Weekend winners
The Braves. Is there any doubt who leads us off this nippy Monday morning? From Will Smith going from cardiac inducer to a left-handed version of Mariano Rivera, to Austin Riley making us believe he should be the NL MVP, to the plug-and-play wizardry Alex Anthopoulos pulled at the trading deadline, the Braves have grabbed a 2-0 lead over the heavily favored Dodgers in the NLCS. And they get to hand the ball to Charlie Morton in a Game 3 that the Dodgers simply must win. (Side note: Credit where credit is due here, friends, but Brian Snitker refusing to waver in his confidence in Will Smith despite his inconsistency throughout the season has, at least in part, helped form Smith’s confidence to a place way beyond his performance for the first six months of 2021.)
Rory. And Keith Mitchell. And golf fans. I know there was a slew of football on all weekend, but the PGA event in Vegas was a joy, and Rory – a bonafide good dude who has been riding the confidence elevator a bit over the last couple of years – was aces over the weekend. As for Mitchell, yes, he had a monstrous five-shot lead after 36 holes that vanished quickly on Saturday. And yes, we know someone who puts $10 on Keith at the start of every tournament – and if he had held on this weekend it would have paid a tidy $2,500. But being in the final group on the weekend is the final experience piece Keith can’t get any other way than doing it, and the more exposure he gets to that, the quicker he goes from week-in, week-out PGA Tour card carrier to PGA Tour contender. (And let’s be real for a second: Even if he shot 132 on Saturday, are we prepared to put anyone in the second group who played 72 holes of golf in Vegas and made $565,500 doing it, like Keith did with his T-3? Didn’t think so.)
UTC. And buckets, how about the effort from Devonnsha Marshall, who had five sacks in the Mocs’ must-have win over No. 10 ETSU? I believe it still has to be a a playoffs-every-week-mentality – and which college coach doesn’t already speak in the next-week-up, next-team-up, next-man-up cadence, because it’s assuredly Rusty Wright’s vernacular of choice – at 3-3 overall and 2-1 in the SoCon. But that was a signature win over a top-10 rival.
Georgia. The Bulldogs will be at least three-score favorites in the team’s last five games. And that defense, oh my. How about this stat? Through seven games Georgia has allowed 46 points – including the garbage-time TD Saturday that allowed UK to cover and Fat Vader to exhale deeply – which is the fewest since Alabama’s legendary and generational defense of 1992 allowed the same number of points through seven games. And you can be the world’s biggest Bulldog basher and still have respect for the Stetson Bennett story.
Luke Fickell. Yes, Cincy’s amazingly impressive start and absolute tail-whipping of former Group of Five darling UCF caught my eye. And yes, with Iowa’s loss, Fickell’s Bearcats are headed to No. 2 in the polls. But for Fickell personally, there simply is no better time to be making his run. With the USC job and the LSU job open, Fickell has to be on the short list for both, which means getting the keys to a Cadillac program or getting the role of football’s Mark Few or Jay Wright. And the latter seems pretty attractive in the modern realm of college sports – getting paid multiple millions to coach at a place that you enjoy while that place worships the ground under your feet.
Weekend losers
Regional sports networks and cable providers. Uh-oh. As the cord-cutting continues – cable companies are losing between 8 and 10% of their customers annually – this one will push a lot of us even further into the discussion of ending our exorbitant cable costs. MLB is in talks to stream your favorite MLB programming. The NBA and the NHL are looking into these options, too.
Florida. Egad. What’s the temperature on Dan Mullen’s seat, JTC?
Iowa. It was there. It was happening. And now poof. Yes, the Hawkeyes are still in the mix. Side note: Do you think the creators of “M*A*S*H” loved them some Iowa football since a) Radar O’Reilly was constantly talking about his family back in Iowa and b) the main character’s nickname was Hawkeye? Now all they needed was a whispering voice telling Col. Blake, “If you build it, he will come.” Anywell, yes, Iowa is still in the mix, and we may talk more about this later this week, but how quickly does expansion arrive if the playoff field is an unbeaten Georgia, an unbeaten Cincinnati and two one-loss Big Ten teams?
Spencer Rattler’s Heisman hopes. After being pulled for Caleb Williams in the Red River Rally, Rattler’s dad is now giving news conferences with not-so-veiled hints at the transfer portal and pondering what’s next for Rattler after Jan. 10. Not that OU fans are worried, since Williams was aces in Saturday’s blowout of TCU. Wonder if Lincoln Riley has chewed out a college reporter over anything over the weekend.
Vegas. For the first time in recent memory, Vegas took it on the chin in back-to-back NFL weekends. The big kick to the chips this weekend was the improbable Dallas cover in OT against New England, but the Bengals rolling and the Packers covering also were big winners. But let’s not weep for the house just yet. Here’s betting they’re going to be fine. And according to one Vegas sportsbook boss, the Seahawks covering the number last night was big in the grand scheme of things.
