Welcome to Week 5 of the 2011 Season! You may have heard (or not) that The Texas A&M Aggies were unanimously voted in as members of the SEC. Now, this makes 13 total teams for the conference BUT, they won’t formerly join the SEC until next year. Our head turner of the week involves the Aggies and a really cool tradition they have in place. This description of the very famous tradition called, “THE TWELFTH MAN” comes directly from the Texas A&M “traditions” website…

“The tradition of the Twelfth Man was born in January 1922, when an underdog Aggie team was playing Centre College, then the nation’s top ranked team. As the hard fought game wore on, and the Aggies dug deeply into their limited reserves, Coach Dana X. Bible remembered a squad man who was not in uniform. He had been up in the press box helping reporters identify players. His name was E. King Gill, and was a former football player who was only playing basketball. Gill was called from the stands, suited up, and stood ready throughout the rest of the game, which A&M finally won 22-14. When the game ended, E. King Gill was the only man left standing on the sidelines for the Aggies. Gill later said, “I wish I could say that I went in and ran for the winning touchdown, but I did not. I simply stood by in case my team needed me.”

This gesture was more than enough for the Aggie Team. Although Gill did not play in the game, he had accepted the call to help his team. He came to be thought of as the Twelfth Man because he stood ready for duty in the event that the eleven men on the gridiron needed assistance. That spirit of readiness for service, desire to support, and enthusiasm helped kindle a flame of devotion among the entire student body; a spirit that has grown vigorously throughout the years. The entire student body at A&M is the Twelfth Man, and they stand during the entire game to show their support. The 12th Man is always in the stands waiting to be called upon if they are needed. This tradition took on a new look in the 1980?s when Coach Jackie Sherrill started the 12th Man Kick-Off Team composed of regular students through open tryouts. This 12th Man team performed very well and held opponents to one of the lowest yards per return averages in the league. Later, Head Coach R.C. Slocum changed the team to allow only one representative of the 12th Man on the kick off team.”

Today, one man who shows lots of determination and drive wears the #12 on the kick off, signifying this long held tradition. This weekend, The Aggies are playing an old rival – The Arkansas Razorbacks. You should make the following comment, “I’d really like to see just a moment or two of the Texas A&M vs. Arkansas game”.  Why, you ask? “Well, I know they are joining the SEC next year and I’ve heard a lot about their “12th Man Tradition. I’d like to see the man selected to wear #12 on kick-offs.” Make sure you have a good overview of the story above taken from the school website and you should get a nod of admiration in addition to a “head-turn”. Have fun!

I hardly know where to start on this week’s news “wrap up”. So much has been happening in the world of College Football and, most of it has little to do with the game. You probably guessed that I am speaking of ”conference expansion” talk.  There has actually been some action to accompany the “talk”, which is a new twist. The ACC agreed to accept Pittsburgh and Syracuse after receiving their letters of application, but now the Big East Commissioner says they will stay with the Big East until 2014. What does that mean? Anyway, we heard similar “yes” but “no” intimations from the PAC 12 and a list of Big 10 teams, too. So, I am going to leave this alone. It is very confusing – and it seems to be taking time away from things that should be at the forefront like…playing football. Let’s focus on that.

Okay with that out of the way, I’ll say that there are several big games this weekend. Florida State is headed to Clemson whose Tigers are coming off a signature win over Auburn. Let’s see if FSU can bounce back from the physically draining loss to Oklahoma last weekend.  Also in the ACC, we’ll be interested to see how GA Tech handles North Carolina.

SEC matchups include Kentucky vs. Florida and South Carolina vs. Vandy.  The game carrying the most bang will likely be  Alabama’s (#2) game with Arkansas (#12). Keep an eye on this one  to see if Alabama keeps its #2 ranking and begins to eliminate challengers for the SEC West Title. But, the head turner for this week has more to do with a game of lesser notoriety; Georgia vs. Ole Miss.

