Leftovers

Remaining thoughts from whatever games I followed Saturday …

Auburn-Buffalo

Blake Field “of Dreams” is still perfect on the season. 8-for-8 now after his second 4-4 performance, against the Bulls. I wish this meant anything besides “Blake Field is excellent at throwing very short, conservative routes in blowouts against horrible teams.” But it doesn’t, and as the Auburner points out, anyone who thinks otherwise needs to have a sound beating administered.

As expected, not only did the national media not notice Auburn was only up 17-7 in the third, they’ve actually given Auburn credit for accomplishing a 38-7 blowout without the aid of Irons, Wilhite, etc. Sweet.

Alabama-Arkansas

I’ll second what a lot of other commentators have already said: if I’m in charge in Tuscaloosa, I’m replacing Ken Darby with Jimmy Johns. I wouldn’t have expected Shula to do it last week—Darby is a senior and has always been so solid, Shula was right to give him every chance. But after Darby spent yet another game not so much hitting the hole as gently caressing it after pulling off a quick soft-shoe in the backfield, it’s time for “Sandwiches” to, uh, start toting the loaf. (OK, sorry, it’s late, you’re going to have to come up with your own sandwich-related euphemism for running the ball.)

One last thing: how weird is it that Alabama is now a pass-first team that will rely on team star John Parker Wilson to open things up for the iffy running game? Quite frankly, I think they were less dangerous the other way, when you could squeeze the box fuller than a carton of Krispy Kremes and assume Wilson wouldn’t beat you. Now we know he just might be able to, especially if the guys calling the plays will let him.

Florida-Kentucky

Not sure how I came away impressed by both these teams, but I did. Florida’s line looked like it’s finally learned how to block, Leak was money when he had to be, and with Tebow around, Meyer’s going to be able to throw a better change-up than Tom Glavine. I thought before last week LSU would bring the Gators’ heads back to the bayou, dry them, and sell them as souvenirs to tourists with no sense of taste … and now? LSU still wins, but it’s a tussle.

That said, I’m still glad that … wait for it, this is probably the first time these words have ever been typed by an Auburn fan … glad that Kentucky’s not on our schedule. Their defense isn’t such that Auburn would be in any danger of actually losing, but Woodson can play and if Little was healthy, their offense could put an annoying (read: poll-position-damaging) number of points on the board. Spurrier or no Spurrier, I’d be more worried about the ‘Cats than I am the ‘Cocks.

Elsewhere…

--How happy do you think Cutcliffe is about the nuclear implosion happening at Ole Miss right now? Does he throw himself a party five nights a week or just four, because it is the middle of the season and all?
--It’s early, but Tebow has already dropped out of the running for the coveted “Most Embarrassingly Overhyped Freshman SEC Quarterback” award. It’s now a two-horse race between Mustain and Stafford, and both spent last Saturday making major statements as to why they deserve the honor. Still way too close to call.
--Why the hell are people just granting Notre Dame a free pass into the BCS because Michigan St. did their Michigan St. thing? They’ve got UCLA still, and UCLA is just the Spartans in cooler uniforms and a guy who blames his players rather than assistants. They’ve got Navy on the road, whose offense might as well have been designed to do nothing but defeat 2006 Notre Dame. Ditto Air Force. The other games are walks, but, uh, wasn’t Notre Dame supposed to breeze by Michigan, too?

An open letter to Auburn fans dealing with the shock of poll-voting dimwits who apparently can’t see the difference between 45-3 and 20-3 coming Thursday morning.