STARTING FIVE
This photo seals it. Mariota has thrown 36 TDs and only 2 INTs all season (Cody Kessler is 36 and 4 in those stats, by the way).
1. No Mississippis
You were a nice mid-season story as well as an SI cover, Magnolia State, but ultimately you will not be represented in the FFF. Other news from the weekend…
—Jameis Winston becomes the first FBS quarterback to throw FOUR picks in one game this season and not lose (FBS teams had been 0-20 before) as the Seminoles survive the Gators, 24-19. Everett Golson wonders, How’d he do that?
–67-66 in Huntington, W. Va, and 55-44 in Tuscaloosa. Something’s happenin’ here/What it is, ain’t exactly clear… But I do know that four of the Top 5 Scoring Offense schools have a shot at the FFF (the fifth is Marshall, which only lost its first game on Friday) while only one of the Top 5 Scoring Defense schools (Wisconsin) even has a remote chance at it. Times have changed.
–UCLA falls to Stanford for a seventh straight time and blows its shot at the Pac-12 title game.
Devin Gardner: Extreme Sportmanship.
—Mark Richt pulls a “That’s So Georgia,” as the Bulldogs score the go-ahead touchdown with :18 remaining Between the Hedges and STILL lose. Unless Jacoby Jones or Devin Hester is fielding the kickoff, do NOT squib it.
—Notre Dame, first half, at Pac-12 stadiums in November, trailed by 31 and 35, respectively, before scoring its first touchdown. Yes, that’s horrible defense, but it’s also horrible offense. The O didn’t lose many impact players. At least Malik Zaire finally got a chance to take off a baseball cap and don a helmet (completing a 49-yarder on his first collegiate pass).
–Speaking of the Egg Bowl, here’s the signature play, Jaylen Walton’s 91-yard TD run late in the third quarter. Watch Miss. State DB Will Redmond fail to wrap up Walton at the line of scrimmage, then watch Redmond out race all of his teammates in a vain attempt to catch him.
–Nebraska fires coach Bo Pelini after finishing 9-3, his seventh consecutive 9 or more wins season. Are they expecting too much in Lincoln or do they have a right to fight for 20th century dominance once more? And, whither Faux Pelini?
2. Ex-Pat, Sampat
Bigfoot has been sighted as many times in the past two episodes of The Newsroom as Neal has…
Where’s Neal? Hey, I love a good story line, too, Mr. Sorkin, but now one of my favorite characters on The Newsroom has gone Markinson on us. Dev Patel has now officially been AWOL for half the final season –what is this, The Walking Dead? Then again, Dev Patel’s character has displayed a certain flair with the ladies and he IS in Venezuela, the world’s largest producer of Miss Universe winners. So, maybe he’s never coming back?
Meanwhile, congrats to those two crazy kids, Will and Mac. But Leona’s going to be pissed that you didn’t invite her.
3. A Breed Apart
Kevin Richardson has saved more than 2 dozen lions from senseless deaths.
What if you were to take Timothy Treadwell, make him 99% less crazy, have him somewhat resemble Colin Farrell, and then replace Alaska with Africa and grizzly bears with lions? You’d have Kevin Richardson. Fascinating pieces on 60 Minutes. I used the piece from the British version (with Allison Langdon, who’s British) that has great backing music rather than the American version (with Clarissa Ward, who’s British).
4. Creepy Crawler
Gyllenhaal could make it 2 years in a row that a hunky actor goes on a hunger-strike diet in order to win the Academy’s coveted statuette
Earnest teenage rocket scientist. Homosexual ranch hand. Effortlessly charming pharmaceutical sales rep. Jake Gyllenhaal does not have a type, but he’s one of the most talented actors working. He may just win the Oscar for his portrayal of creepy, amoral capitalist Lloyd Blankfein Lou Bloom in Nightcrawler.
It’s a tremendous film that’s only slightly about its topic, the anti-heroes of that old Don Henley tune, “Dirty Laundry.” It’s more a character study of a highly-functional sociopath entrepeneur. There’s more than a little of Christian Bale’s Patrick Bateman from American Psycho in Bloom –right down to the coif–although Bloom does not literally murder people himself, nor does he speak directly to the camera. There’s also a slice of Dirk Diggler, another Valley Boy who climbed up from the gutter to succeed in an ethically questionable video field, in Bloom.
Go see this flick. It’s not uplifting, but it’s terribly entertaining.
5. Polarization
So, as you know, five members of the Not-Los Angeles Rams did this yesterday…
…and this morning Joe Scarborough of Morning Joe went a little Howard Beale on all of it. Watch Mika stare intently down at the desk. Donnie Deutsch: “I’m probably going to sound like an old, grumpy white guy…” (Yup).
Your mind is already made up.
Remote Patrol
Men In Blazers
NBC Sports Net 10 p.m.
Davo and Rog welcome NBC Sports EPL host Rebecca Lowe for a truly sub-optimal episode.