On Friday night in Washington, DC, the city will host their first World Series baseball game since 1933.  That’s an incredible 86 years ago!

Perhaps more incredible is the current feeding frenzy of the Washington Nationals baseball team.  After obliterating the homestanding Houston Astros on Wednesday night 12-3 to snag an impressive two games to none lead in the best-of-seven World Series, the National League’s Nationals now have an 81% statistical chance of capturing the 2019 baseball championship.

After blitzing the Astros in Houston, the Nats are heading home for three consecutive games at Nationals Park beginning Friday night.  They need to win two of three games to capture the crown.

The Washington Nationals did

not win their division (Atlanta did). 

They trailed in the one-game MLB Wild Card game in Milwaukee until

rallying in the 8th inning to grab the win and advance to the

National League’s Divisional series against the top-ranked Los Angeles

Dodgers. 

After downing the Dodgers by

a 4-2 count, the Nationals then swept the St. Louis Cardinals in four straight games

to win their first National League championship in franchise history.

Let’s pause here to acknowledge that the Nationals were originally born as the Montreal Expos in 1969.  The Expos had a few glory years, but, for the most part, they were a bad team on the field and a historically lousy draw in Montreal.  By 2001, attendance had dropped to less than 8,000 per home game in Montreal’s cavernous outdoor Olympic Stadium (built for the 1976 Summer Olympics).    

Just how bad were things in

2001?

After the 2001 season concluded, Major League Baseball’s owners voted 28-2 to reduce the number of teams by two.  The Montreal Expos and the Minnesota Twins were headed for oblivion.

One more reflection here.  Those Minnesota Twins were originally founded

as the Washington Senators!  The team

moved to the Twin Cities in 1960 but struggled to keep fans interested in

hockey-mad Minnesota.

After MLB’s owners voted to

dissolve the Minnesota team in 2001, the Twins home stadium (the Metrodome) immediately

filed a lawsuit and won an injunction against Major League Baseball requiring the

Twins to continue operating in 2002.

That also meant that the

Montreal Expos couldn’t be dissolved, because it would leave a competitive

imbalance (15 American League teams vs. 14 in the National League).  MLB then purchased the unprofitable Expos

from their frustrated owner and took over operations.  The league even moved many of the Expos’ home

games to San Juan, Puerto Rico due to the poor fan support of the team in Montreal.

In 2005, the Expos were

relocated to Washington, DC and renamed the Nationals.  The team was eventually profitably sold by

Major League Baseball to a private group for $450 million. 

Let’s now return to

2019. 

Through Wednesday night’s World

Series game 2, the wild-card Washington Nationals have plowed through October’s

post-season by winning 10 games and losing only two.  The team’s pitching and hitting have come

together at the most opportune time.

What is their secret?

Ask Washington Nationals fans, and they will point to one magical day at the ballpark back in the middle of ...

I’ve never been to Las Vegas before, but, after last week, maybe I should consider going!  As we continue a special insider’s view of my fantasy football team, Swamp Gas, my 5-2 Methane Marauders are winning with a combination of skill and pure luck.

OK, it was pure luck this past week.

How lucky?  The “average” score for a winning team in our

Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Football league is usually around 100 points.

Despite going up against another 4-2 club, my team was only able to cobble together 83 points for the week.  Fortunately, our opponent’s team decided to do their impression of the 2019 Miami Dolphins and tanked for us by only scoring 44 points.

It was U-G-L-Y, but we’ll take the victory!

My 5-2 team has been quite lucky this year as this marks the second contender who had their worst week of the season while playing Swamp Gas.  Sometimes it IS better to be lucky than good! 

After seven weeks of the season, we are now in third place out of the ten team league:

General Manager Comments – Another week, another set of injuries for our battered squad.  Starting running back Kerryon Johnson (Lions) and starting wide receiver Adam Thielen (Vikings) both went down in the first quarter of their respective games on Sunday.  I’m not expecting either one to return this week, so it’s off to the “unclaimed blessings” junkyard again this week to check who is available to patch-up our roster. 

