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Bad Start for College Football in 2019 (And What to do About It) September 19, 2019Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.
Tags: Alabama, Auburn, college, football, Georgia, LSU, MLS, NCAA, NFL, Nick Saban, Notre Dame, Oregon, Texas
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While there have been several great matchups these past few weeks (e.g., Auburn vs. Oregon, LSU @ Texas, and this upcoming weekend, Notre Dame @ Georgia), there have been lots of dud contests. Simply put, it is difficult to recall in recent memory where so many pointless "body bag" games have been scheduled.
The first week began with such dreck games as UCF playing Florida A&M; Arizona State played Kent State; Maryland played Howard; Nebraska played South Alabama; Temple played Bucknell; Penn State played Idaho; Tennessee played Georgia State…and lost…at home! Moreover, Texas Tech played Montana State; Kansas State played Nicholls; Washington State played New Mexico State, and TCU played Arkansas Pine Bluff.
The only really good matchup for week 1 was Auburn playing Oregon.
Week 2 was better, but not by much. Horrid matchups still prevailed with Arizona State playing Sacramento State; Kansas State played Bowling Green; South Carolina played Charleston Southern; Indiana played Eastern Illinois; Georgia played Murray State, while Alabama played New Mexico State; Oklahoma played South Dakota; Auburn played Tulane; you get the picture.
Ironically, what was a bad matchup on paper turned out to be a nail-biter, as Michigan had to struggle to beat Army. That said, Texas A&M put up a strong, valiant fight against No. 1 Clemson, and LSU @ Texas proved to be the best game of the year thus far. Though the Longhorns lost, they acquitted themselves in that they demonstrated that they're still a legit top-10 team. LSU, on the other hand, has a real quarterback and probably the most potent office since at least the 2007 team, if not since the 2003 team under Nick Saban. Watch out, SEC; the Bayou Bengals are deadly this year.
Even in week 3, it did college football no service to put on body bag games like Miami (Fla.) playing Bethune-Cookman, Tennessee playing Chattanooga, or Texas A&M playing Lamar. The majority of the games thus far have demonstrated the need for a college football commissioner like no other season beginning in memory. Such a commissioner's main job would be to ensure that good and decent teams played each other in the regular season to keep college football both interesting and engaging. As Alabama has learned the hard way, even a team with devoted as fans as those of The Tide will be loathe to attend such boring games when they know that their team will walk away winning by at least four touchdowns. If head coaches and their respective athletics directors are too timid to risk a loss by playing good teams, thus making for good, interesting games, then a college football commissioner shall have to force the issue for them.
No sport can flourish with hard-core fans along, (see: Soccer, Major League). Conversely, one of the biggest reasons why the NFL is the most popular sport league in America by far is because, in addition to its legions of hard-core fans, it's practically everyone else's second-favorite sport.
Over the past 25 years, we college football fans have witnessed dramatic growth in the game we love. That prosperity is now potentially in peril when so many teams schedule boring, pointless, body bag games. Want to slowly wither away into relative obscurity? Start by turning off the casual fans with insufficiently engaging games. The three stellar games I have already mentioned in this article are not enough to maintain that.
Yes, week 4 shall be an improvement, but much work needs to be done to prevent such a spate of pointless games from showing up on major teams' schedules. A commissioner of college football would be the quickest, most efficient, and most decisive instrument to ensure a critical mass of engaging matchups throughout the season.
To keep the game we love from dwindling into irrelevancy, more people in the sport need to be willing to take these necessary risks. Lest we have to hold our collective breath before enough coaches and AD's wise up to this, a college football commissioner could wise up for them and compel enough, er, compelling games to take place. The question thus becomes, do the powers that be in the NCAA HQ recognize such urgency, and if not, why not?
On Changes in SEC Competition February 8, 2019Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.
Tags: Aggies, Alabama, Citrus Bowl, Crimson Tide, Dak Prescott, Dan Mullen, Ed Orgeron, Florida, Fran Curci, Gator Bowl, Gators, Georgia, Jim Harbaugh, Jimbo Fisher, Johnny Manziel, Kentucky, Kevin Sumlin, Kirby Smart, LSU, Mark Stoops, Michigan, Mississippi State, Missouri, NCAA, Nick Saban, Penn State, recruiting, SEC, Texas A&M, Wildcats
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They say that a college football team's potential for high rankings and even playoff contention is predicated on the ranking of its recruiting classes. Alabama's persistently top-ranked recruiting classes seem to demonstrate this. Yet while some things remain the same, others seem to be changing.
For several years, the SEC appeared to consist of Alabama and everybody else. The Crimson Tide had Nick Saban, who has proven to be the best college head coach in the business, while almost all other programs in the conference – with some exceptions – having been led by glorified gym teachers.
That now seems to be changing. Kirby Smart at Georgia, for example, has proven to be a most capable Saban protégé. He learned Saban's modus operandi while defensive coordinator at Alabama, and the Bulldogs' performance for the past two seasons shows that he has successfully transplanted a critical percentage of this erstwhile master's methodologies into Athens. Indeed, the 2017-2018 season culminated with Georgia playing Alabama for the national title. At the send of the 2018 season, the Bulldogs once again played the Tide down to the wire during the SEC championship game.
While Georgia has emerged as Alabama's toughest competition for conference supremacy, other intra-conference competition now gradually emerges, too. Take Florida, for example. Dan Mullen is such a skillful coach that his previous program, Mississippi State, was briefly the number one team in the country back in 2014 (Dak Prescott sure helped with that, to be sure). Now, with far more resources at his disposal, he has brought the Gators back to strength. Their 41-15 trouncing of a solid, Jim Harbaugh-led Michigan team in the Peach Bowl has demonstrated this. Both Georgia and Alabama ought to be on notice that there is a new up-and-comer on the block.
As things currently stand, Alabama has the top-ranked freshman recruiting class for 2019, and Georgia is right behind them at No. 2. But Florida is now at No. 9 (up from No. 17 the previous year), and their on-the-field improvement was clearly noticeable in the aforementioned Peach Bowl. With such a bump in the recruiting rankings, one can only imagine how highly their team rankings could improve come the Fall.
While Georgia needs to start looking over its shoulder at SEC East and border rival Florida, in the west, the competitive pressure is intensifies for Saban and Bama. Texas A&M caught lightning in a bottle with Johnny Manziel under the leadership of Kevin Sumlin (who went 51-26, not bad for an overall average program). While it remains my contention that Aggie Nation was a collective fool in jettisoning Coach Sumlin just a few years post-Manziel, they nevertheless seem to have upgraded with Jimbo Fisher, who previously had revived Florida State. Fisher did not disappoint in his first year (2018), going 9-4, winning the Gator Bowl (52-13 over NC State…ouch!), and finishing the year at No. 16.
Further improvement for the Aggies seems imminent. Last year, they finished at No. 16 in the recruiting rankings, but this year have risen to No. 4. Nick Saban's dominance of the SEC West is about to become considerably more difficult.
It gets no easier from there. Just behind A&M (who, again, is No. 4) in the recruiting rankings at No. 5 is SEC West rival LSU. All head coach Ed Orgeron needs is a more creative offense, and they could very well contend with the Tide for divisional supremacy. Until he does, Orgeron might still merit the "gym teacher" category placement.
One other proven coach of note is Mark Stoops at Kentucky. A program at considerable disadvantages compared to other SEC programs not named Missouri, Stoops has built the Wildcats up to their strongest level since the Fran Curci era. Barring some major scandal, he shall have done so through considerably more ethical means at that! His 2018 recruiting class was only at No. 30, and this year at No. 34. Yet the Wildcats finished the 2018 season at 10-3, including a win over Penn State in the Citrus Bowl, and with a ranking at No. 11. Mark Stoops thus deserves a serious award for the SEC coach to have done the most with the least.
Yes, the SEC still has its fair share of "gym teachers", but there are others who are clearly talented and have what it takes to seriously threaten Saban's legendary dynasty.
Look out for Georgia, Florida, Texas A&M, and possibly LSU as they look to start campaigns that should make for a very interesting 2019 season in SEC football.
College Football Awards, Week 10 (2018) November 4, 2018Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.
Tags: Alabama, Arizona State, Auburn, Baylor, Bobby Petrino, Boise State, Brett Brennan, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Clemson, Colorado, Dana Holgorsen, East Carolina, Florida, Fresno State, Georgia, Georgia State, Hurricanes, Iowa, James Franklin, Kansas, Kansas State, Kliff Kingsbury, Louisiana, Louisville, Matt Wells, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Missouri, Navy, Nebraska, Nick Saban, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Penn State, Pitt, Pittsburgh, Purdue, San Jose State, South Carolina, South Florida, Tennessee, Texas, Texas Tech, Tom Herman, Tulane, UCF, Urban Meyer, USF, Utah, Utah State, Virginia, Washington State, West Virginia, Wisconsin
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(Note: All rankings are current AP [week 10] unless otherwise noted.)
Wish I were him: Nick Saban, Alabama
Glad I'm not him: James Franklin, Penn State
Lucky guy: Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia
Poor guy: Tom Herman, Texas
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Urban Meyer, Ohio State
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Matt Wells, Utah State
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Bobby Petrino, Louisville
Desperately seeking … anything: Brett Brennan, San Jose State
Thought you'd kick butt, you did: Clemson (defeated Louisville 77-16)
Thought you'd kick butt, you didn't: Ohio State (defeated Nebraska 36-31)
Thought you'd get your butt kicked, you did: Louisville (lost to Clemson 77-16)
Thought you'd get your butt kicked, you didn't: Charlotte (to Tennessee 14-3)
Thought you wouldn't kick butt, you did: Michigan (defeated No. 14 Penn State 42-7)
Dang, they're good: Clemson
Dang, they're bad: San Jose State
Can't Stand Prosperity: Florida
Did the season start? Miami
Can the season end? Louisville
Can the season never end? Michigan
Play this again: No. 13 West Virginia 42, No. 17 Texas 41
Play this again, too: Purdue 38, No. 16 Iowa 36
Never play this again: No. 2 Clemson 77, Louisville 16
What? Baylor 35, Oklahoma State 31
Huh? Pitt 23, No. 25 Virginia 13
Double Huh? Purdue 38, No. 16 Iowa 36
Are you kidding me?? Arizona State 38, No. 15 Utah 20
Oh – my – God: Missouri 38, No. 11 Florida 17
Rankings are current AP (week 10)
Best game of the week: (lots of decent games, but nothing spectacular)
One good game to see: Auburn @ No. 6 Georgia
Best non-Power Five vs. Power Five matchup: none
Best non-Power Five matchup: USF @ Cincinnati also: Fresno State @ Boise State
Upset alert: Michigan State @ No. 10 Ohio State
Must win: South Carolina @ No. 11 Florida
Offensive explosion: Texas @ Texas Tech
Defensive struggle: Kansas @ Kansas State
Great game no one is talking about: No. 8 Washington State @ Colorado
Also: Wisconsin @ Penn State
Intriguing coaching matchup: Tom Herman of Texas vs. Kliff Kingsbury of Texas Tech
Who's bringing the body bags? Utah State @ San Jose State
Why are they playing? Navy @ No. 12 UCF
Plenty of good seats remaining: East Carolina @ Tulane
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Georgia State @ Louisiana
On the perils of trying to fire one's way out of "Glen Mason Territory" October 15, 2018Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.
Tags: Arizona State, B1G, Bernie Bierman, Big Ten, Bill Connelly, Boston College, Bruce Snyder, Bud Wilkinson, Dan McCarney, Dave Doeren, Dave Wannstedt, David Cutcliffe, Dino Babers, Frank Kush, Georgia, Glen Mason, Golden Gophers, Illinois, Iowa State, Jeff Jagodzinski, Kirby Smart, Laurence Maroney, LSU, Marion Barber III, Mark Richt, Maryland, Matt Campbell, Metrodome, Michigan, Mike Dubose, Minnesota, NC State, Nick Saban, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon, P.J. Fleck, Paul Pasqualoni, Penn State, Phil Fulmer, Pitt, Ralph Friedgen, Ron Zook, SB Nation, SEC, Syracuse, TCF Bank Stadium, TCU, Tennessee, Texas Tech, Todd Graham, Tom O'Brien, Washington
