The Bigger They Are...

OH HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN

Not since David meet Goliath has there been such amazing upsets in so short a time. From week one the strong and mighty have been dropping like flies, and this weekend was no exception. Not only did several ranked teams lose to “lesser” teams some programs, quite honestly, are falling apart at the seams.

The Auburn Tigers…..
Well of course I am going to start with them. I have some self control but come on people I have been forbidden to go to my own games so it gives me great joy to talk about Auburn losing. What gives me more joy is that this was Auburn’s second home field lose and to a team, who if I remember correctly, we were laughed at for losing to last year. Oh how the tables have turned. I get yet another rush of joy to see after a week of calling for Brandon Cox to be benched your saving grace Cody Burns still couldn’t get it done. Auburn’s entire offense is in MAJOR trouble. If the line can’t protect against the defense of Miss State they have no hope against teams like Florida and LSU. The quarterback situation is dismal at best and the receivers and running backs look like high schoolers playing way out of their league.
Now before my fellow Bama fans jump on me about calling Auburn “mighty”, let’s all remember that before the season began they were a top 25 team and supposed to be battling LSU for the SEC West. Funny how Alabama now leads the SEC West race 2-0. Can we now all agree Auburn is not as good as they once believed they were?

The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame……
I know I know they lost as they were supposed to, but they are another team that is clearly falling apart. If you had told me that going into week 4 Notre Dame would be winless and have players literally not showing up to play I would have smiled but called you crazy. The Irish found themselves one player short as they made their way to the Big House of Michigan, who as we have seen fell quite hard in week 1 and 2. Sophomore quarterback, Demetrius Jones, bailed on his team to transfer to Northern Illinois on Friday. If you remember Jones was the starter in the season opening lose to GA Tech, but was pulled and replaced by freshman Jimmy Clausen. How bad must things be in South Bend for your starting quarterback to tuck tail and run only 3 games into the season? Quarterback controversies, gotta love ‘em….right Auburn?

The Cardinals of Louisville…..
I can’t really say I care one way or the other that Louisville lost but yet again this goes to show that when you play the SEC nothing is a given. No one, except for Jimmy D I think it was, gave Kentucky a second thought of beating #9 Louisville. Granted it was a close game but the only thing that matters is that final score and for the Cardinals that means a check in the lose column to an unranked team. I would hope that this will give some credibility and respect to the SEC, but probably not…..haters.

UCLA Bruins…..
They lost 44-6 to a winless Utah……enough said.

The Ramblin’ Wreck of Georgia Tech……
Now while this was a closer match up ranking wise than most, a higher ranked team still lost to a lesser team. Boston’s senior quarterback Matt Ryan was ridiculous as he lead his team to an upset. Many are including him in Heisman talk and this win put a tick in his plus column. I normally don’t care about teams outside of the SEC but it just makes me happy to know that this yet again proves any polls done before week 4 is utterly pointless.

Last But Certainly Not Least, The Hawgs of Arkansas……
Ok so yes we were favored because of home field advantage but after the debacle of last year, who really expected us to pull this off? Well apparently Nick Saban. I am not saying we won this game with ease or that it was even pretty but I did see something that has been absent for the past 5 years…..confidence. When we lost a 21 point lead, I fully expected to see a sideline shot of our coach looking confused and blank faced. But no, Mike Shula isn’t on the sideline anymore, we have a coach that actually knows how to come back from a mistake and pull out a win. Even as I cussed Coach Saban for kicking a field goal instead of going for the win I thought he might know what he is doing, I wouldn’t have said that last year.
For those of us wondering how much difference an experienced coaching staff makes the question was answered in the last 3 minutes of this game. IT MAKES ALL THE DIFFERNCE! My boys had confidence in themselves and their coaches that we could take this thing back. That is what makes an average team great. People have talked all week about how this would be the game where we would see what Alabama really has, well I looked and saw that it was good. Not without flaws but good none the less.

This is why I LOVE sports. Weekends like this where teams that have a snowballs chance come out and beat the Goliaths of the moment. This has been one of the best season openings I can remember in quite some time. This is what makes football season the best time of the entire year. Roll Tide!!!!