Happy Tuesday! Can’t believe we are already in week 8 (WHAT?!?) but it’s here. The temperature is beginning to drop a little outside and the leaves are piling up on the ground. It’s fall in the south and we have football. Ain’t it beautiful?
Anyways…..today I’m hitting ya with a little stock watch action from the weekend. Whose stock is rising? Whose is plummeting? Let’s find out!
Stock Up
Nick Saban/Alabama
Nick Saban kicked Covid-19 and Georgia’s teeth in all in a matter of a few days. (soft implied sarcasm) Saban returned to the sidelines Saturday night after testing positive for the virus earlier in the week. Three negative test in a row allowed him to coach and he handed his former assistant Kirby Smart a 41-24 setback. He improved to 22-0 against his former assistants and can make that mark 23-0 this weekend when Alabama faces Tennessee. The Vols aren’t exacting riding the ‘Big Mo” after wetting the bed big time Saturday in a 34-7 loss to the Kentucky Wildcats.
Coastal Carolina
There’s a new team from the Carolina’s in the top 25 and it’s the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers. They are perfect on the year at 4-0 and are first in the Sun Belt standings after a big win over Louisiana last week, 30-27. Kudos to head coach Jamey Chadwell and his staff for the hot start to the season. Coastal Carolina has now recorded the same number of top-25 wins since 2017 as another team in the Palmetto State. I’ll let you figure out which one.
Florida State
They still should have lost the game but woulda-coulda-shoulda–at the end of the day they earned a victory over the fifth ranked team in the country. In the process, FSU threw a curveball into the Tar Heels’ hopes for an ACC title game appearance. That was a game UNC needed but FSU desperately needed it more as a program.
Good for QB Jordan Travis and good for Mike Norvell. This could help get them started on the right foot for crunch time on the schedule. Not ready to plan a “The Seminoles are back” party yet but that’s a huge win regardless of how you feel about North Carolina and the rankings. Furthermore, it could be the turning point for this season and program as a whole. IF they don’t lose all that momentum this weekend against Louisville.
Stock Down
Atlanta Sports
The life of an Atlanta sports fan is BRUTAL. First you have the Falcons blowing leads like a leaf blower at the park in October. The Braves were knocking on the door of a trip to the World Series leading the LA Dodgers 3-0 but they choked it all way and dropped game 7. The Hawks….well, they’re the Hawks. To make matters even worse Georgia Tech gave up 73 to Clemson on Saturday in a game where the Tigers were still scoring with fourth string quarterbacks slinging it around in the fourth quarter. And then there’s Georgia and another botched game plan by Kirby Smart. Sure, let’s have your third/fourth string QB a few months ago and a former-walk on throw the ball 40 times (!!) on the road against Nick Saban. Brilliant. I said before the game Alabama would probably win by 14 plus. Well hate to say I told ya so but…..
Auburn
Imagine Gus Malzhan is your head coach and you’ve just lost to a not-very great-South Carolina squad. That is after nearly losing to Arkansas (highway robbery) and getting absolutely embarrassed against Georgia. Now let’s imagine Malzhan having a $21 million buyout. TWENTY ONE MILLION. Ouch. Well don’t dream any longer because that is reality. I knew the Gamecocks had more than a chance Saturday but that’s just a pitiful performance by the Tigers. Chad Morris isn’t getting much done offensively and some are even pushing for Bo Nix to be benched. How quickly things can change from one year to the next. Good for Carolina and Muschamp but good lord, Auburn.
I really thought Auburn might be able to make some noise this season but if they keep it up, they’re going to get the Ja Rule treatment when trying to fire up the crowd in Jordan-Hare.
Mississippi State
What’s that? Two teams from the SEC-West in today’s stock down? Yikes. After throwing for over 600 yards and scoring 44 points on LSU, the Bulldogs have only scored 30 points the last three games since that opener. Maybe folks were right….maybe Mike Leach’s Air Raid isn’t fit for the SEC and won’t work. Three straight losses for the Bulldogs but the good news for Cow Bell nation is they get one week to prepare for a woodshed beating from Alabama next weekend. Welcome to the SEC, Coach.
The Hall Pass 