Browns waive Jermaine Whitehead

In a development that was about as shocking as the Cleveland Browns losing a game, the Browns released safety Jermaine Whitehead, one day after a combination of poor play and a post-game flurry that arguably with the most toxic interaction that has ever taken place of social media by an athlete.

Whitehead missed several tackles in the Browns 24-19 loss to the Denver Broncos and was criticized by fans and media for those plays, especially Cleveland radio host Dustin Fox, who is employed by the Browns.
Whitehead played the game with an injured hand and that had to be a portion of the problem in wrapping up ballcarriers, but Whitehead also led the team in missed tackles before the game in Denver, so while it's fair to consider Whitehead's injury in his performance against the Broncos, it
would be just as unfair to judge his problems only on the injury.

Whitehead's release does leave the Browns lighter at safety with Damarious Randall and Eric Murray recently injured, although Randall is reported to have a chance of returning this Sunday against Buffalo.
The Browns might be likely to at least sign a safety to their practice squad as my guess would be one of the three defensive backs on the current practice squad (J.T.Hassell, Tigie Sankoh and 2019 seventh-round draftee Donnie Lewis) would be promoted to the main roster, unless a veteran would happen to fit John Dorsey's description and could step in right away.

As for Whitehead's future, I'd be surprised if he was signed by anyone and would be very well served to contact the XFL as soon as he passes through waivers.
If Whitehead wants another chance in the NFL, he may have to pay some penance in the XFL or even the CFL to show that he can keep himself out of the spotlight.
For the Browns, they had to release Whitehead.
Yes, it is a double standard because I'm not sure a star gets released under the same terms, although I'm sure they would see some sort of fine or suspension.
Employees in the work environment and this is a work environment, cannot be threatening fellow employees (Dustin Fox may not work directly with a player, but is a fellow employee) and consumers of your company's product, which in this case is professional (term used loosely) football.
Try that in your job and see how much longer you are employed.

Back later or tomorrow with those PBC fights from Saturday and a few thoughts on boxing as a side dish.

Bucked in Denver, Browns lose to Broncos 24-19

Bad tackling, mediocre play-calling, and the quarterback's inability to throw a ball that isn't high above his intended receiver's head all added up to the worse loss in a disappointing season for the Cleveland Browns as they lost to a Denver Broncos team that started a quarterback that had never taken a snap in professional football before in a 24-19 shocker.

Baker Mayfield threw for 273 yards and the Browns only touchdown to Jarvis Landry and Austin Siebert kicked four field goals in the defeat.
The Browns slip to 2-6 on the season and will host 6-2 Buffalo next week.

Brownie Bits

1) The first note deals with off the field as safety Jermaine Whitehead blasted off several tweets towards Cleveland radio host Dustin Fox and several fans that challenged them to fights at the team's practice facility in Berea.
Whitehead did have a bad game, missed several tackles, including one that saw Noah Fant run down the field in the above picture for a 75-yard score.
To be fair to Whitehead, he is playing with a broken hand, which can make wrapping up tackles difficult so I could give him a break for that, but his Twitter behavior is inexcusable.
Considering Whitehead's past ( The Packers cut him for slapping New England's David Andrews in a game last season), it wouldn't stun me to see the Browns cut him on Monday.

2) I said before this game that I had a feeling that if the Browns lost to a third-string quarterback that had never taken an NFL snap before this game that Freddie Kitchens could be fired.
Now we'll see because I just cannot make excuses after this,
No matter the excuse, the Browns are 2-6 and now will have to 8-0 to have a playoff chance and 7-1 to salvage a winning record.
Far more was expected from this team, now will Freddie Kitchens take the fall today or is he given the chance to save his job in the second half?

3) Three times in this game, the Browns had key third (and fourth ) downs to be picked up and on all three occasions, it was not Nick Chubb getting the football.
Twice, it was backup Dontrell Hilliard, the other was a sneak by Baker Mayfield and on all three occasions, the Browns came up short of the first down.
If you want to look at why Freddie Kitchens is in trouble, one of the reasons are these play-calling decisions that put the football in the hands of everyone but the best playmakers.

