Category: Uncategorized Page 27 of 29

Given that Jake Browning, Jabrill Peppers and Desean Watson all had mediocre Saturdays (yes, Watson threw for a record 580 yards against the woeful Pitt passing defense but he threw three costly interceptions, including two in the end zone, which cost Clemson their undefeated season), Louisville’s Lamar Jackson deserves the Heisman Trophy by acclamation.

However, the past two weekends have proven that one other player in the country is as valuable to his team as Jackson is to Louisville:  Middle Tennessee State’s QB Brent Stockstill.  Going into their November 5 home game against Texas San Antonio, the Blue Raiders were a big favorite to extend their record to 7-2.  This Middle Tennessee team’s record was based on a prolific offense which compensated for a subpar D and was good enough to outscore SEC’s Missouri, 51-45, in Columbia.

Stockstill broke his collarbone during the UTSA game.  Disaster!! His backup, John Urzua, relieved him with Titantic-like results.  Four interceptions later, Middle suffered an upset loss.

Last Saturday, Middle traveled to Marshall to face an atypically poor 2-7 Thundering Herd squad.  Four turnovers helped fuel a total 2nd half collapse as the Blue Raiders were stomped, 42-14.

This night-and-day difference helped demonstrate how Brent Stockstill was a rock star among college QBs.   To make matters even more painful for Middle’s head coach, Rick Stockstill, Brent is his son.  Double agony for the senior Stockstill !!  Life is often not fair.

A SALUTE TO THE LATE, GREAT BIG 8

I had trepidation regarding my 2016 trip to America’s heartland.   My last trek to Nebraska was in 2012 to see Denard Robinson’s Michigan team make their first visit ever to Lincoln.  That October 27 night was frigid.  So, I assumed the weather in early November could be even less forgiving, especially for another night game in Ames, Iowa.  To my surprise and amazement, the weather proved to be idyllic short- sleeve weather during the days.  If this planet is going to hell via global warming,  we should at least enjoy parts of the journey.

After flying into Omaha’s Eppley Field, FFF (“French Femme Fatale”) and I had the pleasure of a gorgeous drive through rolling Western Iowa farmland with the trees providing a carousel of fall colors.    I was excited to make my maiden trip to Iowa State.  I regarded long-suffering Cyclone fans as among the most loyal in college football.  It is one thing to get behind powerhouses like Alabama or Ohio State – quite another to support a perennial loser like Iowa State.  When grading on a curve, I place fans of Iowa State and South Carolina on a special plateau.  Decades of generally mediocre football have never deterred strong attendance at their turnstiles.  In the generation before Hayden Fry turned around the Iowa program, I would have put Hawkeye fans in the same lofty category.

The 2016 Cyclone team was not having an unusual year, coming into the night’s Oklahoma tilt with a 1-7 record.   In their opener, Iowa State demonstrated why the Cyclones are often the third best team in Iowa by losing  to perennial 1-AA power, Northern Iowa.  However, the Cyclones are usually good for one upset or scare each year in Ames, the biggest upset being a November 2011,   37-31 shocker of Oklahoma State which cost the Cowboys a BCS berth and allowed Alabama to back door into a title rematch with LSU.  I was worried that Iowa State had already shot their “scare wad” for the year as the Cyclones coughed up a 2-TD lead in losing, 45-42, to then undefeated Baylor,

Iowa State was competitive but lost 34-24 to the Sooners.  The Cyclones had  some moments of glory and briefly took a 17-14 lead.  However, the last of Baker Mayfield’s 4 first half TD passes came right before halftime, making it 28-17 and taking a lot of wind out of the ISU sails.  Oklahoma wide receiver,    Dede Westbrook had another spectacular game  with 131 yards of receiving in addition to a scintillating kickoff return.      Like Cam Newton, Westbrook was another spectacular product from Blinn Community College.    Defenses had a conundrum.  Westbrook’s excellence  demanded a double team but that left one less defender who might be able to help put pressure on an OU offensive line that proved excellent in providing ample protection for the accurate passes of Baker Mayfield.

During the game, we found out the reason for the name of ISU’s Jack Trice stadium.  Trice was an African American Cyclone in 1923 when not many blacks were allowed to play.  The 21-year-old Trice died during a game.  Who knew?  I previously assumed Jack Trice was some megarich donor along  the lines of Oklahoma State’s Boone Pickens or Oregon’s Phil Knight.  The following day, we toured Des Moines and received another reminder that Iowa was a strong Union state during the Civil War.  The Des Moines museum has a memorable room featuring the Civil War with an emphasis on Iowa’s involvement in the massive conflict, especially against its slave-state neighbor to the South, Missouri.   The narrative was eye opening as the history books’ focus on the Civil War is almost exclusively based on battles east of the Mississippi River.  One does not think of Iowa as an unusually  strong supporter of black rights, but another reminder was  Missouri’s refusal to schedule its nearby northern neighbor in Iowa City (less than 200 miles separate the campuses) for 100+ years.  In 1910, Iowa’s roster included a star African American tackle, Archie Alexander.  In the Hawkeyes’ last EVER visit to Columbia, Alexander was forbidden to play in Missouri’s 5-0 win.  After the game, Hawkeye coach, Jesse Hawley, vowed never to play in Columbia again.  His stance was partly pragmatic.  Iowa only had 19 players on its squad and most played both sides of the ball.   Alexander’s status triggered a correspondence war between the Presidents of the two institutions.  The Iowa president, George MacLean, proposed that when Missouri next played in Iowa  in 1911 that Alexander be allowed to play using the metaphor “When in Rome, do as the Romans.”  The response from the Missouri President A. Ross Hill in far less politically correct times stated that Mizzou was not to going to play against any “niggers.”  Period.  End of rivalry.  If there was a defense in Hill’s posture, some previous Iowa visits to Missouri had resulted in brawls with fans, spilling out of the stands.  Much more mayhem than the typical Trump rally! For Alexander, the snub was only a temporary setback as he later became the Governor of the Virgin Islands.

