Author: Jack

I have officially recovered from my food-induced coma from last week and I am ready to try a good old-fashioned Football Friday for this week.  This one will present the Brothel Defense Award for 2024, and it will set up the imaginary SHOE Tournament that would identify this year’s worst college football team.  So, buckle up while I get a couple of standard items out of the way.

Last weekend, the Linfield University Wildcats won their first game in the Division III college football tournament beating Texas Lutheran 65-3.  This week, the Wildcats stay home and play host to Mary Hardin-Baylor who will be making a trek of about 2000 miles from Belton, TX for the game.  The Crusaders bring an 8-3 record to the kickoff.  Go Wildcats!

My pre-season selection as a “sleeper team” for 2024 was Nebraska.  The Cornhuskers managed to make themselves bowl eligible by winning 6 games which is an improvement over the last 5 seasons – – but in truth, I thought they might win as many as 8 games.  No matter: Nebraska fans will get to travel to wherever their team gets to play one more game this year.  Go Huskers!

 

College Football Commentary:

 

As we come down to the weekend that will determine conference champions in college football, I want to start by identifying teams with laudatory records:

• Undefeated in 2024:
  • Oregon.  That’s the list
• One Loss in 2024:
  • Army
  • Boise St.
  • Indiana
  • Notre Dame
  • Penn St.
  • SMU
  • Texas

Barring something really weird going down this weekend, I cannot see any scenario where both Boise St. and Army make the CFP.  I can envision ways that neither one makes the playoffs, but not any way for them both to get in.  Here is a link to an ESPN.com article that will give you the latest CFP Rankings by the Selection Committee so you can see how the committee sees the college football landscape prior to this championship weekend.

Two teams ranked very highly – – Penn St. at #3 and Notre Dame at #4 – – are question marks in my mind.  Neither team played a difficult schedule and both teams looked good-but-not-more-than-that too often for me to think they are as good as those rankings indicate.  But I need not worry about that now because the CFP will determine the national champion – – and sort of give us a better perspective on the rankings via the eyeball test – – on the field and on TV.

For me, the much more interesting aspect of the CFP is down at the cut line for invitations.  Based on the rankings alone Miami would be in the playoffs while Ole Miss and South Carolina would be out.  Having seen all three of those teams this year, I think Miami is the weakest of the bunch – – but that is just me and I don’t have a vote.

Let me look at a few of the key game results from last weekend.

Michigan 13  Ohio St. 10:  The Buckeyes were 21-point favorites in this game and – to use a horseracing term – – spit the bit.  Michigan will go to a minor bowl game with the win; Ohio St. will sit out the Big-10 Championship Game as a result of the loss.  There are some in Columbus who want Ryan Day to leave town and for the Buckeyes to get a new coach.  Day’s overall record at Ohio St is 66-10 which is fine – – except – – his record against Michigan is only 1-4.

S Carolina 17  Clemson 14:  Both teams are now 9-3.  That loss would certainly have left Clemson out of consideration for the CFP – – except Miami lost as well last weekend and that puts Clemson in the ACC Championship Game.  A win there gives them a guaranteed slot; a loss will send them to a minor bowl game.  Do not sleep on South Carolina:  they have three losses in 2024 but two of the losses were to Alabama (by 2 points) and to LSU (by 3 points).  The Gamecocks played a difficult schedule and played it well.

Syracuse 42  Miami 38:  Speaking of the ACC Championship Game, this loss to Syracuse took Miami out of that picture.  Two weeks ago, Miami was ranked as the #6 team by the CFP Committee; this week they dropped to #12 which is the lowest slot admissible.  Miami led 21-0 at one point in this game and still managed to lose in the end.

Notre Dame 49  USC 35:  Note the margin of victory here is 2 TDs.  The Irish got two Pick-Six scores in the 4^th quarter of the game. One was for 100 yards and the other was for 99 yards – – in the same quarter of the same game.  USC is not a great team despite its history in college football and that is what it took for Notre Dame to win the game.  As I said, the Irish are good this year; but I am not ready to label them as dominant or fearsome or anything like that.  Here are the “best teams” Notre Dame has beaten this season:

• Texas A&M – – above average team
• Georgia Tech – – above average team
• USC – – average team.

Texas 17, Texas A&M 7: The Longhorns are now 11-1 and will take on Georgia in the SEC Championship Game.   That one loss for Texas came at the hands of Georgia back in mid-October; the game was in Austin and Georgia won by 15 points.  It should be a great rematch.  In the game against Texas A&M, the Longhorns dominated the stat sheet outgaining the Aggies by just over 200 yards for the day.  Normally, such a disparity in offense leads to a much bigger margin of victory than 10 points.  Texas took a 17-0 lead with about 6 minutes to play in the second quarter.  After that score, here are the Texas possessions for the rest of the game:

• 6 plays 28 yards Missed Field Goal
• 5 plays 32 yards PUNT
• 11 plays 78 yards INT
• 12 plays 64 yards LOST FUMBLE
• 5 plays 27 yards BLOCKED PUNT
• 6 plays 21 yards PUNT
• 3 plays minus-3 yards End of Game

Indiana 66 Purdue 0:  Indiana made sure that they did not disappear from the sight of the CFP Committee with this dominant performance.  Make no mistake, Purdue is a bad football team [Foreshadowing here: you will see them in the SHOE Tournament field.] but what Indiana did to them last week is embarrassing.

• Purdue Total Offense = 67 yards
• Indiana Total Offense = 582 yards
• Purdue was 0 for 11 in third-down situations
• Purdue averaged only 1.5 yards per offensive play.

BC 34  Pitt 23:  I put this here because Pitt started out the season winning its first 7 games.  This loss was the fifth loss in a row for the Panthers.  Odd …

Colorado 52  Oklahoma St. 0:  In preseason polls, Oklahoma St. was projected to be at the top of the Big-12 standings and a participant in the conference championship game.  Not quite … The Cowboys’ overall record for 2024 was 3-9 and their conference record was 0-9.

Georgia 44  Georgia Tech 42:  It took 8 overtime periods to settle this one.  Tech dominated the stat sheet outgaining the Bulldogs by149 yards, but Georgia came out on top in this big rivalry game.

FAU 63  Tulsa 16:  Both teams are 3-9 for the season; this was not a game of importance.  The score at halftime was 42-9.  Tulsa’s “defense” gave up 362 yards rushing (13.4 yards per carry) and 656 yards of Total Offense – – to a team that had only won 2 games at kickoff time and was on the SHOE Watchlist.

And now the time has come to identify the college football Brothel Defense Award for 2024.  This “Award” celebrates the team defense that allowed the most scoring for the season; it was easy to score on just as it is easy to score in a brothel.  And the “winner” of this “award” is:

• Kent State University which gave up 44.1 points per game.

Before getting to the college games this weekend, let me identify the 8 teams that I would put in the SHOE Tournament for this year should such a tournament actually exist.

• Seed #1 Kent State:  They are the only winless team in Division 1- A college football this year and they are the winner of the Brothel Defense Award.  ‘Nuff said.
• Seed #2 Purdue:  Their record is 1-11; that win was back in August over Division 1-AA Indiana St.
• Seed #3 Southern Mississippi:  Their record is 1-11; that win was in September over Division 1-AA SE Louisiana.  And … all eleven losses were by double-digits.
• Seed #4 UMass:  Their record is 2-10 which sounds better than 1-11 except that both of those wins were over Division 1-AA schools.
• Seed #5 Tulsa:  Their record is 3-9 but just take a look at the egg they laid last weekend against FAU (see above) for why they belong here.
• Seed #6 Florida St.:  Their record is 2-10 but the Seminoles may not have been that good.  One win was over Division 1-AA Charleston Southern which finished 1-11 against Division 1-AA competition.  Yikes!
• Seed #7 Temple:  Their record is 3-9 but they have been outplayed too often to be considered clear of this potential ignominy.
• Seed #8 Oklahoma St.: Their record is 3-9 but their underperformance of expectations needs to be recognized by their placement here.

[Aside:  If you expected to see Kennesaw St. on this list with their 2-10 record, I left them out because this is their first year in Division 1-A and so they get a pass … just once.]

 

This Week’s Games:

 

(Fri Nite) Tulane – 4.5 vs, Army (45.5):  This is the American Conference Championship Game.  Army’s only loss was to Notre Dame; Tulane has lost 3 times – – to Kansas St., Oklahoma and Memphis.  When Tulane played Navy, the Green Wave won 35-0.

(Fri Nite) UNLV vs. Boise St. (58.5):  This is the Mountain West Championship Game.  If Boise St. wins here they are pretty much guaranteed a spot in the CFP; if they lose, things could get exciting.  This is a rematch from late October; back then, Boise St, went to Las Vegas and beat the Rebels 29-24.  UNLV has not lost since that game.  This game will be on the “Smurf Turf” in Boise and fortunately the weather will merely be “cold” and not “unfit for human habitation” as could be the case in early December.  Nevertheless, I think the weather will not be conducive to explosive offensive football, so I’ll take the game to stay UNDER; put that in the Betting Bundle.

Iowa St. vs. Arizona St. – 2 (50):  This is the Big-12 Championship Game.  Both teams are 10-2 for the season; they did not meet earlier in this season.  I have exactly no sense how this game will unfold; neither team has grabbed my attention so far in 2024.

Ohio vs Miami (OH) – 2 (43):  This is the MAC Championship Game.  In terms of timing, this game is on at the same time as the Iowa St./Arizona St. game.  Not exactly a compelling reason to be in front of my TV early in the afternoon on Saturday…

Georgia vs Texas – 3 (50):  This is the SEC Championship Game, and it is my College Football Game of the Week.  Texas lost once this year – – at home by 15 points to Georgia.  This is a big-time rematch.  I don’t know why the oddsmakers have Texas favored here because I think this is a “pick ’em game” so I’ll take those 3 points along with the Bulldogs; put that in the Betting Bundle.

Marshall vs. La-Lafayette – 5.5 (58):  This is the Sun Belt Championship Game.  Marshall is 9-3 this year and has won 6 games in a row; La-Lafayette is 10-2 this year.  I have now exhausted my insight into this contest…

Clemson vs, SMU – 3 (55.5):  This is the ACC Championship Game.  The winner gets into the CFP and the loser does not.  Clemson lost a close game to bitter rival South Carolina last week by a field goal; SMU is 11-1 on the season but they never played a team nearly as good as South Carolina.  Again, I think this is a “pick ‘em game”; and so once again, I will take the Tigers plus the points; put that in the Betting Bundle.

