Get a cold beverage and buckle up. We got wordy.
From the "Talks too much" studios, we are thankful for you.
Fab 4 picks
We tried to take the emotion out of entertainment last week, and for the most part we did.
In fact, another 4-3 week - which, say if you put 100 entertainment credits on each pick, yields positive entertainment even with the entertainment surcharge of 10 percent on losses (just a guess, by the way) - dropped our season percentage slightly. Maybe that's a testament to our consistency.
Ah consistency, it's a great characteristic in the inconsistent world of entertainment hunting.
Potential greatness last week was foiled with a back-door cover by Virginia Tech, which scored two touchdowns in the final three minutes to force overtime and cover and Georgia Tech losing its quarterback - and two of its nine fumbles - at an inspired Miami. (Side note: Some of that os on us for expecting consistency in the always unpredictable ACC.)
So we head into rivalry week looking for consistency.
Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) is tackled by TCU defensive tackle Aaron Curry (95) as he passes during the second quarter of an NCAA college football game in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams) Oklahoma minus-4.5 at Oklahoma State. Here's the trouble of picking this game this early. If Baker Mayfield plays, this is a great play. He has been cleared to practice after passing the concussion protocols, so there's that. Without Mayfield, though, the Sooners are a stagnant offense. Yes, it's a rivalry game, but the Sooners have more to play for than emotion and have way more defensively. And defensive skills lead to more consistent showings.
Ole Miss minus-1 at Mississippi State. Other than at quarterback, the Rebels are better at almost every position. And the difference between Chad Kelly and Dak Prescott is not as vast as most people think. Yes, crazy things happen in rivalry games, but all you can trust is what you think you know. And we believe Ole Miss has more talent.
Hawaii over Louisiana-Monroe. The line is even and the interest is non-existent considering these teams are a combined 3-20 and each is on a nine-game winning streak. But here's what we know. Both of Hawaii's wins were at home. Louisiana-Monroe will have to travel roughly 270 miles from Monroe Regional Airport (or worse yet by bus) to New Orleans to fly almost 10 hours to Honolulu. And all of this during the Thanksgiving holidays, and here's saying the Warhawks are not going first class or charter, but who knows. Either way its serious travel time for a Saturday game that kicks off at what will feel like 10 p.m. to the Louisiana-Monroe players. Yes please.
Toledo minus-7 over Western Michigan. This side of the Vandy under, Navy and UCF, the most consistent play this entertainment season has been the favorites in the MAC. Toledo (8-2 against the spread), Bowling Green (9-3 against the spread) and normally Northern Illinois (8-3-1 after a loss last night against the spread) have been very reliable. Add to the fact that Toledo has Phillip Ely, the former Alabama player, at quarterback and the motivation of knowing a win secures the MAC West title. Buy the half to be safe, and enjoy this one with a turkey sammich.
BYU minus-3 at Utah State. The Cougars have been erratic at times, but their three losses this year are UCLA, Michigan and in the emotional trap game that was Missouri after the protests. The line is skewed because Utah State is perfect at home, but the Utes will not enjoy their normal altitude advantage against a BYU team comfortable at those heights. Buy the half of course, and bcd the better side.
Navy plus-2 over Houston. The second most-consistent play in college football this year is Navy, which is 9-1 overall and 8-2 against the spread. Houston had its unbeaten dreams dashed last week at UConn, and now the Cougars' reward is a motivated and efficient Navy offense that has shredded foes. Navy is averaging more than 348 rushing yards and 38 points per game. Houston has a top-15 rush defense nationally, but a big part of that success was the Houston offense sprinting to large leads in the first eight games of the season. And hey, if we are hunting for consistent entertainment, we have to dance with who brought us, right?
