Heading into our Week Six, SEC East skirmish

   Week Six, this will be a somewhat abbreviated Salvo as we are in the midst of a transfer to a new location in Tennessee.   Our Saturday priorities don’t change, of course.  We venture to Lexington, Kentucky to watch South Carolina (3-2, 0-2) take on No. 13 Kentucky.  The Wildcats (4-1, 1-1) dropped their first game of the season to Ole Miss last weekend, 22-19.  South Carolina did typical FBS damage to an HBCU FCS squad South Carolina State, 50-10.   Look for QB Will Levis and RB Chris Rodriguez keep the Cats moving on offense.  In the two SEC losses by the Gamecocks, Georgia and Arkansas scored 48 and 44 points respectively.  Don’t expect the Wildcats to be any different especially after falling to Ole Miss. In their conference win, they conquered the Florida Gators.

Greg Schiano:  What goes around, comes around

     We laughed watching Rutgers HC Greg Schiano pointing his finger and yelling at No. 3 Ohio State HC Ryan Day.  The reaction came after Schiano’s team was penalized for a late hit out of bounds.  RU WR Aron Cruikshank laid an illegal hit on OSU punter Jesse Mirco who ran 22 yards for a first down.  OSU led, 49-10, with 9:24 remaining in the game.  Schiano – what a hypocrite!

     In 2007, he had his team call timeouts on a final touchdown drive to go up 52-0 over FCS Norfolk State – before the first half ended! RU won, 59-0. What a sport!  The week before, we saw him try something similar at home against Navy. He took a 41-17 lead with one-minute left to play in a game where RU fans booed the Navy team running on to the field with American flags at the height of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. With under a minute to play, Navy scored a TD to look more respectable in defeat, 41-24. 

     Of course, in the pros, rookie HC Schiano coached Tampa Bay against the Giants coached by Tom Coughlan.  In the victory formation with the final score no doubt a loss for the Buccaneers, Giant QB Eli Manning took a knee as the Tampa D-line submarined the Giants’ o-line risking serious injuries. The old-school, pro, Coughlin, blew up!    Schiano defended his actions stating, “We play to the end.”  What goes around comes around. He will continue to eat those words.  He thinks 49-0 against OSU embarrassed him this year?  Wait until next year even though the Ohio State game will be in Piscataway!

 “Mr. Obvious” Finebaum proves no college football guru

   He’s so bald and blind, we know where his head’s been all season! Suddenly, approaching Week Six, a “Spun” headline announces, “Paul Finebaum Is Expecting Prominent Head Coach to Leave”.  The Kansas Jayhawks have not enjoyed a winning season since 2008 (8-5).  Now 5-0 and ranked No. 19, Finebaum recognizes KU HC Lance Leipold now as “prominent”.  If Finebaum wasn’t so focused on one program and its HC, he’d recognize Leipold as a prominent HC before he even got to Kansas.  In Week Six Leipold meets his toughest challenge of 2022 when No. 17 TCU Horned Frogs (4-0,1-0) come to Lawrence.  

   Previously, Leipold turned under-the-radar Buffalo into a winning program in five years winning the MAC, winning two bowl games, and developing a few good pro players such as DT Khalil Mack.  Before Buffalo, Leipold coached D-3 Wisconsin-Whitewater to a 109-6 record winning six Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowls in eight years. He can flat-out coach!  In every aspect – recruiting, player development, and game planning.  

      Leipold took over the Jayhawks in 2021 after spring practice.  With no time to do much recruiting or developing his inherited talent before summer practice, his team improved during 2021.  After a record of 12-60 record since 2015 at KU, he wound up 2-10 including a 57-56 upset over Texas, and two close losses to TCU and WVU to end last season. Until now, Finebaum never recognized any HC except for Nick Saban and a few SEC coaches.  If you want to hear about our pre-season selection for Coach of the Year, check out our podcast with Stephen Hiegel of Just CollegeFootball.com. We, like Mr. Finebaum, are folically-challenged, but we’re not as blind.  No brag, just fact.