Penn St. vs. Oregon – 3.5 (50.5):  This is the Big-10 Championship Game; I thought about labeling this as the College Game of the Week for more than a couple of minutes.  I can see this game going down to the final possession and being decided by a play or two in the final three or four minutes.  I can also see this game as an Oregon blow-out.  What I cannot see is Penn St. running Oregon out of the building.  I’ll just sit back and watch this one and look for players who might be interesting draft picks for the NFL next Spring.

 

NFL Commentary:

 

The NFL regular season race has hit the quarter pole and teams in the running for playoff slots need to kick it up a notch [Hat Tip to Emeril Lagasse] in the final month of the regular season.  So let me look at the playoff picture as it stands now.  In the American Conference:

• The Bills have clinched the AFC East, and the Chiefs have clinched a playoff spot – – but not their division title as of now.
• The “last team in” for the AFC playoffs might get in with a 9-8 record but a 10-7 record is much more likely to work for a team.  So, the Steelers, Texans, Chargers and Ravens all appear to be in good position.  The Steelers are 9-3 today; the other three teams have 8 wins apiece.
• If that situation continues to hold, that means there is one playoff slot left for the rest of the conference.  AND according to NFL.com, only the Raiders, the Pats and the Jags have been mathematically eliminated.
• My pick as of today for that last playoff spot would be the Broncos with the Colts being the team chasing the Broncos.

Meanwhile, over in the National Conference:

• Lots of stuff is up in the air this morning; four teams are in a grouping that stands out from the rest of the conference.  The Lions have 12 wins; the Eagles and Vikes each have 10 wins, and the Packers have 9 wins as of today.  The Lions have not clinched their division as of today, but last night’s win over the Packers guarantees that the Lions will take part in the NFC playoffs.  The Eagles showed us last year that a December Melt-Down is a real thing; nonetheless, it would take some sort of cataclysmic collapse on the part of those 4 teams to miss the playoffs this year.  Count all three of the other teams here in …
• In the NFC West, two games separate the top team – – Seahawks – – from the last place team – – Niners.  The division winner gets in of course but it might be difficult to find a way to get more than one team from the NFC West into the playoffs.  I doubt the Niners can rally to win the division this year; (see below) having said that, I really have no idea which of the other three teams will come out on top in this division.
• In the NFC South, the Bucs and the Falcons are tied at the top of the division with 6-6 records.  Again, the division winner will get in, but it is not clear how another team sneaks in from that division.  The remaining schedule for the Bucs is awfully soft so I guess I like the Bucs to win that division again this year.
• So, with the four teams identified at the top here plus the two division winners in those tight divisional races, that leaves one playoff slot in the NFC up for grabs.  Only the Giants in the NFC have been mathematically eliminated and so the race is on.  My pick is the Commanders to fill that slot.

Here are some comments on games from last weekend:

Broncos 41  Browns 32:  This game was a perfect example of what I call:

• The Jameis Winston Experience

Winston threw for 475 yards and the Browns racked up 552 yards on offense.  Winston threw for 4 TDs and racked up fantasy points galore.  How great is that?  Winston also threw 3 INTs in the game including 2 Pick-Sixes – – one of them coming with 2 minutes left in the game and the Browns trailing by only 2 points.

Eagles 24  Ravens 19:  It would be simplistic to try to pin this loss on Ravens’ kicker Justin Tucker who missed two field goas and an extra point in the game decided by only 5 points.  Rather, the game was won by the Eagles’ defense which held Derrick Henry to only 82 yards rushing and which sacked Lamar Jackson 3 times.  Oh, by the way, having Saquon Barkley rush for 107 yards and a TD did not hurt either.

Commanders 42  Titans 18:  Forget the stats; this game was as lopsided as the score indicates.  The Titans were outplayed at all positions and for the entirety of the game.  In addition, the Titans committed 11 penalties in the first half of the game – – in the first half!  That may have been the best showing by the Commanders so far in 2024.

Vikes 23  Cards 22:  The Vikes pulled another rabbit out of a hat and scored with about a minute and a half left in the game to beat a Cards’ team that outgained the Vikes by more than 130 yards for the game.

Steelers 44  Bengals 38:  When you think of AFC North games, you usually picture a game where defense and field position are key strategic elements and getting the total score up around 50 points is not commonplace.  And then there is this game …Russell Wilson continued his march toward “Comeback Player of the Year” throwing for 414 yards and 3 TDs.  The Steelers‘ defense does not give up 30+ points very often, but the Bengals made the Steelers sweat a bit on the way to this win.  Here is a stat I ran across:

• Joe Burrow has thrown for 300+ yards and 3 TDs in each of his last 3 games.
• The Bengals have lost all three of those games.

Seahawks 26  Jets 21:  It did not happen at the end of the game, but the margin of victory here was provided by Seahawks’ DT Leonard Williams – – late of the Jets – – who intercepted an Aaron Rodgers pass and went “rumblin’ and stumblin’ all the way” for a Pick Six event.  [Hat tip to Chris Berman there.]

Bucs 26  Panthers 23 (OT):  It took some last-minute heroics from Baker Mayfield to send the game to OT allowing the Bucs to win their 6^th game of the year which ties them with the Falcons atop the NFC South.

Chargers 17  Falcons 13:  The Falcons sacked Justin Herbert 5 times in the game and lost; that usually does not happen.  However, Falcons’ QB, Kirk Cousins threw 4 INTs in the game; usually when that happens the team loses – – as it did here.

Bills 38  Niners 10:  December in Buffalo in an outdoor stadium; the weather made the game fun in the sense that you don’t get to see many games like that in a season.  My takeaway from the game is that the Niners are a team in trouble; they have too many injuries to too many of their best players.

• Brandon Aiyuk
• Nick Bosa
• Dre Greenlaw
• Jordan Mason
• Christian McCaffrey
• Trent Williams

Everyone will remember this game for the “hook and ladder play” with Amari Cooper and Josh Allen, but I think the status of the Niners’ roster revealing itself so vividly is the most important thing to take away from the game.

 

Games This Week:

 

Six teams will get to rest this weekend as NFL BYE Weeks come to a close:

1. Broncos:  I doubt that Bo Nix will win Offensive Rookie of the Year, but I do think he is the biggest surprise of the 2024 Draft Class.  I think he is definitely a keeper.
2. Colts:  If my guess is correct that it will take 10 wins to make the playoffs in the AFC, then the Colts need to win out from here.
3. Commanders:  They are in a good place; they are a young team; they need to avoid reading the kudos being sent their way and especially to avoid believing that they are as good as their fanboys make them out to be.
4. Pats:  They are 3-10; they are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs; there is a lot of rebuilding left to be done with that squad
5. Ravens:  As this team does some self-analysis, they really need to figure out how a team as talented as they are can have lost 5 games this season.
6. Texans:  CJ Stroud is suffering a mild sophomore slump; nonetheless, the Texans have a two-game lead in the AFC South division, and they need to maintain their focus down the stretch.

The Lions took care of business last night beating the Packers 34-31 on a last-second field goal.  There was an unusual stat produced in the game; the Lions converted 4 of 5 fourth-down situations.  That is unusual in two ways:

• It is unusual for a team to try for a first down on 4^th down 5 times in a game.
• It is unusual for the team doing so to win the game.  Normally, that sort of stat would indicate the team was grasping at straws to stay in a game.

Do not misinterpret; the Lions did not win this game by a fluke.  The Lions outgained the Packers by about 100 yards and held the ball for 36 minutes in the game.

Falcons at Vikes – 5.5 (45.5):  I guess you can call this a “Homecoming Game” for Kirk Cousins after all his time wearing purple jerseys.  He must play better than he did last week; four INTs this week against the Vikes would be a disaster.

Saints – 4.5 at Giants (41):  At first glance, I thought this would be the Dog-Breath Game of the Week but not quite.  The Giants are awful no matter who they trot out at QB and the Saints are only a little better.  The Giants do have one distinctive feature about them as of today:

• They are the only team in the NFL to be winless at home.
• They are 0-6-0 in front of their home fans.

Do your best to ignore this game.

Jags at Titans – 3.5 (39.5):  This is the Dog-Breath Game of the Week.  These are two miserable teams where the game will likely come down to which team makes the last bad play.  Speaking of making bad plays, the Jags are the only team in the league that allows 400+ yards per game to the opponent.  Ugh!  The acronym for this game is “AYE” – – Avert Your Eyes.

Raiders at Bucs – 7 (46):  This is the second road game in a row for the Raiders; that is never an easy thing for a team and especially not for a less-than-mediocre team.  Nevertheless, the Bucs tend to play to the level of their opponent and this game could be closer than you might expect.  I admit I was tempted to take the Raiders with the points here, but I just don’t trust Aiden O’ Connell against a blitz-happy Bucs’ defense.

Browns at Steelers – 7 (43.5):  Both teams played high-scoring games last week (see above).  I doubt that is going to happen again. However, a final score of 24-20 would put this game OVER and I do not think that is an outrageous expectation; I like the OVER here; put it in the “Betting Bundle”.

Panthers at Eagles – 13 (46):  This is a Sandwich Game for the Eagles.  Be very afraid…  The Eagles had a big win over the Ravens last week; next week they have the Steelers coming to pay a visit; between those tough games come the “lowly Panthers”.  Bryce Young has been playing well and the Panthers have not been the patsies they had been for the first half of the year.

Jets at Dolphins – 5.5 (44.5):  Neither team is “eliminated” from the playoffs yet, but neither one is likely to be playing beyond the first weekend in January.  The Dolphins have looked a lot better since Tua came back to the lineup, but even that is not enough to make it a fearsome opponent.  The Jets need to find a latter-day Moses to lead them out of the desert.  Here is my simple-minded assessment of this game:

• The Dolphins play poorly in cold-weather games; this game is in Miami; it will not be cold.
• The Jets play poorly in cold-weather, hot-weather or lovely-weather games.

Based on that meteorological analysis, I like the Dolphins at home to win and cover; put that in the “Betting Bundle”.

Seahawks at Cards – 2.5 (44):  This is an important NFC West division game so that makes it the Game of the Week.  The Seahawks beat the Cards in Seattle putting them atop the division standings; the Cards need this one to avoid falling two games behind the Seahawks – – and losing the tiebreaker there – – with only four games to go after this week.

Bills – 3 at Rams (49):  You might expect a small letdown by the Bills after clinching the AFC East last weekend.  However, they are a game behind the Chiefs in the race for the BYE Week and homefield throughout the playoffs.  That should keep the team motivated.

Bears at Niners – 4 (44):  The Niners are a M*A*S*H unit (see above); the Bears’ most common trait is to invent a way to lose a game at the very end.  Who knows which malady will prevail here?

