#and arguably the one with the biggest and most reliable fanbase

[pixeldashblog]

Fall audio products preview

Apple may only have a USB-C update to its AirPods lineup in the immediate works but the rest of the world of consumer audio products isn’t resting. Here are two announced and one rumored product launch that have me excited from some of my favorite brands in the space. 

You can expect reviews on nearly all of these products as I secure units.

Sonos Moves 2 a more exciting portable offering

The Sonos Move was a product that I could never recommend for a multitude of reasons despite its rabid fanbase. It was expensive, heavy, and had limited functionality as a portable, plus subpar battery life. So why am I excited about the Move 2?

The Move 2 is $50 more expensive than its predecessor at $449 and still quite heavy thanks to its 44Wh battery (all in it weighs the same as the original Move). But, with this generation, I feel Sonos has done enough to warrant not only the price increase, but also entirely justify the concept the original Move was trying to meet.

The Move 2, like the Era 100, makes the jump to stereo tweeters over its predecessor, but has the same sized midwoofer as the Move. I found the Era 100 to provide more detailed sound than the Sonos One, even if it still can’t provide much stereo separation, thanks to the nixing of downmixing stereo tracks to mono output. I expect many of the same benefits to carry over to the Move 2, and Sonos has confirmed to me that Era 100 owners looking at a Move 2 should expect comparable sound quality out of both products. 

The increase of battery life from 11 to 24 hours will likely be the biggest reason most users upgrade or finally grab a Move 2. The JBL Xtreme series, arguably the default “large portable speaker” in the minds of most consumers, had the original Move’s battery life beat by 5 hours. Ultimate Ears’ Megaboom 3 was pushing 20 hours of battery. Sonos now has nearly all of its closest size competitors beat with a claimed 24 hours of battery, matching the massive JBL Boombox 3. I greatly look forward to testing Sonos’ claims. 

Sonos has also upgraded the wireless capabilities of the Move 2 to be on par with the Sonos Roam. Bluetooth can now be used alongside Wi-Fi, allowing you to use the Move 2 as a Bluetooth transmitter for the rest of your Sonos system (the previous generation made you switch between Bluetooth or Wi-Fi). The upgrade to Wi-Fi 6 should also make wireless connections more reliable on crowded networks provided you have a compatible router.

If Sonos meets expectations it could have the ultimate kitchen speaker on its hands. A great sounding speaker that is meant to live in one place but can easily be brought anywhere you’d like music in a pinch, with reliable battery life for longer days.

Bose (possibly) rectifies its headphone offering

Thanks to the always intrepid Chris Welch, we were treated to some photos of Bose’s upcoming wireless headphones courtesy of The Verge: the QuietComfort Ultra. These headphones look like the true update to the iconic QuietComfort headphone silhouette Bose should have shipped instead of the bold but ultimately compromised NC 700. 

The NC 700 were a direct response to the rapid rise of Sony’s WH-1000xm line, and were the kickoff to the annoying trend of wireless headphones ditching the ability to fold into a compact carrying case. Now, Bose is returning to a refreshed design that is clearly in-step with the current QC45 headphones, but with premium touches and updates to the tried and true profile. 

Welch also reports that Bose will be showcasing its take on the spatial audio trend. I’m immediately skeptical of this without confirmation the headphones will actually be decoding Dolby Atmos audio. If Bose is just messing with stereo tracks, I’m doubtful this will be more than a gimmick people quickly disable in their control apps, but I’ll need to get my hands on a unit once Bose actually confirms a release. 

Welch was also able to confirm a successor to the incredible QuietComfort Earbuds II is in the works, also taking on the Ultra branding. These won’t be a design refresh but will adopt Bose’s spatial audio implementation.

The QC45 are still the most comfortable wireless headphones you can buy and I’m thrilled to see that Bose is sticking with what works as it fills the premium gap in its lineup the NC 700 never quite satisfied. We’ll have to wait for Bose’s official announcement to learn more.

Jabra takes its shot at the AirPods Pro

Jabra announced its new flagship wireless earbuds at IFA with the Jarba Elite 8 ($199) and Elite 10 ($249)- true successors to the Elite 85t. The Elite 8 look like they could be the natural evolution of the compact earbud shape Jabra has been tweaking since the Elite 7 Pro came out two years ago. They’re insanely durable, with ratings that go above and beyond what we typically see from earbud manufacturers. They’re IP68 rated for full water submersion and dust resistance, but also meet the U.S. Military Standard for ruggedized electronics at (810H according to Jabra). They’ve also undergone HACT testing for exposure to corrosive environments like high heat, humidity, and salt water. If you live by a beach and find that your daily runs near the ocean are taking a toll on your gadgets, the Elite 8 have the certifications to show they should earn your confidence. 

The Elite 10 are more of a next-step in Jabra’s design, with a primary focus on comfort and sound quality being their big draw. Jabra says the buds fit by sitting near the outside of your ear instead of needing to be twisted in your canal for a good seal, while still promising the best ANC the company has ever delivered. Hefty claims for sure, and the Elite 10 bears the price tag to match, going head to head with the second gen AirPods Pro at $249. This is definitely the pair from Jabra I’m most eager to review. Jabra has always offered outstanding earbuds for those on a budget, so let’s see what it can do at the top end of the market. 

Both the Elite 8 and 10 offer various implementations of Dolby Atmos, with the Elite 10 offering Dolby head tracking to round out the experience. Like with Bose, you can color me skeptical until proven otherwise here, but it’s at least good to see that Jabra worked with Dolby on these implementations instead of going it alone like we’ve seen from other brands that offer “3D” sound profiles. 

[jamesvanriemsdyk]

"the nhl hates the canes and i can tell you why" i'd love it if you did tell us why please! i've noticed it but idk the reason!

