Desert Fans Episode # 12 - Winding Down

 Must find from old account and paste:

Here we are, fans, half way through the last full month of the season; things are shaping up as to how things will go into the wind down stretch. A few more games will determine which four teams will go to the Football Championship Series, other bowl games, or who will stay home over the holidays.

Two of our teams are still in the fight for the best four, which are Georgia and Notre Dame.

              Georgia allowed Tennessee to score a touchdown right off the bat, which I watched live, but after that it was all Dawgs (I did not stick around to watch most of that). The best team in the country went on to dominate to the score of 41 – 17. The Bulldogs will have an easier go this next weekend; they are primed to march on to the national championship. Again, this might be Georgia’s year, their first since 1980.

NEXT UP for Number One Georgia (10-0):  at Charleston Southern (4-5), Charleston, SC.

              Notre Dame continues to impress, stifling the Virginia Cavaliers 28 – 3. The Wahoos did not have their stud QB, who hurt BYU a couple games ago before hurting his ribs and leaving the game, but the Irish are setting themselves up to possibly enter the Final Four, known as the FCS. If a couple things go their way it could happen. Best of luck, Irish. Cincinnati would probably have to lose before then, while Oklahoma did its part by falling to Baylor this weekend. I keep seeing the name Jack Coan pop up in the story lines and stats as the QB for Notre Dame. Looks he is the man at the helm, and the defense is pretty sound too. Good formula for more success.

NEXT UP for Notre Dame #9 (9-1): Georgia Tech (3-7) traveling to South Bend, IN.

              The Cougars had a bye week, getting one receiver healthy, the brother of the back-up quarter back Gunne Romney, who has come in to big games and played well. Another top receiver is out with a leg injury, a big guy named Neil Pau’u. The Cougars have plenty of other offensive weapons, however. For me this would have been a nine hour drive, and I would have done it had other priorities not been so pressing. I would have taken a few kid, made it a grand ole’ time. Desert fans, you feel me?

NEXT UP FOR BYU #14 (8-2): at Georgia Southern (3-7) in Statesboro, GA.

              Auburn took it on the nose, but has stayed ranked based on their strength of schedule. They lost to a highly competitive Mississippi State team 34 – 43. The Tigers are still poised to go to a decent bowl. If they could take down mighty Alabama over Thanksgiving weekend I would be in hog heaven, along with quite a few others around the world. The victors over said Tide (rising in the ranks), Texas A & M, lost again, so a second loss would really cost the Tide any championship hopes.

NEXT UP for Auburn #17 (6-4): at South Carolina (5-5)

Clemson goes strong against a very weak UConn Husky squad, handling them easily 44 to 7. The Huskie are one of the worse teams in the country, so this score was supposed to be lopsided. Clemson has a big one coming up…

               NEXT UP FOR Clemson (7-3): Tigers host #12 Wake Forest (9-1). A pretty good Wake Forest Demon Deacon team could be a huge win for the Tigers.

              Ach! Miami loses to arch rival Florida State 28 - 31, in another close game that this time does not go their way. This one hurts for sure, as FSU is down. Miami is battling for relevance. For me, I get some get some good schadenfreude from seeing the Seminoles lose, so there is still hope that they get sucked down the tube like my IU Hoosiers, who are well below .500 with no chances for post season games. The ‘Canes need to regroup.

NEXT UP for Miami (5-5): hosting Virginia Tech (5-5). This is a crucial, big game: the winner should have a bowl, and the loser maybe not.

              Hoosiers! Ugh, good grief Charlie Brown! Very ugly game, to an okay Rutgers team. Big time losers this past weekend, with the final score 3 to 38. We now have our fourth string QB coming in, and getting terrible results, no points.  Much like the others. When I started watching at the beginning of the 2^nd quarter IU was down 14-0 because of two bad turnovers. It will be a small miracle if Indiana can win either of its two remaining games.

NEXT UP for Indiana (2-8): Minnesota (6-4) goes to Bloomington, IN. I fear these Gophers, despite them having their own recent woes, worse than I did a month ago. Indiana is swirling down the drain. Hopefully we can improve for next year. Damage control time. As we typically say in Indiana, at least we have basketball season now.