#highest solid defense stat in the whole story

[hetalia-club]

H-ESPN Pregame Rundown: Tsunami Titans vs. Freedom Fighters

Stats Page

*Taps my papers on my desk*

1940's Radio Announcer Voice:

"Good evening, sports fans! Welcome to today's highlight of a highly anticipated matchup between the Tsunami Titans from Tokyo and the Freedom Fighters from New York City. This game promises to be a thrilling showdown, showcasing some of the finest talent in the Hetalia Baseball League.

I tell ya' Its looking like a fine day for baseball. It's supposed to be a nice over cast day tomorrow in Tokyo, a high of eighty four with a bit of rain in the morning. The humidity will be something the home team is used to dealing with, hopefully our visiting team get's a good nights rest in preparation for the big game on Sunday.

Sunday Night's game is set to be a clash of titans, quite literally! On one side, we have the disciplined and tactically astute Tsunami Titans, led by Japan. Known for their precision and strategic play, they excel in both offense and defense. The combination of Japan's pitching and Spain's power at the plate makes them a formidable force.

On the other side, the Freedom Fighters bring raw power and speed to the game. America's high-velocity pitching and Italy's finesse make for an interesting dynamic. With America's unmatched fastball and Italy's deceptive pitches, the Titans' batters will have their work cut out for them.

Without further ado, let's get into our player highlights for this evening.

Hitting it off with the Titans from Tokyo. Man I tell ya' this team has some skill. what they lack in power hitters they make up for in good fundamentals, and solid baseball. There's a couple players we want you to keep a close eye on in Sunday's game.

Certainly first we went to take a good look at Japan, The people of this city love Japan. When he steps up to the plate the crowd goes wild, with good reason to! Japan (#08) - The Tsunami: Leading the charge for the Titans is none other than Japan, also known as 'The Tsunami.' Don't let his stature fool you, folks; this guy is a tidal wave of power and speed. The fans have a special chant for him, and the energy in the stadium goes through the roof every time he steps up to the plate. His curveball is a thing of beauty, baffling batters left and right. He has the highest strikeouts in the league and it shows. Let’s just hope he’s well rested and on his A game because that arm will be crucial in warding off the heavy hitters on the opposing team.

Next up we think you should keep an eye on, Spain

Spain (#12) - Matador: Here comes the heavy hitter, Spain, affectionately known as 'Matador.' This guy hits like a bull, folks, and he's just as impatient. With nearing 30 home runs this season, he's a force to be reckoned with. Watch out, pitchers; he'll take you down a few pegs in a heartbeat. Let's just hope he can keep his cool out there!"

You know who's another fan favorite? Number 1, Prussia. Heh, you know funny story about this player, he actually gave himself his own nickname. Just started calling himself that and it stuck!

Prussia (#01) - Teutonic Titan: "Shortstop Prussia, or the 'Teutonic Titan' as he likes to call himself, brings a whole lot of swagger to the field. He's all about confidence and skill, making those tough plays look routine."

We'll round off our highlights of The Titans with, the first baseman and sub in pitcher, Canada.

Canada (#24): First baseman Canada is a dual-threat, stepping in to pitch when Japan needs a breather. Known for his fastball and pinpoint accuracy, he's the epitome of control on the mound. This guy is real quiet in team interviews but he makes waves on the field

Now let's take a more in depth look at our visiting team for tomorrow evening. The Freedom Fighters led by America. Speaking of America let's start off our highlights real with the Team Captain himself.

America (#01) - The Show: Leading the Freedom Fighters is America, aptly nicknamed 'The Show.' Always in the spotlight, regarded as the best player in the league, America is a power pitcher with a fastball that could scorch the batter's box, and I'm pretty sure I have seen that ball smoke a time or two! He loves the spotlight, and boy, the spot light sure does love him! If he makes contact with that ball it's going, going, GONE! Sayonara, Tokyo and on it's way back to the States with a first class ticket. You know it's a bit of a shame we won't get to see him in action in his home Stadium, tomorrow night. His walk on music always gets the fans on their feet. Whenever he hits a homer in his home Stadium they play an eagle scream over the oud speaker, The crowd goes wild!

Next we want to bring your attention over to the quickest player in the league.

Italy (#11) - Ferrari: Center fielder Italy, or 'Ferrari' as they call him, brings incredible speed to the game. I tell ya' folks watching this guy zip around the bases is something to see! His top speed was clocked at 30 mph, phew! It’s no wonder why he's earned his nickname with his quick feet. When he takes over pitching duties, his finesse and control make him a tough opponent. His slow ball and left hook are formidable.

You know his brother is on this team as well and instead of being hot footed this guy is a hot head if I've ever seen one!

Romano (#16) - Mouth: First baseman Romano, also known as 'Mouth,' just got back from a suspension for fighting a ref when he disagreed with a call at first base, the ref called out and well Romano, punched him out! Was insane to see! He turned the baseball diamond into the octagon. Provoking batters is his specialty, likes to get in their heads. You know this guy, you either love him or you hate him, and the fans of this team seem to love him! They put some of his insults onto t-shirts. I can't say what they say on a live broadcast, but you can check them out for yourself in the gift shop at the big game on Sunday.

Lastly let's take an up-close look at the not so Short-Shortstop

Denmark (#69): Shortstop Denmark brings a dynamic energy to the field. His quick reflexes and strong arm make him a key player in the infield. His long legs give him a good reach, I swear one time I witnessed this guy catch a ball 10 ft in the air, was an Air Bud type jump the world moved in slow motion. If they hit a ball his way it's bye-bye batter and back to the dug out. It will for sure be an area they want to avoid hitting to.

Man I tell ya' this team sure has some heavy hitters. It's going to be a hell of a match up for sure!

Now let's talk strategy for the game,

Pitching Duel: Expect a fascinating duel between Japan's curveball and America's fastball. Both pitchers are fan favorites and have the ability to control the game's pace. Key to Victory for the Tsunami Titans: Utilizing Japan's tactical pitching and leveraging Spain's power hitting. If Japan can keep the Freedom Fighters' batters off balance and Spain can capitalize on scoring opportunities, they have a strong chance. Key to Victory for the Freedom Fighters: America's dominance on the mound and Italy's speed. If America can overpower the Titans' lineup and Italy can create havoc on the bases, they might just edge out the Titans. The skills on both sides are so evenly matched, it's anyone's game!

Well that's all the pre-game analysis we have for you, we'll see you all tomorrow in Tokyo for the face off. This is Hetalia-Club, signing off!

[mushroom-daydreamer]

Type 0 Playable characters tier list

I love this game LMAO so enjoy my tier list that I spent too much time on.

So this isn’t me ranking the characters on how much I like them or how interesting they are, I’m ranking them based on how much I *personally* like playing as them.

Queen: so versatile! Her magic is great, her unique abilities are so useful, and her strength isn’t the highest, but she can still dispatch most mobs with a few good hits !

Cinque: fight me, but Cinque is SO awesome to play as! Her swings are slow and you can’t cancel out of them, but once you’re used to the gameplay and are able to get the timing down for hitting with her, Cinque is an absolute powerhouse. Her strength stat is very high, and when you need to hit really fast, she’s decent with magic.

Ace: Ace is pretty good, he doesn’t hit super hard, but his Cut Cards ability is super useful and fun to use. His dodge move is one of the best in terms of invincibility window, and his wall spell makes him a very good defensive character to use if you’re feeling cautious!

Deuce: fight me again, haha! I love Deuce, and not just because I majored in flute performance haha. Like Ace, Deuce is a good defensive character, especially with her Hymn of Healing ability. Her default attack can be buffed up pretty well, and the fact that she doesn’t have to get close to the action is good for ranged attackers. She also has terrific magic, especially fire.

Sice: sometimes I have trouble with her reach and landing killsights, but her strength is good, and her special abilities are unique and fun. Also, I love the whole scythe aesthetic haha.

Rem: Rem has awesome magic stats, and she has one of the best abilities in the game- Undying Wish! Undying Wish grants your whole party re-raise for around fifteen seconds, which is so good in a game where Phoenix downs are rare and a pain to use.

Cater: I love her ranged attacks and how fast you can fire her pistol! Her dodge is kinda scary to use, it doesn’t feel super effective, but when you need a speedy character with great ranged attacks, Cater is awesome. I do feel like Cater is very easily killed though, her defense is on the low side

Seven: her attacks are kind of hard to time, similar to Cinque, but unlike Cinque her strength isn’t off the charts. However, she’s a fast runner and is highly maneuverable! She also has very good elemental attacks you can unlock.

King: while King doesn’t move very fast, he *can* move while firing, which isn’t something that other ranged characters, like Cater, Ace, and Trey, can do. His twin revolvers also hit pretty hard, and he’ll save your ass during the dragon boss fight during the battle of Judecca mission.

Trey: his ranged attacks are far reaching, though they don’t hit hard. I DID defeat that crazy hard Brionac boss with Trey, but for some reason he tends to die a lot while I’m level grinding.

Nine: For me, Nine doesn’t really hit that hard, and I just have trouble controlling spear characters in general. I do really like his Jump ability though.

Machina: bruh I have barely played as Machina, probably bc he’s always jumping ship, but in general, sword characters are pretty okay to control. Sorry Machina, I don’t like you enough to buy you updated weapons or give you accessories, so I don’t know how strong your attacks actually are.

Eight: unfortunately, characters with ranged attacks or at least far reach really have a leg up in this game. Eight is okay with regular mobs, but in missions his small reach just doesn’t cut it for me. He’s a solid party member though.

Jack: like Cinque, Jack isn’t beginner friendly. However, unlike Cinque, Jack doesn’t have a great range of movement. Cinque swings slowly, but she can dodge roll or run up close to her targets so she won’t miss. Jack moves incredibly slowly, and is hard to control. There’s probably a way to use him really well, but for me he’s borderline useless.

Next I want to do a tier list for actually how much I like the characters in terms of story, haha!

[murasaki-murasame]

Ieyasu came for my saving-for-Gala-Luca throat and I still managed to get him with 100 of my 250-ish saved up sommons >:3c

Now to go back into saving-for-Gala-Luca mode. After the absolute nightmare that was the Gala Elly banner, I’m not taking any risks this time.

Anyway, more about my summons under the cut [TL;DR: I got more than I even wanted, and also if anyone’s feeling iffy on this banner I just wanna let you know that Chitose is basically Light!Emma and he’s probably the best new unit on the entire banner lmao]

The last few weeks of events were really generous and got me all the way up to 250 or so saved summons, and after seeing that Ieyasu was gonna be featured on this banner along with like four other units I was terrified that it wouldn’t be enough to get him, and that I’d be left with no real chance of getting Gala Luca afterward, but then I got Ieyasu after 100 summons so we’re all good, lol. Let’s just say that once I saw that rainbow blade every single muscle in my body was clenched as I faced the imminent coin toss between getting Ieyasu and Nobunaga. And thankfully I got what I wanted in the end.

I also got two copies of Mitsuhide, who I didn’t really care one way or another about, but now I have her, lmao. I honestly don’t even think she’s worth pulling for since she only seems somewhat better than Fleur, but I’m happy to have her.

The most surprising part of this banner was that I randomly got my first copy of Yaten, which I’m EXTREMELY happy about. His banner was one of the first times [along with Ieyasu, ironically] where I really felt bad about not managing to pull him while he was featured, so I’m happy he finally came home. I was seriously considering dream summoning him in the future, and now I don’t have to. I’ll probably still be dream summoning Delphi soon, though, since Cygames is doing everything in their power to make me regret initially thinking he was a bad character, lol. So yeah this banner gave me the two 5-star shadow unit dudes who I’d missed out on previously so that’s pretty nifty. I think the only shadow 5-stars I’m missing now are Summer Verica, Delphi, and I guess Veronica but I’m not really counting limited units. And out of those three I only really care about Delphi since I already have Heinwald and Gala Cleo.

I got Chitose really early in my summons, and it almost made me contemplate stopping there, but I decided to keep going until I got Ieyasu. Which thankfully happened without me using all of my summons. I do think that Chitose is the real gem of this banner, but Ieyasu’s new mana spiral upgrade also makes him noteworthy again.

I thought that maybe at most Chitose would be a light version of DY-Xanfried, but nope he’s literally a light version of Emma, lol. I thought Cygames wouldn’t put such a powerful unit behind a limited banner, but here we are. Light continues to suffer from having most of their good units being limited. At least this whole banner makes me feel a bit better about not having gotten DY-Malora.

I was kinda worried about the idea of Chitose being a curse-res light wand, since I feel like endgame curse-res light content is kinda punishing toward ranged units, but they pretty much specifically designed his kit to make him super tanky, with his +20% defense passive and his 30% Max HP shield on his S2, lmao. At least if you use Chocolatiers or something on him, using those two together is probably enough to get past HZD’s HP check, so he might actually become a really good, accessible meta unit for that fight. But in general as a strength buffbot he’s pretty much automatically one of the best light units already.

On the other hand I think Hanabusa is probably going to be inferior to Yachiyo until he hopefully gets a mana spiral upgrade that fixes his partial curse res and gives his kit some new elements to make him shine. But I think if he can get that upgrade later [or if he can manage to get by with a curse res print in HZD], he might be really good. It’s hard to tell how good his kit as a whole is at the moment, but I like that he has team strength buffs built into his kit, and some pretty high buff time increases based on his S1 skill shift.

We’ll see how it shakes out, but I feel like Mitsuhide probably isn’t going to completely erase Fleur from the meta. It’s not quite like the Thaniel-Jiang Ziya situation, since Fleur is still super strong on her own, and I feel like Mitsuhide doesn’t provide much more aside from higher stats as a 5-star.

I’m basically forcing myself to not care about Nobunaga so that i can resist the completionist urge to keep pulling for her to have her in my collection just because she exists, so I’m just going to think of her as a unit that I can live without, for my own sanity, lmao. But honestly she doesn’t stand out a whole lot, at least not after all the massive buffs the flame roster just got. Her buff dispels don’t seem very special now that Euden and Naveed can do that too, and the unique debuff on her S1 kinda seems like . . . a worse version of bleed, lol.

Daikokuten seems like a good dragon, but I’m not gonna bother chasing after him since I got Cupid a while ago and I’m working on unbinding him. He seems like he provides more raw strength than Cupid if you can maintain a high combo count, but Cupid’s heal and crit rate buff pretty much ensure that he’s still going to be a highly valued dragon in the long run, so I’m fine if I don’t get the new one.

I honestly might have done the platinum dragon summon once if it was a thing where you got a guaranteed copy of Daikokuten each time, but it’s literally just ‘you get one of the 5-star dragons and Daikokuten has the exact same appearance rate as the rest of them’, which is basically useless to me. Same with the adventurer one, but I wasn’t going to pull on that anyway since i don’t care for the two new 5-stars. I can tell that they’re trying to give people a bit more incentive to spend money on this game, but I think it’s only worth it if you’re a super new player who barely has any 5-stars at all. Some people will probably do the adventurer one because they really like the new banner units, I guess, but it’s a horrible deal.

Also on the note of Nobunaga, I’m kinda disappointed that she’s just the Year of the Horse character, lol. I would have liked it way more if she was an unofficial Year of the Cat clan leader, with Ebisu as her pact dragon, but then that would have made me want to pull for her more because I’m weak for anything that I can twist into a Fruits Basket reference, so maybe it’s a good thing that they didn’t go down that route. Either way it feels kinda weird to not have her be about the Year of the Cat when she’s being bundled with the Rat clan leader, and Ebisu is already based on that whole myth anyway. It seems like a vaguely uncomfortable and off-putting message of ‘yeah this game isn’t going to last long enough for us to actually get to the Year of the Horse so we’re giving her out early :)’. If they were gonna do it this way in order to get all of the clan leader characters released within 6-7 years rather than 12, I kinda wish they could have done that from the start so it didn’t come as a surprise now. Oh well.

Anyway, even though I’m not a fan of Nobunaga at all [and even after the event story I still don’t have any interest in her lol], I really like the rest of the new units. I could take or leave Mitsuhide in terms of her being a 5-star light dagger, but the event story actually made me like her a fair bit. Plus, her 3D model helped sell me on her design.

But mostly Chitose is my absolute son boy and I adore him. I get the feeling he’s going to be very . . . polarizing, but I love him. He’s absolutely perfect, and to top it all off he’s exactly the character that the light roster has been waiting for. As soon as he came into my summons being like ‘here comes a slice of cutie pie <3′ it was over for me.

Hanabusa’s also fun, in a surprisingly Danganronpa character writing kinda way. I think his facial expressions really gave me that sorta comparison, since it’s kinda rare for characters in this game to be that cartoon-y. But I also really love him. The fact that purple’s my favourite colour may or may not be making me extremely biased in his favour, though.

Also, Ebisu seems to be a 40% HP shadow dragon, which I think shadow’s been lacking. He’s probably not as good as a MUB NIdhogg/HZD, but I don’t have either of those so he’s nice to have. Even though I use Heinwald as my shadow healer and he prefers mixed dragons.

The new event wyrmprints also all seem pretty good. The Wyrmclan Duo basically seems to be Resounding Rendition but with crit damage instead of crit rate, and I’ll have to see how the math on that one turns out. I think most characters benefit more from crit rate than crit damage, but I’m not sure. A New Year’s Battle seems like a pretty solid print for daggers, and probably other units that can get high combo counts.

And then A Game of Cat and Boar seems like it’s gonna be the best wyrmprint for light buffers like Chitose and maybe Hanabusa. It actually has the highest buff time percentage for a wyrmprint in the game, at 25% compared to the current main ones being 20%, but it’s locked to light units. The 10% shadow res also works nicely with Chitose’s innate focus on defense, to make it easier for him to pass HP checks and whatnot. It’s a potent enough buff time increase that you can pretty easily just run something like the HZD print in his second slot without losing out on much, but outside of HZD he might just use a second buff time print anyway since there’s no real reason to bother buffing his offensive stats.

