5-at-10: Weekend winners/losers, NFL's off-the-field issues and birthday salutes

And we're off. It's easy to forget how busy Mondays in the fall get around here. In fact, we're going to breakdown our normal Monday question with five options and try to cram the entire weekend into a normal 5-at-10.

Good think we operate from the "Talks too much" studios. Giddy up.

Weekend winners

We always ask who won or lost the weekend on Mondays. This Monday is no different, there are just a bunch of options.

Let's view the five finalists for the winner of the weekend:

photo South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier.

a) Steve Spurrier. We watched South Carolina's maestro work his normal OBC magic over Georgia. It was a classic performance that generated 38 points and ruined weekends across the Peach State. USC now holds the edge in the SEC East over Georgia after the 38-35 win. There will be more from this game a bit later.

b) Clayton Kershaw. Dude is so nasty and carries a briefcase of eye-popping stats. He's 19-3 with a 1.70 ERA. He is 8-1 in his last 10 starts - his loss was a 3-2 defeat vs. Milwaukee in which Kershaw threw a complete game - and is 16-1 in 19 starts sine June 1. And as great as all of those are, this one may be the most quirky: Big league hitters are hitting .190 against Kershaw; Kershaw is hitting .163 against big league pitchers.

c) The SEC West. After South Carolina prevailed in the match-up of the two SEC East favorites, it's worth repeating that Texas A&M - a team that was picked as No. 4 or No. 5 in the West - smoked USC in Columbia. Plus, with SEC West cellar-dweller Arkansas pummeling Texas Tech this weekend and with five SEC West teams in the top 10 in the AP poll, well, wow.

d) Fans of coaches on the hot seat. Two of the coaches on the hottest seats around captured late wins that likely kept them employed but hardly cooled the temperatures on their backsides. Florida's Will Muschamp needed triple overtime to survive the energized and remodeled Kentucky Wildcats in a game that Florida has penned in as a win for decades. Wow. Also, Paul Johnson, who is fighting to keep the Georgia Tech job, watched as the Jackets built a 35-10 lead that became a 38-35 deficit in the fourth quarter in a 42-38 Tech win over Georgia Southern.

e) Billy Horschel. A career pro who is better than a journeyman but far from a household name won the Tour Championship this weekend at East Lake on Sunday. It capped a magical three-week stretch of golf for Horschel, who won the BMW the previous week and finished second at the Deutsche Bank on Labor Day weekend. Horschel made $3,477,333 playing golf in the month of September. Add that to the $10 million bonus Horschel made more than $13 million in three weeks. So in a torrid 15 days in September, Billy Horschel made more money playing golf than decades for Tom Watson, who made $11 million and change in his career playing golf, and way more than Nicklaus ($5.73 million), Palmer ($1.85 million), and Gary Player ($1.83 million) combined. That's a good 15 days, no?

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Weekend's losers

a) Colin Kaepernick. What was that? Dude had four turnovers and a crucial unsportsmanlike penalty as the 49ers christened their new stadium with a 28-20, fade-from-the-front loss to Chicago. The 49ers had a 17-0 lead late in the second quarter and a 20-7 lead starting the fourth.

photo Georgia Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo.

b) Several UGA folks, most notably OC Mike Bobo. OK, some times the clear choice is the right choice. Bobo, the UGA offensive coordinator, was too clever by about 300 percent with his play-action call on first-and-goal with less than 6 minutes to play and the Bulldogs trailing by three. Bobo called a play-action, misdirection swing pass that became an intentional grounding call that derailed the drive before it ever started. A missed field goal later and the OBC was grinnin' and dealing' once again. He knows Todd Gurley's on his team, right?

c) The weekend of sports for Atlanta. Yes, the Bulldogs loss. The Braves were swept by this weekend Texas, which had lost 10 of its previous 11. The Falcons imploded at Cincinnati, which looked really good, as Matt Ryan thew three picks in a 24-10 loss that was not as close as the score. And there was a real chance Georgia Tech was going to loss Saturday to Georgia Southern.

d) USC and Virginia. The latest two victims of the "hugh win hangover" that can cause calamity among college football teams. USC, which beat Stanford last week, lost as a 17-point favorite at BC; Virginia Tech, which whipped Ohio State last week, lost at home to East Carolina.

e) RG III. There were several NFL options here, but we went with the erratic play of Robert Griffin III for a couple of reasons. Dislocating an ankle is never a good thing, but for the injury-prone RGIII, it was doubly painful. In addition to having no timetable for a return, back-up Kirk Cousins may not leave a job open for RGIII to return to take. Cousins was 22-of-33 for 250 yards and two TDs in Washington's impressive 41-10 win without RGIII.

