#LSU was a much stronger team and won by what 17 points? i can’t get over the fact that that white woman ruined these black girls’ moment

[crvvys]

I’m late but I just watched the LSU v Iowa game…Jill Biden did we watch the same game? lol how are you gonna sit up there with good seats and say the losers played a good game? I’d say Caitlin Clark played a good game lmao. bc without her the points slowed by quite a bit and that’s probably why two of their players fouled out bc they had no depth to their bench. LSU’s team contributed as a whole with what 29+ points from the bench? and overall were the way better team like?? American sports and a good chunk of American attitude is about being winners and the best but when white people aren’t, we have to pat them on the back and remind them they’re good too even when they’re losers. aight lmao.

[auburnfamilynews]

John Reed-USA TODAY Sports

Tons of interesting outcomes yesterday, rankings get affected.

After the first weekend of the SEC season, which saw everyone in action, we learned a ton.

LSU isn’t great. Georgia has a quarterback problem. Bama is still annoyingly good. Mississippi State and Ole Miss are going to be a handful. That’s just the tip of the iceberg!

Auburn probably ended up with the second-best win of the weekend (after MSU over LSU), and the way that it happened left many Tiger fans feeling confident as Gus Malzahn gets ready to take his club into Athens this coming Saturday. Before we run through the conference, let’s check the new polls.

AP TOP 25

Clemson

Alabama

Florida

Georgia

Notre Dame

Ohio State

Auburn

Miami

Texas

Penn State

UCF

North Carolina

Texas A&M

Oregon

Cincinnati

Mississippi State

Oklahoma State

Oklahoma

Wisconsin

LSU

Tennessee

BYU

Michigan

Pittsburgh

Memphis

COACHES’ POLL

Clemson

Alabama

Florida

Georgia

Notre Dame

Ohio State

Auburn

Miami

Texas

Penn State

North Carolina

UCF

Texas A&M

Mississippi State

Cincinnati

Oklahoma

LSU

Wisconsin

Oklahoma State

Tennessee

Michigan

BYU

Virginia Tech

Memphis

Pittsburgh

As for the conference, here are some basic impressions on how everyone played, in alphabetical order. In most cases, the sample size may be too small to really understand what’s going on.

ARKANSAS: Without more of a sample size, it’s hard to tell whether their early success and halftime lead against Georgia was a function of the Bulldogs’ quarterback issues or just good hard-nosed play. Maybe Kirby wanted to take it easy on his former assistant. Either way, they didn’t look as woeful as years past before Georgia’s talent took over in the second half.

ALABAMA: Still good, Jaylen Waddle is going to be hilariously inconvenient to play against (we already know that), and anyone that thought Mac Jones would falter didn’t watch Nick Saban win championships with guys who probably wouldn’t rank in the upper quarter of quarterbacks around the country. Too much talent for a team like Missouri, but the Tide didn’t really pour anything on in the second half.

AUBURN: Adjustments and offensive growth. We saw the stars play out yesterday on both sides of the ball, particularly on the edge. Auburn’s receivers and defensive backs had hellacious ballgames, and we saw some tinkering with the lines that produced better results after a slow start. As usual, Kevin Steele’s defensive adjustments may be the unsung hero of the game, but Chad Morris’ impact on Bo NIx’s game was evident from the start. Bo’s three touchdowns tied a career high and were a fantastic sign of things to come. Huge game this week in Athens.

FLORIDA: If there’s a 2020 candidate for Joe Burrow’s vacated spot, it’s Kyle Trask. he threw for 6 touchdowns yesterday, and Florida ran up the yardage and the points against Ole Miss. Kyle Pitts is going to be a huge problem for the conference this year, since the tight end had 4 scores in the win, but the Gator defense had trouble with Lane Kiffin’s offense. They may be feeling the losses of some stars from last season.

