Fresno played admirably for 2 and a half quarters there, and I have to say I've got a lot of respect for those guys. They're pretty close to being 4-3 rather than 1-6 (close calls against Washington, Oregon, and Utah State), and they still played their butts off. It's also tough to hold anything against Pat Hill, whose teams continue to put up among the best academic numbers out of any of the major programs. Their defense was great for that first 40 or so minutes - other than yielding a punt return TD they kept us to only two scoring drives which they were able to match, though they came away with only field goals both times.
From the Tigers perspective, that middle 40 minutes or so was pretty frustrating to watch. Our line did a below average job in my opinion, as protection for Russell was poor and holes weren't being opened for our backs. On the plus side, we had no turnovers and kept penalties to a minimum. I think most Tiger fans now have confidence in our return game with Buster Davis back there; the same can't be said when we're the ones actually punting.
In general, I don't have much to take away from this game other than that we continue to pound cupcakes and November will tell us what sort of mettle this team really has (meaningful games - @ Tennessee, vs Bama, and @ Arkansas). At least we get a couple weeks before travelling to Knoxville.
Checking out CFN's rankings, (oops, forgot link - click here to see the rankings) they're awfully fond of the SEC: Arkansas at 6, followed by Auburn (7), Florida (8), and Tennessee (9), with LSU at 11th. I'm not sure Arkansas is the sixth best team in the country, but they're playing pretty damn well right about now. I'm not sure we're the 11th best team in the country either, but we'll find out in two weeks when we get yet another huge road test, at Tennessee. Be sure to check out what Joel has to say over at Rocky Top Talk for all things Tennessee in the buildup to that game. Close call for UT this week against 'Bama, hopefully they'll handle their business against the 'Cocks next week so we don't catch them in a "bounce-back" game. Oh, and no discussion of UT is worthwhile without some input from the UT-haters at Roll Bama Roll.
Oh yeah, nothing against Michigan, but if a "F(%&$ Michigan" gets more of this, then by all means, F(%&$ Michigan!!!!!!