College Football Failure

By: Austin Streitmatter

When I started this website I wanted to do it for two reasons. I wanted to share my thoughts about niche sports. Today is only one of those: Thoughts on the failure that is everything that has happened in College Football this year.

Also here’s a quick disclaimer for you: I am a massive Indiana Hoosier fan. Yeah, I know, this guy’s opinion is biased and you’re probably somewhat right. But at the same time, that also means I’ve done some research and know my stuff about IU football this year so if I use them as an example it’s because I both know a lot about them this year and they also are a solid example of most of the failures in college football. Okay, I’ve said my part, it’s showtime. 

Let’s just start with picking apart the College Football Playoff (CFP) Selection committee. The CFP website states that “the playoff was created to preserve the excitement and significance of college football’s unique regular season where every game counts.” If there’s anything that this year has shown me it is that every game does not count. It doesn’t. Iowa State, your #10 team in the country, is currently 3rd in the Sun Belt, but lucky for them they don’t play in the Sun Belt, they play in the Big 12 and they also happened to make the Big 12 championship. The Big 12 doesn’t have divisions (don’t worry, we’ll visit this later) and so even though ISU lost to Oklahoma in the regular season, they still made the Big 12 Championship. Last week, Iowa State was ranked #6 with 2 losses, one of four 2-loss teams in the top 10. TWO LOSSES. The teams ranked 11-14? Also 2 losses, COMBINED. Every game does not count. The final rankings had ISU still in the top 10 at #10, one spot ahead of IU. Iowa State lost their first game of the year to Louisiana, 17-31… and then lost 2 more games. Every game does not count. 

Another thing continuing on the “every game does not count” idea is the fact that LITERALLY LOSING is better than not playing a game. Yes, you read that right. UF ranked #6 loses by 3 to an unranked 3-5 LSU team: They drop one spot. Undefeated Cincinnati doesn’t play anyone and 2 loss Georgia beats 4-4 Missouri: CINCINNATI DROPS ONE SPOT. Pardon me? THOSE DON’T MAKE SENSE. I understand moving Georgia up, but 1 they shouldn’t even have been ranked that high anyways and 2 if Florida loses and drops 1 spot still above Cincy then you have a REAL ISSUE. Cincy shouldn’t play anyone because they won’t move up with a win anyways and can only tumble with a loss but at the same time they need to play people because if they don’t they’ll drop spots. Who decided that garbage? Every game does not count.

The Committee also says that “every FBS team has equal access to the playoff based on its performance.” That is a big fat lie. If you don’t play in the SEC, or haven’t won your conference for the past 3-4 years, you don’t have equal access to the playoff. That’s just how it is. Now, I understand that the playoff is designed to pick the best 4 teams so those probably are the teams that I said above, but the rankings are SIGNIFICANT for every other team. At-Large bids in bowl games are decided based on them, bowl tie-ins are based on them, all of the postseason is based on them. The CFP does not care. You better hope you play your tough games early and then roll back beating the bottom feeders in your conference, or else you are in trouble. You have a team like Coastal Carolina that is an example of who the CFP is failing. This year Coastal played everyone they could in their conference and then some with a late reschedule to play BYU. They beat that same Louisiana team that blew out ISU, and went undefeated and where do they find themselves in the final rankings? #12, 2 spots behind ISU… They draw unranked Liberty in their bowl game, a matchup that America would lose their minds on if CC was an SEC team. Iowa State and their 3 losses draws Oregon in their New Year’s 6 FIesta Bowl matchup. To quote my favorite gif of all time, WHAT ARE WE DOING? WHAT ARE WE DOING? 

If you do not have football history or have some preseason hype, you better not lose and even then, you need some help to even crack the top 10. So on that topic, let’s talk about the thing that cannot be eliminated but OH BOY was it prevalent this year. Our favorite friend: Bias. There are 4 SEC teams in the top 10. Alabama, is indisputably a top 4 team in the nation. But let’s talk about Texas A&M, Florida and Georgia. A&M has 2 wins against teams with winning records and a blowout loss to Alabama. Florida has 2 wins against teams with winning records but their losses are interesting. They have a 3 point loss to A&M, a 3 point loss to LSU and an 8 point conference championship loss to Alabama. Then of course we have Georgia, Georgia has 2 wins against teams with winning records and 2 losses, both blowouts to UF and Bama. All of these teams are in the top 10. At what point do we reach the perspective that maybe the committee is over ranking these teams. This year of course is weird with COVID messing up schedules, but are you really going to tell me that going into championship weekend, 7-2 Florida with an upset loss to LSU deserved to be not only ranked above Cincinnati but also in the top 10? If Cincinnati lost any game by any number of points, I guarantee you they would fall out of the top 10, and probably the top 15. How are we failing all these kids so badly to do this to them. To not even give them a chance. 

