No news here in the Rockies about the hurricane down there since it hit weeks ago. How are things now? My prayers and heart go out to you and this child. I had asthma as a child. How is the child now?

Are you able to go on your annual Appalachain mission this year? I always like hearing about that. I spent a summer in Appalachia some years ago in a summer camp. Love the people there.

Don’t forget to post another recipe. You promised! I am still cooking the red beans, rice, and sausage for family and friends.

Please let me know about the boy with asthma.

I just got a call that a young child with asthma we rescued from his flooded house, is now laboring to breathe so I’ve got just a moment here, but
…when I watched Alabama play A&M and knew Alabama’s recent gauntlet schedule in the SEC, I hurt inside. Like maybe a week off somewhere in the midst of that schedule would have made a difference.

Gotta go…

I agree,

Most that comment here forget that even before the Title run that began during the 2006 season, the SEC was still consistently the number 1 conference. The reason SEC teams didn’t make it to the Championship game was due to the gaunlet they had to play in the SEC. You could expect 1 loss at least. That’s why many experts say things like “a 1 loss SEC should be in the title game over undefeated Team X or undefeated Team Y.”

To most people outside the SEC the SEC doesn’t look the dominating 1 because they don’t put up 50+ points a game. 2, because the SEC has been labled a defensive conference and the majority of thier 4-5 star recruits have been typically been on the defensive side of the ball. It seems more so in the SEC that defense wins championships. Could be why when SEC teams do play in the BCS National Title Game they are 8-0 overall. Not only that But the SEC has the most BCS Bowl wins as well at 16.

Kudos! Wish I had more than 1 thumbs up to give.

Recent occurences in the SEC have truly proven what you posted. Alabama played an exhausting and brutal game at LSU and were emotionally and physically flat with A&M. Not in any way to demean Johnny Football and A&M, but Alabama was not up to their normal defensive dominance and offensive push.

The SEC opponents that Alabama recently played were all ranked in the top 25. Normally, a team does not have to leave the SEC to play 2, 3, or even 4 ranked teams in their normal SEC schedule and that would have been the case more so this season if AR had not had the Petrino scandal and lost him, and if there had not been another serious injury to Lattimore, etc. The war between the hedges each week between SEC teams can be quite brutal, truly “smash mouth.” Unpredictable and entertaining…thus this SEC fan continues to be interested after more than 50 years.

So what people like you fail to understand is that it’s not about 1 game. It’s about the schedule that makes the SEC so tough. Any team can win on any given Saturday so even if Florida State beats UF and Clemson beats SC, and GT beats UGA doesn’t mean they could be successful playing a SEC Schedule. If you game plan well and play mistake free football it’s anyone’s game. The reason why most fans of SEC teams say the SEC is number 1 is because of how they perform in bowl games, how well they recruit, and how many players they send to the NFL. Anyone can be beat, so those three games will hold little weight. All three of those games above are rivalry games, anything can happen.

If you are going to dock the SEC on its OOC schedule then you have to apply that equally across the board. For Example Kansas State OOC includes powerhouses SW Mo St, Miami, and North Texas. Oregon’s OOC Arkansas St, Fresno St, and Tenn. Tech. What about their OOC schedules makes the SEC so soft? Got to be fair across the board, otherwise you’re a hypocrite

Somehow I hope LSU will make into a good bowl game somewhere. If it is Sugar I could volunteer and go (ticket prices are steep), but if it is out of state I am just too tired.

college station is 90 miles northwest of Houston, so of course, this city is full of Aggies, and they have a major chip on their shoulder right, which they should be…when you’re winning, you should boast to a degree because A&M has been the whipping boy for darn near everyone in the big 12, minus Kansas, Baylor and Iowa St, when they were in the league.

personally, the difference this season is head coach Kevin Sumlin and his no huddle offense. He did far more passing at Houston when he had Case Keenum, but Johnny Mansiel is a far better runner than a passer and a lot of his yards come on broken plays and he uses his speed to make the defenses look silly…..The SEC has never seen an offense like this at all.

Cam Newton ran a similar type no huddle offense, but it was focused more on running…Florida, Tennessee,Georgia, Arkansas and Kentucky when they had Hal Mumme and Tim Couch, all had good passing offenses at one time or another, but I think with the way A&M has made vaunted sec defenses look like sun belt and c-usa defenses, you may see some teams turn to this type of offense in the future.

I still think there is a back door way for an SEC team to sneak into the championship game. Im not hoping for it, but there could be. If Oregon loses to Stanford on saturday, Stanford has the upper hand for the pac12 title game, but I dont think it will happen….Oregon still has to play Oregon st in the civil War, and OSU is a lot better than people think, and if they survive both games, they will meet up with either USC or UCLA in the pac 12 title game.

Notre Dame will beat Wake Forest, but I dont think they can beat USC thanksgiving weekend, which will knock them out.

Kansas State will have the most pressure on them…they have Baylor and Texas left on their schedule….Baylor can score on darn near anyone, but they cant play defense…Texas has rebounded from that Oklahoma beatdown and is playing like we all expected…they have a bunch of weapons and could return the favor to K-state from knocking the Horns out of the 2007 national title hunt, when they beat the #3 Horns 45-42 and knocked Colt McCoy out of the game…the horns lost the next week to A&m 12-7 with a concussed McCoy getting knocked out again.

we will have to stay tuned to see what happens. a lot of football left to be played.

