Alabama had an easy time in Knoxville which was pretty much expected. Still not convinced this is a great team. They’ve gotten it done the last two weeks after the melt down at South Carolina, but it was over Ole Miss, which was a good effort by the defense, but not much on the offensive side. Tennessee is a very weak team this year. Alabama looked pretty average in the first half, but then came back and did some good things in the second half.
Trent Richardson and Julio Jones had big games with Richardson running for 119 yards including a beautiful 65-yard td run. Jones made some outstanding catches and finished with 12-for 221 with no touchdowns. Richardson also caught a five yard touchdown pass from Greg McElroy. Probably the best throw-catch of the game was from backup quarterback A. J. McCarron to Jones, a 47-yarder that Jones made a beautiful play on.

Two players who I don’t know what has happened to are Mark Ingram and Dont’a Hightower. They just aren’t the same players that they were before their injuries. Hightower just doesn’t look like the dominating linebacker everybody expected him to be. He had six tackles Saturday, but I was expecting a player who was equal to or better than Rolando McClain this year. Those are pretty high expectations, but Hightower was so good before his knee injury his frosh year and the first four games of his sophomore year. He just hasn’t been the same this year. Maybe it’s just taking him some time to get it back together. Knee injuries can be debilitating. He doesn’t look like he’s playing with the fire he played with before his injury.

Ingram is the same way. He started off great against Duke, Arkansas and had a couple of tds against Florida, but he just doesn’t look like he’s hitting the holes as hard and doesn’t have that breakaway ability he has had in the past. He ran for 88 yards and two tds on Sat, but that was against UT. Both Ingram and Hightower need to play the way they used to for this team to have a shot at the West and even think about winning it all. I just don’t see it right now.

The off week couldn’t come at a better time for the Tide. They’ve got a lot to work on before LSU. LSU is obviously not as great as people thought on defense, as Auburn showed, but they’re a good team and it’s in Baton Rouge. The offensive line needs to improve. Greg McElroy’s been sacked too much this year. He’s been sacked 22 times in eight games; that’s close to three a game. I don’t know what’s wrong with the line this year. They’ve got the talent. I’m wondering if they’re missing Mike Johnson and Drew Davis from last year’s team, two stellar guys on the line. Johnson was an excellent tackle and Davis a guard. D.J. Fluker is a pretty good tackle, not great right now. He’s also hurt which hasn’t helped. But it’s the overall play of the line which is lacking.

The defense does lead the country in interceptions with 15. Robert Lester is fourth in the country with five. He’s tied for the lead in number of interceptions, but his interceptions per game is a little behind the three guys tied for first. Alabama is eighth in pass defense, 21st in rush defense and 12th in total defense nationally. They’re third in scoring defense, a big stat.

Still something is missing from this team. They just haven’t found their chemistry. The running game isn’t as good as it was last year and McElroy is decent, but not great. He holds on to the ball too long in the pocket. He’s not going to beat you on his own, so if a good defense takes the run away, I’m not sure McElroy can beat you through  the air. He couldn’t against South Carolina.  The defense is good and that may carry this team. But they don’t make the big plays on defense like they did last year with Ro and Javy Arenas. They miss Javy in the punt and kickoff return games, too. He could just break open a game with his explosive plays. This team just doesn’t have that explosiveness.

I think this team is tough though. Julio, Ingram and maybe Hightower are playing hurt. But there just isn’t the chemistry that you saw on last year’s team. They’re kind of a boring team to watch actually. They need to crank it up in the last four games if they want to make it to the SEC title game. They can beat LSU, Miss. State and Georgia State, but Auburn will be tough. LSU and State could be tough games also, Georgia State a cake walk and Auburn will be huge. But this team could somehow pull it out and play to what I think is their potential, they could make a run. This team has just not been the team I thought they’d be offensively. There have been some mistakes on defense, but I think it’s been the offense that has been surprisingly not as good as expected. They need to get it together if they want to have any shot at the SEC title and a chance to play in the BCS title game. At this point, I just don’t see it. Maybe the best is yet to come.

Auburn had a terrific game Saturday. What else can you say about Cam Newton? He’s just the most unstoppable runner I’ve seen since Bo Jackson. He’s now run for 1,077 yards and 14 touchdowns after adding 217 more yards and two more tds on Saturday including a beautiful 49-yarder in which he almost fumbled at the end. He needs to be careful about how he carries the ball. If he’s not concentrating, he’s going to get it knocked out. He’s looking like a top five draft pick. I personally think he could use another year to improve his pocket passing. You aren’t going to be able to run all over the pros, so he’ll need to pass. He’s got the ability to throw the ball downfield. Maybe we’ll see more of that the rest of the season. If he’s a top five or top 10 he’ll most likely go. He is the leader in the Heisman race without a doubt this year. Onterio McCalebb had a nice game with a beautiful 70-yard run that clinched it. He has great ability to cut which he did beautifully on that run. He has exceptional speed, too, which he showed also. Michael Dyer is looking like the five-star player everyone expected. He ran for 100 yards on 15 carries and had a couple of beauties running through and around people. He is a guy who looks to have unlimited potential. I wouldn’t say he’s better than Marcus Lattimore, but he can be a great one at Auburn. Mario Fannin is a disaster most of the time. He has talent, but that fumbling makes him too much of a liability to play that much. He just seems to fumble every game. Auburn can’t afford that against Georgia or Alabama.

