Bye Week Open Thread

Some really good games on the docket, today – just wish we were one of them, as it feels like it’s been two weeks since we’ve taken the field. I’m sitting here watching GameDay and one game that no one is talking about, this week, is Arkansas/Auburn. With the changes that’ve taken place in the Barn, does Arkansas beat them, today? Man, I hope so!

Roll Tide!

The signs are nowhere near as funny as they were last week. However, the Fulmer-ate-my-car sign was pretty good.

is a fucking machine. Of course, we know that there is not one decent defense in the BXII, still, they are as robotic as anything i’ve seen this year (including Mizzou).

UK-USC? Come on Cats!

is ridiculous. what is now, 5 turnovers? that’s sloppy

Last week we all talked about how good the Kentucky special teams were, but after watching them give up a huge return and a blocked FG for a touchdown today, I’m afraid that the harsh truth of the matter may largely be that our special teams simply is not that good.

… It looks like Texas should knock off OU.

The Sooners looked much better early on, but Texas has clearly outplayed them the last three quarters or so. If they hold on, I imagine the ’Horns would be the new number one.

And it looks like Kentucky may be going down against South Carolina… Gamecocks deep in UK territory late in the 4th in a tied game.

24-17 Gamecocks.

… just scored in the final seconds of the first half, and now they lead 7-3.

Still pretty pathetic, though, because they only have about 40 yards of total offense in the first half.

… special teams failures killed UK.

Have you guys seen worse officiating than the Texas-OU game? I know that is a big contest though.

Georgia is absolutely dominating UT, leading 13-0, but it should be much worse.

Georgia just keeps killing themselves in the red zone. Green dropped a touchdown pass, and they just threw a pick to boot.

This game ought to be 21-0 or 24-0.

13-7 now. UGA could actually screw this up. Dawgs, get it together, damn it!!!

I kinda want us to drop to 4. Am I wrong here, but if ahead of us are TX, MIZZOU, LSU, things will work themselves out and we will have a bit of breathing room without doing anything? Being number 1 this year seems to mean you lose a game! Kind of a curse.

13-10 Auburn, shocking (maybe not so much) is the fact that they have 53 yards. the barn’s most valuable player appears to be a Dick (casey that is)

Just got 8 kinds of screwed on a replay call against Notre Dame. I can’t believe they overturned the call on the field, and the replay official doesn’t understand that the ground can’t cause fumbles…….

Auburn is actually winning this game, given the stats…unreal. Come’on Casey Dick!

I love it! So far a pretty good day. Glad #1 went down and I definitely want #3 to go down too. It is hard for me to root for the Gators, though Harvin is from Virginia Beach where I’ve lived most of my life, except when I was at Bama. Carolina held on against the Irish and the Dawgs thankfully beat the Viles. Sorry Vandy and Kentucky went down. A good quote from Dr Saturday today – “Michigan 2008 is officially Notre Dame 2007”. Oh yeah, karma is a bitch, baby. Brian Cook, I’m lookin’ at you.

…are looking scary. Was LSU’s defense overrated?

End of the 1st. WOW.

Penn State is taking Wisconsin to the woodshed, and Oklahoma State is leading Missouri mid-way through the second quarter.

could lay eggs

…the only team that could shoot over us is arguably Texas.

OK, I give—who is he and how did he insult us?

It seems to me like OU has been holding on to their ranking largely because of pre season polls and, until today, no one has been able to prove the pre-season folks wrong. Pre-season polls seem to have been made irrelevant today with OU’s loss. Some are saying that Misso might jump us if they win today but they are playing no. 17… why? LSU is getting their butt handed to them so far and no real reason to think that might change that drastically.

I don’t see why anyone should jump us regardless of what happens with Misso. I will be the first to admit however that I apparently don’t understand how the voting works on these polls. I have been right more than I have been wrong in the past though.

We’ll see tomorrow.

It is just fun to be number 1 for a while. Doesn’t matter until the end. I think we had 7 or 8 number one teams last year.

Who is sick of Gary Danielson?

LSU has looked extremely bad in the first half, but it’s a long way from over.

Florida could have put this one away with two touchdowns in the red zone, but the LSU defense held strong, and kept them to a couple of field goals. Now they go and get a touchdown before halftime, and go to halftime with a 20-7 game. It could just as easily be 28-0, but they’ve held strong and will now get the ball to start the second half. A touchdown drive there and it’s a 20-14 game.

LSU had a disastrous start, but they looked much better in the second quarter, and are very much still in it. Don’t count them out yet, the night is still young in Gainesville.

I don’t even start watching an LSU game till the second half unless they are playing us. I just turned it on and they have just scored! I saw the score and thought the same thing you said.

How about AU???? Roll tide roll. WHAT A SEASON!

Is about to get out of our way

to have a huge man crush on Chase Daniels

Ok, LSU and Missou are now out of the way. It is between Bama and Texas for no. 1
Roll Tide

Numbers 1, 2, and 3 in the Coaches Poll all fell. That leaves us and Texas. The planets are aligning. It’s destiny. Roll. Tide. Roll. Best Bama bye week ever!!!!!

I think this will be the first time we have ever won by not playing.

What city are you from? We’re from Morgan County, but living in Arizona now. I can’t believe we’re not at home to enjoy all this!!! The players/coaches all still have to focus on one game at a time, but as a fan I’m drinking kegs full of Kool Aid!!

I’m almost 100% positive that Texas will pass us in the Coaches Poll, but I do think we have a decent chance of getting the number one spot in the AP poll.

Either way, it’s been a big weekend: three top-five teams lost, and now we remain as only undefeated team in the SEC.

