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Cigars & Football – A Simple Blend

Week 6

Tons of games to watch, so let’s get busy!

Texas A&M vs Alabama– In the offseason when the these two coaches had their little spat, everyone started anticipating this game as one of the top games to watch. Alabama seeking revenge from last year, A&M wanting to prove that victory was no fluke, St. Saban re-establishing his dominance, HC Fisher wanting to prove that he can actually coach… all sorts of reasons for this game to be huge. Then A&M goes off and losses to App State and falls to Miss State, which took a lot of the luster off this game. A&M is having an identity crisis, they know what they want to do, but it’s almost like watching a baby giraffe walk for the first time, the giraffe knows it wants to walk, it needs to walk, it has the tools to walk, but WOW does it have a tough time getting everything in sync. HC Fisher is not giving A&M a return for their investment, for yet another year the Aggies are not going to make it to the playoffs, and the way they’re playing the Music City Bowl might be a long shot as well. However if they want to turn things around, Saturday would be the perfect time to do it. Taking Alabama down in Tuscaloosa for the second year in a row would boost these farmboys like nitrous oxide in a muscle car! And they have the ability to do it too, it’s just a matter of can they finally get that offense in gear and stop turning the ball over. The Wrecking Crew of a defense is a very good unit, highly talented and skilled, but they can’t be out on the field all the time. By the mid-third quarter they’re just plum worn out, bless their hearts. Alabama for their part does plenty for the other teams to keep it close and possibly win the game. For starters they have not played well in their big games, they allowed Arkansas to steal the momentum and mount a very scary comeback, where they came back from 17 down and pulled within 5 points. Now some might say that was because QB Young hurt his shoulder and it took a couple of series before backup QB Milroe found his way. To which the proper response to that is, “That is a totally BOLONEY SANDWICH! YOUNG DOES PLAY ON DEFENSE!” Remember those days when the world shuttered at the thought of playing against the Tide’s defense? That doesn’t happen anymore, because for some reason, DC Goldman doesn’t want to or know how to establish a dominate defense. They’ve gotten into this bend but don’t break style of play and it’s just sad to watch. Should the Tide establish a dominate running game like it did against Arkansas they’ll be able to milk the clock and wear down that A&M defense, heck App state gained 182 yards running the ball and won time of possession, you’d think Alabama would be able to do at least that. Once that is done Bama will simply just pull away. However if they try to be cute and try to establish anything else, they’ll just inviting the Aggies to hang around and possibly win. Alabama needs to be big bad Alabama once again, whether QB Young plays or not. Bama should win, they better win, but they could screw this up.    

Tennessee vs LSU – Anywhere and everywhere UT fans are more than willing to tell anyone and everyone that the “VOLS are Back Baby!” Oh they’re singing Rocky Top and they’re not afraid of wearing orange in public again, these fans are just having the time of their lives. But let’s just slow down here a minute or two and take a look. The UT Defense is nothing to brag about, they allowed Florida QB Anthony Richardson to throw for 450 yards, and his uniform was squeaky clean after game because the Rocky Top crew couldn’t develop a pass rush. Not only is the secondary weak, they have allowed more passing yards than anyone in the entire SEC, where just means more. But them boys from the hills say, “not to worry” because the UT offense has been unstoppable! QB Hendon Hooker hasn’t thrown a pick, and he isn’t carrying all the load because the running game has rushed for more than 200 yard per game with the exception of Pitt. Not only that but the Vols have the number 1 offense! Defense who needs a defense when the offense is going so well? Fair question. Might need a defense against LSU, now the Tigers of the Bayou are not anywhere like they use to be. The Brian Kelly experiment is still in its embryo stage, losing to Florida State was a hard one, but the Tigers haven’t lost since, and they’ve already taken down Mississippi State and Auburn, and they had to come from behind against Auburn, which is good and bad, good they came back but how does a team fall behind ‘Auburn’, I mean, come on Man. Even though UT has a terrible secondary, that might not matter too much because LSU QB Jayden Daniels is FAR more interested in himself running the ball than he is throwing it to another team member. So the Vols should not allow Daniels to run the ball and literally dare him to throw it, which is something that he’s not very good at doing. Oh yeah and don’t allow the Tigers to establish the run because if they do, it’s going to make it very difficult to get them off the field without scoring. LSU is getting nominated as the early favorite by the powers that be, whoever they are, but that seems a little disrespectful to the Vols and they might just take that to heart and use it in the game. Both teams are shadows of what they once were, but they’re fighting to get back, should be interesting, but Tenn might just pull the upset.

