#and i would say the same for the wolfpack and coach too

[rxttenfish]

still absolutely mourning the fact that the devs just forgot about faith and the coven

[thecollegefootballguy]

14 Most Important ACC Rivalries in 2018

I did this feature in 2016 and folded it into the Top X Games in Y Conference last year, but because I want to take on extra work I’m gonna do both! This series won’t be looking at which games are will have the biggest impact in the coming year, but at which rivalry games will be the best to watch. Obviously what constitutes a rivalry is up for debate, so give me a bit of leeway with this. I’ll be looking at which rivalries have meant a lot in recent history and how important they’ll be in the coming year.

DISCLAIMER! A rivalry can only make the list if it is going to be played in 2018. Thank you.

First off, two honorable mentions that just missed the cut:

Notre Dame-Pittsburgh Boston College-Virginia Tech

I’ve always been a fan of the ND-Pitt game. It takes a backseat to bigger rivalries for both teams, but it’s usually interesting and has some history behind it. Boston College-Virginia Tech was one of the most important games in the ACC in the last half of the 2000′s. It has fallen away with the regression of BC’s program (and to a lesser extent VA Tech’s), but I wanted to give it a shout out since it was only 10 years ago that these teams were routinely playing for the ACC Championship.

14. Penn State at Pittsburgh

I’m a big fan of old-school rivalry games and Penn State-Pitt used to be one of the biggest. In the years before the Big East this was the premier football game in the Northeast. The last 30 or so years haven’t been to kind to this game, but this brief revival has recaptured a tiny bit of the magic. The Nittany Lions insist that the game isn’t meaningful as much at the Panthers insist that it is. It certainly was meaningful in 2016, when Pittsburgh’s shootout win ended up costing Penn State a spot in the Playoff. Now the Nittany Lions return to Heinz Field to exact their revenge against their most certainly not-hated, not-rivals. The schools have so far split the first two games of their current four game series.  It’s the 99th meeting between the “rivals”.

13. North Carolina at Virginia (South’s Oldest Rivalry)

I’m not going to lie to you and say that I believe this game will impact the Coastal race. It won’t. However, the South’s Oldest Rivalry is one of those excellent friendly(ish) annual games that makes up the heart of a lot of college football’s best traditions. The Cavaliers’ win last year broke a seven game Tar Heel streak. This will be the 123rd playing of the South’s Oldest Rivalry.

12. NC State at North Carolina

Here’s a rivalry with a little more hatred baked into it. The UNC-NC State game is the premier football event in the state of North Carolina. The Wolfpack turned in one of their best seasons in recent memory last year and are hoping to continue their success. In what seems like striking regularity, both sides love to spoil the good seasons of their rival, and the Tar Heels will certainly be in a better position to do so compared to last year. The Wolfpack have won three of the past four games. It’ll be the 108th meeting between the two in-state rivals.

11. North Carolina at Duke

Another game that likely won’t be too relevant to the ACC standings in 2018 but is one of the top games in the league in terms of how each school and fanbase feels about the other. Duke currently holds the Victory Bell, having won the past two games, and is well positioned to retain the trophy with the contest taking place in Durham. It’s the 105th game in the long-running rivalry.

10. Virginia at Virginia Tech

Hope springs eternal. Virginia Tech has beaten their hated in-state rivals 14 straight years. The Hokies haven’t lost to Virginia since they were members of the Big East. Still, no matter how badly VA Tech beats up the Cavaliers, there’s always next year. Maybe next year will be 2018. It’s the 100th playing of the rivalry, and UVA hasn’t held the Commonwealth Cup since 2003. Will the winds of change will blow in Blacksburg?

9. Miami FL at Virginia Tech

If this really is a rivalry then it’s the one that is most likely to impact the ACC Coastal race. Miami and Virginia Tech haven’t really been good at the same time since the Big East days, so this game doesn’t have some of the great recent history that the contests above it on the list have. These teams have only played 35 total times. The Hurricanes have won 3 of the past 4.

8. NC State at Clemson (Textile Bowl)

One of the underrated secondary rivalries in the ACC is the Textile Bowl between Clemson and NC State. In a different age this would be one of those friendly rivalries, but both teams like beating the other a bit too much for that to be true. It’s one of those strange series where almost every game is closely contested, but the outcome is always the same. The Tigers take a 6 game winning streak into the 87th all-time meeting. Clemson has won 13 of the last 14.

7. Georgia Tech at Virginia Tech (Battle of the Techs)

The Battle of the Techs is one of those recent rivalries that was born organically from the important and intense games played in recent memory. From the inception of the ACC Championship Game in 2005 until 2012, these were the only two teams to represent the ACC Coastal, and this was back when it was the better division. This year the stakes probably won’t be as high with Miami sucking the oxygen from the room, but if the Canes falter I’d bet this game becomes a whole lot more important. Georgia Tech has won the past two contests. This is only the 16th ever meeting between these two polytechnic universities.

6. Georgia Tech at Georgia (Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate)

One of the ACC’s premier non-conference games, UGA-GA Tech surprises you when you least expect it. Obviously there aren’t any conference stakes, but Georgia figures to once again be in the Playoff hunt, so all eyes will be on the Bulldogs at the end of the season when they host their archrival Yellow Jackets. Despite Tech being a clear underdog in most of these recent games, the series has been split in the last four meetings, with the road team winning each time. It’s the 113th game in this storied series.

5. Clemson at Georgia Tech

This is one of those strange rivalries that flies under the radar for many people. It doesn’t help that neither team considers the other a primary rival, or even a secondary one if we’re being real. Clemson and Georgia Tech are each other’s permanent cross-division game and they’ve played a lot of matchups that ended up being pretty important. It just never seemed to be the case at the time. This will be the 84th all-time meeting. The Tigers have won three in a row and 5 of the last 6.

4. South Carolina at Clemson (Palmetto Bowl)

The (South) Carolina-Clemson rivalry has never been hotter. The past ten years has seen the biggest games in the history of this long and storied series. Clemson has been the top dog of late, though this success comes on the heels of South Carolina’s longest series win streak ever. The Tigers will certainly be favored this year once again, but the Gamecocks appear to be growing stronger. It’s the 116th playing of the Palmetto Bowl. Clemson has won the past four games against the Cocks.

3. Florida at Florida State

The ACC’s best non-conference game remains Florida-Florida State. This matchup has produced some of college football’s best teams since the 1980′s. FSU has had the upperhand lately, winning the past five meetings and seven of the last eight. The rivalry enters a new age in 2018, with both teams breaking in new coaches. It’s the 63rd playing of this legendary game.

2. Florida State at Miami FL

The ACC’s biggest cross-division game is growing in importance. The late 2000′s was the nadir of this epic rivalry, as both teams experienced a severe downturn in their fortunes. Florida State dug themselves out first, and put a healthy beatdown on their rivals until last season, when Miami finally broke through and snapped FSU’s 7 game win streak. With the Hurricanes on the move in South Florida, and the Seminoles reloading after resetting the program under Willie Taggart, the FSU-Miami game looks like it’s going to enter a new period of ferocity. It’ll be the 63rd playing of this great rivalry series.

1. Clemson at Florida State

The most important rivalry in the ACC is most certainly FSU-Clemson. For the last decade the game has decided the Atlantic Division and since 2011 it has decided the entire conference. Until the Noles’ awkward misstep last season, you could easily have made the case that this was the most important rivalry in the whole nation, beating out the likes of Alabama-LSU and Ohio State-Michigan. Florida State could easily make this game a close run affair once again if they get liftoff under Taggart. It’s only the 32nd playing of the ACC’s unofficial conference championship game. The Tigers have won the past three meetings.

[racingtoaredlight]

The degenerate’s guide to college football TV watch ‘em ups, 2019 season, week 7

As you read this for the first time in what seems like ages Steven Montez is not throwing an interception. Enough about that, it’s Red River Shootout Rivalry week! Kind of sucks that they stopped calling it a shootout right when every game in the Big XII became a shootout.

This isn’t the best version of “Red River Valley” much like this year’s game isn’t the best version of the Red River Shootout but we have to love the ones we’re with.

Why am I putting so much of this post into a game I don’t give a shit about? Because Miami already played (and won!) and I haven’t actually looked at the rest of the schedule yet. We’ll find out together what’s going on this week! Schedule copied from FBSchedules, gambles copied from Vegas Insider, thoughts are intended to be original. I’m sorry.

Saturday, October 12

Matchup                                                       Time (ET)                  TV/Mobile

6 Oklahoma vs. 11 Texas (in Dallas, TX)    12:00pm                       FOX

Wait, get the fuck out of here. This is the first game listed to top it all off? Bookmakers are fucking with us to have the o/u at 75.5 but Sooners -10.5 seems smart to me. Note to theoretical new readers: nobody who writes on this site about gambling is right more than 15% of the time.

Maryland at Purdue                                     12:00pm                       BTN

B1G action! It sucks!

23 Memphis at Temple                                12:00pm                     ESPN2

The race for the group of five BCS bid (is that what we’re still calling it?) is a madcap so far and Temple is still in it. Wild, right? Manny Diaz might have chosen the less talented team this year when he decided to leave Temple at the altar. Memphis is the favorite for this game and the AAC championship and probably #2 in line for the big bowl money among the sisters of the poor but this is an interesting game for a whole host of reasons. Go Tigers.

Miami (Ohio) at Western Michigan             12:00pm                    ESPNU

I think I’m doing the italics wrong for this post. I won’t go back to fix it, though.

16 Michigan at Illinois                                  12:00pm                      ABC

Michigan is pure entertainment to me but only in theory. I don’t watch their shitty games but every outcome fills me with glee. Nobody likes them, especially Michigan fans. Keep it going, Captain Clutch.

Mississippi State at Tennessee                   12:00pm                     SECN

Miss State isn’t total trash, are they? I feel like no but I can’t tell you why. And, yet, they are only favored by 6.5 over Tennessee. I can’t believe there’s a reason beyond gambling to care about this game.

Rutgers at Indiana                                         12:00pm                     BTN

If you find yourself interested in this game for any reason whatsoever please call 800-522-4700.

South Carolina at 3 Georgia                          12:00pm                   ESPN

Is Coach Boom on the hot seat? I really don’t know what’s expected of him. Can he say that his shitty QB that got hurt would have made a difference in this season? Will school officials believe him? Georgia -22 seems like great value to me.

Toledo at Bowling Green                                12:00pm                  CBSSN

Bowling Green is very bad. Are they +26.5 at home against Toledo bad? Absolutely they are.

Georgia Tech at Duke                                      12:30pm                   RSN

Georgia Tech football makes me sad. Let’s not dwell too long on them.

Ball State at Eastern Michigan                        2:00pm                  ESPN+

Ball State is not baller at all. One of life’s great quandaries.

Old Dominion at Marshall                                2:30pm               Stadium

This must be the first game of the year on Stadium unless I’ve just completely stopped paying attention. What a debut!

New Mexico State at Central Michigan           3:00pm                ESPN3

Washington State at 18 Arizona State              3:30pm            Pac-12N

Holy hell, what a shit year this is. Arizona State crept up to #18 and there is nothing interesting about their team on the field. They aren’t even undefeated. It’s just Herm Edwards yelling inspiration to some kids you’ve never heard of and it’s mostly worked out so far. This game is a pick ‘em which is probably what every Washington State game should be until Mike Leach rides off into the sunset.

Florida State at 2 Clemson                                 3:30pm              ABC

When Cabbage exposed Jameis Winston’s pay-for-play thing a few years ago Jameis was probably taking money for point shaving, too. I kind of feel like Trevor Lawrence is doing the same thing this year but it’s more dangerous for him because he still has to play in college for another year. How off has Clemson looked so far? I’m entertaining thoughts of FSU pulling the upset here. Technically they can do that just by staying closer than 26. That’s the best kind of upset, really.

NIU at Ohio                                                           3:30pm            ESPN+

Even in the lowered expectations world of MACtion 2019 this is a sad affair.

Kent State at Akron                                             3:30pm             ESPN3

Maybe all MAC games are particularly sad this year.

Michigan State at 8 Wisconsin                           3:30pm               BTN

The pain isn’t close to over for Sparty but a nice moral victory here would only mean keeping Jonathan Taylor under 200 yards and 5 TDs. Or even scoring. One out of two seems possible.

25 Cincinnati at Houston                                     3:30pm            ESPN2

Holgo to Houston seemed so natural but things haven’t really clicked yet. Fickell at Cincinnati, on the other hand, has been perfect and immediate. Vegas has some faith in the Cougars still, though, so maybe I just haven’t caught up to the now. The Bearcats are favored by 7 but that seems low to me, even on the road. Maybe stay the fuck away from this one.

1 Alabama at 24 Texas A&M                                3:30pm              CBS

aTm is going to lose by 40 and somehow rank #15 on Sunday.

BYU at USF                                                            3:30pm            CBSSN

BYU is starting a black QB for the first time in school history. That’s kind of a jarring headline in 2019 for any school, isn’t it? 

UConn at Tulane                                                    3:45pm            ESPNU

Let’s run away from all the uncomfortable thoughts that go with BYU and gather together to laugh at UConn. It is wild that Tulane is favored by 34 over anybody. Willie Fritz is going to get offered a lot of money to go somewhere else for 2020 and I hope he stays put. Having a good coach and the occasionally best uniforms in the country is a cool combo.

Rhode Island at Virginia Tech                               4:00pm            ACCN

Virginia Tech won one of the most cursed games of all time last week and it would surprise basically nobody if they turned around and lost to the Fightin’ Lamar Odoms this week. Before you ask, yes, Rhode Island is bad even for a AA team.

Texas Tech at 22 Baylor                                         4:00pm             FS1

Baylor is ranked. Gross.

San Jose State at Nevada                                      4:00pm          ATTSN

If you’re a fan of Last Chance U, tune in to see Malik Henry take over as Nevada’s QB. The offense has been a shambles so far this year but the Wolfpack are still 3-2 and alive in the MWC so maybe the formerly big name recruit can provide a nice jolt.

UNLV at Vanderbilt                                                  4:00pm          SECN

People like to make jokes about the SEC not playing any good non-conference games and never going on the road to play out of conference.

Middle Tennessee at Florida Atlantic                    4:00pm          ESPN+

FAU is going to sneak into a bowl game this year and Lane Kiffin is going to get hired by like Florida State or some dumb shit. Looking forward to it all.

Iowa State at West Virginia                                     4:00pm          ESPN

The line opened at -7.5 for Iowa State and it’s moved up to -10. Both these teams are kind of messy and it’s being played in Morgantown. Somebody please enlighten us all in the comments.

Georgia State at Coastal Carolina                          5:00pm          ESPN+

This afternoon stretch is mostly pretty bleak for watchin’ ‘em up.

UAB at UTSA                                                             6:00pm          ESPN+

This game doesn’t change things much for the better. UAB should rock UTSA but this is on ESPN+ anyway, so it’s not like anybody will be watching it.

UMass at Louisiana Tech                                          7:00pm         ESPN3

Peeking down the page a bit, the night schedule actually looks pretty good. This one won’t be in the rotation. La Tech is good this year but UMass is pure trash. The 31.5-point line is a warning sign to stay away unless the game gets way the fuck out of hand really early.

Mississippi, Oxford at Missouri                               7:00pm          ESPN2

Kelly Bryant is, at long last, looking pretty good. Missouri’s offense is theoretically a good training ground for the NFL, so I’m happy for Bryant on that level, but I really just want to see extra misery (npi) poured on Mississippi.

North Texas at Southern Miss                                  7:00pm         Facebook

I swear to you the good games are on their way.

Fresno State at Air Force                                         7:00pm          CBSSN

We aren’t quite there yet but this is at least a cool looking game. The stadium, the uniforms, the offensive schemes. This is degenerate football.

Charlotte at FIU                                                         7:00pm            ESPN+

Butch Davis’s kids finally showed some signs of life last week but it’s still for the best that this one is on ESPN+ and out of sight.

Army at WKU                                                             7:00pm           Stadium

I don’t think you’ll need it but this is some pretty nice alternative program if the brand name stuff goes sideways.

10 Penn State at 17 Iowa                                          7:30pm             ABC

Two programs with very different histories dealing with disadvantaged kids clash in primetime. Here’s to another few years of contract for Kirk Ferentz following a minor but important upset victory.

USC at 9 Notre Dame                                                7:30pm             NBC

USC is great because they actually have a similar amount of talent to Notre Dame but they haven’t had a coach for the last few years. Nice to see one of college football’s storied rivalries played on the first weekend of October. I’m trying to believe the Trojans can win but honestly it would feel like a miracle if they keep things within spitting distance of the 10.5-point line.

Arkansas at Kentucky                                               7:30pm           SECN

Both of these teams are 2-3 and going nowhere but Kentucky -6.5 seems like a steal. Somebody talk Beer out of this one.

Louisville at 19 Wake Forest                                     7:30pm           ACCN

Wake Forest is the weird secret hope that at least one ACC team can stay in the top 25 all year long to make Clemson’s schedule just good enough to make the playoffs. If I know my ACC, Louisville is going to run all over them.

Navy at Tulsa                                                               7:30pm          ESPNU

I’m still not sold on this edition of Midshipmen football but maybe I’ve been too harsh on Malcolm Perry. We’re getting into the “pound the over” part of the year for Navy and I, possibly stupidly, feel pretty good about them winning this one. Which would make them 4-1 against the spread with three straight overs.