Ageless running back LeSean “Shady” McCoy is now 31 years old and plays for the Kansas City Chiefs.  We’re going to take a shot at acquiring him after his solid 64-yard performance last week against Denver.  To make the deal, we’ll put newly-acquired wide receiver Zay Jones (Raiders) on the block to complete that transaction. 

At quarterback, we still are stashing Drew Brees (Saints) and are carrying two other active quarterbacks.  Both Josh Allen (Bills) and Gardner “The Mustache” Minshew (Jaguars) have been solid back-ups, but we will drop one of the back-up QB’s once Brees returns to the Saints roster in a few more weeks.

Let’s show you our bench so you can see the number of injured players on our roster:

My team is on the left . Is there a Doctor in the house?

Coach comments – We probably made a poor decision to sit down our standout versatile running back, Austin Ekeler (Chargers), last week.  He proved me wrong by scoring 17 fantasy points as he sat on our bench for the first time this season.  I’ve learned my lesson, and Ekeler will return to the line-up this week.

A “good” decision is coming at quarterback this week as Josh Allen (Bills) will be at home against the reeling Philadelphia Eagles.  The Eagles defense was shredded like Swiss cheese by Dallas last week.  Gardner Minshew’s Jaguars will be at home to play the hapless New York Jets on Sunday in Jacksonville.  I’ll make the QB decision later in the week after checking the weather forecasts and evaluating the intangibles this week.

We’ll probably flip a coin to determine whether to keep rookie tight end T.J. Hockenson (Lions) in the line-up or bring Saints TE Jared Cook back this week after a brief ankle injury.  Both have been “average” performers thus far in 2019.

This week’s opponent is my dreaded arch-enemy, Dead Crab! 

Arggh! Arghh! Arghh! Arghh!

This crustacean competitor has taunted me and battled me for the past six years.  He is the defending league champion but has struggled out of the gate in 2019.

Yes, the headline is correct.  The Minnesota Golden Gophers of the Big Ten Conference are currently sporting a 7-0 record for the first time since their first (and only) national championship season 59 years ago in 1960.

Think about how much has

happened since the Golden Gophers football team has been this hot.

America has put men on the

moon.  Television viewing has converted

from black-and-white to color television sets and now via digital signals to a

hand-held phone.  Plus, the Dow Jones

Industrial Average has advanced from 685 points (that is correct) in 1960 to

over 26,000 (give or take a few hundred points). 

Also during that span, a Saturday morning cartoon called “Go Go Gophers” aired within the “Underdog” cartoon series during the late 1960’s.   The show featured a large number of reliably corny jokes and featured a couple of Native American gophers outwitting a troop of bumbling US Cavalry members in the Old West. 

The 2019 Minnesota Golden

Gophers college football team is currently in first place in the Big Ten West

by one game over 6-1 Wisconsin and two games over 5-2 Iowa and 4-3

Nebraska.  This week, the team will host

the Maryland Terrapins (3-4) with a chance to stretch their in-season winning

streak to eight games in a row.

If the Gophers take care of business this week, it might set-up the biggest home football game in the school’s history as undefeated Penn State comes to Minnesota on Saturday, November 9.

The Associated Press ranked Minnesota

at #17 (its highest ranking since 2004) with Penn State at #6.  In contrast, your SwampSwami has the Gophers rated

#9 and PSU at #6 in my poll this week. 

The Gophers start to the 2019

football season was not very impressive, though.  The team won its first four games by 7

points, 3 points, 3 points, and 7 points against relatively weak

competition. 

Since then, though, Minnesota

has plowed through Big Ten rivals Illinois, Nebraska, and Rutgers by more than

20 points each.

Though Minnesota has been

relatively successful in the past decade with a number of bowl appearances, the

team has lost at least three football games every season since 2003. 

Being undefeated heading into

the month of November is a new concept for this university with over 47,000

students.  If the Gophers should beat

Maryland on Saturday and Auburn should upset LSU this weekend, there is a very good

chance that a November 9 match-up between the Gophers and the Nittany Lions of

Penn State might also bring the ESPN GameDay crew to Minneapolis for the first

time, too.

This year’s Minnesota

football team features the nation’s 17th ranked defense and a balanced

but surprisingly productive offense which scores nearly 35 points per game.  In a nutshell, this is a team which can beat

you on the ground (190 yards per game) or in the air (230 yards per game). 

