The Friday Five Sept 30th, 2016: Barnett vs Saban, NFL ratings, McGregor - Alvarez and more

Last night's podcast was awesome.  If you didn't get a chance to listen in, I recommend you do so.  There was a lot going on this week, and I love touching on as many topics as possible.  This week, and the last couple of days, have provided plenty of topics.

 To start off with, I believe Washington will beat Stanford tonight, but there's no way they make it through @Oregon, @Utah, @Cal, USC, Arizona St, @Wash St without taking a loss.  I think this will setup the possibility of having 2 teams from the same conference in the College Football playoff, especially if Houston gets knocked off by Louisville or Memphis to end the season.  You could see two out of Alabama, Tennessee, and Texas A&M get in, or both Ohio St and Michigan (if they both enter their game undefeated).  This is definitely setting up to be a crazy year.  Now... on to the Five.

Friday CFB and NFL picks, and SEC Fantasy picks

Last week was the same ol' business.  The lines in Vegas are starting to catch up, so we've got to make a move now... and Chris and I both have gambling picks that we feel we could bet our houses on!  On to the games!

Podcast: Episode 14 - Sept 29th, 2016

Gary and Chris discuss Blake Barnett transferring from Alabama and what that means (1:00), what jobs Les Miles could end up with at the end of this season (5:28), the odds that we could see 2 teams from the same conference in the playoff this year (8:02), Tebow hitting a home-run off his first pitch in the instructional league (13:08), LSU's former AD, Skip Bertman, basically crapped on Lane Kiffin and Bobby Petrino for the LSU job and AD Joe Alleva is not hiring a search firm (15:17), whether Chris and LSU fans would be ok with Mike Gundy for coach (20:52), what the best job is if Texas, USC, and LSU all open at the same time (24:41), our 7-on-7 head to head picks (30:07), our favorite gambling picks (41:43), and our SEC fantasy picks (59:21).

What The Hell Was That?! Wednesday #4

- Chris Giannini

I started writing “what the hell was that Wednesday” because I enjoy looking back on the week of football and questioning everything that I thought was so insanely stupid. 

With that thought I want to begin with Brian Kelly and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.  Brian Kelly’s team has had a miserable start to the season losing their last home game to DUKE???  How the hell to do you lose to Duke?  Duke lost the previous week to Northwestern!  And if losing isn’t bad enough Kelly did himself no favors by taking ZERO responsibility for the teams poor play and blaming other players and coaches.  I’ve never understood how a head coach could blame so many other people when he is the one who hired and recruited those people.  I think the way Kelly has acted in taking his lumps is despicable and will cost him his job soon. 

Why Mike Gundy will be LSU's next head coach

Les Miles was just fired during his 12th season at LSU.    He was 114-34 during his time there.

Mike Gundy is in his 12th season at Oklahoma St.  Yes, Gundy is the man who replaced Miles at Oklahoma St.  He has gone 96-49 at Oklahoma St as head coach.  He's had 10 wins in 4 of the last 6 seasons.

Now, as we all know, you don't leave a job where you're comfortable and there's not a lot of pressure.  But in Stillwater, things are getting a little bit restless with Gundy and his bunch.  This season they were on a shortlist of teams that could win the Big 12, but they have already lost 2 games - one at Baylor, which is understandable, and one at home on the last play of the game to Central Michigan (which was strange and shouldn't have happened).  After winning 10 games last year and getting blasted in their last game at home against Oklahoma, and then getting rolled in the Sugar Bowl by Ole Miss, fans and boosters wanted a more positive start to the season.

Chris's Touchdown Tuesday: Sept 27, 2016

- Chris Giannini

 Well, it’s Tuesday and I’m ready to reminisce on all the great wins for the weekend.  Some I called and some I got terribly wrong, but they were all entertaining.

Thursday night 2 blowout games:  First the Clemson team we have been waiting for finally showed up.  They dominated Georgia Tech in Atlanta at every facet of the game.  They look primed for the big time showdown this Saturday with Louisville.  The second game Thursday night was another dominating performance.  I keep watching the Pats play with all these different quarterbacks and other players hurt and I’m waiting for them to just have one of those games where they don’t show up.  It never seems to happen.  Bill and the rest of the coaches there just don’t seem to show any of their weaknesses and they seem to expose and capitalize on every weakness of their opponents.  It’s just impressive...

The Tuesday Trifecta: Sept 27, 2016

What a night - Trump and Clinton put on quite the show, and the Saints and Falcons put up touchdowns like they were going out of style, en route to a 45-32 Falcons win.