Nebraska at Minnesota                                               7:30pm            FS1

Undefeated and unranked Minnesota might be catching Nebraska at a bad time. The Huskers aren’t good but they have a little bit of fight in them. Which is what they hired Scott Frost for in the first place. Leaning Nebraska +7.5. Make of that what you will.

7 Florida at 5 LSU                                                        8:00pm           ESPN

What upside down version of the world are we in where Florida’s vicious defense is pitted against LSU’s unstoppable offense? This is the kind of place where the U.S. president would lay down the project of empire to let some pissant remnant of Alexander the Great’s conquests bomb American troops for the sake of... building some hotels somewhere, I think? This game is guaranteed to end well past midnight East Coast time.

15 Utah at Oregon State                                              8:00pm         Pac-12N

Well, Herman Munster, the Utes are people of the Great Basin whose ancestral homes covered most of present day Colorado and Utah. And the Utah Utes are gonna fuck Oregon State shit all up. Utah -14.5, under 59.5. Beware, all Pac-12 After Dark prognostication is functionally useless.

Hawaii at 14 Boise State                                            10:15pm        ESPN2

God do I want to sex this particular game. Hawaii vs. Boise on the blue turf, kicking off well after most of the country has gone to bed? This is what West Coast football is all about. Boise is the much better team but Hawaii still has the wild offense, so keep an eye on this even if the score looks one-sided at halftime.

Wyoming at San Diego State                                     10:30pm         CBSSN

In recent years this matchup has been the key to the MWC season but for some reason it got scheduled mid-season for 2019. Both are still in contention for the conference title and one of them is likely to get serious top 25 consideration tomorrow. SDSU has my heart but an o/u of 38 makes this one sound painful.

Washington at Arizona                                                11:00pm           FS1

Pac-12 scheduling baby! Why is it designed to make people not see their best teams and most dynamic players? Who knows but it’s a tradition now. UDub has sort of fallen apart after their preseason top 10 ranking but nobody is going to look to Arizona for consistency. The line has moved down, which suggests people are betting in decent numbers, but you have to got serious problems if you think this is a good ride to take.

[footballvillenation]

Does Philip Rivers need a Super Bowl to finally get his due?

Rivers has spent his whole football life as an underrated, and oft-ignored, star. But he’s always gotten respect from those around him.

Philip Rivers covered his head with his parka when he watched the Denver Broncos convert a third down in the final minutes of a Divisional Round game in January 2014. A couple minutes later, he put on his helmet and watched the Broncos kneel the final seconds off the clock. Rivers jogged on to the field in Denver — helmet still on — to shake Peyton Manning’s hand.

It was the last time the San Diego Chargers appeared in the playoffs.

Rivers was excellent that day. He completed 18 of his 27 passes for 217 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions against the Broncos’ defense. But his 115.8 passer rating wasn’t enough in the 24-17 loss — even if it was better than Manning’s 93.5 rating.

Now 15 years into his NFL career, Rivers is eighth all-time in passing yards with 54,656, and sixth in touchdowns with 374. His streak 208 consecutive starts is the longest active run in the NFL and 11th-longest ever.

But every player above him on the passing leaderboards has played in a Super Bowl. Even Dan Marino — famous for a brilliant career, but no championship rings — made it to Super Bowl XIX. Rivers, though, has only made it as far as the AFC Championship.

That was back in January 2008, a 21-12 loss to the then-undefeated New England Patriots. The game is best remembered for Hall of Fame running back LaDainian Tomlinson sitting on the bench due to a knee injury. He watched with his helmet on through a dark visor while Rivers struggled against the Patriots with no touchdowns and two interceptions.

Now, at age 37, Rivers is getting another crack at the one thing that has eluded him during his NFL career: postseason success. If he finally finds it, maybe he’ll get the long-deserved recognition that has also proved evasive.

Even before his NFL career, Rivers was outside the spotlight

Rivers began his career as the consolation prize for the Chargers after Eli Manning demanded a trade during the 2004 NFL Draft. The New York Giants sent first-, third-, and fifth-round picks to the Chargers along with Rivers to get Manning.

It was a fitting precursor of the career to come for Rivers. He’s been mostly outshined and overlooked due to peers like five-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady, all-time passing touchdowns leader Peyton Manning, and all-time passing yards leader Drew Brees.

Eli Manning, who has 14 fewer touchdowns than Rivers but 61 more interceptions, is heralded for two Super Bowl victories over the Patriots. Ben Roethlisberger was selected 11th overall in 2004 — seven picks after Rivers — and also has two Super Bowl victories.

Even when Rivers had arguably the best season of his career in 2018, a young superstar in his division stole the spotlight with 50 touchdown passes. The Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes is likely the NFL’s MVP, but he and Rivers split their pair of regular meetings.

The most recent was a 29-28 win for the Chargers on the road in Kansas City. The Chiefs had a chance to clinch the AFC West with a win, but Rivers orchestrated back-to-back touchdown drives in the fourth quarter — capped by a two-point conversion with four seconds left to seal the deal.

“It shows you the type of quarterback he is,” former North Carolina State coach Chuck Amato told SB Nation of Rivers’ game against the Chiefs. “Who was the quarterback for the other team? That’s who everybody wants to be MVP, right? So he lost the game. How did Philip win the game? He had to score two touchdowns and a two-point play in the last less than four minutes of the game. Did he do it? Why couldn’t his competitor do it?”

Amato became the head coach at NC State in January 2000 — the same month that Rivers arrived on campus as a two-star recruit. Both Rivers’ agent Jimmy Sexton and Amato say the only SEC school that recruited the Alabama native was Auburn, but that then-head coach Tommy Tuberville wanted him to play tight end. Rivers’ father said it was the chance to play quickly that pushed his son to NC State.

No matter how Rivers wound up in Raleigh, it didn’t take him long to impress.

“There were two quarterbacks that returned — one had played and the other was a redshirt freshman — he was third-string behind these two guys,” Amato said. “The second day he was second-string. The third day he was first-string. In spring. Both these guys transferred because they saw they weren’t going to be able to beat him out.

“By the time spring was over, the offense knew he was the leader, and by the time the offseason was over, the whole team knew that he was going to lead the team. When he was a freshman. Philip is something special, he really is.”

He started in all 51 games over four seasons with the Wolfpack and finished his collegiate career as the ACC’s all-time passing leader with 13,484 yards. No player has even reached 12,000 since.

When Tramain Hall arrived in 2001, Rivers had already established himself as NC State’s star player. And when Hall first saw the field at running back and wide receiver as a redshirt sophomore in 2003, Rivers was a senior with the NFL on the horizon.

“He communicated with all of us really well, on and off the field,” Hall told SB Nation. “At times, as a quarterback, there are times when you can be like ‘it’s my way’ or whatever, and Philip was never like that.

“I ended up catching close to 70 balls and 800 yards from the guy. I don’t think I would’ve done that if I didn’t have a guy who relates to other guys on the team. That being kind of a father/leader really helped me as a young guy develop and understand the college football game. To the point where he’d say ‘Tramain, that’s not the right way to do it, I don’t want you to run the route that way.’ Those moments were a huge thing for me.”

But despite Rivers’ prolific career, NC State never finished in the top three in the ACC standings. The Wolfpack’s best season was an 11-3 year in 2002 that ended with a Gator Bowl victory and the No. 12 spot in the final AP Poll.

Rivers finished seventh in Heisman Trophy voting as a senior and couldn’t convince the Chargers he was worth taking with the No. 1 pick — even if he eventually landed there.

Rivers isn’t hunting for recognition

No team landed more players in the Pro Bowl than the Chargers when the rosters were announced in December. That’s a little surprising considering they may be the least popular team in the NFL.

The Chargers play in front of only 27,000 fans in their tiny temporary home in Carson, California, and even that stadium is often packed with visiting fans. The team has played at the diminutive StubHub Center, now rechristened as Dignity Health Sports Park, since 2017 after relocating from San Diego to Los Angeles. They’ll eventually share a nearly $5 billion stadium with the Rams.

But so far the move has only cast the Chargers as the little brother team in their new market, far behind the Rams who spent nearly five decades in Southern California before moving to St. Louis.

Rivers is one of the Chargers’ seven Pro Bowlers, along with running back Melvin Gordon, who admitted that he too was a little surprised that the Chargers did so well in Pro Bowl voting. He said even playing in San Diego, it was easy for players — namely, Rivers — to be forgotten.

“I think it’s probably the market,” Gordon told SB Nation. “He spent his whole career in the San Diego market, and I think people are just now starting to realize how much he’s been overlooked. Is that because now we’re in the Los Angeles market? I don’t know.

“But I remember not too long ago I was talking to him like ‘Man, I can’t even complain about not getting recognition because it’s been like that for you forever.’ He really doesn’t care, though. He’s just like ‘I’m so blessed, I get to stay out of the spotlight and be with my family,’ so it doesn’t really bother him. He just does what he does.”

But even if Rivers hasn’t received the love from the national media throughout his career, he hasn’t been disregarded by his peers.

“It’s just the outside world that doesn’t really pay enough attention,” Gordon said. “Obviously, here, everybody has huge respect for him, because we see him every day. But I think I really started to realize how respected he is when I went to the Pro Bowl for the first time. Just being around other players and talking to them showed me how much the players around the league respect him.”

Ask NFL players to name the most overlooked players in the league and it usually doesn’t take long for Rivers to be mentioned. In December, New Orleans Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan was quick to bring up Rivers as a player who may deserve more prestige than Roethlisberger.

Rivers was Devin McCourty’s choice for the NFL’s most underrated when the Patriots safety was asked by MassLive a couple weeks ago:

“Since I’ve been in the league, he’s had multiple years where two of his starting receivers go on injured reserve like Week 3 or 4, and they pick up guys on Tuesday, and they go out there and play Sunday. And he gets ‘em right and they win games.

”Obviously everyone knows he’s a good player, but I don’t think he gets recognized for how good he is at what he does. I’ve always been a fan of his.”

Even notorious trash talker Jalen Ramsey of the Jacksonville Jaguars called Rivers “pretty good,” which is about as effusive as he’ll get about a player who doesn’t play for his own defense.

Rivers may be playing for a chance to finally leave a lasting legacy and earn the media superlatives that have escaped him for a decade and a half in the NFL. But according to other players, he’s already earned those.

Rivers would like to play in the Chargers’ new stadium in Los Angeles — expected to open in 2020. But into his 40s? Don’t count on it.

“I laugh when I hear Drew [Brees], [Tom] Brady’s already 41, when I hear them say mid-40s, I go, ‘Y’all can have that. I have no desire to get there,’” Rivers told Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer in August.

A ninth child is on the way for Rivers, who got married shortly after his freshman year of college. Family time is a top priority for Rivers.

“He always wants to be with us,” his 10-year-old son Gunner told Chargers.com last month. “Whenever he’s home, he plays with us and he’s with us all the time. Wherever we go out — we go all kinds of places — random people just come up and ask for his autograph and for pictures. It’s cool. But he’s always there for us. But when he’s home, we like to throw the football in the yard. We like to putt on the putting green, watch football, and do things like that.”

Rivers said he’s looking forward to coaching high school football one day, but it’s anyone’s guess how far off on the horizon that is. Either way, it’s no secret that Rivers won’t be around to lead the Chargers for much longer. So is the pressure on the team to get him that Super Bowl ring now?

“I wouldn’t say pressure,” Gordon said. “We want to get it for him, but we also want to get it for us. We want to be the first Chargers team to win [a Super Bowl]. So I think it’s just excitement. Pressure’s not the right word, it’s more excitement.”

And the team has a reason to be excited. The 12-4 season was the Chargers’ first with double-digit wins since Tomlinson’s last year with the team in 2009. Los Angeles is No. 6 in points scored and No. 8 in points allowed. The Chicago Bears and New England Patriots are the only other teams that finished the regular season top-10 in both categories.

The Chargers are a team with notoriously bad luck, but they’re finally get some breaks to go their way. That could mean the Chargers are primed to find some January success, especially because they’re good at just about everything:

The scary thing for the Chargers is that they’ll likely need three road victories to get to the Super Bowl. Los Angeles’ 12-4 record was tied for the best mark in the AFC, but because they’re in the same division as the other 12-4 team — the Chiefs — the Chargers were relegated to the No. 5 seed.

The first game on the docket is a rematch with the Baltimore Ravens, who traveled to Los Angeles in Week 16 and beat the Chargers, 22-10. Now the Chargers will have to avenge that loss after a cross-country flight to Baltimore.

And if they don’t, the Chargers are still well set up for the future with young stars like Gordon, Joey Bosa, Keenan Allen, and Derwin James. But windows close fast in the NFL, and a division that now has Mahomes leading the Chiefs leaves little margin for error for the Chargers. So a loss to the Ravens leaves a real possibility that the Super Bowl door slams shut for good on Rivers.

“He’s a great either way,” Gordon said. “It’ll be something they have conversations about when it comes to the Hall of Fame — for the first ballot or whatever — but he’s getting in either way.”

And he is. Rivers is a surefire Hall of Famer. But his career may forever remain in the “most underrated” category instead of the “greatest” if it isn’t punctuated with a Lombardi Trophy.

via Darrell Streeter https://footballvillenation.com/does-philip-rivers-need-a-super-bowl-to-finally-get-his-due/

[weightlossfitness2]

6 ‘hand-portion’ physique transformations you must see to imagine

You have already got the important thing to reworking your physique.

Seriously. It’s truly in your particular person.

We’re speaking about your hand.

In case you don’t know… right here at Precision Nutrition, we developed a system for meals monitoring referred to as hand parts.

The fundamentals: Your hand acts as a personalised, moveable portioning device that can assist you eat appropriately-sized meals.

Your palm is a portion of protein

Your fist is a portion of greens

Your cupped hand is a portion of carbohydrates

Your thumb is a portion of fats

Depending in your intercourse, age, weight, exercise stage, and targets, you eat a certain quantity of every portion each day. Ideally from entire, nutrient-dense meals.

That’s it.

It appears really easy that in the first place individuals usually don’t imagine it’ll work. “Where’s all the calorie math?!” they surprise.

And but, the most important issues usually have the only options.

This uncomplicated technique has reworked numerous physiques. 

Strict calorie counting and measuring works effectively for some individuals and a few targets. But in our expertise teaching over 100,000 shoppers, most individuals are in a position to make use of hand parts to “watch what they eat” reliably and constantly.

And on the subject of getting the outcomes you need, what you do constantly issues essentially the most. 

That’s why we’re sharing these six unimaginable transformation tales.

Each particular person we’ve profiled—from an already-fit coach to a desk employee going through a well being scare—used this straightforward system to realize their mind-blowing outcomes, with completely no calorie counting, meals scale, or monitoring app required.

++++

#1: The workplace employee going through a well being scare.

Tony Yavasile’s blood strain was uncontrolled.

On high of that, he was critically involved about his household historical past of diabetes and weight problems.

But with a fast-paced job that concerned a ton of journey, it was troublesome for Tony to stay to a wholesome consuming plan.

The turning level: One of his overseas colleagues talked about he was wanting a bit of, effectively, greater.

So, Tony reached out to Precision Nutrition ProCoach Arthur Hernandez and began a yearlong teaching program to enhance his well being.

At first, Tony was skeptical of hand parts. “My first impression was that this was a fad; something like counting points,” he says.

But seems, the system quickly resonated. “What I found helpful, and different from other ways of tracking food, was that it was effortless,” he says.

He additionally cherished that he didn’t must take out his cellphone and enter numbers into an app. Or use a meals scale. “It’s a simple and easy method that can be used in any setting, at any time, with any meal.”

This was very true of restaurant meals. “When you apply the hand method to the plate of food that’s delivered to your table, you can’t help but recognize how poorly-balanced restaurant meals are, in general. For me, this was the biggest game-changer.”

By the top of the 12 months, Tony misplaced 44 kilos and 44 complete inches. His blood strain returned to the “green” zone, too. Now he makes use of what he’s discovered to keep up his progress.

“Like every other life journey, I have the occasional setback,” Tony says. “But unlike in the past, I have the tools to move past it and get back on track.”

Case research #2: The girl who went from overeating to trusting the method.

When 24-year-old Sarah Terry’s husband joined the army, the pair moved to Camp Humphreys in South Korea. While it was thrilling to stay in a brand new nation, it was additionally emotionally difficult.

“I relied on comfort foods because I was overwhelmed,” says Sarah. Think: cooking (and consuming) a whole pound of pasta at a time.

But the primary time she visited a temple in her new residence, Sarah discovered she solely had one costume that match. “I cried and cried because I hadn’t realized how much weight I actually had gained,” she says.

That’s when Sarah determined to make a change, and joined the Precision Nutrition Coaching program.

Like many others, Sarah doubted hand parts can be efficient. “It seemed too good to be true,” she says. After years of feeling bombarded with messages about meals scales, energy, macros, and measuring instruments, Sarah was satisfied it couldn’t be this simple. “I always felt there was a more complicated answer to food and weight loss.”

As a former calorie counter, Sarah had apprehension about giving the observe up fully. At first, she nonetheless tried to determine the calorie depend of her hand-portioned meals.

“Eventually I learned to trust the process,” Sarah says.

After dropping 45 kilos in a 12 months, Sarah says she’s pleased with how far she’s come.

“I didn’t need to cut food groups. I didn’t need fancy tools or special tummy tea or supplements or meal replacement shakes. Learning that I just needed myself—my hand—and the ability to form new habits was life-altering.”

Case research #three: The coach who wanted a coach. (It paid off big-time.)

