Weekend winners
< College football gluttony. Man, that was something right? Starting with the LSU-Texas A&M game Thursday night, the coaching news started circling. Then Friday at lunch delivered an awesome Memphis-Houston shoot-out that jump-started all the action. From the moves to the games to run of "Breaking News" announcements from every direction Saturday morning, it was like Christmas for college football junkies, but only if Christmas lasted like 40 consecutive hours.
< College football opinions. Man, pick a locale, and there's something right. We've pulled the SEC out of the first two blocks because there is so much, but dang there are a lot of college football items out there. We believe Texas got a guy who can win big there in Tom Herman. We believe LSU panicked and settled and if Coach Ed Orgeron doesn't lure Lane Kiffin to Baton Rouge, even with their talent, we believe LSU will be looking again in three years. We believe Washington - and can we go ahead and put Chris Petersen on the list of top-five guys out there today - made a claim for winning the weekend considering they are firmly in the top four now and get a to-10 date in the Pac-12 title game against a team not named USC. How good was Adore'e Jackson, who is a potential first-round pick as a corner yet scored TDs for USC on a punt return, a kick return and a pass reception? Huge win for Kentucky, again more on this below, and a terrible loss for Louisville. What a rivalry week, especially considering the Iron Bowl has as much meaning as a spring game.
< Oakland Raiders and Dallas Cowboys. Man, those two NFL teams are fun to watch. Lots of fun. Dallas made the nation pay attention Thursday with a win over Washington to get to 10-1. Oakland survived Carolina in a shoot-out Sunday afternoon. The NFL needs the Raiders and the Cowboys to be good every year, but this year it is absolutely a God send for The Shield that these are two of three best teams as well as arguably the two most entertaining teams.
< Alabama. This not about the dominating performance in the Tide's 30-12 Iron Bowl win that was as close as it could have possibly been on the scoreboard for an Auburn offense that had no real chance of scoring a TD. Sure, that's plenty good, and we'll have more on that below. But this scene – played out with a walk-on running back moving to the back of the intro line so his Army-serving mom could surprise him on Senior Day after returning from a tour in the Middle East – is awesome. How awesome? It almost made Nick Saban.