Almost a century later, Missouri was finally scheduled to play Iowa from 2005-2008 until the Tigers backed out.  Thanks to a third-tier bowl game, the 2010 Insight Bowl, the Hawkeyes and Tigers finally met on the gridiron a full century after Alexander was relegated to spectator status in Columbia.  If one doubts that Missourians felt strongly about its previous stance on race relations, one need only remember that the Show Me State is the only state in the union that precipitated a shooting war with another state (abolitionist Kansas in the years leading up to the Civil War).

I heartily recommend visiting the Des Moines museum for multiple reasons.  Another spectacular exhibit exists that will thrill political junkies.  The museum has a room celebrating Iowa’s status as the kick off for each Presidential election.   Stickers  and photos of a zillion candidates, many long forgotten, are featured.  As you leave the museum and look one block up the large hill to the east, one can view the most spectacular capital building I have seen.  The capital offers unique, 5-domed majesty.  Simply spectacular!

As this was a doubleheader weekend,  we left Des Moines en route to the Little Apple:  Manhattan, Kansas.  I love eschewing the Interstates and taking isolated country highways, often spotting gems of small towns that time has forgot.  There was ample reward 40 miles southwest of Des Moines.  We were smack dab in the middle of Madison County.  “The Bridges of Madison County” is one of FFF’s all-time favorite romantic novels.   We toured the County and loved the covered bridges.  The county seat of Winterset is a magical farm town.  As we departed, FFF expressed her profound happiness that the movie’s co-star, Meryl Streep finally got to marry long-time love, Robert Redford.   She wistfully observed that Redford would have been a much better choice as Streep’s co-star than Clint Eastwood.

Later that evening, we arrived in Topeka.   Kansas’ capital was sure no Des Moines.  Not only was the state capitol entirely outclassed by the treasure we saw earlier that day, the city was badly in need of a redo.  The buildings were old, replete with dated, drab brick buildings   and devoid of anything remotely resembling architectural creativity.  There are many Topekas in the rural states.  As family farms became unable to compete with the large, agri-corporations in the 1980s and 1990s, the general prosperity of the middle class  eroded.  Topeka did hold one surprise.  Washburn is the local university.  Their nickname is Ichabods.  What is an Ichabod???

Our Saturday arrival in Manhattan produced two surprises.  I expected a small  to non-existent town a la Starkville Mississippi.  Instead, Manhattan was  modern and reasonably sized.  Now for the real shock:  Next to campus, on Moro Street, one was in the midst of “Aggieville.”  At one intersection, there are a half dozen sports bars within one block.  FFF dissented.  She claimed the number was closer to ten.  Now, if there is one element in which the Odyssey has allowed me to have unparalleled expertise, it is on the general subject of sports bars.  Would it be arrogant for me to proclaim that I have no peers in this realm?  As such, I hope the following comment has the appropriate gravitas:  Manhattan, Kansas is the sports bar capital of North America.  Maybe this makes sense.  After the crops have been harvested and the corn stalks have been plowed back into the earth, maybe there is little else to do for 4-5 months but drink and watch sports.

I was really excited to get to the Bill Snyder Family Stadium.  How cool is it to be able to see a 77-year-old living legend still coaching em up?  VERY cool!!! When one enters the Stadium from the West, you are entering  the Bill Snyder kingdom.  Literally!  Behind his life-size statue, the stadium façade is a fortress, turrets and all.  Every accolade Snyder gets is well deserved.  Iconic Oklahoma coach, Barry Switzer, once opined, “Bill Snyder is not the Coach of the Year and not the Coach of the Decade.  He is the Coach of the Century.”  Before Snyder’s 1989 arrival, Kansas State was the losingest program of the previous half-century.  By far!   He used numerous junior college transfers to great effect.  He smartly got his new ranks to mesh more easily by employing tissue-soft non-conference schedules to ready the squad for the Big 8/12 schedule.

Like a rock star, Snyder could not resist  when the adoring audience asked for an encore.   After two mediocre years, Snyder retired in 2005 at the spry age of 66.  His successor, Ron Prince, was canned after three less-than-mediocre years.  By proclamation, Snyder returned in 2009.  One gauge of Snyder’s current popularity was evidenced by the 32^nd consecutive sellout of 52,000 partisan Wildcat fans. His run-first philosophy is clearly at odds with what the Big 12 had morphed into: super high octane passing offenses with defense often an afterthought.  But it is understandable to be “old school” when you are very old.  A prototypical Big 12 team was visiting Manhattan:  Oklahoma State with its prolific passing attack featuring third-year starter, Mason Rudolph.

