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SEC Notes: Bowl jinx taunts Vandy
Written by SETH EMERSON
semerson@thestate.com
Posted on 09.25.08
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Three things we’ve learned
1. Quarterback stability is an oxymoron
About two-thirds of the league’s teams are flailing around and looking for a starter. USC could be starting its third QB in five games. Powerhouse LSU has a two-headed approach. And Kentucky’s Mike Hartline has been the SEC Offensive player of the week — and booed by his home fans.
2. The league has some new stars
Tim Tebow and Knoshown Moreno are so 2007. Florida junior Brandon James is emerging as the SEC’s answer to Devin Hester. Alabama tailback Glen Coffee has some special ability. Freshmen receivers A.J. Green and Julio Jones are for real. And this year’s leading rusher isn’t Moreno or even Percy Harvin but LSU junior Charles Scott.
3. Defense good, offense bad
The league’s highest-ranked offense is Georgia, which is No. 22 in the nation. Only three more league teams are in the top 50, and half are 73rd or below. Compare that to the defense, where eight SEC teams are among the nation’s top 24, and the lowest-ranked unit (Vanderbilt) is 72nd.
In early October of 1984, Vanderbilt lost a game and fell out of the national rankings. Later that month, Brady Quinn, Sasha Cohen and Katy Perry were born.
Vanderbilt returned to the rankings (No. 21 in the AP, No. 25 in the coaches poll) this week for the first time since.
In that span, Quinn grew into a second-year NFL quarterback, Cohen won an Olympic silver medal in figure skating, and last month Perry reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts with the song “I Kissed a Girl.”
Vanderbilt was 4-0 when it was ranked 24 years ago. It has the same record today and is practically guaranteed of at least a two-week stay in the AP poll because of a bye this weekend.
“It’s huge for our program — for recruiting, getting us noticed,” junior quarterback Mackenzi Adams told the Nashville Tennessean.
Obviously, it’s a great story, and it would be a better one if Vanderbilt reached its first bowl since 1982. But let’s be a Grinch and sound the cautionary note: We’ve seen this before.
• The Commodores were 5-3 last year then lost their last three.
• They started 4-0 in 2005, in including wins against Mississippi, Arkansas and Wake Forest. Then they lost to Middle Tennessee and didn’t win again until the season finale.
• In 1999, Vanderbilt started 5-3 then lost its final three games.
• In 1993, the Commodores were 5-4 before losses to Florida and Tennessee. That scenario repeated itself a year later.
Bottom line, the Commodores have to find two, and possibly three, more wins on their schedule. Their best chances are at Mississippi State and Kentucky and at home against Duke and Tennessee. It could happen, but nothing is certain at Vandy.
Back in Black. Saturday’s Alabama-Georgia contest is now officially a big game because Georgia will be wearing black. The Bulldogs donned black twice last season — in a 45-20 win against Auburn and in the Sugar Bowl rout of Hawaii.
Georgia had better worry about the guys in black and white. The Bulldogs have committed 43 penalties this season, which ties Texas Tech for the most in the nation. They had 12 for 104 yards at Arizona State.
When asked about the Pac-10 officiating crew, Georgia coach Mark Richt simply replied: “Wow.”
Bizzaro Hebert. Fans of “Seinfeld” might only know Bobby Hebert as the quarterback George Costanza talked about during an episode. Costanza’s musing was on the pronunciation of Hebert’s last name (hey-BEAR), but that’s not even the most interesting part of Hebert’s son’s name.
T-Bob Hebert (yes, his real name) is a redshirt freshman at LSU. A special teams player, Hebert had a 13-yard kickoff return at Auburn.
Quote of the week. Arkansas tailback Michael Smith tried to put a positive twist on his team’s 49-14 loss to Alabama: “The last time we got beat this bad (by Southern California in 2006), we hauled in 10 straight (wins).”
Good luck with that. Arkansas’ next 10 games: at Texas, Florida, at Auburn, at Kentucky, Mississippi, Tulsa, at South Carolina, at Mississippi State, LSU. Actually, that’s nine.
Reach Emerson at (803) 771-8676.
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