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Last year, SB Nation's Bill Connelly wrote about the perils to which average and above-average football programs expose themselves when they fire a coach who has been winning games, except that now he's not winning enough games. He dubbed this situation "Glen Mason Territory".
What happens is that a team (typically, a 2nd-tier Power Five program) is in the doldrums, suffering from a string of losing seasons. The university's AD hires a new coach who then comes in and rights the ship. Instead of losing season after losing season, the program now enjoys winning seasons. The team starts going to bowl games, say, five over the course of seven years. The fans are loving it. They want more. The boosters want more. The athletics director wants more.
Except that the head coach cannot deliver more. It's usually not his fault. There's often a set of structural limitations in place, and despite the community's clamoring, the coach, despite all he has done, cannot deliver on the expectations that have been unintentionally raised. In other words, the coach did raise the bar of performance expectations, which was great for a while. Now the fans and everyone else take this for grant, and want it raised even further, which is an impossible task. Instead of accepting this frank fact of life, the fans call for the AD to do the feel-good thing, which is to fire the coach and replace him someone who (they think) deliver on these raised (often, unreasonable) expectations.
Let us briefly consider the namesake of "Glen Mason Territory" for a moment as an example. Glen Mason was a former Ohio State coordinator who did an impressive salvage job at Kansas in the 1990s. Minnesota hired him in 1997 for a similar turnaround. Despite the Golden Gophers' past tradition (having won multiple national titles in the 1930s and 1940s under Bernie Bierman), the program had been absent from the national conscious since most of the 1960s (having won the whole thing, oddly, in 1960).
Mason started to deliver in 1999, winning eight games that year, including a massive upset over then, No. 2 Penn State. The following year, they sent Ohio State's national title aspirations into an early death spiral, in the Horseshoe, no less. As Bill Connelly tells it further:
"The Gophers would bowl again in 2000 and 2002, then surge in 2003. Behind the punishing combination of Marion Barber III and Laurence Maroney, they beat Penn State and Wisconsin on the way to a 9-3 regular season, then Oregon in a Sun Bowl thriller to reach 10 wins for the first time since 1905.
The problem: he never won 10 again. The Gophers started 2004 5-0 and reached 13th before losing five of six down the stretch and needing a bowl win to salvage 7-5. They went 7-5 again in 2005 and were on the doorstep of a third straight seven-win season in 2006 before blowing an enormous Insight Bowl lead to Texas Tech.
A year after a contract extension, Minnesota used the bowl collapse as impetus for panic. Despite seven bowls in eight years — for a program that had been almost absent from college football's consciousness for nearly four decades — the school pushed Mason out.
The program had grown stale, you see, and needed young energy. "I believe the program needs a new vision to reignite fan enthusiasm," said athletic director Joel Maturi."
The question in the mind of many of the readers by now is, 'why couldn't Minnesota "got over the hump", so to speak?' One reason, at the time, was facilities. If a Big Ten recruit went to, say, Michigan, Ohio State, or even Penn State on visits was able to take in the grandeur of their home stadia, they would be most unimpressed by seeing the Metrodome as their potential home stadium if they chose to don the Maroon & Gold. Having been on the sidelines for a game there once, I personally can vouch for how sterile a place it is. Despite the university's best efforts to jazz it up with bunting and national championship banners in the school's colors all over the place on game day, it remains sterile, even negatively inspiring. As one of my fellow student managers at the time said so succinctly, "that place just sucks the life force out of you."
Seeing things along those lines, one can appreciate the difficulties that Mason had to overcome in attaining the success his team enjoyed. But in the end, it wasn't good enough. Why? Answer: expectations that have been raised beyond reason.
Notice in Connelly's writing how he cited then-AD Joel Maturi saying the program had "grown stale". Such wording is a symptom of the fallacious "this-is-who-we-now-are mentality", when a program long in the doldrums all of a sudden enjoys a spate of success. Pretty soon, the fan base starts to take this newfound success for granted, and becomes increasingly restless when the coach fails to deliver even more success, more than the program is structurally built to deliver under modern constraints.
Consider, again, Minnesota. Sure, the Twin Cities might produce several players talented enough to compete at a high level, but much of the rest of the roster is made up of recruits from Ohio who were passed over by the Buckeyes. In explicably, you'll find a few players from Florida and Texas (e.g., Marion Barber III) in there, too. But the immediate point is, there is not enough local talent from which to draw in order to build up a roster that can consistently vie for the national title. The only team in such a predicament that has come close to such viability is Oregon (proving that there is always an exception to the rule), with maybe Washington to a lesser extent.
So Mason was already dealing with that structural roadblock to meeting unrealistic expectations, in addition to the stadium, which was a potential turn-off to recruits. Not until 2009 did they open up TCF Bank Stadium on the school's main campus. Had Mason had this shiny new stadium at this disposal then, things might have been a little different (emphasis on 'might have been').
Consider weather, too. Sure, Minnesota is a great school, and the Twin Cities are reasonably happening, but it's also cold…very cold. Most recruits might choose to brave the cold winters in Columbus, Ohio, or even State College, Pa., or even Ann Arbor, Mich., but they'll draw the line at the next-level frigidity of the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Can one blame them?
Of course, asking the reasonable thing, which is for the fan base to take these structural obstacles into consideration to damper their unrealistic expectations is apparently too much to ask these days. These unrealistic expectations lead to impatience, which leads to rash decisions. So naturally they fired Mason. They brought in Tim Brewster as his replacement. Brewster promised to recruit, to be the 'shot in the arm' the program needed, etc., and proceeded to go 15-30. For comparison, Mason went 64-57. Will the Gopher faithful give charismatic young coach P.J. Fleck the chance to duplicate Mason's efforts? That all depends on if they learned anything from this experience.
Other fan bases seem not to be have learned, and have suffered the consequences as a result. To wit:
Arizona State fired Todd Graham, despite his 7-5 regular season record in 2017. The program had not been competitive consistently since the Frank Kush years of the 1970s. Bruce Snyder did the best job in recent years, leading the Sun Devils to almost win the national title in 1996. Snyder's leadership proved that the Sun Devils are capable of high ceilings, but brief ones. Arizona State has hired former NFL head coach Herm Edwards in his stead. It remains to be seen if this risky hire will pan out, but at least it is an interesting hire. One thing that ASU does have going for it is that it's located in a geographical spot with an endless summer, a campus that sports tons of pretty co-eds, and the Phoenix area is a decent hotbed for good recruits. Theoretically, the right coach could set the entire Pac-12 on notice, as Bruce Snyder did in the mid-to-late 1990s.
But as Bill Connelly wisely points out, schools without such advantages who nevertheless act on the impatience born of unrealistically raised expectations can suffer major consequences.
On the heels of 11- and nine-win seasons, Boston College pushed Jeff Jagodzinski out because he deigned to interview for other jobs. They were 2-10 four years later and haven't reached nine wins since.
Ron Zook took Illinois to nine wins and a Rose Bowl in 2007, and after a two-year reset, got them back to 7-6 in both 2010 and 2011. He was fired. Illinois has averaged 3.7 wins per year since.
Dan McCarney won at least seven games five times in a six-year span at Iowa State but was let go after a 4-8 downturn in 2006. ISU has not topped seven wins since, though that could change with an upcoming bowl game.
To be sure, current ISU head coach Matt Campbell has made Jack Trice Stadium a perilous place to play for undefeated teams, as top-ten West Virginia just learned last night the hard way.
Ralph Friedgen took Maryland to seven bowls in 10 years, and after a two-win collapse in 2009, rebounded to nine wins in 2010. Maryland has averaged 4.7 wins per year since firing him.
NC State pushed Tom O'Brien out in 2012 after 24 wins in three years. Their best three-year win total since: 22.*
Dave Doeren has brought NC State back to respectability (and rankings), but it has taken the program several years to return to this spot.
David Cutcliffe won seven or more games for five straight years at Ole Miss, peaking with a 10-win campaign in 2003. But after a 4-7 reset in 2004, he was fired. The Rebels would top four wins twice in the next seven years.
Pitt pushed Dave Wannstedt out after after 26 wins in three years. The Panthers have averaged 6.6 wins since.
Despite seven ranked finishes in 11 years, Syracuse fired Paul Pasqualoni after he hit a dry spell. He went 4-8 in 2002 then rebounded to only 6-6 in 2003-04. Syracuse went 10-37 under replacement Greg Robinson and has averaged 4.4 wins since Pasqualoni.
Dino Babers has methodically built Syracuse into a better program, but consider that the hiatus between this decent year and Pasqualoni's last season is 13 years.
Phil Fulmer took Tennessee to 15 bowls and five SEC championship games in 16 years. He won the national title in 1998 and won at least eight games 14 times. He fell to 5-6 in 2005 but rebounded back to 10 wins in 2007. After a second five-win reset in 2008, he was fired. The Vols have hit the eight-win mark twice in the nine years since.
But what about Georgia, you ask? That's really not an exception to the rule after all. Mark Richt had been consistently winning at Georgia but failed to bring home a national championship trophy. Nick Saban and others did have something to do with that, but again, it's almost too much to expect folks to be reasonable, especially in SEC country, where "it just means…more". So, they fired Richt and brought in Alabama assistant coach Kirby Smart. And he too, won games, even played his former team for the national title. And lost, because Nick Saban's Alabama these days is a consistent juggernaut. Nevertheless, Smart succeeded where Richt failed. So firing their way out of Glen Mason Territory has panned out for Georgia thus far, but that's because they have access to tons of NFL-potential talent in Greater Atlanta, their own backyard. So there.
The conclusion to which Connelly arrived in his article is that a school cannot simply fire-a-coach its way out of "Glen Mason Territory". Why? Let us consider basic reality. Football, unlike economics, is a zero-sum game. When one team wins a game, that means that team's opponent had to lose that game. Not all teams can be championship-viable teams all the time. It is simply impossible. Furthermore, because of this zero-sum fact of life football (and most other sports), not everybody can be good all the time. Even traditional powers have had down years (just look at Alabama in between the Mike Dubose and Nick Saban years).
Second, not all teams are built to be national-title contenders. Again, one key factor is, does your state produce enough local talent to compete nationally? In states like California, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, or Florida, (borderline case: Arizona) that is a given. Even Oklahoma does not produce the players it used to (to be sure, even during the glory days of Bud Wilkinson, OU has had to recruit Texas to be successful). The only state north of the Sunbelt that can remotely compete on that scale is Ohio. Everyone else has to recruit from those states just to be in a position to win games, period.
Also, unlike in the pros, where teams choose the players, in college, the players choose the programs. That means that many blue chip recruits who have options are not going to flock to the Arctic climbs of Minnesota, or the isolated, wind-swept plains of Nebraska if they can land a scholarship at Georgia or LSU or even TCU instead. Ohio State has managed to stay viable despite its cold winters due to the total commitment of the university, plus the community and state at large, to muster every last resource needed to attract the players necessary to compete at that level.
