Saturdays In The Fall - South Carolina vs. Tennessee

The final shot for Tennessee not to go 0 for October in the SEC came Saturday when South Carolina limped into Neyland Stadium. Marcus Lattimore was out for the season with a torn ACL and Stephen Garcia had one too many and had been kicked off the team. Connor Shaw had taken over at quarterback and Alshon Jeffery was struggling at wide out. However, there is nothing like a Tennessee secondary to make your woes in the passing game get better it seems. I went into the game fully expecting Tennessee to give up nothing short of 300 yards receiving to Jeffery.

Tennessee started the game right where they left off in Alabama. Three and out, punt, but this time the receiver of the punt was not very good at catching, and pulling his best impression of a Tennessee punt returner from 2010 he allowed the ball to bounce off his chest and onto the turf. Tennessee recovered and after they were stuffed on three straight plays, Michael Parlady came on to bang home a 22 yard field goal. After this small victory, the exercise in futility continued.

After the two teams exchanged punts a few times Tennessee finally got back into a position to allow Parlady to try another field goal that would put Tennessee ahead 6-0. This time the 47 yard attempt was blocked and the teams exchanged punts again. Tennessee's defense was playing great, until on a forth and one play the secondary got caught looking run and allowed the Carolina tight end Anderson to break free. Shaw found him for a touchdown and South Carolina took the lead 7-3. On the following series Tennessee had a third and one play from the South Carolina 44. Worley dropped back to pass and had Rogers down the sideline. Worley couldn't have put the ball in a better place, tight spiral, just over the defender, right into the hands of Da'Rick Rogers for what would have been a Tennessee touchdown if Da'Rick hadn't allowed the ball to go right through his hands. More punts ensued and Tennessee went into the half down 7-3.

Oh what could have been.

To open the third quarter Dooley chose to try an onside kick. The ball bounced out of bounds and South Carolina started with excellent field position. Shaw threw pass straight to Prentis Waggner though and Waggner took off down the field. The entire time he was running I think everyone in the stadium was thinking the same thing, GET INTO THE ENDZONE!!! It was not meant to be though, and Waggner was tackled at the three yard line. On the first play Poole was stuffed three yards deep and then on play two Worley threw an interception. South Carolina then proceeded to go on a drive lasting 20 plays, and covering 98 yards, ending in a touchdown when Shaw scored on a QB draw play from five yards out. Tennessee was now down 14-3 going into the forth quarter after running just four plays in the entire third quarter.

In the forth quarter Tennessee seemed to be loosing ground fast when South Carolina began another drive that looked to be one able to run the clock down again when Brian Randolph forced a fumble and Tennessee recovered. Worley ended any thought of Tennessee maybe making a comeback when on the first play from scrimmage he threw his second interception of the game. A three and out for South Carolina, followed by an unproductive drive lead by Matt Simms, lead to South Carolina being able to run out the clock and win 14-3.

Guess we are still watering the bamboo. Just keep watering.

Saturdays in the Fall - Southern Cal vs. Arizona St

I am 97% certain that if you are reading this blog you hate Lane Kiffin. I don't mean that type of hate where you aren't a fan of cole slaw on your BBQ pulled pork sandwich hate. I mean that kind of hate where you would sacrifice your own vehicle because the person that just passed you doing 104 mph while texting cut you off and decided it was time to slow it down to 35 while there is now two semi trucks on each side of you so you can't pass type of hate. For this reason I decided the Southern Cal versus Arizona State game in Tempe would be the perfect game to document since Tennessee was off this week. I blamed Lane Kiffin for the 10:15 EST kickoff time instead of the time zone difference. They could have kicked off at noon and made this easier on everyone. Kiffin deserves that hellish time slot anyway. It's a little known fact that Kiffin caused that Tsunami in Japan. Remember, "USC is a very powerful place." and can keep stuff like that on the down low. Regardless I pulled up the game on ESPN3.com. I watched it online because I didn't want to help the ratings of the game. I'm not sure if internet viewers count, but I'm working under the assumption that they don't. If someone knows differently please tell me. Kickoff finally rolled around and away we went.

1st Quarter

Forth play from scrimmage, Arizona St tailback Marshall scampers 70 yards for a touchdown. The shocker symbol appears no less than 80 times in the student section. Arizona State has to be the most perverted student body in the nation and that's saying something. They say the hand gesture is a trident. . . but we know.

Someone please tell me how in the world that is a trident. Honestly.

My God what a hit. Sun Devil receiver Jamal Miles caught a pass out in the flat and took off down the sidelines. USC safety TJ McDonald punished him with a brutal hit. Miles' feet flew out from under him. Sure it was an illegal hit, whatever, I bet Miles will think twice when getting into McDonald's territory next time.

Que the dust storm. A 50 mph wind appears out of no where basically making it impossible to throw the ball. All of a sudden this game is taking part in a land fill with trash flying everywhere.

2nd Quarter

Great catch for a touchdown by Gerrell Robinson for Arizona State. Ball was on his outside shoulder and he made a play against pass interference to make the play. 14-3 Sun Devils and I am very happy to be watching Lane Kiffin get what is his.

I love that at the beginning of the game the commentators are all but drooling over Matt Barkley. Barkley throws interception. Barkley is now a quarterback who has been struggling as of late. Sun Devils drive quick and score again. 21-6 Arizona State. Halftime score is 21-9, things are looking good.

3rd Quarter

Struggling to stay awake. I hate the PAC-12.

Obviously this Oregon St. player is from the East Coast. This was the 2nd quarter of a game that kicked off at 3pm PST, which is about 1am EST.

USC finally puts a ball in the endzone. Barkley finds Marqise Lee who makes a pretty good diving catch for the score. 21-16 now. Every time USC scores somewhere a kitten dies.

Tyler Marc scampers into the endzone for a touchdown to put USC up 22-21, goes for 2 and doesn't convert. I instantly question humanity. If things were right in the world USC would not be leading.

Humanity is restored. Arizona State drives down the field and scores on a short run by Marshall and Arizona State leads again 28-22.

4th Quarter

USC gets it into the red zone then fumbles after Barkley waits too long trying to pass. Arizona State hasn't beaten USC in 11 years and the one time in that span that I decide to watch the game, with 10 minutes left, they are in a great position to do just that.

Arizona State recovers a fumble and then Marshall takes it into the endzone to make it a two score ball game. On the two point try receiver Mike Willie made an unbelievable one handed grab while the USC defender was flagged for interference. Lane Kiffin was arguing the ball was uncatchable. I'm no genius but I felt as though this argument was void seeing as how Willie did in fact make the catch. Arizona State got to retry the conversion attempt since Willie was just out of bounds when he made the catch and they converted on an end around. 36-22 Sun Devils.

Pick six. Shelly Lyons jumps on an errant Matt Barkley throw and takes it to the house. I couldn't be more happy right now. 43-22 Sun Devils.

Remember that time Troy fell back in 1184 BC? I don't believe that was as painful to watch as what is going on in Tempe right now.

This is what the Sun Devils took to the stadium. . . Troy never stood a chance.

Time expires. Sun Devils win 43-22. I am SO glad I stayed up to watch this game. Arizona State was on a mission tonight. That mission was to use and abuse Lane Kiffin. Mission accomplished.