Random Thoughts: Zebras Gone Wild

[Sorry for the lateness of Random Thoughts. Real life got in the way.]

It was not a great day for college football officials. They affected a few games, looked lost at times, and tried to give one team a W.

SEVEN BLIND MICE

Tennessee 52 Alabama 49 - You saw the game. You know what happened. UT and their sixth year* 24-year old quarterback outlasted Alabama by three points because of a huge penalty discrepancy and because of Bama errors. Not much about this game makes sense.

* FTR: There are at least 15 NFL quarterbacks that are younger than Hooker. Tua Tagovailoa is in his third NFL season with the Dolphins. These two were in the same 2017 recruiting class. #MarkEmmertIsAnIdiot

BAD REFS PART I

Photo by John Adams/Icon Sportswire/Corbis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The officials lost track of the downs during a Tennessee drive and had to go to replay even though everyone else within 12,251 miles of the stadium knew UT was out of downs. This embarrassing display took WAAAAY too long to sort out.

Note that this was the same crew led by referee Jason Autrey who was suspended by the SEC two seasons ago after the Auburn-Arkansas debacle.

SEC

Kentucky 27 Mississippi State 17 - Are there two more inconsistent teams than these two? UK got back on track with QB Will Levis (17/23, 230 YDS, TD, INT) back under center. But it was Chris Rodriguez’s 196 rushing yards and two TDs that made the difference. Clanga Clang’s Will Rogers was held to a career low 203 passing yards.

Arkansas 52 BYU 35 - The above Tweet says it all. The Coogs made a risky/odd/dumb decision to go for a first down on their own 34 yard line up by four points in the second quarter. This move came despite their struggles to run the ball against the Hogs. They finished with 115 rush yards for the game. The return of Arky QB KJ Jefferson (29-40, 367 YDS, 5 TD) certainly made a big difference.

LSU 45 Florida 35 - Jayden Daniels had his biggest day as a Tigers QB passing 23-32, 349 YDS, 3 TD and rushing for 3 more scores. Gators QB Anthony Richardson had an 81 yard touchdown run but had 28 yards on his other 8 rush attempts. He also managed only 185 passing yards.

Ole Miss 48 Auburn 34 - OM ran wild with three Rebs rushing for over the 100 yards: Quinshon Judkins (139, 2 TD), Zach Evans (136, 1 TD), Jaxson Dart 115. Judkins and Evans also had one receiving touchdown each. OM built a 21-0 lead. To Aubie’s credit, they hung around and kept it a one score game until 6 and half minutes to play. Tank Bigsby had 20 carries for the Tigers gaining 179 yards and 2 TD.

Georgia 55 Vanderbilt 0 - Yep.

UNBEATEN NO MORE

Utah 43 Southern Cal 42 - Finally, the Trojans played a real team and got a smack of Big Game Lincoln reality. Utes QB Cameron Rising accounted for five touchdowns including the game winning two-point conversion with 48 seconds to go after a 15 plays, 75 yards drive that lasted 5:27. That play represented Utah’s only lead of the day with So Cal leading by as much as 14 during the game.

BAD REFS PART II

After the 2-pointer, the PAC refs tried like heck to give So Cal the win on an iffy PI call and then a bizarre timeout that never should have been allowed. This whole thing defies logic.

TCU 43 Oklahoma State 40 (2OT) - Do you get the feeling it’s just never gonna happen for Mike Gundy in Stillwater? The Cowpokes entered the fourth quarter up 30-16 and let the Frogs come back to tie it up to go into overtime. Both teams scored TDs in the first OT but Okie Lite went backwards in the second and had to kick a 52-yard field goal (must be nice). TCU would respond with a touchdown and the win.

LOL!

Stanford 16 Notre Dame 14 - The Irish lost two fumbles and managed only 301 total yards in another flat performance. It was the second victory for the Trees in six games this season. Stanford’s only other win was against Colgate.

ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO BERT

Illinois 26 Minnesota 14 - The Illini (6-1) are already bowl eligible and lead the B1G West Division. Tanner Morgan (4-12, 21 YDS, 1 INT) was godawful for Minnie.

