SEC top five, bottom three
Hard to point your finger on how South Carolina beat Georgia on Saturday. I feel for our Johnny and Janie Bulldogs Fans this week.
Georgia's season is not over. Far from it, with as many springboard chances before the Bulldogs.
Simply put, win out and you win it all.
But there were more ripples, more winners and losers from the biggest moment for Will Muschamp as the Carolina coach.
Winner: Clemson. The Tigers are going to coast through an ACC schedule that is somewhere between a Class AAAA in Georgia slate and a Tennessee Division II-AAA card. But, if there had been an unbeaten-on-beaten showdown in Atlanta, an unbeaten Clemson may have been in a perilous place. Now? When Clemson gets to 13-0, they are in.
Loser: Notre Dame. The Irish had the best loss in the country, then Georgia lost, which means that Notre Dame really can't be the best one-loss team in the country anymore. LSU-Alabama and Wisconsin-THE Ohio State now have the inside track on that title.
Winner: Florida. Yes, the loss at LSU was tough, but the Gators competed well in Red Stick and the Gamecocks' win kind of gives Florida a mulligan in terms of getting to the ATL.
Loser: The SEC. There were a lot of us that thought two SEC teams in the playoff was a foregone conclusion. That seems like a long shot now. Heck, you can make an argument that the Big Ten has a better chance at getting two in the final four.
As for the rankings, well, let's bite the bullet. (Man, feels like I have shuffled a year's worth of crow down my gullet this week. So it goes.)
1. Alabama. At some point I will remember what I have told myself a half dozen times - pick Alabama as long as Saban is there. Period. Move along.
2. LSU. In NFL parlance, where we look for value, how about this: Ed Orgeron is making $3.5 million. Jimbo Fisher at A&M is making twice that. Side note: Coach O saying at the time he was taking less to pay his staff more is looking more and more brilliant. Coach O and brilliant in the same sentence. Cats, dogs holding paws. Hatfields, McCoys hugging in the field. We're through the looking glass, people.
3. Georgia. We say frequently that Press Row cohost and TFP college football wizard David Paschall is a college football wizard. And his tweet comparing Kirby Smart and Mark Right through the first three-plus-seasons. Here's the tweet and here are the painfully similar stats:
RICHT
2001: 8-4
2002: 13-1 (SEC #1)
2003: 11-3 (SEC #2)
2004: 5-1
SMART
2016: 8-5
2017: 13-2 (SEC #1)
2018: 11-3 (SEC #2)
2019: 5-1
4. Florida. I think Auburn is better honestly, but the Gators got it done at The Swamp.
5. Auburn. It will be highly likely that you see Auburn in tomorrow's picks column. The Tigers have had a week to simmer and stew over that painful loss in Gainesville and now they head to Arkansas.
12. Tennessee. Yes, the Vols beat Miss. State - and man, oh man, there has to be some uncertainty about one Joe Moorhead at this point, no? - but they still are a bottom-three SEC team.
13. Arkansas. So, what does Arkansas do well, and it's hard to see how these Hogs are going to block those Tigers that are coming from lunch on Saturday.
14. Vanderbilt. It's not as bad as losing to Georgia State, but getting walked to the shed by a very blah-tastic UNLV team is a terrible look. With three NFL skill position guys, Vandy only getting 10 points against just about anyone is inexcusable. Here's more on the 'Dores' woes in Nashville from Paschall.
NFL shake-ups
OK, we'll start with the macro: The Rams continue to defy the current path.
In truth, I'm good with trying to zig while everyone zags. Trying to out-Alabama Bama or out-New England New England has proved as effective as inverted umbrellas or paper-mache bulletproof vests.
So the Rams dealt two first rounders - unless they make more deals, L.A. will go from picking Jared Goff No. 1 overall in 2016 until 2022 without a first-round pick - for stud corner Jalen Ramsey.
The Rams are pushing chips believing they are a Super Bowl contender, regardless of what's happening in San Fran and choosing to ignore that Goff threw for 78 yards Sunday.
Ramsey will be the highest-paid corner eventually - you don't give away two 1s for 10 games - and will join a Rams roster that has Aaron Donald and Goff already on big-dollar deals.
Without rookies to augment those cap hits, it will be interesting to see the creative accounting the Rams will use to massage the salary cap this offseason. (Uh, Todd Gurley, you may want to make sure you have a good financial guy.)
Closer to home, ESPN NFL guru Adam Schefter is reporting that the Titans will turn to Ryan Tannehill.
This all but ends the Marcus Mariota era in Nashville, doesn't it? And if that's not the case, then it will be the end of the Mike Vrabel era.
It's hard to see how a franchise can give a quarterback $22-plus-million if he can't hold off a journeyman six weeks into any season.