We entered the stadium 20 minutes before kickoff and encountered the second-most patriotic afternoon ever at a football venue (I attended an Army game at West Point in 2011 on the 10^th anniversary of 9/11).  The band would have made John Sousa proud and was highlighted by a rendition of The Stars and Stripes in which not only were the lyrics posted on the jumbotron but you could hear loud singing:  a development that would NEVER happen on either coast.  Later, at halftime, the Wildcat band saluted all five of country’s military branches (yes, even the Coast Guard was recognized) with innovative marching formations, capped by a unfurling of the American flag at mid-field by a number of soldiers.  This outpouring of patriotism provided further evidence that we are two Americas.  I felt sorry for these fine people that their coming choice in the presidential election, three days hence, was between a pair of serial liars, one corrupt and the other a megalomaniac.   They, and all of us, certainly deserved better.

The game proved to be an absolute thriller, easily one of the best of the hundreds I have attended.  KSU could not stop the pass.  Oklahoma State (sorry, I cannot use OSU because that acronym means something so galactically different to me) could not stop the KSU running game, featuring the keepers of QB Jesse Ertz.  One of the game’s many pivotal points occurred with just under 9 minutes to go in the game.  KSU was leading, 37-28, courtesy of three Cowboy turnovers.  The Wildcats had 4^th and 1 at midfield.  The players begged the sideline to let them go for the first down.  Snyder demurred and made a reasonable decision to punt the ball.   One Rudolph bomb later, the score quickly changed to 37-35, as Rudolph was in route to passing for 457 yards.  The Cowboys got the ball back and scored again to take the lead, 43-37, with 1:45 to go.  K-State was far from  done (At K-State, the hyphen is quite important!  The hyphen is emblazoned in the end zone.  When the cheerleaders run around with lettered flags after the score, there are 7 flags, not six.  The hyphen is included.    I wonder if the decision makers were worried that the populace would not understand “KState” without the hyphen.  Who knew that the Little Apple would be the king of both the sports bar and hyphen worlds?).

With ten seconds left, K-State had marched down to the Cowboy 3 as the raucous crowd was going nuts.  On the ensuing pass play, the Wildcats were called for a rarely called offensive pass interference penalty.  On the last play of the game, from the Cowboy 18, Ertz’ pass was intercepted in the end zone.  Ball game on a magical Saturday afternoon.

More, please!!!  And when Oklahoma hosts Okie State in Bedlam, they may well win but their suspect pass defense will be hard pressed to hold the Cowboys under 40 points.

College Football Odyssey will be in the heartland this week.  Oklahoma is a 3 TD favorite at Iowa State Thursday night.  ISU is always dangerous at home and almost beat Baylor in Ames earlier this year.

The Odyssey travels to the Little Apple Saturday afternoon to see Kansas State host Oklahoma State.  Who knows if this is the last year coaching for the ageless legend , Bill Snyder.

Conference unbeatens, West Virginia and Baylor, were both upended last Saturday.  When thinking of the Big 12’s playoff prospects, we are reminded of a 1960’s classic by Little Anthony & The Imperials, “Outside Looking In.”

The Big 12 did produce one amazing statistical oddity last Saturday.  The total points predicted in the TCU-Texas Tech tilt was 87.  How was it remotely possible that regulation could end at 17-17!!!  Especially surprising if you had watched Texas Tech attempt to play defense in almost any game in the past decade.

Perhaps even more remarkable, Wyoming upset unbeaten Boise State at 7,220 feet.  The upset was not as remarkable as the fact that the Cowboys won, 30-28, with a game-winning safety!  Does anybody remember another such game?

Speaking of remarkable statistics, Oregon State will be delighted to see Washington State QB, Luke Falk, graduate.  Despite a severe physical beating, Luke led the Cougars to a comeback win with 415 passing yards, after trailing 24-6 at halftime. In 3 games against the Beavers, Falk has thrown for 1,300 yards.

En route to Manhattan, we will definitely stop in Topeka to pay homage to one of the top rock bands of the 1970’s.  After all, our Odyssey is fitting for a “Wayward Son” who hopes not to become “Dust in the Wind.”

CAUTION:  If you love the University of Texas or are a relative of Deloss Dodds, reading this may prove hazardous to your health.

Saturday, Texas lost 24-21 at Kansas State.  On the surface, this is not big news given that Manhattan Kansas has repeatedly proven to be Longhorn kryptonite.  Despite always having superior athletes, Texas has lost its last 5 visits to the Little Apple.

Upon further review, Texas’  latest pratfall was most among the most distressing  in the listing Charlie Strong regime.  Texas found itself staring at a 21-7 halftime deficit.  Somehow, the KSU passing game, wanting all year, came alive in the first half, even with a pedestrian QB nursing a bum shoulder.  Maybe this is not so surprising given that the Longhorn pass defense has been a rumor all year.  Granted, Texas  had previously encountered four maestros in the likes of DeShone Kizer, Mason Rudolph, Davis Webb and Baker Mayfield.  But Jesse Ertz?!?!