Texas vs Oklahoma– The Red River Rivalry! Everyone loves Rival games, its one of those special things that make college football so much better. In the last two games these two teams combined to score 201 points including a 55-48 victory for the Sooners last year. In recent times both teams have put up some impressive scores with the finals often reaching 60+ . Nothing less than another shootout is expected this Saturday as well. After all OU allowed K-State to run all over them or 41 points and then allowed TCU to gain 670 yards and 55 points, both of those were losses for the Sooners. Something has not gone according to plan in Norman, OK. HC Brent Venables was brought in because he was the defensive guru at Clemson and OU needed a defensive minded coach. So why aren’t the Sooners doing better with the “D”? Not sure, but it might have something to do with the color purple. This isn’t the most opportune time for them to be letting people run all over them. Texas has RB Bijan Robinson who is getting national attention as the top running back, not only that but, QB Quinn Ewers could be returning from his shoulder injury. HC Sarkisian is not going to tell anyone who is starting this one but the odds on favorite is Ewers. The Longhorns need to do what they did against Alabama…no, not the allowing the game winning field goal, but controlling the line of scrimmage, play smash mouth football, three yards a cloud of dust, just grind, grind, grind. Put that OU defense on their heels, then knock them to their knees and wipe their feet on them as they walk over the Sooners. Keep the OU offense off the field, not that they’re unstoppable but they can’t be allowed to get into a rhythm, OU is searching for their identity with a new head coach and all his big flim-flam ideas, Texas needs to make them doubt. Oh a little side note, this is the first time they’ve played this game where neither team is ranked in the top 25 since 1992, which is nuts.

Short Smokes:

Michigan shouldn’t have any problems with Indiana

Kansas is hosting College Gameday for the first time EVER!! As the Jayhawks take on TCU, who just might end KU’s winning ways

Arkansas gets BBQ’d again by Mississippi State

Missouri came so close to upsetting Georgia last week! Can they put together another great performance against Florida?

Purdue is proving to be far tougher than originally thought, and Maryland is going to find that out

Auburn is going to try and stop Georgia, it’s expected they will have a terrible time of it.

Oklahoma State is undefeated and they’re going to stay that way against Texas Tech

UCLA is going to test their metal against Utah, this could be a heck of a good game, Utes win

Wisconsin is searching for a new coach but they still might beat Northwestern

Pitt needs to get back to their winning ways and VA Tech is a good place to do that

Michigan State started off the season with so much promise, this game against Ohio State is going to be painful.

Ole Miss flies all over Vanderbilt

Washington shouldn’t have too much push back from Arizona State

North Carolina is doing better than most people thought and Miami isn’t, Tar Heels win

Washington State might, just might stand up and stop USC….might

South Carolina is despite for a signature win, beating Kentucky would be a step in the right direction but, the Wildcats won’t let that happen

Army is playing Wake Forest, really want the Black Knights win, and seriously want them too……But…..

Notre Dame is going to get beat by BYU

Kansas State is finding their groove and that’s not good for Iowa State who isn’t

NC State likes beating Florida State and that should continue

Oregon is going to run all over Arizona

The late game will be Oregon State and Stanford, Beavers get back to winning this week.

North Alabama after taking a week off will now take on Kennesaw State in Georgia, the mighty Lions will prevail over the Owls….hopefully

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