When a coach raises the bar of performance expectations but cannot raise it further, it's usually not the coach's fault. It's program history for one. Georgia, for example, only has two national titles, one from 1942 and from 1980; the former being shared with Ohio State. As discussed at some length, it's also infrastructure (e.g., facilities and access to NFL-caliber talent), and program support. But dealing with these issues ranges from difficult to impossible. Instead of dealing with these realities like responsible people, too often people take the feel-good way out (in reality, a dead end) and kill the messenger by firing the very coach who improved the team's standing and situation in the first place.
College Football Awards Week 13 (2017) November 27, 2017Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.
Tags: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, B1G, Baylor, Big Ten, Big XII, Bret Bielema, Brian Kelly, Bulldogs, Clemson, Coastal Carolina, Dabo Swinney, East Carolina, FIU, Florida State, Frank Solich, Georgia, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Gus Malzahn, Hurricanes, Idaho, Kentucky, Lamar Jackson, Longhorns, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisville, Mark Richt, Maryland, Matt Luke, Memphis, Miami, Michigan, Mississippi State, Nick Saban, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Ohio U, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Pac-12, Penn State, Pitt, Pittsburgh, Rocky Long, San Diego State, San Jose State, Seminoles, Stanford, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech, Tigers, Tom Herman, UCF, UMass, USC, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming
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(Note: All rankings are current AP [week 13] unless otherwise noted.)
Wish I were him: Gus Malzahn, Auburn
Glad I'm not him: Nick Saban, Alabama
Lucky guy: Matt Luke, Ole Miss
Poor guy: Brian Kelly, Notre Dame
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Frank Solich, Ohio U
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Rocky Long, San Diego State
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Mark Richt, Miami also: Tom Herman, Texas
Desperately seeking … anything: Bret Bielema, Arkansas
Thought you'd kick butt, you did: Penn State (defeated Maryland 66-3)
Thought you'd kick butt, you didn't: TCU (defeated Baylor 45-22)
Thought you'd get your butt kicked, you did: East Carolina (lost to No. 20 Memphis 70-13)
Thought you'd get your butt kicked, you didn't: San Jose State (defeated Wyoming 20-17)
Thought you wouldn't kick butt, you did: Louisville (defeated Kentucky 44-17)
Dang, they're good: Auburn
Dang, they're bad: East Carolina
Can't Stand Prosperity: Miami
Did the season start? Alabama
Can the season end? Arkansas
Can the season never end? Oklahoma
Play this again: No. 6 Auburn 26, No. 1 Alabama 14
Play this again, too: Ole Miss 31, No. 14 Mississippi State 28
Never play this again: No. 20 Memphis 70, East Carolina 13
What? Ole Miss 31, No. 14 Mississippi State 28
Huh? No. 21 Stanford 38, No. 8 Notre Dame 20
Are you kidding me?? Pittsburgh 24, No. 2 Miami 14
Oh – my – God: No. 6 Auburn 26, No. 1 Alabama 14
(rankings are current AP, post-week 13)
Ticket to die for: No. 9 Ohio State vs. No. 5 Wisconsin in the B1G championship (Indianapolis)
Best non-Power Five vs. Power Five matchup: none
Best non-Power Five matchup: No. 20 Memphis @ No. 15 UCF (AAC championship)
Upset alert: Ohio State vs. Wisconsin Also: No. 7 Georgia vs. No. 6 Auburn in the SEC championship (Atlanta)
Must win: (any championship game with playoff implications)
Offensive explosion: No. 12 TCU @ No. 4 Oklahoma (Big XII championship)
Defensive struggle: (jury's still out)
Great game no one is talking about: No. 21 Stanford vs. No. 11 USC in the Pac-12 championship
Intriguing coaching matchup: Mark Richt of Miami vs. Dabo Swinney of Clemson
Who's bringing the body bags? Louisiana-Monroe @ Florida State
Why are they playing? UMass @ FIU
Plenty of good seats remaining: Georgia Southern @ Coastal Carolina
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Idaho @ Georgia State
Week 13 Random Thoughts:
This weekend was one of reckoning for teams vying for playoff contention. Some survived, others went down in flames. One, surprisingly, was Alabama. In hindsight, the Tide was somewhat fool's gold. All their tough conference games were at home. The season's opener against Florida State was supposed to be a very marquee matchup, but it quickly became a rout once the Seminoles' starting quarterback was knocked out of the game (and out for the season), thus sending FSU's season town the toilet before it truly began. Last week should have been a greater warning than most of us acknowledged, what with Mississippi State giving the Tide a scare on the road. They escaped, only to face their first real test of the whole season, ironically at its end. They failed to step up to the challenge. Conversely, Auburn has proven they are the real deal, a playoff-worthy contender.
Clemson seems to have bounced back very nicely from the loss of their starting QB. Having handily defeated a good South Carolina team, they now prepare for this upcoming week's ACC championship game. There they face Miami, who surprisingly lost to Pitt in their first loss all year. The inopportune loss was bad enough, but they looked listless in defeat as well, perhaps convincing a critical mass of voters that the Hurricanes are not the playoff-worthy team we thought they were. All that said, they still clinched their division for the first time since its inception, and now face the Tigers this upcoming week. The odds favor the Tigers, but then again, there are compelling reasons why we line 'em up and play.
Ohio State stated off slowly against Michigan in "The Big House," allowing the Wolverines to score two touchdowns. But the Buckeyes eventually got going and eventually rolled to victory. While Alabama failed to knock Auburn out of contention, Notre Dame's convincing loss to Stanford and Miami's sudden loss could nevertheless keep the door open for their playoff hopes. Next step is to beat Wisconsin the Big Ten championship game in Indianapolis this upcoming weekend.
Texas seemed to have rediscovered their offense on the road last week at West Virginia. This week, they could only muster 23 points, at home, to Texas Tech, who is hardly the defensive juggernaut. Things have improved this year with the Longhorns compared to the previous few seasons. Case in point, the Horns remain bowl-eligible. But much work and improvement clearly remains. The biggest objective is: find offensive consistency.
Louisville is finally playing back to form, practically scoring at will over a deceptively formidably Kentucky squad. Whether Lamar Jackson deserves a return trip to Manhattan for Heisman consideration is neither here nor there, but his team is in a far better position than it was last year, trending the proper direction as they await their bowl bid destination.
Okay, so my "near-perfect playoff scenario" is already compromised. This is not a huge surprise. In hindsight, Alabama was not the juggernaut we thought they were, and Miami was not as far along as they seemed earlier this year (but at this rate, Mark Richt will bring them into legit contention). Perhaps, at this rate, it could be Clemson, Auburn, Ohio State, and Oklahoma. With that in mind, Auburn is to face Georgia for a rematch, this time in Atlanta. The Bulldogs shall surely be out for revenge. The bottom line is, the reckoning is not over yet. Buckle up.
But seriously, Ohio State, ditch those gray-black uniforms. They look horrible.
College Football Awards Week 11 (2017) November 13, 2017Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.
Tags: Alabama, Arizona, Army, Auburn, Ball State, Butch Jones, Clemson, Coastal Carolina, Dan Mullen, Florida, Fresno State, Georgia Southern, Georgia Tech, Hurricanes, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State, Jeff Monken, Kansas State, Louisville, LSU, Mark Richt, Memphis, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Mississippi State, Missouri, New Mexico, Nick Saban, North Carolina, North Texas, Northern Illinois, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Purdue, SMU, Stanford, Syracuse, TCU, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Utah, Virginia Tech, Washington, Wyoming
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(Note: All rankings are current AP [week 11] unless otherwise noted.)
Wish I were him: Mark Richt, Miami
Glad I'm not him: Kirby Smart, Georgia
Lucky guy: Nick Saban, Alabama
Poor guy: Dan Mullen, Mississippi State
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: (none)
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Jeff Monken, Army
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Kirby Smart, Georgia
Desperately seeking … anything: Butch Jones, Tennessee
Thought you'd kick butt, you did: Texas A&M (defeated New Mexico 55-10)
Thought you'd kick butt, you didn't: Alabama (defeated No. 16 Mississippi State 31-24)
Thought you'd get your butt kicked, you did: Tennessee (lost to Missouri 50-17)
Thought you'd get your butt kicked, you didn't: Mississippi State (lost to No. 2 Alabama 31-24)
Thought you wouldn't kick butt, you did: Ohio State (defeated No. 12 Michigan State 48-3)
Dang, they're good: Ohio State
Dang, they're bad: Georgia Southern
Can't Stand Prosperity: Georgia
Did the season start? Virginia Tech
Can the season end? Florida
Can the season never end? Miami
Play this again: No. 2 Alabama 31, No. 16 Mississippi State 24
Play this again, too: No. 15 Oklahoma State 49, No. 21 Iowa State 42
Never play this again: Northern Illinois 63, Ball State 17
What? Georgia Tech 28, No. 17 Virginia Tech 22
Huh? Stanford 30, No. 9 Washington 22
Are you kidding me?? No. 7 Miami 41, No. 3 Notre Dame 8
Oh – my – God: No. 10 Auburn 40, No. 1 Georgia 17
(rankings are current AP (post-week 11, pre-week 12)
Ticket to die for: None, except maybe Michigan @ No. 8 Wisconsin
Best non-Power Five vs. Power Five matchup: Western Carolina @ North Carolina
Best non-Power Five matchup: Fresno State @ Wyoming also: Army @ North Texas
Upset alert: Utah @ No. 9 Washington
Must win: Texas @ West Virginia also: No. 8 TCU @ No. 5 Oklahoma
Offensive explosion: SMU @ No. 18 Memphis
Defensive struggle: No. 21 LSU @ Tennessee
Great game no one is talking about: Arizona @ Oregon
Intriguing coaching matchup: Jim Harbaugh of Michigan vs. Paul Chryst of Wisconsin
Who's bringing the body bags? Citadel @ No. 4 Clemson
Why are they playing? Wofford @ South Carolina also: Mercer @ No. 1 Alabama
Plenty of good seats remaining: Coastal Carolina @ Idaho
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Louisiana-Monroe @ No. 10 Auburn
Week 11 Random Thoughts:
Is it safe to say that Miami (Fla.) is back as a top-tier program? Already ranked No. 7 going into this weekend's game, they crushed No. 3 Notre Dame at home, 41-8. They remain undefeated in one of the toughest conferences in football, now at the No. 2 spot in the AP Poll (Clemson is now at No. 3). If these shadows remain unchanged, they could face Clemson in the ACC Championship game early next month (ticket-to-die-for in the making?). If they win that, it would be close to certain that the Hurricanes would be in the playoffs, and rightly so. So yeah, sure looks that way.
It's a good thing I listed Butch Jones as "Desperately seeking…anything" because as of today (Nov. 12), he got the ax at Tennessee. This became an increasingly urgent necessity as the season progressed. Despite the solid recruiting classes Jones brought in at Tennessee, he was unable to translate the talent into wins on the field. Barely winning over lousy UMass was cause for concern. Losing a squeaker to a mediocre Florida was bad enough. Losing to Georgia in a blowout – one of the worst in recent program history – was a major embarrassment. Losing to Kentucky – something the Volunteers very rarely do – was obviously unacceptable. Getting crushed by hated Alabama became inevitable – which didn't make it any less unpalatable to the Tennessee faithful. The final nail in Jones' coffin was a blowout loss to Missouri, of all teams. So, Jones is now out at Tennessee. Time for the replacement coaching search games to begin!
While this was a great weekend for college football (despite some unexpectedly one-sided outcomes – looking your way, Georgia and Notre Dame), next week shall be something of a let-down. The only game resembling a marquee matchup is No. 19 Michigan vs No. 5 Wisconsin. Half of the SEC is wasting the upcoming weekend with body bag games. To wit: Mercer plays at Alabama; Wofford plays South Carolina in an annual late-season affair (why??); Auburn dialed up a "w" with Louisiana-Monroe. Florida would also be included, except for the fact that UAB has a much better record (7-3) than the Gators (3-6). Not to be outdone, Clemson had to get in on the act by playing the Citadel.
At least the other half of the conference was exercising some degree of sense by scheduling real games. Kentucky plays at Georgia. LSU plays at Tennessee, which will no doubt further contribute to the Volunteers' collective misery. Texas A&M plays at Ole Miss in what should be a good game. Missouri, surprisingly offensively spry, plays at Vanderbilt.
Purdue's bowl eligibility hopes for the year are quickly dwindling. They currently stand at 4-6, and have to win out over both Iowa and Indiana. Whereas the latter seems winnable, the former, not so much. The Boilers did themselves no favors by losing on the road to conference cellar-dweller Rutgers, then blowing a 4th-quarter lead at home to Nebraska. The good news is that if Purdue ends up at 5-7, they'll still have won more games than the entire Hazell era combined.
