Weekend winners
Alabama and Georgia. They continue to distance themselves from the rest of a very mediocre-at-best SEC. Now, after two more blowouts – and the shotgun blasts that echoed across the top 10 – the Bulldogs and Tide may actually have positioned themselves where they have a mulligan if they need it. (Don’t tell Kirby or Nick, though, because they certainly would think that was akin to rat poison.)
Our college picks. We took three underdogs last week, and South Carolina, Texas A&M and Texas delivered. We took double-digit favorites N.C. State (-11) and Alabama (-30) and they won by 18 and 32 respectively. We went 5-1 against the number. Our loss? Stupid Auburn. We’re 24-14-1 against the number this year. That’s 63.2 percent against the spread. That’s entertaining.
And finally, as we wait for the court news on the awfulness with the Grundy County football program later today, we’ll tip the visor to the kids and head coaches Josh Roberts and Josh Goodin of Signal Mountain and McMinn Central, respectively. Each team played hard and each deserved praise for spirit. Signal visited some elderly folks who live at Alexian on the hill; Goodin’s team is still looking for win No. 1 with one game left in the year, and they played as hard as anyone fighting for a region championship anywhere. That’s two staffs delivering lessons that will last way longer than the memory of Friday night’s final score. Kudos.
Adrian Peterson. Yes, there were a lot of dudes who had big Sundays, but Peterson had a throwback effort that recalled highlights from his Hall of Fame heyday. How about this? He had four carries, 54 yards and a TD on Arizona’s first drive. He had 27 carries for 81 yards in four games with New Orleans. Peterson’s 85 rushing yards in the first half were more than the Cardinals had in any previous game this year. He finished with 134 rushing yards and two TDs.