Day After Labor Day Links

* #6

* Johnnie Brown, he of the 15 tackles Saturday, was just one of a handful of Rebels battling the flu

* Here's a breakdown of Sowell and the job he did last Saturday

* Gary Parrish would like to remind everybody what a douche bag he is with this column

* Sure John Feinstein can be whiny and beat a dead horse with the best of them, but this is good stuff. The ACC is an absolutely wretched football conference. It's supporters claim parody, I claim widespread mediocrity. Is it wrong to take pleasure in Duke losing to Richmond?

* In the latest edition of the Forde Yard Dash, Pat Forde takes what I would typically call a at a fellow SEC school. Based on its target though, I just think it's funny...

Mississippi State's Dan Mullen (33). There was an epidemic of penalties and some other sloppiness against an even sloppier opponent, Jackson State. But the Bulldogs also scored more than 40 points for the first time since Sept. 14, 2002. That alone should have sent fans sprinting naked into the streets in Starkville (assuming they have streets in Starkville).

2009 SEC Power Poll Ballot, Week 1

Here's a look at my week 1 SEC Power Poll ballot. The results will be unveiled on Team Speed Kills Now which starts a 7:00pm CT tonight at Team Speed Kills. As always, my ballot was filled out by me and only me. My interns are busy with other menial tasks.

With only South Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia taking on real competition, it’s hard to say we know a significant amount more about the SEC than we did last Thursday morning. All we can say for certain is that Florida and Alabama are for real. Ole Miss looked pedestrian for 3 quarters, LSU still can’t stop anybody, and Georgia looked inept while battling the flu and the Cowboys. With 3 conference games and a showdown with the PAC10 looming this weekend, teams will start to gravitate toward their rightful places.

1) Florida
We learned nothing from their romp over Charleston Southern, but there aren’t many questions that the Gators have to answer

2) Alabama
While I'm not convinced they're as good as last season - yet - Saturday's win was definitely a statement game

3) Ole Miss
Struggled for three quarters against a bad Memphis team, but the 4th quarter showed what this team is capable of with big plays from the defense and a quick strike offense

4) LSU
The Tigers had major defensive questions to answer coming in to the season and giving up 478 yards to a team that went winless last season is not the start that new DC John Chavis hoped for

5) Georgia
Sure the Dawgs were the only SEC team to lose over the weekend, but they were on the road against a top10 team and not at 100% due to the flu. Sturdivant’s injury was just the injury to insult

6) Arkansas
Ryan Mallett lived up to his billing in his Razorback debut. He’s got about a week and a half to drop another tenth of a second or two off his 40 time before he starts running from SEC defenders

7) South Carolina
A big Dead Guy congratulations to the Gamecocks and Wolfpack for their almost perfect reenactment of last year’s Auburn/Mississippi State game. A win is a win is a win, but that was ugly

8) Tennessee
After two turnovers and a scoreless first quarter, the Vols routed WKU. Gotta wonder if Orgeron is rubbing off on Kiffin the way the he went for it on 4th down inside Vol territory in the 2nd quarter

9) Auburn
The Tigers struggled with LTU early on, but romped late. I really have no idea where to rank the Tigers, but on the strength of their defense seem to be better than Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and MSU

10) Kentucky
While there are still plenty of reasons to doubt this Wildcat team, there’s no doubting CB Trevard Lindley. He’s a stud

11) Vanderbilt
The ‘Dores looked good in rolling WCU, but a night game in Tiger Stadium this weekend should shed some light on their resiliency

12) Mississippi State
The Bulldogs took that all important first step towards their Jackson-State-and-11 season

Random thoughts from game 1

* That 28 point 4th quarter made it worth sitting through the first 3 disappointing quarters

* The defense missed way too many tackles early on, but settled into a nice groove

* The Liberty Bowl seemed very dirty this year

* Speaking of dirty, I hope somebody dives at Duke Calhoun's knees this year and rolls over onto the backs of his legs, just he did to Greg Hardy this afternoon

* Going to schools like Memphis, among others, makes you really stop and appreciate the Grove and what it means for the pre- and post-game atmosphere

* The 18000+ empty seats should be enough to convince anybody that it's time for this series to take a break. It's just not that interesting anymore

* Jevan Snead looked very tentative early on today. He seemed to lock on to McCluster and Shay Hodge and not look elsewhere

* I wasn't enamored with the offensive play calling today... very predictable. There were only a handful of times we took shots down the field on first down. Part of that may have been Snead's repeated misfires early on, but the predictability was the major cause of our ineptitude early on

* That said, we are riding a 7-game win streak and, not coincidentally, Snead has thrown for 2+ TDs in all 7

* Sure it was garbage time, but Enrique Davis looked better/quicker/faster than Cordera Eason did

* We need a 3rd receiver to step up and claim that role... .badly

* It was no fun to watch Greg Hardy go down and then see McCluster go down shortly after it. It was fun to watch them each make big plays late in the 4th quarter

* Speaking of Hardy, the announcers for ESPN need to learn to read. They referenced Hardy's eye black as "Draft Me" when it clearly said "Doubt Me"

* Ole Miss women > Memphis women

Random Game Day Thoughts

* With Oklahoma and Virginia Tech losing yesterday, the Rebels have a decent shot at moving up to #6 in the AP poll with a convincing win today. Ponder that for a second...