All that said, there are some decent games that might not be of huge consequence. Syracuse plays Louisville, for example, and Kansas State plays Oklahoma State. Arizona at Oregon is also a good match-up, and Utah has the potential to upset Washington. So there are enjoyable games this weekend, we'll just have to search more diligently than usual for them.
College Football Awards, Week 1 (2017) September 11, 2017Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.
Tags: Akron, Alabama, Arkansas, Army, Ball State, Baylor, Bobby Petrino, Boilermakers, Bret Bielema, Buffalo, Cardinals, Colorado State, D.J. Durkin, East Carolina, Florida, Florida Atlantic, Florida State, Gary Patterson, Georgia, Georgia State, Jeff Brohm, Jim Mora, Josh Rosen, Kentucky, Kevin Sumlin, Lane Kiffin, Longhorns, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisville, Maryland, Matt Rhule, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nick Saban, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Oregon State, Penn State, Pitt, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Rice, San Jose State, Southern Miss, Stanford, TCU, Terps, Terrapins, Texas, Texas A&M, Tom Herman, UAB, UCLA, UNLV
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(Note: All rankings are current AP [week 1] unless otherwise noted.)
Wish I were him: Nick Saban, Alabama
Glad I'm not him: Matt Rhule, Baylor
Lucky guy: Jim Mora, UCLA
Poor guy: Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Bobby Petrino, Louisville
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: D.J. Durkin, Maryland
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Tom Herman, Texas
Desperately seeking … anything: Lane Kiffin, Florida Atlantic
Thought you'd kick butt, you did: No. 14 Stanford (defeated Rice 62-7)
Thought you'd kick butt, you didn't: Pitt (defeated Youngstown State 28-21)
Thought you'd get your butt kicked, you did: Akron (lost to No. 6 Penn State 52-0)
Thought you'd get your butt kicked, you didn't: Buffalo (lost to Minnesota 17-7)
Thought you wouldn't kick butt, you did: Colorado State (defeated Oregon State 58-27)
Dang, they're good: Ohio State
Dang, they're bad: Akron
Can't Stand Prosperity: –
Did the season start? Texas
Can the season end? Rice
Can the season never end? Alabama
Play this again: UCLA 45, Texas A&M 44
Play this again, too: No. 16 Louisville 35, Purdue 28
Never play this again: No. 14 Stanford 62, Rice 7
Close call: Kentucky 24, Southern Miss 17
What? Tennessee State 17, Georgia State 10
Huh? James Madison 34, East Carolina 14
Double-Huh? Howard 43, UNLV 40
Are you kidding me?? Maryland 51, No. 23 Texas 41
Oh – my – God: Liberty 48, Baylor 45
(rankings are current AP (post-week 1, pre-week 2)
Ticket to die for: No. 7 Oklahoma @ No. 2 Ohio State
Keep an eye on this one: No. 15 Georgia @ Notre Dame
Best non-Power Five vs. Power Five matchup: Western Michigan @ Michigan State
Best non-Power Five matchup: Buffalo @ Army
Upset alert: No. 16 Louisville @ North Carolina
Must win: No. 14 Stanford @ No. 4 USC
Offensive explosion: Nebraska @ Oregon
Defensive struggle: Buffalo @ Army
Great game no one is talking about: TCU @ Arkansas
Intriguing coaching matchup: Gary Patterson of TCU vs. Bret Bielema of Arkansas
Who's bringing the body bags? Louisiana-Monroe @ Florida State
Why are they playing? San Jose State @ Texas
Plenty of good seats remaining: New Mexico State @ New Mexico
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? UAB @ Ball State
Week 1 Take-aways:
What is wrong in Austin? Tom Herman, supposedly a fine, young offensive mind (and Urban Meyer protégé), has not started off his tenure at Texas well. The Longhorns lost, at home, to Maryland, 51-41. The Terps are hardly an offensive juggernaut, either. The loss frankly stinks. What accounts for this? It could be perhaps that Herman has yet to bring in the recruits that he needs to compete at a top-ten level. But perhaps the most likely reason of all is that the Horns were simply looking past Maryland, devoting all their relatively limited practice and preparation time to USC, a marquee matchup that will take place two weeks from now. How else to account for such an embarrassing debut?
Let us admit this without hesitation: notwithstanding their close loss today, Purdue's turnaround performance is quite impressive. Jeff Brohm debuted as the Boilermakers' head coach in a less-than-ideal match for one's inaugural game. In this case, it was against a formidable Louisville team, at Lucas Oil Stadium (neutral site) in Indianapolis. On paper, the Cardinals should have made mincemeat out of a Purdue team that, theoretically, would still be recovering from the Darrell Hazell malaise. Luckily for Purdue, that was not the case. The Boilers' performance has markedly improved on both sides of the ball. Moreover, they played consistently hard throughout the game, and – with the luck of three turnovers by the Cardinals – kept the game close and interesting throughout regulation. If this impressive performance is a harbinger of what is to come, then Purdue shall have a comparatively respectable record despite a semi-brutal schedule.
Meanwhile, how rare a treat it is that fans can enjoy a top-five matchup to kick off the season! That is exactly what we the fans enjoyed when No. 1 Alabama took on No. 3 Florida State in Atlanta (played inside the brand-new Mercedes-Benz Stadium, no less). Speaking of great games, another fine example was No. 11 Michigan playing No. 17 Florida in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Once again, we the fans got our money's worth. Sure, there were lots of throwaway games today, especially in the Noon Eastern Time slot. But these two games, along with the Louisville-Purdue game (all three of which were, interestingly, played in NFL stadiums), more than made up for that, and it all adds up to a great start to the 2017-2018 college football season. Let the games begin, and the good times roll!
Postscript: Bobby Petrino won an engaging game. Why is he thus "desperately seeking a wake-up call"? Simple reason: his team had three turnovers that game, which were a contributing factor to why the game's score was so close (seven points difference in the end). Two of those turnovers are at the goal line. Mistakes like that will cost the Cardinals dearly as they delve into the conference part of their schedule. Remember what happened in November of last year? 'Tis best to fix and pre-empt those mistakes NOW.
Speaking of wake-up calls, put Texas A&M down for an honorable mention. There is no excuse to blow a 37-10 lead like that in the second half, with the Aggies allowing the bulk of the scoring in the 4th quarter. For shame, Aggies. Yet, at the same time, good on Bruins' head coach Jim Mora and QB Josh Rosen for engineering such a comeback.
College Football Awards, Week 13 (2016) November 27, 2016Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.
Tags: Air Force, B1G, Bedlam, Big Ten, Bobby Petrino, Boise State, Brian Kelly, Butch Jones, Cardinals, Charlie Strong, Clemson, college football, Colorado, Cotton Bowl, Cougars, Eastern Michigan, Ed Orgeron, Georgia, Georgia State, Georgia Tech, Houston, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa State, Jim McElwain, Kentucky, Louisiana Tech, Louisville, LSU, MAC, Memphis, Michigan, Mississippi State, Navy, NCAA, Nebraska, New Mexico State, Nick Saban, North Texas, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Ohio U, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, P.J. Fleck, Pac-12, Paul Johnson, Penn State, Purdue, Rebels, SMU, South Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Tom Herman, Tommy Tuberville, Urban Meyer, UTEP, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Washington, West Virginia, Western Kentucky, Western Michigan, Wildcats, Wisconsin
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The Game lived up to The Hype.
(Note: All rankings are current AP [week 13] unless otherwise noted.)
Wish I were him: Urban Meyer, Ohio State
Glad I'm not him: Charlie Strong, Texas
Lucky guy: Kevin Wilson, Indiana
Poor guy: Tommy Tuberville, Cincinnati
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Bobby Petrino, Louisville
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Bobby Petrino, Louisville
Desperately seeking … anything: Butch Jones, Tennessee also: Brian Kelly, Notre Dame
Thought you'd kick butt, you did: Virginia Tech (defeated Virginia 52-10)
Thought you'd kick butt, you didn't: Louisville (lost to Kentucky 41-38)
Thought you'd get your butt kicked, you did: Iowa State (lost to No. 19 West Virginia 49-19)
Thought you'd get your butt kicked, you didn't: Kentucky (see above)
Thought you wouldn't kick butt, you did: UTEP (defeated North Texas 52-24)
Dang, they're good: Clemson
Dang, they're bad: New Mexico State
Can't Stand Prosperity: Nebraska
Did the season start? Louisville
Can the season end? Texas also: Ole Miss, Notre Dame
Can the season never end? Western Michigan
Play this again: No. 2 Ohio State 30, No. 3 Michigan 24
Play this again, too: Georgia Tech 28, Georgia 27
Never play this again: No. 4 Clemson 56, South Carolina 7
Close call: Indiana 26, Purdue 24
What? Vanderbilt 45, No. 24 Tennessee 34
Huh? Air Force 27, No. 21 Boise State 20
Double-Huh? Memphis 48, No. 18 Houston 44
Are you kidding me? Iowa 40, No. 17 Nebraska 10
Oh – my – God: Kentucky 41, No. 11 Louisville 38
(rankings are current AP (post-week 13, pre-week 14))
Ticket to die for: No. 6 Wisconsin vs. No. 8 Penn State in the B1G Championship
also: No. 11 Oklahoma State @ No. 8 Oklahoma
Best non-Power Five vs. Power Five matchup: none
Best non-Power Five matchup: Western Michigan vs. Ohio U in the MAC Championship, Friday
Must win: too many to list!
Offensive explosion: No. 6 Washington vs. No. 9 Colorado in the Pac-12 Championship
Defensive struggle: No. 13 Florida @ No. 15 Florida State
Great game no one is talking about: Louisiana Tech @ Western Kentucky
Intriguing coaching matchup: Nick Saban of Alabama vs. Jim McElwain of Florida
Think there's enough purple? Kansas State @ TCU
Who's bringing the body bags? Baylor @ No. 14 West Virginia
Why are they playing? Wisconsin vs. Penn State in the B1G Championship (ever heard of Ohio State?)
Plenty of good seats remaining: New Mexico State @ South Alabama
They shoot horses, don't they? Georgia State @ Idaho
Week 13 Take-aways:
Rivalry week has yielded some decent drama, and upsets, as one would expect. Purdue, hapless all year, acquitted themselves well against a far-superior offense in IU. Highly-ranked Louisville gave up the game via four turnovers to in-state rival Kentucky, at home. The collapse of Louisville within the past couple of weeks is the most unsettling thing witnessed in major college football this year.
The annual coaching carousel hath begun its merry ride. Charlie Strong is out at Texas (after much unnecessary vacillation and drama on the part of the Texas Athletics Department), and Tom Herman is in. Such drama sadly bled over to Herman's Houston team, who clearly was not focused when losing to formidable Memphis on Friday, despite being favored on the road. Meanwhile, Ed Orgeron earned a well-deserved promotion from interim head coach to full-time head coach at LSU. Orgeron is perfect for the role, what with his love for the school, his extensive experience in many big-name programs, his long-time conference presence (he was once the head coach at border rival Ole Miss), to say nothing of his deep Cajun drawl. His performance in the interim job itself was a strong case, as the Tigers went 5-2 under this leadership (one of those losses was to Alabama, where LSU held the Tide to only 10 points). Justice has been met in this special case.
Despite Mississippi State's disappointing year, Dan Mullen has ended the year well by convincingly beating their main rival, Ole Miss. The Rebels started the year with high rankings and hopes, but injury and other bad luck put the team into a freefall. Losing their starting QB Chad Kelly to season-ending injury obviously contributed to this, to be sure.
In the world of weird football news, Navy beat SMU 75-31 (yes, this was a football game, not a basketball one). What do these two teams have in common? They're the only two teams that beat Houston this year. That aside, who says the triple option cannot be a high-scoring offense?
More regarding the world of weird football news: Eastern Michigan is, after this week, 7-5, and obviously bowl eligible. Let us all pause as our collective jaw drops to the floor.
Now we await the conference championship games next week, and immediately afterwards, we shall finally ascertain the teams that shall be in the playoffs. One intriguing game is the MAC Championship. Should Western Michigan win and continue their undefeated season, they could qualify for a major bowl game. Might P.J. Fleck be able to lead his team in rowing the proverbial boat all the way, say, the Cotton Bowl? We shall all find out in due time. Let the games begin…and continue!
College Football Week 10 Awards, 2016 November 7, 2016Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.
Tags: ACC, Alabama, Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas, Baylor, Boise State, Boston College, Bronco Mendenhall, BYU, Cal, California, Coastal, Dan Mullen, Duke, East, Florida, Florida Atlantic, Florida State, Huskies, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa State, Jim Grobe, Jim McElwain, Kevin Sumlin, Kirk Herbstreit, Louisville, LSU, Mark Dantonio, Mark Richt, Maryland, Matt Rhule, Miami, Michigan State, Mike Riley, Mississippi State, Navy, NC State, Nebraska, Nick Saban, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon State, Rutgers, San Jose State, SEC, South Carolina, Syracuse, TCU, Temple, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas State, Texas Tech, Tulsa, Urban Meyer, UTEP, Virginia, Washington, Washington State, West Virginia, Wolfpack
