I thought LSU would win but it is fitting they lost a game by bad game management considering Les Miles has made a career off doing absurd things that somehow work. I thought Florida would win but you can't give any team a TD immediately at the start of each half and hope to win. That errant throw on their first offensive play and the botched onside kick to start the 3rd quarter - mitigated by a player coming undone - absolutely did Florida in tonight. They weren't stopping UL or moving the ball consistently but they put themselves behind the 8-ball with their own mistakes: the pick 6, the INT in the endzone, the penalty implosion near the goal line, three bad onside kicks. They made enough mistakes to lose to any team in the top 25 tonight.
The funny thing is that these things were kinda exposed in SEC play. Chavis has been a great coordinator but his defense have a notoriously bad reputation for handling 2-minute situations. Vols - and now some Cajuns too - cry "3rd and Chavis" for a reason. Alabama absolutely dissected them with comeback routes and Clemson got in the position to win with several themselves. Florida imploded offensively when they played teams they felt could move the ball on them like against UGA. They got out of their identity and made mistakes all over the field that day in Jacksonville. The same thing happened against Louisville tonight.
MSU was just bad and their record was inflated by the lucky bounce of the schedule. I thought Ole Miss was better than them after playing MSU in late October. Ole Miss just had the misfortune of drawing Vandy and Georgia along with playing Texas out of conference instead of playing weak East teams and nobody OOC. I had Northwestern picked pretty high in my pick'em and wasn't surprised by the outcome. The biggest joke was Jonathan Banks winning the Thorpe when he may be the 3rd or 4th best corner in the conference.
The funny thing is that these things were kinda exposed in SEC play. Chavis has been a great coordinator but his defense have a notoriously bad reputation for handling 2-minute situations. Vols - and now some Cajuns too - cry "3rd and Chavis" for a reason. Alabama absolutely dissected them with comeback routes and Clemson got in the position to win with several themselves. Florida imploded offensively when they played teams they felt could move the ball on them like against UGA. They got out of their identity and made mistakes all over the field that day in Jacksonville. The same thing happened against Louisville tonight.
MSU was just bad and their record was inflated by the lucky bounce of the schedule. I thought Ole Miss was better than them after playing MSU in late October. Ole Miss just had the misfortune of drawing Vandy and Georgia along with playing Texas out of conference instead of playing weak East teams and nobody OOC. I had Northwestern picked pretty high in my pick'em and wasn't surprised by the outcome. The biggest joke was Jonathan Banks winning the Thorpe when he may be the 3rd or 4th best corner in the conference.
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