Say what, part II
OK, LeBron James made his statements earlier this week about the Daryl Morey tweet and the China fallout.
He had to release statements about those statements.
He was asked again Tuesday evening for clarity, and again, his comments were at best puzzling.
(Your daily reminder that I am a James fan - James homer, Stewwie might say - and we all know how words can get misconstrued. Still. And this look at the details and timeline of the entire NBA-China-Hong Kong controversy from ESPN is very interesting.)
First LeBron said Morey "wasn't educated" on the situation. Uh, Morey went to Northwestern and then got an MBA from MIT. Morey's timing - making a statement that others would have to answer for while actually in China - was dreadful and he may be a lot of things, but not educated is not on that list.
James' statements against Morey's tweet were as much about protecting James' business interests - as well as the NBA's - as anything.
But they came off as dreadfully tone-deaf at best and borderline pro-China and anti-democracy.
After Tuesday's practice, James spoke again, telling reporters:
"It's a tough situation we're all in right now with the association, us as athletes, GMs and owners and so forth," James said. "I also don't think every issue should be everybody's problem as well. When things come up, there's multiple things that we haven't talked about that have happened in our own country that we don't bring up. There's things that happen in my own community in trying to help my kids graduate high school and go off to college; that's been my main concern the last couple of years with my school [in Akron, Ohio]. Trying to make sure the inner-city kids that grow up in my hometown can have a brighter future and look at me as an inspiration to get out of the hellhole of the inner city.
"We don't talk about those stories enough. We want to talk about so many other things as well. There's issues all over the world. I think the best thing we can do is if you feel passionate about it, talk about it. If you don't have a lot of knowledge about it or quite understand it, I don't think you should talk about it because it puts you in a tough position."
James concluded by saying he would not comment on the NBA-China situation anymore.
I can't help but wonder if he should have commented on it at all, all things considering.
This and that
- Speaking of commenting, word is out that Tiger Woods is going to write his memoir. If it's the actual story, well, buckle up and pre-order that puppy.
- Speaking of the NFL, I'm all for the NFL trading deadline becoming a thing and NFL teams making deals and such. In fact, the Oct. 29 deadline - two weeks from yesterday - will be telling to see who is committed to winning it all and who is committed to losing the rest of them.
- Speaking of the NFL deadline, here's one CBSsports.com writer's view on who the Patriots should add to an offense devoid of perimeter weapons. On that list is Austin Hooper, the Falcons tight end, who truth be told has been the best tight end in football through six weeks.
- Gerrit Cole is so bleepin' good right now that people are saying he only had C+ stuff when he pitched seven scoreless innings against a lineup that had 300-plus homers in the regular season. Good luck with that. And they are right; at least in Gerrit Cole's view. Dude was ticked after Houston's 4-1 win to take a 2-1 lead in the ALCS.
- Washington advanced to the World Series by completing the sweep of St. Louis. Does that make you feel better or worse, Braves fans?
- Speaking of baseball, it was a busy day for TFP all-around ace David Paschall, who recapped our Press Row interview with former Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt. Here's the story, and Honeycutt has always been a class act and first-class representative of Chattanooga.
- Blair Davis became the most entertaining Wheel of Fortune contestant ever last night. When he was introduced by Pat Sajak, Davis said: "I've been trapped in a loveless marriage for the last 12 years to an old battle-axe named Kim. She cursed my life with three stepchildren: Star, RJ, and Ryan, and I have one rotten grandson." Sajak told the howling studio audience that Davis was being facetious, and it's just good to know that some folks still can recognize a joke.
- Each of the last four seasons that both the AFC and the NFC had teams start 6-0 - San Fran gets there if the 49ers beat Washington this week - those teams met in the Super Bowl.
Today's questions
Which way Wednesday will start this way:
Which way would you describe the recently announced Tiger Woods memoir: Tell-all page-turner or fluff?
Which team got the best end of the Jalen Ramsey trade?
Which Democrat had the best performance in last night's debate? (I'm thinking Mayor Pete, but am open for discussion.)
Which of the finalists for the 2019 induction of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame deserves it most? https://www.nydailynews.com/snyde/ny-whitney-houston-notorious-big-dave-matthews-rock-roll-hall-fame-20191015-za5t77ql5rczlpuwp26n3qctfq-story.html
Speaking of which, shouldn't the name of the Rock and Roll of Fame - if Whitney and Biggie Smalls are destined for addition - be changed to the Music Hall of Fame?
As for today, Oct. 16, well, let's review.
In 1923, Disney Animated Studios was founded. That turned out pretty good.
On this day in 1968, Tommie Smith and John Carlos gave the Black Panther power fist salute.
It's National Boss Day.
Rushmore of "Boss" and be creative and remember the mailbag. Go, and enjoy the day.