College Football Weekend Finale

This weekend we saw the SEC championship game tickets get punched as South Carolina dominated Florida as they never have before and Auburn with the sensational Cam Newton overwhelm Georgia. It should be an competitive and exciting game in Atlanta with those two teams. Virginia Tech's blowout of North Carolina further cemented them as the best team in the ACC. As the season winds down, the good team have separated themselves from the bad. Now for the breakdown of those highlighted games and other observations from this weekend.

South Carolina 36 vs. Florida 14 - The Marcus Lattimore show was on full display in this game. The fab Freshman toted the ball 40 times and produced 212 yards and 3 touchdowns. He just pummeled the Gators for and set the tone early and often for the Gamecocks. Lattimore had 21 carries for 83 yards in the first half but its was 21-yard scamper for a TD that really broke the Gators spirits. Stephen Garcia did his part as well going 15/22 for 156 with no turnovers and he also added 28 yards on the ground. This is only the second time in 19 tries that the Gamecocks have beat Florida.  South Carolina also beat Florida for the first time at home since joining the SEC in 1992, and now advance to their first ever SEC championship game. As for Florida, their offensive attack reverted back to what we saw mostly this year. "Threebow" in reference to the three QBs they use to match Tim Tebow production could not get the offense going. John Brantley finished with a pedestrian stat line of 16/31 for 130 yards. Jordan Reed and Trey Burton didn't even play much.The same Gator team that looked so crisp and speedy on offense the last two games, looked pathetic this game.  Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps were bottled up and that was all she wrote for Florida. South Carolina moves on to  face Auburn in the SEC championship game.

Auburn 41 vs. Georgia 31 - If Cam Newton isn't the best player in college football, you tell me who is? The Auburn QB was just a one man wrecking crew once again in the Tigers win over the Bulldogs.  Newton busted the Bulldogs defense up for 150 yards on the ground and went 12/15 for 148 yards and a touchdown in the air. The Tigers marched down the field on their opening drive and took a 7-0 lead but Georgia would go on to score the next 21 points as receiver as A.J Green and QB Aaron Murray began to get hot. Green had a spectacular day as well with 9 catches for 164 yards and two touchdowns. But Newton and the Auburn's offense could not be stopped. RB Onterrio McCalebb 4-yard run capped off a 9 play, 73 yard drive that made the game 21-14 Georgia. Georgia would be forced to punt on their next series and The Tigers again scored on the next possession with Newton using a beautiful play-action fake to find a wide open Philip Lutzenkirchen down the middle of the field for another TD that made it 21-21 going into halftime. Georgia and QB Aaron Murray would add 10 more points in the 3rd quarter but it wouldn't be enough as the Tigers offense kept rolling and eventually would tally 49 points. I also have to commend Nick Fairley who seemed to be in the Bulldogs backfield all game long. Cam Newton may have a lot of problems off the field but on it, he is simply the most electrifying player in college. He is Tebow 2.0 with ability to run in space and he throws better than Tebow ever did. He became the first player in SEC history to throw for 2,000 yards run for 1,000 in this game. If he doesn't get the Heisman due to those allegations he is facing than something is really wrong and flawed with the system of voting. I just haven't saw a better player this year and maybe the last two years than the Tigers QB. Auburn will face South Carolina for the SEC crown now but not before the annual Iron bowl with Alabama. That one should be a doozy and be careful Auburn fans, they still have to win out to play in the National championship game.

Va Tech 26 vs. North Carolina 10 - The Hokies dominated the Tar Heels on both sides of the ball and are now just one game away from winning the ACC coastal division. Tyrod Taylor finished with 249 yards passing and the Hokies defense had their way with the Tar Heels. Virginia Tech actually trailed 10-9 going into halftime but they were a different team in the second half. Taylor would find an open Marcus Davis for a 43-yard strike to open the half and from their the Hokies would only add to their separation. Taylor found Davis again for an 11-yard TD pass and the game was never in much doubt from their. “I think we’re playing at a high level right now, and as long as we continue to play it, I think people will eventually respect us,” Taylor said. The Hokies now travel to Miami to visit the Hurricanes next weekend and need to win either of its final two games to reach the league title game in Charlotte on Dec. 4. Its been a long winding road for Frank Beamer's team but they have just about wrapped up their side of division.