Freshman Shane Buechele played a stellar QB for Texas in the 2nd half.  If Texas receivers had not developed butterfingers at key moments, he would have led the Longhorns to a stirring comeback victory.  In the 3rd quarter, Texas elected to go for it on 4th and 3 at roughly the KSU 30.  Buechele threw a perfect slant pass to Dorian Leonard for the first down and much more.  Dropped.

In the 4th quarter, I was dumbfounded to see Texas going for it on 4th and 16 from midfield.  The decision turned out to be brilliant if only Armanti Foreman could have caught the pass that hit his bread basket in the end zone.  Both passes would have been routine catches for high school receivers.

So, a Texas team that could be 7-0 skidded to 3-4.  Worse, Saturday’s loss was to a team that has far less physical talent than the Longhorns.  Bill Snyder makes do with a JC-laden roster and a disciplined, button-down approach that maximizes his limited resources.  Classify KSU as the anti-Longhorns.  It is truly sad what a bunch of highly recruited underachievers have done to Charlie Strong.  Strong is a good man and a good coach whose chief failing seems to be getting the best out of 4 and 5 star preps.

Truth be told, Texas has been living under a dark cloud ever since Colt McCoy was injured early in its last national championship game against Alabama.  At such point, Texas and Coach Mack Brown were perched on top of the world.  At about the same time, Longhorn athletic director Deloss Dodds negotiated a lucrative deal with ESPN to launch the Longhorn TV Network.   The Big 12 already had a skewed revenue sharing structure which strongly favored conference icons, Texas and Oklahoma.  Creation of The Longhorn Network greatly exacerbated angst and jealousy among its less esteemed conference members, as well as enriching the already overflowing financial coffers in Austin.   When it was announced that the Longhorn Network would show high school games, other members hit the roof as this represented an unprecedented recruiting advantage for Texas (as if they ever should need any extra help!!).

Unfettered Longhorn greed destroyed a fine conference.  When conference-shifting dominoes reached a crescendo in 2010, Colorado was thrilled to be the first to jump ship and get out from under Texas’ thumb.  The Buffaloes  felt they were a better geographic (really??) and academic fit with the Pac-10.  Missouri badly wanted out and was yearning for a bid from the Big 10.  However, the Big 10 tabbed Nebraska as their 12th member.  Texas A&M was perhaps the most repulsed by Texas’ hubris.  Jilted Missouri and Texas A&M were ecstatic to accept the life raft provided by the SEC.

All of a sudden, Texas’ fiefdom had greatly shrunk.  In improbable fashion, they contrived to make Texas A&M the “it” school in the Lone Star State as the SEC was in the midst of winning eight straight national championships.  To make matters even worse, Texas whiffed on recruiting QBs such as Robert Griffin III or Johnny Manziel.  The electric Manziel won a Heisman Trophy that  made vengeful Aggie fans giddy with joy.   Texas has fared miserably in dealing with the luminous SEC footprint in its own backyard.  In a snit fit, they snubbed Texas A&M and ended their iconic year end grudge match.   Today, the diluted Big 12 is clearly considered  the most vulnerable of the Power 5 conferences.

It seems unbelievable that Texas could fall so far in 7 years.  The KSU loss brings the Charlie Strong record to 14-18.  He will likely be fired.  However, a better solution might be an exorcism and a reminder that humility is often a virtue.  Stellar recruiting classes have not solved the problem.

Speaking of spoiled and highly touted prep recruits,  did anybody notice how hard UCLA’s offense played at the end of last week’s WSU game and the 3-TD outburst in the first quarter of this weekend’s Utah contest?  Josh “The Chosen One” Rosen was injured.  UCLA really rallied behind his less talented backup, Mike Fafaul.   Coincidence? Penn State does not seem to miss the fact that highly touted  and often unhappy Christian Hackenberg  left Happy Valley, as evidenced by Penn State’s epic 4th quarter rally against Ohio State yesterday.

So, Texas is not the only locale where maximizing the abilities of highly touted preps has been problematic.  Still, like the long-standing curses of Babe Ruth and The Smelly Billy Goat, the situation in Austin defies logic.  Maybe it would not hurt to hire a good witch doctor.

Until that time comes, when I think of Texas football, I will start humming my favorite song by Seals & Croft:  “King of Nothing.”

This week is record shattering in one sense.  The bettors in Las Vegas have set the over/under on total points in the Cal/Oregon game at 89 points…I recall a couple games involving Baylor getting to 87 or so but never do I recall a number this high.

Does that mean that Oklahoma’s visit to Texas Tech will be a relative defensive battle?  After all, the total points set by the experts is “only” 85.  Never have two games gone off with such high expected scores.  In old times, the 75 total points predicted in this week’s Middle Tennessee visit to Missouri would have been the highest total on the board.

Ultra high scoring reflects the transformation in college football to an offense-first affair.  It is no coincidence that two legendary proponents of button down, defense first football, Les Miles and Freak Beamer, were encouraged or forced to leave their posts in the past year.  Even legendary coach, Bill Snyder, is realizing that he cannot do well in the Big 12 with a run-first style, featuring 2 QBs who cannot effectively throw.  Roll over, Bo and Woody!  The game, as you knew it, has passed on.

