes hang on crucial showdowns Stadiums all around the South come alive on Saturdays, where college football has become more than just a passion, but a way of life. Georgia vs. Auburn and LSU vs. Alabama are two week-11 matchups that typify everything that college football has become in SEC country. 1 The SEC championship picture will also become slightly less foggy after these four schools, some of college football’s most tradition-rich programs, clash. Alabama has continued to win football games with a gritty, determined defense. The Crimson Tide has the nation’s top-ranked scoring defense, the third-ranked total defense and even scored two touchdowns of its own in a 17-0 win against Mississippi State last weekend. Scoring touchdowns with defense and ^ special teams has become a vital reason why Alabama continues winning football games. The Tide have not scored an offensive touchdown in their last two conference victories. In speaking to the media Tuesday, Alabama coach Mike Shula addressed the issue. . “Well I think we’ve got to play more consistently,” Shula said. “If we do that, then the points will come and the production will come. It’s offensive football, and we’ve got to have 11 guys doing their ) job.” Against an opponent like LSU, Alabama would be happy with a win any way they can come by it. “It’s really important for our players to continually focus on the job at hand,” Shula said. “The job is going to be tougher this week than any other week we’ve played with LSU coming in with their talent throughout their football team.” LSU can take over the driver’s seat in the SEC West with a win against Alabama. LSU offensive lineman Andrew Whitworth recently spoke to reporters about the LSU mindset before the game. “I think it is going to be a physical game,” Whitworth said. “It’s going to be a heated game. It’s about trying to establish yourself in the SEC. Both of the teams are going to come into the game upbeat. I don’t think will be any lack of emotion. I think both teams will be very excited and pumped up about playing. It’s going to take focus and taking care of business.” Prediction: Alabama 27 LSU 17 A few hours northeast of Tuscaloosa, Ala., in Athens, Ga., the Crimson Tide’s biggest rival, Auburn, will find themselves locked in an intense battle with No. 9 Georgia. Auburn has fared well playing Georgia on the road, having won nine out of the last 11 games in the Peach State. Auburn can stay in the SEC West picture with a win against the Bulldogs and an Alabama win against LSU. Georgia continues to control its own SEC East destiny, remaining in first place, but a loss would have it tied with _ '-1 Florida in the East, with Florida controlling the tiebreaker having beaten Georgia earlier. Auburn’s running back Kenny Irons, a South Carolina transfer, has had four straight 100-yard games. Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville recently spoke with the media about Irons’ status. “Kenny is beat up a little bit and should be after 127 carries in the last four games, which were very physical games against good defenses,” . Tuberville said. “He’s going to need some guys to help him.” “That guy” could be Tristan Davis. The freshman running back ran for 162 yards and a touchdown last week against Kentucky. Georgia quarterback D.J. Shockley, having missed the Florida loss because of injury, is back and close to 100 percent. Prediction: Auburn 31 Georgia 28 And now I will give up all pretenses of so-called objective journalism. Hunter S. Thompson once wrote, “So much for objective journalism. Don’t bother to look for it here — not under any byline of mine; or anyone else I can think of. With the possible exception of things like box scores, race results, and stock market tabulations, there is no such thing as objective journalism. The phrase itself is a pompous contradiction in terms.” With that in mind, I turn to the two things that would make my weekend great. Navy vs Notre Dame: It’s been 41 straight victories for the Irish in this series. Navy has not won this game since Roger Staubach was a young midshipman. Notre Dame is ranked seventh in the country, and no logic would suggest that the Irish should even struggle against the Mids. But Navy is due. Please God, just once, once in my life, do me this favor and have the Navy Midshipmen pummel the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. But if “Touchdown Jesus” has any pull, I could be in for some trouble. Prediction: Navy 34 Notre Dame 0 USC vs Florida: Oh what a storybook win it would be. The Gators must go down. Prediction: USC 20 Florida 17 Other Games: Southern Cal vs Cal: No one is beating these guys anytime soon. Prediction: Southern Cal 41 Cal 31. Northwestern vs Ohio State: Northwestern gets it done against the Buckeyes. Prediction: FfW 31 OSU 27 Last Week: 4-1 Season: 32-14 Rob Carr /The Associated Press Alabama coach Mike Shula follows a play during the Crimson Tide’s 31-3 win against Florida on Saturday, Oct. 1 in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The Crimson Tide take on the No. 5 LSU Tigers on Saturday. DEFENSE • COnilNOED FRON1B3 I Although the changes in coaching responsibilities and the lineup have been an essential part to turning the defensive program around, they might not have been the most significant change. Many players credit their change of attitude and their increased desire to win as the greatest catalyst for their improvement. “I think there is a great fire,” Doughty said. “History says that we’ve been known to lose close games; you know we just told ourselves that enough is enough, and we aren’t going to fall short all of the