The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 11, 2005, Page B7, Image 19
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
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- -
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.