September 07, 2003
SEC Top 25 Wrap-up (Week 4)
#1 Oklahoma 20 -- Alabama 13:
Alabama stepped it up a notch and took it to the top-ranked Sooners. It wasn't quite enough, though. The crowd was electric and bordering on frenzy when Stoops exploited a hole in the 'Bama punt-block formation for a 4th and 11 conversion that took all of the momentum away. OU hardly had a flaw to be found, but the Tide stuck with them right up until the end. It would've been a different ball game if the Tide's Fletcher would've caught even one of the three incompletions that hit him in the hands before going out of bounds. The replays indicate at least one blown call in that department, but that shouldn't take away from the fact that an incredibly impressive Sooner team that beat an increasingly impressive Alabama team. In post-game comments, Mike Stoops called Alabama "the most underrated team in the country."
#18 Florida 33 -- #3 Miami 38:
A shaky start for the Hurricanes' Brock Berlin had Miami in a 23-point hole early, but a no-huddle offense got Florida back on the defensive. Berlin ended up 340 yards passing with a pair of touchdowns and a pair of interceptions. Miami's Kevin Beard lead all receivers with 164 yards receiving and one touchdown on 7 receptions. Florida's DeShawn Wynn and Miami's Frank Gore both had 100-yard rushing games. The Gators didn't quite come away with the win, but they put up a hard fight. The Gators have Florida A&M before the Volunteers come to town on the 20th.
Mid Tenn St 10 -- #8 Georgia 29:
A win is a win, but this was an ugly one for the Dawgs. The ugliness included 18 penalties for 127 yards, and three fumbles (none lost, however). Despite the lackluster performance, Georgia would up with 467 yards of total offense and QB David Greene went 21 of 28 for 267 yards passing, surpassing Middle Tennessee's 240 yards of total offense all by himself. Georgia may be without play-maker Fred Gibson next week in their SEC Opener against South Carolina. Gibson pulled a hamstring returning a kick in the final minutes of the game.
#13 LSU 59 -- Arizona 13:
"They just thoroughly whipped us" said Arizona coach John Mackovic of the Tigers' performance. How true that was. In the third-most lop-sided trouncing at home in Arizona school history, Starting LSU QB Matt Mauck only managed 10 passing attempts (for 9 completions) before the back-ups were brought in. The 5,000 LSU fans in attendance did a good job of making LSU feel at home, LSU coach Nick Saban commented that he didn't feel like they were playing a road game. Unfortunately for LSU, this game won't do much to prepare them for their SEC opener against Georgia in two weeks.
Marshall 24 -- #14 Tennessee 34:
The Volunteers' unimpressive win over Marshall should be excellent fodder for Fulmer to work his team on their off week as they prepare for Florida on the 20th. Near the end of the third quarter, Marshall cut the lead to four points, but Tennessee responded. The two teams combined for 198 yards on 20 penalties. Marshall out-passed Tennessee by almost 60 yards, but the ground game gave Tennessee the win putting up 223 yards on 40 attempts (lead by Cedric Houston's 160 on 26 attempts) compared to The Herd's 88 yards on 31 attempts.
#15 Virginia 7 -- South Carolina 31:
South Carolina earned a stunning upset over Virginia including a 99-yard touchdown pass. The Gamecocks were pinned back at their own 1-yard line down 7-3 when Holtz called a crossing route. Dondrial Pinkins caught the pass, broke a tackle and it was off to the races. Virginia never regained the momentum or the lead. The question now for South Carolina fans is whether this is a demonstration that their team can compete in the SEC or a fluke on account of Schaub being sidelined with a separated shoulder. We'll find out this week as the Gamecocks travel to Athens to open conference play against SEC East favorite Georgia.
#19 Auburn 3 -- Ga Tech 17:
Auburn's highly touted backfield has yet to score a touchdown this season, and the Tigers' championship hopes have been officially laid to rest. Some are reminded of Alabama's 3-10 season in 2000 after coming in a pre-season #3. That year ended the tenure of Mike DuBose as Head Coach of the tide and started a coaching merry-go-round that has recently come to rest with Mike Shula. The Auburn "faithful" are now calling for Tommy Tuberville's head on a platter and dreading the conference opener against Vanderbilt next week on every Auburn Football message board in the free world. The long and the short of it is this: if the Auburn offense doesn't step up and play the game they can with the talent they have, they'll continue to have trouble winning games -- and Vandy will pose a legitimate threat. Jason Campbell looked confused for the duration of the game and the ground game didn't help much adding only 40 yards on 38 carries. The Ramblin' Wreck pulled off a huge upset in "The South's Oldest Rivalry" and their fans stormed the field and tore down both goal posts.
Outside of the Top 25 Memphis beat Ole Miss 43 to 33; Kentucky beat Murray St 37 to 6; and Arkansas's 45 points bested Tulsa's 13.
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Comments & Trackbacks
Derek says:
posted on September 8, 2003 09:54 AM — linkOn Florida, it's interesting that people who watched the game on TV had no idea that Ingle Martin was injured - UF has a new policy of not giving out injury information, and ABC didn't pry - and as a result some fans were furious about Zook's coaching. An example: a BallBlog post I did in February about Zook suddenly got 7 new comments about the game on Sunday.
Pete Holiday says:
posted on September 8, 2003 10:29 AM — linkThat's true, although something I didn't manage to catch: was Martin even suited up on the sidelines? A lot of teams don't talk about their injuries, but I'm not famaliar with any that go this far with it.
Derek says:
posted on September 8, 2003 10:59 AM — linkHe was on the sidelines in uniform, but he didn't have his helmet with him and had a towel draped over his shoulder. ABC mentioned this and showed him a couple of times, but even though earlier they said that UF didn't reveal injury information, the announcers didn't put 2 and 2 together.