It also doesn’t beat itself

with penalties (ranked #4th fewest out of 130 FBS teams) and

controls the football on offense (ranked #13 in time of possession). 

Head Coach P.J. Fleck is just 38 years old and in his third season at the helm in Minnesota.  Previously, Fleck led an amazing turnaround at Western Michigan University by starting with a team which finished 1-11 in 2013 and leading them to an unbeaten 12-0 regular season in 2016.  The Broncos finally lost to Wisconsin by just eight points in that season’s Cotton Bowl. 

The legendary Sesame Street character, The Count, has been known to say, “Ten is the number for today!”

This week, there are now only ten unbeaten squads remaining out of the 130 FBS Large college teams.  At the other end of the spectrum, there also just ten teams with either one or zero wins remaining comprising the bottom of my FBS poll.

10! Ahh-ha-ha!  Boom!

After Week #8 of the college football season Saturday, the SwampSwami College Football Top 25 now says “Good-bye” to Wisconsin and Boise State from the ranks of last week’s dozen undefeated teams.

Wisconsin was a 30-point favorite on the road at 2-4 Illinois.  After the Badgers took an early lead, the Fighting Illini came roaring back and scored a game-winning field goal on the final play to win 24-23. 

Also on the road, the Boise State Broncos lost their first game of the 2019 season 28-25 to 2-4 BYU.  The Brigham Young Cougars have likely ended the Broncos chances for a highly profitable major New Year’s Day bowl game.

On the other end of the

scale, it’s time to reveal my Bottom ten teams. 

I find it surprising that

only ten teams out of 130 remain with one or zero wins at this point in the season.  I would have figured this group to be a

little larger. 

If your favorite school is one these unfortunate ten teams, the end of the 2019 season can’t come quickly enough.  The biggest surprise of the group is 1-5 Northwestern Wildcats of the Big Ten conference.  After four straight winning seasons and significant bowl games, it looks like the “Mildcats” of yesteryear have returned, and the Tidy Bowl may be their future after this season.

Of the bottom ten, there are seven one-loss teams and still three teams without a win this season.

#128 Rice (now 0-7) played

6-1 Louisiana Tech into overtime in Houston before losing earlier this

year.  Meanwhile, #129 Akron and #130 New

Mexico State are also 0-7, but the Zips of Akron had an 11 point loss to 6-1

UAB while the New Mexico State Aggies’ loss to 6-1 San Diego State was by 21

points. 

By virtue of the larger loss

by New Mexico State, the Aggies are now mired at the bottom of my SwampSwami.com

poll through Week #8. 

On the positive side, let’s

turn our attention to the Top 25 teams, and welcome three new teams into this

week’s poll. 

From Conference USA, the UAB

Blazers are now 6-1 and are ranked #25.

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons

of the ACC beat conference foe Florida State Saturday to move to 6-1 and are

now back into the survey at #24.

Finally, the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs are making their first appearance in my survey after three years of knocking on the door.  The Dogs crashed the party at #23 with a convincing 45-30 win over 4-3 Southern Miss Saturday afternoon in Ruston.   At 6-1 on the season, “How ‘bout them Dogs?“

Now let’s reveal the entire listing of the SwampSwami College Football Top 25 rankings through the week ending Saturday, October 19, 2019:

Only 10 unbeatens remain out of 130 FBS college football teams!

In Thursday night’s Game 4 of the American League Championship series between the New York Yankees and the visiting Houston Astros, several hometown Yankees fans hurled some very personal insults at Astros starting pitcher Zack Greinke while he warmed-up in the bullpen prior to starting the game.

Yankees fans, well known for their boisterous behavior to give their beloved home team any possible advantage, ramped-up from a familiar parody of “You stink” to deliver a much more personal type of insults aimed at the Astros pitcher. 

The 35-year old Greinke has admitted that he suffers from a personal anxiety disorder and depression.  While the Astros pitcher was warming-up prior to Thursday night’s Game 4, a group of Yankees fans blasted sarcastic comments about his condition and medications. The goal of such chants (including a few about his Mother) are designed to get the pitcher thinking about something other than the game at hand. 

