College football four
As we do each Wednesday, we'll offer our version of the college football top four. Yes, this is not with the caveat of knowing who wins conference titles. This is with the knowledge of seeing all these teams play and believing what we see.
And while we believe it will take a lot of work for any league to get two teams into the field of four, the SEC's set-up has a chance. If Alabama and Georgia run the regular-season table, the SEC title game will be the hottest ticket in Atlanta since the 1996 Olympics. But even if they do, the happenings at TCU, Miami and in the state of Washington and even in places like Norman and Columbus will matter.
1. Clemson. The stretch of wins over Auburn, Louisville and Virginia Tech - all ranked at the time and all pretty much manhandled (yes, the AU win was a one-score win, but they could still be playing and we're pretty sure that AU team was not getting it the end zone) - will carry a lot of weight throughout the season. The defending champs will be double-digit favorites over everyone left on their schedule.
1B. Alabama. Hey, Nick, don't let your players read the following rat poison. Let's take a moment so, the sensitive and impressionable Tide players can look away. OK. The level of domination as reached a point in which Alabama beats what could be a nine-win team on the road by eight and everyone wants to know what's wrong. That's impressive, Nick. Oh, sorry, is that too positive? Man, Alabama sucks. They stink and they were lucky to beat FSU by 17 and Ole Miss by 63 and Vandy 59-bagel. Lucky. Why are they even ranked here? We should just simply ignored them and not mention them so Lil' Nicky won't get his feelings hurt and it will be easier for him to do his $11 million-a-year job.
3. Georgia. Man, that was a pretty stout weekend for my man Andrew B., and all of the folks who bleed Red and Black. Justin Fields is in the fold. The Bulldogs kept steamrolling opponents, this time crushing Vandy. (Man, not since the floods of '10 has Nashville faced such devastation over a three-week stretch, losing by a combined 104-14 at home to Alabama and Georgia). The defense is salty and experienced. Want to know something crazy? The top three teams in the country all play Auburn, which in truth has as much control of its destiny as any one-loss team in the country.
4. Penn State. James Franklin's bunch has the best player and arguably the most balanced offense in the country. Is that enough? A well-timed bye week this Saturday sets the stage for a championship-shaping three-week stretch of Michigan in Happy Valley (Oct. 21) followed by trips to THE Ohio State and Michigan State in subsequent weeks. You also have to wonder if Penn State stumbles and considering THE Ohio State's loss to Oklahoma, could the Big Ten be on the outside looking in come playoff time?
FILE - In this Wednesday, July 26, 2017, file photo, United States' Michael Bradley hoists the trophy as the team celebrates after beating Jamaica 2-1 in the Gold Cup final soccer match in Santa Clara, Calif. U.S. coach Bruce Arena has used 47 players in 14 games since replacing Jurgen Klinsmann last November, including seven who made their national team debuts. He redefined roles of Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley and Fabian Johnson, and boosted Jorge Villafana and Kellyn Acosta to the top tier of his depth chart. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File) U.S. Soccer
OK, we are going to tread easily here.
Soccer's not our cup of kickball. We don't pay it a lot of attention. (And for those of you shaking your head and thinking, "Well, my chap must not understand the beautiful game." I understand it. I just don't enjoy it. I understand brussell sprouts too, and I don't like them either.)
By now you know the U.S. somehow found a miracle way not to make the World Cup. We saw one report that said there were 27 possible win-loss-draw outcomes from last night and only one that would cause the U.S. to miss the World Cup.
And that's the one that hit.
Now, because we are moved by the negative and disappointment and anger is much more motivating than success and joy, there is a ton of hand-wringing and "What went wrong?" Gang, we are a nation of more than 320 million people and we lost to a country with the population of San Diego. And please stop the "Well if LeBron played soccer" "If Westbrook played soccer" hypotheticals. They don't and they never will, at least not in my lifetime.
Yes, we hear the talking points every four years during the surge of interest in soccer because of the World Cup. It's the most popular sport globally. Soccer is surging in the U.S. Blah-blah-blah. Soccer is not surging in the U.S. Patriotism has always been popular. How often do you watch curling or swimming. Every four years when Team U.S.A. is doing it in red, white and blue.
For a large part of us, its's the same with soccer. And this is not just a "our best athletes are playing other sports" argument. Yes, the best athletes are trending toward football and basketball and others because of the money and the opportunity.
