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ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — Happy fall break, everyone.
Before we get rolling, we wanted to share a Mrs. 5-at-10 photo from last night’s comet with a funky name that was visible over the Atlantic Ocean.
Let’s do this.
NFL power poll
So has your coach apologized to the media today?
To the power poll:
1 Kansas City (5-0). The Chiefs were off. The Chiefs are still the class of the NFL — because the Chiefs still have Patty Mahomes.
2 Minnesota (5-0). What’s the bigger dunk six weeks into this season right now — Sam Darnold comeback player of the year or Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell as coach of the year? Discuss.
3 Baltimore (4-2). This is strange in several ways. Derrick Henry is not washed. Lamar Jackson doesn’t have to run for Baltimore to score. The Ravens defense may be their weak link.
4 Detroit (4-1). The Lions are legit on offense with arguably the best O-line in the league, two great backs and multiple pieces in the passing game. But the loss of Aidan Hutchinson, the D-end who broke his leg Sunday and already has had surgery, is an issue that must be addressed through trades. The Lions have a title window; title windows can’t be wasted.
5 Houston (5-1). Speaking of title windows, the Texans have CJ Stroud on a rookie deal for several more years. And he now has pieces considering they have flexed their cap flexibility for Stefon Diggs and Joe Mixon. (Did we mention Houston gets to play in the 2000s Pats’ version of a cakewalk division for the foreseeable future?)
Powerless
28 Tennessee (1-4). Brother, Will Levis now has his big-ticket WR additions chirping about him in the postgame. I thought Ran Carthon was doing work in the Titans front office. Next time he gets behind a mic, someone needs to ask if Derrick Henry would look good in a Titans uni.
29 Cleveland (1-5). The Browns went from trendy title picks to now being a trade deadline seller. Myles Garrett will demand a lofty price over the next few weeks.
30 Jacksonville (1-5). Know this: Most likely to be fired next as an NFL coach. That’s Doug Pederson, who is no relation to Sloan Peterson. (Side question: Sloan Peterson of course was Ferris Bueller’s main squeeze in the documentary about his day off. That’s not a question, but this is: Sloan and Ferris eventually got married, true or false.)
31 New England (1-5). So we spent the last few years talking about whether Brady or Belichick deserved the credit for the Pats dynasty. Brady has the upper hand with a Bucs title. But this awful version of Foxboro football begs: Who is missed more?
32 Carolina (1-5). That’s six games and a minus-100 scoring margin. And the Falcons just hosed you.
AP college hoops poll
The preseason AP college hoops poll was released Monday. Not many surprises, including Kansas-Alabama at 1-2.
As for some other takeaways, let’s give a quick five, right, shall we?
> Did you know Hunter Dickinson is back at Kansas? That dude has been in college longer than I was.
> Considering Alabama made its first Final Four and welcomed undersized PG Mark Sears back for his fifth season, well, Alabama deserves the lofty status.
> If you think the rankings are the bee’s knees, which is better, Big 12 having three of the top five or the SEC having nine of the top-25?
> Duke has the best player in America, and in college hoops, that means more than any other sport, so Duke is underrated at 7.
> I think Tennessee is overrated at 12, UK is underrated at 24, and have seen Auburn as high as 3 in some computer models and in the upper teens in other polls. And Mississippi State may be the most undervalued SEC team since they only got 6 votes in the poll and they have Josh Hubbard, who can really score.
College football clashes
This weekend is one of the many reasons that ESPN paid the SEC so many hundreds of millions of dollars.
Even with the expanded college football playoff, Saturday’s slugfests of Alabama at Tennessee and Georgia at Texas have monster playoff implications two weeks before Halloween for every team that does not have Quinn Ewers or an heir apparent Manning on the roster.
Yes, Texas has a mulligan. They smoked Michigan in Ann Arbor. They crushed an overrated Oklahoma team. They are No. 1 in the country and have the best and deepest QB room this side of the Atlanta Falcons. Plus, the Horns have multiple get-well games down the line.
Sure, you don’t ever want to need to use your mulligan, but Texas has one.
The other three? Not so much.
Let’s review their resumés.
