SEC Asked and Answered
SEC
Southeastern ConferenceLet's get to it.
1) Alabama (3-0; vs. Florida): Why is there a quarterback controversy when Alabama has a top-15-ranked quarterback? We're not sure, but we do believe another line of questioning - Alabama's young secondary - will take another step in the maturation process against the Gators on Saturday.
2) Auburn (2-0; at Kansas State on Thursday night): Are the Tigers ready for the gauntlet? We have said since early August that this Auburn team could be better overall than the one that was within 11 seconds of winning the BCS last year and have a worse record. Thursday's trip to Manhatten - no the other one - seems daunting on its face, but considering it is the first seven dates against top-20 foes, well, giddy-up.
3) Texas A&M (3-0; at SMU): Is there a line too big for the Aggies this week? We say no considering that SMU is coming off a bye after losing 43-7 to North Texas and then losing a) its head coach when June Jones resigned; b) its starting quarterback when Neal Burcham hurt his elbow; c) confidence of the alumni when Eric Dickerson - the most famous Mustang - called for the program to be killed. Ouch-standing.
4) LSU (3-0; vs. Mississippi State): Is LSU's youth ready for the SEC? Three warm-ups including a neutral site win over Wisconsin have revealed some spunk and some hiccups. That said the defense - which help La-Monore to less than 100 yards last week - is big, fast and nasty. And that's a combination that is SEC ready regardless of age.
5) Ole Miss (3-0; off): Are the Rebels a top-10? The polls say yes - Ole Miss in No. 10 in the AP poll, which ranks fifth in the division... Welcome to the SEC West gang - but the question lingers about which Bo Wallace will show up during crunch time.
6) South Carolina (2-1; at Vanderbilt): Is Steve Spurrier the best coach in SEC history? No, he's second but that gap keeps closing with each passing year. And after Saturday's virtuoso against Georgia he reaffirmed his status as the Ol Ball Coach callin' ball plays. When you turn Dylan Thompson into Danny Wuerffel, well, that's coaching gang. Big-time Ball Coaching.
7) Georgia (1-1; vs. Troy): Let's play multiple choice, OK? If you were calling plays, and you may not have much experience, but we have faith in you, and you had first-and-goal from the 5 with the best running back in college football (and one of the five best on the planet at any level) on your team, would you: a) give the ball to said running back, who is by the best player on the field; b) call for some hair-brained play-action do-hicky that has disaster written all over it; c) have a V-8. We all know the answer right? Even Mike Bobo does... Now.
8) Missouri (3-0; vs. Indiana): Is Gary Pinkel the most underrated coach in the SEC? Quite possibly because once again the Tigers are neck deep in a wide-open SEC East. And whomever is recruiting and coaching Missouri's defensive line (his name is Craig Kuligowski, but don't get spoiled by all that research... Bless you interweb) is doing work.
9) Mississippi State (3-0; at LSU): Want a sneaky outlier for a big-time bowl shot? How about Mississippi State? If the unbeaten Bulldogs can survive the trip to Baton Rouge against a young LSU team, MSU goes open date, home against Texas A&M and Auburn then open date at Kentucky, home against Arkansas and UT-Martin. An upset or two and MSU could make a push for 10 wins. Yes, MSU.
10) Florida (2-0; at Alabama): If Florida had lost to Kentucky, would Will Muschamp still have a job? We don't know and the scary fringe on which Mr. Muschamp resides right now is razor thin.
11) Tennessee (2-1; off): How good will Tennessee's defensive line be in two years? With two five-star defensive tackles committed and defensive end Derek Barnett looking the part of an every-down player with a Sunday future, the sky's the limit. That bunch will see more bumps along the way with the schedule ahead, but the forging fires of the SEC will mold this bunch into something special.
12) Arkansas (2-1; vs. Northern Illinois): What's the best stat from Saturday? We'll take the overpowering fact that Arkansas ran the ball on its final 30 plays in a dominating 49-28 win at Texas Tech. MAn, that's simply great coaching. If it ain't broke - and they can't stop it - why mess with it.
