Anchor Down and FSU out of Top 25 Vandy poked the bear and got flat out demolished. I expected a better game than that…

FSU just got whipped at home by a good but not great NC State team. And, while bummed, I was not at all surprised. Sad but true... Florida continues to be the luckiest team in the country and I feel a little bad for Kentucky fans…At least Del Rio will get the start against Vandy. Probably not as strong an arm as Franks, but a much more confident QB. Vandy will be tough Saturday, despite how awful Bama made them look. The suspended players now have felony charges...oh boy... Empty stadiums in some college football venues, as we fans are indeed fair weather at times, not just the climate of course.

************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************* The real issue to address is the NFL players kneeling during the national anthem. When Kapernick did it, it angered me because I considered it a publicity stunt. I will have a hard time not thinking of him as a punk and do not think he is good enough to be a NFL QB, but I’m not a GM. Then the CHIEF EXECUTIVE TWEETER got involved. NEVER has democracy had a leader determined to polarize a country than this. I guess Mr. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation riled up some folks, but good for Abe. After the tweets, I’m all for the NFL folks to do what they want, just to spite this Tweeting Donald. I’m a patriot and I sure wish they would find another way to make their point, other than “defiling” the national anthem. But, they have the right, as long as their employer(s) allows it. I long for leadership that UNITES this country, and it appears that we are at least 3 ½ years away from the possibility. Use terms like “SOB” in private if you must, but don’t tweet that crap. This from a man who says “punch her in the pu***”. And somehow has so many of the far right worshiping him…God help us. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& In prep ball Mater Dei continues to roll and hold onto the MaxPreps top spot. If they run the table with that schedule, they get my vote. The IMG all star team is #2 and have just as impressive a resume. St Thomas Aquinas and Grayson out of Atlanta also have #1 caliber schedules and resumes. Crestview beat West Florida, who was ranked higher and favored, so at this point, it sure looks like my Dawgs are one of the better teams in north Florida (Navarre and Niceville will have their say eventually). Speaking of Dogs, Georgia showed Miss State who the big dogs are in the SEC. A trip to Neyland will not likely be fun for the Vols, who barely escaped UMASS… in football. The Firebirds won big!

Also in Durham, the Dukies beat rival UNC over the weekend and now they get MIAMI on a Friday night special. Trip to Tejas on the weekend agenda!

Vols and their Achilles BOOT OR: POOR OLE ROCKY TOP…

Years ago in this blog, I would make fun of UT coach Fulmer (Fat Phil), and his replacement Lame Kiffin. At the heart of my ridicule was a rivalry, between the Vols and the Gators. UT was strong under Fulmer and not only beat the Gators from time to time to claim the East, but even beat the Noles in the national championship game (without Weinke!). Over time, Tennessee started sliding, starting with Kiffin’s short stay and then Derrick Dooley. Butch Jones came in and has recruited very well, every year. With the East down for at least the last 5 years, UT could and should made their way to Atlanta – at least the last 2 seasons. Even with Josh Dobbs on point, they could not get to the SEC championship game. Instead, we had Mizzu twice, South Carolina and the Gators the last 2 years.

I’m more familiar with the UT program now, having lived in Tennessee for 5 years. I admire and respect their fans and even have a VOL in the family, as my Autumn is a junior in Knoxville. So, it was OK when UT beat the Gators last year in Neyland, to get the oh for Eleven monkey off their back. I don’t have the same disdain that I used to have for the reasons stated above – they are not as formidable a rival and I really love many of their fans. I’ve been following college football for nearly 50 years and I can’t think of another series where one team (UT) just finds ways to lost to the other (UF), year after year. The beauty of football is that one play can make one coach the hero and the other, “burned in effigy”. No way Tennessee should have let the Gators heave a game winning 63 yard bomb on the last play of the game, but they did. Now, the VOLS have to beat Georgia in 2 weeks, or Butch is likely gone. Their schedule is rough, with Bama coming up, and both Kentucky and Vandy playing much better this season. Throw in a wounded LSU and it is going to be tough for UT… Florida got lucky, again. They are not a good offensive team, not be SEC or even CUSA standards. Jim is hard to figure, came into Gainesville with offensive guru reputation, but has not shown it at all so far. Florida fans want electric offense! We also want as clean a program as we can get, but it feels like weak control at best. 9 players suspended and possible felony charges on the way…ugly. Georgia is on the rise and FSU is not looking to slip anytime soon. An uphill climb for UF.

