Posts Tagged ‘Big East’

Note: The Tennesseeum is in its infancy, but I hope to eventually develop it into a virtual museum (hence “Tennessee-um”) of rosters, images, articles, and records pertaining to the Vols.  For now, however, it is little more than a landing page for current rosters and a few other items of interest.

If you have any content that you think belongs in a virtual museum dedicated to the Vols, feel free to contact me.

2009 Football Collection:

• 2009 Tennessee Football:

  • 2009 Coaching Staff
  • 2009 Alphabetical Roster

• 2009 SEC Previews:

  • SEC East:

    • Florida
    • Georgia
    • Kentucky
    • South Carolina
    • Tennessee
    • Vanderbilt

  • SEC West:

    • Alabama
    • Auburn
    • Arkansas
    • LSU
    • Ole Miss
    • Mississippi State

Other Collections:

The Cumberland Wing:

Dedicated to the sights, sounds and history of that little collection of buildings along Cumberland Avenue known simply as “The Strip”

• “Sam & Andy’s Forever”: Remembering the legendary hangout that was Sam & Andy’s

The Tennessee Home for the Visually Offensive:

A virtual museum of some of the finest Farks (a/k/a “photoshopped”) images from the world of sports that the web has to offer including the following sub-collections:

• Lawvol’s Masterpieces
• The SEC Collection:
  • Tennessee
  • Alabama
  • Arkansas
  • Auburn
  • Florida
  • Georgia
  • Kentucky
  • LSU
  • Ole Miss
  • Mississippi State
  • South Carolina
  • Vanderbilt
• The College Sports Collection:
  • Memphis
  • The Big Ten
  • The ACC
  • The PAC-10
  • The Big XII
  • The Big East & Notre Dame
• The Professional Sports Collection:
  • NFL Farks
  • MLB Farks
• The Broad Horizons (Miscellaneous) Collection

This virtual museum is under construction.

New Collections Debuting Soon!!

Big Games in SEC and Big XII

So amidst the stir I more or less caused with last week’s Alabama hate post and the Big Orange Roundtable collaboration and farks, I never got around to previewing the weekend’s slate of games. For that I apologize now. I also apologize for more or less going M.I.A. since then.

I actually got to go to the Colts-Titans matchup this past Monday night, quite an atmosphere it was. However, having class the next morning made getting back at 3 a.m. have some unfortunate lasting effects.

It’s beginning to look like the BCS is going to have quite the mess on its hands at the end of this year. Texas is undefeated and running through their current gauntlet in the Big XII. If they get by Texas Tech Saturday night, the only real challenge might be the trip to Kansas. Penn State goes undefeated, barring a loss in a tricky trip to Iowa in a couple of weeks. USC is still in the mix.

Alabama’s still unbeaten, and looks to have the SEC West all but wrapped up. Also, their “tough” games – at LSU and Auburn at home – don’t look so tough anymore. Florida and Georgia both look to be rolling into their showdown in J’ville this weekend.

Utah and Boise State are still lurking, and let’s not forget about Tulsa sneaking up into the Top 20.

As we enter the month’s last season, all I’ll say is that it’s going to be real fun watching all this unfold. There’s going to be some great games, and there’s bound to be some upsets and some things no one will have seen coming. So it begins…

SEC Games

Auburn at Ole Miss (12:30, RayCom): Auburn fans, we feel your pain. We know how you feel. While Tennessee’s closing schedule is manageable, it’s just now getting difficult for Auburn. The Tigers close after this road trip with Tennessee-Martin, Georgia, and a trip to Alabama. Not getting to 6-6 for a bowl game is a very likely possibility.

Ole Miss bounced back from the Bama loss by surviving Arkansas. Now they have a chance to all but wrap up a bowl game, and second place in the SEC West – a big step from 0-8 – is within reach, believe it or not. With Auburn reeling, it makes pretty good sense to think Ole Miss will win.

