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Cigar Butts Week 6

Week 6 Review

This is what college football is all about! Man! What a day, what a day!! Were there some games this Saturday? You betch’um! Did we have upsets? Dadgum right, we did! Did we have some shootouts? Did we ever, and then some! Was there controversy? Oh, you bet your bottom dollar we did – and did it involve Auburn, and was it ruled in favor of Auburn? Stay tuned. Did our collective blood pressures rise into the danger zone? Oh, Yes.

Auburn 30, Arkansas 28– If this game had been played anywhere else but Jordan-Hare Stadium, the Tigers, Alabama variety, would have lost. By all that’s right and holy, they should have lost, … – but, just as Notre Dame does at South Bend, some genie wafted out of a bottle and froze the officials’ whistles when they should have been blown to end the game. More on this later. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and this contest appeared to go just as expected. The Plainsmen opened up a 17-point lead. It wasn’t until midway through the second quarter that Arkansas showed any signs of life, but, once the did, the Razorbacks won’t go away. They rooted their way back into the game, they slowed Auburn’s offensive attack, and in the fourth quarter, with 5:29 left, the Hogs scored on a 30 yard pass from Florida transfer Feleipe Frans to DeVon Warren, taking the lead, 28-27. Auburn got the ball and drove down the field, inexorably, and with only seconds left on the clock, the Tigers, or War Eagles, or whatever moniker is correct, lined up for Super Soph QB Bo Nix to spike the ball the stop the clock, but, – remember that genie escaping from the bottle? Apparently, he forgot who he was supposed to help and who to jinx, for things didn’t go as Malzahn diagrammed them for the team. First, Bo flubbed the snap from center, dropping the ball, then he picked it up and spiked it to the ground. One problem here;- is he threw it behind him, Arkansas recovered the ball. This backward spike constitutes a fumble, or at least a backward pass, either of which means Arkansas gets the ball, turnover. BUT, here comes that genie, his priorities straightened out. The officials ruled it a spiked ball and allowed Auburn to kick a game winning field goal with seven seconds left on the clock. Horrible call. Watching the referee review the play on instant replay, one could clearly see him reacting to missing the call, but, instead of doing the right thing, reversing the call and rightly rewarding Arkansas with the ball, he took the easy out and invoked some obscure rule about “immediate recovery”. That stuff comes out of the south end of a north-bound bull.

Texas A&M 41, Florida 38 – Jimbo Fisher has been looking for a signature win  ever since he arrived on the A&M campus, and, Saturday, against Florida, he finally got it. The Aggies were blown out by Alabama and few gave them much chance against the Gators, including here at CSF. But HC Fisher did something that none of us were expecting. He took the game out of All Galactic Stellar (in his and Jimbo’s minds) QB Kellen Mond’s hands and put it on RB Isaiah Spiller’s shoulders. When this happened, sometime during the second quarter, the offensive line came to life with an unexpected zeal. It was amazing how the holes opened up. Never thought Fisher would make this move, but, to his credit, he did. Florida didn’t just go away, though. Kyle Trask, who, by the way, was named after Kyle Field, his parents both being A&M graduates, was on fire and he did enough to keep the Gators in the lead, and almost win, but, you know about “almost”. ‘Almost’ counts in the same things that, ‘close’, counts in, … horseshoes, hand grenades, and nuclear weapons, …The Gator defenders simply did not have the answer for the Aggies run game, everyone knew the defense was a bit on the weak side but it wasn’t until this game that if hurt them. By the bye, the secret ingredient, the answer, that Florida’s defense was lacking was tackling – you know, “eye the thigh”, all that stuff, “wrap him up”, “lock your arms”, you get the drift. In the closing seconds the Texas school got the ball within field goal range and, with one swift swing of the leg, they pulled the upset. Aggies win, the Daughter is happy, and half the state of Texas is thrilled.

