WHOOO!! WHOOO!!! WHOOOO!!!!!!!!! WHOOOO!!!!!!
That's my first thought. My second thought is:
YEAAAHHHH!!!!! YEAAAHHH!!!!!!
What a game by Jarrett Lee. He goes out there and stinks it up for his first 3 possessions, then when the team absolutely needs him, he goes out there and plays a very solid game.
I think we saw the maturation of a quarterback tonight.
If you remember this post about seeing Hatch and Lee doing interviews, you remember that my thoughts were that Lee appeared to have the confidence and body language of a top notch athlete. I'm not going to take any credit for predicting anything like this to happen, because clearly I did not, but I can't say it surprises me that he came in showed moxie despite his early struggles.
I don't want to make this post into The Jarrett Lee Show, because the game was won by the defense and by Charles Scott, who proved his doubters (including myself) that he is an elite SEC back.
The defense was outstanding, doing everything that could be asked of them. Yes, they allowed some yards and some points, but they stuffed the run and made Auburn pass the ball. When you pass a lot, you throw interceptions and/or end up in long yardage situations a lot.
You have to hand it to our punters as well. We thought this was a worry spot, and they were very very good, averaging 48 yards per kick, not giving up any touchbacks, and not giving up a return of any consequence.
This team now has the inside track to take the SEC West. We've gotten over the biggest hurdle, a road game against Auburn. Now we have to take care of business against the rest of the SEC West (that Bama game looks bigger and bigger all the time, doesn't it?) and not implode against the East and we should be fine.
More thoughts later.