Tony Barnhart
By Tony Barnhart
On Saturday night a group of veteran sports writers sat in the
Claude Felton/Dan Magill Press Box at Dooley Field in Athens,
Ga. We watched as the SEC scores rolled in:
Tennessee 41, Miss State 34 (2 OT)
Ole Miss 24, LSU 19
Texas A&M 16, Auburn 10
And finally:
Alabama 24, Georgia 21
Only one conference game out of five--South Carolina beating
Kentucky, 35-13,--was decided by more than seven points.
And what did we learn from this?
1--Buckle up boys and girls because it is going to be this way the
rest of the season.
Thanks to the transfer portal the talent in this conference is more
spread out than it has ever been. And because of it the SEC is
starting to look like the NFL, where 80 percent of games in 2024
were decided by one possession or fewer.
Stay tuned:
So what else did we learn on the fifth Saturday of the 2025
season?
2--If not now, James Franklin, when?
The stage was perfectly set for the head football coach at Penn
State University.
ESPN’s College Game Day had selected Penn State’s home
game with Oregon as its site for Sept. 27. Both teams were
ranked in the Top Six.
Penn State was having one of its classic “White Out” games were
the entire crowd of 110,000 was dressed in white.
Into all this positive energy walks Franklin, who was 4-21 against
teams ranked in the Top 10 of the AP Poll. Surely, the narrative
would be broken on this day.
That final, in case you missed it, was Oregon 30, Penn State 24
in two overtimes.
When it was over, Franklin was lost for words to explain.
“At the end of the day we’ve got to find a way to win those
games,” said Franklin.
Remember that at Ohio State (Nov. 1) and Indiana (Nov. 8) are still
to come for Penn State.
“I get it,” Franklin said after the game. “I totally get it and I take
ownership and I take responsibility.”
3--Arkansas had no choice other than to let Sam Pittman go.
Pittman is one of the best-liked people in all of college football.
After an embarrassing 56-13 loss to Notre Dame on Saturday and
a stunning loss to Memphis the week before, Athletics Director
Hunter Yurachek made the move. Offensive coordinator Bobby
Petrino, a former head coach at Arkansas, takes over as interim
head coach. Arkansas has this Saturday off.
Arkansas players have a 30-day window to leave should they
chose to do so. It is not a given that Petrino will be the next full-time head coach.
It’s complicated.
4--Diego Pavia of Vanderbilt continues to make history. The
Commodores beat Utah State, 55-35, on Saturday improving their
record to 5-0. Pavia threw five touchdown passes and ran for a
sixth which ties a school record.
And this Saturday Vanderbilt goes to Tuscaloosa. You’ll recall that
Vanderbilt upset Alabama, 40-35, last season in Nashville.
Alabama is coming off an emotional 24-21 victory at Georgia on
Saturday night in Athens.
If this dude beats Alabama again, there is no doubt that he is
going to New York for the Heisman presentation.
5--Ohio State and Oregon were 1-2 in Sunday’s new AP Poll.
They may stay there until the playoffs start in December. Oregon
jumped from No. 6 to No. 2 in the AP poll after the Ducks beat
Penn State in Happy Valley. Ohio State and Oregon do not play
each other during the regular season. Oregon’s biggest remaining
challenges in the Big Ten are Indiana on Oct. 11, USC on Nov. 22
and at Washington Nov. 29.
If Ohio State runs the table it might face Oregon in the Big Ten
championship game
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