It was another wild and crazy whirlwind of ups and downs across the college football landscape that concluded with a happy ending for Crimson Tide fans and tears for many others. The Conference Championship Games went about as most had expected. Those doubts you had about certain teams with their inflated records earned at the expense of lesser foes was justified after all.

ESS-EE-SEE

SECCG

Georgia 28 Auburn 7 - The Bulldogs - with a big assist from Alabama - avenged their 40-17 loss from a few weeks ago. With Kerryon Johnson (13 rushes, 44 yards, 0 TD) banged-up from the Iron Bowl, the Tigers were unable to get a running game (114 total rush yards) going and by extension the passing game suffered as well. Meanwhile, UGA’s stable of running backs ran free for 238 yards including a 64-yard TD scamper from freshman D'Andre Swift. Jake Fromm (16/22, 183-2-0) had one of the best games of his young career.

FRAUDS EXPOSED

We’ve been saying all year that these two teams had weak schedules and despite piling up wins, they were not strong wins. All it took was facing a “power” Power-5 team (P5² perhaps?).

ACCCG

Clemson 38 Miami 3 - Did anyone watch this game? The Tigers scored touchdowns on their first three drives and then it became an exchange of punts until halftime. Two Malik Rosier (14/29-110, 0 TD, 2 INT) interceptions led to a pair of 3rd quarter touchdowns for Clemson and they basically ran out the clock for the final quarter. Before Miami’s final drive of the game for a field goal, the two teams combined for one first down in the fourth quarter.

Clemson’s Kelly Bryant (23/29-252, TD, INT) was the offensive star for the Tigers since the running game only managed 77 yards on the ground. The ‘Canes could produce only 214 total yards.

The Hurricanes’ year of lucky bounces and YOLO passes came to a crashing halt, but good for Mark Richt.

B1GCG

Ohio State 27 Wisconsin 21 - Despite the score, this was not the most exciting of games. OSU scored first but the Badgers tied it up on a 9 yard pick-six. The Buckeyes regained the lead, pusihng the score to 21-7 while Wisky had four straight possessions that ended in punts. The second half was rife with field goals and interceptions with both quarterbacks throwing a pair for the game. UW made it interesting with a fourth quarter touchdown drive and two-point conversion to make the deficit only three at 24-21, but that is as close as they could get.

The closeness and ugliness of this game certainly factored into OSU’s omission from the College Football Playoff. Had they dominated and blown the Badgers out, it could have swayed some of the committee members.

B12CG

Oklahoma 41 TCU 17 - Does this surprise you? The Sooners are heads and shoulders above everyone else in their conference (outside of Iowa State, I guess). TCU again was no match for baker Mayfield and the Sooners.

PACCG, Santa Clara

Southern Cal 31 Stanford 28 - The Trojans’ Sam Darnold looked like he was making a bid to become the top QB to be selected in the 2018 NFL Draft completing 17 of 24 passes for 325 yards and two touchdowns. The redshirt sophomore led a back-breaking 8 play, 99-yard drive in the fourth quarter to take a 31-21 lead. The Trees responded but could not recover the onside kick. The game had an official attendance of 48,031.

C-USACG

FAU! 41 North Texas 17 - Was Lane Kiffin showing off? Maybe a little but this is what he does. He is an amazing play-caller and his Owls exasperated the Mean Green all day long, tallying 633 total yards of offense.

AACCG

Memphis 62 UCF 55 - One of the most exciting games of the day came down to some serious wackiness. UCF took an early 17-7 lead only to see Memphis go up 31-24 at the half. The Knights retook the lead at 48-34 in the fourth quarter, but the Tigers would not go away tying it at 48 as the clock expired. Both teams scored touchdowns in the first overtime. UCF scored in the second OT but the Tigers were stopped on their try on a 4th down INT. The Knights win the conference title but lose their coach as Scott Frost returns to his alma mater Nebraska.

PROBATION CHAOS

Can you believe this fan base? “Cooperates”?!?!? They need a serious culture change in Oxford in a bad way.

For their cheatin’ denying ways, Ole Miss got a second year bowl ban tacked on to the one that was self-imposed this year, plus increased scholarship losses and individual penalties for the coaches involved. Rising seniors will be allowed to transfer without sitting out a year. They have already begun an appeal of the 2018 bowl ban. smh

More details here.