4) To be fair, I thought Baker Mayfield made the first down in the fourth quarter on a fourth and one from the Denver five.
I don't blame Kitchens for going for it there as the Browns were down five points at the time and a field goal still would have left the Browns needing a second field goal to win, 6but as written above- I do question not giving the ball to Chubb.
I thought Mayfield made it on forward progress and still do, but when you watch the replay, Mayfield is turned to the side as he's brought to the turf and that is what the side judge saw when he spotted the football.
Kitchens then made things worse by listening to Mayfield's advice to challenge the call.
These plays that involve short-yardage spots of the football are rarely overturned because there usually just isn't enough visual evidence with so many bodies around the ball.
Predictably, the Browns lost the challenge and a timeout was wasted.

5) Give the Broncos credit, they kept things very simple for first-time starter Brandon Allen.
Denver kept his reads simple, didn't task him with too many decisions to make, and allowed him to play the exact type of game that you would hope to see from a young quarterback in his first game action- keep your team in the game and don't make huge mistakes by turning the football over.
Allen finished 12 of 20 with two touchdowns and most importantly, zero turnovers.

6) Baker Mayfield didn't throw an interception either and his play didn't cost the Browns the game, but he still is throwing so many balls high and for a passer that was regarded as such an accurate passer coming out of Oklahoma, he is not consistent at all with his accuracy.
The two passes that I remember most?
The first was in the first half to a wide-open Demetrius Harris in the back of the Denver end zone.
Being fair, Harris made the catch, but was very sloppy in trying to keep his feet inbounds and was rightfully ruled out of bounds with the Browns settling for yet another Austin Seibert field goal.
I blame Harris far more than Mayfield there, but if that pass is on the money Harris doesn't have to leap and his feet stay in bounds.
The other pass was a pass that meant little in the game, but the little things add up in these losses.
The Browns are running a set screen pass to Nick Chubb and the Browns have the linemen out in front of Chubb in both Greg Robinson and Joel Bitonio, so this looks like at least a first down gained and the potential for more.
Chubb's all alone, so all Mayfield has to do is get the ball to him.
He doesn't, the pass is nowhere near Chubb and incomplete.

7) Odell Beckham caught five passes for 87 yards and hit two for chunks of yardage (39 and 27) with one of those two scraping the ball off a Bronco defenders helmet and the other showcasing a high-step to earn more yardage than the play looked like it would make.
It's easy to see what Beckham can bring to an offense when he is used to his best, but the Browns still aren't using him in the offense at his optimum.
Beckham rarely is running deep patterns and I wish I knew why that was.
Is it Baker Mayfield's arm? Mayfield's health? Freddie Kitchens playcalling? Or the chemistry between the two isn't where it should be after the lack of training camp work?
No matter the reason, the Browns aren't using Odell Beckham to maximum efficiency and if that's the case, why did they trade for him to begin with?

8) The Browns haven't hit on many things this season other than one Sunday in Baltimore, but it appears that Austin Siebert as the kicker has been one of those that have worked out.
Siebert's four field goals kept the Browns in the game and improved to 14 of 14 on the season.

9) One more Mayfield-Beckham note.
On the final Browns drive, Cleveland has taken the ball to the Denver 28 and it's fourth down and four.
Beckham lines up and he has man coverage in which Beckham is always going to have an advantage.
I know that taking a deep shot with the game in the balance is a gamble, but one in that situation that a confident coach and quarterback take.
Mayfield forces the ball into coverage to Jarvis Landry, the ball falls to the grass and the game is over as the Browns are without their timeouts.

10) Mack Wilson has had his struggles as rookie linebackers often will but in the second half, Wilson played his best stretch as a Brown.
Wilson finished with five solo tackles, two of those for losses, a sack, and a deflected pass.
We might look back at this draft as the Mack Wilson draft in a few seasons in stealing a star in the fifth round.

11) I could live with the Broncos touchdown scored by Courtland Sutton, who leaped over Denzel Ward and used a four-inch height advantage to make the play.
Ward did a good job in coverage and a bigger man caught the ball- it happens.
But the lousy tackling on the score by Noah Fant ( Jermaine Whitehead, Greedy Williams, and Adarius Taylor all missed tackles) and the no one even touching Phillip Lindsay on his 30-yard touchdown run might have been worse.
Defensively, the Browns just lack so many fundamentals that other teams always seem to have.

12) Finally, we waited for the schedule to soften and the Browns lost anyway.
When you consider the entire picture and the competition's issues- you HAVE to win this game and they kicked field goals instead.
Please save the "8-0 run vs this schedule" patter, It's not happening.
This team is poorly coached, poor in the fundamentals of the game, immature, and worries about the things that don't matter rather than what should matter.
They will win some games, but not as many as we all thought- now it's a matter of hopefully seeing some growth and maturity and build for next year.
If you are looking for more than that, save those prayers for something else.

