Before the beginning of this 162-game never-ending baseball season, who had picked the Texas Rangers to play the Arizona Diamondbacks in this year’s World Series?  That’s what I thought.

Be honest now.  Who selected the Texas Rangers to play the Arizona Diamondbacks for the title just a few weeks ago as the Major League Baseball playoffs began?

Almost no one.

The first game of this year’s best-of-seven World Series match-up begins Friday night at 7PM Central time in Arlington, Texas on FOX.  On Saturday night, Game Two also takes place at the Rangers’ home stadium.

Games Three, Four, and (if needed) Five will take place in Phoenix, Arizona next Monday, Tuesday, and (if needed) Wednesday night at 7PM CDT.

If Games Six and Seven are needed, they will be played on Friday, November 3, and Saturday, November 4 at 7PM CDT in Arlington, Texas.  All games will be televised by FOX.

These two teams have defied the odds for the entire baseball season to arrive at this unlikely match-up.  Both the Rangers of the American League and the D-backs of the National League got off to a fast start in 2023.  By the end of the season, neither team won its own division.

Texas held the lead for most of the season in the American League West only to lose the crown on the final day of the season to their hated in-state rival, Houston.  The two teams finished in a tie with a 90-72 record.  Since Houston had won the in-season series against Texas, the Astros were awarded the division crown and a week of rest.  The Rangers received just one day of rest prior to being sent to Tampa Bay to begin the playoffs on the road against the Rays.

Over in the National League, the Arizona Diamondbacks jumped to win 50 games prior to July 1.  After that, they dropped 25 of their next 32 games to fall eleven games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West.  Ouch.

Those baseball playing sneaky snakes finally broke out of their lengthy slump after Manager Torey Lovullo held a closed-door meeting to motivate the troops.

It worked.  Arizona won eleven of its next 13 games to position itself for a potential wild-card spot in the National League.  Finishing with the worst record (84-78) to make the baseball playoffs this season, the Diamondbacks slithered their way into the playoffs anyway.

Just like the Texas Rangers, the Diamondbacks’ reward for their poor finish was being sent on the road for a best-of-three opening series.  In their case, the first round games would be played at the home of the NL Central division champion Milwaukee Brewers.

Both Texas and Arizona were forced to travel to a best-of-three game opening round series with all games being played in the home stadium of their opponent.  It is a daunting task for a road team.

Not in 2023, though.  This has been the year of the Road Warriors!

The Texas Rangers took to the road and vanquished the Tampa Bay Rays in two straight American League playoff games.  The Arizona Diamondbacks did the same thing.  They swept Milwaukee in the Brewers’ home ballpark in two straight games.

In the Divisional round of games, the Rangers faced the top-seeded team in the American League, the surprising Baltimore Orioles.  Winners of 101 regular season games, the O’s were the home team in the first two games of their five-game second round series against Texas.  The Rangers won both of the games at Camden Yard and then swept Baltimore out of the playoffs by winning game three back home in Arlington.

Meanwhile, the National League’s Arizona Diamondbacks were dispatched to play their divisional round against their NL West divisional rival Los Angeles Dodgers.  Just like Texas, the D-backs swept both games played in LA and wo...

We have a new #1 team this week in the SwampSwamiSports.com College Football Top 25 rankings.  The Michigan Wolverines are America’s only 8-0 team as our former #1 team (7-0 Georgia) had the weekend off to get ready for this week’s game against 6-2 Florida.

Coach Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan football team is under the media’s microscope right now.  Allegations are surfacing daily about whether Michigan’s staff has been cheating.

Though baseball is better known for stealing signs from the other team, the Big Ten’s finger pointers are saying that Michigan may have been up to some nefarious activities recently.

With such a soft schedule, 8-0 Michigan hasn’t needed to cheat in order to down so many pastries this season.

The cheating allegations are a bit complicated, so I will try to keep this simple.

First, there is nothing in the NCAA rule book which prohibits a college football team from trying to lip-read the opposing coaches or the players during a “live” game.  Have you noticed how many coaches are holding what appears to be a large restaurant menu as they try to avoid having their lips read while calling in a play from the sidelines?

