Today's Picks

Wow, Les Miles is a bonehead.  Sorry but I am trying to be diplomatic.  What else can you say?
Meanwhile the world did not end despite Georgia Tech and Clemson winning bowl games on the same day.  Unbelievable.  The USC program is tanking and I am sorry SEC lovers but any time an upper echelon SEC team loses to the third best ACC team you have had a bad night.
My picking has been so awful this year that I will not burden you any longer.  I guess Nebraska would be my best bet today so load up on Georgia.  For those who want to pick against me I will go with Okie State, Miss State, Michigan, Wisconsin and FSU in the other games.
Enjoy the day.  The brilliant minds running sports television and college football have deluded the January 1st sports holiday but there is still college football to watch.
Happy New Year!

View From Bennett Avenue

What the hell was Tony La Russa thinking last night? Reminded me of Les Miles.

View From Bennett Avenue

If LSU coach Les Miles needs any pointers on keeping his team focused this week before its big game with Oregon, all he has to do is call the coach of his first opponent from the 2010 season, Butch Davis. Now while he does not want the same fate as Davis--fired 10 months after the game--he can learn how Davis got a depleted UNC squad ready to go toe-to-toe with the heavily-favored Tigers. Many of the best players on that Carolina team were suspended because of dealings with an agent and so their is a similarity to a Bengals team that perhaps has not become that depleted, but has to play Oregon without key players such as QB Jordan Jefferson and dynamic play-maker Russell Shepard and amid a cloud of controversy. Like Davis, Miles needs to both believe in the depth of is talent, and get the remaining players to play like underdogs. Talented players with something to prove is a recipe for success and Miles was very good in getting his Oklahoma State squads to play like champions when they squared off against OU.

Is LSU the Worst Coached Team in America?

Can any football fan imagine a team coached by Mack Brown, Joe Paterno, Nick Saban, or Jim Tressel coughing up a holding-the-football-like-a-loaf-of-bread fumble when all a running back—LSU's Stevan Ridley, in this case—has to do to clinch a big win is to fall down with possession of the ball?

For all their speed and skill, the Bayou Bengals of coach Les Miles often seem in over their heads when strategic adjustments are needed, when gambling defenses are a bad idea, and when a subtle feel for game situations is called for?

In LSU's fortunate 30-24 win over North Carolina on Saturday night, Ridley was guilty of bad ball security after he burst for a first down that should have locked up the game.

Earlier, freshman back Alfred Blue, in on the so-called hands-team to defend an anticipated on-side kick by the Tar Heels, hesitated in going for the ball. Blue touched the bounding ball, was wiped out by a charging Tar Heel, and Carolina gained possession. One wonders how well a frosh is schooled on the rules of such kicks.

Lastly, give credit to maligned UNC QB T.J. Yates, who pitched lots of good passes in the second half. But the LSU defense is still waiting for coaching adjustments to Carolina's slant-in pass strategy, and while a corner blitz created a big play for LSU at the right time, the Tigers might not have been in such a nervous mess had earlier such gambles not burned their defensive unit.

--Bob Boyles