It's Monday, so you know what that means.
Who won the weekend? Who lost the weekend?
From the "Talks too much" studios, seeing is believing.
Possible Winners
Well, that was fun, right? A Chamber of Commerce weekend. Good times all around. Heck, we should have played more Beach Boys music this weekend. Anyhoo, where were we? Oh, yes, who won the weekend. Here are five nominees and feel free to offer your own.
Peyton Manning• Peyton Manning. More on him below.
• St, Louis special teams coach John Fassel, who had two monster contributions in the Rams' stunning 28-26 upset of the now 3-3 Seattle Seahawks. Fassel's bunch executed a perfect fake punt in the final three minutes of the game and scored a TD on a bizarre, fake-out-the-world punt return that you have to see to believe. You can watch it here. Side question: Which season-opening first impression were we more wrong about, the Seahawks blistering the Packers or Texas A&M smoking South Carolina.
• Area college football teams that the TFP pays specific attention south of Hixson. Alabama was awesome. Georgia was awesome. UTC was awesome. Each jumped out quickly with excellent first-half performances and refused to allow the opposition a strong hold. Well-done.
• Florida State. It appears the one sanctuary for the FSU Seminoles and lightning rod quarterback Jameis Winston is between the lines. Winston was awesome Saturday night in the second half, and rallied FSU to a 31-27 win. His performance was overshadowed in part because of the controversial offensive pass interference call that nullified a Notre Dame TD with less than 20 seconds left, but Winston was legit. Dude is now 20-0 as a starter.
• The Fab 4 picks. Hey, we made a strong push with a 4-2 mark - hitting on Alabama (wow), Northern Illinois, Cincinnati and South Florida - to get back to .500 on the season. No we're not proud of that, per se, but after missing twice on Friday, the Fab 4 was at all-time low four-games under. And to make matters even better the study of the unnatural line has started to really provide some entertainment.
Remember last week when we said that by looking at the movement of the line by comparison to how the public is betting, you can decipher which teams Vegas likes. OK, here's what we wrote last Thursday, with the games we picked out that fit that criteria (Alabama minus-11 was also among those but it was it our picks) with how they fared in parenthesis:
For study sake, and since we need a comeback, here are a few more than Vegas has shaded with its view, meaning that despite the money, the line has skewed to the point that the inference is the sharks like the following games:
Pitt minus-1 over Virginia Tech (win);
Western Michigan +1.5 over Bowling Green (win);
Kent State plus-3.5 over Army (win);
Arizona State +3 over Stanford (win);
Oregon minus-20 over Washington (win);
California plus-7 over UCLA (win);
West Virginia plus-8 over Baylor (win);
Florida minus-6 over Missouri (loss);
Oklahoma State plus-9 over TCU (loss).
That, coupled with a quick study of a similar ilk the previous weekend that went 5-2 means finding the Vegas shade is now 13-4, including Alabama over the Aggies, the last two weeks. Winner, winner, paying for an entertaining dinner.
Potential Losers
Will Muschamp• Will Muschamp. It's now not if but when after the Gators were run out of the Swamp 42-13 by a Missouri team that got 119 yards of total offense. Yes, thanks to Florida's six turnovers and four Tigers' returns for scores (kickoff return, punt return, pick six and fumble return), Missouri posted a mind-blowing point for every 2.8 yards it gained and won going away despite average 1.1 yards per pass. How gross was this one? Three quarterbacks - Maty Mauk, Treon Harris and Jeff Driskel - played and attempted at least 12 passes, and Mauk had the highest rating and he was 6-of-18 for 20 yards and a pick. And repeat, he had the highest rating.
• Texas A&M. What was that? Hey, we know Alabama is good and all, but sweet buckets, this Tide team had scored 24 offensive points in the last two weeks. And the Aggies get drummed 59-0? Biggest fall from the opening week - A&M, UCLA or Oklahoma? Go.
• The Tennessee Vols offense. Hey, paint it with whatever cliche brush you have: "It is what it is," seems to be the frontrunner. Yes, no one is shocked that the UT offensive line that - say it with us - had to replace all five starters is struggling, but dear goodness, this is week eight. There has been zero improvement; heck, they've regressed in most cases. Yes, Ole Miss has arguably the best defense in country, but 3-of-16 on third down and four turnovers? And, including sacks, UT ran the ball 28 times and had the same number of yards Saturday as Jomo did - Bagel.