On the topic of bias, this section is dedicated to my good friend Jackson Drake. Let’s talk about the absolute blasphemy of the College Football Committees (not the media or coaches) towards the Indiana Hoosiers. Firstly with the CFP. IU’s rankings have been 12, 12, 11, 11. IU’s AP poll ranking during those same weeks? 10, 8, 7, 7. What’s up with that? Is it IU’s lack of quality wins (they haven’t actually beaten anyone with a winning record, but have 3 wins over teams ranked at the time). If it’s the lack of “quality” wins then HOW IS OHIO STATE 3 with the same schedule except they beat IU…  only by 7 points… at home…. CFP Committee you can’t have both. Either IU needs to be higher up or OSU needs to be lower but the discrepancy between the 2 shouldn’t be there. I just also want to drop in on the idea of a “close loss”. UF loses 2 games in a row, to unranked LSU by 3 and Alabama by 6 in the SEC championship. They dropped a single spot. 1 single spot. IU gave OSU their toughest challenge of the year and proved they were by far the second best team in the Big 10 and not once cracked the top 10 of the College Football Playoff Rankings. What on earth is the deal with that? Do close losses only mean something when it’s certain teams. I’m not asking for favoritism or pity CFP Committee, I’m just asking you to be consistent. 

Secondly, the Big Ten has failed Indiana. By keeping them out of the Big Ten title that based on the rules agreed to at the start of the year Ohio State was disqualified from, and also not allowing any out-of-conference games in addition to the schedule shift, IU had no way to compete. IU should’ve had an opportunity to play Northwestern with a chance to call themselves Big Ten Champions but the Big Ten decided to nix a rule that they made in the start of the season. Granted the rule was pretty unnecessary and arbitrary, but if you honestly think that the Big Ten would do that if IU was disqualified instead of Ohio State, you’re out of your mind. Yes, I know that OSU could have lost and still made the Big Ten title but by the letter of the original law they were ineligible. The Big Ten sacrificed IU out of an NY6 Bowl for their precious Buckeyes to make the Playoff. The Big Ten season shouldn’t have even been called a season. There’s 2 reasons that the Big 10 even decided to play their season. Firstly, they didn’t want to carry the label of “soft” for cancelling their season, so they play a strictly Big 10 schedule where they can control all the rules. Secondly, stemming from the control of all the rules, they played the season for the SOLE purpose of getting OSU to the playoff. Not to give anyone else a chance to make program history, not to give anyone else a chance to have another solid season; they had one goal and were willing to steamroll their way to it. 

This college football season further proved what true football fans know: the College Football landscape is severely broken and there isn’t really a good fix for it. 

Welcome to the Wubble: Hope in Dark Times

The Wubble has ended and it is always a sad day for sports fans when their favorite league crowns a champion and the waiting game begins. But as my mother always texts me “there’s new mercies every morning” and although the WNBA season has ended and that makes me sad the season was a true success. The new faces to the league made splashes with a historic ROTY and some generational talent. The current stars held their own as the best in the league even though some of the top talent was unable to play. The W is growing in popularity and that was evident this year; Let’s dive into all this season had to offer. 

The WNBA has had an increase in viewership year-over-year for the past 3 years. Whenever I talk about the WNBA I always emphasize that the league is in a cyclical state of viewership. People don’t watch because games aren’t televised and because people don’t watch games aren’t televised. Viewership for Game 3 of the Finals was up 34% from last year’s finals. Total viewership numbers are still significantly lower than that of the Big 4 sports but nonetheless positive viewership change is much better than negative. For the entirety of the Finals series, viewership was up 14% from last year’s Finals; once again showing a solid positive trend in viewership. As a league that is constantly compared to the NBA and also a league in the relatively early stages of existence, this growth in viewership is a fantastic sign for the league’s potential success in the years to come.
Let’s move over to the players and talk about the new faces in the league. Personally, I was most excited to watch Sabrina Ionescu of the New York Liberty play this year and she was the heavy Rookie Of The Year favorite but unfortunately she injured her ankle in game 2 and was forced to miss the remainder of the year. This year’s ROTY was historic as I mentioned above because it was the first time in league history that a player drafted in the second round won the award: Crystal Dangerfield. Dangerfield averaged 16, 4 and 2 for the Minnesota Lynx. She led the team in both points and assists and helped to lead the Lynx to the WNBA playoffs before losing in the semi-finals to the eventual champion Seattle Storm. A force to be reckoned with for years to come, Dangerfield has given the Lynx an additional spark to push them back into title contention.

