Glibertarians.com 2017 Archive

Category: Sports

  • Week 8 College Football Preview

    Here is sloopy’s mandatory link.

    Dubious Rivalry of the Week

    Akron @ Toledo, Toledo, OH

    Zips vs Rockets.  I was expecting this to be a real rivalry, but they have only played 19 times.  Toledo leads 10-9.  This didn’t play between 1947 and 1992.  I am sure there is a reason, but I don’t care enough to look it up.  Akron led 6-2 before the hiatus, but Toledo has won 9 of the last 11.

    Tailgate of the Week

    Fresno St @ San Diego St, San Diego, CA

    After last week’s boozy punch, I am going cold turkey and talking beer only.  So San Diego was an easy choice for the week.

    Beer:  I was going to list them, but a link is easier.  Enjoy.

    Game of the Century of the Week

    USC @ Notre Dame, Sound Bend, IN

    This has been a big game in the past and is again, because Notre Dame has decided not to suck this year.  I think both are overhyped, but the winner is still around for discussions of the playoffs for at least another week.

    Notre Dame leads the all time series 44-36-5.  Instead of alternating between October in Indiana and November in California, they should reverse it.  I would like to USC playing in northern Indiana in late November.

    Top 25

    And like every other ranking system, Alabama is now #1.  I can’t explain Florida, they moved into the to 25 with a loss.  **shrug** Computer systems, watcha gonna do?

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Falling out:  Maryland, Texas Tech, UCLA, Navy.

  • Winning Isn’t Everything, But Losing Is Nothing: NFL Week 6

     

    AFC WEST

    Pittsburgh @ Kansas City – Chiefs roll on

    NY Giants @ Denver– hoo boy, this is gonna be ugly

    LA Chargers @ Oakland – Chargers win two straight

    The NFL’s highest-rated passer on the league’s only undefeated team? Yeah, Alex Smith would undoubtedly win the NFL MVP if the season ended today. It takes an act of Congress, if not the Almighty himself, to have the AP vote for a non-QB to win the MVP. Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, and Carson Wentz are other QBs in the hunt for the award. Maybe the best non-QB in the league is Smith’s rookie teammate Kareem Hunt; Hunt has a league-leading 609 rushing yards on 6.3 yards per carry. He’s second in the league with 6 rushing plus receiving TDs, and he also leads the league in total yards from scrimmage. Todd Gurley and Leonard Fournette are also playing at an All-Pro level at RB.

    AFC NORTH

    Pittsburgh @ Kansas City

    Chicago @ Baltimore – Ravens take the home game

    Cleveland @ Houston – Houston, narrowly

    Cincinnati – Bye

    We’ve already discussed the top QBs and RBs in the game so far this season; wide receiver is always harder to evaluate. Some seasons, a safety valve RB or TE finishes high on the receptions list, but is 95 catches for 850 yards more valuable than 80 catches for 1100? Is 1400 yards with 6 TDs better than 1200 yards and 10 TDs? Is yards per reception as meaningful as yards per carry for running back? It seems not; in a typical season, most of the YPR leaders aren’t making the All-Pro teams. (For example: the four All-Pro WR in 2016 were Julio Jones, Antonio Brown, Mike Evans, and Odell Beckham; only Jones was in the top ten in YPR) All that said, it looks like Antonio Brown is the man at WR, leading the league in receptions and yards. (OTOH, he only has one TD on the season). After a banged-up 2016, AJ Green is back in form and back among the elite. DeAndre Hopkins is also putting up big numbers.

    AFC SOUTH

    Cleveland @ Houston

    LA Rams @ Jacksonville – Rams fall to second straight tough D

    Indianapolis @ Tennessee – This weeks upset special

    Granted, DeShaun Watson has barely started his career, but he is one of only seven QBs with a passer rating (100.7) of 100+. The others: Alex Smith, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Kirk Cousins, Aaron Rodgers, andDerek Carr.

    AFC EAST

    New England @ NY Jets – All good things, Jets…all good things

    Miami @ Atlanta – No problem for Falcons

    Buffalo – Bye

    Time to give Tom Brady the credit he deserves. I say it that way because I don’t think he deserves to be known as the best QB ever. Super Bowls are a function of team success, and if we’re going to hand out individual accolades for team success, then why would Brady’s 5-2 SB record beat Joe Montana’s 4-0? Montana’s four appearances came in an era where there was no salary cap and the competition in his conference was extremely strong. Bill Parcells’ Giants, Joe Gibbs’ Redskins, Mike Ditka’s Bears…it was a fantastic accomplishment just to get out of conference in those years. And if Tom Brady is the best, what does that make Eli Manning? Eli is 2-0 against Brady in SB play.

    But here’s what Brady does deserve credit for: competitive poise. One of the reasons the Patriots have been so hard to beat for so long is that Tom Brady really, truly, absolutely keeps playing until the end. A lot of players in sports talk about not quitting, about playing hard for 60 minutes, but Brady really does. One game that stands out in my memory is the AFC Championship a couple of years ago, Patriots at Broncos. The Broncos won the SB that year with a punishing defense, and they made Brady look bad in that game. (27-56 310 yds, 1 TD, 2 INT, 4 times sacked) However, in the end, Brady drove the Patriots down the field needing a touchdown and 2-point conversion to tie the game. He managed the TD, but not the conversion. The Pats lost by two points. On the road, on a day when things aren’t going your way against a fierce defense, Brady gave his team a chance. He may not be the best QB of all time, but damn if that bastard doesn’t give his team a chance in every game he plays. There’s not an ounce of quit in the guy.

    NFC WEST

    Tampa Bay @ Arizona – Arizona continues slide despite addition of has-been

    LA Rams @ Jacksonville

    San Francisco @ Washington – The Skins are at home and they’re good

    Seattle – Bye

    This is the most difficult division to write about, so I won’t.

    NFC NORTH

    Detroit @ New Orleans – New Orleans seems to be gaining strength week-to-week

    Chicago @ Baltimore

    Green Bay @ Minnesota – Pack rolls on

    The best teams in the NFL, by winning percentage:

    Kansas City 5-0 (1.000)

    Philadelphia 5-1 (.833)

    Green Bay 4-1 (.800)

    Atlanta 3-1 (.750)

    Denver 3-1 (.750)

    When the dust settles on the 2017 season, Green Bay might end up with a record as good as, or better than, anyone on this list. Kansas City and Denver have to square off twice. Philadelphia has Dallas and Washington in their division. And Atlanta has yet to play the kind of football they showed a year ago – Matt Ryan in particular is off to a bad start. Green Bay’s toughest division opponent is the plucky but second-tier Detroit Lions. If half their team wasn’t getting hurt every week, I’d be tempted to pencil Green Bay in at one of the top two NFC playoff seeds right now.