Other News and Notables:

BCS frontrunner's survive: Cal almost pulled off the epic upset of Oregon, using different defensive fronts and switching their number of down linemen on every defensive play. As the score indicated, the Bears were able to slow down Oregon's seemingly unstoppable offense. It did however look as if Cal was able to stop the clock with a few "questionable" injuries. All great teams have a game where they don't look great and this happens to be Oregon's. They still have a few tough games ahead of them in Arizona and the Civil War game versus Oregon State. Cal may have shown those teams how to beat the Ducks so stay tuned for their final two games. TCU almost had a major letdown after defeating Utah last week. The Horned Frogs were able to narrowly defeat San Diego St. 40-35. As stated above, every team has inevitable trap game but luckily for the Horned Frogs they were able to keep their national title hopes alive. Utah didn't help out their cause though, after they were demolished by Notre Dame ( In a word, Wow) 28-3.

Wisconsin - Did anyone see the Badgers literally just run over Indiana? The Badgers rolled up 598 total yards with 338 yards of it on the ground. Their starter and 2009 Big Ten offensive player of the year John Clay didn't even play this game and they still had to rushers over 100 yards with Montee Ball going for 167 and James White adding 144 yards. That's the definition of smash mouth football.

The Big East - Now this is just getting ridiculous. How does a BCS conference not have a team ranked in the top 25? Pittsburg's loss to Uconn now means that going into their BCS game, the team that wins the conference probably won't be ranked. This has just been an awful year for the conference as a whole this year. I know they can't wait for the basketball season to get under way.

College Football Weekend Setup

Last weekend was one of the better slate of games this year, with two sexy top ten BCS match-ups (Alabama vs. LSU and TCU vs. Utah).This week doesn't have the great games of last week, but there are a few top 25 teams facing off. The most important game of the weekend comes out of the SEC (No surprise there right?). No. 23 South Carolina travels to the swamp to face No.22 Florida, in a battle that will determine the SEC east champion. Auburn, amid all the controversy surrounding Cam Newton, can clinch the SEC west with a win over Georgia and Virginia Tech continues their assault on the ACC (after losing to everyone else) taking on North Carolina. Now for the break down of those games.

South Carolina (6-3) vs. Florida (6-3) - When the season started, the first game I watched was South Carolina vs. Southern Miss. I could tell then that this Gamecock team was going to be a force. Marcus Lattimore gives them a different dimension they haven't had, with his physical style of running. I knew they would be the chief challenger to Florida's strangle hold on the SEC east division. Florida wasn't what we expected to be this year, but low and behold they still can stay can make their way to Atlanta if they win this game. I look for coach Urban Meyer to pull out all the tricks for this one. The one Achilles heel for South Carolina this year has been their pass defense. The Gamecocks rank 109th in the nation in that department giving up 264.7 yards per game. If the Gators are going to exploit that area of the Gamecocks, they will need more out of QB John Brantley. He has been average this year and Meyer has been forced to use multiple QBs in his last few games. Florida offense has waken up a bit over the past two games with the wrinkles Meyer installed in their bye week. They have utilized QB Jordan Reed more and also Trey Burton. South Carolina may not have a 100 percent Marcus Lattimore and that would put the pressure on QB Stephen Garcia and his favorite receiver Alshon Jeffrey to step up. Florida has one of the best secondaries in college football with 17 interceptions, so that won't be easy. I really think this is the year the Gamecocks get it done. They have never won the SEC east or at Florida ( Which is amazing when you realize they have been a member of the SEC since 1992). This is one of those the nerd has to beat the bully to get respect games. This is the way it should be for the Gamecocks and coach Steve Spurrier. Its comes full circle for them. I think the motivation of all these events will propel South Carolina to the victory in this game. The Pick: South Carolina