I think it would be funny if the TV cameras caught something like this along the sidelines this weekend.

In Michigan’s case, the other Big Ten schools want to know if an employee of the Wolverines has been attending other team’s football games and performing some creative filming of coaches, play calls, or anything else which could be used to tip-off an upcoming play.

So sayeth the NCAA rule book:  “Any attempt to record, either through audio or video means, any signals given by an opposing player, coach or other team personnel is prohibited.”

Again, it’s not a violation to do this during a “live” game.  However, it is not OK to go into other teams’ stadiums to film and make audio recordings in an attempt to dissect the results to identify possible trends in order to scheme against a future opponent.

By the way, this is not the same as watching the game film from a television broadcast.  Networks rarely show sideline interactions as the majority of viewers want to watch action on the field of play.  Michigan’s alleged video snitch is likely trained on the sidelines for most of the game.

How much might this help Michigan?  If they can utilize the surveillance to pull off (or prevent) a big play such as a fake punt, it might be the difference between winning and losing a close football game.  That’s why the other Big Ten teams want this investigated.

Much like a baseball catcher mixes up the signals from game to game, the college football’s sidelines staffers are smart enough (perhaps?) to change up their signals being sent to the quarterback and the defensive captain from one game to another.

If you’re a Big Ten football team playing Michigan soon, it is a timely idea to make a few changes ASAP!

Of course, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh is poo-pooing this story as a bunch of whining by other Big Ten teams.  However, the trail of football tickets purchased by Michigan’s elusive and quite suspicious “scout” shows that this sneaky person has been in attendance at opposing teams’ stadiums quite regularly.

More to come.  Stay tuned!

After 16 straight losses, Nevada finally won a college football game!  “Clap for the Wolfpack!”

 

After almost two years without winning a college football game, the Nevada Wolfpack finally broke through to grab their first victory of 2023 last Saturday.   On the road playing San Diego State in just brutal Southern California weather conditions (clear skies and a ga...

(Full disclosure – I am a graduate of Conference USA member, Louisiana Tech University).  

On Wednesday night this week, Conference USA featured two televised football games.  Though each of the four teams received a bit of national television exposure for more than three hours, the two midweek college football games were staged in front of significantly lower home crowds than were played for Saturday games earlier this season.

Wednesday’s first televised Conference USA match-up (a school night, lest we forget) was played at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas.  The weather couldn’t have been better.  Game time temps fell into the upper 60’s in nearly perfect fall weather conditions.  The Sam Houston Bearkats (in their first season at the FBS level) lost a tough 33-27 double overtime thriller to Florida International.

According to the Sam Houston athletics website, the home team’s attendance was a miniscule 7,543 fans for this nationally televised game on CBS Sports Network (which is available on just 2/3 of national cable television systems).

The second Wednesday night C-USA midweek game took place on a clear fall night in El Paso, Texas.  The UTEP Miners lost to the improving New Mexico State Aggies by a 28-7 final score.  The official headcount for this midweek game in the Sun Bowl (televised by ESPN2) was 19,727.

UTEP’s Wednesday night October 18 game against New Mexico State (played in perfect weather conditions) drew 9,663 fewer paying customers than the Miners’ played in front of during the team’s two Saturday games in September.  .

UTEP’s general admission seats are priced at just $10 per ticket.  If you assumed that every lost ticket sale was attributable to the lowest price tickets, Wednesday night’s home gate receipts for UTEP were down by a minimum of $96,630 (when compared to an average Saturday game in September).

Since most of the UTEP fans would have purchased concessions at the game, the Miners likely lost at least $150,000 for the night by playing this game on a Wednesday night instead of a traditional Saturday kick-off.

Most football fans would agree that October is the prime month of the football season to attend a game in person.  As the temperatures start to cool in the fall (especially here in the South), the moderate October weather conditions brings more smiles to the faces of fans as they mingle, tailgate, and enjoying game day on campus at a college football game.

So…WHY is Conference USA staging mid-week college football games on Tuesday and Wednesday nights during the month of October?

