No matter how many times I’ve done a NASCAR ride-along, I always get the feeling right before it’s my turn to climb in the car that skipping breakfast might have been a good thing.
It was no different Tuesday morning. There I was on pit road at the Memphis Motorsports Park in my blue and orange Richard Petty Driving Experience jumpsuit, white helmet with the butterflies in my stomach as big as condors as that black 2-seat FedEx Chevy driven by Denny Hamlin rolled to a stop and I prepared to jump in.
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I wish I could explain what I saw Saturday but I can’t. I don’t think Tommy West could either. Normally questioning what happens on the field is something I try to leave alone. I’m of the thought that the coaching staff knows more than I and most of you reading this ever will. But it actually was painful to watch tacklers bounce off RB’s for no particular reason. The biggest defensive question I (and many others) have is why don’t we leg tackle more?

I was disappointed we waited to go down the field earlier. They ECU DB’s couldn’t cover our guys down the field. I understand that TW wants to establish a running game. It appears to me that we are a pass first then run offense. Our running game seems to open up when defenses have to respect the downfield pass. It is as if they know we’re going to try and run first so they don’t bother worrying about deep passes until late in the 2nd quarter. But what do I know, I live in Mississippi.
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Here’s what has to hurt for a University of Memphis football program trying to regain its footing in the post-DeAngelo Williams Era:

The East Carolina team that ran over the Tigers last weekend at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium has recovered from a 1-11 record in 2003 under former U of M defensive coordinator John Thompson to being on the brink of Conference USA’s East Division title and a berth in the league title game.

The Pirates went 7-6 a year ago in Skip Holtz’s second year and have taken it up a notch this season. Memphis, unfortunately, finds itself watching another program pass it by.

Earlier this season, the Tigers lamented the rapid progress of a Central Florida program with its new on-campus stadium and state-of-the-art indoor practice facility. UCF is in the hunt for the East Division crown.

Before joining C-USA two years ago, Tulsa was downtrodden, going 1-10 in 2001 and 1-11 in 2002 before Steve Kragthorpe took over the program. Tulsa won the league title in 05, went to the Armed Forces Bowl in ‘06 and remains in the West Division title hunt this season under first-year coach Todd Graham.

Houston was 0-11 in 2001 under Dana Dimel and 3-8 just three years ago under Art Briles, who has the Cougars also playing for the West Division title and a possible second straight league championship.

Southern Miss, not blessed with a huge athletic budget, has been a model of consistency under Jeff Bower and will go to its 10th bowl in 11 years.

Unless Memphis can pull off a major haul of talent during the upcoming recruiting season, the Tigers will find themselves grouped with the bottom half of the conference with Rice, SMU, Tulane, Marshall and UAB.

After Sunday’s article on the dwindling bobwhite quail population - and the potential effects of whitetail deer on that population - I received several emails from quail enthusiasts.

One of them included a particularly interesting link.

The Tall Timbers web site shows numerous video clips of animals raiding the nests of quail. The clips include snakes, armadillos, possums, bobcats, owls, squirrels, coyotes - and yes, even deer.

Take a look at the deer vs. quail video on this site and let me know what you think.

THE BIG STORY

As many as 11 of the conference’s 12 schools could reach the minimum six wins needed to go bowling. But because the SEC only has eight bowl tie-ins, a couple of eligible teams could be left home for the holidays.

SEC officials have begun contacting bowls that might have at-large spots in the event the SEC has a surplus of eligible teams. But the parity that has turned the top 10 upside down nearly every week this season also means there are a lot of teams across the country hovering around .500.

“I think the conference is monitoring what’s going on in the bowl landscape, not only with our conference but with other conferences,” SEC spokesman Charles Bloom said Monday. “I think what we’re finding is there are a lot of conferences that are in the same boat that we are in.”

Heading into the final four weeks of the season, there are 48 schools bowl-eligible and 27 other five-win teams vying for 64 bowl spots. Under NCAA rules, bowls are required to take a seven-win team before a six-win candidate when selecting from schools outside its conference affiliation.

The SEC currently has nine bowl-eligible teams, the same number the conference had in 2000, 2001 and 2006. The conference was able to accommodate all nine teams in 2000 and ’06, although a 7-4 Mississippi team was left out in ’01.

Vanderbilt and Mississippi State, both 5-4 with three games remaining, could join the bowl-eligible ranks with another win. Mississippi is the only SEC team that has been eliminated from bowl consideration.

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier told The State newspaper in Columbia he does not believe 11 SEC teams will be eligible.

“If there are 11, you tap me on the shoulder and say there’s 11 that won six. I don’t think there will be,” Spurrier said. “But we need to get to seven (wins) and hopefully eight. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

Even nine bowl-eligible teams would be one too many for the SEC’s slots, unless the conference gets two team in BCS bowls — a scenario that becomes more likely if LSU maintains its No. 2 ranking and plays in the BCS championship game.

Conference and bowl officials believe USC (6-4, 3-4 SEC) can take assure itself a berth by winning one of its final two games against No. 17 Florida and No. 20 Clemson.

“If we go and win this weekend, it sort of settles things down,” USC athletics director Eric Hyman said. “But if you don’t, things are still up in the air a little bit.”

Things would get murkier should the Gamecocks lose the final two games and finish the regular season on a five-game losing streak with a 6-6 record. Bowl officials generally favor teams that have momentum and accompanying fan interest at the end of the season.

But Hyman believes USC’s history of bringing fans to bowls will benefit the Gamecocks if there is a surplus of eligible SEC teams.

USC sold 12,718 tickets for the Liberty Bowl last season and 8,103 the year before for the Independence, although school officials say there were a significant number of fans who bought seats at the gate or through the bowls both years.

“Our travel record I think can stand up to just about anybody’s,” Hyman said. “That’s not everything, but I’m sure that’s a factor — a pretty substantial factor.”

A look at the league: Read the rest of this entry »