Before we preview this week’s game we will attend when No. 1 Georgia goes to Kentucky, we just want to note our sadness regarding the tragedy of the Virginia Cavalier football players who died in the shooting incident at the University last weekend.  WR Lavel Davis and LB D’Sean Perry played last season when we watched UVA defeat Louisville and lose to BYU. WR Devin Chandler also passed during this sad tragedy and two other students, Marlee Morgan and Michael Hollins, suffered wounds.

       It’s so sad that young men with many years of life left ahead of them can die so suddenly in such a senseless act of violence  The fact that it came at the hands of a former teammate, for who knows what reason, makes it even more devastating. Prayers go out to these young men, their families, their team, and their school.  Their game in Week Twelve against Coastal Carolina canceled as expected.  May they all continue to live in the hearts of this who loved them.

Week Twelve of Steveo’s Salvos – No. 1 Georgia at Kentucky; SEC Week Twelve “analysis”; Our three bowl wishes; UConn be surprised; Ivy interactions; D2 and D3 selection highlights for Week 12; Alma mater Dear on coaching carousel

Our Week Twelve:  No. 1 Georgia (9-0, 7-0) at Kentucky (6-4, 3-4)

     Georgia continues to roll with great defense and with steady, reliable QB Stetson Bennett who’s got our vote for the Heisman.  Kentucky results exposed Mel Kiper, Jr. and the Wildcats under Bob Stoops who started off at 4-0.  Kiper exposed himself once again as a poor judge of quarterback talent.  UK QB Will Levis has already faltered unlike some of Kiper’s former prodigies. U. of Washington’s Jake Locker and Liberty’s Malik Wills didn’t get exposed until after being drafted in the early rounds after all his hype. 

      Kentucky suffered losses against Ole Miss, the South Carolina game we attended that Levis missed due to injury, and then a shellacking at the hands of Tennessee, 44-6.  But Vanderbilt?  Come on! Enough said.  When we selected this game prior to the season, we thought this could be competitive.  We will now be pleasantly surprised if it is.  If UK comes in vengeful after this loss, maybe they can keep it close for a while.  What we’ve seen from this UGA defense from a distance (TV), these Dawgs are ferocious.  If we happen to attend an amazing upset, we’d be astounded.  More likely, we’ll be watching to determine how UGA will perform against LSU in the upcoming SEC title game and beyond in the CFP.

SEC Week Twelve: basically, a bye week before rivalry games

    We briefly watched an SEC show Tuesday night where “experts” analyzed SEC games this week.  Week Twelve in the SEC should be called “Cupcake Week”.  We watched two analyses where the experts talked about SEC teams making recoveries from previous week’s victories.  Watching any analyses for these games seemed silly and a waste of time.  It’s obvious the SEC avoids scheduling another conference game to avoid a loss that could make them ineligible for a bowl game.  Instead, they’d prefer to pad their schedules with what should be an “easy” win.

     The SEC and other Power Five teams like to stock their rosters with the best players from around the country and always rise to the top.  So why do they all have to avoid one another and scour to play teams not only among the least of the FBS, but not even in the FBS.  “Our conference is too tough”.  “We like to give the lesser school the benefit of making more money.” Baloney! They want easy wins to avoid a loss of TV bowl revenue. No bowl and the entire conference loses money. They supposedly share bowl revenues within the conferences.

Sharing could pose a positive solution, however

    Now if media revenue-sharing could be disseminated by the NCAA among the Power Five, and a similar solution the Group of Five teams, and even to the FCS level, maybe they could conquer these “easy schedule” policies.  If rankings and bowl revenues maintain their status quo to select national champions among these three categories (put mid-majors in their own subdivision) , revenue sharing could improve the overall competitiveness of college football.

       Of course, as pointed out previously in another Salvo, schools need these revenues to support their entire athletic departments.  Problem is, some schools support more intercollegiate athletes than others do.  This differential should be looked into to prorate the benefits to each school.  Too complicated to get into here, but you’d think the world of “academia” would find a few people smart enough to figure this out.

