Weekend winners
Notre Dame and Brian Kelly. Dude started the season with arguably the hottest seat in the country. Now, as the weather has turned and with November on the horizon, the Irish have their college football playoff destiny in their hands. That’s some kind of turnaround.
James Franklin. Penn State crushed a Michigan team that offensively is challenged. Still, considering his resume at Vandy and now with the Nittany Lions, who are No. 2 in the country and have has much control of their playoff chances as anyone this side of Tuscaloosa, it’s fair to ask if Franklin has grabbed the No. 3 spot in the college coaching world behind Lord Saban and Urban Meyer.
Jacksonville. Yes, Jacksonville. The Jags were without their best offensive player – rookie Leonard Fournette, who is crushing folks – and still manhandled the Luck-less Colts. Are we ready to be in a spot where Blake Bortles is a starting quarterback in the playoffs?
Joe Thomas. Yes, he was hurt, and missed his first play in his NFL career. He likely will miss a good chunk of time moving. But the tributes and respect paid to the future Hall of Famer for playing in more than 10,300 consecutive snaps was well deserved.
Derrius Guice. The LSU running back looked healthy for the first time all season; Ole Miss’ defense has a way of doing that for opposing running backs. Dude finished with 276 rushing yards and averaged more than 12 yards per carry.
Bonus pick: Trevor Lawrence became the all-time leading passer in Georgia high school football history. The Cartersville (Ga.) High star passed Deshaun Watson’s mark and now has 13,077 career passing yards. That’s pretty stout friends. http://www.maxpreps.com/news/rd7kYUyCQUqgZ7tzg0t2Iw/trevor-lawrence-breaks-deshaun-watsons-georgia-career-passing-record.htm
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Weekend losers
Phoenix Suns. When your best player Tweets, “I don’t wanna be here,” and less than an hour later, the head coach is fired, well, that’s the definition of dysfunction. Did we mention the NBA season is less than a week old and the 0-3 Suns are -92 in scoring margin? Egad.
Gus Malzahn. This may seem a little harsh, and borderline homerish, but where was that play-calling and coaching last week in the second half in Baton Rouge? Auburn’s 52-20 win over Arkansas caused Malzahn to say Auburn could make a run and do some interesting things. If they had handled its BID-ness last week against an LSU team that Auburn would likely beat 8 or 9 times out 10, then he would be right. As it stands, Saturdaywas a statement win – and that statement was “Gus, you shouldn’t have lost last week at LSU.”
Jim Harbaugh. Hey, Coach Khakis has a great resume. He recrafted and redirected the Stanford program. He got the 49ers to the Super Bowl. But another ugly loss leaves Harbaugh standing their with his funky glasses and irked look.
Baseball. Yes, the postseason has been fun. Yes, there have been a few win-or-pack-the-gear elimination games. But Saturday’s Game 7 was a yawner, and man, in this time of NFL uneasiness, the Yankees-Dodgers would have been a dream matchup. (Yes, the Astros-Dodgers is a match-up of 100-plus-win teams, a first in the World Series since 1970, but it’s still not Yankees-Dodgers.) Game 1 is Tuesday.
Atlanta Falcons. Hey, if you want to salvage the season, drastic measures may need to be taken. Starting with firing offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian. Last night was A-trocious. And how can you take an offense with that many skilled pieces and have the league MVP regress? Anyhoo. Know this: Since halftime of the Super Bowl last February, the Patriots have outscored the Falcons 54-7 in six quarters and a few minutes of overtime. Seriously, the Falcons look like the worst team in the NFC South. And for those of us who expected the Falcons-Patriots to be something akin to Packers-Cowboys a couple of weeks ago, well, to quote Bender from Breakfast Club, “Not even close, BUD.”
Bonus pick: Sam Darnold. Yes, the Pac-12 all but was eliminated from conversation for the College Football Playoff. And yes, a lot of what happened Saturday night was in large part due to Notre Dame being better than what a lot of people thought. But for the second time in in less than a decade, a USC quarterback has severely damaged his draft status by staying in school. Yes, Darnold had to come back for his redshirt sophomore season, but if he could have entered the draft last year, he would have been the No. 1 overall pick. (Matt Barkley decided to come back for his senior season several years ago and went from potentially a top-10 or top-5 pick to the first pick in round four.) As for Darnold, he may still be a first-rounder, but the numbers – he has 10 picks and has taken 14 sacks in eight games – have certainly opened up the discussion about who will be the first quarterback drafted.
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Butch
Well, that was gross.
And completely expected.
Alabama 45, Tennessee 7. And that was the most kind stat of the game for the Vols, which got a 97-yard pick six for its first TD since the first half of the UMass game.