Tulsa at Arkansas (2:00, ESPN GamePlan): Speaking of the Golden Hurricane, this is the toughest game of their season. A win here and they might as well book an undefeated season. The Hogs struggled with Western Illinois and UL Monroe, and their defense has been bad at times. Tulsa’s quirky offense is going to give them trouble, despite Arkansas having the advantage in athletes.The other storyline here is Tulsa offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn’s return to Arkansas, in a game definitely worth keeping your eye on.

Kentucky at Mississippi State (2:30, ESPN GamePlan): Ouch. Kentucky, like Vanderbilt, has somewhat returned to their awful ways. After stealing a W from Arkansas, the Cats were smashed by Florida. How will they respond with a bowl bid potentially on the line in Starkville?

Despite winning last week over MTSU, this is State’s last chance to even think about a bowl bid. They can more or less guarantee getting out the cellar with a win here – remember they already knocked off Vandy, and host Arkansas in a couple weeks. Both these offenses are horrific, so it might be the first to 14 wins. I’ll take Mississippi State at home.

Arkansas State at Alabama (3:00, ESPN GamePlan): Another November Sun Belt opponent at home for Alabama. Arkansas State already won at Texas A&M to open the season. Just throwin’ that out there…

Georgia vs. Florida in Jacksonville (3:30, CBS): So many storylines here. Florida scored 63 points last week and look to be rolling. Georgia hung 52 in Baton Rouge last week. There’s the whole endzone celebration that everybody’s downplaying. Athletes everywhere. The SEC East on the line. Staying in the national title chase on the line. SEC football at its best.

We all remember this little deal...especially the Gators...

I hate to see either of these teams – and Bammer too – play for championships while Tennessee wallows in its awfulness. But I would be a total moron to not watch this game. TOTAL. MORON. The safe pick is Florida. Why? Well, for one they have Tebow of Nazareth. Two, they own Georgia. Three, they remember last year. I thought Florida would win the East at the beginning of the year, and I don’t see how the Dawgs can keep that from happening.

Tennessee at South Carolina (7:00, ESPN2): Six points against Florida. 14 at Georgia. Nine against Alabama. Tennessee’s offense is really bad. OK, enough with stating the obvious. It’s actually South Carolina that has the top defense statistically in the SEC. I have no idea how Tennessee will move the ball and how the Vols will score. Not a clue.

I’m seeing the same ol’ same ol’ from Tennessee. The defense forces some mistakes from Stephen Garcia, keeps the score close for a while, but then just gets worn down. The frustration continues. I would say last weekend was THE bottom (here’s why I think so), but now – down to basically one healthy DT – the team’s gotta go play a road game. I was gonna go, but not anymore. I’ll watch, and be prepared for more frustration.

Tulane at LSU (8:00, ESPN GamePlan): Speaking of reeling, what’s up with LSU? Florida scored 51. Georgia scored 52 – at LSU. The defensive losses eventually became too much to overcome, and now LSU looks like they won’t repeat anything. Tulane hung with Alabama earlier this year in Tuscaloosa, and who knows how LSU comes out after two beatdowns. Just sayin’…

THERE’S MORE

The Weekly Duke Update:Go Duke! The Devils have a winning record in November. In football. After beating Vanderbilt in Nashville last week, David Cutcliffe’s Blue Devils sit at 4-3 entering the toughest part of the schedule. Duke plays at Wake Forest Saturday. The host NC State and North Carolina and play at Clemson and Virginia Tech down the stretch. I don’t know if there’s two wins, but even four wins at Duke is quite the accomplishment.

I know we Vol fans learned how important Coach Cut was to Tennessee, but I for one don’t want to see him come back if/when Fulmer’s done. First, I want a younger up-and-comer. Two, Cut is building something here people.

Duke is 4-3 after beating Vanderbilt, Tennessee is 3-5...go figure...

Elsewhere in the wide-open, who-knows-who’s-actually-good-enough-to-win-the-thing ACC, Florida State plays surprising Georgia Tech in Atlanta. After sucking in September, Al Groh has Virginia of all teams at 3-1 in the ACC after beating Tech last week in Atlanta. UVA hosts Miami Saturday.