Back to main point:

Week Twelve in the SEC:  FCS Austin Peay at Alabama – we will say this, APSU HC Scotty Walden is a Nick Saban wannabe. Three non-conference teams the Govs played early on now have combined records of 5-25.  You can look it up right here. FCS Eastern Tennessee (3-7) at Mississippi State: not the same 11-2 ETSU team that beat Vandy last year and lost in FCS semis to champion ND State.  5-5 UAB at LSU: game where analyst stated he hopes to see LSU “recover” from last week’s 13-10 win over Arkansas. Texas A&M hosts No. 131 UMass (1-9), everybody’s favorite patsy who should have one foot back in the FCS right now. Experiment over. Go play and recruit against Maine and New Hampshire.

     Auburn plays one of the more legitimate Group of Fives, 7-4 Western Kentucky.  The Tigers can’t look past the Hilltoppers at archrival Alabama.  WKU likes to throw. This could be a close one.  Missouri (4-6) welcomes New Mexico State (4-5). Until the Tigers got blown out by Tennessee last week, they lost a lot of close ones and they did beat Vanderbilt, 17-14.  The Aggies’ four wins came over teams that totaled only six wins combined. You’d think Mizzou would be honed by playing better competition, but revitalized Aggie HC Jerry Kill could have his team ready to surprise. 

 Surprise, surprise!  UConn’t believe who’s bowl eligible

    Congratulations to first-year HC Jim Mora of UConn.  The Huskies stand 6-5 and have one game remaining at 3-6 Army in Week Twelve.  UConn goes for a fourth straight win after defeating Boston College, UMass, and surprising Liberty for not only their second loss of the year, but a week after defeating Arkansas of the SEC!  Seven wins should warrant a bowl game for the Huskies somewhere, but with contracts already in place with specific conferences, opportunities seem few for UConn.

   Most likely they have to fill in for a conference who does not meet the full quota of bowl eligible teams.  Such bowls await teams from the Group of Five.  However, the Huskies Week Twelve game could loom big for them.  The Independence Bowl targets the AAC and specifically “Army”. With the recent success of the Cadets going to bowls in five of the last six years, the bowl committee made some kind of a commitment.  If UConn defeats Army for win seven, they may be heading for Independence. This would be their first since 2015.   

Collegefootballfan.com bowling wish list

    We pegged three bowls to see for this year.  Again, with an idea that we are trying to keep costs low, we picked three within short distances: the Birmingham Bowl, the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, and the very nearby Music City Bowl.  Looking at conference affiliations, current standings, and wishful thinking, here’s our bowling season wish list. Dear Santa,…

December 27: Ticket Smarter Birmingham Bowl: SEC vs American: 

All with 8-2, 5-1 conference records, the AAC champ will come from among UCF, Tulane, or Cincinnati. UCF has Navy and USF coming up.  The latter two, tied with UCF, meet on the last week of the season. So, the winner between UCF and the winner of the Tulane at Cincinnati game probably goes to a New Year’s Six bowl.  We will take either Tulane or Cincinnati in the Birmingham Bowl as plus!

     Figuring UGA and Tennessee probably going to the CFP, and Alabama filling the SEC New Year’s Six Sugar Bowl slot.  LSU, with three losses matching up against the AAC rep would be fantastic!  We may order tickets now.  However, upon further review, we think it will be Ole Miss. We’ll explain later, but this would be a wonderful contest as well. Can’t see Alabama playing in a stadium for only 47,100 fans!   Of course, as written about earlier, most bowl games look good until opt-outs are announced.

December 28: Auto Zone Liberty Bowl: Big Twelve vs SEC

We’ve rooted for Kansas all season with former D-3 UW-Whitewater HC Lance Leipold selected as our pre-season Coach of the year. The Jayhawks currently 6-4, 3-4, being invited alone makes us excited about this one. They still have Texas and K-State to contend with, and during our history, we’ve only seen the Jayhawks play once.  Last season, 6-6 Texas Tech played in the Liberty and defeated 7-5 Mississippi State. Among possible 6-6 finishers in the SEC, it could come down to South Carolina (where our daughter and money went) or Arkansas.  Not a bad Liberty match either way.

