#there are two big college football teams in alabama: alabama and auburn. people are very passionate about them.

[syn4k]

alabamiku (hatsune miku from alabama)

[racingtoaredlight]

THE DEGENERATE’S GUIDE TO COLLEGE FOOTBALL TV WATCH ‘EM UPS 2021: WEEK TWO, A MUDDLED AND MAUDLIN WEEK OF MAYHEM IN HONOR OF THOSE WE LOST

RTARL would like to extend our warmest holiday wishes to those who celebrate and, even if you don’t, happy 9/11. Now who’s ready for some FOOTBALL!!!!?!?!

So after two weeks of games that combine to count as only one official week even though some teams have already played twice we have only one real question answered: is Alabama still good? Yes, they are. Everything else is still liquefying vapor.

I am assuming everybody is waiting with baited breath for an RTARLsman but I don’t have anything yet. I guess the not-Master Teague RBs on Ohio State are the frontrunners for now. Or that one guy from that one team who was good. You know who I mean.

Saturday, September 11

Matchup    Time (ET)     TV/Mobile

Illinois at Virginia   11:00am   ACCN

Jeff George won Citrus Bowl MVP for the Illini against the Hoos in his last game as a student athlete before becoming the #1 overall pick in the 1990 NFL Draft. Based on this history it is safe to presume that whoever the QB is for Illinois today will be the #1 pick in 2022.

VMI at Kent State   11:30am   ESPN3

I’m not sure on this but maybe this game is cancelled.

WKU at Army    11:30am   CBSSN

Army is favored by 6. I bet this game is boring.

Norfolk State at Wake Forest    12:00pm   ACCNX

I don’t see a line listed but whatever it is bet against Wake covering.

Indiana State at Northwestern     12:00pm    BTN

This game is an act of terrorism.

Alabama State at 25 Auburn     12:00pm    SECN

Real body bag season starts today, huh?

Youngstown State at Michigan State  12:00pm   BTN

The Michigan State running back is the guy I was trying to think of earlier! He’s pretty good. Not good enough to make me watch this but I will check on his stats every so often.

Tulsa at Oklahoma State   12:00pm   FS1

I bet Mike Gundy has some really salient thoughts on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 and I can’t wait to hear them.

South Carolina at East Carolina   12:00pm      ESPN2

South Carolina is a two point favorite against an East Carolina team that is, per my understanding, not exactly good. So I can only extrapolate that South Carolina is likewise not good.

Pitt at Tennessee  12:00pm   ESPN

Look, I’m not going to pretend this is good television but if Pitt rocks their classic yellow helmets and Tennessee wears non-alternates the colors on the screen will at least be pleasing. The thought of the actual football involved hurts my brain but it’s interesting that the points have gone from a consensus pick ‘em to Pitt -3 over the course of the week. Does Tennessee have any players that are good enough that by missing the game they could impact the gambling that much? Or are people just squaring themselves with the fact the the Vols are really and truly a ruined burnt out hole of a football program? Pound the latter.

12 Oregon at 3 Ohio State  12:00pm   FOX

Losing Kayvon Thibideaux certainly isn’t going to help Oregon but he’s not usually on the field as a run stopper anyway and if Ohio State learned anything last week it’s that they can just run until they feel like throwing a pass. Oregon actually has some legit talent on the d-line besides Thibideaux but the Ducks are gonna be hard-pressed to keep things within two scores here.

Miami (Ohio) at Minnesota   12:00pm   ESPN

If Oregon can’t make a game of it in Columbus look out because this time block is an absolute wasteland. There is scant reason to turn the TV on for the early schedule other than gambling purposes.

Kennesaw State at Georgia Tech   12:00pm    RSN/ESPN3

Georgia Tech probably should have closed up shop after Paul Johnson retired. Either that or just absolutely slathered the football program in dollars. The Yellow Jackets being unable to land any big time recruits while playing in Atlanta is a real mindfuck. They aren’t a AA program playing dress up in a “power” conference they’ve got actual history. I don’t mean to give the impression I want them to be good but I don’t understand how they can be such fodder for so long.

13 Florida at USF    1:00pm    ABC

Remember that year when USF was the best program in the state? Wild stuff. Weird, wild stuff. I know the deal with UF is that they don’t go out of state for contract games but it’s actually kind of surprising they even bothered to keep this trip to Tampa on the schedule. Like the area recruits would probably be happier to go see a game at The Swamp than to kick around their hometown for a pile of shit like this.

Wyoming at NIU    1:30pm   ESPN+

I’m not gonna open the ESPN app for this but if it was on ESPN2 I’d probably check in on it during commercials. Aesthetically pleasing trash with an upside for actual entertainment.

Middle Tennessee at 19 Virginia Tech    2:00pm   ACCNX

Virginia Tech’s home crowd scene was the normie story of last week’s games. People that don’t watch college football were either aghast or frantically waving their blue lives matter flags in response. Us in this space just ate the shame and forgot it happened by the time Saturday’s games kicked off. My theory is that VPI is not actually any good but UNC’s 2020 season was a well-timed fluke and the last hurrah of Mack Brown’s storied coaching career. The Hokies are at home, though, and MTSU is almost certainly not on the same athletic level as the Turkey Gobblers so I’d probably take the home team -20 if I were so inclined to wager on this particular game that is being broadcast on the ACC’s new pornography channel.

Rutgers at Syracuse    2:00pm    ACCN

Holy fuck does this game suck. Reuniting former Big East, uh, rivals (??? does Rutgers have any natural enemies?) in a cross-conference classic betwixt the B1G and the ACC.

Duquesne at Ohio   2:00pm   ESPN3

I don’t think I need to explain to you all the national title implications riding on this game.

Toledo at 8 Notre Dame    2:30pm     Peacock

Just remember that if you subscribe to Peacock you are at the very least tacitly supporting Notre Dame. If for some reason you’re watching this please report back on how many of those defensive pick plays Notre Dame runs. They were doing that shit constantly against Florida State last week and it drove me nuts. I think the idea is that you are so flagrantly illegal so often that the refs grow numb to it and just don’t call it at all.

Robert Morris at Central Michigan     3:00pm    ESPN3

Not to be outdone by the early games, the 3 o’clock set is equally terrible.

Purdue at UConn    3:00pm    CBSSN

I bet Edsall still gets bonuses for stupid shit even now that he’s retired or whatever the official designation was for him no longer coaching.

Boston College at UMass    3:30pm    FloFootball/NESN+

I don’t know what FloFootball is but I know it isn’t anything to do with the state of Florida.

Ball State at 11 Penn State    3:30pm    FS1

It surprises me to see Penn State as only -22.5 favorites. That seems very kind to Ball State. Hopefully I’m wrong and the Ball State Lettermans take it to the Sanduskys.

Murray State at 7 Cincinnati    3:30pm    ESPN+

Practice week continues.

Temple at Akron    3:30pm    ESPN+

Pound the under.

Georgia Southern at Florida Atlantic   3:30pm   Stadium

There is really nothing going on this week.

Air Force at Navy   3:30pm   CBS

Middies vs. Fly Boys in the first leg of the Commander’s Cup on the twentieth anniversary of 9/11. I can’t imagine the amount of emotional manipulation that’s going to make its way onto this broadcast. Normally I watch these games but I don’t think I can do it this year.

UAB at 2 Georgia    3:30pm    ESPN2

Georgia may well be absurdly talented on the defensive side of the ball but I’d be surprised to see them make it through the regular season with fewer than two losses.

5 Texas A&M at Colorado     3:30pm     FOX

This is only interesting if the Aggies spring a leak.

California at TCU    3:30pm    ESPNU

Things most certainly are not looking up.

Buffalo at Nebraska    3:30pm    BTN

Nebraska is in an interesting position because if they buck the odds and end up being good after we’ve all been so ready to see a National Championship-winning coach get fired that would be funny but if they end up being really bad it’s even funnier. Go Bulls!

Mercer at 1 Alabama    4:00pm   SECN

I’ll cry a little if Saban pulls the starters in the first half and the Tide beats Mercer by less than they beat Miami.

South Alabama at Bowling Green   4:00pm    ESPN+

10 Iowa at 9 Iowa State    4:30pmABC

This is not the kind of top 10 matchup I can just sit idly by and let it happen. Your silence is complicity in this monstrous display of modernity.

SC State at 6 Clemson    5:00pm      ACCN

Clemson dropped all the way to #6 and they’ll hang around the top of the polls because they don’t have the toughest conference schedule in the world but my confidence in them is not high right now. I think the new QB is just a guy. He’s talented as hell but I don’t see him being great.

Illinois State at Western Michigan     5:00pm   ESPN3

This is either MACtion or MACtion adjacent and I have only one word for this midwestern trash: abhorrent.

LIU at West Virginia   5:00pm    ESPN+

LIU plays football?

Lamar at UTSA      6:00pm    ESPN3

Downside: You’re watching one of the least important games of the year. Upside: You’re really not missing anything.

Portland State at Washington State    6:00pm    P12N

Washington State was a perfect spot for the stupid pirate fuckhead and his leaving has ruined the program and, eventually, his reputation. Not relevant to this game necessarily but this game isn’t relevant to anything else, either.

Gardner-Webb at Charlotte   6:00pm    ESPN3

Oh, yeah, feel the excitement.

Bethune-Cookman at UCF   6:30pm   ESPN+

Go Cats.

NC Central at Marshall    6:30pm    ESPN+

The hits keep coming.

Houston at Rice   6:30pm    CBSSN

I’ve always had a soft spot for Holgo and for Houston football but somehow I really don’t like seeing him coach the Cougs. This is SWC magic but with no magic. UNLESS! Houston can put up 100. I don’t think they even have the guys to do it but this is Rice we’re talking about here.

Nicholls at Louisiana    7:00pm    ESPN3

Keep the energy up.

North Texas at SMU   7:00pm   ESPN+

I bet is MS621 were still alive he’d be at this game giving Spencer’s boys hell. Sadly he died doing what he loved, curing his COVID by eating ivermectin paste out of a horse’s butt. R.I.P., friend. Neigh to you wherever you are.

Southeastern La. at Louisiana Tech   7:00pm    ESPN3

Even the low tier stuff is geared up for annihilation. This is a bodybag week for all time.

Memphis at Arkansas State    7:00pm    ESPN+

Memphis getting less than a touchdown against Arkansas State seems like easy money but I have no real concept of either of these teams just yet. Maybe the end is nigh for the Tigers glory years? I sure hope not but it’s possible.

NC State at Mississippi State    7:00pm     ESPN2

This game should be as fun as a parents funeral.

Southern Illinois at Kansas State   7:00pm      ESPN+

Over the past week I experienced derision for referring the the guys in purple and silver as “Kansas State” instead of “K State” and that stung because it always surprises me that anybody cares about them enough to have a strong opinion about them.

Stephen F. Austin at Texas Tech    7:00pm    ESPN+

Shrugs

15 Texas at Arkansas    7:00pm   ESPN

Let’s see if Texas is ready to run with the big boys of the SEC! Arkansas is given a decent shot to win this game and that makes the “15″ next to Texas appear extremely suspect in my eyes.

Texas Southern at Baylor    7:00pm   ESPN+

This week Texas Southern is the people’s champion.

Texas State at FIU   7:00pm    ESPN+

Oh, Butch, why have you done this to yourself?

Western Carolina at 4 Oklahoma      7:00pm     PPV

All the Westen Carolina fans are buying this PPV to see their guys score 40.

New Mexico State at New Mexico    7:00pm     Stadium

I looked up the historic rivalry last year to figure out why it was played early in the season instead of at the end but I’ve forgotten and don’t feel the need to look it up again. I figured out how to watch Stadium on my TV but I also forgot that and don’t feel the need to look it up again.

Appalachian State at 22 Miami (FL)  7:00pm   ESPNU

My gut tells me Miami is probably legitimately about the 14th best team in the country but I still would never advise you to bet actual money on the Hurricanes. Are they 9 points better than App State? Easily. They should win by 20+. Are they liable to fuck around and lose or scrape out a win in the final seconds? Absolutely. Let’s fuckin’ go.

Morgan State at Tulane    7:00pm    ESPN+

A lot of people learned to love the Green Wave last week but it’s hard to keep that going with their schedule. Don’t forget them later in the year when the CBSSN glow is really shining.

Liberty at Troy   7:00pm   ESPN+

Liberty -4 is maybe my surest advice of the week. If Malik Willis is as good as his press the fake school should have this game on ice early.

Eastern Michigan at 18 Wisconsin   7:00pm    FS1

I find Wisconsin’s losing effort against Penn State last week to be a personal affront against me and all of nature.

Eastern Kentucky at Louisville    7:00pm   ACCNX

I think this game being broadcast at night on ACCNX means they’re playing naked.

Grambling State at Southern Miss    7:00pm    ESPN3

This is the kind of game that belongs on an app.

Hampton at Old Dominion    7:00pm    ESPN3

This is the kind of game that belongs on a well-worn high school football field.

Austin Peay at 20 Mississippi   7:30pm     ESPN+/SECN+

This is a pretty big OOC game for an SEC team.

Georgia State at 24 North Carolina    7:30pm    RSN/ESPN3

One of several GSUs, I think this is the one I most hope emerges victorious this week.

Idaho at Indiana   7:30pm    BTN

Wait, wasn’t Indiana like #10 last week? What the hell happened to them? No, don’t tell me. Seriously, don’t.

Missouri at Kentucky     7:30pm    SECN

When the SEC hits 24 teams the “S!E!C!” chants are gonna seem really stupid.

Howard at Maryland    7:30pm    BTN

There’s no official line for this game but I hope the Bison can pull off the upset in this classic local rivalry game.

Jacksonville State at Florida State    8:00pm   ACCN

Still shaking my head at FSU icing their own kicker. Jesus, Norvell. Get your shit together.

McNeese at LSU     8:00pm      ESPN+/SECN+

LOLSU was my lock of the week last week if you’re considering taking gambling advice from me.

Washington at Michigan    8:00pm    ABC

UDub lost to a 1-AA team last week and now they have to go on the road and beat Michigan. Which seems inevitable, to be honest.

Cal Poly at Fresno State    10:00pm    CW59

The murder rate will continue to increase as the day progresses. I always kind of like it when a local broadcast shows up on the sheet. So pretty much none of us have legal access to this game. It makes it more special.

San Diego State at Arizona    10:00pm    P12N

Pac-12 Network is similar to CW59 in that almost nobody in the country has legal access to their broadcasts. If you’ve read enough of these posts you are aware that SDSU is my weird very deep backup team. I don’t have a reason to align myself with the school or program, I just tend to enjoy watching their games.

Vanderbilt at Colorado State     10:00pm    CBSSN

This is an abomination.

21 Utah at BYU     10:15pm    ESPN

This is a lowkey fun rivalry. I’m pretty sure I write the same thing every year but it’s still true. Go Utes.

Stanford at 14 USC     10:30pm    FOX

I think USC could win a national championship and I’d still be baffled that Clay Helton is their coach. Of course, they won’t win a national championship as long as Clay Helton is their coach but they apparently won’t ever get embarrassing enough to fire him, either.

Idaho State at Nevada    10:30pm    Stadium

This is the lowpoint of the week’s schedule and you have to stay up late to watch it on a network that only exists as an app or as part of a hidden unlockable download-only level of cable subscription. This is the beauty of the college game.

UNLV at 23 Arizona State    10:30pm   ESPN2

Herm Edwards figured out the trick to looking good in the Pac-12 without having a particularly great team and I can’t make up my mind if I’m rooting for him to keep sliding on that rail or to fall off it. I think I’ve come around to rooting for him but it’s a very dynamic and fluid situation.

Hawaii at Oregon State   11:00pm    FS1

Hawaii gets to play at their normal time for a game against the bottom of the barrel of the Pac-12 but they’re an 11-point underdog. If you’re ever going to take Hawaii, this is the stars lining up for you to do it. It’s still a big “if” but I’m saying there’s a chance.

[thecollegefootballguy]

The Real 2020 Season: Week 3

Hello everyone, welcome to Week 3 of The Real 2020 Season! We’re imagining how things would have gone in the 2020 football season if COVID hadn’t ruined everything.

Check out the previous weeks here if you’d like a bit of context: Week 0, Week 1, Week 2

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The Rankings

Week 3 AP Poll

1. Clemson 2-0 (2-0) 2. Alabama 2-0 (0-0) 3. Georgia 2-0 (0-0) 4. Oklahoma 2-0 (0-0) 5. Oregon 2-0 (0-0) 6. Florida 2-0 (1-0) 7. Texas 2-0 (0-0) 8. Notre Dame 2-0 9. Auburn 2-0 (0-0) 10. Texas A&M 2-0 (0-0) 11. Ohio State 1-1 (0-0) 12. Oklahoma State 2-0 (0-0) 13. Washington 2-0 (0-0) 14. LSU 1-1 (0-0) 15. UCF 2-0 (0-0) 16. Minnesota 2-0 (0-0) 17. Utah 2-0 (0-0) 18. Iowa 2-0 (0-0) 19. Indiana 2-0 (1-0) 20. USC 1-1 (0-0) 21. Cincinnati 2-0 (0-0) 22. Penn State 1-1 (0-0) 23. Missouri 2-0 (1-0) 24. Liberty 2-0 25. Memphis 2-0 (0-0)

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The Narrative

The biggest news around the college football landscape are the ripples emanating from three upsets of top ten teams the week before. Ohio State’s and Penn State’s losses in particular are severely hurting the Big Ten. The whole league, widely regarded as the second strongest conference in the nation after the SEC, now more or less looks like they have no team with a wide open shot at the Playoff only 2 weeks in. It’ll be a continuing problem for the whole season. LSU’s loss to Texas in Baton Rouge shocked the defending champions, but the SEC as a whole is in a much stronger position relative to the Big Ten even with the Tigers’ loss. They have 5 teams in the top ten after all.

