Losing badly: Bad SEC memories
—- OUR GUEST WRITER ALEX FERGUSON WRITES FROM BLOG ‘VIEW FROM AMERICA’ WRITES——
It’s not the only time that I’ve written an anti-SEC piece – I’ve been going on and on about the SEC’s lack of red-hot non-conference schedule competition since God was a boy (and will probably continue to do so!!), but this article comes because as college football fans, we remember the bad times just as well as the good times.
And as June 18th in my birthday – I’m 35 today (so remember to say Happy Birthday! to me after reading this) – I thought it was a bit of time to remember the bad times.
I’m going through EVERY SEC team – that includes you too, Texas A&M and Missouri – and going to go back not to the times that you lost a game – because everyone loses one or two of those in their lifetime – but loses a game in any of these fashions:
A) A team that’s a relative nobody/ Shouldn’t lose to
B) Your team gets blown out completely
It doesn’t matter how bad your season was – so I’m not going to let Auburn fans get away with: “Soooo…..pick any game from the 2012 season, Auburn!)”.
If I’m wrong and you can think of another game, then please comment!!!!
This is in alphabetical order, so don’t think I’m picking on you, Alabama!
Alabama
17/11/2007 17-12 vs Louisana-Monroe at home
Alabama game into the game 24-1/2 point favorites. They came out 17-12 losers to a Sun Belt team that would eventually finish 5-6 on the year and not even make a bowl game. Alabama killed themselves with FOUR turnovers, and Nick Saban even said he was “embarrassed for all our fans.” It’s funny, because the Crimson Tide continued to lose that season, losing to Auburn but beating Colorado in their bowl game. They were OK the season after, going to the SEC Championship and finishing the regular season unbeaten. They then lost 31-17- stunningly – to Utah in a bowl game…..but nothing can make up for this Warhawks loss!
Note: Nick Saban’s team have not lost very much recently.
REACTION: (@banditref) – I don’t think it was, in 2007 we had just gotten Saban and even though it would take time to fix, there was a feeling of hope….. I think every single game in 2006 was the worst Bama game ever.
Arkansas
08/09/2012 34-31 vs Louisiana-Monroe at home
Admittedly, this loss to the Warhawks was just one in a lot of humiliating things happening in Arkansas this 2012 season, but it really stunk. Arkansas had quarterbacking firepower in Tyler Wilson, but it was put out quickly after head hits in the first half ensured that he wouldn’t play the second. But that should’t be an excuse. The nature of the Razorbacks’ loss was perhaps the most humiliating. The Hogs had a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter. They gave up the game-tying touchdown with 47 seconds left, and then lost it all on a 16-yard Kolton Browning rush into the end-zone in overtime. Statistically, the Hogs stank, too. They were out-gunned 550-277. They had only 96 yards rushing. Knile Davis went missing. So did just about everyone else.
Auburn
16/10/2012 24-7 vs Arkansas at home.
There were a lot of teams fighting to get to be Auburn’s most embarrassing loss of the 2012 year, but we’ve gone with Arkansas. Why not the Tigers’ shambolic blow-out defeats to Georgia and Alabama, where they scored a total of NO points, or the game where they conceded 63 to Texas A&M? Well, we’re going with Arkansas not because those losses weren’t bad, but because Arkansas had just come off its own embarrassing losses to Rutgers and Louisiana-Monroe, and was becoming one of college football’s biggest jokes. Gene Chizik wasn’t there yet. Well, in this game the Tigers were shambolic, giving up FIVE turnovers, EIGHT sacks to a team that had been beaten 110-10 in its first two SEC games. Of course, it went vomitingly horrifically after that, but for us, this was the worst and the sign of things to come.
