2019 Week 7
October 15, 2019
We had some fantastic matchups last weekend, with many top teams battling it out down to the wire and a lot of other exciting finishes too.
Of course the biggest news of the week was South Carolina's 20-17 double overtime win between the hedges against Georgia. This time I think I understand how the overtime rules worked. Georgia turned the ball over, then South Carolina missed a field goal but got the ball back. Then South Carolina kicked a FG but didn't get a touchdown so the game didn't end, then Georgia missed a field goal so it became a sudden death loss for the Bulldogs. The key to the game, though, was the pick six thrown by Georgia QB Jake Fromm to South Carolina DB Israel Mukuamu, who raced down the sideline 53 yards for the touchdown. I haven't seen a Cock score in under 10 seconds since my junior prom.
There were some other defensive tilts as well. Miami held on against Virginia, 17-9. And Penn State traveled to the land of corn and put together enough offense for a 17-12 win over Iowa and Coach Fry.
The ACC had some other interesting results. Clemson clobbered Florida State 45-14 and you have to wonder when FSU is going to turn things around. Louisville had a wild win over Wake Forest, 62-59. I heard someone say that was a basketball score, but clearly they haven't watched much ACC basketball, their games never get that high scoring. The ACC football result that was like an ACC basketball score was Duke 41, Georgia Tech 23.
Down in the Loan Star State there were two pretty scintillating matchups. Baylor beat Texas Tech 33-30 in overtime as the Babtist Bears seem to have turned things around yet again. Let's hope this time it doesn't result in deaths, probation, and eternal damnation.
And in the great traditional showdown at the Cotton Bowel, Oklahoma outlasted Texas, 34-27 in front of an equally divided crowd of drunks.
One of the greatest intersectional rivalries led to a tight finish as Notre Dame recovered a late onside kick to seal a 30-27 win over Southern Cal. Irish halfback Tony Jones Jr ran for 176 yards and I predict he will win one Heisman and two Bengal Bouts titles in honor of his legendary boxer father Roy.
The other big evening matchup took place in Baton Rouge, as the Bayou Bengals outscored a game Florida Gator team, 42-28. I especially enjoyed watching the post-game interview with Coach Ogre. He has a really smooth voice - I don't understand a word he's saying but it sure sounds purty. I think they should hire a Cajun to English translator just to make sure he's not repeatedly saying "yabba dabba doo".
Speaking of coaches and voices, I'm noticing another trend where coaches who have faced some controversy end up as TV studio commentators to try to rehabilitate their images. You can see that now on Fox with Coach R Ban Meyer. He is following in the footsteps of former Texas coach John Mackovic Brown, who spent a few years on TV before returning to the sideline.
One of the most famous examples of this was Oklahoma legend Bud Wilkinson, who left OU and ran a disastrous US Senate campaign before heading over to ABC to do broadcasts for over a decade until the stench of his failure had subsided. He then returned to coach the NFL's Chicago Cardinals after enough time had passed.
Bud wasn't the first example of this coaching to broadcasting trend though. In the early days of television NBC hired former Illini coach Bob Zuppke to anchor its studio coverage with broadcasting legend Bill Stern.
Bill was well-known for his inspiring sports stories, many of which were completely made up. One of his most famous fables was his story where he claimed that Abe Lincoln, fading fast due to an assassin's bullet, told Abner Doubleday "don't let baseball die". If only that was a true story and if only Doubleday had strangled baseball in the crib, my life (and the lives of countless other sports fans) would have been so much better . . .
Bob Zuppke figured he had to keep up with story-telling, so he started making up his own tall tales. However, Coach Zuppke had both cognitive and gastrointestinal issues by this time and most of his stories involved recalling players who were having body function problems. One day he told a made-up tale about his most famous player, Red Grange, scoring a touchdown at Purdue then dropping his trousers and making an "extra point" in the end zone. At that point NBC cut the camera just as Bob dropped his trousers to re-enact the event on the soundstage. Coach Zuppke was hustled off to a nursing home and that debacle is why no coaches were seen on college football broadcast studio sets for another 20 years or so.
And now you know the rest of the story.