Now it’s Auburn’s turn to wear No. 1 crown
We are headed into the final week of October. So what did we learn over the weekend?
1. Uneasy lies the head that wears the No. 1 crown: On Oct. 9 No. 1 Alabama went on the road and lost to South Carolina after 29 straight regular-season wins. On Oct. 16 Ohio State moved to No. 1 and promptly lost on the road at Wisconsin. Then Oklahoma took over as the BCS No. 1 and got beat last Saturday night at Missouri. Now Auburn, fresh off an impressive win over previously No. 6 LSU, has moved to No. 1 in the BCS Standings. After a schedule that has included one tough, emotional game after another, Auburn must go to Ole Miss (3-4) on Saturday. Auburn has four games remaining (Ole Miss, Chattanooga, Georgia, Alabama). Win them all and the Tigers get some retribution for 2004, when they went 13-0 and did not play for the national championship. Can they do it now that the whole world is watching?
2. If Cameron Newton is not at the top of your Heisman list, you need to take another look: I wrote for CBS on Saturday that Cameron Newton’s 49-yard touchdown run against LSU “was a Heisman Trophy moment if ever I saw one.” Consider that this guy ran for 217 yards against the No. 6 rushing defense in the country (83.6 ypg), a defense that was set up specifically to stop him. I saw former Auburn head coach Pat Dye before the game and asked him about Newton: “Somebody called and asked me to compare Cameron to all the other great quarterbacks we’ve had at Auburn,” Dye said. “I couldn’t do it. It didn’t make any sense because their ain’t never been anybody like him at Auburn. Never.”
3. Georgia is confident and it should be. But are the Dawgs confident enough to beat Florida? You have to say that Georgia’s march from 1-4 to 4-4 has been most impressive to watch. Beating Tennessee and Vanderbilt at home was what Georgia was supposed to do and they didn’t fool around with those teams. But to be able to go on the road and jump out to a big lead on Kentucky is a good sign. Now Georgia goes down to Jacksonville with a better football team than Florida. Georgia now knows the identity of its football team. Florida, while talented, is still searching for its identity post-Tebow and post 11 players who went to the NFL. But Florida has a decided edge because it still controls its destiny in the SEC East. Georgia has to win this game and get some help to still have a shot to get to Atlanta.
4. Don’t forget about Alabama: Alabama (7-1) is No. 7 in the BCS Standings with four or possibly five games left to play. Down the stretch the Crimson Tide will play three teams ranked in the Top 21 of the BCS: No. 21 Mississippi State (6-2), No. 12 LSU (7-1), and No. 1 Auburn (8-0). If Alabama wins all of those and the SEC championship to go 12-1, how far will it launch them? I feel confident it will launch them past an undefeated TCU or Boise. But will it launch them past an undefeated Michigan State or Missouri? I’ll dig a little deeper into that on Tuesday.
5. Don’t forget that South Carolina controls its own destiny in the SEC East: If the Gamecocks had not lost at Kentucky on Oct. 16 they would be in pretty good shape right now. Still, if Steve Spurrier’s bunch Tennessee and Arkansas at home and then win at Florida on Nov. 13 they will go to the SEC championship game. It looks like running back Marcus Lattimore will return for Tennessee and that makes a big difference in the way that Steve Spurrier calls his game. Can South Carolina handle the spotlight down the stretch?
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Barnhart and Durham: Today we look back on the weekend that was, break down the second BCS Standings, and well Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo and Syracuse coach Doug Marrone to the show. Please join us at 10 a.m. www.790thezone.com
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931 comments Add your comment
here we go again
October 25th, 2010
8:40 am
let’s see….mark richt beats florida once every 4 years.
last win was ‘07…..this is ‘10.
next year, folks.
Headless
October 25th, 2010
8:41 am
My head is going to explode if I listen to another claim that UGA ” is back”. Give me a break. UGA will finish 3rd in the east.
JB
October 25th, 2010
8:44 am
Palladin, are you really that clueless? What happened in the game KY played before UGA???
Fools, everywhere.
HBTD!!!
LSWHO?????
October 25th, 2010
8:44 am
I love how people are saying that Auburn should not be number one.
Consider this: Auburn is the ONLY school in the entire country to have already beaten 4 top 25 teams.
Auburn beat the number one offense and THEN went and beat the number one defense in the SEC.
UGA is getting better but UGA has yet to beat a quality team.
All the talk about how UGA and Bama will “hit” Newton is laughable. Newton tore the best defense in the SEC to shreds.
Blue
October 25th, 2010
8:46 am
Realist; there is nothing in the qualifications for winning the Heisman that states that the person winning has to have had a “moral” past, etc. You don’t have to like him, but maybe you should ‘get real’, or change your name to “unrealistic”.
