A Weekend of Change
The 2026 college football season is now halfway home with 6 games played. There have been a few teams who have surprised us all. Some in a good way and some of the most expensive, in a bad way.
Here a few quick observations in the SEC:
Georgia is playing at an elite level and Alabama is close behind after their 3 point loss to the Bulldogs in Tuscaloosa. Texas might have been the weakest number one team who was just beaten by an average Oklahoma team. Arch Manning has gone from Heisman frontrunner to a struggling signal caller.
LSU and King Lane have now lost to 2 different first year head coaches in the conference. They could have saved 100 million dollars by keeping their former coach with the fake Southern accent and gotten this result. Kentucky’s Will Stein has the Wildcats at 5-1 after beating LSU. He is the real deal.
The wheels have come off the A&M bus after getting curb-stomped by Missouri on Saturday. Don’t look now but Drink’s Tigers are also 5-1. Very few teams entered this season with more hype than the A&M Aggies. Coach Mike Elko has committed the worst off-field coaching blunder: calling out social media in the press.
Regardless of your thoughts, you NEVER attack a member of the so-called media, if you want to survive. Elko responded to a legitimate reporter’s question about the team by saying that the true fans are still behind them. (He should have stopped there,) But, he called out the “cesspool” Tex Ag fan forum by saying that they keep stirring things up and don’t seem to be behind the program.
The “cesspool,” as he calls them are some of the major donors funding the program. Their current 3-3 record could end up being a challenge for a bowl with Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Texas down the road.
In another penthouse to the outhouse few weeks, Florida losing to South Carolina, after becoming the media darling, shows how balanced the SEC is and how quick the honeymoon can be over. Even Tennessee struggled to beat bottom dweller Arkansas. They are going to have to make a quick quarterback decision if they plan on smoking cigars next Saturday when a mad Alabama team comes to Rocky Top.
Nationally, Ohio State has shown its consistency as they travel to Indiana this weekend to play the defending national champions. This will be the last challenge for the Buckeyes until the playoffs. Speaking of Indiana, they were lucky to come out with a win on Saturday against Nebraska.
Oregon lost to UCLA and fell out of the top 25 for the first time in years. In addition to Georgia, right now, the other top 4 teams are Notre Dame, Miami and Ohio State. The SEC will sort itself out. I mistakenly got on the Texas bandwagon, way too soon. LSU, Florida and Oklahoma ended up being fool’s gold.
At the midpoint of the season, Alabama is right behind Georgia for the playoffs. In no order, the next SEC level is Texas, Ole Miss, Missouri, Mississippi State, Tennessee and Kentucky.
Georgia 20- Alabama 17.
The game on Saturday was a classic both on and off the field. Thankfully, Hurricane Isaias didn’t come directly through Tuscaloosa so neither team could blame the weather for the outcome. On Saturday, the better team won. The team that rushed the ball better won. The team that converted better on 3rd down won. And the team whose quarterback made more crucial plays, won the game.
This game will go down as a classic between these two heavyweights. Like all games, it always comes down to about 5 crucial plays. Georgia made more of those plays.
Here is my Monday am assessment: Alabama created enough breaks to win the game. The Dogs had several plays by inches that went their way. Good teams do that. A tipped pass could have been intercepted but bounced into the arms of a Georgia receiver. That’s not an excuse. That’s part of football. A couple of fumbles bounced back to them.
Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo did an outstanding job using quarterback Gunner Stockton’s skill set. All he does is win. Bama had Georgia backed up with 2nd and 20 on at least 2 occasions and they ended up with first downs. Stockton made play after play on 3rd down. When the Tide got an interception in field goal range and came away with no points, that made it tough against a team like Georgia.
Much has been made about the officiating calls and no-calls. Understand this, every fan base really and truly believes “all the calls go against them.” I am not only a former coach and Bama alum, but I am also a college football fan who tries to be objective. Officials must make split second decisions. They don’t have the luxury of a remote control or slow-motion replay, over and over again.
The no-calls of targeting on Williams, the endzone mugging on Rico Scott which should have been both interference and targeting, the overturned interception call looked like the Bama defender had his arms under the ball and also a no facemask call when Crowell was taken down. There was also questionable spotting of the ball on one play.
On the other side, Alabama got away with several no calls of holding and hands to the face. One was on a touchdown run. The calls usually balance out.
The backbreaker was the punch to the face by Dijon Lee when Alabama was about to have a chance to get the ball back with about 2 minutes remaining. His stupidity and lack of class and discipline gave the ball back to Georgia who ran the clock out. You hate to say one player cost a team the ballgame but his sporadic play plus his selfish behavior doesn’t fit the mold of a program whose 2 most famous coaches, Bryant and Saban) preached class and character for a combined 42 years.
Georgia only has one more test before the useless SEC championship game, Ole Miss.
Alabama is at a crossroad starting next week at Tennessee. This close loss can be a wake-up call or a “woe is me” excuse bowl.
There are six more games before Atlanta. My early prediction is that these 2 heavyweights will meet again for a rematch.
Before that though, you have to say what Lee and Almer used to say at the Leighton Barber Shop:
“NEXT.”