College Football Random Thoughts Week 5: Deuces Wild, SEC scores and more

Though Kalen DeBoer is the head coach of Alabama football, Nick Saban’s legacy was in great abundance around Bryant Denny Stadium and the gridiron field which is named for him. One of the great things Saban left behind was a stacked roster punctuated by a pair of true freshmen who both don the jersey No. 2.

Alabama 41 Georgia 34 – You saw it. I don’t have to tell you.

THE FALLOUT

This game was this year’s “Game of the Century”.

1. For Kirby Smart, the questions will continue to avalanche down upon him and probably will so for the rest of his career. The Saban protégé was 1-5 against his former boss and is now 0-1 against DeBoer. He would have to win the next five meetings JUST to get back to .500 against the Crimson Tide.
2. Had Bama stomped on the gas pedal and demolished the Dwags something like 50-14, they may have tumbled further in the rankings. Their second half comeback is what has kept the looking respectable. UGA is nowhere near being out of the running for a spot in the 12-team playoff.
3. Alabama cleared a HUGE hurdle on their regular season slate, but there is a long way to go.
4. These two teams could meet two more times this season in the SECCG and CFP.

THEY MAD

SABAN COACHING TREE BRANCH OF THE WEEK

When Mario Cristobal was recruiting coordinator/OL coach for the Crimson Tide from 2013 to 2016, his prowess was recruiting. Perhaps the best recruiting job he has done in his career is bringing in QB Cam Ward from Wazzu to Miami (5-0). Looking at their remaining schedule (@Cal, @Lou, vs FSU, vs Duke, @GT, vs Wake, @Syr), they have decent odds to run the table.

SEC

Kentucky 20 Ole Miss 17 – The Rebels’ high-flying act from the preseason did not materialize when an actual team with a defense came to town. The 4th quarter had an inauspicious start in which both teams twice exchange punts. UK then went on a 6 plays, 83 yards drive that resulted in the go-ahead touchdown. Missy came back for one last push but badly missed a 48 yard field goal with 48 ticks to go.

OM was 1 for 10 on third down and managed only 14 first downs. This is what happens when you schedule Furman, MTSU, Wake Forest, and Ga Southern as your OCC.

Oklahoma 27 Auburn 21 – Payton Thorne got the start for Aubie and actually had his squad looking like a competent football team for awhile. The PlainsWarTigerEagles were leading 21-10 in the 4th and just stopped the Sooners on downs near midfield. On the next possession rather than pooch punting, Hugh Freeze attempted a 51 yard field goal from a freshman who is 2 of 5 on the season with a long of a 32-yarder against li’l Alabama A&M. It was not even close. Okie then completed a 60 yard pass to the AU two-yard line and punched it in to make it 21-16 in favor of Aub. On 3rd & 4 at the OU 43, Thorne returned to form and threw a pick-6 returned 60 yards to give the Sooners a 3 point advantage. Auburn would turn the ball over on downs, which led to an OU field goal for the final score.

Instead of “TBH”, he should have said “TBD” = To Be Delusional.
#AuburnCope

Texas 35 Mississippi State 13 – The national press wants to tell you how wonderful Arch Manning is. His stats look good (26/31-324-2-0), but it really took this UT offense a while to get going against this awful MSU team. It was 7-6 with under 2 minutes to go in the 2nd quarter. Texas fumbled on the first play of the second half and lost the ball on downs in their next series. It wasn’t until the end of the game that the Longhorns would pour it on.

The Red River Shootout is in two weeks and Quinn Ewers is expected to be back under center.

LSU 42 South Alabama 10 – Garrett Nussmeier threw for a career-high 409 yards and two TDs, but also had a pair of picks. Caden Durham ran for 128 and a score as the Bayou Bengals piled up a season-high 667 yards of offense.

