College Football Random Thoughts Week 12: SEC Makes Statement, Big 12 Flops

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While Oregon flopped around and the Big 12 played their way out of a second CFP team, the SEC took center stage.

Georgia 31 Tennessee 17 – The Bulldogs had one of their best and most complete showings of their season. Carson Beck threw for 347 yards with two TDs and had a rushing score. The most amazing thing might be that he did not throw an interception, something he did 12 times in the previous six games. The Vols led 10-0 after 15 minutes but were shut out in the second half. The longest pass play for UT in the game went for 17 yards.

Nico Iamaleava had only 167 yards passing, was sacked five times, and lost a fumble. Maybe we will find out 20 years from now, but there is a good chance he played with a concussion.

Florida 27 LSU 16 – DJ Lagway was back behind center and the Gators responded with some pretty solid football. Elijhah Badger had a big game catching 6 passes for 131 yards and a score. Garrett Nussmeier had 260 yards passing and a TD but just like his game against Alabama, he got hammered early and often. The UF defense sacked the LSU QB seven times.

Texas 20 Arkansas 10 – It was not exactly a dominating effort from the Longhorns. UT was up 13-0 midway through the 3rd quarter when Arky finally got on the scoreboard on a 12 play, 75 yard drive. Texas responded with a 3 & out and the Hogs took it the other way for a field goal to make 13-10. But the Burnt Orange put together their first good drive of the second half and scored from one yard out. The Razorbacks started another decent drive but it ended with a fumble inside the Texas 30.

South Carolina 34 Missouri 30 – One of the wildest game of the week happened in the Palmetto State. Mizzou came back from being down 21-6 to take a 22-21 lead in the fourth quarter. The Gamecocks would score a touchdown with five minutes but miss the 2-point try to make it 27-22 Cocks. The Tigers would answer on a sweet 37 yard connection from Brady Cook to Luther Burden at the 1:10 mark. LaNorris Sellers brought SC back the other way and connected with Dalevon Campbell for 39 yards down to the Mizz 21. The first play from there was an odd call of a Sellers QB draw up the middle that gained six yards with the clock down to 22. After a time out, the ‘Cocks ran a shovel pass to Rocket Raheim Sanders that he zig-zagged into the end zone with 16 ticks to go to make it 34-30.

I could be completely wrong, but it sure looked like Shane Beamer was playing it safe with runs up the middle to set up his kicker for a game-tying field goal and hope for the best in overtime. SC had not had much success in the ground game tallying only 109 rushing yards with a paltry 3.0 ypc average. Conversely, Sellers had 353 passing yards and 5 TDs against the Tigers in the game. So, why try and move the ball up the middle with the game in the balance? The QB draw and shovel pass worked out, but those plays seems like a low-percentage plays for any team in that position.

SEC VS CUPCAKES

Alabama 52 Mercer 7 – I’m not going to pretend like these Bears are the ‘85 Bears, but by FCS standards, they are ranked #9. This was a pretty thorough butt-whupping.

Auburn 48 UL Monroe 14 – 507 yards for Aubie puts them at 4-6. They will have to beat visiting Texas A&M AND win at Alabama to get to a bowl.

Kentucky 48 Murray State 6 – One night in Lexington makes a hard man humble.

Texas A&M 38 New Mexico State 3 – Move along. Nothing to see here…

BIG 10 VS CUPCAKES

Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images

Ohio State 31 Northwestern 7 – played at Wrigley Field. This probably felt like a good idea until 90% of the crowd showed up in red.

Penn State 49 Purdue 10 – The Boilermakers (1-9) one win this fall was against the Indiana State Fightin’ Larry Birds. They are giving FSU a run as the worst “Power” team.

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

New Mexico 38 Washington State 35 – Wazzu built a 28-14 lead at halftime. But the Los Lobos would not be dismayed. They stormed back to take a 31-28 lead in the 4th quarter. The Cougars scored a touchdown with 3 minutes left to re-take the lead but UNM had one more drive in them and scored with 21 seconds left to upset the Pac-2 team.

Washington State had been hoping to slide into the CFP as an at large team. Their schedule has been pretty weak and they sure as heck are not getting in now.

