And on November 7th, the SEC devoured itself.

How awesome is Les Miles in this pic?

The war between cats and dawgs.

I will go on record as being an adamant supporter of Mark Richt. I can’t explain exactly why. I don’t really care to explain exactly why. However, I know the scales on this are starting to shift. The losses to Florida and Georgia Tech last year and the losses to Tennessee and again to Florida this year have several people outside the program speculating about the fate of Richt’s tenure in Athens. Every time Georgia loses this speculation rumbles like an earthquake through my phone. A loss to Kentucky tomorrow would tip these scales dramatically.

Trick or treat in the SEC.

Come as yourself.

The decision not to wear a costume either means an individual is too lame to party or too cool to party. Sometimes being too cool is actually lame, and sometimes being too lame is actually cool. Texas A&M’s season started off well, and then it started going not so well. Alabama bullied them down the stretch, and Ole Miss finished the job with a 23-3 thumping.

October 17th in the SEC.

Another Saturday. Another post.

"Yeah, I don't know, Nick. I think a 30for30 about how I stole your shit might be something the people are into."

Auburn drowned Kentucky in the moonshine of its own reflection.

This game took place in Lexington earlier this week. Kentucky wore radiant silver helmets, as if football were a game played by Greek princes against Gorgon sisters. Football, however, is not a game played against mythic creatures. Instead, football is a game played by college athletes against other college athletes, and some colleges have better athletes than others. No shield from Athena can change that. The game featured a lot of big pass plays, and college athletes making athletic grabs. The game filled a highlight reel. And, in the end, Kentucky had a chance. But that’s the thing about Kentucky football—chances always end up in past tense. With 27 seconds left in the game the question, Ken-tucky do it, had an answer. A 2-1 start in the conference is now 2-2. Tigers are much more fierce than Wildcats.  

A matter of cannibalism: Louisiana Tech and Mississippi State.

When the Bulldogs play the Bulldogs, the Bulldogs will be victorious. When the Bulldogs are victorious, other Bulldogs will not be. However, once a Bulldog, always a Bulldog. We are all Bulldogs, until we’re no longer Bulldogs. We will always be Bulldogs. Go Bulldogs!

Ole Miss visits Memphis.

Um, somehow this game became interesting. In fact, the game will air on ABC. After all, these teams have only one loss between them. The mighty Tigers of Memphis are living a dream. The mighty Tigers of Memphis are 5-0, yet unranked. In some ways, like all things backwoods and southern, this matchup will feature lots of friends and neighbors and cousins facing off against one another. The whole affair will reek of incest. If the Rebels win, then all this intrigue will evaporate like rain on a hot highway. But, if the Tigers manage the upset, then the name of quarterback Paxton Lynch will fall on our ears like a torrent.

Alabama and Texas A&M collide once more.

Right away Texas A&M felt like an SEC school because of how it played against ‘Bama. Now A&M faces an opportunity to not only make a name for itself in the conference but to supplant the powers that be. They come into the game ranked higher and with a better record than Alabama. This game is about more than this season; this game is about the next half decade or so.

After all, before the Georgia game, many fans and analysts doubted the authenticity of this year’s Crimson Tide. Could they be an aberration on Saban’s year in and year out pursuit of perfection? Now, that doubt feels like eons ago; the press clippings of fossilized worlds no longer in existence. Yet such worlds feel remote no longer. Saban’s squad impersonated dominance in Sanford Stadium. With time, what once was plastic pretense can become a bedrock identity.

So, what happens if the Aggies prevail at home today? Saban and his team would then slouch back into the east down two games to the Aggies and trailing LSU as well. This notion of change is all rather interesting and, for now, possible.

When the sun sets on the Gators.

This game could happen twice.

First, the Gators have risen from the Muschamp ashtray with a fury. And, at 4-0 in the conference, the start is no longer a surprise. The fast start is not so much an uprising as the status quo of this football season. Georgia lost Nick Chubb. Tennessee limps along. South Carolina throws retirement parties. Mizzou’s roar is but a kazoo in the wilderness. And the Wildcats fainted at the sight of their own reflection. The Gators are it.

Then again, the Gators just suspended starting quarterback Will Grier for the season, brining Treon Harris back into the starting fold. An October night in Baton Rouge is probably not the place for such adjustments to be made. In some ways, the Gators voice seems ready to crack. While undefeated and appearing dominant the last two weeks, this team barely edged East Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The last time Harris attempted anything of note was in against the Pirates of ECU. Of course, quarterback play has not necessarily been the reason for the Gators’ renewed success. 

Oh, and the guys at LSU just flat out play.

Missouri scheduled to trim the hedges.

My dad emailed me earlier in the week: “Georgia’s season is down the tubes.” Welp, there you have it.

Bryan Harvey tweets @LawnChairBoys. 

An October day in the SEC

"We'll play some old ones, but with a new twist. You can't play it the same way twice."

South Carolina visits Missouri with a familiar yet unrecognizable playlist.

The above photo has invited jokes comparing Steve Spurrier to a veteran blues singer. He also stated this week that he does not listen to rap music. None of this has much to do with football, but neither does discussion of the Gamecocks status these days. In fact, everything about the Gamecocks currently has to do with the age of the ol’ ball coach. Does anyone remember a time when he was simply the ball coach? Did such a time ever exist?

SEC Week 10 Preview

Whether you were reared on Rock 'n Roll or Norse mythology, you knew this day would come come. Ragnarok, the end, was always promised. All these potential heroes and gods, from Alabama to Georgia and all those in between, cannot all survive into the next unborn age. They cannot all live to see the Playoff. Some will die tragic, memorable deaths. Others will be vanquished by embarrassment. And other will all but disappear. Welcome to a day long foretold. The end is near.

"If it were my choice, Will, you'd be Florida's head ball coach forever.
I think we've got a good thing going here," Mark Richt at his most sincere

Dissecting a Would Be Cyborg: My Thoughts on Peyton Manning

Same face. Different quarterback. It's strange what memories a single uniform can conjure.

I don't have strong ties to the University of Tennessee.

My memaw who grew up in Belbuckle claimed I had a great uncle who played there, his nickname having to do with the alligator wiggle of his hips going through the line. Personally, I never met the man, and if there's a grainy team photo out there with him in it, I wouldn't be able to pinpoint his pale cheekbones anymore than I might be able to pick out President Rutherford B. Hayes in a line up of nineteenth century Presidents who used the White House for a Gilded Age beard off and nothing more. But I did recognize Tyler Bray's face on Saturday, dazed in the sun, and twisted in defeat, as if the Florida Gators had poured him a shot of bad whiskey. I recognized that face, slumped jaw and saddened eyes; I'd seen it at least four times before, the viewing of it as familiar to me as my memaw's stories about uncles I never knew.