Texas A&M 21 Arkansas 17 – The Razorbacks set up their second TD with a 25-yard run on a fake punt. It was a nice fake but Arky might have tried too cute. A fake field goal was dropped for a 5-yard loss, leaving the score tied at 14 in the third quarter. The Hogs took a 17-14 lead early in the fourth quarter but the Aggs answered right back with a 75 yard touchdown drive. A sack & strip ended the game. TAMU resdhirt freshman QB Marcel Reed threw for two touchdowns and ran for another.

It’s the end of an era as the Arkansas-Texas A&M football series took its final bow at JerryWorld in Arlington.

CONTROVERSY

Miami 38 Virginia Tech 34 – A wild back-and-forth game came down to a Hokies pass into the end zone as the clock hit zeroes. After much hesitation and confusion, the play was initially ruled a touchdown – and a winning touchdown at that – before going to replay review. And doggone it wouldn’t you know it, the play was overturned. What luck for the ACC’s best hope for the CFP!

In a statement issued two hours after the game ended, the ACC said, “During the review process of the last play of the Virginia Tech at Miami game, it was determined that the loose ball was touched by a Miami player while he was out of bounds, which makes it an incomplete pass and immediately ends the play.” HUH? That is an interesting ruling two hours later. It seems unlikely that that was the ruling at the time.

IMHO, it seems like maybe the NCAA replay officials need a refresher course on on how much video evidence is enough to overturn a call. Kinda-sorta-maybe is not acceptable.

And if that is not enough to turn your conspiracy theory gears…

This is an epidemic, something that has victimized Bama the last few seasons. Refs see a guy go to the ground and for some reason assume it was holding. Ridiculous flag.

CONTROVERSY, PART DEUX

Michigan 27 Minnesota 24 – More shenanigans in the B1G. The Wolvies jumped out to a 24-3 advantage but Minnie stormed back to trail by only 27-24 late. On a successful onside kick, the Gophers recovered but were flagged for offsides.

“I’m sick to my stomach right now,” said FOX analyst Chris Petersen, the former coach at Boise State and Washington. “I just hate to see this when the officials are making something up. Like I don’t know why they would throw that flag. To me, these are always close calls, that ball’s kicked. … What are we doing? Let the kids play.”

OTHER STUFF

Penn State 21 Illinois 7 – Both teams scored on their first series of the game and then in typical low-scoring B1G form, not a lot happened for a good while. The game was tied at 7-7 at the half. PSU scored on their opening second-half possession and then again with under 2 minutes to play.

Notre Dame 31 Louisville 24 – Well, nobody saw this game because it was on Peacock. I am told that the Irish were up 21-7 in the first quarter thanks in big part to a muffed punt snap. Allegedly, the ‘Ville made it a seven point game with 5 minutes left and forced a 3 & out that was followed by a 36 yard ND punt. However talk has it that the Cards failed to move the ball in their last gasp.

Clemson 40 Stanford 14 – The Trees turned the ball over on their first three possessions and had four overall that led to 17 CU points. Stanford was able to move the ball on the Tigers but could not convert to scores.

Boise 45 Washington State 24 – The Smurfs’ Ashton Jeanty ran for 259 yards and added another four touchdowns to his nation-leading tallies. The loss likely ends Wazzu’s hopes of extending a big middle finger at all the PAC-12 defectors by sneaking into the playoff as an at-large.

BYU 34 Baylor 28 – Don’t look now, but the Coogs are 5-0! BYU has already topped the predicted wins laid down by Vegas in preseason of 4.5. Too bad Mormons can’t gamble lest they find a blazing hot seat between Idi Amin and Che Guevara for all eternity.

Colorado 48 UCF 21 – Center Florida had a loud raucous crowd and the spotlight with FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff in town. It didn’t help. Their secondary is garbage and QB KJ Jefferson is still prone to mistakes (2 picks, lost fumble).

N00P!

Nebraska 28 Purdue 10 – Did anyone score in the first half of this B1G crapfest? N00P!
PU kicked a third quarter field goal, but the Cornies responded with four straight TD, three in the fourth quarter.

