Time Out
by Dan Rutledge

Wow! What a difference a week makes!

As we head into Week 7 of the 2010 Southeastern Conference football season, all bets are off on who will compete for the league title in December in the Georgia Dome. Before what has been called “the shocker in Columbia,” Alabama was riding high in the driver’s seat at No. 1, undefeated and, so it appeared, unstoppable.

In fact, the question posed in this very column was, “Can anybody stop the Crimson Tide offense?” The answer was, obviously, “Yes, South Carolina can.”

Not that the Gamecocks’ upset — and it was that — was a complete surprise. Some, including yours truly, said before the season began that the South Carolina might be the most dangerous on the schedule.

TV Schedule and Lines Below
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TV Schedule and Lines Below

Time Out
by Dan Rutledge

Freeze Frame! Fans of both Georgia and Auburn would like nothing better than having the league standings after Week 2 of the Southeastern Conference football season frozen in time, a photograph printed from one frame of the “College Football 2009” video.

If the 2009 SEC Championship Game were to be played next week, it would be the Bulldogs, on top with a 1-0 mark in the East, vs. the Tigers, 1-0 in the Western Division, vying for the league crown in the Georgia Dome. But fans of the Dogs and Tigers had better enjoy the moment because their respective teams won’t be on top of the division standings for long.

Questions will begin to be answered once results from this weekend’s nine-game SEC schedule are in, with three leagues games on tap and two interesting non-league contests on the lineup as well.

Week 3 begins with five SEC teams ranked among the nation’s Top 25 teams … in fact, the SEC almost makes up the top five with the Florida Gators No. 1, Alabama No. 4 and Ole Miss No. 5. The league almost has half of the top 10, with LSU coming in at No. 7. Georgia is still in the mix at No. 20.

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Time Out for SEC Sports
by Dan Rutledge

The Southeastern Conference football season rolls into Week 3 with nearly half of its members ranked in the national Top 25 polls (Georgia No. 2, Florida No. 4, LSU No. 7, Auburn No. 9 and Alabama No.11) and coming off a week that saw just two of its 12 members suffer defeat last weekend.

And one of those defeats came in a head-to-head meeting of league teams in which one had to fall. And that losing team, Steve Spurrier’s South Carolina Gamecocks, is involved in one of the two big games on the SEC schedule this Saturday.

The most interesting matchup on this week’s menu will involve those same Gamecocks, playing at home in Columbia in a game that will be a factor in the SEC Eastern Division race. Spurrier’s ‘Cocks will host the pre-season No. 1 pick in the land, the Georgia Bulldogs (Line: Georgia by 7).

Georgia head coach Mark Richt has called this week’s matchup against Carolina a new beginning.” He could have called it the beginning of the regular season, since it is the first league game for the Bulldogs. Georgia played a two-game “exhibition season” against two “directional schools” Georgia Southern and Central Michigan. And the Dogs did very well in their “preseason” outings, rolling up 50-plus points per game in routing the two sacrificial offerings.

And while the game is important to the Dogs, it is crucial for the Gamecocks. LSU proved last year that you can win it all with two league losses – but you have to be lucky as well as good. South Carolina can’t afford a second league loss and will be highly motivated. If Georgia comes in even a little complacent, with the Cocks playing at home, it could be interesting. Carolina has a good defensive outfit that could give the Dogs some trouble.

The other top game this week pits SEC Western Division rivals Auburn and Mississippi State (Line: Auburn by 10). With Auburn finally settling on Chris Todd as its quarterback, maybe the Tigers’ offense will pick up. But if the game follows previous AU-Mississippi State contests, it will be low scoring and hard fought. Mississippi State will have to defeat history as well as the War Eagles to win. The Bulldogs have lost eight straight conference openers.

The Losers’ Bowl in Knoxville is an interesting match-up simply because somebody will have to win. Tennessee should be ready and awfully hungry when it hosts 0-2 University of Alabama-Birmingham at Neyland Stadium Saturday morning (Line: Tennessee by 30). The Vols have had a week of to digest their upset loss to UCLA in their opener two weeks ago and should come close to covering the line … but notice the word “should.” Tennessee is sort of like Alabama in that they often have the most trouble when they are supposed to trounce their opponent. They, like Bama in recent years, seem to play up (or down) to their opponents’ level.

Alabama will host Sun Belt Conference foe Western Kentucky Saturday at 6 p.m. (Line: Alabama by 28). After the letdown against Tulane and after hearing “I told you so” all week, look for Bama’s players to come out ready to play.

The rest of this Saturday’s SEC slate continues the opening weeks trend – playing easy foes to inflate the ol’ record. The rest of the weekly slate includes: Middle Tennessee (1-1) of the Sun Belt at Kentucky (2-0) (Line: Kentucky by 16), Rice (2-0) at Vanderbilt (2-0) (Line: Vandy by 7), Samford (2-0) at Ole Miss (1-1) ) (No Line) and North Texas (Sun Belt again!) at LSU (Line: LSU by 42).

Arkansas (2-0) was scheduled to play at Texas on Saturday, but the game was postponed until Sept. 27 due to Hurricane Ike.

Once again – as is usually the case at the early stages when, for the most part, league teams have a habit of playing weak teams to pad their records and up their chances of being bowl eligible — it looks like another big win week for the SEC. The only league loss this week should be either South Carolina – again!! – or Georgia if Spurrier’s ‘Cocks can pull off the big upset again – and either Auburn or Mississippi State.

WEEKEND TV LINEUP

The weekend television lineup includes, as always, a Friday night ESPN contest. This week’s game is an interesting one, pitting two undefeated teams from BCS conferences – Kansas from the Big 12 versus South Florida from the Big East.

Alabama will host Sun Belt Conference foe Western Kentucky Saturday at 6 p.m. It’s only available on pay-for-view or online.

Saturday’s schedule, other than pay-for-view:
11 a.m.
N.C., State at Clemson (CW), California at Maryland (ESPN), Florida Atlantic at Michigan St. (ESPN2), Navy at Duke (ESPNU), New Hampshire at Rhode Island (CSS)
11:30 a.m.
UAB at Tennessee (Lincoln Financial), Washington St. at Baylor (FSNS)
2:30 p.m.
Arkansas at Texas (ABC), Georgia at South Carolina (CBS), Michigan at Notre Dame. (NBC), UMass at James Madison (CSS), UCLA at BYU (Versus)
2:45 p.m.
Chattanooga at FSU (ESPNU)
6 p.m.
Memphis at Marshall (CSS), Auburn at Miss. St. (ESPN2)
6:30 p.m.
Virginia at UConn (ESPNU)
6:45 p.m.
Oklahoma at Washington (ESPN)
7 p.m.
Ohio St. at USC (ABC)
9:30 p.m.
Wisconsin at Fresno St. (ESPN2)