Football 2014 - Week 5

My recap of the only football games that matter

The Gators did not lose this week. The dynamic Muschamp/Driskel led Florida team has the week off. They need it to recover from the pounding they took at the hands of Alabama. They travel to Knoxville on October 4th to play the Tennessee Vols in an SEC East game.

As usual the NFL kicked off the week with a Thursday night game. I'm sure two teams showed up and played an exciting game.

Bishop Kenny had a district home game against the Paxson Eagles. The Crusaders got out to a 21-0 halftime lead and ultimately won 34-12. I couldn't find any statistics on this game at either the Florida Times-Union or MaxPreps. Kenny is now 3-0 on the season and next host Ribault in another district game. Kenny is currently ranked #7 in the state for class 5A.






While my alma mater continues their winning ways, the local Bell Blue Raiders continue going in the opposite direction. They traveled to Coppell to play the Cowboys in a district game. New game, same old results. Bell was pounded 42-3. They actually scored first but that was it for the evening. They even out rushed Coppell by six yards with 195 on 50 rushes. Unfortunately they were outgained in the air 203 to 58. The Cowboys scored on an 83 yard kickoff return (the one after Bell's FG), a 75 yd run, a 90 yd pass and a 62 yd pass. Seems big play defense is not a Raiders strong point. Bell falls to 0-5 for the season. Next up is a district game against the Richland Rebels at home. Although Richland is only 2-3 this season, they have scored 109 total points in their last three games and have not scored fewer than 21 in any game. Meanwhile, the Raiders have scored 21 total points in their last three games. 

As mentioned, the Gators had the week off. USF's trip to #19 Wisconsin didn't work out too well. The Bulls held their own in the first half and went to the intermission tied at three. Unfortunately they lost the second half 24-7 for a final 27-10 score. As usual South Florida was inept on offense. They were outgained by the Badgers 454-245 yards. Possession time was 41 to 19 minutes in favor of Wisconsin. The Bulls are now 2-3 for the season. They have an off week to work on the offense. Next game is back in Tampa against conference rival #22 East Carolina on October 11th.. Good luck with that.

In the battle for the Iron Skillet, the TCU Frogs demolished SMU 56-0 in Dallas. The Frogs amassed 645 total yards. Amazingly the Mustangs held the ball 4:30 more minutes. They also had three turnovers. TCU remains undefeated at 3-0 but things get a little more difficult next game. They host the #4 Oklahoma Sooners in a Big 12 (which has 10 teams) conference matchup. In fact the next three games are in conference against ranked teams. TCU squeaked into the AP top 25 at #25 with the win.

There were a few other interesting college games. #1 FSU got a scare against unranked North Carolina State. The Seminoles trailed 24-21 at the half but managed a 56-41 win. That's a potent offense but the defense certainly doesn't look national championship caliber. They also had four turnovers. Overall stats were very close. The rest of their schedule is pretty soft except for #9 Notre Dame in Tallahassee on October 18th.

As usual we had an upset in the SEC. Unranked Missouri went to #13 South Carolina and won 21-20 in an exciting game. The Fighting Spurriers led 20-7 in the fourth quarter but couldn't hold on. The Tigers scored the go ahead TD with 1:36 remaining. The SEC East is wide open at this point.

In other SEC games, #12 Georgia held on 35-32 against unranked Tennessee and #6 A&M came back from a 28-14 deficit after three quarters to win in overtime 35-28 against unranked Arkansas. None of the SEC games are easy. 

Overall the SEC was 7-4 and 3-0 in non-conference games. They still have seven teams in the top 15 and eight in the top 25.

In the pro ranks, as expected the Jaguars made a very long cross country trip to San Diego to suffer a lose. They only trailed 17-14 at the half but then failed to add any more points for a 33-14 final score. Amazingly, Jacksonville had more first downs, plays and time of possession than the Chargers. We are now in the Blake Bortles era for the Jags. The rookie's stats weren't too bad, 29/37 for 253 yards but he did throw two interceptions. It's going to be a learning year. The Jaguars are now 0-4 on the year and next play at home against the Steelers.

Speaking of the Steelers, they managed to lose at home to the mighty Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27-24. Not only did the Bucs win, but they managed to stage a ten point fourth quarter comeback. They kicked the winning FG with 0:07 on the clock. It was their first victory of the season. My prediction is now that Tampa Bay has tasted victory that they will go on to the Super Bowl. Next up they are in New Orleans for a game against the division rival Saints. 