GEORGIA: Oh boy. If you’re a Dawg Hater, yesterday was hilarious to watch even if they got it together in the second half. It’s clear that Kirby’s got some quarterback problems if J.T. Daniels doesn’t come back healthy soon. While Stetson Bennett IV did well in relief, it remains to be seen what happens when someone can take away more of his weapons. George Pickens seems to be their best option right now, and the battle between him and Roger McCreary should be great on Saturday night.

KENTUCKY: These guys will step up and beat someone they shouldn’t this year, since those lines are very good. The defense never really got run over, but Auburn’s stars took advantage when they needed to. Offensively, we may see a couple of 300-yard rushing games from the Cats this season with the maulers they’ve got up front. Terry Wilson showed some rust, and if he can find a better rhythm passing, Kentucky could be a real thorn in the SEC East.

LSU: Wow. All offseason, there was a split between the two camps of “They’re reloading” and “You don’t lose all of that talent and come back stronger than before”. The latter camp won yesterday. Myles Brennan is no Joe Burrow, and while they didn’t have Derek Stingley in the defensive backfield, his presence alone wouldn’t have stopped 600+ passing yards. Bo Pelini got outcoached and run around by Mike Leach, and that should worry LSU for when they’ve got to play other teams with functional passing games.

MISSISSIPPI STATE: Best start of the season by anyone in the SEC. They did what it’s taken Auburn more than 20 years to do, and beat LSU in Baton Rouge. Mike Leach did it in his first game. The Bulldogs have bonafide stars at receiver, and Kylin Hill seems to have found his groove in the Air Raid offense. Defensively, they’ll struggle at times, and K.J. Costello will cost them a ballgame or two with turnovers, but that was one heck of an entrance into the league. They’ll be fun to watch this season, and annoying when you have to play them.

MISSOURI: Just not enough yet. Not enough talent or depth to compete with the upper crust of the conference. They’ll improve over the course of the year, but I don’t think they’ll rise up much from the bottom of the barrel. Their game against Vanderbilt could end up being for the last spot in the East.

OLE MISS: Lane Kiffin has returned, and the SEC is way more fun when he’s part of the show. Ole Miss put up some points against Florida yesterday, and Matt Corral showed why he’s a legit SEC quarterback. As usual, Kiffin brought out the bag of tricks and the Rebels had fun playing football, even if they ended up losing. Like MSU, they’re going to be a handful whenever they pop up on your schedule.

SOUTH CAROLINA: Will Muschamp played big dumb football again. Defensively, they weren’t terrible, but the offense has to find something outside of Shi Smith or else the better defenses will bottle him up. Mistakes ended up losing this game, with a tipped pick six and the clincher gaffe on the punt return at the end. If they clean it up, they could end up challenging for as high as third in the East with Kentucky and Tennessee.

TENNESSEE: The better of two classic-looking SEC teams in the East. Power run, play-action pass, you name it. It looked like 2003 out there, and Jeremy Pruitt’s got himself a couple of guys that can make plays. Jarrett Guarantano looked as solid as he has in quite some time, and the receiving efforts of Josh Palmer and Brandon Johnson provided a little flair to the offense. Defensively, they got gashed at times by the Gamecocks’ walk-on quarterback, but overall it wasn’t a bad outing.

TEXAS A&M: Is the shine off of Jimbo yet? If they’re not going to be able to put Vanderbilt away much earlier than they did, then the Aggies may be paying out an expensive contract much earlier than they’d like to. Kellen Mond, as a senior, should be showing much more development, and the A&M offense as a whole can’t put up 17 points at home against Vandy. Again, maybe the sample size is too small, and maybe Vanderbilt is pretty solid defensively, but there’s cause for concern in Aggieland with what happened last night.

VANDERBILT: Take a bow, Derek Mason. He had his defense ready to go, and limited Texas A&M to 17 points. Vandy had chances late to take the lead and really push the Aggies, but the offense just isn’t ready for the spotlight yet. They’ll make someone else sweat this season since the defense isn’t going to get gashed based on what we saw last night, but they have to be able to score 20+ points to win and right now that isn’t a reality.

