It's Monday. What a weekend.
The 5-at-10 turned 45 - did some Saturday birthday bowling with the 5-at-10 clan (good times, indeed) - and then sat back as the madness that is college football unfolded around us.
Buckets.
Florida first-year football coach Jim McElwain will try to lead the Gators to a 29th consecutive win over Kentucky on Saturday night in Lexington.From the "Talks too much" studios, is anyone else excited for the Butch Jones presser today? Wowser.
Weekend winners
Jim McElwain and the Florida Gators. We know who the leading contender for who lost the weekend is, but does the high-wore act that Jimmy Mac is pulling in Gainesville help or hurt Mr. Trick-by-Trick in Knox-Vegas? On one hand, Butch Jones did play Florida way tougher - and should have prevailed - than the No. 3-ranked Ole Miss Rebels. On the other, Jimmy Mac is notching signature wins within his first month on the job. Butch is still searching through Team No. whatever is next.
The Fab 4 picks. The picks went 5-1 last week - hitting the over 65 in SMU-East Carolina (ECU won 49-23), Alabama plus-2.5 (Tide won 38-10), under 40 Duke-Boston College (Duke won 9-7), Texas A&M minus-6.5 (Aggies won 30-17) and Oregon minus-7 over Colorado (Ducks won 41-24) - against the spread and it wasn't really that close. We're now 18-10 (a cool 64.3 percent) on the season against the number.
Your Atlanta Falcons. Man, this bunch is flying to the football and playing exceeding well. Kudos Dan Quinn, you have reached the highest level of 5-at-10 coaching praise. Your team is playing way better than the talents of its pieces.
Atlanta Falcons running back Devonta Freeman (24) heads to the end zone for a touchdown against the Houston Texans during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2015, in Atlanta. The Big 12. Baylor, TCU and Oklahoma are smoking. Hey, Baylor just scored again. The elimination tournament in that league will be fast-paced and fun to watch. Hey, TCU just scored again. It also screams that there will be a dogfight to get into this year's college football playoff - and what would happen if there's a tri-champion scenario in the Big 12?
Clemson. Yes, there's a lot of college football here, but that was a huge win. And a huge moment for Dabo Swinney, who stole the show in a lot of ways, even as Brian Kelly was imploding. (Side note: Brian Kelly preceded Butch Jones at stops at Central Michigan and Cincinnati before each landed big-boy jobs. And with some of the questionable decisions Kelly made Saturday night, maybe they are using the same chart.) As for Clemson, though, not only did the Tigers land a marquee win, they also all-but bounced Notre Dame, which was starting to hone in on a playoff spot.
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Weekend losers
The Butch. The numbers are staggering. And we're not even talking about the same record as Dooley mumbo jumbo. Even the biggest UT hater (Hi, Jomo) sees that this Tennessee team is infinitely more talented than any group Dooley assembled, although that in some ways makes the Saturday struggles even more puzzling and problematic. No, it's the other numbers that are dizzying. How about this stat: Only six of the 127 FBS teams have led each game by at least 13 points. Those six are Navy, Temple, FSU, LSU, Baylor and Tennessee. The Vols are 2-3; the other five are 20-0. You know the ultra compliment we paid Dan Quinn about his team playing better collectively than the sum of its parts? That's the highest praise, and Butch is doing the exact opposite. The UT results are way worse than the individual pieces.
Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 10/3/15. UT's head coach Butch Jones exits the field after a timeout while playing Arkansas during the second quarter of play on October 3, 2015. The Volunteers played the Razorbacks at home in Neyland Stadium late Saturday evening. Mark Richt. We knew there was going to be one of two story lines emerge from Athens, Ga., Saturday: Either the Alabama dynasty was showing cracks or Richt and Georgia still can't win the big one. Yep, here we are.
Cleveland Browns. Only the Browns can lose when the opposing team blows a 39-yard game-winner field goal try on the final play only to get another try because the Browns jumped offside. Cleveland Browns fans have a lot in common with UT football fans, and it has little to do with the fact that a Haslam owns a majority piece of each franchise.
Jimmie Johnson. The six-time NASCAR points champ was eliminated from the Chase on Sunday at Dover because a $5 part malfunctioned. Johnson entered the race fifth in points but fell out of the top 12 because of the debacle Sunday. On the other end of the spectrum, Kevin Harvick had to win Sunday to advance and he dominated.
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Baseball wraps
The Braves were dreadful. In fact, among the Braves fans among us, when was the last time you watched a game?
Atlanta finished 67-95, 23 games behind first-place New York.
Here are the final statistical leaders, and it's interesting to note that former Lookouts players and current Marlins infielder Dee Gordon became the first NL player to lead the league in batting and stolen bases since Jackie Robinson did it. We don't know much, but if you're on a list with Jackie, that's likely a good thing.