My other team, the Falcons, got clobbered 41-28 in Minnesota. Atlanta was leading 28-27 after three quarters but couldn't score again. The Vikings won the statistical battle plus Atlanta QB Matt Ryan threw two interceptions. So far I've been disappointed in the now 2-2 Falcons. Next up are the Giants in the Meadowlands.

A couple of other games of interest. I hardly ever watch the Cowboys games even though they are on my local TV every week. I have never been a fan. I can't stand Jerry Jones. Nevertheless, I watched the whole game Sunday night because I was a at a friend's house who is a Cowboys fan. She had a great time watching. This was by far the best performance by the Cowboys in a long time. They beat the Saints 38-17 and at one point led 31-3. So here is my theory, this is the first Cowboys game I have watched in a long time and it is the best they have played in a long time. So, it must be me. Therefore I should be receiving compensation from the Cowboys to make sure I watch their games. My Cowboy fan friends should be supplying me with snacks and beverages.

Finally, I caught some of the Monday night game, Patriots at Chiefs. Wow, what has happened to the once mighty Patriots. The great glamour boy QB, Tom Brady, looked very ordinary off a 14/23 159 yard performance with two interceptions and a fumble. Isn't their coach, Bill Belichick, a genius? Perhaps you need good football players on your team to be a great QB or genius coach. Kansas City easily won 41-14. Brady was on the bench at the end of the game during mop-up time. Times change.

wjh

Scattershooting 09-28-14

Scattershooting while wondering whatever happened to the great

Mark Brunell

Sunday's Summary

My incomplete recap of the week

It's fall. Can't you tell, it is still in the 80's.

It's official. The Texas Rangers will NOT lose 100 games this year. With tonight's (9/22) win over the Astros they reached 63 victories. Worse case is a 63-99 season. They also have a good chance to NOT finish the season with the worst record. Who is the hottest team in the majors right now? That would be your Texas Rangers with a 9-1 record in the last 10 games. Not bad for a bunch of minor league players.

Update (9/28) - The Rangers finished the season with a 67-95 record. That is the worst record in the American League but Colorado and Arizona in the National League had worse records.

GO RANGERS!

Here's the Bedford Tuesday (9/23) AM report. Took a long walk that started at 63° and a nice pink and orange sunrise. The new section of Bedford Trails now is paved from Meadow Park-Bark Park to Forest Ridge. Can't tell yet how they are going to connect it to Boys Ranch. It's not really open but there were already two bike riders on it today. Speaking of bikes, I saw a guy around Shady Lane & Shady Brook with a snow white Husky/Malamute looking dog on a leash running beside him. Saw them again at Stonegate & Shady Lake. Very cool. Yes folks, most of the streets in that neighborhood are shady something.

Heard this song this morning during my walk. I have a 3 disc Manhattans greatest hits (45 songs) on my MP3 player so when I shuffle it they come up fairly often. For some reason I hadn't heard this one lately. Here is a classic from 1976 when it reached #1 on the Pop and R&B charts. Love the introduction, outfits, hairstyles and choreography in this video. For‪ #‎TuneTuesday‬ we have (Let's Just) Kiss and Say Goodbye.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj96QFzOL5Y

This is CNN -
  

For this ‪#‎TBT‬ I have two photos from Easter 1954 and one from a few years earlier. The first is our 1946 Pontiac coupe in the carport of our new house in Jacksonville. Note the beautiful lawn. The trees beyond the back yard is the woods that was later developed into Phillips Plaza/Mall. I spent many a day playing in those woods and hated when the mall was built. The second photo is me in my Easter outfit in our front yard. Again, note the lush landscaping. Finally we have some beefcake for the girls. This was taken in the kitchen of our NJ apartment circa 1948. What are you playing with Billy?