Oregon’s win over Ohio State finally means the PAC-12 has a legitimate Playoff contender. It has been a long time in the wilderness for the Conference of Champions but the Ducks are definitely building momentum for a huge season.

As for the G5, the AAC has a huge lead over the rest of the conferences at that level. Even if a Boise State or an App State has a huge season they’ll have to defer to the American champ unless the league eats itself.

Many teams still haven’t played a quality opponent so far in the season so there still is a lot shrouded in mystery.

-

The Games

We’re beginning to see a blending of both non-conference games as well as league play within several conferences. It still isn’t a super-exciting slate for many fans, but the game of the week is certainly the contest between #2 Alabama and #3 Georgia.

Winning teams are highlighted in bold.

Incarnate Word at Baylor UNLV at Iowa State Boston College at Kansas Vanderbilt at Kansas State Western Illinois at #12 Oklahoma State UTEP at #7 Texas Arizona at Texas Tech Maryland at West Virginia Ball State at #19 Indiana Arkansas State at Michigan San Jose State at #22 Penn State Rutgers at Temple #18 Iowa at #16 Minnesota South Dakota State at Nebraska Central Michigan at Northwestern Air Force at Purdue Appalachian State at Wisconsin Charlotte at Duke Florida Atlantic at Georgia Southern FIU at Old Dominion Marshall at Ohio Virginia Tech at Middle Tennessee #24 Liberty at Western Kentucky Prairie View A&M at Louisiana Tech SMU at North Texas #14 LSU vs Rice Jackson State at Southern Miss UAB at Miami FL Grambling State at UTSA Akron at #1 Clemson Miami OH at #21 Cincinnati Kent State at Kentucky Northern Illinois at Eastern Michigan Western Michigan at #8 Notre Dame Florida State at Boise State Northern Colorado at Colorado State New Mexico at New Mexico State Utah State at #13 Washington #17 Utah at Wyoming Nevada at South Florida UCLA at San Diego State Portland State at Oregon State #20 USC at Stanford Idaho at Washington State BYU at Arizona State Colorado at #10 Texas A&M South Alabama at #6 Florida #3 Georgia at #2 Alabama #23 Missouri at South Carolina Furman at Tennessee Arkansas at Mississippi State #9 Auburn at Ole Miss Duquesne at Coastal Carolina Louisiana at Georgia State NC State at Troy Texas State at Louisiana-Monroe Connecticut at Virginia Albany at Massachusetts Norfolk State at East Carolina Houston at #25 Memphis Navy at Tulane Northwestern State at Tulsa #15 UCF at Georgia Tech Murray State at Louisville Colgate at Syracuse Villanova at Wake Forest James Madison at North Carolina Richmond at Pittsburgh

Well it’s still not exactly a banner week. The titanic clash between #2 Alabama and #3 Georgia sort of lived up to expectations, although the Bulldogs really did look a step too slow for the Crimson Tide. It doesn’t necessarily mean that UGA is out of the Playoff race, the SEC champion will be in the Top 4 under basically any circumstances, but they’re gonna need an answer for the likely rematch with Alabama if they do make it to Atlanta.

The rest of the top five breezed through their matchups as #1 Clemson dispatched Akron and #5 Oregon brushed aside Hawaii. #4 Oklahoma was off this week. The rest of the major Playoff contenders in the top ten handled their foes easily. Aside from UGA’s loss we won’t see much of a shakeup at the top.

The only other ranked vs ranked matchup of the day belonged to #18 Iowa’s surprisingly easy victory over #16 Minnesota. With Wisconsin seeming to have taken a step back with their loss to Indiana, perhaps the Hawkeyes will return to the top of the West Division standings in the Big Ten. The only other ranked team that lost aside from Georgia and Minnesota was #20 USC on a road trip to rival Stanford. The loss is the Trojans’ second and knocks them out of the Playoff race early.

The G5 is experiencing their traditional September culling at the hands of the P5 and each other. The AAC is down to 4 undefeated teams in Cincinnati, Memphis, SMU, and UCF. The Sun Belt is sitting pretty with Coastal Carolina, Louisiana, and Troy. The Mountain West is already down to just Boise State. Conference-USA and the MAC already have 0 undefeated teams, putting them at an early disadvantage for the NY6 race. Boise does own the G5 game of the week with an easy home win over struggling Florida State.

There were several out-of-conference rivalry games being played such as WVU-Maryland, New Mexico-NMSU, and Marshall-Ohio but for the most part the results wouldn’t interest people who aren’t fans of those programs. Overall it wasn’t too exciting of a week.

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The Standings

Conference games are now being played by every league, though most of the teams have still only played non-league contests. The standings are still not very indicative of real team quality of the Playoff race, but they’re still fun to look at.

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The Big Picture

The Playoff picture hasn’t been altered nearly as much in the past week as it did in weeks 1 and 2. Georgia’s loss doesn’t necessarily doom them. If the Bulldogs can rally to win the East and then beat Alabama in the rematch you know they’re heading to the semifinals. However, the fact remains that even with so much talent in the SEC it’s looking like the Crimson Tide might be in a class of their own this year, with LSU and UGA seemingly unable to compete. We’ll see how Auburn, A&M, and Florida fare.

The rest of the P5 didn’t have any seismic shifts. The Big Ten is definitely still languishing in the basement after all of their top programs took Ls in their first two weeks. They all rebounded in Week 3 but that barely takes the edge off the humiliation. We could seriously be looking at a Playoff without the Big Ten for the first time since the inception of the tournament. Clemson should still run through the ACC without hassle. The Big 12 is shaping up to be contested at least, with Texas and Oklahoma State lining up behind the Sooners. Oregon is definitely leading the PAC-12, but it’s harder to trust the Ducks with going something like 12-1 even though they beat Ohio State.

Not surprisingly, the AAC is absolutely lapping the competition in the G5 race. With their win over Georgia Tech, UCF now has two P5 scalps in this young season. If they go undefeated, the Knights will again have a compelling case for inclusion in the Playoff. That may be a big if, with Cincinnati and Memphis and perhaps others providing some internal competition. The Mountain West, usually the second strongest of the G5 conferences, is once again putting all of its eggs in one basket with Boise State, the only remaining undefeated team in the league. The Sun Belt, usually one of the weakest conferences, is in a stronger position than usual, though this time it looks like either Coastal Carolina, Louisiana, or Troy will try their hand at supplanting Appalachian State. The Mountaineers already have two losses on the season. It’s unlikely that C-USA or the MAC will be able to put a team into a NY6 bowl with the way things have developed so far.

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The New Rankings

Week 4 AP Poll

1. Alabama 3-0 (1-0) 2. Clemson 3-0 (2-0) 3. Oklahoma 2-0 (0-0) 4. Oregon 3-0 (0-0) 5. Florida 3-0 (1-0) 6. Texas 3-0 (0-0) 7. Notre Dame 3-0 8. Auburn 3-0 (1-0) 9. Texas A&M 3-0 (0-0) 10. Ohio State 2-1 (0-0) 11. Oklahoma State 3-0 (0-0) 12. Georgia 2-1 (0-1) 13. Washington 3-0 (0-0) 14. LSU 2-1 (0-0) 15. Iowa 3-0 (1-0) 16. UCF 3-0 (0-0) 17. Utah 3-0 (0-0) 18. Indiana 3-0 (1-0) 19. Missouri 3-0 (1-0) 20. Cincinnati 3-0 (0-0) 21. Penn State 2-1 (0-0) 22. Stanford 3-0 (2-0) 23. Liberty 3-0 24. Memphis 3-0 (1-0) 25. Miami FL 3-0 (0-0)

The polls didn’t change a whole lot because almost all of the top 25 cruised through their games against weaker opponents. Despite the relative lack of movement, we have a new #1 as Alabama supplants Clemson as the highest regarded team in the nation following their win over Georgia. The Bulldogs fell out of the Top Ten following their loss to the Tide, but only just. USC and Minnesota drop out of the polls following their losses and were replaced by Stanford and Miami.

The American remains the only G5 conference with any teams in the poll, and they have three with UCF, Cincinnati, and Memphis. Though of course the voters are keeping even those programs an arm’s length away from the top ten, UCF even fell down a spot as Iowa leapt over them following the Hawkeyes’ big win over the Gophers. It’s a hard luck world for the G5.

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Week 3 is in the books! Stay tuned to see how the rest of the Real 2020 Season plays out!

[thesportssoundoff]

The AAF And Why We Should Care About These Teams

Joey

Feb 5th, 2019

Still bummed about the Super Bowl? Well let's get over it real quick! On Saturday, the Alliance of American Football will be the first of THREE (God help us) spring football leagues to take off. THREE. We really needed that many, huh? Doesn't being announced after the XFL, the AAF will launch this spring under the watchful eyes of Dick Ebersol and NFL executive legend Bill Polian and will air across a variety of platforms such as Bleacher Report's online app, the NFL Network, the CBS Sports online app, TNT and CBS itself. Let that be a lesson to those of you who think that sports can't milk every single penny out of today's weird digital/broadcast era. The majority of the pitches for this game feature stuff football fans do seem to want in some capacity although disagreements about HOW to implement them remain. For instance, the AAF is attempting to shave 30 minutes off of the viewing experience by limiting commercials. They're also scrapping pretty much all elements of kicking from the game (two point conversions only, onsides kick have been replaced by a wacky 4th and 10 scenario and there's no kickoffs either) so fans who are obsessive compulsive about kicking get a bit of a break. We've got a college football style "one foot = catch" rule and a reduction of the play clock from the NFL's 40 seconds to a cool 30 seconds. It's an attempt to do somethings differently and I'm at least willing to give it a try.

With just eight teams to choose from for the AAF,  I'll just go team by team and list ONE reason why you should care. As much as you wanna just consider it a bunch of has beens and never was' playing out here, there's some intriguing storylines for the AAF. So much so in fact that perhaps you'll find a team so intriguing that you'll follow along this year!

Atlanta Legends

Why: Michael Vick Offensive Coordinator

I wanted to do a larger piece on how the NFL's lack of black head coaches boils down to the NFL's lack of black offensive coordinators (the IN demand spot these days). Instead of writing eight paragraphs about something that could be done in one, let's just look at Michael Vick and his new role as Atlanta Legends offensive coordinator.  For starters, the Alliance of American Football being a potential breeding ground for former players to better grasp the coaching game is an A+ decision. We've already seen the offensive coordinator for another team in the Alliance of American Football get the bump up to NFL QB Coach (Jon Kitna went from San Diego Fleet Offensive Coordinator to Dallas Cowboys QB coach) and any opportunity for former players to stay involved in the game is a good one. Michael Vick's name comes with a lot of clout (and plenty of controversy) so right off the jump he's an important get for the AAF. How good he is as an offensive coordinator (be it gameplanning, calling plays or making adjustments on the fly) could determine how quickly he ascends at the position. Vick is a really unique character and a polarizing figure but seeing him in the role of offensive coordinator is going to be a worthwhile experiment. If Vick opens the door for other young out of work players to jump into the coaching game then I for one am all for it. As for the roster, the Atlanta Legends actually have plenty of name value from former Georgia QB Aaron Murray to NC wide receiver Bug Howard to Iowa RB Akrum Wadley to a host of Georgia Bulldogs on defense.

Memphis Express

Why: The "name" QB battle

Let's always be honest about this stuff; your fan interest will only go as far as the QB you have. The Memphis Express may not have GOOD QBs but they have NAME QBs and that's truly what counts. The Memphis Express have Christian Hackenberg and Zach Mettenberger, two "name" QBs who figure to draw in eyeballs if only due to the fact that there's Penn State and LSU involved. Hackenberg was a disaster for two years at Penn State and people excused him for that because the team was bad or the line was bad or the coaching was bad. Turns out Hackenberg was just bad and continued to be bad at the NFL level before getting bounced around by 4-5 different teams. Hackenberg will attempt to resurrect his stock in the AAF, a team that literally named its offensive coordinator in like early January after their original OC bounced. Hackenberg won the job but the back up spot belongs to Zach Mettenberger. I refuse to believe that Hackenberg is a better player than Mettenberger but ALAS! Mettenberger has NFL experience and has thrown actual touchdowns in real football games even if he played like a 6th round pick who was holding onto a roster spot for dear life. He just wasn't that good. Mettenberger and Hackenberg are two guys who share similar traits (big, they throw the ball far) with different reasons (Mettenberger was a problem in college, Hackenberg couldn't really play) that leads to the same development (playing in the AAF to continue their pro football careers). Still a QB BATTEL with name value is STILL a QB BATTEL and here we are. The Memphis Express also have a ton of LSU guys and LSU players don't half ass it so expect a ton of big hits from their defensive which legitimately has an all LSU DL. Also of note, the head coach is Mike Singletary and we can expect plenty of intense coaching gifs and press conference call outs of his own players. That's the finest reality we deserve.

Orlando Apollos

Why: Steve Spurrier is BACK!

Remember the days of Steve Spurrier? Run and Gun? Mr. Click Clack?  There ya go. The Ol Ball Coach is back and Spurrier in Florida just feels right. Steve Spurrier's offenses in the mid to late 2000s were some of the funnest things imaginable and I'm curious to see if a few years off to refuel the jets don't bring out the fun in the Run 'N Gun offense. Spurrier's offense is helmed by either Austin Appleby or Garrett Gilbert since apparently nobody knows who the starter is as of this moment. Beyond that, he's also got a trio of name running backs (D'Earnest Johnson from USF was a popular name around draft time plus Akeem Hunt from Purdue and De'Veon Smith from Michigan were interesting dudes) and like twelve WRs who all run really fast. Realistically though I feel like this team is about watching to see if Steve Spurrier turns this gig into another college coaching opportunity soon enough.

Birmingham Iron

Why: TRENT RICHARDSON (and friends)

Unsurprisingly given the whole locales theme, the Birmingham Iron roster is LOADED with dudes from Alabama. The one name who immediately jumps out is Trent Richardson and I'm surprisingly intrigued to see how he looks. It's worth remembering that Trent Richardson had a tremendous rookie season and looked to be on the way to being something before he got big/hurt. Perhaps Richardson will be rejuvenated playing at home in front of what figures to be a primarily loaded Alabama crowd. Also keep an eye on Blake Sims who I figure will win the QB job eventually. In fact keep an eye on every player from Alabama (Auburn, Bama, Troy) because chances are they'll be given ample opportunities to show out at home. They also have the coolest uniforms. Lastly Tim Lewis is a long time defensive coordinator/DB coach getting his first crack at a head coaching gig so I'm curious to see if he can parlay that into another big opportunity down the line.

San Diego Fleet

Why: Mike Martz

Mike Martz is arguably one of the more unfairly judged head coaches in NFL history. He was the coordinator for the Greatest Show On Turf and as head coach of the Rams, Martz had five full seasons---he made the playoffs in 4 of those. Martz' ouster in St. Louis was controversial for a variety of reasons but he WAS successful and deserves to be remembered as such. From that point on Martz never got another head coaching opportunity, bouncing around as a coordinator in Detroit (back to back 4,000 yard seasons for Jon Friggin' Kitna of all things), San Francisco and a disastrous run in Chicago with Jay Cutler. Martz was pretty much cast aside by the NFL at that point and his reputation as a pass happy difficult personality pretty much ensured he would stay out the game.  With passing being en vogue (and every QB guru alive being courted for 1,000,000 roles), this might be Mike Martz's last chance to maybe find a place in big time football. The San Diego Fleet roster is relatively bare compared to its contemporaries but Mike Martz almost guarantees to make it as fun as possible given the usual performances of his wacky passing game. Mike Martz making Mike Bercovici look like an NFL level quarterback would probably be his greatest accomplishment ever. Also keep an eye on Nelson Spruce slot WR-ing his way back to the NFL if it's any thing like he was at Colorado.

Arizona Hotshots

Why: Phil Savage and Rick Neuheisel

Phil Savage is in a very weird spot here. Savage had a brief runs as Browns GM and it went about as well as you'd expect it to. He was in, out and done before anybody even knew he was there. Savage re-emerged as a key part of the Senior Bowl process and for the most part, I don't think I ever saw many complaints about Savage's job as the figurehead for the event. Surprisingly at the end of 2018, the Senior Bowl replaced Phil Savage with former scout Jim Nagy. The decision to move on from Savage was not exactly well received at first and it seems like Savage has bounced back well enough with the AAF. Savage should be able to form a damn good roster given that he's probably interacted with and been around most of these players relatively recently as the Senior Bowl's ace executive. Somehow someway Rick Neuheisel has weaseled himself into the picture and into another head coaching job, he of a sparkling 87-59 record in college but a less than sparkling 47-40 from 2000 onward. Plus he's also been pretty much run out of every stop he's had under inauspicious circumstances. Phil Savage should in theory be able to find a competent squad of players (and they have a pretty well known defense with Sterling Moore, Rahim Moore, Will Sutton, Carl Bradford, Scooby Wright and Chunky Clements) and perhaps the time away has rejuvenated Neuheisel. At the very least Trevor Knight will be fun to watch am I right?