Anyway, in short, this banner was extremely gracious to me, Chitose is Best Boy, and I’m going to skip everything between now and the next gala in the hopes that we’ll finally get Gala Luca.

On that note, I thought Gala Luca might be a light dagger, but that seems a lot less likely now that Mitsuhide exists. I think he’ll probably be a light blade, or maybe a light spear, instead. I think him being a light blade would be great. We really need more of those [especially since Hanabusa’s stuck with a welfare unit kit], and it’d be great to see Luca get the vindication he deserves by getting a really strong gala alt. So until then I’m just gonna try and keep hoarding my resources until I can pull for him. I think I have a little over 150 summons worth of resources saved up, and I hope that’ll get a lot bigger over the next month.

[junker-town]

The 11 undefeated women’s college basketball teams, ranked

They’ve made it this far without a loss, but which teams stand out above the rest?

We’re just now reaching the moment in the season where being undefeated actually means something. No matter the competition, nine or 10 wins in a row is just one of those milestones that starts to stick — especially for teams that haven’t experienced that kind of run before. Among the 11 DI women’s basketball teams that remain unbeaten, you’ll see a wide array of programs. Some are stalwarts (hello, UConn), but more are programs that aren’t supposed to be undefeated. And some teams that might have been expected to cruise through non-conference play, like Baylor and Oregon, have already been taken down.

Below is an entirely subjective ranking of these 11 undefeated programs with an attempt to account for strength of schedule and how much teams with easier matchups have been flexing on their opponents.

11. Texas Tech

The Red Raiders have a pretty soft non-conference schedule (they’re currently ranked No. 138 in RPI) and they’ve played fewer games so far than anyone else on this list. But they’ve been making the most of their easy start with solid wins — their average margin of victory has been over 27 points per game, according to Her Hoop Stats. The tough Big 12 Conference (the league is 68-20 so far this season) will be a real test for the team, particularly its powerhouse forward Brittany Brewer. Right now Brewer is averaging a double-double and leads the league in blocks with a truly remarkable 5.6 per game. In the backcourt, freshman Alexis Tucker is shooting 66 percent from the field (!) for an average of 16 points a game — as of last week, those numbers made her the most efficient scorer in the Big 12, and the top scoring freshman. She’s also averaging 10 rebounds a game.

Back in the USA this Sunday‼️ #M2M | #WreckEm⚫️ pic.twitter.com/p6tWAyBhNm

— Lady Raider WBB (@LadyRaiderWBB) December 13, 2019

10. Colorado

The Buffs haven’t been winning flashy, but they have been winning — getting Ws they’ll desperately need to have any chance of competing in the daunting Pac-12. Junior forward Mya Hollingshed, 6’4, has been controlling the boards, leading the team in scoring and also getting steals (two per game) while freshman Emma Clarke has proven to be a deep threat, shooting 40 percent from behind the arc on an average of six attempts a game. Yes, they’ve got a steep climb ahead of them. But if Colorado can stay undefeated heading into conference play, there’s no telling how they might be able to force some upsets in the Pac-12 tournament — or even the big dance itself.

Buffs cruise past Denver, 96-70, to improve to 9-0 on the season! https://t.co/rUL1Pakz33 pic.twitter.com/w3VuINrN0A

— Colorado Women's Basketball (@CUBuffsWBB) December 13, 2019

Loyola Chicago

The 9-0 Ramblers are at the top of the heap in the sneakily competitive Missouri Valley conference. Their first real test will come this Friday versus DePaul where the team will see whether their strong fundamentals — the Ramblers have the seventh-best assist/turnover ratio in the country and the second-highest defensive rebounding rate — are enough to contain DePaul’s lightning-quick transition game. Their box scores are enviably balanced, with forwards Abby O’Connor and Allison Day (she of the 59 percent field goal percentage) leading the charge.

#Loyola Continues Perfect Start, Fights Off Bowling Green, 84-76 -- ️ ➡️ https://t.co/8Ukl2imtFK #TurnTheShip #OnwardLU #MVCWBB pic.twitter.com/IRwpWylnLa

— Loyola Women's Basketball (@RamblersWBB) December 16, 2019

8. Kansas

The Jayhawks have six players averaging double-digit points — plus, they all have cool nicknames.

big body tina , k dollas , hot pocket holly , big bully brook , big nine , lil niya https://t.co/KQS3pTUVgT

— Aniya Thomas (@Aniya5Thomas) December 16, 2019

The team has yet to assert themselves with a true statement win (though their recent victory over Florida comes close), but they’ll have plenty of opportunities to do so once Big 12 play starts — a game against a surging West Virginia team in early January will be a particularly important test of what they can do. Right now, their biggest strength is drawing fouls and getting to the line, though guards Brooklyn Mitchell and Aniya Thomas have made the Jayhawks’ offense among the most convincing in their conference.

.@brklynnnm went for 2️⃣4️⃣ and 4️⃣ other Jayhawks scored in double-digits to help #KUwbb stay undefeated in Sunday's 86-81 victory! ' ⤵ pic.twitter.com/5D3yK1ig06

— Kansas Women's Bball (@KUWBball) December 16, 2019

7. UCLA

It’s pretty hard to ignore Michaela Onyenwere and Japreece Dean, two stellar players who thus far have led the Bruins to their undefeated start. Their play might help explain why the team is ranked No. 10 nationally, but this is still another one of those “too soon to tell” teams — one with the potential to upset the whole Pac-12 or fall completely flat. They still haven’t played many teams in their peer group and aren’t standing out in many stat categories — assist/turnover ratio aside, in which they rank fifth in the country. Dean and Onyenwere are lethal offensive threats, and Dean is dishing (6.4 times a game) to other weapons like freshman Charisma Osborne, who has started to get hot from deep, and junior Lauryn MIller, who’s shooting 59 percent from the field.

While you were reading this @japreece24 scored another bucket, grabbed another rebound and dished another assist. She's the #Pac12WBB Player of the Week after her triple-double for @UCLAWBB! ➡️ https://t.co/rkZwFf7TLo pic.twitter.com/eDh0oVdx3q

— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) December 2, 2019

6. Arizona

The Wildcats are 10-0 for the first time in program history...and perhaps more impressively, they’re beating opponents by an average of over 30 points a game. The reigning WNIT champs, Arizona is dominating on the defensive end (Her Hoop Stats gives them the eighth-best defensive rating in the country), while staying efficient enough on offense to garner the league’s fifth-best field goal percentage — four of the starting five are shooting over 50 percent. Junior Aari McDonald is keeping up her breakneck pace, scoring almost 20 points a game; Cate Reese is forcing the issue in the paint to the tune of nine rebounds a game, while Helena Pueyo is shooting almost 50 percent from three. This team is dangerous — and even better, phenomenally fun to watch.

You best come correct when facing our defense. We lead the country in opponent field goal percentage (28.8%) #MadeForIt | #BearDown pic.twitter.com/cRq15zXL8W

— Arizona Women's Basketball (@ArizonaWBB) December 11, 2019

5. NC State

The story of NC State can be summed up in two words: Elissa Cunane. Ok, maybe you need a few more — but it’s true that the 6’5 sophomore seems to have a Megan Gustafson-esque ability to score in the paint and corral rebounds. She’s shooting 64 percent from the floor and averaging 11 rebounds a game, playing an enormous role in making the Wolfpack one of the best rebounding teams in the country (they have the seventh-best rebounding rate). Guards Kayla Jones and Kai Crutchfield are lighting up the backcourt, the latter’s five threes helping push the team to a win over highly touted Maryland. They’ve also beaten Texas this year and now have to wait for the start of ACC play to see how things shake out.

It's hard to stop a 6-5 center with the ❤️ of a point guard, y'all. @ecunane_ Watch the final minutes on @espn! pic.twitter.com/JAyoqMM36m

— #9 NC State WBB (@PackWomensBball) December 6, 2019

4. Florida State

With victories over Texas A&M and Michigan State, the Seminoles demand to be taken seriously. They’re the seventh-best offense in the country, according to Her Hoop Stats, fueled by their ability to create opportunities for second-chance points (overall, they have the 9th-highest rebounding rate). Redshirt senior Kiah Gillespie is averaging a double-double with veteran guard Nausia Wollfolk right behind her. They’re also in the jam-packed ACC where even being 10-0 doesn’t set you apart too much — imagine if both the Seminoles and the Wolfpack can keep up their respective winning streaks until they meet mid-January...

Keep playing like a symphony #FSUWBB | #GETIN pic.twitter.com/UOHRy30CMZ

— FSU Women's Hoops (@fsuwbb) December 10, 2019

3. UConn

How do you solve a problem like UConn? Yes, the Huskies are undefeated — which is considerably less notable for them than it is for the other teams on this list. But they’re still working out what their team will look like this season: Meghan Walker has emerged as an incredibly dynamic scorer, averaging 22 (!) points a game, and Olivia Nelson-Ododa is absolutely suffocating opponents, averaging 4 blocks a game. But neither has ever been in a position to lead the vaunted program….heavy is the head that wears the crown, etc. Huskies fans are accustomed to blowout wins, and they haven’t really seen that yet this year (the team is ranked No. 22 in the league in margin of victory). But they’re still UConn and Geno is still Geno, and a lot of the questions will have clearer answers once they start meeting heavyweight opponents next year. It’s easy to imagine that they will drop in the rankings, though, given the relative weakness of their conference compared to their Pac-12 and ACC competition.

| TOP 5 PLAYS |#BleedBlue pic.twitter.com/yQJBiMiLeY

— UConn Women's Hoops (@UConnWBB) December 17, 2019

2. Stanford

The Cardinal have played one of the tougher schedules in the league, eking out wins over the now No. 17 Gonzaga and No. 15 Mississippi State and maintaining an average margin of victory of 24 points. One thing that really sets them apart is their depth: nine players are averaging over five points a game and most of the team is averaging less than 20 minutes on the floor. Sophomore Lexie Hull is currently the leading scorer with Kiana Williams and freshman phenom Haley Jones following close behind — but really, the team is spreading the ball around with enviable efficiency. Basically, everyone can do everything.

No. 1️⃣ stays on top. ☝️@haleyjoness19 had 15 points, 7 rebounds and a career-high 6 assists for @StanfordWBB. She grabs #Pac12WBB Freshman of the Week honors: https://t.co/PjGHiPA4mA pic.twitter.com/7ylKWmErSE

— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) December 16, 2019

Oregon State

If you talk to any Beavers fan, they’re ready to stop being the other Oregon — and thanks to stars Mikayla Pivec, Destiny Slocum and Aleah Goodman, that might be happening sooner than later. Pivec averages a double-double despite being 5’10, Slocum shoots over 50 percent and Goodman is shooting 47 percent from three. All three are averaging over five assists a game. There’s some good wins on their resume, but more than anything the Beavers have the firepower to keep this streak going — even into the Pac-12, where there are basically no games off. Upset in the Pac-12 tourney earlier this year, there’s no question that Oregon State believes its time is now.

Pac-12 leaders in blocks this season: 1⃣ @kennedybrown42 - 18 blocks 2⃣ @tayllorjoness - 15 blocks#GoBeavs pic.twitter.com/U3UVFGZSIA

— Oregon State WBB (@BeaverWBB) December 15, 2019

Four games to watch

No. 20 Missouri State at No. 17 Gonzaga (Dec. 20, 9 p.m. ET, WCC Network)

Big mid-major energy.

No. 22 West Virginia at No. 19 Michigan State (Dec. 21, 1:30 p.m. ET, FloHoops)

West Virginia is looking for their second ranked win; the Spartans are trying to get back on track.

No. 10 UCLA at No. 12 Indiana (Dec. 22, 12 p.m. ET, BTN)

UCLA will face their first big test against a historically-great Indiana team — should be quite a game.

No. 8 Florida State at No. 24 Michigan (Dec. 22, 1:30 p.m. ET, ACCN)

FSU is pushing inch by inch towards the top 5 — here’s a huge chance for them to prove they deserve it.

[encmoments]

The ENC Moments All-Volleyball Team

If you would like to donate to ENC Moments, you can send your contribution through PayPal (paypal.me/theflourishpost), Cash App ($FlourishSeason) or Venmo (@JuniousSmithIII).

After leading the Patriots to their second straight NCISAA 3A championship and posting stellar numbers all year, Arendell Parrott’s Alli Grant Avery was named “ENC Moments Volleyball Player of the Year.”

There was quite a bit of success across the area in volleyball.

Whether it’s Arendell Parrott winning its second straight state NCISAA 3A title, Ayden-Grifton making its inaugural trek to the NCHSAA 2A championship game, or long losing streaks getting broken (Kinston snapped a 46-game skid, Jones Senior a 16-game one) there was plenty to get excited about. In the area, four teams posted double-digit wins this season (Arendell Parrott, Ayden-Grifton, North Lenoir and South Lenoir) and three others increased their win totals from last year (Bethel Christian, Greene Central and Kinston).

Through the great team efforts across the area, here were the players who stood out the most with their play. There will be six members on the first team, six on the second and a Player of the Year, who won’t be on the first team. Hopefully, this is the most accurate list for the ENC Moments region.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Alli Grant Avery, Arendell Parrott

Stats: 433 kills, 61 blocks, 44 aces

The senior has always impressed during her five years with consistent play, and 2019 was no different. Avery virtually emulated her numbers from last year (432 kills, 55 blocks, 53 aces) while leading the Patriots to their second straight state title, ending her career with a sterling 108-11 record. APA also ended the season as the No. 9 team in the state according to Maxpreps. Apologies to Ayden-Grifton’s Emily Dykes, who elevated her game to another level this season as well.

COACH OF THE YEAR

David Barnes, Arendell Parrott

Last season, the Patriots had a perfect record and didn’t have nearly the adversity of 2019. Dealing with a two-game losing streak where APA couldn’t hold on to 2-0 leads in each, it could’ve been easy to lose confidence — instead, the team closed the season out with nine consecutive wins, eight by straight sets. Barnes deserves a lot of credit for helping the Patriots stay focused on the goal of a third championship. Apologies to Ayden-Grifton’s Linda Bryant, who will retire with the school’s first state title game appearance.

FIRST TEAM

Alexia Bryant, Ayden-Grifton

Bryant was second on the Chargers with 219 kills and formed one of the scariest trios in the state when she was on. The senior was also one of two players to be a part of the most successful run in Chargers’ history with 78 wins and three conference titles.

Emily Dykes, Ayden-Grifton

The senior was the most feared hitter in the EC2A and registered a conference-high 419 kills. It wasn’t the only factor of Dykes’ game, as she led the Chargers in service aces (61) and blocks (56) while stepping her game up in the postseason.

Virginia Edmondson, Arendell Parrott

Edmondson ensured opponents wouldn’t get a break just because Avery was on the back row. The junior was second on the team in kills (192), while also contributing 37 service aces and 25 blocks for the now two-time defending state champion Patriots.

Aale’Yah Garris, Ayden-Grifton

Garris was the Chargers’ X-factor throughout the season and did a little bit of everything in the process. The senior was third on the team in kills with 193, but finished second in blocks (36) while providing 36 service aces.

Mackenzie Pope, Arendell Parrott

Pope is one of two players to start since eighth grade and she made sure her senior year would finish with a bang. Pope was the primary setter with 536 assists, but was also third in kills (173) while finishing second in aces (55) and blocks (33).

Kennedy Sullivan, North Lenoir, junior

The stats don’t tell the whole story for Sullivan, who was the best defensive player in the area. The junior did have 157 digs with a 97 percent serving percentage and 32 aces, but she covered quite a bit of ground this season.

From left, Ayden-Grifton’s Aale’Yah Garris, Emily Dykes and Alexia Bryant were major contributors in the Chargers’ first trip to the NCHSAA 2A state championships and all made the ENC Moments All-Volleyball First Team.

SECOND TEAM

Mary Grace Beyer, South Lenoir

Beyer will be a terror in the EC2A for years to come as the freshman led the Blue Devils in kills with 155 and finishing second in aces with 44.

Gisell Cervantes, Arendell Parrott

The junior may not have been able to play the last few games of the season, but Coach David Barnes stressed her importance as a libero for what became the No. 9 team in the state.

Paytyn Jones, North Lenoir

The junior was second on the Hawks in kills with 188 and led the team in service aces (40). When Jones was on, the Hawks became a formidable foe.

Reena Parris, North Lenoir

The junior led the Hawks with 193 kills and was the team’s most consistent hitter. Expect a great duo of Parris and Jones for the 2020 campaign.

Madalyn Radford, Greene Central

The senior did a little bit of everything for the Rams, leading the team in kills and blocks while second in service aces. Greene Central made significant strides and Radford was a catalyst.

Sara Beth Stroud, South Lenoir

An injury in the regular-season finale shouldn’t dampen what the senior was able to accomplish this year. Stroud finished second on the team in kills with 108 and led the Blue Devils with 175 digs.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Johanna Banks, Bethel Christian

The sophomore was the Trojans’ primary setter, leading the team with 170 assists.

Abby Burress, Greene Central

The junior led the Rams in service aces while also finishing second in kills and digs.

Holly Cannon, Ayden-Grifton

The sophomore was the team’s primary setter with 845 assists, and was second on the team in aces (43).

Jessi Dawson, Bethel Christian

The senior provided versatility, leading the team in blocks (18) and third in aces (22).

Mallory Dawson, South Lenoir

The senior led the Blue Devils in service aces (45) while also finishing second in digs (144).

Michaela Elmore, South Lenoir

The senior played great defense for the Blue Devils, while also adding 38 service aces.

Laura Fulcher, Bethel Christian

The junior stepped up to led the Trojans in kills (108) and service aces (47) as the team had its best year since 2015.

