College football rankings
Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan and Clemson. That's the four - in order - that the college football playoff committee sees as the field at this moment.
What does this tell us? Not much in regard to the field since the committee loves conference champs and we won't know conference championship outcomes until the first Sunday in December.
It does tell us, unequivocally that the Big Ten has passed the SEC - exceedingly quickly and by a fairly large margin, mind you - as the best conference in the country.
The Big Ten had four teams in Tuesday's top eight.
Yes, Alabama is clearly the best team in the country, but the results just as clearly show the Big Ten way deeper than the SEC, which is unraveling down the stretch.
And if you want to measure it in terms of leagues with multiple teams in position to crack the four, the ACC has a claim to being better than the SEC.
That said, the fact that Alabama's resume is so much better than everyone else's is staggering. In fact, here's believing that the Tide could lose to Auburn or even the SEC title game and still get a spot in the four. That seems so rock solid at this point, the committee almost has to be cheering for Alabama to roll, especially in the SEC title game, so the committee won't have to try to explain taking a one-loss runner-up Alabama rather than a multiple-loss SEC champ form the East.
As for the rest, well, the Big Ten's big four each have a shot to get into the four and a few ways that multiple teams could make it.
If Michigan wins out in the regular season, it gets to the Big Ten Title game.
Penn State needs to win out and a Michigan loss to get to the Indianapolis.
Ohio State must win out and hope for a Penn State loss to get there.
Wisconsin has two losses - two close defeats against Michigan and Ohio State - will represent the West if the Badgers win out.
So it goes, and there's a real chance that if a Wisconsin-Penn State final happens and Ohio State is sitting there at 11-1, the winner and the Buckeyes will go dancing.
Texas A&M wide receiver Mike Evans (13) makes a 95-yard touchdown reception as Cyrus Jones (5) can only watch during top-ranked Alabama's 49-42 win over the Aggies on Saturday.Stupid is as stupid does
Hi, Mike Evans. You know Mike. No not the youngest son on Good Times.
He's the former first-round pick for the Tampa Bay Bucs who was a star receiver at Texas A&M.
Evans decided to sit out last Sunday's National Anthem - on the weekend the league was celebrating Veteran's Day no less - because of the election.
Yep, Mr. Evans was upset that Donald Trump won so he popped a squat on the bench as the Star Spangled Banner blared and the flagged waved before the Bucs-Bears kickoff.
Well, upon further review, the election results that so emotionally moved Mr. Evans it caused him to make a defiant act of civil disobedience were missing one vote of note.
That vote of note of course belonging to Mr. Evans.
Yes, Evans ignored the real chance to have his voice heard, especially in a battle ground state like Florida. So how can we take any protest seriously when he was not serious enough to actually take the time and have his voice counted.
So this a protest about the election results, which in large part surprised everyone because of overconfidence and indifference at the polls from Clinton supporters. So, in essence, Evans' protest was about a lack of voter turnout from a voter who lacked the urge to turn out.
Perfect.
Evans apologized Monday afternoon, issuing a statement that he didn't mean to offend any military members. OK, but the one thing that all of the national anthem protesting football players must remember is while they have every right under the constitution to protest, the general public has every right to interpret those protests however we see fit.
People can be in support of them, or indifferent to them, or flat-out enraged by them, and that includes a large number of military personnel. Whether Evans says he's protesting the results or Colin Kaepernick says he is protesting the way police officers treat black people is fine.
Certainly these acts have offended a large number of military members across the country and who knows how many fans in the stands - especially Evans' since he did his one and only sit-in on the Sunday after Veterans' Day. In fact, one 10-year Bucs season-ticket holder - a veteran mind you - has already come forward and said he is cancelling his tickets. There was also this Bucs fan who set Evans' jersey on fire Sunday after the game.
And that is lost in the wash of the protesting process.
Freedom to protest is not freedom of responsibility.
And while we are here, the safe-space culture on college campuses big and small in which students are protesting everything and getting happy rooms that include Play-Doh and puppies - no joke - is a disservice to the entire generation and the nation.
Period. If the civics lesson of peaceful protest is protected and embraced by the First Amendment and our Constitution, then the results and ramifications should be first on the list of reactions and aftermath.