(ajr voice) here we go

basically its like, half tin hatting and half actual real evidence based theory, but the nhl hates the canes because the canes fuck up the nhl's entire image: this insane little "good canadian boy" "works hard, is humble" image that theyve bet every cent of money on being marketable. and it just.......isnt. its just not. new fans, young fans (who are queer, who are women, who are poc) dont give a shit about the old boys club that runs the nhl. gary bettman has no idea how to market to us and frankly he'd rather not, because if we focus on the Old Time Hockey brand, we dont have to jump into the 21st century with things like player safety and inclusion (and so, therefore, marketing).

the canes dont give a fuck about that. theyre fun, they love to win, theyre loud as fuck about it, and theyre TOO GOOD. itd be one thing if they were last in the league, the nhl and hockey culture in general wouldnt have a problem with storm surges etc if it was a last place team's effort to keep their spirits up. but the canes are a top three team in the ENTIRE LEAGUE, and them taking pride in their wins, their social media marketing to younger fans and being unapologetic about things like boosting pride nights - that shit is so far out of the realm of acceptable for bettman's nhl it makes me LAUGH.

i also need yall to think about the SAT line real quick. sebastian aho is exactly the kind of player that will move this game forward: smaller, faster, more skilled, smart smart SMART on the puck, a real genuine student of the game, and so he is a threat to Old Time Hockey. teravainen is too, in much the same way. andrei svechnikov is, for all it wouldnt seem just based on penalty stats this year, a very physical but very CLEAN player, who also happens to be a second overall pick and a damn hard worker and incredibly skilled player to boot. they are the canes' Big Boy Line, so to speak, and not one of them is canadian (and YES, that matters, the nhl is incredibly xenophobic - this is the culture that allowed don cherry to get on NATIONAL TELEVISION for forty years and spout the same racist, misogynistic, xenophobic bullshit before finally firing him after years of the fans calling for it. if you dont know what cherry's said about europeans and russians, look it up. or dont, because its bad and it will piss you off).

the canes also made homes for players dougie hamilton and brady skjei, who were both written off and at least implied they were unhappy in their former organizations. the canes also have a stunningly good head coach in brindamour - ive talked about this before, and if you watch the canes you see it, but yall, brindamour is THE carolina hurricane, and he loves his players and takes care of and stands up for them. hes measured and fair with them, and he is a good coach. that matters here because this sport's culture is rotten to its goddamn core, and nhl ownership doesnt quite know what to do with a locker room based in REAL trust and loyalty, from the coach to the staff to the players and back.

i guess all of this is to say that the canes and their entire culture - a (seemingly) healthy sports culture, i know, crazy - are the antithesis of everything the nhl's management and ownership want for the sport, and they represent the only survivable way forward, and the nhl hates them for it.

[thesportssoundoff]

So Who Replaces The Count?

Joey

May 30th 2018

First we can begin with what I figure is a fair yet short talk on "The Count" Michael Bisping. There are a hundred different words to describe Michael Bisping's legacy and they range from as sterling as the label of pioneer to as damning as simply referring to him as an asshole. If I had to find a single word to describe Bisping, I'm pretty sure I'd go with professional. In a sport where everybody from promoters to the fighters seems to be rife with amatuers getting the Peter Principle treatment, Bisping was a rare pro's pro. He never missed weight, he took fights all over the place against anybody offered him, he kept himself in shape to be able to fill in at any time, he always seemed mentally prepared for every fight he was taking and even if Bisping didn't always win, you never had a fight where you felt like he didn't give himself a chance to win. Even if Bisping was all sorts of limited athletically, his cardio, pacing and fight IQ always gave him a shot against any opponent. Put this way; here were the first five TUF season winners at the start of 2018:

Forrest Griffin- Retired Diego Sanchez- Active, on a two fight losing streak, 2-3 in his last five fights Rashad Evans- Active, lost four fights in a row Joe Stevenson- Trying to salvage his career outside of the UFC Michael Bisping- Former MW champ in 2017, two straight losses to guys in the top 10 Kendall Grove- Trying to salvage career outside of the UFC Matt Serra- Retired Travis Lutter- Retired Nate Diaz- Retired?

Most of them are out of the sport, some of them are scrapping to try and stay alive in MMA and some are just trying to hold on for a little bit longer in the UFC. As amazing as it sounds, guys like Rashad Evans and Diego Sanchez have just been trying to hold onto whatever remains of their relevancy. Michael Bisping headlined the biggest PPV of 2017----and then took a fight a few weeks later for the fuck of it. That was also the first time Michael Bisping lost two fights in a row which speaks to his absurd consistency and longevity. Not bad for a dude who I think most of us would consider limited athletically. Also worth pointing out that DJ Mikey B had his career renaissance with just one eye as well after Alan Belcher damaged it with an inadvertent eye poke. Bisping was even a professional asshole; a dude who understood how to promote fights and be the heel that MMA needs sometimes. Bisping's resume is highlighted by his insane win total, the TUF win and his KO over Luke Rockhold---but the one thing I hope he's remembered for is how he embodied professional fighting in so many different ways.

Having said all that, let's chit chat about what you need to remember about Michael Bisping and what the UFC is going to miss going forward. Of  Michael Bisping's last 10 fights, 9 of them were main events and only 2 were in the US. Bisping was Mr. International and the sort of fighter the UFC could use to either break into new markets or just guarantee fans a main eventer of consequence. He was a reliable headliner for free TV at the very least and his truest value may have been as a Fight Pass star for international fans. That's a lot of main events to make up, especially internationally. Who can the UFC turn to be the next big UK Star potentially? Well let's look at some dudes (and a lady!) who might be capable of filling up that spot:

1- UFC WW Darren Till

This is the easiest of the choices possible and the one that seems the most likely. In six UFC fights, Darren Till has headlined twice, both overseas. Till is really young, has weight division versatility at WW or MW and he is probably the best fighter out of the UK now that Bisping has retired. Till has the Bisping personality (although his shit talk seems more matter of fact and less humorous) and he's building himself up a crazy fanbase. Darren Till is the best fit for the spot but ironically enough, he might be TOO good. Bisping was always consistently above average (minus his second half career renaissance around Thales Leites) whereas Darren Till already has wins over Donald Cerrone and Wonderboy on his ledger. Dana has already said his next fight is going to be in Las Vegas so clearly Till's going to get his first real test outside of the United States. If Till turns out to be a draw, he's not playing around in the UK. Conor McGregor only headlined one time out in Ireland before it was straight up Vegas and MSG. Darren Till's talent might prevent him from being the next Bisping.

2- UFC WW Leon Edwards

After nine fights in the UFC, almost primarily in Europe, Leon Edwards gets the opportunity to headline for the first time in the UFC against Donald Cerrone in Singapore. Edwards is under 30, he's fought plenty of times in the UK and he's the sort of guy who has earned his reputation by virtue of a tremendous glut of wins against good enough competition. It's taken a long time for Edwards to get his first main event which kind of is the problem; he's really nondescript. He's showcased some good wrestling but not great, he's had some pop in his hands but nothing recently, his fights are prelim memorable but not exactly the sort of fights you'd show to your friends. He's another one of these really good WWs who just doesn't generate any sort of excitement. If it was about results, Edwards would be a lock but unless he wow's vs Cerrone, this feels like a case of "We needed a guy" and not a case of any genuine enthusiasm for his future.