Even coaches want teaching. That’s why Jesse Vang, a Precision Nutrition Level 1 licensed coach, employed a colleague to assist him appear and feel higher. “I got that, plus way more than I expected,” says Jesse, now 31.

At the beginning of his program, the 5’7” coach weighed in at 157 kilos and was 17 p.c physique fats. Over the following 12 months, Jesse adopted an in depth energy coaching routine 4 days per week, incorporating a HIIT exercise or two every week.

But the large changemaker, in line with Jesse: hand parts. (Surprise!)

“For years, I was a dedicated calorie counter. But it just wasn’t sustainable for me,” he says. “I didn’t really focus on the quality of the food I was eating. Instead, I had a goal of reaching a certain number, and there were days I’d eat anything just to get there.”

Jesse was truly relieved when his coach gave him the choice of utilizing hand parts as an alternative.

Already accustomed to monitoring, Jesse got here up with a system for guaranteeing he was assembly his hand portion targets for the day—with out the stress of detailed logging. “I made it as simple as possible by using the Notes app on my iPhone,” he explains. Once he had eaten a portion, he would merely add it to his listing for the day.

This helped Jesse maintain monitor of his parts with out feeling like he was caught on a inflexible meal plan. “The beauty of the hand method is the flexibility. If I ate a bit more carbs at lunch, then I’d simply drop my carbs on the next meal. Following this method saved me so much time and energy.”

By the top of the 12 months, Jesse was 147 kilos and eight.6 p.c physique fats. (That means he misplaced 14 kilos of fats and gained 4 kilos of muscle.) But even higher, he’s used his private expertise to assist shoppers: “My clients follow this same approach, and all are having similar success.”

Case research #four: The girl who stopped chasing perfection and regained her well being.

When Laurie Campbell, 54, began the Precision Nutrition Coaching program, she was the heaviest she’d ever been. “My largest clothes were too tight, and I found it easier to stay home in stretchy yoga pants and my husband’s baggy T-shirts, eating countless bags of chips that I always kept handy,” she says.

Weight loss was definitely a objective, however Laurie wished greater than that.

Looking again, one second stands out: taking part in with one in all her granddaughters on the ground. The little woman jumped up and ran away, and Laurie wasn’t in a position to stand up rapidly to observe her.

“It was humbling for me to realize I had lost so much mobility and strength when I was once an avid runner involved in many sports and physical activities,” says Laurie.

In the previous, Laurie meticulously counted energy. “I obsessively weighed and measured everything. I don’t think that encouraged a very healthy relationship with food.”

By setting inconceivable requirements for herself, Laurie set herself up for the intense highs and lows that include chasing the “perfect diet.”

But when she switched handy parts? “I found it to be a relief,” she says. (We hear that quite a bit.)

Hand parts additionally helped Laurie perceive how she could have gained weight within the first place. “I realized I was serving myself the same portions as my husband, who is considerably larger than me,” she says.

By the top of this system, Laurie misplaced 38 kilos and 24 inches. Since then, she’s misplaced 5 extra kilos, simply by maintaining with what she discovered.

“I feel fantastic now! I’m no longer ruled by food, diets, and obsessive monitoring,” Laurie says. “I’m not afraid to have dessert, but at the same time, I’ve learned to keep those chips out of the pantry.”

And better of all? “I can easily keep up with my granddaughters now. Well, most of the time!”

Case research #5: The coach who obtained shredded as an experiment.

Extreme physique composition targets could require extra exact vitamin methods. Usually, meaning using calorie and/or macronutrient counting.

But 34-year-old Luke Robinson, a Precision Nutrition Level 2 coach and proprietor of WolfPack Fitness, puzzled if it needed to be that method.

After shoppers requested him a bunch of questions on hand parts, Luke determined to conduct an experiment to see if hand parts might get him competition-level lean—however with out spending all day within the health club. He knew the common particular person confronted a number of vitamin challenges like:

“I don’t have time.”

“I don’t want to give up drinking.”

“I don’t want to give up my favorite junk food.”

Unless he adjusted his habits throughout his experiment, Luke figured many individuals wouldn’t discover his outcomes relatable or convincing. So he set the next pointers for himself:

He might solely work out three instances per week.

Workouts needed to be 30 minutes or much less.

Workouts needed to be executed utilizing solely cinder blocks (which price him $2 USD every), bricks (50 cents/every), and a steel bar from the junkyard. No costly health club tools allowed.

Workouts might solely embrace the fundamentals of energy coaching: deadlifts, pushups, squats, rows, pullups, cut up squats, farmer’s stroll, facet planks, and plank variations.

He needed to drink to “drunkenness” at the very least as soon as per week (for him, that was three to four vodka and soda cocktails).

He needed to eat “junk food” at the very least as soon as per week (comparable to sweet bars, sugary breakfast cereal, greasy quick meals, cookies, and so forth).

Like Jesse, he saved monitor of what number of parts of protein, greens, carbohydrates, and fats he ate. This made it simple to regulate as wanted.

If he wasn’t shedding pounds, he’d cut back his carbohydrate or fats parts by one or two parts per day. If he was shedding pounds too quick, he’d add one or two carbohydrate or fats parts per day.

This made it pointless for Luke to depend energy or macros—regardless that he was reaching high-level outcomes. “You don’t need to know the exact macros or calories in anything,” he says. “You just need to know that it’s more or less relative to what you did the week before.”

In simply two months, Luke went from 212 kilos to 200, engaging in his objective to go from lean to tremendous lean. As you possibly can see from his photographs, the outcomes communicate for themselves.

Case research #6: The mother who obtained in the very best form of her life.

After child quantity two, 37-year-old Kelley Derner spent 9 months working along with her longtime coach, Arthur Hernandez (clearly, a hand parts skilled!), to get again to her pre-pregnancy baseline.

But she wished extra. “I promised myself that this time, I would do something just for me. After all that I went through postpartum, including depression and anxiety, I needed that,” says Kelley.

When her progress stalled, nonetheless, Hernandez steered attempting one thing new: hand parts.

Kelley wasn’t bought on the concept immediately. It didn’t seem to be sufficient meals to her. “At first, I thought I was probably never going to feel full again,” Kelley laughs.

She was additionally frightened she wouldn’t be capable to gauge parts accurately.

Despite her reservations, Kelley gave it a attempt. Over time, she started to be taught what parts regarded like for her physique. “When I realized what portion sizes I should actually be eating, I was shocked,” Kelley says.

What’s extra, she found it was doable to overeat entire, nutrient-dense meals. And that even when she was consuming “clean,” overeating was getting in the way in which of her targets.

For occasion, by utilizing her palm as a reference level, Kelley noticed she didn’t want a whole rooster breast to make up one serving of lean protein. “I thought ‘well, it’s just chicken, and that’s healthy,’ but it was actually way more than I needed. Now, I cut them in half.”

Her takeaway? “Hand portions aren’t about restrictions. They’re about showing you what’s appropriate.”

As for her outcomes, Kelley says she feels wonderful. “I’ll be 38 in one month, and I look the best I’ve ever looked in my life—even after two kids.”

What to do subsequent…

Challenge your self to attempt one thing totally different.

When we’re snug with a sure method of doing issues, it may be troublesome to vary issues up.

As you learn in these tales, lots of the individuals have been former calorie counters. And lots of them had a troublesome time giving that up.

So in case you’re reluctant to surrender calorie counting, macro counting, or every other technique of portion management, ask your self:

“How’s that working for me?”

Are you seeing the outcomes you need with the strategies you’re presently utilizing? If not, it might be price experimenting with one thing new—even when it feels a bit of uncomfortable at first.

Use our Nutrition Calculator to determine your custom-made hand parts.

If you wish to attempt hand parts however you’re unsure the place to start out, try our Nutrition Calculator.

All you must do is enter your private particulars like age, present weight, and top, alongside along with your targets and while you’d like to realize them. You can even point out your meals preferences, comparable to plant-based, Paleo, Mediterranean, keto, and extra.

Then, the calculator places collectively a personalised consuming information that features your individualized hand parts (in addition to your macros in grams, in case you’re curious!). Plus, it’ll provide you with every part it’s essential to find out about placing hand parts into observe.

Stay versatile… however constant.

One of the explanations individuals are so profitable with hand parts is that the system is very versatile.

Need extra power in your athletic efficiency? Add a portion of carbs.

Not shedding pounds? Remove a portion of fat.

No calculations required.

At the identical time, consistency issues. What you do on a constant foundation is what actually drives your outcomes.

And fortunately, flexibility means that you can arrange your food plan in a method that lets you do exactly that: be constant.

So as you start to experiment with hand parts, maintain an open thoughts. Adjust as wanted so to get the place you wish to go.

And anytime you hit a snag, keep in mind: The greatest issues usually have the only options.

Want assist turning into the healthiest, fittest, strongest model of you?

Most individuals know that common motion, consuming effectively, sleep, and stress administration are necessary for feeling and looking higher. Yet they need assistance making use of that information within the context of their busy, generally disturbing lives.

Over the previous 15 years, we’ve used the Precision Nutrition Coaching technique to assist over 100,000 shoppers lose fats, get stronger, and enhance their well being… for the long-term… it doesn’t matter what challenges they’re coping with.

It’s additionally why we work with well being, health, and wellness professionals (via our Level 1 and Level 2 Certification packages) to show them the best way to coach their very own shoppers via the identical challenges.

Interested in Precision Nutrition Coaching? Join the presale listing; you’ll save as much as 54% and safe a spot 24 hours early.

We’ll be opening up spots in our subsequent Precision Nutrition Coaching on Wednesday, January 15th, 2020.

If you’re desirous about teaching and wish to discover out extra, I’d encourage you to hitch our presale listing under. Being on the listing offers you two particular benefits.

You’ll pay lower than everybody else. At Precision Nutrition we prefer to reward essentially the most and motivated individuals as a result of they at all times make the very best shoppers. Join the presale listing and also you’ll save as much as 54% off most of the people value, which is the bottom value we’ve ever supplied.

You’re extra prone to get a spot. To give shoppers the private care and a focus they deserve, we solely open up this system twice a 12 months. Last time we opened registration, we bought out inside minutes. By becoming a member of the presale listing you’ll get the chance to register 24 hours earlier than everybody else, rising your possibilities of getting in.

If you’re prepared to vary your physique, and your life, with assist from the world’s greatest coaches, that is your probability.

[Note: If your health and fitness are already sorted out, but you’re interested in helping others, check out our Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certification program].

The post 6 ‘hand-portion’ physique transformations you must see to imagine appeared first on Weight Loss Fitness.

from Weight Loss Fitness https://weightlossfitnesss.info/6-hand-portion-physique-transformations-you-must-see-to-imagine/

[auburnfamilynews]

It was good weekend on the Plains as two official visitors left with the Tigers on top.

National Signing Day is quickly approaching and Auburn has plenty of spots still left to fill. This past weekend went a long way towards hopefully filling a few of those positions with some big time players.

Tigers Lead For Two Top Targets

Both 3* OG Kamaar Bell and 3* LB Octavius Brothers left the Plains last weekend with a clear #1 team in the Auburn Tigers.

Auburn is also now in the lead for 3-star LB and Brevard County, Fla. native Octavius Brothers after his official visit. That’s two players in two positions of need as the Tigers look to round out their 2019 class.

— Justin Ferguson (@JFergusonAU) January 13, 2019

Both are incredibly important targets for the Tigers. Auburn signed only two offensive lineman in December after only signing two offensive lineman in the 2018 class (though they did snag junior transfer Jack Driscoll). The Tigers also only signed one linebacker in the early period and are hoping for two more in this class. Both Bell and Brothers are at or near the top of the want list for both of those positions.

Now Auburn will have to hope no one else can top last weekend’s visits. Bell will be in Louisville this weekend before traveling to Tallahassee, FL at the end of January. That FSU visit is the one that looms large in my opinion. The Noles can sell immediate playing time and that will play a huge role in Bell’s final decision.

Had a great time @AuburnFootball . Thanks for making me feel at home #WDE pic.twitter.com/kDqE0i2jMS

— k ️〽️ ️ELL 4star ⭐️ (@BKamaar) January 14, 2019

As for Brothers, he is no longer expected to visit Ole Miss this weekend but instead travel to Atlanta and spend the weekend with the Yellow Jackets. Miami will then host him late in January and they are probably Auburn’s biggest threat at the moment. As of today though I think both end up Tigers.

Auburn Official Was Certified #WARDAMN @T_WILL4REAL @CoachGusMalzahn @CoachPrinceAU pic.twitter.com/Iv9OhYHtsz

— Oc Brothers II (@Blvd_4) January 14, 2019

Auburn Making Push For Robinson

It’s pretty clear Auburn would like to sign one more defensive back in the 2019 class. Back in December, Auburn hosted LSU commit 4* CB Maurice Hampton who is still mulling over his final decision. The Tigers sent the whole coaching staff sans Gus Malzahn to Hampton’s home over the weekend to let the young man know how badly Auburn wants him on the Plains.

Great in home visit with the WHOLE Auburn coaching staff. #WDE pic.twitter.com/1lfBJobh3o

— Ⓜ️ (@maurice_hampton) January 14, 2019

But Hampton isn’t the only DB target at the moment. 3* ATH Jammie Robinson is one of the most exciting players in this class. He played at Crisp County the last two seasons with SEC signees Big Kat Bryant and Quay Walker before transferring to Lee County in Leesburg, GA. People would go to see those two play and leave talking just as much about Robinson. He can play all over the field though most schools have him pegged as a defensive back, specifically at the nickel position. Heading into this past weekend, this race was thought to mainly be a Kentucky vs South Carolina contest. Not anymore.

Robinson brought his mom on campus for the first time and it appears the visit was a hit with her. Even more important, Kevin Steele took some time to break down how the Tigers plan to use Robinson’s unique skillset if he were to don the orange and blue next season. This will be a fight to the finish line and he still has one more official visit left with a trip to Knoxville this upcoming weekend. I think the Tigers have turned the heat up in this race and are very much a threat to land the talented athlete. But it could be hard to beat longtime favorite South Carolina. You also wonder if Auburn could take both Robinson and Hampton if they wanted on board. I imagine that’s a problem the Tigers would like to have come signing day.

Say Auburn What’s Popping #wareagle pic.twitter.com/vFXYYgIYzP

— Jammie Robinson (@Jammierobinson6) January 13, 2019

Griffin In Play?

One of the most interesting official visitors this past weekend in my opinion was NC State commit 4* RB Jamious Griffin. Auburn won a wild race for 3* DJ Williams in December and are considered the favorites for 4* Mark-Antony Richards. But Griffin landed an offer in December as well and has quickly become a name to watch in recent weeks for the Tigers. Might Auburn be making a strong late push for the talented back out of Georgia?

Maybe.

Griffin left the Plains saying that Auburn “stands up there with N.C. State” and that a final decision wouldn’t come until around Signing Day. He also stated that the news about Tim Horton no longer coaching running backs would not factor into his final decision. He’s expected to officially visit Georgia Tech (notice how their name is popping up more?) next weekend and Miami the last weekend in January.

I’m a big fan of Griffin but I’m not sure yet if Auburn would be willing to take both he and Richards if they wanted on board considering they signed Williams just a few weeks ago. I also think the Rambling Wreck are a team to watch in this race considering his older brother signed with them last year. The Wolfpack will fight hard to keep the Georgia native in the fold but this race is going to come down to the very end. My super early prediction is that he lands in the ACC with either NC State or Georgia Tech but he’s absolutely a name to track over these final weeks.

AUBURN IT’S BEEN REAL‼️✊ #WarEagle pic.twitter.com/2dEGdTUh7e

— ｣ᗑ⋔ｴꑙ꒤꒚ ﻯℜｴ￡￡ｴℕ✝ (@JamiousGriffin) January 13, 2019

Interesting Monday Visitor

It seems like every single transfer QB has been linked to Auburn so far. The Tigers tried to land Kelly Bryant last month but lost him to Missouri. I’ve seen Auburn’s name mentioned as a school of possible interest for former Ohio State QB Tate Martell though there’s been little actual intel on Auburn’s real interest. There continues to be buzz that the Tigers might be in play for Jalen Hurts as well but yesterday a new name went from speculation to possibly a legitimate transfer target.

Looks like Oklahoma transfer quarterback Austin Kendall is in Auburn, per his Instagram (@bmarcello saw it first). He would be immediately eligible as a graduate transfer. Was a four-star pro-style recruit in the 2015 class. Completed 28 of 39 passes in three years. pic.twitter.com/q64TLJxolO

— Josh Vitale (@JoshVitale) January 14, 2019

Austin Kendall was once the nation’s #9 ranked pro style quarterback in the 2016 class and someone the Tigers pursued hard that cycle. He landed with the Sooners and was thought to be the next man in line in Norman, OK. But surprisingly his name appeared in the transfer portal last week. Very quickly, Auburn’s new QB coach Kenny Dillingham and head coach Gus Malzahn were following Kendall on Twitter. But yesterday’s visit is real concrete evidence that the Tigers are pursuing the talented signal caller.

So what does this mean? Well it could mean Gus Malzahn is simply doing his due diligence. Auburn really liked Kendall when he came out of high school and there’s a relationship already there. But it could also mean that in a do or die year for Malzahn, he has no interest in turning this offense over to anyone on the roster or a true freshman QB.

Gus has never been shy about pursuing transfer QBs. The success he’s had with them makes it understandable. But this move would be more surprising to me than the pursuit of Kelly Bryant or Jalen Hurts. Kendall will be a redshirt junior next year meaning he will have two more years to play. That’s more than a stopgap solution. It would virtually eliminate any dream of Malik Willis being the guy and would mean Joey Gatewood and Cord Sandberg are redshirt juniors on the roster when Kendall leaves.