Nick Fairley is playing like Ndamukong Suh did last year. He’s just dominating. Suh finished last year with 12 sacks, 24 tackles for loss and 26 qb hurries. Fairley has 7.5 sacks, 17 tackles for loss and 15 qb hurries. He might be able to reach Suh numbers if he keeps it going. Someone in The Birmingham News suggested that Fairly be asked up to New York for the Heisman Trophy presentation as one of the five selections and maybe even get it. He’s probably not going to get it, but him getting asked up to New York is not out of the question. He’s just so dominant and physical. He had 2.5 sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss against LSU.

Zac Etheridge just continues to make plays. He’s become a game changer in the last two weeks. First his 47 yard fumble return for a td against Arkansas opened that game up for AU and really gave Auburn the momentum they needed to break the game open. Against LSU he had that huge interception in the first quarter that prevented LSU from scoring and put Auburn in business. It’s good to see Etheridge–a guy who many thought may not play another down after the Ole Miss near disaster last year–making big plays for this defense. He’s the leader in the secondary.

Josh Bynes is the leader of this defense. Bynes added another 11 tackles on Saturday and has 53 on the season. He has three key interceptions to go along with his tackles. Bynes is just always around the football. He’s stellar.

It’s getting very exciting at Auburn with the prospects for some great things. Number one in the BCS right now, and though that has been a curse for Ohio State and Oklahoma, we’ll see how Auburn handles it. Game this weekend at Ole Miss. Auburn should take care of business. Then Chattanooga, Georgia and at Alabama. Georgia is a dangerous game for AU. That will be a test. Georgia to me looks like the best team in the East right now. I think they’ll beat Florida this weekend. They may not win the East because they have three losses and South Carolina has two and SC has beaten Ga. But SC has to play Arkansas at home (Nov. 6) and go to Florida the following Saturday. SC has been known to blow it, so Georgia’s not out of it. They will be a challenge for the Tigers. Alabama will be tough because it’s always tough. I think Auburn is the better team at this point, but things can change.

Pretty exciting time on the Plains right now.

Nationally some big games this weekend. Of course, Florida at Georgia (Ga is home team) at Jacksonville will be big for SEC East ramifications, but not a big game as far as national implications go.

No. 2 Oregon (BCS) travels to Southern Cal this weekend. I haven’t seen Southern Cal much this season, but from what I’ve heard and read, their offense is playing very well. Their quarterback, Matt Barkley, is a great player. There’s talent. Is there enough to beat the explosive Ducks? I don’t think so, but it could be interesting.

No.6 Missouri travels to Nebraska in a huge game for the Tigers. If they win, they are in pretty good shape in the national race. They’ll need some help, but I watched them against Oklahoma and they have an outstanding football team. Very nice offense and a defense that is fifth in the country in scoring defense. Their win over Oklahoma was impressive. Nebraska will be gunning for them, but I think Missouri is a better team. Nebraska has the home field advantage which will help them. I kind of liken this game to the Wisconsin-Iowa game last week. Wisconsin was coming off a huge win over Ohio State and most people liked Iowa to beat them at Iowa City, but Wisconsin showed what kind of team they had by scoring in the last minute and a half to beat Iowa. I see Missouri doing the same kind of thing at Nebraska.

Another big game is No.5 Michigan State at Iowa. Iowa would like nothing better than to ruin Michigan State’s season, but I kind of like the road team again. I was very impressed with how Michigan State came back from a 17-0 deficit against a decent Northwestern team and won. Michigan State is very good offensively led by quarterback Kirk Cousins and is pretty solid on defense. I like their chances against the Hawkeyes. Should be another excellent weekend of college football.

SEC Schedule:

Tennessee @ South Carolina, 11:21 a.m., SEC Network

Florida @ Georgia, Jacksonville, 2:30 p.m., CBS

Auburn @ Ole Miss, 5 p.m., ESPN2

Kentucky @ Mississippi State, 6 p.m., ESPNU

Vandy @ Arkansas, 6 p.m., Fox Sports South

(Michael Dyer is coming into his own while Mark Ingram is struggling some.)