Tanayja Green, Jones Senior

The lone senior on the roster, Green provided plenty of leadership for the Trojans.

Jessica Harris, South Lenoir

The senior was the Blue Devils’ primary setup player with 285 assists on the season.

Alyssa Kopanski, South Lenoir

The senior made a stronger impact as the season went on, picking up 40 kills in the process.

Abby Langemann, Ayden-Grifton

The junior finished third in service aces (39) and fourth in kills (71) for the Chargers.

Logan Lucas, South Lenoir

The senior defensive specialist was tied for the highest serving percentage on the team with 93 percent.

Quiaira Powell, Kinston

The senior was the Vikings’ leading hitter and server this season, providing great intensity.

Lauren Richardson, Arendell Parrott

The future is bright for this eighth-grader, who led the team in aces (57) and had 180 digs.

Kelly Suggs, Bethel Christian

The sophomore led the Trojans in digs (153), while also finishing second in aces (38) and kills (37).

Lesley Sutton, Kinston

The senior was a leader for the Vikings, while also working as the team’s defensive ace.

Kanijah Taylor, North Lenoir

The senior led the Hawks in blocks (44), while also finishing third in kills (111).

Jorja Tuten, Arendell Parrott

The junior was fourth on the team in kills with 40 and also had 27 service aces.

Ashley Vause, Bethel Christian

The sophomore finished second in kills (37) and blocks (15) for the Trojans.

Abby Vendemia, Greene Central

The junior finished third in kills and service aces for the Rams, giving the team another solid hitter.

Meredith Warren-Lane, Greene Central

The junior led the Rams in digs on the back row, while also finishing second in service aces.

Lindsay Williams, South Lenoir

The sophomore finished third on the team in kills (98) and service aces (41).

Nikylah Williams, Kinston

The senior did a bit of everything for the Vikings, and was a consistent presence throughout.

[advancedpottery217x2]

Tears to Tiara II: Haou no Matsuei Review

A post was initially planned to be a /r/visualnovels WAYR post for Tears to Tiara II: Haou no Matsuei (TtT2) but I wanted to say too much so it expanded to become more personal and contain my thoughts on the series as a whole (including Tears to Tiara: Kakan no Daichi (TtT1) and Tears to Tiara Gaiden: Avalon no Nazo (Gaiden)) in addition to my feelings towards the main scenario writer Marui Takeshi).

Have you ever encountered a piece of fiction that conformed to your tastes exceedingly well and seemed to be what you were looking for your entire life? After finishing TtT1 (and Gaiden) last year and 2 half a year ago, I've found myself thinking about why I love this series so much, and what I’ve been looking to get out of visual novels and fiction as a whole.

First, my thoughts on TtT2. For reference, here are thoughts I wrote on TtT1 last year.

Some parts will contain spoilers written in white text and placed in brackets. [Like this.] Tread carefully if you are reading this in an environment where you cannot highlight text.

Story/Characters

失われた女神と覇王の物語

As the tagline above suggests, the story is ultimately about the growth of the protagonist Hamil and the heroine Tarte; there is a much smaller focus on the side characters compared to TtT1. Although this made me feel disappointed, the increased amount of focus on Hamil/Tarte versus Arawn/Riannon made me enjoy the main pair much more than I initially expected and became one of the highest points of the game for me. In this case it more than made up for the otherwise loss of enjoyment from decreased side character events, but it in no way erased that loss. I think whether or not you will enjoy the game depends on this point.

Like TtT1, the plot can be summed up with the word 王道, as an adjective as well as a noun. I liked how Hamil’s struggles finding his place in the world amidst the expectations placed on him seemed to be a natural extension of what Arthur went through in TtT1. The existence of Melqart “within” him and the added contrast with his lineage/surroundings supporting his 覇道 side made for more interesting character growth. This is only enhanced by Matsuoka Yoshitsugu's incredible performance as Hamil (true gap 燃え). I really appreciated how his relationship with Tarte felt more equal and mutual than the one between Arawn and Riannon in 1; while the latter are still a very solid couple, I enjoyed the feeling that the former gave off of being two people struggling to sort out their feelings towards each other while also figuring out themselves and the future of Hispania. 初々しい少年少女という感じで大変可愛いであります！！！ Tarte is a heroine with clear motives who is ready to dedicate herself to Hispania and Hamil (for reasons made clear later in the story) while also not afraid to be harsher to push him in the right direction, a position not unlike Arawn towards Arthur in TtT1. The actual reason that I like these two better is probably because they have more イチャイチャ scenes. They can get ridiculously adorable in one scene and then be deadly serious for the next, which is my ideal for fictional couples honestly.

While the plot developments were also very 王道, I was even able to look over the more overbearing ones due to how they fit in the narrative and/or the atmosphere of the series as I understood it. ...Except for [reviving Monomachus. I can see needing a spear unit, but this was just way too convenient. The case of Tarte in the final chapter had build up (along with that fantastic CG parallel) when compared to Monomachus just... coming back.] In the grand scheme of things, that's my biggest complaint about the game.

There is also a clear divide between the first and second halves of the game at the end of Chapter 6. I've seen reviews saying the second half is lacking (and I can understand why), but I honestly think the game kept up my interest more after the middle climax until the story starts moving towards the end then TtT1 did (although I did think "ah... I guess it can't be a true TtT game without a 闘技大会 stage..."), which is something I can praise 2 for.

The distinctly lower amount of events focused on everyday life made me disappointed a little, as these were a large part of what made me enjoy the cast of 1 and made me see them as a family. Dion being the butt monkey of most of the jokes also got stale after a while, although I didn't expect [for him to get all those events relating to Simon, which gives him a great role which makes him more than that at least]. In terms of my overall opinion of the cast, 1's is much higher but in 2 Hamil and Tarte are just very, very good. Some of my favorites this time around other than the main pair were Kleito, Elissa, [Hasdrubal, Ishtar], and Izebel.

System/Gameplay

The system/UI functions are mainly the same as the previous two games (which also means the one line backlog is still present..,), although I was pleased to find that the possible characters for the system voice-like things you hear when you select an item in the menu in the base screen expanded from just two (Limwris/Ermin) to all the female party members (and the male characters on the map screen). It’s fun hearing all the characters telling you you’re about to save (or be disappointed when you back out of it). Not being able to check your items/character stats at the mid-story save points anymore was a downgrade, though. I also felt that there were less of those save points than in 1, which hurts during some of the longer story segments.

The battle system keeps/expands the elements introduced in Gaiden (item synthesis, traps, magic circles) and reworks what was formerly the changeling system into the Quadriga. While I’m happy about not being forced to use the latter unlike the former, sometimes the Quadriga just goes down too quickly... (´・ω・`) taking all the units inside down with it... (´・ω・`) But luckily in this game there’s a rewind feature that can send you to the start of a turn!! No more fucking around with save states While not as good as the one in Utawarerumono 2/3 (although I can’t complain too much seeing how this came before them), it gets the job done speedily.

Another new feature is the ability to use animals as party members, whether buying them as units from the shop or having Charis charm an enemy animal in battle. I didn’t actually use this that much, except for putting Charis on the gryphon you can buy for better mobility or the boar you can buy for better defense. The elephant that pulls the Quadriga is also a great tank so sometimes I put Charis on her too I guess. I also didn’t use the Melqart/Tanit transformations much, mostly because I didn’t feel like dealing with the decreased stats after the transformation wears off, although the increased stats during the change saved my ass a couple of times. Not being able to use chain attacks is also a marked con, but I guess it’s a price that must be paid to be OP. (´・ω・`)

In terms of game difficulty, I played on Normal and felt that it was harder than Normal in TtT1 and around the same level or higher than Easy in Gaiden (although I did get the all bonus and overall S rank trophies on my first run, which may influence this impression). I don’t know how someone who plays this as their first game in the series would feel though, as I was making sure to avoid common mistakes (not paying attention to element cycle, not using skills, etc.) early on. As the game goes on, spending an hour on a stage becomes commonplace rather than an exception. However, I found myself having fun figuring out strategies to clear every stage so sometimes I wouldn’t even notice how much time I was spending. Except the second fucking dragon stage in the main story fuck you ("ah... I guess it can't be a true TtT game without a BS dragon stage...").

The 50 stage (versus 100 in Gaiden) dungeon in the post-game is where I really felt the pain as everything is just out to get you (and there’s way more dragons). I just decided to grind everyone to level 99 halfway through, which made things easier until you reach the point where you can’t just go around whacking things into submission without thinking. The rewind system is not available for use which factors into the difficulty, but there is a poverty substitution in the suspend save feature. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the plot(?) surrounding exploring the dungeon was much more serious that what Gaiden had, although it was still pretty bare. The ending was nice and sweet as someone who did TtT1 but there was no credits roll like Gaiden had. My only real complaint is that it wasn’t voiced. (´・ω・`)

I bought all the DLC units after the main story and Arawn and Riannon were lifesavers due to their attributes more than once; if you end you playing the game I recommend getting these two if nothing else, especially because the chibi Riannon model is very cute (although Arawn is now 100% an ossan). The other units got some use (except for Beard who is mostly used for MP/CS boosting and/or memes) but they had cute models and level up lines so no regrets.

My main frustration is with how low the drop rates for items are, especially since now I’m looking to synthesize the OP weapons which require some of the rarest drops. Taking an hour to get one item is a bit much. (´・ω・`)

Visuals

Why is this game so pretty!!!! Seriously, everything from the backgrounds to the OP movie to the UI to the character sprites to the character cut-ins to the CGs are extremely pleasing to look at. Honjou Tatami’s character designs go way too well with the Aquaplus coloring team, and this game boasts some of my all time favorite CGs. The character sprites are also quite varied, although I’d have to say Tarte is my top pick in this regard. I also liked the character designs themselves in this game much more than the ones in 1, if only for how much more ｙ���ｂａｉ they are, especially Tarte and Izebel. It kind of feels odd comparing them to the simpler designs in 1, but at the end of the day I love the designs in both.

I think the 3D models worked well in translating those designs to a smaller size (although I can’t help but wonder about the gap between the models’ feet and the actual floor...) and don’t understand the people who were disappointed that they’re in chibi proportions. They’re cute!! I don’t know enough to say anything about the quality of the 3D maps/areas, but the greater location variety is a big plus; for some reason I really love the wheat field one.

The backgrounds have the soft, almost painting-like feel I’ve come to appreciate in Aquaplus games (thanks Kusanagi). There were even some surprise background appearances from 1 which made me smile.

My only negative in this category is that there are simply too few CGs for how long the game is. There is no excusing this point.

Music

How does Kinugasa keep doing it???? I had taken notice of Kinugasa Michio as a composer who does songs right up my alley (even among all the Aquaplus composers who generally hit that sweet spot) after realizing he composed Remote Viewing for Routes, and greatly enjoyed his work in Utawarerumono 2/3, especially 麗しき世界. The fact that Utaware 2/3 came after TtT2 could never prepare me for the ultimate nut awaiting me in this game: 君の前では少年のまま. This song encapsulates the relationship between Hamil and Tarte through very passionate guitar, Sutani Naoko’s wonderful lyrics, and Suara’s vocals. This deadly combination has led to this becoming one of my top two favorite Aquaplus songs (the other being 星座 from Kusari). I had some worries about the transition to the ED as this transition in 1 was one of my favorite parts of the game but those scattered quickly when I reached that point. The catharsis contained in these moments in both games is unreal.

The game’s soundtrack as a whole is quite good at expressing the idealistic and gentle, yet realistic and tenacious nature of the game and series as a whole. There are a few tracks from 1 with new arrangements and they either made me love a track even more or vastly improve my opinions on it which is a great accomplishment. I also enjoyed the new tracks very much, and the combination of these two elements make for a satisfying music experience on the whole, the amount and variety also being a positive factor. The increased amount of comfy tracks makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

The vocals songs were also to my taste with all of the new ones having lyrics about the Hamil/Tarte relationship being extremely up my alley. 🙏 thank you Sutani Naoko 🙏 I appreciate the fact that Suara, Uehara Rena, and Tsuda Akari are all in the soundtrack as this has not happened in an Aquaplus game before or since. The returning songs have arrangements befitting of the story and still hold great emotional weight. Except Until which somehow gets even more ずるい how the fuck do the lyrics fit so good every single time it plays how the fuck does it get me every time god I could write a whole new post on this song alone.

However, what elevates this to being my favorite game soundtrack at this point of my life is the usage. The amount of times that I have felt that playing a certain song during a certain part of the story was simply ずるい is not much, but the majority of them are from the Tears to Tiara series. The ずるい level in TtT2 manages to surpass the already high bar set by 1 by refining the art of layering the ずるい , leaving me staring at the screen in shock multiple times. Even in moments not as clearly defined, I generally liked the length that each each track played. I distinctly remember thinking in Chapter 1 that it was cool that the BGM changed whenever I felt like certain songs were beginning to overstay their welcome, which is pretty refreshing. I definitely feel that this game has the best use of music among all the Aquaplus games I’ve played (yes, this includes Utawarerumono 3).

Voice Acting

Someone please stop Matsuoka Yoshitsugu before he loses his voice!!, is a thought I held many times when listening to Hamil’s screams throughout the game. After reading the very interesting blog post by Mochizuki Yuutarou (voice recording director for Aquaplus) about some of the game’s voice recording and how he initially thought about having an additional person voice Hamil, I find it more incredible how Matsuoka managed to handle everything. The contrast between the soft spoken and reserved side of Hamil (his soft laugh is so good) and his hot-blooded and unrelenting side in the context of the story feels very satisfying to experience; the point where he snaps in the climax of Chapter 1 is a scene that has still not left my mind.

While Hamil is definitely the star performance for me, Kugimiya Rie as Tarte and Saitou Chiwa as Izebel were some of my favorites among the lovely voice cast. There were quite a few voice actors that I have since started paying attention to thanks to this game. On the negative side, I think a lot of the mob characters were too monotone.

Final Thoughts

Tears to Tiara 2 is a game that carries the spiritedness and positivity (:elatedsquirtleface:) of the first game and takes it to a logical next step while improving pretty much every part of the experience for a long (79 hours for main story on Easy without skipping voices), emotional journey. This is most of the reason I rated this a 10 on VNDB; the overall experience is very polished and it was the most fun I’ve had with a game that I can remember. There are definitely flaws, but I feel that what I gained from TtT2 was enough to overpower those shortcomings.

Next Post | Tear to Tiara: A Return to One’s Roots →

[torontosportscorner]

Rising Crew or falling City?

Columbus Crew SC is now on a 12 game unbeaten streak and peaking at the perfect time of the year, in the playoffs. They stuck with Atlanta United FC in the knockout round of the playoffs winning on penalty kicks sending them through to the next round to face NYC FC. They then took a commanding lead on NYC in the first leg last night with a 4-1 win. Those 4 home goals will be very valuable as they go away to NYC for the second leg of the series on Sunday, November 5th. Columbus deserves a lot of respect for what they have done. They have propelled their way into a playoff spot in a conference that was tight and very competitive this year, beat what many people were saying was a team that could make it to the MLS Cup potentially, and then thrashed the second highest team by points in the league. They did this all with off field distractions such as rumors of the team moving out of Columbus. The Crew deserves a lot of respect for what they have done, but are they getting a bit too much praise?

I’m not taking anyway their accomplishments and I respect as well as admire their fight and the way they are playing right now but lets look at the teams they have faced to get where they are. During their 12 game unbeaten streak they drew or won against teams like a struggling Chicago squad, a sinking Orlando team, a disaster LA team who was last in the league, and others such as DC, New York Red Bulls, NYC FC, Dallas, Sporting Kansas City, Vancouver and then Atlanta in the knock out round followed by last nights game against NYC FC. Most of these teams struggled a lot near the end of the season. These weren’t high ranked teams all across the league they were beating. Dallas was fighting to stay in a playoff spot which they eventually fell bellow the line, Vancouver struggled near the end along with SKC, NYC FC, LA, Orlando. The Crew is playing well with some great goal keeping, decently solid defense and timely goals from their big players and decent support from the depth they have as well. Looking at their games between Atlanta and NYC, I don’t see a ton of evidence showing that they can hang with the big boys at this moment if the best teams play well. It is the playoffs and things happen however, I don’t see them hanging with a team like Toronto FC. They put away NYC last night after the red card was shown to NYC FC’s Alexander Callens. They missed a lot of chances to put NYC away by miss handling the ball, not using the space they had when pushing forward with numbers, bad touches, and not putting the ball on target. NYC FC’s keeper Sean Johnson did not have a good game last night. If a keeper is having that off of a game, put the ball on target. He will cough out huge juicy rebounds like he did last night or even miss the ball completely like he did on Meram’s goal where Johnson appeared to try and punch the ball away and did get much of the ball where it ended up in the back of the net. NYC also being a man down couldn’t press like they normally do but they still managed to hold possession in the attacking third. Columbus sat way too far back letting NYC take the space and create opportunities and eventually got an away goal which might be very valuable. NYC held more than 60% possession in the game and posted more shots than Columbus. Stats do not tell the whole story however, a little bit of luck on the side of New York City, no red card, Villa not hitting the post and this could have been a very different game. I’m not sold on this Columbus team but they did get the result that they wanted.

 On top of all of this NYC FC is not a good playoff team in their short lifespan. They have been in the league for 2 years now with 3 games and only 1 goal for and 11 goals against. Atlanta, a good solid team but they also struggled near the end of the season and are a team with young stars who couldn’t get that goal they needed so desperately. Not the biggest and toughest kid in the yard that’s for sure.

 Regardless, the playoffs are a different kind of beast. Injuries, the weather, lucky bounces, ref calls, the atmosphere the crowds or lack of crowds provide and stars rising to the occasion or stars falling under the bright lights are all factors during the playoffs. We’ll see how Columbus does but I do not think they have what it takes like some people say they do. Either way, #SaveTheCrew.