I don’t actually know how real or not real this recruitment might be but it’s definitely something to follow in the coming weeks. Kendall doesn’t appear to me to be the same type of sure thing Jarrett Stidham was a few years ago and does not bring any threat of mobility like Bryant or Hurts. But Gus can’t really afford to take any lumps next year with a young QB. If you don’t trust Willis to be the guy and aren’t ready for Gatewood/Sandberg/Nix to take over then maybe Kendall can be the answer. Fascinated to watch this recruitment unfold.

Charles Moore Has New Leader

Last week, one of Auburn’s top targets in 4* DL Charles Moore reopened his recruitment. He quickly tabbed the Tigers as his leader and it was hard not to get excited about the possibility of adding the talented defensive lineman in February. But it appears things might have changed following his official visit to Gainesville.

Defensive lineman Charles Moore named the Florida #Gators his leader on Sunday after visiting Gainesville. Moore says the #Gators impressed him with their presentations about life after football. Moore talks visit here https://t.co/4NGaPstyd6

— Andrew Spivey (@AndrewSpiveyGC) January 13, 2019

Dan Mullen was the head coach in Starkville when Moore originally committed to Mississippi State so this isn’t a complete shock. He already has a good relationship with that staff and the Gators undoubtedly rolled out the red carpet this past weekend. But I also don’t think it’s time to panic. Moore appears to be a kid prone to visit highs and I would not be surprised to see Tennessee become his top team after that official visit. In the end, Auburn has built some really strong relationships in this recruitment and I still think the Tigers are the team to beat. I would not be surprised at all if he took an unofficial visit to campus too before making his final decision. Either way, this is gonna be a hotly contested recruitment until signing day.

Offensive Line Thoughts

Finally, I wanted to touch on the subject that I know most Auburn fans are concerned about this cycle - offensive line recruiting. The Bell news was big this past weekend and I do think the Tigers are gonna be tough to beat in that recruitment. But even with Bell, Auburn needs at least one more offensive lineman in this class and he should probably be an offensive tackle prospect. The two names that have been most mentioned are JUCO prospect 4* Bamidele Olaseni and 3* Dawand Jones. Olaseni has already officially visited the Plains but still has more visits to go while the Tigers are fighting to get Jones on campus. I don’t feel great about Auburn landing either one at the moment.

More surprising has been the fact that Auburn hasn’t sent out any new offers on the offensive line in recent days. They might have and they just haven’t gone public but I’m gonna speculate they haven’t for another reason. With the adoption of the brand new Transfer Portal, recruiting has expanded even further from just high school/junior college prospects and graduate transfers to any player that wants out of their current situation. Given the limited talent pool now available due to the early signing period, I wouldn’t be shocked if Auburn is evaluating some transfer options that might have to sit out next season but would have at least two years of eligibility remaining starting in 2020.

The Tigers don’t have a clear successor at left tackle on the roster right now. I think Austin Troxell is going to be a very good right tackle for the Tigers next season but besides him, I’m not sure Auburn has ANY SEC calibre OTs available. There are a lot of questions around whether Calvin Ashley will even be with the team next season and even if he is I’m not sure if he will be ready to go in 2020. I would not be surprised if Prince Michael Sammons transfers at some point and I would be stunned if 2019 signee Justin Osborne is ready to start as a redshirt freshman. That’s a pretty bleak picture looking ahead...

So don’t be shocked if instead of landing a 3* backup plan, Auburn instead attempts to add a transfer from a Power 5 program with the hope that he will be ready to start in 2020. Who that might be, I have no idea but I at least wanted to throw out the possibility that Auburn could be looking at non high school and graduate transfer targets. This will continue to be one of the most important spots to fill in the 2020 class.

War Eagle!

from College and Magnolia - All Posts https://www.collegeandmagnolia.com/2019/1/15/18182793/2019-auburn-football-recruiting-kamaar-bell-octavius-brothers-name-auburn-leader

[airoasis]

Proving them incorrect: Jonah Davis' source of inspiration

uring the summer before his junior year of high school, Cal outfielder Jonah Davis traveled to Palo Alto, California where he attended Stanford’s high school baseball camp. At the end of the session, camp instructors evaluated each player by giving them a rating based off their performance. Like many of the other campers, Jonah anxiously examined his rating the moment it was handed out.

“They gave me a four out of 10 at the end of camp, which meant that I could definitely be a Division III baseball player with slight potential to be a Division-II player,” Jonah reflects. “Proving people wrong is probably the greatest thing you can do in any sport.”

An undersized outfielder who only hit five home runs in his high school career, it’s easy to understand why scouts and recruiters would question Jonah’s chances at becoming a Division-II outfielder, let alone a serviceable player at the Division-I level. When he attended camp that summer, he still hadn’t finished growing to the 5-foot-10 frame that he has today.

Ethan Epstein/Senior Staff

But now as a sophomore utility outfielder for the Bears, Jonah has not only become an integral part of Cal’s baseball team, but his longtime dream of becoming a Major League Baseball player doesn’t seem as far away as it did just a couple years ago.

He isn’t satisfied with where he’s at. But in time — with a combination of hard work and doubters who continue to fuel his focus — he believes he will be. That’s the motto that has gotten him this far already.

onah Davis was born in New York City, to parents Anthony Davis and Cindy Aaronson-Davis, two prominent music teachers. Cindy is an opera and voice teacher, while Anthony is a composer and jazz pianist who teaches music at the University of California, San Diego. While Jonah ultimately prioritized baseball over music lessons, his family’s musical background became a big part of his identity too. At just 9 years old, he sang in opera created by his father, “Wakonda’s Dream,” and participated in a San Diego children’s choir — all while making it to baseball practice on time.

“He’s a very talented musician,” Anthony says. “He used to play piano and guitar, but sports sort of took over his life and he became more devoted to that the last few years.”

Before Jonah’s birth, the Davis’s were settled in New York City where they thrived as a part of the music industry. But after Anthony received a job offer to be a professor at UCSD, the family decided to move out west and raise Jonah — at the time only one — in one of California’s most beautiful cities. This is where Jonah’s baseball story began.

Despite not playing sports themselves, Jonah’s parents were in fact big baseball fans. While it was tough for Cindy, a Mets fan, and Anthony, a Yankees fan, to leave behind New York’s bustling baseball atmosphere, it helped that San Diegans not only embraced their hometown team — the Padres — but were also a part of a very competitive neighborhood baseball environment, something that Jonah learned to appreciate.

“For whatever reason, baseball just became my main sport, and it’s so competitive in San Diego,” Jonah recalls. “I think it was just natural growing up in San Diego and the fact that (San Diegans) love sports too, it was kind of a perfect match.”

While he was never the biggest or strongest player on the field, Jonah impressed his coaches and parents with his unusual toughness. During a youth travel ball tournament in Cooperstown, New York, he was hit in the face by a pitch that got away, scaring not only his parents but his typically stalwart coach as well.

“We were standing on the side and we saw him get hit and (he) went down,” Cindy recalls. “And when his coach ran over to him and screamed ‘Medic!’ that was the most panicked I’ve ever been …; For months, his face made him look like an alien, but he continued to play.”

Jonah spent that night in the hospital with his worried parents by his side, but the next morning, he declared himself ready to play, swollen face and all. When the team offered him a special helmet with a mask in front to use while at-bat, he declined.

“That (incident) really showed me the desire and love of the game that he had, and how much he wanted to be a part of the team,” Anthony says. “And of course how tough he was. That type of thing has always been with him, that desire and motivation and will.”

All of those are traits that Cal head coach David Esquer appreciates seeing from one of his younger players.

“Jonah brings the competitiveness that we need (on this team),” Esquer says. “He continues to improve his game and is very diligent and works hard to go along with his talent. You can really see that he put a lot of preparation before he came (to Cal).”

As much as Jonah is determined to make himself the best player that he can be, he knows that the odds are stacked against him. Less than one percent of high school players will eventually be drafted by an MLB team, and only a slightly larger percentage of those players make it onto an NCAA team in the first place. To Jonah, those numbers don’t mean a thing.

Ethan Epstein/Senior Staff

“Ever since I was a kid, I’ve dreamed of playing in the major leagues and there’s always those numbers being thrown around,” Jonah says. “Look at our team now together. We’re all already a part of that small percentage.”

If one looks closely, there are stars across all sports who don’t look like professional athletes. Take Houston Astros infielder Jose Altuve, who is listed at just 5 feet, 6 inches tall, but has morphed into one of the best players in all of baseball, finishing third in AL MVP voting this year.

It’s no secret: Jonah doesn’t look like the next cornerstone of a professional franchise. His parents weren’t former players, he doesn’t have one particular skill that jumps out, and he devotes just as much time to his academics as he does to his baseball career. But like Altuve and others who didn’t look like stars-in-the-making, Jonah persists, satisfied with his work ethic to the point where he’ll be OK if he falls short of his ultimate goal — as long as he keeps up the effort.

“When I hear the numbers, I can’t listen to (them) because that’s never going to help me,” Jonah says. “When I hopefully look back in a few years, I can say that I tried my hardest and say that it’s time to move on even if it doesn’t work out.”

In addition to his fearlessness on the field, what made Jonah stand out even more in high school was his dedication to his academics in the classroom. At San Diego’s Francis Parker High School — where he helped the Lancers win the 2014 CIF San Diego Section Championship — he was on the honor roll for three years.

As an upperclassmen, Jonah committed himself to even more hours in the batting cage, weight room and of course, his academics. How he managed to balance his time so efficiently is remarkable, but his father attributes his time management skills to his incredible focus.

“He’s amazingly focused,” Anthony says. “When he devotes himself and fights to do something, he does it, there’s no doubt about it.”

The work has paid off. He finished his high school career with a .447 batting average, and was nominated for Francis Parker’s Athletic Hall of Fame. He was named team MVP during his senior year and was a Second-Team All-CIF selection. Finally, he spent time on the scout teams of MLB teams Baltimore Orioles, Kansas City Royals and the New York Yankees. The more successful he became, the more others looked up to him as a leader, a role that Jonah embraced.

“He’s always been a leader and a mentor on his high school team,” Cindy says, proudly. “Kids looked up to him and he always took the time to work with them.”

e overcame the ratings of his Stanford camp counselors when he received an athletic scholarship to play baseball for the University of Nevada, Reno, which he proudly accepted. After Wolfpack head coach Jay Johnson left to accept the same job at Arizona, Jonah realized that he didn’t want to play for a team after coach that had recruited him wasn’t there anymore. He decided to reevaluate his options.

“The thing about Cal is that you can look at other schools with great baseball programs,” Jonah says. “But the thing that those schools lack that Cal provides is obviously the No. 1 public education in America and in the world. What I’m learning at the end of the day will apply to whatever I do in the future.”

Although Jonah received offers from several schools in California, choosing Cal is a decision that he hasn’t regretted at all. Since coming to Berkeley last season, his positive attitude and maturity have made an impact with his teammates. Coming into the year as a freshman, Jonah didn’t receive the majority of his playing time until the second half of the season, when he only received spot starts and pinch-hit appearances. But despite the big adjustment from high school star to collegiate spot starter, Esquer admires Jonah’s passion and energy that he brings to the ball club.

“Jonah’s effort level and his hard work is where it starts,” Esquer says. “He cares about his performance and the team’s performance, and based on how hard he always works, the team follows that as a result.”

His effort level landed him a spot as a role player for the Bears, a utility outfielder who received a huge note of confidence when Esquer penciled him into the lineup for his first collegiate start in May of last season. It was the first game of a critical series on the road, at a place that Jonah was all too familiar with.

Stanford. The site of his frightful review.

“For the first couple of innings, I was a little nervous, but everybody was making me smile and making me laugh out there,” Jonah recalls. “I realized then that I was there to play baseball and shouldn’t be nervous. (Cal) recruited me for a reason and all I have to do is play my game.”

On the same field where he was told that playing Division I baseball would be a long shot, Jonah did just that. In his four at-bats that day, he hit two singles, the second of which knocked in a run that added to the Bears’ lead. He was rewarded again for his successful debut with another start the next day, and finished the year with 16 appearances, including three starts in right field.

“Once I got that first hit and also made a pretty nice play in right field, you realize that it’s the same thing just on a bigger stage,” Jonah says, with a smile. “I was able to help the team out, help secure that win, and it was just a surreal experience that I can’t wait to continue during my sophomore year.”

As Jonah continues through the next chapter in his baseball career — now in year two of his time at Cal — he isn’t just putting in the work for himself. His maturity reminds him that he has hundreds of supporters back home in San Diego to be thankful for. Without them, his dream would be just that. A dream.

“When I go to the weight room and when I go to the field, I’m thinking of my parents, my friends and everyone back home,” Jonah says. “That includes my teachers, my old travel ball coaches, and anyone who’s ever helped me along the way to get to where I am today and as I continue to progress as a player and as a person. That’s why I’m working so hard, for them.”

The best stories in sports involve underdogs achieving the impossible. Whenever Jonah Davis steps onto the field, however, he’ll never seem himself as one — no matter how camp counselors rate him. No matter what anyone else says, he won’t be slowing down anytime soon.

[racingtoaredlight]

The degenerate’s guide to 2017 college football TV watch ‘em ups: week 10

The season seems to be accelerating beyond our control at this point.

Now that CFP polls have been released and the World Series is over there’s nothing much to distract from all of the football. Yeah, there’s basketball now but the season is so young and there’s so far to go to even know who’s actually good that it seems weird to put much stock in it just yet.

This week’s watch ‘em ups are being affected by the same thing that hurt the RTARLsman last night: the ever-dreaded out of town visitors. We’ll see how much I’m even able to watch football as “friends” count on me to “host” them and make their weekend “enjoyable.” Gross.

Times are from FBSchedules and gamble talk is premature (it’s Wednesday here where I’m writing this) and from Vegas Insider. Good luck to you all, you’re going to need it.

Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017

Matchup                                                       Time (ET)                      TV

(14) Auburn at Texas A&M                          Noon                           ESPN

Baylor at Kansas                                        Noon                             FSN

RTARL Game of the Year! It’s finally here and the winless Baylor Bears are an 8-point favorite. Which means Kansas is probably the worst team in college football, yet again.

East Carolina at Houston                          Noon                            CBSSN

I wouldn’t trust Houston as a 24.5 point favorite but this could be a nice statistical opportunity for Ed Oliver. East Carolina is a very bad team that throws an average of 39 passes per game.

Florida at Missouri                                    Noon                            ESPN2

Randy Shannon has a great chance to build up his resume a little this week in his first game as UF head coach. First of many games, I presume. Hey, if Ed Orgeron can hang on at LSU then why not Shannon, who probably received some coaching from Orgeron back in 1988 and had a much better record at his previous coaching failure? Missouri is actually favored right now because Florida has been that messy but I think a slightly above average high school team from the state of Florida could beat the Tigers if they really concentrated for three straight hours.

Illinois at Purdue                                        Noon                            BTN

It turns out that Jeff Brohm might need just a touch of seasoning before he moves on to a much better job. OR!!! Maybe he really is on track to take over for Bobby Petrino in Louisville. He’s right on track for that if Petrino goes looking for greener pastures this year. Or now. Or has already accepted several jobs while trying to figure out which one he actually wants.

Kansas State at Texas Tech                      Noon                            FS1

This is a bad game between two middling Big XII teams but for gambling purposes, maybe not so bad? Over/under is at 63 right now but the weather looks pretty inviting and it is a Big XII game with Coach Heartthrob on one side of the field.

(7) Penn State at (24) Michigan State      Noon                            FOX

If Sparty can contain the nation’s 26th leading rusher, who fittingly wears #26, they might have a shot to spring the upset. I hope that anybody associated in any way with the Penn State football program spends the rest of their lives laden with guilt for whatever part they’ve played in the continued existence of said program but I really hope it’s the players and coaches who are feeling bad about themselves this week. There’s a lot of money on Penn State right now and Vegas is still trying to get people to bet Michigan State so what’s the rule here? Let’s go with stay away from the public money and put your faith in a kind universe that is also rooting for the green and white this week.

UMass at (16) Mississippi State               Noon                            SECN

The best tight end in the country takes on the worst top 20 team in the country, something’s got to give! UMass is going to get throttled. That’s what’s going to give.

(9) Wisconsin at Indiana                            Noon                              ABC

Indiana doesn’t have much, either as a state or as a football team, but they do a decent job of shutting down the run. Wisconsin is due for a reckoning. Seems like a good time for those two things to converge, no? No. Jonathan Taylor is like Rashaad Penny but twice as fast and Wisconsin should beat the spread for once even though it’s on a rapid rise throughout the week. 13.5 points right now, I’d take the Badgers up to about 18 and feel OK with it.

WKU at Vanderbilt                                      Noon                           ESPNU

Vanderbilt is a 10-point favorite playing at home but Western Kentucky might be a better team. My voice is going up at the end of the sentence in my head. Might be true? I don’t think so but it’s not crazy?

Syracuse at Florida State                          12:20 pm                      ACCN

FSU settled for a field goal at the end of the first half against Boston College last week and the players on the FSU sidelines took that as a signal the game was over. The offensive line being terrible was actually known before the season but the supposedly ultra-talented defense has looked like garbage most of the year, too. Derwin James looks like a Jabrill Peppers clone to me at this point and the QB situation is not great in Tallahassee. Now the running backs are starting to get hurt, too. Odds are that Florida State is just having extremely bad luck, similar to Notre Dame in 2016, but getting run over by Boston College isn’t really acceptable even in the midst of that.

