Buzz on, Buzz off
During the course of all the controversy seen on TV and read about regarding the debacle witnessed at Neyland Stadium Saturday night, no media has mentioned this, but we will here – underage drinking. Why hasn’t it occurred to anybody that not until recently do college football stadiums sell alcohol at football games on campuses? The problems and most launchings of objects (SEC broadcasters noted water bottles, mustard bottles and golf balls, but made no mentions of aluminum beer cans and bottles lying on the ground) came from the student sections primarily. When we attended college, many states lowered the drinking age to eighteen. We are proud to say that we were among those and had a great time when we could. Even better, we became the reason most states increased the legal drinking age back to 21!
No wonder why his happened. Put a bunch of college kids together en-mass and sell alcohol. Give them all swipe cards and fake IDs and it’s easy. The 21-year-olds are going to help the younger students get their alcohol as well. Open up alcohol sales at college football games and kids make ongoing efforts as to how to get alcohol. How can college administrations be so blind? In the past, partying went on before games and after in the parking lots or in dorms. All those who matriculated over the decades know this. Now that alcohol sells in college stadiums on campuses during games, the party continues there. This tragedy was bound to happen, and it won’t be the last time.
Our Game 600th tailgate party’s “before” picture. Tailgating is a great tradition of college football, but maybe schools need to look more closely about sales inside their stadiums to avoid problems like the debacle witnessed at Neyland Stadium last Saturday.
The SEC thinks a $250,00 fine is going to stop this? Reports say that Tennessee now has to review files to find the specific culprits and ban them from future games. Why not? It’s only a start though. Everything is being recorded nowadays. They did this years ago during the “Ice bowl” incidents in Giants Stadium with photographs taken to make arrests. If the SEC or NCAA really want to quell such a debacle witnessed at Neyland Stadium from ever happening again, ban the sales of alcohol at upcoming games. This would send the strongest message to make the most impact.
Wonder why nobody is addressing this? Surely, it’s got to do with the money the schools now reap from alcohol sales. It always comes down to money. These institutions of higher learning may use this education offered here and learn to use those profits to avoid these embarrassing situations better in the future. Free advice. Meantime, party on!
“SEC Smoke and Mirrors” Finebaum’s inept input of the week
Finebaum’s doing his best to try to keep Cincinnati out of the CFP. He says that even if they take care of all their business on the field, the Bearcats are not a lock to get in. He says they’ve “managed their schedule well” even beating not so great Indiana and No. 13 Notre Dame (Paul as a Tennessee grad knows the SEC “manages” schedules better than any conference).
He says Cincy is not beating teams that matter, but Alabama wins over Mississippi State, Southern Miss, Mercer, Miami on a neutral field, and the rest of Alabama’s slate that includes New Mexico State matter? The Tide lost to A&M, but the 49-9 win over Mississippi State shows The Tide is back? Those same 3-3 Bulldogs got beat by Memphis, a fellow member of The American Athletic that Cincinnati will most likely win. He says they’ll need lot of help from the teams like Oklahoma State and carnage in the Big Ten. So, what he’s saying if Alabama doesn’t beat Auburn and still possibly beats Georgia in the SEC final, Bama still gets in with two losses and Cincy won’t, though they are undefeated?
In the past, teams like Bama got credit running up scores against also-rans in their conference. Different standards for the other conferences, right? An undefeated Penn State beat Indiana one year by only 14 points and fell in the rankings. All these SEC losses this year to UCLA, Pitt, Penn State, Boston College, and Memphis (who beat SEC “power” Mississippi State) just get swept under the rug because Paul can’t admit that the SEC overall is not competitive with other Power 5 (make that 6 by adding the AAC) conferences.
Someone tell Paul Finebaum that the SEC has not fared well this season against non-conference FBS opponents. We watched Penn State beat Auburn, 28-20, this season among the SEC losses.
Georgia and Alabama are among the best no doubt, but he has to admit as a neutral observer which he’s not, the competition against these two on paper (based on what, recruiting rankings?) may make them appear good, but in head-to-head competition among the rank and file of college football, they don’t prove any superiority on the playing field; nor do they against the only two superior members in their conference. This year, in the case of Cincinnati, they just happen to be the best of that AAC crew. Live with it.
Wake up, Paul! Stop influencing the media interns around you. You can’t kid the true fans who’ve been around a while. You’re just one of us millions, but for some reason, they hand you a microphone and give you a platform. If you want to contribute to the good of college football, go straighten out the problems at your alma mater, Tennessee. BTW, also go see if you can get them to reinstate Army on their schedule. Tell them the Cadets lost two games this year now so there’s nothing to fear. Maybe the Vols can entertain them now.