    NFC SOUTH

    Philadelphia 28 @ Carolina 23 (F – 10/12)

    Detroit @ New Orleans

    Miami @ Atlanta

    Tampa Bay @ Arizona

    Just when Carolina puts up solid back-to-back wins and starts to look more like their 2015 selves, they drop a home game. Granted, the Eagles are a very good squad – they may even reach the Super Bowl. Carson Wentz is ahead of schedule in his development. But why is Cam Newton the only man in Carolina’s backfield averaging over three yards per carry? Why was Christian McCaffery so highly regarded when it seems all he can do is catch little four-and-five yard dumpoffs? How can their defense be so dependent on Luke Kuechly? This really is Judge Napolitano, isn’t it?

    Cam Newton’s career so far feels a bit like John Elway‘s up to this point. Which is good news for Newton if he gets a Terrell Davis sometime in the future.

    NFC EAST

    Philadelphia 28 @ Carolina 23 (F – 10/12)

    NY Giants @ Denver 

    San Francisco @ Washington

    Dallas – Bye

    The Cowboys have already lost as many games this season as they did all last season. Between their secondary issues and the Zeke Elliott news, this is quite a good bye. I can’t imagine a better time for one. At least one man disagrees.

    PICKS UPDATE

    Week 5 – 7-6

    Total – 22-21

  • Nashunul Futzbull Leeg versus Murica!

    Sometimes I like to write stream-of-consciousness posts when I’m procrastinating on more research intensive articles. This is yet another one of those situations. (Crafting a Narrative Pt. 3 will be ready soon)

    Let’s have some fun together tearing apart this whole NFL v. Trump shitshow piece by agonizing piece. If we do this right, we’ll trigger literally everybody.

    First, let’s address the elephant in the room. The entire frickin kneeling protest is an unorganized shitshow. When Kapernick started kneeling, it was vaguely in support of Black Lives Matter, but even BLM is a fucking mess of intersectional leftism. I’m not going to kill brain cells by going to their website again, but there was shit about ableism and transgenderism last time I went. On top of that, now everybody is kneeling for a thousand different reasons. Some are civil rights LARPing, some are protesting police brutality, some just hate Trump, and most of them have no fucking clue why they’re kneeling except for the fact that it pisses Trumphitler off.

    Why the hell are you kneeling during the national anthem? Cops are employees of the state and local governments. They’re not even affiliated with the American flag, let alone somehow symbolizing it .Of course, if you’re smart, you don’t take the kneelers’ stated intentions at face value. The reality is that this protest against “systematic injustice” is really just a bunch of rich idiots being played like marionettes by no-kidding communists. Kapernick is in neck-deep with the commies, and his totalitarian milieu has polluted the NFL as a whole.

    Why are you biting the hand that feeds you? We’ll get to the ridiculous reaction from fans in a minute, but it was a quite predictable reaction. Most football fans lean conservative and working class. Most conservative and working class folks are quite patriotic. They tend to either be veterans or know quite a few veterans. Disrespecting the flag is seen by them as pissing on their service and sacrifice. Any idiot can see this dynamic, and any idiot could have predicted the backlash that was created by these overprivileged multimillionaires disrespecting the flag.

    It’s virtue signalling at its finest. There’s nothing accomplished by kneeling during the anthem. Not one cop is going to think twice about shooting some black kid just because some NFL player kneeled during the national anthem. Rather, the NFL is sending the message that they play ball with the SJW left. Unfortunately, the SJW left has resoundingly ignored the NFL… y’know because contact sports are icky and boring and not artisanal enough.

    What of the boycotters? If there’s anything more pathetic than protesting a symbol that has nothing to do with the supposed object of your ire, it’s the people who are acting offended because other people won’t play patriotism olympics with them. By all means, boycott the NFL if you don’t like the message they’re sending. Hell, I’m watching much less NFL because I’m sick of all the personal interest stories, the “special interest here” month this and that, every other commercial being a PSA for some stupid cause, CTEs, and lefty virtue signalling around every corner (*cough* Bob Costas *cough*). What happened to football being about men in pads hitting one another? At the end of the day, though, respect or disrespect of the flag is a pretty stupid reason to change your entertainment habits. Why?

    Because modern patriotic nationalism sucks. I completely get the connection between the flag and the service of our soldiers and veterans. I completely respect their courage and sacrifice. This is why I stand for the national anthem, even though I don’t participate. However, if there’s one thing that gets and eye roll from me in record time, it’s the old tired line of “freedom isn’t free. They fought and died for your freedoms.” Sorry, but when were my freedoms last threatened by a foreign power? Maybe WWII? That’s really stretching it, because the biggest threat to my freedoms in that era was FDR (internment camps, threatening the supreme court if they didn’t rule favorably, etc.). Maybe one could argue that the actions in Afghanistan were preserving our freedoms after 9/11, but again, the Patriot Act, TSA, and DHS are much bigger threats to my liberty than Al-quaeda has ever been. In my opinion, it’s completely appropriate to honor those who fought and died in the name of our nation without bullshitting us by saying that they were “fighting for our freedoms.” If anything, that cheapens their legacy, because it paints a paper thin GI Joe veneer over a much more complicated and difficult situation.

    Beyond this, why the hell do we need to sing the national anthem at sporting events in the first place? What a stupid and ridiculous tradition that is! We don’t sing the national anthem before music concerts or starting the workday or before the movie starts at the theater. The idolatry that passes as patriotism these days would have the founding fathers rolling so hard they’d power the entire country’s electric grid.

    Speaking of violently spinning founders, let’s talk about the bullshit that is both sides of the police brutality argument. On one side, you have the SJWs and civil rights LARPers who think this is Birmingham in 1958. On the other side, you have law & order conservatives who think this is Mayberry in 1965. Both are laughably wrong, but there’s no adult in the room to tell them to stop being idiots.

    Cops aren’t heroes, at least not all cops are heroes. Cops are not tyrants, at least not all cops are tyrants. I’m not a strict individualist. I believe that you can assign generalities to individuals of a group. However, I think that you have to pursue such generalizations very carefully. By and large, people apply generalities too strongly and too broadly. That is the case here, as well.

    The BLM agitators are notorious for swinging and missing every. single. time. Trayvon Martin? *whiff* Michael Brown? *pbfffft* The few cases that were actually open and shut abuse cases were completely ignored by BLM. Why? Because their end goal isn’t ending police abuse. Their end goal is stirring up racial strife in order to elevate their political (and financial) clout.

    Cops aren’t walking targets in urban areas. Despite what some would have you believe, most folks don’t get their rocks off by taking pot shots at pigs. Save for one major incident, and a handful of one-off incidents per year, most people who have an issue with cops simply try to run away. This aura painted by the right of embattled cops struggling to make it home to their wives and 2.5 kids is completely made up.

