SPEEDYLEE’S COLLEGE FOOTBALL RANKINGS

(WEEK 3)

The top 10 teams held serve this week and many began conference play. Among the top 10 schools, only Michigan failed to score 31 points and the Wolverines did not play this week. There were no changes among the first 10 but Florida (3-0) is fighting to leave the watchlist and take a place at the big dogs table.

1.     Clemson (3-0) defeated Syracuse 41-6.

2.     Georgia (3-0) beat Arkansas St. 55-0.

3.     LSU (3-0) thumped New Mexico St. 65-14.

4.     Alabama (3-0) beat South Carolina 47-23.

5.     Oklahoma (3-0) beat sinking UCLA 48-14.

6.     Ohio St. (3-0) beat Indiana 51-10.

7.     Utah (3-0) edged Idaho St. 31-0.

8.     Michigan (2-0) did not play.

9.     Auburn (3-0) handled Kent St. 55-16.

10.  Texas (2-1) steamed Rice 48-3.

Teams to watch: Florida (3-0), Notre Dame (2-0), Texas A&M (2-1) and Army (1-1). Slippery Rock (2-0) defeated Shippensburg 54-19.

NOTES: Arizona State’s 10-7 victory over Michigan State ended with abundant controversies. … Oklahoma QB Jalen Hurts was abundantly productive against UCLA, rushing for 150 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries and passing for 289 yards and three scores. That’s 439 total yards and four TDs. Hurts has had the best start to 2019 of all the presumptive top candidates for the Heisman Trophy. Next week’s games include #2 Georgia vs. watchlisted Notre Dame, #9 Auburn vs. watchlisted Texas A&M, #7 Utah vs. unranked USC, #8 Michigan vs. unranked Wisconsin.

Heisman Watch: Jalen Hurts, Oklahoma.

Not eligible: Penn State.

SPEEDLEE’S COLLEGE FOOTBALL RANKINGS

(WEEK 2)

What a mess! There was a lot of movement in the Top 10 this week. LSU’s huge win over Texas vaulted LSU to third, while Texas dropped to 10^th. Washington dropped out of the top 10. Michigan’s and Auburn’s wins brought those two into the top 10. Florida fell to the watchlist.

1.     Clemson (2-0) beat Texas A&M 24-10. Quality win.

2.     Georgia (2-0) defeated Murray State.

3.     LSU (2-0) beat Texas at Texas.

4.     Alabama (2-0) took care of business against New Mexico State.

5.     Oklahoma (2-0) beat South Dakota State.

6.     Ohio State (2-0) beat Cincinnati.

7.     Utah (2-0) defeated Northern Illinois.

8.     Michigan (2-0) beat Army in OT, a quality win.

9.     Auburn (2-0) defeated Tulane.

10.  Texas (1-1) lost to LSU.

Teams to watch: Florida (2-0), Notre Dame (1-0), Texas A&M (1-1), Army (1-1). … Congrats to the San Diego State Aztecs (2-0) for their first-ever victory over UCLA, 23-14, at the Rose Bowl. The Aztecs had not won in 23 previous meetings. … Slippery Rock (1-0) defeated Wayne State in The Rock’s opener.

Notes: The three SEC teams cannot remain in the top four. Alabama plays LSU in November and the SEC championship game could match ‘Bama, LSU or Auburn against Georgia. Further, Auburn plays at LSU and then hosts Georgia and Alabama. … Ohio State plays Michigan in conference play and Texas plays Oklahoma.

Not eligible: Penn State

SPEEDLEE’S COLLEGE FOOTBALL RANKINGS

(WEEK 1)

          The Top 10 teams held serve in their openers with the exception of Florida. The Gators (1-0) dropped a spot to 10^th despite narrowly beating unranked but determined Miami (0-1). Key games in Week 2: #1 Clemson (1-0) vs Watch-listed Texas A&M (1-0), #8 LSU (1-0) at #6 Texas (1-0) and Watch-listed Army (1-0) against Watch-listed Michigan (1-0). 

The Rankings:

1. Clemson, 1-0 

2.   Georgia, 1-0 

3.   Washington, 1-0 

4.   Alabama, 1-0 

5.   Oklahoma, 1-0 

6.   Texas, 1-0 

7.   Ohio State, 1-0 

8.   LSU, 1-0 

9.   Utah, 1-0 

10.  Florida, 1-0

NOTES: Teams to watch: Auburn (1-0), Michigan (1-0), Notre Dame (0-0), Texas A&M (1-0), Army (1-0) and Oregon (0-1). … Oregon still has a pathway to the Final Four, but the Ducks will have to go undefeated the rest of the way, beat Utah in the Pac 12 title game and hope that Auburn has a great season. … Southern Cal (1-0) beat undervalued Fresno State (0-1) Saturday but lost QB JT Daniels to a leg injury. … Alabama’s 42-3 victory over Duke was tougher than the score indicated. … Utah’s (1-0) 30-12 victory over BYU (0-1) was a rare combination of a rivalry game and a season opener. … Slippery Rock begins its NCAA D-II season this week.

