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Behind The Scoreboard
By Claude Vinson Big win in ‘Swamp’ After
the defeat of the Crimson Tide by the Gamecocks, Alabama tumbled seven
places to number eight and it was not speculated that they would move
up many notches, if any, after their homecoming victory over the Ole
Miss Rebel-Bears. I know that the term might not
be entirely correct but I am betting that some sports wags will be
referring to Ole Miss by the “Rebels” tag until the newly-adopted
mascot wears completely in. Personally, I am just relieved that the
voters were resolute enough to reject the “Hotty Toddy” moniker. I
can’t imagine writing that the “Ole Miss Hotty Toddys defeated the
whomevers.” Actually, I was dreading getting the
score from the Ole Miss-Alabama match-up because I had already deemed
it to be a total disaster. Now, the final score was not that bad
(23-10), and I think Ole Miss acquitted itself quite well against a
team which has the potential to annihilate an opponent on any given
Saturday. Here is one admirer who still picks the Tide to win the West. The
domino principle reached the collegiate ranks once again and for the
second straight week a number one was toppled. It is odd that these
rank leading stalwarts have fallen to teams that were pretty far
removed from the top. Alabama by 19th-ranked (at the time) South
Carolina and the Buckeyes by 18th-ranked Wisconsin. Odd also were the
margins of victory for those games. The Tide lost by 14 points and Ohio
lost by 13. This writer didn’t see the new
line-up which was released sometime on Sunday, but the rumor was that
the new leader would be another SEC team, the Auburn Tigers. Others
thought the number six Sooners would carry the mantle. Oklahoma is
still undefeated along with eight others, which include Boise State,
LSU, Auburn and number two Oregon. LSU (#9) and Auburn (#7) will tangle
next weekend and it won’t be pretty. And while
we are on this admiring kick, it would be remiss if we didn’t include
the ’Dawgs of Miss State. Those ’Dawgs went hunting in the “Swamp” and
treed a bunch of Gators. They held on to the
Gators’ tails and came away with the 10-7 win – a feat which they had
not accomplished since 1965. Florida was ranked #22 and Miss. State was
unranked. Miss. State is 5-2 overall. Their rise to the top in the West
is probably not likely this season. Just take a look at the top three.
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