We'll preview the postseason tomorrow and breakdown our award winners. Deal? Deal. Just too much football to get to today.
Atlanta Braves' Cameron Maybin avoids the tag by Miami Marlin's Dee Gordon as he advances to second base on a ground ball by Andrelton Simmons during the third inning in a baseball game on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015, in Atlanta. Umpires ruled Maybin was out but the call was overturned on a challenge. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) MARIETTA DAILY OUT; GWINNETT DAILY POST OUT; LOCAL TELEVISION OUT; WXIA-TV OUT; WGCL-TV OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT Here's this week's playoff schedule of series openers:
AL Wildcard - Houston at New York Yankees, Tuesday, 8 p.m. (ESPN)
NL Wildcard - Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh, Wednesday, 8 p.m. (TBS)
AL Divisional - Houston-New York Yankees winner at Kansas City, Game 1, Thursday (time and station TBA); Texas at Toronto, Game 1, Thursday (time and station TBA).
NL Divisional - Chicago Cubs-Pittsburgh winner at St. Louis, Game 1, Friday, time TBA (TBS); New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers, Game 1, Friday, time TBA (TBS).
Wow, baseball needs some positive TV numbers this postseason. The NFL dominated the first week of the fall season with five of the top-10 most watched shows.
If baseball is ever going to make some Nielsen noise, you would think it would be now considering that of the six biggest North American cities, only Mexico City does not have a tie to these baseball playoffs.
Plus, four of the five largest TV markets account for half of the postseason teams (two from New York, one from Chicago, L.A. and the Dallas-area).
The only way this could be a better TV-friendly postseason pool would be for the Red Sox to be involved.
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This and that
- Who knew that Ronda Rousey was the first woman to be on the cover of Men's Fitness magazine. We thought it would have been Bruce Jenner.
- We'd be remiss if we skipped the fact that Shelby Miller got his first win since mid-May on Sunday. Dude finished the year with a 3.02 ERA and was 6-17. That may be the single most clear stat of the Braves stinkitude.
FILE - In this Dec. 28, 2013, file photo, Ronda Rousey, left, of Venice, Calif., punches Miesha Tate of Yakima, Wash., during the UFC 168 mixed martial arts women's bantamweight title fight in Las Vegas. Rousey has announced she will fight the world's former No. 1-rated female boxer next. Rousey told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Friday, Aug. 21, 2015, that she will defend her title against former world-champion boxer Holly Holm in Las Vegas on Jan. 2. (AP Photo/David Becker, File) - Also of note, Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw topped the 300-strikeout barrier this year.
- It was a full NFL Sunday that we'll recap in Tuesday's power poll, but we have to show Reason 2,134 why Dreadlocks are a bad idea and despite the loss, Amari Cooper is cause for Johnny Raiders Fans to smile about the future.
- Also of NFL note is that Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos are 4-0, and this is easily the best defense Manning has ever seen. (That said, with Manning's retirement on the horizon and Jones struggling in K-Town, what's the over/under of suggestions on Press Row today for Manning to be the next UT coach? We'll start at 3.
- We also thought this was interesting that ESPN cut away from Dabo Swinney's thanking of God after the Clemson win. We believe it was an accidental mistake, but Disney's over-P.C. nature gives pause.
- Speaking of religion and sports, Chicago Bears tight end Martellus Bennett compared Bears quarterback Jay Cutler to Jesus. Yes, yes he did. When asked if Cutler is criticized too much, Bennett said, "They threw rocks at Jesus and Jesus was an excellent guy who did a lot of awesome stuff." Yes, yes he was. Also of note, Bennett also compared Cutler to Keanu Reeves' character Shane Falco in "The Replacements." So Cutler is somewhere between Keanu and Christ. Thanks for clearing that up, Martellus.
FILE - In this Oct. 12, 2005 file photo, Apple Computer Inc. CEO Steve Jobs holds up an iPod during an event in San Jose, Calif. Jurors in a class-action lawsuit against Apple Inc. on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2014 saw emails from the late CEO and his top lieutenants that show Jobs was determined to keep Apple's popular iPod music players free from songs that were sold by competing online stores. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File) ---
Today's questions
Who won the weekend and who lost it?
If you need a Rushmore today, well, try this one on: Four years ago today Steve Jobs died.
Does his Apple Inc. (and accompanying Pixar) push for a spot on American inventors Rushmore? Edison and Bell are pretty set, right? There's Ol' Benny Franklin, too. Nevermind personal fav Eugene J. Polley, the Chicago engineer who invented the TV remote control and saved kids everywhere the endless back-and-forth to the TV to change channels for their old man.
Oh yeah, if you'd like to weigh in on the Butch Jones situation, well, feel free. But try to be civil, because if we know anything in sports in general and college sports in particular, it's that everything comes full circle.
Whatcha got?