Four Down Territory: Get Ready for the Expanded Playoff Argument, Keys To Big Match-Ups This Weekend
The Four-Team Playoff: By 12:01 a.m. Sunday morning, if the favorites all win on Saturday (or if the favorites win and Alabama loses) the drumbeat from the “everyone gets a trophy sect” of the College Football Playoff cult will be all over social media with 6-team, 8-team and 16-team plans ready to go. But a quick look at the 4 previous years proves a couple of things: First Down: First Seed Failures: The Playoff committee “Eye-Test” needs a seeing eye dog. The top seed has n
Under The Radar: College OT Needs New Rule, Why Coaches Love or Hate It, Why Big 12 Teams Struggle o
Time To Update OT Rules: After watching the final 4 minutes of regulation and all 7 overtimes in Texas A&M’s 74-72 win over LSU…..college football’s overtime needs a tweak. After three overtimes both teams have to go for 2 after touchdowns. That takes the thinking and strategy out of coaches’ hands. A proposal to improve OT would be to have all overtime extra points kicked from the 25 yard-line rather than from the 3 yard-line. Now if the other team scores first and kicks the
Four Down Territory: Friday Night Lights, Saturday Showdown, Rivalry Games and PSU Faces NAFTA.....
First Down: Friday Night Lights Twin-Bill: #6 Oklahoma at #13 West Virginia 8:00 p.m. ESPN—For both teams--win and you’re in the Big 12 Title game against Texas (if they win at lowly Kansas at noon Friday). While Kyler Murray is the most dynamic quarterback in college football (3300+ pass yards AND 750+ rushing) West Virginia QB Will Grier can light up a scoreboard too. With WVU and OU both shooting off guns when their teams score or kickoff this game will sound like a gun ra
Under The Radar: The Citadel Wins, SEC Schedules are Softer, The 3 Plays that Define a Game & He
1. The Citadel Wins versus Alabama: The Citadel's Twitter Feed won college football on Saturday at Alabama. They were so good that some Alabama fans were even responding with "Moral Victory" comments. Alabama fans getting into it with a military college from the FCS level with just 63 scholarships tells you The Citadel won. Clearly someone in Charleston has a sense of humor. The Citadel scored and they trolled Alabama’s previous “No Score November” tweet as well as LSU and Mi
Four Down Territory: Good Football Teams in NYC, The South's Surprise Game of The Week, Cyclone
First Down: Yankee Stadium…..#12 Syracuse vs #3 Notre Dame: It will be refreshing for football fans in New York to see some good football teams. Notre Dame needs a win to stay in the playoff hunt. For Syracuse, this would be a program-defining win vaulting them into the Top 10 with a shot at a New Year’s Six Bowl Game. This week's winter weather moves out for a partly sunny day with temperatures in the high 40s. That helps both teams's offenses. Notre Dame’s defense and pass
Under the Radar: Eastern Powers Rise Again, Two For The Win, "Don't Panic" Coaching Aw
Old Eastern Independent Powers Rising: Until Penn State shook up the conference landscape by joining the Big 10 in 1993 there were 7 Eastern Independents who played each other every year (Penn State, Pitt, West Virginia, Syracuse, Temple, Rutgers and Boston College). In the 1970s and 80s these teams played in 6 National Title games (Penn State won 2 and played for 2 others, Pitt won one and West Virginia played for another). This year there those teams are resurgent. Excludin
Four Down Territory: Beantown Showdown, Big Ten Battles, Bama's Work Not Done & Other Tests
First Down: Beantown Showdown #2 Clemson at #17 Boston College 8:00 (ABC): Boston sports fans are enjoying a good fall….and they will need some of that magic to beat Clemson. The ACC’s top two rushers in BC’s AJ Dillon (128.1 ypg) and Clemson’s Travis Etienne (110.9 ypg) are squaring off in this game. BC's hopes rest on their defense’s ability to get to Clemson’s Freshman QB Trevor Lawrence. The BC defense ranks 13th Nationally in sacks, 20th in pass efficiency, 4th in Interc
Under The Radar: Bizarro World Title Games, Hustle Plays, Miami Tropical Depressions & Best of t
Best Team & Player No One East of The Rockies Is Talking About? Washington State: The Cougars had their ESPN Gameday moment and nationally televised win over Oregon a few weeks ago. That game was on Fox and played during prime time on the East coast. Since then QB Gardner Minshew led a late game-winning drive to beat Stanford on the Pac-12 Network and Saturday night he threw a late TD pass to beat Cal in a game that started at 10:45 eastern. This guy just makes plays and driv
Four Down Territory: Your Inside/TV Guide To A Huge Weekend's Biggest Games
This weekend if you’re not in a stadium at a game you will need your TV, your tablet and your smartphone to stay on top of all the action…… First Down: 3:30 Kickoffs: #6 Georgia at #9 Kentucky (CBS): This is the biggest home game for the Wildcats since…..who cares? It is so big that it may draw 'Cats fan Ashley Judd to town. This settles the SEC East Title--the winner punches their ticket to Atlanta. Kentucky’s defense has been stout allowing just 68 points in 6 SEC games. Th