INTERIM FEVER HAS BEEN CURED

Michigan State 34 Wisconsin 28 (2OT)
Purdue 43 Nebraska 37

OTHER STUFF IN ONE WORD OR LESS

Clemson 34 Florida State 28 - Muddle.
Michigan 41 Penn State 17 - Domination.
Syracuse 24 NC State 9 - Surprising.
Oklahoma 52 Kansas 42 - Bounceback.
Texas 24 Iowa State 21 - Hot.

CONSEQUENCES

Oh yeah. And you can expect a big fat $100,000 fine from the SEC too.

SOMEBODY IS CRANKY

YOU DON’T SEE THAT EVERY DAY

This play swung momentum WVU’s way as they would go on to win this game 43-40.

WEIRDEST MASCOT OF THE WEEK

It’s Center Florida. What did you expect?

ODDEST REF MOVE OF THE WEEK

Find yourself a ref who loves you the way this ref loves Air Force.

RIVERBOAT GAMBLER MOVE OF THE WEEK

Kids, don’t try this at home.

NAME OF THE WEEK

Florida LB Chief Borders.

IDENTITY CRISIS UNIFORMS OF THE WEEK

Center Florida was channeling UNC for some reason.

KAYSHON BOUTTE PEACE OUT WATCH

Kayshon Boutte finally broke out with six catches against Florida for 115 yards but did not score. He is still stuck on 1 TD. Will he keep it up or will he be satisfied with a full highlight reel?

Now on the clock: Southern Cal’s Jordan Addison (see SICK REPORT below).

STATIONARY RUNNING BACK OF THE WEEK

• Mississippi State gained 22 yards on ten rush attempts versus Kentucky.

STATS OF THE WEEK

• Old Dominion running back Blake Watson carried 18 times for 256 yards and three touchdowns, including scoring runs of 25, 58 and 67 yards.
• After 31:40 of play, Penn State had all of three 1st downs and led Michigan 17-16. But you knew that couldn’t be sustained.
• Utah TE Dalton Kincaid caught 16 passes for 234 yards in the Utes’ defeat of So Cal.
• QB Kyle Vantrease threw for 578 yards in Georgia Southern’s upset win over JMU.

THE WACKY WORLD OF DESI

Didn’t watch but word is Corso was back.

Desmond Howard is still a moron.

ADOPT-A-TEAM

TERMINATED:

• WE AREN’T MARSHALL! (3-3) - The Thundering Herd lost to ULL 23-13. They have gone 1-3 since beating Notre Dame - the only FBS team they have beaten. Sorry, but we are going to have to let you go.

PROBATION:

• James Madison (5-1) - The Dukes took their first loss, falling to Georgia Southern 45-38. Next is Marshall.
• Kansas (5-2) - The Jayhawks are turning back into Kansas after losing to Oklahoma 52-42. There is a really good chance they lose their third straight at Baylor (-7.5) and we send them back to the orphanage.

COUSINS

• Troy (5-2) - The Trojans held off Texas State with an unbelievable 10 play, 31 yard drive that milked off the last 5:28 of the game for a 17-15. Next is Iron Bowl Lite at South Alabama (-4).
• South Alabama (5-1) - The Jags topped ULM 41-34.

THAT ANNOYING GUY WHO WRITES “LOOSE” INSTEAD OF “LOSE”

• UAB (4-2) - The Dragons did not think Charlotte was sweet, dumping them 34-20. Next is a trip to WKU as a 2.5 underdog.

SALUTE TO OUR TROOPS

Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports

• Navy (2-4) - The Midshipmen came back from a 20 point deficit but ran out of time against SMU 40-34. Houston (-3) visits.
• Air Force (5-2) - The Falcons blasted UNLV 42-7. Boise comes to town as a 2.5 point dog.
• Army (2-4) - The Black Knights brushed Colgate aside 42-17. UL Monroe (+7) heads north.

Odds/lines are provided by DraftKings and subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.

ELIMINATED FROM PLAYOFF CONTENTION

Eliminated: all non-Power 5 incl. Houston, Cincinnati, BYU, FSU, Pitt, Boston College, Virginia Tech, Duke, Virginia, Miami-FL, Louisville, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, Illinois, Purdue, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisky, Minnie, Maryland, Northwestern, Sparty, Rutgers, Indiana, Okie, Baylor, Iowa State, West Virginia, Texas Tech, Texas, Kansas State, Cal, Stanford, Oregon State, Colorado, Arizona State, Arizona, Utah, Washington State, Washington, Mizzou, Vandy, Florida, Auburn, South Carolina, Arky, Texas A&M, LSU, Kentucky. NEW: NC State, Kansas, Missy State.

