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| Friday, September 15 Wolverines, Gators next to get tested By Chris Fowler Special to ESPN.com | ||||||||
| You can't win a boxing title dancing around, jabbing occasionally and keeping your distance. Well, maybe you can in Olympic boxing, which by the way is another sport besides college football that uses mysterious mechanical scorekeeping.
But in a real title fight, one that lasts 12 rounds -- or 12 weeks in this case -- you are gonna get hit. You will spend some scary moments on the ropes. Because these days, any underdog has a puncher's chance and no heavyweight is even close to invincible.
But what's surprised me about 2000 so far is the number of top contenders who have either been knocked down (Alabama and Miami) or at least tasted their own blood (Florida State, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Tennessee) this EARLY in the fight. Basically, any "contender" that's faced any kind of a test -- and that does NOT yet include Michigan, Florida, Kansas State or Texas -- has been backed on to the ropes.
Georgia, although in the top 10, was never a contender. Please. The Dawgs were exposed quickly.
Next in the ring Saturday, the Wolverines and Gators will step into the ring in earnest, and we'll see if they can survive the type of early road test that pushed 'Bama and Miami to the back burner. The common demominator of the contenders' upsets so far: long road trips to hostile stadia, and poor quarterback play.
We won't know much about Kansas State for a while. It's the same story every season. If Colorado is still in one piece psychologically, and physically, come Sept. 30, we'll learn if the Cats have the goods. Texas gets a wounded Stanford team that was shredded by Deonce Whitaker and San Jose State (again). The Cardinal will be embarrassed, too, by the woodshed beating (69-17) taken in Austin last year. But if UT is for real, it shouldn't matter. My pal Kirk Herbstreit looks like a wise man, saying Major Applewhite deserved to start over Chris Simms. Major was superb against the Rajin' Cajuns, making perfectly placed throw after throw after Simms had looked nervous. Kirk's point is that 20-plus college starts and some big wins outweigh any edge Simms has in raw talent. Chris was given his chance against a defense that was beaten by Sam Houston State. He'll get plenty more chances, and will someday play in the NFL. But how can you sit Major? Still standing Nebraska is addressing its coverage team meltdowns during the bye week. You can be sure it won't happen again. It had been 12 years since the Huskers had allowed a punt return for a TD, let alone a punt and kickoff! The bigger issue to me is Nebraska's lack of execution in its passing game, which was acute against the Irish. In two games, Nebraska quarterbacks are 12 of 28, with three picks. On Nebraska's first play, Eric Crouch found Bobby Newcombe down the sideline. On their most crucial play, Crouch connected with Tracy Wistrom on a third-and-9 in OT. Between those plays, the Husker passing game did little. It'll cost Nebraska one of these days, the stubbornly conservative game plans in big road games. If you didn't know better, you'd call it puckering up. It might make things interesting in Norman or Manhattan down the road. Time after time, Frank Solich grimly called interior running plays on first down. When Crouch was called on to throw, he was typically in unfavorable down-and-distance situations, and thus pressured by the Irish pass rushers. Look, Crouch is an experienced, confident passer, and given a chance to make plays, he will. The Huskers' passing game should be very high-percentage, given opponents' understandable obsession with defending the run. Take off the handcuffs, please. And don't be afraid to do so away from Lincoln against a quality team. Heck, it seemed like a Husker home game in South Bend anyway.