SMU Quitters, nothing more or less

    This week, the Dallas Morning News reporter Joseph Hoyt wrote an article that several SMU players decided to sit out the rest of the 2022 season. Their reason centers on using the transfer portal to go elsewhere to leave after this season. Starters SR S Chace Cromartie, soph WR Roderick Daniels, JR., and Soph S Isaiah Nwokobia leave behind their teammates with a 2-2 record.  Selfish, for sure.  If a player plays more than four games in a season, he cannot red-shirt.  Great timing! They avoid losing a season of eligibility when transferring elsewhere.

    Tonight, as we publish, the Mustangs lost to 3-1 UCF, 41-19.  Players like these look for the easy way.  A better opportunity?  They just started conference play.  Challenges lie ahead to win. Perhaps, no one will want them.  Think about the cliché about choosing “somebody you’d want in your foxhole”.  Would anyone want these Quitters in that situation?  Hopefully, SMU rescinds their scholarships immediately to let them fend for financing their educations further themselves. Give them to players who will show up to play and win for SMU instead.

Following idol’s footsteps? Vice versa?

  We admire the passion and energy the Austin Peay HC Scotty Walden leads his Governor footfall team with. He’s building up a program that has struggled more often than not.   On the other hand, we see him emulating what Nick Saban does for Alabama.  We figure there’s some connection here as FCS APSU went for the big payout offered by Bama to entice the Governors to make a lot of money while getting pounded for memory’s sake when they visit Bryan-Denny Stadium on November 19. 

  Walden’s schedule emulates Saban’s to a great extent.  Beat up on feeble programs like Presbyterian, Mississippi Valley State, and Alabama A&M who tally a combined record of 2-13 thus far in 2022.  APU gets three dominant, non-conference wins.  Combined score – 132-3. Then, they defeat a tough conference foe Eastern Kentucky at home, 31-20.  Looking good at 4-1, Austin Peay jumps to No. 19 in the FCS polls.  With confidence heading out to 1-3, Central Arkansas, however, APSU gets shockingly exposed, 49-20.  

   Bama uses basically the same scheduling tactics, though they defeated Texas, 20-19, when Longhorn QB Quinn Ewers went down to injury. The Crimson Tide (5-0) went on the road versus Arkansas after hosting several pay-for play teams and SEC doormat Vandy. They got off to a quick start Saturday. Bama QB Bryce Young left with an injury early Jalen Milroe filled in adequately.  However, the Razorback climbed back in by the end of three to get within, 28-23. Tide RB Jahmyr Gibbs tore off two long TDs in Q4 to put Arkansas away though, 49-26.   This could be Bama’s similarity to APSU‘s win over EKU.  Could A&M in Week Six be Bama’s Central Arkansas?  Probably not since the game is home.  The real question is if Saban can cover the 24-point spread?  He might be under pressure this week to do so.

The Big 12 turned upside down in Week Six

   Not sure when this, if ever, last happened. Even in the Big Eight.  Kansas and Kansas State are both on top at 2-0 entering Week Six. Oklahoma rests on the bottom at 0-2. Kansas State already defeated Oklahoma, 41-34.  The Jayhawks visit the Sooners in Norman on October 15. Kansas secured wins already over WVU and Iowa State last week, 14-11.

Saban surprises ahead?

   Before the season started, Week Six seemed to be Bama’s biggest challenge with Texas A&M coming in with a talented group of freshmen that raised the ire of Nick Saban.  With so much focus on this one, he may be more concerned in the weeks beyond.  A couple of SEC surprises loom which he may not have envisioned as bonafide threats before this season started. Things could change beforehand, of course.