Premature Elimination: UCLA, Syracuse.

Endangered: Wake, UNC, Oregon NEW: Alabama, Southern Cal, Okie Lite, Penn State.

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

Are you ready for a Tennessee, UCLA, Syracuse, TCU playoff?

• ACC - Clemson and surprising Syracuse are the last undefeated teams in the conference. They face off this Saturday - of course - in Def Valley Lite.
• Big 12 - Unless Okie Lite can go on some kind of a tear, TCU is the last hope for the B12.
• Big Ten - Penn State got exposed... again! Seems like an annual tradition. Whoever wins Michigan-Ohio State will get the pleasure of a B1GCG against Illinois. #TopHeavyConference.
• PAC-12 - So Cal finally played a team with a pulse and went down. Who saw that coming?
• SEC - How is this for a scenario: Alabama wins out, Georgia loses to Tennessee, Ole Miss wins all but Alabama, and Bama exacts revenge on Tennessee in the SECCG. And there are your four College Football Playoff teams.
• Indies - Nobody left.
• Non-Power 5 - No undefeated non-P5s remain. Don’t be surprised if Cincy gets the NY6 Inclusive Participation Trophy.

RANK ‘EM IF YOU GOT ‘EM

The pollsters could not WAIT to get this one in. Four jokers put Bama at No. 9 behind Ole Miss, UCLA, and TCU.

1. Georgia (31)
2. Ohio State (17)
3. Tennessee (15
4. Michigan
5. Clemson
6. Alabama
7. Ole Miss
8. TCU
9. UCLA
10. Oregon

LET’S GO BOWLING!

• Of the 130 FBS teams, only nine are still undefeated after seven weeks. Clemson, Michigan, Georgia, and Ole Miss are 7-0. Ohio State, Syracuse, UCLA, TCU and Tennessee are 6-0.
• 17 teams are bowl eligible.

LET’S GO BLOWING!

• Holy Moley! Colorado has departed the ranks of the winless with a 20-13 overtime win over Cal. Every FBS team now has at least one win. Six FBS teams tallied their first win against fellow FBS: Northern Illinois, Central Michigan, Colorado, Stanford, Fresno, and Hawaii. UMass, USF, Army and Akron do not belong to that club.
• USF, Charlotte, UMass, and Akron are all 1-6 and one loss away from bowl game elimination.
• Two teams that have one FBS win each, have them over the same team: Stanford and Marshall over Notre Dame. LOL
• Every team in the C-USA, MAC, and MWC have at least two defeats.

Krazy Kristi’s “SHUT UP!” of the Week goes to Bama-UT referees. I really hate when people blame a loss on the refs. Alabama certainly made plenty of mistakes and most of the penalties were probably legit. But the blind eye turned in the other direction by the officials was confounding. Bryce Young took several late and/or excessive hits - the kind of stuff that would send Tom Brady’s foes to prison. Due to inefficiencies of the CBS, viewers saw very few replays of events away from the ball - something ESPN has gotten very good at. It is hard to believe that the best defender in college football two years running was not held a single time. In addition, Will Anderson, Dallas Turner, and Chris Braswell recorded no sacks or QB hurries. In previous games this season, Hendon Hooker had been sacked by Ball State (once), Pitt (three times), Akron (one), and Florida (three), but Alabama could not even get a single QBH?? Total B.S. [NOTE: DJ Dale had a solo sack]

Perhaps this officiating crew was intimidated by the Tennessee crowd and they let it affect their judgment. If that is the case, then maybe they should move down to high school ball.

HEISMAN HYPE

ODDS

Below are the top Heisman picks in order of the money lines. Bryce dropped to fifth. smh

Odds are provided by DraftKings and many more options can be seen at that link including Auburn’s Tank Bigsby at +30000. [Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.]

