CigarSmokinFootball

Cigar Butts Week 5

There weren’t too many games this weekend that affected the CFB Playoff Selections, but there were exciting contests, upsets (mild), close calls, and favorite teams winning big in front of home team fans. If that ain’t exciting, you ain’t got no pulse! It was yet another great weekend of College Football. Any weekend spent with College Football is better than chunklet-covered grabnuts..

Texas A&M 31, Arkansas 27 – The Aggies were favored by three touchdowns but they sure didn’t look like they deserved such a spread. After losing to two of CFB Big Boys, Clemson and Auburn, the Aggies were backed into a corner. They’ve probably already given up on making the four-team playoffs, but they would like a New Year’s Bowl, and if they let this one slip away their season would classify as a disaster. Arkansas would have given their Razorback tusks to bury the Aggies, and they played like it! The Razorbacks’ starting Texas A&M transfer QB, Nick Starkel, who played the last two seasonsfor A&M, received a crushing hit and didn’t return. It may have been for the better, because in the short time he was playing, Starkel had already thrown one interception, and, remember, last week, he threw five. The Hogs turned to QB Ben Hicks, who had lost the job to Starkel, for the rest of the game. In the second quarter, the Razorbacks, on Hicks’ throwing, mainly, scored a touchdown and took the lead, 17-14. Just before the whistle for halftime, the Aggies scored, reclaiming the lead, 21-17. The rest of the game was a seesaw affair between the old Southwest Conference rivals. For all the young folks out there, there used to be a conference called the Southwest Conference. It was composed mainly all the major teams in the state of Texas, plus Arkansas. But the money-hungry Longhorns insured that the SWC collapsed. Arkansas, coming off that devastating loss to San Jose State, on their home field, no less, played like a team possessed. Aggie fans, including The Daughter, were not comfortable with the way things were going. But the Aggies won, so she’s happy, kind-of. The truth is, the game should have never been this close. There will be plenty of talk about how many yards QB Kellen Mond threw for, 251, but there were so many missed opportunities left on the field. The Athletic Department at College Station is not getting their money’s worth out of Head Coach Jimbo Fisher.

Clemson 21, North Carolina 20 –  A few years ago there was a term used in the sports world, which was started on this web site given by the Editor, it was “Clemsonized”. This was a phenomenon that happened at least once a year. Clemson would play a team that they clearly over-matched on paper, and would end up losing. Against North Carolina, we darn near had a reoccurrence. The number one ranked team in the nation should have walked all over the Tar Heels. Instead, the Tigers played a very uninspired game. UNC is not the UNC from last year, or of the heyday of Charlie “Choo-Choo” Justice – oh, you’ve never heard of Charlie Choo-Choo? Pity – not sure what old man Mac Brown is doing at Chapel Hill, but, whatever it is, it’s working. These baby blue, or sky blue or whatever they call their blue (Carolina Blue. You know, ‘if God isn’t a Tar Heel, why is the sky Carolina Blue?), are playing with determination and guts. They’re not very polished, and they make plenty of mistakes, but they give it all they’ve got in their tank. They put a hurt on Clemson’s vaunted running game and the Clemson, long-haired, hippy wanna-be, QB Trevor Lawrence, was under pressure most of the game. With the Tigers leading, 21-14, UNC marched down the field in a grinding, time-consuming drive, and, with 1:17  left, the Heels scored a touchdown. Before UNC players were done cavorting in the endzone, old man Brown was holding up two fingers, telling everyone they were going for the win instead of the tie. Gotta like a coach that has guts. If I had a hat, I’d take it off to the old man, who used to coach the Texas Longhorns and I wouldn’t have doffed my chapeau to him under any circumstances short of beating Notre Dame. The Carolina Blue team ran a poorly executed option play and were stopped short of the goal line. Clemson avoided the “Clemsonizing”…darn it. Maybe this was a one game let up by the defending national champions, but it very well could be a sign of things to come.