South Florida minus-whatever over Central Florida. UCF is the reverse of Navy. The Knights are 0-11 and 2-9 against the number, and those two were crazy. UCF's 45-30 loss at Tulsa, which was a 17-point favorite, concluded with UCF scoring a fourth-down TD with 64 seconds left. UCF's 30-16 loss to Temple, which was a 20-point favorite, featured a late fourth-quarter TD by Temple being called back for holding before the Owls ran out the clock. This is the ultimate blind bet against a bad team. There's no published line as of now, and we're still riding with South Florida without knowing how much they are giving up. And did we mention that USF is undervalued at almost every turn, considering it is 7-4 overall but 8-2-1 against the number. Consistency to entertainment hunters is like tradition to Tevye in "Fiddler on the Roof." Consistency.
Missouri freshman quarterback Drew Lock was sacked by Vanderbilt linebacker Landon Stokes for a 9-yard loss in last Saturday's 10-3 loss to the Commodores in Nashville.Vandy-Tennessee under 41. Which brings us to the under and Vandy. As tried and true as Ward and June Cleaver in this cruel world of entertainment hunting. This is the scariest over/under for the season for Vandy. We have made a lot of entertainment with this wager - taking the under the total number of points Vegas sets means the combined score will be less than the total set, which in this case is 41 - as the under is 10-0-1 in Vandy games this year. It's hard to ever remember any unbeaten season in entertainment hunting, but that's where Vandy is with its stout defense and miserable quarterback situation. Do we think the Vols could put 41 on the board by themselves? It's certainly possible, but at this point if the final is 52-50 and it goes over before halftime, don't we owe it to ourselves, the Commodores, the angels of Thanksgiving and these United States of America to ride this wave until the end. Say it with us: "Consistency."
Last week against the spread: 4-3 (57.1 precent)
This season against the spread: 46-32 (59.0 percent)
---
SEC items of interest
The rivalry week edition.
1. How bad will Alabama beat Auburn? The line is 14 and considering the sloppiness of the Auburn offense and the overwhelming size and talent of the Alabama defensive front, it could get really ugly, really quickly.
2. Georgia-Georgia Tech. We should likely call this one Good, Old-Fashioned Indifference. Sure, there's the dislike for each team, but they may be matched in a lot of circles among these fan bases by the distain for the current head coaches at the moment.
South Carolina junior receiver Pharoh Cooper threw for a touchdown and caught a touchdown last Saturday against Florida, but it wasn't enough in a 24-14 loss that left the Gamecocks 3-7 with two games remaining.3. South Carolina, dream catcher. The Gamecocks' miserable season that featured the Ol' Ball Quitter banging it in the middle of the year comes to an end this weekend. There will be no bowl and there will be a coaching search since the loss to The Citadel last week all but clinched Shawn Elliott's chances to retain the job. But amazingly, South Carolina has the league's best nonconference win with the 17-13 victory over UNC to open the season. It is UNC's lone blemish, and amazingly, an inspired performance Saturday against rival Clemson could mean that arguably the worst team in the SEC could have wins over the two teams in the ACC title game
4. Les Miles to the courtesy phone. Miles is coaching for his job this week against Texas A&M. The Aggies boss, Kevin Sumlin, may be facing a similar scenario this time next year. So it goes in the SEC West where the last-place coach makes more than $4 million per year. (Good work if you can get it right?) Let's see how the Tigers respond.
5. Egg Bowl with cheese. This one is special for those in the Magnolia State. It's also one of the more underrated rivalries on this great weekend of college football. It will be interesting to see how that awesome Ole Miss class from 2013 plays in what could be the final regular-season game - and the most meaningful - before potentially heading to the league. In turn, how does Dak Prescott - he of the 550-yards of offense and seven TDs last week - cap his record-setting career in Starkville. This one will be fun.
---
Playoff committee
Is the college football playoff committee setting itself up for failure? Or is it crazy like a fox?
The answer could be yes to each, no to each or some of both.
The results from Tuesday's announcement list Clemson, Alabama, Oklahoma and Iowa - in that order - atop the poll as teams try to strong-arm their way into the top for a ticket for the dance.
