October 06, 2003
SEC Week in Review
It was a slow week for the Southeastern Conference with only four games, although they were all conference games.
Tennessee: 21 -- Auburn: 18
Welcome to college football, Auburn! For the first time all year Auburn has looked like the team they were hyped to be. Still, it took a late fourth quarter interception to stop a driving Volunteers team that would probably have tied the game and taken it to overtime. The Tigers' defense shut down the Tennessee running game, allowing only 4 yards on 16 carries while Auburn's rushing game managed 264 yards on 57 carries lead by Carnell "Cadillac" Williams. What Tennessee lacked on the ground, Casey Clausen made up through the air racking up 355 yards on 30 completions (out of 47 attempts). The question for Auburn is, now, have they arrived or is this merely a cameo?
Alabama: 23 -- Georgia: 37
Alabama got out to a quick 3-0 lead after a David Greene interception but they would not score again until late in the second quarter when a pass from Spencer Pennington found Dre Fulgham in the endzone. Meanwhile, Georgia pulled 31 points in the second quarter on such things as a fumble and a blocked punt. The Tide made a comeback late in the third and into the fourth quarter, but it was too little too late. Maybe worse than the Tide's loss was the re-injury of starting quarterback Brodie Croyle and the separation of second-string quarterback Spencer Pennington's throwing shoulder (which could turn out to be season ending). Third-stringer Brandon Avalos showed little offensive production but coach Mike Shula indicated that due to a small number of reps in practice, they were working with about half of the full playbook. Croyle is still questionable for the Tide's homecoming game against Southern Mississippi.
Ole Miss: 20 -- Florida: 17
Within the conference, the only upset according to the odds-makers and the only home team to lose resulted in a new outcry for the firing of Gator's head coach Ron Zook. And why not? When you allow a mediocre football team to come into The Swamp and rack up 485 yards of offense, SOMETHING has to change. Read Derek Willis' take on the game: Florida's Sinking Swamp.
Vanderbilt: 21 -- Mississippi State: 30
Hallelujah! State won a football game! And they managed to do it with over 100 yards in penalties. Uncharacteristically, MSU won the first quarter 14-0 and never lost the lead. MSU's Jerious Norwood and Nick Turner combined for over 200 yards rushing, and Justin Jenkins had a team-high 8 catches for 118 yards. Leading all receivers was Vandy's Brandon Smith who had 9 catches for 124 yards. At the end of the day, this game didn't mean much, but it might give some hope to MSU who averted an 0-12 season.
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From Signifying Nothing
pinged on Oct 6, 2003 7:07 PMPete Holiday has written a recap of Week 6 in the SEC, which saves me that chore for this week. Predictions will be forthcoming later....
