What did we do to deserve such a consistent run of great football? What is that, like 3 or 4 awesome weekends in a row? College Football is the most entertaining product out right now, and it continues to get better and better every week. It seems the #1 ranking is a curse as nobody can keep it, the SEC is truly wide open, Indiana is LEGIT, FLLLLLLorida State will not stop losing, and Ashton Jeanty is STILL your Heisman front runner.
We have a lot to touch on, but first let’s give some credit to where credit is due – your boy is on a heater. Nearly swept NFL picks this weekend (5-1) and had another great CFB Saturday despite the chaos (9-3). I even gave the people some outright dog winners (shoutout Tennessee and UGA). One thing about me, I hate gloating, but knowing this run will inevitably flip on its head & I will become as cold as the other side of the pillow, so I must gloat whilst I can.
Lions 31 Vikings 29: What an awesome game. Was this a preview of the NFC Championship game? I think so. The NFC North is looking like the best division in the NFL after 7 weeks, as the Lions dethrone the now 5-1 Vikings and sit atop the North also at 5-1. The big matchup coming into this game was between two of the best coordinators in football, Lions OC Ben Johnson and Vikings DC Brian Flores. Ben Johnson won this battle, but this win wouldn’t have been possible without numerous standout performances on both sides of the ball – DB Brian Branch was all over the place, with an interception and a fumble recovery for a touchdown, QB Jared Goff had another near perfect game (22/25 for 280 and 2 TDs), Jahmyr Gibbs took advantage of the injury to David Montgomery & put together 160 total yards of offense with 2 TDs himself, and lastly as I predicted, Amon-Ra St. Brown refuses to have back to back stinkers as he put up 112 yards and a TD. The Vikings played pretty well, as MVP frontrunner Sam Darnold put up a solid performance but threw a costly interception in the redzone where the game completely shifted. Justin Jefferson did his thing, and had a second half scoring drive where it was all him – 5 rec 49 yards & a TD. Despite the loss, I think the Vikings will be fine.
That really was the only good game of the day, so with that we move to the NFL Quickie: Back to Londontown to start here as it might be October in the States, but it’s Maye in the UK. Sike, it’s actually Tank Bigsby season, as the 2nd year back from Auburn ran for 120 yards and 2 TDs to keep Doug Pederson employed for another week, Jags win 32-16. Speaking of seasons, Kirktober seems to be ending sooner than expected, as the Falcons QB threw 2 INTs and ruined a fantastic Bijan game (145 total yards & a score) in a loss to Geno and his west coast birds 34-14. To New York we go, as Josh Allen has another slow start, but remembers that he is the Patrick Mahomes of Baker Mayfields and turns it on, finishing for 360 total yards and 3 scores as they beat the Titans 34-10 (Shoutout Amari Cooper for scoring in his first game as a Bill). Deshaun Watson tears his achilles, and millions rejoice, I can only assume he sacrificed his calcaneal tendon due to it being one of the MOST rehab intensive injuries out there. The dude needs his massages like a tissue needs a sneeze. We get a few minutes of vintage Jameis but it wasn’t enough as Joe Burrow and co hang on 21-14. The second best game of the day resulted in a Packers 24-22 win, as they debuted their ‘Winter Warning’ jerseys. Apparently it worked, as HC Demeco Ryans forgot how to manage a clock and left wayyyy too much time for Jordan Love, as he marched down the field & Brandon McManus hit the game winner. Since we’re doing QB comparisons, Anthony Richardson is the Tim Tebow of Cam Newtons, you can figure that one out. An absolutely gross game where someone had to win, Colts hang on 16-10. As expected, Saquon Barkley went nuclear (188 yards & a TD) in his return to Metlife field. He now has more touchdowns in that stadium this season than Daniel Jones (true story). Eagles roll 28-3. After the Devante Adams trade, the Raiders are literally left with no offensive weapons other than rookie TE Brock Bowers, as he saw 15 targets and catch 10 balls for 93 yards. Despite the career high in receptions, Kyren Williams was too much (2 TDs) as the Rams outlast the dumb decision making from Antonio Pierce and win 20-15. Jayden Daniels gets a rib injury on the second play of the game, sits out, and the Commies still whomp the Panthers 40-7. Has the Andy Dalton experiment run it’s course? They look horrific. If I told you Patrick Mahomes is leading the NFL in interceptions and has a career low in YPG and completion %, would you think the Chiefs are 6-0? No? Yeah, no shit you wouldn’t. Well it’s true, they are somehow 6-0. In Brock Purdy’s worst game of his career (3 INT’ s) he had nobody but George Kittle to throw to after Deebo, Aiyuk and Juan Jennings all go down or missed this game. Kareem Hunt carries KC to a 28-18 win. Aaron Rodgers loves getting his ass kicked on National TV, Devante Adams has lost to the Steelers twice in 13 days, and DangeRuss Wilson might be back. Steelers roll 37-15.