The 2 biggest stars of the WNBA battled it out throughout the entire season and into the finals. Regular Season MVP A’ja Wilson led her Los Vegas Aces to the #1 seed for the playoffs and helped her team make the finals before ultimately losing to Seattle. She was second in the league in points and in the top 10 in rebounds. Wilson was a dominant force and a justifiable MVP. The fact that the Aces were able to make the finals was a tribute to the excellence of Wilson as they were without 2 of their best players for the whole year with an additional 3rd missing the finals in Liz Cambage and Kelsey Plum for the season and Dearica Hamby for the finals. This team proved that they can and will compete for titles in the upcoming years and put the league on notice! On the other side of that coin is the fact that Breanna Stewart and the Storm looked like the best team in the league throughout the whole year and the worst news for the league is that the core of that Storm team is very young.

Jordin Canada and Jewel Loyd were both playing behind each other and then behind Sue Bird (who just secured her 4th title at the age of 40). This Storm team’s best aspect is their depth and when you’re able to have great depth behind a generational talent of Stewart, titles should be plentiful. 

The league was missing some of its greats this year and that gives me even more hope for the future of this league. As mentioned above Cambage and Plum sat the year out due to injury and COVID and you could make a case that a team made up of solely players who opted out due to injury or COVID could make a title run. Here’s just a beginning starting 5 players who have missed at least 50% of the bubble season. Kelsey Plum, Jonquel Jones, Elena Delle Donne (2019 MVP), Liz Cambage and Brittney Griner. I’ll do the math for you: That’s 5 legit all-star candidate players. The league had increased viewership and was missing 26% of players who ranked in the top 10th over the past 3 years. Here’s a deeper dive from FiveThirtyEight on just how much talent was missed this year. The league is on the rise, hop on the bandwagon now before it’s too late. 

Huge shoutout to Sue Bird for winning her 4th title in her 17th season (sounds like another big basketball player). Shoutout to Breanna Stewart for winning her 6th ring in 8 college and WNBA seasons, yes you read that right. And a MASSIVE shoutout to the women leading the Social Justice charge. Many sports leagues have put an emphasis on social justice this year, but they have failed to do what the WNBA has done this year and has always done. The Women of this league are the pioneers for social justice in the sports world and should have earned the respect of many. 

So, The W is over for this season and we hit the offseason another year wiser. What player are you most looking forward to watching again next year? Or is there a player that missed this year that you’re excited to get back next year? Let us know below!

The Roundtable: Unrepeatable Feats

 Hey! Welcome to The Roundtable, a section where our  authors all answer a debated question in sports. This time we discuss “Feats In Sports” regardless of gender, era or sport. Here’s the question we all answered “What, in your opinion, is the most unrepeatable feat in history?” Our guidelines focused more on single game or short stretch rather than a full season or career! Answer it below in the comments before you read or after you read and give us what you think is one of the most unrepeatable feats in history!

Jack Linton: 2 Grand Slams in One Inning, Fernando Tatis, April 23, 1999 

In my humble opinion, one of the most unrepeatable feats in sports is one player hitting two grand slams in one inning. One Fernando Tatis (father of the new era superstar Fernando Tatis Jr.) accomplished the feat on a fateful April evening in Los Angeles as he hit not one but two grand slams off Chan Ho Park in the 3rd inning on the way to a Cardinals 12-5 victory. 

Now you might be saying, “this isn’t that insane of a feat” but I’d argue that as hitting a baseball is one of the hardest things to do in sport, the odds of a man getting the chance to hit twice in one inning is rare, doing so with the bases loaded both times is even more rare, and finally going deep both times is the craziest thing of all. In fact, only 10 people in the history of the game have hit two grand slams in one GAME, let alone one INNING. You can mark my words, this will NEVER happen again in baseball.

Austin Streitmatter: 75 HDB,  Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, July 4, 2020 (or whatever record he sets when he retires) 

When talking about sports “athletes”, there is no more obscure and wild group of peoplethan the competitive eaters. And when we talk about feats, of course the first thing on my mind is Joey Chestnut’s love for Hot Dogs! Look, I’m not going to tell you that this feat is never going to be beaten because it’s probably going to be beaten next year, but NOBODY outside of Chestnut is coming close to touching this feat. Allow me to read you the most hot dogs eaten at the Hot Dog Contest by anyone not named Joey Chestnut: 64.5 by Takeru Kobayashi in 2008. The closest competitor this decade was Carmen Cincotti with 64 in 2018. Cincotti retired in 2018, Kobayashi doesn’t compete at Nathan’s and Matt Stonie, who had 62 last in 2015, spends his time eating large amounts of random food on his YouTube Channel. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY except for Joey Chestnut is coming close to breaking this True American feat of consuming 75 (probably more) hot dogs in 10 minutes.