Florida
03/01/2013 33-23 vs Louisville in the Sugar Bowl
We tried our hardest to put the game in 2010 when the Gators were smoked by Florida State to end a 6-0 run of Florida victories over their hated rivals, but we couldn’t get past the 3rd-best team in the nation losing to the 22nd-best team in the nation….and a Big East team at that. For Gators fans, it was the latest in a procession of middle fingers from the football gods that season. There was the Jordan Reed fumble against Georgia in the Cocktail Party. There was the bit where they were left out of the SEC Championship Game despite hammering LSU and South Carolina, and beating Texas A&M on the road (something Alabama couldn’t even do at home) (Georgia lost to South Carolina). And then to make matters worse, they were left out of the National Championship Game conversation, too – when they could have at legitimate shout at getting into the Big One ahead of the Crimson Tide. But there we go. In New Orleans, Florida went down 24-3 and never recovered. Jeff Driskel, who had been great all season, committed two out of three Florida turnovers, and they were comprehensively outplayed by a team they were heavily favored against. Wil Muschamp ought to talk to the college football gods over the course of the off-season, and get things straight.
Georgia
2/10/2010 29-27 to Colorado on the road
Right, we’d like to start with the fact that we know the 2010 season was the one that could have seen the end of Georgia coach Mark Richt. UCF – who beat the Bulldogs 10-6 in the Liberty Bowl – fought hard for recognition, but we’re going to give the embarrassing loss to Colorado. Why? Colorado finished 5-7 that season, but UCF actually finished 11-3. Georgia’s loss to Colorado was comedic. Georgia had the stars in QB Aaron Murry and WR AJ Green. They actually led the game 24-14 with 10:14 to go in the third quarter….and then blew it. They couldn’t even score a point – let alone a touchdown – in the fourth quarter. Then, with the game-winner just about to come along, Caleb King turns the ball over to linebacker B.J.Beatty, and the rest is history. Sorry guys, this lot haven’t been good since Kordell Stewart. The Dawgs fell to 1-4. If they’d not made a bowl that season, we think Mark Richt would have been pretty lucky to stay in a job. People HAVE been fired for less in the SEC, after all.
Kentucky
15/9/2012 32-31 (in OT) to Western Kentucky at home
Kentucky have routinely provided us with a selection of crappy football, so it’s been pretty hard to find something. But that’s why we’ve gone with this home loss to the Hilltoppers. The loss not only disrespected the Wildcats, but it disrespected the SEC. A lot of people didn’t really know WKU had a football team (they’d spent most of the time thinking about WKU and their March Madness bets) until this. Well, Kentucky came roaring back from a 17-0 second quarter deficit, and when everything looked lost, tied the game up at 24-24 with just 0:24 on the clock (can you believe the triple ’24s’?) in the fourth quarter, before losing on a two-point conversation in overtime that made a lot of ESPN highlight reels. The only one really reeling was Joker Phillips – he was fired at the end of the season.
LSU
2012 National Championship Game: 21-0 to Alabama
This WAS an embarrassing performance. After squeaking by 9-6 in Tuscaloosa in the Game Of The Century earlier on in the season, people thought LSU would beat the Crimson Tide in a virtual home game in New Orleans to give Les Miles another National Championship. Well, the Tigers just didn’t show up. Sure, the ‘D’ played well enough to limit Alabama to just field goals until the fourth quarter, but the offense put together 92 yards all game long – including 39 on the floor. This was a terrible performance, capped by one of the LSU fans suffering the ignominy of getting teabagged while passed out after the game. It really was an awful day for the Tigers.
Mississippi State
16/09/2012 32-29 to Tulane at home
Regardless of what he did on the field, we will always like Buddy Croom, but we don’t think Mississippi State fans are going to like being reminded of the day that they lost at home to that football superpower from Louisiana….Tulane. THIS was probably the worst loss in Croom’s career in Cowbell Central. Tulane was a side still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. It had just been eaten alive by Houston the week before. They had were on an eight-game losing streak. But this is how atrocious MSU were. By the fourth quarter they were 34-7 down. They gave up 427 yards. This was awful. Oh, and don’t think we don’t remember Dan Mullen’s inconspicuous 34-20 loss to Northwestern in the TaxSlayer.com bowl on Jan 1, but all things considered….this is bigger.