Kansas 17 BYU 13 – it was not a good night for Cougars. The Mormon Cougars shot themselves in the foot on many occasions. Late in the first half, BYU had a first in goal and threw an interception leaving the score knotted at 10-10 at the half. In the second half, they could not get much done, managing only a 3rd quarter field goal. Disaster struck early in the 4th quarter with Kansas facing a 4th and 14 at the BYU 36. KU quarterback Jalon Daniels surprised the Coogs with a quick punt that ended up hitting a defensive back in the back who thought he was covering a wide receiver. The ball was recovered by Kansas and they would score what turned out to be the winning points

OTHER STUFF

Oregon 16 Wisconsin 13 – The Ducks had a mighty struggle all night in Madison. Late in the game, Dan Lanning tried to fake a field goal and failed. This blunder gave the Badgers one last chance. However a pass was deflected and made a flukey bounce into an Oregon defender’s arms. So close.

Notre Dame 35 Virginia 14 – Must be nice.

SMU 38 Boston College 28 – The Mustangs came into this match-up as a 19.5 point favorite. It did not play out that way at all. SMU score the first ten points, but BC kept it close and actually took a 21-20 lead in the 3rd quarter. A 4th quarter touchdown left the Eagles trailing by only 31-28. Following a ‘Stangs punt, BC had one first down but then got sacked on 3rd and 4th down. SMU took over with 1:11 and punched in a meaningless touchdown.

Colorado 49 Utah 24 – Half of the Utes are injured. The other half suck. Freshman QB Isaac Wilson threw 3 INTs and lost a fumble. UU (4-6, 1-6) has lost 6 straight.

Arizona State 24 Kansas State 14 – K-State is basically eliminated barring unlikely chaos. Sun Devil running back Skaterboi had only 75 yards on 25 carries. It’s feast or famine with that dude. ASU (8-2, 5-2) hosts BYU this Saturday and will need to beat them to stay in contention.

SABAN COACHING TREE BRANCH OF THE WEEK

Arkansas State (6-4, 4-2) defeated Georgia State in Atlanta to become bowl eligible. With ULLaffy losing on Saturday, the Red Wolves are still in longshot contention to play in the Sun Belt Championship Game. They finish the season against a reeling ULM and 4-6 Old Dom – both at home.

Butch Jones had losing records in his first two seasons at ASU but improved to 6-7 with a bowl loss last season. Alabama fans joke about Butch being Nick Saban’s manservant. Truth is, he was a highly trusted advisor as a Crimson Tide analyst from 2018 to 2020 and the players loved him. ASU is a tough job. It can’t be easy recruiting players to come play in Jonesboro, Arkansas. And even then, the Red Wolves will always be little brother to Arkansas.

COACHING MALPRACTICE OF THE WEEK

Clemson 24 Pitt 20 – The Panthers had a good chance at pulling this one off. And then Pat Narduzzi happened. Pitt had the ball with a first down at the CU 17-yard line with 2 minutes to go and a tied score. Based on the play calls, it sure seemed like Narduzzi thought he would run the clock down and kick a field goal even though the Tigers still had three timeouts left. So, Pitt ran the ball up the middle three times and Clemson called three timeouts. All the while, PU lost 12 yards and had to make a 47-yard field goal just to go up by 3. Up to this point, Panthers quarterback Nate Yarnell had been having pretty good success passing. I’m not sure what Pat was thinking knowing that Dabo could stop the clock after each play. Clemson didn’t need the whole 1:36 they were gifted, but of course they did score the go-ahead winning touchdown.

Earlier in the 4th quarter Narduzzi had other clock issues that would make Les Miles shake his head. With Pitt down on the goal line, the Panthers looked confused as they twice tried to get set to snap the ball and neither play resulted in a score after getting the play off just in time. Then, on 3rd-and-1, it seemed to be happening again as the play clock neared zero. Narduzzi quickly called a timeout to avoid a delay of game penalty. But as he did, his running back dove over the defensive line and into the end zone. The play was negated and Pitt eventually ended up kicking a field goal. After Clemson scored their go-ahead TD late in the game, Pitt had one more shot. The Panthers were moving the ball and got down to the Tigers 26 on a 9-yard completion. The receiver hit the ground around the 22 second mark. With precious time ticking away, Pitt did not get a timeout called until the clock hit 00:14. After that, PU would not advance the football any further.