A trip to Lexington Saturday night is up next. The Gators are 30 and zero against the Cats in the last 30 tries…but I don’t think they can get to 31. Kentucky is better coached, even if they are not quite as talented. Vandy beat KState and it was what we expected. A defensive slug fest and a close game. Dores are impressing me with their fight and discipline, but the TIDE comes rolling in on Saturday…yikes. Clemson throttled Louisville and even without DeShaun Watson, I have them as my #1 team, right there with Bama. Oklahoma, Penn State, Michigan, Ok State and USC are all in the mix for a playoff spot, as is Washington.

Texas played very well in LA against the Trojans, so the future really will be bright again in Austin in a year or 2. Miami and FSU was postponed, so we still don’t know enough about either team in term of Top 10 worthiness…stupid Irma! Noles get NC State this weekend and better bring their A game.

Colorado and Washington and USC and Cal highlight the west coast action. Cal could be trouble… Arkansas and A&M play to see which coach can rival Butch for the hottest seat in the SEC… Mississippi State embarrassed LSU with a beat down and now get to test themselves in Athens against Georgia. Should be a dandy! TCU and Oklahoma State will be the premier match up in the big12… Michigan will have its hand full with Purdue, at least for 2-3 quarters.

IRMAgeddon and fantastic inter conference match ups

Stupid hurricane looked like it might wipe out my home state, so many games were cancelled, even in the areas that were dry and beautiful all weekend. No Crestview vs Navarre showdown, No Gator game (and they needed it) and no Noles game. Even this weekend’s FSU vs Miami game has been postponed…Disappointing but as a “Native” you can’t afford to take hurricanes lightly. I will say that I am OVER the media and their FEAR and HYPE machine… ********************** Weather permiting, Crestview goes all the way to Tampa to play T Catholic. That one should be a shootout of Arena football proportions! UPDATE: Cancelled  At least Concord DelaSalle and Bishop Gorman paly a good one. ************************************************************************ ********************************** *************************** Georgia pulled off the win at Notre Dame. Oklahoma crushed Ohio State at the horseshoe and Clemson showed that their “D” is playoff caliber. USC battered Stanford and South Carolina shut down the Mizzu offensive juggernaut.

After all that excitement, Week 3 is a letdown. Game Day will be in Louisville for Clemson’s visit. Was a great game at Death Valley last season… Tennessee going to the Swamp is easily my top game and it does not carry near the excitement it has over the years. Florida is simply weak and they needed to play that No Colorado in a big way. I don’t think UT is very strong either, but I see the Vols as a 10 point favorite on the road. That is how pitiful the Gator offense appears to be. Now, it could be that Michigan is Alabama in Maize & Blue and I do think there is some truth to that…Hope the rowdy reptiles are civil to Autumn and Clayton. The SWAMP is not known for being civil to visitors…

Kansas State and Vandy might be a dandy! Kentucky and South Carolina will absolutely have impact on the SEC East race. I’m also interested in the MTSU game against the Minnesota Gophers. After getting bullied by Vandy, the Blue Raiders won AT Syracuse…Texas is gonna get “laid” by the Trojans (as clean as I could word it) and Ole Miss going to Cal should be entertaining. Other than that, Power 5 vs sisters of the poor slate. ############################################################################################### The Durham Firebirds played last week, but nephew Christian was in New York for a wedding, so NO UPDATE :) My Top 12 on September 12th: Alabama Clemson Oklahoma Michigan Southern Cal Penn State Washington Louisville Oklahoma St Ohio State Georgia LSU

Great Weekend for College Football

That title applies to the past weekend and the upcoming one. Even though the Gators looked even worse than I was afraid of, and the Noles lost a really terrific young QB for the season, it was still an amazing weekend of football, capped off by the thrilling 2OT win by the VOLS over Ga Tech late last night.

There were ridiculous upsets – Liberty over Baylor, Howard over UNLV and Maryland beating Texas in Austin. Western Michigan gave USC all it could handle and so did Purdue to Louisville! There was the “one of all time” comeback with UCLA overcoming 34 point deficit to beat A&M! which I missed because I went on to bed… Alabama was Alabama. They are deep, disciplined and never panic. They don’t beat themselves. FSU played very well for 3 quarters and then got very sloppy. Special teams and make or break you! Ohio State looked human in the 1st half but pulled away from Indiana. Clemson may have lost the “once in a lifetime” Deshawn Watson, but that PROGRAM may be the 2nd best in the nation now. Oklahoma looks good, as does Oklahoma State. Michigan is going to have a say in the big10. They destroyed Florida, flat out destroyed them.

