Random Thoughts: Final Exams

FBS staged only one game this past weekend but it was a fun one.

ARMY 20 NAVY 17 (2 OT)

If this doesn’t give you goose bumps, you should just hang it up and move to Russia.

They are not the biggest, the fastest or the greatest football players in the world, but they have the biggest hearts and both teams came to play. It was a defensive slobber-knocker for most of the game.

Statistic-wise, Navy was the better team in the first half. They held the Black Knights to one first down but trailed due to a letdown on special teams when Army blocked a punt and recovered it in the end zone for a 7-3 lead.

In the third quarter, the Midshipmen bust a long one for a touchdown run and a 10-7 advantage. After much more back-and-forth, it looked like that lead would hold up. With seven and some change remaining, Army gets a huge punt that rolls out of bounds at the Navy 5. The Middies could not do much with it and punted the ball back giving the Cadets the ball around midfield. They took advantage of the opportunity and drove just far enough to get into field goal range and tie it up.

In OT, both teams uncharacteristically took one play to score a touchdown. Navy did so on the one and only completion. In the second extra frame, a Navy running back lost a fumble at the goal line. Army ran a few plays and then kicked the game winner, 20-17.

FCS STUFF

Sacramento State 66 Incarnate Word 63 - If you have ten minutes to spare, watch this insane fourth quarter. ^^^
North Dakota State 27 Samford 9
South Dakota State 42 Holy Cross 21
Montana State 55 William & Mary 7 - Things that get thumped in the night.

RAH! OF THE WEEK

Photo by Daniel Dunn/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

CHICKEN S**T OF THE WEEK FOLLOW-UP

After turning down a chance to play Kansas in the Liberty Bowl Mizzou Eli Drinkwitz had the nerve to troll the Jayhawks at a basketball game between the two schools. The Tigers got thumped 95-67.

NAME OF THE WEEK

UNC CB Storm Duck is in the Quitter Hole. Oregon seems like a perfect landing spot for his migration.

MOST WAYNE’S WORLD NAME OF THE WEEK

Weber State Interim head coach Mickey Mental.

STATIONARY RUNNING BACK OF THE WEEK

• Navy RB Daba Fofana gained 20 yards on 11 rush attempts.

STATS OF THE WEEK

• Thanks to NCAA idiocy, Incarnate Word quarterback Lindsey Scott Jr. has played for FIVE college teams: LSU, East Mississippi Community College, Missouri, Nicholls State, and currently UIW. The 24-year old has been around for so long that he played for Les Miles.
• Army was outgained 153 to 284 and still won.
• North Dakota State possessed the ball 39:05 as opposed to 20:55 for Samford.

THE WACKY WORLD OF DESI

COUSINS

• Troy (11-2) - The Trojans face UTSA in the Cure Bowl in Orlando on December 16.
• South Alabama (10-2) - The Jags head to the New Orleans Bowl vs Western Kentucky on December 21.
• Samford (11-2) - The Bulldogs fell to powerhouse North Dakota State,27-9.

THAT ANNOYING GUY WHO EATS ALL THE MARSHMALLOWS IN THE LUCKY CHARMS AND LEAVES THE CHUNKY OATS BEHIND

• UAB (6-6) - The Dragons meet Miami-Ohio in the Bahamas Bowl on Dec. 16.

SALUTE TO OUR TROOPS

• Air Force (9-3) - The Falcons go to the Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth against Baylor December 22.
• Navy (4-8) - Navy fired Ken Niumatalolo. See KOACHES KORNER below for details.
• Army (6-6) - The Black Knights’ season comes to a close.

ELIMINATED FROM PLAYOFF CONTENTION

Extremely Endangered: Ohio State, TCU

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

Four teams with odds of winning the National Championship:

1. Georgia +180 to +100 to -120 to -150 to -160 to -130 to -125
2. Michigan +1500 to +900 to +700 to +1000 to +290 to +280 to +290
3. Ohio State +180 to +200 to +240 to +240 to +1000 to +360 to +360
4. TCU +3500 to +2500 to +1600 to +1200 to +1800 to +1600

RANK ‘EM IF YOU GOT ‘EM

Six SEC teams are ranked.