ESPN draft analyst Mel KiperOklahoma trend-setter?
Defensive tackle Charles Walker, ranked No. 6 in the draft by Mel Kiper Jr. at his position, has decided to leave the Sooners to get ready for the NFL Draft.
He has been out of the lineup for a month with a concussion, his second in less than a year.
The critics have lined up to call Walker a quitter.
Oklahoma defensive coordinator Mike Stoops: "Quitting on your teammates is hard to take."
(Uh, Coach, you were the guy who took a head coaching job at Arizona in November 2003 while you were the co-defensive coordinator at Oklahoma. Why did you do it? To better your career and to take the next step. You may have finished the year, but were your loyalties or your attention divided? And how many coaches leave before bowl games to start new jobs. Are they quitting on their teams when they do that?)
It's an interesting scenario and one that we have frequently bandied about when talking about a Jadeveon Clowney or Leonard Fournette, guys who would have been top-five overall picks after their sophomore seasons.
Now we see a kid leaving his current to prepare for his future.
Said college football analyst Greg McIlroy: "He should not be ranked at all after this act of selfishness."
That's dumb, and we'd expect more insight and less bravado from McIlroy, the former Alabama quarterback whose dad is a former NFL executive.
Look at the guys who have way, Way, WAY worse things on the resume and they were gobbled up in the draft because they can flat play.
Then go a step further for Walker in regard to his NFL credentials: Knowing he has two concussions since last year's Orange Bowl, which would be a bigger red flag for NFL GMs - leaving the program on your own or a defensive tackle with three concussions since January 2016?
We think this is the outlier as far as leaving in season. But it really could open the door for players leaving before meaningless bowl games - or even to get more time to prepare for the combine.
It also brings up the conversation of whether this is an unintended consequence of having a four-team playoff, because Nick Saban rightly called playing in the Sugar Bowl a few years ago a consolation prize.
Yes, Walker and Oklahoma have an outside shot to get in the playoff mix.
As for the rest, are we really going to be surprised if these players are not willing to sacrifice their bodies and gamble their future earning potential for a chance to play in Shreveport?
This and that
- As if Alabama fans needed more good news, a recent four-star offensive line commitment put the Tide atop the 247sports.com recruiting rankings.
- Great college basketball game last night with Kansas hitting the game-winner over Duke with less than 2 seconds left. Good times. (Before that game, Kentucky crushed Michigan State, a team we picked to struggle to make the NCAA tournament last week. As for the bad picks, well, No. 4 Oregon got hammered by Baylor.)
- Kyle Whittingham, the Utah coach, said on Fox Sports Radio this morning that he wants an eight-team playoff with all power-five conference champs getting into the dance. That noise is going to get louder this year because there's a real chance that the Big Ten and maybe the ACC getting two bids and potentially the Pac 12 and Big 12 getting left out.
- NBA franchises Memphis, Dallas and Milwaukee have decided too cancel reservations at Trump hotels in New York and Chicago. That is their right, of course. It also will offend some folks who may not attend those teams games. That's the quid pro quo of business decisions an protests.
- As for the next chapter of As LeBron Turns, we have little to no interest in the word 'posse' - as James' cohorts (or is cohorts offensive) were described by Phil Jackson - offending the delicate sensibilities of LeBron and Co. If it offends them, OK. We will try to forever be consistent on the point that Jackson's intention is his, but James' interpretation is his right as well. As for his day job, James was simply awesome in a road win at Toronto on Tuesday, going for 28 points, nine rebounds and 14 assists.
- The U.S. men's soccer team was blanked 4-0 by Costa Rica on Tuesday. That's bad. Real bad.
- It appears Tom Brady is ready to laugh at the DeflateGate controversy as this Foot Locker ad shows.
Today's question
OK, lots going on and yes, we wrote a ton today. Sorry.
But it's a One-Word Wednesday, and we'll start with the big topics.
The most recent college rankings is __________.
Charles Walker leaving Oklahoma to get ready for the draft is _________.
Mike Evans's protest was _________.
The decision to change the AAA baseball team in New Orleans from the Zephyrs to the Baby Cakes is ___________.
The most unique sports team name is __________.
And you know the drill, answer a One-Word question or all of them and leave a One-Word question. Deal? Deal.