(Sun Nite) Chargers at Chiefs – 4 (43):  This is my runner-up for Game of the Week because it will be interesting to see if the Chiefs can continue to win games by a razor thin margin with miraculous endings.  The Chargers need this game more than the Chiefs need it – – although the Chiefs do want to stay ahead of the Bills for that BYE Week in the playoffs.

(Mon Nite) Bengals – 5.5 at Cowboys (49):  Here we have two bad defenses [I am trying to be ever so polite here] and two competent offenses.  So, why is the Total Line at 49 and not at 55?  Another point: I think that line is fat.  So, give me the Cowboys plus the points AND give me the game to go OVER; put both in the “Betting Bundle”.

Let me review this week’s “Betting Bundle”:

1. UNLV/Boise St. UNDER 58.5
2. Georgia +3 against Texas
3. Clemson +3 against SMU
4. Browns/Steelers OVER 43.5
5. Dolphins – 5.5 over Jets
6. Cowboys +5.5 against Bengals
7. Cowboys/Bengals OVER 49

[Aside: With seven entries, this is more like a “Speculative Sack” than a mere “Betting Bundle”.]

But wait; there’s more.  Here are four Money Line Parlays just for fun:

• Boise St. @ minus-200
• Oregon @ minus-170     $100 wager to win $139

And …

• Boise St @ minus-200
• Oregon @ minus-170
• Georgia @ +125     $100 wager to win $436

And …

• Cowboys @ +205
• Dolphins @ – 240     $100 wager to win $332

And …

• Saints @ minus-200
• Bills @ minus-180
• Bears @ +165   $100 wager to win $518

Finally, today’s “last words” come from Vince Lombardi:

“If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

Today shapes up to be a potpourri of topics across a variety of sports.  Actually, it is a situation that allows me to use a word that I will never forget from studying vocabulary lists to prep for the SATs back in my high school days – – right before the time of the cave paintings.  That word is “salmagundi”, and it is a mixture of random ingredients.  Yup, that is what today looks to be …

It was only about a month ago that the Baltimore Ravens pulled off what appeared at the time to be a “player heist”.  They acquired Diontae Johnson from the Panthers plus a 6^th round pick from the Panthers in exchange for a 5^th round pick from the Ravens.  Given where the teams stood – – and stand – – in the standings, that is almost a pick swap, and the Ravens got a starting WR as the payment for a pick swap.  I said at the time that this had to be a great deal for the Ravens unless the trade indicated that Johnson was such a pain in the ass in the locker room that the Panthers would be glad to have gotten anything in return for him.

Well, maybe the Panthers were onto something …  The Ravens have suspended Johnson as of yesterday for conduct detrimental to the team and at least part of that detrimental conduct involved Johnson’s refusal to go into the game against the Eagles last weekend.  In that game, Ravens’ wideout, Rashod Bateman, suffered an injury and Johnson allegedly refused to take his place on the offense.  Before his days in Carolina, Johnson spent five years with the Steelers where he was described variously as “mercurial” and “temperamental.“ Johnson’s contract is up at the end of the 2024 regular season; this suspension based on the team’s assertion that he refused to enter a game is not something that will make GMs around the league fight to see who can sign him first.

Moving on …  Mack Brown is out as the head football coach at UNC; at age 73, he will probably have a tough time getting another Division 1-A college job should he even want one.  This is his second stint as the coach in Chapel Hill.  From 1988 through 1997, Brown coached the Tar Heels and led the team to 5 bowl games.  He returned to Chapel Hill in 2019 and has had the Tar Heels bowl eligible in every season of his regime.

A lot of folks say that the college football game has passed Brown by.  I am not smart enough to say such a thing with conviction but here is something I am willing to say:

• UNC knows what it takes in order to be a powerhouse basketball team on the national level.  So, why is UNC not similarly a top-shelf football school that is dominating in a middling football conference?

Switching gears …  Do you realize that the NBA regular season is about 25% in the books?  Have you gotten into following the NBA on something more than a weekly basis yet?  From my perspective, just about everything that has happened since the start of the regular season on 22 October as “Glorified Spring Training” where the games count in the standings, but the fan interest is absent.

OK, maybe you can accuse me of my deficient NBA interest to the fact that my “local team” – – the Washington Wizards – – is sporting a record of 2-17 and are being outscored by an average of just under 16 points per game.  Actually, the Wizards are interesting to watch if you are willing to watch a team that you know from the outset is always outmanned and will only win by accident.

The Wizards have two young players from France on the roster who make plenty of mistakes and who also show flashes of potential competency.  Watching those two guys – – and paying only passing attention to everyone else – – can be entertaining.

1. Bilal Coulibaly is in his second year in the NBA; he is 20 years old.  He plays perimeter defense very well and some nights he exhibits an offensive game while on other nights he is encouraged to shoot by his defending opponent.  His progress from last year is noticeable; he should become a good-not-great NBA player with a long career ahead of him.
2. Alex Sarr was the #2 overall pick in the Draft this year.  He is 19 years old and is 7 feet tall.  His offensive game is more than rough around the edges; his defensive game is often well better than “merely good”.

Let me be clear.  The Wizards are a bad basketball team, and they are going to have a miserable record in this regular season.  However, those two young players could become valuable component pieces to a pretty good team if a proper blend of offensive talent were blended with their skills.  The entertainment value for these two “prodigies” is going to wear thin without some added help; that is the burden borne by the Wizards’ front office today.

Next up …  Manchester City has been a powerhouse in the EPL over the last 7 seasons finishing first 6 times and second the other time.  Yes, there are charges that the team has run roughshod over the financial rules there which function sort of like a salary cap and which I am not remotely qualified to interpret here.  Nevertheless, fans of Man City have had a heady run since the 2017/1018 season.  Not quite so in this season.

Man City has played 14 games this season and its record is 8 wins, 2 draws and 4 losses.  That gives them 26 points and puts them 5^th in the Table, a full 9 points behind Liverpool, which leads the league having won 11 of its 14 matches.  With the EPL season less than half over, it is far too early to write off the defending champs – – but maybe this is a “consolidation year” for the team and not another dominant one?

Staying with the subject of English soccer, the husband of a dear friend of mine lives and dies with the fortunes of the Sunderland Association Football Club.  Sunderland is in the English Championship – – one step down from the Premier League – – and as of this morning Sunderland is in 4^th place in the Table for the Championship.  Sunderland is 2 points behind third-place Leeds United and 3 points ahead of Middlesbrough and Watford who are chasing them.  The Championship schedule involves 46 games and only 18 have been played – – so it is too early to think that Sunderland might just have a shot at promotion back to the Premier League.  But for my friend’s husband, hope springs eternal…

Finally, since today was like a sports stew in terms of elements, let me close with the observation by the essayist Edward Abbey:

“Society is like a stew. If you don’t stir it up every once in a while, then a layer of scum floats to the top.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

The latest report from Las Vegas is that the new stadium to be constructed there as the home of the MLB A’s will cost more than previously estimated.  The deal was that the public funding was fixed at $380M and A’s ownership was responsible for the rest – – including any overruns.  Well, you can call what just happened an “overrun” or a “change in scope” or whatever contractual phraseology suits your fancy, but the total cost is now estimated at $1.75B as opposed to the previous estimate of $1.5B.   Written that way, the change seems to be not such a big deal; however, the change in costs is $250M and that is a whole lot of cheese.

In explaining the new cost basis, the team said that they changed the “audio and video components” of the new stadium to upgrade them to a level whereby concerts can take place in the new facility.  Increasing construction costs were also part of the revamped estimate.  The message here is that the cost of the new facility has risen from the original figure of $1.4B to $1.5B and now to $1.75B which is a 25% increase over the original estimate – – and they have not put a shovel in the ground yet.

The stadium being planned will have a roof and it will seat 33,000 folks for baseball.  Reports say that the A’s have already spent $40M on the planning process for the building and that there may be another $60M in planning and pre-construction costs to come.  The plans call for the stadium to be ready for opening day in the 2028 MLB season.  Remember, no shovels have hit the dirt as of this morning …

Moving on …  One of the standard happenings in the baseball off season is the consideration given to the annual Hall of Fame voting event.  Just to review:

• Players first get on the ballot five years after retirement providing, they played 10 seasons in MLB.
• Players stay on the ballot for ten years providing they have not either been elected to the Hall of Fame or they receive a minimum of 5% of the votes by the Baseball Writers Association of America.
• Players are elected to the Hall of Fame if they receive 75% or more of the votes cast by the baseball writers in any given year.

There are fourteen players who will be up for election to the Hall of Fame for the first time this year:

1. Carlos González
2. Curtis Granderson
3. Félix Hernández
4. Adam Jones
5. Ian Kinsler
6. Russell Martin
7. Brian McCann
8. Dustin Pedroia
9. Hanley Ramírez
10. Fernando Rodney
11. CC Sabathia
12. Ichiro Suzuki
13. Troy Tulowitzki
14. Ben Zobrist.

Obviously from comments I have made over the years in these rants, I think Ichiro should be a shoo-in as a first ballot Hall of Fame inductee.  He did not arrive in MLB until he was 27 years old, and he still managed to get 3,089 hits at the MLB level.

When I look at the list of newly eligible players for other first-ballot possibilities, I do not see anyone else who I would consider a shoo-in for first ballot induction, but I would not be surprised if CC Sabathia and Felix Hernandez got significant support.

In addition to the voting by writers, there are Era Committees who vote on players, managers, umpires from the past.  Last year Jim Leyland entered the Hall of Fame via one of the Era Committees.  This year, Dick Allen is on one of those ballots.  Allen should have been elected by the writers based on his performance in MLB, but he was overlooked.  I think the pertinent Era Committee considering his candidacy should correct that oversight.

Switching gears – – but staying with baseball …  One other feature of MLB’s off season is that the baseball rules mavens get to contemplate new rules for the game.  In recent times, those folks have been successful with the installation of the pitch clock (games are faster and more interesting on TV to be sure) and with the encouragement of stolen bases (larger bases and limitations on holding runners).  The rules mavens have also instituted a negative element into the game with the “ghost runners” on second base at the start of extra innings, but failure is to be expected as part of baseball.

There are reports/rumors out there that the rules mavens may be considering a really bad rule change.  Commissioner Rob Manfred supposedly said there is a lot of “buzz” around a new rule labeled as the “Golden Hitter Rule”.  This rule change would allow a team at any point in a game a one-time chance to send its best hitter to the plate no matter where the team is in the standard batting order.  I am unaware of any version of that rule having been “tested/evaluated” in a lower level of baseball, so I have no data to use to draw conclusions.  However, absent data, I think that might be detrimental to the game and not a step forward.