COACH. IT’S JUST A GAME

FAT GUY SCORE OF THE WEEK

HOT HEAD OF THE WEEK

Earlier in the game, the LSU kicker missed a field goal and Brian Kelly was glaring at the poor guy like he had just hit on his wife. Seriously, why would anyone want to play for his a-hole?

If you have six and a half minutes to spare and want the hilarious Jomboy interpretation, click here.

DUMBASS OF THE WEEK

Louisville defensive back Tayon Holloway foolishly kept it up with the funny business after the play was long over. A gator roll and a push earned him a 15-yard penalty. A subsequent 5-yard offsides penalty pushed Stanford into position to boot a 52-yard field goal to seal the upset at the buzzer 38-35. But the dumbassery does not end there. On Sunday, Holloway was arrested for first-degree strangulation and fourth-degree domestic violence assault. He has been has been suspended from the team indefinitely.

The ‘Ville (6-4) blew a 35-21 advantage with under 7 minutes to go. Any team propping themself up on the basis of beating Louisville can go pee up a rope.

FAN BASE OF THE WEEK

You gotta give the Gators fans credit. They could have packed it in by now. But they were loud and made a difference against LSU.

STUPIDEST FIELD PAINT JOB OF THE WEEK

This sums up Purdue’s season in a nutshell. It looks like something out of that Keanu Reeves movie “The Replacements”.

NAME OF THE WEEK

Washington DB Ephesians Prysock.

QUITTER OF THE WEEK

I guess this is what we are doing now. Guys lose their starting job and they pout and then take their ball and go home. Former Boston College starting QB Thomas Castellanos is being benched in favor of Grayson James. No reason to put your head down and work harder to get better. Just be a spoiled little b*tch and run home to mommy.

WORST SPECIAL TEAMS PLAY OF THE WEEK

Dan Lanning must be getting a little too full of that “genius” moniker some of the blabbermouths tried to pin on him. Had the Dux played a slightly better team this week, they would have a “1” in their loss column. (Yeah, I know I already posted this. But I wanted to take a shot at Lanning).

#LIFECHOICES

After the last two weeks, this chap may be changing his tune.

ASSUMED TOUCHDOWN OF THE WEEK

We’ll have to take their word for it. Northwestern hosted anOhio State in Wrigley Field, a stadium not used to having football games.

WR BLOCK OF THE WEEK

Watch Germie Bernard (#5) at the top of the screen.

HOW ‘BOUT WHITES!

Not too diverse in northwest Souf Cackalacky.

APPARENTLY, THIS IS NOT A PENALTY

WE’VE BEEN SAYING THIS FOR HOW LONG??

I am so glad Fowler put that out there. Maybe someone was listening.

FELONY OF THE WEEK

At first, this play did not bring out a flag. After Narduzzi practically burst a blood vessel and the crowd threatened with torches and pitchforks, the zebras got together and after a looong discussion, they decided “gee whillickers. I guess a guy trying to decapitate another guy probably should be a foul.”

DISS OF THE WEEK

I need this injected this right into my veins.

MISSEDAGAIN

Last week it was Florida. This week, it is Michigan who had futile efforts on the gridiron. Western Michigan, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, and Michigan State all lost. Each team gave up at least 31 points while scoring 16 or less. Fortunately for the Michigan Wolverines, they had a bye week.

HOME SWEET HOME

Washington finished their home schedule with a win over UCLA. That W put Pooches at 6-0 in Seattle for 2024. Conversely, they are 0-5 away from the friendly confines of Husky Stadium. Their final game is at Oregon and I think we all know how that will turn out. Wonder if they’ve considered any ideas to reduce travel distance?

ROAD SWEET ROAD

Baylor 49 West Virginia 35 – Having fun yet? The Mountaineers (5-5) are 1-4 at home against FBS foes and 3-1 on the road (they also have a home cupcake win). If WVU loses to visiting Center Florida next weekend, there is a good chance that Neal Brown gets the boot. Maybe he can go back to Troy.

STATS OF THE WEEK

• Nebraska is 4-21 in one score games since the start of the 2021 season. They are 1-4 in that category in 2024.
• South Carolina snapped a five game losing streak to Missouri. Florida also broke a five game streak against LSU.