Salt Lake Stallions

Why: A Testing Pattern Perhaps?

Utah has one pro sports franchise, the Utah Jazz, which is  intreresting when you consider how beloved the Jazz are. It seems like there's a very big supportive fanbase for sports out there in the Pacific Northwest and yet Utah has no football team, no baseball team and no hockey team. PERHAPS this can be a test. The Salt Lake Stallions overall do not have the most appealing roster in this entire deal but they may be the one best situated to draw the biggest audience. Utah is not blessed with a lot of pro sports options and if the Stallions are good then perhaps they can get people into the stadium. They have a weird eclectic mix of former Utes and three former QBs who if memory serves were all in the draft last year.  Former Vikings RB and Utah legend Matt Asiata is 31 year and probably cooked BUT he figures to be a popular face for fans.

San Antonio Commanders

Why: An Actually Kinda Decent Deep-ish Team

Really. If you were putting together an all star game in 2017/2018 of pretty decent-ish draft prospects, a lot of these dudes would be here. QB Logan Woodside? Pretty good player! Had some issues but was a super productive small MAC QB type dude. RBs David Cobb and Aaron Green? Kinda intriguing RBs! Tray Williams has been on like 12 NFL teams as a third down back over the past two years even if he never stuck. WRs like Greg Ward, DeMarcus Ayers and Mekale McKay? Some draft buzz there! Some of their OL were late round types who wouldn't have been out of place at an NFL camp this season. The defense has draftnik "names" like Joel Lanning, Keenan Gilchrist, Tyrone Holmes, Austin Larkin, Winston Craig and a secondary featuring Jordan Thomas and Duke Thomas on the back end. It's actually not an awful team assuming you can put the parts together.

[wineanddinosaur]

VinePair Podcast: Are Hybrid Vines the Future of Wine?

Hybrid, non-Vitis vinifera grapes have been a bit of a taboo subject in the wine world. As climate change threatens the viability of vinifera grapes and a new generation of wine drinkers emerges, might the stigma around hybrid vines be dying down for good?

On this episode of the “VinePair Podcast,” co-hosts Adam Teeter, Joanna Sciarrino, and Zach Geballe explore the future of hybrid wine and discuss how shifting consumer preferences may help these wines succeed on the market.

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OR CHECK OUT THE CONVERSATION HERE

Adam Teeter: From VinePair’s New York City headquarters, I’m Adam Teeter.

Joanna Sciarrino: I’m Joanna Sciarrino.

Zach Geballe: And in Seattle, Washington, I’m Zach Geballe.

A: And this is the “VinePair Podcast.” Guys, I did survive. I just want you to know I’m OK. Healthy.

Z: You did better than the Auburn Tigers, I’m sorry to say.

A: Yeah, it was a tough loss. It was really, really interesting to be on a college campus and see what was going on. I’ve taken two Covid PCR tests since I’ve been. I’m negative. The vaccine works, people. Go get the vaccine. I also took a lot of precautions and was only outside. I did not go into any bars.

Z: I was bummed to not get an Instagram photo of the mask, though. I thought maybe you’d have it painted, put some tiger stripes on there.

A: No, no. It was really fun. I was really shocked, though. Well, I guess I’m not shocked. Shocked is a bad word because I shouldn’t be shocked at this point. What do you think I saw all over campus?

J: I know what you’re going to say.

Z: Seltzer?

A: Just seltzer. That’s all anyone was drinking. It’s crazy out there, guys. For college kids and people in their 20s, that’s all anyone was drinking. Seltzer. I was just like, wow.

Z: As I mentioned last week, I went with my wife to a baseball game here in Seattle a few weeks ago. It was astonishing to me, in a sense, how so much of the inventory space that was dedicated to beer in the past has now been switched over to seltzer. That’s what a lot of people in the crowd were drinking. It makes sense, I guess, but it is wild to think about. Maybe on this podcast, we’ll have to come back to the topic of what seltzer has displaced. What would have been light lager is, in so many places now, seltzer. I kind of get it.

J: This is so funny because we have a piece coming up in which Dave Infante explores whether hard seltzer has displaced the college kegger.

A: I think it definitely has. It was just crazy. I definitely saw a lot of White Claw. I just saw seltzer. In all of the package stores, we saw massive seltzer displays. Another thing in Pennsylvania that I thought was really interesting — maybe it’s a thing in other places, too, but I think we forget about it in New York — is that in the gas stations, almost every single one of them had walk-in beer coolers. They had huge signs advertising them. I walked in and thought, “Well, this is boring. It’s just all ABI products. There was nothing else in there, but I needed to experience this massive walk-in beer cooler. It was pretty funny.

Z: I have a seltzer gripe. I still can’t find this Bud Light Seltzer Fall Flannel pack anywhere in Seattle.

J: Save yourself, man.

Z: We were hoping to do it on an episode eventually. It might be winter before I can get it.

A: No Flannel pack for you.

Z: Joanna. You broke into it, didn’t you? Can you give me any info?

J: They all taste like candles.

A: I will say that it was a pretty amazing Instagram post.

J: Yeah. I made my partner, Evan, try them all.

A: He was hilarious.

J: It was really funny.

Z: Was this on condition of him getting to watch football?

J: No!

A: No, it was on condition of Joanna being willing to go back to Canada. She said, “I will only cross the border if you try our great seltzer products.”

J: No, he was happy to do it. He loves seltzer.

A: Does he really? No.

J: He loves hard seltzer. It’s so funny.

A: What’s his brand of choice?

J: I don’t know. I think he likes White Claw.

A: You don’t know what’s in your fridge?

J: I mean, we have a Flannel pack in our fridge right now.

A: That’s amazing. There’s one video I just love where he immediately spits it out.

J: That was a genuine spit take. It was so bad. That was the pumpkin spice one. I hope we all try them together.

A: Oh, I can’t wait.

J: Adam, did you drink a lot of hard seltzer this weekend?

A: No. That’s also what I forgot about tailgating, is how friendly everybody is. We were grossly unprepared. We pulled up. First of all, I’m not sure what people are used to in terms of their tailgating history. But, in the South, on a college campus, you can basically tailgate anywhere. All over campus, there’s tents and people tailgating and hanging out. At Penn State — and I’ve been told this is more of a Northeastern thing because this was actually my first-ever Northeastern tailgating experience — everyone is pushed into lots. You have to pay to park in them. Then, people just open the back of their cars or drop their pickup truck tailgates. They just hang out there. It was just a different experience. I think that’s why the Grove in Oxford, Miss., is so iconic. It is just this beautiful section of campus that people set up tents and tailgates without their cars. That’s the case with a lot of Southern tailgating. It was interesting. We stupidly didn’t have a cooler. As we’re like leaving our hotel, which was really far away, we thought, “I guess we should pick up a 6-pack.” We grabbed a 6-pack before we left of pilsner. Of course, when we got to the campus, we realized, “This is going to get warm really quickly, so we should drink these.” Then, we started walking around, and people just gave you beer. It was really friendly. You just walk up and they’re like, “Hey, do you want a beer?” I will say that was what was pretty awesome, too, how serious the Penn State fans were taking ensuring that Auburn fans were having a good time.

Z: Oh, that is kind of sweet.

A: They all kept asking, “Are you having a good time? Are you enjoying State College? Isn’t it great?” That’s totally different in college footballI, I think. Obviously, each team wants to win. We would never be that nice to Alabama fans.

Z: I was going to say, isn’t this the difference between a conference rival and a team that you play once every 25 years?

A: Yeah, that’s probably true. We’re pretty nice to South Carolina fans. We kind of have to be, because it’s sad for them. It is funny. In the pros, I feel like no pro team’s nice to another pro team’s fans. I remember going to the Eagles game in Philly. We were warned prior to the game to not wear anything that shows we were from Atlanta or we would get a beer dumped on us. We were like, “OK. Cool. We will just not wear anything. We’ll wear normal clothes.” We saw an Eagles fans get in a fight with an Atlanta fan. Like, why? Anyways, I’ve talked for too long. What about the two of you?

J: I drank some great things recently. First, on Friday night, I listened to the latest episode of “Cocktail College” about the Manhattan, which happens to be one of my favorite drinks. I promptly made Abigail Gullo’s Manhattan.

A: Amazing.

J: It’s a perfect Manhattan, which I really enjoy. She uses three different types of bitters. Rye is her spirit of choice here. It was very nice. I also had the Long Drink this weekend.

A: Which one?

J: The classic, from the people who you interviewed, Adam. In the blue can. It was great. I really enjoyed it.

A: It’s like an alcoholic Fresca.

J: Yeah. It really did taste like that. It’s delicious.

A: They’re tasty. Zach?

Z: I have a drink and a story to share with you guys, because it’s not just Adam here who gets to do this. We are in the midst of fresh hop beer season here in the Pacific Northwest.

A: That’s cool. Fun. We don’t get that.

Z: For all the true beer lovers out there, it’s worth traveling to the Pacific Northwest. You see it even more in Seattle because more of the hop fields are in Washington. Every brewery around here has multiple fresh hop beers at this point. It’s just such a cool thing. It’s so seasonal. They pick the hops and, instead of taking them through any kind of preservation technique, they literally ship them right to the breweries. You have to get them in the beer within 48 hours or everything you’re trying to get out of them degrades to the point where it’s almost worthless. It’s wild. It’s a big deal for the breweries. It’s a lot of late nights. The beers are just really fun, and it’s such a cool, seasonal thing. We’ve had nice early fall weather where it’s sunny and a little warm but not too hot. It’s great beer weather. I had a couple of different ones. I had one from Fremont Brewing and one from Reuben’s Brews. They are delicious and something to seek out if you are around here or if you make it out here in late September, early October.

A: Sounds cool. Now, story time.

Z: As we’ve discussed before, I do this subscription wine club with a friend of mine. I was placing orders for October because I have a baby due any day and wanted to get stuff done early so that the wines all arrive and everything is set up. That way, if I’m not able to be a part of the packing and distribution, everything is good to go. I placed my orders 10 or so days ago. I was at my friend’s restaurant yesterday, looking through everything, and I thought, “Huh. One of the wines didn’t show up. That’s weird, because the other wine from this distributor came.” I emailed my sales rep and asked, “Hey, what’s the deal? Did something get mis-delivered or what’s the deal here?” He responds to me — and I still can’t believe this — and was like, “Yeah, we’re out of stock. It said so on the invoice.” I’m like, “OK, but you couldn’t have told me this 10 days ago when I emailed you?” This is obviously a wine buyer in a restaurant or retail setting kind of complaint, but it was so weird to me. It’s still a customer service job. I don’t have to buy wine from this company or from this person. I was so taken aback by the lack of any attempt to communicate this very simple fact. If you’re out of stock, that’s fine. I don’t have a problem with that, but maybe I would have wanted to order something else from you. Instead, we’re going to buy something else from another distributor that’s vaguely similar, to fill our orders. That’s sales you don’t get because you couldn’t take the time to email me. I don’t know. It was very interesting.

A: Yeah, that’s crazy.

J: It’s like ordering something or getting a gift. You’re ordering a bunch of things and you’re unaware that it’s out of stock. You expect that it’s coming, and then it’s not there.

Z: Because this is my background, I think of it in a restaurant setting. If a table of six people all ordered a cocktail or a glass of wine and the server came back with five of the drinks, put them all down, walked away, and never said anything, that sixth person would ask, “Excuse me? What happened here?” If, eventually, they flag the server down and ask, “Hey, what’s the deal?” and the server responds, “Oh yeah, we don’t have that. We ran out of it,” wouldn’t you have offered the customer something else when you figured that out? Why did I have to seek this information out from you? That’s the part that blows my mind. I would have been willing to give you the money for something else. Now, you’ve done nothing. If you’d come to me initially and said, “Hey, we’re out of this. Here are some alternatives. Here’s another wine from that producer or here’s a similar wine.” I don’t know what I would have done in that setting, but what I did in this setting was reach out to one of my other distributors and ask, “Hey, can you get this here by tomorrow, please? I need it to fill my orders.” That’s all done. That’s a sale that this other company doesn’t get.

A: So, we want to talk today about hybrids. You pose an interesting question as we were starting to think about this episode. Not only are we going to see more of them, but are the newer generations of wine drinkers more accepting of them than the older ones? Why don’t you set that up first? I think that’s an interesting part of the question. I think we will see more of them because of climate change. But the acceptance thing is a big deal.

Z: I’ve been thinking about this for the last couple of years. I think so many of the emerging trends we see, whether it’s in natural wine or these styles of wine that have become more popular of late, really don’t exclude the use of hybrid or even non-Vitis vinifera varieties. There’s Concord grapes, Catawba, et cetera, and other things that are native to North America. When I was first getting into wine and learning about wine, almost no time was spent on any of that stuff. I, like many a Jew of my age, drank some Manischewitz when I was a kid. Until recently, that was basically my only experience with non-vinifera wine grapes. I’ve had a number of hybrids because those occupy a slightly different space. You see them used in a few places around the world, in some places in northern Europe, Canada, in the northern U.S., et cetera. I’ve tried some of those wines. The way that those varieties have been denigrated in the past is that they’re too fruit-driven, they’re too “grape-y.” That’s a slightly weird complaint, but whatever. They’re too high in acid. They don’t have a lot of tannin. I think what prompted this thought in me was the question of, “Are these characteristics that we laud in Vitis vinifera really the only things that wine drinkers want now?” In this world now, you’re seeing producers who have a certain kind of cachet blending grape wine and cider, making fruit wines, doing all kinds of stuff that totally would work with hybrids or non-vinifera grapes. So, why is this stigma still here? Is it still here? Is there an opportunity for people, whether they’re in other parts of the country or in the world that aren’t considered great sites for Vitis vinifera, to make wine? As we’ve talked about a number of times on this podcast, for a lot of the places that make, to this date, great wine from Vitis vinifera, it’s not looking great over the next couple of decades. I don’t know how I would feel about my vineyard holdings in parts of California or France. It ain’t been pretty the last few years.

A: I do think that there’s going to be more acceptance. I do think it’s because of natural wine. There is a growing movement of people who just think that is the term for wines that are trendy. There’s a flavor profile that a lot of consumers are enjoying. They may not be the flavor profiles that we like. They might be very mousy, whatever. I think that is the very grape-y, sort of Beaujolais bubblegum style. You’re seeing a lot of wines made like that. I’m seeing a lot of hybrids where they’re also doing carbonic and these really juicy wines that I think a lot of consumers like because they’re fun, easy, and very approachable. I think that is allowing hybrids to exist and people to accept hybrids. Do I think that hybrids will be accepted by the same people that are huge Barolo, Bordeaux, Burgundy drinkers?

J: No.

A: Probably not. But, in the world of natural, I definitely think hybrids will continue to grow.

J: You said younger wine drinkers. I think that also goes for people who are unaware of this stigma around hybrid grapes. They’re not aware of it, so why would they discriminate against a wine that’s made from those grapes?

Z: I think that’s an excellent point, Joanna, because one of the things that we’ve seen in wine more broadly is that, as you bring more regions and varieties into the fold, how is someone who’s not a wine expert going to know that Hondarrabi Zuri is a vinifera variety and Seyval Blanc is a hybrid? No one knows.

A: Seyval Blanc probably sounds, to a lot of consumers, like it’s a vinifera.

Z: Traminette or even Vidal Blanc, which may be a little more widely known because it’s used for dessert wine in Canada a lot. We don’t live in a wine world anymore where people only drink six varieties, thankfully. If you’re the kind of person who is seeking out wine from Georgia, Slovenia, Croatia, or wherever, the name of the variety on the label isn’t going to register with you. If you’re getting, alternatively, a hybrid wine from, say, Wisconsin, Michigan, northern Germany, or something like that, I just don’t see people being too caught up in the idea that this isn’t all Vitis vinifera. If you look at the way many of these hybrids have been developed, they’re 90 to 95 percent vinifera, with just a little bit of some other variety to give them a little more cold resistance, frost resistance, or some other characteristic that is considered desirable. I think the real fascinating thing, too, is the question of, “Are there under development hybrid varieties?” I think there are. Many of them are not yet really named or commercially available. But, are these being developed, not as hybrids were previously for these very cold regions? Obviously, the problem we face going forward is places where access to water, extreme heat, or just very unpredictable weather is a bigger concern. Can hybrids be developed that will thrive in those conditions and might replace the varieties that we now associate with those great regions? I don’t know that in 30 years, the slopes of Barolo will be replanted to some hybrid. But it wouldn’t totally shock me.

A: I had a crazy thought, and it’s probably going to piss some people off. But, as you’ve been talking, I’ve been thinking about this. I want to be clear when I’m using the term natural wine. Since it has no definition, I’m going to define it the way that I define natural wine. I’m not talking about wines that are biodynamic and organic, where the wine still comes out clean and you can taste the varietal and it tastes of the varietal and of the place. I’m talking about the wines that, through infection of the spoilage yeasts, Brettanomyces, or through the mousiness quality, or carbonic maceration. There’s something else that is more powerful in the wine than the essence of the grape.

Z: Right.

A: That movement of wine, a lot of people like. It’s crazy. To make a weird tangent, one of the fastest-growing brands right now in the U.S. is a hard kombucha. Right? That flavor profile and that kombucha thing is very popular right now. JuneShine is the brand.

J: It’s the funk.

