The SEC Forum at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

Not many games of note really.  

I see many UGA fans unhappy with the offense, film at 11.

I see many UF fans unhappy.

I see most OU fans pretty happy.

Vandy is looking solid as expected.

OL still needs to jell. Lots of potential, but not working as a unit consistently yet. 
Arch has to pick up the tempo going through his reads. Still fixating on the first too long and not getting to the dump off in time. Throws are then rushed and off target.
Cheap penalties (unforced) are killing drives. 

Horns win by 5 scores against a scrub, Arch still looks questionable, we really won't know anything more about Texas until the visit to Gainesville in October and the Cotton Bowl the week after that.

UF could be pretty good, or they could be really bad.  They could be both.  I'm thinking that last option is the case.

I'm really digging the UT team.  They've got secondary concerns and some of the passes that made Agulara (sp?) look really good the first two games are the types league secondaries are salivating for.... and the kind UGA, traditionally, are pretty good about snatching. 

UF was overrated and it does my heart fine to see them and all the "experts" who rally around Napier proven wrong.  As said before, they can literally be a world beater one week and a bunch of chumps (chomps?) the next. 

LSU... I can't grasp the love.  Theyre... okay.  Kelly is.... okay... I can't see what the same experts touting UF see in them.

USCe is pretending.  I think Shane is the lowest form of coach and that damn dam will burst.  Bama is the same- except they're top heavy in talent where USC isnt.  I can't wait to see Bama crash and their talent scattered to sec schools willing to pay for them. DeBoar DeBose... huh... you'd think elephants would remember...

UGA is typical to their form- akin to FSU of the 90s... they play good ball for two quarters- maybe 1st and 2nd, maybe 1st and 3rd... whatever combo they choose... and can beat whoever they want when they turn it on... the trick to beat them is just like fsu took their first acc loss against uva- and that is to play all out when theyre goofing off and hope to hold out until the final whistle.

Ole miss may not be the world beater lame kitten indicates and all those experts bought in to... or.... uk may be pretty solid. 

What about those cow bells?  Surprise surprise surprise? I ain't so sure they're that good, but I'll suggest they are sure they can be that good- and at this level of the game that matters.  They'll take out someone they shouldn't in the league... i'm thinking its gonna be.... my boys.

OU looked the kind of solid thats real and hard to fake.  Straight up- moxy, know their positions and roles, are not single dimensional on O and the D calls are damn solid.  Venereal has put it together this season.  They'll surprise.  I feel comfortable saying that about them just two weeks in.

Texas D is the truth.  Their O isn't.  I could and can be.  It could turn quickly.  It'll take longer than most to figure that out.  UF gonna tell us nuthin.

Panzy and USC are on the same plane, and only one has a parachute. As big a mouth as the candyQB has, his supporting cast isnt regarded as the experts regard usc.  Vandy can't do anything but surprise while USC and their putz of nepotism coach are gonna fall hard.  Splat.  A bowl game is good for vandy, and I'm guessing they'll get one. 

didn't auburn win a game? I think USF did... 

The coach merry-go-round thing is obviously a crap shoot.  You hire some G5 dude who looks good and he's Urban Meyer, or someone fired 3 years later, obviously usually the latter.  I don't know how to assess them, and neither do ADs much if any better than me.  

I don't know of another sport where it makes such a difference.  I'm told baseball managers these days make almost no decisions, which sounds plausible.  I wonder if NFL coaches are in nearly the same basket.  CFB coaches could be heading that way, maybe, but they have to deal with the personal aspects of recruiting players and assistants.  Once you get a name, it gets a lot easier, like Saban, who may have  been a pretty good coach in a spot where he could get top talent and assistants.  Then he became the GOAT and little else mattered.

Then you have UNC taking a flyer on a "GOAT"? NFL coach getting on in years, which I think made some sense for them, they had little to lose.  It would be interesting to review coaching hires over the past 20 or so and see which pedigree has been better, a G5 success or an assistant at a top level program.  The two best coaches in that period are Saban and Meyer, any argument?

. . . I don't care what offense you run.  You run the ball until they show they can stop it.  You run the ball until they have to sell out to stop it.  And then passing happens with ease. . . .

I've believed that for a long time and I still see nothing that would contradict it. If you can run and stop the run, you will win many football games.


My over-reaction to the win over Michigan is that I have gone from seeing OU go 6-6 again to seeing the Sooners go 10-2.

More soberly, I think that the floor for OU is still a low one (a lot of mistakes still need cleaning up), but the ceiling is 3 or 4 wins higher than what I saw a week ago.

Balance.

Set up pass with run? Set up run, as Spurrier presented to the masses with the fun-n-gun, with the pass?

The object of the game has changed from controlling the clock to scoring.  The last game i recall that was beautifully executed clock control was tuberville vs Spurrier, auburn vs sc, on a Thursday night.  Its the same game, iirc, the ref lowered a shoulder and took out a runner with perfect form.  I dont recall the final score, but for the majority of the first half Spurrier controlled the ball for over 20 minutes.... then tubs responded the second half by doing the same.  Even that game wasn't three yards and a cloud of dust, though. 

In the game today if you never set up in a formation conducive to at least feign a pass, you arent scoring nor controlling the clock.  Same for passing without threat of running.  Its just the way it is... and this from a guy who's a pretty strict adherent to general neyland and his famous quote "if you pass the ball three things can happen, and two of them are bad".

People are so enthralled with the excitement of passing they fail to realize O's like my fellas run are completely dependent on running not passing... same for the fun-n-gun- Spurrier there or the cock-n-fire rebranded at sc were running teams that could pass.  Even the spread option is predicated on wishbone and I formations- just spread out... same with play action and RPO.  Balance is key- playing on as much real estate the field offers is key.  Having a run game that controls 12 minutes a quarter and even with a strong D isnt going to win of that D doesn't lock down on every single play.  One single mistake a series could cost them 7, and that could add to 28 points a game with ease... either run or pass... and all that ball control from their O just made them 28 points in the same contest if they were successful in execution, at best. Those arent odds ensuring success. 

I get a bit entertained by fan reactions (I being included of course).  Your team beats some pastry 73-3 and Life is GOOD!  Your team beats a pastry 28-6 and fire the OC!   There is so much wobble week to week in CFB I try and stay more centered, a mediocre performance can be followed by hitting on all cylinders.

Now, last season I could tell after 3-4 games that the Dawgs could NOT RTDB well at all, even against pastries.  That augured poorly for later, which turned out to be the case.  Fans blamed the OC and the QB (Beck).  I saw poor line blocking (duh).  Defenses would "sell out" and not fear the passing game (where WRs did not have sticky fingers).  So, a terribly disappointing season where all they did was win the SEC.  Go figure.

I haven't seen enough this year to form any preliminary opinion after facing two pastries.  They had been slated to play UCLA, which probably is a near pastry anyway.  So, "we" will perhaps learn a bit this weekend upcoming.

Football to me is about line play on both sides.  Dominate the LOS and life is good.  Film at 11.