COACHING CHAOS

Tennessee - The Vols still do not have a head football coach but they did get a donut-gorging back-stabber of an AD. Do you think it is coincidence that every single head coaching candidate now-fired AD John Currie even considered interviewing leaked out all over the Twitterverse? But now that Fat Phil is in charge, all the info has dried up. Huh, what a coincidence. Enjoy your Toxic Avenger, Vols.

GUSTAVO ARKY/AUBIE - It was rumored that Arky had collected all the scrap metal from around town and broke open every piggy bank to entice Gustavo Malzahn to “come home” to Arkansas. (I am not really sure how they thought they could come up with all that money considering the payout listed above, plus one for AD Jeff Long.) However, Auburn was able to squeeze a few more millions out of Yellawood to come up with a better offer to retain their win-the-Iron-Bowl-every-fourth-year coach to the tune of 7 years, $49M.

The Razorbacks have hired Houston AD Hunter Yurachek as its AD to succeed Jeff Long. Yurachek has built strong football and baseball programs at Houston. Kudos to Arkansas for not hiring some egotistical self-serving fatso with no administration experience.

Texas A&M - Wow. So much guaranteed money. The Aggies sign Jimbo Fisher to a 10-year, $75 million GUARANTEED deal. If I am Jimbo, Ima put it in cruise control and wait to get fired.

THE DESMOND HOWARD JINX

It took awhile but finally Desi’s picks came home to roost. It is clear now what he did. He picked the best team in the worst divisions with the easiest schedules and hoped for a 50-50 shot in their respective Conference Championship Games. And it almost worked too. Notice that the one team in a conference that does not have divisions was eliminated quite awhile ago. Desi went for the longshots and only one cashed in for him.

• Oklahoma State (9-3, 6-3) - I am not sure what made him pick the Cowpokes. I suppose it was Mason Rudolph. Or maybe he was playing the odds a little too much?
• Stanford (9-4, 7-2) - The Trees somehow made it close but lost to Southern Cal.
• Miami (10-2, 7-1) - The ‘Canes had so many struggle wins. Don’t believe the hype. The ACC was not all that great this year. It took Clemson to right the universe.
• Wisconsin (12-1, 9-0) - The Badgers feasted on a weak division and weaker OOC schedule. Ohio State didn’t even look that good Saturday and they still beat UW.
• Georgia (12-1, 7-1) - The Dawgs also dominated their soft division. Had they played Alabama in the SECCG, who would have won?

BAMA STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE

Just for fun now!

• FSU (6-6) The Jimbo-less Seminoles routed UL-Monroe 42-10 as expected. Jacques Patrick and Cam Akers combined for 272 yards rushing and scored two TDs apiece. They will be headed to the Weedwacker Bowl to play Southern Miss in lovely Shreveport, Looziana
• Colorado State (7-5) The Rams will face Marshall in the dreaded New Mexico Bowl.
• Fresno (9-4) - The Bulldogs put up a good fight but ultimately lost the MWC Championship 17-14 to the cheatin’ Smurfs who wore blue jerseys and blue pants to play on their stupid blue field. I still don’t know why that is allowed. However, Fresno earns a trip to Hawaii to play Major Applewhite’s Houston. Not a bad consolation prize.
• Mercer (5-6) Season over.

ADOPT-A-TEAM

• San Diego State (10-2) will play Army in the Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas.
• Memphis (10-2) gets a bonus home game against Iowa State in the Liberty Bowl.
• Elon (8-4) season over.

COUSINS

• Troy (10-2) The Trojans defeated Arkansas State 32-25 for the Sun Belt Championship. As a reward, they travel to the New Orleans Bowl to face C-USA runner-up North Texas.
• South Alabama (4-8) Jags coach Joey Jones finishes his USA career with a 22-17 loss to New Mexico State.

THAT ANNOYING STEP-BROTHER

UAB (8-4) will play Ohio (8-4) in the Bahamas Bowl on Dec 23.

SALUTE TO OUR TROOPS

• Navy (6-5) The Midshipmen play Army December 9th, followed by the Military Bowl against Virginia, played in Annapolis, MD.
• Army (8-3) - The Black Knights play Navy December 9th and then San Diego State.
• Air Force (5-7) - Season over.