13) Kentucky (2-1; open): Is there such a thing as a moral victory? We believe so, as long as it meets the following categories: a) It has to come in a head coach's first two seasons. Moral victories after in Year 3 are known simply as Dooleys; b) It has to be against a team that is widely viewed as superior in almost every way; c) You can have no more than one. Period. More than one moral victory moves you into old-school Vandy territory where you scare three more-talented teams a season and find a way to lose. So yes, there are moral victories and Kentucky's triple-overtime loss at Florida certainly counts.
14) Vandy (1-2; vs. South Carolina): Was it sportsmanship, taunting or just relief when defensive lineman Adam Butler hugged UMass kicker Blake Lucas after Lucas missed a potential game-tying field-goal try in the final seconds Saturday? We'll say the latter, and feel certain that new coach Derek Mason was ready to hug everyone after Lucas' miss secured a 34-31 win.
---
NFL Power Poll
We believe the New Orleans Saints are among the cream of the NFL crop. That said, the cream could be a flop.
Football tileThe Saints are 0-2 with two road losses by a total of five points, and they are clearly not one of the league's dregs. Still as Bill Parcels famously told us, "You are what your record says you are." That's even more important when you consider of all the teams to make the playoffs in the last decade, less than 15 percent of them started that season 0-2.
While strong starts are important, even after two weeks, we are reminded of the famous line from "Animal Farm" in that, "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others."
(Speaking of that, and since we can't have an NFL discussion without some sort of off-the-field discussion, it's quite interesting that the Minnesota Vikings are waiting "due process" for in the Adrian Peterson child abuse case. We can see that, and if that's your policy, so be it. But in recent years, according to various media reports, the Vikings have cut or suspended players almost immediately after being arrested for domestic violence or assault charges. Late last year, the Vikings cut cornerback A.J. Jefferson hours after he was arrested on domestic assault. Chris Cook was inactive for 10 games in 2011 while facing domestic assault and was reinstated when he was acquitted by a jury. Caleb King was released in May 2012 a few days after he was arrested for assault. Appears the Vikings' view of due process varies. And this is not just the Vikings.)
To the power poll:
1) Denver (2-0): If Peyton Manning is the Godfather of quarterbacks, he looked more Sonny than Michael when he chewed out tight end Julius Thomas for running the wrong route. Still, we'll take whichever Peyton Corleone shows up.
2) Seattle (1-1): The Seahawks were stunned by the Chargers on Sunday and not surprisingly cornerback Richard Sherman had something to say. Seattle will get a chance to reclaim the top spot when they face Denver this week. Good times.
Peyton Manning3) Philadelphia (2-0): The Eagles have more weapons than NATO. And we mentioned the Saints struggles, well, did you notice that the Saints decided not to play spark plug, game-changer Darren Sproles, who had 11 offensive touches for 178 yards and a touchdown in the Eagles' rallying 30-27 win over Indy on Monday Night Football.
4) Cincinnati (2-0): We were not sold on Andy Dalton being a franchise QB and were puzzled when the Bengals gave him franchise-QB dollars. Well, Dalton looked every bit the part in the Bengals' destruction of the Falcons on Sunday. Did you know that the Bengals have been in the playoffs three straight seasons? Crazy, huh?
5) Carolina (2-0): While dealing with the Greg Hardy domestic violence situation has dominated the headlines this week, the Panthers have pieced together a pretty solid foundation. Defensively they are salty and maybe the best group in the league not playing in Seattle.
Bottom five (four teams and an add on)
29) Kansas City (0-2): A year removed from the playoffs, the Chiefs look overwhelmed against a tougher schedule and with a depleted offensive line that was ravaged by free agent defections. To make matters worse, superstar running back Jamaal Charles has a high ankle sprain, and while his return date is unknown, this type of injury for a guy that makes his living with speed is less than ideal. As for the good news, well, the Chiefs are balanced, ranking 25th in overall defense and overall offense. Well, that news is not all that good, huh?