Television money, of course!  Athletic directors and administrators of the eight Conference USA schools will proudly say, “We’re getting three hours of national publicity for our school”!   That may be true.

A better question might be, “How many people are watching this midweek college football game on TV?”

One week ago (Wednesday, October 11), ESPN2 televised the C-USA football game featuring UTEP at Florida International.  According to one report, the football game drew a little more than 330,000 television viewers.  By comparison, that total was just 12% of the number of people (2.7 million) watching the Houston Astros’ playoff game at the Minnesota Twins that night on FS1.

Those 330,000 television viewers for C-USA’s Wednesday night game last week seems fairly representative of each week thus far in October,  For those college teams which play on Saturday afternoon and evenings in October, viewership ranges from nearly one million to seven million fans at home – depending on the match-ups.

Today’s sad news comes from the golf world.

The gentleman who was the long-time starter on the first tee of the British Open (more properly called “The Open”) to briefly introduce each golfer has passed away today at age of 83.

I never knew Ivor Robson’s name before this morning.

However, I will never forget his unique player introductions at the first tee.  If you watched any telecast of The Open beginning in 1973 through 2015, you briefly heard this unmistakably pleasant voice introducing a golfer preparing to play his first shot of the day to the fans surrounding Hole #1.

In a world where some people (including yours truly) tend to say too much, Ivor Robson and his unique Scottish accent made me smile every time I heard him at this annual golf major.  I would gleefully ask my wife to listen as he announced the next person coming up.

“On the tee…from the United States…Tiger Woods!”

He never said anything wordy like, “On the tee…winner of 15 major championships…including last week’s John Deere Classic…by an amazing eight shots…let’s welcome back to St. Andrews…Three-time Open Champion…Tiger Woods!”

Ivor Robson announced every single golfer exactly the same way for 43 years.

It didn’t matter whether the name was Jack Nicklaus or Jack Squat.  Whether you were the greatest golfer in history or a nervous first timer, this affable gentleman would calmly announce your name to the crowd assembled around the first tee in the same unique style.

This man’s voice wasn’t a booming deep baritone which sounded like The Almighty himself.

In my opinion, his voice sounded a bit like comedian John Cleese of Monty Python fame.

Robson’s calm and distinctive voice would rise in pitch as he said the player’s name.

“On the tee…from South Africa…Ernie Els!” 

The golfers really loved this man, too.  They got a kick by attempting to do their personal imitation of Ivor Robson’s vocal introduction at the first tee.

From 1973 through 2015, Robson’s voice was unique to this one particular golf major.

Like the Open itself, he traveled to a different golf venue each year to be the official starter on the first tee.  From Scotland’s Muirfield, Royal Troon, Carnoustie, and Turnberry to England’s “Royal” courses such as St. George’s, Liverpool, and Birkdale and others, Ivor Robson was always a constant.  His sunny smile and brief player introduction at the first tee delighted thousands of the assembled patrons and millions of us watching from home.

“Breakfast at the Open” became required television viewing every summer for true golf fans.  Since there is a six-hour time difference between the Central Time zone (where I live) and The Open, live television coverage in the US does not begin until daybreak in mid-July.

Hearing Ivor Robson’s brief player introduction on the first tee was as important as having your TV tray with your preferred breakfast food and beverage ready to go as you settled in from the comfort of your living room couch.

“On the tee…from Northern Ireland…Rory McIlroy!”

Traditions are quite important to golfers.

For example, the Masters tournament features a few of golf’s greatest players to hit a ceremonial first tee ball to begin Thursday’s opening round.  At the Orlando-based Bay Hill Country Club, Arnold Palmer would sit in his own chair alongside the 18th green at his golf tournament to shake hands with each player as they exited the golf course.

These unique courtesies have helped build goodwill with golf fans and the players, too.

At The Open, Ivor Robson’s friendly welcome at the first tee and player introduction to the crowd brought a smile to all and helped to relax the nervous golfers prior to their opening shot.

“On the tee…from England…Lee Westwood!”

I can still visualize the grin on the face of most golfers as they wave to the crowd and tee-up their go...

