THE SEC REPORT
The SEC Report: A&M wins close, Alabama loses Tua and Florida pulls out a win
Oct 22, 2019, 5:24 am
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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
Wow, last weekend was crazy right? Texas A&M was only up three coming into the fourth, Missouri and Vandy were tied into the fourth, and South Carolina led against Florida at the top of the fourth; it was a tense weekend. A&M pulled it out obviously to get their season over .500, Vanderbilt went on to win, as did Florida in a really good fourth quarter. Georgia finally got all that bad football out of their system and after being shut out in the first half, scored 21 points in the second half against Kentucky. Here's the real news though, Tua Tagovailoa had a high ankle sprain on the opposite ankle as last year and is now going to miss time to let the ankle heal from surgery. Last year he missed zero games but there was 20 plus days off between his injury in the SEC championship and the first round of the playoffs, it's difficult to gauge how many games he'll miss this time in the middle of a season that now faces actual adversity for Saban's seemingly automatically in the playoffs, usually undefeated, Alabama.
THREE STARS OF LAST WEEKEND
Joe Burrow, Quarterback of LSU, I'm sure by now you know but he was a massive underdog to win the Heisman before the start of the season and is now currently the front runner. That's because he had another great game - 327 yards and another four touchdowns through the air. He's been incredible this season.
Ke'Shawn Vaughn, running back of Vanderbilt, had two of Vandy's three touchdowns, one rushing along with 96 yards and one receiving with 80 yards on 4 catches. Vaughn is the engine that drove Vanderbilt to victory this week.
Kyle Trask, Quarterback of Florida who was efficient with only 200 yards but 4 touchdowns to pull out the come behind win over South Carolina who was stalking another upset.
THIS WEEKEND
My how things have changed in just one week. Last week Missouri was protecting first place in their division and Florida and Georgia were both reeling, now unranked Missouri is going to Kentucky to try and save their season while both the Gators and Bulldogs are ahead of them and off. All the eyes of the SEC and College Football will be on Arkansas at Alabama, to see how Saban's team handles this very real crisis of Quarterback. Also No. 9 Auburn travels to No. 2 LSU, if LSU wins big again and Alabama wins close against an inferior team, does LSU leapfrog them?
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Joe Burrow, quarterback of LSU, for the reasons above. If they have a big game and Burrows continues his Heisman worthy campaign then maybe Alabama falls to No. 2 in both the national rankings and in their own conference.
Mac Jones, quarterback of Alabma, this almost feels unfair but it's such an important game for this kid. Alabama needs him to step up and play, as he is likely to be the guy starting against LSU on Nov. 9, a scant 19 days away.
Bo Nix, Quarterback of Auburn, this is the big showdown this weekend and he needs to recapture some of that early season magic. Auburn is back in the Top Ten and nothing is out of reach now with Tua's injury and LSU on the schedule for Auburn this week and then Alabama playing LSU next week. Winning here and LSU then beating a weakened Alabama makes Auburn and in turn Nix, look amazing.
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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With the Astros now officially ten games under .500 for the season, manager Joe Espada is taking a lot of heat from the fanbase for the team's struggles.
While we don't agree with the sentiment, we even hear fans clamoring for the return of Dusty Baker and Martin Maldonado, thinking the Astros wouldn't be in this mess if they were still here.
Which is ridiculous. First of all, Maldonado has been awful for the White Sox, hitting .048 (even worse than Jose Abreu's .065). And for those of you that think his work with the pitching staff justifies his pathetic offense. Let me say this: Where was Maldy's game calling genius for Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, and Framber Valdez last year? All of them regressed significantly.
And as far as Baker is concerned, we have no idea how much a difference he would make, we can only speculate. Baker would also be dealing with a pitching staff ravaged with injuries. And let's not forget, Baker was the guy that refused to move Jose Abreu down in the batting order, even though he would finish the regular season with the ninth-worst OPS in baseball.
The reality of the situation is managers can only do so much in baseball. Which leads us to something else that needs to be considered. Is Espada being handcuffed by the front office? Espada and GM Dana Brown both said recently that Jon Singleton was going to get more at-bats while they give Abreu time off to try to figure things out. Yet, there Abreu was in the lineup again in the opening game of the Cubs series.
It makes us wonder how much power does Espada truly have? The Astros have some other options at first base. Yainer Diaz may only have eight games played at the position, but how much worse could he be than Abreu defensively? Abreu already has four errors, and Diaz is obviously a way better hitter. Victor Caratini isn't considered a plus offensive player, but his .276 batting average makes him look like Babe Ruth compared to Abreu. Let him catch more often and play Diaz at first. Starting Diaz at first more often could also lengthen his career long-term.
Maybe that's too wild of a move. Okay, fine. How about playing Mauricio Dubon at first base? I understand he doesn't have much experience at that position, but what's the downside of trying him there? If he can play shortstop, he can play first base. He's driving in runs at a higher rate (11 RBIs) than everyone on the team outside of Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez. And he's producing like that as part-time player right now.
The other criticism we see of Espada is his use of Jon Singleton to pinch hit late in games. Let's be real, though, who else does Espada have on the roster to go to? Batting Abreu late in games in which you're trailing should be considered malpractice. Espada can only use who he has to work with. This all really stems from the Astros poor farm system.
They don't have anyone else to turn to. The draft picks the club lost from the sign-stealing scandal are really hurting them right now. First and second rounders from 2020 and 2021 should be helping you in 2024 at the big league level.
Maybe they go to Astros prospect Joey Loperfido soon, but after a hot start he has only two hits in his last six games.
Finally, we have to talk about what seems like a committee making baseball decisions. Lost in a committee is accountability. Who gets the blame for making poor decisions?
As time continues to pass it looks like moving on from former GM James Click was a massive mistake. He's the guy that didn't sign Abreu, but did trade Myles Straw (recently DFA'd) for Yainer Diaz and Phil Maton. He also built an elite bullpen without breaking the bank, and helped the club win a World Series in 2022.
The reality of the situation is Dusty Baker and James Click are not walking back through that door. And all good runs come to an end at some point. Is this what we're witnessing?
Don't miss the video above as we hit on all the points discussed and much more!
Catch Stone Cold 'Stros (an Astros podcast) with Charlie Pallilo, Brandon Strange, and Josh Jordan. We drop two episodes every week on SportsMapHouston's YouTube channel. You can also listen on Apple Podcast, Spotifyor wherever you get your podcasts.