The SEC Championship

The SEC East Florida Gators match up against the Arkansas Razorbacks of the West this weekend for the conference championship. The Gators are favored by 2.5 points in this game which will take place in the Georgia Dome. I'm gonna take a look at this game by comparing how they fared against common opponents. Florida scraped by divisional rival Tennessee by a point, while Arkansas beat the volunteers by 17. The Razorbacks barely overcame divisional rival Alabama by a point, while Florida reminded UA that the only reason they made a blip of a resurrection last year was because of a healthy Prothro.


Florida fell to Auburn after defeating LSU while enduring their gauntlet of a conference schedule. Arkansas did the opposite against those teams. Just on a side note, I think LSU is playing the best football in the conference right now. I hope the BCS selection process pits them against the perenially over-rated, under-achieved Notre Dame.

'Wow, thanks for the insightful analysis.' I know.. comparing play against common opponents is a weak (albeit not useless) prognosticator. But just for the masochist in me, let's remember how each of these conference contenders fared in their win over the Gamecocks.

Both teams tallied up more than 400 yards of offense against Carolina. Arkansas attempted 50 rushing attacks and averaged 5.3 yards of each. The Gators distributed their passing game to 6 different receivers, with the formerly-injured Percy Harvin leading the way. The Razorbacks gathered the majority of their passing yards by throwing to #85 Marcus Monk.

So who wins? Well, I'd prefer the Gators to win this one. Even though they're recruiting rivals, I would hate for conference champs to have lost to Southern Cal by 36. Regardless if they were without McFadden and Dickless at the time, that's just embarassing for a conference which prides itself on defense. Unlike Tyrone Nix's approach for the Gamecocks, if the Gators just put together some type of defensive gameplan that eliminates Monk on predictable 3rd-and-long plays and their 2 minute drill then Florida will win due to the fact that they have a more balanced offense. Also, nobody has been able to stop Tebow. Obviously, I'm going with Florida. Do they cover? Yep, I figure they'll win by 6.

Clemson Facility Upgrades

Even though it's only been a few months since Clemson unveiled their completed West End Zone project, Dr. Terry Don Phillips, current athletic director for Clemson University, has recently approved renovating the South and North end zones as well. Here's a preliminary sketch of the future upgrades:

Week 14

Here are the games for Week 14.



Congrats to Southern Sweetheart for winning for the third straight week with 8 correct picks. Contestants, we have one last weekend of football left before the bowl challenge begins.. get on it.

Time for a Rant

Goodness gracious.

It's rivalry week folks. Yep, no doubt about that. This weekend will showcase some of college football's biggest rivalries including (but not limited to) UNC at Duke, Virginia Tech and UVA, and Florida International at Florida Atlantic. But there's another intense rivalry that will take place this weekend when USC takes on (#24) Clemson. The 4 million people in South Carolina could care less about environmental issues, worldly affairs, or anything else outside of the state line, which leaves plenty of time for introspection on the big game. The Hatfields and McCoys probably clashed less than garnet and orange. Think that's an exaggeration? It is. But not by much. In just one day into rivalry week, rumors and allegations have flown saying:

-USC's Head Coach Steve Spurrier is likely to leave the team after this weekend's game to coach at the University of Miami. I believe the exact quote was that the University of Miami had targetted Spurrier as a possible candidate. Personally, I'd be scared to be targetted by The U under any circumstance. Think that's callous? Keep reading.

-USC commited recruiting infractions when a stud defensive end was illegally contacted and driven to campus by one of his family's lifelong friends. A nifty detail here is that the friend was not a gamecock booster at the time nor did he graduate from USC. Maybe the orange spin would be more understandable if the recruit had been driven to USC on a jetski?

In other rivalries, (#1) Ohio State beat (#2) Michigan 42-39 this past weekend. Interestingly, the infallible BCS poll kept all of its top 5 teams in the same position afterwards. 42-39? Did two national contender defenses really allow that many points? Don't get me wrong, I think last year's 41-38 Clash of the Titans was the best championship game I've ever watched. But I also could care less if major league sluggers juice because watching those balls fly out of the park makes the game more enjoyable. Obviously, I'm not that big of a baseball fan.

But for the sake of the game, do we really want a rematch? As much as it pains me to say it, but if (#3) Southern Cal beats (#5) Notre Dame and then can beat UCLA then I think they should get a chance to play against the Ohio State payroll.