The JV League/Big East is garbage and no one cares who wins it. The Big Ten is pretty much Penn State’s, but somehow, someway, Minnesota is 7-1 hosting Northwestern Saturday. The Gophers – ranked in the top 20 now – have beaten exactly zero good teams, and avoid Penn State, Ohio State and Michigan State . Honestly, they could go 11-1 and, if Penn State ends up playing for it all, could sneak into the Rose Bowl a la Illinois last year, where they would likely get trounced by somebody. Feel-good story? Nope, something else that needs to be fixed.

Can Texas stop Graham Harrell and/or Michael Crabtree?

Much like the Big Ten, the Pac 10 is all USC, who hosts winless Washington Saturday. That said, Oregon State still actually leads the league, tied with the USC team they smacked at 3-1. More technically, Oregon leads the league at 4-1. However, they play at 3-1 Cal Saturday afternoon, so an elimination game there that zero of us over here in the South (a) care about and (b) will get on ABC at 3:30.

That leaves the New Pac 10, aka the Big XII. Last week’s Okie State-Texas game was 28-24, which is like a game in the 50s in hoops (which has now started, yes!!). Oklahoma scored 51 points – in the first half – at Kansas State. Forgotten Missouri beat Colorado 58-0. Texas Tech hung 63 on Kansas in Lawrence. Are the defenses this bad? Are the offenses this good? Guess we’ll find out when one of these teams is playing in the title game…

Speaking of that title game, Texas has a trip to Lubbock Saturday night basically between them and a Missouri rematch/unbeaten season (no, I don’t think Kansas gets them). How does my new coach choice Will Muschamp plan to stop Mike Leach and Graham Harrell. Michael Crabtree would be an NFL receiver – now. This should be a great game to watch, with obviously tons of offense. Still, it’s Texas Tech. When have they won these types of games? I like Texas in this game.

ENJOY!

Images Courtesy of: Memphis Commercial Appeal • Mark Humphrey / AP (Daylife) • Matt Slocum / AP (Daylife)

Well, I’m currently driving to the Volunteer City to see the Vols play the Gators. In this brief interlude, I wanted to take a second to gloat over Colorado’s victory against West Virginia. (See, Avi, I told you the Buffs were Top 20 material). There are 2 things I’ve learned in life about these teams: 1) Colorado usually has a better team than people realize and 2) The Big East sucks.

On to the game…
{{scene-2}}

Cupcake Time Is Over

This weekend marks the first weekend with really a full slate of SEC Football, the best kind of football pretty much ever. Georgia and South Carolina battled last Saturday to give us a little taste, but now it’s on. The SEC race begins in earnest this weekend with four games, and two more interesting non-conference matchups just for kicks.

Indeed, it’s the best part of being a southern football fan. Those of us fortunate enough to be in Knoxville for the showdown with the Gates (at least we all hope it’s fortunate to be there…) will likely be tailgating before. Not only that, but it’s felt absolutely magnificent here in Knoxville this week. PERFECT FOOTBALL WEATHER…

For me, tailgating isn’t complete without a TV. First, football I care about so much about is just on Saturdays. I want to see how other teams are doing. Second, it’s great for getting attention. Honestly, if you don’t have a TV, but the folks next to you brought their 48-inch high-def TV with a satellite dish, you’re going to watch it. Great ice-breaker – as if being fans of the same team wasn’t already enough. That early game is now an SEC game, which makes it that much better.

And after seeing an SEC game in person, there’s more SEC football to watch in high-def. So (hopefully) after a win, you can relax and watch other teams kill each other, knowing you’ve taken care of business – or that your season is going to be a long one. With the lack of a big national game NOT involving an SEC team, much of my focus will be there…

SEC Games

Mississippi State at Georgia Tech: Mississippi State has a chance to redeem themselves for that loss to Louisiana Tech with a win over Georgia Tech in Atlanta. We’ll find out how good the State front seven is against the heavy rushing/triple option offense the Jackets have had success with already – they won at Boston College and nearly won at Virginia Tech last week.

