2018 Week 12
November 19, 2018
Well, we managed to survive cupcake weekend in the SEC without too much drama. Personally last weekend's SEC matchups were so bad that I'd rather watch a Marlins/Rays exhibition baseball game. Okay, I kid. I once heard that there was a stabbing at a Tampa Bay Rays game, I said "if I had to go to a Tampa Bay game I'd stab myself".
In any event, Alabama showed its strength by running roughshod over The Citadel, 50-17, at least in the second half. The first half looked like Alabama playing with its food while The Citadel went all Lords of Discipline on the Tide's linebackers. That changed in the second half after the locker room talk, I'm guessing Nick Satan's head did a couple 360's to get his players' attention.
Another undefeated team had a better outing - Notre Dame had little trouble with #12 Syracuse, winning 36-3. The game was played at Yankee Stadium. It would have been perfect if the Irish had been playing the St Louisville Cardinals, though I guess, given the Cardinals' 2-9 record and the BS ratings, Notre Dame wouldn't have wanted to damage their strength of schedule.
Notre Dame did wear special uniforms in honor of their fan base - the uniforms featured Notre Dame helmets, Yankee pinstriped pants, Duke jerseys, and Dallas Cowboy star shoulder patches.
The most exciting finish took place in Stillwater as Oklahoma State rallied late to knock off top 10 rated Western Virginia, 45-41. Will Geer III took the Mountain Men deep into the Mullet Boys' territory at the end but couldn't complete a game-winning pass. His grandpa once again started bawling his eyes out at the defeat. I think we're gonna have to find him a different place to watch the games.
There were some exciting overtime games. Now I'm still a bit confused about these overtime rules. Bald State scored first against Western Michigan to take a 7-point lead then Western scored, went for 2, and failed. Then the same thing happened to Maryland against Ohio State, scored, went for 2 and the win, and failed. Meanwhile other teams were not required to go for 2 until the third overtime - Wisconsin and Purdue exchanged touchdowns and extra points in the first two overtimes. Then in the third overtime Wisconsin scored and went for two but failed and led by 6. Purdue settled for a FG which left them 3 points short. You'd think engineers would be better at arithmetic.
Nebraska won an exciting field goal shootout against the Michigan State Fighting Chippewas, 9-6. Elsewhere in the Big Ten Iowa annihilated Illinois 63-0. I'm beginning to think Coach Lovie's promise to bring back the Monsters of the Midway refers to a mescaline-fueled nightmares.
Oklahoma kept its fine season going with a high-scoring 55-40 win over Kansas. The good news is that Kansas has now hired Coach Miles. The only thing better would have been Coach Miles being hired by R Kansas. The good news for Les is that he's just the second oldest coach in the state.
And I can't forget my favorite annual rivalry matchup - UCLA pulled out a 34-27 victory over USC in the very colorful Cheerleader Bowel. When I mentioned that to my new good friend Burt Reynolds he told me about an experience with the Florida State dance team and some blueberry suppositories. I don't quite understand Burt at times.
We're now heading into one of my favorite weekends - Thanksgiving, with all the food and all the rivalries. We've got Notre Dame vs USC, Alabama vs Auburn, Michigan vs Ohio State, and Coach Corso vs the English language. Should be fantastic!