Alabama 59 Ole Miss 31 – at the end of the first quarter the Rebels led 10-7 and there was a feeling that, “Holy cow! Is Ole Miss gonna do it to the Tide again?”. Then Bama flipped the light switch to “On”, and scored 31 points in the second quarter. I was able to cap my bottle of Maalox. The match-up of QB Tagovailoa and Receiver DeVonta Smith was unstoppable. They partnered up for five touchdowns. Five Touchdowns!! Smith had 11 catches for a school record 274 yards, and those five (5) TDs. Tua ended up throwing for 6 TDs and ran one in himself, for a total afternoon’s work of seven (7) touchdowns. That’s a lot of offense. The Rebels started backup QB John Rhys Plumlee, and he WAS the offensive production. He likes to run the ball, he’s quick and very fast. It took a while for the Bama defense to adjust to his sprint-out running, but the Heavy Eaters finally got to the point of slowing him down a bit. They didn’t stop him completely, mind you, but they did apply some brakes to his emergence. The Rebs showed a game spirit, no matter how far behind they got. They kept exploiting the young Bama defense, ending up with 476 total yards, 279 yards on the ground. Alabama’s defense is not used to allowing that many yards to the First Armored Division, much less a football opponent. The excuse that they are playing a lot of freshmen and young’uns has been dismissed as a “cop-out”. That’s mostly true, as far as it goes, which ain’t very far. Everyone is playing freshmen these days, all over the field. Alabama has got to ‘man-up’ on defense. LSU, Auburn, A&M, and, maybe Georgia, perhaps Oklahoma, and others, plus Tennessee, are coming up. One might say, “Winter is Coming.”

Short Butts:

Ohio State 48, Nebraska 7 – for some reason, people actually thought this would be a contest. ESPN Game Day was even on the Cornhusker campus for this one. Nebraska was not even close to competing.

Oklahoma 55, Texas Tech 16 –  Jaylen is tearing it up, and so are the Sooners.

Auburn 56, Mississippi State 23 – The Tigers embarrassed the Bulldogs, but the MSU mascot made the best tackle of the game! Good job, puppy.

Wisconsin 24, Northwestern 15 – The Badgers didn’t destroy the Wildcats like they did Michigan, but they wore throw-back uniforms, which means – what? I liked the ridiculous look.

Notre Dame 35, Virginia 20 – The Cavs are good, they’re better than they were when Notre scheduled them, but they’re not at “that” level yet.

Washington 28, USC 14- CSF is switching to backing the Huskies to win the PAC-12. I’m flexible, it may change again, stay tuned.

Iowa 48, MTSU 3- Well, yeah. The Hawkeyes looked good waving to the Children’s Hospital.

Michigan 52, Rutgers 0 – yea! HC Harbaugh feels good about himself again.

Michigan State 40, Indiana 31 – Sparty won, but they’re not dominant like they should be.

TCU 51, Kansas 14 – sure thought, hoped, in fact, that the Jayhawks would put up more of a game, but they didn’t.

Toledo 28, BYU 21 – How does BYU go from beating USC to losing to Toledo?

Pitt 17, Delaware 14- talk about squeaking by… .

Wake Forest 27, Boston College 24 – has anyone else noticed that Wake is undefeated?

Baylor 23, Iowa State 21 – has anyone else noticed that Baylor is undefeated?

Minnesota 38, Purdue 31 – The Gophers did not have to come from behind to win this one, but Purdue almost did.

South Carolina 24, Kentucky 7 – Finally, the Gamecocks win.  

Penn State 59, Maryland 0 – The Nittany Lions showed no mercy…none

Oklahoma State 26, K-State 13 – the jinx of Stillwater is alive and well against the Wildcats.

Florida State 31, NC State 13 – The Seminoles won, but judging by the size of their home crowd, not a lot of people believe in them.

Utah 38, Washington State 13 – The Utes are unstoppable on their home field, WSU is proving they are stoppable on any field.

Arizona 20, UCLA 17  – The Bruins came close, but missed a field goal which would have sent the game into overtime.

North Alabama 41, Presbyterian College 21 – The Lions are back on the winning side of life, YES!!! Roar Lions!