Boxing Challenge:Canelo KOs Kovalev

For ten rounds in the Nevada desert, it seemed to me that we might be headed to a controversy at best and a possible Hamburglar at worst, but then it ended and ended suddenly as Canelo Alvarez landed a crunching left hook and as Sergey Kovalev struggled to remain upright, Alvarez finished Kovalev with a vicious right hand that sent Kovalev down to his knees and unable to continue as referee Russell Mora quickly waved the fight off.

It seemed that most watchers had Kovalev ahead either slightly or significantly entering the eleventh round, and Canelo seemed to need at least a knockdown to have a chance on most cards (I had Kovalev ahead 97-93).
However, after the fight, what most expected to happen in Las Canelos was, in fact, happening as after ten rounds, two judges had Alvarez leading by two points and the other had the fight even.
Essentially, even if Kovalev had been able to continue, the fight was lost on the cards as soon as he hit the floor.
Now, on my 

card, I had two very close rounds that could have gone Canelo's way (the third and the eighth) and if you gave both to Canelo, I can see the even scorecard, but the narrative that is so common continues- If you want to beat Canelo Alvarez in Nevada, you better take him out.
The fight was pretty dull actually, with few exchanges and controlled by Kovalev's jab, so even though Canelo came from behind ( on most scorecards anyway), there won't be a hue and cry for a rematch.

Sergey Kovalev followed a game plan and consistently used his jab to effectively nullify the aggressiveness of Alvarez, but he never turned up the heat and tried to use his physical advantages to land his own big right hand, and by the end, Alvarez had no fear of getting hit by anything other than the jab.

I'll give Canelo Alvarez credit for leaping to light heavyweight and facing Kovalev, even if it's a Kovalev that is past his peak, but it's pretty clear that should he elect to continue at 175 pounds, he would have a very difficult time with WBC/IBF champion Artur Beterbiev and even though he matches better physically with the smaller WBA champion Dmitry Bivol, Bivol could take the Kovalev template and perhaps keep Alvarez on the outside all night and win a decision- if that fight is not in Nevada that is.

The fight that makes the most sense (since Canelo has no interest in fighting Gennady Golovkin again) would be against WBA super-middleweight champion Callum Smith.
Smith is with DAZN, holds the real title, and Alvarez holds the secondary title below. Smith is regarded as the top super middleweight, and you have the storyline built in with Canelo's knockout win over Smith's brother Liam a few years back.

As for Sergey Kovalev, I'd like for this to be the end after his third knockout loss in his last seven fights, but I'd bet that Kovalev fights on and there will always be money in an Artur Beterbiev fight, although it'll never be what it could have been before Beterbiev's promotional issues and Kovalev's loss to Andre Ward.

The knockout victory gave Alvarez the WBO light heavyweight title, and even before the fight, Golden Boy and DAZN were attempting to make the argument that Alvarez now equals Henry Armstrong's achievement of holding three titles at the same time.
The ridiculous attempt to place Alvarez's titles (WBA middleweight, the secondary WBA title at super middleweight that Alvarez won from Rocky Fielding and has sat on for a year and now the WBO light heavyweight) pales in comparison to Armstrong holding the feather, light, and welterweight titles at the same time as in Armstrong's era, only one champion existed and in only eight weight classes.

The co-feature on the card that never seemed to end saw Ryan Garcia notch a first-round knockout over Romero Duno in a grudge lightweight match.
Garcia was accused of ducking Duno in September and demanded Duno as his opponent in the first fight under his new contract.

The reason that I didn't add the adjective "impressive" to Garcia's win was that when you watch the replay, it doesn't really appear that Garcia landed any particular strong punch, and Duno stopped fighting faster than a pack of dollar store batteries.
Putting the effort of Duno aside, Garcia's win should move him up in some of the sanctioning bodies, and I suppose he'll make another jump in competition soon, but I think Garcia might be better suited to have a few more fights before facing his first world-class opponent.
Garcia was talking about the newly dubbed WBC champion Devin Haney, and even though Haney hasn't fought anyone of top-level either, his opponents have been better than Garcia's, and Haney appears to be a higher grade of boxer than Garcia as well.

