Central Georgia Sports ReportComment

Monday Morning Quarterback: Nobody knows who’s in the CFP, nobody, so get ready; Surprises, Loughdmouthings (are loaded up, from ball dropping, high schools, fibbing …)

Central Georgia Sports ReportComment
Monday Morning Quarterback: Nobody knows who’s in the CFP, nobody, so get ready; Surprises, Loughdmouthings (are loaded up, from ball dropping, high schools, fibbing …)

          Nobody knows, so it’s not worth asking.
          Nobody. Certainly not any of the nincomtwits near a microphone and/or camera, because there’s no substance there. Just about none. Verbal clickbait? Yes. Reality and information and context?
          It’s treated as if an FCC violation.
          And most of the “normal” media, the group that’s supposed ot be better than all that crap, doesn’t know

By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com

either. This weekly pathetic clickbait of who’s in the playoffs and whatever rankings and all, it’s just such a waste of brain matter, time, airspace, whatever.

          Combine each individually with the “media” doing “stories” on what the screamers and streamer and podcrapsters and social media yahoos say – which changes for no reason other than attention – and it’s a collection of nothing, coming from the substance- and objectivity-challenged.

          So don’t ask, in early friggin’ October, who’s going to make the college football playoffs. Please. Find something of relevance to talk about. Listen to music. Take naps. Go actually visit somebody and put the damn phone away.

          Start with how the preseason No. 1 and 2 are out of the top 25 right now. There is particular glee in some petty and sad corners – here in the country where folks enjoy the problems of others – with Penn State’s loss to UCLA, and less so with Texas’ huge drop.

          See, with Texas, all the aforementioned “media” frauds led to to believe insane things about a kid because of his last name, and the reality – sorry – is that there were 30 high school quarterbacks just as good.

          There always are. Every year.

          But most intelligent head coaches, when they let the intelligence seep in, know that there but for the grace of God go they.

          We have Texas Tech, South Florida, BYU, and Virginia in better positions right now than Penn State, Texas, Clemson, and Notre Dame.

          Of the preseason AP top 10, half are still in the top 10. And consider this: Georgia could be barely in the top 25 after the next two weeks.

          Pretty much everybody in the top 10 can be out of the top 10 this month, with little trouble. Ask Texas and Penn State about that.

          So, no, nobody can offer much on the top 12. Yes, it does appear Miami is back, but again – you’ll see it only here – Miami isn’t back until it’s in a playoff.

          Enclosed is the latest AP top 25. Save it. And see how different it is in three weeks. And then three weeks after that.

          We’ll end up having 40 or so different teams ranked at some point before Thanksgiving, maybe 50. More than a third of the Football Bowl Subdivision – Division I-A is what it should be called again – will have been ranked by Thanksgiving.

          Deal with it. Enjoy the chaos after your team wins or while it’s off. And pay no attention to the butt-kissers and hyperbolizers, for amid their performances, they’re not offering you substance.

Surprises

          I knew Warner Robins wasn’t going to beat Benedictine, but it never dawned on me to consider looking up the Demons’ worst loss in history, or to ponder a running clock for a half.

          And what a funky night in the County  of Houston (why, whyyyyy didn’t they do a better job of naming schools there almost 40 years ago?) All five public teams were in shutouts.

          Bleckley County beating Northeast was no shock. Nor was a PAT mishap being what left the door open. They might’ve played till midnight had the Raiders converted.

          The Royals were a good team last year with little luck and a losing record. The Raiders’ need to improve the run game, as has been noted here before.

          And that was about it for a fairly uneventful week.

Loughdmouthings

          Really, players, seriously?

          What’s your damn hurry that you have to drop the ball before crossing the end zone? Are you an idiot? A lazy idiot? An attention-seeking lazy idiot?

          And that goes on all levels, high school to the pros. I don’t care.

          It’s just about the absolutely dumbest screw-up you can have. The latest: Arizona running back – Arizona, yeah, which needs wins but apparently is not used to success – Emari Demercado let it go a hair before crossing the goal line, at which he jogged to at the end of a 72-yard touchdown run.

          And Arizona blew a 21-6 lead in the fourth quarter and lost to Tennessee. Yes, upon further review – a dozen or so – it mightcould not be a fumble, but still, no, shouldn’t be on our list to review.