Alabama 63, Ole Miss 48 – In a Big 12 that has only ten teams typical defense is optional game, the Crimson Tide, who is NOT a member of the Big 12 that has only ten teams, found themselves in a wild west shoot out – in Mississippi. Neither team could spell, “defense”, or even, in its English equivalent, “defence”. What has happened to Alabama? Their legacy, their tradition, has been based on defense and now they can’t stop anything. The entire game they were out of position, missing tackles, misaligned, and the coaching staff was seemingly without a clue. Defensive Coordinator Pete Golding was out-coached before the game even began. Coach Saban, in a late-night interview after the game, said that he felt like Ole Miss was reading the Alabama defensive signals, that Lane Kiffin remembered them. DUH! While Saint Nick is undoubtedly a Hall of Fame coach, when an assistant leaves your program to coach somewhere else, CHANGE YOUR SIGNALS!! In all honesty, Ole Miss’s HC Lane Kiffin more than likely called the game of his life. Every play he called was the correct one. It was almost like he knew the Alabama team, which of course he does, and almost like he was reading the Bama defensive calls. There’s that “DUH” again. Alabama RB Najee Harris scored five touchdowns, truly amazing, but the salvation star was QB Mac Jones. This guy is spot-on good, he might be one of the best in the country, and yet he’s completely overlooked. If DC Pete Golding is still employed at Alabama, you have to wonder why. I mean, really, WHY? If he’s still in this position Tuesday, the Tide can kiss another National Championship goodbye. Former assistant Kirby Smart, who CAN coach defense, is coming to town with his Junkyard Dawgs

Oklahoma 53, Texas 45 – The Red River Shootout, which is expected in the Big 12 that has only ten teams, both teams went through a season’s worth of decisions and emotions. In the second quarter starting OU QB Rattler, who is earning the nickname of, “Rattlin’ Rattler”, was benched, but after halftime he was back in, and, wow! what a turn around. The Longhorns found themselves in the middle of a game. The Sooners led for almost the entire game, but these Horns tied it up with 14 seconds left in the game, sending it into overtime. In the third overtime, Texas had to settle for a field goal only, one of OU’s big defensive linemen got his paw on the ball, causing the kick to fall short. All OU had to do was score, simple, but, no. They were stopped and had to settle for a FG try, only to have the kick take a nasty shank to the left and sail serenely outside the uprights. In the fourth OT the Sooners scored a TD and then ended the game with an interception in the endzone. The half of Texas that was happy about the A&M win were now ecstatic, along with the entire state of Oklahoma.

Clemson made minced meat out of Miami, winning, 42-17, did anyone actually buy any of that hype before the game?

Georgia topped Tennessee 44-21, and if the Alabama defense doesn’t undergo a transformational rebirth this week, Bulldog HC Kirby Smart will be the first St. Saban assistant to claim victory over the master next week.

Notre Dame beat Florida State 42 -26, now all the pundits will claim ND to be on the road to a national championship. Just remember, FSU could barely handle 1-AA Jacksonville State last week, at Tallahassee, so don’t drink this kool-aid.

North Carolina, wearing dark blue uniforms for some reason, walked, or better yet, rushed all over VA Tech, 56-45. Old Man Mac has made this team good.

Missouri pulled the upset of the day as they stopped LSU on the 1-yardline, not once, not twice, but four times! Winning the game was their reward, 45-41.

Iowa State handled Texas Tech, 31-15

Liberty is now 4-0 after beating UL Monroe

NC State beat Virginia 38-21, this Wolfpack seems to have turned a corner and become very good

South Carolina players were dancing on the sidelines after beating Vanderbilt, 41-7. I guess, when you’re a Gamecock, you gotta celebrate your enjoys when you get them..

Duke earned their first victory of 2020 against Syracuse, 38-24

Army, for some reason struggled to beat The Citadel, 14-9

Boston College pulled off another upset by surprising Pitt, 31-30, in overtime.

K-State methodically beat TCU, 21-14. No thrills, no chilling plays, just straight up won.

Navy beat Temple, 31-29. big whoop

Kentucky whipped up on Mississippi State, 24-2. What happen to the Bulldogs who beat LSU? We want them back.

AND if you haven’t seen this SEC Shorts, please, please watch it.

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