1. Georgia 13-0
5. Alabama 10-2
6. Tennessee 10-2
17. LSU 9-4
19. South Carolina 8-4
22. Mississippi State 8-4

Krazy Kristi’s “SHUT UP!” of the Week goes to CBS. At the conclusion of the Army-Navy game, the network kept cutting to shots of the distraught Midshipmen running back who fumbled the ball in overtime. Stay classy, CBS.

HEISMAN HYPE

nOt jUsT A QuArtErBacK AWarD

The Heisman Trophy voting roster is made up of 870 media members, 58 living Heisman winners, and one nationwide fan vote. I doubt any of them watch as many games as Bama fans do.

R.I.P.

As you have probably already heard, Mississippi State’s Mike Leach suffered a massive heart attack at his home on Sunday and passed away last night.

According to the Clarion-Ledger, the 61 year old “collapsed at his home in Starkville, but did not receive medical attention for between 10 to 15 minutes. EMTs used a defibrillator machine and delivered multiple shocks to restore normal heart rhythm. After he was stabilized at Oktibbeha County Hospital, he was transported by helicopter to UMMC (University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson).”

Leach was one of the main engineers of the Air-Raid offense in college football plying his trade at Texas Tech (2000-2009) and Wazzu (2010-2019) before heading to Starkville (19-17) with an overall record of 158-107. He also had a very unique and funny sense of humor. College football needs more Mike Leachs. He will be missed.

MIKE LEACH’S GREATEST HITS

BLOTTER

It’s not football but Texas basketball coach Chris Beard was arrested Monday morning on a felony domestic violence charge. He reportedly strangled his fiance during an argument at his house around 2am.

DRAMA

• Ken Niumatalolo is out as football coach at Navy after a second straight 4-8 campaign. In the wacky 2020 season his Midshipmen were 3-7 but had a wildly successful 11-2 season and a Liberty Bowl win the year before. In 15 seasons, he was 109-83 and 6-5 in bowl games.

KOACHES KORNER

• The Golden Gophers have signed coach PJ Fleck to a new 7-year deal worth $6 million per season. This is a good move by Minnesota. Fleck is a good coach and the frozen tundra of that part of the country is such a hard to place to recruit. Minnie should feel blessed that someone of his stature wants that job. Shoulda made it 20 years.
• Jeff Brohm has left Purdue in his rear view mirror as he heads back to his alma mater Louisville. The contract is expected to be for six years and in the $35 million range. Brohm was born and raised in Louisville and was a pretty decent quarterback for the Cardinals in the early 90s. He was a ‘Ville assistant for a time and bopped around a few other programs until landing the head job at WKU. He comes to UL after six decent seasons leading the Spoilermakers. IMHO, Louisville is better off. It makes one wonder if this whole thing of Scott Satterfield downgrading for Cincinnati and the prodigal son Brohm coming home wasn’t all pre-planned.
• Troy Taylor will be the next head coach at Stanford. The former Cal QB led Sacramento State to three straight Big West titles and was 12-0 in 2022 before losing to Incarnate Word last Friday. The Hornets were 2-8 the year before he arrived.
• UNLV made an out-of-the blue agreement with former Mizzou head coach Barry Odom who had been serving as Arkansas’ DC the last three seasons.
• Lance Taylor has finalized a 5-year deal to coach Western Michigan. Taylor is a native Alabamian and former Crimson Tide wide receiver. He started his coaching career as a grad assistant for Nick Saban 2007-08. He has had stops with the NY Jets, the Panthers, Stanford, Notre Dame and was OC at Louisville this past season.
• TCU has agreed to a new big fat contract with coach Sonny Dykes, guaranteeing that the Frogs go 7-5 next season. He has been extended a year through 2028 and bumped up somewhere in the $7 million range.
• Urban Meyer could not find his Slinky. So, he pushed an old lady down the stairs.
• Fat F*** Phil Fulmer puts on deodorant with a paint-roller.