1946 Pontiac Coupe

Easter 1954

Early Beefcake - Circa 1948

Interesting. I've been checking out the first few episodes of new game show "Celebrity Name Game" because Craig Ferguson is the host. Tonight Courtney Cox and David Arquette were the guest players. I thought that a little strange since they recently divorced. Seems they own a production company together (Coquette Productions) and produce the show. BTW, neither is a great player. The show is OK, the set is terrible, and Craig is funny. Jeopardy! and The Price Is Right probably don't have to worry. It's syndicated, so check your local listings. It's on cw33 @ 6:30 in D/FW

No surprise here. Palin is an idiot.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/sarah-palins-confused-about-where-the-white-house-is/blogEntry?id=25791118

This is how the fake super patriots at Fox News show respect for our troops. This happened on the same show that this idiot and other Fox News idiots were raking Obama over the coals for not showing our troops respect because he saluted with a coffee cup in his hand. If you are a fan of Fox News, I ask that you also watch the Daily Show a few times to see how ridiculous Fox is.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2771530/Would-considered-boobs-ground-Fox-News-host-Eric-Bolling-apologizes-sexist-joke-female-fighter-pilot-bombed-ISIS.html

wjh

Football 2014 - Week 4

My recap of the only football games that matter

The pros started off the week again with a marque Thursday night matchup. Apparently CBS didn't pay a whole lot for this package because the game was Tampa Bay at Atlanta. I follow both teams, but this is not going to be the most watched NFL game this week. I turned it on while the pregame show was still on only to find Deion Sanders was blabbing his usual BS. Luckily there was an Auburn at Kansas State game already underway. Back in Atlanta the Falcons were destroying the Bucs. It was hard to watch the massacre. The game ended up 56-14. It was 35-0 at the half and 56-0 after three quarters. Tampa Bay finally scored in the fourth quarter, once on an interception return of Atlanta's backup QB. A complete blowout. The Buccaneers have a lot of work to do. 

The #5 Auburn at #20 KSU game was close all night it was 10-7 at halftime and after three quarters. Auburn finally took a 20-7 lead with about 6:30 remaining. Kansas had their chances. They missed three field goal attempts and had three turnovers. Chalk up another SEC win over the Big XII (which has 10 teams).

South Florida hosted UConn on high school football night. That's probably appropriate since the Bulls often play like a high school team. It was pouring rain at the kickoff which contributed to USF recovering a fumble on the Connecticut 19 yard line. They were actually able to score a TD four plays later. The good news is that is continued to rain all game and that UConn is more inept on offense than USF. It was a pretty sad game by two bad teams. The Bulls won 17-14. The hapless Huskies had only 132 total yards, 44 rushing and 88 passing. Not exactly a run and gun team. The Bulls were about twice as good which still is pretty anemic. We'll take the win. South Florida is now 2-2 (1-0) for the season. They actually lead the AAC (not to be confused with the ACC). Next up they travel to the Wisconsin Badgers, a Big Ten (which has 14 members) team. Good luck with that matchup.

Now on to the teams that are supposed to play on Friday nights, the high schools. After a weather cancellation and a scheduled open week, Bishop Kenny finally got to play a game. It was against local Southside rival and district member Wolfson. Apparently the Crusaders didn't get rusty during their two idle weeks. They dominated the Wolves 41-0. BK had 410 total yards to Wolfson's net 74 yards. The Wolves rushed for -34 yards (that's negative 34 yards) and threw two interceptions. Kenny is now 2-0 (1-0), their next game is a district contest at home against Paxson.

The local team didn't do so well. LD Bell traveled all the way to the Abilene Eagles to get pummeled 38-12. That's about a 330 mile round trip. Bell actually led 3-0 after one quarter but were behind 24-3 at halftime. Statistically the game wasn't a blowout. The Blue Raiders just have trouble finishing off drives and getting a score. Their defense leaves a little bit to be desired too. Bell has be been outscored 192-67 and are now 0-4 on the season. Next game they open district play at Coppell. Good luck with that.

Saturday had the big game of the week. No, not TCU they had the week off. I'm talking about the Florida Gators at the #3 Alabama Crimson Tide in a big SEC contest. The game started out terribly when 'Bama scored on their first offensive play, an 87 yard pass. Then the next Alabama offensive play they fumbled and Florida recovered. That led to a Gator TD for a tie game. The Tide fumbled again on their third possession and the Gators scored again and led 14-7 about six minutes into the game. That was the last time Florida led. This was a very sloppy game. Alabama had four turnovers and 11 penalties and Florida had three. There were also some missed field goals. The Tide led 21-14 at half but the Gators scored early in the third quarter to tie the game after another interception. That was their last score. Statistically Florida had no business being tied at that point. Final stats showed Alabama had 645 total yards, Florida had 200. Driskel was a terrible 9/28 for 93 yards passing with two interceptions. While the final score was 42-21 it should have been much worse. The only thing that saved Florida was that Alabama couldn't hold on to the ball or avoid penalties. Head coach Will Muschamp is supposed to be a defense guy yet his team gave up 645 yards, most in school history. Jeff Driskel is supposed to be an experienced QB but he continues to suck. He was recruited by ex-coach Urban Meyer who probably knew he was leaving. Thanks for nothing Urban. My suggestion is to fire Muschamp and bench Driskel then rebuild this team with a real coach. At this point while it is true that Alabama and Florida are in the same conference, they are not in the same league. The Gators have a week off to regroup before heading to Knoxville to play the Vols. 