December 31: Trans Perfect Music City Bowl, 11 am: 

The reason we point out the time is because this game precedes the two CFP semi-final games to be played that afternoon and evening. This game on a Saturday will be a great lead-in to the playoffs.  SEC vs. Big Ten.  With our SEC analysis proposed for the Birmingham Bowl, this is where LSU comes into the picture despite three possible losses. With the Ohio State-Michigan winner heading to the CFP and the loser obligated to play in the Rose Bowl, a 10-2 Penn State could meet the Tigers in the Music City. That would be great as far as we’re concerned.  We already have our tickets!  As reported earlier though, the damper on this is who will opt out among the Nittany Lions.  Can’t have everything as they say.

Ivy interactions

As we like to bring up the “simplification” of a clean 10-game season with every Ivy League team playing one another to determine one champion or at least co-champs, this season disproves that.  Last week Yale (7-2, 5-1) knocked off Princeton (8-1, 5-1) from its undefeated pedestal, 24-20. Harvard (6-3, 4-2) whipped up on Penn (7-2, 4-2), 37-13.  In Week Twelve, known as Rivalry Week, Week Ten, the final week of the Ivy league season, or the start of final exams, two deciding games arise.

      As in traditional Ivy fashion, Harvard hosts Yale. Also, a sensible change was implemented a few years ago. Princeton now hosts Penn, a natural rivalry based on close proximity, on his final weekend of Ivy League football.  If Harvard and Penn both win, all four teams finish 5-2 in League play.  All tie for first?   If both Yale and Princeton win, supposedly the Bulldogs win because they defeated the Tigers in head-on competition despite common 6-1 League records.  If either just Princeton or just Yale wins, the team with the final 6-1 Ivy record is the last team standing.  Fun to see what happens!

D-2 openers in Week Twelve

    First of all, we point out a mistake on our part. D-2 starts with 28 teams among the four super regions, not 24.  The top seed in each super region gets a bye and will host the winner of the four vs. five seed in the second round.  Indiana U. of Pennsylvania (9-1), Benedict of SC (11-0), Grand Valley State (11-0), and Angelo State of Texas (11-0) are the Top Seeds in each region.  We generally pay attention to the east super region where IUP is at the top.  We’ve attended games played by most in that region over the years of course – Ashland, Notre Dame College of Ohio, Shepherd, Assumption, and Slippery Rock.  However, a team from that region has not won the D-2 national championship since Delaware in 1979. We saw them that year, too! UD defeated Rhode Island as our first game on this quest.

  Among the other regions, No. 3 West Florida in Benedict’s South region won it all in 2019.  The QB for WF that season was Austin Reed.  We watched him in action this year for 7-4 Western Kentucky.  Grand Valley State’s greatest challenge will come from No. 2 Ferris State. They are a fellow Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foe who GVSU defeated this season, 22-21.  Ferris is the defending 2021 national champion.  Angelo State’s greatest challenge will come from Rocky Mountain AC Champ Colorado School of Mines (9-2). The Orediggers two losses came on the first two weeks of the season by three points each to GVSU and Angelo State.  The Diggers must have revenge on their minds!

D-3: 32 teams open tourney play in Week Twelve

    The “Mount Union Invitational” as we’ve referred to this in the past includes thirteen undefeated teams among 240 in pure college football competition. Mount Union, winner of 13 national championships is one of them as usual. At this level, all student-athletes with financial aid packages, at most, for the opportunity to play football before graduation. No major television revenue. “Let’s just go out and play football!”   Eleven squads have only one loss. Most teams get in by winning their respective conference.

Teams of note in the Midwest

   Northwestern of Minnesota (6-4) enters as the only school with four losses.  It went 6-0 in the upper Midwest Conference and faces tough St. John’s (9-1) of Minnesota. The Johnnie’s get a bid just about annually. In that same eight-team bracket play 9-1 UW Lacrosse at Wartburg (10-0) and six-time D-3 champ UW-Whitewater (8-2). They host 9-1 Aurora.  Whitewater defeated Lacrosse this season, but fell to aforementioned St. John’s in its opener and to UW-Platteville.  These two UW’s finished tied for first in their WIAC conference.