3- Cage Warriors FW Paddy Pimblett

Paddy "The Baddy" Pimblett is one of those fighters who I have a tough time figuring out. I've watched him fight about five times in Cage Warriors and I still don't quite know what he is. Maybe it's the Marc Diakiese effect where a fighter who seems to have serious issues often getting fights where they need to be leave me on edge. Be that as it may or may not be, Paddy is already a big star in Cage Warriors, a Liverpool native who has tremendous character and some absurd grappling chops. He's one of those guys who "gets it" about how to promote and market yourself. He's not perfect but I suppose that's part of the charm. Paddy opted to re-up with Cage Warriors in March so he'd be a ways away I suppose from getting the call. Pimblett has a lot of Michael Bisping in him but again, there's some Diakese here.

4- Bellator WW Michael Page

Currently the attention of Bellator's next big free agent is Michael Chandler which is understandable. Talent at 155 lbs like Mike Chandler, still technically in his prime-ish at 32 years, are wanted on the open market. The reality though is that if I had to choose between two fighters with one fight left on their deals, I'm not entirely sure that Chandler would be the guy I'd want. That would probably have to be Michael Page even with the concern. I know Michael Chandler will be a decent LW in the UFC (maybe a little better, maybe a bit worse) whereas MVP could be the best WW or the worst WW. The pacing of his career suggests he's not going to be there---but if the UFC is looking to replace Michael Bisping, you'd HAVE to want to be in on MVP. He's a "star" in the UK, he's loaded with personality and while we've seen him put up stinkers time and time again; he's the sort of dude who has the ability to be a Vitor Belfort who lives off of the highlight reel. They'd have to sign him away from Bellator obviously but we can't let facts get in the way!

5- UFC FW Arnold Allen

There's something very Ortega-y about Arnold Allen. The late comebacks are obviously a part of it but there's something to be said about a guy who always seems to find a way to win under any circumstances vs opponents who are worlds higher in rank and stature. He's really flawed but I stop assuming guys are lucky and stop figuring they're bound to find a way to lose after their third "How'd he do that shit?" win. I don't know if Allen will ever be a superstar but he's young, he's talented, he has a knack for pulling off miraculous wins and he's cutting his teeth in a ridiculously tough division. It's worth noting that Allen has a checkered legal past (a bar fight where he apparently either hit a woman or was defending his girlfriend depending on who you ask) and we saw Jimi Manuwa struggle to get fights outside of Europe because of that.

6- Women's boxer Nicola Adams

By all accounts Adams is an MMA fan and considered making the move over to MMA at one point. It may be worth checking in and seeing just whether she'd reconsider that. She's obviously not a sure bet to develop into a "star" and at 35 she's a weathered athlete BUT wouldn't you rather take a chance on someone like this knowing what the upside could be? Even if you have her for 3-4 years before she retires, you're still getting arguably one of the greatest women's athletes you've ever had.

[flauntpage]

Rolled Tide, Chip Ahoy!, and the Miserable Vols: The Week in College Football

Welcome back to The Weekend in College Football, VICE Sports' new column. Each week, we'll take you through everything you missed on Saturday (or, God forbid, Friday night), the things worth learning, and look ahead to what happens next. Enjoy.

1st and 10

Auburn hadn’t won an Iron Bowl by 12 or more points since 1969. Alabama hadn’t lost a game by double digits since the end of the 2013 season. These are streaks too improbable to go on forever and, on Saturday afternoon, both got snapped in the same game.

The main storyline here is the glimmer of possibility that, finally, Alabama might be left out of the College Football Playoff. The very idea of it is borderline unthinkable, because Nick Saban has made his bones off unrelenting consistency. And yet, against their arch-rival in the biggest game of the season, the Tide were scattershot. That was especially true on offense, where the running backs took too few touches, the passing game was halting, and the center somehow botched back-to-back snaps in a crucial fourth-quarter possession.

None of those things, on their own, lost Alabama the football game. In fact, they were concomitant to Auburn controlling the ball for more than 36 minutes of gameplay. Alabama’s offense had neither the time nor the opportunity to ease into a genuine rhythm.

The Tigers weren’t the first team to conjure up such a strategy; Texas A&M and Mississippi State, heretofore the teams that came closest to defeating the Tide, also beat Alabama in time of possession. But neither of those schools boasted a running back as dynamic as Kerryon Johnson, nor a quarterback who completed 75 percent of his passes the way Jarrett Stidham did on Saturday. Nor, for that matter, did they force Alabama into depending so heavily on Jalen Hurts to deliver a win, the sort of mandate that none of Saban’s best teams ever placed on the quarterback.

Auburn did more than just defeat Alabama on Saturday afternoon. They revealed a blueprint for how everyone else plausibly could, too. And if Wisconsin and Oklahoma win their respective conference title games this weekend, Alabama will effectively be ruled out of playoff contention, giving Saban a longer off-season than anyone imagined to figure out a way to thwart the one game plan that has his number.

2nd and 8

At least the Tide got beat by a great team. Second-ranked Miami, meanwhile, didn’t even lose to a good one.

This was pretty straightforward. The Hurricanes’ best performances this season usually coincided with a strong game by its lead running back, be it Mark Walton before his season-ending injury or his understudy, Travis Homer. The Panthers took that away entirely, holding Homer and third-stringer DeeJay Dallas to 16 yards on ten combined carries.

That made it incumbent on Malik Rosier to win the game with his arm, which is about the last place Miami wants to be. Rosier is college football’s J.R. Smith, blessed with everything necessary to produce the spectacular but not the capacity to reliably call upon it. When he’s on, Rosier fires footballs through pinholes and outruns defenders. This is the Rosier who incinerated Syracuse and gamely helped the Hurricanes weather a late-game storm—weather puns!—against Georgia Tech and stole a victory over Florida State.

But Rosier is also a first-year starter who is only completing 55 percent of his passes on the year and who hasn’t eclipsed 210 yards passing in a game since October. That is the Rosier who showed up in Pittsburgh on Friday.