Heisman Watch: Forget it, too early.

Ineligible: Penn State.

Father's Day: Key lessons learned and taught

With my Dad.

This month will mark the second Fathers’ Day since the sad day that we lost my Dad. The day comes around every year, there is no getting around it.

Our children never fail to call and wish me Happy Fathers’ Day and I enjoy that tremendously. We joke around and laugh at old family humor. Those calls and the greetings cards they send never fail to make for a happy day. Amy and I have two very fine kids. Amy did a sensational job of raising them.

Amy.

I don’t claim credit for the tremendous adults our children have become because I know I could have been a better father. What’s worse, I know I could have been a better son to my own Dad. So, pushing all of that forward for consideration, what are the key points to Fatherhood that I learned from my own Dad and that I hopefully passed along to our hatchlings?

I offer below a modest list of lessons, a combination of things preached by the two of us:

1.    I am going to correct you when you are wrong and sometimes the correctional activity will be less than fun, but I will ALWAYS have your back to the world outside of the family. Always.

2.    Honor your Mother. Celebrate the sacrifices she has made for you and enjoy the warmth of her unconditional love.

3.    No matter how old I get, if you need help, call me.

Me with Regan.

4.    Our kids did not grow up in airconditioned houses. I don’t care whether they think the A/C should cool off the entire world or not because I’m not paying for it.

5.    John Wayne was the best actor of all time, Bear Bryant was the greatest football coach, A.J. Foyt was the best racer ever, Richard Petty was the best stock car driver, John Elway was the best quarterback and Magic Johnson was the best basketball player. You will memorize these points.

6.    You have both Union and Confederate DNA. Understand what was wrong with the Confederate cause, but never turn your back on your heritage or your family.

7.    When installing a car stereo, be sure you properly attach the ground wire. If you fail to do so, you could spend hours trying to determine why the stereo doesn’t play.

8.    You are entitled to grind your state and federal governments for every deduction legally available on your tax return. Be accurate but be complete because it’s your money and money does not grow on trees.

9.    Read the Wall Street Journal.

10.    Roll Tide, baby, Roll Tide. But root for USC and San Diego State, too. 

With Sean.

  11.    When you get down to the basics, the United States Army Air Corps was not much different from today’s United States Air Force. Look straight up into the sky and thank Goodness that we rule the air.

Thanks for reading!

Fast Women: The Indy 500

          The Indianapolis 500 is racing’s most important event. 

          Formula 1 racing has a bigger footprint, worldwide, than does IndyCar and that’s nice for the F1 crowd, but no single racing event is bigger than Indy. You avoid absolutes as often as possible when writing for public consumption, but it is safe to say that very few sporting facilities have been around as long as the midwestern jewel and none have the rich history of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The 500 captures the attention of the world’s sporting public every year and drivers the planet over want to race on the famed American oval.

          Some of those drivers are women.

Women have been racing in the 500 since 1977 when Janet Guthrie became the first of her gender to make the 33-car field. Including Guthrie, nine women have started the great race. Guthrie started three, Lyn St. James was the 1992 Rookie of the Year at Indy and had seven career starts in the 500, Sarah Fisher started her first 500 in 2000 and was in the field nine times during her driving career. Later Fisher fielded a competitive team as an owner at Indy. Danica Patrick had her first of eight 500 starts in 2005 and Milka Duno raced three times at Indy, starting with the 2007 race. Simona de Silvestro raced as a 500 rookie in 2010 and had five Indy starts. Ana Beatriz was also a rookie in the 2010 race and had four total starts. Pippa Mann, who is racing in her seventh 500 this weekend, had her first 500 start in 2011. Katherine Legg has had two starts, beginning in 2012.

         Your Loyal Blogger has been fortunate enough to interview Guthrie, St. James, Fisher and Duno. Without exception, all are great interviews. St. James took YLB around the street course at the Long Beach Grand Prix in a press ride-along event one time. The car was a standard-issue street car from a local Ford dealership and friends, she hustled that car around. At one point, St. James said, “Oops,” which nearly caused heart failure on the part of her passenger. When we slowed to return to the pits St. James explained that she said “Oops,” because she had missed the racing line by a few inches in that corner. A few decades later, during a casual conversation, YLB told St. James that she’d nearly caused a heart attack by saying, “Oops,” and related the story. She grinned.