TEEVEE

THIS WEEK

(Below is a list of bowl games coming up this week. If you REALLY need to know about the FCS semifinals or the meaningless HBCU bowl game, you can find the details here.)

Friday, Dec. 16

Bahamas Bowl: Miami (Ohio) vs. UAB 10:30/11:30 ESPN

Cure Orlando Bowl: Troy vs. UTSA 2pm/3pm ESPN

Saturday, Dec. 17

Fenway Bowl: Cincinnati vs. Louisville 10am/11am ESPN

Las Vegas Bowl: Oregon State vs. Florida 1:30/2:30 pm ABC

L.A. Bowl: Washington State vs. Fresno State 2:30/3:30 ABC

Mobile Bowl: Rice vs. Southern Mississippi 4:45/5:45 ESPN

New Mexico Bowl: SMU vs. BYU 6:30/7:30 ABC

Frisco Bowl: Boise State vs. North Texas 8:15/9:15 ESPN

Monday, Dec. 19

Myrtle Beach Bowl: Marshall vs. UConn 1:30/2:30 ESPN

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.

No change.

#ALABAMA

• Alabama players on AP All-America teams include first team: Edge Will Anderson, second team: DB Brian Branch, and third team: RB Jahmyr Gibbs (all-purpose), CB Kool-Aid McKinstry, S Jordan Battle. The AP does not include punt returners for their teams.
• OT Tyler Steen, DL Byron Young, OG Emil Ekiyor, TE Cameron Latu, S DeMarcco Hellams, DL DJ Dale, and K Will Reichard have accepted invitations to the Senior Bowl thus signalling the end of their college football careers.
• WR Aaron Anderson entered the TP on Monday. The freshman struggled with a foot injury all year and only returned to the field late this season against Austin Peay.
• WR Traeshon Holden has tweeted that he is transferring to Oregon. WR Christian Leary appears to be leaning towards his hometown school of Center Florida. Both OL Tommy Brockeremeyer and WR JoJo Earle are looking at TCU. Every name in the Quitter Hole but Anderson’s has been scrubbed from the rolltide.com roster. Assumptions are that they are no longer a part of the team and will not play in the Sugar Bowl. Anderson’s status is still undeterminded but it’s possible that Bama may attempt to bring him back.
• Alabama 2023 OL commits Miles McVay and Wilkin Formby will be enrolling in January. Both have graduated and finished their high school seasons. Because of these circumstances, both are allowed to join the Alabama football team on Thursday. They can participate in practice but are not eligible to play in the Shoo-Shoo-Shoo, Shoo-Shoo-Shoo, Shoo-Shoo, Shoo-Shoo, Shoo-Shoo Sugar Bowl.

GAME 13 - SUGAR BOWL: Saturday, December 31, 2022

Kansas State Wildcats (10-3) vs Alabama Crimson Tide (10-2)

New Orleans, LA ~ 11am/12 noon ESPN

• K-State is led by Chris Klieman who led North Dakota State to four FCS Championships in five seasons at the school. With the ‘Cats, he is 30-19 in four seasons.
• The Nawlins weather forecast is pretty far off to call. Yes, I know they are playing in a dome, but some people are known to walk around the city.
• TV Announcers: Dave Pasch and Dusty Dvoracek with Tom Luginbill wandering the sidelines.
• I wonder if maybe we have heard the last of Eli Gold on Alabama Radio.
• Alabama has never played Kansas State.
• The point spread opened with Bama as a -5.5 favorite but some outlets have reported as low as -3. The Over/Under is around 54.5.