5-at-10: College football playoff rerun, Le'Veon Bell's next home, Winter Olympics a orphan?, Rushmore of songs with a state in the title

Michigan's head coach Jim Harbaugh, center right, watches defensive coordinator Don Brown, left, work with Cheyenn Robertson during team practice in Bradenton, Fla., Monday, Feb. 29, 2016. (Tiffany Tompkins/The Bradenton Herald via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
Michigan's head coach Jim Harbaugh, center right, watches defensive coordinator Don Brown, left, work with Cheyenn Robertson during team practice in Bradenton, Fla., Monday, Feb. 29, 2016. (Tiffany Tompkins/The Bradenton Herald via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

Top 10 repeat

As expected, after a weekend in which all the top 10 won, the college football playoff remains the same.

Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame and Michigan hold the top four spots.

If those four win out, that's end, end of talk, because all of the hand-wringing that we all want to pretend is in the works, if Alabama beats Georgia in the SEC title game, then those four are your four.

Of the next six - Georgia, Oklahoma, LSU, Washington State, West Virginia and THE Ohio State - only Georgia can feel comfortable controlling its own destiny. And in truth, LSU needs so much confusion - likely a loss by at least eight of those top 10 - that the 7 spot the Fightin' Orgerons is about as high as the Tigers can expect.

The conversations Tuesday night about the biggest headache for the committee starts with Alabama losing in the SEC title game and everyone else in the top five winning out.

That will be telling about the committee's view about conference champs and head-to-head.

The possibilities from there are almost too great to speculate. And while we are here, let's review the much-debated "Playoff should be eight" conversation, and how few answers or problems would actually be avoided by doubling the playoff field.

With that same top 10 - and with the understanding that each Power 5 champ gets in - now take a look.

The playoff in that instance could easily be Big 12 champ Iowa State, which could make the title game, ACC champ Pittsburgh, Big Ten champ Northwestern and Pac-12 champ USC. Let's assume that Alabama or Georgia advance, then the other eight are the SEC title game loser, Clemson and likely Notre Dame.

Yes, that's playing off every possible upset in the non-SEC Power 5 title games, but Iowa State already beat West Virginia and USC already beat Washington State. Yes, Pitt is not beating Clemson, but a feisty Northwestern team played Michigan as close as anyone since the season-opening loss at Notre Dame, and considering the pressure and the stakes for the Fightin' Khakis, that is not all that crazy.

Who does that help? And that's even before we address the pipe dream and poppycock that is a Group of 5 team having an automatic birth. (In the football-sense, UCF, especially this year, does not belong in the top 10 and I don't care if it wins 50 in a row, unless three of those next 26 are Alabama, Clemson and THE Ohio State. In a practical, real-world sense, do you think the Power 5 commissioners are going to gladly hand over the $25 million lottery ticket that is an invite to the playoff? Of course not.)

photo Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell (26) dives to score a touchdown during the second half of an NFL football game against the Houston Texans Monday, Dec. 25, 2017, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith)

For whom will the Bell toil

OK, the drama and season-long soap opera that has been the Le'Veon Bell situation now has a firm conclusions. And an extra hypothesis or three.

Firm conclusion: Bell will not play football this season and his time in the Steel City is a wrap. He did not report Tuesday and by doing so can not play this season and will wave the chance to collect more than $14 million. In truth, if you are going to sit this much, it makes the most sense for Bell not to play - as long as he and his people are 100 percent certain of the loopholes and the rules.

(And there is some talk that the Steelers could, out of spite and draft pick need, try to transition tag him next year. If you are wondering that would mean, a transition tag is a much lower offer than a franchise tag and other teams could then sign Bell to an offer sheet. If the Steelers elected not to sign Bell to the terms in the offer sheet, Bell could sign with that team but the Steelers would get a compensatory draft pick next April in return.)

As for the varying numbers of hypothesis, well, let's try some of these on for size:

Le'Veon Bell will fall somewhere between Sid Bream, Barry Bonds, Larry Bird and Ray Lewis on the all-time PIttsburgh hated athletes list. (We think that one is pretty steady.)

Bell's value was diminished greatly by the success of James Conner. (We would say that's an overstatement. Yes, Conner's success may hurt some of Bell's success, but let's not kid ourselves - there will be several teams trying to figure out the salary cap implications of and possibilities of adding a multi-faceted weapon like Bell. Look what the offenses in Kansas City, both teams in Los Angeles, Pittsburgh with Conner and New Orleans look like with backs that - other than Todd Gurley - are not as good as Bell.)