GAMEDAY SIGN OF THE WEEK

THE WACKY WORLD OF DESI

A Georgia student made a field goal for $800K and did so on the first try. I would be happy for him, but he acted like such a tool after he kicked it. #DwagsFans

Some dumb pro wrestler was the guest picker.

PICK’EM

The GD crew’s picks:

GameDay and Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff are both predictably going to Columbus for Indy-anOSU. The Buckys are pisst off that the game is at noon. Don’t blame FOX, blame former B1G commish Kevin Warren and the idiots who approved his original hiring.

ADOPT-A-TEAM

• UNLV (8-2) The Runnin’ Rebs toppled San Diego Maradona State 41-20.
• Indiana (10-0) had the week off to plan for anOhio State. But there was still big news out of Bloomington. IU gave coach Curt Cignetti a big fat eight-year contract extension running through the 2032 season that will pay him an average of $8 million per year with an annual $1 million retention bonus, putting the total value of the new contract at $72 million. So, yeah. Go ahead and bet the house on the Buckeyes to cover.
• UL-Monroe (5-5) is in the midst of a four-game losing skid after losing to Auburn. They will have to win at Arky State or home versus UL-Laffy to get their sixth win. It’s not looking good.

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE

There is a chance that every Tide opponent except Auburn will be bowl-bound.

• WKU (7-3) A flat listless effort saw the Hilltoppers get upset at home by a bad La Tech team 12-7. BOWL
• USF (5-5) beat Charlotte 59-24. (-1 to bowl with Tulsa visiting.)
• Wisconsin (5-5) gave Oregon hell but lost in the end. (-1 to bowl at Nebraska)
• Vandy (6-4) was off. BOWL
• South Carolina (7-3) BOWL
• Mizz (7-3) BOWL
• LSU (6-4) BOWL
• UGA, Tenn both BOWL
• Mercer (9-2) – Heading to the FCS Playoff as the SoCon Champs. The complete 24-team bracket will be announced on Sunday, Nov. 24.

COUSINS

Wow! What got into the cousins this week?

• Troy (3-7) – The Trojans won at Georgia Southern as a touchdown underdog, 28-20.
• South Alabama (5-5) – The Jags led 24-3 at the half. Conference leader ULL stormed back to make it 24-22 with 1:16 remaining but failed on a two-point conversion. Southern Miss (1-9) is next.
• Jacksonville State (7-3, 6-0) – The Gamecocks held off FIU 34-31. JSU has won seven straight and leads the C-USA standings.

THAT ANNOYING GUY WHO PLAYS CANDY CRUSH IN MOVIE THEATERS

• UAB (2-8) – The Dragons were body-slammed to Memphis 53-18.

SALUTE TO OUR TROOPS

• Air Force (3-7) – After losing seven in a row, the Falcons now have a little two game winning streak going after shutting out Oregon State 28-0.
• Army (9-0) – The Black Knights had the week off to prep for Notre Dame. GO ARMY!
• Navy (7-3) – The Midshipmen got shutout by Tulane 35-0. And on Veterans’ Week! You Bastards!

ELIMINATED FROM PLAYOFF CONTENTION

Eliminated: Boston College, Cal, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, NC State, UNC, Pitt, Stanford, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Arizona, Baylor, Center Florida, Cincy, Houston, Kansas, K-State, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas Tech, WVU, Utah, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Minnie, Michigan, Nebraska, Sparty, Northwestern, Purdue, Rutgers, Southern Cal, UCLA, Washington, Wisconsin, Oregon State, Wazzu, Arky, Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Mizzou, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Vanderbilt.

Endangered: Miami, SMU, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, Texas.

Extremely Endangered: Clemson, Arizona State, BYU, Colorado, Iowa State, Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Texas A&M.

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. Ohio State -10000
2. Georgia -5000
3. Texas -5000
4. Penn State -1250
5. Alabama -500
6. Notre Dame -500
7. Indiana -320
8. Ole Miss -270
9. Boise -270
10. Miami FL -230

POWER TWO

SEC

• The SEC still has six teams with good chances of getting into the CFP as long as the Committee stops playing politics. Texas, Texas A&M, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Ole Miss.

Big Ten

• Oregon looked like crap and barely survived Wisconsin.
• Indiana and anOhio State play Saturday.
• Minnesota has been known to upset a team here and there.

