Dumpster Fires of the Week: Georgia is burning

A Big 12/SEC edition of the Dumpster Fires. Virginia Tech made a bold move to hit the top five, dropping another game in the Hokies' wayward season. And Northwestern football players should be careful about wanting to be considered employees after losing 48-7 to Iowa.

But these are the top five disasters this week.

1. Georgia

Usually, a two-loss team in the top 20 won't make this list. But when you lose to dead man walking Will Muschamp by 20 and give up 400 yards rushing to a Florida offense that cannot throw the ball at all, you are screaming for a Dumpster Fire honor.

Seriously, how is UGA still ranked? The Bulldogs got blown out by a UF team that lost by nearly 30 points to Missouri at home. Even worse, defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt's overwhelmingly talented group allowed UF to nearly triple its usual rushing output while completing 3 passes for 27 yards. (UF’s QB situation could be a Dumpster Fire winner every week this season.)

Mark Richt is now the undisputed belt holder in the "does less with more" division. Spare me the "every game in the SEC is a dogfight" crap. This was an absolute choke job by UGA and maybe the worst loss of the Richt era.

2. Oklahoma State

Mike Gundy and Les Miles managed to drag OSU out of the suckfest that was OSU football in the 1990s. However, the string of competitive seasons appears to be at an end. OSU has dropped three games in row, including two straight up beat downs.

Former offensive line coach Joe Wickline appears to have taken the run game magic with him to Texas, and OSU’s QB injuries/transfers have finally taken a toll. The O is awful and keeps leaving the defense on the field all game. Eventually, the defense folds as the offense continues to make turnovers. You saw the combined forces of the Suck (offense) and the Quit (defense) at work in Manhattan against the Wildcats.

OSU is close to being bowl-ineligible and has three tough games left with UT, Baylor and Oklahoma. This young team badly needs extra bowl practice to try and right the ship for 2015, but Gundy maybe on the verge of losing them.

The UT game will pretty much define the Cowboys' season.

3. Texas A&M's quarterbacks

A&M's QB position is officially now a Dumpster Fire.

First, the based-on-one-game Heisman Trophy campaign of Kenny Hill completely derails with bad outings against Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Alabama. (SEC logic somehow allows those three teams to now claim “big” wins despite the fact that A&M hasn’t really beaten a good team.)

Then, A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin replaced Hill – as I’ve been predicting to friends for weeks – with star recruit Kyle Allen. The waters were then muddied further when Hill was suspended two games. Supposedly Allen was going to start anyway, but who knows.

No problem, though, right? Surely Allen would come out and light up overmatched Louisiana-Monroe.

Not exactly. The Aggies basically got dominated in the second half and had to hold on to win 21-16. Allen was outplayed by his Warhawks counterpart, Pete Thomas, throwing for 106 yards in an A&M offense that is supposed to be putting up 400 per game.

Change the conference and remove the Aggies' best player in a century, and A&M looks a lot like a middle-of-the-road Big 12 team.

4. South Carolina defense

Connected to the overhyped UGA and A&M teams is struggling South Carolina. The Gamecocks offense is better than ever with Dylan Thompson at QB and big plays by receivers like Pharoah Cooper. However, South Carolina continues to play defense like the coaches are only now discovering the forward pass or the spread offense.

It’s hard to see any defensive improvement from game one. Tennessee, which has been struggling on offense all year, put up 45 points on the 'Cocks while running and passing for a combined 645 yards.

SEC defense, indeed.

The defensive meltdown was so bad that Steve Spurrier held a 52 second press conference.

And the Gamecocks could miss a bowl.

5. Texas Tech

Since a great start last year under new coach Kliff Klingsbury, Texas Tech football has completely fallen apart with questionable management at the QB spot and a defense that might be even worse than Mike Leach’s most disinterested unit.

With Davis Webb out, Tech had to start freshman Pat Mahomes Saturday versus Texas. UT knocked him out, forcing Tech to play Vinny Testaverde Jr. For a walk-on QB who didn’t play football until his junior year of high school, Vinny Jr. did okay. But you have to wonder why Tech does not have Baker Mayfield or Michael Brewer. Great roster management by Coach Bro.

Defensively, things are just awful. The Red Raiders can't stop the run or the pass. The Longhorns, who got shut out last week, went over 200 yards in rushing and passing while putting up 34 points.

Here's an amazing stat: In the course of two coaches, Tech is an awful 1-12 in November since 2011.

-Atlantasooner