One of the best games of the weekend was South Carolina and NC State. Gamecocks held on, but both teams will have good seasons. Muschamp has a great young QB and I have to elevate them as a contender in the East. Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee, heck in Florida and Vandy. And Mizzu has the best offense in the East…

A quick high school paragraph. Crestview beat St Martin out of Mississippi and it wasn’t even close. Navarre this week, so it gets REAL! Mater Dei (sp?) beat the team in Vegas (Bishop Gorman) that won the last 2 national championships, so it is a shame that one wasn’t on national TV. IMG beat a strong team out of Cali. $$ $$ This week in college we get some more fantastic intersectional and big conference games. Auburn and Clemson is the big one for me, while Oklahoma goes to the horseshoe to play Ohio State. USC and Stanford is a dandy, as is Oregon and Nebraska. Pitt and Penn St, Arkansas vs TCU and Georgia goes to Notre Dame (I have to be Dawg fan this week).

My blog has been hard to prioritize the last few years, and the sad thing is that I am now in the “empty nest” stage. It is reasonable to assume that this stage provides me with MORE time to hammer out some narrative and predictions around high school and college football. I guess it always comes down to what we really feel is most worthy of our time…

With that precursor, I am excited about football season. This past weekend, there were several big inter-state high school games, and a couple of real live college games. Most of the televised prep games involved the big name private schools like IMG, St Thomas Aquinas, the one in Vegas, and the Cinci catholic powers. Here in Tennessee, we are already on week 3 of regular season prep football and after 5 years that is still “different” (early) to me. Thanks to this internet thingy, I can watch my Crestview Bulldogs on my computer. They routed PC Bay 38-2 to open the season and this week host Ocean Springs out of Mississippi. Should be a good one. Last November I was able to go back "home" and take my dad to the game against the Niceville Eagles (fishheads!) for the district championship. It wound up being in my top 5 football experiences of all time and I'm really glad dad got to go. He absolutely played a big role in me developing this rediculous love for football and it is something we still share at this stage in life. One of my earliest memories of live football (well 2) was uncle Harold playing for the Bulldogs against Niceville (who he later coached for). Last week I watched his grandson play for Brentwood Academy. The other earliest memory of live football was Choctaw and it was their band that was unforgettable. LONG indian headresses make an impression on a kid! When we moved to Lebanon, Friendship Christian became my team because my daughter was a “Commander”. They are off to a 2-0 start, while the school/team closest to my home, the Lebanon Blue Devils, is likely going to suffer through another abysmal campaign…Cousin Bryan has moved from the Borro, to Brentwood, so that football prodigy Noah could join the Brentwood Academy juggernaut. He is only a freshman, but Noah Josey is already the size Bryan was as a senior at Tate (Pensacola). Back in Mt Dora, the “Bible School” as it was called for decades has been renamed Mt Dora Christian Academy. They added football after Denton graduated, but this off season they constructed a very nice stadium, in a setting that is perfect for football (or soccer as it was back in the day). The big private school recruiting schools are intriguing to watch for the inter or cross state competition, as well as the collection of sick size and talent. But my heart will ALWAYS belong to the small towns where there is just a single high school and the “whole” town shuts down on Friday night to support their boys. I know it is fading like and old Norman Rockwell, but THAT is what made me fall in love with high school football. I’m so thankful that Okaloosa County did it so well, heck the panhandle did it well! Nice set up to transition to college. My passion for high school football is still sort of rare or at least a niche, and I’m cool with that. It keeps me talking to myself, as I provide narration through my days and my “story”. **** My college 2-team disorder (bi polar) is still in play and will always be. I guess it is kind of 2.5 team disease for another couple of years, as I do hope the Vols do well while Autumn is one of the VFL’s! Predicting football is silly unless you are a TV network trying to build hype, but it is also fun and tests one’s research, insights and prejudices. So here I go: The ACC unseated the SEC at the end of last season with Clemson beating Alabama, AND with FSU, Louisville, Miami, Va Tech and Miami playing really good football. It is no longer the Noles and the dwarfs, which was an apt description for a good 20 years. It is good for college football for the ACC to rise up, for the big11 to have more good teams than just Ohio State. It is good for the game when Oklahoma has some competition in the big12 (it still slays me that these conferences with such academic acclaim can’t count!). And it is good for the Pac boys to have some parity as well.