    Questioning the motives of cops is very patriotic. Police are armed enforcers of the state. They do good things (like handling outlaws), but they’re also the single quickest path to authoritarianism. The rapid militarization of police over the past 2 decades, paired with lax due process protections and highly aggressive tactics has turned policing from an Andy Taylor/Barney Fife context to a wannabe soldier context. The conservatives are happy to play along, grouping “first responders” with veterans in the exalted ranks of “heroes” to be honored with the flag.

    Before this gets too long, I’ll wrap it up with a few quick hits.

    • If cops were heroes, they’d be held to a higher standard than the public. Instead, they’re held to a lower standard.
    • Qualified immunity has been abused and distorted to cover a cop’s every action. If it were “right sized,” any escalation by the cop would fall outside of qualified immunity.
    • The fact that BLM and other civil rights griefers are even treated as legitimate shows how absolutely fucked up our media is.
    • If the NFL players wanted to kneel before the thing that destroyed the black community, they’d find the nearest Medicaid office and kneel there. Then they’d join Antifa in tearing down all the LBJ statues.
    • Nothing about the treatment of urban blacks is going to change until their culture changes. Holding police accountable for their overreaches isn’t going to fix the “systematic” issues. Only a massive cultural shift will do that.
    • The NFL and Goodell are utter dumbasses. They should’ve nipped this in the bud a year ago, but they were sympathetic with Kapernick, and now they’re getting their asses bit for it.
    • Notice I haven’t even mentioned Trump’s or Pence’s reaction. That’s because they have nothing substantive to add to the conversation. They’re charlatans playing the controversy for political points.

  • Week 7 College Football Preview

    Here is sloopy’s mandatory link.   I have nothing witty to say.

    Tailgate of the Week

     New Mexico St @ Georgia Southern, Statesboro, KY

    I have been waiting all year to do this one, but this is GaSo’s first weekend home game.  The Eagles are having a very bad year [0-4].  This is appropriate.  Their fans want the coach fired and a Johnson disciple hired.  When they are running the triple option, they win.  When they aren’t, they tend to crash and burn.  Six FCS national titles in the first 19 years of the program’s restart (They didn’t have a team between 1941 and 1982) sets expectations.

    Beer:  Eagle Creek Brewing Company appears to be the only local option, so it wins!  The video on their home page is all about Eagle football and tailgating so that gets bonus points.

    Booze:  This is the closest FBS city to Savannah, and I wasn’t going to cover a game at a school (Savannah St) that is dropping to D2.  So this recipe goes here.

    This picture was taken with the finest potato

    Chatham Artillery Punch

    2 cups sweet red wine
    2 cups strong tea
    2/3 cup rum
    1/2 cup packed brown sugar
    1/2 cup rye whiskey
    1/2 cup orange juice
    1/3 cup gin
    1/3 cup brandy
    1/3 cup lemon juice
    1 bottle dry champagne

    Mix all ingredients except champagne. Cover and refrigerate for several days. Stir in champagne just before serving.

    Some recipes suggest burying in the ground for a few days to a few weeks.  This recipe dates back to the Revolutionary War, so refrigeration may be an appropriate substitution.

    Game of the Century of the Week

    Georgia Tech @ Miami, Coral Gables, FL

    This series is tied at 11-11 all time, but that isn’t the important stat.  What is important?  Remember how the ACCCG was originally played in Jacksonville, then Tampa, because FSU and Miami were going to be in it all the time?

    Number of ACC titles since the split into divisions:  GT 1, Miami 0.  Number of Coastal division title:  GT 4, Miami 0.

    Top 25

    The rankings are starting to look more like the traditional ones, with a few obvious exceptions. 

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Falling out:  Oregon, Wake Forest, Oklahoma, Duke.

  • This is New Testament Roger Goodell: NFL Week 5 Preview

     

    Remember when NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was more than just Mr. Jane Skinner? When he ruled the NFL with an iron fist? I can still remember where I was when Sean Taylor was murdered in bed during a home invasion and Goodell fined his family $50,000. Maybe I’m a little off on details, but damn, where did that guy go? You would think that during an age of CTE and kneeling players and franchises jitterbugging up and down the California coast, ol’ Give ‘Em Hell Goodell would have stepped on a landmine or two for the league’s sake. Make himself the story to distract the press from all the other unpleasant business. Not this new-and-improved Roger. Right about the time the league needs a Trumpian commissioner, they’ve got an Obama-esque “Who, me?” figurehead running things now. “I read about the player protests in the Monday morning papers, same way all of you did.”

    Whatever. The Chiefs are 4-0 after a stiff challenge by the visiting Redskins. The Rams are an impressive 6-10 team, DeShawn Watson is the greatest Houston quarterback since JJ Watt, and there is no sugarcoating it: The Raiders won’t be building on last season’s success this year. To the ScheduleMobile!

    AFC WEST

    Kansas City @ Houston – Wherein the legend of DeShawn Watson grows…

    Baltimore @ Oakland – Life without Carr’s gonna suck

    LA Chargers @ NY Giants – The Resistable Force meets the Movable Object

    Denver – Bye

    If the Chiefs are a paper tiger, it’s apparent that it won’t be a division opponent exposing them.  The Broncos appear to be one of those rare teams that are imbalanced in favor of the defensive side of the ball, like the 85 Bears, 00 Ravens, or 13 Seahawks. But you’ve got to have, at minimum, a caretaker-game manager QB whose main job is to not screw things up. Only six QBs have thrown more INTs than Trevor Simian so far. If he can’t straighten things out, The Broncs have Brock Ostweiler waiting in the wings. (Gives the phrase “QB Depth Chart” a whole new meaning, no?) Meanwhile, in Oakland, Derek Carr has a broken back which figures to hamper his mobility in the pocket. Was it because his O-line let him get decked over the Anthem Protests? If it is, I love the logic: Because I hate Trump, I’m going to do whatever I can to ruin our Super Bowl chances. And the Los Angeles Chargers are off to a fast start in the Josh Rosen/Sam Darnold draft sweepstakes. (Theory: a bureaucrat once fused the middle initial D with the last name Arnold generations ago and the family just went with it)

    This is all disappointing. After the season the AFC West had last year, this year looks like the worst sequel to a hit since City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly’s Gold. I mean, KC finishes well ahead of Denver, Denver goes like 9-7, the Raiders backsliding and the Chargers tanking. Sound about right? Not exactly the photo finish of last year, is it?