* Speaking of the Sooners, it's a shame to see Sam Bradford go down like he did. You never want to see that happen to one of the game's biggest stars. It also opens up the Heisman race a bit, meaning Jevan Snead may be more of a candidate than some expected.

* BYU has a chance to run the table and play in the BCS Championship game. They've got 3 games against ranked squads left - Florida State, Utah, and TCU - but the biggest hurdle is cleared.

* New Belgium's newest seasonal beer Hoptober is really good. It's no Fat Tire, but it's certainly on par with Skinny Dip.

* For Georgia's sake, let's hope that Joe Cox's flu symptoms were worse than they let on. After an impressive opening drive, that offense was just bad.

* Hats off to the three new HCs as all picked up blowout victories in Week 1. Lane Kiffin and Tennessee welcome UCLA next week, while Dan Mullen and Mississippi State travel to Gene Chizik's Auburn team. The honeymoon phase will be over for at least one coach next Saturday.

* Once they hit their stride, Alabama just manhandled VTU last night. If we - or anyone - is going to beat them, we've got to keep the defense off the field. The undersized Hokies just wore down as time ticked on. It was a perfect example of the difference between the quality of ACC and SEC teams.

* Admittedly, I was asleep long before the game ended, but LSU's pedestrian 31-23 over a Washington team that went 0-12 last season can't bolster the confidence of Tiger fans.

* I have no idea how Memphis' OL is going to even attempt to stand up against our DL. We may not register many sacks - Memphis runs a very quick drop offense - but the passing lanes are going to crumble a lot quicker than anything they could simulate in practice.

* I'm really glad this series is going on an extended hiatus and I live in the Memphis area.

Blount suspended for season

Oregon RB LaGarrette Blount has been suspended for the season including any postseason play the Ducks happen to make. As a senior RB, this essentially ends his college career, and according to ESPN's Todd McShay makes a once late 2nd-early 3rd round guy "undraftable." It's a fitting end to his career marked by troubles with fitness and the other things involved in football besides on-the-field performance. The move to keep him on scholarship is a nice touch as a last ditch hope that Blount can get his act together. More than likely it's a lost cause, but there's really no point in pulling it from him at this point.

I still fell that Boise State should have take corrective action against Hout though. He instigated contact with an already-agitated Blount and honestly, how surprised can he be with the reaction? That in no way excuses Blount for his reprehensible actions, but how does Hout skate through this unscathed? If BSU HC Chris Peterson won't take action, I'd like to see the MWC or NCAA step in and suspend him for at least 2 games.

Blount can dish it, can't take it

While the Oregon/Boise State game certainly didn't deliver the offensive fireworks many hoped for, the bad blood between the teams boiled up in the post-game celebration. Earlier this week, Oregon RB LeGarrette Blount ran his mouth this week about owing Boise State and "ass-whooping" after last year's Bronco win in Autzen Stadium. Even the pre-game handshake went off without a hitch.

Once the game started, the Broncos thoroughly dominated the Ducks, including holding Blount to -5 yds on 8 carries. As a team, the Ducks (under new head coach and alleged offensive mastermind Chip Kelly) mustered just 152 total yds and controlled ball for less than 18 minutes of the game. It was an utter embarrassment for a team some though might challenge USC and Cal for the PAC-10 title this season. Frustrations came to a head when BSU sophomore DE Byron Hout taunted Blount, who quickly retaliated with a sucker punch when Hout turned away. The celebratory dance after the punch only made it worse. Blount was literally dragged off the field by coaches, teammates, and security personnel as he was taunted by the Boise State student section on the way to the tunnel.

In a perfect world, Hout wouldn't have dance up to Blount and said whatever he said, most likely something along the lines of "How'd that ass-whoopin' work out for you there, buddy?" But he did, and as a coach-proclaimed "more mature player,"the onus falls on Blount to be the better man, which he obviously wasn't. If you're going to talk tough before the game, you've got to be able to take it back after the game, particularly if you do nothing in the game.

In my view, Hout should receive the same punishment that Blount does from the NCAA. Hout initiated the physical contact. The Boise players basically surrounded the Oregon offense as the clock ticked to 0:00, exacerbating an already tense situation.

To Blount's credit, he did calm down enough to issue this apology:

"I just apologize to anyone watching that," Blount said. "I just apologize to all of our fans and all of Boise's fans. That's something I shouldn't have done. I lost my head."

But it's too little too late. He talked smacked, fell flat on his face, and lashed out by suckerpunching the first someone who brought it up. Emotions run high, particularly in a grudge match like that, but the best players channel that emotion positively on the field. Blount let it get the best of him.

He hurt his team last night with a poor on-field performance, embarrassed himself and his team with his post-game antics, and will now be a major distraction to a seemingly fragile Ducks team as the NCAA and HC Kelly will have to decide how to punish him. Based on his spotted history at Oregon and his reprehensible behavior last night, I don't know how Kelly keeps him on the team.