Now that is funny.

I have been working a turnaround shift for the past few days and I am not thinking well, but didn’t Alabama break that crystal football already, shattered it? Did they receive a replacement yet? ha.

Please ship that 2011 crystal football to:

Athletics Center
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, OK 74078

….and remember to use extra packing peanuts. Those things are fragile.

I congratulated the Aggies on a great game, a great defense, and a terrific QB without making a single excuse for Bama. If your Ducks manage to make it to another Championship game, I’ll be there in January, rooting on whatever SEC team embarrasses them this time. Or I’ll happily root on K-State or Notre Dame. Rave on

U$C is still crying about it. Of course their two appearances were vacated.

This is why I’m a much, much bigger NFL Fan: none of this BCS nonsense….

A great defense can slow down and even stop a fast offense. Given a couple of weeks of preparation Saban will come up with a defensive scheme which will deal with the speed, maybe making certain to hit all receivers at the line. The general dictum, “great defenses win championships” is generally true.

Chances are if an SEC team does get into the BCS NCG, that SEC team will win the NC.

In the SEC we’ve always bragged about how we play defense, and I think we’ve earned the right to do that, but Oregon’s offense is so good I really wonder if anyone can slow them down for an entire game, or at least enough to make it a close game in the 4th quarter.

Good run for the SEC in terms of national titles. Whoever plays this year’s crystal ball bowl will have earned it, and we’ll all be watching. Got to love college football. If we could only eliminate Sunday through Friday

Oregon is the best team in the country and Kansas State is second and they would make a much more interesting national championship game than that Alabama/LSU garbage game in January.

Funniest of all is that it’s the second time this week that the elephant lost a national championship game. Go Obama!!!

When I looked it up I saw teams that I didn’t even know existed.

I’m not kidding.

Absolutely. Stupid, grossly stupid statements by anyone who makes them.

Until 2014 no SEC team will win a NC since they will knock themselves out of contention. After 2014 the SEC will win more than 90% of the NC’S. In the SEC it is practically impossible for any team to go undefeated. In poor conferences like the PAC12, Big 12 and Big10 it is much easier. Same scenario in the NFL where no team is ever likely to go undefeated–simply too many good teams
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90% of National Championships until when? The year 2100?

If it’s harder to go undefeated in the SEC, doesn’t it make it more likely that they won’t win 90% of NC’s?

I love the way you just put that out there like it is a fact. Opinions are cool, but when presented as facts they are just annoying.

Personally, I am not impressed with the SEC yet this year. Their out of conference scheduling has been weak, and they have not earned all the accolades everyone keeps throwing on them.

However, in two weeks the SEC will have a chance to prove themselves to me. I really don’t see it happening, though…

See, I predict that Florida State is going to walk all over Florida. And I predict that Clemson will beat South Carolina. And I think the Georgia Tech vs Georgia game will be closer that most people think (top of SEC vs middle/bottom ACC)..

Good thing that this will be settled on the field and not the polls. They don’t check IQ’s on the voters:)

Just my .02
~Jim

Hey, Boothie,

You were the expert on how spread offenses would prove incapable of penetrating the vaunted Tide defense. As I recall your haughty prediction, Oregon wouldn’t stand a chance against Alabama. Now you’re an expert on Ohio State?

You and pompous Deb better plan a catfish jigging expedition on January 7th unless, of course, you intend to watch some real football played on T.V. Oregon, Kansas State, Notre Dame–it really doesn’t matter as long as the SEC folks are home with nothing to do.

There should be one bit of solace for you though. You won’t have to go out on the roof to adjust your television antenna in the dead of winter. You do have television down there, don’t you?

Your friend,
Ped
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Um, no, I never said anything about spread offenses not being able to penetrate the Tide’s defense, nor have I ever once said that Oregon can’t beat Alabama, or anyone else for that matter. I’ve also told you about 10 times that I don’t even pull for Alabama.

I said this:
frank booth says:Nov 5, 2012 12:01 AM

Ped- It’s true that Oregon played one of the best QB’s and a couple of the best receivers in the nation and they won’t see that against Alabama. It’s also true that they played against the 65th best defense, and that Oregon’s defense is ranked 50th.

Fact is, no one knows what Oregon can do against a good defense.

I don’t think that LSU exposed anything other than that they are not good enough to beat Alabama. Neither the Alabama game nor the Oregon game proved how either team would play against the other.

And I said this:

frank booth says:Oct 30, 2012 2:05 AM

It’s not fantasy. Oregon has played a weak schedule against weak teams.

Your comment about Alabama does have some validity, however, as their schedule hasn’t been as difficult as some others, and Notre Dame and Kansas State (to a lesser extent) have had a more difficult road to navigate than Alabama (s0 far) this year.

Alabama still has tough games against LSU and Texas A & M, and should they get there, the SEC championship. But Oregon still has to play legit teams like USC, Oregon State, and Stanford plus a conference championship as well. If both teams win out, I would hope that they would be the two teams to face each other, as they would be the most deserving.

The only thing I talked about Oregon was their schedule. I typically don’t make any representations as to what offense can beat what defense or who can beat who. It’s just a waste of time.

So, you’re wrong. Put down the bottle.