We’ll have official Power Rankings coming out tomorrow, as well as Position Grades later today on yesterday’s win over Kentucky! Auburn takes on Georgia six days from now, War Eagle!

from College and Magnolia - All Posts https://www.collegeandmagnolia.com/2020/9/27/21458621/new-rankings-auburn-rises

[auburnfamilynews]

The Minnesota Gophers Look to Make a Statement. (Jesse Johnson/USA Today Sports.)

     War Eagle, everybody! SEC bowl season is here, and begins tonight in Houston, Texas. This is my favorite time of year, when I can sit back and watch lots of good teams from around the country, and see matchups of the sort I normally don’t get to see during the regular season. And mostly, I love to see how the SEC stacks up against the rest of the country. Lately, that answer has not been good. The SEC hasn’t had a winning bowl record since 2015. Last year’s SEC teams went 6-6, after fielding losing records in 2016 and 2017.

     Auburn faces a historic matchup at noon on New Year’s Day, against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. The two teams have never played each other in football. Minnesota has some pretty good scalps on its belt from this past season, including knocking off Penn State when the Nittany Lions were 4th in the country. A perfect season was derailed at Iowa, then the Gophers were thumped by 21 points at home against Wisconsin.

     There is no question that Minnesota can pile up the points and the yards, with a tandem of 1000-yard receivers, a great quarterback in Tanner Morgan, and a 1000-yard rusher in Rodney Smith. The Gophers are averaging 34.3 points per game. I think Auburn will be stronger up front on defense, so we will likely see Minnesota utilize quick-passing strategies like most Auburn opponents have, this season. Auburn likes to use mostly man coverage. Opponents have tried to isolate size on cornerback Javaris Davis, and speed on nickelback Christian Tutt. Auburn will allow short completions, but until the Iron Bowl, few of those passes went for very many yards as the Auburn secondary is fundamentally very sound on tackling.

     Auburn’s key to winning this game is to get some production out of the ground game. With a healthy Auburn backfield and offensive line, this should be possible. In their last game, Minnesota was blown out by Wisconsin 38-17. The Badgers did it by rushing for almost 5 yards per carry, and eating the clock.

     The Outback Bowl will kick off at Noon Central Time on Wednesday, New Years Day, and will be televised on ESPN. We’ll have our usual trackemtigers.com open thread up and running for this one.

     There is quite the slate of post-Christmas bowl action this season. I had a great time last night watching the mighty Miami Hurricanes get shut out 14-0 in the Independence Bowl against Louisiana Tech. That team has fallen fast in recent years.

Upcoming Bowl Games, after the jump!

     In just a few minutes, the Military Bowl kicks off in Annapolis, Maryland. North Carolina will take on Temple in that one. I’ve been impressed by the job Mack Brown has done at UNC. There have been some stumbles, but the Tar Heels did win their last couple of games to get bowl-elegible, including a 41-10 thrashing of North Carolina State. Temple has lost 3 of their last 6, including blowout losses to SMU and Central Florida. I’ll take the Tarheels, in this contest.

     This afternoon, Michigan State takes on Wake Forest in the Pinstripe Bowl from Yankee Stadium in New York. Wake was looking like a challenger in the ACC before a late-season fade. Meanwhile the Spartans barely made a bowl this year. This is the sort of game the Spartans seem to find a way to win, and they should have a crowd advantage as well.

     SEC action kicks off at 5:45 PM in Houston, in the Texas Bowl. The Texas A&M Aggies take on the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Both teams underachieved this season, and I’ll be curious to see if the Aggies can get up off the mat after they were absolutely destroyed in the season finale against LSU.

     This evening the Holiday Bowl features Southern Cal and Iowa. This should be a virtual home game for the Trojans. This will be a good opportunity to see what decent Big-Ten and PAC-Twelve teams do in a showdown.

