Dawgs Win, Tech Loses

UGA's defense forced the Arkansas offense into mistake after mistake in the first half, allowing freshman sensation Nick Chubb and the offense to take a huge lead. Fumbles, interceptions, sacks, and timely penalties spelled doom for the Razorbacks, who were surely emotionally drained from last week's near miss against Alabama. Once again ESPN's Desmond Howard picked the Dawgs to lose (to a team with the longest current SEC losing streak).

The momentum seemingly shifted to Arkansas in the third quarter, but that might've been more a function of UGA's three 3 & out possessions. Chubb only ran the ball three times in the third quarter, and was stuffed each time. But Georgia rallied again in the fourth quarter, quickly striking for a score on a Mason to Conley touchdown and then running out the last five minutes on the clock with Chubb carrying the load. Georgia's win was the first this year by a SEC East team over one from the SEC West.

After winning two games convincingly with help from implosions from their opponents, at some point the Dawgs are eventually going to face an opponent that puts together four quarters of solid football. Florida will be fired up, but Kentucky and Auburn represent much more serious challenges. After Missouri dismantled the Gators, some wonder how long Will Muschamp will hold onto his job. Florida will continue to struggle as long as Jeff Driscol is their quarterback.

If the fans had their say, Richt would've been fired a long time ago. And Bobo. And Hutson Mason. 680's Chuck Oliver thinks Mason will be SEC MVP of the second half of the season.

The Yellow Jacket defense is terrible. TarHeel ballcarriers were dishing out the blows, knocking Tech defenders backwards. UNC scored on what, 7 of their last 9 possessions? The poor defensive performance overshadowed a great performance by the Jacket offense. That touchdown run by Smelter was the first Georgia Tech end around to go for a big gain in the past 30 years. Usually they get thrown for big losses. 

Shows you how bad North Carolina's defense is. Chuck Oliver predicted 400 yards rushing for Tech, and the Jackets came close – almost 370 yards on the ground. Oliver hadn't expected Tech to have such a big day throwing the ball. Had the first quarter fourth down touchdown not been called back for illegal motion, the Jackets would have won. 

Hopefully fullback Zack Laskey (shoulder) isn't hurt too bad (he will miss Saturday's game at Pitt). As well as QB Justin Thomas has been running the offense, Laskey's runs up the middle are a key component. Like Clemson and UGA, Georgia Tech faces tough games at Pitt and at home against Virginia.

The GT/UNC game is always a track meet. When Vad Lee had a career day two years ago as a redshirt freshman backup, we should've realized that it wasn't against a very good defense. Instead we thought Lee was going to lead Tech to the promised land.

One Tech fan thought GT lost because the coaches "went for the big play too early" and called the end around for the touchdown, as if the Jackets could've scored on any play they wanted. It was what, third and 20 from the Tech 35 when they called the play. Guess the fan though Smelter should've fallen down so GT could've run the clock down more before scoring.

Clemson: weak offense / strong defense. Georgia Tech: strong offense / weak defense. Should make for an interesting game – maybe Tech has a chance this year. Clemson has to rely on the defense to hold the score down in order to win. Tech has to score more points than their defense allows. I was watching the UGA/ARK game while the Clemson/Boston College game was on the other station. Clemson will continue to struggle until freshman Deshaun Watson returns. Next week at home against Syracuse and especially on the road at Wake Forest and Georgia Tech will be every bit as tough to win as Boston College was this past Saturday.

Not impressed by Boston College QB Tyler Murphy. Though athletic, he has trouble finding receivers and holds on to the ball too long, especially when the protection was good and he had plenty of time in the pocket. Made a dangerous through across his body while running to his right.

Will anyone beat FSU? Looks like Winston will continue to play, despite mounting evidence against him. Like Gurley, his best avenue may be to drop out of school and train for the NFL draft. I love how a line is forming to blast Winston: Bo Jackson, Herschel Walker, and Bobby Bowden. I want to hear a reporter ask Winston who he will vote for in this year's Heisman race. On the field Jameis is still one of the best, but he lacks in all the other areas of the award. After a long day of football and deflated by the Tech loss, I couldn't get into the second half of the FSU / Notre Dame game. Sounds like I missed out.

After last week's great comeback, Baylor turned into a pumpkin Saturday. The loss all but ends the Heisman hopes of QB Bryce Petty, who was only ranked 24th in the nation this year anyway.
Alabama made a statement, beating poor A&M worse than any other team had. Everyone had said A&M's loss of Mansiel, lineman Matthews, and the tall wide receiver wasn't going to hurt them too much, but obviously they were wrong.

Loved Oregon's throwback uniforms.

Every time the Falcons lose everyone keeps asking "what's wrong with the Falcons?" You'd think people would stop being surprised. All the experts favored the Ravens to win, and they did. When will people learn? Hey – it's going to be like that the rest of the year. At least the Braves only had one bad year (winning just less than half their games).