    AFC NORTH

    Jacksonville @ Pittsburgh – Only because they’re the home team

    Baltimore @ Oakland

    NY Jets @ Cleveland – Okay, THIS is the week Cleveland finally wins

    Buffalo @ Cincinnati – Hate to do it, but neither team is as good or bad as their record

    OMWC hasn’t been this distraught since the crossing guards started wearing bodycams. His beloved Baltimore Ravens just ain’t worth a damn. Yes, they are 2-2; do wins over Cleveland and Cincinnati even count? They’ve scored 16 points in their last two games. Not “averaged”, total. Joe Flacco, the Ravens quarterback known nationally as “Joe Flacco”, was once the subject of a fairly heated debate a few years back. The question then: Is Joe Flacco an elite QB? This is Flacco’s 10th season. His current QB rating is 65.0, career 84. He’s only gone over 90 twice. His TD/INT ratio is 186/123. At this point, it’s pretty clear that Flacco is not an elite QB. Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Steelers sit atop this pile o’crud with STEVE SMITH still under center, Mikar Epplin at head coach (they’ve merged into a single entity by now), and Odell Beckham, Sr. as the star wideout. I’m tempted to predict losses for all four teams every week for the rest of the year, even in division games.

    AFC SOUTH

    Kansas City @ Houston

    Tennessee @ Miami – Chris Gaines had a better comeback than Jay Cutler’s having

    Jacksonville @ Pittsburgh

    San Francisco @ Indianapolis – Must miss TV

    SETTING: Deep in the BOWELS of HOUSTON TEXANS corporate HQ, February 2017

    BOB MCNAIR: Flunky!!

    FLUNKY (rushes in): Y-yes, sir!?

    BOB MCNAIR: Flunky, I’m an NFL owner. My team is in the same state as the world-famous Dallas Cowboys, the five-time Super Bowl champions. Do you realize what that makes us? A laughingstock. Every year at the owner’s meetings, those guys really give me the business. Ya know what that’s like?

    FLUNKY: Sir, I live out of my car. I sleep in the stadium parking lot.

    BOB MCNAIR: Getting a jump on tailgating, eh, Flunky? That’s good thinking. Anyway, those damn Cowboys always have the leg up on us: five Super Bowls, household name, the big stadium…Mrs. Jones is so…ravishing…

    FLUNKY: Sir?

    BOB MCNAIR (snaps out of it) Flunky, the Cowboys got this Dakota Fanning character out of Buttfuck, Kansas and won thirteen games with him. He’s young. He’s exciting. He’s Afro-American. We got lots of those people here in Houston – I want a colored quarterback too if Dallas got one!

    FLUNKY: Afro-American? Those people? Colored?

    BOB MCNAIR: Yeah?

    FLUNKY: It’s just so…hacky, making the incompetent boob a racist.

    F. STUPIDITY, JR.: Look, I watch the late-night talk shows. This is comedy gold, believe me.

    BOB MCNAIR: I am not a racist!

    FLUNKY: Sir, even if we draft a black QB, even if he projects as good or better than Prescott, we don’t have that offensive line. We don’t have Ezekiel Elliott running the ball.

    BOB MCNAIR: Look, we’ll take that kid out of Clemson. He damn near beat Alabama twice, he’ll do fine with us. When have I ever steered us wrong?

    FLUNKY: What about-

    BOB MCNAIR: Besides Ostweiler??

    ***

    AFC EAST

    New England 19 @ Tampa Bay 14 (F – 10/5)

    Buffalo @ Cincinnati

    Tennessee @ Miami

    NY Jets @ Cleveland

    Go Bills! That was the team of my youth, right there…Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, Andre Reed, and the greatest of them all, Bruce Smith. Those guys were awesome. Yes, they lost four Super Bowls in a row, but they’re the only franchise to get to four in a row, and they only should have won one of those games. The second game against the Cowboys was winnable, but they went to pieces after the Thurman Thomas fumble. Oh well. Maybe this is the year the longest current playoff drought in the NFL comes to an end!?

    NFC WEST

    San Francisco @ Indianapolis

    Seattle @ LA Rams – Rams come back to Earth a bit

    Arizona @ Philadelphia – BIRD FIGHT!!

    1) The LA Rams have been a surprise.

    2) Surprises are not known to be long-term things.

    NFC NORTH

    Carolina @ Detroit – building on last week’s big win

    Minnesota @ Chicago – The Bears have already won their game this year

    Green Bay @ Dallas – the dreaded Sophmore Slump is in effect

    So about a year ago, the Detroit Lions revealed that they would not only be changing uniforms soon, they might even choose a new color scheme that didn’t involve Honolulu Blue. And it didn’t – the Lions have a new blue.

    Two things annoy me about the new unis. 1) Silver numbers? Silver doesn’t exactly pop against blue the way white does. I know there’s always a temptation to do things differently, to have your brand stand out in some way, but silver-on-blue is just trying too hard. Granted, not this hard.

    2) Why change the font again? For a very long time, every team but the Chicago Bears wore jerseys featuring some variation of the varsity font. Then, in the 90’s, a lot of teams figured out that it might help branding to create a team-specific font. It was a little jarring in some cases, but such a big change was reasonable from a business standpoint. I just can’t figure why you’d create a new font, build that brand, and start again. The Cowboys went from Varsity to Family Guy Varsity some 30 years ago and haven’t changed. The Steelers haven’t changed in decades since leaving Varsity behind. There’s plenty of scope for variety even when you leave some elements intact. Besides, if you change fonts too frequently, something like this could happen.

    NFC SOUTH

    New England 19 @ Tampa Bay 14 (F – 10/5)

    Carolina @ Detroit

    Atlanta, New Orleans – Bye

    Carolina winning in New England and the Falcons and Atlanta losing at home to the Bills – Go Bills! – is basically the NFC in microcosm. Almost anyone can win the NFC this year. I’m on record in saying that Seattle has lost a step, but the way the rest of the conference is playing they may end up back in the Super Bowl after all. No, I’m not backtracking. If they were to win enough games to earn a bye and get enough breaks over two games, they could still do it. The most likely outcome is the one that happened last year: a good team gets hot and plays their best football just as the playoffs start up. There’s no NFC team that’s going to go in 15-1, 14-2 this year. 12-4 will probably be good enough for two home games this year.

    NFC EAST

    LA Chargers @ NY Giants

    Green Bay @ Dallas

    Arizona @ Philadelphia

    Washington – Bye

    Ezekiel Elliott averaged 5.1 yards per carry a year ago as a rookie; through four games this season, he’s at 3.6 YPC. And he’s got bruised ribs. Maybe the Cowboys might want to reconsider appealing his suspension? A little R&R, let those ribs get right…he’ll be a lot fresher in December. Just putting that out there.

    PICKS

    Week 3: 9-6

    Week 4: 6-9

    TOTAL: 15-15

  • Week 6 College Football Preview

    Sorry about the lack of a week 5, combo of vacation at beginning of the week and training at the end of the week did me in.  And here is sloopy’s mandatory link.