     Late evening action has Washington State meeting Air Force in the Cheez-it bowl in Phoenix. The Air-Raid meets the triple option, in this one. I like Air Force, in this game.

     Saturday features 4 games, 3 of them are New Years Six games, and 2 are playoff games. A pair of 11:00 AM games precede the playoffs. First, Penn State takes on Memphis in the Cotton Bowl, in Arlington Texas. Memphis won the AAC title, while Penn State missed out on the Big Ten championship game. Memphis will be playing for pride, but it is worth noting that they lost head coach Mike Norvell to Florida State in recent weeks.

     Also at 11:00 AM is the Camping World Bowl in Orlando, Florida. Notre Dame takes on Iowa State. Iowa State is a potentially explosive team, but lost some close games this season. I suspect the winner in this game is the team that is more excited to be there. Notre Dame fans were expecting to be back in the Playoff, this season.

     At 3:00 PM on Saturday, we have the Chick-fil-a Peach Bowl, in the first game of the college football playoff. LSU hosts Oklahoma in this one. I think LSU’s defense really came on in the second half of the season, and should be able to slow Oklahoma down. No team except Auburn really slowed LSU down, all season. LSU may be without the services of banged-up running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, but the Tigers still should have plenty of firepower ready to go in this one.

     The other playoff game is Saturday evening, in the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona. Ohio State hosts Clemson. This is a matchup featuring the best of the ACC and the Big Ten. I think overall the ACC was the weaker conference, but Clemson played awfully well down the stretch, even so. Also, Clemson has been in the playoff every year since 2014, and knows what it takes to win it all. I would also point out that Clemson defensive coordinator has had a month to scheme up something for the Ohio State offense. In the past 4 Clemson playoff openers, the Tigers held Oklahoma to 17, Ohio State to zero, gave up 24 to Alabama in 2017, then held Notre Dame to 3 last season. I’m not looking for the Buckeyes to do any better.

     Monday December 30th, we have a quartet of bowls. At 11:00 AM, we have the Servpro Bowl in Dallas, where Western Kentucky takes on Western Michigan. I’ll be honest. I know little about either of these teams.

     At 3:00 PM, we have the Music City Bowl in Nashville. Mississippi State takes on Louisville in that one. Mississippi State did not have their strongest season, but did make it to a bowl game. Louisville was blown out 52-27 by Miami, and 45-13 at Kentucky in recent weeks. Here’s hoping the Bullies can win one for the SEC.

     Also at 3:00 PM, there is the Redbox Bowl in Santa Clara, California. California takes on Illinois in that game. Again, I watched neither team play this season.

     Monday Night features the Orange Bowl in Miami. Florida will take on the Virginia Cavaliers. The Cavs won their last 4 regular season games to take their division, then got blasted 62-17 by Clemson in the title game. Considering that Florida had close losses to LSU and Georgia, I think the Gators are much more talented, and should bring a lot of in-state fans to this game. If Florida is motivated for this game, I think we’ll see a big Gator win.

     New Years Eve is a busy bowl day, this year. The action kicks off with the Belk Bowl in Charlotte at 11:00 AM. Kentucky will take on Virginia Tech. I keep on saying that Kentucky is unlikely to win with a wide receiver taking snaps at quarterback, and yet the Wildcats keep winning. The Hokies can put up some points, though. I don’t see Tech rolling over like Louisville did against Kentucky.

     At 1:00 PM, we have the “Tony the Tiger” Sun Bowl, from El Paso, Texas. Florida State takes on Arizona State in that one. Both teams are trying to build for next season, after forgettable 2019 campaigns.

     At 2:45 PM, the Liberty Bowl kicks off in Memphis. Navy will take on Kansas State in that game. Normally I’d rank the Big 12 ahead of the Mountain West, but I suspect Navy may be the more motivated team.