And that brings us to one of our favorite games in modern-day sports fandom: The "where-will-he-go" game.

In a time when we love the transaction as much as the action, Bell's free agency will be quite interesting. Not since an aging Peyton Manning picked Denver over a few others has there been this big of an NFL free agent in terms of star power, franchise-impact and overall interest.

So where will that be? Great question

First, take every team that is committed currently or long term to a running back and wipe them off the ledger. Depth is a monster edge in the NFL, but depth at running back in a hard cap structure like the NFL's is a luxury that no one can afford.

In order that's the Rams (Gurley), the Falcons (Devonta Freeman), the Cardinals (David Johnson), the Giants (Saquon Barkley), the 49ers (Jerrick McKinnon) and the Jags (Leonard Fournette). Each of those six have signed backs with monster deals until at least 2021. Absent from that top eight of highest paid running backs is Shady McCoy in Buffalo (he's third on the list) and Lamar Miller in Houston (he's eighth) because those teams could have interest because those contracts have only one more year remaining.

Next on the list are teams you can strike off like Dallas (Ezekiel Elliott), the Titans (Dion Lewis), Kansas City (Kareem Hunt) and the Panthers (Christian McCaffrey) because those dudes are getting it done.

You also have to figure that teams that are very comfortable with their depth and situation there are out. Those teams include the Saints (Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara), the Bengals (Giovani Bernard and Joe Mixon), the Vikings (Dalvin Cook and Latavius Murray), the Patriots (James White and Sony Michel), the Chargers (Melvin Gordon and Austin Ekeler), the Broncos (Royce Freeman and Phillip Lindsey), the Bears (Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen) and the Browns (emerging Nick Chubb and Duke Johnson).

There are a few of teams that spent high picks last couple of years on running backs that may be slightly interested but will have a bevy of other needs. So strike Washington (drafted Derrius Guice), Detroit (drafted Kerryon Johnson), Miami (Kenyan Drake) and Seattle (drafted Rashaad Penny).

OK, so if those 23 teams - minus Buffalo and Houston, but plus the Steelers of course, so yes 23 - listed above that would appear to be anywhere from content to ecstatic about their running back situation, that leaves nine NFL teams which may be having some internal discussions today.

Those nine include a few we can mark off right away.

The Packers would love Bell but with Aaron Rodgers' new contract and Aaron Jones emerging, that seems like a monster long shot to make it work with Bell's desire of somewhere in the $15 million per.

The Eagles are in one of the most cap-strapped spots in the league, so that seems equally difficult.

The Buccaneers are not as cap-flummoxed as the Eagles, but they are about to make a long-term QB decision. Plus, the Bucs are stinky, and Bell needs to factor in his ability to go to a team that can win for a lot of reasons. So while we are here, let's strike the Bills too, because after all, who wants to play eight games a year in Buffalo anyway.

So now we are at five.

One of that group is Oakland, but wouldn't it make sense if Gruden is building for the long haul - and the number of stud running backs who have been grabbed in rounds two and later, including Bell - does pushing a bunch of chips in now for Bell make sense? Not really, but then again, that's counting on the Raiders to make sense. So, who knows with them.

That leaves four teams with some very interesting pieces.

The Jets will have a monster hole at tailback. Bilal Powell is on IR and is about to be a free agent. Up-and-down Isaiah Crowell could be waived rather affordably. Plus, the Jets have the rookie quarterback salary window in front of them so making the most of that is vital, and Bell would give Sam Darnold an elite weapon. Yes, the Jets stink, but going to NYC and turning it around can change a mercurial athlete's perception like nothing else in sports.

The Texans could waive Lamar Miller rather affordably and they still have two years of contract control with quarterback DeShaun Watson. If the cap works, the Texans with Watson-Bell-DeAndre Hopkins-Will Fuller become as dangerous as any offense in the NFL with salty pass rush. Texans + Bell = Super Bowl contender.

The Indianapolis Colts. Yes, they have a roll of money invested in Andrew Luck, but they rebuilt their offensive line in the draft and, while Marlon Mack has been serviceable and at times better than that, Luck-Bell-T.Y. Hilton-Jack Doyle would be right there too on the short list of QB1-RB1-WR1-TE1 collections.