[browanger55-blog]

The Bear’s Den, November 28, 2018

BEAR DOWN, CHICAGO BEARS, BEAR DOWN!!!!

MEMORY LANE

NFL 2016 Final Regular Season Power Rankings - New England Patriots, Dallas Cowboys, Pittsburgh Steelers - ESPN - New England, riding a seven-game winning streak into the playoffs as the AFC’s top seed, reclaims its position at No. 1 atop the final regular-season rankings. Ken’s Note: Here’s a fun look back at where we were... note some of the other teams right around us.

BEARRRSSSS

Gabriel: Bears’ Defensive Line Setting The Tone - 670 The Score - Defensive lines are hallmarks of good defenses, and the Bears have one of the best.

Emma: Refreshed Bears Set Sights On Stretch Run - 670 The Score - ”We set ourselves up to be in a good position,” Allen Robinson says.

Emma: Bears’ Javon Wims Surprises Mother With Car: ‘Dream Come True’ - 670 The Score - Back home for Thanksgiving, Wims caught his mother off guard with a gift.

Dannehy: Maybe the 2018 Chicago Bears are Not “A Year Away” - Da Bears Blog - I started this season writing about how the Bears looked like the same old Bears and that’s because they did. Blowing a huge fourth quarter lead to the Packers on opening night was very on-brand. But on Thanksgiving Day, the 2018 Chicago Bears beat the Detroit Lions despite all the excuses. In doing so, they proved they are a different team.

Mully & Haugh: Bears’ Akiem Hicks On Play Of Eddie Jackson ‘It’s Dangerous’ - 670 The Score - ”Some people just have a knack for it,” Akiem Hicks says of Eddie Jackson.

Sansone: How do the Bears stack up against the best of the NFC — the Saints and the Rams? - Chicago Tribune - NFL Week 12 wrap-up: The Bears (8-3) hold the third seed in the NFC playoff race, 1½ games ahead of the Vikings in the NFC North.

Kane: 5 keys to a Bears playoff push as they enter the season's final month - Chicago Tribune - When the Bears return to Halas Hall on Tuesday after a four-day weekend, they’ll have about a month to complete a push for their first NFC North title and playoff berth since 2010.

Swartz: Former Bear Israel Idonije lands role on upcoming Fox drama 'Proven Innocent' - Chicago Tribune - Israel Idonije is one of a few former Chicago Bears players who have transitioned to network TV.

Haugh: Ryan Pace's savvy draft picks give the Bears a strong foundation for long-term success - Chicago Tribune - To achieve success that elevates a team to the next level, organizations must trade for difference-makers and sign playmakers. But to sustain it, they must draft wisely. The Bears find themselves at 8-3 and atop the NFC North because of Ryan Pace’s ability to do both.

Mullin: Is Mitch Trubisky a top-10 quarterback in the NFL? Yep, and you could look it up - NBC Sports Chicago - Is Mitch Trubisky a top-10 quarterback in the NFL? Yes he is, and you could look it up. John "Moon" Mullin weighs in on why that matters so much.

Stankevitz: As Bears sing to anything, they're taking their popularity and success in stride - NBC Sports Chicago - The Bears became a viral hit with #BearsSingToAnything over the weekend, but now have to handle the popularity that comes with their success.

Lunch with Larry: 11.27.18 - ChicagoBears.com - Bears Senior Writer Larry Mayer discusses game preparation for the Giants, how the Bears found success the last three weeks and who has played the biggest roles for the Bears to this point.

Really? Surprising Bears stats following Week 12 - ChicagoBears.com - Following last week's win against the Lions, here are some noteworthy facts, figures and stats about the game and the season to this point.

Medina: John Lynch Is Still Out There Talking About the Mack Deal He Couldn't Pull Off - Bleacher Nation - John Lynch can't seem to get over the fact that he couldn't pull off a trade to acquire Khalil Mack.

Medina: Bears Sign Track Star Turned Receiver/Return Specialist Cyril Grayson to Practice Squad - Bleacher Nation - The Bears have the need for speed.

Potash: Rabbit with a gun - First-place Bears determined to play harder as the hunted | Chicago Sun-Times - Now they’re 8-3, leading the NFC North, ranked from fourth to eighth in various power ratings and getting serious consideration as a playoff contender

Finley: Bears players dig #BearsSingtoAnything viral sensation - Chicago Sun-Times - The videos, posted on social media, dubbed songs — by Beyonce and Nickelback and everyone in between — over the Amukamara-led Motown dance celebration

Finley: Bears CB Prince Amukamara ready to face Giants for first time since leaving - Sun Times - Sunday, entrenched as a solid cornerback as one of the Bears’ leaders, the cornerback will face the team that drafted him for the first time.

Jahns: Jordan Howard: Bears RB is enjoying team's run -- and fun - Sun Times - Running back Jordan Howard is having a down year but the Bears are winning.

Finley: Why the Bears are confident in QB Chase Daniel if he has to start again Sunday - Sun Times It’s not often, if ever, that Charles Leno drives into Halas Hall without seeing Chase Daniel’s truck in the parking lot.

Kane: Bears cornerback Prince Amukamara eyeing first playoff run since winning the Super Bowl with the Giants - Chicago Tribune - Bears cornerback Prince Amukamara is looking to help a team to a playoff berth for the first time since his rookie season, when he was a reserve for the Giants on their way to a second Super Bowl title under quarterback Eli Manning.

Wiederer: 'He has been that way his whole life' - With his competitive fire always lit, Anthony Miller envisioning big things with Bears - Chicago Tribune - Bears receiver Anthony Miller has shown glimpses of promise during his rookie season. As Miller gets more comfortable with the NFL game and more in sync with quarterback Mitch Trubisky, he has grand visions of where his journey can take him and the team.

POLISH SAUSAGE

Rating job security of NFL head coaches - Who’s on hot seat in 2018 - ESPN - Mike McCarthy’s Packers are facing another season without the playoffs. Pete Carroll’s Seahawks are pushing for a wild-card spot.

The Top 5 most insane NFL concession foods; NFL’s reaction to domestic violence, Looking to next week - For the Fan NFL Podcast Jim, Wanda & Julie talk about the week in review and then discuss the top 5 most insane foods...

Leonard Fournette’s appeal could have $7 million in the balance – ProFootballTalk - Fournette’s contract contains sufficient language to support an argument that the suspension voids the remaining guarantees in Fournette’s four-year rookie contract, wiping out a $7 million obligation that extends over 2019 and 2020. Ken’s Note: Why is this important to us? The story’s last paragraph reads: “this is precisely why Bears linebacker Roquan Smith held out. Broad language that voids guarantees can become that “gotcha” item a team can hold over a player, giving them a blank check to get out from under an otherwise guaranteed contract whenever they want.”

Should Hue Jackson have been able to go to Bengals after being fired by Browns? – ProFootballTalk - The decision of former Browns coach Hue Jackson to join the Bengals came after the Browns decided to fire Jackson during the season. And it has sparked a passionate debate in some circles regarding whether Jackson should have been able to jump ship to a rival.

Completion percentage records are falling around the NFL – ProFootballTalk - Forty-eight hours ago, no quarterback in NFL history had ever finished a game with more than 20 passes and a completion percentage higher than 95 percent. Then it happened on Sunday. And then it happened again on Monday night.

2019 NFL Draft order, team needs: 49ers No. 1, Packers in top 12 - NFL.com - Which pick in the 2019 NFL Draft does your team hold, and what are the top needs for all 32 clubs? Have a look at where things stand for your squad coming out of Week 12.

KNOW THY ENEMY

Vikings Still Haven’t Beaten a Winning Team - Daily Norseman - It’s always pleasing when the Vikings beat the Packers. And perhaps a little more so in effectively ending the Packers’ playoff hopes. But for all the feel-good about a Vikings victory that...

Packers sign OL de Beer to practice squad - Acme Packing Company - Did Green Bay just find a diamond in the rough?

Packers shouldn’t take despite disappointing season - Acme Packing Company - There’s more to team development than the highest possible draft pick next season and Green Bay should care about it.

Video: Colin Cowherd on why Aaron Rodgers should not be in the GOAT QB discussion - YouTube - Colin Cowherd talks NFL on today's show. Hear why thinks there's not enough evidence yet that puts Aaron Rodgers in the GOAT QB discussion. He also breaks down the Steelers loss in Week 12.

The Detroit Lions’ long-ball offense is dead - Pride Of Detroit - Matthew Stafford has a cannon arm and the Lions seem content not using it.

Detroit Lions Week 12 Song of the Game: “Throw it all away” by Staind - Pride Of Detroit - Well, he did.

2019 NFL Draft order: 8th overall pick has good recent hit rate for Detroit Lions - Pride Of Detroit - The Lions are in a pretty good spot for the 2019 NFL Draft.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT ON WINDY CITY GRIDIRON

Householder's stock up, stock down: Chicago Bears vs. Detroit Lions Pt. II - Windy City Gridiron - The Bears finished their division test 3-0

Wiltfong's NFL Power Rankings: The Chicago Bears have climbed to the top 5 - Windy City Gridiron - After their big Thanksgiving win following the shortest turnaround in modern NFL history, the Chicago Bears are making people take notice. They improved to 3-1 on national TV, and the respect is at...

Wiltfong: Bears sign Cyril Grayson to the practice squad - Windy City Gridiron - The Chicago Bears have announced that they’ve added wide receiver Cyril Grayson to their practice squad. He was most recently a member of the Houston Texans’ practice squad.

Wiltfong: Ten Thoughts on the NFL and the Bears - Windy City Gridiron - The Houston Texans are kind of flying under the radar, but they’ve won eight straight games after starting out 0-3 and are sitting in the third seed in the AFC. They have an easier schedule down...

WCG CONTRIBUTORS BEARS PODCASTS & STREAMS

2 Minute Drill - Website - iTunes - Andrew Link; Steven’s Streaming – Twitch – Steven Schweickert; T-Formation Conversation - Website - iTunes - Lester Wiltfong, Jr.; WCG Radio - Website - iTunes - Robert Zeglinski

THE RULES

Windy City Gridiron Community Guidelines - SBNation.com - We strive to make our communities open and inclusive to sports fans of all backgrounds. The following is not permitted in comments, FanPosts, usernames or anywhere else in an SB Nation community: Comments, FanPosts or usernames that are intolerant or prejudiced; racial or other offensive epithets; Personal attacks or threats on community members; Gendered insults of any kind; Trolling; Click link for full information.

The Bear’s Den Specific Guidelines – The Bear’s Den is a place for Chicago Bears fans to discuss Chicago Bears football, related NFL stories, and general football talk. It is NOT a place to discuss religion or politics or post political pictures or memes, and any posts that do this will be deleted and the poster will be admonished. We do not allow comments posted where the apparent attempt is to cause confrontation in the community. We do not allow gender-directed humor or sexual assault jokes. The staff of WCG are the sole arbiters of what constitutes “apparent attempt to cause confrontation”. We do not allow the “calling out” of other members in any way, shape or form. Posts that do this will be deleted on sight. Bottom line, it’s fine to debate about football, but personal jabs and insults are strictly prohibited. Additionally, if you keep beating the same dead horse over and over and fail to heed a moderator’s warning to stop, you will be banned.

Click on our names to follow us on Twitter:

WCG Contributors: Jeff Berckes; Patti Curl; Eric Christopher Duerrwaechter; Kev H; Sam Householder; Jacob Infante; Aaron Lemming; Andrew Link; Ken Mitchell; Steven Schweickert; Jack Silverstein; EJ Snyder; Lester Wiltfong, Jr.; Whiskey Ranger; Robert Zeglinski; Like us on Facebook.

Source: https://www.windycitygridiron.com/2018/11/28/18115454/chicago-bears-2018-season-news-updates-analysis-game-twelve-new-york-giants

[auburnfamilynews]

Malzhan’s 2nd class was in fact his highest ranked class but was it actually his best?

Tuesday, the brain trust here at College & Magnolia took a stab at reranking Auburn’s 2013 signing class. I had planned to post a class a day this week but it appears neither my place of employment nor my daughters got that message.... So here we are Saturday taking a look at 2014.

Take what you can get people.

The 2014 class is actually Gus Malzahn’s highest ranked class coming in at #6 overall in the country. That really shouldn’t be a huge surprise considering Auburn was coming off a national championship appearance with a brand new head coach running an exciting offense. But this class actually ranks near the bottom during Malzahn’s tenure in terms of player average coming in at 0.8878. For comparison, last year’s class which was ranked the worst in the Malzahn era at #12 overall had a player average of 0.9022. That class had four less signees though which explains the difference in rankings.

So how did this highly ranked class turn out? As you will see, it was a little deeper than the 2013 one though not as top heavy. Here’s a rundown of where the 2014 signees fell upon a 2nd look. We did not include Jakell Mitchell for obvious reasons.

Consensus Five Stars

Only one five star this go around but there could have been a strong argument for a 2nd.

#71 Braden Smith

247 Composite: 4* | #63 OVR | #3 OG | #1 KS

Career Stats: 41 starts

C&M Composite: 5.00

Braden Smith was a late steal for Auburn in the 2014 class and proved to be a huge one. After working as the 6th OL as a true freshman he became arguably Auburn’s best offensive lineman over the next three seasons. He was drafted in the 2nd round by the Indianapolis Colts this past year where he was asked to bump outside and play tackle. That move out of desperation worked wonderfully and Smith now looks to be on the path towards an outstanding NFL career at right tackle.

Borderline Five Star

So confession time.... I was the only person to not vote Deshaun Davis a 5* which in hindsight was probably dumb so feel free to throw things at me online.

#57 Deshaun Davis

247 Composite: 3* | #479 OVR | #21 ILB | #15 AL

Career Stats: 262 tackles 29.5 TFL 7.5 sacks 6 PD 2 FR

C&M Composite: 4.83

Davis was basically out of football for three years. He suffered a nasty leg injury his senior year of high school, spent all of his redshirt year rehabbing and then was a forgotten piece of the depth chart as a redshirt freshman. Then Travis Williams was hired and gave Davis a shot. He did not disappoint. Davis morphed from undersized LB with no chance at being a starter to a three year leader and 1st Team All-SEC linebacker. He’s been the heart & soul of this Tiger defense the past 3 seasons and I wouldn’t be shocked if he beat the odds again in the NFL. Deshaun Davis has undoubtedly become one of my favorite players in Auburn football history.

The Four Stars

While this class doesn’t have as much top end talent as 2013, it definitely had a bit more depth. The next bunch of signees all had very productive careers for the Tigers.

#14 Stephen Roberts

247 Composite: 4* | #128 OVR | #12 CB | #7 AL

Career Stats: 136 tackles 7.5 TFL 2 INT 12 PD 2 FF

C&M Composite: 4.17

The Tigers flipped Roberts from the Tide that cycle and a lot of Alabama fans laughed believing Auburn was just picking up their scraps. I doubt they felt that way when Roberts cut the mighty Bo Scarborough down in the 2017 Iron Bowl.... Roberts needed time to mature but eventually became a two year starter at safety where he excelled at flying into alleys to stuff ball carriers.

#30 Tre Williams

247 Composite: 5* | #27 OVR | #2 ILB | #4 AL

Career Stats: 188 tackles 10.0 TFL 3.5 sacks 2 PD 2 FR FF

C&M Composite: 4.00

When healthy, Tre Williams was absolutely a 5* linebacker. However, the Mobile native battled shoulder injuries his whole career as a Tiger resulting in missed games or limited action. You can’t help but wonder what his career could have looked like if he could have stayed healthy. But despite those injuries he was still extremely productive and a key piece of Kevin Steele’s defensive turnaround.

#95 Dontavius Russell

247 Composite: 4* | #153 OVR | #12 DT | #11

Career Stats: 153 tackles 17.0 TFL 1.5 sacks 4 PD FR FF

C&M Composite: 4.00

Auburn is often unpredictable and you just don’t know what you are going to get year to year. But one thing you could count on each season is that Dontavius Russell would show up to work and do his job every single Saturday. Once an UGA commit, Rodney Garner stayed after the Carrollton, GA native and was able to get Russell to flip his commitment. After redshirting, Russell played in almost every single game over the next 4 seasons. He was as steady as any player as I can remember in recent Auburn football history. Don’t be surprised if 12 years from now you look up and he’s still got a job in the NFL.

#36 Kamryn Pettway

247 Composite: 3* | #391 OVR | #24 RB | #12 AL

Career Stats: 285 carries 1,529 yds 5.4 avg 13 TD 6 rec 58 yds 9.7 avg

C&M Composite: 4.00

Pettway was signed to play fullback and did so as a redshirt freshman. But after the RB rapture following the 2015 season, the Tigers just needed bodies in spring practice at the position and gave Chandler Cox and Pettway some reps. What they found was a bulldozer in Pettway. He wasn’t fully set free in 2016 until Texas A&M but once set loose, he became the engine of Auburn’s offense up until he suffered a freak injury running for what could have been a game sealing touchdown vs Vanderbilt. His story didn’t end as happy as we all would have liked but his play during the 2016 season plus his work as a fullback in 2015 more than qualifies him for 4* status.

Borderline Four Star

I think this guy might have been the hardest person to rank thus far.....

#13 Sean White

247 Composite: 4* | #150 OVR | #8 QB | #23 FL

Career Stats: 216-351 (61.5%) 2,845 yds 10 TD 7 INT 135.0 QBR 85 carries 198 yds 2 TD

C&M Composite: 3.83

White was far from the best QB to play at Auburn but he was also far from the worst. With Jeremy Johnson struggling to be even decent, the Tigers turned to White in 2015. He would win the job again in 2016 and when healthy, did a good job providing Auburn with some sort of steady play at the QB spot. But injuries ended both of his campaigns early and an arrest ended his career. This one was a tough one to grade because when he actually played I think it’s fair to give him a 4* rating. But between his inability to stay healthy and how his career ended, some of us just couldn’t pull the trigger.

