HATE WEEK Stat Primer

I'll probably get into some full-on Hate Week thoughts later, but a win over a cupcake seemed like a good time for some 2014 stat-mongering.

• I am still blown away by this stat.  We have won 7 of 9 vs. Auburn.  7 of 9.  Think about that.  7 out of 9.  That's not the mind-blower.  The two years they have won in nine years they ave won the SEC and played for the SEC championship.  We have not won an SEC title in those nine years.  I can't even wrap my head around a stat like that.  It makes no sense.  It is Mark Richt's sad story.  He has essentially dominated our oldest rival in the last nine years, and yet the perception is that they have done more because they played for all the marbles twice and won it once.  If a football genie offered you the chance at 2-7 the next 9 years vs. Auburn but play for two titles and win one?
• Nick Chubb is 2nd in the SEC in rushing, surely to finish at least second, with an outside shot at leading the league in rushing if he gets to play an extra Saturday in Atlanta.  He's 250 yds behind Artis-Payne, who has 91 more carries than him.  I think Artis-Payne and Chubb are your All-SEC RBs.  Raise your hand if you had Chubb in your pre-season All-SEC pool!
• Nick Chubb leads the league in TDs scored, tied with Prescott at 13. 
• Out of the top thirty rushers in the SEC, only two average more than 7 yards per carry.  Chubb is at 7.2.  The other guy is some dude named Gurley at 7.4 YPC.  Nobody handled that Auburn team like we did with Chubb and Gurley.  We saw it against Clemson, too, a pretty doggone good team.  We didn't get to see much of the magic with those 2 guys together.
• Hutson Mason has the highest passer rating in the conference at 158.1.  Second is the QB of #1 Alabama, Blake Sims, at 156.1.  Mason (3) and Sims (4) also have the least INTs of starting QBs.
• Marshall Morgan leads the league in scoring.  Bet you didn't know that.
• Arkansas is at 33.6 PPG and Mizzou is at 29.3 PPG.  Dear Lord, let Friday be an average day.  Also, Williams and Collins from Arky are 4 & 5 in the league in rushing and will probably both finish with 1,000+ yds.  That should give you some hope.  Also, Mauk is tied for second to last with 10 INTs.  Of course, to be fair, he threw at least 17 against us.
• UGA is 2nd in the SEC in Pass Defense, 3 yards/game behind #1 LSU, 8 yards/game ahead of #3 Ole Miss and 31.2 yards/game ahead of #4 Alabama.  We start a true freshman (Sanders), a walk-on (Davis), a sophomore that struggled mightily as a freshman (Mauger), a senior (Swann) and a kid that has no business playing SEC football (Bowman).  I keep thinking back to what Pruitt said pre-season about never coaching a bad secondary and he didn't plan to start now.  Midway through the UT game I thought, "Uh, you were wrong, Coach."  My bad, Pruitt.  Long live Pruitt!
• We are 9th in the SEC in rush defense.  Hello, Florida game!
• We are 5th in total defense, but that comes in at 13th nationally.  Like I said…Long live, Pruitt!  BTW, that Clemson team we man-handled in the 4th is the #1 D in America statistically.

Fun Fact:  Did you know Melvin Gordon's position coach is some guy named Thomas Brown?  Good for a DGD.  Sure would be nice for his stud to run Ohio St. out of the building. 

I'll admit it, I went to bed Saturday night and felt like we lost after that UT/Mizzou game.  The story in the statistics above is that we have had a pretty amazing season.  I was just thinking today that it's crazy we're ranked #8 in the AP and don't control our destiny, especially since we won head to head.  In fact, it's pretty amazing what we've done.  Pruitt's gonna change this program, guys.  We haven't seen games like the Mizzou, Auburn, Auburn & Clemson games in the last few years.  Aaron Murray won some huge games that he essentially bailed us out of, but that was our only formula.  We lost Todd for a 3-game stretch last year and fell apart.  We darn near should have lost 3 in a row, but Murray pulled out a miracle in Knoxville.  This year, we decided to play D and had Nick Chubb.

And since you asked…Here's what HAS to happen:

• Beat Tech
• Woooo Pig Sooey!  Mizzou Lose.
• Win the SEC Title.

And, 2 of these have to happen:

• FSU lose to Florida or Tech (when CFB has us pulling for the Gators and Jackets the last two weeks, you know we're in bizarro world).
• Oregon lose to Oregon St. or UCLA/ASU
• Ohio St. lose to Michigan or Wisconsin
• Baylor lose to Texas Tech or K-State
• TCU lose to Texas or Iowa St.

An Ole Miss victory over MSU wouldn't hurt.  There could be some bigger questions.  What if Wisky beats Ohio St., we win the SEC and the rest win out.  Do they do a Final Four with two Big 12 teams, one of which is NOT the outright champion?  And, the bigger question might be…how high can Mizzou climb in 2 weeks?  What if all heck breaks loose.  We pound Tech, but they beat FSU.  Texas beats TCU.  Either Auburn beats Bama or Ole Miss beats MSU, and Mizzou beats a 1-loss West champion.  Wisky beats Ohio St.  Who in the heck goes?  Oregon and Baylor…but who else?  Not Tech or FSU.  ACC is out.  2-loss Wisconsin?  I mean, right now the committee has Mizzou at 20 and Wisky at 16.  This thing could get CRA-ZY before it's all over.  That Indiana loss (which was non-conference) and that 34-0 thumping is a conundrum for the committee.  I don't think they see non-conf. vs. conf. loss.  34-0 isn't close, boys.  34-0 at their place.  Well, this is why we love it!