Alabama at Arkansas (RayCom, 12:30): The appetizer for the day. Arkansas starts a death run – after the Tide, it’s at Texas, Florida at home, then at Auburn. I want to say the Tide runs away with this thing, but I just have a feeling Arkansas will stick around – keep in mind the Tide haven’t won at Arkansas since 2002. Either that or Bammer just runs over them with the run game. This will be the first look at the “new” Casey Dick for pretty much everyone who isn’t an Arkansas fan.

Those of us tailgating before the Florida game will most likely be watching Alabama-Arkansas, our first real look at the Razorbacks

Florida at Tennessee (CBS, 3:30): I’m going to wait til tomorrow to really go into my feelings on this game, but I will say this now (and probably again tomorrow): NOBODY expects Tennessee to even keep it close, and that always seems to be to the Vols’ advantage. Also, the last two games in Neyland between these two teams have been determined by a whopping 3 points. That’s all for now…

Vanderbilt at Ole Miss: Speaking of under-the-radar, this game isn’t even on TV. These two teams are probably better than their names suggest they are. It’s the first SEC game in Oxford for Houston Nutt, and it’s probably a good idea to not lose to Vandy.

The ‘Dores have been impressive, and their next three games – trips to the Mississippi schools sandwiching hosting Auburn – are winnable. I can’t lie, as much as Vanderbilt going to a bowl is something I wouldn’t mind seeing, I am ready to see how Vanderbilt will blow this good start and miss on a bowl for the 75th straight year (actually, it’s just been 25 years…)

Wofford at South Carolina: If I was a South Carolina fan, I probably wouldn’t even go to this game – there’s too much better football on…

Then again, it’s a definite win, so Williams-Brice will likely be packed full…

LSU at Auburn (ESPN, 7:45): All you people who claimed Auburn as a shoo-in to win the West, how do you feel now?? I’ve been on the LSU side of that debate since summer, and I think they’ll win this game at Auburn. The thing that makes me a little hesitant is the injury to Darry Beckwith, one of the two Tiger starters returning behind that nasty defensive line. Chris Todd thought Mississippi State was good up front? Uh, he should be having nightmares of the LSU front this week…

Seriously, with the amount of talent surrounding the LSU QB - like Demetrius Byrd - I think I could probably win some games (although not against the Auburn defense)

Of course the LSU QB is the biggest question in this game. That could be interesting thing, seeing as Auburn scored three points last week – and won. I don’t care how bad Mississippi State’s offense is, Auburn’s defense is pretty nasty too. But LSU has an advantage at the WR position, ridiculous talent all over the field, and the best lines in the SEC. Can the QB (Jarrett Lee/Andrew Hatch, I don’t even know…) use that?

Georgia at Arizona State (ABC, 8:00): I was so upset the Georgia Bulldogs pulled out the win in Columbia, but they made the plays they had to for the W. I really do want them to fail at everything. A win in Tempe would make up for “The Fluke” (what I’m calling the UCLA loss from now on), and I haven’t been impressed with Arizona State any – not last year and didn’t think they’d be that good this year. Then they lose to UNLV. Georgia’s the better team and they should win – but of course I want them to fail – miserably.

IN CASE OF BLOWOUTS:

Here’s proof that everyone’s going to be watching the SEC games this weekend. The rest are just not so pretty that I’m not giving them their own little bits.

Tonight’s game (West Virginia at Colorado (8:00, ESPN)) is fairly interesting. How bad would it be if the second best team in the JV League (giving USF the benefit of the doubt of course) went out and lost to the fourth-best team…in the Big 12 North? Maybe it will prove what many talking heads have already been saying – that the Big 12 is this year’s runner-up in terms of conference strength.

The ACC could very well be determined this weekend, as there’s Virginia Tech at Lawvol’s Tar Heels and Wake Forest at Florida State. I can’t lie, I’m on the Seminole bandwagon, so if they lose to Wake they pretty much won’t win the ACC. Not that Wake’s bad because they aren’t, but this a game the Noles need to win.