ELIMINATED

NEW: AUBURN, anOhio State, Wisky, Miami.

All non-Power 5 teams.

Arizona
Arizona State
Arkansas
Auburn
Baylor
Boston College
BYU
Cal
Colorado
Duke
Florida
Florida State
Georgia Tech
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
Kentucky
Louisville
LSU
Maryland
Michigan
Michigan State
Minnesota
Mississippi State
Mizzou
NC State
Nebraska
North Carolina
Northwestern
Notre Dame
Ohio State
Oklahoma State
Oregon
Oregon State
Penn State
Pitt
Purdue
Rutgers
South Carolina
Southern Cal
Stanford
Syracuse
TCU
Tennessee
Tejas
Texas A&M
Texas Tech
UCLA
Utah
Vanderbilt
Virginia
Virginia Tech
Washington
Washington State
Wake Forest
West Virginia

AND... Ole Miss

THE FINAL FOUR

A way WAY WAY too early look at the College Football Playoff (CFP) picture:

The season appropriately ends with no undefeated P5 teams. Only UCF (who never rescheduled a game against Georgia Tech) finished without a loss. Wisconsin, Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, Oklahoma are the only 1-loss teams.

IN THE PLAYOFFS:

• ACC - Clemson
• Big Ten - NOBODY. Wisky’s lame schedule and inability to beat and good-not-great Buckeyes team means they go to the Orange Bowl. Ohio State’s two humiliating losses send them to JerryWorld against Southern Cal.
• Big 12 - Okie.
• PAC-12 - NOBODY.
• SEC - UGA will face Oklahoma. Alabama gets Clemson.
• Indies LOLNope

RANK ‘EM IF YOU GOT ‘EM

Despite much hand-wringing, the CFP Committee got it right once again. Clearly, the key here is that the Committee does not listen to the agenda-riddled addle-brained bozos on ESPN, FOX, and social media. Maybe John Currie should have adopted that approach. Here are my half-ass cop-out rankings of the top four:

1. Oklahoma - The Sooners are clicking on offense but the defense is suspect.
2. Alabama - The Tide will be much healthier and more dangerous in 27 days.
3. Clemson - The Tigers are good but beatable.
4. Georgia - This is as close to a Bama Process clone you will ever see.

LET’S GO BOWLING

The SEC has nine teams with seven or more wins. The other five (Fla, Tenn, Ark, Vandy, OM) do not qualify for a bowl. Five of the nine will play on New Year’s Day.

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

TEXAS BOWL Texas vs Missouri 8pm/9pm ESPN Houston, TX

Friday, December 29, 2017:

BELK BOWL Wake Forest vs Texas A&M noon/1pm ESPN Charlotte, NC
MUSIC CITY BOWL Kentucky vs Northwestern 3:30/4:30 ESPN Nashville, TN

Saturday, December 30, 2017

TAXSLAYER BOWL Louisville vs Mississippi State 11am/noon ESPN Jacksonville, FL

Sunday, January 1, 2018:

OUTBACK BOWL Michigan vs South Carolina 11am/noon ESPN Tampa, FL
CHICK-FIL-A PEACH BOWL UCF vs Auburn 11:30/12:30 ESPN Atlanta, GA
CITRUS BOWL Notre Dame vs LSU noon/1pm ABC Orlando, FL
ROSE BOWL - CFP SEMIFINAL #3 Georgia vs #2 Oklahoma 4pm/5pm ESPN Pasadena, CA
SUGAR BOWL - CFP SEMIFINAL #4 Alabama vs #1 Clemson 7:45/8:45 ABC New Orleans, LA

We are blessed this year in that no 5-7 teams will be making bowl games. As a matter of fact, there are three 6-6 teams who are not invited: UTSA, Buffalo, WMU. I would not call this a snub since IMHO, 6-win teams should not even be playing in bowls. But that is a rant for another time. The NCAA wisely resisted adding any new bowls this year.

NEWBIES

New Mexico State (6-6) will be going to a bowl for the first time since the 1960 Sun Bowl against Utah State when they were both in Division II.

The 6-6 Texas Longhorns are back in the post season after a two year layoff. They will attempt to slow down Mizzou’s aerial attack.