The junior looked so rudderless that Mark Richt even briefly benched him in favor of backup Evan Shirreffs, only to soon return Rosier to the field after Shirreffs was even more helpless. Rosier’s final line—15 of 34 for 187 yards and a 29.7 QBR—was well short of what Miami needed to keep this game respectable. It could also be a dangerous harbinger for next week’s ACC title game against Clemson, which features arguably the most disruptive defensive line in the country.

Clip of the Week

Bronze: Behold, a very fast white boy. This is SMU wide receiver Trey Quinn, who since transferring from LSU has become the most prolific receiver in the country’s seventh-ranked offense. Plays like this are why: one juke, one cut, and 77 yards down the sideline in the Mustangs’ win over Tulane.

Silver: Game-winning kick return? Game-winning kick return. USF’s Quinton Flowers (more on him later) was indisputably the star of Friday’s barn-burning USF-UCF game, but the best play belongs to UCF’s Mike Hughes. With 1:29 remaining in the game, the junior defensive back weaved throughout the middle of the field and ran 95 yards to give the Knights a thrilling victory in the war for I-4.

Gold: In most years, a Florida-Florida State matchup would safely reign as the game of the week in the Sunshine State. In 2017, it was the underwhelming encore to UCF-USF.

But credit Florida cornerback Duke Dawson for a truly sublime bit of entertainment. It began innocently enough, with Florida State quarterback James Blackmon’s pass slipping out of receiver Auden Tate’s hands. Tate is pulled to the ground by Florida cornerback Marco Wilson, and that’s when this gets weird. First, the ball bounces off Wilson’s back. Then, it ricochets off Tate’s leg. Dawson is the beneficiary, as the ball pops right into his waiting arms to complete one of the weirdest interceptions of the season.

3rd and 1

Welcome back, Chip Kelly, who became the latest and by far the most high-profile coach to attempt to resuscitate UCLA football.

This is an undeniable coup for the Bruins, who abruptly fired Jim Mora Jr. and enlisted the aid of mega-booster Casey Wasserman to recruit the hottest and most proven name on the market. And, for the first time in a very long time, crosstown rival USC has reason to be wary.

Make no mistake, the Trojans have a significant head start on talent and nothing short of a monumental collapse will change that. USC is simply too entrenched historically and, with a Pac-12 title in sight, once again too successful for anyone to consistently beat them head-to-head for key recruits in Southern California. But there’s also plenty of other talent to go around and Kelly proved at Oregon that he doesn’t need the absolute best players to succeed. He’ll get his difference-makers, and if Kelly is the same coach he was five years ago, he’ll enjoy a massive schematic advantage over Clay Helton.

If he’s not, and the rest of the game has caught up to the schemes he made famous? Then it’s more of the same, which only reaffirms that UCLA made the right choice to shoot for the moon and hire him. For the first time since at least the 1990s, UCLA employs a more highly-regarded football coach than USC. There’s only upside in whatever comes next.

Punt

On the Tennessee job. No matter the merits of Tennessee deciding to abandon its courtship of Greg Schiano to fill their vacant head coaching position, both the way it was handled and the plethora of other vacancies should make every buzzworthy candidate cast a wary eye at taking the job in Knoxville.

The program has a losing record over the past decade. The new athletic director’s job may already be at risk. The fanbase is at a collective breaking point, and the University fears it enough to capitulate after only a few hours of very loud tweets and phone calls. (And, no, I’m not gullible enough to believe that Schiano’s possible involvement in the Jerry Sandusky scandal would matter one bit to the good people of Knoxville if he were a more accomplished head coach.)

The upside just isn’t there, not with the looming possibility of Florida State opening up should Jimbo Fisher inherit the Texas A&M post from Kevin Sumlin. Tennessee has the tradition, talent base, and resources to be a very good job—in a vacuum. In reality, the environment is too toxic for a strong candidate to risk his career on fumigating.

Player Who Deserves to Be Paid This Week

Here’s where we talk about Flowers, the USF quarterback who delivered what might be the best quarterbacked game of the season. The senior from Miami threw for a school-record 503 yards as part of a school-record 605 total yards, and accounted for five total touchdowns. No matter the eventual outcome, that ought to merit a fat check in his bank account.

Coach Who Does Not

In a weekend rife with coaching turnover, let’s give what might be a final farewell for Mike Riley, whose employment status now matches this dubious award. Nebraska mercifully ended Riley’s three-year tenure as head coach one day after Iowa napalmed the once-vaunted Blackshirts defense in a 56-14 blowout. The loss dropped the Cornhuskers to 4-8, which represents the program’s worst season since 1961. Riley finishes his tenure with a 19-19 record, which is about right for a man whose primary selling point was being a standup guy. Riley told the media that while he’s open to further coaching opportunities, he’s “looking forward to being a granddaddy” after decades in the game. If this is the end, here’s to a well-earned retirement.

Obscure College Football Team Of Note

For nine gruesome weeks, the Georgia Southern Eagles could not win a game. They lost blowouts (52-17 to Indiana) and squeakers (21-17 to Georgia State) alike. New Hampshire shut them out in the first half of Week 2 (Final score: 22-12, Wildcats). UMass poured on 48 points in the first half of Week 7 (Final score: 55-20, Minutemen). They scored three measly points in the final three quarters of their Week 9 loss to Appalachian State (Final score: 27-6, Mountaineers), at which point anyone left on the bandwagon would have been well within their rights to hop all the way off. Things were bleak.

And then, with no warning whatsoever, the Eagles struck back. In Week 10, they annihilated South Alabama 52-0, in which they scored more points than their previous three games combined. This past weekend, they edged Louisiana-Lafayette 34-24 to put them on a two-game winning streak. If they defeat Coastal Carolina in this weekend’s season finale, then the entire season will be comprised of two streaks. It won’t be the best season, it will be remarkable nevertheless.

Something to Look Forward To

Conference title games! You’ll be hard-pressed to find a bad matchup among the Power Five conferences, each of which offer compelling plotlines.

Can Auburn knock down Georgia again, or will the Bulldogs avenge their only loss of the season? Which ACC power, defending national champion Clemson or resurgent Miami, will eliminate the other from playoff contention? Will Wisconsin defeat Ohio State to complete a perfect regular season? Does USC play to its potential and win the Pac-12 for the first time since 2008, or will its luck run out after too many close calls this season? How much, if any, defense will be played between Oklahoma and TCU?