On ESPN during the LONG wait for the final two DAZN fights, Miguel Berchelt looked tremendous in stopping Jason Sosa when Sosa's corner conceded the victory in the fourth round.
Berchelt knocked Sosa down in the second, and Sosa barely survived that round before Berchelt knocked Sosa down again in the fourth and battered Sosa badly before Sosa's corner threw in the towel.
Sosa was once a minor beltholder and upset Javier Fortuna along with a losing challenge to Vasyl Lomachenko, but Berchelt's right hands are whip-like and almost like a baseball pitcher that throws sidearm, and Sosa simply could not avoid them.

Berchelt won't look much better than he did in this one, and I'm not sure what else he could have on tap for his future.
IBF champion Tevin Farmer is with Matchroom/DAZN doesn't make fun fights and judging by his demands for fight with Gervonta Davis, Farmer may ask for far more than the fight is worth, the WBA title was recently vacated by Davis and even though WBO champion Jamel Herring is with Top Rank, Herring will be an underdog against talented and undefeated Lamont Roach, who is with Golden Boy/DAZN.

Vasyl Lomachenko has been rumored for Berchelt for a while now, and the fight never seems close to being put together.

I know Lomachenko wants the winner of the IBF lightweight title fight between Richard Commey and Teofimo Lopez next to unify all the titles, but since the WBC ruined that with their ridiculous "Franchise" champion, Berchelt vs the Commey-Lopez winner would be a great fight, and the winner moving onto Lomachenko would have that much more credibility.

I haven't watched the PBC card yet, so I'll have a small post in a day or so on those results and some other thoughts on the WBC and their "franchise champion", DAZN's waiting until after 1 AM on the East Coast to start Kovalev-Canelo and why Canelo Alvarez has fewer fights that you think because of how his refusal to fight certain opponents is leaving him with few options.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica outscored me five to two on this part of the boxing weekend.
Ramon added two points each from Ryan Garcia and Miguel Berchelt, while I settled for the two points from Berchelt.
The challenge still stands in my favor, 263-230.

Boxing Challenge

The Boxing Challenge weekend has five fights from three platforms and as is typical of boxing- all at the same time!

The biggest fight, of course, is from Las Vegas brought to you by Golden Boy and DAZN as Sergey Kovalev defends his WBO light heavyweight title against Canelo Alvarez, current WBA middleweight champion, franchise something by the WBC, minor titleist for almost a year as a super middleweight without even a sniff of a fight there, and general cash cow as virtually the only real thing keeping Golden Boy alive as a major player in the game.
While Kovalev is the champion and seems to have recovered from his upset loss last year to Eleider Alvarez after winning the rematch with Alvarez and a KO victory in an excellent fight with mandatory challenger Anthony Yarde, Alvarez still is regarded as the favorite on the betting line.
Alvarez last fought in May, winning a unanimous decision to retain his WBA and WBC middleweight titles and added Jacobs' IBF title as well.
Since then, the WBC made Alvarez their ridiculous "franchise" champion and handed his WBC title to Jermall Charlo and the IBF took their title away after Alvarez's refusal to fight Sergey Dereyvanchenko.
The general opinion has Alvarez getting inside and pounding Kovalev's body, thinking the "Krusher" is vulnerable there after being "knocked out" by Andre Ward with bodywork.
I differ on that, as even though I think Andre Ward was on his way to winning their second fight, the facts are that Ward drilled Kovalev low several times in the final salvo of the fight and referee  Tony Weeks ignored that in one of the worst cases of referring in a big fight in years, only challenged by the ineptitude of Laurence Cole in the Orlando Salido-Vasyl Lomachenko match.
What I do wonder about is Kovalev's chin after being knocked out by Eleider Alvarez, a good not great puncher and while he took some big shots from Anthony Yarde, who is a harder puncher than Alvarez, I still wonder what happens when adversity rises against the faster Canelo.
Kovalev is the bigger man and the bigger puncher, Canelo has never stopped an elite-level opponent and his last stoppage over a good opponent was three years ago in a ninth-round knockout of Liam Smith.
The wonder for me with Kovalev is this- Is this Kovalev's cash-in fight or is he truly going in to do whatever it takes to win this?
I think this is a closer fight than many seem to, but it all comes down to what Sergey Kovalev has left.
If he can stay on the outside and land his excellent jab, Kovalev has an excellent chance to win this, but Canelo and Las Vegas are peanut butter and jelly together, if this fight is close, it's going to Canelo.
Canelo got the nod in both Golovkin fights that I thought he lost there and beat Erislandy Lara in a fight I scored a draw and many thought Lara won.
The track record is clear- if it's close, Canelo wins.