Side Note: I almost wrote about Chestnut in last week’s “dominant player” article since Chestnut has won EVERY HOT DOG CONTEST SINCE 2007, but I didn’t want to destroy all of my credibility in the first Roundtable we’ve ever had. 

Ryan Hain: 28-3, The Atlanta Falcons, February 5, 2017

The Falcons are really bad. Even when they’re good, they’re bad. Some franchises are historically awful like the Browns or the Lions, but the Falcons take it to a whole different level. They manage to raise fans’ expectations every year just to lay a big doo doo on their heads.  For example, in 2016, the Falcons had an improbable season where they won the NFC South and stormed through the postseason on the coattails of a record-smashing offense. They make it to the Super Bowl against the Patriots, and I’m gonna be honest my expectations were low going into that game. The Falcons came ready to play and led 21-3 at halftime. Up to this point, it was the most incredible day of my life. I was actually at a Patriots fan’s house watching this game, so halftime was just a dream. The third quarter starts and the Falcons score again, making it 28-3. A 25 point lead! This is it! The Falcons year! No one had ever blown a 25 point lead in the super bowl; they’ve got this! Wrong. The Falcons managed to blow this lead in ways I didn’t think were possible. I highly doubt any team will ever blow a lead that big in the super bowl again. That game has caused me emotional damage, and I will never forgive them for it, but I still manage to turn on the games every week. I think there is something wrong with us Falcons fans. They finally fired the two clowns running the Falcons during the super bowl, so I guess we’ll see how that goes.

Bo Burgess: 8 Points in 9 seconds, Reggie Miller, May 7th, 1995

Reggie Miller looked up and saw 9 seconds left on the clock and knew he had to do something. So he did what he does best. He buried a three-point basket, cutting the Knicks’ lead in the first game of the 1995 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals to 3. Then the unthinkable happened. In an attempt to find John Starks on the inbounds pass, Anthony Mason threw the ball right to Miller, who had filled the space Starks once occupied, but he had fallen down. Reggie then has the presence of mind, not to race to the wide open basket in front of him, but to take 2 steps backwards and shoot another 3 which, you guessed it, found the bottom of the net. Now the game is tied at 105 and after John Starks missed 2 free throws at the other end and Patrick Ewing missed the put back, Miller grabbed the rebound and was fouled by a clearly frustrated Starks. The Knicks, with the game tied, sent one of the best free throw shooters in the history of the National Basketball Association, to the line which of course he made both and the Pacers won the game 107-105. This will never ever happen again because between both shots going in, Starks missing both free throws, then Ewing missing a putback layup he has made 1000 times in his career, then Reggie making both free throws at the other end, the odds of all of those things happening is microscopic at best. This sequence etched Miller’s name in NBA History forever. 

OVERREACTION MONDAY: 10/12

By Bo Burgess

Happy Monday everyone! After a truly wild sports weekend there is PLEANTY to overreact to! This week we’re making the boldest, hottest takes based on what we have seen this week in the sports world. Now I’m not going to call myself Skip Bayless because I actually try and take a little pride in my takes, but these are some absolute heaters. So with that, let’s begin.

  1. The days of “SEC Defense” are truly over. If you enjoy gambling and SEC football, boy do I hope you pounded the overs this week. Aside from the Auburn-Arkansas game which was being played in a literal Hurricane, every single SEC game had fireworks. Texas A&M and Florida were both over 35 points, Alabama couldn’t stop a nosebleed, and even South Carolina managed to somehow find some offense and put a 45 spot on poor ole Vandy. UGA was the only team that even looked somewhat competent on defense, but Tennessee isn’t exactly breaking any scoring records. The Dawgs will be tested much more severely this week against the Crimson Tide after they hung 63 on the Ole Miss Rebels/Landsharks/whatever else they call themselves.
  2. Texas A&M May be on to something with their “Limited Capacity” rules. If you have a Twitter account odds are you saw how PACKED Kyle Field was this past Saturday. There was an announced attendance of 24,700 but just by watching the game on TV you could easily see that number simply was not true. Gator’s coach Dan Mullen made some news after the game, asking UF administration to raise the capacity of the swamp because “the crowd played a major factor”. I personally think it was a great move by A&M, smelling an upset, to let a few thousand extra Aggie fans into the stadium. I have been to that stadium at its full 102,000 person capacity and let me tell you, it’s a loud place, and I have no doubt that even half that number could make an instant impact on a game.
  3. Manchester United are wasting Marcus Rashford’s golden years. After netting a goal for England at the weekend, Marcus returns to Manchester and a hurting United team. They are getting ZERO (0) help from Chairman Ed Woodward who has to be thrilled that no fans were on hand during their most recent 1-6 home loss to Tottenham to let him know their thoughts on his performance. Rashford is a generational talent at striker and his time in Manchester may come to a close sooner than expected if United continues to waste time signing 33 year old strikers when they need someone to help Harry Maguire in the back.
  4. The 1-4 Houston Texans are the best team in the AFC South. After a huge win against Jacksonville yesterday, the now Bill O’Brian-less Texans seem to be on to something. JJ Watt and Deshaun Watson simply refuse to let this team suffer anymore and the only team that is going to give them a run for their money is the Colts. Jacksonville, Despite my faith in them earlier this year, is not a good football team. The Titans can’t keep their players off of Broadway long enough to prevent a coronavirus positive test. Look out for this new era in Houston.
  5. The LA Lakers will repeat as champions next year. Look I know they haven’t even had the championship parade yet, but no one is going to stop both Lebron and Anthony Davis. Look for key role players like Kyle Kuzma and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to improve over the offseason, and for the Lakers to be right back in this position next year!