     At 3:30 PM, there is the Nova Home Loans Arizona Bowl, from Tucson. Wyoming will take on Georgia State in that one. I can remember opening weekend, when Wyoming knocked off Missouri and Georgia State beat Tennesee. I would think Wyoming would bring more fans to this one, but I can’t really guess who might win this one.

     At 6:30 PM on New Years Eve, the Alamo bowl kicks off from San Antonio. This one features Utah vs. Texas. Utah is fresh off an embarrassing loss to Oregon in the PAC-12 title game, while Texas has been embarrassing for a good bit of this season. I suspect that the Longhorns will fall once again, in their home state.

     Wednesday, New Years Day is strangely quiet this bowl season, with only 4 games. Auburn will play in the Outback Bowl at noon in Tampa against Minnesota. Also at noon, the Citrus Bowl will be played in Orlando, with Alabama taking on Michigan. I would have really rather seen Alabama and Auburn play at different times. I think the Tide will play angry in this game, and send Michigan fans home grumbling.

     The Rose Bowl game kicks off at 4:00 PM, in Pasadena, California. Oregon will take on Wisconsin. I like Oregon’s versatility on offense in this game.

     The New Years nightcap is the Sugar Bowl, in New Orleans. Georgia will take on Baylor. This will be a tough game for the Bulldogs. Baylor is not an easy out. The Georgia skill position players have had a lot of injuries lately, and it has been a sub-par passing year for the Bulldogs. I’m thinking we’ll see a 5th straight Georgia post-season loss.

     A couple of bowls were pushed to Thursday, January 2nd. The Birmingham Bowl kicks off at 2:00 PM, with Cincinnati and Boston College doing battle. I think the Bearcats will win this one easily. I wonder how well attended this game will be?

     The Taxslayer Gator Bowl will be played Thursday night, with Tennessee taking on Indiana. Tennessee started the season off looking like the worst team in the SEC, then won 6 of their last 7 games. I think Vol fans and players are excited to be back in a bowl game after a 2 year absence.

     Friday afternoon at 2:00 PM, we’ll have the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl from Boise, Idaho. The Ohio Bobcats will take on the Nevada Wolfpack. The extended forecast for this one looks to be rainy with temps around 40 degrees. Brrrrr.

     Saturday, December 4th will have the earliest of the bowl kickoffs, with the Armed Forces Bowl kicking off at 10:30 AM in Ft. Worth Texas. Southern Mississippi will take on Tulane. I’ll be pulling for the Green Wave, who Auburn defeated 24-6 this past season.

     The bowl season continues on Monday evening, January 6th, with the Lending Tree Bowl in Mobile, Alabama. Louisiana takes on Miami of Ohio in that one. I expect that the Ragin’ Cajuns will carry that one.

     Finally, on Monday evening, January 13th we’ll have the College Football National Championship Game, from New Orleans. It is an interesting situation this season, as we have over a 2 week delay between the playoff games and the final. My prediction is that we will see LSU and Clemson do battle in this one.

The post A Week Crammed Full of Bowls! appeared first on Track 'Em Tigers, Auburn's oldest and most read independent blog.

from Track 'Em Tigers, Auburn's oldest and most read independent blog http://trackemtigers.com/a-week-crammed-full-of-bowls/

[auburnfamilynews]

I told you in Week 1 that I would step it up this year. 13-3 is stepping it up, I’d say. Some of the big boys had big games last week. Now the other big boys have big games this week. It’s a good one.

Last week: 13-3 (81.3%) This week: 0-0 (0.0%) Overall: 13-3 (81.3%)

9/9

Eastern Kentucky at Kentucky – Who remembers the near upset from this storied rivalry in 2015? No one? Y’all don’t remember these two going to overtime two years ago. Yeah, they did. Kentucky won then, and they’ll win bigger now.

