THE SEC REPORT
The SEC Report: A&M gets destroyed as LSU asserts dominance over the SEC and Auburn wins a heavyweight battle of an Iron Bowl
Dec 3, 2019, 8:52 am
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
Born with a comic book in one hand and a remote control in the other, Cory DLG is the talent of Conroe's very own Nerd Thug Radio and Sports. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio show at www.nerdthugradio.com!
LAST WEEKEND
LSU obliterated A&M as Joe Burrow and the Tigers came out to make a statement about their place nationally this season. An inappropriate gesture helped cost Ole Miss the Egg Bowl and Alabama just lost the most important Iron Bowl in a long, long time. Alabama hasn't come into an Iron Bowl lately with their season in more trouble than they did this year, with a back up quarterback, a better team in their own division and already out of the SEC title game a wounded Crimson Tide lost a huge Iron Bowl to Auburn.
THE THREE STARS OF LAST WEEKEND
Jake Fromm, Quarterback of Georgia: This season has been the Swift show but this week we actually had a Fromm sighting and it was prolific. Four touchdowns on just fourteen completions, Fromm picked a great week to come alive as their next game is against LSU for the SEC title and having to worry about both the run and the pass means play calling just got a little easier for The Bulldogs.
Auburn as a team: The young quarterback Bo Nix played well enough in a huge back and forth game. The defense contributed with two pick sixes that kept the pressure on Alabama and back up quarterback Mac Jones. Auburn came in and did exactly what it needed to do to win a close and hard fought game.
Kyle Trask, Quarterback of Florida: Threw for 300 yards and three touchdowns on 30 completions. Florida finished their season in a great place in comparison to how they started it and the leadership and performance of Trask has a lot to do with it and this week is no exception to that.
THIS WEEKEND
This weekend is the big one, everything has been building for this. This week Georgia plays LSU in what has worked out to be a road game for the higher ranked Tigers. Georgia is playing in their third SEC championship game in a row and they have to think the world is playing a cruel joke on them as they've traded one buzz saw for another. While they aren't playing the most successful college program in recent history they are still playing a program on fire with a Heisman hopeful at quarterback. 3pm this Saturday on CBS, we'll see who wins the SEC The Bulldogs or The Tigers.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Jake Fromm, Quarterback of Georgia: For the Bulldogs to have a chance to win Fromm needs to have a great game, complete over half of his passes, be efficient and play mistake free football. There's always a chance a team can win but usually it means their quarterback plays good football.
Joe Burrow, Quarterback of LSU: This guy has been crushing the game all season and needs just one more game to make his case for a Heisman, to win an SEC championship and to secure a shot at the National Championship. After all of the football these next few weeks are so important for Burrow and company to get as much as they can from all of this success this season.
D'Andre Swift, Runningback of Georgia: He didn't finish the Tech game due to a shoulder injury and The Bulldogs will need all hands on deck. One of the best rushers in the SEC this season is a heck of a guy to be missing or to have but not at full strength. Hopefully Georgia can keep everything going just one more game but they'll need Swift to make that happen.Feel free to check out my brand-new comic book Another Day at the Office or buy a shirt from Side Hustle Ts where some proceeds help people struggling with cancer or listen to Nerd Thug Radio. Thoughts, complaints, events and comments can be sent to corydlg@gmail.com.
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C.J. Stroud couldn't believe it. Neither could his Houston Texans teammates.
They were frustrated after a 21-13 loss to the New York Jets on Thursday night when they couldn't get much going against a team that was seeing its season spiral after losing five straight games.
“It’s embarrassing to come out here in a prime-time game and get embarrassed like that is never fun,” Stroud said. “We have to be better in a lot of areas, and that starts with me. There are plays I've got to make, throws I've got to make.”
Stroud completed just 11 of 30 passes for 191 yards for the Texans (6-3), who played without injured receivers Stefon Diggs and Nico Collins. Stroud was also sacked eight times.
“If we want to win, this is not the recipe for it,” Stroud said. “We've got to learn how to dominate and stop learning to just go with the flow.”
It was the first of three consecutive prime-time games for Houston, with a Sunday night home matchup against the Lions on Nov. 10 next and a Monday night meeting at Dallas on Nov. 18.
“We just have to honestly just play football better, execute better, stop pointing the finger and realize at the end of the day this is not winning football,” Stroud said. "We can’t keep squeezing our way by. We are a really good football team. Once we buy into the systems and what is being coached, we have to have leadership to take over.
“This isn’t the end, but it’s definitely a great wake-up call for us to tighten up the ship.”
The Texans got on the scoreboard first on Joe Mixon's 3-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter. They also led 10-7 through three quarters, but couldn't close it out as Aaron Rodgers and an eye-popping catch by Garrett Wilson helped lead the Jets to a victory that stopped their skid.
“The most frustrating part is that we were the better team,” right tackle Tytus Howard said. "We let that game get away from us, especially in the second half. We didn’t come back out with the same intensity we had in the second quarter.
“We let a team steal a win from us.”
Texans coach DeMeco Ryans was particularly concerned with the offensive line after Stroud was hit 11 times. The second-year quarterback was on the turf for a few moments and was slow to come off the field after being sacked by Solomon Thomas shortly before halftime.
“Not sure what’s happening up front,” Ryans said. “We’ll watch the film. We gave up eight sacks and every drop back or pass situation looks like we’re in scramble mode. It’s just not good enough. We can’t operate on time. We've got to get that fixed.”
Stroud has been sacked 30 times this season, a total that ranks second in the NFL to Cleveland's Deshaun Watson, who's out for the season.
“We don’t want our quarterback getting hit as many hits as he took," Ryans said. "It’s not good enough. We've got to adjust, change things moving forward.”
After a slow start on offense, the Jets found a rhythm in the second half. Wilson's acrobatic, one-handed grab put New York in front 14-10 early in the fourth quarter. Rodgers' 37-yard TD pass to Davante Adams made it 21-10 with 2:56 left.
“When the passes went up in the second half, we didn’t win those passes,” Ryans said. “It was the same matchup we had in the first half. They made plays in the second half and we didn’t.”
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