I don’t care if it was Georgia State or Auburn, that was an impressive 63-7 victory by the Tide. Mark Ingram looked like the Mark Ingram we saw in 2009 and in the first few games he played in this year with 86 yards on 12 carries and a touchdown. Ingram has now rushed for 884 yards and 10 tds. Pretty good numbers. I think he’s struggled with the knee a little bit and the line hasn’t been as good as last year. But last night Ingram and the line were in sync.
Julio Jones has been playing like an All-American and a top five draft choice most of the year. Julio had seven catches for 86 yards and two touchdowns, an eight-yarder and a 10-yarder. Julio now has 65 receptions on the year for 885 yards and 6 tds. Is he as good as A.J. Green and Alshon Jeffrey? He’s close. Those three may be the best three receivers in the country. I can think of a lot of NFL teams who would want any one of them. He’s elite. Last year it sounds like he was hurt most of the year. This year he’s battled through a broken hand and played exceptional.
Greg McElroy was 12-13 for 159 yards and two tds. He’s more than a game manager to me. He’s an outstanding player and an outstanding leader on this team. A.J. McCarron has a lot of talent. He was 7-9 for 57 yards and a seven yard touchdown pass to Chris Underwood.
The young talent has really emerged on defense. C.J. Mosley looks like he’s the next Ro McClain. He’s maybe not as big but could be as dominant. Mosely had his second interception return for a td, this time from 41 yards. He also had one against Florida. Guys like Chris Jordan and Jerell Harris had great games both with five tackles and Jordan had an interception. Chavis Williams had two tackles and a beautiful blocked punt that Brandon Gibson picked up and scored on. DeMarcus Milliner had a terrific interception fading back covering his man on a go route and diving backwards and hauling the pass in. Mr. Consistency, Mark Barron, also had a pick. Dont’a had some good plays on defense. Would like to see him get even better and get back to that level he was playing at before the knee injury last year against Arkansas.
There is a lot of veteran and young talent on this team. I think they’re as ready as they’re going to be for Cam and the Tigers. How do you stop Cam? If anybody knows the answer to that they might be the second coming of Bryant or Lombardi. But Nick Saban and Kirby Smart are as good as you can find, so they’ll have a lot in their packages defensively to stop Cam. Auburn has a lot of other weapons both on the ground and through the air. Saban will probably blitz more. I don’t know if a spy will work, but he may have somebody like Mosley keying on Cam. Cam is a head coach’s and defensive coordinator’s nightmare. But if anybody can slow down Cam, it’s Saban and Smart.
Auburn will be rested and ready. Alabama will be rested and really jacked up to ruin their archrivals’ perfect season. This should be awesome. Alabama’s offense will need to control the ball and keep Cam off the field. Trent should be back which will help a lot. Not sure about Barrett Jones. I suspect if there is any way he can play, he will. Alabama just needs to mix it up with Ingram, Trent, Julio and the other playmakers. Auburn has been vulnerable in the secondary this year, so Jim McElwain and McElroy will try and take advantage of that with Julio, Maze, Dial and Hanks and the rbs out of the backfield.
For Auburn, they need to get some pass rush. Barrett Jones or William Vlachos blocking Nick Fairley could be very interesting. I don’t know if Fairley can be stopped. Vlachos had trouble with Drake Nevis of LSU and Fairley is as good as Nevis or better. That’s a key matchup there. Auburn’s defensive backs are going to have to step it up and cover better than they have all season. Zac Etheridge will need to be the leader in back and help out his teammates. And the pass rush will have to help. Auburn’s linebackers need to be active. Ted Roof needs a solid and aggressive game plan defensively. He’s going to need it.
The big question is: Can anybody stop Cam? Besides the NCAA it doesn’t look like it. But Alabama has a ton of athletes on defense and have looked good the last two games. Is this going to be the team everybody expected at the beginning of the year and showed some greatness throughout the season? They’re going to have to give every ounce of effort to win this game. Stopping Cam is next to impossible. He may be one of the most dominant college players of all time. I know that’s a big statement, but he is a freight train with tremendous afterburners. And he has proven he can throw the ball very accurately, both the short and deep ball. Alabama is going to have to slow him down and play outstanding on the offensive side of the ball to win this game. Auburn is going to have to be better on defense if they expect to win this game. 1:30 p.m. CBS, next Friday, Nov. 26
More analysis and a prediction next Tuesday. Stay with me next week. I’ll be tweeting on college and pro football this weekend, so if you get a chance go to Twitter.com and davidhwhitejr and you can follow my tweets.
Here are the games in the SEC and the key games nationally this weekend with predictions. Record 104-32
Troy @ South Carolina 11:21 a.m., SEC Network: South Carolina is just going to try and get through this game, but Troy can be tough. SC has Clemson and then Auburn coming up, but they better not overlook Troy. Troy is 5-4 this year and lost to Florida International 52-35 last week. They did take Oklahoma State to the wire only losing 41-38 early in the season, so they’re capable if you overlook them. South Carolina is not the type of team that just dominates on the scoreboard. They better be careful.
SC 35, Troy 28
Appalachian State @ Florida 11:30 a.m., PPV : App State has proven they can knock off the bigger schools like they did three years ago at Michigan. Florida is a team to me that seems like they’re just trying to get through the season and then focus on finishing up recruiting and getting ready for next year. Florida may have some trouble here. App State is 9-1 with their only loss coming to 6-4 Georgia Southern, 21-14 in overtime. They are a solid FCS team. Florida is probably totally deflated from the season, but they may just do enough to avoid a highly embarrassing upset.
Florida 24, App State 21
Ole Miss @ LSU 2:3o p.m., CBS: LSU has a lot to play for now because if Auburn goes to Glendale–there is a lot of work left for Auburn–they could possibly play in the Sugar Bowl. That will require them to beat Ole Miss at home tomorrow and Arkansas on the road next week. I do see LSU winning tomorrow. I don’t see them winning next week at Arkansas though.
LSU 28, Ole Miss 21
Arkansas @ Mississippi State 6 p.m. ESPN: The Hogs have been on a roll lately. They blasted South Carolina and looked like a top 10 team in the country. Arkansas, LSU and Alabama all playing for a possible Sugar Bowl berth. State has had a good year, but I don’t think they can hold this Razorback offense down and score enough points.
Arkansas 42, State 28
Tennessee @ Vandy 6:30 p.m., CSS: UT played very well against Ole Miss last week and Tyler Bray looks like he’s going to be a very good SEC quarterback. Vandy really struggling on both sides of the ball. Robbie Caldwell just hasn’t had time to employ an offensive system and Larry Smith is either not very well coached or just not very good.
UT 35, Vandy 21
Ohio State @ Iowa 2:30, ABC: Can Terrelle Pryor get it done in a hostile environment? I don’t think so. Ricky Stanzi and Iowa beat Ohio State in a hard fought game.
Iowa 31, Ohio State 28
Virginia Tech @ Miami: Tech has played very good ball since loss to James Madison. I think the loss to James Madison the second game was directly affected by the heartbreaking loss to Boise State to open the season the previous Monday Night, 33-30. They’ve been rolling ever since. Too much Tyrod Taylor and Ryan Williams for a team without its starting quarterback, Jacory Harris, though this backup is pretty good. Like the Hokies.
Va Tech 31, The U 24
(C.J. Mosley playing at a very high level for the Tide.)