Against this trend, one notable club is points challenged this year:  Stanford.  It took poor QB play by ND to enable Stanford to overcome a 10-0 halftime deficit in South Bend.   When Colorado visits Stanford at noon tomorrow, there will be one team who does know how to score.  Which makes you ponder why Stanford is favored.  Especially when Christian McCaffrey may not be 100%.  Past reps die hard!  However, there is excellent news on the horizon for the should-have-been 2015 Heisman Trophy winner.  In a bizarre anomaly, the formerly prolific McCaffrey (hey, not his fault that Stanford has a Swiss cheese OLine this year and a QB who scares exactly nobody) has never scored a TD in a true road game.

No worries, there, Christian!  Stanford plays AT Oregon on November 12 followed by a game AT Cal on November 19.

Hope your team wins this weekend, Rick Rock

Last week, Hurricane Matthew’s wrath created havoc on both the ACC and SEC conference races.  The LSU game at Florida was postponed.  Since both squads are potential contenders in their divisions, the SEC Commissioner pronounced that the game would be played.  However, in ensuing days the difficulty in rescheduling provided a migraine headache for all.

The intrigue in the days leading up to the postponement and its aftermath would be worthy of an Agatha Christie mystery.  LSU indicated that they really wanted to play last weekend and reportedly offered to play the game on Sunday and made the extraordinary offer of not taking any of the needed local hotel rooms.  The Tiger AD, Joe Aleva, indicated that LSU would have been willing to fly in on Sunday morning and fly out Sunday evening.   No dice.  Georgia’s SEC game at South Carolina was moved back to Sunday.  Why could not the Gators have done the same?  We are admittedly unaware of the degree of  potential issues with having enough security on short notice, especially when the locals undoubtedly had hurricane-related issues to deal with.

Still, College Football Odyssey had some suspicions.  Was the thinking on the part of Jeremy Foley, Florida AD, that the Gators could avoid a difficult Bayou Bengal team and backdoor into the SEC East championship with a 6-1 record?  Remember that the Gators will lose any tiebreaker to a Tennessee team winding up with an identical 6-2 SEC mark.  No mention of this was named in the mainstream press last weekend.  Further, the Gators QB, Luke Del Rio had not played in weeks as he was recovering from an injury.  So, we are not sure how eager Florida was to play the game.

Two possible dates to reschedule  emerged:  October 29 and November 19.  To play on October 29 (LSU’s open date), the World’s Biggest Cocktail Party (Georgia-Florida) would have to be moved up one week to October 22, current open dates for both the Gators and the Bulldogs.  This is a big, unique extravaganza that involves a lot of planning by fans and the City of Jacksonville.  Far from perfect!

The November 19 date would involve buyouts of two non-SEC opponents.  Florida is paying Presbyterian $500,000, while LSU was on the hook for $1.5 million as its payout to host South Alabama.  LSU would not budge on its insistence on having a November 19 home game, much to the chagrin of Florida.  For LSU to travel to Florida on November 19 would had meant 3 difficult SEC road games in a 12-day span.

Earlier this week, the intrigue deepened when the SEC office made it clear that one had to play 8 SEC conference games to be eligible to play for the title.  Hmm, once that was made crystal clear, we wondered if Florida would have liked to redo its posture last weekend.

Florida eventually relented and agreed to play in Baton Rouge on November 19.  Buyout money went to Presbyterian and South Alabama.  LSU will play its 2017 and 2018 games against Florida in Gainesville.  The loss of TWO home games for the 2016 Gators is estimated to cost the Florida athletic coffers $7.8 million dollars, some of which will be recouped by insurance.

Interim LSU coach, Ed Orgeron, gushed over the outcome.  Maybe, in part, because the Cajun native would lick Joe Aleva’s shoes if it meant he could be the permanent LSU coach in 2017.  Orgeron was thrilled with the preservation of the Bayou Bengal’s October 29 opening date because of the magnitude of the Alabama dogfight the following Saturday.  Still, at Arkansas, Florida and at Texas A&M is a gauntlet few would relish.

Jeremy Foley was subtly bad mouthing LSU for not being more flexible.  Given the outcome, you have to wonder if he would turn back time to a week ago if it was in his power.

While Matthew did cause postponement/rescheduling of some other games, none of the 4 games, involving the 4 ACC teams located in North Carolina, were postponed.  It is far to say that 3 of the losing teams might have won in good weather, given how their prolific passing attacks were neutered by the weather.

The worst weather appeared to be in Raleigh as the game was played in a wind-buffeted monsoon.  Neither North Carolina State nor Notre Dame could amass 200 yards of total offense.  This was supposed to be an offensive shootout,  as the initial 68 point total set by Las Vegas indicated.  Instead, NC State won, 10-3, as they scored the game’s only TD  on a blocked punt.  Some pundits were surprised by the Irish’s number of passing attempts in the unforgiving weather.

