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Ten Piece Nuggets-NCAA Football

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BBR’s world headquarters are Texas-based.  Texas passed laws this week that allow virtually anyone to get a gun ASAP and virtually no one to get an abortion unless it’s ASAP.

Because of that our staff had much to say about content this week and our monthly meeting ran long this AM.  It puts us precariously close to the daily writing deadline.  The real reason that we’re late is that one of us had too many baby back ribs and beers yesterday, but we digress.

Brief, opinionated college football nuggets follow.

  1.  Should we start engraving Alabama’s name on the national championship trophy already?  Maybe.   Probably.  Bama had Miami down by 30ish at halftime before the sub door became a turnstile in the second half.  Bama’s second team basically tied Miami’s first team.
  2.  Georgia might jump to spot #2 today with a stifling defensive effort over Clemson 10-3.  If we can’t start engraving, can we jump the SEC Championship game already?  It’s about the journey on the way to the destination supposedly.
  3. Penn St and Wisconsin was another low-scoring affair.  Penn St won 16-10.  We wondered aloud late in the game if either realized that the forward completed pass was a legal NCAA play.  Wisconsin must have bought a few of those Texas guns.  They shot themselves in both feet several times.  A late leaping Penn St. pick sealed Whisky’s fate in a packed Camp Randall Stadium.
  4. One bettor in Vegas got the vibe that week one might be lower scoring than years past.  He wagered a measly $10 on a 14 game parlay.  He took 14 games, all under.  The first 13 won.  Ole Miss and Lousiville under 75.5 last evening is all that stood in his way from collecting $80,000!  The Black Bears formerly known as Rebels won 43-24.  Voila!  80k.
  5. Since the magical 15-0 2019 national championship season LSU has won 5 and lost 6 games.  The latest was a beating administered by UCLA Saturday.  Ed Orgeron fired both coordinators after last year, their first year.  In comes two new ones.  The team lacked prep, pep, effort, and communication in game one of 2021 looking just like all of 2020.  Orgeron is now officially on the dreaded hot seat and rightfully so.
  6.  It was a big PAC 12 win over the SEC for UCLA.  Conversely, Montana beating Washington 17-7 was a big PAC 12 loss.  In fact, the north division had six losers against weak to middling out of conference foes.  Jeez.  Only Oregon won and was mediocre in doing so beating Fresno St. 31-24 in Eugene.  The south division fared much better.  USC, Utah, UCLA,  Arizona St, and Colorado all won.
  7. Oklahoma, known as Chokelahoma by its detractors, nearly choked away a homefield 34-14 halftime lead to hurricane displaced Tulane.  An onsides kick near the game’s end was recovered by Tulane as they trailed only 40-35.  But, the Sooners held on.  Some “experts” picked them to win the national championship this year.  Good luck.  They still have no D.
  8. Notre Dame survived overtime v Florida St. as the Seminoles forced it with 18 unanswered points.  Is Notre Dame not as good as advertised, or is Florida St. better than advertised? How about both?  Our guess is that Head Coach Mike Norvell will have the once-proud Seminoles legitimately back in the ACC mix by 2022.
  9. Mack Brown’s ACC North Carolina team looked shell-shocked at Virginia Tech.  The Tech faithful filled the stands and roared for 60 minutes.  NC, overanked at #10 lost and their offensive line looked slow, lost, dazed, overweight, short, and tired. That’s no way to go through life. And, that’s a bad combo for Heisman hopeful QB Sam Howell who struggled mightily to avoid the beatdown that Tech’s front seven eventually administered.
  10.  It’s tough to read too much into week one, but we did so anyway.  Oh, and Bob Stoops is now a part of the Fox NCAA broadcast team.  He’s, well, not good.

It’s only a four-day workweek to get us to football week two.  Get after it.