Finally, since today has been about MLB’s off season, let me close with these words from Hall of Famer, Rogers Hornsby:

“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

Back in the very early days of network television, there was an evening news telecast sponsored by Camel cigarettes.  The host – – now called the anchor – – was John Cameron Swayze and the program was The Camel News Caravan.  After dealing with the “big news of the day”, Swayze would proclaim that he would be “hopscotching the world for headlines”.  Looking at my compendium of items for today, I think I will be hopscotching the sports world for topics.  Nevertheless, I shall not be sponsored by Camel cigarettes…

Also in the early days of network television, the afternoon soap operas were mainline programming.  From 1956 through 2010, CBS aired a “soap” called As the World Turns; in its TV run, the show put on 13,858 episodes.  Here in 2024, the sports world has an informal program that might be called As the Jets and Aaron Rodgers Turn.  It does not deliver daily episodes, but it does make the wire copy more than on game days.  In the latest episode, the Jets’ interim head coach, Jeff Ulbrich, “squelched” rumors that the Jets might bench Rodgers this season because of the disappointing showing of the team; the coach affirmed that he still believes that Rodgers gives the Jets (now 3-9-0) the “best chance to win.”

Here is the Jets’ QB depth chart:

• Aaron Rodgers:  41 years old and having his worst season ever
• Tyrod Taylor:  A career backup
• Jordan Travis:  A rookie who is out for the year due to injury
• Adrian Martinez:  On the practice squad for the second year

So, I agree with Coach Ulbrich; Rodgers gives the team the best chance of winning – – and according to a report I read yesterday, the Jets are not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs even with their 3-9 record.  Stay tuned.  You never know if the next installment of As the Jets and Aaron Rodgers Turn will come before next weekend’s game against the Dolphins in Miami (Jets are currently a 6.5-point underdog) or maybe in the press conference following that game…

Sticking with items related to television, the suits at ESPN have announced that Around the Horn will go dark sometime in 2025.  The show began in 2002; so, it has had a good run.  It ran 5 days a week as the lead-in program to Pardon the Interruption and in its “glory days”, Around the Horn could command audiences more than 750,000 viewers which was a sizeable audience for daytime sports on cable TV back in the “aughts”.  Max Kellerman was the original host/facilitator for the program but left during one of his multiple divorces with ESPN and Tony Reali took over that slot on a permanent basis.

The audience for Around the Horn has eroded significantly; these days, an audience of 400,000 is a pleasant surprise.  I was a regular viewer of the program for years – – probably averaging 4 days a week; now, I catch a show about every 10 days.  I don’t know what happened to cause the audience for the show to collapse but I know why I am no longer a regular viewer.

When the show began, the panel that “debated” the sports topics offered up by Kellerman/Reali were notable sports columnists from around the country whose observations and assertions were such that I wanted to hear them and to evaluate them against my personal position on the topics at hand.  Back in the day, I heard from people like:

1. JA. Adande – – Washington Post
2. Jim Armstrong – – Denver Post
3. Tim Cowlishaw – – Dallas Morning News
4. Frank Isola – – NY Daily News
5. Jackie MacMullan – – Boston Globe
6. Jay Mariotti – – Chicago Sun Times
7. Woody Paige – – Denver Post
8. Bill Plaschke – – LA Times
9. Bob Ryan – – Boston Globe
10.  TJ Simers – – LA Times

Folks, those were ten “heavy hitters”; their stature was such that you puffed up your chest when they agreed with your thoughts on the matter, and you furled your brow and started to rethink your position when they disagreed with your opinion.  And in recent years, most of that is gone – – and I don’t mean those specific individuals.

The panels today are mostly made up of ESPN and ESPN Radio personalities.  They lack gravitas and when I realized that it made no difference to me what Joe Flabeetz and/or Suzie Glotz thought about a subject, Around the Horn was no longer worth my time and attention.  The show had a great run, but its time has come – – and gone…

There is a superstition that bad things happen in threes; I don’t know the origin of that belief but for those folks in New Jersey who might believe in it:

• The Tampa Bay Bucs just waived Trenton Gill – – punter
• The Cincinnati Bengals just waived Trenton Irwin – – WR
• If you are a first responder in Trenton, NJ, I would stay close to the phones…

Finally, let me close today with three random quotes from Will Rogers:

“Diplomacy is the art of saying ‘Nice doggie’ until you can find a rock.”

And …

“If you ever injected truth into politics, you have no politics.”

And …

“This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

Lou Carnesecca died over the weekend at the ripe old age of 99.  He was the basketball coach at St. John’s from 1965 to 1992 save for a three-year gap when he coached the Nets in the NBA.  His college record at St. John’s was 526-200 earning him a spot in the Naismith Hall of Fame.  Back in the 1980s. the Big East was dominant in college basketball and populated with excellent – – and colorful – – coaches including:

• Jim Boeheim – – Syracuse
• Jim Calhoun – – UConn
• PJ Carlesimo – – Seton Hall
• Rollie Massimino – – Villanova
• John Thompson – – Georgetown

“Looie”, as he came to be known, was an equal in that coaching fraternity.

Rest in peace, Lou Carnesecca …

Remember about a month ago that the Chicago Bears lost to the Washington Commanders on a last second Hail Mary pass and there was video of one of the Bears’ defenders waving to the crowd as the play was unfolding.  Well, that act of “disrespect to the game” must have significantly angered the football gods to the point that the gods have chosen to frustrate the Bears in the intervening weeks.  Consider:

• First week later:  Bears lost to a middling Cardinals’ team by 20 points.
• Second week later:  Bears lost – – at home – – to a not-very-good Pats’ team by a score of 19-3.  [Aside:  That offensive somnambulance got the Offensive Coordinator fired.]
• Third week later:  Bears lost to the Packers 20-19 when the Packers blocked a chip shot field goal in the final seconds of the game.
• Fourth week later:  Bears rallied from 11 points down in the final two minutes to force overtime – – and then lost to the Vikes in OT.
• Fifth week later:  Bears lost to the Lions by a field goal on Thanksgiving in a situation where they failed to snap the ball – – or call a timeout – – in the final 32 seconds of the game.  [Aside:  That time management blunder got the Head Coach fired.]

The Chicago Bears have been a team in the NFL since 1920; Matt Eberflus is the first head coach to be fired in mid-season in the history of the Chicago Bears.  If you did not see the timing blunder or have not read about it, let that historical fact give you an idea of how bad it was.  Also, let that five week stretch of football misfortune be a case study for players and/or teams that might be tempted to “disrespect the game”; the football gods are watching, and they can exact serious punishment for such offenses.

Moving on …  Over the past several years, NFL teams have tended to devalue the position of running back to a degree; the common wisdom was that one did not need to pay running backs big bucks nor spend high draft picks on that position.  So, in last year’s free agency period, three running backs moved on from the team that drafted them to another team.  Those three RBs were:

• Saquon Barkley – – leading the NFL in rushing
• Derrick Henry – – second in the NFL in rushing
• Josh Jacobs – – third in the NFL in rushing.

However, there is a much more interesting statistic concerning those three players.  Let us look at the team records for the teams that jettisoned those backs:

• Giants had Barkley; Giants are 2-10 this year.
• Titans had Henry; Titans are 3-9 this year.
• Raiders had Jacobs; Raiders are 2-10 this year.
• Combined, the teams that tossed these running backs aside are 7-29.

Now, just for giggles, I want to show you the team records for the teams that acquired these running backs on the free agent market:

• Eagles signed Barkley; Eagles are 10-2 this year
• Ravens signed Henry; Ravens are 8-5 this year
• Packers signed Jacobs; Packers are 9-3 this year.
• Combined, the teams that signed these running backs are 27-10.

Finally, since the Bears “disrespected the game” and plenty of teams “disrespected running backs”, let me close today with this quote from P. J. O’Rourke:

“The First Amendment only says, ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.’ It can disrespect all it wants.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

Picking up from yesterday, the football gods must have enjoyed creating the havoc they did in college football last weekend because they turned around and gave us an extra helping of strangeness in the NFL action as well.  The Goddess of Special Teams must have royally pissed off the Big Boss Football God because it was a weekend of failure for special teams around the league.  Nowhere was that more in evidence than in the Cowboys upset of the Commanders.  Here is what happened:

• Commanders missed 2 PATs in the same game.
• Commanders missed a FG in the game
• Commanders allowed 2 kickoffs to be returned for TDs
• Cowboys missed a FG in the game.
• Cowboys had a FG blocked AND a punt blocked in the game.

That is a season’s worth of FAIL all in one game…

The Cowboys and Commanders combined to produce 263 yards in the return game.  By comparison:

• Pats/Dolphins combined for 53 return yards
• Ravens/Chargers combined for 65 return yards
• Colts/Lions combined for 74 return yards
• Chiefs/Panthers combined for 138 return yards.

You get the idea; special teams tackling was not a hallmark of the Commanders and Cowboys last Sunday.

What else went wrong with Special Teams last weekend?  Well, the Texans lost to the Titans last week when kicker Ka’imi Fairburn missed a 28-yard field goal try in the final two minutes that would have tied the game.

The Vikes led the Bears by 11 points with less than 2 minutes left in the game after making a field goal.  After that:

• Bears return the kickoff to Vikes’ territory.  Then the Bears score a TD and convert a 2-point try.
• Bears recover the onside kick.  Then the Bears get a field goal to send the game to OT.
• There is no fairytale ending here; the Vikes won the game in OT by a score of 30-27.
• But the Goddess of Special Teams was embarrassed again.

The Seahawks beat the Cards to force a tie atop the NFC West.  And the Seahawks missed a PAT in the game in keeping with the Special Teams strangeness theme for the weekend.

The Rams missed a perfectly makeable field goal against the Eagles on Sunday night.  It had no bearing on the game outcome because the Rams lost by 17 points.

On a positive note for the Goddess of Special Teams, the Raiders/Broncos game saw nine field goal attempts – – and all nine were good including three tries from 50+ yards out.

Moving on from special teams’ oddities, the other place where the football gods shone their “Light of Goofiness” was on the NY Giants.  The team has not merely benched Daniel Jones; they released him and started Tommy DeVito at QB.  The Giants were pushed around by the Bucs and lost the game 30-7 in a rout.  The Giants produced only 245 yards on offense and did not score until the 4^th quarter of the game.  Here is DeVito’s plain vanilla stat line for the game:

• 21 of 31 for 189 yards with 0 TDs and 0 INTs

The Giants have now lost 6 games in a row and their record stands at 2-9-0 with a home field record of 0-6-0.  Only the Raiders have a longer losing streak today (Raiders have lost 7 in a row) and only the Cowboys join the Giants on a list of teams that have not won a home game to date in 2024.

