by tom weppel
Well…what a difference a week makes! Seven days ago, everyone was championing the Jaguars on their gutty win over the Buccanneers. Everyone was talking about how great the win was, and how the Jags were looking good at 5-2. Jackie Del Rio was saying he thought the Tampa win was a statement on the team’s character. And now we forward to this week. The Jags got pummeled by the upstart Saints. They are now 5-3. People are talking about how mediocre the Defense is. The opinion is that there is bad tackling, bad pass coverage, no pressure on opposing QBs, and that the Jaguars are in trouble. Without question, Jacksonville had a very bad game against the Saints. They gave up over 400 yards passing by QB Drew Brees. Quinn Gray threw three INTs, including one that went for a TD. The running game was not strong at all. Add to it all the player situations OFF the field and it can certainly be perceived as a mess.
The combination of the loss, coupled with two players being found inebriated and asleep in their cars late Friday night/Saturday morning, will turn the image of this team sour, without any question. The character that was being built by Del Rio and the team got ripped up quite a bit, and it will take a lot to repair that damage. But you know what? Here’s a simple fact…if the Jags win games, then no one will care at all who is partying on the Jags roster! If the Jags go 5-3 in the second half, they most likely can get into the playoffs. They would have to do that as a wildcard, with the Colts being the dominant team in the AFC South. That, to me, is a solid goal for this team. To do that, they most likely need a win over the Titans this week. Tennessee is a team that has been a spoiler for the Jags for quite a long time. It continued this season when the Titans came into Jacksonville and ran all over the Jags. And we all remember the Jags loss to the Titans last year in Nashville, which was not pretty, either. If there ever is a situation in which the Jags’ backs are against the wall, it would be this Sunday. The boys would LOVE to pick up a win against a team that certainly does have some weaknesses, especially in the ability of Vince Young to throw. Obviously there are still some injuries to some Jaguar players that need to be addressed. We shall see if David Garrard will be back this weekend. But if nothing else, thiswould be a huge win for the boys down at No-Name Stadium. It’s amazing what a difference a week makes.
We now move into November, where we will see who gets into what Conference Championships and who will get into the BCS, along with who will be invited to all the other meaningless Bowl games. Ohio State is at the top, as we all know. They play Illinois this week and should be able to take care of that game with a win. That would set them up to play Michigan, which is always a classic game. The Buckeyes win that one and they look strong to possibly get into the BCS Championship. However, if they LOSE one of those games, then we have a big mess, with a lot of teams with only one loss believing they should be in the title hunt. LSU, Oregon, Oklahoma, and even Kansas are all in the running to get to the final game. These next few weeks should certainly be tasty in seeing who beats whom and in what cases.
The Florida Gators will head to Columbia this weekend to take on a Gamecock team that has been beaten badly the last two weeks. Steve Spurrier is hurting, for sure, mainly because he doesn’t have a really good QB to do what he wants on the field. Of course, we’ll hear the talk about Spurrier and Florida, which has gotten really old. The Gators had a fairly easy win last week against Vandy, and it seems Tim Tebow is back to good health his shoulder. The bottom line here is that South Carolina is okay but not great, especially in the SEC, and the Gators should be able to win that game handily this weekend. Meanwhile, the Seminoles had a nice win last week against Boston College, and now they travel to Blacksburg to face a Virginia Tech squad that still carries a little swagger, even though they haven’t had a standout season. Bobby Bowden deserves a little credit for taking his team up to Boston and pulling out that win. He’ll have to do it all over again this weekend, so we shall see what they’ve got in the tank.
Meanwhile, the Georgia Bulldogs will host Auburn in what should be a nice SEC scrap. And finally, I just want to state that Notre Dame sucks. Losing to Navy for the first time since 1963 was awful. At 1-8, they are pathetic, and I believe that Air Force has a good shot at beating them, which will make the Irish 1-9!
Tom Weppel talks trash with Greg Larson, Lonnie Marts, Eugene Chung, Artis Gilmore, and Ron Duguay on SportsAvengers.com 24/7.
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