Welcome to the second edition for the junior season of The Hangover, where I recap the previous weekend in college football. This week, The Hangover comes to you from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where I went to my first and last game of the season in Bryant-Denny Stadium as a fan. Work starts next weekend, so I spent as much time as possible Saturday catching up with the major storylines from around the country. We learned a lot more in Week Two, but there’s still so much to dissect. Let’s dive in!
Circle November 9th. Just do it now. Star it, highlight it on the calendar, do whatever you need to do to ensure that you’re not busy. You’ll want to make sure you’re clear for the day when LSU and Alabama meet in Tuscaloosa, because this game just got way more interesting.
LSU is scary now. Yes, the Tigers have had teams that should make opponents nervous over the last few seasons, but this looks different, this feels different. LSU isn’t scary because of extremely physical linebackers or a laundry list of athletic corners and safeties, LSU is scary because of two guys, and both are named Joe.
You know the first one. Quarterback Joe Burrow, the Ohio State transfer playing his second season for the Tigers, was absolutely magnificent on Saturday night in Austin. 31/39 for 471 yards and four touchdowns? From a quarterback from LSU? The last time a quarterback for the Bayou Bengals sniffed numbers like that in the regular season was Zach Mettenberger’s 372-yard performance against Georgia in 2013. Burrow threw for 394 yards in last year’s Fiesta Bowl against UCF, but that’s still 77 yards shy of what he did Saturday. Easily, the most impressive throw of the night came when it mattered most, on 3rd and 17 as LSU desperately held on to a 37-31 lead. With the pocket collapsing, Burrow stepped up and clinched the game.
While Burrow’s performance was spectacular, let’s talk about the other Joe–Joe Brady. Brady, the 29-year-old Passing Game Coordinator for LSU, has finally delivered on the long-promised up-tempo offense for which Tiger fans have waited.
Brady’s rise to the offensive hero of Baton Rouge is a fascinating one. Immediately after he finished his playing career, Brady began coaching linebackers for two years at his alma mater William & Mary before heading to Penn State as a graduate assistant for two seasons. From there, Brady moved down to the New Orleans Saints, where he served as an offensive assistant for Sean Payton’s team for two more years. Now, as he shapes the scariest LSU offense since…a long time ago, it’s clear that Joe Brady is one of the rising stars of the coaching profession. How high can that star rise? We’ll see, but I’d be shocked if his name isn’t mentioned for head coaching jobs by the end of the year as long as this team keeps up the production.
Thanks to the two guys named Joe, LSU is scary. I’m not saying they’ll beat Alabama–the game is in Tuscaloosa and Tua and that offense look to be humming right now–but I’m going to go out on a semi-limb and say LSU will be 8-0 when they roll up to Bryant-Denny on November 9th. So yeah, mark your calendars, folks. Cancel all plans and postpone all other events, because I think you’re going to be busy that day.
Gray’s Top Ten
- Clemson
- Alabama
- Georgia
- LSU
- Oklahoma
- Ohio State
- Utah
- Florida
- Texas
- Michigan
Lots of changes to the top ten this week. The top three remains the same. Clemson actually didn’t impress me that much against Texas A&M. The defense played well for the Tigers, but I think a lot of the issue was Kellen Mond just playing very poorly. He missed a ton of throws and could never get into rhythm. Trevor Lawrence looked okay, and Clemson did have a harder time running the football, but it’s all moot because Clemson is going undefeated and winning every game by 21+ (I mean, did you see Syracuse’s defense against Maryland? Clemson will score 750 points). LSU moves up to four, and I think this is a legit national title contender. Oklahoma drops slightly down to five, and Ohio State stays at six after an utter dismantling of Cincinnati. That may have been the most impressive performance from anyone in Week Two. Utah comes in at seven because…somebody has to, I guess. Florida looked better against Tennessee-Martin, and Texas just drops to nine because it’s not totally fair to penalize them for losing a close game against a great team. Finally, Michigan drops from 8 to 10, and the Wolverines almost fell further. Saturday’s double-overtime win against Army was a disaster, and it’s clear Michigan isn’t even close to the same level as Ohio State right now. Guys, Shea Patterson just may not be the guy. He looks easily rattled and very uncomfortable with his decisions. Jim Harbaugh better get his guys in check soon, because the next game is at a Wisconsin team that has outscored opponents 110-0 in the first two weeks.
Coach of the Week
People, Justin Wilcox is doing things at Cal. The Golden Bears, following a two-hour lightning delay that caused the game to finish well after bedtime for us (sorry), used a pretty steady rushing attack to shock Washington 20-19 on a last-second field goal. We already knew Wilcox could coach defenses (Cal held Washington QB Jacob Eason to an 18/30, 162-yard, no touchdown and one interception night), but now he’s starting to find an offense too. No, quarterback Chase Garber wasn’t putting up Jared Goff numbers, but he was efficient and didn’t turn the football over. The Golden Bears rushed for 5.1 yards per carry, and offense was able to out-score Washington in the second half 17-9. We’re not saying Cal is about to make the Pac-12 championship game, but watch out–Justin Wilcox is coming closer to having a complete team out in Berkeley.
Idiot of the Week
There are so many options for IOTW, it’s disappointing. We could look at Willie Taggert for allowing 44 points to Louisiana-Monroe and needing overtime to escape, or we could examine Jim Harbaugh inexplicably going for it on fourth down around midfield against Army in the final few minutes of regulation. Instead, we’ll just continue to pile it on to Jeremy Pruitt.