A: The funk is the thing. Varietals don’t matter. It’s basically like a red blend. That world of natural wine is the red blend of that wine world. That’s what I’m going to say. Varietals don’t matter. The question is, is this the flavor profile you’re looking for? In that world, Zach, you’re really right. No one’s looking. No one’s asking. I was at a dinner last night before this event that we all went to with a bunch of, like, bartenders who were all into wine. We were at a place that only had natural wine on the list. The people who were serving us wine didn’t even tell us what the varietals were. They just said, “We have a red from Italy that’s super natural and funky, and we have an orange from Spain.” Right. There wasn’t even a description of the regions it’s from. It was like, “This is what we have.” And I think that’s becoming more and more common in my definition of what I think a lot of people think of when they think about what natural wine is. Does it have the funk? Does it have the juicy juice? No one is really that concerned with what grape it was made from, which is fascinating. But, it does make sense. When you do have those things happen to the wine, the varietal characteristics of the wine go away. I know we’ve had this conversation before, Zach, but what does varietally correct mean? I don’t really know. We can talk about that again at some point. I definitely think you want to taste a variety. I can still tell you that it’s Nebbiolo, even if it’s made in different places, it’s still Nebbiolo. I think with some of these wines, they just aren’t. Hybrids are great because if you’re not looking for that. If you’re looking for it as a vehicle to get the other flavors that people actually like, then who cares?

J: I don’t know. I also think it’s kind of interesting because, when I go out and order wine, I just want a wine that’s delicious and tastes good. I care less. I have no wine training or anything like that. I’m still learning a lot about wine, and I just don’t really care about the varietals. I’m not saying it’s because I want the funkiest natural wine you have on your list or anything like that. I just care more about how it tastes. I feel like, if hybrid wines are delicious, then sure, why not?

Z: Yeah. I think one thing that we found — and it’s something kind of echoed in your statement, Joanna — is that there was a period of time when certain grape varieties were considered “noble” and other varieties were, I guess, “ignoble.” This is a phrase I hate, so I’m going to immediately dismiss it. Frankly, though, if you look at the origins of this, there’s a lot of weird, very creepy eugenics-y things. There’s a lot of race theory, let’s put it that way, in this idea about everything, not just in grapes. Grapes were a prominent place for it, though. So much of what we’ve come to learn about different varieties, how they grow, and how they express themselves, is that there might have been a point in time when — through lack of knowledge about viticulture or winemaking — that might have been why certain varieties were prized in one place and less cherished in another. A lot of that stuff is apocryphal, ahistoric, and just doesn’t hold up to modern understandings of wine. This notion that only these few grape varieties or only this one species, Vitis vinifera, is capable of producing great wine is a myth that’s persisted because it gets lazily passed down. It fits well into a textbook or a 30-minute training that someone gets at a restaurant. Everyone in the wine industry, up until recently, was invested in the truth of that myth. Producers that spend a lot of money to plant and grow Vitis vinifera don’t necessarily want someone else to come along and say, “It turns out that I can make equally good wine from this unknown hybrid variety that I grow in a place where the land cost me one hundredth of what it costs you, and the people who buy it like it just as much as your wine.” I don’t know that that is exactly where we’re at, at this point. But, it doesn’t seem impossible to me that that could be true, at least for some meaningful segment of the wine drinking public. I think there’s a lot to be said about getting away from this fetishization of certain varieties over all others. That being said, I will say your point, Adam, is a well-made one, and an important one for people to keep in mind, too. One thing that we have valorized, and I think rightly so, in wine over the last century is the notion that there is some value in wine communicating something about where it’s from in drinking it. That communication can happen through the variety to some extent. Certain varieties are associated with certain places or maybe only grown in certain places. It can be in the mono-varietal nature of certain wines, and it can be in the winemaking and all that. As you described the natural wines you were talking about, Adam, when the thing that people are treasuring in a wine are other things, then I think we are at a perfectly valid expression of wine. It’s just not going to convey those things. It would be good for those who are in that industry and want that style of wine to open themselves up, as some of them are, to this notion of, “Why do we need vinifera in the first place? It’s hard to grow. It’s expensive. Why don’t we make our wines from other types of grapes?” There’s no inherent reason not to, other than that that can’t put varieties that people are familiar with on the label. Since many of them are not really interested in doing that, who cares? You can give it whatever fanciful name you want and put whatever crazy label on it. That’s great. Let’s party.

A: Glou-glou! It is interesting. The cool thing is that whether you’re on the side of, “Screw you, you have biases that are bullshit. I can make a beautiful wine with these grapes, not just this vinifera,” or you’re on the side of, “glou-glou,” it’s super cool that more people are using hybrids. It’s great to be able to now go to places like New Hampshire and Vermont and they have good wineries. That’s awesome. I think having wineries in communities is similar to having breweries. They’re places where people can go and see how wine is made firsthand. They’re also great places to socialize. They’re usually places that support really great cuisine and help build economies. With wine countries, hotels often come with them and there are great restaurants and stuff. If that can happen in other places, and it’s just with hybrids now, that’s freaking awesome. I’m all for it.

Z: I want to add one last point that I think is also kind of cool here. The other thing that has been hard for hybrids and non-vinifera varieties is that, because they have been so looked down upon by fine wine, they largely have not been made for that consumer. Adam, we got some wines a while back from a producer in Wisconsin and the owner who sent us the wine and communicated about it was upfront that a lot of their clientele like sweeter wine. So, they make a lot of sweeter wines. They don’t necessarily do it because that’s the only way to use hybrid grapes, but because the kind of people who are open to drinking those varieties are not typically people who want what we think of as fine wine. Therefore, they may want some sweetness. I don’t think that means that you can’t make great dry wines from these varieties. The more that people open themselves up to the possibility here, that denigration of hybrids and non-vinifera varieties, that “of course, they’re sweet,” is really just a self-fulfilling prophecy. I don’t think there’s any winemaking reason why you can’t ferment those wines dry. It’s just that many of the producers that currently exist are trying to meet a market demand that fine wine doesn’t really speak to very well. People may say “hybrids have to be sweet,” but that doesn’t have to be the case. It just has been the case because that’s who is willing to buy hybrid wines: people who like sweet wines.

A: Team, this was a great conversation. If you’re into some hybrid wines, let us know which ones they are. If you make hybrid wines and you listen to the show, send us some. I’d love to try them. Joanna, Zach, talk to you Friday.

J: Thanks, guys.

Z: Sounds great.

Thanks so much for listening to the “VinePair Podcast.” If you love this show as much as we love making it, please leave us a rating or review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever it is you get your podcasts. It really helps everyone else discover the show.

Now for the credits. VinePair is produced and recorded in New York City and Seattle, Washington, by myself and Zach Geballe, who does all the editing and loves to get the credit. Also, I would love to give a special shout-out to my VinePair co-founder, Josh Malin, for helping make all of this possible, and also to Keith Beavers, VinePair’s tastings director, who is additionally a producer on the show. I also want to, of course, thank every other member of the VinePair team, who are instrumental in all of the ideas that go into making the show every week. Thanks so much for listening, and we’ll see you again.

Ed. note: This episode has been edited for length and clarity.

The article VinePair Podcast: Are Hybrid Vines the Future of Wine? appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/podcast-hybrid-vines/

[patriotsnet]

Who Is Winning Democrats Or Republicans

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/who-is-winning-democrats-or-republicans/

Who Is Winning Democrats Or Republicans

Democrats Lose Senate Seat In Alabama

Spending bill: A win for Democrats or the GOP?

Democratic Senator Doug Jones has lost his race in Alabama, CBS News projects. Jones’ loss is expected, but it means the Democrats need another seat to take back control of the Senate. Democrats have picked up one seat so far, in Colorado.;

Many consider Jones’ tenure as a senator from ruby-red Alabama to be a fluke. He won the seat in a 2017 special election to fill the vacancy left by Jeff Sessions, who became Mr. Trump’s first attorney general. Jones narrowly defeated Republican candidate Roy Moore, who faced multiple allegations of sexual misconduct with underage girls. This year, Jones was less fortunate with his opponent. He was defeated by Tommy Tuberville, the well-known, beloved former coach of the Auburn University football team.;

Meanwhile, CBS News projects Republican Senator John Cornyn won his reelection race in Texas, defeating Democrat MJ Hegar.

Quiz: Let Us Predict Whether Youre A Democrat Or A Republican

Tell us a few details about you and well guess which political party you belong to. It shouldnt be that simple, right? Were all complex people with a multiplicity of identities and values. But the reality is that in America today, how you answer a handful of questions is very likely to determine how you vote.

This quiz, based on recent surveys with more than 140,000 responses, presents a series of yes-or-no questions to predict whether someone is more likely to identify as a Democrat or a Republican. It captures divisions that should make you worried about the future of American democracy.

We wont collect your answers.

The first question is the most important: Its about race. Asking whether someone is black, Hispanic or Asian cleaves the electorate into two groups. Those who answer yes lean Democratic; the others are split roughly evenly between the parties. Among those who are not black, Hispanic or Asian , the second most important question is whether the person considers religion important. If they answer yes, they are probably Republican.

Its not just race and religion, though. Party allegiances are now also tied to education, gender and age. Americans have sorted themselves more completely and rigidly than any time in recent history.

How demographics predict party affiliation

The group most likely to be Democrats are black women older than about 30.

Meeting in the Middle

Reliable Republicans

Cal Cunningham Concedes North Carolina Senate Race

Democrat Cal Cunningham conceded in the;North Carolina;Senate race on Tuesday, saying in a statement that he had called Republican incumbent Senator Thom Tillis to congratulate him on his victory.

“I just called Senator Tillis to congratulate him on winning re-election;to a second term in the U.S. Senate and wished him and his family the best in their continued service in the months and years ahead,” Cunningham said. “The voters have spoken and I respect their decision.”

CBS News projects that Tillis has won the race, after Cunningham’s concession. Tillis led Cunningham by nearly 100,000 votes as of Tuesday. The presidential race in North Carolina is still too close to call, although President Trump is currently in the lead. The full results of the election in North Carolina are unlikely to be known until later this week, as the deadline in the state to receive absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day is November 12.

Read Also: Did Trump Say That Republicans Are The Dumbest Group Of Voters

Joe Biden The Current Vp

Biden, for the most part, has been content to let his boss hog the limelight. He has made his fair share of effort staying under the public spotlight. His approval ratings have waned in public as well as in Democrat circles as well, owing to his diminished role in the Vice President role.

Compared to the invisible Dick Cheney, Joe Bidens mark on US politics is muted.

Reality Check 1: Biden Cant Be Fdr

Theres no question that Biden is swinging for the fences. Beyond the emerging bipartisan infrastructure bill, he has proposed a far-reaching series of programs that would collectively move the United States several steps closer to the kind of social democracy prevalent in most industrialized nations: free community college, big support for childcare and homebound seniors, a sharp increase in Medicaid, more people eligible for Medicare, a reinvigorated labor movement. It is why 100 days into the administration, NPR was asking a commonly heard question: Can Biden Join FDR and LBJ In The Democratic Party’s Pantheon?

But the FDR and LBJ examples show conclusively why visions of a transformational Biden agenda are so hard to turn into reality. In 1933, FDR had won a huge popular and electoral landslide, after which he had a three-to-one Democratic majority in the House and a 59-vote majority in the Senate. Similarly, LBJ in 1964 had won a massive popular and electoral vote landslide, along with a Senate with 69 Democrats and a House with 295. Last November, on the other hand, only 42,000 votes in three key states kept Trump from winning re-election. Democrats losses in the House whittled their margin down to mid-single digits. The Senate is 50-50.

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Pelosi Says American People Have Made Their Choice Clear In Voting For Biden

;In a letter to her Democratic colleagues in the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressed confidence that Biden would be elected president, even though several states have yet to be called.

“The American people have made their choice clear at the ballot box, and are sending Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the White House,” Pelosi said.

She also praised House Democrats for keeping their majority, saying that the House will “now have the opportunity to deliver extraordinary progress.” However, she only obliquely referenced the heavy losses by several freshmen Democrats who had flipped red seats.

“Though it was a challenging election, all of our candidates both Frontline and Red to Blue made us proud,” Pelosi said.

Georgia Election Official Says Ossoff Is On Pace To Win Avoid Runoff

A top Georgia election official said Democrat Jon Ossoff, who leads Republican;David Perdue, is on pace to win by a great enough margin to avoid a recount as the state looks to finish counting most outstanding absentee ballots by 1 p.m. EST Wednesday.

Gabriel Sterling, Georgias voting system implementation manager, said more than 60,470 absentee ballots remain uncounted, mostly in Democratic-leaning counties in the metro Atlanta area.

It makes it look like Jon Ossoff will likely have a margin outside of the half a percent to avoid a recount, Sterling said. And obviously, Rev.;Warnock is ahead of him right now. So, if Ossoff avoids that recount so does Rev. Warnock.

Under Georgia law, a recount can be requseted by a campaign;when an election is decided by less than 0.5 percentage points.

Ossoff leads;Perdue by 17,567 votes in a race the Associated Press says is still too early to call. Ossoff’s current lead is 0.4 percentage points. Raphael Warnock, who leads Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler by more than 54,729 votes, is the projected winner in his race. He leads Loeffler by 1.24 percentage points.

Sterling said the Georgia secretary of states office requested all counties get their ballots tallied by 1 p.m., and he believes most will be able to do so. The bulk of uncounted absentee ballots are those that arrived on Election Day, he said.

;Joey Garrison

Read Also: Why Are No Other Republicans Running For President

Iowa And Montana Senate Races Toss

With polls closing at 10 p.m. ET, CBS News estimates the closely-watched Iowa and Montana Senate races are both toss-ups. If the Democratic candidates defeated the Republican incumbents, it would bring Democrats closer to gaining the majority in the Senate.

In Iowa, Republican Senator Joni Ernst is being challenged by Democrat Theresa Greenfield in an unexpectedly close race. Mr. Trump won Iowa by 10 percentage points in 2016, raising concerns among Republicans about the tightness of a race Ernst was initially expected to win. Greenfield has raised far more than Ernst $28.7 million in the third quarter and she could end up outspending Ernst by more than $25 million by Election Day. ;

In Montana, first-term Republican Senator Steve Daines faces a challenge from the two-term governor of his state, Steve Bullock. Like Hickenlooper, Bullock briefly ran for president before ending his bid and entering the Senate race in March 2020. Bullock won reelection in Montana as a Democrat in 2016 even as Donald Trump won the state by about 20 points.

Meanwhile, the South Carolina Senate race has gone from a “toss-up” to “likely Republican.”

Jon Ossoff Wins In Georgia Ensuring Democrats Will Control The Senate

Winning U.S. Senate an essential piece of presidential election

Democrats took control of the Senate on Wednesday with a pair of historic victories in Georgias runoff elections, assuring slim majorities in both chambers of Congress for President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. and delivering an emphatic, final rebuke to President Trump in his last days in office.

The Rev. Raphael Warnock defeated Senator Kelly Loeffler, becoming the first Black Democrat elected to the Senate from the South. And Jon Ossoff, the 33-year-old head of a video production company who has never held public office, defeated David Perdue, who recently completed his first full term as senator.

Both Democrats now lead their defeated Republican opponents by margins that are larger than the threshold required to trigger a recount under Georgia law.

The Democrats twin victories will reshape the balance of power in Washington. Though they will have the thinnest of advantages in the House and Senate, where Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will break 50-50 ties, Democrats will control the committees and the legislation and nominations brought to the floor. That advantage will pave the way for at least some elements of Mr. Bidens agenda.

The political fallout of Mr. Trumps tenure is now clear: His single term in the White House will conclude with Republicans having lost the presidency, the House and the Senate on his watch.

Read Also: Which 12 Republicans Voted Against Trump

Georgia Senate Runoffs: The Final Battles For Control Of The Us Senate

The results of Georgias January 5 Senate races will help define Bidens presidency.

On January 5, control of the US Senate will be decided in two Georgia runoff elections. If Democrats win both races, both parties will have 50 senators each, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris serving as the tie-breaker in any party-line votes.

If just one of the two Republican incumbents can hold onto their seats, however, the GOP will keep control of the Senate.

In the first race, Republican Sen. David Perdue is facing off against Jon Ossoff, perhapsbest known for his failed attempt to flip Georgias Sixth Congressional District in 2017 . In the second race, Rev. Raphael Warnock is challenging Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler. Warnock is the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, renowned as the place where Martin Luther King Jr. preached in the 1960s.

Its difficult to predict how runoffs and special elections will go. But though Republicans are favored, the races could be tight, as Voxs Ella Nilsen reported:

ButPerdue and Loeffler have struggled to clearly articulate the stakes of losing the Senate to Georgians as President Donald Trump has continued to falsely insist that he won the presidential race. Its hard to tell your supporters that youre the only thing standing between them and radical socialism if you cant admit that Trump lost.

Follow along below for Voxs election coverage, including breaking news updates, analysis, explainers, and more.

Georgia’s First Black Senator

A pastor who spent the past 15 years leading the Atlanta church where Martin Luther King Jr. preached, Raphael Warnock, defeated Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler, US media predicted.

With the win, Warnock has become the first Black senator in his state’s history.

He acknowledged his improbable victory in a message to supporters early Wednesday, citing his family’s experience with poverty.

“The other day, because this is America, the 82-year-old hands that used to pick somebody else’s cotton picked her youngest son to be a United States senator,” he said, referring to his mother.

“Tonight, we proved with hope, hard work and the people by our side, anything is possible.”