There were a few other interesting college games. There was only one top 25 match-up besides the Thursday night Auburn-KSU game. That would be the #22 Clemson Tigers at #1 FSU. The interesting twist was that Heisman Trophy winning QB, Jameis Winston was benched for this game.  Seems he made another bone headed decision last week, now becoming a pattern. One thing the game proved is that backup QB Sean Maguire is no Jameis Winston or Heisman candidate. Pretty sure Winston will be back next week. Clemson certainly had their chances and led 17-10 in the fourth quarter. FSU managed to tie it in regulation and then win in OT 23-17. FSU was lucky to get the win. Wonder what the pollsters will do?

In a big SEC upset, the unranked Mississippi State Bulldogs went to Baton Rouge to play the #8 LSU Tigers. That is one of the hardest venues for a visiting team. Not today. Although the final score was 34-29, the Bulldogs led 34-16 with two minutes remaining. LSU made it interesting at the end but ran out of time. The SEC seems to be amazingly balanced this season. Mississippi State has to get into the top 25 after this win. How far will LSU fall.

The SEC was 7-4 overall and 4-1 in non-conference matchups. Alabama looks to be the cream of the crop right now. There are several other good teams and a few not so good. It will be interesting to see with the balance and competitiveness in the conference how that translates to getting teams into the playoffs. 

In the latest AP Top 25 Poll, the top 10 stayed pretty much in tact except for LSU which fell from #8 to #17. In the opposite situation, Mississippi State went from unranked to #14. The SEC again has seven teams in the top 15 and eight in the top 25. FSU remained at #1 despite a close game with Clemson. I guess the voters expect FSU's knucklehead Jameis Winston to stay out of trouble the rest of the season. Good luck with that.

In the Sunday pro game, the Jacksonville Jaguars did not disappoint. They lost at home to the previously winless Indianapolis Colts 44-17. The score was 30-0 at the half and 37-3 halfway through the fourth quarter. As usual Jax was outpaced in every offensive statistical category. The Jags didn't score a TD until about seven minutes remaining in the game. The good news there is it was Blake Bortles' first NFL TD pass. Bortles is the Jaguars first round draft pick (#3 overall) and supposed to be their QB for the future. He had been riding the bench until the second half of this game. His statistics weren't great, 14/24 with 2 TD & 2 Int for 223 yards, but they were better than the guy he replaced, Chad Henne. Henne has been terrible this season. Bortles has been named the starter for the next game and probably the rest of the season. Hopefully he will manage to stay alive and injury free behind a less than stellar offensive line. There are very few expectations for Jacksonville's season so he should have time to develop with little pressure. The Jags are now 0-3 and next play in San Diego against the Chargers who have already beaten the defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks in Seattle this season. Can you spell u-g-l-y? 

Overall not a great week. Bishop Kenny won. USF won ugly in the rain. So did Atlanta because they played Tampa Bay so that's pretty much a wash. The Gators were humiliated by Alabama and it looks like another down year. Hopefully it will be Muschamp's last season in Gainesville. Maybe the Jaguars are at the start of a successful Bortles era. So, we soldier on to next week, take our lumps and hope for some improvements. 

wjh

Scattershooting 09-21-14

Scattershooting while wondering whatever happened to the great

Ted Williams

Sunday's Summary

My incomplete recap of the week

The Bacon Brothers Band was on Craig Ferguson tonight (9/16). They sang a good song from their new album, 36¢. Most bands fronted by celebrities are bad (see Russell Crow or Kevin Costner) but these guys are pretty good. They have been together for 20 years. Couldn't find the song they did tonight, but here is one from another visit to the Late Late Show. Hey, everybody likes Bacon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbG-wWRDVfA

Here is a potpourri for this #TBT - The first photo is of my fraternal grandfather from 1909. He is the one in the middle with the suit and bow tie. I don't know the occasion or location but I would guess it's the Jersey shore or Long Island. This is the only picture I have found of Grandpa Holmes who died when I was about 1½. The second picture is Sr. Paul Joseph from 1953. She was my first exposure to Catholic education as my kindergarten (called pre primer back then) teacher at Queen of Peace school. The final picture is from Jax Beach in late 1953 with my biker gang. I'm the little guy on the right.

