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College Football

SEC slugfest? Fans, media flame SEC Championship for lackluster first half

Cory Nightingale

By Cory Nightingale

Published:

The SEC was supposed to deliver a championship game with high-flying performances, offensive fireworks and, well, plenty of points.

Instead, Saturday’s annual title clash in Atlanta delivered … 3 field goals, a lot of yawns and a ton of complaining fans who tuned in for a lot more than what Texas and Georgia provided during the 1st half. When the dust settled and the field goals were counted up, which didn’t take too long, it was 6-3 Longhorns as the teams jogged to the locker room.

Now, the eternal optimist could say it was a wonderful first half for the 2 defenses, and they would be right. Still, an SEC title game between 2 top-5 teams on the eve of Selection Sunday should’ve produced more than just 9 combined points, right? That’s what had many fans angry at halftime.

There is so much at stake inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium, with the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff field to be decided less than 24 hours later. You would think that alone would help produce more excitement in the first 30 minutes of a game between 2 teams of such high-caliber talent, but no. Instead, it was a field-goal fest and that was it.

Georgia had just 5 first downs and 54 total yards. Texas had 260 total yards, which is great, but the Longhorns couldn’t turn any of that offense into even 1 touchdown. Texas also had 8 penalties that bogged itself down.

Fans and media couldn’t wait to complain, and for good reason. Here is a sampling:

Cory Nightingale

Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.

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