It almost worked. 

Greinke started the first inning in New York by allowing three bases on balls (giving up one run in the process).  However, his pitching steadied after that, and the Astros pounded the Yankees 8-3 to grab a 3-1 lead in the ALCS match-up.

After the game, Greinke said

“I didn’t hear anything”. 

Earlier in the series, Houston outfielder Josh Reddick reported that zealous Yankees fans had pelted the outfield with plastic water bottles and a few baseballs.  Astros manager A. J. Hinch said that he will pull the team off the field if Yankees fans do that again.

Maybe the Yankees fans should cool it as they are now 0-2 at home during the series heading into Friday night’s Game 5.

If you play for the home team, it is great to have the spirit and passion of your fans behind you.  Sometimes, though, there is a fine line between supporting your team and having fun and becoming a nuisance or problem.

On Saturday in Starkville, Mississippi, the LSU Tigers football team will be serenaded by 65,000 Mississippi State fans loudly ringing cowbells to cause confusion and distract the visiting players between plays. 

In Baton Rouge, though, the LSU student section has been known to spew a few unfriendly chants of their own toward visiting teams as well.  

Speaking of LSU, a zealous 19-year old University of Alabama freshman student actually called the Baton Rouge police department during last Saturday night’s LSU/Florida game to report a bomb at the stadium. 

Why did he do that?  He said that his friend was losing a bet once LSU pulled away to win the game 42-28, and he simply wanted to stop the game to save the bet

Seriously? 

The Baton Rouge police treated the threat as legitimate and promptly responded.  Fortunately, the game continued and the 103,000 fans didn’t appear to know about the threat. 

Fortunately, young Bama fan

was quickly located, arrested, and now faces a possible jail term of 10-20

years for his juvenile prank.

Yes, some fans can be really that dumb. 

Twenty years ago in the “City of Brotherly Love”, Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin took a severe shot to the head a...

The NBA has a knack for keeping themselves in the sports news for nearly twelve months per year the past decade. 

Usually, it’s the surprising

trade of one major player to another team or a significant free agent leaving

his prior team for more money and fame in another market.

Over the past few weeks, the

NBA has managed to get themselves back into the national spotlight for some odd

reasons.

After Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey took to social media two weeks ago to send a brief Tweet (“fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong”) in support of the people of Hong Kong, he apparently failed to remember that:

* The government

and people of China would not be happy to hear that.* His Houston

Rockets’ basketball team would likely feel a direct financial impact from the

wrath of Chinese backlash.* That there were

two NBA teams already inside of China playing a few preseason games that might be

negatively affected.

The Houston Rockets were the team which brought 7’6” Chinese mega basketball star Yao Ming into the NBA’s Houston Rockets in 2002. The 1.4 billion people of China immediately became fans of the Rockets.

Even after Yao Ming retired in 2011, the Houston Rockets have remained the favorite NBA team in China. 

The Rockets have a number of long-term sponsorships with Chinese companies, and the NBA sells a lot of Rockets’ merchandise inside the country of China.  The Rockets have regularly worn a special Chinese version of their jersey during the regular NBA season.

The mutual affection may be ending soon.

To me, the Chinese overreacted to the initial tweet, but that is their prerogative.

The NBA (both management and

players) has endlessly backpedaled with a series of apologies and attempts to

make things smooth over.

As this plays out, the people of Hong Kong have enjoyed seeing China’s reaction and hope that more freedom-loving people in the United States and around the world will take time to understand their current plight. 

It is a complicated political

issue, but, then again, what isn’t a complicated political situation these

days?

After the NBA players with

the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets were advised to stay quiet with the media

during their stay in China (to avoid further friction and, perhaps, to insure

their safe travel back to the US), it didn’t take long for the proverbial

band-aid to get ripped off upon their stateside return.

LeBron James just stepped into it. 

As LeBron was one of the Lakers players in China when this issue began, he is also very opinionated – especially when it comes to his money.  You see, LeBron James has a movie coming out next year (Space Jam 2) in which he probably figured that a great deal of profits would come from the overseas market – including China. 

His personal wealth probably took a hit from this situation if China refuses to allow the movie to be distributed or if unhappy Chinese NBA fans choose not to buy tickets.

