5-at-10: Weekend's winners and losers, NASCAR goes fightin' and sports movie villains

It's Monday. You know what's coming.

From the "Talks too much" studios, who won the weekend and who lost the weekend?

Potential winners

photo Tom Brady

• Tennessee. Monster win for Butch Jones and Co. Huge. The overtime victory at South Carolina puts the postseason in play and gives every Johnny Vols Fan a reason to smile today. Still wondering why Josh Dobbs is just now getting on the field, though?

• UTC. Any questions? Wow, that was a complete and total whipping over the SoCon's second-best team. Do you smell that? It smells like the postseason

• TCU. If there's an association out there that goes by CTU, well, we're sure they have a good weekend, too. Seriously, TCU hosts Kansas State this weekend and a win over the Wildcats will put the Frogs pointed toward the playoff.

• Fantasy football owners that have Ben Roethlisberger. Wow, 12 TDs in two games, a new league record. Six TDs in back-to-back games, a new league.

• Tommy Brady and the Patriots. Brady's Patriots thumped Manning's Broncos in a game that was snowy and fun. Well, it was fun until the whippings started and then we flipped the channel.

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Losers

• Ole Miss. That was arguably the most painful loss of the season, and that's not even taking into account the season-ending injury to Laquan Treadwell to a broken leg. Wow, that was tough - two lost fumbles inside the Auburn 7 in the final six minutes of a 35-31 loss to Auburn.

• Georgia. What was that? Man, right when you start to believe in Georgia they go and do Georgia things. Here's a quick prediction - UGa squeaks by Kentucky this weekend in Lexington and then when Gurley comes back, beats Auburn at night in Athens, because that's SOOOOOO Georgia. And then all Johnny Bulldogs Fans are left disappointed at 10-2 and wondering what could have been.

photo Football tile

• College Football Playoff at-large candidates. TCU hosts Kansas State, and either the Horned Frogs or Baylor, who has Oklahoma this weekend, look to be poised to position themselves as the front-runner in the Big 12, which remember does not have a title game. If you figure a one-loss Big 12 champ has a strong argument in the playoff, and with Florida State looking like a sure bet in the field, that leaves the two spots for the rest of the country - including the SEC.

• Chicago Bulls fans. Man, right when this bunch looks ready to challenge for East supremacy, Derrick Rose sprains both ankles. He is not expected to miss extended time, but you have to really wonder how long can Rose stay healthy?

• Maryland football. Total bush league move when the Terrapins capatins refused to shake hands with Penn State players before the coin toss before the game.

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photo Jimmie Johnson (48) crosses the finishing line winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, on Nov. 2, 2014.

NASCAR

If we did a Rushmore of hated sports figures right now, there's a real chance the only true contender for Jameis Winston would be Brad Keselowski, the NASCAR driver who has a heavy left foot, an indifference to every other car on the planet and an ability to agitate that would make the Pope PO'ed.

Keselowski was at it again Sunday night at Texas, this time getting into Jeff Gordon's car late in the race and causing Gordon to go from the front of the pack to a 29th-place finish that greatly damages his championship hopes.

Bad Brad's comment afterward: "We were just racing for the win. I didn't wreck him, and just raced him hard. He left a hole. Everything you watch in racing, you leave a hole, you're supposed to go for it. I don't want to ruin anyone's day. I wanted to win the race and that was the opportunity."

Gordon's comment afterward: "He's a dips*."

OK, there's that. And while the passion and the intensity certainly gets people talking come Monday morning - it was the lead story on Yahoo.com for a chunk of the morning - this is starting to get a little tired, no?

Every week, Keselowski wrecks someone. Every week, there are post-race altercations. OK, what else is on. (And, not sure if you noticed, but there were several good sections of seats available Sunday night.)

We understand the outrage from Gordon, who was racing for a spot in the finals of the new elimination-playoff format. (And so was Keselowski to be fair.)

There was a time that folks tuned into NASCAR to see the wrecks. Now, is NASCAR hoping they'll tune in for the fights?

If next week, Dr. Jerry Punch is replaced in the post-race coverage with Michael Buffer, well, that could be quite fitting, no?

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This and that

photo Miami Heat power forward Chris Bosh dunks against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the second half at Game 2 of the NBA finals basketball series, Thursday, June 14, 2012, in Oklahoma City. The Heat won 100-96.

- Mike McNeely, the Florida special teams ace that changed the course of Florida's stunning win over Georgia with a TD on a fake field goal, spent Sunday unlike most college football heroes. McNeely was on-time for his regular shift at Publix on Sunday. No word if he gets a discount on crab legs, though.

- The Steelers retired Mean Joe Greene's famous No. 75 jersey. Want cool? Of all the great Steelers, only two - Green and Ernie Stautner - have had their jersey retired. Of course, if they started retiring the numbers of all the great players on those 1970s Steelers, the current team would have to start wearing triple-digits or fractions.

- Of course, Mean Joe still has what is assuredly one of the Rushmore of sports-stars commercials. "Hey kid..." "Thanks Mean Joe."

- Dinosaur Train? Chris Bosh is averaging 25.7 points and 11.3 rebounds as the 3-0 Miami Heat are the only unbeaten team in the East. Yes, even with you-know-who in Cleveland.

- If not for that Georgia debacle, area football fans could be counted as definite contenders on the winners list. Seriously. High school playoffs start in Tennessee. UTC is humming. UT got a huge win. The Falcons and the Titans didn't lose this weekend (we know they had byes, shut-up). Good times.

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Today's question

Feel free to chime in with your winner or loser, but all nominations will have to cross Lauren Hill.

Yes Lauren Hill, the women's college basketball player with an inoperable brain tumor who scored two baskets for Mount St. Joseph's and showed us all the meaning of sports on Sunday.

Thank you Lauren Hill for letting us share and making us all winners.

If you need a talking point, we'll go in honor of Dolph Lundgren's birthday, we'll do villains in sports movies.

"If he dies, he dies."

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