     

    Dubious Rivalry of the Week

    New Mexico St @ Appalachian St, Boone, NC

    This is a conference matchup.  Next week the Mountaineers travel to Idaho for another ridiculous conference game.  Lovely Moscow, the heart of the Sun Belt.

    This is the last year for those teams (New Mexico St and Idaho) in the Sun Belt before Idaho drops to FCS and NM St goes independent and irrelevant, so enjoy these matchups now.

     

    Tailgate of the Week

    Missouri @ Kentucky, Lexington, KY

    I have been to a lot of UK games over the decades.  Too many, in fact.  Lots of losses.  Some I can’t unsee.  If it was higher def and you froze it, you can probably spot me in the background at the peak of the pass.

    Which leads to the need for the following:

    Beer:  West Sixth or Country Boy?  Your call, but as there is a glib meetup on Friday at W6, hit up Country Boy on Saturday.

    Liquor:  We ain’t mixing nothing today.  This is bourbon straight.  I don’t think I have ever attended a UK game in which, at some point during the game, bourbon wasn’t spilled on me.  In other words, the tailgate doesn’t stop in the parking lots.  In ye olden days, you could get a pass out to go to the parking lot during halftime, which made the second half a special kind of drunkenness.

    Game of the Century of the Week

    Wake Forest @ Clemson, Clemson, SC

    You probably didn’t think this game was a big deal in 2006 either.  Here is a list of teams whose last ACC title was more distant than Wake’s in 2006:  Virginia 1995, Duke 1989, UNC 1980, NC St 1979. Miami, Louisville, Syracuse, Pitt, and Boston College have never won it.

    As for the 2006 ACCCG, I don’t want to talk about it.

     

    Top 25

    Once again, this isn’t a prediction but based on assuming the team wins out.  Which explains GT being ranked so high even with a loss: their 7 remaining games are all against teams in the top 21.

     

    1. Michigan (4-0)   4.440  +1
    2. Clemson (5-0)   4.347  +2
    3. Georgia Tech (3-1)   4.295  +2
    4. Georgia (5-0)   4.271  +4
    5. Utah (4-0)   4.210  +1
    6. Duke (4-1)   4.183  -5
    7. Miami FL (3-0)   4.150  +5
    8. Washington St (5-0)   4.121  +2
    9. Oklahoma (4-0)   4.096  +9
    10. Virginia Tech (4-1)   4.088  -7
    11. Alabama (5-0)   4.087  +2
    12. Notre Dame (4-1)   4.073  +4
    13. Virginia (3-1)   4.071  +7
    14. Wisconsin (4-0)   4.059  NR
    15. Penn State (5-0)   4.056  +8
    16. Maryland (3-1)   4.018  NR
    17. Ohio State (4-1)   4.003  NR
    18. Washington (5-0)   3.997  +6
    19. Auburn (4-1)   3.968  +6
    20. Southern Cal    (4-1)   3.939  -13
    21. Wake Forest (4-1)   3.928  -10
    22. Oregon (4-1)   3.909  NR
    23. Texas Tech (3-1)   3.897  -14
    24. North Carolina St (4-1) 3.897  NR
    25. Michigan St (3-1)   3.892  NR

    Falling out:  Indiana, Cal, Minnesota, Iowa, South Carolina, and LSU.

  • Pro football No Kneeling Preview

     

    And then there were two. Unbeatens, that it – the Kansas City Chiefs and the Atlanta Falcons. The Chiefs have really looked the part, winning their three games by 12 points per game. The Falcons look a little bit lucky, beating the Bears and Lions by a combined seven points. Granted, they looked more like their first-half-of-Super-Bowl-51 selves at home against the Packers in week two. (Is it weird that their first three opponents have all been from the NFC Central? That’s weird, right?)

    Surprises thus far? Well, we’ve only had three games (Thursday night’s game notwithstanding), so it’s had to get a hold on things yet. But it’s hard to believe the Bengals are quite this bad, or that the Giants would be winless through three games. Individually, Alex Smith leading in Passer Rating would have to be a bit of a surprise. Yes, he’s always been a solid QB, but he has really shined in 2017.

    Let’s see what’s on tap for Week 4:

    AFC WEST

    Washington @ Kansas City

    Oakland @ Denver

    Philadelphia @ LA Chargers

    Good matchups this week. The Redskins are solid, but I don’t see them going into Arrowhead and winning. (By the way, while I’d prefer to avoid politics in football given the events of last week, shouldn’t the left be all over this game? Redskins versus Chiefs? UGH, problematic, they can’t even) The Chargers should get off the schneid at home, while Oakland picks up the in-division road win.

     

    AFC NORTH

    Pittsburgh @ Baltimore

    Cincinnati @ Cleveland

    Both games are divisional clashes this week. Ehhhhhxcellent. Besides the usual emotion that marks a Ravens-Steelers game, both teams are coming off of bad losses – the Ravens got hammered by the possibly-for-real Jaguars, while for the Steelers, losing to the Bears by any margin is an embarrassment. I’m not simply sucking up to Glibs management here; I like the Ravens at home. And Cleveland gets into the win column at the expense of the rapidly decaying Bengals.

     

    AFC SOUTH

    Jacksonville @ NY Jets

    Indianapolis @ Seattle

    Tennessee @ Houston

    One big game and two very little ones. Let’s start with the big one down in Houston: since getting thoroughly outplayed in week one, the Houston Texans have been competitive in a win over Cincy and a loss to New England. Maybe it’s nothing more than the team getting refocused after getting thumped; on the other hand, maybe it’s just that neither the Bengals and Patriots are now lesser versions of them selves, and Houston would have lost to last year’s Bengals and blown out by last year’s Patriots. I think DeShawn Watson is going to use this season as a great learning experience for the future, but it won’t mean many wins now – particularly against the improved Titans. Seattle will take care of the Colts at home, and the Jags will go into New Jersey and defeat the New York Jets. (At least they’re not doing that Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim-type name scheme)

     

    AFC EAST

    New Orleans @ Miami

    Buffalo @ Atlanta

    Carolina @ New England

    Jacksonville @ NY Jets

    This division lacks even more luster than usual. Out of sixteen AFC teams ranked by pro-football-reference.com’s SRS (Simple Rating System) AFC East teams occupy spots 6,7,8, and 10. I’m skeptical that the Patriots are going to repeat as Super Bowl champions, but I’ll go way out on a limb and say that they’re going to be one of the top-three ranked AFC teams when January rolls around. Furthermore, they’re going to be the latest team to remind the Panthers that 2015 was nothing more than lightning in a bottle. The Bills will come up short in Atlanta, and the Saints will win in Miami.