The Giant’s decision to release Daniel Jones – – making him an instant free agent – – gives him an interesting choice to make.  He is going to be paid his guaranteed money by the Giants; he is under the most minimal economic pressure imaginable because according to Spotrac.com, he will have earned $108.1M in salary from the Giants over his time with the team.  So, there should be three avenues open to him now:

1. First Avenue:  Sit back, relax, hit the gym to stay in shape, get healthy.
2. Second Avenue:  Seek to sign with a bottom-dweller team and get some more time on the field in 2024 with the idea of putting some solid performances on film for teams to evaluate in the upcoming free agency period.
3. Third Avenue:  Offer his services to teams that are playoff-bound in 2024 as a way for the teams to upgrade their backup QB position.  This option probably would not allow Jones to add much of anything to whatever performances he has already put on film prior to next season’s free agency period.

My guess is that he will choose “First Avenue”.  It is the possibility of “Third Avenue” that I find intriguing not because I think Daniel Jones is high quality QB but because I really think he would be a significant upgrade for at least nine potential playoff teams at backup QB.  For example:

1. Bills:  Currently have Mitchel Trubisky as backup
2. Broncos:  Currently have Jarrett Stidham and Zach Wilson as backups
3. Cards:  Currently have Clayton Tune as backup
4. Chargers:  Currently have Taylor Heinicke and Easton Stick as backups
5. Eagles:  Currently have Kenny Pickett and Tanner McKee as backups
6. Lions:  Currently have Herndon Hooker as backup
7. Niners: Currentlly have Brandon Allen and Joshua Dobbs as backups
8. Texans:  Currently have Davis Mills as backup
9. Vikes:  Currently have Nick Mullens and Brett Rypien as backups

Finally, tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day, and I will be taking the day off to relax with an old friend from out of town who has agreed to spend the holiday with me and my long-suffering wife.  Food, wine and football are at the top of the agenda for the next several days.  So let me close here by wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and a gentle start to the Holiday Season ahead.

Stay safe and stay well, everyone …

 

 

 

The gods of Greek mythology lived on Mount Olympus.  I don’t know upon which mountain the “football gods” reside, but they were active last weekend.  It seems to me that in every football season, there is one weekend where lots of “surprising stuff” goes down in college football and then about a month later, the focus of football craziness is on the NFL.  Well, unless those football gods have some sort of “grand crescendo” in store for us in December, we got our quota of craziness last week.

Let me focus today on college football from last weekend.  Alabama lost its third game of the year to Oklahoma 24-3.  That is unusual in itself, but the way the Tide lost was more unusual.  Alabama kicked a field goal to lead 3-0 at the end of the first quarter; they were shut out by the Sooners – – a 14-point underdog by the way – – from there on out.  So, is there still room in the expanded CFP for an Alabama team with 3 losses including this embarrassing one?

Penn St. was playing a decidedly inferior opponent in Minnesota, a team that brought 4 losses with them to the kickoff and was a 12.5-point underdog.  The Nittany Lions used a fake punt to convert a fourth-down situation allowing them to hold on and beat Minnesota 26-25.  The question in the air now is simple:

• Is Penn St. really a Top 10 team that belongs in the CFP or is it the single most overrated team in the country and belongs in the Poulan Weedeater Bowl?

SMU locked in their participation in the ACC Championship Game last weekend.  There had to be a round of chortling amongst the football gods as they penciled the Mustangs into that game slot since SMU is in Dallas TX which is nowhere near the “Atlantic coast”.

Ohio St. embarrassed Indiana last weekend giving the Hoosiers their first loss of the year.  Usually, losing to the team ranked #2 in the country is to be expected but this loss shines a light on the Indiana schedule for 2024 and let’s just be polite here and say it was not the toughest schedule in its time zone.  Next week, Indiana – – is it really a Top Ten team? – – plays Purdue – – it really is a SHOE Team – – and Indiana will finish 11-1 against its patty-cake schedule.  Let the CFP debate begin…

Notre Dame beat previously unbeaten Army handily last weekend.

• Was Army overrated as an unbeaten team?
• Has Notre Dame beaten anyone noteworthy since the opening game of the year against Texas A&M?
• [Aside:  Yes, Army was overrated; and no, Notre Dame’s schedule has been unimpressive.]

Speaking obliquely of Texas A&M, the Aggies began the weekend as a solid SEC candidate for the CFP with a good shot at being in the SEC Championship Game.  Yes, they were on the road against Auburn but the Tigers had already lost 5 games in 2024.  The game went to 4 OT periods and Auburn won the game outright.  Now, the Aggies have 3 losses …

Florida was a 13.5-point underdog at home against Ole Miss who was on the periphery of a CFP invitation.  Florida won the game outright gaining bowl-eligibility for the Gators and ending any real hopes that folks in Jackson, MI might have had for the Rebels’ participation in the CFP.

BYU lost for the second week in a row falling to Arizona St. and seemingly taking itself out of the picture for the Big-12 title game – – except Kansas also upset Colorado meaning that there are 4 teams in the Big-12 at the moment with 2 conference losses.  Here is the headline from a report at CBSSports.com regarding the current Big-12 standings with one week left to play in the regular season:

In zaniest tiebreaker case we’ve seen yet, Big 12 says 256 different scenarios in play to decide title game

And last weekend might just have been setting the table for the upcoming final weekend of the season with more than a dozen big-time rivalry games on the schedule such as:

1. Indiana Purdue
2. Notre Dame/USC
3. Texas/Texas A&M
4. Alabama/Auburn
5. Ole Miss/Mississippi St.
6. Ohio St./ Michigan
7. Georgia/Georgia Tech
8. Clemson/South Carolina
9. Florida/Florida St.
10. Tennessee/Vandy
11. Va Tech/Virginia
12. Arizona/Arizona St.
13. Louisville/Kentucky – – a carryover from the basketball rivalry
14. Washington/Oregon – – AND – –
15. UTEP/New Mexico St.

That was just the craziness associated with college football last weekend; tomorrow I shall take a look at NFL oddities from the same time frame.  So, I’ll close today with an observation by the Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius:

“Begin – to begin is half the work, let half still remain; again begin this, and thou wilt have finished.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

I will take the opportunity of a somewhat normal week here in Curmudgeon Central – – only one travel day to navigate around – – to do a real Football Friday today since I will not be able to do one next week with the intervention of Thanksgiving.  And so, I shall begin with a review of last week’s “Betting Bundle”:

• Spreads/Total Wagers went 2-2.  Meh!
• Money Line Parlays went 2-1 for a “Profit” of $201.  Good show!

I told you earlier this week that Linfield won their game last weekend giving the Wildcats the Northwest Conference Championship and a seeded slot in the division III football playoffs.  They have this weekend off and will play Pacific Lutheran on Saturday November 30^th.  Go Wildcats!

My “sleeper team” for 2024, the Nebraska Cornhuskers, seem to have become somnambulant in recent weeks.  After starting the season with 5 wins in their first 6 games, the Huskers have now lost 4 games in a row.  They need a win over Wisconsin this week at home and/or a win over Iowa on the road for the remainder of the season to make it to a bowl game.  Go Huskers!

 

College Football Commentary:

 

More than 50 years ago there was a wonderful comedy film, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.  Last week, a funny thing happened in the world of college football.  In what appeared to be a meaningless game between the Temple Owls and the Florida Atlantic Owls – – a game won by Temple in OT extending the suffering of any/all fans who stayed to watch.  Between last Saturday and today, Florida Atlantic fired losing coach, Tom Herman; I guess you can chalk that up to the Athletic Director suffering from the ignominy of losing to another miserable opponent.

But wait, there’s more.  Temple also fired its coach – – the guy who just won a game last weekend.  Stan Drayton was shown the door after being on the Temple sidelines for the last three seasons where his teams won a total of 9 games.  When coaches get fired in mid-season, it is usually after a loss or just before a BYE week so that the interim coach can try to install something new for the team to try to execute.  I cannot recall a situation where both the winning coach and the losing coach in a game were both fired within about 48 hours of the final whistle.

I went down a rabbit hole looking for coaches who have been fired in mid-season this year in Division 1-A college football.  I am sure I have not gotten all of them but there is something interesting about the listing that I did come up with.  In alphabetical order:

• Ball St.
• Florida Atlantic
• Kennesaw St.
• Rice
• Southern Mississippi
• Temple
• UMass – – and – –
• Utah St. all fired their head coaches this year.

All eight of these schools have either been in my SHOE Tournament in the past or are on the SHOE Watchlist this year.  Schools like Temple, UMass and Ball St. qualify on both counts.  Maybe the message here is that there are programs that just are not going perform up to a level of mediocrity on a consistent basis and coaches who think that they are the chosen ones to effect such a transition of fortunes are living in a delusion.

It was not so long ago that football commentators were pushing for expansion of the CFP.  One of the prevailing narratives was that a field of only 4 teams left out worthy contenders and that expansion of the field to either a field of 8 or a field of 16 would assure that all the worthy teams got a chance for glory.  Some proponents went so far as to say that expansion of the field would end all the weeping and gnashing of teeth among the fanbases of the teams who were “snubbed”.

The CFP has been expanded to 12 teams.  That is better than 4 teams to be sure.  Is twelve the ideal number?  Check back in 2034 after I have ceased to produce these expositions for the answer to that query.  However, we can already discern that one part of the previous narrative was either wishful thinking or unadulterated bullsh*t.  The debates over which teams were “snubbed” in the selection process has simply moved down the ladder slightly.

• In the 4-team CFP Era, teams ranked 5 and 6 experienced fanbase weeping and gnashing of teeth.
• In the 12-team CFP Era, teams ranked 13^th and 14^th – – and maybe even 15^th – – will experience fanbase weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The latest CFP rankings from this week make the points above.  In the Top 10 for this week, there are only two “debates”:

1. Should Indiana be as high as it is because its undefeated record has come against a weak slate of opponents, and it is hardly a traditional football powerhouse?
2. Should Alabama with 2 losses be ranked above three 1-loss teams, Miami, SMU and BYU?

However, lots of ammunition is being accumulated among fans of SMU, BYU, Texas A&M and Colorado should they remain as the 13^th through 16^th ranked teams on the list; they would be left out of this year’s CFP, and no one is going to like that even a little bit.

