SATURDAY TAILGATE: MISSISSIPPI

I am thoroughly exhausted but I wussed out and didn't give you a tailgate last week, so here we are.  Lucky for me there's like no good games this week, so there's one section that's easy.

AoG WEEK IN REVIEW

Well, there's one constant in the Universe - Vandy can beat a 1AA opponent.  Vanderbilt has never lost to a 1AA opponent, which is kind of a cool distinction when you realize how many national powerhouses have.  We all predicted a win, which is kind of like predicting the sun was going to rise.  I didn't even watch a single snap, as I was watching Leonard Fournette hang 228 rushing yards on Auburn. So in lieu of my usual worthless rambling, you can read Johnson_ERA4 provide a much more coherent summary of the game than I'll give.  I couldn't even catch a taping of it.  Not that I'm terribly motivated to watch it.  We were supposed to win big, we did.  If nothing else, this game helps build confidence.

Of particular note was that Trent Sherfield brought down the ball 16 times for a total of 240 yards.  This breaks Earl Bennett's previous record of 223 yards.  As much as I rail the Tennessean, I will link David Ammenheuser's article about Trent's day.  It makes the great point that Trent just did something that neither Earl Bennett or Jordan Matthews has done.  One of the people Trent credited with his performance was Jordan Matthews, who has come to campus to work with our alumni during the offseason.  In case you're wondering, the record-breaking pass came early in the 4^th from Wade Freebeck. Trent was then pulled for the remainder of the game to join many of the other 1^st team players who were pulled at the end of the third.

While it is too late to vote, AoG regular lsmsrbls has gotten us involved with the SEC power poll our sister site, Team Speed Kills, does weekly.  It's too late to vote now, but you should keep up with them, sometimes us on the staff don't catch them right away, so please keep you eye out on the fanposts to vote!  TSK's results for week 3 are here.

Speaking of AoG discussions, what five players can we least afford to lose right now?  CDA and VUfanInTX attempt to answer this question, and we're looking forward to your contributions.  Me, I'd agree with both of them in saying ANY loss in O-line depth is going to be very bad for us right now.  Webb and Sherfield are also definitely on that list too.

That's really it for new business on AoG.  It's been a slow week overall.  Your AoG editors have been busy with ~real life~ and even the comments have been slow this week.  Maybe it's the start of fall.  Or maybe it's just that Austin Peay doesn't exactly give us much to talk about.

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Week 3 has brought us a few great joys.  SPOILER ALERT: I celebrate the result of the Bama-Mississippi game.

• #22 Missouri 9 - UConn 6. I watched literally zero of this game, and I've been away from the sports media in general this whole week. So this is the first time I'm finding out about this game and lemme just say LOL. The game looks like it was a snoozefest, but here's the takeaway - Uconn almost beat Missouri. UConn. Missouri is very beatable this year despite what that ranking will have you believe.
Cowardice in action.
• #13 LSU 45 - #18 Auburn 21. "Shouldn't be difficult, that much of a challenge," said Auburn DB Rudy Ford Tuesday last week. Oops. Leonard Fournette, rushing God, said that this comment was his motivation in delivering what was arguably the greatest rushing performance in school history. While he was short of the record in yards by 22, he DID rush for 228 yards on 19 carries. He was removed from the game after his third rushing TD. LSU ran for a total of 411 yards in a game that was over by the end of the first. The downside for Tigers fans? Brandon Harris is still a terrible QB. Oh and one more thing, Rudy Ford, talking trash is fine, but you best not literally be afraid to tackle the man.
• Stanford 41 - #6 FAKE USC - 31. Anytime the Trojans lose it's hilarious. Well... there was that one time, but who's counting? Kevin Hogan might be for real y'all, dude took a nasty hit middle of the game and hung in there anyway. 18/23 for 279 is a pretty good line, but Stanford's running game once again was the story of the day, which /gasp, opens up the passing game! Gee... where have I see the argument for that before?
• #2 Alabama 37 - #15 Mississippi 43. The clear game of the week going in, this game did not disappoint. Even if you're a Bama fan, where I know a big takeaway is how the team hung in there all game. Bama lost by only six on the scoreboard, but that was mostly Mississippi doing what it (and we) do best - allow teams back into games. Several times the game seemed out of reach for Alabama, but they came back each time. To lose by 6 when you give up 5 turnovers is pretty dang impressive, but Mississppi was far and away the better team. If Mississippi wasn't experts at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory this would have been a massacre. LSU-Mississippi decides the West y'all.

Non-Recap footbaw stuff:

• Ohio State remains #1 even though NIU of all teams almost beat them. I truly do not understand why the media consistently loves Ohio State so much. Not since Helen chased after Paris has so much ridiculous bull come from a love affair.
• Baylor self-imposed a sanction on assistant coach Jeff Lebbey, who will miss the first half of the game Baylor has against Oklahoma later this season. His crime? He went to the Tulsa-Oklahoma game. That's actually illegal scouting and against NCAA policy.

• 

THERE'S OTHER FOOTBAW... USUALLY

I have another week of not watching footbaw, I'm going to a Yankees game Saturday.  Lucky for me, there's nothing on worth watching. Like seriously.  I'm looking through the schedule, and I can't even muster up enough gusto to say that maybe watching the UT-UF game at 3 would be a good one.  As much as it pains me to do, the primetime game to watch in my book is probably a Pac-12 game.  Sigh.

• #9 UCLA at #16 Arizona. I'm really only listing this game because Arizona always is good for one hilarious upset a year. Rich Rod is 2-0 against top 10 opponents at home, in case you care about those types of meaningless statistics. In a week where there's literally nothing else to watch, might as well give it a chance. I know literally zero about the Xs and Os of either team, so I won't pretend to know.

THERE IS NO GAME THIS WEEK.  PUNCH IS BEING SERVED IN THE GROVE

We all think we're going to get crushed, and even the sunshine crew thinks it.  Mississippi is one of, if not the, best team in the country right now.  We're gonna lose.  VUfaninTX though has your fix if you for some reason need to check our depth chart.  Our biggest news going into the game is DeAndre Woods is out for the rest of the season on an ACL tear.  We wish him a speedy recovery, as we will sorely miss his offensive production.

In any case, we've had our typical fun week with the Red Cup Rebellion crew.  Seriously, I love them and my favorite week is RCR week on SBN because we interact so well.  Our Q&A sessions are here (AoG) and here (RCR).  If you have a sense of humor, feel free to go over to their weekly HATE WEEK thread.  If you go over and do not have a sense of humor, I fully endorse whatever shit you get.  It's all in fun y'all.

GAMETIME

Can we maybe not be destroyed by the half? I'd settle for that.  Please have mercy, Rebs.

Just a reminder - the audio feed is now FREE on VUCommodores.com (link below) and starts at 19:00 ET (18:00 CT)

ANCHOR DOWN Y'ALL!