Auburn (10-0) vs. Georgia (5-5) - Auburn has a chance to clinch the SEC west title, for their first outright title since 2004. The game known as the deep south's oldest rivalry (the two teams have been playing one another since 1892) is actually being overshadowed by the controversy that is Cam Newton (or Scam Newton as some like to call him). I could go all into the swirling allegations but I won't. The game itself will be a chance for Newton to release some of his frustrations out on the field. If Auburn wins out, they know they will be playing for all the marbles in January. Georgia on the other hand needs one more victory to become bowl eligible and would like none other but to beat their rival. Georgia's LB Justin Houston has 16.5 tackles for lost this season and will be key in stopping Newton on the ground. The Bulldogs lead the SEC in per yard rushing defense, allowing a measly 3.1 yards a carry. The Tigers counter with the nation top running yards per carry average at 6.65, and have rushed for more than 300 yards in their previous five SEC games. Auburn's defense will allow a few scores by Aaron Murray and the Bulldogs offense as they have with everyone else but in the end Scam Newton I mean Cam Newton and Auburn's rushing attack will be too much. The Pick: Auburn

Virginia Tech (7-2) vs. North Carolina (6-3) - Virginia Tech infamously started the season off by losing it's first two games. One was a respectable loss to Boise State and the other not so much losing to FBS school James Madison. Since the two losses however, the Hokies have beat all comers. They are now the only undefeated team in the ACC coastal division,  and control their own destiny for the division title. If the get a win over North Carolina coupled with a Hurricanes loss to reigning conference champion Georgia Tech, than they could take the title this Saturday. Tyrod Taylor leads the Hokie offense that ranks 1st in scoring in the ACC at 36.0 points a game. The Hokies get it done on the ground as well, averaging 212.9 yards a game. This game also features the top two rated passers per efficiency in the ACC, with Taylor leading the league with a 163.3 rating and North Carolina's T.J Yates coming in with 153.4 rating. North Carolina has dealt with everything you can imagine this year and still actually has a shot at the division crown. Yates is coming off his best performance and in North Carolina history going 24/35 for 439 yards and 3 touchdowns. The biggest clash in this game will be the North Carolina run game vs. Tech's defense. The Hokies gave up 346 yards last week. But North Carolina's running back situation is a mess. James White has been have an impact year running for 720 yards and averaging 5.5 yards per carry but will be out for the rest year with a broken clavicle. Shaun Draughn was next line but he suffered a sprained ankle last week versus Florida State and his status for this game is unknown. With the cloud surrounding there running backs and Tech getting stronger each week, I have to with the Hokies. The Pick: Virginia Tech

Game of the week - South Carolina vs. Georgia. The winner gets the SEC east title and a trip to Atlanta for the SEC championship game. It doesn't get any better than this.

Most intriguing game - Kansas St. vs. Missouri. KSU will try to run over the Tigers as they have been doing everyone else but Missou comes in ranked 2nd in total defense in the Big 12 and 4th against the run.

Rivalry Game - Auburn vs. Georgia. When a game is known as "The deep south oldest rivalry" that's all that needs to be said.

Under the radar game - Mississippi State vs. Alabama - Bama's loss to LSU took away their chance to repeat as SEC west and national champs and it also too the luster off this game but it still should a good one.

Wake me when it's over game - Wyoming vs. UNLV - This one will go with both teams combined record 3-16.

Coach better get it right game - Oklahoma State vs. Texas - Now that Dan Hawkins has been fired, who can I pick on? This week its Mack Brown. His team has to much talent to be 4-5 and he needs to pull off an upset or two to keep the fan base in line.

