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Whew! Another big weekend of college and NFL football has finally ended. Let’s review some of those games which I found interesting.
NFL:
All aboard the Saints “WhoDat” Express!
A long-time friend of mine sent an email with a few valid criticisms about how a major national sportswriter had ranked the 32 NFL teams after Week #2. If you haven’t been following the NFL in 2024, the New Orleans Saints have surprised everyone (including this long-time Saints fan) with their incredible 2-0 start.
On Sunday afternoon in Dallas, the Saints offense was on fire for the second week in a row. New Orleans blasted the 1-1 Dallas Cowboys 44-19 in a game which wasn’t as close as the final score indicated. This marked the second straight home game in which the Cowboys were blown out of their own building (remember the Green Bay playoff game last January?)
The Saints led 35-16 at halftime and scored on their first six possessions of this game. After leveling the hapless 0-2 Carolina Panthers in Week #1, the Saints have scored 91 points in the first two weeks of the 2024 season.
New offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak has been the Saints’ MVP through the first two weeks as these new offensive wrinkles have helped the team play with added confidence and left opponents confused.
Back to the NFL rankings, there are currently nine teams sporting a perfect 2-0 record after two weeks this season. The aforementioned senior sportswriter for one media outlet placed the New Orleans Saints as the 12th best team in the NFL. He even placed the Dallas Cowboys (thoroughly beaten at home by the Saints) as his #6 ranked team.
Did this writer actually watch the past two weeks of football games? Even lifelong Dallas Cowboys fans would rank the Saints ahead of Dallas following Sunday’s game.
In Cincinnati, Bengals fans are asking, “WhoDey?”
Quarterback Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals dropped to 0-2 after losing 26-25 to the Kansas City Chiefs as KC connected on a long field goal on the game’s final play.
The Bengals’ passing game looks out of synch in these first two games. Wide receiver Tee Higgins is still recovering from a hamstring injury. His highly-paid teammate, JaMarr Chase, didn’t help matters after collecting a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty late in Sunday’s game in Kansas City.
Joe Burrows is now sporting a haircut which makes him look a lot like pro wrestling’s Cody Rhodes. The way the Bengals have started this season, it would appear that Joey B. has turned “heel” as his team gets off to bad start.
Are the playoffs coming back to Houston…Houston…Houston?
Just two years ago, the Houston Texans (who still have the worst team nickname in the NFL) were mired in a multi-year slump. The team’s luck changed after firing the coach and making the best trade since the Dallas Cowboys sent Herschel Walker to the Minnesota Vikings in the late 1980’s.
The Texans shipped legally-troubled quarterback Deshaun Watson to Cleveland for a few timely draft picks. Since that move, the 2-0 Houston Texans have turned the corner and started to win fans back in the fourth largest city in the country.
Second year quarterback C.J. Stroud continues to grow in both skill and leadership for the H-town offense. Head coach DeMeco Ryans is in the second year at his position, too. A former linebacker, Ryans’ defense has shown vast improvements over the past two seasons.
After easing into the NFL playoffs last season, the Houston Texans are off to another great start and becoming a rising threat to Kansas City’s recent AFC dominance.
Pittsburgh Steelers are, somehow, 2-0
The Steelers have become the first team in NFL history to start a season 2-0 by scoring just one touchdown (total) in those two games.
After kicking six field goals to beat Atlanta 18-10 in the opening week, the Steelers traveled to Denver on Sunday. Pittsburgh walked away with a 13-6 victory over the struggling Broncos and now claimed first place in the AFC Central division.
The Steelers’ defense continues to be one of the NFL’s finest. That’s a good thing, because Pittsburgh’s offense looks awful again this season under head coach Mike Tomlin. The Steelers have hired and fired different offensive coordinators and several different quarterbacks in the past few seasons.
Regardless, the AFC’s Black and Gold team continues to struggle to score points.
The Los Angeles Chargers come to Steel City on Sunday at 12Noon on CBS. Expect another low-scoring snoozer as the Vegas odds makers predict no more than 36 total points will be scored in this week’s game.