          It says here that a woman will win the 500 someday. It’s hard to tell whether a woman will be elected President of the United States before we have a female kissing the bricks, but both are going to happen. In 1977, when Guthrie made the field for the first time, this writer expected that a woman would have won the 500 by now.

          Eight years earlier, YLB expected the Colts to beat the Jets in Super Bowl III, so take this prediction stuff with a grain of salt.

          The key point here is that automobile racing is one of the sports where men and women can compete equally and we should celebrate the emergence of more and more women into the highest levels of the racing world. Read it here and understand this: Having an increasing presence of women in racing is good for the sport. Women racers give racing a more modern, inclusive profile. If you care for the sport, you support women as racers.

          Think I’m wrong? Take a look at drag racing, where women have been winning championships for a long time. The National Hot Rod Association enjoys great popularity these days and some of the most popular drivers are women. Check it out sometime. Anyone who can handle an 11,000-horsepower monster at 340 mph can also do any darn thing else that she wants to do. You want to get in the way? No, I didn’t think so.

          At Indianapolis, Patrick has the best finish among women, third. Recently retired from racing, Patrick also finished fourth and sixth at Indy. Patrick also had the best starting position, fourth, in 2005 and has led the most laps among women, 29.

Fisher has the most starts, nine. In 2010, the field for the 500 included four women racers and that’s the most ever. The women on the starting grid that day were Patrick, Fisher, Beatriz and de Silvestro.

This year, only Mann will carry the women’s flag and we wish her well.

Thanks for reading.

A final note: The recent ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on Guthrie's first attempts to qualify at Indy, Qualified, was excellent and is highly recommended here.

Why attend the CWI?

          History is an old thing and it keeps getting older. It has been around since the beginning. It looks into the future beyond the point where light can reach, but it will always be there. Sometimes, when you have a chance to hold it in your hands, history is fragile. It can turn to dust as quickly as an old piece of paper and so you have to be careful with it.

          But when you can walk on it, history becomes a robust living thing that speaks to you. Listen intently and you can hear it tell you that, yes, they stood where you stand now and saw what you see, making decisions that shaped the world you live in now.

          Right now.

          My wife and I have visited the Gettysburg National Military Park annually since 2009 and I have attended the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College since 2011. Our annual calendar is planned around Gettysburg and the CWI. The CWI is an annual convention, gathering together students of the War with the leading scholars and authors on the subject. Whatever the hot topic is among Civil War researchers, we hear about it during those five days. I simply will not miss it.

          I am blessed with the World’s Best Wife, Amy, who enjoys visiting the town of Gettysburg. There are some nice places to eat and we both enjoy the charm of small-town America; the warm and friendly people who seem happy to meet us.

          You make friends at the CWI and if you become a regular you look forward to visiting with other regulars each year. I’ve sat next to Bob Evans since I started attending the CWI. We’re both former sportswriters and we have a great deal to talk about. My life-long pal, Buck Weber, has caught the CWI bug and now he attends as often as he is able. Buck lives further away from Gettysburg than Amy and I and so he has a harder time getting there. Buck, Bob and I all take notes on the lectures and I frequently catch myself dropping my pen and looking at the other guys.

          “I didn’t know that,” I’ll whisper to the other guys. “Did you?”

          “No.”

          “Geez, now I have to go see it.”

          It’s like that at the CWI. The learning curve never really flattens out. The fact is that the curve shouldn’t flatten out. This year’s presenters include Gary Gallagher, Carol Reardon, Wayne Motts, Ed Ayers and Earl Hess. How can you help learning with that group teaching you? The authors and historians, aka the presenters, are very approachable. The CWI matriculation includes dine-in events, which are small groups of attendees eating dinner with some of the historians each year and I have been lucky enough to be included several times. It is an amazing experience, discussing a specific historic point with a well-known historian and a small group of students like yourself.

          The CWI experience also includes battlefield tours. My tours have included the battlefields at Antietam and Manassas, the defenses around Washington DC and other sites. There are always tours of Gettysburg as well.

          If my favorite part of the CWI is the lectures, the most expensive thing I do is peruse the books on sale. I shudder to think how many hundreds of dollars I have spent on books at the CWI through the years. One year, when we lived further away than we do now, I had to mail most of the book purchases home. No big deal, but I had to decide what books were coming on the plane with me and which ones were going home to wait. What a tough decision!

          You can check the CWI out at https://www.gettysburg.edu/civil-war-institute/index.dot. Got any questions? The phone number is there to be seen and used, as is the email address. Check out the CWI yourself. It is an experience you’ll enjoy and you’ll probably want to do it again.

