What We Learned: There Will Never Be Another Vince Dooley
Okay. The preliminaries are over. This week we will say hello to November as the first rankings from the College Football Playoffs are released on Tuesday.
After that we will have only five more college football Saturdays to determine the four teams that make the playoffs. Man it has gone by fast!
But before we turn the page, let’s take a quick look back at What We Learned on Week 9 of the 2022 season.
1—There will never be another Vince Dooley:
The former Georgia head coach (1964-1988) and director of athletics died Friday afternoon as the Bulldogs were in their final preparations for Saturday’s traditional game with Florida in Jacksonville.
Coach Dooley was 90 years old.
Inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1994, Coach Dooley won every award you can name that involves intercollegiate athletics.
No. 1 Georgia (8-0) won Saturday's game 42-20 to set the stage for Saturday’s huge showdown with No. 2 Tennessee (8-0) in Athens.
Georgia Coach Kirby Smart dedicated the win to the legendary coach and college administrator.
“This one’s for Coach Dooley,” said Smart. “He would have liked the way that we played in the first half (a 28-3 lead). He and Barbara (Dooley’s wife) are so special for us.”
There will be a private funeral service held this week. A celebration of life ceremony will take place later this year.”
Why will there never be anothr Vince Dooley? Because in today's climate nobody is going to stay in one place as a coach for 25 years.
He also followed it up with a 24-year run as an athletics director, where he built one of the best overall departments in the country.
So that's 41 years that one man dedicated to one university. You won't see that again.
2—Georgia and Tennessee should be ranked 1-2 by the selection committee Tuesday night.
Going into the weekend the Associated Press media rankings had Georgia at 1, Ohio State at 2, and Tennessee at 3.
Georgia beat Florida easily and Tennessee man handled Kentucky 44-7.
Ohio State struggled early with Penn State but the Buckeyes prevailed 44-31.
So when the new AP rankings were released on Sunday Georgia remained No. 1 and Tennessee and Ohio State were tied for second.
Based on the body of work Georgia and Tennessee should have the top two spots in the first CFP rankings. Ohio State and Michigan will likly be 3-4.
Stay tuned.
3—No. 6 Alabama (7-1, 4-1 SEC) at No. 15 LSU (6-2, 4-1)) is an elimination game in the SEC West:
Both teams have one conference loss. Both losses were to Tennessee. So history tells us that the loser of this game will very likely be out of the running in the SEC West. Just one man's opinion.
Alabama and LSU were off last week. After the LSU game, Alabama only has two SEC games at Ole Miss on Nov. 12 and at Auburn on Nov. 26.
LSU will have two conference road games at Arkansas on Nov. 12 and at Texas A&M on Nov. 26.
4—Ole Miss (8-1, 4-1) has never played in the SEC championship game. But there is now a path for the Rebels to get to Atlanta:
After beating Texas A&M quite comfortably Saturday night in College Station, Ole Miss gets a much needed week off.
Here is how Ole Miss gets to the SEC championship game for the first time ever:
First, the Rebeles need to win their final three SEC games with Alabama in Oxford, Arkansas at Fayetteville and Mississippi State in Oxford. That would give the Rebels a 7-1 record in conference play.
LSU, which beat Ole Miss 45-20 on Oct. 22, would have to lose one of its final three conference games with Alabama, Arkansas and Texas A&M for Ole Miss to get the bid to Atlanta.
5—After losing to Ole Miss 31-28, it’s going to be hard for Texas A&M (3-4) to get to six wins and a bowl:
Ole Miss ran for 390—that’s right, 390—yards in beating Texas A&M at College Station. It was Texas A&M’s fourth straight loss. The only thing that the Aggies can play for in their final four games is to go to a bowl—certainly not what the A&M fan base was expecting this season.
And even that’s not going to be easy.
The good news is that three of Texas A&M’s last four games are at home. Florida, UMass, and LSU come to College Station. The Aggies go to Auburn on Nov. 12.
Given the way that the Texas A&M offense has struggled, winning three of the four is no sure thing.