Loeffler refused to concede in a brief message to supporters shortly after midnight.

“We’ve got some work to do here. This is a game of inches. We’re going to win this election,” the 50-year-old former businesswoman insisted, despite having no path to victory.

Also Check: How Many Registered Republicans Are In The United States

Poking That Dog With A Stick

This is not a situation open to easy reform; nor would all want to reform it. Parties try to become strong, and remain strong, for perfectly understandable political reasons. Strong parties can be a boon, though the balance of benefit to risk is better in a system designed with them in mind. And American society is divided in ways it was not before; its partisan politics are in part a cause of thatbut in part, too, a consequence of it.

An electoral system that has its thumb on the scales, though, is harder to defend. And measures to redress that electoral bias through greater proportionality in the voting system might also help with the broader issues of political division. Systems with elements of proportional representation, such as that sought by reformers of the electoral college or House districts, not only provide bulwarks against charges of illegitimacy. They also have a tendency towards consensus of the sort the founders wanted. There is a reason why, when choosing their own constitutions, no other country has for long survived with a replica of the American modeland why when guiding the design of constitutions for others, as they did in post-war Germany and Japan, Americans have always suggested solutions quite unlike the one under which they live.

Dig deeper

Which Party Is The Party Of The 1 Percent

First, both parties receive substantial support. Much of it comes from registered voters who make $100K+ annually. However, Democrats actually come out ahead when it comes to fundraising for campaigns. In many cases, Democrats have been able to raise twice as much in private political contributions. But what about outside of politicians? Does that mean Democrats are the wealthier party? Which American families are wealthier? Republicans or Democrats?

Honestly, it is probably Republicans. When it comes down to it, the richest families in America tend to donate to Republican candidates. Forbes reported out of the 50 richest families in the United States, 28 donate to Republican candidates. Another seven donate to Democrats. Additionally, 15 of the richest families in the U.S. donate to both parties.

Also Check: Can Republicans Vote In California Democratic Primary

Black Voters And Faith Leaders Rejoice At Warnocks Historic Win: I Think It Speaks Volumes

ATLANTA Michael Simmons, 63, has not missed voting in a major election since 1976. The most important for him was 2008, when he cast a ballot for President Barack Obama. But his votes in Novembers general election and the Senate runoffs on Tuesday were ranked closely behind.

The Rev. Raphael Warnocks success in the Senate runoffs sent a jolt of jubilation through much of Georgias African-American community, as they saw a Black man taking an office that had been held by segregationists when he was born. There was also a level of pride in having an emissary of the Black church serve in the highest levels of government.

I never would have thunk put that down, thunk! Id see this happen, said Mr. Simmons, a manager at a nonprofit organization in downtown Atlanta. Personally, I dont expect the world to change because we have a Black man in the Senate, but we can see progress.

The office of the nonprofit where Mr. Simmons works is just a few blocks from Ebenezer Baptist Church, the renowned congregation that Mr. Warnock leads. Mr. Simmons often saw Mr. Warnock walking around the neighborhood.

The win carried enormous significance for him: This was a place where for many years we got the short end of the stick, Mr. Simmons, who grew up in Alabama and moved to Atlanta after college, said.

Is Virginia A Democratic Or Republican State

4.3/5VirginiaRepublicanstateRepublicanVirginiastateDemocratic

Of the state’s eleven seats in the House of Representatives, Democrats hold seven and Republicans hold four. The state is widely considered blue-leaning, a trend which moves parallel with the growth of the Washington D.C. and Richmond suburbs.

Furthermore, is Virginia a swing state? Election analytics website FiveThirtyEight identifies the states of Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin as “perennial” swing states that have regularly seen close contests over the last few presidential campaigns.

Besides, what political party is Virginia?

Virginia recognizes only two political parties: Democrats and Republicans.

Was Virginia always a democratic state?

Since the 2012 Virginia elections, Virginia has always voted for the Democratic statewide candidate. Since the 1851 Virginia gubernational election, the first gubernatorial election in Virginia in which the governor was elected by direct popular vote, 34 Virginia Governors have been Democrats.

Don’t Miss: Are Republicans More Racist Than Democrats

Key Races That Could Determine The Senate Majority

To take the majority, Democrats would have to net three seats, should Biden win the presidency, or four seats, if Mr. Trump wins reelection, because it’s the vice president who breaks ties in the Senate. The current balance of the Republican-controlled Senate is 53 to 47.

Here is a rundown of the key Senate races in this year’s election:

Doug Collins Concedes To Kelly Loeffler In Georgia Senate Race

Who is Winning US Election 2020 | Full 360 Analysis | Analysts, Democrats, Republicans on NewsX

Republican Congressman Doug Collins has conceded to Senator Kelly Loeffler, who has advanced to a runoff election in the Georgia Senate race along with Democrat Raphael Warnock. The runoff election will be held in early January.

I just called and congratulated her on making the runoff. She has my support and endorsement. I look forward to all Republicans coming together. Raphael Warnock would be a disaster for Georgia and America.

Doug Collins

Read Also: Will Any Republicans Vote For Impeachment

[your-dietician]

Notre Dame new beginnings as NCAA football recruiting dead period ends

New Post has been published on https://tattlepress.com/ncaa-football/notre-dame-new-beginnings-as-ncaa-football-recruiting-dead-period-ends/

Notre Dame new beginnings as NCAA football recruiting dead period ends

Drayk Bowen, for one, was appreciative that Notre Dame skipped the gimmickry of a football recruiting midnight madness earlier this week and drenched the start of potentially the most pivotal — and frazzled — recruiting month of the Brian Kelly Era in normalcy.

After a pandemic-induced, 15-month NCAA recruiting dead period of no (hosted) in-person campus visits and an overdose of Zooms, the largely universal knee-jerk template put in place at many college football programs across the country for Tuesday’s reopening was a mixture of pomp and chaos.

Notre Dame chose instead to be calculating and evolutionary.

Bowen, an elite linebacker prospect from St. John, Ind., and Chandavian Bradley, an ascending defensive end prospect from Missouri, along with their parents were the only invitees on Day 1. Bowen tagged along with new Irish defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Marcus Freeman, while Bradley got one-on-one time with defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator Mike Elston.

The structure of the visits themselves was right out of the pre-pandemic playbook. Who was taking those visits is what was different and significant.

Both visitors are 2023 recruits, players who will be high school juniors in the fall. Bradley, unranked in the Rivals top 100 and No. 90 nationally in 247Sports’ early playoff rankings, has the traits. productivity and the frame (6-5) to grow into a five-star prospect, even if he’s only 205 pounds at the moment.

Bowen, No. 16 in the Rivals Top 100, is already on that five-star trajectory, with a work ethic that will make that difficult to dislodge.

Before getting in the car with his parents to come to South Bend Tuesday, the 6-2, 215-pound Bowen performed his daily 5:30 a.m. ritual or speed work and lifting before making the 30-minute drive to Andrean High School in Merrillville, to take final exams.

“Drive is something I saw in my parents,” Bowen said. “My dad built a business pretty much from scratch and built it into a multi-million dollar business. My mom worked a couple of different jobs to provide for us. So I got it from them.

“Obviously, I want to be the best — the best player I can be, the best teammate, the best person, so wanting to be the best kind of drives me a lot too.”

► Related:Inside Recruiting: How Notre Dame will finish at WR and CB, and looking ahead to 2023

► More:Chat Transcript: Talking Notre Dame recruiting ramping up and portal possibilities

Twelfth-year Irish head coach Brian Kelly, meanwhile, is driven by the incessant questions pushed at him of how he’ll close the gap with College Football Playoff bullies Alabama, Ohio State and Clemson, as well as his own self-imposed directive of Notre Dame starting to produce top five national recruiting classes on a regular basis.

June thus becomes an important and overt benchmark toward turning rhetoric into results, though the momentum has been building behind the scenes for months since Alabama’s 31-14 dismissal of the Irish in a Jan. 1 playoff semifinal.

The Irish currently stand fourth nationally in both the Rivals and 247Sports team recruiting rankings after finishing ninth in both in the 2021 cycle.

“There have been two major changes with Notre Dame recruiting that are paying big dividends,” CBS Sports recruiting analyst Tom Lemming said. “They’re swinging for the fences in terms of who they’re going after.

“Marcus Freeman came in, and he’s not afraid of anybody or anything. That’s rubbed off on the rest of the staff. And Mike Elston, as recruiting coordinator, enhances that approach with impressive organization and creativity.

“Also key is Notre Dame is now evaluating and offering kids earlier than ever before. In the past, they were always about a year behind Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, Georgia and LSU — and they couldn’t catch up. Those schools had already established strong relationships before ND ever got involved.

“Now they’re on top of the 2023 kids and getting them on campus. They’ve even offered some 2024 kids the past few weeks. When was the last time Notre Dame offered a freshman? Never. Kelly lit a fire under these guys. And you’re going to see that pay off with the 2022 class.

“But you know what — 2023’s going to be even better.”

That would be an indication, if it came to pass, that Kelly coaxed a sustainable recruiting shift and not a one-cycle bump from its playoff appearance.

What that will look like this month is a blend of camps, official visits, unofficial visits, rolling out Notre Dame’s name-image-likeness potential in the imminent new amateur sports model, and blending the transfer portal into all of that.

Two potential 2021 starters — Tulsa cornerback Akayleb Evans and Marshall All-America offensive guard Cain Madden — visited this week as grad transfers.

Madden became the first verbal commitment of June on Friday when he selected the Irish over ND’s season-opening opponent, Florida State.

On Sunday ND resurrects its Irish Invasion Camp, a key evaluative and exposure tool that will draw 90-100 prospects from the 2023 and ‘24 classes. There’s quality to go with that quantity, though many of the campers are prospects that are ascending or underexposed to this point.

Still between the Irish Invasion and regular visits, like the ones Bowen and Bradley took, 16 Rivals top 100 prospects and counting from that class will get a taste of Notre Dame in June.

“That’s a Notre Dame trump card, to be able to be holding these visits in June,” Lemming said, “when the campus is as beautiful as any in the country.”

The Irish recruiting staff opted to wait until the weekend of June 11-13, when its players returned to campus for summer school and workouts, to introduce the 2022 prospects into the equation.

‘Last piece of the puzzle’

The NCAA didn’t alter the existing recruiting calendar when it truncated the dead period, meaning schools had just four weekends before the fall to shoehorn in all their official visitors. The Irish will do it in three, along with some midweek visits.

“The competition to get 2022 kids on your campus was fierce, given the limited number of weekends,” Lemming said. “Notre Dame was pretty much able to get every kid on their wish list to commit to an official visit, which is huge.”

That includes 13 players ranked in the top 100 of Rivals, 247Sports or both. Notre Dame begins the month with 13 players already committed in a class that’s likely to number 26 or 27 when the December signing period rolls around.

“I think you’re going to see a lot of these 2022s commit quickly,” Lemming said. “They’re antsy. They’re tired of talking to the coaches on Zoom. The visit is the last piece of the puzzle. Even some of the sophomores may be quick to commit.”

Bowen won’t likely be one of them. He’s got a full summer of travel baseball and unofficial football visits to take. He followed up his ND visit with a tour of Michigan on Wednesday. Clemson, which offered the morning Bowen visited ND, will get a visit next week as will Tennessee, Ole Miss and perhaps Ohio State.

Then after more baseball commitments, he’ll take an Alabama-Auburn-LSU swing at the end of June.

“The way I was looking at it, I wanted to visit colleges, get to meet people, see the campuses,” Bowen said. “Probably start narrowing down after that. So that was kind of my timeline.

“Then maybe mid-junior year — the end of football and the beginning of baseball — is kind of when I wanted to almost be done with it, be able to be done and just enjoy senior year.”

To land Bowen, Notre Dame will have to theoretically beat out at least five of the six schools that comprised 247Sports’ top six classes last season.

An unexpected bounce in favor of the Irish is the surge of the Notre Dame baseball team under second-year coach Link Jarrett. Notre Dame is the overall No. 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and hosting a regional this weekend for the first time in 17 years.

► More:Notre Dame feeling good going into NCAA baseball regional in South Bend, ready to see fans

Bowen is familiar with the careers or two-sports Notre Dame stars Jeff Samardzija and Cole Kmet, and the shortstop/third baseman wants to try it himself.

“It wouldn’t be a deal breaker, but I do want to do both,” he said after touring the Irish baseball facilities and meeting its staff during his football visit Tuesday.

Whether he sticks to that notion, those who have studied Bowen’s game believe his best football is ahead of him.

“He’s going to be a Butkus Award favorite in 2022, and he plays like one now,” Lemming said.  

“I think when you watch him, it becomes very obvious that he’s just relentless on defense,” Andrean coach Chris Skinner added. “On any given play, he’s going to find his way to the ball regardless of what side it goes to, where he’s at.

“You take obviously a high-end physical skill set and match it up with this relentless enthusiasm for the game. And then you talk to him and you find out that he’s a straight-A student and works harder than the average high school student (4.17 on a 4.0 scale). 

“He really does study the game of kind of understanding the pass concepts of the opposing team and what windows do they want to be in? When you throw it all together, it’s pretty cool to think about.”

The same might be said of Notre Dame recruiting by month’s end.

“There’s a lot coming at the coaching staff and the recruiting support staff this month,” Lemming said. “But it seems they have a plan for everything, including how to personalize visits when the sheer number of kids visiting would seem to make that impossible.

“Notre Dame was never going to be great in recruiting unless they changed their ways, and now they did. I’m excited about the way they’re going about it now. I’m excited about what that can turn into down the road for them.”

Follow ND Insider Eric Hansen on Twitter: @ehansenNDI

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[auburnfamilynews]

Photo by Hannah White/Collegiate Images/Getty Images

Auburn was off, what about everyone else?

What’d you guys get up to yesterday? Head outside? Enjoy the weather? Same here. Auburn had its lone bye week of the season yesterday before finishing up the final four games of the regular season. The Tigers are up to 4-2 at this point after the huge win over LSU on Halloween, and they’ll certainly be favored over a Mississippi State team that’s done nothing but get worse each week since beating LSU.

There were some very interesting results around the country this weekend, however, so let’s get the highlights of the rankings and a rundown of what happened around the SEC.

POLL ALERT: Alabama reaches No. 1 in AP Top 25 for record 13th consecutive season; Notre Dame jumps to No. 2, Clemson slips to No. 4. Full poll >> https://t.co/7dTTUiSC1j More coverage >> https://t.co/2qlqr09CPm pic.twitter.com/gBe2izVZO2

— AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) November 8, 2020

Unfortunately, Alabama is back atop the standings after Clemson lost in double overtime to Notre Dame last night, so here’s your new top ten:

Alabama

Notre Dame

Ohio State

Clemson

Texas A&M

Florida

Cincinnati

BYU

Miami

Indiana

That’s... an interesting top ten. Indiana?? After three weeks? BYU? They haven’t played a single Power Five team this season. Texas A&M has only the loss to Alabama, but they might be the most unassuming top five team you could imagine.

Other SEC teams in the rankings include Georgia at #12, and Auburn still at #24 after the off week. Let’s get some thoughts on the conference as a whole.

ALABAMA: Off this week, the Tide are now the top-ranked team in the country, and they’ve already played what many think is the toughest test on their schedule in Georgia, despite the fact that Georgia hasn’t beaten them since Nick Saban’s first season, and definitely not when it matters. Running back Trey Sanders got hurt in a car crash and is probably out for the year, so depth takes a hit, but they’re still the best team in the league.

ARKANSAS: Arkansas fans are torn between saying that Chad Morris is the reason they sucked for the past couple of years, and saying that he brought in the players that are currently performing well. The Hogs put up a 24-0 third quarter yesterday against Tennessee, and that was all they’d need. Arkansas is now 3-3 after a surprisingly efficient day from Feleipe Franks, who threw for 3 touchdowns.

AUBURN: Off this week, but looking good. The win over LSU is super satisfying, and up next it’s the two teams struggling the most in Mississippi State and Tennessee. Win those and you’re 6-2 heading into the Iron Bowl. Not bad.

FLORIDA: Ok, they looked fast. Made Georgia look slow and dull. Kyle Trask made up for Kyles everywhere and threw for more than 300 yards in the first half on the way to 38 Gator points, and they cruised from there. Now, they’re in the East driver’s seat and suddenly have a clear path to the College Football Playoff, unlike...

GEORGIA: These guys no longer have a clear path to the Playoff, let alone the SEC Championship Game. For the proximity to meaningful accomplishments that Kirby has achieved, Georgia has little in the trophy case to show for it. Now, they’re going to likely miss the SEC Championship Game for the first time since 2016, and Kirby’s glaringly poor quarterback management is super apparent now with the way that Justin Fields is playing at the moment at Ohio State. Kirby’s record is worse than Mark Richt’s at this point in their respective careers, and now he’s going to be missing games in Atlanta. That’s how a championship-starved Georgia fanbase turns on you.

KENTUCKY: Off this week, they’ll get a chance to bounce back under the quarterback leadership of Joey Gatewood next Saturday against Vanderbilt, so they’ll likely get a victory. Gatewood clearly wasn’t trusted to let ‘er rip last weekend, so Auburn fans have to feel good about Gus’ quarterback decision at the beginning of 2019.