SMU 42 Florida State 16 – Wow. This just keeps getting worse. FSU was 3 of 12 on third down and tallied only 63 rushing yards. DJ Uigieilelele added two more picks to his season total of six. I would say they need to bench him but his back-ups wouldn’t start at Auburn. Of note, FSU running back Roydell Williams was out against SMU and will miss an “extended period” of time with an injury. He has just 54 yards on 20 carries this season, as well as a fumble on the second play of the Memphis game.

Duke 21 North Carolina 20 – UNC built a 20-0 advantage before giving up 21 unanswered. After the Heels lost 70-50 to JMU at home and then blowing a big lead to their rival, the natives are getting restless in Chapel Hill.

NC State 24 Northern Illinois 17 – After upsetting Notre Dame, NIU has lost two straight.

Ohio State 38 Michigan State 7 – Sparty is awful. Never shoulda fired Mel Tucker. MSU-North’s next five games: @Oregon, Iowa, @Michigan, Indy, @Illinois. Yikes.

Oregon 34 UCLA 13 – Speaking of terrible B1G teams, the Bruins are currently 1-3 with only a three point win over Hawaii. They have lost by 29, 17, and 21. Now, we know why Chip Kelly took a HUGE pay cut just to be an OC for anOhio State. Is it worth spending more than $4 million just to save your reputation?

Arizona 23 Utah 10 – The Utes had been getting away without injured starting QB Cam Rising but it finally caught up with them. Home team Utah was intercepted twice, had eight pass broken up, and suffered seven tackles for loss. They were also denied on 4th down four times.

Kansas State 42 Oklahoma State 20 – Okie Lite led 13-7 before K-State reeled off five straight touchdowns. It is the second defeat in a row for OSU as they fall to 0-2 in the conference. OSU fans are ready to move on from QB Alan Bowman (26/50, 364 yds, 1 TD, 2 INT).

HELENE’D

The Liberty at App State game was canceled due to the hammering that the Asheville/Boone area received from Hurricane Helene. Normally, I can be critical of canceling a game due to weather, but Western Carolina truly got ravaged. Many people are saying this is worse than Katrina, but it does not seem to be getting the news play that New Orleans got. Thoughts and prayers are nice, but donations might be more fruitful.

The shame in this from a CFB stanpoint is that the powers-that-be opted to not reschedule this game despite both teams having an opening Oct 19. As a consequence, Liberty’s already weak-ass schedule gets that much easier.

REPREHENSIBLE MANUEVER OF THE WEEK

SOMEONE NEEDS TO CONSULT A COLOR WHEEL

SInce we are on the sunject of obnoxious Ole Miss, is it just me or did this shade of blue look a little teal, almost Jacksonville Jaguars teal. Not a good team to model yourselves after.

BREAKING ANKLES

SACK, STRIP, SCOOP AND SCORE OF THE WEEK

SAD FANS ALERT

ESPN LOVES showing sad/mad/shocked young fans late in games. And admit it, they are entertaining, especially when it is an annoying delusional fan base. The four-letter did it with Alabama students late on Saturday, but that did not last long after 4+2=6 heroics late in the game. So, I thought I’d share some shots of Dwags who probably spent a lot of money in our lovely little T-town. Arf. Arf.

ONE CREEPY MASCOT WAS NOT ENOUGH, HUH?

PREMATURE TWEET OF THE WEEK

The zoomer running the 4-letter network’s social media jumped the gun on this one. I suppose that person was so proud of the created graphic that the temptation to hit “send” was too much. It was quickly deleted but God bless the Twitterers out there who smartly made screen grabs.

NAME OF THE WEEK

South Alabama RB Fluff Bothwell has 17 yards on 10 carries vs LSU.

UGLIEST UNIFORMS OF THE WEEK

Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images

Just stop.

ODDEST UNIFORM HOMAGE OF THE WEEK

For some reason, Miami of Ohio figured they needed to pay homage to the Western College for Women, which was a women’s and later coed liberal arts college in Oxford, Ohio, between 1855 and 1974.

