The ESS-EEE-SEE saw one of its higher-ranked teams fall off the national landscape last night when Ole Miss wandered into Columbia, South Carolina to take its first loss of the season. After watching the Rebels quarterback Jevon Snead go JaMarcus Russell while running for his life (7 for 21 passing, 4 sacks), one has to wonder how that team was ranked fourth in the country by the AP.
The Gamecocks (3-1, 1-1) had been 1-31 all-time against Top 5 foes, but left Williams-Brice Stadium with the biggest win of coach Steve Spurrier’s five seasons.
“It was good to get a win when everybody watches,” Spurrier said. “It was good for all Gamecocks.” via.
I’m not burying Ole Miss based entirely based on their performance last night. After all, they started the season at No. 8, probably because of their 13 returning starters, including NFL scouting mancrush Jevon Snead. But seriously, fourth in the country? I’m just not that impressed with those middle-of-the-road SEC teams, especially when non-BCS schools are forced to run the table to garner any national respect at all.
As you’ve no doubt seen by now, Gamecocks quarterback Stephen Garcia (this guy) was stopped on a quarterback draw in the red zone by umpire Wilbur Hackett Jr during LSU’s 24-17 victory on Saturday. While it certainly looks like Hackett leans into Garcia with a shoulder to drop him after a four-yard gain, SEC officials claim otherwise:
“The umpire’s most vulnerable position on the field is right behind the line of scrimmage and sometimes gets right into the play. In this case, the umpire is there, he tries to defend himself by putting his arms up. The quarterback shifts direction a little bit and he puts his arms up.
“He makes an attempt to defend himself. I know it may look different on video, but what we see is that he makes an effort to protect himself.”
That’s a good call. I like the way he steps into it and initiates contact to protect himself. Why, if he tried to sidestep Garcia and get out of the way, he couldn’t have defended himself while he wasn’t getting in the way of the play.
And that team was South Carolina, who was ranked 24th heading into last night’s game. It was Vandy’s first such victory at home since 1992. While a short wave of BCS fever sweeps over the Nashville campus, it’s time to point and laugh at the second South Carolina team to soil itself on national television in five days. South Carolina is a program that Steve Spurrier still can’t seem to get into top gear. Well, I guess we can finally put the rumors to rest. There actually is at least one black guy playing for Vanderbilt.
Oh man, nothing gets me fired up like a good discussion about trademark law. That's what happened in the case of South Carolina versus Southern California, as the two USCs battled it out for trademark superiority.
The battle between the USCs has been quietly raging since 2002, when USC challenged South Carolina's application to federally register a version of the "SC" trademark for use on clothing and baseball uniforms. South Carolina fired back with a counterclaim to cancel USC's federal trademark registration for its interlocking "SC" logo.
Game on. Proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board began in 2006. On Friday, the board issued a 93-page order in favor of L.A.'s USC.
I think I speak for everyone when I say, whoopty god damn doo. That must have been a fascinating case. "The 'S' stands for South!" "And I say it stands for Southern!!!" Hey guess what, I trademarked the letter M. Give me some money, Milwaukee Brewers. You too, Marshall University.
Lawyers rape sheep.
A top ten ranked college football team lost to an unranked opponent yesterday. (Yawn.) What made Vanderbilt's upset of South Carolina particularly satisfying was that a Steve Spurrier-coached team lost and the Commodores win rendered their losing by less than a certain number of points a moot issue. My heart enjoyed the former upside, and my bleeding ulcer appreciated the latter.
USC strong safety Emanuel Cook also could not get his head around losing to Vandy. “That’s the sorriest team in the SEC we lost to,” Cook said. “We should’ve won that game.”
I like how they have the same word or acronym that describes something completely in some areas of the South. Everywhere else in the country, 'USC' means 'Southern Cal'. It's similar to how they refer to a 'daily shower' when they really mean a 'monthly bath'. Anyway, Vanderbilt is pretty sorry on the gridiron. When are they going to create that college football super conference of crappy football squads of schools that analysts always say have "good academics"? Vanderbilt, Duke, Stanford, Northwestern and . . . who would the Big XII and Big East representatives be? On second thought, every conference and bleeding ulcer likes a patsy. -KD
Reader/Eagle Scout Joe sent in this photo from Saturday's game between Georgia and South Carolina. The online source of the photo is here, but it merely states that the SEC game official was arrested "for unknown reasons." I've done some snooping around with the help of my private investigator friend (Mo Firefox), but I've yet to see any news on this. Which is kinda weird to me. I would think a referee getting arrested in the middle of an SEC football game would make the news wires.
MIDDLE OF WRITING THE POST UPDATE: Whoa, that was weird. I was about to specifically and publicly ask EDSBS what the deal was, and then BAM! Orson Swindle comes through with this post:
The image… has gone viral on message boards, mostly because it seems to confirm what every one thinks about the SEC anyway, but it’s not what it seems. According to our source (yea! a veritable source!) the man is most likely one of the chain gang, an irony in itself, and not an SEC official. The chain gangs are hired by the schools hosting the games, so this is not–we repeat–NOT an SEC official being carted away immediately following a game.
That's certainly a start, but there are still some unanswered questions, like why did he get arrested? And what's the deal with styrofoam? So, I'm still going to plug this DSL wire into my conch horn and sound the clarion: if you know what's going on here, lemme know via the email on the contact page.