30) New York Giants (0-2): You kind of knew it was a bad omen for the Madden '15 video game to include the "Eli Manning Face," which Giants fans know as the confused/frustrated/puzzled gaze after a missed chance or an interception. Wow. It really is in the game.
31) Oakland (0-2): At least there is some hope for the future as rookie quarterback Derek Carr looks the part for the winless Raiders. Side point: Man we thought Darren McFadden was going to be a lot better than he turned out to be in the NFL. Dude has all of one 1,000-yard season in the NFL and has averaged 3.3 yards a carry since the start of the 2012 season.
32) Jacksonville (0-2): As the Jaguars struggle out of the gate, we wonder how long the front office and coaching staff will stick to the plan of treating Blake Bortles' rookie season as a "redshirt" year?
Negative infinity. NFL's current image. Think how much hand-wringing we did over the whole steroid mess in baseball. This is much worse.
---
Braves lose again
Washington Nationals starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg (37) delivers in the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves on Monday, Sept. 15, 2014, in Atlanta.And with the Braves are all-but done.
A 4-2 loss to the Nationals drops the Braves to 75-75. It's the first time they have been at .500 since they were 1-1 on April 1. They are 11.5 games back in the East and are now 4.5 games back of Pittsburgh for the final wildcard spot. They have lost their last four and eight of the last 10.
So with 12 games to play. We can pack the bags on this bunch and call it a day.
We'd blame Danny Struggla, but dude was released back in July - when the team was like 10 games over .500. Ah, the good ol' days of Danny Struggla? We remember them well.
Thoughts?
---
This and that
- Normally cycling news appears about as often as Leap Year around these parts. This is different. This is on the short list with the White Sox wearing shorts as one of the worst uniform ideas ever. Meet the Colombian women's cycling team that has an interesting color choice for their uniform.
- This is a first. Denver Broncos fans are taking out a petition to ban CBS announcer Phil Simms from calling Denver games. Wow. Where was this idea when Joe Morgan was still on the air. Cue the Guiness beer dudes - "Brilliant!"
Yasiel Puig- Matt Kemp got bent out of shape and was seen sharing words with Yasiel Puig. Ah, the Dodgers. Dysfunctional or feisty? You choose, but we after the altercation - which we feel certain was not Kemp asking Puig for directions around Amnicola Highway - the media asked manager Don Mattingly and Kemp about it. "Just family stuff, family business," Mattingly said (maybe Kemp was going to make someone an offer they couldn't refuse in that type of family business). Kemp said with a wry smile: "A good game we played today huh? Good game. Go Dodgers."
---
Today's question
Among the many famous and interesting birthdays celebrated on Sept. 16 are the 5-at-10's mother-in-law (she's 39... we swear) and a host of interesting celebrities that could fashion a host of entertaining Rushmores.
Flo Rida turns 35. (And if you are going to have a first and last name that is a state, Flo Rida is as good as any we suppose, although Geo Rgia and Cal Ifornia would be close and Ari Zona and Al Abama would be better, no?). Marc Anthony (46) and Amy Poehler (43) and B.B. King (89) were born today. So were Mickey Rourke (62), Molly Shannon (50) and celebrity lookalikes Richard Max (51) and David Cooperfield (58). In the sports world, Elgin Baylor (80) and Robin Yount (59) celebrate today.
Still, we'll go a different direction. Allen Funt would have been 100 today. He was the original host of Candid Camera, and considering the explosion from his ground-breaking show that debuted in the 1940s for crying out loud that in large part help lead to America's Funniest Home Videos and in some tangential way even YouTube, we'll honor Mr. Funt.
The catch phrase of his show of course was, "Smile, you're on Candid Camera." And we'll put that on the Rushmore of most famous and popular and well-known catch phrases in TV history. We've got a couple more that are front-runners but want to hear yours.
So what you put on the Rushmore of most famous TV catch phrases?
Go (and remember the mailbag).