Another game with an ACC team features Miami at Texas A&M, and it’s another measuring stick for the Canes program. They need this game. Florida State and Miami need to get back up to respectability, to quell the stupid Gator success (or maybe Tennessee should do it themselves…)

Elsewhere, there’s Notre Dame at Michigan State (I hope the Irish fail at everything, too), Boise State at Oregon, and don’t sleep on Troy as they play Ohio State (who doesn’t get bolded anymore til they actually win a big non-conference game).

Enjoy your SEC football this weekend, folks.

Images Courtesy of: Danny Johnston / AP (Daylife) • Chris Graythen / Getty Images (Daylife)

Week Three!

It’s that time again – Thursday morning, meaning the weekend is just around the corner. And of course weekends in the fall are all about college football Saturdays and hoping I’ll win my weekly fantasy matchup on Sundays.

This week is different from the first two in two ways: first, Tennessee finally FINALLY plays a freakin’ home game. This good because (a) I’m pretty sure every Tennessee fan is ready to play another game, if for no other reason than to get the remaining bitterness from UCLA out of the mouth and look ahead to the Florida-Auburn-Georgia death-road and (b) home games weekends are what make my fall semesters (don’t forget about the facelift renovations to Neyland Stadium as well).

While Tennessee plays a cupcake in UAB, there’s plenty of other games around the country to look forward to this week. It’s the week before conference play becomes the norm and there are some great matchups.

You know the deal by now – I’ll talk about the SEC games and then the national games of note. However from this point on I’ll change my approach with this section: I’ll be more decisive and selective with which games, and they’ll get attention the same way the SEC games do. Why am I switching things up a little? Because I want to. And I can. Anyways, the games…

SEC Games

UAB at Tennessee: Oh, to be back in the student section at Neyland Stadium. I already said what I was looking for this weekend here, so I won’t go into that. What I’m probably most excited about the actual game? Finally getting to sit in D, thanks to the death of Orange’s Nation illegal block seating.

Arkansas at Texas (ABC, 3:30): Hurricane Ike striketh (not literally…yet) – Arkansas won’t go down to Austin and get hammered until September 27. They host Alabama next weekend, an intriguing game and the first SEC game in under Bobby Petrino. My guess is the Hogs will need the work after escaping total embarrassment by slipping past Western Illinois and UL Monroe.

Georgia at South Carolina (CBS, 3:30): So now Georgia begins the utter brutality (yes, more brutal than a cop at an East Carolina game) that is their schedule. The desperate Chickens seem to be reeling – or wait, that’s just reality setting in…

I’m interested to see how UGA handles their first big test of the year. South Carolina’s defense should keep it close, but are the Gamecocks gonna score? I know they always play UGA tough at home, this game is generally a pretty hard fought, low-scoring game, and Spurrier is good for one win a year over the East’s Big Three, but I just don’t see them winning this game.

Middle Tennessee State at Kentucky/Rice at Vanderbilt: These would be snooze games, except for the small fact that BOTH UK and Vandy – whom I was not expecting much from – have a chance to be 3-0. These were the penciled-in Ws for both teams coming in, and losing would really put a damper on any bowl hopes, especially for the Commodores.

Western Kentucky at Alabama/Samford at Ole Miss: Snooze games of the week, though I’m interested to see if the Tide play any better than they did last week against Tulane.

North Texas at LSU: After some uncertainty due to the aforementioned Ike, this game will be played in Tiger Stadium. It’s gotta be tough on the Tigers, especially since if they don’t play this one (they probably will) it will be a two week bye before they go to Auburn. I just gotta wonder what being an LSU student is like amidst multiple hurricanes…

Auburn at Mississippi State (7:00, ESPN2): Ah yes, more SEC football. I’m still not sold on Auburn’s offense, they looked better against Southern Miss, but definitely still sluggish. We’ll have to see how they handle a road game against a team that beat them last year with defense.

Yes, Chris Todd, I know it is just Starkville, but your first SEC road game is your first SEC road game...

Auburn should win because I don’t think Mississippi State can score on the Auburn defense, but State could easily catch War Eagle looking ahead to home games against LSU and the Vols coming up. Can Sly Croom make it four-in-a-row against the state of Alabama?