The weekend was definitely crazy.  The NFL was bizzaro world with favorites falling all over the place (Steelers, Cardinals, Panthers), and teams we never thought would be at the top (Eagles, Vikings, Ravens) staking claim as some of the best in the league.

Along with that, this morning, more news came out that Oklahoma is likely not voting for expansion in the Big 12, which completely goes against the narrative that they were in favor of it to begin with

My guess is that once the bunch down in Texas decided they were in favor of adding another team from their state, a team that beat up on OU in Week 1, the Sooners brass decided they were not in favor of this.  As long as it was Memphis and Cincinnati, the administration in Norman knew they could be a leader in the Big 12, but with having to deal with Baylor, Texas Tech, TCU, and Texas already, they didn't want another recruiting disadvantage in that state.  Once the state of Texas got behind Houston as a new member, everyone else in the Big 12 decided they're fine with things how they are currently situated, and they'll figure out the next wave of realignment once their TV contacts have expired in 8 years.

Now... on to the Trifecta.

Podcast: Episode 13 - Sept 26th, 2016

Gary and Chris discuss the WCE College Football Top 10 (00:24), the firing of Les Miles (3:08), the names for LSU's next head coach (8:00), Auburn wins, but we don't think Gus Malzahn is safe by any means (14:00), Tennessee finally beats Florida after 11 straight losses and gets to run into a gauntlet (15:38), Ole Miss beat up on Georgia and staked their claim as the best 2 loss team in the country (18:36), Texas A&M looked like the best team in the country in the 4th quarter against Arkansas (21:10), Stanford looked dead to rights for 58 minutes against UCLA, then stormed back for 2 touchdowns in the final :20 seconds left for the cover and saved the Pac-12's playoff hopes (25:01), whether or not USC should go offer Chip Kelly oodles of cash (27:12) and the fact that Clay Helton has played an insanely difficult schedule and should be given the benefit of the doubt (28:25), Brian Kelly shifted the blame for Notre Dame's 1-3 start and fired Brian Van Gorder Sunday (31:52), we discuss what happened with our picks this weekend (35:11), the results of our SEC fantasy picks (43:42), and the NFL recap (45:36).

A Note for Coach Miles

If you’ve followed my writing or heard me speak on the podcast I use a phrase “hero status.”  I use that phrase when talking about someone, who I’ve fallen in love with after watching them over the years. 

While at the end of my college career (just a shade under a decade) someone once asked me, “don’t you think it’s immature to worship other grown men you don’t even know?”  I agreed with this person's concept, and understood where they were coming from, but it had gotten me through life, and I didn’t know any other way. 

Most of the guys I know were raised by their fathers.  Even if they came from divorced homes, dad was still in the picture.  And if not dad, step-dad.  This wasn’t the case for me.  I was raised by a single mom who worked as hard as she could to support my brother and I, which meant we didn’t see her much.  I was mostly raised by my grandfather, but he passed away when I was in 6th grade. 

WCE College Football Top 10 #2 & LSU fires Les Miles

Week 4 helped separate the pretenders from the contenders.  And man, what a crazy week of college football.  We finally figured out what some of these teams are, and it was pretty surprising.  Ole Miss hammered Georgia, Texas A&M's 4th quarter explosion doomed Arkansas, Wisconsin proved their place with the best of the Big 10, and Tennessee finally showed why everybody hyped them up so much.  So let's get to the top 10.

The Friday Five: Sept 23, 2016

It's felt like forever since watching Carson Wentz and the Philly defense take apart the Chicago Bears on Monday night, but that was only Monday.  Last night we had 2 really boring football games that told us a lot about Clemson and about the Patriots.

...and this weekend is going to give us even more to talk about.  In CFB, we're still separating the contenders from the pretenders in Week 4, and in the NFL, we're doing the same thing.  The Eagles look like world beaters in the first 2 weeks, as do the Ravens, but the Eagles have beaten the Browns and the Bears, while the Ravens have beaten the Browns and the Bills.

There's still a lot to prove for everybody, and this is when we start getting massive conference games in college (UT/Fla, A&M/Ark, Stanford/UCLA, etc), and separator matchups in the NFL (Pitt/Phi, Vikings/Panthers, etc).

Thursday CFB and NFL picks, and SEC Fantasy picks

Last week we built back up the average and things are looking much better.  This week, we don't go head to head on any of our gambling picks... and that means we're goin UNDEFEATED, BABY.  That's right - all about it.  Let's do this.

