Weekend winners
Stetson Bennett. Yes, I was bemoaning his performance through most of the first three quarters too. But with the game on the line, Bennett did what he has consistently and impressively done throughout his Georgia football career. He delivered. And the thrilling one-point win over THE Ohio State put Bennett and his beloved Bulldogs in the title game and in position to deliver repeat national titles.
Old-guy QBs in general. Bennett is older than a slew of the NFL cats who started at QB on Sunday, and that’s OK. But the story of Sunday was aging NFL legends behind center as Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady delivered throwback performances in must-have moments. Brady threw for more than 400 yards and led the Bucs from a double-digit fourth-quarter hole to beat Carolina and win the NFC South. Brady has played 23 NFL seasons and won a division title in 19 of them. Read that again. Rodgers was efficiently smooth and smoothly efficient Sunday as the Packers grabbed control of their own destiny in an inexplicable charge to the postseason. And ask yourself this: With an NFC in which the top dogs are a) Philly with a QB1 with a Hurts throwing shoulder, b) a Vikings bunch that has the worst defense in the NFL and c) a Dallas crew that is coached by Mike McCarthy, does anyone really want to bet against Brady or Rodgers in the -ry months ahead?
Tennessee. It’s impossible to view this UT football season with anything short of rave reviews or grade the performances of the players and staff with anything short of A+++++. Capped with a determined final Orange Bowl push to down Clemson, UT won 11 games, captivated its supporters and delivered the biggest treat to every sports fan on the planet: Hope. Kudos Josh Heupel, I know that Sonny Dykes won national coach of the year for what he did at TCU — and that was a fine coach too — but Heupel’s efforts in Knoxville were miraculous. (Here’s the Orange Bowl follow up story from Paschall, because rules are rules.)
Coastal Carolina. Yeah, there were a lot of other college football options here, and we’ll get to the playoff more and praise TCU is a moment. But Grayson McCall stepped out of the transfer portal and returned to CCU, which almost instantly makes the Chanticleers the favorite to be the top-ranked Group of Five contender next season.