LSU: Off this week, but oh boy, where do you go from here? LSU currently sits at 2-3, and what’s next? Oh brother, they get Alabama at home. Now, Death Valley is the kind of spot where weird things tend to happen, especially at night, but not with the way this Tiger team is playing. They’re... awful. And right now, this season may completely fall apart. Alabama is a sure loss, then they have to go to Arkansas, who’s getting better by the week. Then it’s at Texas A&M before returning home to take on an Ole Miss team that’s just drooling at the pass defense they’ve seen from LSU. Ah, yes, then you finish at Florida. That’s three top six teams left in the final five games, and it’s not out of the realm of possibility that LSU ends up 2-8 at the end of this one. What an encore from a national championship. Worth it, though.

MISSISSIPPI STATE: This team is terrible. They managed to outlast Vanderbilt and hold on despite a second-half Commodore comeback, but they seemed to somehow get worse in the process. Will Rogers threw for 226 yards on 35 completions. Mississippi State ran for... wait for it, NEGATIVE 22 yards. Vanderbilt’s quarterback Kenny Seals hit the 300-yard mark on them through the air. We’re going to likely be a 20-point favorite, and you’ll need to bet the Tigers with every penny.

MISSOURI: Off this week, but they host Georgia on Saturday at noon. Man, that’s a sneaky spot. With what Georgia has been up to lately, and with the way that Missouri can score, watch out if the Tigers happen to get up by a couple of scores somehow. Yeah, Georgia’s defense is great, but a big play or two could really put Kirby on roller skates. You’d hate to see it.

OLE MISS: Off this week, but they’ll get to play the boring version of themselves next weekend when South Carolina comes to town. It’s a battle of former coordinators now turned head coaches with Kiffin vs Muschamp, but I have to think that Ole Miss blows them out of the water unless Matt Corral has another Hyde performance with a myriad of picks.

SOUTH CAROLINA: When we look back at this season, we’ll chalk up the Auburn loss to South Carolina as a true 2020 moment. Since that time they’ve given up 100 points to LSU and Texas A&M combined. Yesterday was a listless effort that had message boards wondering if Hugh Freeze was en route to Columbia to pull Muschamp’s chair out from under him and start paying Chicago recruits to come play for the Gamecocks. 48-3 to Texas A&M. What a loss. They’re 2-4, and we’re one of the two. Gross.

TENNESSEE: Is Jeremy Pruitt in trouble? Tennessee had the top winning streak in the country early on this year, and now they’ve lost four straight games since leading Georgia at halftime a few weeks ago. Yesterday they got up 13-0 over Arkansas and then died, letting the Hogs roll over them in the third quarter for the win. Pruitt still sticks with Jarrett Guarantano for some reason, but he doesn’t have anyone better. For all of the tricks he learned working with Saban and Jimbo, you’d think that this guy would be able to grab a better quarterback.

TEXAS A&M: I don’t really know what to make of this team. I’ve seen them get absolutely blasted in Tuscaloosa, and I’ve seen them do the same thing to some other teams. They’re somehow in the top five, but that could be a function of people not believing in more than four good teams (Bama, Clemson, Ohio State, Notre Dame) and just sticking the Aggies there for fun. Kellen Mond looks... good? The run game is... decent? The defense... tough? Maybe they are good. They play Tennessee next weekend, so it’s likely another win for Jimbo and another bit of frustration for Pruitt.

VANDERBILT: They play hard and get exercise/fresh air, that’s for sure. Not much more than that. Won’t win a game this year.

from College and Magnolia - All Posts https://www.collegeandmagnolia.com/2020/11/8/21555559/saturday-sec-impressions-rankings-peeking-around-the-bye-week

[vinayv224]

A Tommy Tuberville campaign sign on Three Notch Road during Election Day on July 14, 2020, in Mobile, Alabama. | Michael DeMocker/Getty Images

The former Auburn University football coach will face Democrat Doug Jones in November.

Former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville defeated former Attorney General Jeff Sessions in Alabama’s Republican primary runoff election on Tuesday, setting up a November match against current Democratic Sen. Doug Jones, who became the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in the state since 1992 when he defeated alleged child molester Roy Moore in a 2017 special election.

In a state Donald Trump won handily back in 2016, Tuberville is favored to win in November.

Tuberville has never served in elected office (and moved to Alabama only two years ago), and his campaign against Sessions was largely based on his support for the president. Trump endorsed Tuberville in March, tweeting, “Tommy was a terrific head football coach at Auburn University. He is a REAL LEADER who will never let MAGA/KAG, or our Country, down!” On a Monday call with Alabama voters, Trump said of Tuberville, “He’s going to have a cold, direct line into my office. That I can tell you.”

Whether Tuberville was a “terrific” football coach at Auburn is a matter of some debate, but his close ties to college football — in a state where football is king — played a big role in his campaign against Sessions. I spoke to Bill Britt, editor-in-chief of the Alabama Political Reporter, who told me that while Sessions was enmeshed in his first real campaign since the mid-1990s, “Tuberville, who is a decade younger and appears to be much more vital, is proving to be very good at one-on-one politicking.”

Britt added that Tuberville’s college football experience was perhaps paying off in a new arena. “Years of recruiting players and back-slapping wealthy alumni has given him a far greater ability to reach people in rural Alabama,” Britt said. “A Republican has to win rural Alabama to win any primary.”

Tuberville’s football past could play a surprisingly big part in November’s general election. Though he gained national attention for leading the Auburn Tigers to an undefeated season in 2004, five years earlier he handed down a one-game suspension to a player who was charged with the second-degree rape of a 15-year-old girl. Despite the player pleading guilty to contributing to the delinquency of a minor, Tuberville permitted the player to remain on the team.

Tuberville also abandoned Texas Tech recruits and assistant coaches mid-dinner in 2012, the night before he announced he would take a new job at the University of Cincinnati. And then there was his infamous radio appearance in 1998 when, as then-head coach at the University of Mississippi, Tuberville promised he would only leave the job “in a pine box” — and then flew to Auburn two days later to become head coach of the Tigers.

On the field, as Sessions’s campaign noted on Twitter, Tuberville’s stints at Auburn, Texas Tech, and Cincinnati did not end successfully. “He was the leader of a team that went bad,” Sessions said July 11.

Whether he’ll serve his team well in November remains to be seen.

If watching you coach taught me anything @TTuberville, it’s that you’re no good at sitting on a lead. That’s why you finished 5-7 and 4-8 in your last seasons at Auburn and Cincinnati. If you are too weak to debate, you do not deserve to represent the people of Alabama. https://t.co/3Jdt8XC2mG

— Jeff Sessions (@jeffsessions) May 26, 2020

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[racingtoaredlight]

College Football 2020 Season Week 12 TV Watch Em Ups: this is really still way too much football

Would you believe that I am not good at conveying accurate information? I know, it came as a shock to me, too! But it turns out this is week 12 of the college football season. Somebody else can leaf back through these posts but I’m not sure from this distance that I even made it as far as week 1 with the number listed correctly. But I’ve gotta trust what’s in front of me.

It doesn’t matter anyway. The long game for me has always been waiting for the season to be called off entirely and it’s becoming more and more clear that some version of this grotesquerie is going to make its way to the very bloody end of the playoffs. So even in my safest gambling prognostications I am utterly useless and wrong. (Maybe two consecutive days without my pills was a bad idea...) Here’s where things stand at postin’ time:

Saturday, November 21

Matchup                                             Time (ET)                       TV/Mobile

Georgia Southern at Army                12:00pm                        CBSSN

What a miserable way to open a post. Let’s skip this one.

Illinois at Nebraska                            12:00pm                           FS1

Still loling at Penn State. A great capper to Nebraska hanging on to beat Penn State last week would be to turn around and earn Lovie Smith another chance to win four more games in 2021.

LSU at Arkansas                                12:00pm                         SECN

This appears to be a mistake as LSU suspended their football program for the 2020 season.

6 Florida at Vanderbilt                       12:00pm                          ESPN

Florida hasn’t had a complete fuck up yet in 2020. Something seems really off about that.

9 Indiana at 3 Ohio State                   12:00pm                          FOX

Indiana has been the feel good story of 2020 college football so far. Maybe the only feel good story. They’re going to lose this game but show enough pluck and fight and courage to stick pretty close to the top 10 before taking a soul shattering dive at home against Maryland next week. Or they’ll just lose to tOSU by 60.

4 Clemson at Florida State                12:00pm                          ABC

Bobby Bowden built Florida State into a powerhouse by taking road matchups against anybody dumb enough to take that win for granted. There is a whole “sod graveyard” at FSU commemorating the biggest of those wins. So there’s a decent chance the +35.5 line for this game (or +36.5 depending on where you bet) is the most anybody has ever been favored as a road team in Tallahassee. I’ve mentioned before in these posts that FSU is maybe at the lowest point of any of Florida’s big three programs in my lifetime. There is actually no maybe. This program is a total shambles right now.

East Carolina at Temple                     12:00pm                            ESPN+

Eh, sure. Fine.

Arkansas State at Texas State           12:00pm                           ESPNU

Not sure if any of you caught the whole Farhad Manjoo controversy on twitter yesterday but basically he wrote an article for the New York Times about how many people he’s been exposed to in terms of COVID risk lately and how dangerous it could be for him to now fly home to his parents house for Thanksgiving. After going through all of the math and demonstrating pretty well what a horrible idea it would be for him to celebrate Thanksgiving with his parents he concludes by saying that he’s going to go ahead and celebrate Thanksgiving with his parents anyway. This game here, Arkansas State at Texas State, is about the same level of completely worthless risk of death and it’s still going to be played. I might start referencing that dumb Farhad Manjoo article/idea more regularly in watch em up posts.

Appalachian State at 15 Coastal Carolina         12:00pm           ESPN2

Coastal Carolina is going to win a national championship against BYU because every other program is too close to an 100% infection rate to keep playing. BYU doesn’t believe in shit like COVID and Coastal Carolina used up all of their budget fielding a team in the first place.

Stephen F. Austin at Memphis             12:00pm                          ESPN+

There it is, the 100th game to kick off at noon this Saturday! Congratulations, everybody!

Rice at North Texas                               2:00pm                            ESPN3

Rice has had a football program for a really long time for some reason.

FIU at WKU                                            2:00pm                             ESPN3

...

North Alabama at 8 BYU                      3:00pm                        BYUtv/ESPN3

One of sports great rivalry games.

UTSA at Southern Miss                        3:00pm                            ESPN+

Mmm, another classic.

Western Carolina at Eastern Kentucky        3:00pm                   ESPN3

Thank god this one isn’t cancelled.

UCLA at 11 Oregon                               3:30pm                            ESPN2

Chip Kelly is still at UCLA, right? It would be kind of funny if he beat Oregon but also might go more or less unnoticed. Oregon has to be the least hyped team in the country to feature maybe four 2021 first round picks and a clear path to a conference title. The Pac-12 came so close to actually doing the right thing and not playing this year.

Iowa at Penn State                                3:30pm                              BTN

When I said that Indiana is the feel good story of the season so far I forgot that Penn State hasn’t won yet. Rockeye Chalkeye Hawkeyes or whatever Iowa’s chant is. Let’s keep it fucking going.

California at Oregon State                    3:30pm                              FS1

Not a single feeling.

10 Wisconsin at 19 Northwestern         3:30pm                             ABC

For my money this is close to as unappealing as a top 20 matchup is liable to ever be. That’s only partially explained by the sham quality of this season overall.

San Diego State at Nevada                    3:30pm                             CBS

This is good stuff normally but I might just skip this entire day of watching.

Middle Tennessee at Troy                       3:30pm                           ESPN3

{URGE TO DO LITERALLY ANYTHING ELSE INTENSIFYING}

Georgia State at South Alabama            3:30pm                           ESPNU

I am boiling over with apathy at the thought of this one.

7 Cincinnati at UCF                                  3:30pm                            ESPN

The people’s champs are not particularly great this year but maybe they can do us all a solid and derail the train that is Ohio State, Jr. The line isn’t crazily tilted towards the Bearcats (-5)  so maybe it’s a real possibility?

Virginia Tech at Pitt                                  4:00pm                            ACCN

Don’t let anybody convince you that the players aren’t wearing masks on the field during game action here. You’ve just gotta believe.

Kansas State at 17 Iowa State                4:00pm                            FOX

I should be interested in this one and yet...

Kentucky at 1 Alabama                            4:00pm                            SECN

For the record I agree that Mac Jones is really good and I also put him at about the 15th best player on the Tide this year. So, no, he wouldn’t be in the lead for RTARLsman 2020 if that were happening.

Abilene Christian at Virginia                     4:00pm                       RSN/ESPN3

UVA is completely inscrutable this year. Even more than usual. But they have been an absolute pleasure to watch in short bursts because their uniform game has been exceptionally sharp.

 Tennessee at 23 Auburn                            7:00pm                           ESPN

Missouri at South Carolina                            7:30pm                   SECN Alt.

The SEC is putting their messiest foot forward in primetime this week.

Michigan at Rutgers                                        7:30pm                     BTN

Great conference matchup between two programs that peaked in the 19th century and will never be national champions again.

21 Liberty at NC State                                     7:30pm              RSN/ESPN3

This Liberty being ranked thing is hilarious but I’ll be pretty happy if NC State wrecks them.

14 Oklahoma State at 18 Oklahoma              7:30pm                     ABC

Bedlam, baby! In primetime! Why!

Mississippi State at 13 Georgia                     7:30pm                     SECN

I don’t root for the UGAs often but I’ll be deeply in their corner this week. I want Mike Leach out of a job by the end of next season.

Arizona at Washington                                    8:00pm                      FOX

Pretty sweet uniform matchup, if nothing else. It is nothing else.

20 USC at Utah                                                10:30pm                    ESPN

I should really want to watch this game but I really don’t.

Boise State at Hawaii                                      11:00pm                  CBSSN

Maybe Boise will be tired from travel but they have no business winning by less than 20. Hawaii is not running that GoGo shit and they deserve to burn for it.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

Charlotte at 15 Marshall                                  Postponed

Wake Forest at Duke                                       Postponed

ULM vs. Louisiana Tech (in Shreveport, LA)    Canceled

Ole Miss at 5 Texas A&M                                 Postponed

Central Arkansas at 24 Louisiana                   Canceled

Michigan State at Maryland                            Canceled

San Jose State at Fresno State                      Canceled

UNLV at Colorado State                                  Canceled

Arizona State at Colorado                              Canceled

Washington State at Stanford                        Canceled

Navy at USF                                                      Canceled

[thecollegefootballguy]

2020 Top Games of the Week: Week 5

Hey folks, college football is really starting to feel like college football again now that so many teams are playing. Hopefully they all get things going safely soon so we can see the whole nation playing.

Let’s check in on our customary top ten games of the week! We’ve got several good ones now that we’re in the second month of football.

Top 10 Games of the Week

10. #12 North Carolina 1-0 (1-0) at Boston College 2-0 (1-0)

North Carolina had a solid win over Syracuse, but with the Orange looking rather unimpressive it remains to be seen how good these new Tar Heels actually are. Boston College has a few wins but nothing anybody would call quality. Nobody expected the Eagles to be that good this year, but if they can upset a ranked UNC that would really be a big step forward for BC.

9. UTSA 3-0 (1-0) at UAB 2-1 (0-0)

We’ve gotta put a bit of C-USA flavor in the top ten. UTSA has held on through several wild finishes to emerge undefeated. UAB has looked good so far despite a (quality) loss to Miami. It’s hard to say at this point but these could be the top two teams in the West Division, so maybe keep one eye open to watch this game.

8. Navy 1-1 (1-0) at Air Force 0-0 (0-0)

The Service Academies are back at it. Navy and Air Force square off in the first leg of the three-way rivalry. Air Force hasn’t played yet and have suffered a staggering amount of player opting out, so I wouldn’t exactly favor them, but I hope it’s a good game despite this.

7. NC State 1-1 (1-1) at #24 Pittsburgh 3-0 (2-0)

This is a barometer game. Pittsburgh is making an earnest, and deserved, push towards the top of the pack in the ACC. That isn’t to say that the Panthers can challenge Clemson, but Pitt can probably hang with anybody else in the conference with that defense. NC State is in a weird spot. The Wolfpack haven’t looked all that good since 2018 and have a lot to prove. If Pittsburgh isn’t as good as the rankings say, this would be a good time to show it.

6. Arkansas State 1-1 (0-0) at Coastal Carolina 2-0 (0-0)

Hell yes. Two of the Sun Belt’s conquering heroes square off in a mid-major clash of the titans. Arkansas State and Coastal Carolina are the best football teams in the state of Kansas and they’re in the hunt with several teams for what may end up to be the best conference race in the G5 this season.

5. TCU 0-1 (0-1) at #9 Texas 2-0 (1-0)

All I’m gonna say is that TCU is usually better than Texas Tech.

4. #18 Oklahoma 1-1 (0-1) at Iowa State 1-1 (1-0)

Come on, we’re all curious Iowa State can make it two in a row.

3. #25 Memphis 1-0 (0-0) at SMU 3-0 (0-0)

I think people forgot Memphis won the AAC last year. UCF looks great but the Tigers are trying to prove they still belong. And SMU is quietly putting together a good resume. The Mustangs were a breakout team last season and are surely trying to outdo their previous effort and really compete for the conference title for the first time.

2. #13 Texas A&M 1-0 (1-0) at #2 Alabama 1-0 (1-0)

Well A&M, it was a good run.