time.” | As the team began to play better, the success built as the players realized their goals were now within reach. “We were trying to get to a bowl game and we knew that we had to get a couple of wins, and we just came together as a team on the defense,” Simpson said. “The coaches were challenging us, talking about how we can’t stop the run ... so that was what we tried to do.” The Gamecock defense will look to continue building upon its strong performances this weekend against the Florida Gators. Last year the Gators threw for 319 yards, a number the resurgent Gamecock secondary will hope to improve on. The Gamecocks are ranked 13th in the country in pass defense, allowing 172.8 yards per game. USC will also work to continue stopping the run and helping the offense control the clock in hopes of beating the No. 12 Gators for the first time since 1939. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc. edu “History says that we’ve been known to lose close games; you know we just told ourselves that enough is enough, and we aren’t going to fall short all of the time.” STANLEY DOUGHTY Defensive lineman The Challenge: Every week, The Gamecock's readers and staff test their sports knowledge with game predictions. Want to be Reader of the Week? E-mail selections for next week's games to gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu and see if you have the best knowledge of college football around the country. - - Ohio St. (l_ FSU LSU Georgia Tech Boston Auburn UNC Arizona St. So. Cal USC, 28-24 d_ Ohio St. FSU Clemson Alabama Alabama LSU Georgia Tech Virginia Georgia Tech N.C. State Boston N.C. State Georgia Georgia Georgia Maryland UNC Maryland LSU LSU Georgia Tech Georgia Tech Boston Boston Auburn Georgia Maryland Maryland -, UCLA UCLA So. Cal. So. Cal USC, 21-7 USC, 24-7 No matter what coaches try to tell everyone, this is not just an ordinary football game Spurrier leaves Gators in past, prepares USC for mammoth victory 1) Will Sidney Rice continue his streak of consecutive games with a touchdown reception? Like I’ve said for the past four weeks, this question has officially reached superstition status. I honestly feel that if I don’t include it and Sidney Rice fails to catch a touchdown pass, it will be my fault. Therefore I will continue to include this question until further notice. I’ve actually run out of things to say about him. When USC gets inside the 20-yard line, everybody in the stadium knows who is getting the ball, and they still can’t stop him. 2) Can Carolina’s defense keep up its bend-but-don’t-break style of play? It’s no secret that the USC defense will give up some yards, hi if rli irina fhp nacf fnnr X they have stepped up when it mattered the most. They make just enough plays to win, and they miss just enough plays to keep me in a permanent state of uneasiness. I’m not complaining, because the Gamecocks keep winning, but for the sake of everybody that has to sit around me, a three-and-out every now and then would make life a lot easier. 3) Is this really only another game for Steve Spurrier? Throughout the week, Spurrier has been shifting attention away from himself and onto the players. “We prepare the same for Vanderbilt or Troy or Clemson or Florida, or whoeVer the team is that week.” Spurrier said. “We n ^/Questions with Jake Broom Third-year political science student FLORIDA try to prepare our guys the best we can and give them a game plan.” Riiiiiight. Can’t you just picture Florida’s athledcs director Jeremy Foley, the man who decided not to re hire Spurrier at Florida, waking up at night in a cold sweat for the past, oh, say 365 days? If Florida doesn’t win this game comfortably, dont be surprised if Foley just buys a house in Columbia and pretends this was all some elaborate plan. I know I wouldn’t want to go back to Gainesville. 4) Will Florida wide receiver Dallas Baker play ? After suffering a broken rib and punctured lung against Vanderbilt, Dallas Baker, Florida’s second leading receiver, is listed as “questionable” while I’m writing this. I don’t know how a guy with a freshly broken rib and a lung that isn’t working at full capacity could even consider playing, but apparently he is. While I respect that he is trying to play hurt, would you want to be coming' across the middle with a broken rib and a punctured lung and look up to see a Lindsey twin foaming at the mouth with bloodshot eyes and an I-really-wouldm-mind being-the-guy-that-ended Dallas-Baker’s-career look on his face? Stay home Dallas. Just stay horpe. 5) What wiU Florida coach Urban Meyer do if Carolina wins? After a game in which LSU turned the ball over five times and still won 21-17, Florida coach Urban Meyer sat in the post-game press conference and was prepared to discuss how his team snatched defeat from the jaws of victory — but then it happened. Six words into answering the very first question, Meyer broke down. After 24 seconds of agonizing silence, he tried to continue, but a few minutes later ne DroKe down again. Total meltdown, party of one, your table is ready. It was the first time in my life that I was 750 miles away from an event and I still felt awkward. What a moment. So what would Meyer do if he lost to the lowly Gamecocks, who just happen to be coached by the man who built the program he is trying to keep above water? This has potential for a frill blown, stage five, Courtney Love-level breakdown. IF the Gamecocks win and you see a guy approach him at the press conference and offer him a box of Kleenex and a botde of Johnson & Johnsons Tear-Free Baby Shampoo, take up a collection and come bail me out. I’ll oav vou back. I promise.