HAWT TAEK OF THE WEEK

As you can imagine, many anOSU fans are unhappy at their exclusion from the playoff in favor of the Crimson Tide. But truth be told, it seems like UGA and Okie fans are really upset as well. Hmmm, I wonder why that is?

Krazy Kristi's "SHUT UP!" of the Week goes to the haters.

HEISMAN HYPE

With the exception of TWO YEARS, the Heisman Trophy voting is basically a hype award. Last year was yet another exhibit of the voters falling in love with someone way too early. That being the case, we'll bring you "Who Will Win" and "Who Should Win".

Who Will Win -

• Baker Mayfield (QB Oklahoma) It’s ovah. Is there any reason to bring anyone else to NYC?
• Bryce Love (RB Stanford) Close but no cookie for you.
• Lamar Jackson (QB Louisville) I’m repeating myself here: He had a good year stat-wise against a soft schedule but his team lost four games before November. Additionally, the voters are simply not going to make him the second two-time winner ever. They already made that mistake once before. But they will trot him out in front of the cameras.

Who Should Win -
As much as I hate to admit it, Mayfield is most deserving. He kinda reminds me of Jameis Winston. Between the white lines, he is a fantastic player who owns the huddle and the field. On the sidelines and outside the stadiums, he is a nut-job you would not to be around on a Saturday night.

Associated Press All-SEC

Alabama led all clubs with eight First Team selections.

OFFENSE

QB Drew Lock, Missouri
RB Kerryon Johnson, Auburn
RB Benny Snell, Jr., Kentucky
WR A.J. Brown, Ole Miss
WR Calvin Ridley, ALABAMA
TE Hayden Hurst, South Carolina
C Will Clapp, LSU
C Bradley Bozeman, ALABAMA
OT Jonah Williams, ALABAMA
OT Isaiah Wynn, Georgia
OG Braden Smith, Auburn
OG Ross Piersbacher, ALABAMA
AP Christian Kirk, Texas A&M
PK Daniel Carlson, Auburn

DEFENSE

LB Roquan Smith, Georgia
LB Devin White, LSU
LB Rashaan Evans, ALABAMA
LB Arden Key, LSU
S Minkah Fitzpatrick, ALABAMA
S Ronnie Harrison, ALABAMA
CB Andreaz Williams, LSU
CB Armani Watts, Texas A&M
DE Jeff Holland, Auburn
DE Montez Sweat, Mississippi State
DT Da’Ron Payne, ALABAMA
DT Jeffrey Simmons, Mississippi State
P Johnny Townsend, Florida

Second Team:

DT Raekwon Davis, CB Levi Wallace, P JK Scott.

Jennifer Buchanan-USA TODAY Sports

THE SICK REPORT

• A few Bulldogs celebrated the SEC Championship a bit too much on Saturday night. “Linebacker Natrez Patrick was one of two Georgia players arrested late Saturday night on misdemeanor marijuana charges. A Barrow County sheriff's deputy arrested Patrick and reserve receiver Jayson Stanley on Georgia Highway 316 around 11:50 p.m. Saturday, only hours after the No. 6 Bulldogs upset No. 2 Auburn 28-7 in the SEC championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Stanley, a junior from Fairburn, Georgia, was arrested for DUI, misdemeanor possession of marijuana and speeding.” ESPN
• After a nine year layoff from coaching, Herm Edwards will now lead up Arizona State. He was last seen on the sidelines leading the Kansas City Chiefs to 4-12 and 2-14 in 2007 and 2008. The 63-year old ESPN personality has coached college only once in his life as a DB coach at San Jose State University (1987–1989). Oddly enough, he plans to retain most of the staff that is in place.
• Kevin Sumlin looked like he would be taking the reins at UCF, but was dragging his heels waiting to see if FSU would hire Willie Taggart and the Oregon job would open up. UCF is now looking elsewhere for Scott Frost’s replacement.

CBS claimed in a Tweet that the “SEC CHAMPIONSHIP on CBS is Highest-Rated College Football Game of 2017 Season” although no numbers have been released.

The Big Ten Championship (FOX) collected 11.58 million viewers Saturday night. The ACC Championship (ABC) had only 5.55M.

Saturday, Dec 9:

Army vs. Navy 2pm/3pm CBS - The 118th meeting.

#ALABAMA

Peace and blessings to you all!

#RollTide!