1. #7 Auburn 1-0 (1-0) at #4 Georgia 1-0 (1-0)

Once again, the SEC provides the game of the week, this time with an early novelty game between the Deep South’s Oldest Rivals. Auburn and Georgia both looked pretty crap in their respective first halves last week and then came out to dominate the second halves. I’m very curious to see who comes out on top here, especially because the Tigers can never seem to beat UGA in Athens.

[junker-town]

Why Derrick Brown was worth the No. 7 pick for the Panthers

Derrick Brown could be a top-five pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Retired defensive end Stephen White thinks Derrick Brown is the most exciting interior pass rusher since Aaron Donald.

The Carolina Panthers selected Derrick Brown with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. Here’s what Stephen White had to say about Brown ahead of the draft.

I’ve seen ridiculously strong defensive tackles and I’ve seen ridiculously athletic defensive tackles. But it is rare to see both in one guy, especially one Derrick Brown’s size, at a shade under 6’5 and 326 pounds.

Y’all already know I’m a sucker for a dude who goes hard all the time anyway, but Brown is a hustler’s hustler. He doesn’t run hard to the ball “for a big guy.” He runs hard to the ball, period!

Wherever he is going on the field, he’s always trying to get there in a hurry. It’s a damn near inspiration to an old-school defensive lineman like myself. Brown busts his ass play in and play out, and out of all the impressive things I saw from him on tape, that was what jumped off the screen the most.

He plays the game with the kind of effort that is sure to be contagious in the NFL. You won’t want to be the one getting called out for getting smoked by the big fella. Then again, with as fast as I saw Brown run a few times, maybe they wouldn’t have anything to be embarrassed about.

Even when it doesn’t look like he will have a chance to get in on a tackle, Brown still turns and runs to the ball. He is truly relentless and that’s reflected in his on-field production. There’s a reason why I credited him with 28 tackles, including three tackles for a loss, in the four games of his I watched. You don’t make that many plays by just standing around and waiting for the ball to come to you. You make that many plays by going out and making shit happen.

What Brown does well: He’s got power

Brown’s physical gifts are not limited to his uncommon speed for a man his size. His excellent technique also helped Brown get in position to make a lot of plays at Auburn.

Did I mention that he’s also as strong as a damn ox and can ragdoll men much bigger than him? Because honestly? The way Brown was tossing 300-pound guys around like they were a mere nuisance was probably what had me cussing the most when watching his film. And believe me, my swear jar is overflowing at this point.

And I want to remind everybody that these weren’t Arkansas School Of Underwater Basketweaving offensive linemen he was dominating like that. Brown was able to overpower a bunch of Power 5 offensive linemen like it was nothing.

Of the four teams, I’d say Alabama’s offensive line probably gave him the biggest challenge when it came to physicality. He did get pushed around a few times, but by the end of the game, he had put his stamp on it. He even ended Alabama’s last-gasp attempt at a comeback by knocking a pass down at the line of scrimmage after once again winning a one-on-one matchup.

To top it off, he plays with a pretty salty attitude.

Nothing dirty, but I did see Brown giving a few offensive linemen the business right up to the whistle several times, even when he might’ve been better off trying to get to the ball. In that Oregon game to start off the season, he played like some of the offensive linemen owed him money.

You need guys on defense who straddle the line like that, and that’s another reason why I feel like teams will covet him not only for his talent, but also for his leadership.

What Brown does well: Defend the run

In general as a run defender, Brown is so big and strong that it almost didn’t matter who he was going against. Brown usually rendered blockers irrelevant by jacking them up and then locating the football while keeping the would-be blocker at arm’s length. Then once he found the ball, Brown would simply discard the blocker quickly and, usually, violently.

When Brown was singled up, the only question was whether the ball carrier would run on a path close enough for Brown to tackle him at or behind the line of scrimmage, or if Brown would have to run to get to him.

Hell, that even applied when he was fighting double-teams sometimes.

Brown would be chilling with a blocker hanging off of him, just waiting for the right time to pounce on the ball carrier. And once you see it, you can’t un-see it. It was just really shocking to see a college player who was that much better than the dudes he was facing.

Speaking of double-teams, they didn’t much slow Brown down, either. He would focus on one of the two blockers, shoot his hands into their chest, and really hunker down with his shoulders turned to prevent the second blocker from having much of a surface to hit. Then, whenever the second blocker came off, say, to try to block a linebacker, Brown would spring into action.

Of course, sometimes he said to hell with it and just blew up everything in the backfield.

You look at all of the athletic traits that Brown displayed on tape, add in his power, versatility, and football IQ to go along with his motor? It doesn’t get much better than him as a defensive line prospect. It really doesn’t.

What he does well: Pass rush (and he’s got some moves!)

Here’s the rub: he might be an even better pass rusher than he is a run defender.

In fact, I don’t think I’ve been this excited about an interior pass rush prospect not named Aaron Donald. And I say “interior” pass rusher, but I also saw Brown win one-on-one matchups on offensive tackles as well.

No cap.

That big joker got busy no matter where Auburn lined him up on passing downs. The main attraction in his pass-rushing arsenal was a heavy helping of power rushes. He was also damn good at them. In particular, he showed the ability to consistently get push on either guard upfield; then, at about the level of the quarterback, he would rip right through their outside shoulder like a hot knife through butter.

Brown also has some nice inside counter moves off those power rushes to keep opposing offensive linemen honest. The fastest route to the quarterback is always going to be a straight line, and Brown is well equipped to be a pocket collapser in the league from day one.

It would be mistake to assume he is just a bull rush guy, however.

A huge mistake.

While Brown will make most of his hay with his power, his finesse moves were just about equally impressive. One thing I love about Brown as a pass rusher is that he has good hip turn as he runs, no matter what kind of move he is going for. That helps him to turn a tight corner when he tries an outside rush, and it helps him fight force with force when he is trying to work through the blocker.

It isn’t normal to see a guy Brown’s size as a pass rusher, but he looked like very polished in the games that I watched.

And let me say this is where statistics can be very misleading if you don’t watch the tape. Brown “only” had one sack in those four games, but for one reason or another, he still wasn’t credited with a sack or a pressure on certain plays. On one, he used one of the best inside spin moves I’ve ever seen any interior defensive lineman execute since I’ve been doing these breakdowns.

Brown beat the Alabama right guard so quickly and thoroughly with that spin move that the center didn’t even have time to help. And what did Brown get in return for making such a magnificent move? Alabama’s backup quarterback threw a touchdown as Brown was bearing down on him.

Yeah ...

I would bet none of those Alabama offensive linemen are sorry to see Brown leaving, that’s for sure.

Where Brown can improve: Staying upright more often

As for concerns, Brown was on the ground a little too much for my liking. Most of the time he was either a little too overextended when trying to shove an offensive lineman backward, or he was simply playing with pad level that was too high. I know it’s not easy for 6’5 cats to stay low for a whole game, but bending his knees more consistently would probably help Brown stay upright a little more.

My gripe is probably nitpicking somewhat. It would help if he played a little lower, but he is still going to make plays regardless. He’s just that good.

Brown’s NFL future: Defensive Rookie of the Year frontrunner

I totally understand why a lot of people are high on Ohio State edge rusher Chase Young. I am too, for that matter. But if I were picking at the top of this draft, it might be a coin flip between him and Derrick Brown. I don’t really think you can go wrong with either guy, but I see more intangibles in ways that won’t necessarily show up on a stat sheet from Brown than I do from Young. And that’s not a knock on Young as much as it is giving Brown his well-deserved props.

As obviously talented as Donald was when he came out, he didn’t have the same kind of motor as I saw from Brown, and still doesn’t for that matter. No, Brown isn’t the same class of athlete as Donald, but he can have a similar kind of impact on games, just with a different approach.

I thought Brown tested out fine at the combine, and I was really impressed that he was able to get 28 reps of 225 pounds with arms that stretch out more than 34 inches in length. That will help with some power rushes. His 5.16 in the 40 is more than respectable for a man his size, but I have to tell you he moves faster than that on the field. More importantly, you will rarely see someone 320+ pounds running 10 yards down the field, let alone 40.

However, the bonus you get with Brown is he does hustle downfield consistently, so you are going to get every bit of that 40 time every play. I would imagine nobody wants to be on the receiving end after he has built up a full head of steam.

I have only watched a total of three players for this year’s draft at this point, but it’s hard for me to believe Brown will get drafted any later than the top five because he looks like a guy who would go top five in any draft. Barring injury, I think we will see greatness from Brown sooner than later after he makes the transition to the NFL. I’d bet him against the field for Defensive Rookie of the Year, right now, today. That’s just how much potential I see in him as a prospect.

We will see if the teams at the top of the draft agree come the end of April.

Be sure to check out my other scouting reports on Chase Young and Jerry Jeudy.

For the purposes of this breakdown, I watched Brown play against Oregon, Florida, Alabama, and Minnesota (Outback Bowl).

[highschoolharrier]

Yesterday I saw a tweet from Steve Magness, near sub-4 miler in high school, asking (paraphrased) how do we turn current high school track and cross country athletes into lifelong fans of the sport.

For clarity, the exact quote is: “Question, as always, for the health of the sport is how do we turn participants into life-long fans. Right now, we do a horrible job of this.”

It’s an interesting question, and it requires a few assumptions to be made. Let’s take a look at these assumptions and see what could be the outcome to answer his question.

First assumption is track/cross country is unhealthy or trending in that direction. Judging by the statistics presented by the original Tweet from Travis Miller, with T&F being the #1 participation sport and XC being #6, we can say that it certainly isn’t in the death throes. If anything, the sport is the strongest it has ever been at the youth level. Running sub 4 in high school is now a feat that a few athletes each year legitimately may achieve, girls distance record books are being constantly reset, and sprints have looked great with teams out in Texas flirting with sub 40 each season for the 4x1. At the professional level, the US teams won a combined 32 medals in the 2016 Olympics according to the USATF, a feat that has only been bested by our squad once in the past 80 years. I don’t think we can say our sport is at an unhealthy state. 

The next assumption is that there is a gap between participation and fandom in the sport. This does have a lot of legs though, as according to the USATF there are only 6 broadcasts of track and field by NBC (cable broadcasts) the entire year of 2019. There may be more as this list did not include Worlds, but the point stands that there is such a low amount of support on television for a sport that is a major force at the high school level. 

The last assumption is that “we” are to blame as “we do a horrible job of this,” inferring promotion of the sport. As someone who has hosted meets, coached athletes, traveled to watch out of state competitions on my own dime, written articles and volunteered to help at competitions, I have a good working knowledge of the in’s and out’s of the sport (and I don’t mean to disparage anyone or promote myself, simply point out that my opinions are founded in love for the sport and an enormous amount of time spent in it) and I think I know a few reasons for the disconnect, but I wouldn’t lay blame on anyone in particular. The reasons that track is not a more viewed sport is not as simple as coaches not promoting it well enough, etc.

I will lay out a few responses to why this problem is more complex than the royal “we” in promoting our sport. 

First, track/xc meets are, by nature, a big time commitment. High school track meets can last 6-8 hours even for just for small event that only includes a dozen teams. Big invites are generally multi-day. Cross country is bit lot better, especially the national meets which are just two races, but still track is the more popular of the two. Also, since nearly everyone who will read this is a distance runner or coach, we have to understand that the majority of the track world finds events 800 and up uninteresting. While you and I may get excited for a quality 3200 or 5000, the kids who do jumps, sprints, throws, etc., rarely have the patience to watch those events. It’s not my opinion, but it is something that needs considering when understanding the entire dynamic of the track and field universe. For the majority of fans, they want to watch only just a few actual minutes of competition, but are required to spend significantly more time sitting and waiting. 

Next, the sport is difficult to follow. Obviously there is the aforementioned lack of track on TV, but there is also a lack of quality productions on the internet, and of the few who do broadcast meets, most have a paywall. You can get ESPN+ and stream thousands of games in good quality with good commentating for $4.99 a month. Compare that to $12.49 a month for Flotrack and $12.99 a month for Runnerspace+. These companies do provide an outlet for dedicated fans, but they won’t be winning the coin toss for people who are trying to decide between them or spending a little more to get the NBA League pass. I do want to give a shoutout to NXN and NBN who both broadcast their meets for free online and NXN really knows how to make the meet feel like a championship. Fans aren’t going to spend money for the sake of spending money. If our sport is going to be pay to view, the content needs to be of a very high quality.

Lastly, at the professional level, the idea of teams is nearly non-existent. Sure, there are training groups that wear the same uniform but how often do teams attempt to compete against other clubs? One of the problems noted in college track and field/cross country is the lack of meets that mean anything, as many regular season competitions are treated more like trial runs! Could you imagine Alabama playing Auburn in football and not attempting to win the game, just do well enough to get to the postseason healthy? In the NFL there are 17 weeks of the regular season where every game matters. In professional track there are generally two meets that matter, nationals and worlds (conference for colleges as well). With nothing on the line for the majority of meets, there isn’t that same excitement for the lead-up to the championship as other sports. The average fan wants there to be something on the line. That’s why they tune in to see their favorite teams each week. While there certainly are individual sports that do very well (tennis, golf), those sports also have their athletes competing at most points of the year (something not realistic for track).

What I do think would be great to see, and would help not only promote the sport and get people excited, is to start pushing regular club competitions, perhaps even whole seasons, and make the sport more friendly to view. This may in turn get more TV time for the sport and then it may snowball from there. This could also perhaps bring in non-track fans into the fold, especially if there were regional based teams. What if there was a winter XC campaign of 4-5 stops, or multi team Ekiden’s featuring squads from various parts of the country, and each competition had a part to play in the final score? It’s just an idea, but if we think we really want to make a concerted effort to grow the sport into something more fan-friendly fan popular, we need more innovation. As of right now we have a lot of kids competing at the youth level, but we have nothing great in terms of products for them to follow as they get older.

[steveholley]

Seventeen Years and Counting

In February, 2002, the New England Patriots stunned the football world by defeating the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI in the Louisiana Superdome.

This past Sunday, the Patriots defeated the Rams in the Super Bowl again but things were a little different. The Rams are back in Los Angeles for one, and the game was certainly no stunner; if anything, it would have come more as a shock if New England hadn't won Super Bowl LIII.

In the 17 years since that 2002 Super Bowl, with quarterback Tom Brady and coach Bill Belichick leading the Patriots and cementing themselves as arguably the greatest of all-time at their respective positions, the franchise has won an unimaginable six Lombardi Trophies, tied for the most in NFL history. And that's with New England having a full 10-year stretch without winning the big game. By contrast, only the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giants have also won multiple Super Bowls in that span - each with two apiece.

But this story isn't really about who can yell "RINGS!" It's not even really about sports, though we'll cover that.

It's a reflective piece as I sit here writing my own Super Bowl LIII story.

Let's rewind. In the late summer and early fall of 2001 as the Patriots' dynasty first began to take shape, I was a 19-year-old college student plowing my way through school and driving around in my pride-and-joy at the time: a gorgeous 1992 Chevrolet Camaro that my father bought me the year I entered college. I was still living at home with my parents, working a job I hated and still struggling to escape the stench of high school and my hometown, with no purpose or direction for where my life was headed.

I was a loner struggling with severe depression and mental illness that wasn't diagnosed until much later. I weighed upward of 240 pounds, had very little social life or even social skills and never imagined all the many things God would bless me with as I grew older and moved away. My best friend since high school had already 'gotten out' after moving to Virginia Beach following graduation. We lost touch and didn't reconnect with one another until years later. There was no social media to stay in touch with back then. When I graduated high school, few of my classmates even had internet access and e-mail from their homes. Even fewer had cell phones. Texting was still a few years away from becoming mainstream; in fact, I didn't get my first real cell phone until I was almost 23. The point is that she got out. Had I not done the same a few years later, I would have been dead before I even turned 30. The older I've gotten, the more I'm convinced of that.

In 2001, I was still in college and the University of Alabama was in its first season under a then-promising outsider head coach named Dennis Franchione, who came to Tuscaloosa by way of Texas Christian University. Andrew Zow and Tyler Watts were Alabama's quarterbacks then, with Zow leading the Tide past Auburn, 31-7, in that year's Iron Bowl at Jordan-Hare Stadium. As strange as it may seem to some of today's generation of 'Bama fans, beating Auburn in those days was our national championship game (theirs, too). To some fans, it always will be. Thinking of those Alabama teams now, it will always be surreal to me that I've watched my school win not just one national championship but five. When you watch as your school is reduced to living off its glory days while losing to teams like Northern Illinois, Central Florida (before they were the annoying hipsters of the college football world) and Louisiana Tech - twice - because of unprecedented NCAA probation, you don't expect to one day reach the college football mountain top five times in nine years.

At the time, my grandfather was going through the final stages of a terrible but courageous fight with colon cancer that took its toll on all of us as a family. No matter how I look back on it, I'll always call him that: courageous. Courageous for the way he managed to stay alert, awake and coherent even as the cancer kept spreading; for the way he still got out of bed every morning in spite of the pain he was in. On the last birthday I celebrated with him, he managed to get out of bed long enough to spend time with me because he knew what day it was. He was courageous for how he'd still find a way to put his pain aside and try to make me laugh in his darkest hours, usually by needling my grandmother over something or ranting about his love of old-school country music and, just as equally, his sheer hatred of the Republican Party. He was courageous for the way he always searched and found a way to cheer me up even when he didn't know he was doing it.