   One week after facing their prime nemesis of 2022, the Tide travels to play No. 8 Tennessee (4-0,1-0). The following week, surprising Mississippi State (4-1, 1-0) under Mike Leach goes to Tuscaloosa ranked currently at No. 23.  After a bye week, two SEC West road games put Bama at No.  25 LSU (4-1, 2-0) and at No. 9 Ole Miss (5-0,1-0).  Then following the Bama scrimmage against FCS Austin Peay, the big upset looms when archrival Auburn (3-2, 1-1). If the SEC is a tough as it claims to be, there’s a Bama loss or two in there somewhere.  If not, when you hear any “SEC, SEC” chants, it stands for Saban’s Eastern Conference!

Other teams on our 2022 schedule from Week Five to Week Six

     Georgia (5-0, 2-0) unimpressed pollsters with a 26-22 win over Missouri dropping them to No.  2 behind Alabama again. They host Auburn (3-2, 1-1) in the most played rivalry in the South.  The Tigers fell to LSU last week, 21-17. No. 3 Ohio State (5-0, 2-0) faces disappointing Michigan State (2-3, 0-2).  No. 5 Clemson downed No. 15 NC State, 30-20, and heads north this week to face Boston College. Wake Forest moved back to No. 15 with a 31-21 win over 4-1 Florida State. In Week Six, they host struggling 1-3 Army who fellto Georgia State, 31-14.  Navy stands with the same record as the Cadets at 1-3, 1-0 after dropping the first round of the Commander-in-Chief Trophy to Air Force, 13-10.  The Mids try to get their running game operating again this week when Tulsa (2-3, 0-1) visits Annapolis.

     No. 10 Penn State (5-0, 2-0) struggled with fumbles in the rain at Happy Valley to get by Northwestern, 17-7. They head into a bye week before going to Ann Arbor the week after to battle No. 4 Michigan.  Aforementioned Boston College defeated Louisville (2-3,0-3) last week, 34-33. LU meets UVA (2-3, 0-2) next.  On November 5, we’ll see the Cardinals host undefeated James Madison (4-0, 2-0) who is starting to garner some votes.  The Dukes thrashed Texas State (2-3, 0-1) last week in a Sun Belt contest.

Louisiana (2-3,0-2) is not looking good after the departure of HC Billy Napier to Florida.  They fell to South Alabama in Week Five, 21-17. The Ragin Cajuns will tangle with the TSU Bobcats in late November.  Texas (3-2, 1-1) and Oklahoma (3-2, 0-2) meet the Saturday in their Red River Shoot-out. We plan to see the Longhorns host Baylor (3-2, 1-1) also in late November. Doesn’t look like the key game in the Big 12 we hoped it would be.  The Bears lost a key game in Big 12 play to Oklahoma State, 36-25.

Our other 2022 teams in action Week Six

    The No. Purdue (3-2, 1-1) got past Minnesota (4-1, 1-1) in Big Ten West play. BYU (4-1) pasted struggling Utah State, 38-26. BYU heads to Vegas Saturday to play the Fighting Irish in as struggle between Independents for probably the last time as BYU moves into the Big 12 next season.   Houston (2-3,0-1) fell to Tulane (4-1, 1-0), 27-24. The Cougars, not the Green Wave, are supposed to challenge No. 19 Cincinnati this year for the AAC title this season.

Other games of interest to us  

Here’s a surprise: UConn (2-3) defeated Fresno State. In the Ivies, Penn beat Dartmouth 23-17.  Monmouth clobbered Lehigh, 35-7, in a big win for the first-time member of the Patriot league. Cornell beat Colgate in their upset New York rivalry, 34-21. Among FCS teams we could see come playoff time: Jacksonville State 35 Kennesaw 28; Tennessee-Martin 45 Tennessee Tech 28: UT Chattanooga 24, ETSU  16.

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Ed. by Steve Koreivo, Author of Tales from the Tailgate: from the fan who’s seen ‘em all!  Please link on the Title or picture of our cover on the top right sidebar on this or any other page you may peruse to buy your copy and submit a review.  Thanks!