ROOKIE MISTAKE OF THE WEEK

Washington blocked a field goal but a freshman ran onto the field before the play was dead. Rutgers scored a touchdown the very next play. Bro.

DOINK OF THE WEEK

DETERMINATION OF THE WEEK

AWKWARD

A gentleman by the name of Tommy Ray attended his 664th Alabama game on Saturday. This guy has not missed a single game in 53 years! He was on GameDay and got to meet Saban. He tried to give the G.O.A.T. a hug but Nick was not having it.

DUKE WENT THERE

ENERGY VAMPIRE

VAMPIRE COUGS

A BYU fan came up with some interesting stats over at Reddit:

• Since 2019 versus FBS opponents, BYU is 28-3 in full night games, 8-5 in games with partial darkness (sun sets during the game), and 6-14 in full day games.
• The Cougars had lost 10 straight full day games against FBS opponents until beating Baylor on Saturday.
• BYU is 7-2 against ranked opponents with no sunlight.

STATS OF THE WEEK

• Since 2017, Kirby Smart is 1-6 vs Bama and 88-6 vs everyone else. Yes, half of his career losses in that span have come at the hands of the Crimson Tide.
• Boise RB Ashton Jeanty is the only FBS player with multiple games with four rushing TDs this season. He already has 13 rushing scores in four games and 106 more ground yards than the next closest rusher.
• Boston College DE Donovan Ezeiruaku had 14 tackles (10 solos), 3 sacks, 4 tackles for loss, 1 forced fumble vs WKU. Sorry, y’all. He’s a senior.
• Bowling Green (1-3) is pretty bad, but daggum their tight end Harold Fannin is a stud: 12 recs, 192 yds 2 TD.

FIVE STARS

The University of Alabama put on a show. Even seasoned media members were blown away. It was a big recruiting weekend for both football and basketball, and likely other sports as well.

GAMEDAY SIGN OF THE WEEK

Forget the signs, check out the lovely underclass(wo)men at the Capstone. No, not the evil rodents.

THE WACKY RETIREMENT WORLD OF SABAN

G.O.A.T.

College GameDay heard our cries and FINALLY gave us a worthy guest picker in Tuscaloosa in the First Lady of Alabama Football Emeritus Miss Terry Saban. She went 7–2 – the best winning percentage for a guest picker on the show this season. Nick went 5–4.

PICK’EM

The GD crew’s picks:

GameDay is next heading to Berkeley, California for a geographically-challeneged Atlantic Coast Conference matchup between Miami-FL and Cal.

Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff was in Orlando for Center Florida’s faceplant against Colorado. It’s too bad nobody brought up Deion’s name.

Mark Ingram was the only one to pick the Buffs. He also got a little warm. DJ Khaled and Fat Joe performed. DJK tried to crowd surf but the man has a vertical leap of two inches.

ADOPT-A-TEAM

• No Sluka? No problem! A blocked punt returned for a score, a 90-yard kickoff returned for another, four interceptions, and 452 yards of offense propelled UNLV (4-0) to a 59-14 rout over a solid Fresno team. Vegas is 4-0 for the first time since moving to Division 1 in 1978. The Runnin’ Rebs are ranked for the first time in program history.
• Despite losing the turnover battle 4 to 0, Indiana (5-0) still managed to defeat Maryland (3-2) 42-28. The Hoosiers rejoined the national rankings for the first time since 2021 preseason poll, when they were ranked No. 17. That Indy team would go on to lose the season opener 34-6 at Iowa and drop out of the polls.
• UL-Monroe (3-1) topped Troy 13-9. Their one loss is to Texas. The preseason win total for the Warhawks was projected at 2.5.

OOC Strength of Schedule – Not a good week

• WKU (3-2) blew a 20-7 fourth quarter lead to lose to Boston College 21-20.
• South Florida (2-3) quarterback Byrum Brown got injured (lower left leg) in the Bulls’ lopsided loss to Tulane 45-10.
• Wisconsin (2-2) led Southern Cal 21-10 at halftime, but gave up 28 unanswered in the second half.