     

    NFC WEST

    San Francisco @ Arizona

    Indianapolis @ Seattle

    LA Rams @ Dallas

    How has Carson Palmer not simply exploded at this point? He’ll be 38 at the end of the year, he’s blown up his knee twice, played through an elbow issue that had one doctor recommending Tommy John surgery for…and he’s throwing a league-leading 44 passes per game this season. If Palmer faces one more team with a top-notch pass rush, he may need to be helped off the field by the cleanup crew. Fortunately for Palmer, the 49ers have three sacks total through three games, which is four fewer than the Cowboys’ Demarcus Lawrence. Take Arizona in that one. Speaking of the Cowboys, they’re going to have a surprisingly tough time against the offensive-minded Rams, but will pull it out at home.

     

    NFC NORTH

    Chicago 14 @ Green Bay 35 (F – 9/28)

    Detroit @ Minnesota

     

    You guys aren’t going to believe this…Sam Bradford is going to miss this game due to injury. I know, I know…I’m stunned too. Lions win on the road.

     

    Let me get a little racist here: generally speaking, white wideouts tend to be either the smallish guys who find seams in the zone (Steve Largent, Wes Welker, Julian Edelman) or extremely fast guys you send deep on fly routes (Don Beebe, Tim Dwight). The bigger white wide receivers simply become tight ends, like Brent Jones, Jason Whitten, or Rob Gronkowski. Green Bay’s Jordy Nelson, like the best black wideouts, can do it all: he’s big (6’3″, 215) and plenty fast, having posted a 4.51-40 yard time. (Compare those numbers to the Cowboys’ Dez Bryant: 6-2, 220, 4.52-40) I’m not the first person to notice this, and maybe Aaron Rodgers consistent success has something to do with having #87 around all these years. It’s hard to recall another white wide receiver who’s more than a “possession” receiver or Hail Mary specialist.

     

    NFC SOUTH

    Buffalo @ Atlanta

    Carolina @ New England

    NY Giants @ Tampa Bay

    New Orleans @ Miami

    Commentariat: give us your best NY Post headlines following the Giants’ upcoming 0-4 start. Here are my submissions:

    GI-AINTS SINK IN TAMPA BAY

    0-4 SHAME: GIANTS IN NFC BASEMENT

    WHO’S MANNING THE STORE? GIANTS IN TROUBLE

    HEADLESS GIANTS FOUND IN TOPLESS BAY

    (I didn’t say I was any good at this, mind you)

     

    NFC EAST

    NY Giants @ Tampa Bay

    Washington @ Kansas City

    LA Rams @ Dallas

    Philadelphia @ LA Chargers

    By the time we get to the NFC East, we’ve discussed every matchup already. So a word about my picks: I’m not a gambler. I’m not a deep researcher. I’m just a fan trying to spark a little NFL talk. Sure I went 9-6 last week, but a blindfolded monkey throwing darts at an NFL schedule could have pulled that off. As David Letterman might have put it years ago, this is for entertainment purposes only so please – no wagering.

     

    Sorry, no links this week – very busy time of the week for me.

     

  • Welcome to the Gliberdome: An NFL Week Three Preview

     

    Is there a less fair sport than football? Put another way, you may recall the Cleveland Indians recently completed 22-game winning streak – well, twenty-two games in baseball covers 13.6% of a team’s schedule. Going into Sunday, twenty-eight of the NFL‘s thirty-two teams have played 12.5% of their schedule. And eight of them are the baseball equivalent of 0-20 to start their season.

    After Thursday night’s epic near-comeback, the San Francisco 49ers dropped to 0-3. Starter Brian Hoyer played by far his best game of the season in defeat, posting a passer rating of 98.0 following an abysmal week two rating of 48.2; it’s possible playing the Rams defense at home a week after playing the Seahawks in Seattle might have played a role in each of those performances. Or maybe Brian Hoyer is just now hitting his stride after three weeks, at age 32, and the Niners horrid start definitely won’t prompt sports media figures to call for the Niners to bring back Colin Kaepernick. Against those same two teams at the end of last season, Kaepernick posted passer ratings over 100 in both games. The Niners split those two games.

    (The woke sports media loves to cherry-pick stats in Kaepernick’s favor; I thought I’d save them the trouble)

    Enough about a terrible team that’s going to get way too much press in the coming week; let’s talk about teams and matchups people give half a damn about.

     

    AFC WEST

    Denver @ Buffalo

    Oakland @ Washington

    Kansas City @ LA Chargers

    My favorite division in football this year, and it was pretty damn good last year. The Chiefs, Raiders, and Broncos are all 2-0. Even the 0-2 Chargers are rated highly by pro-football-reference.com, so it’s really the division the NFC East was supposed to be. (The NFC East is the white people of NFL divisions if you ask me) Because the Chargers are better than their record, because they’re at home, because Kansas City is probably feeling a little bit confident about being 2-0 and winning the last five games in this matchup, the pick HAS to be the Chargers, right? I’m going with KC anyway. In fact, the road team’s got all three of these.

     

    AFC NORTH

    Baltimore @ Jacksonville

    Pittsburgh @ Chicago

    Cincinnati @ Green Bay

    Cleveland @ Indianapolis

    What a clunker schedule for the AFC North this week. On the plus side, we’ll be one step closer to Marvin Lewis losing his job after the Packers take the Bengals apart. After getting embarrassed by Atlanta yet again, with a pissed off Aaron Rodgers and company coming back to Lambeau I don’t see any other result possible. Cleveland is supposed to be on the rise and Indy is pretty terrible at the moment – take the Colts anyway. (Part of the problem with rising teams is that they lose winnable games) Pittsburgh should emulsify the Bears, which leaves the Ravens and Jags. This game intrigues me for a couple of reasons: 1) Leonard Fournette vs the Ravens’ defense. Fournette seems to be from the Earl Campbell school of running backs, which should lead to a highlight play or two – whether it is at his expense or that of a Ravens defender remains to be seen. 2) Jacksonville looked like a bonafide, no-shit NFL team in week one at Houston, then got turned inside out in week two at home against the Titans. It’ll be interesting to see which team shows up for this one. I’m picking the Jags, but it’ll be a close one either way.

     

    AFC SOUTH

    Baltimore @ Jacksonville

    Cleveland @ Indianapolis

    Houston @ New England

    Seattle @ Tennessee

    I don’t understand how it is the Texans play the Patriots so often. Is this like college, where some powerhouse like Alabama pays Northwest Technical Union State to come in and lose 78-3? Are the Texans getting any benefit whatsoever out of this arrangement? This will be their seventh game in six years. And it’s been such a one-sided series, ESPN hired Sabrina Rubin Erdely to cover the game. Seattle is overrated, as the Titans will demonstrate.

