SEC FANS

The Real Turkeys of College Football

Thanksgiving is of course a reminder to give thanks for the bounty of our great country. That bounty includes the rich tradition of college football and the great teams that have contributed to that tradition. In recent years many of those teams have been from the SEC conference. Florida and LSU in particular have brought glory to their institutions and pride to their fans by being a dominate force on the national scene. Unfortunately, an unintended consequence of their greatness is the rise of a new fan species: THE SEC FAN. These fans do not consistently support any one team in the conference. They may support one of the less competitive teams and feel somewhat inferior or they may just be bandwagon fans rooting for the team of the moment. The sneak onto other teams sitess like spys in the night and attack from the anonymity of the internet. These are the despicable SEC fans.

These fans have no real team loyalty, rather they ride the coattails of the winners and wear the colors of any team that can give them bragging rights on internet posts or FoxSports team pages. They readily change colors from the LSU turkey above to the Florida turkey shown below.

Now for all you real fans of an SEC team please do not take offense. I have great respect for the accomplishments of LSU or Florida over the past few years. They are two of the best programs in college football. Alabama has great tradition and is striving to reach the top of the conference once more. These and other SEC teams all have great fans, loyal to their teams through thick and thin. That said, I for one am tired of the anonymous posts from "SEC fans" trashing their out of conference rivals while they lack the courage to show their true colors. Come on "SEC fans", out yourselves and your true team loyalties. Are you afraid to end up like this?

As a Buckeye fan I went into the Iowa game full of confidence that we would dominate the Hawkeyes at home. Heck, Iowa had lost their starting qb and would have a freshman facing our great defense. No problem, right? Well, I can tell you that by the end of the 4th quarter I was looking up some recipes for a crow dinner. Iowa came into our house and put on quite a show with that freshman qb. Props to the team and their coaches for recovering from last weeks loss and showing up ready to play. My thanks to the Buckeye defense for taking it to the Hawkeyes in overtime and allowing me to avoid choking down a huge portion of crow.

The Buckeyes are preparing to beat the Iowa Hawkeyes like a drum in the Shoe in Columbus Ohio. The Hawkeyes have enjoyed a great season to date with a fine 9-1 record. Iowa's play this year has been reminiscent of the 2002 Buckeyes as the Hawkeyes have delivered numerous late game come from behind victories. That ended last week with an upset victory by the Northwestern Wildcats dashing the Hawkeyes long shot hopes of a national championship. Now the "Eyes" face off for the Big 10 championship and the chance to travel to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl game. What then can we expect in this classic matchup?

Both teams bring outstanding defensive squads into Columbus. The Buckeyes are ranked 5th nationally in "points against" giving up a miserly 11.2 points per game. The Hawkeyes are not far behind holding opponents to only 15.9 points per game. Both defenses were dominate in their signature wins against Penn State with the Buckeyes holding them to 7 points and the Hawkeyes limiting them to 10. This should be a game of inspired defense form both squads.

On offense the Buckeyes appear to have hit their stride since the lackluster loss to Purdue. Terrelle Pryor and company have outscored the last three opponents by a total of 107 to 14. More important Pryor has shown significant improvement in game management and protecting the football. Look for Ohio State to try and establish an old fashion Woody Hayes style running game against this tough Iowa defense. Iowa has been the cardiac kids of college football this season and have found ways to win behind the leadership of quarterback Ricky Stanzi. Without Stanzi in the lineup they will be depending upon red shirt freshman James Vandenberg to lead them to victory. After a dismal performance stepping in for the injured Stanzi against Northwestern the Iowa faithful are hoping Vandenberg can turn it around in his first start.Neither team is a powerhouse on offense right now but Ohio State seems to have a clear edge in scoring punch particularly with the loss of Stanzi.

The big question is can another freshman quarterback beat the Ohio State Buckeyes this season? Can the Iowa defense force Pryor into making critical mistakes and turnovers? I don't think so. This game may be closer than expected due to the inspired play of Iowa's defensive corp but ultimately Ohio State's superior talent, their home field advantage, and the loss of Stanzi will allow the Buckeyes to beat Iowa like the snare drums in the Buckeye percussion line.

Ohio State: 24

Iowa: 10