What about (#4) Florida? Well, Florida only beat lowly South Carolina by one point. And they only managed to do that because Jarvis Moss can get really high..

..and block field goals.

Week 13

Here are the games for Week 13. Keep in mind that ACC powerhouses BC and Miami will be squaring off this Thanksgiving night.



Congrats to Southern Sweetheart, wty, and Brian for picking 9 correct games this week. Also, congratulations to all participants this week who averaged an amazing 7.6/10 as a whole!

Giving Praise

We've been covering alot of football here folks. We've done our fair share of speculating and prognosticating the future. But I'd like to take a second and congratulate the Citadel (El Cid?) Bulldogs on their recent crushing defeat (48-21) of rival military college VMI. The Citadel has suffered through a a very tough schedule, one which included Texas A&M and Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, there was nefarious activity going on at this past weekend's showdown. Here's a video:

And in case you missed some of the action, here's a picture:



The Citadel may have won the ballgame, but the VMI cheerleading corp left with that cadet's pride (and possibly his hat too).

Week 12

Here are the games for Week 12. Remember there's a huge game for the state of Ohio this Thursday.



Congrats to Southern Sweetheart for picking an amazing 9 out of 10 for the second time this season! Check the scoreboard though, there's still alot of football to be played.

When it rains

Sometimes you get thrown a curveball..


.. and then you're made aware that it can get worse..


.. and then you get to the point where you need electroshock to function in society.

What a weekend.

TV: How I Met Your Mother

I haven't had much time for television lately, but a new show that's caught my attention is How I Met Your Mother (Mondays at 8PM on CBS). I guess it would fall under the category of a romantic comedy, but it's told through a series of flashbacks like The Wonder Years. One of the five stars is that detestable, talentless Alyson Hannigan (American Pie, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, etc) but I'm actually a fan of her character on the show. Another one of the main actors is Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser, M.D.) who plays a similar role as he did in a trip to White Castle. Anyway, it's a 'love story told in reverse' that has storylines and dialogues written for people in their midtwenties. Check it out.



Now this post might not seem like the typical SoD rant, but Carlos Thomas isn't covering receivers very well. In fact, if Ron Cooper and Tyrone Nix don't start making adjustments (like having someone over 5'10" shadow opposing 6'6" receivers) then I'm gonna start dishing about this season's Grey's Anatomy.

Week 11

Here are the games for Week 11. The Big East undefeateds square off again this Thursday.



Congrats to Louis, Will, and Brian for leading the pack last week with 7 correct picks.

All Hallow's Eve

Well, like I've said before: Charleston takes Halloween very seriously. That's fortunate for me because it's one of my favorite times of the year. The costume parties, the ghosts, and nefarious activities are all right up my alley.



I went through 3 costumes again, but I must say that I could wear that jester attire everyday and be happy. Nobody would take me up on paying Alice a visit, but I did get to top off this Halloween season with having a home cooked meal made for me and watching The Exorcism of Emily Rose, a movie which I highly recommend.



By popular demand, several picture albums have been uploaded.

Crummy: West Virginia at Louisville

I won't go into stats and figures about these two teams because they will have little to do with the result in this contest. As many could probably predict, I am a longtime West Virginia fan and will give the edge to them this Thursday. In order to show I do pay attention to the actual teams and am not just going by my personal bias to pick this game, I will lay out the key actors in the drama that will unfold at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium on Thursday night. There are the sterling sophomores from West Virginia. QB Pat White and RB Steve Slaton are the key to the entire Mountaineer team, not just the offense. I anticipate that these guys will rush the ball often. If Slaton is contained then White will run and vice versa. There is a possibility of some passing, but that is definitely not White's strength.

Next we have QB Brian Brohm from the U of L who has missed four games this season but is likely to have finally knocked the rust off coming into Thursday's game. Since the injury to RB Michael Bush in the first game of the season, the Cardinals have a running game by committee. The committee seems to be effective.

The game will come down to who can stop the other from scoring. The 'eer defense is pretty weak and it lets up quite a bit in the air if it can't put a lot of pressure on the quarterback. This is my biggest concern for the game because I have heard that the Cardinal defense can stop the run effectively. However, to stop White and Slaton from running you have to do more than be good at stopping the run, you simply have to be faster than those two guys. Well...that's all I'm going to say about that. I have a feeling this will be another great football Thursday.