COUSINS – Not a good week

• Troy (1-4, 0 FBS wins) – The Trojans continue to circle the drain after a 13-9 defeat to UL-Monroe at home. Texas State rides into town.
• South Alabama (2-3) – LSU slowed the Jags’ high-scoring offense to a crawl 42-10. USA is at Arky State.
• Jacksonville State (1-3) – After a week off, the Gamecocks hope to make it two in a row with a win at Kennesaw (0-4) – a team who just lost to FCS UT Martin.

THAT ANNOYING GUY WHO LEAVES POOP IN HIS NEIGHBOR’S YARD (AND IT’S NOT EVEN DOG POOP)

• UAB (1-3, 0 FBS wins) – The Dragons had 11 penalties and two turnovers as the Naval Academy obliterated them in B’ham 41-18. Coach Trent Dilfer is in way over his head. It’s sure looking like Birmingham U whiffed on retaining Bill Clark’s offensive coordinator Bryant Vincent who served 2022 as interim coach (7-6) and now has ULM at a level of respectability (3-1). The green and gold host Tulane.

SALUTE TO OUR TROOPS

OWLICIDE!

• Army (4-0) – After dominating Temple, the Black Knights have a three game win streak against Owls. Saturday at Tulsa.
• Navy (4-0) – My gawd, Midshipmen! Some of these UAB players have children! Navy utterly humiliated the Dragons in Birmingham 41-18.
• Air Force (1-3, 0 FBS wins) – Ugh. The Falcons fell to previous winless Wyoming. It is looking like it’s going to be a long season for AFA.
• The first round of the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy is this week: Navy at Air Force 11am/noon CBS.

ELIMINATED FROM PLAYOFF CONTENTION

NOTE: I ran out of time and did not update this section. So, make up your own crap the way I usually do. (smiley face emoticon)

Eliminated: Florida State, Wake Forest, Houston, Kansas, Minnie, Northwestern, Purdue, UCLA, Mississippi State,

Endangered: Boston College, Clemson, Pitt, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma State, K-State, Michigan, Nebraska, Oregon, Penn State, Southern Cal, LSU, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas A&M.

Extremely Endangered: Cal, Georgia Tech, UNC, NC State, Notre Dame, SMU, Stanford, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, Cincy, Colorado, TCU, Texas Tech, WVU, Iowa, Maryland, Sparty, Washington, Wisconsin, Wazzu, Oregon State, Arky, Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, Vanderbilt.

A way WAY WAY too early look at the College Football Playoff (CFP) picture:

FanDuel Odds To Make The 2024-25 College Football Playoff:

1. Alabama -1200 (bet $1200 to profit $100)
2. Ohio State -1000
3. Texas -750
4. Oregon -500
5. Tennessee -310
6. Georgia -290
7. Miami-FL -200
8. Penn State -170
9. Notre Dame +100
10. Ole Miss +110 (bet $100 to profit $110)
11. Missouri +125
12. Clemson +150

POWER TWO

• SEC – Alabama is back on top, but UGA is far from out of it. Texas, Tennessee, and Mizzou are in the mix. Ole Miss has a lot of work to do.
• Big Ten – Indiana is 5-0. Oregon, anOhio State, Penn State, and Rutgers are 4-0.

SECOND TWO

• Big 12 – The B12 is going just as everyone expected. Right??
• ACC – Back from the dead, Clemson leads the conference at 2-0. Six other teams are 1-0.

AT LARGE

• PAC-2 – Washington State (4-1) is probably out of the running for an at-large due to the rest of the schedule being dogs**t. Oregon State (3-1) DNP and is in the same boat.
• Indies – Notre Dame (4-1) exposed Louisville for the medicore team they are, but the inexplicable home loss to NIU will hang over them all year.