So, LeBron stated that the Houston Rockets GM was “misinformed”. 

That’s odd, because Morey is a graduate of Chicago’s Northwestern University (computer science and statistics) and later received an MBA from M.I.T. in Boston. LeBron James is a high school graduate (albeit a very wealthy high school graduate),

In the opening segment of the 1960’s television favorite, Batman sends a series of villains flying as he fights to clean-up Gotham City.

In this week’s Fantasy Football update, my Swamp Gas team was on the receiving end of a solid right upper cut with an ugly 106-67 thumping which dropped my team to 4-2 for the 2019 season.  That is still good enough for fifth place in our ten team league.    

Last week’s debacle was U-G-L-Y.  Though I played a few of the wrong players, it didn’t matter in the end. 

When you lose, LOSE BIG!

Still, I would rather be soundly thrashed than lose on a last minute score by the other team.   That’s what happened on Monday night as Green Bay’s kicker became the hero for our league’s last winless team.  Congratulations on Win #1 to Toad Queen (now 1-5)!

Still only one game behind in the loss column!

Rather than whine about why my Fantasy Football team flopped this week, I think it’s important to stay positive and remember that we’re 4-2 WITHOUT quarterbacks Drew Brees of the Saints (injured Week 2 – back in a few more weeks), Ben Roethlisberger of the Steelers (Injured Week 2 – out for season), Green Bay WR Davante Adams (turf toe – week-to-week) – you get the idea.  Injuries are a part of the real game, so this is a part of Fantasy Football, too.

Let’s chat with the

management team and see how we can turn things around:

General Manager comments – The GM takes care of obtaining talent from the Fantasy Football league’s free agent lists.  Of late, Swamp Gas has struggled to find a productive starting quarterback with injuries to both Brees and Roethlisberger.  We picked-up Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills and Philip Rivers of the Chargers.  Unfortunately, Josh Allen became injured (concussion), so we went with Rivers.  The Chargers’ long-time QB is still quite capable, but his offensive line is a mess and does not give him time to throw the ball. 

Last week, we took a chance

on Jacksonville’s rookie QB sensation, Gardner Minshew.  He had thrown for seven TD’s in the past

three games and was playing at home against New Orleans.   Under sunny skies and 80 degree conditions,

the Jaguars’ offense looked inept against an improving Saints defense.  Our quarterback earned only 4 points (vs. a

projected 20). 

This week, we’re going to drop Philip Rivers (he has zero time to throw the ball), and welcome back Josh Allen of the Bills (at home vs. the winless Miami Dolphins). 

We are now shopping for a

wide receiver.  With Davante Adams still

battling turf toe, we’re also going to lose WR Jarvis Landry this week (Bye

week).   We’re looking at either Demarcus Robinson

(Chiefs) or, perhaps, Cole Beasley (Bills) to sign a short-term deal with Swamp

Gas at the midnight deadline tonight.

Coach comments

– The role of the team coach is to watch daily to see:

* Are any of our

players injured? (In our case, the answer is “Always”)* What are the

match-ups looking like this week? (who is at home/on the road)* How are the

weather conditions going to affect each player/team this week?* What are the

Yahoo! Sports projected points for each of our players (they are usually just

simple statistical averages).* Read other

publications to gain perspective on how others see the coming week.

Weighing all five of the

above factors, I usually ignore most of the above advice and trust my gut as to

who I should play every week! 

This week,

Teams in the XFL (version 2.0) will draft players on Tuesday and Wednesday for the new eight-team league.  The new XFL (not to be confused with the league which started and folded back in 2001) will begin play in February, 2020 on the week after the NFL’s Super Bowl finale.

Didn’t we just see something like this earlier this year?

Why, yes you did!  In 2019, we saw the rise and fall of another start-up professional football league, the Alliance of American Football (AAF).  The league was underfunded and, with massive financial losses piling up, didn’t even finish the ten-game regular season before folding this season.

The new XFL (owned by WWE wrestling chairman, Vince McMahon) seems to have enough funding to cover significant financial losses expected this season.  Vinnie Mac has sold a lot of his WWE common stock and plans to fund the league with up to $500 million of his personal capital.

