Weekend winners
< Penn State. And coach James Franklin. Flash back to week four: Penn State loses a sloppy game to Pitt 42-39, struggles to beat Temple and gets hammered 49-10 to Michigan and sits 2-2. There ws real unrest in normally tranquil Happy Valley. There also were some real questions about whether James Franklin is the guy that did magic at Vandy or was the guy at Vandy when the set of the SEC East was spinning sideways. Now, six consecutive wins later with an offense that is balanced and opportunistic, the Nittany Lions are a player in the college football playoff discussion. Know this: If The Ohio State and Penn State win out - something that is not that farfetched by the way - the Lions go to the Big Ten title game.
< Big 12. West Virginia keeps winning and Oklahoma now looks like the Oklahoma we expected them to be before a 2-2 September. Couple that with the craziness in the top 10 this week - No. 2 Clemson, No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 Washington, No. 8 Texas A&M and No. 9 Auburn all losing - and the left-for-dead Big 12 has new life in regard to the playoff. In fact, if West Virginia wins out - which would include beating Oklahoma this week - the Mountaineers' resume would be better than Washington's and, as a one-loss power five conference champ, certainly would make a strong case for inclusion in the four.
< Tennessee Titans. The only thing you can say negatively about Sunday's Titans performance was that it was not available on TV in these parts. (For those who want to know, Fox had the rights - Fox has NFC options, CBS has AFC options, and when its a cross-conference game, the visiting team dictates the station.) We get Fox's local decision to go with Falcons-Titans. In our research through the years, the Falcons have significantly more fans in our area. Plus, it was the NFL's best offense on the road at Philly. (Another side note: In areas the league is looking to reconnect with TV viewers, this needs to be worked into broadcast agreements. If the Fox stations wherever in the country with conflicting markets has both local teams and picks Team A; then the CBS affiliate in those markets should be allowed to choose Team B. That makes too much sense, though, so it likely won't happen.)
Decision aside, our area did not get to see a Titans performance that was thorough and complete and impressive from the start. Tennessee led 21-0 in the first quarter and did not look back. It’s also worth noting that when Marcus Mariota protects the football, this scan be a very physical and successful offense even with very serviceable at best wide receivers. Also of note: DeMarco Murray has to be in the conversation for comeback player of the year, right? Also of note part II: Taylor Lewan has been way better than most realize this year – including me early on. He’s one of the top-ranked tackles in the league. But dude has got to be able to handle his emotions better. You simply can’t put your hands on an official like Lewan did Sunday, it doesn’t matter how dirty you think a play may be.
< NFL viewing (for the most part, other than local Titans fans). The Falcons-Eagles game was competitive. The Saints-Broncos on CBS was thrilling. (Imagine the most crazy way to lose, and here's betting the Saints are thinking, "Yeah, we did that. It's no fun.") The Cowboys-Steelers was awesome in its awesomeness. And Sunday night's showdown with the Seahawks winning at New England was very good too. It will be interesting to see considering these were big name teams playing an enjoyable brand of the game with the presidential election in the rear view mirror.