Kentucky 34, Eastern Kentucky 10

UT-Martin at Ole Miss – It’s the 2nd greatest uniforms in sports versus the beginning of the end Rebels. They’ll feast for a while as they rack up points on these lower teams, but that soon will end. Oh yes, it will end.

Ole Miss 48, UT-Martin 13

Northern Colorado at Florida – Florida returns half their team from suspension after looking completely inept against Michigan a week ago. Will they be back to form? I don’t know. They’re playing something called Northern Colorado.

Florida 51, Northern Colorado 7

Fresno State at Alabama – Fresno State was pretty good for a while, but over the last two seasons they’ve won a combined 4 games. Now last week they beat a team 66-0, but that team’s name is Incarnate Word. Not sure if it’s a good idea to beat a Catholic school by a score that close to 666, but it can’t end well. As their punishment they get to play a guy with a name that closely resembles, well, you know.

Alabama 38, Fresno State 0

TCU at Arkansas – TCU is not the team they once were, but they are ranked in the Top 25 this week. Arkansas should not be that great this year, but I just have a feeling they’ll beat the Horned Frogs in Fayetteville. Arkansas is always good for a win that seems big at the time to garner hype, scare some people, and then lose 6 games. This fits perfectly with their typical seasonal flow.

Arkansas 28, TCU 23

Indiana State at Tennessee – The Volunteers won a game they shouldn’t have last week, now they get a cupcake to go 2-0 and look better than they are. Where have I heard this before?

Tennessee 38, Indiana State 17

Alabama A&M at Vanderbilt – The Bulldogs travel an hour up 65 to face your typical Vanderbilt football team, and they just lost to a brand new football team by a lot. This won’t end well for them.

Vanderbilt 38, Alabama A&M 14

South Carolina at Missouri – Both teams should top out around 4th in the SEC East, but both teams somewhat impressed in Week 1. I mean, giving up 43 to Missouri State isn’t impressive, but scoring 72 is. And beating NC State seems to be impressive at the moment. I still don’t trust anything about Missouri.

South Carolina 45, Missouri 28

Nicholls at Texas A&M – What do you need after collapsing with a 34 point lead? You need Nicholls. But they almost beat Georgia last year… hmm… nah.

Texas A&M 41, Nicholls 17

Georgia at Notre Dame – This game would be a whole lot different if Jacob Eason wasn’t hurt. It’s a very cool matchup by the names, but Georgia starting a freshman quarterback at a shell of what Notre Dame should be? Not so much. Georgia is still much bigger, stronger, and faster. They’ll win a close one.

Georgia 21, Notre Dame 17

Mississippi State at Louisiana Tech – Mississippi State wants to be a big dog, but then they schedule games at Louisiana Tech. In previous years, they’ve gone to South Alabama and Southern Miss. Be SEC please.

Mississippi State 31, Louisiana Tech 9

Chattanooga at LSU – The Mocs hung with Jacksonville State two weeks ago, now they go to Baton Rouge and play the team Jacksonville State stole their helmet design from. Inception, man.

LSU 42, Chattanooga 7

Auburn at Clemson – Check back tomorrow for my prediction in the game preview, but SPOILER ALERT: taking the training wheels off.

Other Games of Note

Oklahoma at Ohio State – I’ll be honest. Pretty big matchup here. Both teams should be very good and should win their respective conferences. Ohio State has played in a “hostile” environment last week, but ended up blowing out Indiana. Oklahoma has the team that could make this one interesting. They will.

Oklahoma 27, Ohio State 21

Stanford at USC – Did Stanford get back from Australia yet? After beating Rice 62-7, I may have just stayed there. USC didn’t absolutely obliterate Western Michigan last week, so I’m not fully sold yet. I’ll go with the home team.

USC 20, Stanford 10

Now that you know who will win, head on over to the 2017 War Blogle Pick ’em and get your picks in. There will be weekly prizes and and overall winner at the end of the season. It’s easy. Do it.

from WarBlogle.com http://bit.ly/2wc4qrP