The Dawgs welcome Texas to the SEC with an asswhooping
UGA 30
UT 15
As far as ‘warm welcomes’ go, that one sucked. A completely dominant performance by the Dawgs defense left the Longhorns in shock. Coming into this game, I made a note that UGA’s defense ranked 81st in turnover margin, and that had to change in order for them to win this game, and boy am I glad they’re subscribed to the Deuce because they listened. A stifling 7 (SEVEN) sacks on Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning had them in hell all game, being chased down by Jalon Walker (3 sacks) and Mykel Williams (2 sacks) for the majority of the game. That pressure forced some errant ball handling (ayo?) by Ewers – a blindside corner blitz by Daylen Everette where he smoked Ewers and forced a fumble, then an interception by Everette 2 possessions later, which led to a short field for UGA and another Etienne rushing TD shortly thereafter. Speaking of Jalon Walker, he became the first person in 20 years to record 3 sacks and 7 tackles against the AP #1 team… and he did it all in the first half. The Dawgs were all over Texas in the first half, holding them to just 62 yards of total offense and shutting them out multiple times in UGA territory after Beck threw some dumbass interceptions.
Now that we’re on the topic of Carson Beck, he looked like shit. Granted, there were 6 drops by Georgia WR’s, which doesn’t help, but he never looked comfortable or settled in. After quick 3 and outs by both teams to start the game, Carson Beck threw back to back interceptions, and was forcing the ball unnecessarily. A game with two top 5 NFL draft QB prospects ended up being pretty dull to be honest. Texas got bullied up front on both sides, UGA and Trevor Etienne ran wild (3 TDs) and if it weren’t for the classless fans throwing beer cans and water bottles onto the field after a questionable defensive PI call, this could’ve been more of a blowout than the score indicates.
Verdict – I think Texas has some soul searching to do. The SEC plays a little different brand of football, and we may have overrated Texas’ win vs Michigan earlier this season as the Wolverines are now 4-3 and unranked. I have faith that Sark will have his offense back in form in no time, and with a favorable schedule ahead, I expect these teams to see each other again later in the season. For the Dawgs, where the hell was this defense against Alabama? The scariest part is they are still missing a few starters on the defensive side of the ball, and on offense they are still yet to play their best football. In a game where Carson threw no TDs & 3 INTs, I would not expect to see UGA win, nonetheless them beat the #1 team in their own backyard, but here we are. They still have a few tough games ahead, but if they can figure out things on the offensive side, they’re gonna be really scary.
Bama can’t handle the noise in Neyland
TENN 24
BAMA 17
Hey Alabama, you okay? Since beating Georgia, Jalen Milroe has gone from a Heisman candidate to a DJ Oogiebadoogie clone. He has thrown more interceptions in his last 4 games (6) than he has touchdowns (5). It seems hard to imagine, as the memory of his UGA performance is burned into my brain like that one scene of Sydney Sweeney from Euphoria (you know the one). Anyway, I guess he’s human after all, and like I mentioned in the preview, Neyland stadium is spooky once the sun goes down. It remains one of the hardest places to win, no matter how good or bad the Vols might be.
Speaking of, are the Vols good? They move to 6-1 and 3-1 in the SEC, as that Arkansas loss is haunting them more and more every week. Nico Iamsometimesgoodatfootball looked okay but I’m still not impressed. He had a rough start to the game and a bad interception, but tightened it up and was able to put together a few critical drives down the stretch. He threw the go-ahead TD with 2:30 left to go, and it was up to the Vol defense to make a stop. Alabama preceded to implode, as Milroe couldn’t find anyone down the field and forced a throw into double coverage, resulting in the rare white DB Interception. Shoutout to Tennessee RB Dylan Sampson as he continues his streak of 100 yard/2+ TD games as he put the team on his back (again) and is now 2nd in the FBS with 17 TDs (DAMN). The Vols are still very much in the mix, but have a few big tests coming up that could start to shape the SEC.