Oh Jeremy, how did that happen? Like seriously, how in the WORLD did Tennessee lose to BYU 29-26 in overtime on Saturday? BYU has done, dead and buried, facing 3rd and six from their own 20 yard line with the clock rolling under twenty seconds. Tennessee fans were celebrating. Then, Vols’ cornerback Alontae Taylor let BYU receiver Micah Simon get behind him for 64 big ones to set up the game-tying field goal.
Watching the game was surreal. How did things go so poorly so fast? Tennessee had controlled the game throughout, but collapsed at the worst possible time and, as much as I like him, it’s hard not to blame Jeremy Pruitt. When you’re known as a great defensive coordinator and you’ve got one of the best minds for that side of the ball, a Cover 3 breakdown like that can’t happen. It’s inexcusable, and now so is this season for Tennessee.
150 Corner
It’s the 150th anniversary of college football’s beginning, so this portion of The Hangover will highlight some of the best moments in this great sport’s history.
With Texas back in the headlines, The Hangover couldn’t help but drift back to the game that started it all for Nick Saban and Alabama. A meeting between the Crimson Tide and the Longhorns, two of football’s most storied programs, in the Rose Bowl was too good to be true, and the game would turn into one of the greatest “what if?” questions in college football history–what if Colt McCoy hadn’t gotten hurt? He did, and Alabama smothered back-up Garrett Gilbert on the way to a 37-21 victory, Nick Saban’s first of five national championships for the Crimson Tide.
Random Rankings
We here at RR HQ love other sports. College Football is great, and you know about our obsession with College Softball, but we’re here to admit something–we freaking adore tennis. In fact, RR HQ wouldn’t hesitate to say that the most underrated, high-quality sports television out there is ESPN’s coverage of tennis grand slam tournaments (certain members of HQ have also been to Wimbledon, which all would 100% recommend to any sports fan, whether you like tennis or not). Well, Sunday concluded the US Open, 2019’s final major, and we thought we’d take a look back at the best and most entertaining matches from this year. Note to audience–a lot of this was from Wimbledon and the US Open because, well, there was just more high-quality competition. *Disclaimer*: per usual, once Random Rankings are posted, they aren’t changing. So don’t get any ideas. I’m very stubborn. If you have comments or questions, shoot me a tweet at @gray_robertson.
1. Coco Gauff v. Polona Hercog, Wimbledon Third Round
We won’t forget watching this match. Coco Gauff, the 15-year-old phenom about whom I’m tweeted so much this summer, was done. There was just no way she could come back in this match against Hercog, who was displaying such power and poise. Then, something happened…she did.
2. Novak Djokovic v. Roger Federer, Wimbledon Final
I mean, what else would take this spot? In terms of high-quality tennis and pure, hour-after-hour entertainment, this should be number one. The back and forth nature of this final as Roger and Novak battled was tremendous theater. Roger had two match points, and then Novak came back to force Wimbledon’s first ever fifth-set tiebreak. It was a historic day in the sport.
3. Rafael Nadal vs. Daniil Medvedev, US Open Final
Usually, when one of the Big Three goes up two sets, the opponent collapses. Medvedev did the opposite, somehow getting stronger as the match went on and forcing a fifth and final set. Perhaps this is recency bias (this final was yesterday, after all), but I’m not sure I recall a match between one of the Big Three and an outsider that was as entertaining as this in recent years.
4. Taylor Townsend v. Simona Halep, US Open Second Round
Perhaps a bit off the reservation here, but this is another match that was transfixing to watch. Townsend, a young American who popped onto the scene with high expectations years ago and who hadn’t done much in her career, was taking on Wimbledon champion Simona Halep, last seen completely destroying Serena Williams. Knowing she couldn’t out-hit her from the baseline, Townsend decided to take us all back-in-time by serving and volleying the entire second and third set, a decision that she’d stick with for the rest of her tournament. What resulted was a fascinating cat-and-mouse match that led to a huge upset and, perhaps, another big welcome for a future American star.
5. Naomi Osaka v. Coco Gauff, US Open Third Round
Okay, the match wasn’t close (Osaka played the best I’ve ever seen her play), but the post-match sequence on the court? Stunning.
SEC Power Rankings
A much better week for the SEC this time around. With conference play really heating up next week, here’s how The Hangover stacks up the conference where it just means more.
- Alabama
- Georgia
- LSU
- Auburn
- Florida
- Texas A&M
- Kentucky
- Missouri
- Mississippi State
- South Carolina
- Ole Miss
- Vanderbilt
- Arkansas
- Tennessee
So Who’s Ready for Next Week?
Next weekend is coming up! Here’s what we’ve got coming up in Week Three.
North Carolina at Wake Forest, 5 pm CT on ESPN (Friday)
#20 Washington State at Houston, 8:15 pm CT on ESPN (Friday)
Pittsburgh at #13 Penn State, 11 am CT on ABC
#2 Alabama at South Carolina, 2:30 CT on CBS
Stanford at #17 UCF, 2:30 CT on ESPN
#19 Iowa at Iowa State, 3 CT on FS1
Arizona State at #18 Michigan State, 3 CT on FOX
#9 Florida at Kentucky, 6 CT on ESPN
#1 Clemson at Syracuse, 6:30 CT on ABC
Florida State at #25 Virginia, 6:30 on ACC Network
#5 Oklahoma at UCLA, 7 CT on FOX
Texas Tech at Arizona, 9:30 CT on ESPN
That’s it for The Hangover! We’ll be in Columbia, South Carolina, this weekend, so be on the lookout for us! Until next weekend, college football fans.