Appalachian State at ULM                         3:00 pm                        ESPN3

Appy State as a 10-point road favorite might be a little dicey but that 61.5 O/U is interesting. It’s supposed to rain the day before so the field might be soggy but ULM has a tremendously bad defense that could easily give up 60 all on their own.

Georgia State at Georgia Southern         3:00 pm                        ESPN3

GSU is definitely going to win this. Fun Belt action at its finest!

Georgia Tech at Virginia                            3:00 pm                         RSN

UVA has turned back into UVA over the past couple of weeks but they were so good at pretending to be decent earlier in the season that this game has postseason implications! On this day, 27 years ago, UVA lost their two-week reign as the #1 team in college football when they dropped in both the AP and UPI polls following a last second loss to Georgia Tech at home. Fun fact about that game: the game was played on turf borrowed from the baseball stadium after vandals set fire to the football field’s regular turf. UVA’s season fell apart after that and Georgia Tech won half of a national championship by blowing out Nebraska in a bowl game, as was the tradition for teams winning national championships at the time. Getting back to this year’s game, if UVA loses and Miami beats Virginia Tech tonight, Miami wins the Coastal division. And UVA should lose.

New Mexico State at Texas State             3:00 pm                         ESPN3

A Sun Belt rivalry classic as the Aggies and the Bobcats battle it out for fourth worst team in the conference.

Rice at UAB                                                 3:00 pm                       CUSA.TV

My only thought on this is that I always think of Rice as a Big XII team. This is incorrect.

USF at UConn                                              3:00 pm                         ESPNU

USF blew a shot at a big, fancy bowl payout last week against Houston but UConn is a lot worse than Houston so let’s see how Charlie Strong gets his team motivated this week. If they hold it together for the rest of the year it’s still possible for them to end up as the lower conference rep in the former BCS bowls.

Army at Air Force                                         3:30 pm                        CBSSN

The Commander-in-Chief’s trophy is maybe up for grabs? Vegas still thinks Army is bad but they’ve won four in a row. Air Force has three in a row of their own and they’re favorited by 6.5 points at home but I’m not 100% clear on why AFA is that big of a favorite. 3 points maybe, just for being at home, but this is a full tilt option on option affair that should be down to the wire. Also, the O/U of 56 seems comically low to me. When Air Force and Navy played the final score was 48-45 in basically the same conditions.

Charlotte at Old Dominion                          3:30 pm                       ESPN3

Amazingly enough Baylor and Kansas is actually worse than this.

(15) Iowa State at West Virginia                 3:30 pm                        ESPN2

This will of course be the game where Will Grier looks like a future all-pro. Things never happen when you want them to happen.

Maryland at Rutgers                                    3:30 pm                        BTN

In terms of pure entertainment value this is way worse than Baylor and Kansas but I think both of these teams would be favored over either of those teams. And that’s not meant as a compliment to either of these teams.

North Texas at Louisiana Tech                   3:30 pm                    Stadium

“UNT! UNT! UNT!”

“LAT! LAT! LAT!”

This is how I’m imagining the cheering going in this game and I’ve got to let you know it’s very enjoyable as a thought.

Northwestern at Nebraska                          3:30 pm                       BTN

Nebraska is favored by 1 this week so that’s sort of like progress, right? If the Huskers can pull off a miracle win not only will they have a winning record but they will have beaten a power 5 team that has a winning record. Get that coach an extension!

(6) Ohio State at Iowa                                   3:30 pm                      ESPN

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program of hoping Ohio State fucks up and loses to a clearly inferior team.

South Carolina at (1) Georgia                      3:30 pm                      CBS

Georgia can win and clinch the SEC East but if they lose then South Carolina is in the running to steal the division. Has any SEC team in your life ever been perceived so poorly while being 6-2 as this South Carolina team? NC State, also 6-2, lost their season opener to South Carolina and it’s considered a bad loss. We are in some sort of transitional period here.

(4) Clemson at (20) NC State                        3:30 pm                      ABC

So much depends on the QB position here. Both QBs are going to have guys in their faces all game long and it’s going to be interesting to see how they each handle things. My gut says this is going to be low scoring and close until the end with Clemson not getting anywhere close to the rushing output Notre Dame got against the Wolfpack last week.

(21) Stanford at (25) Washington State       3:30 pm                      FOX

Bryce Love is a “gametime decision” again which probably means he’s not playing again and even though he’s injured I’m still blaming David Shaw for taking that little bit of sunshine away from us.

Wake Forest at (3) Notre Dame                    3:30 pm                     NBC

Another week another ACC opponent traveling from North Carolina to get blown the fuck out by Notre Dame. I have a very bad feeling about the way this season is shaping up.

Cincinnati at Tulane                                       4:00 pm                  ESPN3

I only mean I have a bad feeling about the Notre Dame being very good thing, though! I love Tulane getting to the middle of the pack on their way to conference contention in the coming years.

Coastal Carolina at Arkansas                        4:00 pm               SECN Alt.

Remember last week in the second quarter when twitter fired Bret Beilema? I liked that moment more than when they came back and won even though they were beating the racist south.

(5) Oklahoma at (11) Oklahoma State           4:00 pm                    FS1

BEDLAM!!!!!!!!! I think the matchup here actually favors OK State heavily in spite of the 2.5 point spread and the history and the fact that Oklahoma is the better overall team. I just think the Pokes have their strengths at exactly the points where the Sooners are weakest. Cue the final OU 73, OSU 12 but I’ve got a real hunch here and I’m giving it to you.

University of Mississippi, Oxford at Kentucky      4:00 pm         SECN

Mississippi was mighty impressive in blowing a 31-7 lead against Arkansas last week but for some reason I don’t think they’re a solid bet this week.

UL Lafayette at South Alabama                     4:00 pm                  ESPN3

I think USA is doing the same dumb thing they did last year where they start off terrible, win a bunch of games in a row, get some preseason hype to win the Sun Belt then maybe go through the process again.

Oregon State at California                            5:00 pm                 Pac-12N

Transitive property game of the week! The Antifa Bears will probably beat the Huckabeavs by 20 points and people will point at Stanford and laugh for last week’s stupid game but the results will really not be corollary at all.

Utah State at New Mexico                             5:30 pm                ATTSNRM

The Sheriff Lobos are favored by 4 in an extremely low stakes game that carries basically no implications for bowl bids or the MWC standings. This is what degeneracy looks like!

Hawaii at UNLV                                                6:00 pm    MWN/Spectrum PPV

Regardless of other options there is something very aesthetically displeasing about where UNLV plays and I never check on them because of it. It’s like the when the Rams were in St. Louis and the Edward Jones Dome made every game look like a high school championship being played on an Arena league field.

Colorado State at Wyoming                           7:00 pm                 CBSSN

CSU had to go and get whipped by Air Force while Bad Josh Allen went out and looked good for a week. Now my preconceptions are a shambles. I think Allen probably pulls himself together just long enough to go to the Browns at #1 or #2 next year and then reverts to form for the rest of his life.

Nevada at Boise State                                    7:00 pm                 ESPNU

Look at Boise right back in the driver’s seat for the MWC title. They were in a similar position at this point last year, too, for what it’s worth but this is probably the least likely place for them to screw up this year. At home, vs. Nevada, a 22.5-point favorite, with their 2-QB system the new talk of the conference, Boise should roll like the old days.

UTSA at FIU                                                       7:00 pm                Stadium

Butch Davis coaching against the program that Larry Coker built isn’t really an interesting storyline but I dig the fuck out of it. Both teams are surprisingly 5-2, with FIU’s version of surprise more good surprise and UTSA’s more bad surprise but here we are with HUGE!!!! CUSA title race implications. Again, more so on the FIU side than the UTSA side.

Texas at (8) TCU                                               7:15 pm                  ESPN

TCU ain’t shit. Texas isn’t, either, but Texas isn’t ranked highly. If the 7 point line and the 47 point O/U are confusing you then let me tell you that I don’t get it, either. This is nominally a defensive struggle in the making but let’s not kid ourselves on what we have here: a Big XII game happening in perfect weather under the bright lights.

(18) UCF at SMU                                               7:15 pm                  ESPN2

UCF scores a shit ton of points and Scott Frost is the anointed next great CFB coach but I’m not really ready to buy the book on them. SMU doesn’t exactly play defense but I’ve still got a feeling that they can run with UCF and at the very least keep things close. A 14.5-point line on the road for UCF seems a tad excessive given how low this program was in the very recent past.

Minnesota at Michigan                                   7:30 pm                    FOX

The posted lines for this game are hilariously B1G. Michigan is favored by 15.5 in a game with an O/U set at 41. So 28-13 or thereabouts is the expectation. I think the obits for the Harbaugh era in Michigan are crazily overblown here in year 3. If we’re still wondering why the offense sucks in 2019 then it’s probably too late for him but until then I think he’s got a shot to make his juggernaut yet.

Southern Miss at Tennessee                         7:30 pm                  SECN

Butch Jones, on the other hand... This guy is scum, an idiot, and a bad coach. That’s quite the triple threat! There was a time when UT being favored by 6.5 at home against Southern Miss would have made a lot of sense and not be an embarrassment for the Vols. 1989 was a long time ago, though, and for this program at this point in time, with all of this talk on the outside - things are looking grim.

UTEP at Middle Tennessee                             7:30 pm            beIN SPORTS

This year has been mostly a lost one for Richie James and the MTSU Blue Raiders but UTEP offers a decent shot at a blowout and could finally give James the kind of numbers he put up routinely last season.

(19) LSU at (2) Alabama                                     8:00 pm                  CBS

Leonard Fournette saw his numbers get worse every season against Alabama but Guice has a sneaky advantage over his predecessor - he’s only carried the ball twice ever against the Tide. Which seems weird considering how last season went but I don’t think anybody has considered LSU an offensive powerhouse or even nominally innovative on offense in quite some time. Matt Canada is making a bunch of money this year to be nominally innovative but there hasn’t been a lot to show for LSU’s money so far unless you count humiliating Mississippi. Big deal, though, even Bert can do that. Bama is favored by 21 and I don’t have a good reason for anyone to bet on LSU to beat the spread.

(13) Virginia Tech at (10) Miami, FL                  8:00 pm                 ABC

This gambles action, though, this one I’ve got feelings for. Miami and Virginia Tech are really close in almost every metric you can find. As far as head-to-head matchups go the objective differences between these two are as slight as is possible to get. And still, somehow, VPISU is favored by 3 on the road and the consensus is heavily with the Hokies. Is it just the UNC thing? Because their other shared matchup (Duke) produced startlingly similar results. Is Vegas counting on Miami to run out of luck? That doesn’t seem to me the way numbers are supposed to work. The Hokies are statistically better on defense and the teams are about even on offense but the Hurricanes have produced more big plays on both sides of the ball. Maybe the lines are predicated on Malik Rosier being more injured than Miami is letting on? I think the Canes take it and clinch their first ACC Coastal crown on the way to getting beat up next week by Notre Dame.

Colorado at Arizona State                                 9:00 pm                Pac-12N

Arizona State is, weirdly, still hanging around in the race for the Pac-12 South but they needed to beat USC last week for that chance to be realistic. They did not beat USC last week in any phase of the game. I hate Arizona State’s running game with a fiery passion and I hope the Buffs destroy them.

Oregon at (12) Washington                               10:00 pm                 FS1

UDub is in a precarious spot as far as national title hopes go but they can still get a Pac-12 title and major bowl bid out of this season with no help from anybody else. Chances are that the loss to Arizona State will continue to just look like a fluke that ruined loftier aspirations.

San Diego State at San Jose State                   10:30 pm               ESPNU

Rashaad Penny is still plugging away as the second most productive running back in the country but SDSU has two losses and needs a lot of help to even make the MWC championship game. That’s not a reason to give up on watching them but the Pac-12 After Dark offering that’s up 15 minutes after this one is probably a way better use of your time.

(22) Arizona at (17) USC                                      10:45 pm                ESPN

This is probably acting as the Pac-12 South championship game and with USC’s front 7 a little banged up it could also be the Khalil Tate “breakout” game. I don’t want to put my heart into Arizona too much here because the potential for USC to completely obliterate them seems credible but if Arizona does beat USC their next three games are extremely winnable.

BYU at Fresno State                                            10:45 pm               ESPN2

Fresno State was looking like a pretty good surprise team in the MWC until they lost to a very bad UNLV team last week. Now things are looking a little rough for them with Wyoming and Boise State still on the schedule. Vegas likes the Bulldogs by a lot (-14.5) but I don’t know how you trust a team that lost to UNLV against anybody.

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[wiersema1]

Those that know me best know that college football is truly my favorite sport. You know what gets me pumped for college football season? I absolutely L-O-V-E ESPN’s countdown of their Top 25 Games of last season. They do this every year in July and August as they prep for the upcoming season on the gridiron. When they started their countdown, I happened to catch the 23rd best game of 2016, #23 Florida St. at #10 Miami from Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, FL.

By the way, have you seen the revamped Hard Rock Stadium? Hard Rock Stadium might confuse you, but this is the place that used to be known under the following seven names: Joe Robbie Stadium, Pro Player Park, Pro Player Stadium, Dolphin Stadium, Land Shark Stadium, and Sun Life Stadium. For the first time, it is finally a great looking park. They added a partial roof which must help against that scorching Florida sun. Anyway, it looks like a place I’d enjoy checking out a game.

Someday. But for now, I’m driving my son to closer stadiums. This Autumn…..Purdue in West Lafayette, Indiana where we’ll see the beloved Huskers of Nebraska at Purdue on October 28.

I know……..not too exciting but it’s all part of seeing each and every B1G stadium. So far I’ve been to games at Iowa, Michigan, Northwestern, Wisconsin, and of course Nebraska and Illinois. I’ve also been to Minnesota and Indiana on non-game days. So that leaves us with Ohio St., Penn St., Maryland, Michigan St., Rutgers, and of course, Purdue.

So here is the list of ESPN’s Top 25 games of 2016:

#25 – Florida St. 45 vs Ole Miss 34 – An offensive explosion. The QB’s in this one, Deondre Francois for FSU and Chad Kelly for Ole Miss inspired both teams to dream of the National Championship. Unfortunately for Ole Miss, Kelly was injured in his 9th game. They went 4-5 in his 9 starts but the offense wasn’t the problem for the Rebels. Their defense allowed 34.0 ppg! As for Francois, he played like a freshman at times, but a wonderfully talented freshman. Going into ’17, Francois is a Heisman contender and FSU is a National Championship contender, starting the season ranked #3.

#24 – Toledo 53 at BYU 55 – Brigham Young’s RB Jamaal Williams ran for 286 yards and 5 TD in this crazy 55-53 victory. This brought back shades of the ‘Wild Wild WAC’ days of yesteryear.

#23 – Pittsburgh 36 at North Carolina 37 – Both Pitt and UNC played in plenty of tight games in ’16. This one was no different.

#22 – Alabama 10 at LSU 0 – I don’t remember watching this one last year (or this year). Maybe I’m just all “Bama’d” out. Does this ten to nothing shutout surprise you? This was a typical SEC slobberknocker, I’m guessing.

#21 – N.C. State 17 at Clemson 24 (OT) – How many tight games did Clemson win in 2016? They won seven games by 7 points or less. They lost one. Spoiler alert! They finished as National Champions with a 14-1 record. That makes tight victories like this all the more important. When the Wolfpack took them to Overtime last October, it improved a shaky Clemson team to 7-0 with 4 tight wins. Most people were wondering what in the world was going on with them. I’ll tell you what was going on. They were forging bonds during tough, hard-fought wins that ultimately propelled them to legends.

#20 Central Michigan 30 at Oklahoma St. 27 – Games like this are what makes college football a special game. Remember this one? CMU threw a Hail Mary after Okie St. was penalized for throwing the ball out-of-bounds on a 4th down as time ran out. The refs wrongly gave CMU one un-timed down because of the Cowboys intentional grounding. So what do you think was gonna happen? Central Michigan caught the Hail Mary, the WR ran it all the way into the end zone after catching it in play and making an incredible run. CMU won! As for Oklahoma State?…….Talk about getting hosed!!!! They finished 11-2……I mean 10-3 doh! The NCAA referees acknowledged their mistake after the game but to no avail. You can’t open up Pandora’s box afterwards.

PS: A similar play happened here in Illinois in the IHSA high school state playoffs between Fenwick and Plainfield North. I know! What is wrong with these referees! If you don’t know for sure, get out the rulebook and consult with IHSA officials or Athletic Directors or somebody before you end up forcing a judge to sit through a courtroom case brought about by a lawsuit. In this case, Fenwick got hosed, losing 18-17 in OT! I can’t believe this really happened twice within a couple of months! Who got screwed more? I vote for Fenwick. They lost a playoff game whereas Oklahoma St. only lost a non-conference game that luckily, ultimately, didn’t derail their championship hopes. As for Fenwick, I’ll be cheering for them this Autumn.