I am running out of steam here so I’m throwing everyone else into the CFB Quickie: #6 Miami hangs on in an absolute classic shootout with Louisville. Cam Ward threw for 320 and 4 TDs as the Canes move to 7-0 with a 52-45 win. #8 LSU goes to Fayetville and dines on swine. Freshman RB Caden Durham is a problem as he and the Tigers cook the Hogs 34-10. #9 Iowa State escapes upset and remains undefeated as UCF fumbles a pick 6 at the goaline (look it up it’s so dumb) to cough up a 38-35 game to the Cyclones. #10 Clemson covers the spread for the 4th straight week as they take care of Virginia 48-31 despite the slow start. #12 Notre Dame rolls as expected against a Haynes King-less GT squad, all Irish in this one 31-13. #14 Texas A&M holds off a late comeback effort from Miss State and moves to 6-1 (4-0 in the SEC) with a 34-24 win. #16 Indiana SLAUGHTERS Nebraska and makes a statement with this 56-7 win. The Hoosiers are BACK. #22 Illinois wins in true B1G fashion as they dominate the anemic Michigan offense and wins a very slow boring game 21-7. #23 Army and #25 Navy remain unbeaten as they take care of business against Charlotte and East Carolina. In the realm of BEATEN teams, we welcome USC and FLLLLLLorida State to the conversation. Stincoln Riley has now lost 4 straight B1G games as the Trojans fall to 3-4. For FSU, well the punches just keep coming, as they fell to Duke on Friday night and are now 1-6. Lastly, we have South Carolina welcoming Oklahoma to the SEC with a 35-9 Beamer Ball whomping as Brent Venables and the Sooners are in quarterback hell. Also shoutout to the Georgia Southern Eagles as they get over the hump and defeat James Madison to move to 1st place in the #FunBelt.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have our World Series matchup. While it happens to be two of the most insufferable franchises in any sport, at least it’s not a NY Subway series between the Yankees and Mets. To quickly wrap up the championship series’, let’s recap –
New York Yankees: The Jankees officially stamped their ticket and completed the gentleman sweep of the Cleveland Guardians on Saturday night behind some late inning magic from Mike Stanton and Juan Soto. After trailing 2-0 for most of the game, Giancarlo ‘Mike’ Stanton cranked a 446 foot home run (holy piss that’s far), tying the game 2-2 entering the 7th. Some bullpen magic pushed this game to extras where Juan Soto made himself a half a billion dollar man with one swing. With two on and one out, staring at a full count, Soto took a 4 seam fastball 400+ feet and took all of the air out of Progressive field. The bottom of the 10th only took 8 pitches, as the Yanks left cold-as-ice closer Luke Weaver in and he dealt, sending the Yankees to the World Series for the first time since 2009.
Los Angeles Dodgers: Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman. Between those 3 gentleman are a laundry list of MVPs, Golden Gloves and Silver sluggers, yet none had a better postseason than Tommy Edman. The 29 year old from Pontiac, Michigan has been the heartbeat of this Dodgers playoff run thus far. With a batting average of .341, he leads the team in hits and RBIs as well as stolen bases. We’ve talked about Ohtani’s weird ass hitting stats with runners on base vs them being empty, but maybe he can figure it out or they’ll move him down in the lineup. Mookie continues to be a monster and Freddie has a lingering ankle injury but as long as he keeps ripping those percocets, he should be okay.
Preview: this should be a lot of fun. Personally, I’ll be cheering against the Dodgers (except for my sweet prince Shohei, I hope you hit a million HR’s). If you have eyeballs or a brain (or follow baseball at all), you’re probably wondering why I haven’t mentioned Aaron Judge. Well, he’s kinda sucked ass all postseason. His batting average this postseason is an abysmal .161, with only 5 hits in 31 plate appearances. He does have 2 HR’s, so I guess give him credit for that – when he does hit the ball, 40% of the time it’s a bomb. Judge still hasn’t earned his stripes in my opinion, but he has baseballs biggest stage to try and do so. For LA, they’re interesting. I spoke to the rise of Tommy Edman, but that lineup is so deep it really could be anybody that ends up being the difference in this series. I’m gonna stick to my guns though and say Yankees in 7.
Nothin fancy here, just thought I’d share a text with the group.
Love you guys,
TWD