FIVE MORE TO WATCH

Ohio State at USC (ABC 8:00): First, I’m glad these two teams are playing this game. Second, anything I could say in terms of analysis about this game would just be more of what you all have already heard/will hear. ESPN’s Pat Forde wrote a good piece about this game here. I’ll take the easy route and borrow a video from Thomas the Terrible over at YMSWWC…that you can watch by clicking HERE!!

Kansas at USF (Friday ESPN2, 8:00): Kansas is playing someone with a pulse! Kansas is playing someone with a pulse! USF could the JV League’s best (oh, I’m referring to the Big East as a JV league from here on), though they almost blew a lead to Kevin Smith-less UCF last week before winning in OT. I like the Bulls because KU is a joke. Yeah, I said it. A joke.

UCLA at BYU (ABC, 3:30): Both of these teams had their last games given to them: UCLA by Tennessee’s coaches and BYU by moronic Pac-10 refs. It’s BYU’s second and last Pac-10 opponent in their BCS-busting quest. They need this to get out of East Carolina’s shadow.

I just hope UCLA doesn’t get blown out, though it would absolutely confirm the last 0.5% of doubt I have that their win over Tennessee was a complete and total fluke (it was, there’s no denying it).

Oregon at Purdue (ABC, 3:30): The undercard to the epic Big Ten-Pac-showdown later in L.A. Purdue has consistently been beaten by every team they play that has a pulse recently, and Oregon is under-the-radar out West after losing the Dixon/Stewart combo.

Oh the color clash when the Vols and Oregon play a home-and-home...

If I had to pick a favorite Pac-10 team, it would be Oregon. Honestly, it’s the jerseys. Give them credit for being fashionably bold. In all seriousness, the Pac-10 needs somebody to at least come close to USC, and Oregon may be the only hope. So I hope they cream Purdue. Plus I just don’t like the Big Ten.

Wisconsin at Fresno State (ESPN2, 10:30): A big “respect” weekend for the Big Ten, though I see them losing all three of these games. Fresno, like the aforementioned Pirates, has a chance for a second “name” win early in the year, though this would be bigger than either of the Pirates’ wins – not to take anything away from them.

HONORABLE MENTION: ESPN has a high school game tonight between lawvol’s Tar Heels and Rutgers. Cal is off to a fast start, having beaten Michigan State and Washington State on the road 66-3 last week. They now go cross-country to Maryland (ESPN, 12:00). Much in the same realm as Oregon, I hope Cal wins, because the Pac-10 needs some challengers to USC and the Bears and Ducks are the best bets.

And finally, if you want to watch an overhyped game featuring two offensively offensive teams (one of whom lost to Utah and the other who was all but beat by San Diego State), you can watch Michigan at Notre Dame. Neither of these teams win 8 games this year, why the overhyping this meaningless game?

Oh, to be in Section D Saturday afternoon…

Images Courtesy of: Todd Vanemst / AP (Daylife) • Kevin Briody / seattleduck.com

Week Two Preview

…in college football? If you thought last weekend was a relatively boring slate of games, this second weekend might just have it beat. At least last week the mere fact that college football was back was enough. This week? Er, not so much.

Nevertheless, football is football. The last game pretty much the entire nation watched was the UCLA upset, so any other games/upsets will be good for the healing process for us Tennessee fans – or maybe just me (everyone else seems to wallowing in the sea of negativity). It of course it also means this suddenly longer “short” week will of course be over.

As I did last week, I’ll of course go through all of the SEC teams’ games since it’s the best conference in the nation (no thanks to the Vols though) and the only one that matters. I’ll even pick out some possible upsets and talk about the national games that deserve attention – if I can find any, that is of course. Enjoy…

SEC Games

South Carolina at Vanderbilt (tonight ESPN): Yes, I thought Vanderbilt would lose to Miami-Ohio and I was wrong. Chris Nickson impressed as a starter, scoring three times and rushing for 166 yards. But this South Carolina, one of the SEC’s top defenses.