Three Star-ish

What’s interesting about this group is the number of JUCO signees. Auburn has actually lessened their reliance on JUCO talent with the new era of graduate transfers but early in Malzahn’s tenure they were an important component to his recruiting.

#1 Duke Williams

247 Composite: 4* | #1 JUCO OVR | #1 JUCO WR | #1 JUCO MS

Career Stats: 57 rec 877 yds 15.4 avg 6 TD

C&M Composite: 3.33

Duke made Auburn’s offense even more deadly in 2014 when he was healthy. His game to open the 2014 season made us all not only dream of Jeremy Johnson throwing bombs but Duke catching them. But sadly, his career would end in disappointment after off the field issues resulted in him finally being removed from the team. It appears though that Duke has learned some lessons and developed into one of the best wideouts in the CFL over the past few seasons. This offseason he signed with Buffalo and we will see if he can stick around the NFL for awhile now. Go get em Duke.

#19 Nick Ruffin

247 Composite: 4* | #113 OVR | #10 CB | #8 GA

Career Stats: 95 tackles 1.5 TFL INT TD FR

C&M Composite: 3.00

Ruffin never really became the star DB that was expected coming out of high school. But he did become a productive member of Auburn’s secondary. His biggest moment came in 2017 when he blocked a punt against Texas A&M. kickstarting an Auburn team who didn’t look all that engaged through most of the first half that day.

#6 DaVonte Lambert

247 Composite: 4* | #6 JUCO SDE | #1 JUCO GA

Career Stats: 48 tackles 9.5 TFL 3.5 sacks 3 PD FF

C&M Composite: 3.00

Auburn’s sack leader in 2014, Lambert had a solid, not great career for the Tigers. However, he’s continued to improve since his time on the Plains and has even started some for the Tampa Bay Bucs.

#79 Andrew Williams

247 Composite: 4* | #232 OVR | #12 WDE | #16 GA

Career Stats: 71 tackles 8.5 TFL 4.0 sacks

C&M Composite: 3.00

Williams wasn’t a stat sheet stuffer but man has been an important part of Auburn’s rotation up front. The Georgia native’s move inside was huge for his career as he became Auburn’s third DT behind Derrick Brown and Dontavius Russell. There was very little drop-off over the past couple of seasons when Williams came into the game.

#94 Devaroe Lawrence

247 Composite: 3* | #133 JUCO OVR | #19 JUCO DT | #7 JUCO MS

Career Stats: 45 tackles 6.0 TFL 1.5 sacks

C&M Composite: 3.00

Although Lawrence never lived up to his own lofty expectations, he was a solid performer for the Tigers. He excelled as a short yardage stuffer in 2016 and has put together a nice NFL career to date. Not bad for a former JUCO walk on.

#53 Xavier Dampeer

247 Composite: 3* | #196 JUCO OVR | #2 JUCO C | #28 JUCO MS

Career Stats: 4 career starts

C&M Composite: 2.67

Dampeer was an important reserve lineman for the Tigers much of his career and even ended up a starter for four games in 2016.

The Two Stars

Injuries played a big role in who landed in this list.

#10 Stanton Truitt

247 Composite: 4* | #302 OVR | #29 ATH | #23 FL

Career Stats: 37 carries 215 yds 5.8 avg 2 TD 10 rec 126 yds 12.6 avg TD

C&M Composite: 2.50

If felt like every time Truitt was about to break out he got hurt. Auburn clearly wanted to use his elite speed and his biggest moment came against Arkansas in 2016. But he couldn’t stay on the field and eventually transferred out to North Carolina before the 2017 campaign. He never played a snap for the Tar Heels due to more injuries.

#9 Roc Thomas

247 Composite: 5* | #23 OVR | #4 RB | #3 AL

Career Stats: 86 carries 475 yds 5.5 avg 3 TD 18 rec 230 yds 12.8 avg TD

C&M Composite: 2.17

Thomas still has some of the best HS running back tape I’ve ever seen and heading into the 2015 season everything was on schedule. He entered that year as the Tigers’ starting tailback and was looking solid vs Louisville before missing the 2nd half with an injury. He would never regain that starting spot. He transferred out the following spring to Jacksonville State where he put up some strong numbers. I can’t help but think if he had stuck around things might have ended up working out but maybe he needed the change of scenery.

#24 Derrick Moncrief

247 Composite: 4* | #11 JUCO OVR | #1 JUCO S | #3 JUCO MS

Career Stats: 27 tackles PD FF

C&M Composite: 1.83

As you can see, 2014 was very JUCO heavy and for the most part they panned out pretty well. Moncrief was the exception. He was recruiting to play that “Talon” spot in Ellis Johnson’s 4-2-5 scheme but never really carved out a clear role. Frustrated, Moncrief transferred to Oklahoma State where he never contributed.

Los Unos

The least fun category of the day. There will always be a few each class that fall into this category but it still stinks to see.

#59 Raashed Kennion

247 Composite: 3* | NA OVR | #60 WDE | #164 FL

Career Stats: 9 tackles TFL

C&M Composite: 1.50

Auburn took a bit of a chance on Kennion and it didn’t work out. He impressed Rodney Garner at a camp and I have to think his measurables made him an intriguing prospect for the Tigers. But Kennion was never really able to see any meaningful playing time and left for Florida A&M following the 2015 season.

#11 Markell Boston

247 Composite: 3* | #NA OVR | #100 S | #103 GA

Career Stats: 6 tackles

C&M Composite: 1.50

Boston looked poised to be a starter at safety heading into the 2017 season but was dismissed before spring practice. He’s now a reserve DB for UTC.

#92 Justin Thornton

247 Composite: 4* | #120 OVR | #6 WDE | #6 AL

Career Stats: N/A

C&M Composite: 1.00

Teammates with Deshaun Davis at Vigor, it was actually Thornton who was the more highly regarded prospect. He was considered an elite pass rusher but the big question was could he put the weight on to consistently set the edge in SEC play. Turns out he couldn’t....

#41 Kalvarez Bessent

247 Composite: 4* | #126 OVR | #11 CB | #9 GA

Career Stats: N/A

C&M Composite: 1.00

Like Roberts, Auburn flipped Bessent from Bama. Unlike Roberts, Bessent never matured and transferred following his redshirt season. He had been arrested before even arriving to campus resulting in him starting his career in the doghouse. Sadly, he never got out.

#84 Myron Burton

247 Composite: 3* | #995 OVR | #83 WR | #88 GA

Career Stats: N/A

C&M Composite: 1.00

The king of the 2015 A-Day Game, Burton never saw the field after that strong performance. He gave up football to pursue a modeling career which is still one of the more unique storylines I think I’ve seen develop.

#46 Chris Laye

247 Composite: 3* | NA OVR | #49 TE | #90 GA

Career Stats: N/A

C&M Composite: 1.00

Laye was one of Auburn’s longest committed prospects in this class but never found his way onto the field. I believe he gave up football entirely and stayed on the Plains but I’m not 100% certain if that’s true.

It is still surprising to me this is Auburn’s highest rated class. There were some real flameouts in this group with so many not even finishing their careers on the Plains. But there were some really important pieces too and guys that carved out productive roles in their careers. Hopefully Monday we can take a look at the 2015 class and see how it stacks up to Malzahn’s first two.

War Eagle!

from College and Magnolia - All Posts https://www.collegeandmagnolia.com/2019/2/2/18203485/re-ranking-auburn-signing-classes-2014

[buddyrabrahams]

15 key questions for NFL Week 4

Week 4 is a pretty big point of the NFL season. If you start 1-3 or 0-4, it’s very tough for you to turn things around and fashion a playoff contender out of that start. Similarly, if you’re 3-1 or 4-0, you’re very well-positioned for a potential playoff run. With that in mind, there are a lot of teams at something of a tipping point as the week kicks off.

What big items are we watching this week? Here are 15 major questions to be answered in NFL Week 4.

1. Can the Patriots avoid a full-blown crisis?

Make no mistake: if the Patriots were to lose to the Miami Dolphins at home and drop to 1-3, a full-blown frenzy would develop around them. The constant noise about whether the New England dynasty is over — which has already started — would grow deafening. In other words, it’s safe to say there’s a bit of pressure on the Patriots this week. The Dolphins come into Foxboro unbeaten and playing very well, so this won’t be an easy game for the home team, either.

2. Will Baker Mayfield’s magic continue in his first start?

Mayfield is officially the starting quarterback of the Cleveland Browns, and his first test as a starter is probably similar to what the New York Jets gave him. The Oakland Raiders are winless and struggling, and Mayfield has clearly won the respect of their head coach. Road games in Oakland aren’t easy, but the Mayfield hype will hit a fever pitch if he gets out of there with a win — which would leave Cleveland with more wins than losses.

3. Can Jon Gruden stop the Raiders’ second-half slide?

Speaking of the Raiders, this is probably not how they anticipated Gruden’s tenure in Oakland beginning. The Raiders have been outscored 37-3 in fourth quarters this season, which is the primary reason they sit at 0-3. Combine this with the comeback ability that Baker Mayfield showed a week ago and you have what looks like another potential recipe for disaster. Gruden needs to sort this out. It’s been three weeks, and they look no closer to being competent in late-game situations than they did in Week 1.

4. Will the Broncos be able to make a statement about their AFC West intentions?

The Broncos are a surprising 2-1, and host the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs on Monday night. Denver hasn’t really blown anyone away in their victories, and Case Keenum hasn’t been exceptionally impressive in any of those performances, but their record does not lie. They’ll have to find a way to contain Patrick Mahomes, but the fact is, the Broncos have a chance to make an early statement about their staying power in a potential playoff race.

5. Can the Lions send another high-profile opponent into panic mode?

A week ago, the Lions sent the Patriots hurtling to earth with a surprising and emphatic victory. They’ll have the opportunity to send another high-profile team into crisis mode if they can win on the road in Dallas on Sunday. The Cowboys are a disappointing 1-2, and Dak Prescott has been ineffective and inconsistent in moving the Dallas offense. Another middling performance and defeat will really raise questions about the Cowboys — and whether Prescott has what it takes to succeed at the highest levels.

6. Which early-season surprise turns legit?

The unstoppable Ryan Fitzpatrick heads to Chicago to meet the 2-1 Chicago Bears, who are the surprise early leader in the NFC North. One of these feel-good stories will subsequently be hit with a dose of reality. Fitzpatrick faces a tough test against Khalil Mack and the Bears’ defense, while Mitchell Trubisky has had his moments of inconsistency this season. Whoever wins this game will be in good position to continue surprising in the weeks to come.

7. Will a rivalry game spark an Antonio Brown breakout?

Pittsburgh’s star receiver hasn’t really gotten going this season. He has 24 catches for 210 yards this season, which isn’t bad but also isn’t quite up to the lofty standards he’s set for himself. A primetime matchup with the Baltimore Ravens could be just what he needs to pick up the pace. Baltimore’s defense has been good, but the Steelers appeared to come alive against Tampa Bay last week. It just feels like Brown is waiting to go off and will sooner or later.

8. Can the already-struggling 49ers hang without Jimmy Garoppolo?

C.J. Beathard takes the reins in San Francisco, where the 49ers’ once-promising season is looking shakier by the day. It’s hard to envision the former Iowa Hawkeye being a sturdy stopgap for the Niners, who already sit at 1-2. Jimmy Garoppolo’s ACL injury has changed the course of the season for the Niners, who are facing the prospect of a lost season that started with playoff ambitions. To make matters worse, they’re at the Chargers this week, a team with plenty of firepower that the Beathard-led offense probably won’t match.

9. How will Josh Rosen look in his first NFL start?

Rosen entered the Cardinals’ loss to the Chicago Bears so late that it was hard to draw any meaningful conclusions from his performance. This week, he’s at home against the Seattle Seahawks, a tough test to be certain for his first NFL start. It’s hard to see Rosen being anything but an improvement on what Sam Bradford was bringing to the table, but how he’ll look is entirely up in the air. The Cardinals will probably be content with “competent.”

10. Can the Bills make it back-to-back upsets?

Fluke or turning point? That’s the question for the Bills after their stunning road upset of the heavily-favored Minnesota Vikings. This week they travel to Green Bay to face the Packers. The Pack are not quite as well-rounded as Minnesota, but Aaron Rodgers, at his peak, is better than anything the Vikings can throw at them. Josh Allen may have some success this week, but the Bills’ defense — a turnover-creating machine a week ago — will really have to be on their game.

11. Do the Texans have what it takes to avoid disaster?

If they lose on the road to the Indianapolis Colts, the Texans would drop to 0-4 on the season, a near-unimaginable start for a team that harbored playoff ambitions at the start of the season. Deshaun Watson hasn’t quite been as electric as they’d have liked, and you have to think that coach Bill O’Brien’s seat is starting to get warm. It’s not too late for Houston to start turning their season around, but if they drop to 0-4, it’s hard to see anything but disaster in their 2018 future.

12. Can Eli Manning exploit the Saints’ defense enough?

The New Orleans Saints will probably score a lot of points on Sunday. That isn’t really news. The Saints’ offense has been a high-flying machine this year, win or lose. Their defense has generally made opponents look like high-flying machines, too. Thus, Eli Manning has a real opportunity on Sunday. The New York offense has often struggled this season, and Manning has looked generally shaky. Can he outgun the New Orleans offense? It’s hard to say, but this is his best chance at a huge stat line in a while.

13. Can Clay Matthews finally avoid a roughing penalty?

It seems inevitable that the roughing the passer rule will come into play in Week 4, and at this point, it would be a surprise if Clay Matthews were not involved. He’s picked up three very curious penalties in three weeks, with his most recent one eliciting a lot of negative responses from fans and players alike. Will things change this week? That seems quite unlikely, and it’s hard for Matthews to adapt his play style on hits that have been legal for him as long as he can remember.

14. Will Carson Wentz look like his old self against a solid defense?

Wentz understandably looked a bit rusty in his season debut against the Indianapolis Colts last week, and things won’t get easier this week. The Tennessee Titans’ defense has been solid this season, and they’ll be up for the challenge. On the other hand, Wentz looks like he has a good shot at getting Alshon Jeffery back at wide receiver, which should help him. How close will Wentz be to his old self could have a lot to do with how the Eagles fare in this one.

15. Was Jacksonville’s shaky Week 3 showing a fluke?

More than any other top-tier team, the Jaguars seem quite prone to the occasional stinker. Perhaps that’s owing to the inconsistency of Blake Bortles and their offense as a whole, but they got one against the Tennessee Titans. They’re handed a pretty straightforward rebound game at home against the New York Jets. But even taking into account opponent quality, they’ll want to put together a good all-around performance and put last week well and truly out of their minds, especially after an outstanding start to the season.

from Larry Brown Sports https://ift.tt/2OUTYz6

[thrashermaxey]

Wild West Summer Series 2018: St. Louis

The summer season is quickly winding down. We have a few more teams to cover and I will make sure to squeeze them, hopefully as you are preparing for your drafts. As always make sure you buy the Dobber Guide and check out Cam’s, Eastern Edge Series.

  The idea for these columns to compare end of 2017-18 Fantasy Hockey Geek rankings for individual players with an expected ranking based on their average draft positions from the start of the year. This process does not necessarily identify who was the most important player to each team but gives us not only an idea of who was a steal/bust on draft day, but where each player was valued going into this season. I will also be adding some thoughts on whether or not that is the new normal for the player in question and if we should be adjusting our draft positions. For a deeper dive on each team plus full projections make sure to get your copy of Dobber’s Fantasy Guide, out now!

  And now for the technical details. We will be using the Fantasy Hockey Geek tool to get a ranking that combines all of a player’s stats for the searched categories. Like for the previous series, the ranks are based on a 12 team, head-to-head league, using the categories of goals, assists, power play points, shots, hits and blocks for forwards/defensemen and wins, saves, save percentage and goals against average for goalies. Player eligibility for this series is based on Yahoo, and draft ranks are based on average draft positions compiled from Yahoo, ESPN and CBS by FantasyPros.

  St. Louis

  Recap:

St. Louis started the 2017-18 season very strong sitting atop the NHL standings on December 11th. An injury to Jaden Schwartz and some inconsistent play from Jake Allen seemed to trigger the an implosion that lead to St. Louis dropping out of the playoffs by one point on the last day of the regular season.

  Undervalued:

  Brayden Schenn

  The move to St. Louis clearly agreed with Brayden Schenn. The finished as the 57th most valuable player and the 11th most valuable center. To say that was an improvement on his previous season is an understatement. It was also a relatively significant improvement on his draft position.

  Evgeny Kuznetsov

WSH

C

44

John Tavares

NYI

C

54

Brayden Schenn

STL

C

57

Sean Couturier

PHI

C

61

Eric Staal

MIN

C

71

  In the summer of 2017 it seemed the general consensus that Schenn would likely improve on his 2016-17 numbers, but not many projected him to hit anywhere near 70 points (except Dobber so you had better go buy the guide).

  Games Played

Goals

Assists

Points

Points/ Game

Shots

Sht%

Hits

PPlay Points

Blocks

82

28

42

70

0.85

210

13.3

154

19

37

  2017-18 saw Schenn’s highest goal, assist, point per game, and shot numbers of his career. He is also incredibly valuable in this league set up as he adds a significant number of hits. His power play numbers, while all still excellent, were actually down slightly from his power play specialist role in Philadelphia. Clearly though, the addition of two minutes of ice time per game overall and playing with the likes of Vladimir Tarasenko will do wonders for your even strength production.