#19 LSU 13 at Auburn 18 – Oh my God! Reliving these fantastic games is wonderful. Remember this one? In what turned out to be Coach Les “The Hat” Miles’ last game as LSU head coach, the Tigers (which one?) thought they threw a game-ending 15 yard TD pass. But wait! The officials reviewed it and determined that the snap on the last play was too late. The game clock had indeed just barely run out before the Tigers’ (which one?) center snapped the ball prior to the miraculous game winner. So who won? The Tigers……naturally. (ICYMI, Auburn’s ‘War Eagle’ won……naturally rather than the LSU “Geaux” Tigers. People wonder why our youth are so confused. I’m confused both reading AND writing this column. Whatever man, “This is the SEC!” I could probably delve into a whole sub-article here about academics in the B1G (Big Ten) vs the SEC but I’ll spare you.) Thanks Dutch!

#18 Ohio St. 30 at Wisconsin 23 (OT) – This was a solid B1G game. This column is getting too long so I’ll refrain from commenting on this one. Oh wait. I have a question for you: Is “Jump Around” a tradition? I mean, this tradition started based on a lousy 90s rap/crap/hip-hop song from 1992? Is that a tradition? Maybe the B1G is dumber, and closer to the SEC, than I thought. I know what you’re thinking……all my Wisky friends are enraged and throwing a fit right now, and possibly “unfollowing” the Dutch Lion concurrently.

#17 Florida St. 20 at Miami 19 – This one brought back memories of earlier games in this once national series but 2016’s edition was not a truly fantastic matchup. It’s good clean hate but it lacks the buildup of what it once was…..one of the greatest meaningful rivalries that the entire nation watched with eyes wide open. Did someone say “wide”, as in “Wide Right!”?

#16 Michigan 13 at Iowa 14 – Great game! Michigan had a perfect 9-0 record, ranked #2 going into Iowa City. Iowa was #1 (you’re dreaming again, of 1985!) In 2016 Iowa was unranked but primed for an upset of Jim Harbaugh. Is Iowa Jim Harbaugh’s kryptonite? Nonetheless, outside of the Hawkeyes current struggles, it was “Shades of 1985!” Seriously, it was eerie. Here’s a column I wrote last Autumn, detailing one of my all-time favorite college games that made me love the sport forever:

“How weird is it that Iowa beat Michigan 14-13 in almost the same way with almost the same score as when they beat Michigan 12-10 in 1985????

My favorite upset of the day was definitely Iowa over Michigan because it brought back so many memories of the epic 1985 #1 vs #2 matchup in Iowa City. It was October 19, 1985. I remember that day well for being 31 years ago. It’s like “Back to the Future”. I was a 10-year-old raking leaves on a cloudy, overcast, rainy October day in the Midwest.

The weather in Iowa City, IA was pretty much the same as Lake Zurich, IL on that day. You had CBS, you had Brent Musburger, you had Chuck Long quarterbacking one team while Jim Harbaugh QB’d the other. Boy, Chuck Long had an arm, huh! You could hear the pads popping the way they did in that era, especially when you had a wet field. For some reason, the pads “popped” differently back then.

You had Ronnie Harmon and Larry Station. I mean seriously, how GOOD was Ronnie Harmon! You had Jamie Morris. You had Bo Schembechler vs Hayden Fry! You had NO instant replay and Iowa’s #87 Scott Helverson got HOSED in the back of the end zone.

You had Rob Houghtlin, making 4 of 5 FG’s including the game winner for Iowa to win 12-10. He was allowed to use the tee. Do you guys remember that placekickers were allowed to use tees? I know, right?

You had that weird moment in time in which the QB could “complain” to the refs about crowd noise and the ref would actually STOP the game and tell the crowd to be quiet so that the QB could communicate with his teammates. I KNOW, RIGHT! Can you believe this actually was a rule for a brief moment in time?!? (I need to look into that further. Did the NFL impose that rule? For how many years? How subjective was it?) Harbaugh was complaining to the refs for parts of that game that made it drag. It was SUPER DUMB! What were the refs supposed to do? Do they penalize Iowa for….the fans being too loud? I want an ESPN 30 for 30 short about this strange story.

Nonetheless, don’t let that ruin your experience. It ended up being such a great day for the Big Ten, for College Football on CBS, for Ara Parseghian (God bless his soul as he just recently passed away) as the “color” man next to Brent. It was great for our Nation’s Heartland. Remember the struggles of the farming community in the mid-80s? Iowa’s farmers actually had an “ANF” logo on the Iowa helmets…..”America Needs Farmers”. I know, right!

Add it all up and it almost makes you want to become an Iowa fan……well, it wasn’t THAT cool 😉  I’m just kidding. It was really, really cool and near the top of my list of cool 80s college football memories.”

(For some reason, footage of this great game is hard to find. Stephen Barnett has most of the old great games posted as FULL games on Youtube.) Thank you Stephen. You’re a video God.)

1985 looks about the same as….

Iowa 14 Michigan 13 in 2016.

#15 North Carolina 37 at Florida St. 35 – I don’t think I watched this one live, unlike most of the games on this list. Now that the Bears drafted Mitch Trubisky, I have extra interest. Check it out and scout #10 in powder blue!

#14 Arkansas 41 at TCU 38 (2OT)

#13 Army 21 vs Navy 17 – This rivalry is so special. Lately, Navy wins almost every year. Not last year. Army broke a long, 14 game losing streak, winning 21-17. I watch it just to see the passion of the cadets and the midshipmen. Who cares who wins? Well, Army and Navy vets do. My buddy Bush is an Army guy. “Go Army, Beat Navy!” My buddy Thomas Sullivan Magnum, P.I. is a Navy guy. “Go Navy, Beat Army!”

#12 Tennessee 38 at Texas A&M 45 (2OT) – Another nutty game. Go watch it. You’ll see.

#11 Orange Bowl: Florida St. 33 vs Michigan 32 – I remember Michigan DE Taco Charlton ripping guys heads off. FSU won on Francois’s game-winning TD pass with 36 seconds left.

#10 Clemson 37 at Florida St. 34 – Fantastic game! The Tigers and Seminoles have such a long-lasting rivalry and it continues to play out better than ever the last few years. Both are National Title contenders as of late and they always seem to play tight ballgames. This is one of the newest great rivalries that isn’t getting enough hype. The winner of this game has won the ACC Atlantic Division Championship how many years in a row? The answer is 8. Every year since 2009. Each team has won 4 times. It’s probably gonna happen again in 2017, this time in Death Valley, South Carolina on November 11. Look for this year’s version to make next year’s Top 25……again.

#9 Alabama 48 at Ole Miss 43 – The Ole Miss Rebels seem to be the only team that can hang with the Crimson Tide the last few years. Last year, Ole Miss had a huge 24-3 lead, but then what happened? Oh, you know!

#8 Ohio St. 21 at Penn St. 24 – I was all geared up for this one. Good game in the 3rd quarter. Then all of a sudden the Chicago Cubs won the NL for the first time since 1945. All the local stations including ABC-7 (the only station showing OSU at PSU) decided they had to show the bozos celebrating in the streets. Ok. I’ll watch that for a minute or two. But ruin the entire, amazing 4th quarter comeback by PSU in Happy Valley? Call me furious! What a shame. Thanks for ruining an electric game atmosphere by showing people looting and pouring beers all over their idiot friends because their lovable losers finally won a league for the first time in 72 years. PSU! More like P-U. You stink!

#7 Notre Dame 47 at Texas 50 (2OT) – Good opening weekend capper on Labor Day weekend. Who is better, Malik Zaire or DeShone Kizer? Hmmmmm. Kizer threw for 5 TD. Zaire……he stunk more than Cubs fans. Who stunk more than Zaire? Head Coach Brian Kelly! If he had just declared Kizer the starter prior to the game, they may have avoided not only this loss but 7 others throughout that disastrous 2016 season. Coaches have off years too. Kelly admits he did a poor job in ’16. Another bad year soon and as the Hawk says, “He Gone!”

#6 Tennessee 34 at Georgia 31 – I’ve seen the end a billion times, but I’m still dying to watch the entire game that led up to that crazy ending. I have it saved on the DVR. Both teams’ fans were dumbstruck in the last minute. Spoiler alert…..not one but two Hail Mary’s!!!

#5 Louisville 36 at Clemson 42 – This game had one of the greatest buildups I’ve ever seen on television! Did you watch this? It was an ABC Saturday Night classic. Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit were there and ABC showed the traditional Clemson run down the hill and touching Howard’s Rock. What made this one unique was ABC had cameras outside in the street showing the bus that drove the players and Coach Dabo Swinney to the entrance gates above Howard’s Rock. Incredible intensity! (start watching at about 10 minutes in until at least the end of Louisville’s 1st series at about 21 minutes in) I felt like I was there. Honestly, the crowd and atmosphere brewed up one of the top experiences I’ve ever seen on TV. I had it saved preciously on my AT&T U-Verse DVR until those AT&T bozos screwed up and lost all my recordings earlier this Summer. Thanks AT&T! Rather, thank god for Youtube. I NEED to attend a Clemson night game someday to experience this in person. Nonetheless, this game at #5 on the countdown, will live in my memory, hopefully forever.

#4 Pittsburgh 43 at Clemson 42 – How many times was Clemson on this Top 25 list? The answer is five, with four in the top 10! That’s insane and hard to believe. That’s what makes them all the more important, knowing that they won the Championship. When DeShaun Watson threw a late interception on a bad pass into the end zone, I recall thinking, “DeShaun will just not be a good pro QB”. Then as the NFL Draft approached, I desperately wanted the Chicago Bears to take Watson 3rd overall. As it turned out, I’m really happy the Bears selected North Carolina’s Mitch Trubisky. Meanwhile, Houston drafted Watson and the whole time since, I keep thinking about that Pitt interception.

#3 Michigan 27 at Ohio St. 30 (2OT) – Wow! This was a really great game. Double Overtime!! Incredibly tough defense throughout most of the game as regulation ended with a 17-17 tie. Ohio St. won 30-27 with some controversial measurements, penalty calls, LACK of penalty calls. Everyone was talking about Coach Jim Harbaugh’s ranting on the sidelines. Well, he’s a Bo Schembechler guy and after some of these referees calls, Jimmy is http://widgets.boxxspring.com/MjA1NSw0MDUzNzM1OA” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>bitter…..bitter!

I don’t blame Harbaugh. I would’ve been stretched to my limits if I was a Michigan man too. We’re already beginning to see shades of the “Ten Year War”! Depending on the length of the Harbaugh/Meyer Era, we have just embarked on what will likely go down as the “Ten Year War: Part 2”. So far, Urban Meyer leads 2-0. When will Harbaugh “put one on the board”? I’m betting on ’17. The game is in Ann Arbor on November 25.

  #2 Rose Bowl: Penn St. 49 vs USC 52 – This could’ve been the best game of the year. Every time I watch and re-watch I’m just amazed by this nutty game. Ultimately, Trace McSorley was a little too aggressive, throwing 3 interceptions and showing his sophomore inexperience as PSU’s first time starting quarterback as they were outscored 17-0 in the 4th quarter. Meanwhile, over on the other sideline USC sophomore QB Sam Darnold was proving why he’s a top option for next year’s NFL Draft. He threw for 453 yards and 5 TD in one of the all-time greatest Rose Bowls.

#1 National Championship: Clemson 35 vs Alabama 31 – ‘Bama hardly ever loses. But when they do, it’s so much fun to enjoy! Hunter Renfrow’s game-winner with 1 second left was the stuff dreams are made of. Congratulations to Watson, Renfrow, Dabo Swinney, and all of the Clemson Tigers fans who have waited since 1981 to experience that National Championship feeling all over again.

So there you have it. Another amazing season. What does 2017 have for us? It all starts this week. Pumped much?

A Summer Tradition: ESPN’s Top 25 College Football Games from last season! Those that know me best know that college football is truly my favorite sport. You know what gets me pumped for college football season?

[flauntpage]

Dennis Smith Jr. will be the Best Player in the 2017 NBA Draft

The NBA draft is unpredictable by nature, but given the depth, talent, youth, and hype surrounding this year's crop, identifying the best player right now is a lot different than predicting who will be seen as the brightest star a few years down the road.

On level ground, it's hard to definitively separate any one elite prospect in this class from another. Markelle Fultz, Lonzo Ball, Jayson Tatum, Josh Jackson, and De'Arron Fox are all supremely gifted players who could all enjoy numerous All-Star appearances. But once they find their NBA homes on Thursday night, a host of new variables enter the equation—their new coach, surrounding personnel, culture, and the system in which they find themselves will ultimately play a major role in determining which prospect winds up at the head of this talented class.

And then there's Dennis Smith Jr., an athletic monster who, for a variety of reasons, often sees his name left out of this conversation. If he winds up with the right organization, Smith is absolutely good enough to separate himself from everyone listed above. Smith tore his ACL at adidas Nations in 2015, and then endured a complicated and trying freshman campaign at North Carolina State that included the entire coaching staff being fired in February. But before all that, he was viewed as the top point guard in his class.

That perception didn't survive the season, but the violent downhill burst that's drawn comparisons to 2011-era Derrick Rose (Smith Jr.'s favorite player) and Russell Westbrook has not. In a league commandeered by guards who can thrash the rim at will, Smith Jr. has the physical tools to be the type of unstoppable playmaking weapon so coveted around the league. He's shifty on his feet and crafty with the ball. For him not to be considered at the top of the draft is curious, but something Smith Jr. seems prepared to take in stride.

"It doesn't surprise me at all," Smith Jr. told reporters on Wednesday. "It's been like this my whole life. Regardless of how I go out and perform, if I am the best player, in some way I would still get slighted. But I'm accustomed to it now."

Photo by Rob Kinnan - USA TODAY Sports

With college numbers that size up well against Fultz, the probable number one pick, Smith Jr. is, from a statistical standpoint, absolutely worth taking with a top-three pick. But his ultimate NBA fate will be impacted by his habitat; some situations are more opportune than others, and it's unclear whether he'll go as high as three or low as 10. On Wednesday, the 19-year-old comfortably swatted away at least a dozen questions about the increasingly antiquated Triangle offense, which may become his new world if New York Knicks President Phil Jackson takes him with the eighth pick.

"I believe I can play in any offense. It just takes time," he said. "There's going to be a learning curve with everything that you do, but if you're mentally strong you can do anything."

The Knicks offer a very different situation than do, say, the Boston Celtics, where Smith would fight for minutes in a crowded backcourt that's already overflowing with gamers who've already proven their ability to positively impact a playoff run. Boston, unique among this year's lottery squads, is a team that doesn't need a rookie to take 15 shots per game or even log a dozen minutes every night. But their desire to sign a max player this summer means at least one of their four guards is likely gone, and it shouldn't shock anyone if the Celtics trade down for Smith Jr. or snag him with the third pick.

But either way, being on the Celtics would be very different from, say, the Dallas Mavericks, where Smith Jr. can presumably start on opening night and thrive in a steady, pick-and-roll dependent scheme where he'd be surrounded by some of the league's most feared outside shooters and a rim-rolling vortex in Nerlens Noel. Spacing matters as much as a stable work environment, and Dallas can provide both while still competing for a playoff spot.

Smith Jr. may also be Sacramento's first post-Boogie Cousins lottery pick, drafted onto arguably the least talented roster in the league, fenced in by fellow first and second-year players who are all adjusting to each other and life in the NBA at the same time. On the Orlando Magic, should they abandon Elfrid Payton, Smith would face an uphill battle against defenses that can afford to constantly ignore Aaron Gordon and Bismack Biyombo and focus on clogging driving and passing lanes.

"He will be good in any system you put him in," former N.C. State assistant coach Orlando Early told VICE Sports. "He will be better in a system where he's got the ball in his hands."

For his own safety, Smith Jr. shouldn't be allowed to play basketball without a parachute strapped to his back. During a recent workout with the Los Angeles Lakers, he logged a ridiculous 48-inch vertical leap. Gravity doesn't affect Smith Jr. like most human beings; he's equally explosive off one leg or two, and packs enough energy in his 195-pound frame to convince shot-blocking bigs to retreat and live another day.

Taught the game by his father, Dennis Smith Sr.—a supreme athlete in his own right, who boasted 4.2 40-yard-dash speed before an ankle injury derailed his football career—Smith Jr. transformed into someone worth paying attention to when he scored 42 points at a Holiday Invitational against current Milwaukee Bucks center Thon Maker. It convinced North Carolina State to offer him a scholarship the very next day. He was a sophomore in high school.

"You know Thon, I don't know what they list him at, seven feet, but his brother is 6'9", 6'10"," Early said. "They had a fairly long and athletic team and Dennis could finish above those guys. I have been around guys that were possibly as athletic, and maybe even more athletic, but I haven't been around guys that played athletic like Dennis. Like, some guys can run and jump and dunk and they're just tremendous when nobody's on the court with them. Dennis does it in the game. He plays athletic, and that's what separates him from other guys."

Smith Jr. can do more than score, too. He averaged 6.2 assists per game on a team that was packed with teammates who have just about no chance to make the NBA. Instead of going to Kentucky or Duke—a team he gave 32 points in ACC conference play—and playing for a national championship beside fellow five-star recruits, Smith Jr.'s underdog mentality convinced him it'd be more stimulating to dismantle powerhouse programs than suit up for one.

"We weren't very good this year," Early said. "And we had guys that missed shots that, you know, there were games where I walked out saying 'man, he should've had 13 assists tonight. He should've had 14.' He could've definitely averaged eight or nine."

Photo by Joshua S. Kelly - USA TODAY Sports

Family friend Shawn Farmer, a trainer who first worked him out as a sixth grader, told VICE Sports that something about Smith Jr. is "extra-terrestrial" whenever he steps on a basketball court.