That’s all the overreacting I feel safe doing this week! As always please let us know your thoughts on this week’s Overreactions on social media or in the comments below!

The Roundtable: Most Dominant Player

Hey! Welcome to The Roundtable, a section where our 3 authors all answer a debated question in sports. This time we discuss “The Most Dominant Player” regardless of gender, era or sport. Here’s the question we all answered “Who, in your opinion, is the most dominant player of all time?” Answer it below in the comments before you read or read and tell us why you disagree or agree!

Ryan Hain: Tiger Woods, Golfer

My most dominant player or my “GOAT” would have to be Tiger Woods. There has never been a player across any sport that has been able to thoroughly dominate a sport as Tiger Woods has. Across his whole career, Tiger has spent 683 weeks as the world number one golfer. To put that in perspective, that would equal just over 13 years and 4,781 days. No other golfer has even come close to that amount. During his peak, no one was able to touch Tiger. It’s kind of funny seeing all of these stats because most of the time, Tiger is just competing with himself. For example, Woods is the only player to win more than one major championship with a score of 18-under or better. He has done it five times. Another stat is only ten players since World War II have won a major championship at age 24 or younger. Before Tiger turned 25, he was a five-time major champion and had already completed the grand slam. One more is Tiger Woods is credited with 41 career European Tour wins, third-most all-time. He has never played full-time on the European Tour. What really cemented his status as the GOAT for me was his victory at the 2019 Masters, which I think is the most remarkable comeback in all sports. Tiger’s injuries that he came back from are ones that most people, not to mention athletes, fully return from. Tiger overcame that and some personal issues to win some say the most challenging tournament to win in Golf, The Masters. The moment he won was a sports memory I will always remember. Tiger Woods is definitely my GOAT, and I don’t see it changing anytime soon.

Austin Streitmatter: Breanna Stewart, Forward, Seattle Storm

Yes, I know what you’re thinking: “She’s only 26 and plays Women’s Basketball” and my counter to you would be those exact same thoughts. Stewart is only 26 years old and her resume is already that of a unanimous first ballot hall of famer. If I listed everything she won here, this section would be ridiculously long so I’ll just pick the highlights. She’s a 4 time NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player, 4x NCAA Champion, 3x National Player of the Year (lost her freshman year to Britney Griner, a perennial all-star in the W) That’s only what she’s done in College. Stewart has been the best player at her level and arguably above her level too during her entire career. She’s won a FIBA World Cup MVP, a Euroleague Women’s MVP and a WNBA MVP. She has consistently dominated the game. Just recently in 2018, she tore her achilles forcing her to miss an entire year but when she returned to playing she came back playing at arguably the same level as when she left. She was named USA Basketball Athlete of the year all the way back in 2011 and 2013 but then also again in 2018. She is without a doubt the best women’s basketball player in the world.

Bo Burgess: Travis Etienne, Running Back, Clemson Football

Travis has been the best running back in college football for the past 2 years but because he plays on the same team as Trevor Lawrence, hasn’t gotten near the touches or recognition that a back of his caliber should. Travis this weekend tied the FBS record for most games with a Touchdown (38) joining Tim Tebow (Florida) and Kenneth Dixon (La. Tech). He has been named ACC player of the year in back to back seasons and is well on his way to amassing over 6,500 total yards of offense for his career and is in the top 5 in college football history for his career YPC (7.7).

Some Honorable Mentions: Serena Williams, Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt

So, that’s our picks! Let us know what you think and join our roundtable in the comments below!