PARTICIPATION TROPHY

As you probably know, the NCAA and CFP Committee have decided to allow one non-Power conference champ to be included in the playoff, no matter how lousy they are.

• AAC: Army and Navy are the only AAC squads without a defeat. Both are 4-0 overall and 3-0 in the conference.
• C-USA: It’s still Liberty (4-0) leading this garbage conference. The Flamers, Sam Houston State (4-1), and WKU (3-2) are the only ones .500 or above overall. Libby’s last two games of the season come against these two.
• MAC: Every team in this league has at least one loss. Only Eastern Michigan (4-1) and Toledo (3-1) have less than two defeats.
• MWC: Boise (3-1) should have no problem with Utah State. UNLV (3-0) has a tough one with Syracuse.
• Sun Belt: James Madison moves to 4-0. Monroe and Laffy are both 3-1.

RANK ‘EM IF YOU GOT ‘EM

Welp, the Crimson Tide is back at the top of the AP Poll. It is good because it makes all the haters, doubters, and crybabies sad. The real question now is how the new Alabama regime handles the rat poison.

1. Alabama (40 1st place votes)
2. Texas (19)
3. Ohio State (4)
4. Tennessee
5. Georgia – previous #2
6. Oregon
7. Penn State
8. Miami
9. Missouri
10. Michigan
11. Southern Cal
12. Ole Miss – down from #6
13. LSU
14. Notre Dame
15. Clemson
16. Iowa State
17. BYU – moved up 5 positions
18. Utah – dropped 8 spots
19. Oklahoma
20. K-State
21. Boise – up 4 notches
22. Louisville – down 7 spots
23. Indiana – NEW
24. Illinois – down five
25. UNLV, Texas A&M (tied)

The Coaches Poll still have Bama #2.

1. Texas (29)
2. Alabama (19)
3. Ohio State (7)
4. Tennessee
5. Georgia

The first college football playoff rankings will be announced Tuesday, Nov. 5. That seems SO far away, but it’s only five weeks.

LET’S GO BOWLING!

• We are down to 19 FBS teams that are still undefeated, five of which are 5-0: One more win each for BYU, Duke, Indiana, Miami (FL), and Texas send them bowling.

LET’S GO BLOWING!

• Only three teams remain without a win on the season. Kent State leads the Triple Golden Sombrero (going 0-12) standings with five defeats. Kennesaw and UTEP are both 0-4.
• Miami (OH), Old Dominion, Wyoming, and New Mexico each picked up their first W.

Krazy Kristi’s “SHUT UP!” of the Week goes to Matthew Skula and whoever is filling his head with toxic sludge.

This guy. I don’t care whose story is more accurate. This is sh*tty thing to do to teammates that he calls “brothers” three games into a magical season. It sucks when it becomes all about the money and to hell with loyalty, brotherhood, and the love of the game.

Some dirt bag agent is claiming that a UNLV assistant coach promised a minimum of $100,000 for the QB to transfer from Holy Cross to Vegas and that the school has not paid up. Oh yeah? Produce the evidence. Skula transferred back on Jan 16 and they are only NOW trying to collect? That seems like a mighty thin argument.

If I was in charge, I’d cut the guy from the team and tell him to find his own lodging. He would not be “redshirting” on my dime.

Some folks are speculating that another program has been in contact, i.e. tampering. Whatever school he transfers to is going to be on a lot of s**t lists.

In other drama, someone named “Rob Sluka” came out guns a-blaring on Twitter. He was either spitting lies or must have gotten ripped to shred by the Twitterverse because he deleted his account. It was either Matthew’s dad or brother, both of whom are named Robert.

[Carl Reed Jr. (@CoachReedLive) does not cite his sources but he has some sort of employment with 247Sports and FWIW has 46.2K Twitter followers.]

HEISMAN HYPE

“iT’s nOT JusT a QUarTeRbAck aWaRd!”