That’s without getting the best of the rest, which includes an intriguing Conference USA title game between the exciting North Texas Mean Green and Lane Kiffin’s Florida Atlantic Owls, who are undefeated in conference play.

Top to bottom, it’s the deepest week of the season, so get ready for a worthy finale to the regular season.

Rolled Tide, Chip Ahoy!, and the Miserable Vols: The Week in College Football published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

[amtushinfosolutionspage]

Rolled Tide, Chip Ahoy!, and the Miserable Vols: The Week in College Football

Welcome back to The Weekend in College Football, VICE Sports’ new column. Each week, we’ll take you through everything you missed on Saturday (or, God forbid, Friday night), the things worth learning, and look ahead to what happens next. Enjoy.

1st and 10

Auburn hadn’t won an Iron Bowl by 12 or more points since 1969. Alabama hadn’t lost a game by double digits since the end of the 2013 season. These are streaks too improbable to go on forever and, on Saturday afternoon, both got snapped in the same game.

The main storyline here is the glimmer of possibility that, finally, Alabama might be left out of the College Football Playoff. The very idea of it is borderline unthinkable, because Nick Saban has made his bones off unrelenting consistency. And yet, against their arch-rival in the biggest game of the season, the Tide were scattershot. That was especially true on offense, where the running backs took too few touches, the passing game was halting, and the center somehow botched back-to-back snaps in a crucial fourth-quarter possession.

None of those things, on their own, lost Alabama the football game. In fact, they were concomitant to Auburn controlling the ball for more than 36 minutes of gameplay. Alabama’s offense had neither the time nor the opportunity to ease into a genuine rhythm.

The Tigers weren’t the first team to conjure up such a strategy; Texas A&M and Mississippi State, heretofore the teams that came closest to defeating the Tide, also beat Alabama in time of possession. But neither of those schools boasted a running back as dynamic as Kerryon Johnson, nor a quarterback who completed 75 percent of his passes the way Jarrett Stidham did on Saturday. Nor, for that matter, did they force Alabama into depending so heavily on Jalen Hurts to deliver a win, the sort of mandate that none of Saban’s best teams ever placed on the quarterback.

Auburn did more than just defeat Alabama on Saturday afternoon. They revealed a blueprint for how everyone else plausibly could, too. And if Wisconsin and Oklahoma win their respective conference title games this weekend, Alabama will effectively be ruled out of playoff contention, giving Saban a longer off-season than anyone imagined to figure out a way to thwart the one game plan that has his number.

2nd and 8

At least the Tide got beat by a great team. Second-ranked Miami, meanwhile, didn’t even lose to a good one.

This was pretty straightforward. The Hurricanes’ best performances this season usually coincided with a strong game by its lead running back, be it Mark Walton before his season-ending injury or his understudy, Travis Homer. The Panthers took that away entirely, holding Homer and third-stringer DeeJay Dallas to 16 yards on ten combined carries.

That made it incumbent on Malik Rosier to win the game with his arm, which is about the last place Miami wants to be. Rosier is college football’s J.R. Smith, blessed with everything necessary to produce the spectacular but not the capacity to reliably call upon it. When he’s on, Rosier fires footballs through pinholes and outruns defenders. This is the Rosier who incinerated Syracuse and gamely helped the Hurricanes weather a late-game storm—weather puns!—against Georgia Tech and stole a victory over Florida State.

But Rosier is also a first-year starter who is only completing 55 percent of his passes on the year and who hasn’t eclipsed 210 yards passing in a game since October. That is the Rosier who showed up in Pittsburgh on Friday.

The junior looked so rudderless that Mark Richt even briefly benched him in favor of backup Evan Shirreffs, only to soon return Rosier to the field after Shirreffs was even more helpless. Rosier’s final line—15 of 34 for 187 yards and a 29.7 QBR—was well short of what Miami needed to keep this game respectable. It could also be a dangerous harbinger for next week’s ACC title game against Clemson, which features arguably the most disruptive defensive line in the country.

Clip of the Week

Bronze: Behold, a very fast white boy. This is SMU wide receiver Trey Quinn, who since transferring from LSU has become the most prolific receiver in the country’s seventh-ranked offense. Plays like this are why: one juke, one cut, and 77 yards down the sideline in the Mustangs’ win over Tulane.

Silver: Game-winning kick return? Game-winning kick return. USF’s Quinton Flowers (more on him later) was indisputably the star of Friday’s barn-burning USF-UCF game, but the best play belongs to UCF’s Mike Hughes. With 1:29 remaining in the game, the junior defensive back weaved throughout the middle of the field and ran 95 yards to give the Knights a thrilling victory in the war for I-4.

Gold: In most years, a Florida-Florida State matchup would safely reign as the game of the week in the Sunshine State. In 2017, it was the underwhelming encore to UCF-USF.

But credit Florida cornerback Duke Dawson for a truly sublime bit of entertainment. It began innocently enough, with Florida State quarterback James Blackmon’s pass slipping out of receiver Auden Tate’s hands. Tate is pulled to the ground by Florida cornerback Marco Wilson, and that’s when this gets weird. First, the ball bounces off Wilson’s back. Then, it ricochets off Tate’s leg. Dawson is the beneficiary, as the ball pops right into his waiting arms to complete one of the weirdest interceptions of the season.

3rd and 1

Welcome back, Chip Kelly, who became the latest and by far the most high-profile coach to attempt to resuscitate UCLA football.

This is an undeniable coup for the Bruins, who abruptly fired Jim Mora Jr. and enlisted the aid of mega-booster Casey Wasserman to recruit the hottest and most proven name on the market. And, for the first time in a very long time, crosstown rival USC has reason to be wary.

Make no mistake, the Trojans have a significant head start on talent and nothing short of a monumental collapse will change that. USC is simply too entrenched historically and, with a Pac-12 title in sight, once again too successful for anyone to consistently beat them head-to-head for key recruits in Southern California. But there’s also plenty of other talent to go around and Kelly proved at Oregon that he doesn’t need the absolute best players to succeed. He’ll get his difference-makers, and if Kelly is the same coach he was five years ago, he’ll enjoy a massive schematic advantage over Clay Helton.

If he’s not, and the rest of the game has caught up to the schemes he made famous? Then it’s more of the same, which only reaffirms that UCLA made the right choice to shoot for the moon and hire him. For the first time since at least the 1990s, UCLA employs a more highly-regarded football coach than USC. There’s only upside in whatever comes next.