"I don't want to call it a dog. I don't want to say he's a whole different animal. There's just something about this kid when he plays, man. His eyes do something weird," Farmer said. "When he starts to compete his eyes do something that I don't see out of other kids. His eyes are different. Like the Duke game, against Virginia Tech, against Carolina, I saw his eyes. He's different."

Last season Farmer would regularly sit behind N.C. State's bench. He remembers Wolfpack coaches turning their heads to flash him a "what the hell just happened?" look whenever Smith Jr. would pull off something ridiculous. This happened often.

"I've played professionally. Eight years in Europe, one year in the CBA. I've seen some guys that could jump," Farmer said. "But at 6'3"? I mean, I used to tell Junior, 'Man, you make me sick. You just make me sick.' It don't make no sense. The stuff he does, man. I can't explain it."

That extraterrestrial talent certainly helps, but to succeed as a ball-dominant point guard in the NBA, Smith Jr. will need to turn his jumper into a dart. It's a relatively small sample size, but he only made 35.9 percent of his threes as a freshman. That number isn't terrible, but in order to force NBA defenders to chase him over screens it's a mark that will have to improve.

Judging from the work ethic in play, here, it will. After the season ended, Farmer's instructed Smith Jr. to make 4000 jumpers a week, catch-and-shoot and off-the-dribble attempts from different spots all over the court. "He looked at me like I was crazy," Farmer said. But the work is already starting to pay off, with drastic improvement seen in charted results from April to June.

Defense matters, too. And by his own admission, Smith Jr. knows he needs to be more attentive on that side of the floor. "Small things, like remembering to box out, staying low on defense, communication, things of that nature," he said. "Everything else I'll continue to work on and tighten it up skill-wise, but it's the sound things that matter.

In today's NBA, point guards who double as their team's top playmaker and primary scorer are essentially a prerequisite for success. Smith Jr. is that, a cloud-hopping marauder who can pencil All-Star weekend into his calendar every year if things work out right. He'll be effective no matter what, but a little draft night luck needs to be involved if he's to elevate ahead of the other great players in this year's class.

"He's the type of guy that, today, there are various reasons you may like a guy better than him," Early said. "But three years from now, your owner is going to say 'Now wait a minute, we took him over Dennis for what reason? Explain that to me one more time so I'm sure I understand this.'"

Dennis Smith Jr. will be the Best Player in the 2017 NBA Draft published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

[johnark]

                 2017 NCAA COLLEGE BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 29, 2017. We are down to the final four in both the men’s and women’s tournaments. The only team in my bracket that is in the Final Four is UNC. We had quite a few teams to follow and root for this year: Razorbacks, Texas A&M, Nevada, Kansas, Wichita State, Michigan, and Gonzaga. I think the reason I root for the Shockers and the Zags is that they seem to always be relegated to the underdog role and they play good team basketball. I root for the Wolfpack because it’s my home town college team. I root for the Aggies, Kansas and Michigan because we have a family link to those teams. Of course I’m a Razorback fan because it’s my home state team and I am an alumnus as are many family members. I also am a back-up rooter for the Oregon Ducks. This is Tami’s favorite team. I think the main reason Tami has adopted them as her favorite team is the logo.

How can you not like that cute little duck? Tami became a Duck fan after observing the varied uniforms of the football team. Here are a few examples. Phil Knight, co-founder of Nike and Oregon alumnus, makes sure that the Ducks have plenty of outstanding gear. The same sort of thing goes on with the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Billionaire T. Boone Pickens, Oklahoma State alumnus, makes sure that the Cowboys don’t lack anything in the way of equipment. Tami has an interesting description of the game of football: “they line up – they pile up – they line up – they pile up – they line up – they pile up.”

Well, back to basketball. We have the final four in both the men’s and women’s tournaments. On the men’s side they’re playing out here in the West in the domed, multipurposed University of Phoenix stadium, home of the NFL Arizona Cardinals. The name is a corporate sponsorship bought by the University for about $150 million over 20 years. The University of Phoenix has no intercollegiate athletic programs. The stadium is located in Glendale AZ, nearby to, but not in, Phoenix. The women’s Final Four will be played in the American Airlines Center (corporate sponsorship again) in Dallas, home of the NBA Dallas Mavericks. The Mavericks are owned by Mark Cuban. It was interesting that on 17 February 2017 at the NBA All Star Game, Mark insisted on having number 46 in the NBA Celebrity Game. When questioned about it, he said “if Donald Trump can do it, I can.” 

Nevada is not quite as prolific as Britain, but you can place a wager on most big events here and March Madness is a big money maker for the casinos. They have handicappers who make a living predicting who will win the games and by how much. It is amazing how good they are at this. They better be. It’s their livelihood and the casinos can make or lose significant money using their analysis. On the men’s side, right now Gonzaga is favored over USC by 7 points, and UNC is favored over Oregon by 4 points. UNC is an 8 – 5 favorite to win it all. Gonzaga is at 3 – 2, Oregon at 4 – 1 and USC at 8 – 1. On the women’s side UConn is such an overwhelming favorite that all the odds are skewed. UConn is favored by 21 over MSU. USC is favored over Stanford by 2. To win it all it’s Uconn at 1 – 10, USC is 15 – 1, Stanford is 25 – 1 and MSU is 35 – 1. We don’t bet or gamble on anything even though we certainly have the opportunity. I was a poker player though while I was in the military, winning and saving enough to pay for my college education. Never played or gambled after that. I noticed that Derek Stevens, Las Vegas casino magnate and Detroit native, bet $12,500 for Michigan to win it all at 80 – 1 odds. He placed the bet at his friend’s casino, the Golden Nugget – just to see Tilman Fertitta sweat a bit. The very affluent have their own type of fun, don’t they? Here is a copy of the ticket, just in case you have never seen one.

I was curious to see where these really great college basketball players came from. We all have seen the proliferation of foreign players in the NBA. A lot of these foreign players hone their skills right here in the USA. Eleven percent of this year’s NCAA tournament players are foreigners. Here are the states and countries with the most players in this year’s NCAA tournament:

There are other interesting aspects to this year’s Final Four. Gonzaga and USC are there for the first time. Oregon is there for the first time in 78 years. UNC is there for the second consecutive year and a record 20th time overall. For the 13th time in NCAA Division 1 history, both men’s and women’s teams from the same school are in it – that being USC. The SEC player of the year, USC’s Sindarius Thornwell,  is there. The Pac 12 player of the year, Oregon’s Dillon Brooks, is there. The AP player of the year, Kansas’ Frank Mason III is out. Before this postseason, the Gamecocks had not won an NCAA Tournament game in 44 years. Getting this far in the tournament with defense is rare, but that’s the mantra of USC. They swarm with a zone defense that not even Florida could solve and they had seen it in conference play. And they have Thornwell on offense. USC is the only one of the Final Four that has not had a really close call. And they beat the 2, 3 and 4 seeds to get to play Number 1, Gonzaga. The Ducks escaped Rhode Island 75 – 72 and had a miracle finish against Michigan 69 – 68. Down by 3 with seconds to play, Jordan Bell, although well blocked out, secured the offensive rebound and kept the key possession alive. That was the biggest play of the game, even Dorsey, who hit the winning basket, said so. Many picked the Ducks to win it all when they had Bell and Chris Boucher, elite shot blocker and good three point shooter, who was lost to injury. How would you like to drive to the basket with Bell and Boucher guarding the rim? No one will face that dilemma in this year’s tournament.

Gonzaga had close calls with Northwestern 79 – 73 and West Virginia 61 – 58. They don’t have that outstanding player on defense or offense, but they play very good team basketball. It is a team game, isn’t it? Tami asked me “where did they get the school name, Gonzaga? Is it a Native American word?” Actually, it is an Italian family name. The Gonzaga family was an affluent, aristocratic family in the 1500s. Aloysius Gonzaga was born in 1568, joined the Society of Jesus and while at Roman College died while caring for victims of an epidemic. He was canonized in 1726. Gonzaga University is a private Roman Catholic University in Spokane, Washington. It was founded in 1887 by the Society of Jesus and named after Jesuit Saint Gonzaga. UNC had two very close calls: Arkansas 72 – 65 and Kentucky 75 – 73. They seemed to get some help from the officials in both of those games. In the Arkansas game in the round of 32, the Razorbacks led 65 – 60 with 3:28 left. UNC clawed back to lead 66 – 65. With 44.2 seconds left Joel Berry drove and collided with Adrio Bailey and traveled with the ball. There was no whistle – no charge, no travel, so Berry just flung the ball onto the backboard. In the scramble, Kennedy Meeks got inside position on Moses Kingsley and tapped it in for a 68 – 65 lead. This rather than calling a turnover, or calling a foul and sending Bailey to the foul line with a chance to put the Hogs ahead 67 – 66. After the game Roy Williams essentially said “we were lucky.” In the game with Kentucky, UNC broke a 73 – 73 tie with a jumper by Luke Maye with 0.3 seconds left. The story of the game though is that Kentucky’s Fox, Monk and Adebayo all had two fouls after 5:53. Fox, who is the motor of this Kentucky team, played only 8 minutes in the first half. There is a lot more regarding the fouls and how they were called according to Mike DeCourcy writing for the Sporting News. His column of 27 March 2017 is on the Internet.

The Kansas Jayhawks had significant foul troubles in the Kansas – Oregon game in the Elite Eight. Oregon was aggressive and intense from the tipoff, quickly building a lead and closed the first half with an 8 – 0 run in the final 1:27 to lead by 11 at intermission. The key I thought was that Josh Jackson committed two early fouls and went to the bench. Frank Mason played well, but without Jackson, Kansas just could not find their rhythm. Oregon came out explosive in the second half and built their lead to 18. Then the Ducks became very tentative, appearing to just try to run out the clock, but doing so way too early. They had 2 or 3 shot clock violations and 2 or 3 possessions where they had 5 seconds or less to shoot and just threw up a shot. This gave Kansas the opening they needed, but uncharacteristically they did not take advantage. The Jayhawks had encountered this situation several times in the regular season and with uncanny discipline and control mastered crunch time – notably against Baylor and West Virginia. That 18 point lead did dwindle to 6 with 2:49 left, but then Oregon hit a three and it was back to 9 with 1:51 to go and Kansas had to play the foul game. Kansas had their comeback chance, but missed or rushed shots in crunch time. Of course with Jordan Bell guarding the rim, Kansas was limited in their customary drives to the bucket. Mason kept Kansas in the game, but with Jackson and Mykhailiuk stuck in second gear, Kansas just never got going. The Jayhawks shot 35% and 5 for 25 on 3s. Jackson went 0 for 6 on 3s. Meanwhile Oregon was shooting 50.9 percent.

In the women’s Final Four, we have two of our SEC teams in it. And they are both good teams, with the University of South Carolina being a very good team. But unfortunately this is going to be a case of Casey at the Bat with the goliath of women’s basketball standing strong. What can be said about the University of Connecticut and Geno Auriemma’s Huskies that hasn’t been said addendum? They just clobbered our Oregon Ducks to get here and the Oregon girls are a good team. Oregon can play better than they did, but UConn played one of their best games of the season. Geno said so: “They were great!” Unusual for a coach to say something like that. They are on a 111 game winning streak. The last time they lost was on 17 November 2014 to Stanford in overtime. Stanford ended a UConn 46 game winning streak with that game. So the Huskies are 156 – 1 over their last 157 games. I watched the end of that 17 November game on TV. When a good game is coming up on TV and I don’t have time to watch the game, I try to tune in for the last 5 minutes or so to see the drama if there is any. When I turned on the TV, the Huskies were up by 9 with 3 or 4 minutes to go. With Husky errors and Stanford hustle the gap was closed and the Cardinal hit a three with 1.4 seconds to go to send it to overtime. Both teams made errors in overtime and it could have gone either way, but Stanford with good defensive effort prevailed 88 – 86. Otherwise we would be looking at a 157 game winning streak. Is Mississippi State University the next victim? Probably. If not, it will be a big upset. The casino handicappers have UConn favored by 21. Two good teams play in the first game Friday – the University of South Carolina and Stanford. Will Stanford get another chance to snap a big UConn winning streak? You know Stanford ended a 90 game UConn streak and then the 46 game streak I just talked about – but I don’t think they will have a chance this time. I think USC will defeat Stanford, UConn will defeat MSU and then in the Championship Game I think UConn will win over USC. That seems to be what most other people think, also. However, anyone of these four could win the championship this year. That’s why we play it out rather than just awarding the trophies according to statistics. Early in the season this UConn team beat Tulane 100 – 56. Then on 18 February UConn escaped an upset by 18 & 15 Tulane 63 – 60. UConn had a tough game with Florida State, winning 78 – 76. South  Carolina played them tough before losing 66 – 55 on 13 February. I’ll be watching, supporting and rooting for our two SEC teams, USC and MSU. The SEC had eight women’s teams in the tournament this year: Auburn, LSU, MSU, Missouri, USC, Tennessee, Texas A&M, and Kentucky. The SEC had five men’s teams in the tournament: Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, South Carolina and Vanderbilt. I supported and rooted for them all except Kentucky. There are two prominent teams that I do not support and they are both from Kentucky – KU and Louisville. I do not like the basketball coaches of these two schools and my tendency to support the underdog puts me against them because they are so successful.

I remember when Arkansas dropped out to the Southwest Conference and entered the Southeastern Conference; we thought that Arkansas and Kentucky would be battling for the basketball championship every year. Arkansas had won the SWC basketball championship more than any SWC school and Kentucky had won more SEC basketball championships than any other school. Do you remember Ron Brewer, Sidney Moncrief, Alvin Robertson, Lenzie Howell, Todd Day, or Oliver Miller? Well, anyway, it didn’t turn out that way. Arkansas has won the regular season SEC twice and the SEC Tournament once. Kentucky has 48 regular season titles and 30 tournament titles. Unfortunately our Razorbacks are seldom in contention with Kentucky for the title, far from what we thought. I attach the 2017 NCAA Brackets for both the men’s and women’s competition below in jpg (or photo) format so you can copy them out and expand them on your computer if you don’t have a good magnifying glass and want to take a closer look.

I have said that we are fans of the Oregon Ducks. The Ducks were eliminated by UConn in the Elite Eight. We in Reno had a link to both teams in this game. Gabby Williams, a 2014 Reno Reed High School graduate who plays for UConn scored 25 points, had 6 rebounds and 4 steals. Mallory McGwire, Reno High School graduate who plays for Oregon had 4 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks. They both had good press in our local newspaper, the Reno Gazette – Journal.

You may be thinking that Geno Auriemma has a very easy job coaching the University of Connecticut  women’s basketball team.  After all he attracts the best women’s players in the country. He takes good players and makes them great players. But when they come there a lot of them think that they already are great players. You can bet that a lot of them have big egos. He must manage those egos and make a team that plays team basketball, willing to pass and give up the ball to the open player. He’s on his 32nd year there.

I’m proud of our 2016 - 2017 Men’s Razorback Basketball Team! They played hard and could have won that final game. 

[junker-town]

Iowa State beating Oklahoma takes us one step closer to a chaotic 2017 home stretch

And the rest of the top 10 TEAMS OF THE WEEK!

College football officially got a little weirder and more fun in Week 6. Michigan State once again beat Michigan in a monsoon, Alabama looked mortal for the first time in weeks, Clemson elected once again to pull its “look good when you have to, and not a moment more” routine, your Heisman favorite (Penn State’s Saquon Barkley) had negative rushing yards well into the second half of an easy win. Weirdness, all of it.

Most notably, Iowa State beat Oklahoma for just the second time since JFK was president in a win that harkened back to one of college football’s craziest seasons.

Team of the Week: Iowa State (def. No. 3 Oklahoma, 38-31)

An early lead can sometimes be the most dangerous possible thing.

Oklahoma probably didn’t expect just a ton of trouble from an Iowa State team that had just lost its starting quarterback, Jacob Park, to what is being called a “leave of absence.” The third-ranked Sooners would likely have too much offense for the Cyclones, and giving a new quarterback (Kyle Kempt) his first start on the road against a top-five team doesn’t usually work out particularly well.

Ten minutes into the game, Oklahoma was up 14-0. The Sooners 168 yards in their first 16 plays and forced an easy three-and-out in between. This one was in hand, and you couldn’t blame OU for mentally hitting the cruise control button.

Once you’re in cruise, though, it’s really difficult to get out of it. The Cyclones started mixing Kempt and quarterback-turned-linebacker-turned-wildcat-quarterback Joel Lanning and got a field goal late in the first quarter. They added a 75-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter, then poked in a 32-yard field goal before halftime. They still trailed 24-13 and hadn’t yet shown the capability of stopping the Sooners enough to catch up, but they were making it clear that OU was in a fight.

ISU kicked another field goal to start the second half, but OU was still driving to put the game out of reach midway through the third quarter. But Trey Sermon lost a fumble at the ISU 6. Kempt threw a 35-yard pass to Allen Lazard, a 28-yard score to Marchie Murdock, and a two-point conversion pass to Lazard. With 17 minutes left, the game was somehow tied.

Four minutes later, ISU was ahead. OU’s Austin Seibert missed a field goal, and Kempt and Trevor Ryen connected for a 57-yard score. OU settled down and tied the game, but ISU went right back ahead with a gorgeous 25-yard TD catch by Lazard.

You remember that scene in Miracle, when Kurt Russell’s Herb Brooks looks over at Soviet coach Viktor Tikhonov late in the USA-USSR match and realizes, “He doesn’t know what to do”? I was reminded of that on OU’s last drive.