SECOND TWO

Big 12

• The other shoe finally dropped on BYU. A week after barely sliding by injury-riddled six-loss Utah with a little help from their friends in stripes, the Coogs looked awful in defeat to 6-loss Kansas. They need to win out including the B12CG to make the CFP.
• Colorado, Iowa State, and Arizona State all have has two losses. It is hard to imagine a scenario in which a team from this conference gets an at-large bid.

ACC

• Before Clemson (8-2, 7-1) can start thinking about the ACCCG, they will have to get by South Carolina on Thanksgiving weekend. GO COCKS! They will have to win both of those games.
• That final game at Syracuse could be a tough one for Miami (9-1, 5-1). If the ‘Canes win the last two and lose the ACCCG by a close score, they could get an at-large – especially with this idiot diversity committee in charge.
• SMU (9-1, 6-0) has been this year’s Little Engine That Could running roughshod through the lamewads of the conference. Somehow, they managed to miss playing the top teams in the ACC: Clemson, Miami, Syracuse, and pesky Ga Tech. They also missed out on the psuedo-ACC Notre Dame. UVa (5-5, 3-3) could be tricky.

AT LARGE

• PAC-2 – Washington State (8-2) lost to New Mexico and is eliminated for good.
• Indies – Notre Dame (9-1) keeps winning big on their crap schedule. Next is an epic match-up with undefeated Army in Yankee Stadium. Then the Irish travel west to play Southern Cal (5-5) who might have a little bit of fight left in them.

PARTICIPATION TROPHY

If the NCAA is going to continue with this Participation Trophy foolishness, maybe there should be playoff expansion – by one game. Let the top two non-Powers have a play-in game the second week in December. I say this because it looks like Boise is going to waltz their way in with the Participation Trophy slot and get their asses kicked. I have a feeling Tulane would thump them as well, but the Green Wave will be punished because they are not making headlines this season.

• MWC: Boise (9-1, 6-0) is the Belle of the Ball. Barring major chaos, they will face Colorado State (7-3, 5-0) or UNLV (8-2, 4-1) in the MWCCG.
• AAC: Army (9-0, 7-0) plays Notre Dame in the Bronx. Tulane (7-2, 6-0) hosts Memphis (9-2, 5-2) in two weeks.
• C-USA: Nope.
• Sun Belt: Nope
• MAC: Nope.

RANK ‘EM IF YOU GOT ‘EM

These AP voters are just as bad as the CFPC. They just look at records and don’t bother to do the homework. Oregon is still #1 which is fine, but they are unanimous #1. Is there not a single person in that group who remembers that Alabama smoked Wisconsin in Madison by 32 points while the Ducks were one play away from losing?

1. Oregon (62) – no change
2. Ohio State – no change
3. Texas – no change
4. Penn State – no change
5. Indiana – no change
6. Notre Dame – up 2
7. Alabama – up 2
8. Georgia – up 3
9. Ole Miss – up 1
10. Tennessee – down 4
11. Miami – up 1
12. Boise – up 1
13. SMU – up 1
14. BYU – down 7
15. Texas A&M – no change
16. Colorado – up 2
17. Clemson – no change
18. Army – down 2, sucks to be idle, huh?
19. South Carolina – up 4
20. Tulane – up 5
21. Arizona State – NEW
22. Iowa State – NEW
23. UNLV – NEW
24. Illinois – NEW
25. Washington State – down 6

If the lazy-ass committee follows the AP Poll, Bama would host Tennessee in the opening round in this scenario. The next college football playoff rankings will be announced tonight, Tuesday, on its regular time 6pm/7pm on ESPN.

LET’S GO BOWLING!

• With BYU losing, we are down to three FBS teams that are still undefeated: Army, Indiana, and Oregon.
• Ten SEC teams are bowl eligible. 64 teams overall have 6 or more wins.
• 24 teams are one win away including Wisky, Arky, Okie, Florida, Michigan, and Nebraska.
• There are 82 post-season slots to be filled.

LET’S GO BLOWING!