The Oregon Ducks had a rough weekend.

Oregon’s senior field goal kicker, Camden Lewis, barely missed on a 45-yard attempt to tie the game on the final play at the University of Washington on Saturday.  With 60,000 Huskies fans screaming louder than a Seattle-manufactured Boeing 737 jetliner, the final kick slowly veered to the right and barely missed.  If he had made the field goal, the game would have been tied at 36 points apiece and moved into overtime.

Washington won 36-33 and moved to 6-0 on the season.  The victory catapulted the Huskies from #13 to #5 in this week’s SwampSwamiSports.com College Football Top 25 rankings.

With the loss, though, Oregon took the biggest tumble of the week in my poll.  Now 5-1, the Ducks plummeted from #10 a week ago all the way to #26.

How could Oregon fall completely out of the rankings this week? 

It’s time to grab my rule book and show the evidence.

The goal of the SwampSwamiSports.com Top 25 (now in its sixth season) has been to provide a clean slate every year.   I don’t even provide a ranking until after the first month of play.  Each team is given a chance to perform on the field – regardless of conference.  If they beat all comers, a team will be moved up in the rankings.  Ties are broken by the records of the opponents which your team has beaten through the current week.

After Saturday’s tough loss, Oregon is now 5-1.

According to my ranking rules, the Ducks must fall below any remaining unbeaten teams (there are now only 11 left) and any 6-1 teams (nine remain).  That means that Oregon’s ceiling this week would be the #21 position.

Oregon’s best win has come over a now 4-3 Colorado Buffaloes team.  If the Buffs had won their game against Stanford last Friday, Colorado would have a 5-2 record instead of 4-3.

A win by Colorado would have given Oregon the #23 slot this week.

Let’s take a look at all of the 5-1 teams and their “best win” of the 2023 season which is utilized to determine this week’s rankings:

#21 Texas – Won @ 6-1 Alabama 34-24

#22 Ole Miss – Won @ 5-1 Tulane 37-20

#23 Utah – Beat 5-2 Florida 24-11

#24 Tulane – Won @ 4-2 Memphis 31-21

#25 Duke – Beat 4-2 Clemson 28-7

Now, let’s review the other 5-1 teams which didn’t make the cut this week:

#26 Oregon – Beat 4-3 Colorado 42-6

#27 Georgia State – Beat 4-3 Marshall 41-24

#28 Tennessee – Beat 4-3 Texas A&M 20-13

#29 UNLV – Beat 2-5 Hawaii 44-20 (the Rebels have played a very easy early schedule)

That is why 5-1 Oregon dropped to #26 this week.

In addition to beating 4-3 Colorado, the Ducks other wins have come against FCS division Portland State (3-3), Texas Tech (3-4), Hawaii (2-5), and Stanford (2-5).

With six games against Pac-12’s top tier to be played, Oregon has plenty of chances to knock off one or more teams with an impressive won-loss record.

If they do, we’ll see the Ducks fly back up the SwampSwamiSports.com rankings again!

Speaking of mediocre teams…

This week, we welcomed a couple of newcomers to our Top 25 rankings from the Mid-American Conference.

The Toledo Rockets (#19) and Miami (Ohio) Redhawks (#20) both won this weekend to move to 6-1 for the season.  Sadly, neither of our poll newbies has notched a win in 2023 over a team with a winning record.

This directly points a finger at a weakness in my rankings.  Since each team’s won-loss record plays a critical role, teams from lesser known (and less respected) conferences will get a little bit more respect in my poll.

That’s OK at this point of the season!

Lest you forget, 2022’s Tulane Green Wave (which finished 12-1) and 2021’s UT-San Antonio teams vaulted into my rankings long before they appeared in the AP or Coaches Poll.  If a mid-major program wins every game on its schedule, why shouldn’t they be rewarded THIS year?

Nearly every day, you may be reading another story about college coaches (primarily football coaches) whining about needing more NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) money to attract and keep their top players.

Let’s talk about one of those coaches today.