LSWHO?????
October 25th, 2010
8:47 am
And for the “Cam stole a laptop” flap. UGA can’t say ANYTHING because half their team has been to jail in the last 10 months.
LSWHO?????
October 25th, 2010
8:49 am
“I predict that Georgia will go to the SEC Champ games to play Alabama. Bama will win and play for the national championship game.’
I bet you, like other UGA fans, predicted UGA would win the national title in 2008.
Even if Bama wins out they won’t go to the championship game. NO WAY Bama jumps 7 unbeaten teams.
joe
October 25th, 2010
8:50 am
Barnhart, say what. A tough emotional schedule for Auburn? That is really stretching. They are very good but do not throw that in.
I do hope they beat Alabama, so most of the writers in this state will have to shut up for just a little while. It is hilarious now having to see some of the Bama homers having to even acknowledge AU.
Would love to see Oregon and Auburn in championship game. Would be an arena football game.
Quack Out Loud-Go Ducks. OU 1969. Suffered through so many miserable seasons.
THE CATHOLIC HAMMER
October 25th, 2010
8:50 am
You SEC homers better pray Auburn doesn’t have to play Oregon in the BCS Championship Game. UCLA has a better defence than Auburn, and Oregon put up 60 points on them. Oregon’s defence is about as good as Clemson’s, so expect a 60+ to 20-something blowout by the Ducks if these two meet.
JB
October 25th, 2010
8:50 am
Has anyone really gone and looked at who LSWho had beaten? I’m c’mon? Truly a paper tiger. They should have lost to UT.
Newton is a beast but that squad has squeaked but or gotten some interesting calls in the bulk of their games. Can that luck hold up? Time will tell.
That said, I do recall the last time they were in the top 5 and p[layed an unranked UGA squad… BTW, hopw often have they beaten the Dawgs, in Sanford Stadium West, over say the last 10 or so years???
HBTD!!!
HBTD!!!
LSWHO?????
October 25th, 2010
8:52 am
jumbeauxtiger
FINALLY, a voice of reason. It was a well played game between Au/LSU. Best offense vs. best defense. Our D stepped up and Fairly was outstanding.
Sam Robards, Dawg Fan
October 25th, 2010
8:52 am
1. Gotta love the 2007-style BCS anarchy that’s going on. Good stuff.
2. Though I don’t care much about the Heisman Race, I agree that Newton should be number one on everyone’s list.
3. Georgia is extremely confident, but I think we win by a healthy margin (10-14 points) in Jacksonville. I say that because while we’re playing with confidence, I think Florida will play with a sense of OVERconfidence (as some UF fans on this blog are displaying), and the game will play out like the Kentucky game (but with fewer turnovers by UF). “It’s just Georgia. We’ll beat ‘em again even though we have no semblance of an offensive identity, a nonexistant running game and a number of marginal (at best) wide outs.” Because that makes any sense. And no, two weeks is not enough to fix things that are fundamentally wrong with UF’s offense. They had all spring and summer to get this offense to work right, and you saw how that worked out.
4. I won’t forget Alabama, but I don’t think they’ll make the title game. Let’s face it: the last game you play HUGELY impacts your ranking, and a potential SECCG victory over a 2-win (at BEST) team will not compel voters to put them over even Boise State or TCU, as unfair as that is. Auburn’s the best shot the SEC has at a 5th straight BCS title, but I just don’t see them winning out.
5. South Carolina. Yeah, they’re in the lead in the East, but how many people are actually talking about them other than to say exactly what you just said, Tony? “Don’t forget, they’re still here.” I think South Carolina gets a stepchild syndrome and loses three of their last four. I have nothing against their talent, I think Spurrier will just help self-detonate them somehow, starting against Tennessee this weekend (don’t laugh, I’m being serious).
LSWHO?????
October 25th, 2010
8:54 am
“You SEC homers better pray Auburn doesn’t have to play Oregon in the BCS Championship Game. UCLA has a better defence than Auburn, and Oregon put up 60 points on them.”
Auburn put up 65 on Arkansas. Oh, where is UCLA ranked? NOWHERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oregon puts up great numbers because they play easy teams.
I guess.....
October 25th, 2010
8:54 am
The SEC was the only conference to play football this past weekend huh Tony … you do know that “college football” includes more than one conference … and not everyone in Atlanta is a fan of the SEC?
LSWHO?????
October 25th, 2010
8:55 am
“Has anyone really gone and looked at who LSWho had beaten? ”
Florida, WV, NC and Miss State. All ranked teams when they played and beat them.
Bamaslama
October 25th, 2010
8:56 am
The Iron Bowl is the National Championship game just like the SECCG was last year!