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(Note: All rankings are current AP [week 10] unless otherwise noted.)
Wish I were him: Nick Saban, Alabama
Glad I'm not him: Mike Riley, Nebraska
Lucky guy: Dan Mullen, Mississippi State
Poor guy: Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Jim McElwain, Florida
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Matt Rhule, Temple
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Jim Grobe, Baylor
Desperately seeking … anything: Mark Dantonio, Michigan State
Thought you'd kick butt, you did: Louisville (defeated Boston College 52-7)
Thought you'd kick butt, you didn't: Boise State (defeated San Jose State 45-31)
Thought you'd get your butt kicked, you did: Maryland (lost to No. 3 Michigan 59-3)
Thought you'd get your butt kicked, you didn't: Iowa State (lost to No. 14 Oklahoma 34-24)
Thought you wouldn't kick butt, you did: TCU (defeated No. 17 Baylor 62-22)
Dang, they're good: Ohio State
Dang, they're bad: Texas State
Can't Stand Prosperity: Texas A&M
Did the season start? Baylor
Can the season end? Notre Dame
Can the season never end? Louisville
Play this again: No. 1 Alabama 10, No. 13 LSU 0
Play this again, too: Texas 45, Texas Tech 37
Never play this again: No. 25 Washington State 69, Arizona 7
Close call: No. 22 Florida State 24, NC State 20
What? Illinois 31, Michigan State 27
Huh? Navy 28, Notre Dame 27
Are you kidding me? TCU 62, No. 17 Baylor 22
Oh – my – God: Mississippi State 35, No. 4 Texas A&M 28.
(rankings are current AP (post-week 10, pre-week 11))
Ticket to die for: No. 25 Baylor @ No. 9 Oklahoma
Best non-Power Five vs. Power Five matchup: Notre Dame vs. Army in San Antonio
Best non-Power Five matchup: Tulsa @ Navy
Upset alert: USC @ No. 4 Washington also: No. 19 LSU @ Arkansas
Must win: Kentucky @ Tennessee
Offensive explosion: Cal @ No. 23 Washington State
Defensive struggle: NC State @ Syracuse
Great game no one is talking about: No. 21 North Carolina @ Duke
Intriguing coaching matchup: Mark Richt of Miami vs. Bronco Mendenhall of Virginia
Who's bringing the body bags? Maryland @ No. 6 Ohio State
Why are they playing? Southern Utah @ BYU
Plenty of good seats remaining: UTEP @ Florida Atlantic
They shoot horses, don't they? Boston College @ No. 20 Florida State
Week 10 Take-aways:
Is Ohio State that good or is Nebraska that overrated? Or, is the answer the one preferred by Sterling Archer: A little of Column A and a little of Column B? Probably the third option. It's never wise to bet against Urban Meyer, who has proven to be the best coach in the business over the past decade (though just a hair better than Nick Saban). But the Huskers have given fans in the stands and at home some great games through some great defensive efforts, and perhaps such efforts fooled the voters into thinking they were, hitherto, a No. 6 team. Still, the demotion all the way down to No. 21 seems a bit extreme, too.
The SEC East, this year, is frankly atrocious. Kentucky is always overhyped, South Carolina and Missouri are under-performing (the latter worse than the former), Florida just got shellacked on the road to enigmatic Arkansas, and Tennessee has developed into a collective head case of a team. Kirk Herbstreit expressed it best when he described the SEC Least as "awful," and that they might as well cancel the SEC Championship game. That game would be a mere formality anyhow, since it has been shown that it's Alabama followed by everyone else at this rate.
One of the overlooked tragedies this year is that Arizona's season has already collapsed. Moreover, it seems as though they might now win another game this year (Colorado? Forget it. Oregon State? Not at this rate. Arizona State? Don't count on it). Rich Rodriguez has put together some good seasons in Tucson, so this painful season has us all scratching our heads.
NC State has to be the best 4-5 team in the country. They defeated Notre Dame in absolutely hurricane-drenched slog. They almost beat Clemson, in Death Valley. They [mysteriously] narrowly lost to cagey Boston College. This weekend, they lost to Florida State by only four points. The Wolfpack's subsequent opponents will put themselves in danger if they take this team lightly on account of their currently mediocre record. On that same note, Duke must be the best 3-6 team in the country. They are well-coached and will always give you a tough fight. Ask Louisville for reference.
Virginia Tech now controls its own destiny, at least as far as the ACC Coastal division is concerned. Assuming they seize the opportunity of control by winning out (which is doable), they could muster a more-than-credible challenge for seemingly unstoppable Clemson. Such a match-up remains a pleasing prospect indeed!
Once again, we are left to ask ourselves, what are we to make of Texas? Just a couple of weeks ago, the Horns looked completely hopeless against Kansas State. Then, just a week later, they handed Baylor their first loss of the season. This week, they went on the road and bested an evenly-matched (record-wise) Texas Tech squad. Lest we start to think the Horns are turning things around, they do play No. 20 West Virginia next week, and end the season against a TCU team that flat out embarrassed Baylor on the road this week. Translation: much remains to be seen, and a 6-6 record still seems to be the likely outcome.
Much ado has arisen in the wake of the Playoff Committee releasing their first set of rankings. Not the least of the controversies was No. 4 Washington (No. 4, that is the in the AP Poll) being demoted to No. 7 in the Playoff rankings. "How can this be," ask many observers. Simple: Washington's dirty little secret is that they're still rebuilding, and part of the rebuilding process has been a very weak out-of-conference schedule. Let's face it: a non-conference slate of Rutgers, Idaho, and Portland State is pretty darn pathetic. If you dial up wins with body-bag games like this, you have no right to complain when your rankings suffer as a result when they count the most. Many other contenders have played tough out-of-conference games this year. If the Huskies truly want to be counted among the big boy contenders, they will have to do the same.
College Football Awards, Week 8 2016 October 23, 2016Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.
Tags: Alabama, Arkansas, Army, Auburn, Barry Odom, Boise State, Bowling Green, Brian Kelly, Bryan Harsin, Buckeyes, BYU, Cardinals, Catholics, Charlie Strong, Clemson, college, convicts, Crimson Tide, Dan Mullen, Duke, FIghting Irish, Florida State, football, Houston, Howard Schnellenberger, Hurricanes, Illinois, James Franklin, Jim Harbaugh, Jim Mora, Jimmy Johnson, Kansas, Kansas State, Longhorns, Mark Richt, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Middle Tennessee State, Mississippi State, Missouri, NC State, NCAA, Nebraska, Nick Saban, North Texas, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Samford, San Jose State, Seth Littrell, SMU, South Carolina, South Florida, Temple, Texas, Texas State, Texas Tech, Tom Herman, UCLA, UMass, UNLV, Urban Meyer, Utah, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wolfpack
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(Note: All rankings are current AP [week 8] unless otherwise noted.)
Wish I were him: Ed Orgeron, LSU
Glad I'm not him: Hugh Freeze, Ole Miss
Lucky guy: Bryan Harsin, Boise State
Poor guy: Dan Mullen, Mississippi State Hon. Mention: Jim Mora, UCLA
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Urban Meyer, Ohio State
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Seth Littrell, North Texas
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Tom Herman, Houston
Desperately seeking … anything: Barry Odom, Missouri
Thought you'd kick butt, you did: Michigan (defeated Illinois 41-8)
Thought you'd kick butt, you didn't: South Carolina (defeated UMass 34-28)
Thought you'd get your butt kicked, you did: Illinois (see above)
Thought you'd get your butt kicked, you didn't: SMU (defeated No. 11 Houston 38-16)
Thought you wouldn't kick butt, you did: Auburn (defeated No. 17 Arkansas 56-3)
Dang, they're good: Alabama
Dang, they're bad: Texas State
Can't Stand Prosperity: Ohio State
Honorable Mention: Houston
Did the season start? Arkansas
Can the season end? Bowling Green
Can the season never end? Louisville
Play this again: Penn State 24, No. 2 Ohio State 21
Play this again, too: No. 16 Oklahoma 66, Texas Tech 59
Never play this again: No. 7 Louisville 54, NC State 13
Close call: No. 14 Boise State 28, BYU 27
What? Temple 46, South Florida 30
Huh? Middle Tennessee 51, Missouri 45
Double-Huh? Colorado 10, Stanford 5
Are you kidding me? SMU 38, No. 11 Houston 16
Oh – my – God: Penn State 24, No. 2 Ohio State 21
(rankings are current AP (post-week 8, pre-week 9))
Ticket to die for: No. 7 Nebraska @ No. 11 Wisconsin
Also: No. 3 Clemson @ No. 12 Florida State
Best non-Power Five vs. Power Five matchup: Army @ Wake Forest
Best non-Power Five matchup: No. 22 Navy @ South Florida
Upset alert: No. 15 Auburn @ Ole Miss also: No. 4 Washington @ No. 17 Utah
Must win: No. 25 Virginia Tech @ Pittsburgh (Thurs.)
Offensive explosion: No. 10 West Virginia @ Oklahoma State
Defensive struggle: No. 7 Nebraska @ No. 11 Wisconsin
Great game no one is talking about: Miami @ Notre Dame
Intriguing coaching matchup: Mark Richt of Miami vs. Brian Kelly of Notre Dame
Who's bringing the body bags? No. 2 Michigan @ Michigan State
Why are they playing? Samford @ Mississippi State
Plenty of good seats remaining: UNLV @ San Jose State
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Kansas @ No. 16 Oklahoma
Week 8 Take-aways:
November maybe for everything, but we do not have to wait for November to know that one is already clear: it's Alabama and everyone else. The Crimson Tide dominated the No. 6 Texas A&M Aggies yesterday, proving yet again why they deserve to be the No. 1 team in the nation.
That's right folks, this upcoming Saturday, Miami plays Notre Dame: the ol' "Convicts vs. the Catholics." This became a very marquee matchup in the 1980s, for that was a time when the Hurricanes were an up-and-coming, championship-contending program, first under Howard Schnellenberger, then continued and expanded under Jimmy Johnson. Meanwhile, the Fighting Irish were as strong as ever, continuing to vie for the national title every year, and in fact did so in 1988. The "Convicts vs. Catholics" slugfests of the 1980s would be akin to, say, Urban Meyer's Ohio State team playing Nick Saban's Alabama squad. Even though both the Canes and the Irish are diminished in talent this year, the matchup is a nice nod to the more storied contests of 25 to 30 years ago.
The loss that Ohio State sustained on the road to Penn State is all the more amazing when one considers that if the Buckeyes had triumphed, it would have been their 20th consecutive road win. Depending on how long Urban Meyer stays at the helm in Columbus, the Buckeyes will no doubt be in a good position to break this record yet again. Nevertheless, the Bucks' loss is the first signature win for Penn State in the James Franklin era.
Louisville defeating NC State by such an obscene margin (the final score was 54-13) shows how dangerous the Cardinals are when they play up to their potential. Unlike last weekend against Duke, they did not have a bye week to hobble them. Make no mistake about it: the Wolfpack is a good team. The scare they put into Clemson in Death Valley, followed by an upset win over Notre Dame, demonstrates this. The conclusion to which one comes is that, at full-strength, the Cardinals can take almost any team in the nation, save Alabama. Don't believe me? Here is a thought experiment: would Louisville have offensively stagnated for such stretches as Ohio State did in Happy Valley last night? Food for thought.
Meanwhile, Texas embarrassed themselves yet again on the road. No, the margin of defeat was not great, but the fact of the matter is that this was a winnable [road] game against Kansas State. Yet the Longhorns have squandered numerous opportunities and their defense continues to struggle just as much as they did during week 1. Such a lack of improvement points to deficient coaching.
Lest this be dismissed as a rush to judgment, consider this. If a traditional power (such as Texas) has the right coach in place, the turnaround, manifest by winning games, shall be readily apparent by the second year of the coach's tenure. Consider Michigan in year two under Jim Harbaugh. Already, the Wolverines are in playoff contention. Consider that Urban Meyer in year two at Ohio State won the national championship. Consider that Nick Saban had Alabama playing back up to specs by year two of his time in Tuscaloosa, and led the Tide to a national championship by year three.
Yet it is now the third year of the Charlie Strong era at Texas, and the program continues to stagnate, if not regress. The best-case scenario is 6-6 for the year, but more realistically, expect a 4-8 record. Such a lack of improvement by now has exhausted everyone's patience, and it is the consensus conclusion that Coach Strong must go. Sorry, Charlie.