     

    AFC EAST

    Denver @ Buffalo

    Houston @ New England

    Miami @ NY Jets

    We’ll see the universe contract before the NFL does, but in the unlikely event of contraction the Jets are my pick for the ol’ Goodell Guillotine. Their uniforms are boring. Their mascot name stupidly rhymes with a bunch of other pro teams in the area. Here is their history in brief:

    1) Joe Namath guarantees Jets win in Super Bowl III

    2) Joe Namath does an ad for pantyhose

    3) NOTHING AT ALL HAPPENS FOR 30+ YEARS

    4) Joe Namath hits on Suzy Kolber

    5) Head coach Rex Ryan is a foot fetishist

    6) Brett Favre…plays for the Jets? How did this…what??

    7) The greatest play in the history of professional sports

    That’s it. Other inept franchises have had some memorable coaches and players. The Browns had some strong teams in the 80s. The Lions had Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson. The Bills went to four straight Super Bowls. The Chargers had some fun teams in the late 70s and again in the past 10 years. But the Jets? The most famous Jet after Joe Namath and Mark Sanchez is Fireman Ed.

     

    NFC WEST

    LA Rams 41 @ San Francisco 39 (F – 9/21)

    Seattle @ Tennessee

    Dallas @ Arizona

    Probably my least-favorite division in football. The Rams seem to be doing some things right, but the Niners remain a horrid mess, Seattle continues to gradually decline, an inch at a time, from the heights that brought them to two straight Super Bowls. Yes, Russell Wilson is a better QB now than he was then, but his offensive line is not a good one. Beast Mode is long gone, and the defense is not what it used to be. Here, let me show you:

    2012 – W/L (11-5) Points Allowed (1st), Yards Allowed (4th)

    2013 – W/L (13-3) Points Allowed (1st), Yards Allowed (1st) Won SB

    2014 – W/L (12-4) Points Allowed (1st), Yards Allowed (1st) Lost SB

    2015 – W/L (10-6) Points Allowed (1st), Yards Allowed (2nd)

    2016 – W/L (10-5-1) Points Allowed (3rd), Yards Allowed (5th)

    Granted, it’s extremely early, but the Seahawks are 5th and 13th in those same two categories thus far. And Seattle’s Point Differential has taken a hit over the past few seasons:

    2013 – +186

    2014 – +140

    2015 – +146

    2016 – +62

    And the Cardinals? They’ve got to be the worst good team in football if it’s not the Lions – or if they’re even still any good. A couple of years ago they had a receiving corps that was the envy of the NFL: Larry Fitzgerald, John Brown, and Michael Floyd could have made a lot of QBs look good. Fitzgerald was the old man at 32, but Brown and Floyd were 25 and 26 respectively. Well, Fitzgerald is even older now but still around; so is Brown, but his 2015 looks like a flash in the pan, and Floyd wrote his own ticket right out of town. (Okay, technically the police wrote the ticket) And Carson Palmer appears to be on his last replacement hip – have the Cardinals planned for life after Carson? Since he’s currently backed up by Blaine Gabbert and Drew Stanton, I’ma say NO.

     

    NFC NORTH

    Pittsburgh @ Chicago

    Cincinnati @ Green Bay

    Atlanta @ Detroit

    Tampa Bay @ Minnesota

    Poor Vikings. It’s always something. Losing four Super Bowls, the Herschel Walker trade, the Gary Anderson miss, the Blair Walsh miss, Brett Favre’s interception against the Saints, Bridgewater’s knee…hard to think of a more snakebit franchise in sports. But take heart, Vikes fans – when it does happen, and it will, it will be one of the best days of your life. I’m 42, and I’ve already seen things happen in sports no one ever thought possible: the Red Sox down 0-3 to the Yankees, of all teams, and coming back to win. Cleveland winning a championship of any kind, but in that case against a 73-win Warriors team that was up 3-1. THE FUCKING CHICAGO CUBS. You really think it can’t happen in Minnesota? I remember when the Patriots used to suuuuu-uuuuck. The Warriors were terrible for generations. The Kansas City Royals went 30 mostly wretched seasons in between championships. No, it’s coming one day, you guys. Just hang in there.

     

    NFC SOUTH

    Pittsburgh @ Chicago

    Tampa Bay @ Minnesota

    New Orleans @ Carolina

    If Drew Brees plays a full season this year and next, he’ll have more career passing yards than anyone. Doesn’t mean the Saints are any good, but wow, what a career this midget has had. Yes, Brees had Jimmy Graham at his best; who did he have at wide receiver? Marques Colston? Colston was a hell of a player, and quite underrated, but we’re not talking a Jerry Rice/Randy Moss-caliber wideout. Brees didn’t exactly have Walter Payton in the backfield, either. No, Brees brought the New Orleans Saints, one of the NFL’s long-suffering franchises prior to his arrival, to the NFL summit with good talent around him. Put another way: Aaron Rodgers is my personal gold standard at QB, and he’s had better weapons around him than Brees, yet Brees has achieved about as much as Rodgers has. Just thought someone ought to eulogize Brees since he’s 38 and his career’s almost over. Who would have thought signing a 32-year old running back was a bad idea?

     

    NFC EAST

    Oakland @ Washington

    Dallas @ Arizona

    NY Giants @ Philadelphia Eagles

    The NHL used to have the Campbell Conference and the Wales Conference. Within those two conferences were the Adams, Norris, Patrick, and Smythe divisions. It’s not clear why the NHL abandoned those names for divisions and conferences; if anything, other sports should have copied the NHL. Going with East and West raises interesting questions, like “What is Dallas doing in a division with Washington DC, Philadelphia, and New York?” In a system similar to the old NHL, we’d simply call it the Douchebag Division and everyone would understand perfectly.

    And those Giants…hoo boy. They’re so bad, no one’s going to care in a few weeks. Right now people are freaking out because they think the Giants are somehow capable of righting the ship at this point. I don’t see how.

    FWIW and Links:

    …the NFL might force the Chargers into returning to San Diego. Only if the Powder Blues are mandatory, along with this song before every home game

    …in 2016 Colin Kaepernick had a better interception rate than NFL MVP Matt Ryan. You see, Kaepernick is still a great player! Statistics don’t lie!

    …The NFL hates college QB stars? This guy says so, and his evidence is nothing more than a classic sky-is-falling assertion:

    The NFL has a quarterback problem. The talent discrepancy is bigger than it’s ever been in my time covering the league and the draft

    (Imagine his quote is in Comic Sans for my amusement) If this disparity exists, it should be easy to point to statistical evidence that would show it.

    Fantasy Studs and Duds from NFL.com – I’m only sharing this link because of this stupid quote:

    Jameis Winston has struggled against top NFL defenses.

    Most QBs thrive against top defenses – not Winston!

