What’s left to play for? Pride.
Despite Georgia Southern defensive madman Chris Covington’s statement after Saturday’s debilitating loss to Appalachian State that, “it’s definitely not over” — it’s over.
With three conference losses and four games dropped total, the Eagles need more than a miracle to make the playoffs — they need about 10 miracles. I’ll say it now, Georgia Southern doesn’t lose another game this season, but they’ll have to wait until 2009 for a chance at National Championship No. 7.
After a 6-4 week, still holding strong at six over (yes, I did call that Virginia upset, a road win for Tech and the team to the North to win by 10): 52-47.
Bedeviling performance
Statesboro’s 24-7 win over Ware County Friday came just hours before the weather turned cold and we were all reminded that playoff football is right around the corner.
Statesboro’s second half explosion put them in the driver’s seat for a region title with just two games to go. It was an impressive win that made me start to believe that coach Steve Pennington has been right all along — this could be a special group.
The Blue Devils can’t have a letdown this week at South Effingham. A win there will set up a chance to win the region championship Nov. 7 against Brunswick on Senior Night.
Bulloch Academy clinched a playoff spot of their own in GISA Region 2-AA with a 49-0 thumping of Curtis Baptist on Friday while a slew of other squads are making a postseason push.
In Region 3-A, Claxton and Metter are in good shape while Jenkins County still has work to do. There’s no question Emanuel County Institute is still the king of Class A until they are dethroned.
Screven County continues the war of attrition that is Region 3-AA. With a win over East Laurens this past Friday, the Gamecocks would be in the playoffs if the season ended today. It doesn’t, though, so SCHS must play its best football against Southeast Bulloch this week and first place Jefferson County on Halloween.
Back to the colleges
I believe it was Barack Obama who once said, “Don’t get too cocky.”
Although my picks were positive last week, we’ve seen there are no guarantees in that ridiculous world of FBS football.
The game of the week is without a doubt Penn State in Columbus against Ohio State. In years past, Ohio State has suffered an early-season setback only to run the table and find itself back in the title game. But they haven’t had to play a team like Penn State in the course of those runs.
Both squads are playing well coming in and I think that bodes well for the Buckeyes. Avoiding the upset last week at Michigan State was crucial — now they’re the ones with an underdog chip on their shoulder.
OH-IO comes back in second half, wins 24-21.
Two more dynamites in the Big XII this week. Is Texas Tech for real? Yep. They hand Kansas its first home-loss. Is Texas really this good? Looks like it. They roll on over Oklahoma State.
Statewide, Georgia has had ample opportunity to improve the last couple of weeks and has failed to do so — LSU beats Georgia, 27-19. Georgia Tech returns home to face Virginia. Remember, Virginia isn’t the same team you saw in September — Tech takes ‘em down, but close, 28-24.