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#MTVAwards: 'Beauty and the Beast' bags 'Movie of the Year' award
| Updated: Aug 23, 2017 11:20 IST
New Delhi [India], May 8 (ANI): Hosted by Adam Devine, the biggest names from the big and small screen were honored at one of the biggest nights for entertainment fraternity. MTV branched out this year, turning its annual Movie Awards into the first-ever MTV Movie & TV Awards. While 'The Fast and the Furious' became the first movie franchise to be honored with the Generation Award, it was 'Stranger Things' and 'Beauty and the Beast' that were the big winners of the night, taking home Best Show and Best Movie Here's a list of all the winners of the 26th annual MTV Movie and TV Awards, presented Sunday at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. GENERATION AWARD Fast and Furious franchise MOVIE OF THE YEAR WINNER: Beauty and the Beast Get Out Logan Rogue One: A Star Wars Story The Edge of Seventeen BEST ACTOR IN A MOVIE Daniel Kaluuya - Get Out WINNER: Emma Watson - Beauty and the Beast Hailee Steinfeld - The Edge of Seventeen Hugh Jackman - Logan James McAvoy - Split Taraji P. Henson - Hidden Figures SHOW OF THE YEAR Atlanta Game of Thrones Insecure Pretty Little Liars WINNER: Stranger Things This Is Us BEST ACTOR IN A SHOW Donald Glover - Atlanta Emilia Clarke - Game of Thrones Gina Rodriguez - Jane the Virgin Jeffrey Dean Morgan - The Walking Dead Mandy Moore - This Is Us WINNER: Millie Bobby Brown - Stranger Things BEST KISS WINNER: Ashton Sanders and Jharrel Jerome - Moonlight Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling - La La Land Emma Watson and Dan Stevens - Beauty and the Beast Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard - Empire Zac Efron and Anna Kendrick - Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates BEST VILLAIN Allison Williams - Get Out Demogorgon - Stranger Things Jared Leto - Suicide Squad WINNER: Jeffrey Dean Morgan - The Walking Dead Wes Bentley - American Horror Story BEST HOST Ellen DeGeneres - The Ellen DeGeneres Show John Oliver - Last Week Tonight With John Oliver RuPaul - RuPaul's Drag Race Samantha Bee - Full Frontal With Samantha Bee WINNER: Trevor Noah - The Daily Show BEST DOCUMENTARY WINNER: 13TH I Am Not Your Negro O.J.: Made in America This Is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous TIME: The Kalief Browder Story BEST REALITY COMPETITION America's Got Talent MasterChef Junior WINNER: RuPaul's Drag Race The Bachelor The Voice BEST COMEDIC PERFORMANCE Adam Devine - Workaholics Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson - Broad City WINNER: Lil Rel Howery - Get Out Seth MacFarlane - Family Guy Seth Rogen - Sausage Party Will Arnett - The LEGO Batman Movie BEST HERO Felicity Jones - Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Grant Gustin - The Flash Mike Colter - Luke Cage Millie Bobby Brown - Stranger Things Stephen Amell - Arrow WINNER: Taraji P. Henson - Hidden Figures TEARJERKER Game of Thrones - Hodor's (Kristian Nairn) Death Grey's Anatomy - Meredith tells her children about Derek's death (Ellen Pompeo) Me Before You - Will (Sam Claflin) tells Louisa (Emilia Clarke) he can't stay with her Moonlight - Paula (Naomie Harris) tells Chiron (Trevante Rhodes) that she loves him WINNER: This Is Us - Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Randall (Lonnie Chavis) at karate NEXT GENERATION Chrissy Metz WINNER: Daniel Kaluuya Issa Rae Riz Ahmed Yara Shahidi BEST DUO Adam Levine and Blake Shelton - The Voice Daniel Kaluuya and Lil Rel Howery - Get Out Brian Tyree Henry and Lakeith Stanfield - Atlanta WINNER: Hugh Jackman and Dafne Keen - Logan Josh Gad and Luke Evans - Beauty and the Beast Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg - Martha and Snoop's Potluck Dinner Party BEST AMERICAN STORY WINNER: Black-ish Fresh Off the Boat Jane the Virgin Moonlight Transparent BEST FIGHT AGAINST THE SYSTEM Get Out WINNER: Hidden Figures Loving Luke Cage Mr. Robot TRENDING "Sean Spicer Press Conference" feat. Melissa McCarthy - Saturday Night Live (NBC) "Lady Gaga Carpool Karaoke" - The Late Late Show with James Corden (CBS) "Cash Me Outside How Bout Dat" - Dr. Phil (CBS) WINNER: "Run The World (Girls)" Channing Tatum and Beyonce - Lip Sync Battle (SPIKE) "Wheel of Musical Impressions with Demi Lovato" - The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC) Winona Ryder's Winning SAG Awards Reaction - 23rd Annual SAG Awards (TNT) BEST MUSICAL MOMENT "Beauty and the Beast" - Ariana Grande and John Legend - (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures) "Can't Stop the Feeling" - Justin Timberlake - Trolls (20th Century Fox) "How Far I'll Go" - Auli'i Cravalho - Moana (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures) "City of Stars" - Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone - La La Land (Summit Entertainment) "You Can't Stop" The Beat - Ensemble - Hairspray Live! (NBC) "Be That As It May" - Herizen Guardiola - The Get Down (Netflix) WINNER: "You're the One That I Want" - Ensemble - Grease: Live (FOX) (ANI)