OVERREACTION MONDAY: 10/5

By Bo Burgess

Good Morning to everyone except the Dallas Cowboys, Mississippi State Bulldogs, and Houston Texans Coach Bill O’Brian. Because of you three I am a poor man, and as a wise person once said, “I have been a rich man and I have been a poor man, and I choose rich every time.” I suppose that’s what I get for gambling. Anyways, welcome into Overreaction Monday where every Monday I overreact wildly to the previous week’s events. Sometimes I’m right (see: my “the Clippers may not beat the Nuggets” take) and sometimes I am hilariously wrong (see: my “anything nice I’ve ever said about the Jacksonville Jaguars” take), but either way, these are the hottest takes on the internet so please enjoy!

  1. The Heat will not win another game this NBA Finals. Jimmy Butler proved last night that he belongs in the conversation of really good NBA players, but that is about all he is going to gain from this year’s Finals. Without Dragic or Bam the Heat simply cannot keep up with a now very angry Lebron James, and Anthony Davis. The Lakers got embarrassed last night, don’t expect it to happen again.
  2. The Miami Hurricanes are not a good football team. I know I ran this last week, but just wanted to remind everyone that the Hurricanes are going to (in my very unbiased and fair opinion) get smoked by Clemson this coming Saturday. The #8 Hurricanes have played a bad FSU team, a bad Louisville team, and UAB. They have looked good in lopsided victories, but have allowed a whole bunch of points and the offense has shown flaws.  Following a bye week they get rewarded for their efforts with a trip to Death Valley to visit the #1 Clemson Tigers. That game will be as telling as any as to how good this team really is.
  3. Jimbo Fisher is not a quarterback whisperer or even a good coach. Once considered the best offensive mind in the country, and heir apparent to Bobby Bowden at Florida State, Jimbo has not looked great in the past 10 years. Aside from Jameis Winston, which, let’s face it, our beloved Editor-in-Chief Austin Streitmatter could have won a National Championship with, Jimbo’s last 10 years as a head coach has looked like this: EJ Manuel, Clint Trickett, Jameis Winston, Everett Golson, Sean Maguire, Deondre Francois, James Blackman, and Kellen Mond. Seems bad for a guy who has made his chops as a “QB whisperer” and “Offensive Guru”.
  4. The “Gus Bus” is off the road” I saw a stat this weekend that said Auburn has not won in Athens (UGA), Tuscaloosa (Alabama), or Baton Rouge (LSU) in its last 21 attempts. The last time the Tigers won in one of these SEC rival’s home stadiums was in 2010 when Cam Newton led Auburn back from a 24-0 deficit against the Crimson Tide. I feel like this is a huge issue for Gus Malzahn now in his 8th season as the Coach on the plains. If Auburn ever wants to have success, it needs to rid itself of Gus or Gus needs to start winning some of these massive road games.
  5. Orlando City Soccer Club is the best Club in MLS. I’ve wanted to add this one in for weeks, but I couldn’t bring myself to Overreact to OCSC. Not after 5 years of disappointment, 4 different head coaches, 3 different “star” players signed, 2 Dom Dwyer injuries, and 1 giant mess of a front office. BUT, all that said, I AM READY! The Lions have gone on a NINE (9) game unbeaten run (a club record), they have a Captain that isn’t just here to earn some quick cash before retirement (ILY NANI) AND they FINALLY have a manager who knows how to win in MLS. All of these have set up the club to make a DEEEEEEEEEP run in the MLS cup Playoffs.

Wow that was a lot of Football/Futbol talk! As usual Let us know on Social Media or in the comments below what you think! have a great Monday everyone!

OVERREACTION MONDAY: 9/28

By Bo Burgess

Another week, another embarrassing Jaguars loss. I’ve made bold takes about them the past 2 weeks and folks I am FINISHED! I’ve been let down by the cats of Dirty DUUUUUUUUVAAALLLL too many times. This week offered several great sporting events including the return of SEC football, which leads off our overreactions for this week!

