The Southeastern Conference was rocked over the weekend when Alabama was knocked off by Texas A&M.
It was not that many people around the conference are big Alabama fans, but it is that Alabama appeared to be the SEC’s best hope to keep the conference winning streak of national championships alive.
There is still a slim hope that the SEC can put a one-loss team in the BCS Championship Game, but it is a long shot at best. Too many things would have to happen and that would include losses by at least two of the three remaining unbeaten teams—Kansas State, Oregon or Notre Dame.
But that doesn’t meanAlabamahas given up hope.
“We have to keep fighting, we have to keep playing. Like last year, you knew what could happen but we can’t control that,” said linebacker C.J. Mosley. “You have to focus on the next game and come back strong and be ready for your last two games.”
“We have been handling adversity all year,” said wide receiver Kenny Bell. “We have had a lot of people coming after us. But that’s one thing about being Alabama; you are going to have a lot of people coming to your events and down your back. We get taught that every day. You just have to keep competing like we have been doing.”
For Kevin Sumlin and the Aggies, it was a signature conference win for the team that is still being looked on as a newcomer. But there is little doubt that the Aggies have proven they belong in the SEC.
“As a coach you always think that you are going to be able to win,” said Sumlin. “There’s a lot things that go into a win like this, particularly on the road. We are a different team in week 10 than we were week one, particularly with the young guys in critical positions handling the ball, from wide receivers to kickers.
“But, our seniors, like I said, are the ones I am happiest with. They are in the locker room and when there is a change and things like that, the quicker you have the buy-in from the experienced players, the quicker you can have success. That’s why we owe a lot to them,” he said.
While A&M was making a statement in Tuscaloosa, the other newcomer was making one of its own in Knoxville. That’s where Missouri beat Tennessee in four overtimes.
“I think that is who we are,” said Missouri coach Gary Pinkel. “They inherited a program that wins at a high level. We talked about that in our Thursday meeting. I don’t think that was the most inspiration speech of the year, but the point is the responsibility that you have. You get tested.”
Tennessee tested the Tigers, but it was the Vols who blinked. Twice at the end of the first half and at the end of the game, the Vols had the ball with time left on the clock. But instead of trying to score, head coach Derek Dooley elected to play it conservatively. At the end of the first half, he chose to go into the dressing room with a 21-7 halftime lead. Then, at the end of the game with the score tied 28-28 and with two timeouts at his disposal, he elected to play it safe and go into overtime.
Dooley tried to explain his actions at the end of the game by saying he did not want to make a mistake that might allow Missouri to win. Instead, he chose to play for OT.
“I was (trying to get down the field to score) in the first two plays. We got zero yards and then we had 30 seconds left and they had a timeout. I didn’t want to go 3rd-and-10 and have to punt and all of the things that could happen there,” he said. ‘We had the ball back on the last play in the same scenario. So we just went in for overtime. We had the offense and I just had confidence in them. The first two plays, I was pushing it. We screwed up both of those plays — poor execution. I didn’t have confidence we were going to get it on 3rd-and-10. Then we got to send the punt team out and they chop the timeout with 25 seconds and then everybody gets really cocky. I just didn’t want to do that.”
That is one reason the Vols fans are ready for a change in leadership — playing not to lose instead of playing to win. That leaves the Vols two wins short of reaching bowl eligibility and winless in the SEC with Vanderbilt and Kentucky left on the schedule.
“We’ve got no other options but to go try to beat Vanderbilt and still try to go get into a bowl game,” he said. “That’s all we can do. It’s hard. We’ve lost four games on the last possession. I guess we’re 1-5 or 1-4 at the end of the game. So, it’s hard.”
Another SEC coach who had a rough weekend was Auburn’s Gene Chizik, who watched his team fall to 2-8 in a 38-0 loss to Georgia. He said the buck stops with him.
“Accountability is always on me,” he said. “This is my football team. So, it always starts with me and then the coaches have to coach better and the players have to play better because we are all in this game together. This is a team game starting with the head coach and going down to whoever the last man standing is. We all take this very personal. This is our livelihood. So, accountability goes on everybody, but it certainly starts with me.”
That’s exactly what the Auburn fans believe and that’s why they are expecting a change to take place in the coaching position at the end of the season if not sooner.
“We are going to keep swinging away, and we have two more games left. It’s going to be important for us to come back and work tomorrow,” Chizik said. “We have a senior class who has to play their last game here at Jordan-Hare, and that is going to be very important for us to come back and go to work and make sure that they come out of their senior season with their last game at home as a win.”
The big question at Auburn is whether it is just the seniors who are facing their last game at Jordan-Hare, or will the coaches be included in that scenario?