Oklahoma State’s long-time football coach Mike Gundy was a former college quarterback at Oklahoma State in the 1980’s.   After graduating, Mike Gundy became a graduate assistant at OSU and spent several years on the coaching staff.  After job promotions to Baylor and Maryland, Gundy returned to Okie State in 2001.  He was named the school’s head football coach in 2005.

Prior to his return, OSU’s all-time football record was less than 50% wins.  In his 17 years as the head coach, Mike Gundy’s teams have won nearly 68% of their games and have appeared in bowl games in all but one season.

His bio at the Oklahoma State University athletics website said, “He has spent more than half of his life either quarterbacking or coaching at Oklahoma State and is the head coach presiding over the era of greatest sustained success in the history of the program.”

Perhaps Mike Gundy actually does bleed orange and black!

Gundy was recruited to play football at Oklahoma State.  Now, it is his job to recruit other talented student-athletes to come play football at OSU.

During Mike Gundy’s days as a player, a prized recruit may have received an (illegal) payment from an overzealous booster to attend the university in addition to a full scholarship with room and board paid.

Today, the NCAA’s transfer portal combined with the NIL Wild West Show has high school recruits and current college players seeking the best financial deals to play ball.  This is in addition to receiving the value of an academic scholarship with free room and board.

My, how times have changed!

A few days ago, Coach Mike Gundy was asked about recruiting in today’s wacky new NIL environment.  His observations were eye opening.

He said, “I’m going to hypothetically build a situation:  If you brought in 50 of our players and said we’ll NIL you $50-$60,000 a year cash or we can build you a new weight room and meeting room, which one do you want? They’re gonna take [the money], right? That’s what kids do nowadays.”

He added, “Players used to want to go somewhere for shiny new facilities and new uniforms and things like that — they still want to go somewhere where they win, but they also want the other stuff.”

That means they are seeking some cash, too.

Coach Gundy knows that only one or two players on his team will make it into the NFL every season.  The other players (though talented enough to have made it to the major college level) are trying to cash-in.  They see the NIL opportunities as a way to earn money even if these players don’t play professionally.

So, how does a football coach like Mike Gundy advise the school’s NIL “godfathers” in charge of this growing pile of cash?  Which recruit should be offered money?  How much?

Did you know that the coach (wink, wink) is not supposed to be involved in this pay-for-players game?  It would be foolish to think that the coaching staff and the guardians of the NIL money machine are not closely coordinating their efforts.

For major college football programs like Oklahoma State of the Big 12 Conference, the chances of raising significant dollars for redistribution to recruits and transfer players is easier than for many other conferences and individual programs.

Because it’s all about the money (of course).

In 2022, Oklahoma State ranked #37 in average home attendance (54,735/game) of the more than 130 major college (FBS) football programs.  The Cowboys’ conference (the Big 12) averaged nearly ...

Well, that was fast!

The Georgia Bulldogs were ranked #6 in my initial SwampSwamiSports.com College Football Top 25 rankings last weekend.  A 51-13 thrashing of formerly unbeaten Kentucky powered the Dawgs into the top spot in my second poll through games ending October 7, 2023.

Though most SEC fans were not surprised to see Georgia win this game in Athens, it was the way the Bulldogs manhandled Kentucky which opened eyes.  Georgia’s young quarterback, Carson Beck, continued to improve in Saturday’s win.  He connected on 28 of 35 pass attempts for a whopping 389 yards with four touchdown passes.

The Georgia defense also is showing weekly improvement, too.  Allowing just 13 points per game in 2023, the Dawgs defense is #10 nationally after last week’s play.

This spells trouble for the final six opponents on the Bulldogs’ schedule in 2023.   After a trip to Nashville this weekend to play 2-5 Vanderbilt, Georgia still must play 4-2 Florida (in Jacksonville), is home for 5-1 Missouri and 5-1 Ole Miss in consecutive weeks and then goes to 4-1 Tennessee and 3-3 Georgia Tech to close the season.