subset: commoncrawl


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Hoffman's Woodpecker (Melanerpes hoffmannii). This woodpecker occurs from Southwest Nicaragua to Northern Costa Rica. We saw several of them over a two week period.
One of the characteristic markings of this species is that the nape (back of neck) is yellow. This male was busy hunting for bugs and was oblivious to my close presence.


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How Much Does Landlord Insurance in Harrison Cost?
There's really no one-size-fits-all landlord insurance policy! When preparing a price quote for you the insurance companies will take into account numerous factors including:
– Physical Characteristics of the Property
– Location of House
– Rental Property Age
– Updates & Improvements Made To Property
– Whether You Have Occupants Or If Property Is Empty
– Claims History
– Credit & More
Each and every insurance provider has their own individual formula that they use to "guesstimate" risk. These methods are utilized to calculate the amount of money you will be charged to insure your rental. Because each company uses their own formula, the rates can vary, often significantly from one insurance company to the next. That is exactly why it is so essential to partner with an agency like us that offers multiple top-rated landlord insurance companies.
Our professional agents will take the time to impartially shop the competition on your behalf. Give us a ring today or get an online insurance quote now to get started. We are focused on finding you the maximum level of protection for the lowest price.
For Inexpensive Landlord Insurance in Harrison TN Phone (865) 579-0500


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Frequently Asked Questions
Here we've included some answers to questions about the services we provide, if you still have questions, please visit The State of Nebraska Judicial Branch website for more detailed information on guardianships and conservatorships in Nebraska.
What is a "Guardian"?
A guardian is a person who is responsible for your personal affairs. A guardian is appointed by a judge after he or she determines that you are incapacitated.
What is a "Conservator"?
A conservator is a person who is responsible for managing your estate and financial affairs. A conservator is appointed by a judge after he or she determines that you are incapacitated.
What are the differences between a guardian and a conservator?
A guardian can make decisions about your person, such as deciding where you live, what you eat and what doctor you see. A conservator makes decisions about your money like, paying your bills and investing your money.
Can the same person be both guardian and conservator?
Yes, but the court can appoint two separate people to fill these jobs if that is in your best interest.


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Jolly Beggarman [Vintage]
In this session we take a look at the Jolly Beggarman. An excellent intro into the ornpipe world, this tune is an great way to spruce up ones repertoire! Happy viewing!
Date of Original Live Class: Monday, September 24, 2012 8:30pm
Course Name: Repertoire Expansion
Class Name: Jolly Beggarman
Class Instructor: Marc DuBois
Access This Class Recording:
This class link is restricted to those with a 'Basic' membership or above. Don't worry though - you can have access to this class in 3 minutes or less! Click here to purchase your membership now!
tags: Basic
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|The Stitch-uation
Event Type: Program
Age Group(s): Adults
Date: 2/5/2019
Start Time: 6:00 PM
End Time: 7:30 PM
A time and space to complete your personal craft projects among friends. The club meets monthly so you can come and relax with friends and work at your own pace. While supplies aren't provided, support is available in spades!Library: DeFrates Room Link
Make the first Tuesday of the month your day to craft!
Location: DeFrates Room
Contact Number: 217-753-4900 x5630


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1751 Ensley Ave. (Santa Monica Blvd.) Send to Phone
310-552-1080 | Make Restaurant Reservations | Order Now! | Menu
OpenBreakfast & Lunch Mon.-Sat.
- Parking lot
- Dress code: Casual
- Kid-friendly
- Outdoor dining
- Take-out available
* Click here for rating key
Clementine Restaurant Review: Located across from Westfield Century City, Clementine offers simple, rustic dishes made with time and care. Owner Annie Miler brings together the best of California's seasonal ingredients in a welcoming, homespun atmosphere. Highlights include rustic baked goods such as apricot-ginger scones and Saturday-only cinnamon rolls. The Clementine breakfast sandwich is layered with a poached egg, melted cheddar and country ham, while gravlax is cured in-house and served with cream cheese, caperberries and a toasted bagel. For lunch, one can expect sandwiches like rare roast beef, a pulled pork torta and "build your own" grilled cheese, and specialty salads like edamame and king salmon. The ginger-limeade is made from scratch. Gourmet take-out picnics and catering are also available. Also located at 9346 Civic Center Dr., Beverly Hills, 90210, 310-461-0600.
GAYOT's Annual Restaurant Awards honor America's best chefs, as well as promising newcomers and a top restaurateur.


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Look Out LA
This photo was taken a little over three years ago, the first time I visited Los Angeles. Something just felt right and I had a feeling it wouldn't be the last time I was there.
Now I'm heading back, but this time isn't a visit. Look out LA, I'll see you soon.


text: An Afro-Brazilian dance form that incorporates self-defense maneuvers, capoeira originated among African slaves in 19th-century Brazil and is now a popular art form practiced worldwide. Capoeira is performed in a special roda, or circle, where practitioners take turns playing instruments, singing, and sparring. While capoeira focuses on skill rather than injuring opponents, the intensity of an individual game depends on the rhythm of the music. Why was capoeira outlawed in Brazil in 1890?


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Price: $11.95
Quantity: 1 available
Book Condition: NEAR FINE
"Tight, bright, clean, slight curl. Slight rubbing of exterior edges. 685 items representing a potpourri of American arts and crafts: needlework, painting, carving, metalwork, tolls and more. 9.25x8.5"" (23.5x21.6cm)"
Title: "American Folk Art, Furniture and Related Decorative Arts - January 27, 1984 - Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc. - New York"
Categories: antiques,
Publisher: NY, 1984
Binding: Oversize Paperback
Book Condition: NEAR FINE
lb: 4.00 lb
Seller ID: 04Y016
Keywords: AMERICANA "ART / Collections, Catalogs, Exhibitions" "NOT KEPT AT STORE- if you would like to pick this up, please order the day before you want to pick it up. Use the ""pick up in store"" option for shipping at checkout.",


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The Effect of Horizontal Rectus Muscle Surgery on Distance-Near Incomitance
Paul H. Phillips, MD; Katherine J. Fray, CO; Hanya Qureshi; Brita S. Rook, MD; Lamonda Corder, BSN; Robert S. Lowery, MD; Adrian P. Grigorian, MD
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Little Rock, Arkansas
Introduction: To determine the effect of horizontal rectus muscle surgery on distance-near incomitance.
Methods: Prospective evaluation of patients > 7 years old who had medial rectus or lateral rectus muscle surgery between 12/09 and 7/12. PACT testing was performed at distance (6 meters) and near (0.3 meters) after > 1 hour of monocular occlusion at the pre-operative and post-operative examinations. The change in distance-near incomitance was calculated. Post-operative examinations within 1 week and closest to 1 year after surgery were analyzed. Patients with muscle fibrosis or paralysis were excluded.
Results: Forty-five patients met inclusion criteria. Twenty-three patients had esotropia treated with medial rectus muscle recessions (21 patients) or lateral rectus muscle resections (2 patients). Twenty-two patients had exotropia treated with lateral rectus muscle recessions (18 patients) or medial rectus muscle resections (4 patients). Post-operative examinations within one week after surgery were obtained in 44 patients. The change in distance-near incomitance was </= 5 prism diopters (pd) in 37 patients; </= 10 prism diopters in 42 patients. Follow-up examinations 6 – 24 months after surgery were obtained in 28 patients. The change in distance-near incomitance was </= 5 pd in 20 patients; </= 10 pd in all 28 patients. Change in distance-near incomitance did not correlate with the specific surgical procedure (TOST p-value < 0.05 for 90% CI +/- 2 pd).
Discussion: Horizontal rectus muscle surgery does not have a clinically significant effect on distance-near incomitance.
Conclusion: It is not necessary to consider distance-near incomitance when choosing between medial rectus and lateral rectus muscle surgery.
References: 1. Archer SM. The effect of medial versus lateral rectus muscle surgery on distance-near incomitance. J AAPOS 2009;13:20-26.
2. Choi DG, Rosenbaum AL. Medial rectus resection(s) with adjustable suture for intermittent exotropia of the convergence insufficiency type. J AAPOS 2001;5:13-17.
3. Breidenstein BG, Robbins SL, Granet DB, Acera EC. Comparison of the efficacy of medial rectus recession and lateral rectus resection for treatment of divergence insufficiency. J Pediatr Ophthalmol Strabismus 2015;52(3):173-176.


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This morning's reflection flows out of a conversation I had with a person about "this world is not my home" and his yo-yo struggle between turning towards God and turning towards the world.
This morning's reflection contains diagrams and is a little more structured than most, however I wanted to make what I was saying more understandable.
Most people have this paradigm and diagram on their life as it relates to God and the World. Allot of churches teaches this diagram. They feel they are caught in the middle between the two pulls of God and the world.
God <-----------Them -------------> World
God <------------Them: At times they feel they move in the direction of God and God is moving close to them. They attend a spiritual weekend or retreat, participate in an amazing prayer or worship gathering, or something else they feel moves them closer to God and in the opposite direction of the world.
Them --------------> World: Then they feel they slip back into the world and its daily life, struggles, and temptations. As the world pulls them towards it, they feel they are being pulled away from God. Moving towards the world they feel necessitates them moving away from God.
God <---------> Them <----------> World: Because of this diagram people have embraced of their life, they live in this constant struggle and strain of the tug-of-war of being pulled into God and being pulled towards the world. Moving towards God requires moving away from the world.
However this diagram is not correct. Nor is it Biblical. The whole movement of God as John 3:16 states and the salvation plan of God in Christmas and the incarnation of Jesus reveals is God moving into the world.
So let me show you what I believe is the correct diagram:
------------> God ------------> :The previous diagram focuses on us. First, take ourselves out of the center and move God into the center were he belongs.
-------------> God -----------> World: Second: the mission of God, the movement of God, and the movement of the church is into the world, not away from it. God did not come into the world to set up sanctuaries, his light hid under a basket separate from the world, but to set up mangers, his light in the world.
Us-------------> God --------------> World: We are to move in the direction of God who is moving into the world. The mission of the church is to join in the Missio Deo, the mission of God which is to reach every nation, tribe and tongue, (Rev. 5:9) with the Gospel and make disciples of all nations (Matt 28:19). "As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world." (John 17:8)
We are called through the means of grace of prayer, searching the Scriptures, fasting, and sharing the Lord's Supper to move more intimately into God to join in his mission of moving more intimately into the world. If you attend a church service on Sundays, you are moving towards God. If you when you leave you isolate yourself from the world, you are moving against God.
Read the Gospels and look at the examples of Jesus' life.. Read Philippians 2:5-7. Then pray and reflect over what diagram controls your life. During this season of Christmas where we celebrate the movement of God into the world, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you how you can more fully join in this movement of God.
Please share your thoughts and questions below.


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MainStage Mondays: Muting Midi Messages
I recently had several of you write me about how to mute midi messages from controller keyboards. While there's not a single way to do this quickly in MainStage, there is a workaround that accomplishes the same goal. Here's how to do it:
1. Open MainStage. Select a project.
2. Go to Layout Mode.
3. Drag in a knob, button, or fader.
4. Under the screen control inspector on the LH corner of the screen, click the "Assign" button and move the midi controller you want to mute.
5. Go back to Edit Mode, then select "Assignments and Mappings". Move the controller again to see it highlighted in blue.
6. Under the Screen Control Inspector, select "Block".
This will keep it from sending any data to any of the parameters in your project.
Need more help? I offer one-on-one online training here. Thanks!