The Sooners got the ball back with 2:19 left, plenty of time for a high-octane offense to tie the game. But after an 11-yard quick out from Baker Mayfield to Jordan Smallwood, it quickly began to seem like they didn’t know what to do.

They wasted quite a few seconds with a four-yard hand-off to Sermon.

Then they wasted a few more with a two-yard pass to Sermon.

They used a timeout, then Mayfield fired incomplete to Marquise Brown.

They used another timeout despite the clock stoppage, and Mayfield had no idea where to go with the ball on the final play.

WHO'S YOUR DADDY? http://pic.twitter.com/RPzsE28qUc

— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) October 7, 2017

Iowa State had beaten Oklahoma just once since 1961. The Cyclones’ 33-31 victory over the host Sooners in 1990 played out in startlingly similar fashion: a ranked OU went up 14-0 in the first quarter against an ISU team dealing with a quarterback injury, then threw it into cruise too early.

That time around, ISU signal caller Chris Pedersen sported a bulky knee brace and still rushed 29 times for 148 yards. Twenty-seven years later, Kempt used his arm (14-for-20 passing for 242 yards) and Lanning’s legs (the linebacker finished with 35 rushing yards, 25 passing yards, four solo tackles, four assists, a sack, and a fumble recovery) to pull the comeback.

Granted, the 1990 OU team was ranked just 16th at the time and was coming off of a disappointing loss to Texas. This Sooners squad was third, sporting national title hopes and maybe the single most impressive résumé win of the season (a road pummeling of an Ohio State team that has been perfect since).

It is the 10th anniversary of the wackiest season of all time, and we’ve been reading tea leaves in search of similarly wild ride. September wasn’t particularly crazy (though it did have its own version of Appalachian State over Michigan). But we just rang in October with a reference to the second-craziest season ever. Yes. Bring on the crazy.

Other Teams of the Week

2. Michigan State (def. No. 7 Michigan, 14-10)

Mark Dantonio doesn’t lose on Mark Dantonio Field.

3. No. 13 Miami (def. Florida State, 24-20)

You just beat your biggest rival for the first time in nearly a decade! Now what?

4. Tulane (def. Tulsa, 62-28)

Willie Fritz’s second Green Wave team is now 3-2 with losses only to unbeaten Navy (by two) and unbeaten-until-yesterday Oklahoma on the road. They entered Saturday with a 50-50 chance at only their second bowl in 15 years. Let’s just say those odds are higher now. They absolutely destroyed Tulsa, bolting to a stunning 48-7 halftime lead and cruising.

5. Virginia (def. Duke, 28-21)

In the market for a nice 2007 reference to go with the 1990 reference above? Try this: Virginia is now 4-1 for the first time since ... you guessed it! Bronco Mendenhall for ACC Coach of the Year.

6. No. 24 NC State (def. No. 17 Louisville, 39-25)

If the Wolfpack keep this up (and that’s one hell of an if), Dave Doeren should give Mendenhall pretty good competition in that vote.

7. No. 21 Notre Dame (def. North Carolina, 33-10)

The Irish tempted the gods with a lot more wet passing in North Carolina, but ... RIP, 4-8 jokes, all the same.

8. No. 9 Wisconsin (def. Nebraska, 38-17)

What do you do when an easy-looking win has turned into a tie game? If you’re Wisconsin, you run. The. Damn. Ball.

#Badgers last two scoring drives: 20 plays, 155 yards, 11:27 TOP. 18 rushes and two passes. #Huskers

— Parker Gabriel (@HuskerExtraPG) October 8, 2017

9. No. 11 Washington State (def. Oregon, 33-10)

In Mike Leach’s first four seasons at Washington State, his Cougars had four wins of 23-plus points. Since the start of 2016, they have eight. Doing so in Eugene earns bonus points, as well.

10. UAB (def. Louisiana Tech, 23-22)

UAB’s self-imposed death penalty is one of college football’s dumbest recent stories. But it also makes the Blazers’ successes more heart-warming. They got their first conference win since late-2014 on Saturday, and it was a big one: 23-22 over a pretty good Louisiana Tech, sealed with a last-second field goal block.

Here is the game winning block!! #GreaterBHAM http://pic.twitter.com/JkHq0hiNUR

— UAB Football (@UAB_FB) October 7, 2017

[junker-town]

Why can't we talk about Colin Kaepernick and football at the same time?

Colin Kaepernick loves football, and yet he risked his football career and his reputation to say something.

It began with football.

Colin Kaepernick wanted to play college football. He wanted to play college football more than he wanted to play professional baseball, even though he was drafted 43rd by the Chicago Cubs in the 2009 First-Year Player Draft. He wanted to play college football more than he wanted to play basketball (as a high school senior, he made the all-tournament team at the annual Oakdale Rotary Classic Basketball Tournament in 2006.)

When Chris Ault, then the head coach of the University of Nevada Wolfpack, asked Colin if he was thinking about signing with a professional baseball team, Kaepernick was clear. "He said, 'Coach, I've always wanted to play college football. I love football,' and that was the end of the conversation." On Feb. 1, 2006, Colin Kaepernick signed a letter of intent to play for Nevada.

Ten years, six months, and 14 days later, on Aug. 14, 2016, before a preseason game against the Houston Texans, San Francisco 49ers backup quarterback Colin Kaepernick sat during the national anthem. He sat during the national anthem during preseason games against Denver and Green Bay. And after a conversation with former Green Beret and then-long snapper Nate Boyer, he knelt during the national anthem before the preseason game at San Diego.

Two days after his protest at Green Bay, he told reporters that he was willing to continue speaking out, sitting or kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality: "I'm going to continue to stand with the people that are being oppressed. When there's significant change and I feel that flag represents what it's supposed to represent, and this country is representing people the way that it's supposed to, I'll stand." He played in 12 games in 2016 after recovering from a torn labrum suffered in the 2015 season, finishing with a 90.7 QBR on a team that finished 2-14.

Five years after reaching the Super Bowl in his second season in the NFL (his first as a starter) and three years after signing a $126 million contract with the 49ers, Colin Kaepernick has not played football as a member of an NFL team since the end of the 2016 season. After opting out of his contract amid changes to the 49ers offense under new coach Kyle Shanahan and rumors of a potential release, Kaepernick has spent the past eight months wandering in the NFL desert.

While Kaepernick has been on the free agent market, teams in need of quarterbacks have opted for someone, anyone other than Colin Kaepernick, including Mike Glennon, Josh McCown, and Jay Cutler, whom the Dolphins will pay $10 million to replace the injured Ryan Tannehill. (This is the same Jay Cutler who needed to be convinced to play by his wife and joked that playing quarterback didn't require cardiovascular fitness.) The Ravens ownership is reportedly "praying" to decide whether or not to take Kaepernick on as a backup to Joe Flacco.

For Colin Kaepernick, who will turn 30 on Nov. 3, having already passed for more than 12,000 yards and run for more than 2,300 yards since arriving in the NFL in 2011, the story of his football career seems to have veered into one about what athletes can say, or not say, or do, or not do. The questions Kaepernick's stand have asked of us as football viewers — of what we require from athletes in exchange for our attention, our admiration, or our support — have been responded to largely with mild ignorance or derision at best, and threats of violence at worst. He knelt, and spoke, and many of us seem to have lost our minds in response.

Kaepernick knelt, and spoke, and many of us seem to have lost our minds in response.

There is a lot to say about Colin Kaepernick. Colin Kaepernick is of mixed race descent. Colin Kaepernick is adopted. Colin Kaepernick is wealthy. Colin Kaepernick has tattoos. And Colin Kaepernick has beliefs, particularly regarding the flawed relationship between police and people of color in this country, and the role that race plays in determining the lives (and deaths) of everyday Americans. These are beliefs a lot of people have -- and a lot of people don't, to be clear.

But Colin Kaepernick is also a football player. And to understand Colin Kaepernick -- and, more importantly, to put Colin Kaepernick into the context of which he has been removed for nearly a year -- it is important to begin with football, a game he started playing (as a defensive end and punter, originally) when he was 9 years old, and one that is currently being denied to him.

Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Kaepernick played quarterback in a Wing-T formation at Pitman High School -- a run-first offense that rarely required him to drop back in the pocket. That got him very little attention from college coaches, despite the best efforts of both himself and his high school coach, Larry Nigro. His recruitment to Nevada began with a three-day quarterback camp in the summer of 2005 run by Chris Ault and his staff. "When we got done," Ault said, "I saw a big tall lanky guy that was a good athlete, [but] not a very polished quarterback. But he was maybe 6'4 at that time, 6'3 and a half, and I said if he can't be a quarterback, he could be a defensive back or receiver."

It wasn't until Ault saw Kaepernick play basketball later that winter -- a game Kaepernick played with a 102-degree fever -- that he decided to offer him a scholarship. But Ault said that Kaepernick's instinctiveness and competitiveness had no competition. "I just thought," he said, "there's no gamble with this guy. If he can't be a quarterback, we'll just put him someplace else. He'll play for us."

Kaepernick took his first snaps for Nevada on October 6, 2007, stepping in for starter Nick Graziano in the second quarter against Fresno State after Graziano broke his foot. He would complete 23 out of 26 passes for 384 yards and score five touchdowns in a 49-41 loss. You can see his first snap here. On third-and-long and with nobody open, he breaks contain and sprints for a first down, Fresno State defenders in his wake.

"We really didn't know how fast he was," Ault said, "and he didn't either. Nobody did."

The next week, Nevada went to Boise State to play the 5-1 Broncos, the same squad that would beat Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl that year. David Southorn is a beat writer covering Boise State football for the Idaho Statesman. He was in the press box at the Nevada-Boise State game in 2007. "In warmups," he said, "You saw a tall, skinny kid who could wing it, but thought he might break after a few big hits." He added that Kaepernick seemed unnaturally calm, "It was pretty obvious he wasn't going to be like 90 percent of the quarterbacks, let alone a redshirt freshman. [He wasn't] going to be intimidated."

The two teams would combine for 136 points that night, reaching quadruple overtime. Kaepernick threw for 243 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another 177 yards and two touchdowns. It might have gone to a fifth overtime had Boise State linebacker Tim Brady not caught Kaepernick's ankle on a two-point conversion attempt.

"It was like, 'Oh my god, who is this guy?" Southorn said of Kaepernick that night. "If a giraffe and a cheetah were spliced together, that's what it was like -- he took one stride when everyone else needed two."

The loss to Boise State was, in Chris Ault's view, the game when Kaepernick took total control of the team. "His decisions weren’t always right but his athleticism gave our offense another dimension," he said. "Most importantly, it showed his competitiveness and willingness to do whatever it would take to try and win. There wasn’t one time when I thought he wasn’t in control."

That year, the Wolfpack finished 6-6, losing in the New Mexico Bowl. But in 2008, Nevada finished 7-6, and Kaepernick was named WAC Offensive Player of the Year. Ault said that his work ethic never wavered. "He still was the first one in the weight room, he still was the last one to leave the practice field. There was never a time that I can remember that [Kaepernick] wasn't doing something with somebody during the course of the week or during the course of a practice to get better."

Kaepernick injured his ankle during the Humanitarian Bowl loss to Maryland, and was still too injured to participate in spring football practice the next year. So Ault and Kaepernick practiced by themselves instead. "I went out with him, seven, eight straight days out on the field, just he and me. We'd work for an hour, hour and a half, just on his throwing, on his ability to throw right, left, the things he missed during spring ball. And to be honest with you, we probably could have gone three hours a day, and he'd still be out there."

By his senior year in 2010, Kaepernick was leading a Wolfpack team that was ranked for the first time in 60 years and eighth in the country in total offense, averaging just over 40 points a game. In the last home game of the 2010 season, on Senior Night, Nevada faced the Broncos. Before the season, Kaepernick had told Southorn at WAC Media Day that "the road [to success] went through Boise State." Now, Boise State was ranked No. 3 in the country and the closest the Broncos had ever really been to a possible national title run.

Nevada was down 24-7 at half, but Ault said that in the locker room, Kaepernick was "calm, collected, and excited." In the third quarter, he escaped the pocket and did a spin move -- "the greatest move I ever saw with any of my quarterbacks," Ault said -- sprinting into the end zone to make the score 24-14. With 15 seconds left in the game, down 31-24, Kaepernick threw across his body into the left corner of the end zone to Rishard Matthews to tie the game.

Southorn said that that play, and the drive preceding it, was unforgettable. "You got the feeling there was only one guy capable of beating Boise State that year."

That game might best be remembered for Boise State's kicker missing two line-drive field goals. But Kaepernick, sprinting onto the field on a cold November night after Anthony Martinez hit a game-winning field goal in overtime to give the Wolfpack their first win over a top-10 opponent in school history, sealed that game. "He was like no quarterback I'd seen in the WAC," Southorn said.

The same year the Nevada Wolfpack went 13-1 behind Kaepernick, a 7-year-old girl named Aiyana Jones was shot to death by a police officer during a no-knock police raid on a house in Detroit, Michigan. The charges against the officer were eventually dropped. The year before, just about 90 miles west of the high school where Kaepernick played football, baseball and basketball, an Oakland resident named Oscar Grant was shot in the back in a BART Station by an officer who told investigators he mistakenly believed he was using his taser. Grant died a few hours later.

In the fall of 2011, Colin Kaepernick was drafted in the second round by the San Francisco 49ers. That same fall, police shot and killed a retired veteran and former corrections officer named Kenneth Chamberlain in his home in White Plains, New York. His LifeAid bracelet had gone off, triggering a response from police and firefighters. He told them he didn't need help. In response, the police broke down his front door, tasered him, and then shot him, first with a bean bag round, then with live ammunition.

A tape of the incident provided by LifeAid recorded Chamberlain trying to keep the police out of his home, telling the officers, "I'm telling you all I'm okay." To which an officer responded, "I don't give a fuck, nigger." Chamberlain died in surgery that night.

Deray McKesson got a call from Colin Kaepernick early in the 2016 NFL preseason, almost as soon as Kaepernick's national anthem protest began. McKesson is best known for his activism in support of Black Lives Matter, a movement which began in part as reaction to the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in the summer of 2014.

"It was clear that he understood the issues well, that he was personally invested," McKesson said, "and that he was conscious about using his platform to fight for marginalized people. I didn't think it was a performance going into the call, and I came out of the call thinking that he was very committed to these issues."

McKesson said that Kaepernick was interested in understanding those who had been taking part in activism aimed at police brutality and racism. "I reminded him that every time he talked about these issues, he helped give a voice to people, which is one of the most powerful things that can be done. That initial call reaffirmed my belief in him."

David French is a senior writer for the conservative magazine National Review. Upon hearing about Kaepernick's protest, he said, "my first thought was, 'who really cares,' to be honest." He added that he "flat-out disagreed with him doing this [protesting the national anthem] on the merits," but said that he didn't believe it would become a cultural touchstone. "Then it got swept in the hot take culture."

French believes that for sportswriters, Kaepernick became a "heroic figure," and that to him, that was going to be a problem. "We started to see all of the worst aspects of what I would call some of the Social Justice Warrior hectoring culture, where views on this became a litmus test to see how 'woke' you were on underlying issues of race and justice." For French, the controversy around Kaepernick's protest is based on Kaepernick's attempt to violate a simple rule of American life: we should be able to watch a sports game together, regardless of race or politics, without the taint of external events. To Kaepernick, French would say, "take [your protest] off the field."

The idea that sports should be a "safe space," so to speak, is a popular one. Millions of Americans believe that sports can remain, or perhaps become for the first time, a venue free of politics. Sports has never been apolitical, to be sure, and yet we believe that it could be, and moreover that it should be. Sports is where we find joy, sports is where we find hope, sports is where we find something beyond and above ourselves, and can do so together with people with whom we have virtually nothing in common.

But for Kaepernick, the football field was, and is, his own safe space. Football took him from Turlock, California to Reno, Nevada, from a skinny kid thrown into the starting job at a university with little football history or glory to become perhaps the best football player in Nevada history to very nearly winning a Super Bowl in just his second season in the league.

Colin Kaepernick loved football. Colin Kaepernick still loves football. He did not speak with SB Nation for this piece, and has refused media interviews for the past several months, as he fights behind the scenes for his NFL career, for the ability to be able to play football again.

Colin Kaepernick loves football, and yet he risked his football career and his reputation to say something. Football shaped him and molded him and put him on the cultural map, and yet he was willing to defy football, and the entities that control it -- from coaches to NFL owners and alumni -- because he wanted to stand up for what he believed was right. Football is his context, the sport to which he devoted his time and energy and obsessive will to improve. And yet Kaepernick has allowed himself to be removed from that context, in order to say something, or more accurately, to get us to say something about America's law enforcement protocols, America's racial inequities, America's, as some have called it, "original sin."

We don't have to, of course. We could have ignored Colin Kaepernick, and his protest. His decision to sit or kneel during the national anthem played very little role in the 49ers' failure last season. He was not responsible for the team's complete lack of rush defense or terrible home record. We could even ignore Colin Kaepernick now, in free agency. We could allow him to become a third-string quarterback. Or get a starting job. The world would continue to spin either way.

And yet we didn't, and we don't. Or perhaps we can't. The questions that Colin Kaepernick raised in his protest were too big, or too scary, for us to answer. Questions about whose lives actually do matter. Questions about what a sport primarily played by black men has to say about the lives of black men. Questions some of us believe have no place in sports.

And so Colin Kaepernick remains in limbo. Ten years after winning the starting job in college, one year after sitting during the national anthem, Colin Kaepernick is still looking for work in the NFL. All because he asked America a question, and we simply had no good answer.