I’m drunk as I’m writing this and so you’re getting a discount tailgate. A Dollar General tailgate. Nonetheless, we’re having one.

Author’s Note: Well, as I wrote half of this. The other half was very hungover in the morning.

Week in Review

Look y’all that was a rough football game. We’re not a NCG contender, that’s about all you can really take away from that game. Hope that doesn’t ruin anyone’s day! Look, maybe it was a good game for our fanbase. We maybe got a little too confident after going 3-0, which let’s be honest, none of us expected. Yes, in some of our optimistic predictions we saw ourselves going 3-0 before losing to Bama. None of us expected to actually do it. We maybe let that run get the best of us, but we’re literally still in the “optimistic” run of what we expected out of the season.

We’re 3-1 and we may still be the best team in East. This is the game to start the journey to prove it. We beat Florida and we send the message. We’re 1-19 against Florida in the last twenty years, but this may be our best chance yet. We’ve player McElwain teams very close, and our team is better than any other Mason squad. McElwain’s squad is noticably worse and struggled against Kentucky and Tennessee.

Think about it y’all. UGA is the biggest challenge, but name me another team that’s obviously better than us in the East. There’s not any. We’re better than UT, UK, Mizzou, USC and UF. We need to prove it starting today.

Around the League

There was so much in the way of newsworthy games this week. Here’s just a portion of them.

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

• #4 PSU 21 - Iowa 19. Kill me. I hate having to do this, you hate having to read it. It’s taken me five attempts to write this section without saying something that will piss off mothership. Maybe it’s for the best. In any case, Iowa should have won this game. Iowa came back in the fourth, but also scored two unanswered touchdowns in the Fourth. We all thought that finally the great evil of PSU would be knocked off... but no. On the last play of the game with 4 seconds left Iowa let PSU score and win the game. The coach that shall not be named just keeps getting lucky.
• NCSU 27 - #12 FSU 21. Florida State really isn’t that bad y’all. They’re all but kicked out of the rankings after this game, but let’s be honest they’ve not had idea conditions here. They may bet better than NCSU, but they simply weren’t the best team on the field last Saturday. NCSU controlled the whole game, and when an inferior team controls the game against better competition this is what it looks like.

Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images

• #20 Florida 28 - Kentucky 27. Lol I remember laughing all week at all the talk of Kentucky ending the losing streak against Florida. It seemed inconceivable. Well, Florida is bad y’all. Fortunately for Florida, Kentucky is better than even Vanderbilt at screwing up a win. With less than a minute left, UF WR Freddie Swain found himself wide open as two UK DBs left the field instead of one on a substitution. Easy touchdown for what would be the winning play. It was the second time UK would leave a WR literally uncovered for a touchdown. Even then UK could have put it away. A fantastic FG setting up run was set up on the final drive by a stupid holding call. Still think UK is the team to beat?

Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images

• #25 LSU 35 - Syracuse 26. Lemme be clear y’all, LSU has a ton of talent, but they didn’t deserve that game. It wasn’t the worst game I saw LSU play, hell it wasn’t even the worst game I saw them play against Syracuse. LSU does look like a team completely without guidance, however. The line doesn’t know who to block and looked outright confused set after set. They didn’t know what to expect from the fronts Syracuse was presenting. That comes down to coaching. Coach O may not be around next year if this continues.

Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

• #11 UGA 31 - #17 Clanga 3. The honeymoon of Clanga has ended. UGA is a tough team but certainly not 31-3 tough. Clanga is going to win some games this year, but a top 10 team? A threat to the SEC West? Nope. Jawga controlled the game from start to finish. State barely managed 100 yards passing but did manage over 175 yards on the ground.

Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

• UMass 13 - Tennessee 17. I didn’t watch a snap of this game, but I want to remind us all of this. Every last one of us has a Vawl fan who is mocking us for the Bama game. Remind them they struggled against You Mass.

• La Tech 16 - Carolina 17. Didn’t see a snap of this one either, but another reminder that the East is wide open. Carolina needed a comeback to win this one. They scored all 17 points in the fourth, and needed a FG at the end of the game (literally only 4 seconds left) to get the win.

There’s Other Footbaw

...especially because you’re likely to just be waking up watching our game. There’s actually that many good match-ups this week though.

• Jawga @ Tennessee, 1430 CT (1530 ET) - CBS. At this point this is a scouting game for those of us who care about the future of our season. Georgia will win, but how they play is going to be a big deal for us. Watch how they execute plays, see if you can see any weaknesses. Bonus points if you see anything their linemen are doing that can be exploited.
• #24 Clanga @ #13 Auburn, 1700 CT (1800 ET) - ESPN. Clanga has a chance here to make a statement. Did they just get caught off guard against UGA? Are they really a contender for a high level bowl game this year? Auburn has arguably a top #5 defense in the country. If you don’t believe me, you didn’t see them play Clemson. Clanga HC Dan Mullen agrees, and has commented that he sees a lot of similarities to UGA in how Auburn executes their defense. If that’s the case, then Mullen will have little excuse to not give the Tigers trouble. He now knows what does and doesn’t work against his squad.
• Ole Miss @ #1 Alabama, 2000 CT (2100 ET) - ESPN. The story of this game is one you’re familiar with. Ole Miss has won two of the last three games against Alabama, and last year was a grinder shoot out that Bama managed to walk away with the win. Saban has been saying all week that he doesn’t’ feel like they’ve really beaten Mississippi in four years. He’s selling it as another kind of “they don’t respect you” game... which could spell doom for the Rebs. Nonetheless, this game has been worth watching for the last three years. Watch it. Alternate: #2 Clemson @ #13 VaTech, ABC, 1900 CT.
• Colorado State @ Hawaii, 2300 CT (0000 ET) - ???. Your Pac-12 Degenerate Game of the Week! In a horrendous slate of late games, this only wins out because it’s got an extra late start time. Fun fact Hawaii is three hours behind Pacific Time this time of year because they’re two time zones away AND they don’t observe DST. This is the only fact I have for what is sure to be an unwatchable game. You’re going to have to get creative to watch this game, but all the legal ways involve downloading an app. Enjoy.

Get Ready For Vanderball

There are no Q&As, because Alligator Army doesn’t play nice with others. They don’t even answer our emails :(. That won’t stop us from giving you a breakdown of our opponent though! In addition to the usual hoopla of an SEC game in the Swamp, this game has an extra special title on the line. I of course talk of the Butch Jones Life Championship.

Finally, I doubt many of you will be reading this before the game is already underway, but we did give our usual attempt at predictions. That’s all I got for this week y’all.

Gametime!

3-1 (0-1)

GAMETIME: 11:00 CT (12:00 ET) LOCATION: BEN HILL GRIFFIN STADIUM, GAINESVILLE, FL TV: ESPN RADIO: 1510 AM, 95.9 FM, 98.3 FM GAMETRACKER: Click this link AUDIO FEED (FREE): Click this link (VUCommodores, FREE!) VIDEO FEED: ESPN3.com (cable agreement required)

2-1 (2-0)