The co-feature for the Golden Boy card is a bit of a grudge match as social media sensation and lightweight prospect Ryan Garcia faces his first strong opponent in Romero Duno.
Garcia's scheduled September fight was supposed to be his first step up in competition against Avery Sparrow, but Sparrow was arrested the day before the fight.
Romero Duno was on the card and was willing to change his opponent and fight Garcia, who refused to fight Duno despite some pressure from Golden Boy.
Garcia has since signed an extension of his promotional agreement with GBP and reportedly demanded his first fight under the new contract to see Duno as his first opponent.
Garcia is also a stronger opponent than Duno has faced, so for a twelve-round fight without real stakes between two prospects, this is a very interesting fight.

ESPN was supposed to have two world title fights from their provider in Top Rank, but visa problems with Jonathan Rodriguez canceled his challenge of Jerwin Ancajas for the IBF junior bantamweight title held by Ancajas.
The main event is still a good one with Miguel Berchelt defending his WBC junior lightweight title against Jason Sosa.
Berchelt has dominated his opposition since defeating Francisco Vargas to win his title in 2017 and with a victory could make his next defense against former WBO featherweight champion Oscar Valdez and also has been rumored for over a year as an eventual opponent of Vasyl Lomachenko.
Sosa has been a solid fighter for years and holds a win over Javier Fortuna and a draw against Nicholas Walters when Walters was undefeated and thought to be among the top twenty pounds for pound fighters in the world.
Still, Sosa has failed in his attempts against elite fighters such as Vasyl Lomachenko and lost to a fading Yuriorkis Gamboa, although he did knock Gamboa down and I think Berchelt is just a cut above Sosa.

Fox Sports One will televise a PBC card with the main event pairing junior middleweights Brian Castano and Wale Omotoso.
Castano drew with Erislandy Lara earlier this year in a very entertaining matchup and Omotoso blasted former middleweight title challenger Curtis Stevens in three rounds in August.
Castano appears to be a stronger fighter than Omotoso and despite Omotoso's big punch (22 KOs in 28 wins, he sleepwalked through his previous fight before Stevens in not winning a round against prospect Chordale Booker.

I mentioned Javier Fortuna above in the Jason Sosa blurb and Fortuna fights against Jesus Cuellar in a junior lightweight tilt in the co-main event in a fight that is better than the main event.
Fortuna, who lost a minor title to Jason Sosa in the past, won a decision over Sharif Boguere in February and is the bigger fighter against Cuellar, who was once a minor title claimant at featherweight.
Cuellar has lost two of his last three and has fought only twice since December of 2011.
Style-wise this should be a good mix.

In the boxing challenge, I lead Ramon Malpica 261-225.

WBO Light Heavyweight Title. 12 Rds
Sergey Kovalev vs Canelo Alvarez
R.L: Alvarez Unanimous Decision
TRS: Kovalev Split Decision

Lightweights. 12 Rds
Ryan Garcia vs Romero Duno
R.L: Garcia KO 6
TRS: Duno Unanimous Decision

WBC Junior Lightweight Title. 12 Rds
R.L: Berchelt KO 7
TRS: Berchelt KO 11

Junior Middleweights. 10 Rds
Brian Castano vs Wale Omotoso
Both: Castano Unanimous Decision

Junior Lightweights. 10 Rds
Javier Fortuna vs Jesus Cuellar
Both: Fortuna Unanimous Decision

PPM

It's a much lighter weekend in the barely post-Halloween edition with Ohio State and the Browns on an off week, but the PPM never stops!

Last Week: 8-3
Overall: 79-33

College
Boise State over San Jose State 32-16
Bowling Green over Akron 30-14
Wake Forest over N.C. State 33-30
Central Florida over Houston 37-25
Middle Tennessee State over Charlotte 40-21
Washington over Utah 24-22
Appalachian State over Georgia Southern 30-21

Games of the Week
Florida over Georgia 26-21
Memphis over SMU 45-42

Pro
Browns over Broncos 23-14

Game of the Week
Patriots over Ravens 28-17

Shot Down Again-Devils lose Shootout to Flyers

The New Jersey Devils kept their current string going in the final game of their homestand, but few portions of the continuing string were positives as another loss, another shootout loss and another blown lead at home were part of the 4-3 home shootout loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.
Sean Couturier beat Mackenzie Blackwood as the third Flyer shooter for the only goal of the shootout.
The Devils did receive a point but only totaled six points from a possible twelve from their longest homestand of the season.
New Jersey goals to Sami Vatanen (4 Power Play), Taylor Hall (2), and Wayne Simmonds (1 Power Play) in the defeat.
The Devils begin a five-game road trip in Raleigh tomorrow against the Carolina Hurricanes before that lovely Western Canada swing that everyone loves so much!