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The Vedic Vaastu can be defined scientifically or traditionally. Traditional Vaastu still narrates the Vaastu defects' impact with the help of 'SHUBH & ASHUBH (auspicious & inauspicious) not only because that seems to the traditional Vaastu consultants very easy, but also a tact to save time & energy during an on-site Vaastu survey which certainly not demands any good academic status, qualification, experience, Vaidic-shastras linked background or similar professional personality texture whereas the most advanced & logical trend to define each Vaastu flaw with the help of scientific logics (pure science like Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography etc.) is very much prominent since last one decade among a few Vaastu consultants of the world. The progressive and prominent Vaastu consultants are using the most advanced but too mush expensive tools & equipments to measure the positivity & negativity of a plot, building, house-hold goods, various Vaastu & Fengshui items, crystals, gem-stones, directions, decorative items, main gate, different Bithi-shulas etc. Even these instruments can detect the hidden energies of a site like presence of a negative well, other negative things buried beneath the earth like grave-yard, landfill, negative telluric wave crossing under or near one's site. These instruments are called 'Cosmo-telluric Sensors', Geopathic Stress Gauge', 'Bio-feedback' etc. and they work on the principles of sensing different frequencies, resonance and vibrations from the environment, atmosphere, earth or surroundings of a structure or empty land as a plot that do not match with the human being resulting into heavy loss of health, wealth and harmony. The great contribution of such tools is that not only the Vaastu consultant can feel, see or judge the response of these instruments himself but any one can see it with his/ her eyes what is the position of positive or negative vibration on/ inside one's house, plot or factory. Besides the above, one can see the intensity of those Vaastu vibrations made clearly visible by the sensor. That is why the instruments and their training costs high. The traditional Vaastu advisor still carry only a small magnetic compass in his pocket which can only show the north and every one can make out the other directions, but today's client/ customers are very much anxious to see the real reading of their site and can not follow blindly what the advisor simply directs to build or demolish whole or a small part of the building which involves very high cost. Long back one of my client at Manesar (Gurgaon) told that he was very much impressed to see the first time the sensor when I used it at his site. He admitted that commonly Vaastu consultants have only one small compass and nothing else and most of the time it is very difficult to spend large amount on construction or demolition on his advice.
Dr. Anand Bhardwaj is one of the eminent vaastu consultant form India. He provides consultation on Vastu Tip, Vastu Direction, Vastu Facing, Vastu Shastra Consultant, Vastu Shastra Consultancy, Vastu Consultancy Services, Fengshui, Pyramidology, Numerology, Energy Scanning, etc. Read More
Contact Dr. Anand Bhardwaj Learn Vastu Shastra
Call Dr. Anand Bhardwaj Consult Now
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For the first time since the winter of 2009, the ice caves at the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore near Bayfield, Wisconsin were open for the public to access. Conditions have to be just right to form ice on Lake Superior that is safe enough for visitors to walk approximately a mile from Meyers Beach to the ice caves. Winter 2014 has been brutal in Wisconsin, so the conditions were right. As soon as I heard that the caves were accessible, I was in! What follows are my twenty two favorite photos from January 24, 2014.
Prints are available for purchase at http://on.vncpd.us/1fio3SI


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This magnificent 12th Century Augustianian Abbey, founded by David I, sits proudly on the south side of the town, and greets visitors coming from the Carter Bar. Now owned by Historic Scotland,
Jedburgh Abbey is one of the four great abbeys built in Scotland's border country during the Middle Ages. It was established as a priory of Augustinian canons around 1138. The brethren possibly came here from St Quentin Abbey, near Beauvais, France. The priory was raised to abbey status around 1154.
Given Jedburgh's close proximity to England, David I saw his new abbey as demonstrating his power and authority over the Borders – a 'debatable land'. Despite the ravages of war and weather, the abbey remains as impressive today, almost 900 years later. Although the abbey cloister is now mostly stone foundations, the great abbey church of St Mary the Virgin stands almost entire. The eastern end has Romanesque architecture of the highest quality. Its solid cylindrical pillars stand in contrast to the more delicate Gothic nave, with its graceful sweep of arcades and magnificent west front.


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Why Medicare supplement Insurance is Important for the elderly
Comparing Medicare supplement plans is just the best way to make sure that you have the cheapest Medicare supplement plan available when you are on Medicare – over 65 years of age. When you begin your search for a Medigap insurance plan, try to read the Medicare guidelines. You must obtain "Medigap plan selection" when you turn 65 for the first time or call Medicare directly by calling 1-800-MEDICARE so you can get one.Once you have a good understanding of Medicare supplemental insurance, the plans offered and how coverage works, it is time to begin the process of choosing the desired plan and from which company you receive it.
When looking for a Medicare supplemental insurance plan, one of the best resources that you can use to your advantage is an independent insurance broker. When you start with a broker, you will receive recommendations and recommendations for unbiased plans – unlike a "captive agent" who works for a single company and can only sell a plan for you. Brokers such as those at www.2020medicaresupplementplans.com are usually compensated by commissions, so they will want to sell a 2020 Medicare Supplement Plans for you, but they usually have their best interests and will do what they need to do to satisfy you.
Plan G, Plan F, and Plan N are the most popular supplementary plans. Although there are a total of 10 Medigap plans, the three mentioned above are the most popular and account for more than 90% of all Medicare supplement sales. Plan F has the greatest coverage and many elders refer to it as the "Cadillac" plan. Medigap Plan G is somewhere in the middle (although very similar in coverage for Plan F beyond a small franchise.) Medigap Plan G gives the best value for money. Medigap Policy N is one of the Medicare supplement plans more cheap, and it covers less benefits because it's cheaper.
Depending on your comfort, one of these plans is certainly right for you. With the Medicare Charge rates in all of these guidelines, you guarantee that you choose something in your price range and do not pay too much for a cheaper plan elsewhere.Many seniors in Medicare are often overburdened by all the opportunities available to them. Unfortunately, many people choose the "wrong" type of insurance because they simply do not know the appropriate type of coverage. Medicare does not do a good job helping people older than 65 understand what they have and therefore they are ignorant. Your search will definitely pay and help you ensure that all of your insurance needs are met.Medigap is a special type of insurance developed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to lessen or even eliminate large gaps that the Medicare standard coverage of Parts A and B does not cover.When you consider all these considerations when you turn 65, you can make the most of your health, your golden age and your future retirement!


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I took last Friday off to celebrate Dylan's birthday weekend and it was so nice to have an extra day to just hang out! We spent a couple hours in Missoula on Saturday (mostly eating) - it was totally worth it. Notorious P.I.G. has INCREDIBLE bbq!
Pro tip: get the burnt ends and fire and ice pickles. I promise you won't regret it ;)
After lunch, we decided to stroll around downtown. I'm a sucker for a good sign and local distilleries, so Montgomery Distillery was our next stop. They have the coolest interior there and I could spend WAY too much time on their couch. In fact I did...it's this gorgeous worn camel-colored leather and it's right next to this huge window, so it's this perfect cozy spot to sit and sip your cocktail and admire the most interesting bae in all the land.
Pro tip: these guys are seriously master crafters when it comes to cocktails. Pick something on the menu that you wouldn't normally pick - you'll be so pleasantly surprised!
Saturday's adventures wore me out. Lucky me though: our good friends made us brunch Sunday morning before I headed back to Bozeman. Both Kevin and Stefanie are in the restaurant industry: Kevin as a chef and Stefanie as front-of-house. They are so gifted and they have the cutest little boy.
Last pro tip: if you want to experience Kevin's culinary talents yourself, go grab lunch or dinner at the Top Hat!


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The Broadway-bound Be More Chill is a Black Mirror–meets–Mean Girls musical with a cult following that has propelled it from its 2014 premiere at the Two River Theater in Red Bank, N.J., to an Off-Broadway run. The power of social media and an obsessive teenage fan base took this little-known show and made it the second most mentioned musical on Tumblr in 2017 (behind Hamilton).
Based on the young adult novel by Ned Vizzini, Be More Chill is the creation of Joe Iconis (music and lyrics) and Joe Tracz (book). It tells the story of self-defined high school loser, Jeremy Heere (Will Roland), who, accompanied by best (and only) friend Michael Mell (George Salazar), buys a black-market pill from Japan in the back of a Payless shoe store. Will has been promised by a classmate, Rich Goranski (Gerard Canonico), that the "squip" will implant itself in his brain and effortlessly elevate his social status. Will hopes it will also help him win over his crush, Christine Canigula (Stephanie Hsu).
The Squip (Jason Tam) manifests itself in Will's head as a Keanu Reeves lookalike wearing over-the-top costumes and doing his best to convince Will that he needs to change everything about himself ("Everything about you makes me wanna die") in order to "be more chill." This includes "optic-nerve blocking," which prevents Will from noticing Michael at school.
It's the classic high school story asking the question, "What's the price you're willing to pay for popularity?" with the added twist of futuristic technology that has an agenda of its own. Roland's Will is lovable even as he selfishly pursues popularity. He's self-aware enough to admit, "still I'm just a little scared, for who gets cut and who gets spared when I'm the cool dude, the hero, or whatever/If Christine likes me in the end, will I be able to pretend I didn't fail my one real friend?"
Iconis's songs are the true standout of Be More Chill. They create the scene, the story, the characters and the emotions, and they drive the story forward. The lyricist displays a deep understanding of the teenage experience, equipping his characters with lyrics that communicate their fears and insecurities while creating the quirks and personalities that bring them to life.
In "I Love Play Rehearsal," Christine (Stephanie Hsu) explains her passion for theater and reminds audiences of what it was like to find your place in the overwhelming world of high school. Hsu lends Christine a wonderful sense of comedic timing and an endearing eccentricity.
Iconis writes about mundane high school experiences that feel anything but ordinary while you're living through them. In "Michael in the Bathroom," a standout soliloquy, Michael bemoans being alone in a Solo cup–covered bathroom at the party of the autumn: "But I'd rather fake pee than stand awkwardly, or pretend to check a text on my phone." Salazar's performance as Michael is raw and honest, and his voice is an absolute joy to listen to. He's able to deliver lines that would typically make you roll your eyes in a way that instead make you laugh heartily.
Each song tells its own story within the greater plot and does its job to move the plot along. Even the slightly ridiculous "The Pants Song" ends up endearing in the end. Iconis shows his respect for musical theater with "Cellphone Hour," a nod to Bye, Bye Birdie's "The Telephone Hour"—but with characters on cell phones and social media.
The show is ripe with cultural references, some hokey and some side-splittingly funny. The Broadway transfer will be a good time for director Stephen Brackett to reassess whether the characters really need to dab in the first five minutes in order to elicit a laugh.
The costumes, designed by Bobby Frederick Tilley II, include recognizable pieces that have become fan favorites. Michael's "Creeps" shirt can be bought at the show, and the Squip's over-the-top black-and-white outfits seem to be characters all on their own.
Be More Chill has been wildly embraced by teenagers for a variety of reasons including the talented young cast, the relatable lyrics, the pop-culture references, and the technological tilt on a tale-as-old-as-time story.
It's a breath of fresh air to walk out of the theater and think, "Wow, maybe I'll go read the book this was based on" in a time when you normally see a musical or play because you already know and love the source material.
Be More Chill plays at The Pershing Square Signature Center through Sept. 30. The current run is sold out, with lottery tickets available on TodayTix. For last-minute tickets, join the cancellation line at the box office one hour prior to curtain for every performance or keep checking Ticket Central the day of the show. The show will begin a Broadway run at the Lyceum Theater on Feb. 13, 2019, with opening night set for March 10. You can buy tickets here.