Mississippi State: Hats Off For Playing the Game!

 Mississippi State traveled to Athens Saturday to take on Georgia in a clash of the SEC Bulldogs. Mike Leach traveled with only 49 scholarship players, but those 49 put in one heck of an effort and took the Georgia Dawgs to the limit before the canines from Athens secured the victory. In this Covid confused season, it would have been easy for Coach Leach to use the SEC's 53 man roster limit requirement and call off the game. But State wanted to play, and you could see the effort on the field throughout the game, as they played one of their best games of the season with a depleted roster. The 31-24 final score was indicative of how competitive the Maroon Bulldogs were all night. Heavily favored Georgia came away with the hard fought victory, but Mississippi State walked out of Sanford Stadium having earned a ton of respect for itself.

College Game Day at Augusta National

 The 2020 Masters Tournament being played in November presented the perfect opportunity for College Game Day to host their show from the iconic Augusta National Golf Club. It was literally a once in a lifetime opportunity. It was also a great gesture on the part of ESPN to come up with a pair of cool Masters football helmets to highlight the front of the Game Day set. The helmets were an instant hit on social media, with golf/football fans wondering where a collector's item like the helmets could be purchased. So far, Riddell has produced a mini-helmet version, but they are already sold out!

Jake Scott: A Damn Good Dawg!

 

Jake Scott, former Georgia Bulldog All-American Safety and Punt Returner, has died at the age of 75. Scott led the Dawgs to the 1968 SEC Championship, which also featured an undefeated regular season of 8-0-2, as well as an invitation to the Sugar Bowl. In both 1967 and 1968, he led the SEC in interceptions. Also in 1968, he led the conference in punt returns and punt return yardage. Scott still holds the SEC record for most interception returns for touchdowns in a single game with two against the Kentucky Wildcats in 1968. Scott of course, went on to a fantastic professional career with the Miami Dolphins, with saw him garner a Super Bowl MVP award, five consecutive Pro Bowls and three Super Bowls. However for me, I'll always remember him most as a tremendously gifted athlete wearing the Red and Black for the University of Georgia. Thanks for the thrills and the victories Number 13! God Speed Jacob E. Scott III.

Will Muschamp: Not a College Head Coach

Will Muschamp was fired yesterday as head coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks. In this, his fifth season leading the Carolina program, his record stands at 2-5. He is 28-30 for his tenure in Columbia. He was 28-21 at his previous stint as the head coach of the Florida Gators. Muschamp will take with him as he leaves the Carolina campus a hefty $13+ million buyout. His buyout upon leaving Florida was $6+ million, so this inept ex-head coach is being paid roughly $20 million not to coach. The Athletic Director's who agreed to these contract buyouts are equally inept, and both of them should have been kicked out of the door with Muschamp. Prior to his adventurous journey into the college head coaching world, Muschamp was the Defensive Coordinator at LSU, Texas and Auburn. With his defensive background, it's ironic that in his last game as a head coach, his Gamecock defense allowed a whopping 59 points to a struggling Ole Miss program. The experiment of trying to be a college head coach for Will Muschamp should be over at this point. He should be out of options in that role; he has proven he cannot handle that top position. He's a Defensive Coordinator. Period. Quit trying to put the square peg into the round hole.

Sam Pittman: Top SEC Coach of the Year Candidate

 The Arkansas Football Team's record at this point of the 2020 season is 2-2 (It should be 3-1 if the Auburn game had been officiated correctly). Going into this season, the Hogs schedule was thought by many to be the toughest schedule in all of college football. They were riding a 20 game SEC losing streak, and were believed to be a sure bet to top Vanderbilt's record streak of 23 straight conference defeats. Sam Pittman's Razorbacks have put that talk to rest, much to the dismay of the Commodores, by defeating Mississippi State in the second game of the season. Since then, Arkansas has added a win over Ole Miss and first year head coach Lane Kiffin. Pittman has put together a great coaching staff at Arkansas, he has the players buying in to his system, and they are going into every game believing they have a chance to win. The Hogs have a challenging closing stretch of six consecutive tough SEC opponents, the last of which is Alabama. Regardless of the outcome of these individual contests, Sam Pittman has already earned the consideration of being selected as the Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year. If he does indeed garner that award, he will be viewed by the entire conference as tremendously deserving. One would be hard pressed to find a dissenter in the group regarding the likable Sam Pittman. Woo Pig Sooie!

AUBURN'S MID-SEASON RECORD IS A FRAUD

Auburn University has a 3-2 record at the half-way point of the SEC season. However, those 3 wins have been aided by critical officiating calls/no-calls by the inept SEC football officials. In their opening game against Kentucky, the Wildcats were not rewarded for a touchdown that they should have been credited for. This touchdown that wasn’t called a touchdown in the final seconds of the first half might have been the difference-maker in Kentucky’s 29-13 loss to the Tigers. In Auburn's second win against Arkansas, the Razorbacks owned a 28-27 lead late in the fourth quarter. The Tigers had worked their way into field goal range. The controversy came on a 3rd-and-1, when Auburn QB Bo Nix fumbled the snap, then spiked it into the turf in an attempt to stop the clock. However, Nix spiked the ball backwards and Arkansas fell on it, which should’ve been ruled a fumble. Instead, the officials ruled that the play was an incomplete pass with intentional grounding because ball didn’t reach the line of scrimmage. Auburn then kicked a game winning field goal with seven seconds left on the clock, denying Arkansas the chance to run out the clock and collect the win. Lastly, this past Saturday against Ole Miss, the Rebels recovered a ball in the end zone on a kickoff that the Tiger return man actually touched. But the officials on the field, as well as the replay officials, ruled that the ball was not touched by Auburn, thus denying Ole Miss the touchdown and awarding the ball to Auburn on the ruled touchback. The Tigers went on to win the game by a final score of 35-28. Auburn might have gone on to win the game against Kentucky in the second half even if Kentucky had been awarded the first half touchdown. We'll never know. Arkansas would definitely half defeated the Tigers with the correct ruling, and Ole Miss probably would have won the game Saturday if awarded the touchdown with the recovered ball in the end zone. With all of this in mind, I think it is realistic to infer that Auburn's record at this point should be 1-4 at best. Woulda, shoulda, coulda!

Marcell Ozuna: His Blunder Flipped the Entire NLCS

 Marcell Ozuna's base running blunder in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series took away the momentum that his Atlanta Braves had built and flipped it  into the dugout of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Braves had runners on second and third with one out in the bottom of the third, leading the Dodgers 2-0. Dansby Swanson lined a sinking fly ball to right field that Mookie Betts made a shoestring catch on. Ozuna went back to the bag to tag up but left early. Although he was called safe at the plate, review overturned to call and took the run off the books. The Braves failed to add to their two run lead. The first batter for Los Angeles in the top of the fourth, Corey Seager, hit a homerun to cut the lead in half. But with the base running blunder it was like a two run swing for the Dodgers. They were sky high and went on to win the game. Although the Braves still led the series 3-2, the damage was done. The Dodgers went on to win the next two games and advanced to the World Series. Ozuna's bone-headed play changed the complexion for the remainder of the series. His mistake is a huge reason the Braves are going home and the Dodgers are playing in another World Series.