Hell Raisers

1) Hey, the power play was working!
Two of the Devils' three goals were scored with the extra man on the ice and their two goals were half of the power-play goals that the Devils had scored all season entering the game.
If there is anything to be hopeful about, perhaps we can start with some improvement on the PP!

2) Wayne Simmonds scored his first goal as a Devil with one of those man-advantage goals and ended a run of some of the worst luck that I've seen from a Devil.
I'm sure Simmonds would have been happier with a win over his former team, but scoring his first goal against them is the next best thing.

3) Taylor Hall finished with a goal and an assist in his first game after his observations on fans booing the team at home.
The goal was a highlight as Hall slid into Flyers goalie Carter Hart seconds after the puck slid through the legs of Hall.

4) The shootout woes continue as no Devils (Palmieri, Hughes, and Hall in this one) were able to score past Carter Hart.
It's funny how shootouts work as on paper, one would think that the Devils should be fairly strong with creative offensive players and players skilled in the open ice, but yet it isn't happening.
Sometimes these things come and go during a season and others just don't have the knack for it.

5) Sean Couturier's game-winner against Mackenzie Blackwood brought the old Peter Forsberg shootout move to mind and no one can blame Blackwood for being unable to make the stop.

6) I know it cost the Devils a power play ( that the Flyers didn't score on) and a ten-minute misconduct for Kyle Palmieri,  but I loved his going right at Matt Niskanen after Niskanen drove Jack Hughes into the boards and then to the concussion area for a mandatory check from the physician.
Jack Hughes is slightly built and at 18 years old, teams are going to test him.
Hughes will eventually have to face some of this and stand up to it, but it was something that I have been waiting for to see who would pick up the gauntlet and defend the future franchise player.
Kudos to Kyle Palmieri for stepping up.

7) Minutes before the game, the Devils obtained veteran goalie Louis Domingue from Tampa Bay for a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2021 draft.
Domingue played 26 games last season for Tampa Bay, winning 21 of those for the first-place Lightning with a 2.88 GAA and a save percentage of  .908 as the main backup behind Andrei Vasilevskiy.
The twenty-seven-year-old Domingue played a few games for Tampa's AHL farm club in Syracuse and was assigned to the Devils AHL team in Binghamton where he should be a veteran presence to younger netminders, Evan Cormier and Gilles Senn.
Either Cormier or Senn will likely be dropped to the Devils ECHL squad (Adirondack Thunder) and I'm not sure which will move to make space.
Cormier has played in six games, Senn in five, with similar numbers and ages (Senn 23, Cormier 22 in a few days) it's hard to say.
A tiebreaker could be what Ray Shero thinks of Senn, who played in the Swiss league last season, and how much he wants to challenge him vs  Cormier, who played in the AHL last season.

8) Just keep in mind this seemingly small deal as the season wears on for another reason- the awful start for Cory Schneider.
If Schneider's play doesn't improve, he would be a candidate for a buyout and should that happen Louis Domingue would be a low-cost veteran backup to move to the roster.
That would be a worst-case scenario because that would mean Schneider was so bad that either the season's essentially over or nearing that point with Schneider's play being a major problem in a disappointing season.
We are nowhere near that point, but remember this note should it be needed.

I Tell Ya' Herbie

Another day and another edition of
I tell ya' Herbie where I give my takes on various news in college football.


I tell ya' Herbie:
                          The game of the week is down in Memphis, home of Elvis Presley, Keith Lee and Jerry "the King" Lawler- none of which are football players, although two did attend the then-Memphis State, now University of Memphis.
The AAC West lead is the prize as 8-0 SMU travels to 7-1 Memphis with the winner taking a step forward to winning the division.
SMU has been the surprise story of the season behind former Texas quarterback Shane Buechele, while Memphis keeps rolling along with their offense and head coach Mike Norvell, who seems destined for a Power Five job whenever he finds the right fit.
SMU still has to play one-loss Navy, while Memphis has the 6-1 and undefeated in the AAC Cincinnati Bearcats waiting in their final game, so the winner hasn't locked up a championship berth yet.
What could be the most important part of all about this game?
With a lighter schedule as far as impact games this Saturday, SMU-Memphis will be the Saturday night game on ABC and give the AAC a rare chance to show their product on a national stage.
Considering that both teams score plenty of points and have been in exciting games all season, this game is the game that I am most excited about this weekend.