Something is not right. I grew up in Florida and was used to the humidity. I now live in North Texas where it shouldn't be as humid. This morning it is terribly humid in Jacksonville at 85%. Just checked the D/FW humidity and it is 88%. Must be part of global humidity change.

Good idea, I hate dogs on bikes chasing me -

Time for #SongSunday. This number was released in 1958 and made it to #1 on the R&B chart and #7 on Billboard's Top 100. You don't hear it much since even oldies radio rarely goes back beyond the 60's. Berry Gordon, founder of Motown, was one of the song's writers. It was recorded by Jackie Wilson. A sad story is that Jackie suffered a heart attack in 1975 while singing the song on Dick Clark's show. He never fully recovered and died in 1984. Here is Jackie's rendition of Lonely Teardrops.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nEfuE8Pw4U

wjh

The NFL Under Siege

I probably shouldn't write about this subject. It is the hot topic du jour and passionate opinions are raging on all sides. Hardly anyone is listening to the other side. Everyone seems to want to rush to judgement. Let's crucify some, behead others, castrate a few more, humiliate and fire the rest.

The subject in question is the recent domestic violence situation with NFL players, both spousal abuse and now child abuse. This has become the top story on every newscast, sportscast and social media site. Let's start out by saying this is terrible behavior in our society and needs to be fixed. Part of that fix is recognizing the problem and figuring out how to stop it. It appears that in the past week or so we have recognized the problem. Fixing it might take a little more effort. 

My background is from a middle class white family. My dad never physically abused my Mom although verbal abuse was not off limits. He did spank me, but I don't think he ever drew blood or left deep bruises. No belts or switches were ever used. Again, verbal abuse was allowed. I did see plenty of physical abuse in other families. I saw wives and children that had been knocked around. I even saw a few nuns who beat up some classmates with fists and rulers.

I have no idea how Ray Rice or Adrian Peterson were raised and I bet you don't either. I don't know what was acceptable or normal in their families or neighborhood. This is not an excuse for their behavior, we hopefully improve from generation to generation. If guilty, and it looks like they are, both deserve to be punished either by the justice system and/or the NFL, their employer. 

It seems pretty obvious now that the original two game suspension by the NFL for Ray Rice was too lenient. The Baltimore Ravens originally didn't level any discipline. Then the second elevator video hit (pun intended) the internet. The one which actually showed Rice hitting his fiance rather than the first which just showed him dragging her unconscious body into the hall. Then Rice was suspended indefinitely and fired by the Ravens. Do you really think it was the additional evidence that changed their minds on the punishment? Hell no, it was the public reaction to the video.

In the Adrian Peterson alleged child abuse case, the NFL and Vikings did nothing initially. In fact Adrian was scheduled to play after missing one game. Then, this story caught fire and more importantly, NFL and Minnesota sponsors began bailing or at least questioning the league and team response to the allegations. All of a sudden, Peterson is suspended. 

None of these decisions or punishments by the teams or the league are for altruistic reasons. They are because of public outcry and pressure by sponsors. The league fears that they will lose fans or maybe worse for their bottom line, corporate sponsors. These sponsors are being disingenuous too. They didn't give a damn about all the bad behavior by NFL players until these cases went viral. The league has many convicted felons and thugs playing every week. Anheuser Busch is making statements about this situation and how they have great family values. Let's get this straight, they are a company that sells mass quantities of alcoholic beverages. They advertise on the NFL so they can sell even more alcoholic beverages. Ask anyone familiar with domestic abuse, either spousal or child, about one of the major triggers for it and they will tell you alcohol.

The NFL players union will be carefully pushing back on some of these penalties as they should be. There needs to be due process, the rule of law and adherence to contracts. The NFL and it's teams do not get to do whatever they want because of public opinion or sponsors public relations objectives. 