• Kent State led a game for the first time all season 7-0. However, it was short-lived as Miami-OH reeled off the next 34 points with no response from the Fightin’ Nick Sabans (0-10). I hope KSU realizes they do not qualify for the first pick of the next draft.
• FBS now has 30 teams with 7 or more losses. Among them are Florida State, Purdue, Mississippi State, UAB, FAU, Oklahoma State, Stanford, Air Force, and Troy.
• 16 teams are one defeat away from unlucky number 7, including Kentucky and Auburn.

Krazy Kristi’s “SHUT UP!” of the Week goes to Diego Pavia who lost the first chapter of his bid to pull a Van Wilder. The Vanderbilt QB is suing the NCAA in federal court for more eligibility after this season. The argument is that his two seasons playing at a junior college shouldn’t count toward his Division I eligibility since he was unable to profit from his name, image and likeness during that time. What bulls**t.

His concern is that the transfer portal opens on Dec. 9 and that waiting for a ruling will “place him between a rock and a hard place” in regards to negotiating an NIL deal at Vanderbilt or transferring to another school. Oh boy, that should go over well with teammates. Last Tuesday, a federal judge denied his request for a temporary restraining order that would grant him another year of eligibility, but the case is not completely over yet.

Pavia played two years in juco, two more at New Mexico State, and is now at Vandy which is already a bonus season brought on by the ridiculous rash magic wand-waving of idiot Mark Emmert that began all this nonsense.

HEISMAN HYPE

Travis Hunter recorded an interception against Utah which sent sports writers across the country into a tizzy of exploded heads of blissful joy like a little kid on a Halloween candy sugar rush high. The truth is it was one of the easier interceptions he’ll ever have. You know how they give out half of a sack? Well, this should be a half interception because it was Hunter’s teammate who did most the work. He made a great play on the ball that knocked it into the air into the waiting hands of Hunter who was trailing on the play.

I have said many times before that Hunter is a great football player. But you have to wonder how he might fare if he played in the SEC?

Also from non-SEC land comes Ashton Jeanty. The Boise RB ran for 159 yards, but again it came on a high number of carries, 32, and against a crappy MWC team, San Jose, who has the nation’s 95th defense.

But let’s not forget what this award is really about. It says it right there in this section’s header: “Hype”. And, boy, is Hunter getting all the hype. It’s because of the people who write for sports. So few of them want to do the deep dives. They are lazy, plagiarists, and have ADHD. Nobody goes looking for good stories anymore outside of Tom Rinaldi. It’s all about the low-hanging fruit.

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

1. Travis Hunter (Colorado) -330
2. Ashton Jeanty (Boise State) +350
3. Cameron Ward (Miami FL) +1400
4. Dillon Gabriel (Oregon) +2500
5. Kurtis Rourke (Indiana) +3000
6. Jalen Milroe (Alabama) +3300

THE SICK REPORT

• Georgia wide receiver Dillon Bell hurt an ankle against Tennessee and it looked pretty bad. Kirby Smart was very evasive to reporters questions. The Dogs have UMass on Saturday.
• As if things are not going bad enough for Utah, they will be without star tight end Brant Kuithe for the remainder of the season.
• Iowa quarterback Brendan Sullivan will miss the rest of the regular season with an ankle injury. The Hawkeyes will go back to Cade McNamara, who opened the past two seasons as the starter but has been out since late October with a concussion

R.I.P.

Set Number: X30682 TK1 R14 F4

Gerry Faust (1935–2024) was a legendary high school coach at Cincinnati’s Moeller High School. The Crusaders under Faust had a 178–23–2 record and included seven unbeaten seasons, four national prep titles, and five Ohio state titles in his last six seasons. His face was on the cover of Sports Illustrated and he was interviewed on national TV. The man was a national celebrity.

After Dan Devine retired at Notre Dame in 1980, school officials made the mind-blowing decision to promote the man who had coached nothing but high school ball in his career all the way up to the by-god Fighting Irish – a program who had won the National Championship just four years earlier. It was an epic failure. Faust went 6–4–1, 7–5, 7–5, 5–6, and was 1-1 in bowl games from 1981 to 1985. He would go on to coach Akron (1986-1994) but was not much better with three winning records in nine seasons.

~~

Former Southern Cal, UNLV, and Rams coach John Robinson (1935-2024) also died this past week. He had some good teams early in his career with the Trojans in 1976, 1978 and 1979 which would get him the job with the Rams in 1983. He had seven good years and two bad ones and was canned. He returned to So Cal but it was not the same (37-21-2). Six years with UNLV got him one winning record and he resigned. He was last seen in coaching as a senior consultant to LSU head coach Ed Orgeron 2019 through the 2021 season.

