NEWSFLASH: Alabama did NOT impress on Week 12
Breaking News: Alabama did not impress us on Week 12. At half-time of the game against Citadel in Tuscaloosa, with the much-less-than-the-reported-101,000 inside Bryant-Denny Stadium still sleepy, the game was tied 10-10. The Tide couldn’t deal with the triple-option, and the offense was poor to say the least. In the second half, Alabama adjusted themselves, scoring 40 to Citadel’s 7, and everything seemed good.
I even posted on my Twitter that after Alabama’s putrid performance Clemson should be made No.1 if they comfortably beat Duke. And Clemson was awful in its first half against Duke before exploding for 45. Obviously, Clemson’s victory over an above-average Duke said counts for more than Alabama’s victory against a Citadel team, but the Play-Off Committee won’t care, bearing in mind that they haven’t decided that Washington State or UCF are worthy of a Play-Off fight.
That said, if we go on good performances from the Top 4 in the play-off this week, then we’d have to give it to Notre Dame, because they hammered Syracuse in a game that was meant to be close. Michigan was NOT impressive at home against Indiana.
On the other side of the coin, the Big-12 shot itself in the foot for a play-off place as Oklahoma didn’t play well against Kansas and West Virginia was beaten by Oklahoma State.
Anyway, we digress. The rankings for our SEC table pretty much is the same….. maybe.
- Alabama: The Tide showed chinks in their armour against Citadel. Not a great performance by any stretch of the imagination, but this team’s still the best in the SEC.
- Georgia: Rolled past UMass.
- LSU: I saw Rice a few weeks ago in Houston and said back then that they were absolutely terrible. The game was over by 1 1/2 quarters in Tiger Stadium. We’ll move on now.
- Missouri: As has been mentioned, the Tigers should be 9-2. The wasting of Tennessee in Neyland showed what they can do.
- Mississippi State: Dropped 52 on Arkansas. It’s Arkansas, but then again, Mississippi State’s offense was doomed about a month ago, wasn’t it (Bama excluded!).
- Texas A&M: A better than win than most people will give them credit for against UAB.
- Florida: The Gators are on a good trajectory at the moment. If they are this inconsistent now, imagine what things might be like next season.
- Auburn: Whipped Liberty quickly on the last game of the season in Jordan-Hare. A small game in Tuscaloosa will close out the season next week.
- Kentucky: The Wildcats are creaking. It wasn’t comfortable against Middle Tennessee, but Josh Allen and the defensive guys got it done in the end (after conceding 23 points).
- South Carolina: I can’t even remember who they beat soundly this week. Let me look it up…Oh yeah, Chattanooga.
- Vanderbilt: The ‘Dores got lucky in their overtime win over Ole Miss with a disputed/B.S. call. But then again, #SECRefs.
- Ole Miss: Got diddled out of a second OT by the SEC refs. The defense is as porous as ever.
- Tennessee: WELCOME BACK to the Bottom 2 Tennesssee. The injury to Jarrett Guarantano didn’t help, but the offensive line? Dear Lord.
- Arkansas: Razorbacks = Terrible.
IMPRESSED
- Citadel: Played their behinds off against Alabama. Their triple-option worked in the first half. They were even leading. Alabama didn’t know how to cope. Even after their eventual loss, this team was getting all the plaudits. And good on ’em.
- Missouri’s win at Tennessee: After their pretty-much-terrible performance against Vanderbilt and the Vols’ stunning win against Kentucky, we thought that Tigers were ripe for the upset at Neyland. Instead, they dropped 50 in Neyland, and looked really good.
NOT IMPRESSED
- SEC Refs: I spoke to a journalist friend of mine and he told me that he’d never criticise the refs because ‘they do the best job they can do’. After jobbing Ole Miss out of the chance to go to a second overtime with a terrible call, again you’d argue this: Is this actually the best job they can do?
- Alabama: Unmotivated in the first half against Citadel. When the biggest highlight of the game was Jalen Hurts coming out in the fourth quarter, you know that this is a cr*p performance