  His shooting percentage was within the normal range, but a few of his other numbers are a touch high which could imply that 70 might be a bit of a ceiling for Schenn and he may settle in a few points below that. I should also note that Schenn, like the Blues on the whole, collapsed during the second half of the season. Over the first 44 games Schenn had 52 points (97 point pace), over the final 38 games Schenn managed 28 (60 point pace). Now certainly a 60 point pace can be valuable, and that pace is much more in line with his time in Philly than the first 44 games. The question for us then is how much stock do we put into the first 44 games. I come down on the side of the larger sample, and think we can hope for something close to the full season pace from 2017-18, but perhaps not a full repeat.

  Carter Hutton

Carter Hutton, Ben Bishop and Braden Holtby. I would never have placed those three in the same goalie tier for my 2017-18 draft. And yet, here we are, Hutton the most valuable of the three. Hutton was undrafted in essentially every league, while the goalies surrounding him had an average draft position of 67.

  Martin Jones

SJS

G

27

Antti Raanta

ARI

G

33

Carter Hutton

STL

G

64

Ben Bishop

DAL

G

74

Braden Holtby

WSH

G

75

He started the year as a backup, and with the help of a faltering Jake Allen, was able to seize the reins for a chunk of the season an post excellent numbers in the process.

  Games Played

Wins

Saves

SV%

GAA

32

17

754

0.931

2.09

  Now it is tempting to think that Hutton just needed the opportunity, and when it was finally given to him he tore it up. Unfortunately that isn’t entirely the case. Hutton is a 32 year old journeyman backup who has played for three different teams in the last five seasons (soon to be a fourth). The jump in 2017-18 wasn’t really about opportunity. In 2016-17 he actually a got a similar amount of games (while still on St. Louis) and clearly no one was rushing to grab him in 2017-18. Why? His numbers were decidedly worse.

  2016-17

Games Played

Wins

Saves

SV%

GAA

30

13

605

0.913

2.39

  2017-18 isn’t even the most he has played in a season. Back in 2013-14 he played 40 games and his numbers were even worse than in 2016-17.

  Buffalo saw something that they liked in Hutton, and are seemingly hoping to pull an Antti Raanta and turn a backup into a solid number one. On the plus side he has a chance at some extended playing time in 2018-19, but on the down side Buffalo isn’t exactly known for their defense, and Hutton doesn’t really have a history of exceptional goaltending. Because of the change in team, Hutton certainly carries more value going into 2018-19, however expecting him to repeat 2017-18’s success is likely a mistake.

  Overvalued:

  Jaden Schwartz

Ok, I know, I have put injured players here for a couple of teams now. That is the obvious answer. Clearly an injured player is going to disappoint in a season long comparison. So yes, Jaden Schwartz was injured for a bit, only playing 62 games, but that is only part of the story.

  Schwartz finished as the 251st most valuable player, and the 65th most valuable winger overall. He was drafted 112th on average, but those around him were drafted somewhere around 190th on average (still a disappointing return).

  Kyle Okposo

BUF

RW

242

Alex Tuch

VGK

RW

243

Jaden Schwartz

STL

LW

251

Austin Watson

NSH

LW

252

Mark Stone

OTT

RW

254

  It is hard to square that value with the season I remember from Schwartz. His name was always seeming to appear on the score sheet, and that is actually born out in the stat line.

  Games Played

Goals

Assists

Points

Points/ Game

Shots

Sht%

Hits

PPlay Points

Blocks

62

24

35

59

0.95

157

15.3

52

11

30

  Schwartz had the highest point output and point per game pace of his career, and by a fair margin. He saw his highest power play time and total time on ice. He seemed to click well with Tarasenko and Schenn, so if only he had played a full season…

  Unfortunately if you look at his value per game to account for those missed games it actually gets worse. Schwartz becomes the 83rd most valuable winger, and yes that is Cal Clutterbuck who provided more value than Jaden Schwartz. To be fair a very the average per game values at this level are all very close, and a small deviation in performance would could easily move him up to 75th overall, but the point remains.

  Cal Clutterbuck

NYI

RW

David Backes

BOS

RW

Jaden Schwartz

STL

LW

Brock McGinn

CAR

LW

Josh Anderson

COL

RW

  The problem is, that while there are not a lot of wingers at his scoring pace or better (maybe 15), there are quite a few (about 60) who are shooting more than him, about 80 who hit more than him, and about 40 who block more, and another 40 that have a better power play point pace than Schwartz. That hurt a bit as those peripheral categories can weigh quite a bit in a composite score for a player.

  Schwartz then is a bit of a conundrum. His scoring pace makes him a high draft target, but he doesn’t necessarily provide the value of some of the other wing options. In points only leagues he certainly provides a great per game value. In leagues that count a wider range of categories, he definitely starts to fall a bit. In the type of league described above, I am expecting the asking price to be more than the season value so I am unlikely to have the chance to draft Schwartz.

  Thanks for reading.

  Next week: Vancouver

  Recent Articles

  Wild West Summer Series: Arizona

Wild West Summer Series: Anaheim

Wild West Summer Series: Calgary

Wild West Summer Series: Chicago

Wild West Summer Series: Colorado

Wild West Summer Series: Dallas

Wild West Summer Series: Edmonton

Wild West Summer Series: Los Angeles

Wild West Summer Series: Minnesota

Wild West Summer Series: Nashville

Wild West Summer Series: San Jose

    from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-home/the-wild-west/wild-west-summer-series-2018-st-louis/

[junker-town]

4 winners and 2 losers from the New Year’s Eve bowl slate

Bowl season nears its conclusion. Here’s who made out well and who didn’t on the last day of 2018.

College football’s bowl season is almost done, but most of the biggest games are still to be decided: the Playoff National Championship on January 7, of course, and before that a handful of the traditional New Year’s Day bowls on ... New Year’s Day.

This post is an updated collection of teams that have made out well and poorly as the country’s worked its way through most of its 40 bowls. Results from the New Year’s Eve bowls are up top for now, and you can see more as you scroll down farther.

Winner: Texas A&M

The Aggies weren’t a national contender this season, but they had one of the quietest really solid seasons of any team. They came closer than almost anyone to beating both Alabama and Clemson, by far the sport’s two best teams. They played the rest of their schedule at 9-2, and they didn’t have a single bad loss all year. They capped things by demolishing NC State, probably the second or third best team in the ACC, in the Gator Bowl. They aren’t where Jimbo Fisher will eventually need to be, but positive signs are there.

Making this an even better night, A&M finished it by putting in its 12th Man, Cullen Gillaspia, who closed the game and his career by scoring a touchdown:

"You could not script it better!" @CGillaspia finishes off a fantastic night in Jacksonville. #GigEm pic.twitter.com/O9G5wFiheI

— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) January 1, 2019

The 12th Man is what A&M calls its fans, and it’s also what the school calls a walk-on who represents the student body and wears No. 12. That’s Gillaspia. Him scoring that touchdown was one of the greatest moments bowl season will ever produce. If you know someone who thinks there are too many of these games, just show them that video clip.

Loser: Virginia Tech

The Hokies lost to Cincinnati in the Military Bowl, 35-31. No non-Playoff bowl result is earth-shatteringly important, but this one bounced the Hokies to their first losing record since 1992, when they finished 2-8-1. Ties were still a thing then. Losing to UC isn’t in and of itself a big thing, as the Bearcats are an 11-win team that would have beaten plenty of Power 5s. But after a season that included a bunch of unexpected attrition and all manner of ugly losses, it would’ve been nice to end positively. The Hokies did not.

Winner: Oklahoma State

One of the country’s weirdest teams this season, the Pokes finished strong by beating beating a ranked Missouri in the Liberty Bowl, 38-33. OSU was a spread underdog five times this season and went 4-1 in those games, beating Boise State, Texas, West Virginia, and now Mizzou. (The lone loss was to Oklahoma.) I’m not sure how good this team will be in 2019, but nobody should ever going to make the mistakes of counting OSU out ahead of time.

Loser: Those who watched Michigan State, ever

Watching MSU this year was an incredibly unpleasant experience, pretty much every week. Winning ugly has long been a Spartan hallmark, but this year, they did too much losing ugly. And they never lost more ugly than in the Redbox Bowl against Oregon, a 7-6 game that included tons of special-teams hijinks and almost no good offense. MSU finished the season with the same record as the final score of the game: 7-6.

Winner: Stanfordness

The Cardinal beat Pitt in the Sun Bowl by fumbling for a touchdown.

HOW DID THAT HAPPEN? A miraculous pass puts Stanford ahead. pic.twitter.com/MgO70wqzNU

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) December 31, 2018

The final score was 14-13. It’s so Stanford it hurts.

Winner: Northwestern

The Wildcats — Big Ten West champs, such as they were — trailed Utah 20-3 at halftime. Then they turned on the jets, scoring 28 unanswered to win 31-20. They were one of the year’s feel-good stories, and their season deserved to have a feel-good ending.

Winers from Playoff Saturday

Winner: Trevor Lawrence

Clemson’s five-star freshman QB owned the day more than any other single player did. He was 27-of-39 for 327 yards, three touchdowns, and no picks against an elite defense. Lawrence being good now isn’t surprising. He was one of the highest-rated prospects in the history of recruiting, and Clemson surrounded him with a top skill-position group and a road-grading offensive line.

But his total reliability as a freshman — almost never throwing picks, only making occasional, minor mistakes — is incredible. If he can beat the Tide, he’ll be the second true freshman to QB his team to a title, after Oklahoma’s Jamelle Holieway in 1985. I won’t put it past him.

Winner: Tua Tagovailoa

Tagovailoa lost out to Kyler Murray in one of the best Heisman races ever, but he was the better of the two quarterbacks in the Orange Bowl (though Murray put up three excellent quarters of his own and still fairly deserved the trophy).

Tua put up one of those lines that would be absurd if he hadn’t done it several times already: 24-of-27 for 318 yards, four touchdowns, and (of course) no interceptions.

He looked healthy and every bit as crisp as he did for the first 80 percent of the season, when he built what had seemed to be an insurmountable lead for the Heisman. People who wish to relitigate that trophy race may do so now, but Tagovailoa will happily get ready for the title game instead. His bad SEC Championship feels like a distant memory, even though the Clemson defense he’ll see next is in a different world than the Oklahoma D he just saw.

Loser: Notre Dame’s big-game reputation, again

The Irish have now lost their last eight New Year’s Six (or equivalent) bowl games, going back to the 1993 season’s Cotton Bowl. I’m 24, and I have not been alive to see Notre Dame win a top-tier bowl game. On the one hand, props to Notre Dame for managing to stay relevant as a national brand amid such a long drought. On the other, while the Irish deserved their Playoff spot, much of the country will still decline to take them seriously. They’ve once again failed to make an emphatic argument in their own favor.

Loser: Nick Saban’s headset

Rest in peace:

Moment of silence for Nick Saban's headset... pic.twitter.com/MTH8kq0gwm

— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) December 30, 2018

He was up by 18 at this point.

Loser: Anyone who bet the over in the Orange Bowl at 79.5 or higher

That was the opening total on Selection Sunday. It went even higher, reaching the highest total in Playoff history, comfortably. The game settled at 79 points exactly, with Alabama kneeling out the clock inside Oklahoma’s 10-yard line. No, I’m not personally upset about it. Why would you ask?

Loser: Jim Harbaugh

Heading into a game at Ohio State the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Michigan was ranked No. 4. The Wolverines were favored to win in Columbus, an extreme rarity in a series Ohio State has owned. This seemed like their best shot in years. That ended in humiliation, though. So maybe Michigan would at least beat a supposedly inferior team in the Peach Bowl and see some postseason success this year? Nope. This qualifies as a collapse, which Harbaugh’s getting used to in Ann Arbor.

Loser: South Carolina

Not only did rival Clemson get one of its best wins ever, the Gamecocks lost 28-0 to Virginia.

Winner: Georgia

The Dawgs, who took Alabama to the wire and had a legit case as one of the four best teams, did not make the Playoff. Their players spent the day tweeting gleefully about Notre Dame’s and Oklahoma’s struggles, suggesting they should’ve been in the field instead.

But hear me out on this: nobody is getting a better deal than the Dawgs.

Their fans think they’re better than both Notre Dame and Oklahoma, so the logical follow is that they’d have faced Clemson as the No. 3 seed in the Playoff. That would suck. What’s much better is getting to play Texas in the Sugar Bowl, probably winning that game by a lot, and pretending for the whole offseason that Clemson wouldn’t have beaten you by 21.

Previous bowl season winners and losers

Winner: Rain

Rain won the inaugural First Responder Bowl, canceling the Boise State-Boston College game in Dallas before it got through the first quarter. Games get canceled for weather reasons all the time, but this appears to have been the first FBS bowl in the modern era to meet that fate. The game was declared a no-contest, its few stats wiped out.

Winner: Cheez-It

The sponsor of a middling (at best) bowl game in Phoenix wound up overseeing one of the most virally enjoyed bowls in years. Cal and TCU played just a hideous game, combining for nine interceptions, but you can’t buy publicity like the cracker-maker got at the end of it.

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Indeed, those are Cheez-Its in that trophy bowl.

Loser: Miami

The Hurricanes secured their spot as the most disappointing team of 2018 by getting caved in by Wisconsin at the Pinstripe Bowl. The preseason No. 8 Hurricanes finished 7-6. What’s worse, they have a ton of problems facing them as they move into 2018.

Winner: Auburn

The Tigers routed Purdue in the Music City Bowl, 63-14. Had they not let up considerably in the second half, they would’ve easily broken the all-time bowl scoring record Army tied days earlier (70, and more on that shortly). They still put together one of the most dazzling offensive games any team has had in years, providing a nice little capper to a pretty terrible season for Gus Malzahn. Maybe it’ll be something to build on, or maybe it was just fun.

Winner: Gardner Minshew

Washington State beat Iowa State in a fun Alamo Bowl, and Minshew threw for 299 yards and a couple of touchdowns. He capped off one of the best and most memorable seasons ever for a Mike Leach QB in a uniformly positive way.

Winner: Army

The Black Knights won what you could fairly call the most lopsided bowl game in history, 70-14 against Houston at the Armed Forces Bowl. The 56-point margin of victory tied the record, and their 70 points tied the record, too. All of that pretty wells sums it up, but it’s worth noting Army scored 10 TDs on 10 offensive drives. (The Knights lost one fumble, which they offset with a defensive touchdown.) They finished with a program-high 11 wins and have never won more games in two years than the 21 they’ve won these last two.

Loser: Major Applewhite

That result has Houston head coach Applewhite’s job in danger, sources told SB Nation’s Steven Godfrey. UH’s president famously said upon hiring Applewhite that the school fires coaches when they go 8-4 (though it doesn’t usually, in truth), and Applewhite has now had a worse record than that in each of his two years. Offensive coordinator Kendal Briles resigned after the bowl, with sources telling Godfrey he was expected to head to Florida State. UH was supposed to lose this game without DT Ed Oliver and QB D’Eriq King, but Applewhite may have lost more than the bowl.

Winner: Troy, for somehow still having Neal Brown

The Trojans beat Buffalo in the Dollar General Bowl, a weird game that included the Bulls’ offense not seeing the field for the whole third quarter. That was weird, but what wasn’t was seeing Troy get to double-digit wins. The Trojans have done that three years in a row under Brown, with bowl wins capping all three and Power 5 wins at LSU and Nebraska mixed in. It’s astonishing that nobody’s yet hired Brown to a head coaching gig in those ranks, but Troy will take it. The program had never won 10 games before this three-year run of doing it every year. Troy’s one of the sport’s most reliable winners. Troy!

Loser: Memphis

The Tigers were the losers in the Birmingham Bowl, the most dramatic bowl yet. After blowing an 18-point lead, they scored a go-ahead touchdown with 1:15 left against Wake Forest. But they let the Demon Deacons march all the way downfield to take the lead back with 34 seconds left. Then they got into game-tying field goal range, and Riley Patterson knocked through a 38-yarder that got wiped out because Wake had called an icing timeout. He knocked through another after that, but a false start pushed it back to a 43-yarder, which Patterson then missed to give the win to the Deacs.

Winner: Jaylon Ferguson

The senior Louisiana Tech defensive end used the Hawaii Bowl to break Terrell Suggs’ career Division I sack record of 44, fighting through an iffy facemask call and some brief official scoring drama to do it. Ferguson has gotten little attention over his career, because he plays in Conference USA. But he’s been productive for four years, putting up particularly big totals in his sophomore and senior years. Bowl games are primarily about TV, but at their best, they should be about players, and seeing Ferguson celebrate was tremendous.

(Yes, it’s fine to note the NCAA did not count bowl stats before 2002, and that might make Suggs’ and others of his time look worse. It’s a bad policy. But that’s not Ferguson’s problem, and he should sleep fine going forward as a record-holder. He’s also a winner because he got to go to Hawaii, and because Tech actually beat the Rainbow Warriors.)

Steven Erler-USA TODAY Sports

Winner: BYU

The Cougars had an up-and-down year, but they made sure to finish with a winning record by beating the hell out of WMU in the Potato Bowl. They gained 9.4 yards per play to the Broncos’ 4.1 and got one of the most sparkling QB lines ever out of freshman Zach Wilson: 18-of-18 passing for 317 yards, four touchdowns, and (obviously) no picks. He was two measly screen passes away from qualifying for and setting the FBS record for single-game completion percentage. Former Georgia QB Grayson Lambert has it now at 96 percent.

Winner: FIU

The Bahamas Bowl was good fun, and Butch Davis’ Panthers came out on top against Toledo. They did it with a backup quarterback, Christian Alexander, running all over the Rockets’ defense and also converting some key late third downs with his arm. FIU lost a lot of talent from an eight-win team in 2017, Davis’ first season, and still inched forward to nine wins this year, including the second bowl win in program history and first since 2010. It’s not hard to see FIU as a Conference USA contender in 2019.

