Weekend winners
< Penn State. And coach James Franklin. Flash back to week four: Penn State loses a sloppy game to Pitt 42-39, struggles to beat Temple and gets hammered 49-10 to Michigan and sits 2-2. There ws real unrest in normally tranquil Happy Valley. There also were some real questions about whether James Franklin is the guy that did magic at Vandy or was the guy at Vandy when the set of the SEC East was spinning sideways. Now, six consecutive wins later with an offense that is balanced and opportunistic, the Nittany Lions are a player in the college football playoff discussion. Know this: If The Ohio State and Penn State win out - something that is not that farfetched by the way - the Lions go to the Big Ten title game.
< Big 12. West Virginia keeps winning and Oklahoma now looks like the Oklahoma we expected them to be before a 2-2 September. Couple that with the craziness in the top 10 this week - No. 2 Clemson, No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 Washington, No. 8 Texas A&M and No. 9 Auburn all losing - and the left-for-dead Big 12 has new life in regard to the playoff. In fact, if West Virginia wins out - which would include beating Oklahoma this week - the Mountaineers' resume would be better than Washington's and, as a one-loss power five conference champ, certainly would make a strong case for inclusion in the four.
< Tennessee Titans. The only thing you can say negatively about Sunday's Titans performance was that it was not available on TV in these parts. (For those who want to know, Fox had the rights - Fox has NFC options, CBS has AFC options, and when its a cross-conference game, the visiting team dictates the station.) We get Fox's local decision to go with Falcons-Titans. In our research through the years, the Falcons have significantly more fans in our area. Plus, it was the NFL's best offense on the road at Philly. (Another side note: In areas the league is looking to reconnect with TV viewers, this needs to be worked into broadcast agreements. If the Fox stations wherever in the country with conflicting markets has both local teams and picks Team A; then the CBS affiliate in those markets should be allowed to choose Team B. That makes too much sense, though, so it likely won't happen.)
Decision aside, our area did not get to see a Titans performance that was thorough and complete and impressive from the start. Tennessee led 21-0 in the first quarter and did not look back. It's also worth noting that when Marcus Mariota protects the football, this scan be a very physical and successful offense even with very serviceable at best wide receivers. Also of note: DeMarco Murray has to be in the conversation for comeback player of the year, right? Also of note part II: Taylor Lewan has been way better than most realize this year - including me early on. He's one of the top-ranked tackles in the league. But dude has got to be able to handle his emotions better. You simply can't put your hands on an official like Lewan did Sunday, it doesn't matter how dirty you think a play may be.
< NFL viewing (for the most part, other than local Titans fans). The Falcons-Eagles game was competitive. The Saints-Broncos on CBS was thrilling. (Imagine the most crazy way to lose, and here's betting the Saints are thinking, "Yeah, we did that. It's no fun.") The Cowboys-Steelers was awesome in its awesomeness. And Sunday night's showdown with the Seahawks winning at New England was very good too. It will be interesting to see considering these were big name teams playing an enjoyable brand of the game with the presidential election in the rear view mirror.
< Everyone who watched Dave Chappelle's opening monologue from Saturday Night Live this weekend. Funny, poignant, clear and balanced - and really funny - it was as a good a thing we have seen on SNL in a long time. And it likely had about four or five FCC fineable moments.
< Bonus pick: Kirby Smart. In a year of growing pains, the first-year Georgia coach delivered an early Christmas present rivalry win over a top-10 ranked Auburn team Saturday. It was the type of victory that can be a spring board for first-year regimes, and we wanted to give credit to Smart before we unload both barrels on the real reason for that game's outcome.
Auburn running back Kerryon Johnson (21) sits on the bench in the finals moments of their 13-7 loss to Georgia in an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 12, 2016, in Athens, Ga. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)Weekend losers
> Auburn. Speaking of that, in the single worst offensive half in the state of Georgia since Cumberland visited Tech 100 years ago, the Auburn Tigers were simply dreadful in after halftime in a season-changing 13-7 loss to a Georgia team that did not score an offensive touchdown. It was impossible to imagine for a team that had been described as the hottest in the country by some, and as half of the teams ranked ahead of Auburn were falling like flies, the Tigers completely ganged a chance to surge into the top four in the playoff rankings. And, after leading 7-0 at the break, Auburn was completely undone by its play-calling and its quarterback play in a second half in which the Tigers, a) did not get a first down, b) despite being the best rushing team among the power fine conferences had at least two three-and-out series that included three passes, and c) in a game in which they were starving for any type of offensive momentum, dropped three passes that would have equated into first downs. It was awful in its awfulness and in some ways goes against everything we've seen from the Tigers over the last six weeks. Yes, Georgia is talented, but this is a Georgia team that lost to Vandy and was down 45-0 before Ole Miss called off the Dogs. On a weekend full of painful losses, it's hard to come up with a more stinging one.