Somebody do a wellness check on Lou Holtz.

KOACHES KORNER

@Arkrecruiting ⁩

• This past week it was Oklahoma football coach Brent Venables’s turn to get a vote of confidence from his AD. This past summer, the university gave him a new six-year contract for lawd knows what reason. At that point, he was 16-10 as a member of the Big 12 and NOBODY was coming after him. There was no reason to lock him down like that, but there it is. If the Sooners wanted to kick Venables to the curb at the end of this season, the Sooners would owe their third-year coach $44.8 million. That is money they need to shop for a quarterback in the off-season (I feel all icky typing that last line).

BLACK MONDAY, PART 1

• How low can he go? Former Urban disciple and Texas head coach Tom Herman has been let go by FAU (2-8, 0-6 AAC) after only two seasons. He was 4-8, 3-5 in 2023. If you think Herman’s day could not get any worse, the school is bringing back the defensive coordinator that he fired just 9 days ago to re-take over DC duties. Rumor has it, Herman was shopping himself around to other programs as a DC (see Kane Wommack, Chip Kelly). If true, it sounds like the brass got wind of it and told him to hit the bricks.
• UMass has fired coach Don Brown. He was 6-28 in three campaigns. It was the humane thing to do, really. The Minutemen head to Georgia this Saturday.
• After losing to Buffalo last week, Ball State made the choice to move on from their coach Mike Neu. In nine seasons, this BSU alum was 40–62 and had only one winning campaign overall and in the MAC, which was in the wacky 2020 season. He was 1-1 in bowl games, finishing 6-7 in 2021. Every other season was a lotta ugliness losing. Frankly, it is surprising he lasted this long.
• A day after an OT victory over FAU, Temple fired coach Stan Drayton. He was 9-25 overall and 4–18 in the AAC in two-plus seasons.
• Charlotte has fired that sleeveless bozo Biff Poggi. In two seasons, he was 6–16 overall, 4–10 in the AAC, and 4-16 versus FBS foes. This leaf fell off the Jim Harbaugh coaching tree.
• On October 20, ECU fired head coach Mike Houston and it may have been the best thing they have ever done. Since his dismissal, interim coach Blake Harrell has led the Pirates (6-4) to three straight wins and bowl eligibility.
• Wisconsin’s Luke Fickell parted ways with offensive coordinator Phil Longo on Sunday. The Badgers rank 97th nationally in scoring and 102nd in passing.
• Urban Meyer’s wife said she always wanted a marriage just like a fairy tale. So, he gave her a loaf of bread and left her in a forest.
• While Fat F*** Phil Fulmer’s wife was binge watching The Mindy Project, FFPF walked by the TV and she missed seasons 2 and 3.

TEEVEE

Prologue: Warner Bros currently owns Discovery and Turner Broadcasting (i.e. TNT, TruTV).

TNT has long been a broadcaster of the NBA. This past go-round of negotiations ended in the league coming to an agreement with ESPN, NBC, and Amazon – leaving TNT out in the cold. In response, WB filed a breach of contract lawsuit against the NBA. This past week, a settlement was reached. Part of the deal has ESPN pawning off Big 12 football and basketball to the WB, which will likely go to TNT, possibly TBS, and to a lesser degree TruTV. It seems small consolation for Warner, but it was probably the best they could hope for. Mickey Mouse must be ROFL at dumping that dog.

Of note, TNT will be airing two of the four College Football Playoff first round games.

THIS WEEK

Below is just a sampling highlight of games of interest this week. If you REALLY MUST know about the BIG New Mexico State-Middle Tennessee saga, click here.

