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It’s Monday! Let’s cook up some football leftover gumbo from this past weekend.
First, the NFL’s opening week of play.
Time for Brownie the Elf to go back on the shelf
The Cleveland Browns hosted the Dallas Cowboys Sunday afternoon in the Fox Sports debut of $37.5 million per year football analyst Tom Brady. Prior to the kickoff, the Dallas Cowboys revealed they just made quarterback Dak Prescott this week’s highest paid NFL player with a new 4-year deal worth $60 million per season.
Tom Brady still makes more than the majority of NFL players and doesn’t have to wake up on Monday mornings nursing injured bones and muscles anymore. What a life, eh?
Dallas’ defense dominated the action as the Cowboys cruised to a 33-17 win during a surprising snoozer of a game.
Did you notice “Brownie the Elf” adorning the midfield turf in Cleveland? The legendary Cleveland Brown’s good luck charm needs to be sacked after failing to deliver any mojo for the home team.
The famous Dawg Pound in Cleveland should be allowed dig a hole in the end zone and bury Brownie prior to the next Browns home game.
Are the Saints really that good or is Carolina just that bad?
Yes and yes.
As much as I love my Saints, I think Carolina may be heading for another top pick in next spring’s NFL draft. The Saints 47-10 win over the hapless Panthers was the largest season opening win in New Orleans’ 57-year pro football history.
A year ago, Carolina used their #1 overall pick to select a Drew Brees-sized quarterback in Bryce Young from Alabama.
With so much invested in this young man, it might be wise to get him an Alabama-sized offensive line, a couple of Alabama-sized running backs, and some speedy Alabama wide receivers, too.
Carolina has none of those right now.
The Saints scored on their first nine possessions of this game. Quarterback Derek Carr had a career day connecting on 19 of 23 pass attempts and three touchdowns. Running back Alvin Kamara rolled up another 100+ yards in total offense, too. Reliable wide receiver Chris Olave wasn’t even needed on Sunday as he pulled in just two receptions for measly 11 yards.
Next Sunday, New Orleans travels to Dallas (12 Noon CDT on Fox) in a game featuring the NFL’s top offense after Week #1 (Saints) going up against the Cowboys’ stingy defense.
The NFL’s new kickoff rule is a dud
While trying to reduce the number of collision injuries (a commendable idea), the “No Fun League” showcased its new kickoff rule. If you want to read the NFL’s explanation of the rule, click here.
Most fans are ready to ditch the new rule after Week #1.
One player, DeeJay Dallas of the Arizona Cardinals, likes the new rule. The speediest DJ in the NFL scored with “stylus” on a 96-yard kickoff return as he burst right up the middle in the Cardinals 34-28 loss at Buffalo. It was the first regular season kickoff return for a touchdown under the NFL’s new kickoff procedure.
For most of the first week of NFL action, the new kickoff rule (which lines-up players just five yards across from each other until the ball is caught) brought very little excitement to the games.
Joe Mixon’s revenge!
Whose brilliant idea was it to let Cincinnati Bengals running back Joe Mixon leave town?
After the Bengals accepted a lowly 7th round pick from Houston, the Texans signed the veteran running back to a 3-year $27 million contract. In week #1, Mixon ran 30 times for 159 yards and one touchdown during Houston’s season opening road win against Indianapolis. Meanwhile, Cincinnati’s top runner (Zach Moss) gained just 44 yards in the Bengals 16-10 home loss to a not-very-good New England Patriots team.
Now, let’s make a few observations from this weekend’s college football games:
Two Orange SEC teams are looking good right now
The #3 Texas Longhorns dominated the first half at Michigan to end the #10 Wolverines’ two year home winning streak in a 31-12 beatdown in Ann Arbor. The Texas offense is efficient, and the defense appears to be just as tough.
Speaking of defenses, the #14 Tennessee Volunteers held #24 North Carolina State to less than 200 yards in total offense while administering a 52-10 shellacking in Charlotte on Saturday night.
Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers and Rocky Top redshirt freshman quarterback Nico “I’m-a-be-liever” have been on fire during the opening two weeks of the college football season.
Notre Dame is not a Top 25 team. Neither is LSU.