Brad Keselowski celebrates after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race at Talladega Superspeedway, Sunday, Oct. 19, 2014, in Talladega, Ala.• NASCAR fans. The France family's overhaul to the rule system has led to some positive affects. While the confusion factor is quite high - we think we saw a family of six from Decatur in the stands at Talladega taking their shoes off trying to count the possible point outcomes - the racing has been better and the emphasis on winning races rather than cruising to fine points finishes has been much appreciated. That said, some typical Talladega tangles cost us Jimmie Johnson and Dale Jr. in the Chase. So it goes, but for all the positives of the changes, if we get the snooze firm of Logano, Hamlin, Kenseth and Newman duking it out in Homestead, well, good luck with that.
• Area NFL teams. The Falcons are gross. The Titans are infuriating. Any more questions? Atlanta defensively is ghastly. It allowed a very pedestrian Baltimore offense 23 first downs and 6.0 yards per play in a 29-7 loss. Tennessee could find a way to lose even if it were a SE Tennessee Republican running unopposed. The Titans let Colt McCoy beat them in the two-minute drill in a 19-17 loss Sunday. Colt McCoy.
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Value of records
Peyton Manning is a common topic around these parts, and we know there are some who think he's the bee's knees and some who circle his postseason mediocrity as the defining parts of a great but not an all-time career.
We understand the angle of each camp.
Manning set the all-time TD passing mark Sunday night, and now has 510 touchdown passes. It's a number that will certainly grow, and depending on how long he plays, could reach the impossible heights nearing 600. It's an accomplishment that's awesome in its awesomeness.
He will grab almost every meaningful record a quarterback can. He may not win another title, but he might.
Still, we as a sports culture are always looking for flaws and angles to arguments and debates that allow the beauty of the sporting greats to be in the eye of the beholder.
Peyton ManningAnd for some reason, we are quick to downgrade those with some of the most meaningful and impressive records of all-time.
Consider the following:
We consistently debate Manning's place in NFL history. We can't see anyone leaving him off the Rushmore of quarterbacks, but there are quite a few people who do not believe he is the best ever. That debate hinges mostly on championships, and, well, quarterbacks have always received too much credit for winning and too much blame for losing, but so it goes.
And Manning is far from alone in the shadows of the greatest ever with a wall full of impressive records who are seldom regarded as the best ever.
Take Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Dude had the single most unstoppable move in the history of team sports. He was a multiple-time champion and MVP. He was the greatest college player of all-time. And, while we concur that Michael Jordan is likely the GOAT in NBA history, Jabbar rarely even cracks better than third-team status at his own position.
Likewise, you can make a hard argument that Hank Aaron is the most underrated baseball player in history. Dude has the non-PED record with 755 homers and still holds the record with 2,297 RBIs and almost 6,900 total bases. And while we think Babe Ruth likely is the best - he played in such a different era, and the fact that in 1929 Ruth hit more homers than every other American League team is quite possibly the single most dominating stat in team sports - but Aaron, like Jabbar, is frequently left off all-time teams.
Why? Do we try to dismiss the obvious choice of guys like Manning, Jabbar and Aaron who quite simply threw it better, scored it better and hit it out more often than everyone else?
Crazy, right?
Either way, we'll tip the visor to Peyton today. Dude has been a picture of professionalism in the league. No one is better prepared or better positioned for success. And that's a great tribute to Manning the person as well as Manning the player.
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This and that
Phillip Massey and Baylor eye a third consecutive trip to the Div. II-AA title game.- Tip of the visor to Phillip Massey and the Baylor Red Raiders for shaking free every possible item in their playbook in a 38-31 loss to top-ranked Brentwood Academy in the best high school football game we've seen in some time. Baylor scored on a kick-off return, converted first downs on a half-back pass and a fake punt on TD drives, and scored on an impromptu hook-and-lateral on the final play of the first half. Still, it was not enough against a BA team that now has 1,200 yards in its two trips to Chattanooga in the last 12 days. (P.S. BA is filled with sophomores and juniors and likely will be better next year.)
- We left him off the list above because we had more pertinent options for the weekend loser, but how bad a weekend did Oklahoma kicker Michael Hunnicutt have. Dude missed a 19-yard field-goal try and had an extra point blocked in a 31-30 loss to Kansas State. Side point: After K-State's win and West Virginia's upset of Baylor, Auburn's win at Kansas State and Alabama's win over West Virginia look a lot better.
- Moment of silence for Luther. Rest in peace. Dude was broadcasting during Pearl Harbor. Think about that.
- Hey, we're pro-SEC and all, but it's crazy to think that four of the nation's top five teams are in the SEC West. The AP top 5 is Miss. State, FSU, Ole Miss, Alabama, Auburn. Granted, those SEC teams still have several dances among themselves left, but this lays the groundwork for some major grumbling.
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Today's question
Who won the weekend? Go.
Who lost the weekend? Go.
And if you need one more, can you recall a college athlete more disliked that Jameis Winston? We were really disappointed that Notre Dame lost. Reread that sentence and think about that.