Finally, and this one would solidify Bell in an all-time place of Pittsburgh hatred. What if he goes to the hated Ravens. Yes in Baltimore with a chance to play the Steelers twice a year.
Baltimore is going to rehaul its offense this offseason, and with Lamar Jackson under a long rookie QB deal (four years), what better piece to add than Bell?

The Games no one wants

The biggest story that few are talking about may be this one.

The voters of Calgary has said, "Yeah, no thanks It's not you, it's us," to the 2026 Winter Olympics.

And the vote was not close with more than 56 percent saying no at the polls. Final results of the non-binding vote will be made later this week, but truth be told, who can blame a city for not wanting the Olympic boondoggle that has seen cities waste hundreds of millions if not billions constructing venues for things like the halfpipe or an Olympic curling dome.

The stories from Russia through the years and as recently as the Summer Games in Rio have featured an avalanche of waste and wasted chances.

While the Summer Games will always have suitors - we have made our belief clear that there needs to be about five or seven major cities with a bevy of resources, transportation options and already established venues rotating those games - it's fair to wonder how much longer the Winter Games can last.

Name one sport in the Winter Games that is must-see. We'll wait. And now know there are a lot of folks in the NHL corner wanting to end the professionals involvement - which suspends the NHL season for three weeks, by the way.

And yes there are a lot of folks who will quickly answer the figure skating, but if that's so gosh dog popular, name the last time you watched a non-Olympic figure skating event. That's not a popular sport; that's patriotism being popular, and that happens to be the one that we as Americans can still feel like an underdog in and occasionally get to see that greets motivational story.

It will be interesting to see how long the future of the Winter Games lasts. In truth, inside of the farming out bids, maybe the IOC needs to find a permanent home for the Winter Games and build it themselves.

This and that

- Sweet Odin's Raven, this is big news. Chick-Fil-A is offering home delivery and planning on giving away 200,000 chicken sammiches. Oh my.

- We mentioned UCF earlier and their hollow hopes of getting invited, well this comes from the Twitter account of @CFBHome. The strength of schedule this year has a top 10 of LSU, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Missouri, UCLA, Michigan State, Penn State, Louisville, Northwestern and Auburn. Other teams of note: Michigan is 32, Georgia is 42, Alabama is 45, Notre Dame is 59, Oklahoma is 68, Clemson is 83, West Virginia is 91 and UCF is 104.

- This was an entertaining read on the pick-up basketball game at Garry Shandling's house between some of the funniest folks (Kathy Griffin was also invited) in the entertainment industry.

- Congrats to Braves manager Brian Snitker for winning NL manager of the year. Richly deserved. Not sure why so many Braves fans bad-mouth ol' Snits. Maybe it's because he has a Snitty nickname.

- For what it's worth, here are the odds on Bell's next landing spot from BetOnline.ag.

- This Division III school has announced that 53 losses in a row is its limit and will suspend football for 2019. Earlham College is done after last Saturday's season-ending 70-8 loss to Rose-Hulman. The three seniors left on Earlman's 42-man roster never tasted victory.

- UT basketball played Georgia Tech and beat Georgia Tech on Tuesday. It was ugly for the Vols on offense. While some may be puzzled by the shooting struggles for a team that returns 14 players and more than 90 percent of its scoring - UT shot less than 40 percent and was a poor 24-of-38 from the line (63.2 percent) - defensively UT is going to be a chore every night.

- HBO has released a Game of Thrones trailer. We are stoked. The show returns in April. Did we mention we are stoked?

Today's questions

On a which-way Wednesday, let's go this way to start:

Which of the top five teams will not make the college football playoff?

Which city will Le'Veon call home next season?

Which SEC team playing a patsy will look the worst this weekend?

Today is Nov. 14 and it's National Teddy Bear Day. It's also National Pickle Day. (One more which-way Wednesday: Which food gains the most with a pickle is added. Discuss.)

On this day in 1970, the plane carrying 37 players and the coaching staff of the Marshall University football team crashed.

Prince Charles is 70 today, and doesn't look a day over 68 and a half.

OK, we've already had one music-themed Rushmore this week. How about another:

On this day in 1960, Ray Charles' "Georgia on my Mind" hit No. 1. Rushmore of songs with a state in title.

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