By Mike Luce

The Arizona Wildcats gave us a preview Thursday night of what promises to be a crazy weekend of football. ‘Zona upset #2 Oregon – again – this time in Eugene, 31-24. This was the second straight win by the Wildcats over a Top 5 Oregon team, and featured a spectacular play by LB Scooby Wright III to clinch it. (Yes, there are two other Scoobys – Scoobies? – out there.) The Wildcats were underdogs by three touchdowns (+21.5) in what most expected to be a high-scoring shootout (82 o/u) featuring the Ducks scoring machine, quarterback Marcus Mariota. But Anu Solomon, Arizona’s redshirt freshman QB, made the biggest impact, aided by diminutive (listed at a generous 5’7″) RB Terris Jones-Grisgby.

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Posted on October 3, 2014

By Carl Mohrbacher

Marc’s Little Secret
Looking back, we should have known something was up when the Bears attempted an onside kick with the lead.
For those of you who missed the first half of Sunday’s contest, (presumably because you were either returning to town from international travel or hastily concluding the burial of your mother-in-law), there were about 40 minutes of this game in which the outcome was still in doubt for most of us.
But not for one observant individual.
And I don’t mean that Marc Trestman was photographed sounding a ram’s horn while wearing a “Happy New Year 5775!*” hat.
I mean he was perceptive.

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Posted on October 2, 2014

By Dan O’Shea

I’ve never experienced a fantasy football season in which so many running backs who started the season off the fantasy radar have become extremely relevant so early in the schedule.
Some of this is due to RBs like Adrian Peterson and Ray Rice getting into off-the-field trouble, but injuries to the likes of Jamaal Charles, Ben Tate and Doug Martin have played a role, too. Then, you also have the just plain weirdness of a season in which RBs that seem to have everything going for them – put Matt Forte, Eddie Lacy and LeSean McCoy in this group – are vastly underperforming.
It all adds up to RBs who were once assumed to be no more than handcuffs suddenly making the grade as fantasy RB-1s, and third-stringers and other heretofore complete unknowns getting a look as possible bye-week replacements.
So, are we seeing a new class of top tier RBs emerging, or is their current production just a matter of quickly passing circumstances? That and more in our review of Week 4:

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Posted on October 2, 2014

By Roger Wallenstein

The curtain came down,
The Cell now is dark.
Rack up another 89 losses.
You think the Sox missed their mark?
Attendance keeps dipping
For the seventh straight year.
Fewer fans, less revenue,
No free agents I fear.

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Posted on September 29, 2014

By Jim Coffman

We can stop calling it a rivalry.
With the arrival of Marc Trestman and a promising 2013 season that ended with a down-to the last-play showdown, it appeared the Bears-Packers thing might be revived as a legitimate battle of equals. But that died again on Sunday.

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Posted on September 29, 2014

By Mike Luce

1. Yale.
Yale and Army played for the 46th time in a series that dates to 1893 and the Bulldogs pulled a 49-43 upset in overtime to beat the Black Knights for the first time since 1955.
First, if you beat the United States Army shouldn’t you be ranked No. 1 in the country?
Second, the United States Army’s team name is the Black Knights. We thought it was the Army.

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Posted on September 29, 2014

By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes

R-e-l-a-x. L-i-v-i-n. Plus: Mel’s Bells! It’s Tucker Time. Jared Allen Is Not MIA. A Case Of The Mundys. Keeping Forte Fresh! Is Jay Cutler Bored? Leave The Black Unicorn Alone. The Verdict On Ventura. Wrigley Wrecking Ball.

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Posted on September 26, 2014

By Mike Luce

We are finally getting into the meat of the season. Teams spent the opening four weeks warming up against the likes of Hawaii, South Dakota State (actually a state!), Troy (not the Greeks, the school; the school has fraternities and sororities but few actual* Greeks – let’s call them Greek-Greeks – as it’s in Nowheresville, Alabama**), Lamar***, and Illinois.
This week should separate the wheat from the chaff, as it were.
We will be closely monitoring three in-conference games this weekend. This early in the season, it’s difficult to gauge the quality of teams like Washington and Missouri. UW’s biggest win came against FCS representative Georgia State. We say this because the Huskies’ only win to date against a Power Five team was . . . Illinois.
Yes, that’s how little we think of Illiniwek & Co.

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Posted on September 26, 2014

By Thomas Chambers

In the horseplaying world, “Which horse do you like?” in its literal meaning, and “Whodoya like?” are two entirely different queries.
Handicapping Saturday’s Pennsylvania Derby was a prime example.
Answer 1: I like California Chrome. He almost won the Triple Crown and he tries his hardest and has won a lot of races. He’s handsome too.
Answer 2: ‘Chrome? “NAAHHHH! I’m tossin’ ‘im.”

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Posted on September 26, 2014

By Carl Mohrbacher

There’s No “L” In NYC
Considering that the Jets rushing attack was averaging about four more yards per attempt than New York quarterback Geno Smith was throwing for, I was a bit surprised that Jets offensive mastermind Marty Mornhinweg (seen here sweating through a poncho on his way to initiate a class-action lawsuit against Bing Images) tried to beat the Bears though the air.
Granted, by the end of the game the Bears had sustained so many injuries in the secondary that Phil Emery hastily re-signed former wideout Earl Bennett and instructed him to “just take this $8,000 and run around in centerfield like a damn crab you have to.”
As my grandpappy used to say, “It’s Uter-US, not Uter-TEAM.” Which I believe translates to “the Jets look like a team that wants to giftwrap victories for their opponents” in Hungarian.
Sometimes the old ways are the best ways.

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Posted on September 25, 2014