Georgia is 5-1 and ranked No. 5 in this week’s AP poll. Toughest remaining game after Saturday: Either at Ole Miss (11/9) or Tennessee in Athens (11/16). Georgia hits the back half of its schedule needing something to build on, considering the perennial title contenders have a loss at Bama and some closer-than-comfortable wins at UK and Mississippi State.
Tennessee is 5-1 and ranked 11 in this week’s AP poll. Toughest game remaining after Saturday: In Athens (11/16). UT does not leave the state other than the trip to Athens. Granted, Vandy is a tougher hurdle as of this morning than anyone figured in August. Still, if the Vols handle rival Bama Saturday, they reacquire a mulligan, even with the gift-wrapped OT win over the Gators.
Alabama is 5-1 and ranked 7 in this week’s AP poll. Toughest game remaining after Saturday: at LSU (11/9). Alabama is in a similar boat as Georgia, regardless of the head-to-head win over the Bulldogs. A loss Saturday in Knoxville — even as an underdog — means the stretch run will be difficult to navigate to Atlanta or to the playoff.
Compromising things for all three of the above are teams like LSU (No. 8 in the polls) and A&M (No. 14), who only have one loss each and are ahead of the aforementioned three teams in the race to Atlanta.
Which also begs the question, let’s say it’s unbeaten Texas and LSU (10-2, with the lone SEC loss being to Alabama) in Atlanta, and there are a slew of 10-2 SEC teams with two SEC losses with Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee all having losses to each other.
Who gets into the playoff?
This and that
› “Hoop Dreams” debuted on this day 30 years ago. Wow, what a piece of work following the Chicago basketball aspirations of William Gates and Arthur Agee. For my money, the best documentary in theaters ever made, no-worse-than-the-second-best basketball movie ever made (and if you have it over “Hoosiers,” I’m OK with that), and a contender for the Rushmore of all-time sports movies. Thoughts?
› Lonzo Ball — remember him — is hoping to return to the NBA floor this week after missing more than 1,000 days with serious knee injuries. And then news came that Paul George, who the 76ers broke the bank for to pair with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, will have an MRI today. Yikes.
› Did you see the story that a Louisiana high school QB passed for 817 yards and eight TDs and ran for 88 yards and two more scores? That kid is better than Payton Thorne right now. Yes, the numbers are astounding, but don’t think this was a stat-cramming run-up job. The QB — Peyton Houston — needs to recruit some defensive help since, his team lost the game 77-76 in overtime despite his stats. (And yes, it’s an NFHS record, although Will Grier at a private school in holds the all-time record at 837 passing yards.)
› The Jets are hard to watch. That’s true. But is there anything in sports that can be as hard to refute as “Aaron Rodgers is the best Hail Mary thrower ever.”
› New York baseball had a great Monday, no?
— This year-old video of the Cobb County sheriff, who is up for re-election, calling for deputy back-up because his Burger King order was wrong, made all the news sites this week. Man, I thought BK claims, “You Rule.”
— Speaking of rules, here’s Paschall with Smart’s high praise for the top-ranked Texas Longhorns.
Today’s questions
True or false, it’s Tuesday. Morning, Ernie.
True or false, Sloan and Ferris got hitched.
True or false, the loser of either SEC showdown Saturday is out of the playoff chase.
True or false, you rule at BK.
True or false, it’s Chiefs or the field for you right now in terms of Super Bowl.
True or false, Roger Goodell and the NFL hosting an international Super Bowl would be a mistake.
True or false, you’d rather see Dodgers-Yankees than a Subway Series.
You know the drill. Answers some T or F; ask some T for F.
As for today, Oct. 15, let’s review.
Wayne Gretzky passed Gordie Howe on this day as the NFL all-time scoring leader in 1989.
Nietzsche was born on this day in 1844. Not sure what finally got him, but it clearly did not make him stronger.
Penny Marshall would have been 81.
Roscoe Tanner is 73.
Jim Palmer is 79 today.
Rushmore of sports stars and the “odd” products they advertised, but Palmer doing all those underwear commercials in the 1970s certainly contends, no?