Weekend Wrap-Up and
World Series Preview
On Saturday there were many storylines unfolding even before
the pass interference, touchdown negating penalty against Notre Dame. First,
the Oklahoma Sooners, the preseason favorites in the Big XII, were beaten by Kansas
State, a team ready to possibly break the door down on this whole playoff
process. Thanks largely to their kicker, who missed two chip shots, Oklahoma
fell into a tie for 6th place in the conference and ended any hope they had of
securing a playoff spot. Also in the Big XII, West Virginia and the very much
underrated Clint Trickett handed #4 Baylor their first loss of the season. The
upset was a great moment for the school, but the madness afterwards in the
streets of Morgantown was not. When riot police have to be called it’s never a
good sign. TCU who should’ve beaten Baylor, rebounded with a win over Oklahoma
State, giving themselves a spot in the top 10 and showing just how deep the
conference is. Meanwhile, in the SEC, Alabama put an absolute beatdown on Texas
A&M. At the half Alabama had already gained over 400 yards of offense and
effectively let the world know that they should not be forgotten about, even if
their offensive coordinator is Lane Kiffin. Now to the game of the week in
Tallahassee. Florida State escaped with a win thanks to a costly pass
interference call against the Notre Dame offense. The two things that stood out
during this game were the fact that Jameis Winston, despite all his immature,
off-field activity, is the real deal. In the second half Winston put on a
clinic against the Irish defense. If the kid can get his act together he is
going to make an NFL team very happy, even if he couldn’t pass a fourth grade
social studies test. Secondly, Notre Dame is a legit team. If they can run the
table the rest of the way they should see themselves in the playoff and
possibly facing Florida State again in a rematch for the ages.
On Sunday the NFL took center stage in the sports world and
there were more than a few things that stood out. The Chicago Bears look to be
imploding in front of our eyes. Terrible play, a locker room fight, and a very
bad loss to the Miami Dolphins at home are not recipes for future success.
Meanwhile, the Green Bay Packers absolutely destroyed the Carolina Panthers.
Aaron Rodgers, Jordy Nelson, and Randall Cobb had their way with the defense
and Cam and the Panther offense couldn’t muster anything but garbage time
points. The Lions took another step towards legitimacy with their late win
against the New Orleans Saints thanks to their #1 defense picking off Drew
Brees. The race to 7-9 or 8-8 and a division win for the NFC South is going to
be a joke the rest of the season. The whole division should be excommunicated
from the league for the rest of the year. Kyle Orton led the Bills to a last
second win against Minnesota, literally scoring with one second remaining. The
Bills are 2-1 with Orton as the starter and have held a lead in those two wins
for a grand total of five seconds. The Ravens easily dispatched of the Atlanta
Falcons and look like the best team in the AFC not named the Broncos. Speaking
of the Broncos, they dismantled the 49ers and Peyton Manning overtook Brett
Favre for the all-time lead in touchdown passes. If their defense can keep
playing as well as they are, Peyton will find himself back in a Super Bowl.
Finally, The Dallas Cowboys became the team with the best record in the NFL as
they defeated the Giants in an NFC East battle. DeMarco Murray broke Jim
Brown’s 56 year record for most games over 100 yards to open a season thanks to
another absolute manhandling by the offensive line at the line of scrimmage.
Dallas has the best offensive line in football by an unbelievable margin. With
913 rushing yards on the season, Murray has more rushing yards than 29 teams.
He is cementing his name in the MVP talks and showing that this offense can do
what others before it couldn’t; it is sustainable come December and January.
Now onto baseball and the World Series. Tomorrow night the
Giants open up in Kansas City and send Madison Bumgarner to the mound to face
James Shields. Despite not having lost thus far in the postseason, I see the
Royals dropping at least one, maybe two games to San Fran. Something tells me
this Series will be one that we will remember for a long time. There is not
much difference between the two teams but each has an extreme advantage over
the other in one area. Kansas City can run circles around San Fran on the base
path but Bruce Bochy could outmanage Ned Yost even if he lost half of his brain
capabilities. So the question then is this, which is the bigger advantage? I
feel that despite how much better a manager may be, if a team is hitting and
can run well, even the smart manager pushing all the right buttons won’t be
able to overcome that. I’m going to take the Royals in 6.
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