North Carolina had one of the nation’s most prolific passing attacks, led by laser accurate QB Mitch Trubisky.  The Tar Heels were held to a field goal and were rolled by Virgina Tech.  Similarly, pass first and pass often Syracuse could similarly not crack double digits in their loss at Wake Forest.

At season’s end, we suspect the impact of Hurricane Matthew, viewed in retrospect, will not be trivial.

My guess is that 90+% of college football fans do not know where Jonesboro is.  Never fear, College Football Odyssey showed up in Northeast Arkansas on Wednesday night to report on Arkansas State’s Sun Belt conference opener against Georgia Southern.  The Odyssey proudly travels to places that Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler would go only in their wildest, most insane dreams.

The backdrop for the game was bizarre.  Arkansas State had won 4 Sun Belt titles in the previous 5 years.  The success of the Indians (OOPs, they are now the Red Wolves in this century of political correctness) has been reflected in 3 consecutive coaching one-and-dones.  Hugh Freeze (Ole Miss), Gus Malzahn (Auburn) and Bryan Harsin (Boise) had all used the StAte head coaching gig as a springboard to a big time job.

Yet for all this success, and a significant number of returning starters,  A State came into the game with a stunning 0-4 mark.  Their last game was a 28-23 clunker to Central Arkansas (Trivia question:  If you know where Central Arkansas is located and are not from the Natural State, you are a certified geographic genius!).  Four turnovers by the Red Wolves were major contributors toward their loss to their intrastate rival on Agriculture Night.  Many StAte fans said they clearly smelled strong barnyard odors.   Earlier debacles were low lighted by defensive no shows against Toledo and Auburn (707 yards of offense for the previously moribund Tiger attack).

I was looking forward to getting a first-hand look at Georgia Southern’s traditionally vaunted running attack.  Going back to the Paul Johnson days (he now coaches Georgia Tech), Georgia Southern historically  used the triple option to great effect.  Was I ever in for a big disappointment.  GSU had ZERO long touchdown drives.   Their QB, Kevin Ellison, looked like a mismatch for the option.  He looked both slow and indecisive as evidenced by a paltry 25 rushing yards on 17 carries.   Their five  forays beyond the StAte 40 resulted in only 4 field goals.  The two Eagle TDs came via Ark St defensive breakdowns.

Would the resulting 26 points keep StAte winless on the year?  Apparently, most of the fans thought so.  When yet another Ark State possession resulted in failure with 11 minutes to go, a huge exodus occurred.  I was bewildered.  Sure, the Red Wolves were behind, 26-17, but StAte had outplayed GSU for significant stretches of the game.  The Red Wolves were even more charitable than in their Central Arkansas fiasco with 5 turnovers, including fumbles on the game’s first 3 possessions.  WHY were they leaving?  It was only 10PM and not everybody was going to be waking up to roosters at the crack of dawn.  Was there a Wednesday night scene in Jonesboro that proved an alluring entertainment alternative?  Color me bewildered and confused.  Upon reflection, maybe it was just going to be too painful for many of the Red Wolve faithful to actually see 0-4 morph into 0-5.

After stopping GSU, StAte drove and kicked a field goal.  They stopped GSU again but exhausted their time outs in the process.  When the Red Wolves faced 4th and 16, from their own 26, Southern was one stop away from claiming victory.  QB Justice Hansen could not find an open receiver and starting running in desperation.  Perhaps zigzagging is a better verb choice.  Hansen’s running ability (or lack thereof) will remind nobody of Lamar Jackson or Denard Robinson.  Somehow, he doggedly made it to the first down sticks (barely) before being tackled.  In retrospect, this proved to be one of the plays of the year.

Hansen led the team down to the GSU 9 in the waning seconds.  He arched a pass to the corner of the end zone.  Omar Bayless caught the ball with 10 seconds to go.  The refs signalled touchdown and the remnants of the crowd went wild.  One problem for the remaining StAte faithful.  Bayless may well have not been in bounds.  I confess, upon watching the replay later, I am far from sure that he was in bounds.  After review, the call stood.

The jubilant Arkansas State players celebrated as if they had just won the national championship.  This was a season-saving comeback.  Because guess who is 1-0 and atop the Sun Belt?  The same team that was 31-5 in their previous 36 Sun Belt tilts.

I bet  at least 25% of the Arkansas State fans who left early will lie and tell their friends that they stayed to the thrilling finale.

The taut drama in this game underscores of the problems I see in national media coverage (are you listening, ESPN??).  They are preoccupied with the top handful of teams and are contemplating, at great length, who would be in the playoff if the season ended today.  Well, the season is not ending today.  The vast majority of the 128 Division 1-A team have no realistic shot of making the playoff and your playoff obsession is causing the media to lose focus on many great stories.  Such as this spine tingling and potentially season-saving Red Wolf victory.

In a remote outpost, abandoned by most of the home fans, in a second tier conference, one could still not ignore one reality:  college football shone at its absolute finest.

After this spectacular game, I expected Temple’s visit to the Liberty Bowl to play Memphis the following night to be an anti-climax.  For one half, I was right.  Temple held a 13-3 halftime lead as Memphis looked like a shell of the team that was competitive with Ole Miss the previous Saturday.   The Owls domination of the line of scrimmage was so total that a total mockery was made of the betting line which established Memphis as a 10-point favorite.  One problem for Temple:  they easily could have been ahead by more 10 points at halftime.