Notre Dame - despite winning unimpressively over Boston College - fell from No. 4 to No. 6. The Irish have a chance to re-impress the committee this week with a date at No. 9 Stanford. The biggest concern for Notre Dame appears to be that two Big Ten teams Iowa and No. 5 Michigan State are ahead of them, and if each of those teams win this weekend, they will play in 10 days in the Big Ten title game with the winner almost assured a spot on the dance ticket.
If Clemson and Alabama win out, those two are certainly in. (Clemson is a 17-point favorite this week; Bama is a 14-point pick this week with conference title games looming the following week.)
So Notre Dame is faced with the Oklahoma question, and it has two divisive sides for the committee.
If the top six hold serve, here's the scenario as we see it:
Clemson, Alabama and the Big Ten champ (winner of the Iowa-Michigan State game) will be in.
Oklahoma will be the clear Big 12 champ, a key fact that made the committee's decision to exclude Big 12 co-champs last year, coming off a win over over No. 11 Oklahoma State. Notre Dame will be without a conference title - a fact the committee said was very important last year - but will be coming off the win over at Stanford. Plus, the Irish's lone loss was at top-ranked and unbeaten Clemson by two points earlier this season.
But, would the committee try to bake sweet cookies with the Big 12, which was left sitting on the curb last year? The Big 12 would be hot if they were omitted in back-to-back years?
The merits of each team are impressive, and Oklahoma has road wins at Baylor and at Tennessee. But the Sooners' lone loss was against Texas, and the Irish hammered the Longhorns earlier this year.
There's a lot at stake, no? (And the whole dropping teams for not winning impressively enough opens a real can of worms of teams trying to add a late score or three, no?)
Either way, it's just another crazy layer to the craziness that is rivalry week.
---
This and that
- Loved this idea from TFP sports columnist Mark Wiedmer. Yes, starting college hoops later is a stroke of brilliance, and we've said this multiple times, Weeds on college hoops is worth the price of the paper all on its own.
Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning (18) prepare to pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns, Sunday, Oct. 18, 2015, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Aaron Josefczyk) - Man, to think of this scenario - Warriors 16-0 and smoking the Lakers 111-77 to get there - is really tough for some of us of a certain age. The Warriors are a fun basketball bunch to watch.
- According to this report, Peyton Manning is livid about the storyline of him playing in 2016, with or without the Broncos. We can see that. (But, being livid with a story and denying said story are different line items all together.)
- Brett Favre and T.O. are newbies on the list of 25 semifinalists for the NFL Hall of Fame. They both should be dunks, but that's an impressive list of modern-era guys, and only five can be chosen. Favre is a certainty. T.O. joins an impressive list of accomplished wide outs including Torrey Holt, Isaac Bruce and Marvin Harrison. Plus, Jimmy Johnson some how has not been voted in yet either.
---
Today's question - Johnny Football style
John Football
Each Tuesday around these parts we do an NFL power poll, ranking the league's best five and worst five teams in our view.
Here, before news broke of his weekend activities, is what we wrote about the Cleveland Browns and their erratic quarterback with the boss nickname:
FILE - In this Nov. 15, 2015, file photo, Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel (2) plays during an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, in Pittsburgh. Manziel got promoted during the bye week. Everyone else was put on notice. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File) 31. Browns. Cleveland had its bye last weekend, and it could be the most important two-week stretch in the young career of Johnny Manziel. Mr. Football, as he was know in a former life, will take the field next Monday night as the bona fide starter, with more than two weeks to prepare for the Ravens and a chance to state his case as the long-term solution in front of a national TV audience. Behind the scenes, how Manziel prepares and works in the film room and among his teammates will be more telling for the organization in a lot of ways. Cleveland, here's Johnny.
Cleveland, there goes Johnny. TMZ reported that he spent the bye weekend partying his footballs off in Texas, which is magnified by his 10-week stay in rehab during the offseason. The Browns demoted him to third string Tuesday night.
That leaves us two questions for Jonathan Paul Manziel:
First, wonder if his momma thought about going full-blown Fab Four with his name and go Jonathan Paul Ringo George Manziel?
Second, is this it for Johnny?
Discuss.