2022 Week 9
November 2, 2022
So Saturday was a long day for me up here, even moreso than usual.
Normally there are four time slots for games, with a couple big national games to start, then the second slot has even bigger national games, then an East coast evening slot with networks filling up prime time with football, and then the late night finale. The late night slow usually features below average Pac-8 games plus random WAC matchups.
Which reminds me, years ago I told my good friend Coach Corso that I thought ESPN should call those late night Western Athletic Conference games "WAC-tion". Coach said he'd already copyrighted the term for his daily rewatching of random Emanuelle movies.
Sometimes I don't understand Coach Corso.
Anyway, I disgress. Usually I just plow through the four time slots. But on Saturday some of my food disagreed with me so I had to tape a bunch of games then watch them later which is why I was up well past the ending of the various games, I was catching up on the results.
Of course once Coach Hayes found out about this he decided to have some fun with me. First off he'd yell out final scores to me knowing I'd get mad that he'd spoiled the games. Then later I'd find out that the scores he'd given me were wrong. He told me "Western Virginia beat TCU 37-14" so I was all set to talk about how tough it is to beat the Mountain Men in Morgantown - then I watched the game and TCU passed the 14-point marker early in the second quarter and went on to win.
Then Woody would come by and try to make me get sick again by calling out "greasy pork sandwich served in a filthy ashtray". Little does Woody know that my stomach is about as iron as my most recent liver. Heck, so is my entire gastro tract, which is why I should have been the model for the Auburn vs Alabama trophy, the Iron Bowel.
Anyway, Coach Hayes finally keeled over from low blood sugar because he forgot to eat a candy bar and I was able to get back to watching the games.
There were a couple shocking late comeback wins. North Carolina State trailed Virginia Tech 21-3 late in the third quarter but scored three unanswered touchdowns to pull out a 22-21 win. Meanwhile, in one of the really late games, Fresno State came back from a 28-10 deficit and, thanks to a bobbled onside kick, scored two touchdowns in 13 seconds with about a minute left to beat SDSU 32-28. I'm sure it was a rough trip back to South Dakota for the Jackalopes.
The University of Georgia had little trouble with the University of Florida at "The World's Largest Cocktail Party". The Bulldogs also won the football game, by a 42-20 score.
North Carolina pulled away from my Pitt Panthers, 42-24. It's been an ongoing refrain this year for Pitt, but I'm confident they still have a shot at the Jack Lambert Trophy that's given to the Eastern team with the fewest teeth.
Tennessee plowed a good Kentucky team, 44-6. The Volunteers are looking better than they have in decades. Elsewhere in the south R Kansas paid a visit to Auburn and clobbered the Tigers 41-27. Auburn responded by firing their coach. Auburn seems to fire a coach after about every third loss.
The biggest shocker of the week took place in Manhattan and, no, they didn't award the Heisman Trophy early this year and, no, they didn't give it to a placekicker from Oregon State. I'm talking about the suburban campus located in Manhattan Missouri. Kansas City State clobbered #9 rated Oklahoma State, 48-0. I haven't seen an Oklahoman get shellacked like that since Mickey Mantle's trip to Madame Claire's Bronx House of Pain.
In one of the biggest games of the day, Ohio State pulled away from Penn State in the fourth quarter to win 44-31. The Huckeyes sure seem to have some offensive firepower but it was their defense and all the Penn State turnovers that was the real story. I would have asked JoePa for his thoughts but nobody's seen him. Don't know what's up with him, he's never around.
Well, I'm getting geared up (and cleared up, my stomach seems good again) for a huge weekend with some great matchups. Georgia will host Tennessee, Alabama goes to LSU, Clemson visits Notre Dame, and, of far greater importance, our first dose of MACtion started on November 1st. Can't wait to see the hundreds of fans hanging out at 10 p.m. midweek in Oxford, Ohio.