Domestic abuse is a national, no worldwide, problem. Hopefully these latest examples will be the beginning of a cultural change. In the meantime, I don't think we should demonize Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, the teams or the NFL. They all made mistakes but were they any worse than the public apathy at large. For decades the police, medical field, schools, churches, families, ethnic groups, society and almost everybody else has swept this problem under the rug. Those few who are guilty at that moment the tide changed should not be crucified. 

Domestic abuse is a societal, psychological and family problem. Why should we be surprised that large, strong, pampered, rich guys often from poor backgrounds would sometimes be violent? These people have been aggressive and violent all their life and they have been rewarded for it. 

Let's all work on fixing the problem. Let's try to educate the children and modify the behavior of those who are already abusers. Let's get all of law enforcement to take domestic abuse cases for what they are, assault. Let's get the medical profession to document and report abuse cases. Let's all agree to report and/or intervene when we see abuse in our house, neighborhood or in public. 

Let's also not go completely overboard. It's probably OK to pop an out of control kid on the butt with an open hand to get their attention on occasion. A little swat of a fully clothed kid won't hurt them, but it will get their attention. Likewise, if one member of a couple is out of control, defending yourself is not abuse.

I have little hope that we will approach this problem with any thought or moderation. In the immediate future we will overreact to every hint of domestic abuse and violence. Then in a few months we will either forget about this particular issue or there will be a backlash movement protesting the overly harsh treatment of abusers. 

At this point, I don't know how culpable Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson are. It looks bad, but it also doesn't look like either deserve the death penalty. Let's all take a deep breath. I seem to remember something about "innocent until proven guilty". Maybe more appropriate in this case would be "people in glass houses..." or "let he who is without sin..."

Comments always welcome but try to be civil.

wjh 

Football 2014 - Week 3

My recap of the only football games that matter

CBS kicked off their Thursday Night Football presentation. In the same mold as Sunday Night and Monday Night football on NBC and ESPN, respectively, it is over the top. CBS tries to make it an event when in fact it is just one of 256 regular season NFL games. There is too much pre-game stuff with too many reporters, announcers and experts babbling on about inane crap. This particular pre-game was dominated by the Ray Rice domestic violence case. It is a very important issue that needs to be discussed and fixed. Unfortunately, everyone has jumped on the bandwagon, everyone is now an expert, everyone involved now needs to be punished if not executed. I find it ironic that all these talking heads with ties to the NFL are now speaking out and condemning Ray Rice, the Ravens and the league office. Some of these people are players and coaches who are guilty of bad behavior and/or ignoring or covering up that behavior. I thought I would puke when Deion Sanders started talking about this issue. Deion is a jerk and has been forever. He has treated women with disrespect for years. His last divorce was a public circus. While he may not have hit his wife, he certainly didn't respect her and verbally denigrated her. Same problem as Ray Rice, just different methods. I had to turn it off and never did watch the game. I assume they played even though I didn't watch and I assume one team won and one team lost.

In the Friday night lights division, Bishop Kenny had an off week. Their next game is against Wolfson to start district play.

The Bell Blue Raiders had their first game on their home field although technically they were the home team last week at Cowboys (AT&T) Stadium. Different field, same result. Bell got crushed by the Midland Bulldogs 49-6. Looking at the stats, it wasn't even that close. Bell scored one TD in the first quarter on a 64 yard run and never led. The Raiders are now 0-3 on the season and have been outscored 154-55, a mere 33 points differential per game. Next up Bell travels to Abilene. Maybe getting out of town will be good for them.

In the college ranks for once USF, TCU and Florida were not all playing at exactly the same time.

Saturday started with two blowouts. One good, one bad. Let's start with the bad news. The South Florida Bulls looked terrible against the NC State Wolfpack. The score was 49-17 and it was nowhere near that close. It was painful to watch. NC State outgained USF 589-159. The Bulls also had three turnovers. The Wolfpack held the ball for 39 minutes and pulled their starting QB in the third quarter. The two USF touchdowns were on a 75 yard pass play and a 46 yard interception return. Absolutely pitiful. USF is now 1-2 on the season. How did they win a game? Next up the Connecticut Huskies go to Tampa on Friday night. 

The second game turned out better. TCU beat the Minnesota Golden Gophers 30-7. The Frogs never trailed and in fact, the Gophers didn't score until about four minutes remained in the game. Minnesota also had five turnovers. Ironically TCU lost the time of possession stat 25-35 but they won all the others. The Horned Frogs are now 2-0 and next travel all the way to Dallas (technically University Park) to play SMU on 9/27. Next week they have a bye.