1. QB C.J. Stroud (JR, Ohio State) +220 to +350 to +260 to +140 to +160 to -130 to +110
2. QB Hendon Hooker (SR, Tennessee) +4000 to +1600 to +1200 to +1100 to +450
3. QB Caleb Williams (Soph, Southern Cal) +700 to +600 to +320 to +600 to +500 to +1300 to +800
4. RB Blake Corum (JR, Michigan) ???? to +1800 to +1800 to +1200
5. QB Bryce Young (JR, Alabama) from +400 to +300 to +340 to +350 to +800 to +1500 to +1800
6. RB Jahmyr Gibbs (JR, Alabama) +3000 to +3000 to +3500 to +4000 to +2000 to +2200 to +2200
7. QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson (RS-JR, UCLA) ???? to +1800 to +2500
8. QB DJ Uiagelelei (Clemson) ???? to +2200 – must be nice feasting on ACC foes.

DROPPING

• QB Adrian Martinez (9th YR SR, Kansas State) ???? to +1800 to +2500
• QB Stetson Bennett XIV (8th YR SR, UGA) is tenth highest: +1800 to +1400 to +1800 to +1800 to +2800 to +3000

WHO SHOULD WIN

• This is how stupid the Heisman voting is. Bryce Young played a great game. Had his kicker made a long but makeable field goal, or had some dumb young player not tried to play hero on special teams, or had the defense made one last stop (or if a ref was not so flag happy), everyone would be talking about him instead of Hendon Hooker. But since his teammates let him down, Young’s odds and profile drop.
• C.J. Stroud and Ohio State had the week off. They face a tough Iowa defense this week.
• Caleb Williams missed out on the win and a chance for a Heisman moment.

THE SICK REPORT

• Southern Cal WR Jordan Addison left the Utah game late in the third quarter and later returned on crutches. Some folks think he is a first round draft pick. He has 39 receptions for 585 yards and seven touchdowns.

• Maryland QB and famous kid brother Taulia Tagovailoa was carted off the field with an apparent knee injury with just over 14 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Back-up Billy Edwards stepped in and led a game-winning drive to lift the Terps to a 38-33 win over Indiana.
• Adding injury to insult, Kansas starting cornerback Cobee Bryant suffered a left ankle injury and has to be carted off the field.

MOAR CUPCAKES

• Kennesaw State is reportedly close to making the jump to FBS as soon as 2023. They are reported to have lined up membership in Conference USA. The Atlanta-area program began playing games in the fall of 2015 as an FCS program. The Owls have won at least 11 games every season from 2017-2021 excluding the Captain Trips season of 2020 in which they were 4-1. However, they are 0-4 against FBS teams.

DRAMA

• Texas A&M was forced to cancel practice last Wednesday due to a bomb threat made to Kyle Field. Authorities performed a sweep but could find nothing. My guess is they were hoping to get Yell practice cancelled. The Aggies had a bye this past weekend.
• Wisconsin offensive tackle Logan Brown has been dismissed from the team after striking teammate in practice. The former 2019 5-star recruit struggled to find his way onto the field in his time in Madison. He started three games this season but only due to a rash of injuries that has plagued the Badgers’ OL.
• The fallout from the Michigan State scandal continues as school President Samuel Stanley resigns/forced out. He is the third leader in five years to be given the boot over in the last five years. Former Sparty president Lou Anna Simon was the first to leave back in January of 2018 surrounding the Larry Nassar Scandal. Interim President John Engler resigned in January 2019 after making insensitive comments about Nassar’s victims.

KOACHES KORNER

• Former Georgia coach Vince Dooley, 90, has been released from a hospital after being treated for a case of the Captain Trips.
• Georgia Tech hires Alabama’s executive deputy athletics director, J Batt, for its AD position. He’ll be in charge of the search for the Yeller Jackets’ new football coach. Might Bill O’Brien be his top target?

• For some reason, Urban Meyer wears d-bag sunglasses during Fox’s Big Noon kickoff show.
• Fat F*** Phil Fulmer’s vacation trip to Nepal was cut short when somebody mistakenly stuck a flag in the top of his head.

TEEVEE

The Alabama games of Week 5, 6, and 7 were easily the top rated games of the week. Bama versus Arkansas pulled in 5.83 million viewers. The next closest game was NC State-Clemson’s 4.98M. The Bama-TAMU game drew 7.15M. Not only did it top all other college football games but it also beat out the competing Padres-Mets MLB playoff game. TSIO had almost 17 million.