The rotating Carolina QB soap opera now visits Nashville, as Chris Smelley takes over for Tommy Beecher. I was not really impressed with the Gamecocks against NC State and I don’t think saying Vandy is better than NC State is a stretch. Vandy has typically had decent defenses under Bobby Johnson, and Smelley will have to be careful because the Commodore secondary is the defense’s strength. Expect a low-scoring defense-fest – and a close game.

Southern Miss at Auburn: The debut of the “Spread Eagle” offense didn’t exactly blow anybody away last week in Auburn’s 34-0 rout of ULM. QBs Chris Todd and Kodi Burns (who left that game with a pretty severe cut on his leg) combined for a whopping 85 yards passing, but the Tigers ran for 321 yards and scored TDs on defense and on a punt return.

USM has Damion Fletcher – 222 yards against UL Lafayette last week – and freshman QB Austin Davis (269 total yards), but they’ll have to play better defense to keep it close. The Golden Eagles gave up six yards/carry last week to the Cajuns, which makes me hesitant to like their chances, though they have a history of playing SEC teams tough.

Central Michigan at Georgia: Central Michigan won’t win, but I’m interested to see how the best-QB-you’ve-never-heard-of Dan Lefevour handles UGA’s defense. The Chippewas were bad on defense last year, so UGA will blow them out, but hopefully for their sake they won’t have anymore of these.

Ole Miss at Wake Forest (ABC 3:30): Houston Nutt’s debut against Memphis State last week went well and the Rebs scored 41 points. Wake Forest is not Memphis State, and after Clemson’s laid-egg, might be the ACC’s best team – which of course isn’t saying much.

Dexter McCluster had 125 total yards and a rushing TD in Ole Miss 41-24 win over Memphis

That said Wake Forest is the better team and beat Ole Miss last year, and I think they do this year as well. Under Jim Grobe Wake has a knack for not beating themselves, so Ole Miss will have to play solid football to get out of Winston-Salem with a W. I’ll be watching this game to see how good both these teams are – and it’s one of the weekend’s better games.

Norfolk State at Kentucky/Southeastern Louisiana at Mississippi State: Snooze games of the week, though I also picked against the Cats last week and they proved my foolish self wrong.

Louisiana-Monroe vs. Arkansas (Little Rock): This would be a snooze game, except for the fact Arkansas squeaked by Western Illinois last week and ULM did beat Alabama last year…

Tulane at Alabama: As much as I want my dislike for Alabama to find a glimmer of hope that says Tulane will have a chance to pull off an upset, I just can’t find anything. That still doesn’t mean I don’t want Bammer to lose (how funny would that be??)

Miami (FL) at Florida: On paper Florida should beat the Canes pretty soundly and they will, but I still want to see this game. Apparently this is a bigger rivalry than at least I thought, and of course there’s always a chance Florida actually loses, which I of course would thoroughly enjoy. I might just watch to see how healthy Percy Harvin actually is (he’s slated to start), but then again GameDay will be there so the Tebow/Urban love-fest will be EVERYWHERE.

Also, I’m not hoping for any major injuries because that’s just cruel, but I wouldn’t at all mind to see the Gators a little nicked-up when they visit Knoxville in two weeks. We need whatever help we can get – though many Vol fans already have penciled in an ‘L’ on the schedule.

Troy at LSU: This game has been postponed – most likely to November 15 – due to the effects of Hurricane Gustav. The Tigers host North Texas next week before the trip to Auburn.

AROUND THE NATION

UPSET ALERT: I would like to point out here that I did in fact call Utah beating Michigan and I’m going to go ahead and take credit for calling East Carolina’s upset on Virginia Tech because I all but straight-up said it. Anyways, potential upsets and other notable games for this week..

BYU has their first test, at Washington. The Cougars have a very good offense and just a couple of bumps to get over (including trips to Utah at TCU) to be in the “this year’s Boise State” conversation.