Winner: UAB

The Blazers did not field a team two seasons ago, or three seasons ago. But head coach Bill Clark stuck around and, when the program was reinstated a half-year after shutting down in December 2014, got to building a winner. A JUCO-heavy roster-building strategy paid off this year, when UAB won Conference USA and put up 10 wins, the most in its history. That was before trouncing MAC champion NIU in the Boca Raton Bowl, 37-13. That was the program’s first bowl win ever.

Loser: The Pac-12

The worst Power 5 conference missed the Playoff for the third time in the five-year history of the event. Then it began its underwhelming bowl schedule with Arizona State losing (and losing unimpressively) to the Mountain West’s Fresno State in the Las Vegas Bowl.

Fresno comfortably covered a 6-point spread despite having a near-touchdown turn into a touchback when a fumble at the pylon went through the end zone. The Sun Devils did not seriously threaten to win. It’s the second year in a row the Pac-12’s lost in Vegas, after Oregon fell to Boise State in 2017, both times by double digits.

Loser: North Texas

UNT quarterback Mason Fine getting hurt against Utah State was a big shame. His teammates weren’t able to keep things close without him. What we’d pegged as one of the best matchups of bowl season turned into a rout. The good news, though: UNT head coach Seth Littrell surprised a bunch of people by not leaving for Kansas State, Texas Tech, or any other open coaching job. The Mean Green should be a Conference USA contender in 2019.

Winner: Tulane

The Green Wave hadn’t won a bowl since 2002. They hadn’t been in a bowl since 2013. They were 5-6 entering a Week 13 game against Navy, and they put their bowl eligibility on the line when they went for a 2-point conversion with 1:27 left in a 1-point game there. They got it and won, and then they went to the Cure Bowl and beat UL Lafayette by 17. Willie Fritz has gradually built the Wave up and now has some postseason success to show for it.

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Winner: FCS call-ups

Georgia Southern completed one of the year’s best turnarounds by beating Eastern Michigan on a 40-yard field goal at the buzzer of the Camellia Bowl. The Eagles’ 10 wins are their most since they made the jump to FBS in 2014, and they come a year after the program cratered to 2-10. Things started to turn around midseason last year, when Chad Lunsford took over for the fired Tyson Summers and went 2-4 after an 0-6 start. Now? GaSo looks as good as ever. When the Eagles are running the option, they’re good.

Appalachian State won impressively against Middle Tennessee at the New Orleans Bowl. The Mountaineers, who have hovered around the top 15 for most of the year in S&P+, are just really good. The Sun Belt champs showed out and did their conference proud, and they did it in their first game without Scott Satterfield, their coach who left for Louisville. Satterfield had transitioned the Mountaineers, like GaSo, from FCS blue-blood status to FBS startup. Things seem even better at App right now than they do at Southern.

So, hey, let’s count the Louisville as a winner in this group. The Satterfield hire already looked good, but it looks better now that App State’s had a good bowl and Mountaineer defensive coordinator Bryan Brown’s agreed to join Satterfield in Louisville. Meanwhile, there’s no reason new App coach Eliah Drinkwitz can’t win right away there.

Cheers to Kansas State, too, in a similar vein. The Wildcats’ new coach, outgoing NDSU boss Chris Klieman, is on to another FCS final. The drawback there is that K-State needs to sign some recruits. On another hand, it’s good to hire championship coaches.

Non-FBS winners and losers from this time of year

Winner: Mary Hardin-Baylor

The Cru beat Mount Union (the closest thing Division III has to its own North Dakota State) in a dramatic Stagg Bowl. UMHB’s now won two national titles in three years. That’s a hell of a thing for any program at any level, but it’s especially cool given this one’s newness. The school’s only been playing football for 21 years, starting in 1998. It was a playoff team by 2001, a regular contender after that, and now the best DIII team of the last three years.

Winner: North Carolina A&T

A&T beat Alcorn State in the Celebration Bowl to win HBCU football’s national title, 24-22. That makes three in four years (and in the Celebration Bowl’s history) for the Aggies, who have beaten up on the MEAC and SWAC and started this season by topping FBS East Carolina in Greenville. The team’s lost two games in two years. Rod Broadway built the Aggies up before retiring after 2017’s Celebration Bowl win, and first-year successor Sam Washington is now one-for-one.

Winner: Valdosta State

The Blazers won Division II’s national title — their fourth ever, also their fourth since 2004, and first since 2012— by surviving Ferris State in a truly wild championship game. QB Rogan Wells threw for five touchdowns in the title game and caught another, setting that game’s record for touchdowns responsible-for. VSU finished a sterling 14-0.

Loser: South Dakota State

The poor Jackrabbits have the misfortune of being rivals with North Dakota State. They’ve been unable to get over the NDSU hump for years, as their northern neighbors have become the most dominant program in the country at any level. The Bison blew them out in an FCS playoff semifinal in Fargo to continue both teams’ trends.

We’ll update this post as teams sort themselves going forward.

[junker-town]

Luka Doncic is the real deal. Here’s why he should go No. 1 in the NBA draft.

Doncic can do it all.

Luka Doncic is the frontrunner for the No. 1-overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft because he’s the most proven teenager the basketball world has ever seen. Doncic turned 19 years old at the end of Feburary, a similar age to most draft hopefuls, but has already won a FIBA EuroBasket championship and played three seasons of professional ball for Real Madrid, arguably one of the world’s best teams outside the NBA. In April, Doncic officially entered his name into the draft.

To North America, his face may be new, but in Europe Doncic has been the future of basketball for half a decade.

Goran Dragic, Doncic’s Slovenian national team squadmate, has called him “a born winner,” who will “be one of the best in the whole world.” He would know best, as the two co-starred in Slovenia’s first-ever EuroBasket championship. Dragic has known him since childhood after playing with Doncic’s father, Sasa.

So many international prospects before him have come with the unfulfilled promise of a filled out frame and untapped potential which is never reached, but Doncic is game-ready right now. He’s highly skilled with elite positional size and unprecedented production. His talent is already realized.

NBA GMs should draft him with confidence. While he may lack elite athleticism, he makes up for it with smarts, skill, and poise. He’s proven it so many times already.

Doncic is a teenage superstar showing up grown adults

As a just-turned 19-year-old, Doncic is averaging 14.5 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 4.7 assists in 59 games in EuroLeague and Liga ACB, the two best leagues in Europe. He’s Real Madrid’s primary ball-handler already.

Doncic is sinking two-point shots at a 59.9 percent rate, and threes at 31 percent. He gets to the free-throw line five times per game and makes 80.2 percent of those.

Though his numbers are brilliant, they only tell part of the story. Doncic’s advanced stats are even more impressive, as he’s on his way to putting up one of the highest box score plus-minus marks in Euroleague history.

His level of competition shouldn’t be discounted, either. The baby-faced baller is out-dueling established professionals. On any given night, he may play against a former NBA player like Nick Calathes, Alexey Shved, Jason Thompson, or Jan Vesley. Those names may not have cut it in the NBA, but they were close, and Doncic has shared the floor with them since he was all of 16 years old. That’s the age of a typical high school sophomore.

He also averaged 14 points (24th-best), eight rebounds (fourth-best), and four assists in last summer’s EuroBasket championship winning campaign. That tournament included Jonas Valanciunas, Pau Gasol, Kristaps Porzingis, Dennis Schroder, Dario Saric, Nikola Vucevic, and more. He’s succeeded against all levels of competition.

So what makes Doncic special?

Doncic is a true floor general who dictates the pace of the game

The game feels slower and under control the second the ball lands in Doncic’s hands. He rarely forces anything, and he’s careful — he only turns it over twice per game.

Doncic navigates off screens and finds who’s open. He’s brilliant at reading the defense, seeing plays before they happen. One of his real strengths in halfcourt sets is that he’s comfortable setting up three-point shooters with one-handed passes over the top of defenders. All the shooter has to do is leak out to a corner.

This is an NBA skill, and these precision passes will make Doncic a desirable teammate.

A 6’8 true point guard, huh? Is he like Ben Simmons?

Doncic is an oversized point guard with a small forward’s body, just like Simmons (6’10). But Doncic offers more skill, if far less athleticism.

He has the shooting range Sixers fans long for Simmons to one day find. Doncic is just as much a perimeter threat as he is off the drive, which makes him so hard to defend.

He’s made at least one three in 48 of 59 games this season. He averages five attempts, and is making 31 percent of them. His release is a bit on the slow side, and he isn’t sharpshooting off the dribble like Stephen Curry, but his mechanics are there.

His 80 percent free-throw shooting indicates he’s a better shooter than what his three-point percentage shows, too.

Can he see through the open court?

Doncic has Lonzo Ball-like instincts where his eyes immediately elevate and scout downcourt off every rebound. He’s always looking for easy buckets, and can push the pace when he needs to.

What if nobody’s open on the break?

Doncic isn’t going to be the quickest guard of the NBA draft bunch, but he’s an excellent ball-handler. His dribbles moves aren’t vicious like Kyrie Irving’s, they’re more polite and strategic like Manu Ginobili’s. There’s no wasted energy in what he does.

He weaves around players rather than blowing by explosively, and when he sees space, he isn’t afraid to throw a flashy behind-the-back pass.

Doncic looks thin. Can he finish through contact?

Doncic will add muscle as every rookie does, but he’s sturdier than he looks at 230 pounds. (That’s around the same weight as Porzingis when he entered the league, despite standing seven inches taller.)

He isn’t an automatic finisher, but Doncic has incredible hang time on his strides toward the rim that allow him to adjust mid-air after contact.

He’s really tough to stop down the lane.

If Doncic is the size of a forward, can he play big?

Doncic is asked to play a guard’s role on offense for Real Madrid, and typically guards smaller players at the same position. He isn’t a bruiser down low like Draymond Green, and most of his buckets rely on finesse.

He’s a hound on the boards still, always knowing where to be, and he’s solid boxing out under the hoop. He’s averaging 5.2 rebounds per game, and has reached double digits three times this season.

There’s reason to think he could devote a small portion of his game to scoring on smaller guards, too. He has a feel for when to back down in the post and use his size advantage.

It’s just not naturally what he does.

Why should we believe in Doncic when so many European players have busted?

Few have had more time to play against professionals like Doncic, who debuted for Real Madrid, probably the best non-NBA club in the world, at 16 years old. He’s the 11th-youngest basketball player to play in EuroLeague since 2000-01.

From then, he’s been dominating like no other.

Last year, at 17 years old, he was awarded the EuroLeague Rising Star Award, which is reserved for the best up-and-comers 22 or younger. Previous winners include Ricky Rubio, Nikola Mirotic, and Danilo Gallinari, whose seasons pale in comparison to how Doncic is currently playing.

Here’s what their numbers were compared to when Doncic won the award last season, with the final line showing the numbers he’s producing this year:

There’s a lot to love about Doncic. He’s a multi-dimensional hybrid guard/forward who can lead a team in points, rebounds or assists in any given night.

He’s been successful against top-tier talent for so long and that means something. His resume is so much more impressive than any short-term success in the NCAA.

While Marvin Bagley and DeAndre Ayton have their defensive flaws, and Mo Bamba has his scoring deficiencies, Doncic comes with a well-rounded game and proven production. NBA fans may not know him yet, but the scouts and GMs searching the globe for the next big thing have had an eye on him for years.

[junker-town]

Luka Doncic is the real deal. Here’s why he should go No. 1 in the NBA Draft

The 19-year-old from Slovenia can do it all.

Luka Doncic is the frontrunner for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft because he’s the most proven teenager the basketball world has ever seen. Doncic will turn 19 years old at the end of Feb., like most draft hopefuls, but has already won a FIBA EuroBasket championship and played three seasons of professional ball for Real Madrid, arguably the world’s best teams outside the NBA.

To North America, his face may be new, but in Europe Luka Doncic has been the future of basketball for half a decade.

Goran Dragic, Doncic’s Slovenian national team teammate, has called him “a born winner,” who will “be one of the best in the whole world.” He would know best, as the two co-starred in Slovenia’s first-ever EuroBasket championship. Dragic has known him since childhood after playing with Doncic’s father, Sasa.

So many international prospects before him have come with the unfulfilled promise of a filled out frame and untapped potential which is never reached, but Doncic is game-ready right now. He’s highly skilled with elite positional size and unprecedented production. His talent is already realized.

NBA GMs should draft him with confidence. While he may lack elite athleticism, he makes up for it with smarts, skill and poise. He’s proven it so many times already.

Doncic is a teenage superstar showing up grown adults

As an 18-year-old, Doncic is averaging 15.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.5 assists in 42 games in EuroLeague and Liga ACB, the two best leagues in Europe. He’s Real Madrid’s primary ball-handler already.

Doncic is sinking two-point shots at a 60 percent rate, and threes at 31.7 percent. He gets to the free throw line five times per game and makes 81.5 percent of those.

Though his numbers are brilliant, they only tell part of the story. Doncic’s advanced stats are even more impressive, as he’s on his way to putting up one of the highest box score plus-minus marks in Euroleague history.

His level of competition shouldn’t be discounted, either. The baby-faced baller is out-dueling established professionals. On any given night, he may play against a former NBA player like Nick Calathes, Alexey Shved, Jason Thompson, or Jan Vesley. Those names may not have cut it in the NBA, but they were close, and Doncic has shared the floor with them since he was all of 16 years old. That’s the age of a high school sophomore.

He also averaged 14 points (24th-best), eight rebounds (fourth-best), and four assists in last summer’s EuroBasket championship winning campaign. That tournament included Jonas Valanciunas, Pau Gasol, Kristaps Porzingis, Dennis Schroder, Dario Saric, Nikola Vucevic and more. He’s succeeded against all levels of competition.

So what makes Doncic special?

Doncic is a true floor general who dictates the pace of the game

The game feels slower and under control the second the ball lands in Doncic’s hands. He rarely forces anything, and he’s careful with the ball; he only turns it over twice per game.

Doncic navigates off screens and finds who’s open. He’s brilliant at reading the defense, seeing plays before they happen. One of his real strengths in halfcourt sets is that he’s comfortable setting up three-point shooters with one-handed passes over the top of defenders. All the shooter has to do is leak out to a corner.

This is an NBA skill, and these precision passes will make Doncic a desirable teammate.

A 6’8 true point guard, huh. Is he like Ben Simmons?

Doncic is an oversized point guard with a small forward’s body, just like Simmons (6’10). But Doncic offers more skill, if far less athleticism.

He has the shooting range Sixers fans long for Simmons to one day find. Doncic is just as much a perimeter threat as he is off the drive, which makes him so hard to defend.

He’s made at least one three in 37 of 42 games this season. He averages five attempts, and is making 32 percent of them. His release is a bit on the slow side, and he isn’t sharpshooting off the dribble like Stephen Curry, but his mechanics are there.

His 82 percent free throw shooting indicates he’s a better shooter than what his three-point percentage shows, too.

Can he see through the open court?

Doncic has Lonzo Ball-like instincts where his eyes immediately elevate and scout downcourt off every rebound. He’s always looking for easy buckets, and can push the pace when he needs to.

What if nobody’s open on the break?

Doncic isn’t going to be the quickest guard of the NBA Draft bunch, but he’s an excellent ball-handler. His dribbles moves aren’t vicious like Kyrie Irving’s, they’re more polite and strategic like Manu Ginobili’s. There’s no wasted energy in what he does.

He weaves around players more so than blowing by explosively, and when he sees space, he isn’t afraid to throw a flashy behind-the-back pass.

Doncic looks thin. Can he finish through contact?

Doncic will add muscle as every rookie does, but he’s sturdier than he looks at 230 pounds. (That’s around the same weight as Porzingis when he entered the league, despite standing seven inches taller.)

He isn’t an automatic finisher, but Doncic has incredible hang time on his strides toward the rim that allow him to adjust mid-air after contact.

He’s really tough to stop down the lane.

If Doncic is the size of a forward, can he play big?

Doncic is asked to play a guard’s role on offense for Real Madrid, and typically guards smaller players at the same position. He isn’t a bruiser down low like Draymond Green, and most of his buckets rely on finesse.

He’s a hound on the boards still, always knowing where to be, and he’s solid boxing out under the hoop. He’s averaging 5.5 boards per game, and has reached double digits three times this season.

There’s reason to think he could devote a small portion of his game to scoring on smaller guards, too. He has a feel for when to back down in the post and use his size advantage.

It’s just not naturally what he does.

Why should we believe in Doncic when so many European players have busted?

Few have had more time to play against professionals like Doncic, who debuted for Real Madrid, probably the best non-NBA club in the world, at 16 years old. He’s the 11th-youngest basketball player to play in EuroLeague since 2000-01.

From then, he’s been dominating like no other.

Last year, at 17 years old, he was awarded the EuroLeague Rising Star Award, which is reserved for the best up-and-comers 22 or younger. Previous winners include Ricky Rubio, Nikola Mirotic and Danilo Gallinari, whose seasons pale in comparison to how Doncic is currently playing.

Here’s what their numbers were compared to when Doncic won the award last season, with the final line showing the numbers he’s producing this year:

There’s a lot to love about Luka Doncic. He’s a multi-dimensional hybrid guard/forward who can lead a team in points, rebounds or assists in any given night.

He’s been successful against top-tier talent for so long and that means something. His resume is so much more impressive than any short-term success in the NCAA.

While Marvin Bagley and DeAndre Ayton have their defensive flaws, and Mo Bamba has his scoring deficiencies, Doncic comes with a well-rounded game and proven production. NBA fans may not know him yet, but the scouts and GMs searching the globe for the next big thing have had an eye on him for years.