My grandfather didn't teach me anything about sports. In fact, he hated sports with a passion. He used to say that if he were ever elected president, his first executive order would be to eliminate all sports. I would always quip back, "And your next executive order will be to remove the bullet from the sniper's rifle after they shoot your ass for banning football…"

Regardless, my grandfather was never a weak man. My brother Paul and I used to joke that we were the only kids in our high school who'd have taken an ass-beating from our 70-year-old grandfather had push ever come to shove over anything (not that it ever would). He watched with Paul and I when the Patriots won their first Super Bowl, though the significance of that feat couldn't have mattered less to him. We watched that game through the 841-foot outdoor antenna he had in his garden; you know, the kind that was big enough to serve as a communications portal to life on other planets.

My writing at the time, so far as it existed, consisted of daily Chicago Cubs game stories and general team news for a start-up company, more a hobby and a release and a habit from growing up a Cubs fan than an actual job. The Cubs had a good season that year. They won almost 90 games and stayed in the playoff race until September, Kerry Wood rebounded from Tommy John Surgery to win 12 games and post a good ERA, and Sammy Sosa was still… normal(ish) at the time. I had a front-row seat to it through WGN TV and the internet (hello, RealPlayer!), still relatively in its infancy at the time.

As I've written before, what started out as me merely writing about the Cubs beating the Reds or losing to the Cardinals or vice versa on any given day from April to September later turned into me becoming a de facto beat writer for the team and going on to branch out into covering other professional sports. One of my favorite stories is when I met the late Hall of Famer and San Diego Padres great Tony Gwynn at a Double-A All-Star game in Mobile where he was watching his son play. I said something to him about a father watching his son follow in his footsteps. I thought it was almost romantic in a way. Gwynn must have thought otherwise. "Thanks for making me feel old, dude," he said (grumbled is more like it).

Any of the tales I have and the things I've done in sportswriting have happened in cities hundreds of miles from where I grew up, of course. My hometown has never been known for anything overly noteworthy. It's the hometown of George "Goober" Lindsey, eerie unsolved murders and disappearances, some of the highest rates of spousel abuse in the nation, and numerous odds and ends mysteries. And drugs. Yes, lots of drugs and drug arrests.

Once, Bear Bryant came through town in his green Cadillac and another time Merle Haggard played a concert there when he was flat broke. I think my brother said it best about our home state: "It's a strange place. On the one hand, it's beautiful with many wonderful people and a fine, distinct southern culture. At the same time, it's terrifying and home to some of the downright worst human beings and atrocities the country has ever seen, all existing together in tension and constantly ripping itself apart from within." On that he's very much correct.

Anyway, to show how much time has passed, in the fall of 2001 when the Patriots dynasty began out of nowhere, New England was still playing its home games at the old and outdated Foxboro Stadium. The Yankees were still playing at the real Yankee Stadium in the weeks after the most horrific terrorist attack on American soil, and Wrigley Field and Fenway Park hadn't yet received long-overdue upgrades that have since brought them into the 21st century.

No one watches the Super Bowl on huge outdoor antennas anymore but rather on ridiculously priced cable "bundles" or in many cases their phones, computers and other gadgets. I often wonder what my grandfather would have thought of the idea that 17 years after watching my last Super Bowl with him that we'd have the means and technology to watch the game or the NBC Nightly News (his daily, can't-miss half-hour of television) on our telephones.

My brother called me after the Super Bowl last Sunday on his way back to his apartment in Brooklyn, another occurrence neither of us foresaw growing up. We were talking about the game when he said something that really got me thinking.

"It's hard for me to believe but this Patriots run started back when I was a senior in high school," he said. "They've won six Super Bowls since I was 18 years old. I'm 35 now. Their dynasty has literally lasted half of my life."

And that's what got me started down this rabbit hole.

Thinking back on the places I've gone, all the people I've since met, my grandfather, the New England Patriots (who incidentally once played a regular-season home game at Birmingham's Legion Field vs. the New York Jets), Andrew Zow and Tyler Watts, making Tony Gwynn feel old, getting married and finding my soul mate and the love of my life and the family I have now; all the things and fears and nightmares I escaped that are both real and imagined. And of course my own health battles I've fought despite being a full 100 pounds lighter now than I was 17 years ago.

There will be other sports dynasties in the years ahead. The beauty of dynasties is that no one can predict which team it will be or even when the current ones will end. Or better still, when and where life will take us, who we might meet next, and other things and history we'll experience and bear witness to.

All of which is to say in conclusion, enjoy it. Whatever it is and whoever it is that make history, just enjoy it.

"Buy the ticket, take the ride," Hunter S. Thompson famously said. Completely separate of football dynasties and any Super Bowl, may we all keep buying the ticket, wherever it takes us.

[auburnfamilynews]

Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

How low can you go?

Oh boy, this ought to be a hoot. Auburn got trucked in Athens, with very few players bringing the effort necessary to win a game against the most talented team per capita in the country.

Some position groups might not have even been there with the way we played, while others showed that they indeed wanted to play Auburn football. How did we grade? Read along:

QUARTERBACK - R (for RUN FOR YOUR LIFE)

Bo Nix was not great this past Saturday. Now, a lot of that had to do with a game plan asking him to be a hero against the best defense in the country behind what might be the worst offensive line in the conference. He was not put in a position to succeed and it resulted in catastrophe for the Tigers offense.

But that doesn’t mean he was a passive participant in that, uh how can I put this nicely, “poopshow” of a performance. Elite quarterbacks raise the play of their teammates. Elite quarterbacks make big time plays even in less than ideal circumstances. Elite quarterbacks still lose but they elevate their offense anyway.

Bo Nix is not yet an elite quarterback. He might still become one but he’s not there yet. There were chances for Auburn to land some haymakers. It’s unlikely any would have left UGA on the mat for long given the Dawgs dominance along the line of scrimmage but there were some chances where Nix could have given his team some confidence. Two deep shots to Anthony Schwartz jump out, especially that 2nd quarter miss where Schwartz had a step on his defender and a touchdown would have made this a 17-7 game.

If you are going to be a championship calibre quarterback you have to hit those shots when you get a chance. Nix is still not doing it. He has to get better and do a better job capitalizing on big play opportunities especially against elite teams. We saw these same misses last year in College Station, Gainesville and Baton Rouge. Until that changes, there’s a firm ceiling on this offense that will prevent this team from winning anything meaningful in the next 2-3 years.

RUNNING BACKS - A-minus

DISCLAIMER: This ranking is solely predicated on measuring the effectiveness of those who played, which was few

Auburn probably found the back of the future on Saturday night in Tank Bigsby, who got his first real extended action with Shaun Shivers’ injury and D.J. Williams’ apparent lack of speed. What we saw in Athens was the only player who 110% wanted to be there, win, and wasn’t afraid of Georgia. Everyone else played scared or tight. He finished with 8 carries for 31 yards and 7 catches for 68 yards, a couple touches consisting of heroic efforts to negate plays that would’ve otherwise been huge losses. He honestly showed the kind of wiggle and strength that we saw out of his position coach in Sanford Stadium in 2001, but we had less help on Saturday. Georgia was also better than they were eighteen years ago.

The position group is given an A- because of D.J. Williams’ ineffectiveness (no carries, 1 catch for -4 yards), and because there’s still room for improvement from Tank in spite of his great night. Tank can become the absolute start back at Auburn, but we have to figure out how to use him and reward him for being the only guy leaving everything out there on Saturday. An offensive line wouldn’t hurt either.

WIDE RECEIVERS/TIGHT ENDS - D (for Drops)

I will say, there weren’t a ton of opportunities for the receivers to show out in this one. With a lethal pass rush from Georgia, and Bo being lucky to just get the ball in the air near the intended receivers, any production from them would have been a gift. That being said, this group gets heavily penalized by a severe case of the drops. Sure, Seth Williams’s drop would have been a highlight real touchdown if he had reeled it in, but we also saw Shedrick Jackson drop two balls as well (one of them ended up being called for targeting, but my point stands).

The highlight of the night certainly goes to J.J. Pegues, who only recorded three touches for eight yards, but the big man converted third downs on both of his carries out of the Wildcat. Props for that I guess.

OFFENSIVE LINE - L (for Lost.)

The next time you hear someone defend Herb Hand and JB Grimes, show them this:

This is one of the most pitiful efforts in the history of Auburn football. No I’m not talking about the game. I’m talking about how vastly under-prepared this position group is from a personnel/roster management standpoint. After having 2 transfers start in 2017, the regression of offensive line play at Auburn from 2018 - present has been the root problem of this football program. We have not been able to run the football since Kerryon Johnson got hurt against Alabama and now in 2020 we cannot protect the quarterback. What’s so damning about this is that SO MANY PEOPLE SAW THIS COMING.

I can’t even blame Jack Bicknell for this because I think he’s the first offensive line coach Auburn has had since Jeff Grimes (should’ve been retained after 2012 by Gus) who understands how to recruit offensive linemen at Auburn. But he’s probably unable to fully fix it until 2022 at the earliest! And yet, none of these issues are new! None of this is a surprise!

The identity of any offense is based around its offensive line, which explains at least in part why we looked so completely lost as a unit Saturday night. But as bad as the line looked, the real shame is on whoever it is on that sideline who insists upon rotating offensive linemen 2 games into a season. Sure, this group didn’t have this summer to build cohesion thanks to COVID. That’s tough for any group. But you are extending this problem out by continuing to rotate guys. And I don’t think it requires a lot of thinking to see that the most ideal starting group right now probably looks like this:

Left Tackle - Austin Troxell

Left Guard - Brandon Council

Center - Nick Brahams

Right Guard - Keiondre Jones

Right Tackle - Brodarious Hamm

Even with that group, the grades looked abysmal Saturday night based on what was said by the PFF folks. But this position group cannot get better without playing together. Run with these 5, and let them take their lumps and grow. In the meantime, the unit looks lost. I will say that it sure doesn’t help that it was abundantly clear that we were tighter than the Fat Man Squeeze at Rock City thanks to a group of coaches who don’t appear to trust their players and go into a turtleshell each time we play a competent football team away from Jordan-Hare Stadium. You could see that in the opening drive with penalties.

So yeah, the offensive line, and whoever is on that sideline refusing to trust his players and doing this rotation BS deserve a grade worse than F. They deserve to be called out for being LOST.

DEFENSIVE LINE - H (for How?)

I think we all expected this defensive front to regress significantly from last year. Nothing about that is a surprise when you lose a generational talent like Derrick Brown, who friend of the program Justin Ferguson swears is the greatest defensive player in Auburn history. Certainly an argument can be made. That being said, how in the hell do you get blown off the ball this poorly? How in the hell have several of these guys, who have played a significant number of snaps in this defense, not improved since the first year they stepped on campus?

This is the first year that we haven’t had a sure-fire NFL defensive lineman on this team since Gus got to Auburn. And that would be enough of a reason to be upset but also understand why our backs broke in the 2nd half...if that had happened. Instead, this group was dominated from the start, letting a walk on quarterback keep his jersey clean for the majority of the game, and let Georgia bully you in the run game all night. This score could have been 21 points worse, but Georgia was having too much fun pushing our defensive line into the belly of our linebackers.

I expected a regression, and I have confidence in Rodney Garner. Really I’m more angry at the offense since 2016 for wasting 4 years of championship-level defense than I am a bad night at the office without the NFL talent of a year ago. But none of that should make you, me, Gus, Rodney, or anyone associated with this program any less embarrassed by the utter domination by the Georgia offensive line.

LINEBACKERS - D (for Dreadful)

I understand that it’s difficult to make plays when offensive linemen are hitting you, but when you engage a running back (even a five-star one) you don’t need to be getting pushed back every single time. K.J. Britt, Owen Pappoe, and Zakoby McClain again combined for a ton of tackles (28 total), but they came several yards downfield almost every play. McClain had the lone tackle for loss of the group (a sack), but the group lost contain when blitzing, couldn’t hang with the backs out the backfield on short passes, and gave ground on run plays up the middle.

Refer to the guide below, from Harry Potter. These guys were still in the right place a lot of the time, but they didn’t make the plays necessary, and the middle of the field was a place where Georgia got a bookoodle of their yardage. 28 total tackles is nice, but we’re throwing them a D for Dreadful anyway. Be thankful it’s not T for Troll.

DEFENSIVE BACKS - C (for Coverage Optional)

This secondary had a range of performance on Saturday. Roger McCreary for the most part shut down George Pickens, allowing the star receiver just 26 yards on two catches from five targets. One of those catches (and 21 of the yards) were from a touchdown, but the coverage wasn’t necessarily bad there. It was just a perfect pass and catch from the offense. Jordyn Peters and Jamien Sherwood proved to be just fine at safety, with the pair combining for 27 tackles. Generally you want your front seven picking up most of the tackles when the opponent is running the ball down your throat, but nevertheless, that isn’t the safeties’ fault.

Now comes the part that was... not good. At all. Georgia was able to pull a page out of Alabama’s playbook and just abuse Christian Tutt, with Kearis Jackson picking up nine catches for 147 yards. Nehimiah Pritchett struggled mightily as well, although it’s hard to blame him as he was filling in for an injured Jaylin Simpson.

SPECIAL TEAMS - B (for not Bad)

Congratulations, boys. You’re not the reason Auburn lost. There’s probably only one other position group that can say that. Carlson hit both of his field goals. Punt coverage was good. Kickoff coverage wasn’t great on the first one to ding it back to a B. That’s about it.

COACHING - D+

Auburn’s coaching was suspect Saturday. Down 3 scores late in the first half, Auburn elected to kick a field goal, to make it a...three score game. The decision to keep rotating the offensive line is not one I understand. And some of the offensive playcalls around the goal line were...well, they were blah. Auburn couldn’t out-talent Georgia Saturday. Ultimately, that’s on the coaches for recruiting. And if you can’t out-talent an opponent, you have to out-execute and out-scheme. Auburn did neither of those things. I won’t fault the coaches for in-game execution, but Georgia didn’t look surprised by anything Auburn threw at them.

Credit to Kevin Steele (I sound like a broken record) for impressive halftime adjustments. Holding Georgia to only 3 second half points is the only thing saving the coaches from a failing grade. This team didn’t totally quit.

FANS - F

They were Georgia fans, so they probably barked at strangers and were generally lacking in self awareness. Also, their student section didn’t seem to follow any COVID restrictions.

from College and Magnolia - All Posts https://www.collegeandmagnolia.com/2020/10/7/21503374/position-grades-4-georgia-27-7-auburn-6

[vinayv224]

Tommy Tuberville wins the Alabama GOP Senate primary, defeating Jeff Sessions

A Tommy Tuberville campaign sign on Three Notch Road during Election Day on July 14, 2020, in Mobile, Alabama. | Michael DeMocker/Getty Images

The former Auburn University football coach will face Democrat Doug Jones in November.

Former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville defeated former Attorney General Jeff Sessions in Alabama’s Republican primary runoff election on Tuesday, setting up a November match against current Democratic Sen. Doug Jones, who became the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in the state since 1992 when he defeated alleged child molester Roy Moore in a 2017 special election.

In a state Donald Trump won handily back in 2016, Tuberville is favored to win in November.

Tuberville has never served in elected office (and moved to Alabama only two years ago), and his campaign against Sessions was largely based on his support for the president. Trump endorsed Tuberville in March, tweeting, “Tommy was a terrific head football coach at Auburn University. He is a REAL LEADER who will never let MAGA/KAG, or our Country, down!” On a Monday call with Alabama voters, Trump said of Tuberville, “He’s going to have a cold, direct line into my office. That I can tell you.”

Whether Tuberville was a “terrific” football coach at Auburn is a matter of some debate, but his close ties to college football — in a state where football is king — played a big role in his campaign against Sessions. I spoke to Bill Britt, editor-in-chief of the Alabama Political Reporter, who told me that while Sessions was enmeshed in his first real campaign since the mid-1990s, “Tuberville, who is a decade younger and appears to be much more vital, is proving to be very good at one-on-one politicking.”

Britt added that Tuberville’s college football experience was perhaps paying off in a new arena. “Years of recruiting players and back-slapping wealthy alumni has given him a far greater ability to reach people in rural Alabama,” Britt said. “A Republican has to win rural Alabama to win any primary.”

Tuberville’s football past could play a surprisingly big part in November’s general election. Though he gained national attention for leading the Auburn Tigers to an undefeated season in 2004, five years earlier he handed down a one-game suspension to a player who was charged with the second-degree rape of a 15-year-old girl. Despite the player pleading guilty to contributing to the delinquency of a minor, Tuberville permitted the player to remain on the team.

Tuberville also abandoned Texas Tech recruits and assistant coaches mid-dinner in 2012, the night before he announced he would take a new job at the University of Cincinnati. And then there was his infamous radio appearance in 1998 when, as then-head coach at the University of Mississippi, Tuberville promised he would only leave the job “in a pine box” — and then flew to Auburn two days later to become head coach of the Tigers.

On the field, as Sessions’s campaign noted on Twitter, Tuberville’s stints at Auburn, Texas Tech, and Cincinnati did not end successfully. “He was the leader of a team that went bad,” Sessions said July 11.

Whether he’ll serve his team well in November remains to be seen.

If watching you coach taught me anything @TTuberville, it’s that you’re no good at sitting on a lead. That’s why you finished 5-7 and 4-8 in your last seasons at Auburn and Cincinnati. If you are too weak to debate, you do not deserve to represent the people of Alabama. https://t.co/3Jdt8XC2mG

— Jeff Sessions (@jeffsessions) May 26, 2020

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