Before the Gators got started, we had a big SEC East matchup as #6 Georgia went to #24 South Carolina. It was a great game with the Gamecocks holding on at the end for a 38-35 victory. SC led most of the game but never by more than 11 points. The Dawgs got within three with seven minutes remaining but that was it. SC had a crucial fourth down at midfield with a little over a minute to go. They made it by a millimeter, maybe less. An aside, Steve Spurrier tied the great former Georgia coach, Vince Dooley, for second spot in all time SEC wins. Bear Bryant hold the record. 

Now on to the main event. The Florida Gators hosted the Kentucky Wildcats in another SEC East game. Despite neither team being ranked, Florida is expected to dominate Kentucky every year, especially in Gainesville. Well, they dominated the first half to a 3-3 tie. They also dominated the second half to a 20-20 tie in regulation. It took three overtimes for Florida to finally win 36-30. It was not a stellar performance, particularly the offense, as usual. The Gators had 295 passing yards but 15 catches for 216 yards were by one receiver, Demarcus Robinson. Gators QB, Jeff Driskel was once again just mediocre. The Wildcats tried to help Florida by throwing three interceptions. For the moment Florida is leading the SEC East with a 2-0 (1-0) record. They better enjoy it quickly because it won't last. Unless vast improvements are made, I don't see how coach Will Muschamp can keep his job. Batten down the hatches because next week the Gators face rough seas and high tides, a Crimson Tide to be exact. Florida travels to Tuscaloosa next week to play Alabama. That could be ugly. 

Once again the SEC dominated in their non-conference games. The only blemish was unranked Tennessee's lose at #4 Oklahoma. The other games were wins, mostly by large margins. After three weeks, the SEC non-conference record is 27-2. Not too shabby. There will be more conference games in upcoming weeks. The rest of the college football world should be thankful.

In the week three AP college football poll, there are seven (7) SEC teams in the top 15. That's half of the conference members in the very top ranks of college football. There is one more SEC ranked in the top 25. That's eight SEC teams total in the poll. This is the one bright spot on my football landscape. 

For the second week in a row the Jacksonville Jaguars were on TV in D/FW. This week it was against the equally hapless Washington team with the politically incorrect name. Both teams have been offensively challenged so I expected a low scoring game. I was half right. The good news is that my youngest son, who is also a Jags fan, came over to watch the game. Because the Cowboys game was on at the same time, we may have been the only two people watching the game in these parts. This was painful to watch. The Redskins lost their starting QB, RG III, early. Their backup then came in and led the team to 41 points. The Jaguars defense was terrible and the offense was worse. Final score 41-10. The only Jaxs TD came on a 63 yard pass play. Their FG came with 6:50 remaining in the game when they were down 34-7. The Jaguars were outgained by 300 yards 449-148. They had only 25 rushing yards. Washington held the ball twice as long as Jacksonville and ran 33 more plays. There was nothing encouraging about this game if you are a Jags fan. They sucked in every phase of the game. Next week they host the Indianapolis Colts. Let's hope that since Indy plays the Monday night game this week that they will be tired and off kilter next Sunday. 

Both Atlanta and Tampa Bay also lost. The Falcons got beat 24-10 in Cincinnati. Atlanta helped the Bengals cause by throwing three interceptions. I had thought that the Falcons would bounce back from last year's poor season after their opening week win against the Saints. I may have been wrong. Next week they play the Buccaneers in Atlanta.

Speaking of the Bucs, they lost at home 19-17 to St. Louis. It was a close game between two bad teams. Tampa Bay had the lead 17-16 with 38 seconds to go, but the Rams kicked the winning FG. Statistically the game was close and equally unimpressive. As mentioned, TB heads to Atlanta next Sunday in an NFC South divisional game. 

Overall, I would call this weekend a bust. Bell, USF and Jacksonville got blown out. Tampa Bay and Atlanta lost. The Gators squeaked by at home over a conference weak sister in overtime. Only the TCU Horned Frogs played well and took care of business. This could be a long season. At least either the Falcons or Buccaneers will win next week. The Jaguars aren't on local D/FW TV next week so I won't be tempted to torture myself of my son. Unfortunately, the Gators at Tide game will be televised. 

wjh