Remember when it was Manning vs. Wuerffel in this rivalry? Or even Tee Martin against Doug Johnson? Saturday night, it's the gritty, gutty, young AJ Suggs and the gritty, goofy Jesse Palmer in the quarterback spotlight. Both are backed up by freshmen, who we fully expect to see thrown into the fray at some point. The last time Tennessee had quarterback issues entering this game was 1994, when Todd Helton was in the mix. They were whitewashed at home, 31-0. But on that night, an experienced Terry Dean played ahead of future Heisman-guy Weurffel for the other side. Suggs is a survivor. Literally. His is an amazing story, which Tony Barnhart will chronicle on Gameday this weekend. In short, he was run over by a tractor as a kid; started and starred as a 14-year-old freshman in high level prep football in Georgia; lost about 20 pounds while suffering from an intestinal ailment called Crohn's Disease; ignored the fact that Chris Simms was headed for Knoxville and signed anyway; was a deep third on the depth chart until recent weeks, and now gets the call in front of 108,000 in a monster game. Suggs also has a website dedicated to him (htttp://www.ajsuggs.com) which is maintained by his brother, Tim. Don't go expecting any streaming broadband stuff, but it's funny to check out if you want to see AJ on spring break in Panama City. I kid ole' Jesse, but he did play well as a green sophomore at Neyland in '98, when UT won in overtime -- the Vols' only win in the last seven meetings. Key guy to watch for on UT: pass rusher Anthony Sessions, who's been saying the Gators can't block him. Loyalty rewarded I feel great for the folks at South Carolina. They have been the best fans in the world, averaging 78,000 in the historically dismal '99 season and rarely booing. Now, they lead the nation in torn down goalposts. Coordinator Charlie Strong is getting deserved kudos for the defense's continued excellence, but the whole staff should get props, too. The contributions of John Gudekunst and Dave Roberts, both ex-head coaches who had ties to Holtz, and Chris Kosh (former coordinator at Illinois and Michigan State) have been invaluable. Phil Petty has become a quality quarterback. That's a sentence I never thought I'd write, but he hit nine different receivers against Georgia, and connected on 10 straight passes in one stretch. Petty was a 44-percent passer last season. Don't get Gamecock-y yet, though, fellas. South Carolina can't trot that C-game out there and expect to beat anybody, even an Eastern Michigan team that would have lost to I-A fledgling Connecticut if the Huskies' punter hadn't shanked a 7-yarder in the final minutes. Gameday in Columbia? Dare to dream. Tiger tussle Do you realize that the recent SEC records for these two traditional Tigers are: LSU 2-13 and Auburn 4-13? War Eagle's eight-game home conference losing streak is one of the most confounding stats in the sport. It includes several leads blown late, missed field goals, fumbles, four failed cracks from the 1-yard line, and various redzone mishaps. Gotta believe it ends Saturday night. Auburn looks really good. Folks there are talking of rolling into the Swamp at 6-0. LSU is a work in progress. Nick Saban will begin earning his $1.3 million annual package on the recruiting trail. Hysterical Hoosier An Indiana coach ranting about the officials, claiming an ACC crew "stole" a game from his guys last Saturday? Nope, it's not Mr. Zero Tolerance. It's IU's football coach. Cam Cameron got slapped for ten grand by his conference brass. Then he did something the former big man on campus never could: he apologized sincerely. By the way, the officiating was pretty awful in N.C. State's OT win. Don't ignore... The Pittsburgh-Penn State game. It's huge for the Lions' chances for a seven-win season -- the magic number for a bowl invite, and for Joe Paterno's all-time win record. The Panthers have shown no running game and struggled with a baby-faced line to protect the passer. But they can play pitch and catch. If PSU persists in playing a passive, soft zone, the Panthers will move and score. Woodshedding Louisiana Tech taught us nothing. This is the week we'll see what Penn State can do. If they arrive in Columbus at 2-2, there is hope for a decent season. A loss in Three Rivers would be a killer. I think they'll avoid that. College Gameday... We'll be headquartered in one of the great settings for football anywhere -- on the banks of the Tennessee river next to Neyland Stadium. Hope you join us. Later, we'll be keeping an eye on the Michigan-UCLA game, which will largely dictate our location for the following week. No, we don't schedule the shows way in advance. Not with the aforementioned lack of foregone conclusions in this wacky sport. Chris Fowler is the host of College Gameday and his column appears every Thursday. | ALSO SEE Inside the Playbook: Florida at Tennessee Inside the Playbook: Washington at Colorado Inside the Playbook: Michigan at UCLA Gators-Vols rivalry a war of harsh words and harder hits Game Plan: No. 9 Tennessee Game Plan: No. 4 Florida Herbstreit: First ... And 10 Corso: Not So Fast, My Friends | |||||||
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