In a swerve from the AAF’s mix

of large and middle market locations, McMahon’s XFL is going to begin play with

eight franchises in many of the largest television markets in the country.  Teams will play in New York (Guardians), Los

Angeles (Wildcats), Houston (Roughnecks), Dallas (Renegades), Washington (DC

Defenders), Tampa Bay (Vipers), Seattle (Dragons), and St. Louis

(BattleHawks). 

With the failure of the AAF

in 2019 and teams struggling to draw even 15,000 fans per game at an average

ticket price of only $20 per game, doesn’t Vince McMahon know that he is going

to lose a lot of money soon?

Yes, he does, but Vince McMahon may just have a bigger plan.

Your SwampSwami has a hunch about what McMahon’s plan might really be all about.

With the exception of the American Football League (AFL) in the 1960’s, every upstart professional league has failed to take a cut out of the massive profits of the NFL.  Most recently, the USFL tried to take their 1980’s spring football league to the fall and compete with the NFL.

It was an epic and expensive crash

and burn.

Nearly 30 years later, 2019’s

start-up AAF seemed to be operating with a goal that, at some point, they could

become the official development league for the NFL and receive the additional funding

needed to survive and grow. 

Folding after eight games, it

didn’t work out very well.

Maybe, just maybe, the new and well-funded XFL 2020 will be able to do things “right” and work out a niche feeder league for players to move into the NFL?  Perhaps. 

I have my doubts that fans

will flock to football games being played in NFL cities during the sometimes

brutal late winter/early spring weather conditions of February and March.  Like the AAF, the XFL will have to compete

for fans and viewers against college and professional basketball games being

played in nice warm gymnasiums at the same time. 

That sounds like another recipe for disaster.  What if that’s not really what the XFL has in mind for the long term?

Here’s my theory.  Why would anyone want to be dependent upon the Big Bad NFL to come to the rescue with financial support?  Instead, why not just try to carve out your own piece of America’s huge football revenue pie by going helmet-to-helmet for talent against the poorly-managed cash flow giant named the NCAA?

Yes, I think the XFL’s long-term goal is to take talented football players away from the NCAA’s talent pool and eventually compete with college football for some of those players ...

At the halfway point in the college football season, there are only 12 unbeaten teams remaining (less than 10%) out of the 130 FBS large division schools in the SwampSwami College Football Top 25.

This week, we will review the entire 130 team field to allow you to see how your favorite team(s) are ranked after conclusion of play on Saturday, October 12. Before we review the teams, let’s have a quick review of how I determine the rankings for the college football teams.

* I start with the final AP rankings from the previous season.  Since Clemson finished #1 at the end of last year, they remain #1 until they are beaten this season.  The same thing goes for any of the 2018 AP Top 25 teams from last year.  That’s the reason why Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma, LSU, Penn State, and Boise State are ranked at the top group of my poll this season.  Until they lose in 2019, they will maintain a priority. And why not? They were last year’s best teams and haven’t lost a game this season (yet). * The next group will be the remaining unbeaten teams in 2019.  Those teams (like the remainder of my team rankings) are based upon what is the BEST WIN that team has achieved in the 2019 season (not conference, school size, TV ratings, or reputation).* The same methodology follows for the once-beaten schools.  Take a look at the team record of that school’s best win in 2019.  A victory over a 5-1 team takes preference over having your best win over a 4-2 team, for example.  A win over an FCS team is the least persuasive win in my methodology. For ties within a cluster of teams, the margin of victory in their most significant victory becomes the final arbiter. * Repeat Step #3 for the two-loss teams.  Then the three-loss teams, etc.  * For the unfortunate three college football teams without a win, I ranked them based on total number of losses (New Mexico State – you already have seven!) and “best loss” this season.

Let’s start with this week’s SwampSwami College Football Top 25 for the week ending Saturday, October 12:

Congratulations to our newest

additions to this week’s Top 25!  Teams entering

the upper echelon are:

#16 Temple –

The Owls ended the unbeaten season for the Memphis Tigers on Saturday.  By virtue of Temple’s “best win” coming over

a 5-1 team, the Owls are in the thick of the race to win the American

Conference.