Memphis parlayed a pick six and a 95-yard kickoff return by Tony Pollard (the first kick off return for a TD by Memphis in 20 long years!) in a stirring comeback to take a 34-20 lead.  However, Phillip Walker, terrific all night in throwing for 445 yards, lead the Owls for a TD.  The Owl D got the ball back to Walker as another late drive put Tiger fans on edge.  However, a final minute interception sealed the comeback win for Memphis.

The Memphis-Temple  game was an anomaly in one sense.  90% of the time, the team, strongest in the trenches, wins.  This was one of the 10 per centers!  Give Memphis credit for a defensive and special team score, as well as having the will to hang around even when their butts were getting badly whipped.

To say I am not sold on the Memphis defense would be a vast understatement.  In their last 2 games, they allowed a non-running team (Ole Miss) to rush for 263 yards and a historically non-passing team (Temple) to throw for 445 yards.  I do not think Houston has a lot to worry about.

I consider myself blessed to see these two games on perfect Southern, Indian Summer nights.  Hope your team wins tomorrow, Rick Rock

On Thursday night, I was repulsed by a totally classless, inexcusable action.  Texas Tech was hosting perennial doormat Kansas (Oh, where have you gone, Mark Mangino??).  There were less than 2 minutes left in the game and, typically, Kansas was being outclassed 55-19.  Not that the Jayhawks were not used to being on the short end of the stick.  The rout in Lubbock would prove to be the 40th consecutive road loss for hapless Kansas (One has to go back to a 2009 game at UTEP to find a Jayhawk road victory).

Tech has a 4th and 13, on, very roughly, the Kansas 40.  The call on the next play simply should not have happened.  The QB throws a bomb into the end zone.  Thankfully, the pass was not completed but the total lack of sportsmanship shown by the play call was appalling.  Perhaps one could rationalize that maybe Kliff Kingsbury was trying to give a backup QB a rare shot for glory.  But even that lame rationale would not hold water here as the backup QB, Nic Shimonek, had ALREADY thrown for 4 TD passes (Patrick Mahomes had been injured earlier in the game).

Football can be a dog-eat-dog sport but that call was so classless and unsporting given poor Kansas’ unparalleled woes.  The Kansas football players are human beings and to try to needlessly tack on another score was the type of action only a bully or a twisted mind would contemplate.

Kliff Kingsbury no doubt wanted to add to his team’s always gaudy passing statistics.  To try to remain #1 in the country.  But some sportsmanship should govern here.  If Kingsbury spent less time reading about his team’s passing stats and more trying to buttress an always pitiful defense, perhaps that would be a better use of his time.  Media types have raved about Kingsbury’s good looks and how hot he is.  In that context, I think of the Temptations’ Motown classic, “Beauty is Only Skin Deep.”

As College Football Odyssey always prefers to end on a positive note, look for South Alabama coach, Joey Jones, to have some intriguing coaching offers for 2017.  South Alabama dumped #19 ranked San Diego State, 42-24, even with the handicap of having to go with a backup QB.  The upset was the 3rd large upset over the past 13 months for Jones.   Congratulations, coach!

Nic Shimonek

Consider my surprise earlier this week.  TCU is hosting Oklahoma on Saturday.  The Horned Frogs started as a 1-point dog and the line spurted to 3.5 in favor of the Sooners.  I was surprised.  Oklahoma was not particularly competitive in either the Houston or Ohio State game.  Even in TCU’s sole loss, the Horned Frogs had a strong 2nd half comeback, only to fall to Arkansas in an overtime classic.   I definitely prefer Gary Patterson as a gameday coach to Bob Stoops.  For the perennially loaded Sooners, am I the only one who thinks that Stoops has lost some games that he never should have?  Two home losses stay with me.  The 41-38 2011 Texas Tech pratfall to Tommy Tuberville as a 28-point favorite and the mismanaged Oklahoma State loss as a 21-point favorite in 2014 are tough to forget.

I would be even more bullish on TCU winning this game if not for 2 key injuries.  KaVontae Turpin’s electric kick returns will be missed again.  Perhaps more important, Center Austin Schlottmann will also be out.  History dictates that the most underrated position on the team is center as the line calls can flow less easily when a change occurs.  Oklahoma’s best attribute the past year is catching teams with key injuries.  Last year, the Sooners barely held off a TCU team playing with a backup QB and a decimated defense.

Washington State is another undeserving home dog.  This I understand better but I believe Vegas has it wrong.  The Oregon team visiting Pullman is not one of the Chip Kelly or Mike Belotti vintage.  Instead, the Ducks are saddled with an embarrassing defensive line that made the offenses of UC Davis and Virginia seem potent.  Worse, they magically transformed  a Colorado backup QB, Steven Montez, into a potential Heisman Trophy winner last week.  The same Montez who went 0 for 7 in Ann Arbor seven days earlier.  Is it strange that the last name of their new D coordinator, Hoke, rhymes with joke?  Just asking.

