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Behind The Scoreboard
By Claude Vinson SEC wars heating up Want
to know the quickest way to become a member of the endangered species
list? Start a collegiate football program, get your team ranked number
one and then go up against a team rated way down on the old totem pole. It
happened again on Saturday evening when the Sooners left the plains of
Oklahoma and took their newly found luxury number to the plains of
Missouri and the 18th ranked Mizzoui Tigers. The 36-27 victory by the
Tigers came as a shock to a world of watchers away from the 70,000 who
were actually in attendance and help to tear down both goalposts after
the huge upset. Huge just might be an understatement since the Tigers
had won only one game previous in 20 outings against the Sooners. As
usual, it was not immediately known where the Tigers would land in the
new standings, but it speaks volumes that they are 7-0 for the first
time since 1960. The Ducks of Oregon were declared number one after
Oklahoma went down. Oregon had been number two and had padded their
resume with a thrashing of UCLA last Thursday (60-13). Now Boise State
has moved into the second spot. They were idle last weekend and will
meet Louisiana Tech Tuesday (Oct 26). There are just seven unbeatens
left with five others following the two mentioned (in the AP poll) –
Auburn (#3), TCU (#4), Michigan State (#5), Missouri (#7) and Utah
(#8). Other than the Sooners’ big crash, the
other excitement was found in the SEC. Remember a certain sportswriter
telling you last week that LSU and Auburn were going to tangle and it
wasn’t going to be a church social? Well, it was a weekend for the
Tigers. And it was billed as the SEC’s best offense versus the best
defense, period. Auburn burned that best defense for 440 yards, the
most which an Auburn offensive unit has ever recorded against an SEC
defense. At this juncture, the Auburn quarterback, Cameron Newton, is
being offered as the front runner for the Heisman. One sports
commentator, on Saturday prior to the game, stated that he was ready to
hand carry the Heisman to Newton in New York. The word is also that the
Auburn Tigers will be the fifth consecutive SEC team to win a national
championship. I have nothing but praise for Auburn, however, one must
take into consideration that they have a date with Al the elephant on
November 26. There was much talk about the SEC
match-ups at the Knights of Columbus Sixth Annual “Grillin’ For Life”
barbecue contest held in Ridgeland October 22-23. It was surprising to
find so many Ole Miss fans around the grills. Most are high on the Duck
turned Rebel quarterback, Jeremiah Masoli, however, the majority feels
that he does not have a lot of help. Even lightning delays which
lasted almost an hour and a half couldn’t help him defeat the
Razorbacks. Masoli had a total of 425 yards and three TDs but still
lost by a pair of touchdowns. I know that sooner
or later I am going to be accused of jumping ship if I keep mentioning
the Miss. State Bulldogs every week, but praise is due where praise is
due. The ’Dawgs became bowl eligible on Saturday with a take down of
C-USA foe UAB. It was a sellout homecoming for Miss. State and the
Blazers proved to be formidable competition. Some are already dubbing the short tenure of Dan Mullen a reincarnation of the Jackie Sherrill years.
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