This latest ranking definitely shows the pecking order for the so called “Power 4” Conferences:

• Big-10:  Four of the Top-5 teams this week are from the Big-10.
• SEC:  Five of the Top-12 teams this week are from the SEC
• ACC:  One of the Top-12 teams this week is from the ACC
• Big-12:  None of the Top-12 teams this week is from the Big-12

At least for this season, perhaps we should not refer to the “Power-4” and focus on the “Power-2”.    Just a thought …

Before I leave the subject of the CFP and the rankings, let me make sure that everyone understands something fundamental about the CFP structure.

• The CFP Selection Committee is NOT seeking to identify and invite the 12 best football teams in college football this year or in any future year.
• The CFP Selection Committee will try to put the best field together for the tournament within the constraints placed on it.
• The Committee MUST invite 5 conference champions – – ACC, Big-10, Big-12, SEC – – plus the “highest rated conference champion” of the other 5 football conferences in Division 1-A football.

Looking at this week’s rankings – – and assuming they do not change drastically in the next several weeks – – the Big-12 champion, and the “highest rated other champion” will be in the field no matter where they stand in the Top-25 rankings by the Committee.

• It appears that the ACC champion will be determined by a game between SMU and Miami; that winner will get an automatic invitation.  Should the loser also get an invitation?
• The highest rated teams from the Big-12 are BYU (14^th) Colorado (16^th) Arizona St. (21^st) and Iowa St. (22^nd).   BYU and Colorado have only 1 loss in conference and appear to be the teams to play for the Big-12 Championship and a guaranteed invitation to the CFP.
• Boise St. is the “highest rated conference leader among the other conferences” and is ranked this week at 12^th.  Boise St. is undefeated in the Mountain West conference – – but so is Colorado St. who is nowhere to be found in the Selection Committee’s Top-25.

Here are some brief comments regarding games from last weekend.

Florida 27  LSU 16:  It was not a good night for Brian Kelly or his LSU team.  Two weeks ago, they were the victims of a serious beatdown at home at the hands of Alabama.  Three weeks ago, the Tigers dropped one against Texas A&M.  This was supposed to be a “get-well game” against a middling SEC squad.  This loss leaves the Tigers with a 3-3 record in conference and a 6-4 record overall.  Remember when Kelly resigned at Notre Dame to take over the LSU program, he said that he did that because he could win a national championship at LSU but not at Notre Dame.  Don’t look now, but Notre Dame is ranked 6^th this week by the CFP Selection Committee and LSU is not even on the Committee’s long-range radar.

Rutgers 31  Maryland 17:  Rutgers will be in a bowl game this year.

Boise St. 42  San José St.  21:  I suggested last week that you tune in to this game if you could in order to watch RB, Ashton Jeanty.  Here is his stat line:

• 32 carries for 159 yards and 3 TDs

Georgia 31  Tennessee 17:   The Bulldogs had lost their last game to Ole Miss and that had them outside the CFP playoff window.  This win moved them up, but not far enough as of this week to be sure of a CFP invitation.  However, they have finished their SEC schedule grind and will close out the season with a home game against UMass (cupcake game) and the big rivalry game against Georgia Tech; two wins there could get Georgia into the field where they will have a chance to defend their national champion status from last year.  Tennessee had not allowed more than 19 points all season, but they were dominated last week; Georgia gained 453 yards on offense and converted 8 of 13 third-down situations.

Texas 20  Arkansas 10:  The Longhorns have only 1 conference loss in the SEC as of today as do the Aggies of Texas A&M.  Those teams were bitter rivals back in the days of the old Southwestern Conference and then in the Big-12 until the Aggies “defected” to the SEC.  The two teams will play each other on Nov 30^th which might be very interesting because these two teams may be considered the best teams in the conference after that game meaning they would meet again in the SEC Championship Game a week later.  Stranger things have happened.

Texas A&M 38  New Mexico St. 3:  This was a tune-up game for the Aggies.

Colorado 49  Utah 24:  The Buffaloes probably need to win the Big-12 Championship to get into the CFP because they have two losses on their record – – one of them coming at the hands of my “sleeper team for 2024”, the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Utah St. 55  Hawaii 10:  Utah St. was on the SHOE Watchlist last week; Hawaii had won 4 games this year.  This was a rout from the start; the halftime score was 24-3; the score at the end of the 3^rd quarter was 45-3.  Ouch!

SMU 38  BC 28:  The Mustangs are 9-1 this year and should play for the ACC Championship barring a stumble against Virginia this week and/or a loss to Cal next week.

Penn St. 49  Purdue 10:  Purdue is a bad football team this year.  I don’t know whether to call them Pur-don’t or Pur-can’t.  You make the call…

Texas St. 58  So. Mississippi 3:  Another rout of a SHOE Team.

Oregon 16  Wisconsin 13:  When the 4^th quarter started, Wisconsin led 13-6 but the Ducks managed to eke this one out to remain undefeated for 2024.

Memphis 53  UAB 18:  Sorry, but UAB is not a good football team in 2024…

Kansas 17  BYU 13:  First loss of the year for BYU.  That makes this week’s game between BYU and Arizona St. very important for the Big-12 standings.

Miami (OH) 34  Kent St. 7:  Kent St. remains as the only winless team in Division 1-A college football for 2024.  In this game, Kent St. scored first with 13:40 left on the clock in the first quarter.  After that came the deluge:

• Miami Total Offense = 479 yards
• Kent St. Total Offense = 183 yards  [Hat Tip to Louis XV of France]

As the college regular season comes close to its end, the focus on the contenders for the Brothel Defense Award becomes clearer.

• Utah St. gives up 39.1 points per game.  They only gave up 10 points last week
• Ball St. gives up 40.1 points per game.  They gave up 51 points last week.
• Kent St. gives up 44.2 points per game.  They gave up 34 points last week.

And here is one more SHOE Tournament Watchlist with 12 entries in alphabetical order:

1. Akron:  The Zips are 2-8 and play Kent. St. this week
2. Ball St.  Second for the Brothel Defense Award, they give up 289.1 ypg passing
3. FAU:  They are 2-8; when you lose to a SHOE Watchlist team, you replace it
4. Florida St.  They are an embarrassingly bad 1-9
5. Kennesaw St.  They are 1-9 and have already fired their coach
6. Kent St. Leader for the Brothel Defense Award and an 0-10 record
7. Purdue:  They are 1-9 and have not been competitive in many of the losses
8. So. Mississippi:  They are 1-9 and 8 of the losses were by 16+ points.
9. Tulsa:  They are 3-7 and give up 309.1 ypg passing – – worst in the country
10. UAB:  They are 2-8 and that is just a bad football team.
11. UMass:  They are 2-8; they fired their coach; they play Georgia this week.
12. UTEP:  They are 2-8; they have scheduled Tennessee this week.

 

Games of Interest This Week:

Colorado – 2.5 at Kansas (60) Game is in Kansas City:  Colorado needs this game to stay in contention for the Big-12 Championship Game; Kansas can only be a spoiler here.  I am not a fan of Deion Sanders’ antics that draw attention to himself, but he has shown me that he can coach college football players.  I like the Buffaloes to win and cover here; put that in the “Betting Bundle”.

Ole Miss – 10 at Florida (55):  The Gators need another win to become bowl-eligible and the Gators need another win to avoid a third consecutive losing season. Ole Miss is a longshot to make the CFP, but another loss would extinguish that tiny flame of hope.

Wisconsin at Nebraska – 2 (42.5):    My “sleeper team” needs this one badly…

Penn St. – 11 at Minnesota (45):  The Nittany Lions cannot afford to stumble here.

Indiana at Ohio St. – 13 (51):  The oddsmakers are rather convinced that Indiana’s bubble will burst this weekend.  A blowout loss to Ohio St. could drop the Hoosiers from the Top 12; a close game with the Buckeyes could solidify Indiana’s place in the CFP field.  This is the College Game of the Week.

UMass at Georgia – 42.5 (55.5):  A SHOE candidate takes on a CFP hopeful.  Who scheduled this one … ?

UTEP at Tennessee – 41.5 (52.5): A SHOE candidate takes on a CFP hopeful.  Who scheduled this one …?

Iowa St. – 7 at Utah (42.5):  The Cyclones can still make it to the Big-12 Championship Game but cannot afford to stumble.

BYU at Arizona St. – 3 (48.5):  BYU lost for the first time last week and cannot afford another loss if they want to be sure of a place in the Big 12 Championship Game.

Stanford at Cal – 14 (55.5):  Huge rivalry game here …  Keep the bands in the stands!

Texas A&M – 2.5 at Auburn (46.5):  The Aggies need this game to remain in the standings as a 1-loss team in the SEC and therefore a slot in the SEC Championship.

USC – 5 at UCLA (51.5):  Another huge rivalry game …

Army at Notre Dame – 14.5 (44.5) Game is in NY:  Remember, Army is undefeated in 2024; this is a crucial test for the Cadets; I think they are overmatched here.

Washington St. – 11.5 at Oregon St. (57):  The winner here is the champion of the “PAC-12 remnants” …

Alabama – 13 at Oklahoma (47):  The Crimson Tide cannot afford another loss if they are to remain CFP relevant.

Colorado St. at Fresno St. – 3 (47):  Colorado St. opened the week as a 2-point favorite but that spread has flipped.  Remember, Colorado St. is undefeated in Mountain West Conference games as of this week…

Missouri – 7 at Mississippi St. (57):  Mizzou has been disappointing for the last month or so, but they could have some fun here against a Mississippi St. defense that allows more than 460 yards per game.  I’ll take the Tigers on the road to win and cover here; put that in the “Betting Bundle”.

 

NFL Commentary:

 

Earlier this week, I discussed the NY Jets firing of their head coach and then their GM.  Filling either or both of those positions with a top-shelf candidate should require some fundamental answers from ownership.

1. Yes, or no, is Aaron Rodgers going to be on the roster next year?  The new GM candidates need to know that to develop anything resembling a reasonable roster restructuring plan.  The new coaching candidates need to know if they want to try to live out a year with Rodgers and then face a QB search which could mean starting from scratch.
2. Is ownership willing to pay Rodgers his guaranteed money if the coach and the GM say they do not want him on the team?  I am not a capologist and do not pretend to understand the nuances of lots of NFL contracts, but my calculation is that Rodgers would need to be paid a little over $20M to go away and that he would cost almost $25M against the Jets’ cap in 2025.

I am sure there are plenty of nuanced scenarios within the framework of those questions, but the only reason someone might take either of the open jobs without some clarity on those questions is because the financial terms are very lucrative or because the candidate is a retread who really wants to be an NFL coach again but cannot get his foot back in the door.