Bettors who missed their shot this weekend. Yes, our picks went 3-4 – stupid Florida – and that is what it is. But it’s not always a zero-sum game. It’s always going to be about units more than percentages, and let’s say some folks you know made more than enough to make sure any wager made with any reader on whether our picks get north of .500 was more than covered – and then some – with the very predictable Alabama blowout at Starkville.
Ed Orgeron. Coach proved us right and wrong by winning a national title at his dream job and also showing us that a job like LSU was too big for the big fella. He will finish out the season and will be paid the entirety of his contract – which screams both “Thanks for the natty” and that Ed knows where a few of the bodies are buried. The search for his replacement will be wild, and folks, I know I sound like a one-trick guy, but I would make Lane Kiffin say no. Multiple times.
Bonus pick: D.C. The Man of Steel has changed his motto from “Truth, Justice and the American Way” to “Truth, Justice and a Better Tomorrow.” Hmm. So there’s that.
Saturday night in Knoxville
The outcome was far from predictable. Two of the most productive offenses in college football relying on defensive stops in the fourth quarter.
But it also was expected in a lot of ways. Lane Kiffin getting booed from Polk County to postgame exit. Great plays by two great football players who just happen to be taking the snaps. Two of the best offensive minds in football adjusting and ticketing and figuring out ways to move the ball even if the under was some four-plus TDs short of the Vegas threshold.
It was a Saturday in Neyland like so many before it, but unlike any for the last forgettable decade or so. You know, in the time frame since Kiffin up and R-U-N-N-O-F-T to the lands of cement ponds and movie stars.
It was electric. And fun. And everything UT fans have missed.
Until it wasn’t.
I’m not going to pile on. That’s for the pearl-clutching national media folks who think things like the embarrassing trash-throwing debacle in the final minute of UT’s painful and emotional loss to Lane and Ole Miss only happen in SEC football.
It doesn’t take a deep social media search to find far too many and senseless scenes that are similar.
But I’m not going to excuse it either.
It was, for someone who cheers for UT in almost every scenario when they are not playing Auburn, a disgrace.
And, no matter how much Josh Heupel frets that it will be the story from what should be the point of redirection for a proud program and a coach who looks the part of program reprogrammer, it sadly is.
Sure, it’s not an isolated disgrace, mind you. Not just a UT problem or even a college football problem.
And the bigger problem, in my mind, is the rationalization – of this and so many other social hurdles and controversies in our country – of why it was justified.
It’s not. Period. Whether it happens in the Bronx or in Auburn or to your school so your school can do it back.
It’s not OK. And it brings to question the commitment to safety UT and the SEC have for its student athletes and on-field folks.
Because if Ms. Plowman is serious about Neyland being about a family experience – Uh, why not a peep about the stadium-wide “F Joe Biden” chants then, ma’am? – then this requires action. And do not get this confused. Greg Sankey should be involved, too. And as soon as he’s done with whatever happens to UT for the few hundreds who ruined what was going to be a huge Orange victory – win or lose – considering the environment and the moment, then Sankey needs to skip the next three U2 concerts and fix the rotten officiating in the league.
Like, two days ago. And he also needs to understand that a lot of this league thinks there is a real bias problem toward the upper crust of the conference. I don’t think that at all, but that perception is almost as bad as there actually being a bias, and it must be discussed and addressed.
As for punishment, well, as someone who was pro-beer sales at these stadiums, well, I look like a fool, too, from the few hundred Big Orange Knuckleheads.
Simply, I would make every UT home game kick at noon for the rest of this year, and maybe even next.
When golf balls – seriously, a golf ball – and glass are being thrown with intent, it’s every bit as dangerous, if not more so, than the joyous field rushes that cost schools six figures.
And a fine to the UT athletic department does not affect Johnny Mustard Thrower one iota. But noon kickoffs and no beer for the rest of the season will.
This and that
– You know the rules. Here’s Paschall’s SEC wrap-up column on a Saturday that few could have predicted.
– Man, Dave Roberts couldn’t manage a checkbook right now.
– J.J. Watt is a surefire Hall of Famer. And he’s not the best Watt. You don’t see that often.
– Yes, we had a blast at Cape San Blas. Thanks for asking.
– While we’re all staring at the wondrous rallies from the Braves, the Red Sox and Astros are in a dogfight in the ALCS. Game 3 is tonight.
– The NBA starts this week. Yes, it actually stopped for a brief second. Quick question: Do you know who won last season’s title?
Today’s questions
Weekend winners and losers. Go.
Multiple choice Monday looks like this:
What’s the worst thing you’ve done as a fan at your team’s stadium?
– Boo
– Cuss
– Throw stuff
– None of the above.
As for today, it’s unofficially Manning Day (10-18), so let’s review.
Side question: Better brothers-tandem career, Mannings or Watts?
As for today, 90 years ago Al Capone was convicted of tax evasion.
Rushmore of romanticized criminals. Go.