Missouri
2007 Big XII Championship Game 38-17 vs Oklahoma in San Antonio
Missouri came into the Big XII Championship Game full of hope and full of joy. They’d just beaten No.2 Kansas in a crazy Border War rivalry game 36-28 in front of 80,000 people in Arrowhead, and they went to San Antonio ranked No.1 and ready for action. They were thumped by OU 38-17 in a game where they gave up 166 yards on the floor and saw Chase Daniel limited to just 23 out of 39 and 200 yards passing. They were 14 points down by the start of the fourth quarter, and 10 more late at the game capped off an awful trip to the South for the Tigers – who had lost to the Sooners earlier that season, too. Oh, and in 2008, they gave up 65 to the Sooners the next time they went to San Antonio too….but they weren’t ranked No.1
POST SCRIPT: A lot of Missouri’s losses in the 2012 season were by blow-out, but a lot of people knew that the Tigers wouldn’t be that competitive in the SEC this year.
Ole Miss
15/09/2012 63-31 to Texas at home
A lot of people thought Texas would win, but by just 10 points in a loud environment at night in Oxford, with a town filled with hope after hiring Hugh Freeze. So it wasn’t any surprise that they didn’t. But it WAS a surprise when Texas didn’t just win, they absolutely schellacked the Rebels, putting up 63 points – the most Ole Miss has given up in a game since 1917, according to ESPN. The Rebels gave up some gaudy numbers that night. 676 total yards, beautifully balancing 326 through the air and 350 on the ground. They gave up NINE touchdowns – including one interception one that went all the way. They turned the ball over three times. It was just…well….embarrassing. And probably one of the worst performances most Ole Miss fans can remember. And believe us, there were a few to remember under Houston Nutt, folks.
REACTION: @nester_chris Old Miss’ was the double OT loss to Jacksonville State….by far
South Carolina
15/11/2008 56-6 to Florida on the road
Safe to say about this one – so we’ll make it short – this was Steve Spurrier’s worst loss in his playing or coaching career. Now THAT’s embarrassing. If you want a bit of how badly Carolina played, they were ranked 25th at the time, gave up 519 yards, while the offense gave up four turnovers. Oh, and 21 points between mid-way through the third quarter and the end of the game. Not that they gave up, mind. The ‘Cocks lost 44-10 in 2012 in the Swamp while ranked No.7, but this was even worse.
TENNESSEE
1/8/2008 13-7 to Wyoming at home
There were a bunch of reasons why this hits the ‘most embarrassing’ list. One, this loss to Wyoming was the second time in school history that the school had lost seven games. Second, Phillip Fulmer had been given his marching orders early on in the week. And thirdly, Wyoming was a FOUR TOUCHDOWN underdog going into the game. Incidentally, only seven points were scored in the second half of the game.
TEXAS A&M
17/10/2009 62-14 to Kansas State on the road
Right, we just want to get this straight. Kansas State had come into this game having given up 66 points and 700 yards to Texas Tech. They weren’t exactly on top of their game. But Texas A&M managed to make sure that that game the Wildcats looked like the New England Patriots, giving up 59 straight points en route to a 62-14 loss. 59 straight points? That’s some doing. Of course, Texas A&M helped their own demise with five straight turnovers, and the -13 total rushing yards can’t have helped their cause, either. Wow. ESPN’s headline even called the loss ‘humiliating’. There were times with the Aggies were straight-up bad, folks.
REACTION: @thacktor: Dude. The A&M loss you picked pales in comparison to the Ark St. game in 2008. That drive back to Dallas sucked hard.
VANDERBILT
27/11/2010 34-13 to Wake Forest at home
Firstly, I want to get this straight: Vanderbilt has lost games since the 34-13 loss to Wake Forest, but none of them have been as close to as laughable to this loss to the Demon Deacons. Firstly, Wake Forest had lost nine straight games – the worst run amongst FBS teams that season, according to the Associated Press. Secondly, this was Wake Forest – who had a terrible record in a ‘poorer’ conference. Oh, and thirdly, Vandy Coach Robbie Caldwell had been fired just 12 hours before the game. So that was pretty embarrassing in itself. Oh, and the game? The Commodores gave up 499 yards, 24 straight points, and had just 73 passing yards all game long. Of course, in 2011 James Franklin came along and revolutionized a program. Remember folks: This was a pretty dark day for Commodores – and SEC – football.
If you have any other suggestions as to bad days for your SEC school, then please comment and we’d be glad to put up your comments. And don’t be rude. It’s not polite.