My projections for the ACC: Atlantic (and who knows the Atlantic vs Coastal lineup?) Clemson – Dabo has this program clicking. Destroyed Ohio State before the thriller v Bama FSU – loaded on defense, but will stumble a couple times when they shouldn’t. I’m sorry to say. Louisville – A bit like A&M, open the season like the Patriots and then fade down the stretch LAMAR… NC State – have a shot at really making a splash…IF they can get by South Carolina this weekend BC, Wake and Syracuse are not worth the typing. Coastal Miami – I don’t like the Canes, but Mark Richt will make Georgia regret it Va Tech – don’t think they are ready this season, but I like this coach. Pitt, Ga Tech and Duke. Will win some and even upset some, but not consistent enough. UVA… *** *** SEC, SEC, SEC East Who do you take? Not Tennessee. Maybe Florida and maybe Georgia with an outside maybe KENTUCKY. I’m leaning towards Georgia because of the schedule and the QB situation. Eason is better than any of the 3 that UF might trot out. UGA gets Auburn and Miss State from the West. IF they win in South Bend, I think it propels them to a momentum season. 10 starters on defense back. The Gators (ones not suspended) will beat some of the good teams, but until I see a real offense, I’m reserved at best. On the schedule side, if Michigan over powers them (my fear) I think we have a negative momentum situation. They get LSU and A&M from the West and that is tougher than Georgia’s draw, so even if they beat the dogs, could still be looking up in the standings. Kentucky plays with a LOT OF GRIT. Nowhere near the talent in Athens or Gainesville, but I just keep thinking they are going to rain on the parade in the East. They get Ole Miss and Miss St from the West, which might be the most favorable draw of all. Tennessee will be what? Better, the same? With Alabama as their every year West foe, the deck is stacked against them. I think last year was their shot and do not see them making it to the SEC CG anytime soon. Vandy and SC will be up one week and down the next and Mizzu will be down most weeks.

West Alabama is so deep and so well coached that they have to be at the top. Other teams have questions, even the good teams, Bama just doesn’t. Then it is this crazy free for all of really strong teams – Auburn, A&M, LSU and Arkansas. I guess Auburn will be the biggest threat to Bama and LSU has the talent, and there will be at least one game where Arkansas up and destroys a really good team and you just think “how do they do that every year but play so inconsistently the following weeks”? Ole Miss will be spoiler while Miss St just doesn’t have the depth to survive the gauntlet that is the SEC West. Bama vs Georgia is my guess. Hope it is as good as that same game 4 or 5 years ago! *** *** National picture Playoff teams – Alabama, Clemson, Washington and Ohio State Where are Oklahoma and Southern Cal you ask? Maybe in the playoff, perhaps probably USC, but I like that coach at Washington…and Lincoln Riley is so inexperienced…Penn State and Oklahoma State could find their way into the final four, as could Georgia if the breaks fall their way. I don’t spend time on the NFL. I watch when nothing else is going on and I try to be a fan of the Titans. After resisting for 10 years or so, I started doing fantasy football and while I don’t love it, I don’t want to stop either. There is so much more parity in professional football, AND it is so much more QB dependent at this stage in the evolution. That is why my picks look like this: Packers to win the NFC over the Seahawks, Falcons and Cowboys (maybe the Panthers). Patriots (shocking) should emerge out of the weaker AFC, over Steelers, Raiders and hopefully Titans (really not sure that they are all that yet, but they are in a weak division). Maybe Aaron Rogers will get to raise the trophy this time. *** *** Ed Cunningham. He up and quit his job this week as a college football broadcaster. Says the brain injuries that football is causing, is just too much for me to continue to “glorify the game” (my words). Very interesting. I guess I had at least a half dozen concussions playing football and I didn’t play past high school! I wanted my sons to play because I loved it so much and because I learned so much about myself. Now, I’m not so sure I will want my grandsons (if I ever have any) playing tackle football. Heck if heading a soccer ball is bad for you, big boy football is dangerous! *** *** My nephew Christian is 12 and plays for the Durham Firebirds. We plan to go watch him play in October. He LOVES football 

*** *** My goal is to hit this blog at least every other week this season. We will see. Go Gators (the ones that are not suspended) and Go Noles!