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Weekend winners
› Baylor School. The Red Raiders grabbed a dazzling 38-35 win over nemesis McCallie in one of the best and most-watched regular-season high school events in Chattanooga history. Couple of tidbits: First, this is only round one, because I think these rivals will meet in the playoffs. Again. Second, what a crowd and atmosphere, right? Third, that was Baylor’s first win on the Ridge since Bill Clinton was running for president. The first time. Finally, and maybe most notably, Baylor RB1 David Gabriel-Georges will be the highest ranked recruit in this area ever. EVER. He could be the top national prospect overall in the 2027 class. Seriously. Here’s more from Hargis. Rules, gang.
› Sean Payton’s Denver Broncos. Wow, what a win over Philly, capped by Payton’s decision to go for 2 after a fourth-quarter TD cut the previously unbeaten Eagles’ lead to 17-16. Man, Bo Nix is pretty good at tackle football. While we’re here, are the Colts the best team in the AFC?
› Los Angeles Dodgers. Grabbing home-field advantage in Game 1 in any series is a huge deal for any road team in every sport. In the MLB divisional series, which are best-of-5, it’s even bigger than huge.
› Drake Maye and the New England Patriots. What an amazing Sunday night showing for a young QB1 and a young team and HC Mike Vrabel. Topping Buffalo — at Buffalo, mind you — is a possible divisional-changing outcome.
› Every football team on a bye this weekend. Wow, there were so many upsets and so many crazy outcomes that the only way to not be puzzled by your team this weekend was for them not to play.
› The Lil Miss 5-at-10. The outcome — we finished 1-2-1 — did not tell the story. Down to just her in the circle, she was filthy, beating the best team in Chattanooga, losing 2-0 to the 1 seed, overcoming one bad inning in a 5-5 tie to end Saturday. Sunday, she allowed 1 earned run while K-ing 11 in six stellar innings of a 4-3 loss that ended in a way I’ve never seen in countless baseball or softball games. Her lone walk Sunday was intentional.
Weekend losers
› Mark Sanchez. Dude, WTH? The former NCAA star and NFL QB1 was arrested on multiple charges after being stabbed over the weekend. Here’s more.
› My picks. Holy cow, what a disastrous showing across almost every prediction I made.
› Everything Baltimore Ravens. Sunday’s laughably bad home 44-10 loss to Houston is maybe the best testament of Lamar Jackson’s ultimate value, and that dude has won multiple MVPs. Egad. Know this: Houston’s 44 points was the most in a road game in franchise history and the most allowed by the Ravens at home in John Harbaugh’s tenure as HC. He’s been there since 2008 by the way.
› Bill Belichick. The Chapel Bill experiment is an unmitigated embarrassment.
› The Yankees. The Blue Jays are turning on every pitch from any Yankee the way Josey Wales handled that snake oil salesman. “How’s it work on stains?”
› James Franklin. Speaking of unmitigated badness, holy bleep, Jimmy, what was that? Penn State had the worst loss of the college football season. UCLA was winless before Saturday. UCLA was so bad it has already fired its HC. UCLA was a 24.5 underdog. And they grabbed a W over Franklin’s Penn State team, who likely had their playoff chances dashed with this one. If there is a log jam of 10–2 teams seeking at-large bids — and that’s assuming PSU runs the table from here — this lose is so egregious it will be hard to ignore.
SEC power rankings
Man, the upheaval is everywhere, and we have to start in Gainesville, where the Gators pushed Texas around.
Or, as Spy emailed me over the weekend, “I sure hope Saturday’s loss doesn’t hurt Arch Manning’s Heisman’s chance.”
Well said, Spy. With that, let’s make like Gus Polinski and do a little poll-ka across the SEC.
1 Oklahoma. Other than John Mateer’s hand surgery, the only obstacle the Sooners have faced is the brick wall in the back of their end zone.
2 Ole Miss. The Rebels were one of a slew of SEC teams who enjoyed not being involved in the weekend craziness.
3 Texas A&M. The 12th Man has to be pleased with this assessment: The Aggies seem to get better every week.
4 Alabama. Another win over a ranked foe by dominating the second half is a recipe for long-term success in any league. Welcome back, Jam Miller, who topped the 100-yard mark, and if you had to vote SEC player of the year, would you vote Ty Simpson or the field?
5 Georgia. A very business-like W was predictable, well, except I didn’t predict it, because that’s how bad my picking week was.
6 Tennessee. The path is open for the Vols to get back to the playoff. Josh Heupel is good at this.
7 Missouri. The Tigers had a bye as Alabama was fighting with Vandy. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: The four most-important guys to SEC football success are HC, QB1, strength coach and the SEC schedule maker in Birmingham. And maybe not in that order. Side note: Despite an off week, Mizzou RB1 Ahmad Hardy STILL leads the country in rushing.
8 Vandy. “Good” losses feel oxymoronic, but it’s impossible not to check the program’s progress that Alabama is rightly saying Saturday over Vandy was a good win is OK, too.
9 LSU. Here’s betting this was not exactly a relaxing off week for Brian Kelly’s Tigers.
10 Florida. Man, is there a more unpredictable team in college football right now? And Miami had a monster week, because they won the Sunshine State Title by beating FSU and the Canes win at Gainesville looks even better with that the Gators did against …
11 Texas. The Aggies still do not have a win over a Power Four opponent. Wow, that was crazy.
12 Auburn. We could flip 12 and 13 because both are coming off decidedly one-sided showings at College Station, but lean toward AUB being a step ahead because of both sides of the ball, AU’s defense is the pick of the litter.
13 Mississippi State. A tough row to hoe coming for the Bulldogs, who were out-gained 479-219 by A&M in a one-sided 31-9 loss Saturday.
14 South Carolina. The bye came at the perfect time for South Carolina, which still has several offensive questions to answer.
15 Arkansas. Who lost the bye week more, Arkansas or Auburn? Lean Arkansas here, but I could be convinced otherwise.
16 Kentucky. As Chas will rightly note, basketball is right around the corner.
This and that
› Rules, friends. Here’s Paschall’s SEC wrap-up column.
› Great win for the Tennessee Titans. Hey NFL guys, can we stop dropping the football BEFORE crossing the goal line? Thanks.
› Mocs played. Mocs won.
Today’s questions
Weekend winners and losers. Go.
Multiple Choice Monday goes like this:
At the halfway point, who would be your SEC football player of the year?
› Ty Simpson
› Ahmad Hardy
› John Mateer
› Taylen Green
› Other
As for today, Oct. 6, let’s review:
› The first World Series game ever happened on this day in 1882 when the Cincinnati Red Stockings beat the Chicago White Stockings.
› Elisabeth Shue is 62 today. I am a fan.
› The Chicago goat curse started in this day in 1945.
Rushmore of sports curses and jinxes. Go.