Week Three

I apologize profusely for my tardiness. Schoolwork and girlfriend time got in the way of college football, and I beg forgiveness from all of you.

I think it is now safe to say that 'Bama is back! After an impressive 52-6 clobbering of Western Carolina (2-9 in I-AA in 2006) and a noteworthy 24-10 shellacking of Vanderbilt (4-8 in I-A in 2006), the Tide is well on its way to an undefeated season and national championship under new head coach Nick "The Bear II" Saban. 'Bama is about to roll through home games against Arkansas and Georgia before traveling to Jacksonville to take care of Florida State. Daggum!

Ha ha ha...I remember this.

The Pac-10 pulled a likely stunt Saturday when all of the six active teams in the conference won their games. I wish I could chalk it up to weak opponents, but only Washington State's (San Diego State) was questionable. That and the domination of Tennessee by Cal just eat me up inside.

Surprise, surprise: Auburn is still an awful football team. The loss to South Florida would not have been less embarrassing had it been a win. Tiger tailback Mario Fannin fumbled on consecutive drives in Auburn territory. Receivers dropped passes, and defenders missed tackles. The defense looks slow. When we play a team that can run around the end, game over. The punting and punt coverage were even worse than last week.

My thoughts exactly.

And then there is Brandon Cox, who was so bad that he gets a paragraph all to himself. Cox was 16 of 35 passing with a pair of interceptions and a fumble on a quarterback sneak. (Let that sink in for a second.) He did run for near first down yardage once, but he looked hesitant doing it. Brandon Cox is at least 70% of the reason that Auburn will lose a lot of games this year. Now I know how a Florida State fan has felt in recent years.

Unfortunately, this is not worth any points.

I suppose it could have been worse. South Florida's placekicker had a Vaughn-esque night, missing three of six attempts with another blocked. Had he made any of those, overtime would have been unnecessary. Speaking of overtime, Tuberville somehow decided that letting the clock run out with two timeouts was a better idea than trying to get downfield and kick a field goal to win. That was a little confusing.

Will Auburn make a bowl game? Who knows. Out of the ten games left, only New Mexico State and Tennessee Tech look like definite wins. Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, Georgia, and Alabama are question marks. I'm not even going to hope for Florida, Arkansas, or LSU. In fact, I sold my ticket to the Swamp when I realized it wouldn't be much fun to drive six hours to watch us get clobbered. At least we're not...

Michigan, who was annihilated 39-7 in the Big House by Oregon. The Ducks made a mockery of Michigan's secondary, and the Wolverine offense was anemic once more. Perhaps a win over Notre Dame on the 15th will help Lloyd Carr keep his employment hopes alive. It wouldn't mean much, though; the Irish are 0-2 as well (this is the first time in history that both teams have had such poor starts).

Dear Michigan fans: This guy made your team look like a joke.

LSU looked phenomenal in their signature win over Virginia Tech. 48-7 is almost unbelievable. After a week off against Middle Tennessee State, Les Miles takes on Steve Spurrier. This will be the Tigers' only test until they host Florida on October 6. Besides Alabama, all of LSU's toughest games are at home. If there was ever a year to make a championship run, this would be it. Wouldn't it be great if they had a chance to destroy USC?

Maybe the Gators will trip them up, though. Apparently quarterback Tim Tebow learned how to throw during the summer. He's 31 of 46 so far, with 536 yards and six touchdowns. My only reservation is the defense, which looked iffy against a Troy squad that put up 31 points. I guess we'll see what happens against Tennessee this weekend.

You should probably watch TV this weekend, because it is the best one so far. Like I mentioned, Florida hosts Tennessee (3:30 PM ET, CBS), Michigan hosts Notre Dame (3:30 PM ET, ABC), and Arkansas goes to Alabama (6:45 PM ET, ESPN). I think Ohio State at Washington (3:30 PM ET, ESPN) could be a thriller, as could Boston College at Georgia Tech (8 PM ET, ESPN2). Why is GameDay going to USC/Nebraska (8 PM ET, ABC) for the second year in a row? Beats me.

Finally, prepare yourself for another Florida throwdown as the Hurricanes host the Golden Panthers! Pre-fight football game at 3:30 PM ET, then the punches start flying at 7!