Podcast: Episode 12 - Sept 21st, 2016

Chris and Gary discuss the weekend's biggest games, is Bill Belichek the greatest coach ever?, whether Jay Cutler in done in Chicago, our gambling picks (take Ball St!), our SEC fantasy picks, and Chris's NFL fantasy suggestions.

What the Hell was That?! Wednesday #3

- Chris Giannini

 

The first story up on what the hell was that Wednesday is a story that I can’t believe is even an issue.  At the level of college football and the NFL it is incredibly difficult to score a touchdown.  That’s why they are worth so many points! For some reason it has become cool to drop the ball immediately after you cross the goal line.  Not sure why, but I have spent most of my life trying to understand what is cool and why it is cool.  Like wearing your hat crooked on your head or leaning the car seat back all the way and still trying to drive.  I will admit I tried them both growing up.  I didn’t feel comfortable doing either of them but dammit I needed to be cool. Not sure that helped though.

Chris's Touchdown Tuesday: Sept 20, 2016

- Chris Giannini

In another fantastic weekend of football it is the day to hand out cheers so lets get straight to it.

Thursday night my guy Tom Herman took his Houston Cougars into Cincinnati and beat up on the Bearcats.  After a hard fought back and forth game the Cougars made a big charge in the 4th quarter to get the game out of hand and come out on top.

Congrats and keep winning, Houston.  I’m counting on you to show up in November when you host Louisville.

Speaking of the Cardinals…

Podcast: Episode 11 - Sept 19th, 2016

Gary and Chris go through the WCE Top 10, the SEC recap from last week and a look ahead to a big weekend, the Big 10 looking great last weekend, the Big 12 appears to be done in the CFB Playoff race, Clay Helton's job at USC has already hit a rough spot, and the NFL recap from week 2, prior to the Monday night game.

The WCE trip to Oxford, MS: Sept 17, 2016

- Gary Segars (twitter: @proseveregary)

As with most trips, the alarm clock went off, and we weren't ready to get up just yet.

The wife and I spent the night before preparing everything so that it would be easy to get up and leave when we were hoping to.  Breakfast ready to toss in the oven, coffee ready to be brewed, rain gear ready, etc.  We knew it would be a long day, so we wanted the morning to be as easy as possible.  So we finally fell asleep around 12:30am so our alarm going off at 5:45am wouldn't be so bad.

It was still bad trying to wake up...

The Monday Rewind: Sept 19th, 2016

Things looked significantly better this weekend on the picking front, although we're still working to figure a few things out.  The gambling picks were MUCH better, but still a ways to go.

College Football is incredibly fickle - things change so quickly for teams and you have to be able to catch up on the fly.  And that's what we attempted to do - change on the fly.  We're figuring out which teams are good and which ones are not.  In the past, that's been the best way to roll - bet against the bad teams.  So in the middle of the year, look for that to start happening here.  For now, here's where we stand...

WCE College Football Top 10 #1

Ranking college football teams before you've seen anything is pretty crazy, and it's equally as crazy to rank them after only a week or 2 of data.  But after 3 weeks, you've got an idea of what these teams are, and where they should be ranked.

Our rankings are based solely on what we've seen from these teams on the field through 3 weeks.

Chris and I ranked our teams, and our collaborative average will be the WCE top 10. So let's get to it.

The Friday Five: Sept 16, 2016

What a big weekend coming up.

Tomorrow, I will be in the Grove for the Alabama / Ole Miss game, and I'll have a piece up on Monday morning about the experience.  I'll be meeting up with several people, attending SEC Nation, and basically experiencing the scene in Oxford on one of the biggest college football Saturdays of the year.

There should be plenty of stories, and plenty of happenings for me to discuss, and I'm looking forward to retelling the tale.  The only bad part is not being able to watch every down of Louisville / Florida St, but I should be able to be in front of a TV in time for Ohio St / Oklahoma.  Week 3 is just the beginning.

Thursday CFB and NFL picks, and SEC Fantasy picks

Last week was just abysmal.  But, the good news is that we have a MUCH better idea of exactly what these CFB teams are after 2 weeks, rather than just the 1 week sample size.  Of course... some teams we still don't have a clue what they are because they've been sporadic on opposite ends of the spectrum through 2 weeks.

NFL was an absolute bust for both of us... but the same goes on those as well.  We're slowly figuring out exactly what we're looking at, and it may take a couple of weeks to get some runs going, but we've picked out a couple of games each that we think will pay out.

As for the SEC Fantasy teams... I now own a 2-0 record to start off the year against Chris, and I feel a good one comin on this week as well.  Looking for that 3-0 start, baby.  Let's do this.

