by John Walters

Starting Five

How ’bout Them Dogs!

No. 1 UConn heads into South Bend to play No. 2 Notre Dame and exits with a 72-61 win and an 83rd consecutive victory. Friend of the Blog Jacob Anstey did a little research and found that since the 2000-01 season, the Huskies are now 24-11 versus the Irish (68.6%) and 546-28 versus everyone else (95.1%).

Moreover, during the 83-game win streak, just one opponent (Florida State, which lost 78-76 in this year’s opener), has come within 10 points of the Huskies. Geno Auriemma and Chris Dailey set goals for their team, and you can bet that one way they’ve decided to keep their young women interested in and out of the blowouts this year is to point toward the magic number: 100, or par as investing maven Geno would also think of it.

So when would that happen? Well, UConn must get past 9-0 Kansas State this weekend in Manhattan, Kanas, and then two Top 10 opponents before New Year’s Day (Ohio State and Maryland, the former at home and the latter on the road), but No. 100 would be South Carolina, currently ranked 6th, on Monday, February 13 in Storrs. And if you don’t think Geno and his staff were pointing to this landmark, the Gamecocks play in the SEC, while the Huskies play in the AAC: it’s their only non-conference game between Dec. 29 (Maryland) and March Madness.

2. The Reich Stuff

Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich on CNN last night: “Let me just say, Mr. Trump, you are president-elect of the United States. You are looking and acting as if you are mean and petty, thin-skinned and vindictive. Stop this.”

What he said.

3.  And the Red Grange Award Winner Is (dot dot dot)

LAMAR JACKSON, Quarterback, Louisville

The judges love Baker Mayfield’s moxie, admire Deshaun Watson’s consistency, are wowed by the moves of Dede Westbrook and Adoree Jackson, love watching Jonathan Allen’s mad dashes to QBs, and even briefly considered Florida State’s Dalvin Cook and Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey, the latter of whom quietly finished fourth in the nation in rushing. All we can promise you is that Brad Kaaya never even made it past the “LOL” stage.

But Jackson, the Louisville QB, is the only player in the nation who threw at least 30 touchdown passes (30 exactly) and also finished in the Top 10  in rushing (ninth, at 128 yards per game). He also is just the third player to pass for 30 TDs and rush for at least 20 (21), and the other two guys who did that were Tim Tebow and Cam Newton (former teammates at UF, by the way), and they both have Heisman Trophies.

So, yeah, we may be overweighting this award on that Florida State performance. But, hey, it was spectacular. And Jackson this year is what McCaffrey—our 2015 winner—was last season: the most dynamic player in college football.

Oh, by the way, here’s SI.com’s Preseason List of the 100 Top Players in College Football. You won’t find Lamar Jackson on the list (nearly as egregious, Mackey Award winner Jake Butt is at No. 63)

4. Hope and Glory

ESPN’s college football awards show is tonight, and it’s okay (I’m sure we’ll be Rinaldi’ed at some point), but we old-timers miss the AP All-American team intros from the annual Bob Hope Christmas specials. I love that they arrived for the taping (which was done in NYC) in full uniform. Including neck rolls! I love that they brought along the neck rolls.

In the above clip, stick around and you’ll see current Raider coach Jack Del Rio along with tight end Mark Bavaro, Heisman Trophy winner Doug Flutie and Keith Byars not saying, “THE” before “Ohio State University.” As I said, the world was a better place.

Here’s the 1971 version, with Cornell running back (and future Hill Street Blues cast member) Ed Marinaro and Heisman Trophy winner Pat Sullivan...

(You can go down this rabbit hole for an hour on YouTube; I only wish I were able to find every year in full).

5. Crazy Days In Knoxville

On Tuesday, high school senior Trey Smith, a 6’5″ offensive tackle out of Jackson, Tennessee whom ESPN ranks as the No. 1 overall recruit in the nation, verbally committed to the University of Tennessee. This was a HUGE coup for the Vols and their Champion of Life, head coach Butch Jones. Smith, who lost his mother to a heart illness a couple years ago, seems like a tremendous young man, as this story illustrates.

Then, yesterday, Travis Haney of 247Sports.com (and formerly of ESPN, I believe) had this piece about the toxic atmosphere in the Vol football program under Jones. “The culture is a disaster,” was the pull-quote, from an anonymous source, that will be remembered.

One thing that I don’t believe has been reported, but it may be worth filing away. Trey Smith has one sibling, an older sister, and her name is Ashley Smith. She is an employee at the University of Tennessee. And what is Ashley Smith’s job? She is listed on the Tennessee Athletics website as the “Executive Assistant to the Head [Football] Coach.” But, you know, she’s had that job since….um….well…July.

Music 101

Nobody Told Me

Strange days indeed. Most peculiar, mama. Thirty-six years ago tonight, on a cold Monday  evening, John Lennon was murdered outside his apartment building, The Dakota, located on West 72nd Street, just off Central Park West. If you walk into Central Park today, all day and late into the night, troubadours both gifted and marginal will be singing his songs. It’s one of New York City’s better unofficial traditions.

Remote Patrol

Oakland Raiders at Kansas City Chiefs

NBC 8:20 p.m.

How long has it been since a Raiders-Chiefs game had some real postseason juice to it? Twenty years? Oakland is 10-2 and the Chiefs are 9-3 and few stadiums get more woke than Arrowhead Stadium (yes, I did feel a little silly typing “woke”). Should be fun.