Punt

On the Tennessee job. No matter the merits of Tennessee deciding to abandon its courtship of Greg Schiano to fill their vacant head coaching position, both the way it was handled and the plethora of other vacancies should make every buzzworthy candidate cast a wary eye at taking the job in Knoxville.

The program has a losing record over the past decade. The new athletic director’s job may already be at risk. The fanbase is at a collective breaking point, and the University fears it enough to capitulate after only a few hours of very loud tweets and phone calls. (And, no, I’m not gullible enough to believe that Schiano’s possible involvement in the Jerry Sandusky scandal would matter one bit to the good people of Knoxville if he were a more accomplished head coach.)

The upside just isn’t there, not with the looming possibility of Florida State opening up should Jimbo Fisher inherit the Texas A&M post from Kevin Sumlin. Tennessee has the tradition, talent base, and resources to be a very good job—in a vacuum. In reality, the environment is too toxic for a strong candidate to risk his career on fumigating.

Player Who Deserves to Be Paid This Week

Here’s where we talk about Flowers, the USF quarterback who delivered what might be the best quarterbacked game of the season. The senior from Miami threw for a school-record 503 yards as part of a school-record 605 total yards, and accounted for five total touchdowns. No matter the eventual outcome, that ought to merit a fat check in his bank account.

Coach Who Does Not

In a weekend rife with coaching turnover, let’s give what might be a final farewell for Mike Riley, whose employment status now matches this dubious award. Nebraska mercifully ended Riley’s three-year tenure as head coach one day after Iowa napalmed the once-vaunted Blackshirts defense in a 56-14 blowout. The loss dropped the Cornhuskers to 4-8, which represents the program’s worst season since 1961. Riley finishes his tenure with a 19-19 record, which is about right for a man whose primary selling point was being a standup guy. Riley told the media that while he’s open to further coaching opportunities, he’s “looking forward to being a granddaddy” after decades in the game. If this is the end, here’s to a well-earned retirement.

Obscure College Football Team Of Note

For nine gruesome weeks, the Georgia Southern Eagles could not win a game. They lost blowouts (52-17 to Indiana) and squeakers (21-17 to Georgia State) alike. New Hampshire shut them out in the first half of Week 2 (Final score: 22-12, Wildcats). UMass poured on 48 points in the first half of Week 7 (Final score: 55-20, Minutemen). They scored three measly points in the final three quarters of their Week 9 loss to Appalachian State (Final score: 27-6, Mountaineers), at which point anyone left on the bandwagon would have been well within their rights to hop all the way off. Things were bleak.

And then, with no warning whatsoever, the Eagles struck back. In Week 10, they annihilated South Alabama 52-0, in which they scored more points than their previous three games combined. This past weekend, they edged Louisiana-Lafayette 34-24 to put them on a two-game winning streak. If they defeat Coastal Carolina in this weekend’s season finale, then the entire season will be comprised of two streaks. It won’t be the best season, it will be remarkable nevertheless.

Something to Look Forward To

Conference title games! You’ll be hard-pressed to find a bad matchup among the Power Five conferences, each of which offer compelling plotlines.

Can Auburn knock down Georgia again, or will the Bulldogs avenge their only loss of the season? Which ACC power, defending national champion Clemson or resurgent Miami, will eliminate the other from playoff contention? Will Wisconsin defeat Ohio State to complete a perfect regular season? Does USC play to its potential and win the Pac-12 for the first time since 2008, or will its luck run out after too many close calls this season? How much, if any, defense will be played between Oklahoma and TCU?

That’s without getting the best of the rest, which includes an intriguing Conference USA title game between the exciting North Texas Mean Green and Lane Kiffin’s Florida Atlantic Owls, who are undefeated in conference play.

Top to bottom, it’s the deepest week of the season, so get ready for a worthy finale to the regular season.

Rolled Tide, Chip Ahoy!, and the Miserable Vols: The Week in College Football syndicated from http://ift.tt/2ug2Ns6

[wheelsguru]

10 Leading Dakar Rally Competitors Of 2017

Here are the top 10 Leading Dakar Rally Competitors of 2017

TOBY PRICE

KTM 450-Bikes champion, 5 stage wins

Price’s five stage wins are more than what any other challenger sealed in any category and a final 40-minute lead over his closest rival – the ever-consistent Stefan Svitko – is a pretty good indicator of his sheer pace.

Yamaha, Honda, and Husqvarna have all shown they mean business in Dakar but, with Price at the driver’s seat, KTM still appears as strong as ever.

STEPHANE PETERHANSEL

Peugeot 2008DKR16-Cars champion, 3 stage wins

Dakar legend Peterhansel is nothing if not complete – reliable, quick on all types of terrain and extremely motivated. In a way, the Frenchman didn’t seem to command the same level of admiration as Loeb or Sainz from the Dakar fanbase, which is unfortunate as he once more proved he’s the finest competitor in the rally’s history.

The unfortunate matter of the X-raid appeal still hangs over his victory, it would be a massive shame if this costs him a milestone 12th Dakar win.

GERARD DE ROOY

Powerstar IVECO-Trucks champion, 3 stage wins

The Dutch man De Rooy took victory by winning three stages, bringing his total to 30, driving carefully and not making any mistakes. His goal, of course, is to win the Dakar again in 2017, exactly 30 years after his dad Jan de Rooy made history by winning and laying the foundations for many Dutch successes with the trucks in the years to follow. De Rooy will team up with the same crew he won the 2016 Dakar

The IVECO was clearly a great truck to have, but de Rooy himself was basically faultless, which was amply demonstrated by his winning margin of more than 70 minutes.

CARLOS SAINZ

Peugeot 2008DKR16-Retirement (cars), 2 stages wins

Sainz was every bit quicker than his Peugeot teammates through the road stages. When Loeb dropped out on the dunes, it seemed like a straight fight between him and Stephane Peterhansel – a fight that was see-sawing all the time and was certainly far from decided right until Sainz’s gearbox gave up the ghost.

MIKO HIRVONEN

X-raid ALL4 Racing Mini-4th in cars, 1 stage wins

The highs of Hirvonen’s Dakar debut paled in comparison to those of perennial rival Loeb – and yet finishing ahead him is arguably representative.