• Jalen Milroe catapults from third to the top spot. Last week’s leader Cam Ward was a little shaky in a dangerously close win over Va Tech but had some highlight moments. Jaxson Dart tumbles to tied for fifth.
• Travis Hunter is getting some attention because he has the novelty of being a two-way player. But he plays for crappy Colorado. Unless the Buffys can make some real noise, it seems unlikely he wins.
• Ashton Jeanty is finally getting some love.
• Ryan Williams was 12 years old when Dillon Gabriel took his first collegiate snap. #NoSixthYearPlayers

Below are FanDuel’s top Heisman picks in order of the money lines.

1. QB Jalen Milroe (Alabama) +1000 to +600 to +750 to +200
2. QB Cameron Ward (Miami-FL) +750 to +450 to +350 to +650
3. DB/WR Travis Hunter (Colorado) +1700 to +750
4. NEW: Ashton Jeanty (Boise) +1000
5. QB Dillon Gabriel (Oregon) +1200 to +900 to +1200 to +1600
6. QB Nico Iamaleava (Tennessee) +1200 to +900 to +1000 to +1600
7. QB Jaxson Dart (Ole Miss) +950 to +600 to +500 to +1600
8. QB Quinn Ewers (Texas) +500 to OFF to +1400 to +2000
9. QB Carson Beck (Georgia) +850 to +1400 to +1500 to +2500
10. NEW: Cade Klubnik (Clemson) +2500

Texas QB Arch Manning is at +10000.

THE SICK REPORT

• South Carolina’s starting QB LaNorris Sellers (sprained ankle) is expected back this Saturday. The ‘Cocks travel to Tuscaloosa next week after hosting Ole Miss this weekend.
• Despite Marcel Reed’s success, TAMU coach Mike Elko has hinted that Conner Weigman will return to start at QB against Mizzou this week.
• No new injuries of significance to report.

R.I.P.

Johnny Cash made it a No. 1 hit, but Kris Kristofferson wrote “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down”. He also penned “Me and Bobby McGee” that became a big hit for Janis Joplin. Kristofferson was an orginal memeber of the Highwaymen and had a top country/gospel-ish hit in “Why Me”.

He starred in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, A Star Is Born (1976), Convoy, Heaven’s Gate, a personal favorite Lone Star, and the vampire Blade film trilogy.

DRAMA

• Leaders from the Big Ten and SEC (above) are gathering in Nashville this week to decide the future of college football whether anyone else likes it or not.
• Realignment craziness rolls on. Utah State has accepted an invitation to join Pac-12. To that, I say “ugh”. What cachet does this crap school bring to a conference trying to claw their way back to respectability? USU may suck in football, but at least they suck in basketball too.
• Air Force and UNLV are expected to remain in Mountain West. The two schools are each expected to receive a signing bonus between $25-$30 million – five times their media rights value – from the pending exit fees the MWC will receive from the PAC defectors. The MWC still needs to keep all their current programs and add one more school to reach FBS minimum of 8 members by 2026. The Sun Belt’s Texas State is looking like the hot girl everyone wants right now.
• The talk says the Mountain West is in discussions with UTEP.
• Memphis, Tulane, USF, and UTSA have reaffirmed their commitments to the AAC. It’s probably a good move. The travel could have proved tiresome as well as expensive for programs that don’t have the funds that Power schools do. Furthermore, I am not so sure this new version of the PAC is much more attractive than the current AAC.

[Catch up on Realignment details here.]

KOACHES KORNER

• Lane Kiffin is stuck on 99 collegiate wins against 50 losses. Maybe spend less time on Twitter, LFK?
• Purdue fired offensive coordinator Graham Harrell. The Boilermakers have scored 38 points in three games against FBS opponents.
• Urban Meyer raised his son as an only child, which really pissed off his two daughters.
• Fat F*** Phil Fulmer goes to Kentucky Fried Chicken to lick other people’s fingers.

