C’mon, Coach
Pat Narduzzi apparently drinks before news conferences. The Pitt coach said, “I’ve said this for 10 years now, [the ACC] is probably top to bottom the best conference in the country.”
C’mon, man.
Yes, ACC winless FSU has an upset win over SEC favorite Alabama.
But, c’mon, man.
And Narduzzi’s shots were pointed more at the Big Ten — “It’s not THE Ohio State and everybody else” were his exact words — but the SEC is simply loaded this year.
LSU is the 10th of 10 ranked SEC teams nationally.
Ten.
Yeah, you know what I want? An ACC-SEC football challenge. Yes, I know it’s a pipe dream, but if we juggle the traditional crossover rivalries to the front of the season — Louisville-UK, Clemson-USC, FSU-Florida, Tech-Georgia — to the season opener and dropped this on Labor Day, who says no?
Do it on the previous season’s finish in the league, with the top four at neutral sites across the South like Dallas, Charlotte, Atlanta and Jacksonville and matchup the proximate finishers in each league.
With that — and with a lot of football left to play — how many of these games would the ACC be favored?
› Georgia-Georgia Tech. The Dawgs will be favored, but I’m not sure if they should be. Tech is legit, and don’t sleep on the Haynes brothers, of which there is no relation.
› South Carolina-Clemson. Tickle fight of underwhelming offenses that have turned round one QB1s into day 3 QB1s.
› Louisville-Kentucky. Cardinals by multiple scores.
› FSU-Florida. The Duke’s Frustration Bowl. Gators by a FG would be my guess.
› Virginia-Texas A&M. Aggies by a bushel.
› SMU-Alabama. Tide by a bushel and a peck.
› Pitt-Ole Miss. Rebels by a TD.
› Duke-Texas. You know.
› California-Missouri. Missouri by double-digits.
› Miami-Oklahoma. Can Brian Bosworth do the coin toss? Pick ’em maybe. This would be a classic.
› Stanford-Vandy. Change OT rules to a “Jeopardy!” like quiz bowl. Vandy by two scores.
› NC State-LSU. LSU is favored, but man, I can’t trust Brian Kelly. Can you, Vader?
› Wake Forest-Tennessee. Dear Lord, Heupel would walk the Deacons to whichever pew he saw fit.
› Va Tech-Mississippi State. The Techsters are already 0-2 against the SEC.
› Syracuse-Arkansas. First team to 62 wins.
› BC-Auburn. The Bruce Pearl Bowl. Auburn by 14 without Freeze; BC minus-1.5 with Freeze.
Thoughts?
Speaking of college football …
UTC fans, are you envious of the arc Kennesaw State is navigating?
The Owls — my mother’s alma matter — are a win from bowl eligibility in their second season after moving up to FBS.
They rolled FIU on ESPN proper last night in a nationally televised game to move into first in Conference USA.
Some line times that are critical, like KSU is almost five times bigger than UTC in terms of enrollment. Seriously. KSU has more than 47,000 students. The budget is much deeper.
So it may be apples to pineapples, but in an era of constant change across college sports, standing pat does not appear to be an effective plan.
Because try this hat on:
Want two non-Power Four programs that could become Big 12 targets in the next round of expansion?
Let Kennesaw State and UNLV find football stability over the short-term, and those markets could be desirable destinations for the Big 12 sooner rather than later.
GameDay drama
So Pat McAfee is saying “old white people” and “ESPN execs” hate him.
Maybe. I have no idea of his social media feedback.
Look, every change artist is going to see blowback from the folks who liked the tried and true formula of previous incarnations of a beloved show like College GameDay.
My take, and look, I turned 55 earlier this month, so I’m in the old white people demographic, is this, Pat:
College GameDay has never, ever been better. There you go. (Side note: Can we peel back all the George Carlin dirty words? Heck, my kids are old enough they have heard them all, but still.)
Pat is the change agent for bringing a much-needed revitalization to the Saturday staple.
He has invented the best addition to the show with the six-figure FG kick since Lee Corso first put on the headgear.
He has brought the best out of Nick Saban. He has completely energized Kirk Herbstreit, who reportedly was about to leave the set because of its tired format.
He has replaced Corso, who was like everyone’s least-favorite uncle who stayed about six hours too long on Thanksgiving.
Now, if he could turn off Desmond Howard’s mic, CGD would be at its all-time apex.
Hate comes from all angles and a lot of them unexpected.
But it will always come when you try to be honest and thought-provoking.
This and that
› NBA opened last night. SGA and OKC are going to be a tough out all year. Also, Luka may be the Dan Marino of his generation. An all-time great who never wins a title.
› Stop if you’ve heard this before, SEC fans — especially in Knoxville — but now Jon Gruden is being mentioned with the Florida opening. Wonder if his wife was a cheerleader there?
› Want a crazy stat? There is a true freshman QB1 who has his team at 7-0, becoming the fourth QB1 to be perfect through their first seven college games as a true freshman. It’s BYU’s Bear Bachmeier, and he joins Jalen Hurts, Alabama (2016), Jake Fromm, Georgia (2017) and Trevor Lawrence, Clemson (2018) in the modern era.
› There are “out there” fans and fan bases. Then a hundred miles down the interstate for the exit where Tennessee Twitter lives. Now there are social media allegations of faux social media accounts from UT fans focusing on Tony Vitelli’s shortcomings in an effort to keep the BaseVols coach in the 865.
› Rules, friends. Here’s Paschall with the mid-week flowers UT is offering UK after the Wildcats outplayed the other UT last weekend everywhere but the scoreboard.
› Auburn is now an underdog at Arkansas. Egad. Pass the dark liquor.
Today’s questions
Which Way Wednesday starts this way:
› Which is the final tally of the SEC-ACC matchups above? Is it 12-4? Worse?
› Which professional athlete with 423 ties is better than SGA since Reggie?
› Which is your guess on where Tony V is coaching baseball next spring?
Ask some WWWs, answer some WWWs.
As for today, Oct. 22, let’s review:
› Christopher Lloyd is 87 today. Happy birthday, Doc Brown.
› Bob Odenkirk is 63 today. What a talent. If you have not seen “Better Call Saul,” well, that’s a you issue.
Rushmore of post-2000 TV spinoffs. Go.