In the biggest surprise of 2024 college football season, Northern Illinois took an early lead and then kicked a game winning field goal at #5 Notre Dame to win the game 16-14. The victory was the first by a Mid-American Conference school over a top five program in the history of the league.
Notre Dame (1-1) was flat and taken down by a hungrier bunch of Huskies. For the Irish, this loss should come back to bite them if they want consideration for the 12-team football playoffs at year’s end.
LSU (now 1-1) allowed 46-point underdog Nicholls State to stay close (23-21) early in the third quarter before pulling away late to win 44-21. LSU’s running game (?) finished this game with just 64 yards on 19 carries.
The Tigers now travel to 2-0 South Carolina to play an 11AM Saturday game on ABC.
The Gamecocks completely shut-down Kentucky 31-6 in Lexington. The unbeaten Gamecocks will also host ESPN’s College Game Day show this Saturday morning (8AM-11AM) to fire-up the home team fans even more.
LSU’s passing game looks to be just fine, but the lack of a productive running game in the first two weeks of the season is a big red flag for the Tigers. Regardless of what the polls say, LSU is not (yet) a Top 25 team based on their play on the field during first two weeks of this season.
Speaking of Kentucky, just how BAD are the Wildcats?
Coach Mark Stoops’ Kentucky football team ran the ball 18 consecutive times during the first half of a 31-6 home embarrassment against a middle-of-the road South Carolina team Saturday. Starting quarterback Brock Vandagriff completed only three of ten passes for a paltry 30 yards with one interception. His back-up went 3-7 for just 14 yards and another interception.
The Wildcats ran the ball 46 times vs. just 17 pass attempts in this game despite falling behind 7-0 during the middle of the first quarter. What’s up with that, Coach?
“We’ve been beaten pretty badly by some really good football teams, but I felt like our team always fought back,” said head coach Mark Stoops. “Today, it didn’t look like we were a very well-coached team and it didn’t look like a team that, that really, wanted to respond.”
Don’t look now, but the #1 Georgia Bulldogs are (currently) a 22-point favorite – on the road – as they visit Lexington to play the Cats on Saturday night (6:30PM on ESPN).
Here, Kitty Kitty!
Nebraska and Colorado appear to be heading in different paths
The 2-0 Nebraska Cornhuskers (yes, it feels odd to say) had no trouble taking care of coach Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes Wild West show during a 28-10 win Saturday night in Lincoln. The 1-1 Buffaloes have now allowed 26 and 28 points in consecutive weeks.
For Nebraska, the team had zero turnovers for the second week in a row. With an improving offense and defense, Nebraska is finally rising under Coach Matt Rhule.
Colorado’s combination of quarterback Shadeur Sanders and wide receiver Travis Hunter is a dynamic duo. However, the Buffs’ running game gained just 16 yards on 22 carries. A team which relies entirely on its passing game will see eight and even nine pass defenders on defense.
CU travels to in-state rival Colorado State (1-1) on Saturday night in a nationally televised (6:30PM on CBS) rematch of last year’s very chippy double overtime thriller won by Colorado.
Centenary College played its first college football game in more than 60 years
Last Saturday night in Shreveport, the Centenary College Gentlemen played its first college football game since the 1960’s.
A sell-out crowd of 1,500 fans (hey, the stadium seating was only recently constructed on one side of the field) pulled hard for the home team, but the visitors from Hendrix College (Conway, Arkansas) prevailed by a 43-20 final score. The Centenary head football coach was disappointed in the outcome but pleased with other aspects of this historic game for the private college with just 700 students.
“So many people have worked for years to make this day happen,” said Coach Byron Dawson. “People invested their time and hard-earned money, and I am so happy and grateful that we had college football in this city tonight. We are going to keep pushing forward.”
The NCAA Division III Gents hit the road for this Saturday’s 6PM contest against the Texas Lutheran University Bulldogs in Seguin, Texas just east of San Antonio.
Bonus – Congrats to the 2-0 ULM Warhawks after a convincing 32-6 win at home against the 1-1 UAB Blazers.
The Hawks have this week off before traveling for a BIG payday game on Saturday, September 21at 7PM in Austin against last week’s #3 Texas Longhorns.