[junker-town]

Ezekiel Elliott’s career game against the 49ers was just what the Cowboys needed

Elliott's playing status remains murky, but on Sunday, he provided a spark the Cowboys have been missing.

Ezekiel Elliott’s second NFL season was shaping up to be a disappointment, until he ran all over the 49ers on Sunday.

It came at the perfect time for the Cowboys. Dallas was coming off of a two-game skid and needed to bounce back against the winless 49ers. The Cowboys were able to get the offense going again thanks to Elliott’s 219-yard, three-touchdown game.

Elliott ran for 1,631 yards and 15 touchdowns in his rookie season, and he added 363 yards and a touchdown through the air. It was also a primary reason the Cowboys finished 13-3 and locked up the top seed in the NFC for the postseason.

This year, the Cowboys are 3-3 after their 40-10 win over the 49ers. They’re ranked third in the NFC East, behind the Eagles and Washington. Off the field, Elliott is in the middle of an ongoing legal battle with the NFL over his six-game suspension stemming from domestic violence allegations by a former girlfriend. It has left his playing status in doubt from week to week.

On Sunday, he looked much more like the rookie version of himself than the guy who ran for a total of 8 yards against the Broncos earlier this season. Here’s what made it happen.

The Cowboys’ blocking was better against the 49ers

Elliott’s first score on Sunday came on a pretty basic 1-yard run. The Cowboys capitalized on a 49ers fumble on their own 25-yard line, and Elliott punched it in.

Textbook blocking sprung Elliott for his second touchdown of the game.

25-yard @EzekielElliott TD run! #DallasCowboys http://pic.twitter.com/kh9mG3z45C

— NFL (@NFL) October 22, 2017

The Cowboys had the best offensive line in the league last season, but they lost two starters this offseason: Ronald Leary signed with the Broncos in free agency, and Doug Free retired. La’el Collins took over for Free at right tackle. Jonathan Cooper is starting at left guard, Leary’s old spot.

It takes time for the line to develop the chemistry it needs after offseason changes. Their play has been inconsistent this year as a result. That wasn’t the case on Sunday. On Elliott’s second touchdown, Cooper and Collins in particular — as well as tight end Jason Witten — blocked aggressively to create a clear lane for Elliott right up the middle.

While the bulk of the yards on the ground came from Elliott, blocking helped the run game as a whole absolutely kill it against the Niners. The team ended up with 265 yards total on the ground.

Elliott came into the week averaging just 3.7 yards per carry this season, well below the 5.1 yards he averaged per touch last year. On Sunday, he managed a whopping 5.7 yards per carry. And he recognized the offensive line’s role in that.

Ezekiel Elliott on the O-line imposing their will: "That's what they should do. They're the best in the game and they played like it today."

— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) October 23, 2017

The line was solid in the passing game, too. They didn’t allow a sack all game, and Prescott was just hit once. But their impact was seen most in the run game.

Pro Football Focus gave Elliott the highest grade for this game for his dominant play. Right guard Zack Martin and Cooper stood out among the linemen. Martin has played well in general this season, earning PFF’s highest grade along the Cowboys’ offensive line. But Cooper’s play against the 49ers showed dramatic improvement. He’s averaged a grade of 46.8 for his play this season. On Sunday, he earned an above-average grade of 78.1.

It’s the most effective this unit has looked all year. It showed in Elliott’s stat line.

Elliott’s success on the ground opened up the passing game

Elliott also helped out through the air. His 72 receiving yards all came on this single beautiful touchdown play.

It’s a simple screen pass, and Elliott finds a lane thanks to a well-timed block from Martin and a little help from receiver Brice Butler. Then, he’s gone.

Dez Bryant and Jason Witten were both able to pull off some big plays against the 49ers. Bryant finished with seven catches for 63 yards and a touchdown, and Witten had four catches for 54 yards and this incredible one-handed touchdown catch. Prescott finished with 234 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 134.

The way Elliott dismantled the 49ers’ defense on the ground kept them honest. They had to adjust to try to limit the damage Elliott was doing in the run game. That opened things up for other players, and it helped Dallas control the clock and wear down the 49ers. The Cowboys had the ball for 32:50 of the game.

It was exactly what the Cowboys failed to do in their 42-17 loss to the Broncos. Denver’s game plan was to force Dak Prescott to pass, and the Broncos were able to lock in on that because they completely shut Elliott down. It’s much more difficult for defenses to contain this balanced Dallas offense.

It was the best game of Elliott’s career so far

Elliott’s 219 combined yards — 147 rushing, 72 receiving — and three touchdowns were the most he’d had in a single game as a pro. His stat sheet doesn’t tell the whole story, though.

Ezekiel Elliott's resurgence didn't begin w/ this game. Cowboys RB has rushed for 232 yds in last 5 quarters after 308 yds in first 15.

— David Moore (@DavidMooreDMN) October 23, 2017

Before Sunday, his best game so far this season was against the Giants in Week 1, when he had 140 rushing and receiving yards combined. He has only exceeded 147 rushing yards twice in his career, with 157 yards against the Packers and 159 against the Buccaneers last season.

It’s tempting to take this performance with a grain of salt because it came against the 0-7 49ers. But San Francisco is more competitive than its record suggests. This was the first game since Week 1 that the 49ers have lost by a margin larger than three points. The run defense went into Week 7 ranked No. 18 in the league for rushing yards allowed per game. After Elliott’s performance, the Niners run defense dropped to 29th in the league.

"I felt ready to go out there and play ball," Elliott said after the game, via David Moore of the Dallas Morning News. "I'm not going to say I didn't feel ready earlier in the season. I felt the same.”

"But I think all together this team we had a different mentality coming into today and I think we're at the right place in the season."

The Cowboys need this version of Elliott on the field each week

The dip in Elliott’s production through the first five weeks of the season is part of the reason Dallas finds itself ranked third in the NFC East, looking up at Washington and first-place Philadelphia. If this game wasn’t an anomaly for Elliott and he returns to his 2016 season form, Dallas still has a shot at the division.

Of course, that’s contingent upon Elliott’s availability to play. A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 30 on the NFLPA’s motion for a preliminary injunction that would delay his six-game suspension until Elliott’s court case against the NFL is complete.

The 3-3 Cowboys were favored to win the division before the season started. Dallas hasn’t looked like the same team that went 13-3 last year, but losses to the Rams and Packers were close. This team could easily be 5-1. If Elliott keeps running like this, and if the court lets him keep playing, it could be enough to turn this Cowboys season around.

[junker-town]

The Numerical: Oklahoma has the country’s best Playoff odds ... after Bama, of course

A review of the best in college football stats after Week 2 also includes notes on Auburn, Kansas State, UCLA, Virginia Tech, and more.

1. The new stat profiles are here!

This year’s Football Study Hall statistical profiles for all 130 FBS teams are up and running! Just two weeks into a long season, here are some of the things the profiles can tell us.

2. Oklahoma is in the catbird seat (non-Bama division)

The top four teams in the latest AP poll — Alabama, Oklahoma, Clemson, and USC — have all significant hurdles in their College Football Playoff journeys. The Crimson Tide survived Florida State in Week 1, while the latter three (Oklahoma over Ohio State, Clemson over Auburn, USC over Stanford) won some of the most losable games on their schedules in Week 2.

The Sooners faced the most losable game, however, and now the Sooners have it pretty easy compared to their CFP contender brethren.

Using S&P+ win probabilities, you can use the stat profiles to find a team’s odds of finishing with a given record. For the teams in the current AP top 20, here are the odds of each finishing with one or fewer losses in the 2017 regular season:

Alabama (62.5 percent chance of finishing 11-1 or better)

Oklahoma (36.6 percent)

USC (34.3 percent)

Wisconsin (32.9 percent)

Clemson (30.8 percent)

Penn State (28.1 percent)

Washington (25.1 percent)

Michigan (18.4 percent)

Louisville (16.1 percent)

LSU (15.7 percent)

Ohio State (14.0 percent)

Oklahoma State (10.5 percent)

TCU (6.8 percent)

Miami (6.3 percent)

Stanford (5.3 percent)

Georgia (5.0 percent)

Virginia Tech (4.8 percent)

Florida State (3.4 percent)

Kansas State (1.2 percent)

Auburn (1.1 percent)

Obviously the Crimson Tide remain on a different plane of existence (they’re the only team with a better than 10 percent chance of finishing the regular season undefeated: 24 percent there) but Oklahoma is in an enviable spot. Their 11-1-or-more odds were under 25 percent when the season began; win your hardest game, and things improve quickly.

The Sooners still have games against three other AP top 20 teams (OSU, TCU, KSU), but everybody has big games remaining. OU’s got almost as good a chance as anyone of cashing in.

3. Josh Rosen is UCLA’s efficiency

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Josh Rosen

UCLA’s defense ranks 88th in passing success rate allowed and 116th in rushing success rate allowed at the moment, and the Bruins’ run game hasn’t shown a ton of early improvement over last year’s dismal campaign: they still rank 104th in rushing success rate.

But there’s Rosen, completing 68 percent of his passes and dragging the Bruins to a No. 17 ranking in passing success rate.

He began the season 6-for-17 for 35 yards. Since then: 51-for-67, 785 yards, nine touchdowns.

4. Alabama’s got a one-man receiving corps

Through two games, Alabama quarterbacks Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa have combined to target nine different players at least twice and only one more than four times. Calvin Ridley has been targeted with 17 passes, a full 13 more than No. 2 target Cam Sims.

It’d be one thing if those 17 targets were racking up massive yards. But despite a long touchdown against FSU, Ridley is averaging just 10.6 yards per catch and 7.5 yards per target. He’s steady, but things are going to have to open up a bit. Bama currently ranks a dismal 129th in passing-downs success rate; granted, most of that is because of FSU’s awesome defense, but even against Fresno State, Bama’s PD success rate was just 25 percent.

5. Auburn’s Jarrett Stidham is getting hit a lot

Auburn’s quarterback situation is pretty solid — if Stidham were to get hurt, backup Sean White is in place. White was fine when healthy a year ago.

Still, that doesn’t mean you should try to get Stidham hurt. Not only was he sacked an incredible 11 times in 35 attempts against Clemson last week (maybe the highest sack rate I’ve ever seen in a non-FCS game), but he also got sacked three times in 27 attempts against Georgia Southern in Week 1’s blowout win. That’s a cool 22.6 percent sack rate over two games; as a frame of reference, anything above about 8 percent is pretty bad.

6. Kansas State looks awfully “peak Collin Klein” Kansas State

As is Bill Snyder’s preference, the Wildcats have begun with tuneups. They outscored Central Arkansas and Charlotte by a combined 110-26, showing flashes of their best run game since Klein was behind center.

Yes, you should be able to push UCA and Charlotte around, but the Wildcats are second in the country in opportunity rate (frequency of rushes of at least five yards), third in success rate, and ninth in stuff rate. Quarterback Jesse Ertz is averaging 6.5 yards per carry, and top backs Alex Barnes and Dalvin Warmack are averaging 5.7. You’d love to see a little more explosiveness, but right now that’s coming from the passing game: Ertz is completing 70 percent of his passes at 19.7 yards per completion.

KSU doesn’t move backwards and connects on deep passes. That’s a lovely combination. But something will have to give when the Wildcats face Vanderbilt this weekend, because ...

6. The Commodores are knocking you backwards

Photo by Frederick Breedon/Getty Images

Dare Odeyingbo (34)

That Vandy is 2-0 isn’t a total surprise, but the way the Dores have accomplished it is.

Despite all-world linebacker Zach Cunningham, they ranked just 55th in havoc rate (tackles for loss, passes defensed, and forced fumbles per play) in 2016.

Early in 2017, they are an easy No. 1 in havoc right now at 31 percent. Hell, their front seven alone (20.8 percent) would rank in the top 30 overall.

Linebacker Charles Wright and end Dare Odeyingbo each has 4.5 TFLs already, and corner Tre Herndon has broken up three passes. A havoc rate of over 30 percent is unsustainable, but we’ve seen clear signs of improved aggression here, and that makes Saturday’s visit from Kansas State maybe the most underrated game of Week 3.

7. Defense and special teams is the recipe for Colorado

The Buffaloes’ offense hit some stumbling blocks against Colorado State and Texas State. They are just 77th in success rate thus far and 113th in finishing drives.

You probably haven’t noticed, though, because they have still outscored opponents by a combined 48 thanks, to a flexible defense (second in finishing drives), decent big-play prevention (35th in defensive explosiveness), and dynamite special teams. They are tied for first in kickoff success rate and ninth in punting success rate, and freshman kicker James Stefanou has made four of five field goals. That’s good for an early No. 2 ranking in Special Teams S&P+.

8. Missouri’s got the tempo thing down

Under second-year offensive coordinator Josh Heupel, the Tigers are averaging a play for every 18.4 seconds of possession, fastest in the country.

But that’s not the whole story — they are doing this despite running the ball quite a bit. Arkansas State (second at 18.7) has thrown more than 75 percent of the time, and Indiana (third at 19.3) has thrown 65 percent. Throwing more equals more stoppages.

When you factor in run-pass rates, Missouri’s expected seconds per play is around 25.8, a difference of 7.4 seconds, which dwarves other high-tempo teams like USF (6.1), Tulsa (5.9), and Memphis (5.9).

Now the Tigers just need to make more of those plays. After scoring 72 points against Missouri State, they managed just 13 against South Carolina.

9. Your best special teams coverage guy: BC’s Isaac Yiadom

A new addition to this year’s profiles: special teams tackles. I thought it would be interesting to track who’s making stops on special teams and where they’re doing them.

Thus far, eight FBS players have made at least four tackles of opposing return men, and Boston College’s Yiadom has made maybe the most valuable tackles — he’s made two stops on punt returns, and those returns have averaged just three yards each; he’s made two stops on kick returns, and they’ve averaged just 19 yards.

10. Kansas’ Joe Dineen, stuffs machine

Kansas suffered a disappointing 45-27 loss to Central Michigan on Saturday; any hope of showing major improvement in 2017 sort of went out the window. But don’t blame Dineen. The junior linebacker has already recorded 23.5 tackles this season and has contributed to a nation-leading eight run stuffs (stops at or behind the line of scrimmage, another new stat profile feature this year).

Other stuffs leaders:

8: UMass’ Bryton Barr

7: BGSU’s Nate Locke, Hawaii’s VIane Moala, NIU’s Jawuan Johnson and Sutton Smith

6: Idaho’s Tony Lashley, NC State’s Bradley Chubb, Oregon State’s Jonathan Willis, SJSU’s Frank Ginda

11. Your return man is going to be bored playing Virginia Tech

Hokie kicker Joey Slye has attempted 12 kickoffs this season. All 12 resulted in touchbacks.

Big play watch

John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

OSU’s Marcell Ateman

It’s your weekly check-in on the nation’s two funnest teams, Oklahoma State and Penn State. OSU won its Week 1 big-play battle with PSU, recording six gains of 40-plus yards to the Nittany Lions’ two. On the boxing scorecard, the Cowboys took Round 1, 10-9.

Round 2: a 10-0 tie. Both teams had four gains of 20-plus and one gain of 40-plus. PSU was nearly given the round due to degree of difficulty — the Nittany Lions played Pitt while OSU went to South Alabama — but, um, I’m not sure how much more difficult playing the Pitt defense is at the moment.

By the way, in the Fun Teams watch:

Oregon leads the country with 20 gains of 20-plus yards. (Missouri and Stanford are second at 18.)

Maryland leads with eight gains of 40-plus yards. (OSU and West Virginia are second at seven.)

Overachiever watch

In last week’s Numerical, I looked at the teams and conferences that over- and underachieved the most compared to their S&P+ projections. Thanks primarily to Maryland and Wisconsin, the Big Ten was your overachievement leader. Let’s check in again after Week 2.

FBS conferences in order of performance vs. S&P+ projection

Big 12 (19 games, plus-3.8 points per game)

MWC (26 games, plus-2.9 points per game)

Big Ten (28 games, plus-2.6 points per game)

Pac-12 (25 games, plus-1.0 points per game)

MAC (24 games, plus-0.3 points per game)

AAC (20 games, plus-0.0 points per game)

Conference USA (27 games, minus-0.2 points per game)

SEC (27 games, minus-0.6 points per game)

ACC (26 games, minus-0.9 points per game)

Sun Belt (20 games, minus-1.1 points per game)

It would make sense that the SEC and ACC would underachieve a bit since they began the season on the top of the pack. But the Big 12’s early performance is impressive considering it features the biggest S&P+ underachiever in the country so far.

S&P+ underachieves (min: 2 games)

Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Matt Rhule left Temple for Baylor last season. Thus far, both Temple and Baylor are struggling.

Baylor (minus-28.0 points per game)

ECU (minus-26.3)

FIU (minus-22.3)

Temple (minus-18.1)

WKU (minus-18.0)

Oregon State (minus-17.9)

Northwestern (minus-17.5)

Bowling Green (minus-16.3)

Texas A&M (minus-15.5)

Kent State (minus-14.4)

When people see something like LSU ranking No. 2 in S&P+, they assume recruiting rankings are skewing projections. They are part of the projections, however, only because they are solid statistical predictors of success.

The biggest source of early skew, however: coaching changes. Four of the top five underachievers are in Year 1 of a new regime, and, well, the fifth team in that group (ECU) probably shouldn’t have changed coaches in 2016.

Meanwhile, the biggest overachiever also has a new coach.

S&P+ overachievers (min: 2 games)

Fresno State (plus-31.2 points per game)

Duke (plus-26.6)

Mississippi State (plus-24.6)

Maryland (plus-24.2)

Purdue (plus-19.9)

SMU (plus-18.9)

Wake Forest (plus-18.7)

Army (plus-17.7)

TCU (plus-17.0)

Oregon (plus-16.1)

Mississippi State a major overachiever, eh? With LSU coming to Starkville this week, eh?