ViningsDawg
October 25th, 2010
8:56 am
“Auburn should worry about the number of hits Cam Newton is taking” from what I ahve seen from him opposing teams Linebackers and DB’s should worroy about getting run over again and again. The man is a freak of nature. Did you see him put on that burst of speed to oout run Peterson to the endzone.
UGA is getting better but let;s face it, we still have not beaten anyone that’s good. KY gave us four or five tunrovers and outgained us and frankly moved the ball at will. UGA will beat Florida, Isaid in this column before the season and I will say it now, Florida is not that good, Brantley is way over rated and there is a lack of leadership there.
Leaving for St. Simons in an hour, come on down.
LSWHO?????
October 25th, 2010
8:57 am
THE CATHOLIC HAMME
A few years ago the Ohio State fans were saying their mighty Buckeyes would kill Florida by 30 points.
We all know how that turned out.
The Shat-Ten(Pac-10) is an overrated football conference. Only ONE team from that conference has won the title in 30+ years and they had it stripped for cheating.
LSWHO?????
October 25th, 2010
8:57 am
“The Iron Bowl is the National Championship game just like the SECCG was last year!’
I totally agree.
Hurt Kurbstreit
October 25th, 2010
8:58 am
LS, I’m commenting as a independent analysist. Beleive me, if Bama wins out the rest of the schedule and then wins the SEC Champ game, their strength of schedule will catapalut them to 1 or 2 in the polls. They have a better than even chance of doing this. UGA is now the team that a lot of people expected they would be. Florida is lost.
LSWHO?????
October 25th, 2010
8:58 am
I guess…..
You are on an Atlanta sports section. Make sense, Forrest?
LSWHO?????
October 25th, 2010
8:59 am
“UGA is now the team that a lot of people expected they would be”
Crap?
JB
October 25th, 2010
8:59 am
“Has anyone really gone and looked at who LSWho had beaten? ”
Florida, WV, NC and Miss State. All ranked teams when they played and beat them.”
And we now know what those teams REALLY are. How many pts did you beat them by? Do and of them have O’s that scare people? How’d you do against the MIGHTY Vols??
Paper kittens.
Is what it is.
HBTD!!!
Jailed Dog
October 25th, 2010
9:00 am
Waht color jerseys are we wearing this week? Do I need to bring a black jersey, a white jersey, red jersey, or a pink one? Do I need to being my black helmet?
Mike
October 25th, 2010
9:02 am
SC’s defense is ranked #12 in pass defense, they go against Arkansas, ranked #1 in pass offense in SEC. Arkansas will torch SC’s defense. Florida will beat SC the old way, by forcing turnovers, and playing lights out defense.
UT96
October 25th, 2010
9:03 am
Georgia is on a roll now and they beat Florida by at least two touchdowns. It appears Florida is a team in disarray. As for my Vols, same scenario as Bama and Oregon, we’ll keep it close for a half and then wear down in the second half.
Joey
October 25th, 2010
9:04 am
Mike-
True, South Carolina’s pass defense is their achilles hill, but I’d put more stock in the way South Carolina always folds at the end of the year. Spurrier doesn’t plan for the long haul, he does what it takes to get off to a fast start, then it all crashes. Every time, Spurrier chokes at South Carolina.
LSWHO?????
October 25th, 2010
9:04 am
“And we now know what those teams REALLY are. How many pts did you beat them by? Do and of them have O’s that scare people? How’d you do against the MIGHTY Vols??”
LSU has done better than every other SEC team except for Auburn.
LSWHO?????
October 25th, 2010
9:05 am
“Every time, Spurrier chokes at South Carolina.’
Would you say he…..chokes the chicken?
Jerry
October 25th, 2010
9:05 am
Hi Mike-
Best post I’ve read in decades. Very insightful, do you have a radio show?
LSWHO?????
October 25th, 2010
9:06 am
“HBTD!!!”
The dawgs have yet to beat a ranked opponent.
JB
October 25th, 2010
9:07 am
So, in other words you know I’m right and those are some tough questions.
Again, paper kittens.
HBTD!~!!
JB
October 25th, 2010
9:07 am
Did I say they had?
HBTD!!!
joe
October 25th, 2010
9:08 am
WARNING: This has nothing to do with SEC football so some of you may stop reading now.
Throw some love for Linfield College in Mc Minnville, Oregon/ Longest streak of winning seasons
in the nation at 55. No matter how you feel about football on any level-outside the SEC or even Division 1. That is impressive.
@ I guess: I go to other websites and read about schools in my original area. Do not expect any coverage outside of the SEC here. Try living in Alabama. Talk about no outside coverage.
LSWHO?????
October 25th, 2010
9:09 am
“So, in other words you know I’m right and those are some tough questions.’