Cincinnati has a chance for a respect-earning win for the Big East after the (JV) league won as many games against I-A opponents as my intramural flag team last week (we could give Syracuse a run for their money). Louisville (Kentucky), Syracuse (Northwestern), Pittsburgh (Bowling Green), and Rutgers (Fresno State) stunk it up. OU did what Tennessee should have done and opened up with Chattanooga, and they’re probably going to destroy the Bearcats by 3+ TDs.

UAB plays Florida Atlantic, so we’ll see how bad the Blazers are for next week. Texas A&M lost to Arkansas State last week and I’m gonna say they’ll also lose New Mexico this week. Texas plays a tricky little game at UTEP, but the Miners got smoked by Buffalo (no, not the Bills) last Thursday.

Again, if you’re one of the Pac-10 types, you can watch Cal at Washington State or Stanford at Arizona State, and if you just love ACC football for some insanely weird reason, Boston College plays at Georgia Tech (or you could say you want to watch it because you love the option offense…).

Oregon State at Penn State sounds good, but the Lions should beat the Beavers, who lost to Stanford last Thursday. If you like loads of offense, there’s Texas Tech at Nevada. If you just wanna see some of the underrated talent from the state of Florida, USF-UCF can quench your thirst.

For the Vol fans who already changed their minds and want David Cutcliffe back (you know who you are, don’t deny it), Duke hosts Northwestern, who the Devils actually beat last year.

T.J. Lee's blocked punt return for the go-ahead TD against VT last week was one of the best early-season moments

And finally, East Carolina, one of the biggest stories from last week, hosts West Virginia. Can the Pirates do it again? I say why not?

For all but a handful of teams, it’s more or less the second week of preseason games. The games get exponentially better the next two weeks — I promise

Images Courtesy of: • Nikki Boertman / Commercial Appeal • Streeter Lecka / Getty Images (Daylife)

Yes, you have finally reached it, the one and only…

Some people collect fine works of art — Monet, Picasso, Renoir, Larry Flynt (… everyone’s taste is different).  For me, however, there is nothing quite like a well done Fark.  You can keep your landscape, still life, impressionist masterpieces, and all the rest — I prefer something a little different.  For me the masters have names like Fed, HeyBC, Ty, Thomas, and the inimitable LSUFreek. Yes these are the artists which inspire me most, not through their delicate use of color, light, diffusion, or composition, but by their clever ability to doctor a photo and make me laugh.

So what is a “Fark” some of you may be asking.  Well, it all started with the now infamous Fark.com, which first gave a home for “photoshopped” (a/k/a digitally re-touched) photographs.  From there it spread far and wide and became a phenomenon across the net.   Dedicated sports farking found its first home over at the Sooner Fans Fark Board, but I am partial to the Fark Factory on Smash South Sports (A proud winner of the 2007 College Football Blogger Award for Best Photoshop — The Fark of the Covenant).

At any rate, the first gallery includes a few Farks I have done over the years (due to a bad hard drive I lost a great many of mine a few years ago).  After that, you find a little project of mine — the development of the greatest collection of SEC and College Sports Farks ever assembled.

Click the Gallery Header below to return to the Gallery Front at any time:

The THFVO Galleries:

Lawvol's Farks

51 Photos

Tennessee Farks

188 Photos

Alabama Farks

87 Photos

Arkansas Farks

19 Photos

Auburn Farks

8 Photos

Florida Farks

61 Photos

Georgia Farks

4 Photos

Kentucky Farks

19 Photos

LSU Farks

61 Photos

Ole Miss Farks

8 Photos

Miss State Farks

5 Photos

South Carolina Farks

19 Photos

Vanderbilt Farks

17 Photos

Memphis Farks

11 Photos

Big 10 Farks

28 Photos

ACC Farks

18 Photos

PAC-10

5 Photos

Big 12 Farks

8 Photos

Big East & ND Farks

10 Photos

NFL Farks

7 Photos

MLB Farks

5 Photos

Miscellaneous Farks

18 Photos

 

This is a work in progress — it’s not the Louvre’ but you have to start somewhere.

This Gallery is Perpetually Under Construction

>> Return to Gallery Front <<

- Go Figure …