        1.      The SEC is back to being Alabama and everyone else. After an embarrassing first half by UGA and a loss at home by LSU, it would seem that the Crimson Tide are once again the SEC’s only hope at winning a National Title. One team to keep an eye on: the Florida Gators. They throttled Ole Miss in Oxford and seem to be the favorite to come out of the SEC and challenge big bad Bama.
        2.      The Miami Hurricanes are not a good football team. The #8 Hurricanes have played a bad FSU team, a bad Louisville team, and UAB. They have looked good in lopsided victories, but have allowed a whole bunch of points and the offense has shown flaws.  Following a bye week they get rewarded for their efforts with a trip to Death Valley to visit the #1 Clemson Tigers. That game will be as telling as any as to how good this team really is.
        3.      Rafa Nedal won’t Win the French Open this year. This one goes out to my friend and go-to tennis nerd Riley. Known as the master of clay courts, Nedal has won 12 of the last 15 at Roland Garros, but this year won’t be lucky number 13. Reports of Nedal not liking the weather conditions (RG is employing a new roof this year with lots of rain in the forecast) as well as him simply being out of practice could spell disaster. The Tournament is also using a new type of ball this year, and Rafa has already made comments about the ball being too heavy and not being comfortable with it.
        4.      If Lebron James wins a title in year 17, I’m ready to call him the GOAT. Lebron became the oldest player since Bill Russell to have a Triple-Double in a close out game and he looks DETERMINED to end this season with a ring. It’s not that he’s doing these things that impresses me, it’s that he is doing them in year 17 and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.
        5.      The Houston Texans can still make the playoffs, if they can find Deshaun Watson some help. After starting off 0-3, the Texans can still have lots of hope. They are in a weaker division and could make a push for a wild card spot, should they not get past the Titans. However none of this matters if they don’t get Deshaun Watson one more receiving threat downfield. Randall Cobb has been playing forever and adds a lot to that locker room, but they still are missing one more piece.

That’s all for this week! As always be sure to comment below or respond to us on social media and tell us how much we’re overreacting!

OVERREACTION MONDAY: 9/21


By Bo Burgess

Well team, we made it, another weekend in the books, usually this column comes out around lunchtime but alas, some of us have full time jobs so this week’s is a prime time edition of Overreaction Monday. Remember just because these are wildly hot takes, doesn’t mean that they cannot happen (see: last week me calling the Clippers losing to the Nuggets in 7).

  1. Justin Herbert will lead a team to the Super Bowl in the next 3-5 years. After forcing the defending champion KC Chief’s to kick a 58 yard field goal to win in LA this past weekend, the Oregon product had the Chargers offense firing on every cylinder. Look out for both his trade value and his fantasy stock to jump up, especially surrounded by weapons such as Mike Williams and Keenan Allen.
  2. The Big 10 should not be allowed to participate in the College Football Playoff. When I texted this to our Editor-in-Chief, Austin Streitmatter, he threatened to revoke my publishing access. Then he remembered he was an Indiana fan and they only play basketball up in Hoosierland. Regardless, my point is this, why are we rewarding a conference who tried to single handedly cancel college football, by allowing them to participate in the CFP after suddenly be peer pressured into playing a shortened 9 game season? I feel for the players and parents of these teams, but is there no accountability for the horrible lack of competency in Indianapolis??
  3. Bryson DeChambeau will not win another Major Championship. Bryson has done the unthinkable. He has entered one of the most traditional and stuck up sports on earth and completely re-imagined how to play it. Credit to him, he’s forced the golf world to see that his method of play works, but here’s the problem: now the golf world is on to him. One thing he did poorly is hit the ball straight during the US Open this past weekend. He was so good out of the rough and that allowed him to win, but what happens when he gets to the UK where links golf dominates? Dead straight, long, narrow fairways and sawgrass roughs are the downfall of his game. Don’t be surprised if golf courses slated to host Majors in the coming years start taking note and begin to alter their courses in an attempt to stop rewarding those who just hit the ball over the trees on the dogleg left.
  4. Doc Rivers is a bad coach. This one I’m gonna keep short and sweet. Take away the 2008 Celtics, his only championship as a coach and the team that basically invented the concept of “Superteam” with Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Paul “The Truth” Pierce. Other than that team, what has he accomplished as a coach in the NBA? (Hint he’s blown 3 separate 3-1 playoff leads)
  5. The Jacksonville Jaguars are making a DEEP playoff run. The spotted cats of DIRTY DUUUUUUUVAL county are 2-0, and future league MVP Gardner Minshew looks like an all-pro QB. Tanking for Trevor? No no, Minshew and these Jags are here to STAY!

As usual, let us know here at Afternoon Analytics your thoughts on some of these takes! Maybe you think some of these aren’t as white hot as they seem…

OVERREACTION MONDAY: 9/14


By Bo Burgess

Every Monday I’ll be overreacting mightily to 5 of the best sporting events of the previous weekend. This week we’re diving into the WNBA, NBA, and some football. Remember these are the HOTTEST of hot takes, I’m talking Ghost Pepper wrapped in Jalapeño seeds hot, and while these predictions may not come true, they are wildly fun to dream about.

