Armadillo Sports
Friday’s 6-pack:
College basketball’s unbeaten teams:
10-0 Arizona
9-0 Baylor
10-0 Colorado State
10-0 Iowa State
10-0 LSU
10-0 San Francisco
11-0 USC
Quote of the Day
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”
Charles Darwin
Friday’s quiz
In the classic movie Rocky, how much money was Rocky Balboa paid for his first fight against Apollo Creed?
Thursday’s quiz
Ben McAdoo was coach of the New Jersey Giants, last time they made the NFL playoffs, in 2016.
Wednesday’s quiz
Stephen Curry’s dad Dell is a broadcaster for the Charlotte Hornets.
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Friday’s Den: Random stuff with the weekend here……..
13) Chiefs 34, Chargers 28, OT
— Chiefs drove 75 yards to tie game with 1:16 left in regulation.
— Chiefs drove 75 yards to win game on first drive of OT.
— Hill caught 12 passes for 148 yards, one TD.
— Kelce caught 10 passes for 191 yards, two TD’s.
— Chiefs covered eight of last nine road games vs Chargers.
— Chargers had three empty trips to red zone.
— LA ran ball for 192 yards, had 19-yard edge in field position.
— Bolts are 7-11-1 ATS in last 19 games coming off a win
— Last nine games, Chargers allowed 29.7 points/game.
— Over is 6-2 in Chargers’ last eight games.
12) After midnight Wednesday night, Jacksonville Jaguars fired coach Urban Meyer, who was 2-11 in his first season as an NFL coach (he is 187-32 as a college coach).
Darrell Bevell takes over as interim coach for Jacksonville; he was interim coach in Detroit last year, going 3-1 ATS. We’ll see if the Jaguars play better for a different coach.
When Meyer was on TV before coaching the Jaguars, I actually felt bad for him; the guy seemed incapable of humor. You figure on TV, anyone will lighten up some, yuk it up a little, but Meyer never seemed to smile. It was a little odd.
First time I saw him smile was earlier this fall, when that lady was giving him a lap dance in a bar after he stayed behind in Ohio after the Jaguars lost in Cincinnati. I’m guessing Mrs Meyer wasn’t smiling.
11) Shahid Khan owns the Jaguars; he got wealthy by inventing the seamless bumper for pickup trucks. He is a smart guy and a really rich guy, but hiring Meyer as an NFL coach turned out to be an awful idea, seeing how Meyer had no NFL experience and is apparently a cruddy person. Who kicks the team’s kicker when the guy is stretching before practice?
When Rams’ owner Georgia Frontiere passed away, before he bought the Jaguars, Khan tried to buy the Rams; thank the Lord Stan Kroenke bought the team instead. Rams were in St Louis back then; now they’re playing in a great stadium in Los Angeles. Kroenke is an excellent owner.
10) Who will replace Meyer in Jacksonville? Since they’ve got a young QB (Trevor Lawrence), a guy with an offense-based background seems logical. Eric Bieniemy? Byron Leftwich? Josh McDaniels? How about Buffalo OC Brian Daboll? He’s worked wonders with Josh Allen.
9) Speaking of the Rams’ great stadium, it’ll be a busy weekend at SoFi Stadium:
— Thursday- Chiefs-Chargers
— Saturday- Oregon State-Utah State bowl game
— Sunday- Seahawks-Rams
8) Cleveland Browns are playing the Raiders Saturday afternoon, but apparently their top two QB’s have both tested positive for COVID. With Mayfield/Keenum looking like they won’t be playing Saturday, Nick Mullens (5-11 as a starter with the 49ers) would be Cleveland’s QB. No freakin’ idea who his backup would be.
7) The COVID issues are making practice squads more important than they’ve ever been, and make the GM’s job more important too. Quality depth is more essential than it ever has been.
6) New Orleans Pelicans beat Oklahoma City 113-110 the other night, when Devonte’ Graham nailed a 61-foot heave from the backcourt as time expired. Interesting to see reactions from the other players when a shot like that goes in.
5) Danny Ainge is new CEO of the Utah Jazz; a college star at BYU and a guy who played in both the NBA and major leagues (Blue Jays), Ainge worked in the Celtics’ front office for 17 years; he scored 11.964 points in his 15-year NBA playing career.
4) One of the fascinating bowl matchups will be Texas Tech-Mississippi State, mostly because Mike Leach used to coach Texas Tech. When the Red Raiders fired him in 2009, there was a dispute about the $2.15M that Leach claimed (and still claims) that Tech owes him.
Tech is changing coaches again; they’re 70-72 since they fired Leach. Given the chance, I’m betting Leach will run up the score on his former employers.
3) Tech replaced Leach with Tommy Tuberville, who is somehow now a US Senator; go figure. Kliff Kingsbury then went 35-40 when he replaced Tuberville; Kingsbury is doing way better in the NFL than he did at Tech.
2) Pitt Panthers had a terrific 11-2 season, but now QB Kenny Pickett is skipping Pitt’s bowl game, so he doesn’t get hurt before the NFL Draft. Oy.
Not sure what NFL executives think about this, but if it was me, I’d be dropping any QB on my draft board who deserted his teammates before a season was over.
Remember Al Pacino’s speech from Any Given Sunday?
“You’re a goddamn quarterback! You know what that means? It’s the top spot, kid. It’s the guy who takes the fall. It’s the guy everybody’s looking at first – the leader of a team – who will support you when they understand you. Who will break their ribs and their noses and their necks for you, because they believe. ‘Cause you make them believe. That’s a quarterback.”
Quarterbacks shouldn’t bolt a team before their bowl game.
1) On the other end of the spectrum, Florida Gators’ QB Emory Jones will play in Florida’s bowl game, but then will hit the transfer portal, which is a little weird. Almost like his bowl game will be an audition tape for any teams looking for a QB next year.
Jones threw for 2,563 yards, 19 TD’s and 13 INTs this year. He ran for 768 yards and four TD’s as Florida finished 6-6- coach Dan Mullen got fired.