Interesting to note that the biggest weakness of the Cougars is also their D line, both in terms of a lack of pass rush and depth.  So, look for a lot of points and a game like last year’s in Eugene where WSU prevailed, 45-38, as a 16-point dog.

I think folks checked out on WSU after their 2 opening losses but context is needed.  Both were 3-point losses to excellent teams in Eastern Washington and Boise.  There seems to be collective amnesia that the Cougars were 9-4 last year and returned a lot including the sensational Luke Falk to Gabe Marks tandem.

While the right teams are favored in the Wisconsin and Wake Forest games, when was the last time we were a month into a season and two undefeated teams from Power 5 conferences were BOTH DDD’s (I am not talking cup size for the porn-oriented segment of our readership but Double Digit Dogs)?  Never might be the correct answer.  College Football Odyssey will not be surprised if one of these surprise teams remains undefeated Saturday night.  Rick Rock

I view Tennessee as one of the most diverse states in the country.  Just as I could never imagine Isaac Hayes playing a gig in the Smoky Mountains, the idea of a country honky tonk in downtown Memphis seems just as strange.  However, the state of Tennessee pulled together in one sense: on Saturday,  three dramatic comebacks shined.

Tennessee spotted long-time tormentor Florida a 21-0 lead then roared back with 38 unanswered points in front of 100,000+ orgasmic Vol fans.  In Murfreesboro, Middle Tennessee State trailed Louisiana Tech  27-7 in the 3rd quarter before roaring back to win, 38-34.  At game’s end, Middle had to thwart La Tech on 4 downs inside their 10-yard line to secure the victory.  La Tech now has the interesting distinction of losing the last two Saturdays despite 550+ yards of offense in both defeats.  With shootouts like that, it is almost like Sonny Dykes never left!

Vanderbilt came from behind to force overtime with a TD on the final play of regulation.  Down 21-17 with 2 minutes to go, the Commodores’s prospects were bleak as Western Kentucky had a first and goal.  However, the D stiffened and forced a field goal.  Vanderbilt, led by their so-so QB, Kyle Shurmur, had 67 seconds to go down the field lacking any timeouts.  For that fateful minute, Shurmur inexplicably morphed into Joe Montana to the dismay of the largest crowd to ever watch a WKU home game.    Vandy then scored another TD to go ahead 31-24 in OT only to see Western Kentucky score a TD.  Jeff Brohm rolled the dice on a 2-point conversion and the potential game-winning pass was tipped away.  Anchor down, baby!

Memphis did not have any chance to join the other  three Division 1-A Volunteer state teams in dramatic heroics.  When you are leading 56-3 at the half, the scope for dramatics is pretty limited.  The Tigers had to settle for having 11 different players score TDs as they handed Bowling Green their worst loss in history, a 77-3 throttling.   This broke a record that had only stood for 3 weeks.  Previously, the worst BG loss in history was their 77-10 embarrassment at Ohio State on September 3.

For those who read this blog religiously, we expressed an opinion prior to the opener that we thought that the Wake Forest season win total of 5.5 wins, expected by the experts, seemed a tad low to us, largely thanks to a tissue soft first half of the schedule.  We even fantasized about the possibility of Wake rolling into their October tilt in Tallahassee with a 6-0 record.   Then reality smacked us in the kisser as the stench from Wake Forest’s offensive performance in their opener was unmistakable.   The Demon Deacons were held to 174 yards of total offense against Tulane, yet, remarkably, against all odds, still pulled out a narrow, 7-3 win over the Green Wave.  Our dream of a 6-0 start for Wake seemed to be an LSD-fueled  fantasy.  John Wolford’s anemic performance in the opener prompted an eventual QB change to the  more dynamic Kendall Hinton.  After some excellent play,  Hinton got hurt and they had to go back to Wolford, veteran of 24 previous starts.  The situation was reminiscent of a guy who temporarily dumps his wife for his mistress only to later go back hat-in-hand to ask the wife for forgiveness. after he discovers that his mistress is the first cousin of Glenn Close.  Well, maybe only slightly reminiscent.

Wake might have been a bit lucky against Indiana in yesterday’s 33-28 triumph.  IU’s quarterback, Richard Lagow, heaved a TD bomb in the game’s first minute and torched Wake for 496 yards.  However, the Demon Deacons were resilient enough to pick off 5 Lagow passes and fought off a spirited Hoosier rally.  (By the way, our other two picks on the season win total were Houston over 9 or 9.5 and Middle Tennessee over 7.5 wins.  Sorry for bragging, but we are not always this good, so we wish to take advantage of the opportunity!!).  This week, Wake travels to Raleigh and starts off as 10.5 point dog versus the Wolfpack.  Stay tuned to see if the Demon Deacons can pull off a third straight upset.

We close with a note of compassion for the USC football program.  We do realize that our blog last week regarding the current state of Trojan football could have been viewed as slightly harsh.   Further, College Football Odyssey does not wish to receive a 15-yard penalty for piling on.   Thus, we will not dwell on USC blowing a 24-10 lead against Utah on Friday night.  We also pledge not to do any research as to whether Clay Helton’s lifetime 1-5 head coaching record is the worst in Trojan history.

Let’s all Fight On this week!  We always love to hear from you.   Rick Rock