Some ESPN writers are calling Saturday’s game between Ole Miss and Georgia the “Survivor Bowl” because both team’s coaches, Mark Richt and Houston Nutt have lost key games this year (and last year).  As we mentioned in an earlier post, these coaches have “underachieved” when you consider the talent they have on their football teams. In other words, their jobs might be in danger. Georgia’s Bulldogs should come out on top of this one with more talent and a chance to stay in the race for the SEC East top spot.

Most recently, the Georgia Bulldogs lost the key opener to the Boise State Broncos (remember that one?-we were counting on an SEC win to silence the Blue Broncos). Then Georgia lost to South Carolina. But the worst is probably the losses that Ole Miss has incurred – most notably to Vandy last weekend by a large margin. Coach Nutt’s “buy out” of his contract will be 6 million, an expensive dismissal for sure. I’ve heard that the fans are not happy with him.

So we’re calling this the “Hot Seat Bowl” because both coaches are sitting on shaky ground right now. So at some point on Saturday, you should pause and say, “‘Wonder who won the Hot Seat Bowl between Georgia and Ole Miss?” You can follow this up with the info above if questioned about it.

Have a good weekend, y’all.

The kick-off weekend in an extended version, actually brought all the excitement promised! There were numerous surprises, some nail-biters and a couple of miracles performed on college football fields throughout the nation.

Here’s a synopsis:

1) Oregon is now, “Ore-gone” following a genuine beat down by the LSU Tigers. There is little chance of them re-entering the BCS discussion after the shellac-in’ they had put on them.

2) Conversely, I did not get my wish for the silencing of the Boise St. Broncos. The Georgia Bulldogs let us down on that one and now Boise is free to play their  network of “cupcake” teams and slide worry-free into the BCS discussion for yet another year. This really makes me feel badly.

3) South Carolina pretty much scared their fan base to death in the first half of their game with Eastern Carolina. However, Spurrier decided to let their veteran QB, Stephen Garcia play in the 2nd half and they pulled off a lop-sided victory with ease.

4) Speaking of scared…Auburn just about lost to Utah State. In the final 2 minutes of the game they came back in Tiger form to pull off a victory even though many fans left too soon to witness it. (Note to fans- You don’t leave before the game ends)

5) Ole Miss lost at the very last moment after leading pretty much the whole game. The fans stayed, but were sorry.

The rest of the SEC and several southern ACC teams won with little difficulty with few exceptions, but none played challenging opponents. Notre Dame lost-which still makes me as happy now as it did in the 1970′s – apologies for holding grudges to all concerned.

On a completely different note, I just wanted to let you know that “it’s happening”!

Men are noticing that we are becoming football savvy! Mike Norris at Southeastern Sports Talk posted an interview about our blog. I’ll give you the link so you can read it if you’re interested. And, for those of you who are doing some traveling to SEC venues this season, you might check out his book about the stadiums and points of interest at all of our SEC schools.

Be ready, cause we’ll be posting a ZINGER each week for you to use at work or at home to show your football accumen. Till then, have a great week!

It’s Thursday, September 1, 2011 as I write this. Tonight is the night for the beginning of the 2011 Season. ESPN is blaring from the TV as I busy myself in the kitchen making quick-energy protein bars and put the tailgate cookies in the oven. I have my water, G2, Mtn. Dews and Cokes in the cooler and my breakfast mini-cinnamon rolls ready to put on the trays for Saturday a.m. Okay, maybe I’m a little early on my Saturday prep, but I didn’t want to miss the games tonite and tomorrow.

I hope you all are ready too and that you have gotten yourself prepared for the games. We should do really well as a conference on this opening weekend with the marquee games being Georgia vs. Boise State and LSU vs. Oregon. I would really be pleased if the Boise State Broncos left the BCS conversation early this season with a loss to Georgia. I did really grow weary of blue turf and all the talk about their worthiness last season, especially knowing that early in the season, Va Tech could have put a lid on that. ( By the way…You can mention this to gain a look of surprise from the men at home or work )We shall see.
I don’t know what to make of the LSU vs. Oregon match up. I’ve never been really big on Jared Lee at QB for the Tigers- he just makes me real nervous. Again, guess we’ll know soon enough!

