3rd Saturday in October

For a long time, the "Third Saturday in October" had a special excitement around it. Tennessee vs Alabama usually meant a great matchup. Not so much anymore. The demise of Tennessee and the domination of Alabama (not just Tennessee) leaves us with a lot less excitement around that spot on the calendar... Well, only one of my teams lost this weekend. Not a great slate of games this weekend, at least from my recliner, as the Gators were off and not Friday Night Lights (on Facebook) with my Crestview Bulldogs. Florida State is now 2-4 on the season, as they let the Louisville game slip away. Pitiful really. Jimbo Fisher then invited a heckling fan to come down out of the stands to face him…ugly in Tally. Hard to say exactly what is so wrong. Yes, the starting QB is out, but it is FLORIDA STATE, there are supposed to be 3 other guys (5 stars) just waiting to get their chance. Nope. Lamar Jackson, please go on to the NFL. Next up, a Friday night at Boston College.

Sorry Noles, but I am far more excited about the Crestview @ Niceville game. Cancelled all plans Friday night so I can cast this one on the big screen.

Last Friday night, I took in the Lebanon at Wilson Central game. Lebanon has been awful since I moved here 5 years ago, but they have really turned it around this season. I have now been to all the Wilson County stadiums for Friday Night lights. 19-7 Blue Devils by the way.

Gators had the bye week to get ready for Georgia, who also scheduled their bye week before the Cocktail Party. Line is probably Dawgs by 20, but I haven’t given up on Florida just yet. They have that “puncher’s chance”. About 3% worth, but better than zero.

Kentucky got steamrolled by Miss State and now they get Tennessee. Poor Vols and poor Cats. BTW, Miss State hammered LSU but somehow they are ranked below Bengal Tigers… Oklahoma squeaked by Kansas State and UCF continued its roll by beating Navy. Notre Dame destroyed Southern Cal dang it. Penn State demolished Michigan. Think about how good James Franklin is, he made VANDERBILT good! Penn State and Ohio State this week, should be a good one. The fighting Irish better not sleep on the NC State Wolfpack. Cmon Pack!

While Noles and Gators struggle, Miami remains undefeated albeit barely. To make matters worse for Tally and Gville fans, USF AND UCF are both still undefeated and ranked. The pundits think the Bulls are better than the Knights, but I don’t. I have watched them both play and I like the fire power that UCF brings every week. OH how I wish we had some of that offense in Gainesville and Tallahassee! The “War for I-4” will be for a bunch of marbles this season! It will be on the Friday night of Thanksgiving weekend! Winner hosts AAC champ game the next week in their home stadium.

Titans pulled out a very ugly w against the woeful Browns. Titans are average at best, but the NFL is a roller coaster ride. No Alabama teams in the NFL, that just crush the opponent every week. In the same way that if I sell stock, the stock price will immediately sky rocket, WHEN I drop a fantasy football player from my roster or starting line up, 100% that the players will have career day. EVERY SINGLE TIME!

DURHAM Road Trip

Durham: It was a football kind of weekend. Crestview steam rolled Fort Walton Beach 56-14. I didn’t watch the entire game, but a good bit of it on Facebook while sitting in my brother’s living room. On Saturday AM, we drove over to Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh and watched the Firebirds play the Raiders. Christian played a lot and played very well, from his outside linebacker spot – kind of a hybrid DE/OLB. Several good open field tackles! Terrific facility and it was a cloudy cool morning.

As soon as the game was over, Marty, Christian and I headed to Duke to catch the Florida State game. By the start of the 2nd quarter the fog had burned off and it was beautiful warm day. Duke is now 0-20 against the Noles in football, but this one was close to being that first W…Blue Devils are very well coached, but FSU is for some reason, not FSU. They held on to win 17-10 in front of a good, but ~65% capacity stadium, many of which were leaving long before the game was really decided. Guess they really are basketball kind of folks. Nole host Louisville this weekend. Hope they play a little better than they did last year, when Lamar Jackons won the trophy that night!

As we walked back to the car, I watched the end of the Tennessee v South Carolina game on my phone. Vols, as they are accustomed to doing, squandered a wonderful chance to win an SEC conference game. The freshman QB was pedestrian and the Vols Defense finally wore down. Horrible clock management at the end and the most puzzling part, was no RPO for this highly mobile QB, OR no touch for John Kelly (AGAIN) at the end. He is a ferocious runner, and not many guys tackle him one on one. Butch just can’t do what the folks in Knoxville need him to do. Great recruiter and probably a strong coach back at the Group of 5 level. After dinner, we loaded up and drove to Bunn, NC for the Firebirds SECOND game. It was over an hour drive and the Gator – Texas A&M game kicked off about the time we got there. Phone was recharged, so I watched the Firebirds live and the college game on my phone. Gators have a “pedestrian at best” QB in Franks and I am keenly aware of all the players that are suspended and injured, but would of could of should won that game, but didn’t. Bye week before the Cocktail party in Jacksonville. Georgia will be a huge favorite… The Titans kept me up late Monday night, but go the W over Indy. Up and down is the only way to describe them. With Clemson, Washington State and Washington getting upset this weekend, a lot of radio talk now about Notre Dame. What a free pass they get every year. Lost to Georgia by one at home and only good win is against Michigan State. Reckon I need some cheese with my whine. Also think Va Tech is over rated, but that guy is apparently a really good young coach. Their game with Miami will be for a place in the ACC title game. The New York Yankees have always been my LEAST fav baseball team. Their mercenary approach to buying championships is lame. However, a former co worker and friend of mine, KEVIN MORAN, loved his Yankees with so much passion. Kevin dies suddenly last week and so, in his memory, I'm OK if the Yankees win it all this season...