The two-time defending national champions must continue to play at a high level to have a chance to extend their winning streak (now up to 23 games) and win a third straight title.   Georgia’s last loss came on December 5, 2021 as Alabama won the 2021 SEC championship game.  Even though Georgia dropped to 12-1 with that loss, the Dawgs won the national semifinals and championship games during the College Football Playoffs.  In 2022, Georgia ran the table going 15-0 in capturing back-to-back national championships.  They are now 6-0 in 2023 after crushing of formerly unbeaten Kentucky last Saturday night.

We believe, Georgia!  You jumped from #6 to #1 with the impressive win.

Last week’s top team, the University of Texas, lost a tough game against Oklahoma in the annual Red River Shootout in Dallas.  Both teams came into the game unbeaten.  The surprising Sooners (whose early season schedule was rather weak) scored with just 15 seconds remaining in the game to beat Texas 34-30.

Oklahoma’s win catapulted them from our #12 team last week all the way into the #2 spot in this week’s rankings.   Wins over formerly unbeaten teams will do that for you in the SwampSwamiSports.com Top 25 rankings!

OU still must navigate a tough remaining schedule.  The Sooners face road tests at 5-1 Kansas, 3-2 Oklahoma State, and 4-1 BYU during their final six regular season contests in 2023.  A rematch against Texas is possible in the Big 12 Championship game if the Longhorns should win their remaining conference games, too.

Speaking of Texas, the Horns dropped from #1 last week all the way down to #15 in this week’s rankings.  I place the remaining 14 unbeaten teams ahead of them.  Texas is still rated as my top team with just one loss in 2023.

The SEC West remains the most intriguing division to watch in college football.

Alabama’s 26-20 at Texas A&M kept the 5-1 Crimson Tide atop the SEC West.  The Tide is now 3-0 in conference games.

Right on their heels in the divisional race are 3-1 LSU, 2-1 Ole Miss, and 2-1 Texas A&M.   The Tide controls their own destiny after dispatching both Ole Miss and Texas A&M.  However, the high scoring LSU 49ers (oops, I mean “Tigers”) will arrive in Tuscaloosa Saturday, November 4.  If LSU wins its remaining conference games, the Tigers could still win the SEC West IF Ole Miss should lose a second SEC contest before the regular season ends.

Six teams have dropped out of the rankings this week.

Maryland, Fresno State, Miami (FL), Washington State, Marshall, and Notre Dame were vanquished due to losses over the weekend.

They have been replaced by six newcomers – each with a 5-1 record.   Welcome to Wyoming (#17), Oregon State (19), Kansas (20), Iowa (23),

Last Saturday afternoon in Oxford, Mississippi, the LSU Tigers gift wrapped a 55-49 victory to the Ole Miss Rebels.  LSU surrendered a colossal 706 yards in Saturday’s game at Ole Miss.  Believe it or not, the Tigers (now 3-2) actually led by nine points at 49-40 halfway through the final quarter.

It was the third defensive meltdown for the LSU Tigers this season.

In the opening game against Florida State in Orlando, LSU led the Seminoles 17-14 at the half.  Unfortunately, the Tigers’ defensive unit was a no-show in the second half.   Florida State reeled off 31 straight points in the third and fourth quarters to claim a convincing 45-24 win.  The LSU defense gave up nearly 500 yards against Florida State in the game.

LSU’s second game came against an in-state FCS rival, Grambling State University.

The G-Men were no match in Tiger Stadium as LSU rolled to an easy 72-10 win.  LSU’s defense was tested a bit in the opening quarter, but the Tigers’ offense overwhelmed Grambling over the remaining three quarters.

Game #3 of the season for LSU featured a sparkling overall effort by the Tigers.  The offense sliced Mississippi State’s defense like butter in front of their 65,000 cowbell clanging fans.  Even the LSU defense warmed up to the task and held the Bulldogs to less than 230 yards of offense.  Those Starkville cowbells were almost quiet before the start of the fourth quarter in LSU’s dominating 41-14 win.

After the first three games, there was no doubt that the LSU offense was one of the nation’s top units.  Even with the Tigers’ defensive lapses, the Associated Press voters continued to show confidence in 2-1 LSU by awarding them with a top 15 ranking.

