5-at-10: UT-UGA contest, UTC's march starts, Jeter 100 percent Hall of Fame, Rushmore of smile-makers

Gang - two words. Mail bag. Or ones. Pool or pond, pond would be good for you.

From the "Talks too much" studios, what's the bigger question, "To be or not to be" or "Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor" in the grand scheme of things?

UT-UGA match-ups contest

photo Jon Gruden

OK, we touched on this on Monday, and we'll likely have pretend Les Miles or pretend Jon Gruden breakdown the matchups of the Tennessee-Georgia game on Thursday's 5-at-10.

So we are opening the forum to you.

Let's have a little UGA-UT contest.

Give us your best guess at the final score - winner will be the first first determining factors, then point differential, then total points without going over - and the winner will get a TFP prize pack.

Who's with us?

We'll start with UGA 35-16.

---

UTC monster challenge

So we mentioned UTC's hurdle this week. It's large.

We said that Jacksonville State was arguably the biggest game of the season because of what a nonconference win of that magnitude would mean in the eyes of the selection committee. That opportunity - like the chance to to pull the upset at Central Michigan - was wasted.

photo UTC defensive back Cedric Nettles (35) tackles Jacksonville State wide receiver Josh Barge during the Mocs' home football game against the Gamecocks.

Now, for the Mocs to reach the baseline goal of this season and reach the playoffs, UTC almost assuredly will have to win the a weakened Southern Conference to get to the postseason.

That march starts Saturday against a Samford, which is 2-1 playing a wide array of foes ranging from TCU to Stillman (Spalding, get your foot off the boat).

UTC has more talent than Samford. We know this.

Samford has more offensive playmakers, especially in the running game, that UTC. We believe this.

The primary match-up favors the Mocs. UTC is stout defensively, especially up front, and Samford prefers to run the football (Samford averages 271 yards rushing and 115 yards passing a game).

The hidden match-up to watch - Samford punter Greg Peranich averages 45.3 yards a punt and a quarter of his 16 kicks have gone more than 50 yards.

Still, regardless of Xs and Os and presume predictions, the biggest questions remains whether UTC is ready to embrace the moment.

Are they? We'll see.

---

Jeter

And with that, we are approaching the end of Derek Jeter's Hall of Fame career.

The Yankees shortstop went 1-for-5 with a single in the Yankees' 5-4 loss to Baltimore last night. It was the first game of the final homestand of his legendary 20-year run in pinstripes.

photo New York Yankees' Derek Jeter. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

We could wax poetically about Jeter and how he, in an era of scrutiny unbeforeseen, has lived the perfect superstar existence. We could discuss how the dude is the most talented gym rat ever - yes, there have been better athletes and better talents in all sports, but Jeter is the most complete combination of extremely athletic, talent and intangibles of his generation and maybe all-time in baseball.

You know the descriptions of a player who is "the son of coach" and how the expectations were set that they knew the right play at the right time? Then you know how the descriptions were for the guy that was "the best athlete on the field" and he could make plays that no one else could on talent.

Jeter was both. At the same time. And we got to watch it up close and personal, and we never had to tell our kids about some story about that PED or this scandal.

Thanks Derek.

Don't even get us started on the voting process for the Hall of Fame. If someone doesn't vote for Jeter, they should have their ballot pulled. Period. Not voting for a current candidate because of PEDs is fine if you believe there is a chance he used PEDs. Not voting for a candidate because you think they deserve to be a second-ballot guy rather than a first-ballot guy is fine if you are protecting the integrity of first-ballot inclusion.

But to not vote for a candidate because some yahoo in 1933 didn't vote for Babe Ruth is at best antiquated and likely much worse to the ideas of borderline criminally stupid.

---

This and that

- Speaking of criminally stupid, Jameis Winston's Heisman odds dropped from 10-to-1 to 20-to-1. We still think that's too high - and thanks to those of you who participated in True or False Tuesday on Press Row. It was a lot of fun. We may repeat some of the statements we asked readers whether they thought were true or false later today.

photo Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston.

- That said, TMZ is reporting that the alleged victim in the Winston case tried to sell silence to Winston for $7 million. Here's the link. Discuss, and since we are just seeing this, well, we'll have much more to say about it in a little while.

- Michigan State coach Mike Dantonio said Tuesday that only conference champions should be included in the college football playoff. We say bupkis and understand his reasoning because right now an 11-1 Big Ten champ could be left out behind a second team form the Pac 12 or the SEC. Schematically, though, until every conference has a title game, there has to be an at-large spot. Otherwise, the conferences with title games have an extra round of must-win playoff games while those without do not.

- Wow, when we weren't looking Magic Johnson became the unofficial official race-relations officer for the NBA. Here's a recap of his Twitter discussion about Danny Ferry deserving another chance.

- Coach Charlie Strong has now dismissed nine Texas players. Hey, last Longhorn left, please turn out the lights.

Today's question

Jim Henson would have been 78 today. He died much too young at 53, but before he did he became one of the true joy-givers to children everywhere. Today also is the day that Dr. Suess died in 1991.

Who is on the Rushmore of kid smile-makers?

Upcoming Events