    Anyway, hopefully your gambling goes well enough that you can buy better replacement orphans, and know that you will suffer humiliation when my area sports team defeats your area sports team.

  • Week 4 College Football Preview

    Losers from last week, look at the rankings. This is what you have made me do. It is all your fault. Think about it. And here is sloopy’s mandatory link.

    Dubious Rivalries of the Week

    Old Dominion @ Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA

    The commonwealth throwdown. The Battle for Madison’s Shoe. The Founding Fight. This rivalry has many names, which is amusing as they have never played in football. Here is hoping that “The Battle for Madison’s Shoe” catches on.

    ODU didn’t play football between 1940 and 2009, so at least it is understandable.

    Tailgate of the Week

    Kent St @ Louisville, Louisville, KY

    My old stomping grounds. Tailgating at the actual game isn’t anything special, but I know the spots to booze up around town. Also, Louisville punches well above its weight when it comes to the restaurant scene. And its relatively cheap.

    I will be eating here this Saturday. I haven’t tried it before, I will let you all know how it goes.

    Beer: In my opinion, the best beer bar in the USA is Holy Grale. Built in a former Unitarian Church, it has a great selection of craft beers that you probably won’t see many other places. Plus a great burger.

    Booze: Mint Julep Recipe – Henry Watterson

    Pluck the mint gently from its bed, just as the dew of the evening is about to form on it. Select the choicer sprigs only, but do not rinse them. Prepare the simple syrup and measure out a half-tumbler of whiskey. Pour the whiskey into a well-frosted silver cup, throw the other ingredients away, and drink the whiskey.

    Really, don’t drink that crap. If you have to adulterate your bourbon, I recommend ice. If you really, really need something else, make a Manhattan.

    Game of the Century of the Week

    Mississippi St @ University [sic] of Georgia, Athens, GA

    After their thumping of LSU in this game last week, Mississippi St makes a surprising return. Here is hoping that they do the same this week, only more so. History suggests it is unlikely, as Georgia leads the all time series 17-6. That isn’t many games for two teams that have been in the same conference forever.

    Top 25

    1. Duke (3-0) 4.597 +3
    2. Michigan (3-0) 4.490 +6
    3. Iowa (3-0) 4.476 +10
    4. Utah (3-0) 4.466 +1
    5. Clemson (3-0) 4.444 +4
    6. Mississippi St (3-0) 4.419
    7. Maryland (2-0) 4.411 +10
    8. Virginia Tech (3-0) 4.410 +11
    9. Georgia (3-0) 4.393 +1
    10. California (3-0) 4.390 -3
    11. Southern Cal (3-0) 4.382
    12. Georgia Tech (1-1) 4.352 +12
    13. Oregon (3-0) 4.322 +3
    14. Michigan St (2-0) 4.306 +9
    15. Texas Tech (2-0) 4.300 -3
    16. Alabama (3-0) 4.290 -1
    17. Washington St (3-0) 4.246 +5
    18. Miami FL (1-0) 4.235 NR
    19. Vanderbilt (3-0) 4.233 +2
    20. Wake Forest (3-0) 4.212 NR
    21. Indiana (1-1) 4.209 NR
    22. UCLA (2-1) 4.183 -21
    23. Oklahoma St (3-0) 4.183 +2
    24. Oklahoma (3-0) 4.165 NR
    25. Colorado (3-0) 4.151 NR

    Falling out: South Carolina, LSU, Ole Miss, Illinois, Tennessee. A bloodbath for the SEC, although 3 of the 4 were due to in-conference losses.

  • Week 3 College Football Preview

    This is sloopy’s mandatory link

    Dubious Rivalries of the Week

    SMU @ TCU, Ft Worth, TX
    Rice @ Houston, Houston, TX

    It’s the dregs of the old SWC, metro-rivalry week. These four schools got left behind when the SWC merged with the Big 8 to form the Big 12. Baylor, on the other hand, got to go along. Why? Because Ann Richards is a Baylor alumnus. Hey look, it’s something approaching politics in the football preview. Let’s put a stop to that.

    And I am not sure how Rice gets mentioned yet again.

    Tailgate of the Week

    I couldn’t find an interesting one this week. I have a great one waiting for a team to be at home, but could find nothing to compare. If anyone wants to make suggestions, this is the hardest section to fill in.

    So, like many games this week, I am cancelling due to Irma.

    Game of the Century of the Week

    LSU @ Mississippi St, Starkville, MS

    LSU leads this series 73-34-3. And 23-2 in the last 25. Why I am using this game? So I can link to this, the greatest sporting moment in Starkville history. That video doesn’t do justice to just how close MSU came to winning that game 4-3. I could have waited until Auburn-MSU week, but I think they are playing at Auburn this year, plus by the time that occurs, no one will care about either of those teams. In addition, the day of this post is the anniversary of the game.

    Starkville is well named. No one wants to go there. Ever. I point to two pieces of evidence to prove the point. Between 1923 and 1982, LSU never played in Starkville. Between 1934 and 1957 they only played in Baton Rouge. When Mississippi St was able to actually get a home game vs LSU, they played it in Jackson.

    The second piece of evidence? Despite being in the SEC from its founding until 1966, Georgia Tech never played a conference game vs Mississippi St. GT refused to play in Starkville, and MSU wouldn’t come to Atlanta without a return game.

    Top 25

    Another week of college football!

    1. UCLA (2-0) 4.682 +5
    2. South Carolina (2-0) 4.641
    3. LSU (2-0) 4.615 -2
    4. Duke (2-0) 4.586
    5. Utah (2-0) 4.567 +7
    6. Mississippi St (2-0) 4.553 -3
    7. California (2-0) 4.498 +11
    8. Michigan (2-0) 4.470 +5
    9. Clemson (2-0) 4.470 -2
    10. Georgia (2-0) 4.463 -1
    11. Southern Cal (2-0) 4.450 NR
    12. Texas Tech (1-0) 4.447 NR
    13. Iowa (2-0) 4.446 +6
    14. Mississippi (2-0) 4.424 -6
    15. Alabama (2-0) 4.418 -4
    16. Oregon (2-0) 4.404 +7
    17. Maryland (2-0) 4.392 +7
    18. Illinois (2-0) 4.347 +2
    19. Virginia Tech (2-0) 4.346 NR
    20. Tennessee (2-0) 4.343 +2
    21. Vanderbilt (2-0) 4.336 NR
    22. Washington St (2-0) 4.329 NR
    23. Michigan St (2-0) 4.298 -2
    24. Georgia Tech (1-1) 4.294 NR
    25. Oklahoma St (2-0) 4.291 NR

    Falling out: Auburn, Notre Dame, Arizona St, Nebraska, Boston College, Pitt, Syracuse.