I can’t get over how clutch Jordan Rodgers, Jordan Matthews and Chris Boyd were Saturday Night. But we’re starting to expect that from these guys. They are players. JRodge, with big brother ARodge and I think ARodge’s  girlfriend, Destiny, in attendance, put on a show in the second half. He finished the game 20-of-35 for 267 yards, two TDs and no ints. Beautiful, exquisite performance by our senior leader. Jordan Matthews was just as spectacular catching 9 passes for 153 yards and one score, a phenomenal 52-yard strike from JRodge that hit Jordan M perfectly in stride as he raced past the cornerback and safety for Ole Miss. It was a critical play in the game because it occurred right after Ole Miss had scored to take a 23-6 lead. That cut the lead to 23-13 with 9:52 left in the third. The three other key plays were a catch by Boyd–who along with Matthews looks like an All-SEC player to me– right on the Ole Miss sideline. It was critical. We had a third and 10 on our own 49 and JRodge threw a nice pass toward the left sideline which Boyd leapt for and caught keeping one foot in bounds for an 18-yard gain to the Ole Miss 33. It was reviewed and was close to being out of bounds, but the refs made the proper call and didn’t overturn it. This was later in the third quarter. If Chris doesn’t make that catch, a beautiful play, we would have had to punt and our chance to win would have gotten a little slimmer. However, we made the plays to get down there after that and Wes Tate ran it in from two yards to cut the lead to 23-20 late in the third. Chris finished with one more catch which was a flat out classic.

Last drive, we’re down 26-20 inside two minutes left, fourth and two. James calls for Jordan to roll out and throw it to JMatt or maybe tight end Kris Kentera. JRodge rolls right, sees his receivers are covered and takes off for the first down. He dives and gets just past the marker thankfully before the Ole Miss defenders get there. Then Jordan, after an incomplete pass to JMatt and a four-yard completion to Wes Tate,  connects with Kentera on a beautiful 21-yard pass right over the middle of the defense that gets us to the Ole Miss 26. Next play, with under a minute left, Jordan drops back, gets terrific protection from the line who played an awesome game, and lofts it in the air in the direction of Chris on the left sideline, our sideline. Boyd gets by the cornerback, catches the ball at the 10 and takes it in with 52 seconds left to tie it at 26. That was a wow moment for sure. How clutch was that? Extremely. Carey Spear, who has been terrific this year, converted the extra point, and defensive coordinator Bob Shoop dialed up the pressure on Ole Miss’s final possession as we held them on downs to secure our sixth win and qualify for a bowl game.

A friend of mine asked me what bowl I thought we were going to. I told him honestly that I hadn’t thought about a bowl one iota because I’m a believer in James’s one game at a time approach. When James says we’re trying to be 1-0 every week, I wasn’t sure about that strategy at first– I kind of like a big picture approach too– but that’s exactly what has worked for this football  team, the whole program-players, coaches, alumni and fans. If we win out and go 8-4, I think we can go to the Chick fil-A bowl in Atlanta. That would be beautiful. Excellent bowl, fun city, outstanding exposure. Music City is a possibility, I’ve heard the Compass Bowl in Birmingham or the Liberty Bowl again are possibilities. I just want this team to go  to the best bowl possible. I would like to see us in the Chick-fil-A. To me, the better the bowl, the better it is for recruiting. We just need to close out Tennessee this Saturday. Would be huge. By the way, C Boyd caught five passes for 64 yards and that incredibly clutch touchdown. The offensive line, Wesley Johnson, Ryan Seymour, Josh Jelesky, Joe Townsend and Chase White, were phenomenal. Line coach Herb Hand is doing a masterful job with the group and these players are tough, hard-working, blue-collar winners. They’re studs.