LSU returned to Tiger Stadium for Game #4.  SEC rival Arkansas came to Baton Rouge for their annual contest in which the winner goes home with the humongous “Battle for the Boot” trophy.

The Razorbacks were not intimidated by over 100,000 Tiger Stadium supporters as the Hogs jumped to 13-10 halftime advantage.

Then the second half was played.  Just like in Game #1 against Florida State, the LSU defense left its second half intensity back inside of the locker room.

Fortunately for the Tigers, quarterback Jayden Daniels matched touchdowns with the Razorbacks during the second half.   With a few minutes to go in the game, the Tigers opted to run the clock down and attempt a game winning field goal with seconds remaining.  At the time, the Tigers were close to the end zone and had a chance to score a late touchdown.  However, that would have allowed Arkansas to have one final possession and a chance to win the game with a touchdown and two-point conversion.

Though it was a smart gamble by Coach Brian Kelly, it also showed how little trust he places in this year’s LSU defensive unit.

LSU escaped with a 34-31 nail biter in which the LSU defense again surrendered more than 400 yards for the game.

The Tigers improved to 3-1 with that win over Arkansas and set their sights on an important two-game SEC road trip to Ole Miss and Missouri.  If LSU managed to win both games, their chance of getting into the College Football Playoffs retained a glimmer of hope.

Game #5 for LSU at Ole Miss last Saturday evening was definitely one for the ages.

The Ole Miss Rebels have played football for more than a century going back to 1893.  In last week’s game in Oxford against LSU, the Ole Miss offense established an all-time team record for most yardage gained in a football game.  The Tigers’ defense gave up 706 yards, 32 first downs, and a whopping 6.5 yards per carry to the Ole Miss running backs.

The LSU defense also surrendered a nine point lead in the final minutes.  The result was a train wreck 54-49 road loss to Ole Miss.  Ole Miss improved to 4-1 while LSU dropped to 3-2 after this disappointing defeat.

Once again,

Congratulations, Texas Longhorns fans.  You are finally back!

The Texas Longhorns are atop the standings in the first SwampSwamiSports.com College Football Top 25 rankings for the week ending September 30, 2023.

Yes, I know that the AP and others have been publishing polls since August.  But why?

Every major college football team has now played at least four games through last weekend.  Most have played five games and a few teams have even played in six contests already.

There is now enough evidence (both statistically and via our own eyes) to provide a fair way to rank all 133 major college football teams in the FBS division.

By the way, we say, “Welcome to the big time!” to the Jacksonville State (Alabama) Gamecocks and Sam Houston State University Bearkats.  Both schools have moved up from the FCS division beginning this year.

Oh, say can you C-USA?

You have heard a lot of talk about the incredible number of conference changes which are coming in 2024.  Have you heard about the road kill which Conference USA has become in 2023?

C-USA has been run over by a proverbial train after the 2022 collegiate season.  A large number of its former members have bolted for a new conference.  Take a look at this carnage:

2022 Conference USA Teams                   2023 Conference Affiliation

Charlotte                                                      American Athletic Conference (AAC)

Florida Atlantic                                             AAC

North Texas                                                  AAC

Old Dominion                                               AAC

Rice University                                             AAC

UAB                                                               AAC

UT-San Antonio                                            AAC

 

Florida International                                    C-USA

Louisiana Tech                                             C-USA

Middle Tennessee                                        C-USA

UT-El Paso                                                     C-USA

Western Kentucky                                        C-USA

Just one year earlier, Conference USA lost three long-time members – Marshall University, Old Dominion, and Southern Miss – to the Sunbelt Conference.

The 2023 version of the newly patched-up Conference USA has added three new teams to the remaining five holdovers.  Former independent New Mexico State joined C-USA this season along with newbies Jacksonville State (Alabama) and Sam Houston State.

Today’s eight team Conference USA once boasted of 14 members as recently as the 2021 football season.   The mass exodus from this long-time mid-level conference is mostly about television exposure and, of course, television network money.

Conference USA struggled mightily to obtain quality television time slots for its teams.  ESPN (which has the largest number of potential viewers) generally shunned C-USA games for years.