RADIO

If you were smart and listened to the game on radio, you were treated to former Bama All-American Barrett Jones doing color commentary in place of John Parker Wilson who was “on assignment in Spain”. Jones, who has been doing ESPN radio for a couple of years now, was very insightful and entertaining to listen to. Unfortunately, it is only a temporarily assignemnt until JPW gets back from whatever the heck he is doing.

THIS WEEK

(Below is an abbreviated list of highlighted games of interest with lines provided by DraftKings. If you REALLY need to know about the big Fresno-New Mexico showdown, you can find the details here.)

Wednesday, October 19

Georgia State at Appalachian State (-9.5) 6:30/7:30 ESPN2 - Rememeber hen Appy was the toast of the town? Pepperidge Farm does.

Thursday, October 20

Virginia at Georgia Tech (-3.5) 6:30/7:30 ESPN - Interim Fever?
Troy at South Alabama (-3) 6:30/7:30 ESPNU - Iron Bowl Lite!

Friday, October 21

Tulsa (-12.5) at Temple 6:30/7:30 ESPN2
UAB at Western Kentucky (-2.5) 7pm/8pm CBSSN

Saturday, October 22

SEC

UT Martin at Tennessee (n/a) 11am/noon SECN - If UT was playing an SEC game this week, you might see a letdown game.
Ole Miss (-1.5) at LSU 2:30/3:30 CBS - Worth a look.
Vanderbilt at Missouri (-15) 3pm/4pm SECN - Yuck
Texas A&M (-3.5) at South Carolina 6:30/7:30 SECN

OTHERS WORTH A PEEK

Syracuse at Clemson (-14) 11am/noon ABC - A clash for the lead in the ACC. #TooMuchOrange
UCLA at (-6) Oregon 2:30/3:30 FOX - PAC eliminator.
Texas (-4) at Oklahoma State 2:30/3:30 ABC - Fake Cowboys vs Orange Cowboys.
Kansas State at TCU (-5) 7pm/8pm FS1 - Farfetched CFP implications.

ZZZZZZZZzzzzzz...

Washington (-8) at Cal 9:30/10:30 ESPN - Hipsters vs Hippies

Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.

SABAN vs. MACK, POP & BEAR

Below is a count of career FBS/Division I-A win totals for coaches.

For those of you new to RBR Random Thoughts, we count all on-field wins at the FBS/Division I-A level. So, before you go squawking about Frank Beamer, 42 of his wins came at Murray State. Mack Brown had six victories in one season with Appalachian State when they were still in what was known at I-AA (FCS today). Brian Kelly won 118 games with something called Grand Valley State. So, let’s stop talking about his win record with such reverence. In addition, we don’t recognize NCAA sanctioned forfeits. If you won on the field, it counts in our books.

Mack Brown picks up a game on Saban for squeaking one out against big bad Duke 38-35. Must be nice.

#ALABAMA

• Nick Saban after the game Saturday: “I can’t really comment on it. It’s hard to see when it’s down in the corner. I thought the guy made a good swat on the ball and we intercepted a tipped ball. And we had another one on 3rd and 6, the guy had coverage on the guy. I think pass interference is one of the most controversial calls in college football right now, and I’ve talked about it before but just inconsistency in how it gets called. Not just on those calls but on all calls. Officials do the best they can. I’m not making any negative comments about what they called.”
• No new injuries to report.

GAME 8: Saturday, October 22, 2022

Mississippi State Bulldogs (5-2, 2-2) at Alabama Crimson Tide (6-1, 3-1)

Tuscaloosa, AL ~ 6:00pm CT/7:00pm ET, ESPN

• The Bullies have a big air attack that could give the Tide secondary some challenges.
• This is Year 3 in StarkVegas for Mike Leach. The 61-year old is 16–15 and 9–13 in the SEC.
• Tuscaloosa forecast calls for a high of 78° with mostly sunny skies and a chance of rain at 3%. Temps will dip down into the mid 40s overnight. Prepare accordingly.
• TV Announcers: TBA
• Alabama Radio
• The Bullies are 86-17-3 versus Alabama with their last win coming in 2007.
• The line provided by DraftKings has Bama as a -21.5 favorite. The Over/Under is 62.

Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.