But this is also on U.S. soccer at an organizational level. How in the world are we getting housed by Trinidad and Tobago when the U.S. soccer organization spent more than $20 million in "player development" on our national teams? (Figure is from the 2016 budget numbers, which was the most recent I could find.)
Another thing: Want to know why our U.S. women are so much more competitive than the men? Yes, generations of tradition around the world make the competition better compared to the female players globally. But does anyone else think that Title IX hurts men's soccer as much as any sport this side of wrestling?
So yes, there may be more and more little tykes all over the country playing soccer, but dabbling in soccer and falling in love with the game - no matter how 'beautiful' some think it is - nationally are far from the same thing.
In this Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017, file photo, Tennessee head coach Butch Jones yells to his players during the first half of a 41-0 loss to Georgia in an NCAA college football game in Knoxville, Tenn. Tennessee is using its off week to try regrouping following a dispiriting three-week stretch that included its worst home defeat since 1905 and put the heat squarely on embattled coach Jones. (AP Photo/Wade Payne, File)UT deck chairs
Well, every morning, we say, let's not write about Butch today.
And every day it feels likes something new comes up.
News circled Tuesday that a quarterback change is coming and that Quinten Dormady's time on Rocky Top may be coming to end. There were no fresh quotes Tuesday - Butch will talk with multiple media outlets today and we feel that subject will likely come up - but the reports were everywhere. (Here's TFP UT beat ace Dancin' David Cobb's report on the matter.)
We feel this is also a pretty good point to mention that former UT quarterbacks Nathan Peterman and Riley Ferguson found much greener pastures after finding new homes after being unable to crack Butch Jones' depth chart. Hey those things happen in a lot of locales. Alabama and Georgia lose quarterbacks too. (Although the ones that leave Tuscaloosa and Athens normally do not have the levels of success that Peterman and Ferguson have found.)
It's an odd time in Knoxville, and as we wrote yesterday, Saturday is the biggest game in Butch's time. (Our man Weeds adds some historical context of how shortcomings versus South Carolina have made UT coaches under turmoil former UT coaches under turmoil.)
And whether UT fans want to talk of it or not, South Carolina is UT's peer. Not Georgia or Alabama. At least not now. Moving forward must include beating the rest of the East teams on the schedule, and we're not overly sure Butch can do that.
Regardless of who is behind center.
This and that
- So Stephen Strasburg has the sniffles (seasonal allergies is the official term the Nationals shared with Mike & Mike) and he will not get the ball in a win-or-pack-the-gear Game 4 tonight against the Cubs. Man, that seems rather weak.
- Not a lot on the tube last night, but we gave the Cavs' preseason game a quick look. Maybe we're crazy strike that, we're definitely crazy but we think the depth and the layers of that Cleveland team - plus a motivated of LeBron - will make these Cavs better than last year's Cavs. That will be especially true when Isaiah Thomas comes back from injury. If your starting five is Thomas, D Wade, James, Jae Crowder and Kevin Love at the 5, that means your second five includes Derrick Rose, J.R. Smith, Kyle Korver and Tristan Thompson and is arguably the best second-unit in the league.
- It now feels real for the four assistant coaches who appeared in an New York court room Tuesday on FBI charges. Man, reading the charges makes you realize this a pretty serious deal and way beyond the "everyone is doing it" rationalization of cheating and S.O.P of college hoops.
- Wow, pretty sure this should be discussed more. According to this report, ESPN's home offices had to call the police to remove protestors from their parking lot after the suspension of Jemele Hill. Yes, the network has been all about the NFL players' rights to protest will have no part of a protest in their parking lot. According to the story, Mike Soltys, a spokesman for ESPN, said the company respects "their right to protest peacefully. Our focus was ensuring ESPN's normal business operations weren't interrupted." Normal business operations, huh? We're betting the NFL owners could craft a very similar statement considering the numbers of hits and effects on customer opinion that the protests during the anthem are having.
Today's question
Pretty sure we would be better off as a country if Trump took the same energy to bigger picture stuff as he has with the NFL and its players' actions during the anthem.
And that's coming from a politically conservative opinion.
As for today - Oct. 11 - some interesting if not well known birthdays today.
Fred Trump - Donald's daddy - was born on this day in 1905. Steve Young is 56 today. Luke Perry - of 90210 fame - is 51.
Daryl Hall is 71.
Also, on this day Henry John Heinz was born in 1844. As you may have guessed, he founded the H.J. Heinz Co., and made a lot of cabbage with a lot of condiments.
Rushmore of condiments. Whatcha' got?