5-at-10: Who won the weekend, College football rewind,

Wow, what a weekend. Where to start?

OK, you know.

From the "Talk to much" studios, let's do work.

Weekend winners

As we do on Mondays, we'll offer options of the weekend's winners and losers. We will continue this conversation on Press Row today from 3-6 on ESPN 105.1 and right here on timesfreepress.com.

photo New York Yankees designated hitter Derek Jeter hugs teammate Ichiro Suzuki after coming out of the baseball game for a pinch-runner in the third inning against the Boston Red Sox in a baseball game at Fenway Park, Sunday, Sept. 28, 2014, in Boston. It is the last baseball game of Jeter's career.

Deal? Deal.

Derek Jeter: It was the longest farewell weekend in a long time, and in the end it was just about perfect. Jeter, who left Yankee Stadium with a walk-off single last Thursday, got two at-bats Sunday at Fenway and got an RBI single in his final swing. Also to be noted, the Red Sox were the pictures of class, bringing out former and legendary captains from other Boston sports and having a slew of musical guests to celebrate Jeter's exit.

Patrick Reed: Sure, we could have picked any of the Europeans - Justin Rose killed it, and Rory on Sunday was downright Tiger-esque, circa 2001 - but the lone American that stood toe-to-toe and fought throughout was Ryder rookie Reed, who went 3-0-1. Of course Tom Watson sat him Friday afternoon.

Steve Smith Sr.: The power of motivation - and it's erratic presence - can be called one of the great unknowns in all of sports. It was on display Sunday when Smith Sr. torched his former mates of Carolina in his personal rivalry game against the team that cut him loose in the offseason.

Indy football fans: There has to be some sort of supreme good luck - it's like they have a horseshoe on their hats or something - that gives you the chance to 30-years of QB excellence like the Colts are going through with the Manning to Andrew Luck transition. Man, Luck is good. and good luck is good. We believe Luck is the single most untraceable player in the NFL. Or put it this way, who would Indy trade Luck for if every player in the league was on the table? Or if we put all the NFL players in the pool and redrafted, Luck goes No. 1 overall, right, because of the talent/age combination?

Todd Gurley: He's a bad, Bad, BAD man. As Paschall said last week on Press Row, he's the best SEC running back since Darren McFadden, and may bet better than D-Mac.

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Weekend losers

Brady Hoke: Yes, Charlie Weis was fired over the weekend because Kansas is well, Kansas. Still, Hoke followed up a home loss to Utah by getting whipped by Minnesota. Yes, Minnesota - and it was not the Vikings. OK, we can all agree that Hoke is dead-coach walking, and that Al Golden deflecting the heat for the time being with a big home win over Duke (and yes, the fact that Miami had a 'big home' game against Duke is an indictment in itself for Golden's years). So, the hottest seat in the country belongs to Will Muschamp, who will bring that Teflon backside to Knoxville on Saturday.

photo Tom Watson looks up at the crowd as he walks off the ninth tee during the second round of the U.S. Open golf tournament Friday, June 18, 2010, at the Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, Calif. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Atlanta Falcons: What was that? After thumping Tampa Bay last Thursday - and getting the extra rest - the Falcons went to Minnesota and got pantsed by a rookie quarterback making his first NFL start.

Tom Watson: What was that, part II? Egad, golfing royalty became coaching poverty as Watson bungled his way through one decision after the next as the Americans got drilled in the Ryder Cup. Yes, golf is an individual sport, and you got to make shots to have a shot, but every meaningful decision Watson made turned out to be the wrong one.

NASCAR: The rules changes made the regular season better, and it improved the racing on a weekly basis. Or at least it seemed that way. And maybe it was a crowded weekend on the sports calendar, but Sunday was the first cutdown day of the new playoff chase thingee-do-hickey and it came and went like butterfly. Pretty flowers.

Fab 4 picks: Did it matter that four of our picks were influenced by late-game scores that did not influence the outcome only the number? You bet it did. Baylor, Auburn, Oklahoma State and Duke each allowed a score in the final half of the fourth quarter to go from covering to not covering. So it goes, and some times the pursuit of entertainment is anything but entertaining. We matched our season-worst showing of two weeks ago with a 2-4 week and fell to 17-15 on the season against the spread. Stupid meaningless scores that mean everything.

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College football rewind

There was a crazy amount of college football that was of interest this weekend. Follow along as we explore the headlines and what they mean and don't mean:

UTC thumps Samford

photo UTC defensive back Lucas Webb, left, intercepts a pass intended for Samford wide receiver Gavin Sinclair during the Mocs' football game against the Samford Bulldogs on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2014, at Finley Stadium in Chattanooga.

This means among other things, that UTC has a two-game edge over the second-best team in the Southern Conference. Nice, complete win that showed us that a) UTC's defense gives the Mocs a chance in every FBS game against just about everyone this side of North Dakota State and b) you don't have to worry about games decided by field goals when you beat teams by two touchdowns. It doesn't mean UTC's offensive questions are a thing of the past. UTC was outgunned by Samford, which is not a huge surprise since the Bulldogs played from behind most of the night. Still there was progress, especially in the long, 11-play TD drive that pushed the Mocs to a 24-3 lead before the half.

Side note: Announced crowd of 8,872. Lots going on this weekend.

Georgia escapes UT

photo Tennessee backup quarterback Nathan Peterman is sacked by Georgia linebackers Lorenzo Carter, left, and Jordan Jenkins in the Bulldogs' 35-32 win Saturday in Athens, Ga.

The concerns for Georgia are not unwarranted. The hopes for Tennessee are not without foundation. Know this: These Vols fight. Period. This is not saying it's a moral victory (Jomo), but this was going on the road as a three-score underdog and being in the game until the end. Against Todd Gurley for crying out loud.

That said, the questions remain for each side. Tennessee's offensive line allowed three sacks - Justin Worley getting knocked from the game can't be overstated, either - and Worley's health becomes the biggest priority.

Georgia's lack of a vertical passing game is perplexing. Yes, the Bulldogs will start to get some help at wide receiver as soon as this week, but man, Hutson Mason has underwhelmed, no? And that lack of a vertical passing game makes the exploits of Super Gurley even more impressive. If dude is going for 208 against eight- and nine-man fronts, what will he do if opponents have to lend safeties to pass coverage?

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photo Phil Mickelson

This and that

- We tip our visor to Phil Mickelson for speaking his mind after the Ryder Cup. We'll cover more of that later.

- The Titans are bad. So it goes.

- The Braves ended the season with a 2-1 win Sunday. Yay. Atlanta finished 79-83, 17 games back in the NL East. The Braves were 7-18 in September and that was with a two-game winning streak to close the season. Ouch-standing. Not a huge secret where the struggles could be pegged: Braves finished 29th (573) in runs, 26th in average (.241) and 29th in slugging (.360). Conversely, the Braves were 5th in ERA (3.38) and first in quality starts with 110.

- The MLB playoffs start Tuesday with the A's and Royals in the wildcat game in the AL. The NL wildcard game will be the Giants-Pirates on Wednesday. The full schedule is:

AL wildcard winner at L.A. Angels; Detroit vs. Baltimore on Thursday.

NL wildcard winner at Washington; Cards at Dodgers on Friday.

Also of note: NL playoffs are on Fox Sports 1; AL playoffs on TBS.

- Also, congrats to BigOrange22 for your 31-28 UGA score prediction. Please email us and we'll hook you up with some free stuff.

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Today's question

Of course we have who won the weekend.

Feel free to offer you college football reviews.

If you still need a Rushmore, well, the Camaro is 48 today. Rushmore of American made automobiles. Go.

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