Teams battling in the Mid-Atlantic region

  In Mount Unions’ bracket, three other teams enter at 10-0 – Susquehanna, Randolph-Macon, and Delaware Valley. What we find interesting though is 7-2 Gallaudet opening against DelVal here.  Winners of the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference and located in Washington, D.C., it’s the only school for the deaf and hard of hearing that plays football. Congratulations to them.  We saw them play once at Kings Point. They impressed us regarding how disciplined they could play despite their handicap. Never went offsides on either side of the football. That alone was impressive.

North across the Great Lakes to New England

  North Central of Illinois, ranked first in their eight-team bracket, finished as runner up last season to Mary Hardin-Baylor and won it all in 2019.  They also challenge three undefeated competitors in their bracket – Carnegie Mellon, Endicott, and Ithaca.  Last week, we reported Ithaca faced off against nearby archrival Cortland State both located in upstate New York, and both finished undefeated heading into the final game of the season.  The Bombers defeated the Red Dragons, 34-17, to win the fabled Cortaca Jug in front of 40,232 fans at Yankee Stadium.  Ithaca hosts UMass-Dartmouth (9-1) while Cortland heads to 10-0 Randolph-Macon of Virginia in the Mount Union bracket.   They will only meet again if they both get to the finals. That’s a long shot.

From the Gulf coast to the Pacific to the far North

  In the basically Southern/Western Bracket, Trinity College in Texas (10-0) comes in at No. 1 facing Hardin-Simmons at 9-1. Next in line for the winner is Mary Hardin-Baylor (9-1) defending champ of 2021 and of 2018. Besides Huntingdon in Montgomery , Alabama, the other three in that half of the bracket thrive in Texas. Bethel of Minnesota meets Wheaton in Illinois, and Pomona-Pitzer of California meets Linfield in Oregon.  A low-seeded team can see the country if they win in this bracket. Don’t forget, this year’s Stagg Bowl championship game will be held at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland on Friday, December 16.

Final note on D-3: Alma mater dear needs to make a big comeback

    Enough here already. We’ll forgo the Week Eleven review and Week Twelve preview. We’ve covered a lot heading into rivalry week, playoffs, and potential bowl games as upcoming games will impact all of these.

     I’ll end on this note tonight. As reported previously, Alma mater dear Juniata College fell on rougher times than ever imaginable there in football.  The Eagles not only finished 0-10, they lost weekly by an average score of 58-8. They allowed over 50 points six times.  After his second year as HC, Josh Carter, an assistant coach and coordinator in previous years at a very successful D-3 Muhlenberg program, was released.  Surely, he’ll land back in a similar position to be successful in another program.

    The search is on for a new Juniata HC that can hopefully bring some success back to what had been a very proud football tradition in central Pennsylvania.  Among Juniata’s legacies are a 1956 Tangerine Bowl tie, the alma mater of great NFL Head Coach Chuck Knox, a bid into the first ever D-3 Stagg Bowl championship game in 1973, and some great years under former late and great HC Walter Nadzak.  He went on to coach at UCONN and eventually went on to become AD at The Citadel.   During his years, Juniata played at level where wins were common against the likes of Susquehanna, Delaware Valley, Ursinus, Gettysburg, and even against D-2 teams like IUP and Westminster who won an NAIA national championship back in those days.

Time to play catch-up

Well, many of those schools to their credit have surpassed JC on the playing field now.  The college ranks highly among many of them based on independent reports on the academic front.  However, like these competing schools, the admin at JC has to realize that athletic programs like football, which is probably over 12% of the male population on campus, has to supplement the value of classroom education with values learned on the playing field.  We hope that these goals of a small college (1,200-1,400 undergrads) strong in liberal arts and sciences can set its sights on improving football to be great again as teaching lesson for life on the playing field to supplement the classroom.  With that, the school offers even more to potential students than what it can now.  Go Juniata! 

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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.  Check out our excerpt for one of our stories about how we saw every FBS team play in person for the first time! Thanks!