          Thanks for reading. Hope to see you at the CWI!

Rams, Patriots Super Keys

SPEEDYLEEWAY’s Super Bowl Prediction

          It has not been easy for me to produce a logic-based look at this year’s Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams. I am far too emotionally involved for this to be easy. I feel sorry for the folks who have to work with me on Monday if the Rams lose this game. Most of you have seen me after a Rams playoff loss. I’m not much fun, I know.

          Having written the above rubbish, I now present my best guess about this game.

1.     In order for the Rams to win, they must get a big push from the middle of their defensive line on every pass play. The Rams must crowd Tom Brady’s front foot, his left foot, before he can release the ball. Even if they do not sack Brady, the Rams can make Brady seem human if he is not able to step forward firmly as he delivers the ball. The year the Patriots took a perfect record into the Super Bowl and lost to the Giants, the Giants did this and won the game. Key: Crowd Brady’s passing motion.

2.     The Patriots have an outstanding defensive backfield and are brilliantly coached. They will present Rams QB Jared Goff with confusing pre-snap looks and in-play changes in passing situations. Heck, they’ll do this on every play. The Patriots are exceptionally good at this kind of thing and Goff will be lucky to avoid turnovers. The Rams must protect Goff from the Patriot pass rush. Sometime during the game, the Rams will probably need to hit at least one big pass play. The Rams must hit on one or more and Goff must avoid turnovers. Key: Protect Goff and beat the Patriots defensive backfield.

3.     In order for the Rams passing game to succeed, they must run the football. In the previous two playoff games, the Rams have done so. But this week, the opposition is not the over-rated Cowboys nor the Saints. This week the opponent is far more capable along the front seven and the Rams offensive line will have to make it possible for backs Todd Gurley and C.J. Anderson to squirt loose for first downs. In a close game, which might cause yours truly to suffer multiple heart attacks, the need will come for the winning team to grind out clock-draining first downs. The team that can do that will probably win the game. The Rams defensive front seven will have to stop the run and the Rams offensive line will have to help produce the run. Key: Who runs the football best?

4.     Convert red zone opportunities to touchdowns. Key: Score touchdowns.

5.     If the Rams have an obvious edge, it is in place kicking. Greg Zuerlein is an outstanding kicker. If the game comes down to Zuerlein kicking a field goal from 55 yards or closer for the Rams, you like their chances.

6.     Rob Gronkowski. You can talk until you are blue in the face about Tom Brady, but I think the best clutch player the Patriots have is Gronkowski. A big game for the Gronk and this thing is over. The Rams will have to minimize his contributions. That’s easy to say and almost impossible to do, especially since the Patriots have several other very productive receivers as well. One way to accomplish this goal goes back to Key number one: Don’t give Brady space to step into his throws. Key: Don’t let Brady throw to Gronkowski.

7.     Sooner or later, either the Rams or Patriots will convert a first-down opportunity in a clutch situation. The Rams have converted a few times with passes by their punter, Johnny Hekker. Look for the Patriots to have these plays covered. Key: Resist the urge to gamble, at least early in the game.

8.     Both teams have exceptionally good defensive lines. The team that extends offensive possessions, even drives that do not result in scores, will be the team with the most vigorous defensive line in crunch time. Key: Give the defensive line enough rest. See Key 3.

9.     Tom Brady. Key: Do not give him the ball with even a second remaining in the game.

10. Neither team can count on every screwy play going their way, but luck frequently plays a major role in Super Bowls. A lucky bounce of the oblong spheroid, an extended review of a TV replay when the defense is tired, a goofy review decision that somehow makes little sense or even a penalty on a missed kick that allows a second try can make a huge difference. Key: Get lucky.

I hate to say it and I hope I am wrong, but I expect the Patriots to win this game. The organization has a tremendous amount of experience in the spotlight and the Rams do not. The Rams have a really good team and they have an excellent chance but I think the Patriots will probably win.

We have seen this movie before. It debuted February 3, 2002 in the New Orleans Super Dome when Brady and the Patriots beat Kurt Warner and the Greatest Show of Turf 20-17. There might be a few more points this time, say 35-31, Patriots.

The last time these teams met for the title, I was in Daytona Beach, Florida for the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Got to the track several hours before the start of the race, stayed up through the entire event, got my writing done and rushed back to the hotel for the start of the game. Watched the entire game and ended up staying awake for about 36 straight hours.

Only to lose. Man, did that ever suck. I have no plans to forgive Tom Brady for winning that game, but I might consider it if the Rams win on Sunday.