          Now, since everybody has a contract, they need to include a clause of a $100,000 fine, the wearing of a “Yeah, I dropped the bleepin’ ball before scoring” t-shirt for a week, sprints while holding the ball and teammates screaming “don’t drop the bleepin’ ball,” as well as opening each film session for a week with that play.

          No fine in high school or most colleges, so the t-shirt and sprints will have to suffice. …

          Some teams who don’t normally get the upper-level officiating crews will get them this week.

          Half of the free world in Central Georgia is off. We go from 34 games last week to 22 this week. Ah, to perhaps be in bed by 4 a.m.? …

          Reminder: There is a big difference between a sellout – tickets bought – and a capacity crowd. One is easy, the other takes effort.

          Be more impressed with actual attendance, not tickets. No, Georgia-Kentucky was nowhere near capacity. And down the road off the interstate, well, never mind.

          Reminder: Some people in charge of listing official attendance figures lie so very badly and blatantly, they should run for office. And there’s room for ‘em. …

          The 25-year-old president of Belichick Enterprises may decide to go in a different direction within hours of the season-ending loss to N.C. State. …

          When a team doesn’t do as well as it perhaps should, man, are we reminded, long and loud, how many crappy people we have out there, so many petty people in front of mics and cameras and mancave keyboards.

          To consider and push for the firing of Ryan Day or James Franklin is the height of idiocy, and that height gets taller and taller and the substance of people lower and lower.

          Pettiest collection of people on the planet. …

          Listening to Nick Saban do a voiceover for Mercedes-Benz and the SEC, I’m wondering if he’s cracked the $100 million level of net worth.

          Charging $150,000 per speaking appearance, yeah, I’d guess so. No, we’ll not see Saban deign to take anything like the Macon Touchdown Club, unfortunately.

          It’d be nice if he did those kinds of appearances. But coaches, active and retired, are fascinating folks, and not always in a joyous way. …

          So, Auburn has lost on the road by seven to Oklahoma and by six to Texas A&M and the Tigers suck?

          Yeah, reality and context are painful. Texas and Penn State have substantially worse losses. Folks need to learn – it’s been noted here - to deal with things. …

          Reminder to all Friday night screamers who thrive on missing plays and wondering what happened, especially with penalties: The guy in the white hat? He’ll tell you what the penalty is. Instead of blathering speculative nonsense about stuff you have little to no knowledge of – by choice – just wait.

          Wouldn’t hurt to spend 5 minutes a week to read some of the rules that confuse you every single week. …

          To the surprise of nobody, West Laurens’ Ty Cummings has busier Saturdays than a month ago. The Georgia Southern commit – for now – officially visited Georgia over the weekend. And no doubt his travel card will be full for the remaining Saturdays, thanks to that 615-yard monstrosity two weeks ago.

          Folks don’t realize how good an overall football player is. He played a lot of quarterback as a freshman, and when the Raiders start throwing a little more, man, what kind of threat is he as a receiver.

          Plus, we can expect him to throw a little bit this year down the stretch.

          Northeast’s loss doesn’t much change the math that the Raiders will finish the season with more wins than the rest of the county’s public schools combined.

          Upon further review, last week’s numbers were a little deceiving, but no less depressing. Take away all the intercounty games, and, well, yeah.

          The record, minus Bibb vs. Bibb (excluding ACE): Northeast 4-2, Southwest 1-4, Rutland 0-5, Westside 0-6, Central 0-6.

          Translation: Bibb County is 5-30 against non-Bibb County. Reality: That’s worse than usual, and usual isn’t much better.

          Last week’s projections may be a stretch: “Southwest 2-4 (projecting 3-7, possible 4-6); Westside 1-5 (projecting 2-8); Howard 1-5 (projecting 2-8, possible 3-9); Rutland 0-6 (projecting 2-8); Central 0-6 (projecting 1-9).” I thought Northeast was 8-2 at the worst.

          But failing to take into account the county teams playing each other makes the analysis misleading and incomplete. And a bigger bummer.

          As per the latest GHSA postseason rankings, Northeast is the only playoff team among the six, and it’s not close with the other five. …

          From Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel:

          “Hours after the Cleveland Browns announced that Dillon Gabriel would replace Joe Flacco as their starter, Shedeur Sanders mouthed silent answers to reporters’ questions about the move. It is believed to be the first time in history that a member of the Sanders family had nothing to say.”