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Next chapter for NFL

ESPN's Hannah Storm delivered an impassion commentary Sunday morning, asking the league what it stands for when it comes to domestic violence.

In his re-address of the situation after bungling the original Ray Rice ruling with a two-game suspension, Roger Goodell announced a new policy of zero tolerance against domestic violence. It included a six-game suspension for a first offense and a lifetime ban for second offense.

photo NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell answers questions during a news conference in Orlando, Fla., in this March 26, 2014, file photo.

Storm fairly asked, "What does zero tolerance mean?" and "What does the NFL stand for?" as she recalled trying to answer questions from her daughters about the Rice video and the fallout.

Now, it appears the teams are taking a stronger stand than the league.

Rice was released by the Ravens, then he was suspended by the league indefinitely - a move that seemed desperate and some what confusing since the league had already suspended Rice for two games and even under its new policy the suspension should be six games rather than indefinitely. (Side note: Rice has announced his intention to appeal, which continues to pick at this scab for the league and for Goodell.)

The Panthers - not the league or Goodell - on Sunday deactivated Greg Hardy, who was found guilty by a judge on domestic assault on his girl friend and his appealing the ruling. The 49ers allowed Ray McDonald, who has been accused of domestic assault, to play in Sunday's loss to Chicago.

This comes after the weekend blockbuster that NFL superstar Adrian Peterson was indicted for child abuse. Peterson was deactivated by the Vikings this weekend.

The views on Peterson, who said he went too far when "whopping'" his 4-year-old with a switch, will range from social discussion to outrage to all points in between. It even allowed the normally lovable Chuck Barkley to soundoff.

And while we do not accept society's views on how someone should raise their children - I'm not going to tell you how to raise your child; do not tell me and the Mrs. how to raise ours - but causing a 4-year-old to bleed like Petereson did seems like it passes the line between child discipline (which there is not enough of) and child abuse (which there is entirely too much of).

Difficult questions in difficult times for a league that is enjoying the fruits and the spoils of its successes and popularity. And with that popularity comes increased interest and scrutiny, so with these issues and problems and outrages there needs to be some direction.

Some one needs to take some leadership of these scenarios. Too bad the NFL doesn't have a commissioner... oh wait...

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This and that

photo Tennessee quarterback Justin Worley (14) throws against Oklahoma in their game in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 13, 2014.

- The Vols did not make the winner or loser list of the weekend as the outcome was expected. There was some good and bad in the 34-10 loss at Oklahoma. The defensive speed is so muter better it's hard to quantify. There are pieces around which to build, but we have come under the view that the biggest lasting error Derek Dooley made in his time in Knoxville (and that's a big list) will be burning Justin Worley's redshirt year. With all this youth, if Worley, who threw a couple of costly picks in the end zone (including a spread-covering 100-yard INT return for a TD for the Sooners) was returning next year, the 2015 season could be interesting in Knoxville.

- The Mocs did not make the winner or loser list of the weekend as the outcome was elected. The Mocs consumed Austin Peay the way a heavy favorite should and handled their BID-ness quickly and efficiently. Here's hoping this leads to a springboard for the Mocs heading into an off week before the biggest game of the season on Sept. 27 at home against Samford.

- Something that could have been on the losing side of the weekend - our picks, which limited in with a 2-4 mark (winners with Arkansas and UMass; losers with BYU, Georgia, Central Michigan and Louisville). We dropped to 9-8 against the number this year and washed away all early season entertainment gains, but are poised for a big comeback. Love it.

- Brad Keselowski won the first race of the NASCAR chase. He gets a pass into the next round. Something tells us there will be some sort of headscratching in the new postseason format. Hmmmm, shady rules in NASCAR? Say it ain't so.

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Today's question

Gang, we want to know who you think won and lost the weekend. Use any of the choices above or go off the board.

Happy Birthday to Tommy Lee Jones (68), Dan Marino (53), Marco Polo (who would have been 860), Merlin Olson (would have been 76) and Nipsey Russell (would have been 96).

Feel free to riff on any of those cats, but here are three items of interest we thought:

1) Tommy Lee Jones was suite mates in the dorm at Harvard with Al Gore and John Lithgow. That fourth dude has to feel like the blacksheep no.

2) We've done the Marino honorary Rushmore of best players without a title (Marino, Sanders, Malone, Barkley). So let's do a Rushmore of best actors who were athletes, and does Merlin Olson make it.

3) Nipsey Russell, the great poet of the game show generation. Who are on the Rushmore of most famous folks that were famous because they were game show regulars?

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