> College football playoff committee. Well, in years past we have come to expect the chaos, and in most instances that chaos has worked in the favor of the folks picking the teams to play for the college football championship. In the BSC era, it worked out for the committee way more often than it didn't. Now, in year three of the four-team playoff, Saturday's mass hysteria of losses and upsets makes this as puzzling as a Sunday Sudoku. We can all agree that Alabama is far and away the top team in the game, and the divide between 1 and 2 is extreme. We can break this down in earnest tomorrow, but with so many losses Saturday, the path to the playoff has been reopened to a few teams and closed for a few others - including every scenario in which a second SEC team could be there.
> The SEC? IYou could make an argument that the SEC lost the weekend with the outcomes before us. Alabama has clinched the West, and whether we want to believe it or not, even if they lose in the Iron Bowl or in the SEC title game, they are playoff-bound. (And if any team in the history of the playoff has done enough to earn a mulligan, it's this Alabama team.) So the committee, as crazy as this past weekend was, now needs some clarity, and they need Alabama to be Alabama for three more weeks. Because an Iron Bowl loss would not be super damaging if the Tide then went on to win the SEC. But what happens if a two-loss Florida or a three-loss Tennessee toppled the Tide? We think Alabama still would get in, but could the committee omit the SEC champ? We'd lean toward yes.
> Pac 12. Washington had campaigned and bellyached about being in the playoff rankings. They get there after Texas A&M's loss and they get pushed around at home by USC. The Pac 12 will now need to start campaigning for that last spot in the playoff. And they need to hope that a second ACC team - hi, Louisville - doesn't jump them at the end. To make matters worse, the best team in the Pac 12 heading toward the finish line is USC, which has three losses, including a
> Everyone who watched Rams-Jets. Wow, four full quarters that included the quarterback stylings of Case Keenum vs. Bryce Petty. (Not exactly Bradshaw-Staubach or Manning-Brady there.) Here are the final numbers: 60 minutes, less than 600 yards total (Jets had 296; Rams had 280); less than 5 yards per play (by comparison randomly picking a game Sunday - let go San Fran-Arizona to show it's not a blockbuster - and they averaged about 6.5 per play), one combined TD (with one missed extra point) and a 9-6 final. Man, being a true fan can be tough sometimes - and yes, that was Sunday's matchup of the two biggest and most important TV markets for the NFL.
Texas coach Charlie Strong yells during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game against California Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016, in Berkeley, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) Coaching carousel
We have become kind of consistent on Mondays by looking back at the decisions and outcomes of the weekend in regard to football.
It's fun and part of the process of being connected and being a fan. That said, we have two weeks left in the regular season, and with Sunday's news that Georgia State fired their coach, we think it's time to update the coaching hot seat around college football. Deal? Deal.
It's kind of crazy the roller coaster some of these coaches have faced in the last two months. Think of its this way: The call that LSU did not get the play off is the difference between Gus Malzahn being on the hottest of hot seats (and Les Miles being out of a gig), and if Penn State had not won in double overtime over Minnesota inn week 5, James Franklin is like in the top five of hot seats right now. And Franklin, if things continue on this path could be national coach of the year.
Also of note, Georgia Tech's impressive win over Virginia Tech did wonders to soothe the seat of Paul Johnson with the Jackets. With that, here are the five hottest seats in the country as of this morning (know that Georgia State and Purdue will have openings and Fresno State has already fired its coach and named Jeff Tedford as its next coach):
1. Charlie Strong, Texas. Did the loss Saturday at home against West Virginia seal Strong's fate? We believe so.
2. Steve Addazio, Boston College. The Eagles are awful, and Addazio, who is now in year four and trending downward.
3. Mark Helfrich, Oregon. Is this unfair? Most likely since Helfrich won nine games last year and was in the playoff in 2014. But the Ducks went winless in Pac 12 play at home, and that can be very painful for a fan base and donor system that have to know Oregon's long rise can be undone with three years of mediocrity, no matter how good the facilities are. It doesn't help that Saturday Oregon got housed by a Stanford team that has been terrible for the last six weeks.
4. Rich Rodriguez, Arizona. The Wildcats may be the worst team in the Pac 12 not named Oregon.
5. Kliff Kingsbury, Texas Tech. There are a lot of names out there too that could be here - Brian Kelly appears safe at Notre Dame and Tommy Tuberville at Cincy - but the shine is off the offensive rose of Kingsbury, who is 4-6 this year and 23-25 overall in his fourth season at his alma mater. It also doesn't help that former coach Mike Leach is killing it at Washington State. Look around Texas and where does Tech rank? Behind Texas, Baylor, TCU, A&M and Houston for sure. Take that Rice.