Hope you all will write in with your questions and comments since that’s what makes it so much fun for all of us. NO QUESTION is too simple, so throw your inhibitions aside here and trust that we are here for each other!

Happy Football!

‘Just wanted to say, “Hey!” and welcome the many new followers we have for this “still in the bud” season of College Football! For you new members, I want to suggest that you visit the “Welcome” tab on our site to find the information you need to get started. For you who have been with us for a while – welcome back.

We have some great new features this season, including interviews with former SEC players and college athletic standouts. As always, we are looking for your comments and questions – none is too simple or too complex! If I don’t know, I’ll ask someone who does know.

This Thursday night is the start, in case you didn’t know. Be sure to mention that you realize that there really are no major games until Saturday to the male folk in your world – just to show that you might command a new respect in this arena in the 2011 season.
Please invite your friends to join us, too. This is a fast growing fellowship and I believe we are about to see the day when women, “sure do know their football”.

Check your calendars, Ladies!

Football fans all ‘round the nation are following what’s going to happen today, February 2, 2011 with the nation’s high school recruits. Just in case you didn’t know, sports authorities such as ESPN rate high school players from 1 to 150 and the nation’s football powers – big and small try to load up as many of the top players as their rosters permit. I should tell you that this “rating” service has not proven itself terribly reliable through the years. In fact, some of the top rated players haven’t done all that well in college or the NFL. And conversely, some who weren’t ranked highly by ESPN have achieved way beyond the “stars” by their name. So what does it really mean? Only time is an accurate predictor.

Anyway, the sports world today will be focused on young men who are making an explosion onto the landscape of the public notoriety that is college football. They’ll be on TV and radio, making declarations by putting on the caps of the universities of their choice with great ceremony and bravura. And, they may be forced to deal with it in ways their young spirit hasn’t the maturity to handle at this point.

God bless them all and keep them level headed, safe from those who’d take advantage, devoted to their craft and committed to receiving a good education.

Nary a football fan alive likely missed the fact that Auburn University clinched the BCS National Championship Title for 2010 Monday night in Glendale Arizona. But, I’m announcing it as if I am the first to let you know.

In a nail-biter that was tied at 19 all with 2 seconds (yep, 2) left to play, Auburn’s Wes Byrum kicked a short field goal get the win over the Oregon “Ducks” - 22 to 19. The game was hyped as an offensive show down that was predicted to rack up somewhere upwards of 70 total points scored. The reality of it was that neither offense engaged in its usual “score-fest” but rather the defenses seemed to be the story of the evening. Obviously you can read real accounts of the game at any number of places online and in print so I won’t even try to cover the details. Suffice it to say that Oregon and its high scoring, rapid fire offense got a taste of the kind of defenses SEC teams see week in and week out. That’s it in a nutshell, if you ask me.

I had heard much about Oregon running plays so quickly that it’ll make your head spin and in truth, I watched them in several games where I had to agree with that. But on Monday night, they seemed to be at about the same pace as most teams and their tricky reverses and backward tosses on offense and special teams just didn’t come off with the success they had had in PAC 10 games.  Along this same train of thought, I remember that it was the Tiger Offense, not the defense that was highly praised. That just says to me, one more time that the SEC’s style of ball is in a league very separate from other conferences.

So now it’s the 5th BCS National Title in as many years, won by the SEC. Now that’s something to be proud of!! Congratulations to the Auburn Tigers and fans! This is huge for the University and for the fan base. And how amazing it is to see history being made in the great State of Alabama with back to back BCS titles and back to back Heisman Trophy Winners. I don’t think that’s ever been done. Do you? Even if your team wasn’t in the game, you have to be amazed and proud of that fact. ‘Hope you are.