  1. The Las Vegas Aces will win the WNBA finals. Aja Wilson. Know the name. She’s a baller. She lead the aces past everyone’s favorite Seattle Storm to clinch the number one seed in the WNBA playoffs this weekend. There’s no doubt in my mind the Aces will be RUNNING AWAY with the title.
  2. Gardner Minshew will win NFL MVP. The Jags, who everyone and their brother are reporting to be tanking this season, went up to Indy (some people’s super bowl favorites) and beat the Colts. Minshew went 19/20 for 173 yards and 3 TD’s and looked absolutely unstoppable. He’s putting on for the folks in the Dirty DUUUUUUVAL.
  3. The Houston Texans won’t make the playoffs. Look, the score may not reflect it thanks to some late game heroics by Deshaun Watson, but the Texans looked ABYSMAL for 3.5 quarters on Thursday night.
  4. Duke will win more than 8 games this year. I know they lost to Notre Dame this past weekend but Clemson transfer Chase Brice has the Devils ROLLING on offense. He looks very good early on in this wacky 2020 season.
  5. The Boston Celtics are winning the NBA finals. No one is stopping Jayson Tatum Jaylen Brown, and Kemba Walker They’re the big 3 that no one wants to see/defend. Oh? What’s that? They get Gordon Hayward back this week too??? Yeah. The Miami defense can’t touch that. Neither can the Lakers. The only team with the defensive personnel to hang tight is the Clippers, but they’re not beating the Nuggets much less the Lakers, in a 7 game series.

Let us know here at Afternoon Analytics your thoughts on some of these takes! Maybe you think some of these aren’t as white hot as they seem. Let’s have a Monday team.

The Hot Lap: Beginning of the End (Hopefully…)

Good Afternoon, it’s Tuesday, September 9th and this is The Hot Lap: Beginning of the End (Hopefully…) 

If you’re a fan of any form of comeback or watching a David vs. Goliath story, stop reading this article and go watch Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix. Come back here once you’re done, you’ll see why. 

In my previous F1 article, I talked about the parity issues currently facing the pinnacle of motorsport. I’m not going to just copy and paste that (you can read it here if you want), but there is one important carry-over that I will discuss again here because of the effect that it had on the race this weekend: Engine Modes.  When the FIA, the governing body of F1, F2, and F3, released a new rule change that permitted only one engine mode, most of the motorsport world focused on how that change would affect qualifying. Spoiler Alert: it didn’t. Hamilton and Bottas still qualified on pole and in second. What people, myself included, failed to consider, would be the effect of this change on the race. The one thing on the weekend that really matters. Bottas got off to a poor start and found himself down into 5th by the end of the first lap. He struggled to find any form of pace during the race, calling the car a “joke” over the team radio. Bottas would run a race with no penalties and finish in 5th with a fastest lap of 1:23.9, also 5th fastest. This is a good sign for the rest of the field as at this moment it appears as if one of the Mercedes cars is vulnerable. 

Hamilton had an interesting race that leads to the headlining point of this article: Beginning of the End. Hamilton took a 10-second stop-and-go penalty costing him roughly 36 seconds of lap time. Only making matters worse was when this penalty was enforced: right after a restart. All of the drivers were bunched up when Hamilton served his penalty, dropping him from first to last. Not just last, but 23 seconds behind the last car in the pack. Hamilton pushed his way back up through the field finishing in 7th, a remarkable feat. 

I say all this to provide evidence for a change that the FIA should take into consideration now to implement into F1: Reverse Grid Qualifying. In short, this change would remove all of qualifying and instead have a shortened race with the starting positions being the reverse of the current championship standings. This event would then be raced and the results of this shortened race would set the starting grid for Sunday’s feature race as if it was qualifying. Hamilton, who is currently leading the championship with 164 points, would start the Sprint Race from 20th and have to make his way up in a race setting to qualify higher. This style is currently implemented in F2, the minor league for F1 per se, and it has caused a great deal of excitement albeit there are some other variables in F2. F2 has had 6 different race winners in their 8 races this season compared to the 4 winners in 8 races this year in F1. Sunday’s Grand Prix showed the potential excitement and intrigue caused by a racer of Hamilton’s talent navigating his way through a live race. He may still dominate races and win, but I would much rather watch a race where he wins after starting from 10th rather than from 1st. The FIA needs to change what they do on race days and we saw progress on Sunday of what the sport could be. 

If you’re interested in learning more about the sport of F1, watch this video by Formula 1 about the sport. 

If you’re interested in reading more about reverse grid qualifying, click here. 

Congrats to Pierre Gasly on his first F1 win this weekend, sparking more Gasly vs. Albon controversy, but we won’t get into that here. If you want to learn more about the tough decision Red Bull is facing, click here.

Do you think Hamilton’s penalty was fair? What are your thoughts on the future of F1? Do you think you could drive an F1 car? Let us know in the comments below!