Looking elsewhere, Conference USA signed a long-term contract with the CBS Sports Network to showcase its games.  However, the CBS Sports Network is carried in significantly fewer cable television households in the US than ESPN.

Making competitive matters worse for C-USA, the AAC and Sunbelt Conferences both inked exclusive long-term deals with the ESPN family of networks.  C-USA games are barely noticed by fans nationally when games are televised on the CBS Sports Network.

In 2022, Conference USA negotiated a unique deal which allowed ESPN (or ESPN2, ESPNU, and ESPN+) to televise a certain number of mid-week college football games during the month of October.  Alas, those games

The biennial Ryder Cup matches begin this Friday as the event comes to Rome, Italy for the very first time.

Though the US team still retains the overall lead in this series 27-14 (with two ties), the European team has not lost a match on their home turf in the past thirty years!

The last time the Ryder Cup was held in Europe was five years ago this week in 2018.  The matches were played on a golf course near Paris, France.

As usual, the US team was favored.  The American squad featured eleven of the top 17 golfers in the world at that time.  Long-bombers like Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, and Tony Finau planned to overpower the golf course with their 320+ yard drives.

The Americans forgot one thing in 2018.  The Ryder Cup is a team competition.  When your partner bombs his golf ball a long way but into the deep rough or the trees or a water hazard off the tee, your team will lose a lot of holes.  The four long-driving American golfers totaled just two points over three days of competition in 2018 as the Europeans soundly drubbed the US team 17 ½ to 10 ½.

The final tally wasn’t as close as the score indicated.  A better title might have been, “A Ryder Cup Butt Kicking in Paris.”

The Euros won Friday’s Day One team events 5-3.

The Euros won Saturday’s Day Two team events 5-3. (Notice a pattern yet?)

The Euros won Sunday’s Day Three individual matches by a 7.5 to 4.5 count.

Game, set, and match!

Tiger Woods went 0-4 during the 2018 Ryder Cup in Paris.   Phil Mickelson went 0-2.  Despite their greatness in individual tournaments, these two World Golf Hall-of-Famers have become, sadly, America’s biggest Ryder Cup “Hall-of-Shamers” by holding the top two spots for most losses by US Ryder Cup golfers.

Mickelson has racked-up 22 Ryder Cups losses to go with his 18 wins to post a 45% winning percentage.  Tiger Woods’ losing record now stands at 21 losses vs. just 13 wins (a surprisingly weak 38% winning percentage).

Arnold Palmer (22 wins vs. 8 losses and 2 ties) remains the “King” atop the all-time US Ryder Cup players.  Sergio Garcia of Spain is now the top overall winner in this event.  The European golfer has a sterling record of 25 wins vs. 13 losses and 7 ties (a 63% winning percentage).

The winner will pass the chemistry exam!

Team chemistry on the golf course is vital to success during the first two days of Ryder Cup competition.  The first two days of competition are worth a total of 16 points.  On the final day, the golfers are finally matched against each other one-on-one and compete for 12 points.

The pairing of poorly matched partners has been a recurring problem for the American squad in several recent Ryder Cup events.

Look no further than the pairing of Tiger and Phil as teammates during the 2004 Ryder Cup matches held outside of Detroit.  US Captain Hal Sutton figured that the world’s top two players would send an intimidating message to the European team that week.   Instead, the top two golfers struggled to hit the fairway and put their partner in trouble regularly.  The European team obliterated the US squad 18 ½ points to 9 ½.

The Ryder Cup matches are a true team competition.  A pairing of golfers with complementary skills and personalities usually results in your best chance to win during the first two days.

Italy’s first time to host the Ryder Cup!

This year’s golf course (the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club) just outside of Rome is relatively short by PGA Tour standards.  The par-71 layout is “only” 7,181 yards in length.  The rough, though, has been grown sufficiently gnarly to cause wayward (aka “American”) tee shots a much more difficult second shot into the greens.

The golf course is set-up exactly the way the European golf squad desires this week.  Statistically speaking, the team leading coming off the 13th green has an 84% chance of wi...