Meanwhile, across town in NYC, the NY Football Giants also made news this week.  The Giants will bench Daniel Jones and start Tommy DeVito (“Tommy Cutlets”) this week and potentially for the rest of 2024.  Speculation has been that both of those decisions are financially driven according to this “logic”:

• The Giants’ braintrust has given up on Jones even though he still has 2 years to go on his contract.  In 2025, Jones will bring a cap hit of $41M to the Giants and that could be higher if he is injured this year.  He has a $23M “injury guarantee” in his contract for 2025.  Hence, the “logic” goes that the Giants are benching him to prevent an injury that will cost them more money in 2025 for a guy they don’t want.
• There is too much mind-reading in that explanation for my taste – – but there is another financial aspect here.  Last year, the Giants signed Drew Lock to a 1-year contract for $5M to be the backup.  Lock is still there and is not injured – – but he is not going to be the starter going forward.  According to Spotrac.com, there are incentive clauses in Lock’s contract that might trigger if he were to play in the final 7 games of the season.  Tommy DeVito’s contract has no incentive clauses in it so there is no possibility of a trigger.

That second “situation” makes me wonder…

I don’t want to give anyone the impression that I am picking on the NFL teams from NY simply because they are from NY.  I prefer to think of myself as an equal-opportunity curmudgeon who can spot dysfunctionality wherever it exists and that in 2024 dysfunctionality has manifest itself gloriously in the two NY franchises.  So, which one is in the worse shape?  That is akin to deciding who your favorite Menendez brother might be.

Overall, I like the Jets’ roster better than the Giants’ roster even accounting for the fact that Aaron Rodgers is going to be 42 years old next year and now plays with the hopes of achieving mid-tier status as an NFL QB.  If the Giants have indeed soured on Daniel Jones and are experimenting with Tommy Devito and/or Drew Lock as their QB for now and maybe next year, that tandem is not up to snuff in a competitive NFL.

I ran across a report on CBSSports.com earlier this week that said Andy Reid can join a very exclusive club with his next win as coach of the Chiefs.  According to that report, only Bill Belichick and Don Shula have more double-digit wins in a season as compared to Andy Reid.  Those two guys both achieved that record 20 times in their coaching careers; Andy Reid has done it 19 times and he has 9 wins on the books already for 2024.  Make room for “Big Red” to join Belichick and Shula in that exclusive club.

I said here last week that I think the Cowboys should be playing Trey Lance for the resto of this season.  Lance is still a mystery.

• Can he be a starter in the NFL?
• Can he be a reliable backup in the NFL?
• Is he a bust who should be out of the league entirely?

If the answer to Question 3 above is in the affirmative, then the Cowboys need to move on from him but the answer there cannot be known with any confidence unless Lance gets a chance to play with the rest of the Cowboys’ starters under real game conditions.  If the answer to Question 3 above is in the negative – – or even in the “doubtful range” – – it would be important for the Cowboys to assess his performance ceiling.  The reason is that if Lance shows he can be a solid backup and the Cowboys remain steadfastly behind Cooper Rush as their backup, then Trey Lance becomes a valuable trade asset for the team.  No other team will pay top-dollar for a guy who was taken #3 overall in the draft who has yet to be able to see the field regularly on Sundays in the NFL.  But if Lance shows that he is capable at the NFL level, then the Cowboys can do some wheeling and dealing to accumulate more players via the Draft.

None of this can be accomplished with Cooper Rush as the Cowboys’ QB simply because the league pretty much knows what Cooper Rush is and what he can do.  And if the Cowboys continue to put Lance “behind” Rush in terms of game time, that is not an inducement for other teams’ GMs to make big-time offers for Lance.  Unfortunately for Cowboys’ fans, owner/GM Jerry Jones sees the world differently from the logic-based position I have taken here:

“We have thought it was just too important for us to have [Lance] at quarterback in these last two ballgames because we need to win to that degree and give ourselves every chance we can.  We hadn’t gotten to the point that we were looking to evaluate Trey Lance more, at all.”

After reading that, I should be able to convince you that the current mantra in the Cowboys’ Front Office is:

“Hope springs eternal…”  [Hat tip to Alexander Pope.]

Before I get to comments on a few of last week’s games, I want to take a peek at the NFC South standings.  As of this morning, the Falcons lead the division at 6-5-0 and the Bucs trail them by a game-and-a-half at 4-6-0.  But it is worse than it looks:

• The Falcons beat the Bucs twice in October so the Falcons permanently own any tiebreaker that might come into play due to overall record.
• That might be important when you look at the remainder of the Bucs’ schedule which is relatively soft:
  • • At Giants – – Giants are currently 2-8
    • At Panthers – – Panthers are currently 3-7
    • Vs. Raiders – – Raiders are currently 2-8
    • At Chargers – – Chargers are currently 7-3, could be a tough game
    • At Cowboys – – Cowboys are currently 3-7
    • Vs. Panthers – – A second time against this 3-7 team
    • Vs. Saints – – Saints are currently 4-7
• Folks, that remaining schedule is pillow-soft.  But the Bucs cannot claim any tiebreaker with the Falcons and cannot inflict a loss on the Falcons for the rest of this regular season.  Nevertheless, do not be surprised if the Bucs wind up the year at 9-8 or 10-7.

Here are some comments about some of the games from last weekend:

Steelers 18  Ravens 16: The Ravens biggest problem right now might be Justin Tucker; he has been the most accurate kicker in the NFL, but 2024 is just not Tucker’s year. He missed two field goals against the Steelers and that was the difference in the game.  This game showed me that the Steelers must be considered as Super Bowl contenders. They have an excellent defense as always plus solid special teams and an offense that has the ability to make big plays.

Chargers 34  Bengals 27:  The Bengals were in the game to the end and then they found a way to lose. Joe Burrow threw for 356 yards and three touchdowns; Tee Higgins returned to the lineup and caught 9 passes for 148 yards and 1 TD in the game.  The defense was not great, but it played well enough to keep the Bengals from being squashed.  So, it was the special teams that came up with a way to lose the game; the biggest problem was kicker, Evan McPherson, who missed two field goals in the fourth quarter. The Bengals have now lost 6 one-score games in the 2024 regular season.

Packers 20  Bears 19:   The Bears’ decision to fire offensive coordinator Shane Waldron looked awfully good last week.  The Bears’ offense produced  391 yards; Caleb Williams threw for 231 yards and he added 70 yards on the ground. Williams also directed a final drive by to set up Cairo Santos’ game-winning field goal attempt, but it amounted to nothing, because the Packers blocked the field goal attempt.

Seahawks 20  Niners 17:  The Seahawks, Niners and Rams are all 5-5-0 this year and all of them trail the Cards (6-4-0) in the NFC West race.  The Seahawks’ defense had been letting the team down for the last month or so, but they showed up for real against the Niners.  Geno Smith led the winning drive in the final minutes of the game and scored on a 13-yard QB scramble to seal the deal.

Eagles 26  Commanders 18:  The Eagles’ defense finally made Jayden Daniels have a bad game; he only threw for 191 yards and only added 18 yards on the ground. The Commanders’ defense was similarly mediocre in the second half where the Eagles ran for 141 yards.  Saquon Barkley took over the second half; he rushed for 76 yards and two touchdowns.  The Eagles didn’t play anything near a “perfect” game, but they won comfortably.

Colts 28  Jets 27:  The Colts’ gave the starting QB job back to Anthony Richardson and it paid off last week. Richardson had a fine showing in the game.   He threw for 272 yards, and he engineered a game-winning TD drive where he scored what was the game-winning TD with 46 seconds left on the clock.

Dolphins 34  Raiders 19:  The Dolphins still have a shot at the playoffs but they may need to win-out; the Raiders – – not so much.  In the first half, the Raiders got inside the Dolphins’ 10-yard line twice and did not get a TD on either occasion.  The Raiders’ defense was similarly inept allowing the Dolphins to convert 8 or 12 third-down tries. The Raiders’ record this morning is 2-8; the Raiders’ season is kaput.

 

Games This Week:

 

There are six teams with BYE Weeks this weekend:

1. Bengals:  I am not quite ready to consign the Bengals to the dustbin of history in 2024 – – but I have a broom in hand.
2. Bills:  They are the class of the AFC East; they have already beaten the Chiefs.  Are they actually better than the Chiefs or the Ravens or the Steelers?  Time will tell…
3. Falcons:  They lead the NFC South over the Bucs (see above), but they have a much more challenging schedule ahead with games against the Chargers, Vikes and Commanders still on tap.
4. Jags:  They are playing out the string and the coach there, Doug Pederson, seems to be a dead man walking…
5. Jets:  The word “Jets” is an anagram for the word “Jest”.  Does that help you understand what that team is all about?
6. Saints:  They are not “out of it” – – yet…

Last night the Browns beat the Steelers in what would be called a blizzard in many parts of the US.  I enjoy watching one or two “snow games” a season; I now have one under my belt.  An interesting outcome here is the play of the Steelers’ special teams.  Those teams have been a strength for the Steelers for years including this season.  Last night the Steelers’ special teams came up short.

• The Steelers missed a field goal that would have changed the strategy of the game significantly.
• In the final 5 minutes, the Steelers punter shanked one and gave the Browns the ball around midfield allowing the Browns to put the game away.

Lions – 7.5 at Colts (50.5):  Can Anthony Richardson work some magic for a second weekend in a row here?  The Colts have to hope so, because the Lions are not going to roll over and take a nap here.

Chiefs – 11 at Panthers (43):  The Panthers come to the kickoff with a two-game winning streak and the Chiefs arrive with a one-game losing streak.  If you want to play into that “trend”, the Panthers are +470 on the Money Line.

Vikes – 3 at Bears (39):  The spread opened the week at 5.5 points and has eroded down to this number as the week progressed.  This is the third road game in a row for the Vikes.

Cowboys at Commanders – 10 (45):  The Commanders have had 10 days to ruminate on a bad loss to the Eagles while the Cowboys are simply a hot mess.   Cooper Rush and/or Trey Lance versus Jayden Daniels – – who ya got?  I think this is the biggest blowout of the day and the only interesting aspect is the degree to which Jerry Jones will devolve in explaining this latest humiliation.  This is the Dog-Breath Game of the Week.

Bucs – 6 at Giants (41):  Sorry, but I am not buying that Daniel Jones was the source of all the frustration surrounding the Giants in 2924 and that a QB switch will cure everything.  “Tommy Cutlets” will make a few plays that will get the fans in a frenzy, but Baker Mayfield will do the same – – and more – – when the Bucs have the ball.