#18 Notre Dame

– The Fighting Irish have lagged in our poll due to the lack of a signature

win.  With 4-2 Louisville’s upset of

previously unbeaten Wake Forest, 5-1 Notre Dame’s rank was enhanced and the

Fighting Irish enter our top group beginning this week.

#20 Navy –

The Midshipmen are now 4-1 this season after clobbering Tulsa’s Golden

Hurricane 45-17 this weekend.  Navy owns

a win over 4-2 Air Force earlier this season.

#22 Michigan

– The overhyped 5-1 Michigan Wolverines are finally starting to show signs of

life.  Michigan’s best win is a narrow

10-3 win over the 4-2 Iowa Hawkeyes in Ann Arbor.

#23 San Diego State – The 5-1 Aztecs knocked-off previously ranked Wyoming by a 26-22

count on Saturday to move into this week’s Top 25 poll for the first time.

#25 Utah –

The Pac-12 Utes are a nifty 5-1 on the season, but their signature win this

season is beating a 3-3 Washington State team. 

With their remaining schedule, the Utes can keep climbing in my poll as

long as they keep winning!

Now let’s reveal SwampSwami’s current rankings through October 12 for all of the ...

With the NFL season approaching the midway point, there are four remaining teams which haven’t won a single game yet.  With Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa considered the consensus #1 pick in next year’s NFL draft, the competition to remain winless and grab Tua with the top pick will be fun to watch for the league’s bottom feeders.

Some of these winless teams are a surprise.   The New York Jets spent big money to bring in running back Le’Veon Bell from the Steelers to give their offense a lift.  With the Jets quarterback Sam Darnold out with mono the past few weeks, the J-E-T-S are now 0-4 and have the worst offense in the league. 

The Cincinnati Bengals were expected to at least be competitive in the tough AFC Central, but these cats sport a 0-5 record this season.  Plenty of good seats are available for the remaining Bengals home games!

The Washington Redskins were expected to be a lousy team in 2019, but they have exceeded expectations with a 0-5 start to this season.  The home team for Ol’ DC has already fired their coach (Jay Gruden) this week and gone through several quarterbacks in search of an offensive spark. 

Finally, there are the Miami Dolphins.  Heading into the season, the Dolphins had pretty much telegraphed that they were mailing-it-in this season and established themselves as the odds-on favorite to grab the #1 pick in next spring’s NFL draft by virtue of having the league’s worst record in 2019.  

The Dolphins have fulfilled their

destiny with their historically bad 0-4 start. 

The Fins rank 31st in the NFL in team offense (the Jets are the

only team worse) and 32nd (last) in defense this season. 

The team traded their

starting quarterback (Ryan Tannehill) to the Tennessee Titans.  The Dolphins have sent starting linemen on

both offense and defense to other teams for future draft choices or to simply

shed salaries.   Though the team’s

management won’t come out and say that the team is trying to implode this

season, their awful start to the season confirms a successful plan.

For the record, below is the

bounty that Miami has hauled-in thus far after saying good-bye to several of

their best (now former) players.  Keep in

mind that the team making the future draft picks is also the same one which made

questionable choices with their draft picks in previous years:

2020

* 1st round (Dolphins)* 1st round (Texans)* 1st round (Steelers)* 2nd round (Dolphins)* 2nd round (Saints)* 3rd round (Dolphins)* 5th round (Steelers)* 6th round (Dolphins)* 6th round (Cowboys)* 7th round (Dolphins)

2021

* 1st round (Dolphins)* 1st round (Texans)* 2nd round (Dolphins)* 2nd round (Texans)* 3rd round (Dolphins)* 4th round (Dolphins)* 5th round (Dolphins)* 6th round (Steelers)

However, there may be a few flies in the ointment for the Miami Dolphins and their genius plan to finish in last place this season.  With three other teams in the winless mix at this point, the Dolphins will have to face two of those same teams (and lose) to keep their chances of grabbing the #1 pick.

In a very interesting twist, each of the NFL’s four winless teams will face another of the currently-winless team at least two more times for the remainder of the regular season!

NFL Tanking 101

In the case of the Miami Dolphins, they will face currently-winless teams four more times (Washington, the Jets – both home and away,