I tell ya' Herbie:
                          I'm writing this early Friday morning from the road office and watched the Georgia Southern upset of undefeated Appalachian State 24-21 as the Eagles held off a late rally from the Mountaineers in beautiful Boone, North Carolina.
The loss not only kicks Appalachian out of the hunt for the Group of Five spot in the New Year's Day bowl games but also dropped them into a tie in the loss column for the division lead in the Sun Belt East division with Georgia State and Georgia Southern.
The defeat snapped the thirteen game winning streak for Appalachian State dating back to 2017 where they lost to... Georgia Southern.

I tell ya' Herbie:
                          Let's give some credit for a coaching hire that I wasn't crazy about, but has turned out well thus far in Les Miles at Kansas.
Now, to be fair, it wasn't that I dislike Miles as a coach, it was that at Miles' age (Soon to be 66) Kansas was such a disaster that he would be better suited to spend his borrowed time elsewhere.
Miles has won three games in Lawrence, beat Texas Tech last Saturday on a wacky play at the end of the game and lost at the gun to Texas on the previous Saturday. which wouldn't be a big deal at most places, but in Kansas it's noteworthy.
I'm not sure that the Jayhawks can win three of their final four to qualify for a bowl, but this is still better than things have been in years.

I tell ya' Herbie:
                          I know it's a cute story with the Minnesota Golden Gophers at 8-0, but looking closer at the schedule shows that record is tissue paper soft with no one near the top 25, two close wins in non-conference over Fresno State and Georgia Southern and drawing what might be the best five teams to play in conference for a fast start with three teams with losing records (Purdue, Maryland, and Rutgers), disappointing Nebraska at 4-4 and catching 4-4 Illinois before they seemed to turn their season around.
P.J. Fleck's campaigning to bring ESPN GameDay to campus before next Saturday's game against fellow undefeated Penn State could backfire if the Gophers get rolled as I think they will.
The Gophers hold a two-game lead over Wisconsin and Iowa, but I don't think that they can hold it with games against Penn State and the two teams trying to catch them in their final four games.
Still, if Minnesota does manage to pull off their first divisional title, I think they'll be toast against any of the still eligible teams from the eastern division- Ohio State, Penn State or Michigan.

I tell ya' Herbie:
                          There might not be a worse conference at the bottom of their league than Conference USA, which has three teams with a combined two wins with Old Dominion, UTEP, and Rice.
Sadly, Old Dominion doesn't play UTEP or Rice, but in the final week of the season UTEP, which has one win (a two-point win over Houston Baptist) will battle winless Rice in the type of game that makes you think of last week's awful game of the week (Hmm, perhaps an addition to the PPM out tomorrow?) between Connecticut and Massachusetts that was part of "Herbie" last week.
Connecticut defeated Massachusetts 56-35 in just the sort of game that I imagined it to be!
Please, football gods, televise UTEP-Rice somewhere and not against a team that I need to watch!

I tell ya' Herbie:
                          One thing about Group of Five football that gives it a minor league look is the lack of attendance.
I understand why this happens when you have a bad team and are getting killed every week with facilities that are often less than great.
I wonder why some of these teams that don't have long traditions (MAC and Mountain West, which has almost all the heritage of the old WAC) even try and could be better suited to drop to a 1-AA football level.
Conference USA and the Sun Belt would be better off combining the best of each league for football only, allow the weaker sisters to play in their own league for football only in 1-AA, and then return to their normal leagues for the other sports.
This would result in a stronger league for the Group of Five and give schools that don't invest as much money into their football programs (at the G-5 level) a chance to compete for a national title in 1-AA.
I'll expand on this in another "Herbie" down the road, but here is an example of the struggles for some teams.

Want to attend a Conference USA game between 1-7 Old Dominion and 4-4 Florida International in Miami-Dade County?
According to this ad on ESPN as I looked up the records for C-USA, you could attend this game for three dollars.
Tough to make money like that.