Schedule updates and options
With our trip back and forth to Boone, NC for this Wednesday night’s clash, we decided we’ll go to our closest game possible on Saturday in Austin Peay at Murray State. They are not the best of teams right now at 2-4, 0-1 and 3-3, 0-1, but based on their records, it should be a close game. That’s our primary objective. With kick-off at 2 pm and only a two-hour drive each way, we’ll get back in time to catch up on the day’s highlights. Also, from a personal perspective, we had a grade school teacher and knew a player from our high school in NJ many years ago who both played at Murray State, so we look forward to see where these guys once played their college football.
At Appy State in Boone, NC, these fans were prepared for the elements in October before the Georgia State game in 2014. We hope it won’t be snowing come this Wednesday night versus Coastal Carolina!
On an upbeat note, because of updated TV schedules posted, we found our trip to Utah on October 30 will definitely allow us to see two games. We have our tickets for Virginia at BYU, a Bronco Mendenhall reunion that will be played in Provo at 8:15 PM MT. AT 1 pm MT, Hawaii plays Utah State in Logan. The starting times for both work well to get us from one to the other in between.
However, we await the announcement of a game time we are more interested in. UCLA comes to Salt Lake City to do battle in a PAC-12 clash at Utah. If this game gets assigned to the earlier time slot, we’ll be at Salt Lake instead of Logan. It’s also a shorter ride to Provo from there, and depending on what happens this weekend, it could have implication in the PAC-12 South. Either way, we look forward to a great trip where we will see two games in the Beehive State instead of just one. We look forward to it!
SEC – benefactor and supporter of FCS football, or alms for the losers?
Here are the 14 FCS teams this year that reap the benefits of “charitable” contributions from the SEC this season. It’s so nice that all the Power 5 teams in the SEC are willing to step down to invite one FCS school with their hand out to come get them stepped on for about $500K. This generally assures each benevolent host with a sixth win if necessary hopefully to get more funding later from a bowl game physically near them:
Mercer, Alabama State, Arkansas – Pine Bluff, Samford, Charleston Southern, UT Chattanooga, McNeese State, Austin Peay, Tennessee State, SE Missouri State, Eastern Illinois, Tennessee Tech, Prairie View A&M, and East Tennessee State. Thanks to all of them for showing up except for ETSU who had the audacity to return Vanderbilt’s favor by beating them instead of losing to them. They may not be invited back to Nashville, but others may be willing to consider offering their monetary benevolence in Vandy’s place if the circumstances are right.
UT Chattanooga LB Kam Jones makes one of four unassisted tackles against Austin Peay in our FCS opener. The Moccasins gave Kentucky all it could handle leading 16-14 in the fourth before falling to its SEC opponent, 28-23, on September 18.
WEEK 7 Game Reviews and What Lies Ahead
Though reported last week since Louisiana (5-1, 3-0) and Appalachian State (4-2, 1-1) played last Wednesday, concerns arose about our game this Wednesday game since the Ragin’ Cajuns handled the Mountaineers in dominating fashion, 41-13. The Mountaineers rarely get dominated by anybody, especially within the SunBelt Conference. Collegefootballfan.com travels to Boone, NC to see ASU play No. 14 Coastal Carolina. The Chanticleers have blown away every opponent thus far except for 3-4 Buffalo, by three points. We doubt the Mountaineers looked past the Ragin Cajuns. However, despite CCU averaging 48.9 ppg with brilliant QB Grayson Wells taking charge, the cumulative record of its six opponents stands at 14-28. Before Louisiana drubbed them, Appy allowed 20 ppg. Look for the Mountaineers to give CCU its toughest game of the season prepped for a potential upset at home…
Our history didn’t repeat
Syracuse didn’t repeat the upset over Clemson on a Friday night like the one we attended in 2017. Clemson’s defense allows only 12.5 ppg and SU looked pretty inept on offense to begin with. The 17-14 Tiger win made sense. The Tigers may be in trouble at Pitt this weekend. The Panthers (5-1, 2-0) average 40 ppg against FBS foes. Clemson (4-2, 3-1) averages 14.8 ppg offensively against the FBS. Clemson defeated Georgia Tech at home, 14-8. Two weeks later, Pitt walloped Georgia Tech in Atlanta, 52-21. The Panthers look forward to making up for a few big losses to the Tigers in two of the last three years. They should put the Tigers away regarding even a divisional title this season.
Cincy and Georgia on collision course for post-season rematch
No. 2 Cincy, as mentioned previously, does what it has to by showing pollsters they can dominate anybody in the AAC as they did in their 56-21 win over Central Florida. They will do the same against Navy (1-5) this week. Look for Desmond Ridder to have big day passing. Navy’s secondary has to be slowest in the nation…No. 2 Georgia exposed Kentucky (6-1, 3-1) as the SEC also-ran it is. UK should get back on track against 3-3, 1-2 Mississippi State on the road. Other-wise, the Cats will get exposed even further since Bama blew them away to Paul Finebaum’s liking last week. Georgia rests this weekend to prep for the struggling Florida Gators in Jacksonville the week after.