Things might all change next week, but as of this second life is pretty dang good for those who bleed crimson.

• Alabama and Texas will be #1 and #2 in both polls, we just don’t know exactly in what order yet for the AP.

• Penn State will move up to third in both polls.

• Texas Tech will probably move up to third in both polls, but given their performance against Nebraska it seems relatively clear that they will not be retaining that position for long when Oklahoma and Texas come around.

• BYU will remain firmly inside the top ten, and may even make a run at the top five, which is key for them making a BCS game.

• The real question will be who is the first one-loss team. USC was coming into this game, but I do think that with Florida’s blowout victory they will become the first one-loss team, and USC / Oklahoma will vie it out for the second one-loss team. I imagine Georgia and LSU then duke it out for the fourth one-loss team. Missouri, I think, should drop behind all of those teams.

I’ll give my best guess at the top ten tomorrow:

1. Texas
2. Alabama
3. Penn State
4. Texas Tech
5. BYU
6. Florida
7. Oklahoma
8. USC
9. Georgia
10. LSU

I don’t know for sure if that’s how it will shake out, obviously, but that would be my gut instinct for the top ten tomorrow when the polls are released. Either way, we’re going to see a ton of shake-ups.

Live in Gadsden now

That place was my backyard. Seriously. We would walk down the WWR dirt roads and catch turtles, shoot ducks with pellet guns, drink wine coolers (underaged of course) and skinny dip! I miss the country!

Totally forgot this was a football place. Forgive my trips down memory lane. Roll Tide Roll!!

Not questioning you because you are clearly more schooled in the polls than I am. I never cared about getting schooled.

Why would Texas jump us considering that they beat a team that only hung onto no. 1 because of pre-season polls. Our current resume is clearly better than theirs considering we have beaten a no. 10 and no. 5 on the road. Then they got beaten soundly by no. 5 today.

I got cornered by a 12 ft. gator in Blackwell Swamp right off of I-65. I used to catch a lot of stripe and bass in there though.

Ya know who else got cornered by a gator? Les Miles!! LMAO! Seriously though, we had ’em at the Suzie Hole, too. Pictures of ’em showed up the Decatur Daily from time to time. The TVA let ’em loose to catch beavers years ago. Never caught ’em all…..

Didn’t they beat the number one team? I was gonna tell ya to drink more…. Now you might wanna hold off:) Roll Tide Roll!

We are talking about the rankings after today

But here wasTexas’ schedule until today:

Florida Atlantic
UTep
Rice
Arkansas
Colorado

None of these teams where ranked, at any point higher than Texas.

OU played :
Chattanooga
Cincinnati
Washington
TUC
Baylor

Bama played no. 9 Clemson on the road and No. 3 Geogia on the road, and is undefeated in the SEC and overall. Why should we not be no. 1 ?

Not that it matters at this point in the season

They played shitty schedules. But the same preseason ballot had Clemson number 9??? I’m just funnin’ wit ya! I know we need to be number one, I’m just tryin’ to find reasons not to be!

has parted, allowed us to pass and then crashed down upon our enemies. I know we should be restiraned and understand that the process is ongoing, we have a lot of football ahead of us, anything can blah blah blah. For all of those reasons I’m saying now: We are #1. the voters may let Texas or Penn State jump us, but we all can read a schedule. We may not hold up through the season, but hell, we weren’t supposed to be here now. We are #1. Enjoy the moment… and fear Ole Miss. Never forget the team ahead of you. And LSU. And Auburn, you can’t count them out. Mississippi State too – they beat us twice in a row. I saw Arkansas State look good against a team that beat us last year. I didn’t see the whole game, but they looked good. Tennessee sucked today. That’s nice. Not that I’m looking past them. Basically what I’m saying is that I’m drinking the Kool Aid in the warm comfort of the now. I both hate and love that the regular season is half over.

is overlooking Ole Miss. With Nutt, you never know what you get. BTW: Arkie’s Smith just gashed the Barn’s defense over and over. It was eerily reminiscent of the Jacquizz Rogers Show in Corvallis a few weeks ago.

1. Texas (6-0)
W, Oklahoma 45-35
next game: Missouri
The Ranking Should Be Lower Because … uuhhhh, the defense? Fine, so that’s sort of nitpicking after the Longhorns picked apart the nation’s No. 1 team. Oklahoma bombed away, but Texas always had an answer. The top spot is good for now, and it could be solidified with a win over Mizzou.

2. Penn State (7-0)
W, at Wisconsin 48-7
next game: Michigan
The Ranking Should Be Higher Because … there’s nothing else the team can do to look impressive. It has dominated everyone in the way, and a blowout win at Wisconsin just cements how good this team is. There was speed, power, and a whole bunch of “wow” moments.
The Ranking Should Be Lower Because .. to nitpick, Wisconsin didn’t exactly look like Wisconsin. That was a bit of a lifeless team the Nittany Lions just blasted. Whatever … if you want to put Penn State No. 1, there’s no beef here.

3. Alabama (6-0)
Didn’t Play This Week
next game: Ole Miss
The Ranking Should Be Higher Because … it had a week off and it got knocked down from two to three?! This might be the No. 1 team in America after the first half it came up with at Georgia.
The Ranking Should Be Lower Because … it’s not like Georgia is crushing and killing everything in its path. It struggled to put away Tennessee and it hasn’t played like the top team many thought it would be. The Tide will get a few big chances to strut its stuff over the next several weeks.

Well, I would say that Georgia is a much more impressive win than Wisconsin, so I really don’t get putting Penn State in front of us. The truth is that in their explanations they said that all 3 of these could be the #1 team in America. We just need to survive and get to Atlanta.