UT Report week 9

UT has just owned South Carolina in the past. Tennessee holds a 21-6-2 all-time advantage in the series but have lost the last two games. The Gamecocks were too much for the Vols this time around also, defeating them 38-24 in Columbia. This equal the Vols worst start (0-5) since 1977 in the SEC. The Vols did look good on some fronts. Tyler Bray and Matt Simms would combined to go 19/28 for 312 yards and 3 touchdowns. Bray, in particular showed a lot of promise making strong throws all over the field.  Denairus Moore would go on to have a career game posting 6 receptions for 228 yards and a touchdown. Those 228 yards receiving is second all time ever for a UT receiver.Tennessee just could not contain freshman sensation Marcus Lattimore who went on to rack up 184 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries. The Vols continue to have trouble up front on the defensive line and this game showed their venerability to the run. South Carolina just pounded the Vols.

On several occasions the Gamecocks just lined up and played smashmouth with Tennessee. Oh have the tables have turned in this series, I remember when UT was doing the running on South Carolina. UT continued its trend of being tied going into halftime with its opponents, only to lose the game in the second half.  After Julio Jones torched the secondary last week, I was predicting similar results for the long athletic Alshon Jeffrey of the Gamecocks. He didn't post the big numbers like Jones but did have the game changing play with a 70 yard pass play from Stephen Garcia. The Gamecocks would not look back after the play which put them ahead 31-24. The Vols would not score again and South Carolina rolled to the victory. Tennessee has been in every game they have played. They just don't have the experience and athletes they usually have by this time of year.

Everyone knew this was going to be a tough one this season and they are just proving us right. Derek Dooley will continue to lead his troops on the field. Only time will tell if they can make it to a bowl game but it doesn't look good for them so far. Next game they face Memphis and definitely have a chance to win that but nothing is a given now days for the Volunteers.

Vandy vs. South Carolina review

Vandy came into this game looking to recover from the thrashing it took from Uconn, but South Carolina was also looking to retake first place in the SEC East. Senior Brian Maddox, in for the super freshman Marcus Lattimore due to an injury, had a career day with 146 yards rushing en route to defeating the Commodores 21-7.

Vanderbilt looked strong in the first half and the game was tied 7-7 going into the 3rd quarter. Coach Steve Spurrier replaced an ineffective Kenny Miles with Maddox in the 4th series of the game. Maddox at first was proving just as ineffective as Miles until a game changing drive that saw him eat up 48 yards on the ground in the 3rd quarter. The Gamecocks let Vandy hang around with an errant snap on one drive and Casey Heyward's SEC-leading fifth interception on another and a blocked field goal as well. The Commodores had consistent pressure on Stephen Garcia and had a total of 4 sacks. To Garcia's credit, he remained tough in the pocket and finally found his rhythm and hit a couple of long passes late in the game. I figured Vandy would have problems covering Alshon Jeffrey with his size and athleticism and was proved to be correct. Garcia was able to connect with Jeffrey for a 24-yard catch that set up a Maddox touchdown and later Jeffrey had a spectacular 72-yard touchdown pass midway through the fourth. A surprise to me and apparently to the Commodores was receiver Tori Gurley who finished with 13 catches for 109 yards. When you combine Jeffrey's number and Gurley's numbers you can see it was hard for Vandy's secondary to keep up with the Gamecocks passing game.

Vanderbilt's offense looked as stagnant as ever finishing with just 250 total yards. Larry Smith continues to have trouble passing going 13/31 for 142 and no touchdowns. The run game was OK at best going for 108 yards. Vandy will continue to have problems as long as there middling offense doesn't find the continuity it needs to help out its defense. The Commodores are now 2-5 and are headed to Fayetville next in a dual with Arkansas, lead by QB Ryan Mallett and the Razorbacks intricate passing game. There is definitely no rest for the weary in the SEC but hopefully Vandy can try to rebound from consecutive losses.