Tuesday, November 19

+ Three MAC games

Wednesday, November 20

+ Two MAC games

Thursday, November 21

NC State at Georgia Tech 6:30/7:30 ESPN

Friday, November 22

Temple at UTSA 6pm/7pm ESPN2
Purdue at Michigan State 7pm/8pm FOX
UNLV at San Jose Canseco State 9pm/10pm FS1

Saturday, November 23

SEC

Ole Miss at Florida 11am/noon ABC – Can the Gators play the spoiler again?
UMass at Georgia 11:45/12:45 SECN – This is more what UGA is used to.
UTEP at Tennessee noon/1pm ESPN+
Kentucky at Texas 2:30/3:30 ABC
Louisiana Tech at Arkansas 3pm/4pm ESPN+
Wofford at South Carolina 3pm/4pm ESPN+
Missouri at Mississippi State 3:15/4:15 SECN

SEC DURING COMMERCIALS

Texas A&M at Auburn 6:30/7:30 ESPN – Don’t get caught looking ahead!
Vanderbilt at LSU 6:45/7:45 SECN

ERRYBODY ELSE – Below are highlights only:

Indiana at Ohio State 11am/noon FOX – Noon kickoff! HAHA! anOSU -12.5
SMU at Virginia 11am/noon ESPN2 – POTENTIAL UPSET? SMU -9.5.
Penn State at Minnesota 2:30/3:30 CBS – POTENTIAL UPSET? PSU -12.5.
BYU at Arizona State 2:30/3:30 ESPN – POTENTIAL ELIMINATOR? ASU -3.5.
Army at Notre Dame 6pm/7pm NBC – We will find out who is for real. ND -14.5.

NO! SLEEP! TIL BROOKLYN!

Southern Cal at UCLA 9:30/10:30 NBC – Both teams fighting to get to 6 Ws.
Air Force at Nevada 9:30/10:30 FS1 – Can AFA makes it three wins in a row?
Colorado State at Fresno 9:30/10:30 CBSSN

#ALABAMA

• By our count, 92 Crimson Tide players saw action on Saturday. Four different players threw passes, 13 caught at least one pass, and 11 recorded a rush attempt including two walk-ons.
• Alabama appeared to get out of the Mercer game without injury. Geno VanDemark started in place of injured Jaeden Roberts. Coach Kalen DeBoer mentioned Roberts could have played if needed.
• DeBoer revealed on Monday that safety Keon Sabb will not be returning to the field this season but he will return next year. #InBrayWeTrust
• Qua Russaw started at Wolf linebacker and looked great.
• Tide punter James Burnip had an absolutely awful showing on Saturday. His two punts traveled 20 and 29 yards. Nobody in the press asked KDB about his performance. Let’s hope it was just one bad day.
• The Crimson Tide is fourth in the nation in turnover margin at +13. Bama also got their first non-offensive touchdown when freshman Zabien Brown returned a fumble 68 yards for a score. I miss that.
• Jason Autrey’s officiating crew was flag happy in the first half, including a questionable horsecollar call against Russaw on the second play of the game. I get the feeling the Autry received a little phone call at halftime since the second half went a little more smoother. Autrey was the head ref in the infamous Bo Nix spike/fumble game against Arkansas. He was also in charge of the sloppy 2023 Iron Bowl and the BS that was TSIO in 2022.
• The 2024 edition of the Iron Bowl will kickoff at 2:30/3:30 ♥♥♥ and air on ABC. It will be the seventh time the Crimson Tide has appeared on the Disney flagship network this season.

GAME 11: Saturday, November 23, 2024

Alabama Crimson Tide (8-2) at Oklahoma Sooners (5-5)

Norman, OK ~ 6:30/7:30 ABC

• Brent Venables is in his third season with Okie. He is 21–15 overall and 11–13 in the SEC. He was Dabo Swinney’s defensive coordinator from 2012-2021.
• Alabama is 2-3-1 all-time against the Sooners and MAN does the Tide need to get on the plus side of this series. That home-and-home series in 2002 and 2003 still stings. Their last meeting was the 2018 Orange Bowl in which Bama triumphed 45-34 (but we’re not gonna talk about the game that followed). However previous to that game, Oklahoma has won the last three – all while most of us have been alive.
• Norman is expecting to have mostly sunny skies and a high of 68° during the day, but it will dip down into the 50s after dark.
• TV Announcers will again be Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit with Holly Rowe on the sidelines. This trio is going to qualify for in-state tuition pretty soon.
• Chris Stewart and Tyler Watts with Damion Square are on Alabama Radio.
• The point spread has already dropped a point. Alabama is now favored by 13.5 points by FanDuel as of post. I may wait until the end of the week and see if it drops some more. The Over/Under is around 47.5.