-Tennessee chancellor Donde Plowman, said she was "astonished and sickened by the behavior of some Vol fans at the end of tonight's game. Neyland Stadium has always been a place for families, and we will keep it that way,"
What families, La Cosa Nostra? There are frequently fist fights in the stands--between Tennessee fans! "Fuck you, Biden"--Take the kids to a "Vols" game: Neyland Stadium, an education, not just a game.
-I think Pitt will be ranked in the AP top 25 later today, but it'll be a close thing. Last week they received one vote. The 25th-ranked team got 108. Big jump from one to ~108. Did the uber-impressive, complete team win in Blacksburg do enough to change over a hundred minds? I think so. Among "others receiving votes" last week Auburn, 106 votes, two shy of the top 25, won; Clemson (63) with a 4-2 record, won; Baylor (62) won; Texas-San Antonio (22) won and is 7-0. Of those four schools Auburn and Baylor will definitely enter the top 25. Clemson? Mississippi State (7) lost and is now 3-3; K-State (3) lost and is 3-3. I think Pitt would jump all but Auburn, Baylor, and maybe Clemson, for although winning, the "Tigers" did so at "Syracuse" by 3 and they have not looked good all year. But Clemson does not have a loss with the stench that Pitt does. And, those two teams play next week. You would forgive AP voters for keeping both out of the top 25 until the matter is settled next Saturday.
How many of last week's will fall out? Texas now 4-3 (25th), Florida 4-3 (22nd) and Arkansas (17th) 4-3, assuredly. Three losses, no matter how close and no matter how impressive the wins, are not going to trump a one-loss Power-5 team; BYU 5-2 (19th) almost assuredly will drop out; Arizona State 5-2 (18th) probably. Two losses to credible teams may trump one really bad loss. So three, probably five, will drop down and and two are locks to move up. That leaves room for one-to-three from unbeaten UTSA, Clemson and Pitt to move in. If only one makes it, my money would be on the "Panthers."
-Florida's defense is getting all the blame for the 49-42 loss in Baton Rouge. I get it. Career rushing day by somebody nobody ever heard of, 49 points. But lord, what about the quarterback play? Four picks, one a pick-six. "Gators" defense responsible for that? LSU scored seven TD's, FU six. The difference is one. What about the horrendous INT Richardson threw on SECOND DOWN with the "Gators" driving for the tying score in the last two minutes? Not D's fault. Does FU have one good QB?
-The flagship University of Texas-Austin is now the third-best tackle football team in the state--the state of Oklahoma! For the second week in a row head coach Steve Sarkisian "has embarrassed the entire state of Texas," this time right in the shadow of Charles Whitman Memorial Tower. Coaches generally are not fired in the middle of the season. It is unheard of, as far as I have heard, for a head man to be fired in the middle of his first season. Sarkisian therefore will stay, and probably into a second year, but there is no mistake in Austin or the Longhorn Network: Sarkisian cannot coach.
-For all I know Manny Diaz may be an ex-coach right now. After entering the season ranked 14th the "Hurricanes" are now 2-4. Their only wins were a nail-biter in Miami Gardens against App State and a thumping of poor little "Central Connecticut State." My God. They have been blown out twice themselves, once by Alabama on a neutral field in the first game, and then at home by East Lansing Spartak. Their last two games were lost by a combined five points. Now hear me here: Miami has still got talent out the ass. They have more talent than does Pitt. Red-shirt Freshman Tyler Van Dyke is going to be the next great QB at UM. You heard it here first. This terrible team with some great players and a coach who can't coach could still win the Coastal Division of the ACC! To do that they would have to win all of their final six games. Especially with Van Dyke at the helm UM has the talent to win all of them but they are not coached well enough as a team to win all of them. This is now Manny's third year. He. Can't. Coach. I doubt UM fires him mid-season. The head of the university is disengaged and, this is the most important point: UM does not have the money to hire a sure-fire, big name coach. Certainly if UM finishes 2-9 Diaz is gone But if the team muddles through the remaining games and finishes 5-7 or 6-6? I don't know.
-Trev Alberts will not fire Scott Frost mid-season of Frost's fourth, but Frost can't coach. Three and a half years, no progress. At the conclusion of the fourth year with no progress Alberts should fire Frost. Alberts should have a list of three or four replacements in his mind right now, not a list put together after he fires Frost. No more NU370 flights to nowhere. Make a list and check it twice now.