This and that
- Up and down week for the Fab 4 picks, splitting on the six we offered. That makes us a 37-28 against the number this year. Counting the one loss we have when buying the half, if you put 100 entertainment credits on of our picks this year, you would 810 entertainment credits to the good. That's not bad, but it's way better than the alternative.
- Entertainment hunting tidbits: Sometimes it's painful to hunt entertaiment. The over/under on the Oklahoma State-Texas Tech game was 89.5 late last week. Texas Tech lost 45-44 after missing an extra point in the final 90 seconds. You do the math.
- We think its fair to mention here that Tennessee offensively was extremely impressive Saturday, running up and down the field against a Kentucky team that is better than a lot realize. Also of note in our entertainment roundups, the 49-36 final was enough to give UK pickers an entertaining outcome with UT minus-14.
- Green Bay coach Mike McCarthey may be running out of time with the Packers, and that's saying something. Green Bay has had four head coaches since 1992, and that included a one-year debacle under Ray Rhodes. The others have stepped to the Mike - McCarthey, Homlgren and Sherman - for lengthy terms. The Pack may find themselves in the rare spot of looking for a new leader. Maybe Mike Gundy is interested in making the move. Or Mike Ditka. (Ditttkkkkkaaaaaa. Daaaaaa Pack. Man that really would blow some folks hair back right?)
- Three very early NBA storylines to follow: One, Russell Westrbook already has three triple doubles in 10 games and missed two more by a single assist in each. He is averaging 31.9 points, 9.2 rebounds and 10.1 assists. Two, the Los Angeles Lakers are 6-5 and way, Way, WAY better than anyone could have imagined. Need proof? Well, Vegas makes their living projecting the future and they had the season over/under win total for the Lakers at 24. 5. Three, the Cavs are playing exceedingly well with LeBron James playing way less. A big part of it is Tyronn Lue's decision to make Kevin Love on the block a focal point of the offense more offense. Here are some details, and that decision is paying dividends.
- Impressive basketball wins for the Mocs on Friday - both versions. The men went to Tennessee and were clearly the better team. The women went to perennial power Rutgers and handled their BID-ness as well. UTC's loss at UNC, which featured a lot of first-half foul trouble, gave all of a glimpse at how good UNC may be. That was impressive.
- The news was not as good on the football field for the home team Saturday. UTC suffered a painful 36-28 loss against Wofford. The Terriers had the perfect recipe for the upset, running for 247 yards, winning the turnover battle 2-0, getting a monster play on special teams with a 100-yard kickoff return for their first score. The loss drops UTC to 8-2 and with its season-finale at Alabama next week, 8-3 seems predetermined. That means that the Mocs, who were 6-0 and ranked a program-best No. 3 in the country, have gone from being a slam-dunk choice for a first-round bye with a couple of playoff home games to holding their breath when the 24-team playoff field is announced. Yes, the Mocs are good enough and would be a tough out in the playoffs, but with Saturday's loss, and if the Terriers beat VMI on Saturday, UTC and Wofford each would be 8-3 with Wofford owning a win over UTC at Finley. The Citadel is in by winning the SoCon, and we believe the SoCon is good enough to certainly get two bids, but we're not sure if it's good enough to get three.
- Colin Kaepernick said Sunday that voting would have been hypocritical. What? That's insane and inane. That's missing the point on so many fronts, especially in California, which has one of the biggest dividing issues between race and police on the ballot with the legalization of recreational marijuana. Wow. Just wow.
- NASCAR's final four is set with Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards. those four will head to Homestead next Sunday and whomever places best of that group will be the Points champ.
- PGA Tour update: Yes, it's early in the 2016-17 season, and yes, because of the calendar, a lot of these golf tournaments are without the names most of the casual fans know. But birdes are birdies, right? And more importantly, checks are checks. Former Baylor School star Luke List continues his maturation and progression as a pro golfer. Sunday in Mexico, Pat Perez won the tournament, but List, who posted four rounds in the 60s this weekend, finished tied for seventh.
Today's question
Lots to discuss. Who won the weekend and who other than Auburn lost the weekend?
Go you know the drill.
As for a Rushmore, because we need some levity on this fine Monday, 10 days from Thanksgiving, we'll go here for something different: On this day in 1960, "Georgia on my Mind" by Ray Charles reached No. 1. Rushmore of songs with a state in the title.
Go.