Podcast: Episode 10 - Sept 14, 2016

Gary and Chris dive into the ACC pulling their championships out of North Carolina (while their headquarters are still located in Greensboro), the Ole Miss and Mississippi State rivalry, the Ole Miss vs Alabama matchup, and a ton of picks.

What the Hell was That?! Wednesday #2

Let’s start off by prefacing the face that I made a 16 to 1 odds bet that Rex Ryan would be the first coach fired this season.  Sunday everything was looking pretty good.  There are a few coaches who have me worried they might take Rex’s place for that award but I think I ended the day feeling pretty safe.  Then comes Monday Night...

Chris's Touchdown Tuesday: Sept 13, 2016

In celebrating all the great performances and wins I would like to start this week with a hero, an idol, a sorcerer, a Jedi Master…

Bill Belichick.

He has been the best coach in the NFL for the last 15 years.  He took a northern California dreamboat who wasn’t even the full time starter at Michigan and in the face of injury to their franchise QB turned him into a Super Bowl Champion.  Winning 3 of the next 5 super bowls they became a dynasty.  While it took him 10 years between the last one and the most recent (2015) he won the division every year but once and made it to 2 other super bowls. (DAMN YOU ELI MANNING!!!)...

The Tuesday Trifecta: Sept 13, 2016

Whenever I sit down at the keyboard, even for just a little bit, there's always about 1000 different things I want to talk about, but I hate for things to get lost in the shuffle.  That's what makes the Tuesday Trifecta so perfect - I can pick out 3 things from the day and just discuss those.

We've got the WCE twitter for the short bits (@winningcures and @proseveregary), and we've got the website for the longer rants.

Today there just happened to be some really good stuff that I wanted to touch on, including the North Carolina Republican party defecating on the NCAA, Colorado poking some fun at Jim Harbaugh, and why you should jump on the Louisville bandwagon.

Podcast: Episode 9 - Sept 12th, 2016

Gary and Chris discuss how the demise of the SEC was greatly exaggerated after Arkansas and Tennessee both score big nonconference victories. Also, the guys talk about coaches that are already on the hot seat, recap week 1 of the NFL season, and discuss why our gambling picks were so atrocious this past week.

The Monday Rewind: Sept 12th, 2016

Where did we go so wrong?  This wasn't our best weekend, by any means.  Chris and I both did terribly on our gambling picks.  But, we are at least getting a feel for what these teams are.  We'll be doing our first College Football ranking after this weekend - because there's literally no reason to rank teams (other than for pageviews) until after the 3rd week of the season, once you've seen what they really are.

For the first time since 2004, there was not a single matchup between ranked teams... but there were still games worth watching.  The VaTech vs Tennessee game was definitely a site to behold, but the only drama was when VaTech went up 14-0 in the first quarter, before they started playing butter fingers and gave up 5 fumbles en route to a 45-3 run for Tennessee.  Arkansas and TCU was a fantastic game to watch, the Boise St vs Washington St game was awesome, Texas Tech and Arizona St played ping pong, as we predicted, and the SEC bounced back enough to have 8 teams ranked in the AP Poll this week, even though, after Alabama at one, there's not another SEC team ranked until #15 (Georgia, who escaped Nicholls St with a 26-24 win).

So here's how we fared...

Podcast: Episode 8 - Sept 9th, 2016

Gary and Chris, a day before Gary's wedding, discuss Chris Vernon's exit from Memphis FM sports station 92.9 WMFS, a slew of games from the opening of the NFL season, and a terrible college football slate with gambling picks and SEC Fantasy talk.

The Friday Five: Sept 9th, 2016

I am one day away from getting married, and I'm sitting at work.  With thousands of things to do before the wedding, I'm still here writing the Friday Five, just like every Friday.

That's how much you guys mean to me.  Don't ever let anyone tell you I don't love you.

This week has flown by, and, thankfully, Chris has taken on some more articles this week while I've been dealing with wedding venues and rehearsals, etc etc.  If you haven't read yesterday's article yet, on why I'm getting married on a college football Saturday, then click away and you'll understand.  I'm still the same football fan as I was before -- I'll just be watching games before and after the 20 minute ceremony as opposed to during it.  I'll just have to catch the opening quarter of South Carolina / Miss St and Arkansas / TCU when they replay it on SEC Network on Sunday.

And don't think I won't.

Anyway, onward we go.  NFL talk, the lead up to Bristol, and finally, our picks for the week.

Why I'm getting Married on a College Football Saturday (9/8/16)

- Gary Segars (twitter: @proseveregary)

When I was young (like 9, maybe 10) my father and I had a conversation in the middle of football season.