The only blemish was Zac’s injury. Not sure where Zac stands. James does not talk about injuries; that’s his policy. But Zac was on the sideline during the second half and he didn’t have a wrap on his knee. Maybe he’ll be OK. Hopeful for Zac for his career now and possibly the future in the NFL. If there is anyone who deserves a crack to make a living playing football on Sundays it’s Zac Stacy because he’s such a hard worker, such an awesome son and big brother to his autistic younger brother, and such a great teammate and leader on this football team. He’s the heart and soul of the team along with head coach James Franklin. Hope and pray for Zac’s speedy recovery. It would be nice if it’s just a mild strain, so we can get him back. Wow, football can be cruel at times. But hoping Zac will be suiting up this weekend.

Have to give credit to our defensive front as well. Walker May and Rob Lohr played incredible games getting pressure on the talented quarterback for Ole Miss, Bo Wallace. The whole defense came through when they had to. Would like to see our secondary play a little better in coverage, but that’s something we’ll have to work on this week with Tyler Bray, Justin Hunter and Cordarrelle Patterson coming to town. Tennessee will definitely want to knock us off. Derek Dooley looks like he’s out as the coach and I’m sorry for him. Seems like a good guy. That will probably give the UT players extra motivation this Saturday. We have got to be ready to play for 60 minutes. Our dbs will have to play better in coverage. They’ve got a pretty good offensive line, so we’re going to have to mix in some blitzes with our regular four-man rush. Our dline and lbs need to excel. This is going to be a very tough game. We’ll have to really tighten up on defense to pull this one off. I think we can score. Would be nice if Zac plays, but Wes Tate and Brian Kimbrow are playing good football for us now, so if we need to protect Zac’s knee, Wes and Kimbrow will be ready.

Just so proud of James, his coaches and the players. The future looks bright this season and in the upcoming years. Can’t wait for Saturday.

Bears lost a tough one to the Texans, 13-6, at Soldier Field last night. Jay went out at halftime with a concussion. Thought it was going to be a little more high scoring, but when I wrote the blog on Friday, I hadn’t checked the weather in Chicago for last night. Rookie mistake. It won’t happen again. That rascal Jay, he plays so aggressively, that I just worry about him. He reminds me so much of Jim McMahon, the quarterback for the Bears in the ’80’s who led his highly talented Bears team to a Super Bowl Championship in 1985. He played with that reckless abandon that Jay plays with. He was fearless. He wasn’t as humble as Jay is, and you may think that Jay can be a little cocky at times, but I really don’t. I think Jay is very confident, but overall he’s mellowed and has become humble. He’s just an intense competitor. Anyway, McMahon is suffering from middle stage dementia and his prognosis is not looking good. I read an article about him in SI and it was pretty sad about his memory loss and his depression. I feel terrible for McMahon and any player that has to suffer through that, and I don’t want it to happen to Jay. He might need to tone it down on his fearless play. Jay may not be capable of doing that because he’s such a tremendous competitor, and I want him to be that way if that’s what he wants to do. I just worry about his long term mental state if he keeps getting crushed by these linemen and linebackers, even the safeties. But Jay’s going to do whatever it takes to win. Not sure if he’ll be available for Niners next Monday Night. Will stay on top of it and let you know. We just turned the ball over too much last night. Houston took a little better care of the ball and scored one touchdown on a beautiful throw and catch by Matt Schaub and Arian Foster respectively. Lance Briggs had excellent coverage on Foster, he just made a phenomenal play. The conditions were horrific. Pouring rain, cold. We just didn’t handle the conditions very well fumbling twice and throwing two ints. Couldn’t catch the ball very well either. Got to get back to work. We’re 7-2 and lead the Packers by a game in the NFC North. Niners will be tough, but winnable. Hopefully, Jay will be back. It was unfair for Jason Campbell in that situation because it was really  hard to  throw the ball in those conditions. Jason tried hard, bless him, it was just a horrible night weather-wise to try to play quarterback. Schaub threw two ints to Tim Jennings, who played a terrific game, but Houston didn’t fumble and that was big. I’ll keep you informed on Jay. We’ll get it back.

But huge win for our football team. Now we need to put it behind us and get ready for UT. Still is a lot of fun to think about. What a victory.