College Football Rewind: Alabama restores order in SEC West
Surging Tide takes down Bulldogs behind strong defensive effort. (USATSI) Welcome back to College Football Rewind. This is your first look back at what happened each week and what it means moving forward. Every Saturday night, I will analyze the week's games and the always colorful world of college football. Check back later for analysis of the late games.TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - For weeks, Mississippi State has been the country's feel-good story at No. 1. Alabama wasn't amused. Order was restored Saturday in the SEC West.
Alabama wrestled control of the SEC West and a potential spot in the College Football Playoff by suffocating the No. 1 Bulldogs 25-20. The nation's sixth-ranked offense was smothered and held to under five yards per play. The Heisman Trophy hopeful, Dak Prescott, threw three interceptions and barely completed 50 percent of his passes.
Mississippi State will drop from No. 1. How far? That's a looming question for the selection committee after the Bulldogs rallied from a 19-0 deficit to make a game of it early in the fourth quarter.
Alabama will rise into the top four from No. 5. How far? The Crimson Tide's defense was impressive and its vaunted home offense, although non-existent for stretches, emerged at the right time Saturday.
Meanwhile, No. 4 TCU barely survived to beat three-win Kansas 34-30. Should TCU drop? Keep in mind, earlier this season Alabama barely beat Arkansas 14-13 and Oregon struggled to beat Washington State 38-31.
This much is clear: The SEC West is now Alabama's to win or lose. If the Crimson Tide beats Auburn on Nov. 29 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama wins the West and becomes the SEC favorite to reach the playoff. An Alabama loss at the Iron Bowl would open the door to multiple teams in various tie-breaker scenarios.
What's impressive about this Alabama team is how it rises to the occasion. Mississippi State pulled within 19-13 early in the fourth quarter.
No sweat for Alabama, which strung together a game-tying drive last week at LSU. This time, the Crimson Tide marched 76 yards on 15 plays (with 65 yards on the ground). Blake Sims picked up three huge third-down conversions, once with his arm and twice with his legs. Sims had a 10-yard scramble on third-and-eight and an 11-yard run on third-and-10.
Ultimately, three goal-line possessions in the first half doomed Mississippi State's hopes.
Possession #1: Mississippi State managed to turn a straight handoff from its 5-yard line into a safety. Bulldogs running back Josh Robinson mistakenly bounced a run outside and was swarmed by Alabama defenders for a safety and a 2-0 Crimson Tide lead that set the tone.
Possession #2: With Alabama up 12-0, Crimson Tide running back Derrick Henry lost a fumble as he headed into the end zone and Mississippi State recovered. For a brief moment, Mississippi State had hope. Replay looked at Henry's fumble. Not only was Henry's body not down, he had crossed the goal line with the ball. Touchdown, Alabama. Dagger, Mississippi State.
Possession #3: Down 19-0 before the half, Mississippi State responded with an impressive drive and had first-and-goal at the 1-yard line. But Mississippi State committed a false-start penalty, Dak Prescott overthrew Malcolm Johnson for what should have been an easy touchdown, and Dan Mullen mercifully settled for a field goal.
Mississippi State's first 10 drives started at its own 25 or worse with an average field position in the first half of its own 15-yard line. Good luck beating Alabama's defense with that field position.
At this rate, good luck stopping Alabama at all.
What We Learned in Week 12
1. Melvin Gordon ran his way into more Heisman love. Marcus Mariota is the clear Heisman Trophy frontrunner and understandably so. But hopefully more pundits will finally realize the special season Gordon is having for Wisconsin. Gordon became impossible for voters to ignore Saturday by setting a Football Bowl Subdivision single-game rushing record with 408 yards against Nebraska. How good was Gordon? He broke LaDainian Tomlinson's record of 406 during the third quarter. How good was Gordon? Wisconsin quarterback Joel Stave only threw for 46 yards. Nebraska knew what was coming and Gordon still kept running. Gordon now has 1,909 yards on the season and is averaging 190.1 yards per game and an insane 8.6 yards per carry. Gordon has four 200-yard rushing games and has at least 100 yards in eight consecutive games. Heisman voters have no choice now but to send Gordon to New York as a candidate.
2. Nobody is safe in November. For weeks, we have been inundated with TCU-Baylor playoff talk if they both win out with only one loss. For weeks, I have reminded you that upsets can - and likely will - still happen. That almost happened when Kansas pushed TCU before the Horned Frogs held on for a 34-30 victory. Minnesota, which TCU beat out of conference earlier in the season, helped the No. 4 Horned Frogs earlier Saturday with a competitive loss against No. 8 Ohio State.
3. Florida State's resume gets weaker. Even before playing Saturday night at Miami, the No. 3 Seminoles saw their resume take a hit when No. 22 Georgia Tech routed No. 19 Clemson 28-6. That means it's very likely that come next week Florida State will have either none or one victory against a current top-25 team. (There could still be one ranked win for the Seminoles if Notre Dame defeats Northwestern on Saturday, but the Irish found itself in a fight.) The committee already dropped the Seminoles from No. 2 to 3 last week. Depending on how they play Saturday night, could another drop be in store for the defending national champions?
4. Even Steve Spurrier feels for Will Muschamp. After a brief hiatus the past two weeks, Florida's disastrous season resumed when it blew what should have been a home win over South Carolina. In the final six minutes of the game, the Gators had a touchdown called back, a field goal blocked and a punt blocked and the Gamecocks won 23-20 in overtime. Florida even had an instance when two offensive linemen momentarily blocked each other again, rekindling memories of a similar play by the Gators last season. 'I'm getting old when you start feeling for the other coach,' Spurrier told reporters after the game. Ouch. When opposing coaches offer sympathy, you know you're at the end of the line. Florida's loss means either Missouri or Georgia will win the SEC East.
What Were They Thinking?
The Tallahassee police department continues to appear to protect Florida State football players ahead of the Tallahassee community. The New York Times reported Florida State cornerback P.J. Williams received traffic tickets instead of what should have been hit-and-run criminal charges after an automobile accident on Oct. 5. According to the article, Williams, starting cornerback Ronald Darby and another passenger fled the scene after the accident. The Times story Williams eventually returned to the scene, but Tallahassee officers did not test him for alcohol and their report did not indicate whether they asked if he had been drinking or why he fled. Preferential treatment for college athletes is nothing new. But the police department's handling of multiple cases recently involving football players is embarrassing and portrays a win-at-all-costs image for the community.
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