Dabo is my fav coach now. what a class act.

Notre Dame vs USC on Sat night. Can't stand Notre Dame (although that was Kevin's TEAM in football). They get some much free pass every season! Go Trojans!

I Beat Biddle and McGrotha

I Beat McGrotha! I did. Way back when in Tallahassee when Bill McGrotha was the institutional Sports Editor for the Democrat. Got my young man mug in the mullet wrapper in late 1988 when I was not yet 30 years old. Had 3 jobs and two sons. LOVED Tally back then!

 Last week I Beat Biddle. Biddle is a Sports something another for a Nashville TV station and he has a contest that I stumbled upon. So, I’m a pretty big deal!  For all the picking I’ve done (for a while I was in a snail mail “league”) and all the contests I’ve been in, I have never gambled on football. Well, I have bet on specific games with friends and family, but I have never stepped into the world of putting my money on the line, against the spread and all that good stuff. I think I would do pretty well, but I don’t want to mess up my enjoyment of the game worrying about a late pick six or field goal …

Rough start to ROCKTOBER Florida botched a PAT hold and fell to LSU by one in the Swamp. Boy do they miss Luke Del Rio. The tribute to Tom Petty was solid. If I were a gambler, I'd take A&M this weekend...sadly. Florida State came roaring back to take the lead over Miami with just over a minute to go, only to let the Canes zip down the field and win with 6 seconds left. They also dearly miss their QB Francios. No tears for UF or FSU, as programs at their level are expected to have depth at every position, including QB. Noles are 1-3…1 and 3…dang. The best news for me over the weekend was that Crestview steamrolled Milton Friday night. Spotted them 7 and then dominated. The FWB Vikings are next, before a bye week and then NICEVILLE!

Titans, also without their starting QB (theme right now isn’t it!) only put of 10 and lost to Fins 16-10. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Watched nephew Nate Baker coach up the GMC Bulldogs on Sunday afternoon at Austin Peay. GMC pulled away from Hocking College thanks to a couple of pick 6es late. Way to go coach! Here is Nate coaching up his Offensive line!

No report from Durham on the Firebirds, but rumors of player suspensions have been floating…Will get to catch them this Saturday, supposedly TWO games! Can't wait. Me and the Noles invade Durham...my 1-3 Noles... Oklahoma goes down to Iowa State…wow. Michigan goes down to in state rival Sparty, and Washington State straight up beats Oregon on the road. South Carolina looks to have found their mojo, just in time for a trip to Tennessee. Kentucky escaped Mizzu, in part thanks to a ref who WALKED to get the ball as the clock wound down… that was weird and ugly for Mizzu. JJ Watt and Odell Beckham Jr went down with season ending injuries… OBJ was my best fantasy player…toast!

Rocktober is here!

Rocktober is here! It was an awful weekend for football in the state of Tennessee. UT, Vandy, MTSU and Memphis got smoked on Saturday and on Sunday, the TITANS gave up 57 points to division rival TEXANS. I was in Texas all weekend, so while I flinched for the state, I was surrounded by Baylor and Texas fans in Waco. I heard the Durham Firebird won on Saturday (X2 according to brother).

Driving from Dallas to Waco, I was able to listen to Crestview High School again on Friday night. My Bulldogs beat up on Choctaw. I’m 56 and it is still fairly rare that we beat the big green Indians. The once feared Milton Panthers are next on the schedule. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ The Gators were in a battle with Vandy, but managed to pull away. WE lost Luke Del Rio for the season, dang it. He was our best chance, not from an athletic perspective, but from an understanding of the game. Now, we go back to Franks. LSU comes to the Swamp on Saturday afternoon, reeling from losing to TROY…yep.

Florida State sucked up the field most of the day, but somehow squeaked out a W vs Wake Forest. Noles looked pitiful. Can’t blame it all on the rookie QB, because the running game was lame. Up next, the CANES come to town! Miami beat Duke in Durham, so look out…I simply don’t have confidence in this Jimbo lead bunch.

On the National scene, it is still Clemson and Alabama at the top of the heap. Nobody in the ACC is close to Clemson, as they showed in Blacksburg. In the SEC, Auburn and Georgia are the closest to Alabama, but not really. The Tide is SO much stronger, deeper and better coached…

Southern Cal lost to Coach Leach’s Washington State Cougars, so drop them and Sam Darnald. In the big12 (with 10 teams) Oklahoma and TCU are the unblemished. The PAC now boasts only Washington (very well coached), while the big 10 (with 12 teams) has Michigan, Penn State and Wisconsin still undefeated and Ohio State with a strong 1 loss roster. My opinion is that Wisconsin is good but not great, but will be in the Championship game (conference). Which coach gets fired first? Butch or Ed? @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ On a rare Sunday college game, I will go to Clarksville, TN (campus of Austin Peay) to watch Georgia Military play Hocking College. Go Coach Baker!!