If the Steelers win to go 3-0, those Terrible Towel waving fans won’t care one bit.
College Football…
Psst – Have you seen 3-0 Ole Miss play yet?
Coach Lane Kiffin’s Ole Miss team is currently ranked #5 by the Associated Press. The Rebels’ offense is so quick that other teams cannot make substitutions on defense due to the pace of play.
They pass and run the ball with ease. It is fun to watch as this team scores in bunches. The offense is averaging 56 points per game in 2024.
The Ole Miss defense is much improved, too. Over the first three games, the Rebels’ defense has allowed just 9 total points.
Ole Miss went on the road last Saturday night and trounced Wake Forest of the ACC 40-6. They will now host Georgia Southern of the Sunbelt Conference this Saturday prior to entering SEC play the following weekend at home against Kentucky.
Could this finally be the year in which Ole Miss breaks into the College Football Playoffs?
LSU outlasts South Carolina in the longest regulation game I’ve ever watched
Whew! As South Carolina’s final second field goal trailed off to the left, the 2-1 LSU Tigers’ rally from a 17-point deficit on the road was finally completed. And it only took (officially) three hours and 59 minutes to do so.
It felt even longer.
This 36-33 game in Columbia, South Carolina was a back-and-forth slugfest filled with great plays, terrible plays, bad officiating, too many penalties and television reviews. Of course, there were far too many television commercials as well.
The Gamecocks (now 2-1) capitalized on a few bone-headed defensive lapses by LSU and scored on a couple of wide open lengthy touchdown runs. Most high school defenses play with better discipline than LSU showed at times last week.
LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier continued his excellent play and leadership for the Tigers with 285 yards passing and two touchdowns. A pleasant surprise in this game was the emergence of freshman running back Caden Durham. He entered the game and carried the ball 11 times for 96 yards (nearly 9 yards per carry). Durham also scored twice for LSU.
The Tigers return home to Baton Rouge this Saturday for a rare 2:30PM afternoon starting time against UCLA (now in the Big Ten Conference and 1-2 so far in 2024).
Toledo rockets past Mississippi State 41-17
The serenade of cowbells from the football fans at Mississippi State had the opposite effect on their visitors from the Mid-American Conference. Toledo raced to a 28-3 halftime lead in front of a stunned crowd in Starkville.
Don’t look now, but the 3-0 Toledo Rockets might just be flying toward the 12-team College Football Playoffs if they are able to continue their amazing play this season. Beating an SEC team (even 1-2 Mississippi State) on the road gave Toledo (which finished 11-3 last season) a dose of credibility.
Mark your calendar for October 19. That’s when Toledo will visit #23 and 2-0 Northern Illinois (the team which upset Notre Dame last weekend). That winner may become the favorite for the lone “Group of Five” spot in December’s College Football Playoffs.
The Northwestern State University Demons deserve some good fortune soon
After your college team hits the road and loses 87-10 (yes, it was a football game) to South Alabama, the first-year head coach at Northwestern State University readily accepted the blame. Coach Blaine McCorkle knew that playing three football games (two coming on the road against FBS competition) in just 14 days was going to be brutal.
He likely never expected that his team would surrender a school record 87 points in last Thursday night’s football game in Mobile, Alabama.
“At the end of the day, I have to take the blame for that. I didn’t have my guys ready to go. Lesson learned on my part,” said Coach McCorkle.
Despite the lopsided outcome, keep in mind that Northwestern State’s football program was suspended last October after one of the team’s players was shot and killed near the campus. The football coach abruptly resigned, and the team forfeited its remaining games in 2023.
There were questions as to whether the Demons could or should return to play Southland Conference football this season. The team’s new football coach has a track record of successful turnarounds. Coach Blaine McCorkle must now dig deep to keep Northwestern State’s football team positive and focused each week.
This Saturday evening at 6PM in Turpin Stadium, Northwestern State will host the 1-2 Weber State Wildcats from Ogden, Utah. The Demons are trying to win their first home football game in nearly two years (October 1, 2022).
A much-needed win on Saturday night in Natchitoches might help exorcise some of this team’s lingering demons.