While the Peugeots were in another time zone early on, Hirvonen did often challenge Al-Attiyah for the top spot among the X-raid Mini contingent – and, surprisingly, he didn’t really drop off when dunes and navigation came into play, probably in no small part due to his veteran co-driver Michel Perin.

The Finn has proven a brilliant acquisition for X-raid and is already a force to be reckoned with in the off-road category.

SEBASTIAN LOEB

Peugeot 2008DKR16-9th in cars, 4 stages wins

Arguably the biggest draw of the 2016 race, the rallying legend did not disappoint on his Dakar debut. Far from it, in fact – while Loeb promised a learning rally, the topping four stages showed how he was not taking it easy.

If he sticks with cross-country rallying, he’ll be a Dakar winner in no time. The desert will come to Loeb soon enough and, as for the roads, he’s already as good there as anyone can hope to be.

JOAN BARREDA

Honda CRF450 RALLY-Retirement (bikes), 1 stage wins

Even KTM’s staunchest fans won’t argue that Honda’s Barreda deserved so, so much better from Dakar 2016 than what he got – a mechanical issue that took him out of contention, for the second year in a row.

Joan Barreda – currently the most talented rider on the Cross-Country Rallies scene – will make his seventh participation in the Dakar Rally in the forthcoming 2017 edition.

NASSER AL-ATTIYAH

X-raid ALL4 Racing Mini-2nd in cars, 2 stages wins

Nasser expected Toyota to be his biggest obstacle on the way to a third Dakar win and he was not right, instead forced to watch as the Peugeots gained minutes on him day after day in week one.

With continuity on his side, there is only one aim for Nasser as he heads back to Argentina: become the first man in Dakar history to win the car race three times in South America.

  MARCOS PATRONELLI

Yamaha-Quads champion, 3 stage wins

Dakar Rally quad champion Marcos Patronelli a 33-year-old racer from Argentina, born out of the off-road race once surviving a serious accident.  He was quite fortunate that Casale exited the rally on Stage 6 and, yes, Baragwanath and Hernandez were frequently on-pace with the vastly more fancied Argentine.

The Patronelli are unlikely to kick off another four-year victory streak – their rivals are getting quicker and quicker. But for now, they are still the best there is and Marcos did an excellent job of driving that point home in the 2016 edition.

FEDERICO VILLAGRA

Powerstar IVECO-3rd in trucks

Villagra’s achievement on the trucks’ first run in Dakar 2016 proved a microcosm of his entire rally – extremely fast from the get-go, only to lose time in the second half. Not unexpectedly, it was the WRC-style week-1 stages where the Argentine prospered, given his considerable previous experience in, well, the WRC.

For Villagra, this was the first Dakar in a truck and he aced it, he recorded no stage wins, but he did lead the rally after Stage 5 – and managed to hang on to a podium despite the loss of 50 minutes on Stage 10.

What do you think guys?

from 10 Leading Dakar Rally Competitors Of 2017

[flauntpage]

Rolled Tide, Chip Ahoy!, and the Miserable Vols: The Week in College Football

Welcome back to The Weekend in College Football, VICE Sports' new column. Each week, we'll take you through everything you missed on Saturday (or, God forbid, Friday night), the things worth learning, and look ahead to what happens next. Enjoy.

1st and 10

Auburn hadn’t won an Iron Bowl by 12 or more points since 1969. Alabama hadn’t lost a game by double digits since the end of the 2013 season. These are streaks too improbable to go on forever and, on Saturday afternoon, both got snapped in the same game.

The main storyline here is the glimmer of possibility that, finally, Alabama might be left out of the College Football Playoff. The very idea of it is borderline unthinkable, because Nick Saban has made his bones off unrelenting consistency. And yet, against their arch-rival in the biggest game of the season, the Tide were scattershot. That was especially true on offense, where the running backs took too few touches, the passing game was halting, and the center somehow botched back-to-back snaps in a crucial fourth-quarter possession.

None of those things, on their own, lost Alabama the football game. In fact, they were concomitant to Auburn controlling the ball for more than 36 minutes of gameplay. Alabama’s offense had neither the time nor the opportunity to ease into a genuine rhythm.

The Tigers weren’t the first team to conjure up such a strategy; Texas A&M and Mississippi State, heretofore the teams that came closest to defeating the Tide, also beat Alabama in time of possession. But neither of those schools boasted a running back as dynamic as Kerryon Johnson, nor a quarterback who completed 75 percent of his passes the way Jarrett Stidham did on Saturday. Nor, for that matter, did they force Alabama into depending so heavily on Jalen Hurts to deliver a win, the sort of mandate that none of Saban’s best teams ever placed on the quarterback.

Auburn did more than just defeat Alabama on Saturday afternoon. They revealed a blueprint for how everyone else plausibly could, too. And if Wisconsin and Oklahoma win their respective conference title games this weekend, Alabama will effectively be ruled out of playoff contention, giving Saban a longer off-season than anyone imagined to figure out a way to thwart the one game plan that has his number.

2nd and 8

At least the Tide got beat by a great team. Second-ranked Miami, meanwhile, didn’t even lose to a good one.

This was pretty straightforward. The Hurricanes’ best performances this season usually coincided with a strong game by its lead running back, be it Mark Walton before his season-ending injury or his understudy, Travis Homer. The Panthers took that away entirely, holding Homer and third-stringer DeeJay Dallas to 16 yards on ten combined carries.

That made it incumbent on Malik Rosier to win the game with his arm, which is about the last place Miami wants to be. Rosier is college football’s J.R. Smith, blessed with everything necessary to produce the spectacular but not the capacity to reliably call upon it. When he’s on, Rosier fires footballs through pinholes and outruns defenders. This is the Rosier who incinerated Syracuse and gamely helped the Hurricanes weather a late-game storm—weather puns!—against Georgia Tech and stole a victory over Florida State.

But Rosier is also a first-year starter who is only completing 55 percent of his passes on the year and who hasn’t eclipsed 210 yards passing in a game since October. That is the Rosier who showed up in Pittsburgh on Friday.

The junior looked so rudderless that Mark Richt even briefly benched him in favor of backup Evan Shirreffs, only to soon return Rosier to the field after Shirreffs was even more helpless. Rosier’s final line—15 of 34 for 187 yards and a 29.7 QBR—was well short of what Miami needed to keep this game respectable. It could also be a dangerous harbinger for next week’s ACC title game against Clemson, which features arguably the most disruptive defensive line in the country.