We have to take the Good with the Bad
NC State soundly defeated Boston College, 33-7. The good for CFF.com is that on November 13, No. 18 NC State at No. 16 Wake Forest could be for all the marbles in the ACC Atlantic division. The bad news is we decided to hold off on returning this weekend to watch Louisville host BC. We may still return to LU if the Clemson game means anything…
No. 3 Oklahoma remains undefeated with their 52-31 demise of TCU. Their offense still saves their poor defense in every game. An upset still awaits them, but not this week against Kansas. Away games against No. 20 Baylor and No. 8 Oklahoma State still lie ahead, however. A No. 3 OU in the CFP forces us to refrain from buying any tickets to the CFP Orange Bowl. If they play in the CFP there again, we don’t want to waste our time and money attending a guaranteed blow-out as we’ve regretfully witnessed three times already.
Joe Burrow and LSU provided us with our “third time the charm” to the national championship when the Tigers torched Oklahoma in the CFP Peach Bowl in 2019, 66-28. Previously, Alabama and Clemson rambled past the Sooners in lop-sided CFP games. No more OU Bowls for us!
Defense Department Football
Army’s triple-option revved up late against the tough Wisconsin defense, but the Badgers (3-3) mustered up just enough offense to get the win, 20-14. We predicted Army (4-2) would struggle in their previous two games and the next two teams which provide the meat of their FBS schedule as an Independent. No. 16 Wake Forest had a bye last week to work on stopping their triple option. The balanced Demon Deacon offense is probably the best the Cadets will oppose this season averaging 38.6 ppg. WKU’s offense is probably the closest Army faced previously. The Hilltoppers tallied 35 in a three-point loss to the Cadets. QB Sam Hartman will be as effective if not more than QB Bailey Zappe who plays for WKU.
Air Force (6-1, 3-0) defeated a tough Boise State squad on the Blue Turf last week, 24-17. No 24 San Diego State (6-0, 2-0) visits Colorado Springs this weekend. They have the best win between both teams in a 33-31 home win vs. Utah. We hate to pick against the favorite team of our late, great friend Tom Ables, Mr. San Diego State, but based on their triple option efficiency and their home turf, Air Force will win a tight one here to get the signature win they want to crack the Top 25.
Other Best Games of WEEK 8
Wisconsin (3-3, 1-2) struggles offensively cracking 20 points at most on a good day against decent competition. No. 25 Purdue (4-2, 2-1) plays good defense as well allowing only 14 ppg. U of W’s offense will not challenge Purdue. After a big upset at Iowa last week, 24 -7, Purdue should win by a comparable score over the Badgers here at home.
Scouting ahead, hopefully
We await the time of the UCLA at Utah game on October 30 hoping that these two PAC-12 foes will meet at 1 PM MT in Salt Lake City. We’re hoping that this will be the first of two games we will see in the Beehive State that day as mentioned earlier. So, the outcomes of this weekend’s games for both will be essential for TV Scheduling.
Both Oregon State and Utah defeated USC in the Coliseum by comparable scores. The Utes (4-2, 3-0) showed they have a little more firepower than does Oregon State with a 35-21 win over Arizona State last week. We saw OSU (4-2, 2-1) on TV a few weeks ago, and they played with tenacity. At home, we think the Beavers will win close in this one.
UCLA (5-2, 3-1) hosts No. 10 Oregon (5-1,2-1), but since the Bruins won at home over LSU, they’ve lost to Fresno State and Arizona State at the Rose Bowl. Oregon beat Ohio State on the road, and this defense can hold the Bruins down. They also just got by the Cal Bears last week, 24-17. In the Chip Kelly reunion, we look for the Ducks to escape from these Bruins as well by more than a touchdown. If both games go as we predict, we assume UCLA-Utah won’t be on at prime time. Yes!
Fond memories of the last PAC-12 game we attended when UCLA played USC. When and where, we don’t remember, but who cares?
SEC fodder
Tennessee (4-3, 2-2) at No. 4 Alabama (6-1, 4-1) will start strong after their fans embarrassed by the debacle witnessed at Neyland Stadium last week. They will hang until about Q3 when Alabama will start to handle them like the Eastern division also-ran they are among the rest of the Southeast Conference. The score will seem closer than it should have been in the end, but the pollsters will still bestow the accolades to keep Bama at No. 4.
Need more intersectional games like this
USC (3-3) travels to No. 13 Notre Dame (5-1) for their traditional intersectional rivalry. The Trojans score at least 24 points even when they lose. Aside from the Wisconsin game where the Irish got 21 points from defense and special teams, the Irish offense always scored just enough to win close games. They will have to in this one, too, but against this hated rival, the Irish may not pull this one out. Jack Coan is not their answer at QB and their younger QBs still have much to learn. The Trojans will pull an upset in South Bend.
Steve Koreivo-ed. Author of “Tales from the Tailgate”