TEEVEE

In Week 4, Southern Cal-Michigan and Tennessee-Oklahoma both topped the six million viewers mark. When the numbers come out, Bama-UGA likely blew those numbers away.

THIS WEEK

Below is just a sampling highlight of games of interest this week. If you REALLY MUST know about the BIG Temple-UConn conflict, click here.

Thursday, October 3

Texas State at Troy 6pm/7pm ESPNU
Sam Houston at UTEP 8pm/9pm CBSSN

Friday, October 4

Jacksonville State at Kennesaw 6pm/7pm CBSSN – yug
Houston at TCU 6:30/7:30 ESPN
Michigan State at Oregon 8pm/9pm FOX – Dux have anOSU next week.
Syracuse at UNLV 8pm/9pm FS1 – Tough matchup for Vegas.

Saturday, October 5

SEC

Missouri at Texas A&M 11am/noon ABC – Ranked matchup.
Auburn at Georgia 2:30/3:30 ABC – Poor Aubie is gonna get pounded.
Ole Miss at South Carolina 2:30/3:30 ESPN – Hangover for OM? SCar is coming off a bye.
Tennessee at Arkansas 6:30/7:30 ABC
Center Florida at Florida 6:45/7:45 SECN – Must win for Billy Napier.

ERRYBODY ELSE – Below are highlights:

Navy at Air Force 11am/noon CBS
SMU at Louisville 11am/noon ESPN – Potential elimination game 1
Boston College at Virginia 11am/noon ACCN – Potential elimination game 2
Iowa at Ohio State 2:30/3:30 CBS – GO Hawkeyes!
Clemson at Florida State 6pm/7pm ESPN – Gonna be hilarious whoever loses.
Utah State at Boise 6pm/7pm FS2 – Check out Jeanty.
Baylor at Iowa State 6:30/7:30 FOX – Is ISU for real this time?

PAC-12 ACC AFTER DARK

Miami at Cal 9:30/10:30 ESPN – One of those weird ACC games on the Pacific Ocean.

#ALABAMA

• For the second time this season, Jalen Milroe is the AP Player of the Week in college football. He is also the SEC Football Players of the Week.
• Ryan Williams is the SEC Freshman of the Week.
• Alabama appeared to survive the battle with Georgia without significant injuries. DL Tim Keenan was helped off the field but should be okay.
• The Tide has scored 41 or more points in every game this season. They are averaging 47.0 ppg, 8th highest in the nation.
• The Oct 12 Bama-SCar game will be 11am/noon and aired on ABC.

GAME 5: Saturday, October 5, 2024

Alabama Crimson Tide (4-0) at Vanderbilt Commodores (2-2)

Nashville, TN ~ 2:15/3:15 SECN

• Amazingly, 42-year old Clark Lea is in his FOURTH season at Vandy by god. He is 11-29 overall and a robust 2-23 in the SEC. The only reason he still has a job is that Vandy AD Candice Storey Lee is a cheapskate who doesn’t care about wins and losses as long as that sweet sweet SEC money keeps rolling in.
• The ‘Dores upset Va Tech to kickoff the season, crapped the bed against Ga State, and barely lost at Mizzou in 2 OTs, before taking the past week off. Who knows what kind of team the Tide will face. QB Diego Pavia is a slippery MF.
• Alabama is 63-18-4 all-time against VU. Their last lost to Vandy came in 1984. Previous to that, 1969.
• IF YOU ARE GOING TO THE GAME: Alabama-native band Them Dirty Roses will be playing at The Mil at Cannery Hall on Friday at 7pm – only $20. Nashville Oktoberfest is also this weekend.
• During the day in Nashville, it should be sunny with a high around 79°, perfect football watching weather.
• TV Announcers are a pretty decent trio of Tom Hart and Cole Cubelic with Alyssa Lang.
• Chris Stewart and Tyler Watts with Damion Square are on Alabama Radio.
• Alabama opened as a 25.5 point favorite but dropped on Monday to 23.5. The Over/Under was 57.5 and then to 55.5.