Pats at Dolphins – 7.5 (46.5):  Even when the Pats were dominant, they were not a lock to win in Miami.  This Pats team is hardly dominant, and the Dolphins are still “playoff-relevant”.  Those facts prevent this from being the Dog-Breath Game of the week.

Titans at Texans – 7.5 (39.5):  The Texans looked good in beating the Cowboys last week – – but the Cowboys have a way of making just about any opponent look good.

• [Aside:  The games above are the 1:00 PM ET games for this weekend; there’s not a lot of tension and drama generated there, and the card is not much of an enticement to tune in …]

Broncos – 6.5 at Raiders (41): The Broncos looked good beating the Falcons last week and played the Chiefs tough the week before that.  Meanwhile, the Raiders are having trouble with the basics of football such as blocking and tackling.  I agree with the oddsmakers that this will be a low-scoring game, and I like to take points in such games if the underdog seems to be viable.  I think the Raiders’ defense can play well enough to confuse Bo Nix sufficiently to keep this within a TD; I’ll take the Raiders plus the points at home; put that in the “Betting Bundle”.

Cards at Seahawks pick ‘em (47.5):  This is not the Game of the Week in terms of the teams and matchup, but it is probably as important a game relative to the standings as anything on the card for the weekend,

Niners at Packers – 3 (47):  This game looked a lot more enticing as a “must-see event” back in early September.

(Sun Nite) Eagles – 3 at Rams (49):   I think this is the Game of the Week in terms of team capabilities and relevance in the standings.  The Rams need this game to stay relevant in the NFC West; the Eagles need the game because they will see the Commanders/Cowboys result before they kick off here.

(Mon Nite) Ravens – 3 at Chargers (51):  If Eagles/Rams is not the Game of the Week, then this one is.  How many crowd shots of Mama and Papa Harbaugh will happen here?  I’ll set the Over/Under at 6.5…  The Ravens can make up ground on the Steelers with a win here; the Chargers need to win to stay in their comfy wildcard slot.  I like the Chargers at home plus points; put that in the “Betting Bundle”.

Let me review the “Betting Bundle”:

• Missouri – 7 over Mississippi St.
• Colorado – 2.5 over Kansas
• Raiders +6.5 against Broncos
• Chargers +3 against Ravens.

And just for fun, here are five Money Line Parlays:

• Lions @ minus-360
• Chiefs @ minus-570
• Commanders @ minus-520
• Texans @ minus-380     $100 wager to win $126

And …

• Lions @ minus-360
• Chiefs @ minus-570
• Chargers @ +130     $100 wager to win $245

And …

• Commanders @ minus-520
• Lions @ minus-360
• Vikes @ minus-180   $100 wager to win $137

And …

• SMU @ minus-320
• Colorado @ minus-130   $100 wager to win $132

And …

• Penn St. @ minus-365
• Iowa @ minus-220
• Missouri @ minus-300     $100 wager to win $147

Finally, we hear from Vince Lombardi:

“Show me a good loser, and I’ll show you a loser.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

Yesterday afternoon, the NY Jets fired their GM, Joe Douglas.  This comes soon on the heels of firing the head coach, Robert Saleh earlier in the season.  This morning, there is a report at CBSSports.com saying that Jets’ owner, Woody Johnson, wanted to bench Aaron Rodgers after the Jets lost to the Broncos in Week 4 of this year.  [Aside:  The Jets’ backup QB is Tyrod Taylor.]  This must be an unusual level of turmoil even for Jets’ fans who have continued to follow a team that has only posted 2 winning seasons since 2010.

My first thought here was that Jets’ fans might want to root for President-elect Trump to appoint Johnson to the job Johnson held in the first Trump administration – – US Ambassador to the UK.  That would remove him from the “leadership role” Johnson executes with the Jets and keep him busy elsewhere.  But then I wondered how the Jets performed in the time when Christopher Johnson – – Woody’s brother and co-owner of the Jets – – was leading the way.

Woody Johnson served as US Ambassador to the UK from November 2017 until January 2021.  Essentially, Christopher Johnson was in charge of the 2018 – 2020 iterations of the Jets.  Here are the data:

• 2018:  Jets were 4-12 and last in the AFC East.  Fired coach Todd Bowles
• 2019:  Jets were 7-9 and 3^rd in the AFC East.  Hired coach Adam Gase
• 2020:  Jets were 2-14 and last in the AFC East.  Fired coach Adam Gase.

            Let us just agree to say that the years under Christopher Johnson’s guidance were something less than an unalloyed success.  So, maybe Jets’ fans should not be trying to whisper in President-elect Trump’s ear…

So, the Jets’ will do a thorough housecleaning in the upcoming off-season.  Soon, you will be reading about rumors related to whom Johnson’s people are talking to about which job and etc.  Before that speculation begins and then turns fanciful, let me ask a rational question:

• If you were a  young hot prospect in the NFL coaching universe looking for a place to launch your career that will hopefully land you a slot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a coach, would you take the Jets’ job in 2025?

You can answer that question from two perspectives:

1. As noted above, the Jets have been a miserable failure as a team for at least the last 15 years and have not been in the playoffs since 2010.  So, if a young hotshot coach goes there and turns the franchise around so that it makes the playoffs in 2026 and maybe wins a game in the playoffs in 2027 and then plays for the Conference Championship in 2028, that would be a great launching to a coaching career.  OR …
2. The Jets’ roster is merely decent and not great.  Aaron Rodgers will be 41 years old, and it will cost more than $20M in cap space to move on from him.  Rodgers is also a certified prima donna who may or may not buy into any sort of new regimen offered up by a young hotshot coach. Moreover, the Jets’ record shows that they have hired “rookie head coaches” all the way back to the days of Bill Parcells in the 1990s and none of them have gone on to greater glory after their time in the Jets’ locker room.

Moving on – – but staying with the topic of NFL head coaches …  Jon Gruden signed a multi-year deal with Barstool Sports.  I have not been able to figure out exactly what he is going to do there, but Gruden does post videos on You Tube periodically and they are insightful if not spectacularly entertaining.  It is no secret that Barstool Sports’ founder, Dave Portnoy, is not highly regarded by the NFL brass.  Barstool and Portnoy himself are “pot-stirrers” in the media world and the NFL prefers to be the only one’s stirring the NFL cauldron.

As an example of Barstool’s pot-stirring, recall that when “Deflategate” was a cause celebre, several Barstool employees were arrested for staging a sit-in at NFL HQs demanding to speak to Commissioner roger Goodell about his suspension of Tom Brady.  The NFL chose to ban Barstool from its events and at one of the Super Bowl games, Portnoy allegedly produced a counterfeit media credential for himself and was “escorted out” of the stadium once he was discovered.

Recall also that Jon Gruden still has a pending lawsuit against the NFL for wrongful termination, so the combination of Barstool Sports along with an active litigant against the league is sure to produce nothing by warm feelings along Mahogany Row in NFL HQs.  I don’t know where all that is going, but it might be fun …

Finally, having mentioned Bill Parcells in passing above, let me close with two of his observations today:

“I’ll call somebody ‘dumb’ or ‘stupid’ if they make a dumb or stupid play. I don’t know any other word for it, and if they don’t like the word, that’s too bad.”

And …

“When you don’t know that you don’t know, it’s a lot different than when you do know that you don’t know.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

In the Gospel of St. Matthew, it says:

“Ask and it shall be given unto you…”

In no way was St. Matthew referring to rants on this website, but a stray question that I asked last week returned a detailed answer to me.  In last week’s Football Friday, I said that I was not aware of how the Division III field for the football playoffs was populated; were there any “at large bids”?

Yesterday, I found in my inbox a communique from the “reader in Houston” who enlightened me so that I can now enlighten you.  Here is a lightly edited version of his exposition:

“There will be 40 teams in the playoffs this year, compared to 32 last year.

“There are 28 conferences, therefore 28 automatic qualifiers, referred to as Pool A.

“There is a Pool B which is set aside for independents or conferences without automatic bids. This year there are no eligible teams for Pool B.

“Lastly, there is Pool C for the final 12 at-large teams. At-large bids are determined using a new NCAA Power Index aka NPI and the football committee must weigh each of the criteria in the formula, which takes into account the following: 

1. 1. 1. Winning Percentage (40%)/Strength of Schedule (60%)
      2. Home/Away W/L percentage – since its supposedly tougher to win on the road, it uses a 1.1/0.9 to reward those wins
      3.  Quality wins, using a QW base multiplier, which is too complicated for me to understand/explain
      4.  Minimum Wins of 5, which I do understand.

“There are four brackets of 10 teams apiece. The brackets are set by the committee, grouping eight teams together in a roughly geographic manner.

“The NCAA reserves the right to seed the bracket in the interest of avoiding having to pay for extra airplane flights in the first round. If two schools are within 500 miles’ driving distance, then the road team travels by bus. If the distance is longer than 500 miles then the NCAA must fly one team to play the other.

“The #7 seed plays #10, and #8 plays #9, with the winners advancing to the second round. However, the committee has the right to juggle first-round pairings to satisfy their travel requirements, as well as keep conference foes from facing each other in the first round.

“In general, the higher seed hosts through to the national semifinals. If two equal seeds from different brackets meet in the national semifinals, the NCAA will determine who hosts. That is figured out and announced when the brackets are originally released.

“Now you know the whole story.”

The reason I brought this up in the first place was that Linfield was playing Whitworth last weekend and both schools were undefeated in conference games; the winner would win the title and get the automatic bid.  I did not know if the loser still had a chance for the playoffs.

Well, Linfield won the game – handily – giving them the automatic bid.  And, it turns out, Whitworth got one of the at large bids for Pool C.  Linfield gets a BYE for the first round of the tournament and will not play again until November 30^th; Whitworth plays this weekend against Pomona-Pitzer.  Go Wildcats!

Moving on …  Today is International Men’s Day.  Who knew?  It is a day set aside so that awareness can be brought to the myriads of issues facing men around the world such as:

• Abuse – – the recipient not the donor
• Homelessness
• Parental separation – – often caused by “Baby Daddy” walking out
• Suicide

Now that I have listed those issues, I guess I am aware of them, and I guess that you are also aware of them having read the paragraph above.  So, that means I have achieved the objective of International Men’s Day, so I’ll go sit in a rocking chair for the rest of the day and watch TV until it’s time to go fire up the grill and make some dinner.

Finally, if one were to take seriously the idea of a “Men’s Day”, perhaps one should consider this nugget from Albert Einstein:

“Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………