I answered them, ma’am. And in case you haven’t figured it out, I’m an Auburn fan.
LSWHO?????
October 25th, 2010
9:09 am
“Did I say they had?
HBTD!!!”
You’re acting like the Dawgs have done something amazing.
LSWHO?????
October 25th, 2010
9:10 am
“Try living in Alabama.”
No thanks.
Gen Neyland
October 25th, 2010
9:12 am
Congrats to all the winners, especially the Red Elephants. Really, there never was any doubt. I gave us less than a 10% chance for survival after the half. I don’t know why this Tennessee team cannot compete after the break…Things have quieted down a bit in Columbia. I think the Gamechicken fans are sitting on crossed fingers…Auburn also controls their own destiny. With UGA and Alabama looming, they’ll be tested all the way down the line… The one thing Florida has over TN, Vandy and KY is a decent defense. UGA is playing good offensive ball. Ought to be a fun one to watch. Note to CMR : Save the Dance Party till AFTER the game…I’ll end with this : Next to beating Florida, Spurrier guns for Tennessee hard and heavy. Here’s to hoping Spurrier is watching the SECCG like me, from his Lazy Boy.
THE CATHOLIC HAMMER
October 25th, 2010
9:12 am
<>
Like Tennessee?
Don’t forget that Oregon beat Stanford 52-31. Stanford is ranked right behind LSU in the BCS ratings.
You were saying?
THE CATHOLIC HAMMER
October 25th, 2010
9:13 am
Oregon puts up great numbers because they play easy teams.
See above.
JB
October 25th, 2010
9:13 am
The fools are TRULY out today!!!
Just where di you answer these following questions???
And we now know what those teams REALLY are. How many pts did you beat them by? Do and of them have O’s that scare people? How’d you do against the MIGHTY Vols??”
Two, where did I say we’d done something amazing OR that we’d beaten a ranked team?
The AU clarification explains why you are struggling to come up with answers to tough questions.
HBTD!!!
LSWHO?????
October 25th, 2010
9:14 am
“Don’t forget that Oregon beat Stanford 52-31. Stanford is ranked right behind LSU in the BCS ratings.”
Auburn put up 65 against Arkansas.
You were saying?
OH, and Auburn has beaten 4 top 25 teams. You know, 3 more than Oregon.
Zero Tolerance
October 25th, 2010
9:14 am
for non starting players. I don’t think that Newton stole a computer. He received a stolen computer, which is a little different, and he exiled himself to Kansas for a year, much to Pope Urban’s disappointment. Ealey stole a motorcycle helmet and was caught cheating on an English paper and received a one-game suspension. Montez was a serial woman beater, etc. Nobody associated with THUGA can point a finger at Newton. He is certainly the most dominant football player I have ever seen.
SadDawg
October 25th, 2010
9:15 am
“Wow, I never thought UGA fans could be this delusional”
*******************************
Wow, I didn’t think it would take almost two hours for a nerd to post the D-word (delusional). Go work on those zits, Jim, seriously.
LSWHO?????
October 25th, 2010
9:16 am
“The fools are TRULY out today!!!”
Ah, don’t be too hard on yourself.
“Just where di you answer these following questions???”
Not my problem if you can’t read….or spell for that matter.
“Two, where did I say we’d done something amazing OR that we’d beaten a ranked team? ”
Answer: HBTD!!!
“The AU clarification explains why you are struggling to come up with answers to tough questions.’
THAT’S THE BEST YOU’VE GOT????? SERIOUSLY???????
jumbeauxtiger
October 25th, 2010
9:16 am
LSWHO????,
While everyone talks about Newton’s running, what hasn’t been said is what he did when he didn’t run the ball. The 70 yard run was a great zone read by Newton. He had McCallebb (sp) running from right to left of which he had been faking to many times durng the game.He saw nearly the entire LSU defense go to the right and so he handed the ball off to McCallebb. Brandon Taylor was the only defender out there and he made a bad angle. Once he got by McCallebb to score with 5:15 left that was the backbreaker.
Also the Auburn wideouts did a great job blocking through out the game.
jumbeauxtiger
October 25th, 2010
9:17 am
meant to say once McCallebb got by Taylor he was gone to the house with 5:15 left
LSWHO?????
October 25th, 2010
9:17 am
Zero Tolerance
The UGAYers are just upset because their football program is failing faster than their football team in their midterms.
UGA has had 11 arrests this year. Cam Newton was never convicted and charges were dropped. He left Florida on his own and he is doing just fine at Auburn.
THE CATHOLIC HAMMER
October 25th, 2010
9:18 am
Arkansas’ defense is about on the same level as Stanford’s.
LSWHO?????
October 25th, 2010
9:18 am
jumbeauxtiger
Cam has great vision. That last td run was epic.