He started buying season tickets to Alabama football games in 1988, when I was five.  It was a family gathering.  My little brother never cared to go, but I was bitten by the football bug early, so fall weekends became family trips from Memphis to Tupelo, MS on Friday night to stay with my grandparents, and then, on Saturday morning, we'd make the trek from Tupelo to Tuscaloosa or Birmingham for gamedays.

He wanted me to understand that, if I chose to get married on a fall Saturday, he would not be attending the wedding...

What the Hell was that Wednesday???

- Chris Giannini

Wednesdays will be the day we question everything.  Did he not see that defender?  How could they go for it there?  What was he thinking with that play call?  How good is this team really? 

I will begin this series with my team.  My rooting interest is with LSU, and there is plenty to question, but I have 2 major inquiries I want to address.  First, who still thinks it is a good idea to hire and work with friends?  Les Miles hired his best friend, Cam Cameron, as his offensive coordinator and, ever since, the offense has gotten worse...

Podcast: Episode 7 - Sept 6th, 2016

Is it time for Les Miles to be done in Baton Rouge?  Who would be somebody good to replace him if so, and if it's not, who could he bring in to replace his best friend, Cam Cameron?  We also discuss whether the SEC was as bad as everyone claimed they were, the results of all of our picks from last week, we pick the Carolina / Denver NFL opener on Thursday night and explain how expectations could change for the Vikings after the Sam Bradford trade, and how ironic Sanchez to the Cowboys appears to be.

Touchdown Tuesday: Sept 6th, 2016

- Chris Giannini

Tuesday will be the day we will cheer and celebrate the good of the previous week!  We will sing winning teams praises and highlight those who had outstanding performances.  I am going to love Tuesdays.

To start my first bold call of the season, the Houston Cougars, pulled off a nice upset not just winning the game out-right; but by dominating the bigger & more talented team from Oklahoma in ever phase of the game.  I was riding the Cougars before the season start and I’m not getting off this ride yet!  Coach Herman is legit, the players are fast, and look focused on crashing the playoff party!!!  I know its week 1 but I am not holding back my excitement until I’m given a reason...

The CFB Week 1 roundup: Mon, Sept 5th

Obviously, I'm writing this before tonight's Ole Miss / Florida State game.  There's so much that happened this weekend already that changed the landscape of college football going forward this season... I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to talk about all of it.  Some things went exactly as we thought they would - and some went the complete opposite.  It's tough to state anything for certain after only 1 week of action (and not even a complete week at that), but here's what I'm thinking after digesting everything we witnessed from Thursday through Sunday night.

The Friday Five: Sept 2nd, 2016

Man, what a night.  Stayed up late to watch the college football games and listen to all the commentary on exactly what happened... but the analysts just told me exactly what I saw.  South Carolina's not very good, but Vandy doesn't know how to win yet, and Tennessee was lucky to escape with that win, because they did everything they could to give the game away against a 3 touchdown underdog at home.

The games were exciting, but there wasn't a lot of good football being played.  App St kept shooting themselves in the foot.  They should have won that game in regulation, if not for a missed extra point and a missed 45 yard field goal.  They should have been up 17-13 late in the 4th.  If nothing else, it got me ready to watch a lot of football over the next few days.

It's going to be a long weekend, for sure.

Podcast: Episode 5 - Sept 1st, 2016

Podcast #5 is up and live!  This is our college football preview, which should be exactly what you need to get you up to kickoff.  We roll through our head to head picks of the week's biggest games against the spread, our favorite gambling picks of the week, our weekly SEC fantasy draft, our conference champions, and our college football playoff picks!  It's a lot for one podcast, but it'll keep you glued. 

College Football is HERE!

That's right.  Tonight's the night we've been waiting on since Monday, January 11th.  That's 234 days.  7 long months 21 days to turn it back around (and yes, that's a Hank III reference), since we watched Alabama reclaim the SEC's seemingly rightful place atop the throne of college football.

The crisp isn't quite in the air just yet, but that sweltering heat of the summer is slowly fading away.  The South is getting ready for the last month of smelling freshly mowed lawns in every neighborhood, and the only nights we'll have to go without football from here on are Tuesdays and Wednesday, and even those will soon be taken over the the Sun Belt and MAC.

Everybody is undefeated (except Hawaii), and everybody's hope springs anew on this first weekend of the football season.  The numbers may say your team is not going to be very good... but miracles happen.  You've seen it.

So for one weekend, up until the final seconds tick off the clock, just believe and hope for the best.

Same thing for you gamblers... and if you follow my picks, you'll be sure to be undefeated after this weekend.