Looking at the numbers of the Alabama domination is not good for anyone in orange, be it in the moment or in perspective:
Yes, Nick Saban is now 11-and-bagel against UT as the Alabama coach. But, did you know that six of the last eight Saban wins over the Vols have been by 30-or-more. For some perspective in what used to be a nasty, competitive and spirited rivalry, only three of the previous 92 meetings were decided by 30-or-more points.
As for Saturday, seriously, the score was arguably the closest measuring point. For example:
Total yards: Alabama 604, Tennessee 108.
First downs: Alabama 35, Tennessee 7.
Third- and fourth-down efficiency: Alabama 9-of-15, Tennessee 1-of-13.
Plays: Alabama 86, Tennessee 46.
Yards per play: Alabama 7.0, Tennessee 2.3.
Truth be told, Alabama treats a lot of teams like that. But Tennessee fancies itself as better than a lot of teams.
But the big talking point this morning is not about Alabama. The Tide is the Tide, and never has Alabama been farther from Tennessee than where we find ourselves this morning.
No, the question this morning is about Butch Jones, who as of the writing of this, is still the head coach of the Tennessee Vols.
It’s a fact that is stunning to a lot of us, who believed that the plug was going to be pulled Sunday.
What does anyone in the Jones Camp highlight that points to this getting next week, next month or even next year?
Name the thing that this team currently does that gives UT fans something to believe.
Seriously. We’ll wait.
And now know that the entire league wants Butch to stay and keep UT hamstrung with mediocrity.
Every extra day Jones stays employed is a day shorter in finding the rock star replacement to return Tennessee to a place of competitiveness.
Every extra day Jones is on the job is another day that the locker room remains unsure.
Every extra day Jones is the face of the UT program is another 24 hours in which the growing apathy and indifference among the fan base expands and multiplies.
Every extra day Jones is in charge is an indictment on UT AD John Currie. Whether he’s scared to pull the trigger because it starts the clock on him, whether he doesn’t have the power behind him or whether he’s worried about the buyout, all of that falls back into his lap now.
Yes, Tennessee got crushed on Saturday. It was a monster defeat at the hands of the best team in college football and the best college football coach I’ve ever seen.
But, in truth, the bigger loss came Sunday, when Currie did not turn the page and fire Butch Jones.
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This and that
– Rough week for the picks. Yes, we have had bad weeks before and sometimes we’ve made some very bad selections. Last weekend, though, man, it felt like we were snake bit. For example: West Virginia was up 38-13 with less than 12 minutes left and Baylor scored 23 points to cover; FSU was deep in Louisville territory and about to march in to score and win but James Franklin dropped the ball (seriously dropped the ball); speaking of dropping the ball, Iowa’s best player dropped a pass in overtime that sealed the Hawkeyes’ loss; and finally UAB was up 17-0 with three minutes left in the third before losing 25-24 in overtime. That’s a painful 1-4 week and moving us to 25-18-1 on the season. (NFL picks went 2-2.)
– Crazy stat of the weekend: The Chicago Bears became the first team to win an NFL game with seven-or-fewer pass attempts and five-or-fewer first downs since the Browns did so on Dec. 3, 1950 vs Eagles. And no, that was not the last win Cleveland has recorded (although it may feel that way for Browns fans).
– Speaking of the Browns, Cleveland lost 12-9 to the Titans. And the Titans certainly did not look very good doing it.
– Man, Georgia Southern is the worst FBS team in the country. The got smoked by previously winless UMass and now comes reports that coach Tyson Summers has gotten the ax.
– From the, “You think so, doctor” file, here’s a story in which Jerry Jones believes the protests during the anthem are hurting the NFL. Of course they are. But so is a Sunday that included the following guys throwing passes for teams that actually won games: Bortles, Moore, Kennum, Cutler and Trubisky. And if that sounds forgettable, try the names for the losing teams: Hundley, Kizer, Kessler, Beathard, Siemian, McCown, Brissett and Stanton.
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Today’s question
Weekend winners and losers, por favor.
As for the talking point: Should Butch Jones still be employed?
As for the day, well, on Oct. 23, here’s what we saw:
Exactly 100 years ago, Lenin called for the October revolution.
On this day in 1981, the U.S. national debt hit $1 trillion.
Pele is 77 today. Weird Al Yankovic is 58. Emilia Clarke from Game of Thrones is 31.
John Heisman was born on this day in 1869.
Johnny Carson was born in this day in 1925.
As for a Rushmore, one of our personal favorites, Mr. Dwight Yoakam, turns 61 today.
Rushmore of acting performances from a singer, and Yoakam’s turn in Sling Blade, makes ours.
Go, and enjoy the day.
This story is free to read.
5-at-10: Weekend winners, losers, asking why Butch Jones still has a job, Rushmore of acting performances by a singer