Clip of the Week

Bronze: Behold, a very fast white boy. This is SMU wide receiver Trey Quinn, who since transferring from LSU has become the most prolific receiver in the country’s seventh-ranked offense. Plays like this are why: one juke, one cut, and 77 yards down the sideline in the Mustangs’ win over Tulane.

Silver: Game-winning kick return? Game-winning kick return. USF’s Quinton Flowers (more on him later) was indisputably the star of Friday’s barn-burning USF-UCF game, but the best play belongs to UCF’s Mike Hughes. With 1:29 remaining in the game, the junior defensive back weaved throughout the middle of the field and ran 95 yards to give the Knights a thrilling victory in the war for I-4.

Gold: In most years, a Florida-Florida State matchup would safely reign as the game of the week in the Sunshine State. In 2017, it was the underwhelming encore to UCF-USF.

But credit Florida cornerback Duke Dawson for a truly sublime bit of entertainment. It began innocently enough, with Florida State quarterback James Blackmon’s pass slipping out of receiver Auden Tate’s hands. Tate is pulled to the ground by Florida cornerback Marco Wilson, and that’s when this gets weird. First, the ball bounces off Wilson’s back. Then, it ricochets off Tate’s leg. Dawson is the beneficiary, as the ball pops right into his waiting arms to complete one of the weirdest interceptions of the season.

3rd and 1

Welcome back, Chip Kelly, who became the latest and by far the most high-profile coach to attempt to resuscitate UCLA football.

This is an undeniable coup for the Bruins, who abruptly fired Jim Mora Jr. and enlisted the aid of mega-booster Casey Wasserman to recruit the hottest and most proven name on the market. And, for the first time in a very long time, crosstown rival USC has reason to be wary.

Make no mistake, the Trojans have a significant head start on talent and nothing short of a monumental collapse will change that. USC is simply too entrenched historically and, with a Pac-12 title in sight, once again too successful for anyone to consistently beat them head-to-head for key recruits in Southern California. But there’s also plenty of other talent to go around and Kelly proved at Oregon that he doesn’t need the absolute best players to succeed. He’ll get his difference-makers, and if Kelly is the same coach he was five years ago, he’ll enjoy a massive schematic advantage over Clay Helton.

If he’s not, and the rest of the game has caught up to the schemes he made famous? Then it’s more of the same, which only reaffirms that UCLA made the right choice to shoot for the moon and hire him. For the first time since at least the 1990s, UCLA employs a more highly-regarded football coach than USC. There’s only upside in whatever comes next.

Punt

On the Tennessee job. No matter the merits of Tennessee deciding to abandon its courtship of Greg Schiano to fill their vacant head coaching position, both the way it was handled and the plethora of other vacancies should make every buzzworthy candidate cast a wary eye at taking the job in Knoxville.

The program has a losing record over the past decade. The new athletic director’s job may already be at risk. The fanbase is at a collective breaking point, and the University fears it enough to capitulate after only a few hours of very loud tweets and phone calls. (And, no, I’m not gullible enough to believe that Schiano’s possible involvement in the Jerry Sandusky scandal would matter one bit to the good people of Knoxville if he were a more accomplished head coach.)

The upside just isn’t there, not with the looming possibility of Florida State opening up should Jimbo Fisher inherit the Texas A&M post from Kevin Sumlin. Tennessee has the tradition, talent base, and resources to be a very good job—in a vacuum. In reality, the environment is too toxic for a strong candidate to risk his career on fumigating.

Player Who Deserves to Be Paid This Week

Here’s where we talk about Flowers, the USF quarterback who delivered what might be the best quarterbacked game of the season. The senior from Miami threw for a school-record 503 yards as part of a school-record 605 total yards, and accounted for five total touchdowns. No matter the eventual outcome, that ought to merit a fat check in his bank account.

Coach Who Does Not

In a weekend rife with coaching turnover, let’s give what might be a final farewell for Mike Riley, whose employment status now matches this dubious award. Nebraska mercifully ended Riley’s three-year tenure as head coach one day after Iowa napalmed the once-vaunted Blackshirts defense in a 56-14 blowout. The loss dropped the Cornhuskers to 4-8, which represents the program’s worst season since 1961. Riley finishes his tenure with a 19-19 record, which is about right for a man whose primary selling point was being a standup guy. Riley told the media that while he’s open to further coaching opportunities, he’s “looking forward to being a granddaddy” after decades in the game. If this is the end, here’s to a well-earned retirement.

Obscure College Football Team Of Note

For nine gruesome weeks, the Georgia Southern Eagles could not win a game. They lost blowouts (52-17 to Indiana) and squeakers (21-17 to Georgia State) alike. New Hampshire shut them out in the first half of Week 2 (Final score: 22-12, Wildcats). UMass poured on 48 points in the first half of Week 7 (Final score: 55-20, Minutemen). They scored three measly points in the final three quarters of their Week 9 loss to Appalachian State (Final score: 27-6, Mountaineers), at which point anyone left on the bandwagon would have been well within their rights to hop all the way off. Things were bleak.

And then, with no warning whatsoever, the Eagles struck back. In Week 10, they annihilated South Alabama 52-0, in which they scored more points than their previous three games combined. This past weekend, they edged Louisiana-Lafayette 34-24 to put them on a two-game winning streak. If they defeat Coastal Carolina in this weekend’s season finale, then the entire season will be comprised of two streaks. It won’t be the best season, it will be remarkable nevertheless.

Something to Look Forward To

Conference title games! You’ll be hard-pressed to find a bad matchup among the Power Five conferences, each of which offer compelling plotlines.

Can Auburn knock down Georgia again, or will the Bulldogs avenge their only loss of the season? Which ACC power, defending national champion Clemson or resurgent Miami, will eliminate the other from playoff contention? Will Wisconsin defeat Ohio State to complete a perfect regular season? Does USC play to its potential and win the Pac-12 for the first time since 2008, or will its luck run out after too many close calls this season? How much, if any, defense will be played between Oklahoma and TCU?

That’s without getting the best of the rest, which includes an intriguing Conference USA title game between the exciting North Texas Mean Green and Lane Kiffin’s Florida Atlantic Owls, who are undefeated in conference play.

Top to bottom, it’s the deepest week of the season, so get ready for a worthy finale to the regular season.

Rolled Tide, Chip Ahoy!, and the Miserable Vols: The Week in College Football published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv