SEC: Keep the Passion Burning

The stakes get higher each week as the unexpected happens, and teams fall from the mountain top to be replaced by another at least for a time anyway. Who will rise, and who will fall this week? Can upsets happen? Yes! Will they happen this week? Maybe, but that is what makes it fun.

No. 11 Auburn @ Arkansas: The Razorbacks made a run at finally getting an SEC win, but Mark Stoops had them fooled. Every time the Porkers tried to take the corncob Stoops pulled it away just a little farther away. Chad Morris had hoped to see his little piglets making feathers fly as they ripped some chickens apart, but it never happened. The only encouragement he can give his Hogs right now is, “Hey, if a Gamecock can flog a nasty Bulldog, then maybe we can rip a Tiger if we gang up.”

Gus had the old bus gassed up again for a trip back home to the Arkansas foothills. He figured he might swing by mom’s house before taking his Tigers on up to Fayetteville to see the pork slaughterhouse that is gaining in popularity as a tourist spot. Gus figures a little relaxation is needed before a major catfight next week. The last scenic tour didn’t turn out so well, so Gus needs to be watching for sneak attacks by a ticked-off Hog.

T-Dawg’s Winner: Auburn 47 - 10

No. 9 Florida @ South Carolina: The Gators did their best to chomp on Big Baby’s Tigers but spit it up when it mattered the most. Dandy Dan takes his Gator farm to South Carolina this week to raise more recognition for his scaly critters. Danny Boy doesn’t know it, but his Gator cages have mistakenly been booked right beside the chicken coup.

Will Muschamp felt like “Rocky Balboa” after the Athens exposition. Muschamp even expressed ordered a scarlet robe engraved with “The Columbian Stallion.” Muschamp plans to seize on the boxing theme this week as he “floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee” while throwing in a little bit of “rope a dope.” Dreams are fun, but you must know when to wake up to reality if you plan to answer the bell.

T-Dawg’s Winner: Florida 31 - 24

No. 22 Missouri @ Vanderbilt: Barry Odom has his felines on top of the SEC East world right now. A three-game road swing begins in “Music City” and ends in Athens with a season-defining contest. Kelly Bryant plans to sink a few Commodore ships before retiring to rest for the hills ahead.

Derek Mason has possibly seen enough of his fleet sink that he knows there is not enough “Flex Seal” in the world to keep the water out of the gaping holes in the hull. He must figure out what, if anything, can be salvaged to fight the remaining engagements. There will be black and gold in the stands this week, but most won’t be on the home side. The Commodore defense is dead last in the NCAA, and the offense is 114th. The anchor has already dropped for the year.

T-Dawg’s Winner: Missouri 45 - 10

Kentucky @ No. 10 Georgia: The Athens gift shop was more than generous to the driver of the chicken truck that stopped at Sanford Stadium so his Cluckers could get out to scratch and feed between the hedges for worms. Unfortunately, they took more than the Dogs wanted to give. Sometimes getting fooled can be a rewarding experience, and Smart hopes that is the case with some scraggly blue Wildcats coming into town.

Those Blue-grass boys had the fiddles humming when it mattered most last Saturday, and the Pigs began to dance to the stringed music. Stoops hopes to see a re-enactment of Muschamp’s Miracle for his band to dance to as they do a little hedge trimming. Instead of seeing the second showing of Muschamp’s Miracle, Stoops mistakenly bought tickets to “Let’s Make a Deal.” Stoops gets an opportunity but unfortunately chooses the wrong curtain and gets “ZONKED.”

T-Dawg’s Winner: Georgia 44 - 13

Texas A&M @ TSUN: Jimbo isn’t loved in Aggie-Land quite as much as he was when he arrived. Those dad-blasted red elephants have a lot to do with that, but there are other kinks in the armor developing as well. The seventy-five-million-dollar man doesn’t show signs of worry, but with that many donuts, would you? That is a lot of Alpo for Reveille.

The Land Minnows competed but were shredded in the end out in the Missouri Tiger den. Matt Luke continues to try to position his little water friends swimming to a possible bowl game, but he knows they will have to win a couple of fishing rodeos that they shouldn’t to get a vacation of some sort. Reveille has always struggled in the water and in October. Don’t be surprised here.

T-Dawg’s Winner: Texas A&M 31 - 27

Tennessee @ No. 1 Alabama: The Volunteers felt like Christmas came early, and it did. Battling Dawgs two weeks in a row paid off in ways not imagined, but then the last Dawgs hadn’t gotten the training they needed to win a prize. Pruitt could care less though, just getting that “good all-over feeling” was enough.

Tua and his herd are back in Title Town, getting ready for a visit from the Volunteers led by Jeremy Pruitt. This version of the Volunteers has improved their marksmanship, but the trouble is they are using BB guns, and that will not slow down an elephant of any color. Hey Jeremy, that feeling you got last week won’t last long. Tua lights the first cigar.

T-Dawg’s Winner: Alabama 44 - 18

No. 2 LSU @ Miss. State: “Big Baby” Orgeron was smiling like a proud poppa when Joe Burrow passed him a new pair of Gator hide boots Saturday night. The Heisman leader brings his aerial act to Stark-Vegas, expecting to multiply his stock and figuring the roulette wheel is his baby. Coach “O” is hoping that he and Burrow get an invite to “Dancing with the Stars” after this.

The Dawgs have their own aerial act that does pretty well at times. The “Shrader Copter” and the “Hill Hurdle” can get the crowd on their feet when the preparation has been done to execute the act at a high level. Sometimes when you are down in the valley, you must believe in yourself and start climbing back up. Whether it is the “Copter” or the “Hurdles,” a commitment must start this week. Getting back to the higher elevations may not come all at once, but if the effort and will are there, it will happen in time.

“Baby O” loses his bet because he didn’t place money on Maroon No. 3, No. 5, No. 6, No. 8, No. 12, No. 22, No. 32, No. 40, No. 42, No. 47, No. 73, No. 82 and other Maroon. Burrow goes BUST.

I chose not to believe in a person but instead in a proud lineage of Maroon. The climb begins.

T-Dawg’s Winner: Mississippi State (the score doesn’t matter)

Whenever we have a family member dangerously ill, we naturally gravitate towards them to provide nourishing foods, encouragement, and prayers. Well, a part of our Dawg family is suffering right now, but I don’t mean one person. I am thinking of a football program we all have had so much pride in. Now is the time for us to come together and nourish the body, not a person but a team. It is about family and the pride we have in that family.

Hail State!