Thoughts on College Football's Week 11 and NFL Week 10

1. Best of the Week

Best Game: Lions vs Chargers

You have to hand it to the Chargers, they are never boring. Neither team had a pass rush (0 sacks recorded) and both teams made it a point to force feed their top receivers (thank you Keenan Allen for your fantasy output this season). It's crazy to think the Chargers have the highest paid defense in the league, but Derwin James is worth the cost of admission alone on that side of the ball. The Lions may have the best backfield in the NFL and can throw it downfield in shootouts or run the ball with authority. 

Best Player: Jalen Milroe (QB) - Alabama

I know we pumped his tires last week, but anytime you're the first in Alabama history to do something, you probably had the best weekend in football. Milroe became the first Tide quarterback to both throw and run for 3 TD's in a game. Credit to Tommy Reese for adapting to his signal caller to create an offense that is dynamic and physical behind Milroe's strengths (running and deep throws). Can the Tide make a championship run?

Best Uniform: LSU vs Florida Ensemble

LSU night games are the best venue in the sport. The eye of the tiger at midfield, the numbers every 5 yards instead of 10, and the home team wearing white. Match it up against the Florida blue and orange is perfect on every level. It doesn't matter the year, you can remember amazing matchups and the stakes of this game. On a night with a lot of weird grey's, having a familiar matchup work so well was quite welcoming.

2. Jimbo Fisher vs Keon Coleman

Jimbo Fisher got fired from Texas A&M and gets $19.5M within the next 60 days and then payments north of $7M per year through 2031. On Saturday, his team won 51-10 (Mississippi State also fired their coach this week). His offense? Outside of the 2020 season, he lost four games every year. Texas A&M plays in a division with Alabama, Auburn, and LSU and has not won a conference title since 1998 (in the Big 12). Still, the oil tycoons decided to fire him and pay the largest buyout ever. There are now only four active head coaches who have won a national title (Nick Saban, Dabo Swinney, Mack Brown, and Kirby Smart).

Keon Coleman played well last year for Michigan State and was likely a 2nd or 3rd round pick in the NFL draft had he played for Sparty this season. But he transferred after the spring game to Florida State and is now likely to be picked in the 1st half of the 1st round in the NFL draft. The difference in contract earnings between the 5th and 25th pick in the draft is the average lifetime earnings of an engineer. Coleman has changed his, and his family's, lives by transferring to Tallahasee.

Why talk about these two stories? Because I often hear more complaining about the Coleman's than the Jimbo's. Yes, college athletics are more difficult to follow because of the transfer portal. Yes, we love our schools and hope our players do too. Yes, young student athletes should learn that sometimes life isn't fair and you have to stick it out. But my goodness, there are bigger fish to fry. Athletic programs are grossly mismanaged and cause conference realignment because the schools "need" the extra revenue (S/O UCLA). Coaches leave top ten programs for top five programs the day after wins over their biggest rival and a week before signing day (S/O Lincoln Riley). And boosters bail out administrations all the time because of unrealistic expectations and terrible hires (S/O Jimbo). These athletes should be allowed to have some lever they can pull to improve their situation if all the other stakeholders do too. Maybe I'm missing something, but I have yet to hear a compelling argument.

3. Best NFL Sunday... Ever?

We started out with the Patriots doing their finest impersonation of 18th century military exercises against the Colts in front of Germans, or as we called them in 1776, "Hessians". But like much of our young country's battles featuring New Englander's, the Patriots lost in grueling fashion.

But my goodness, those 1pm and 4:25pm games did not disappoint. At one point I saw 5 games ended with a score as time expired. Even the night game snoozer was a back and forth affair. You had the Ravens and Texans jumping to early leads and trying to hold on (the Texans did) and we already talked about the Lions vs Chargers. The best part about the NFL is a lot of the games end with a quarterback trying to make a drive to win the game at the end. It's electric theatre. I can't wait for what the script says next.

4. Michigan vs Ohio State (and Everybody Else)

How you feel about the sign stealing scandal with Michigan is likely highly correlated with your feelings about the University before the scandal. But whether or not the Wolverines are the victims of an unfair punishment, they certainly feel they were targeted and are rallying behind it. From the players, to Tom Brady, to University President Santa Ono:

Bet 〽️

— Santa Ono (@SantaJOno) November 11, 2023

They physically imposed their will on Penn State in the second half, running 32 times and throwing the ball... 0 times. To quote Michael Wilbon, "Lordy".

On the other side, you have the Buckeyes taking Michigan State's final will to live on Saturday night. Credit to them for finally figuring out that if you just force feed Marvin Harrison Jr. the ball, good things will happen. 

Now, both teams just have to get by Maryland and Minnesota, respectively, and we get the best regular season matchup of the season once again. Can Tua's younger brother or PJ Fleck play spoilers in a look ahead spot? As someone with a ticket to the game, I sure hope not.

5. Play of the Week

A downside of doing the blog in two parts is I am missing out on the MACtion. The MAC has played on Tuesday's and Wednesday's for over a decade now and provided some of the most hilarious and fun games of every season during that timeframe. Ball State played spoilers last week and ran another Madden favorite called "Z-Spot" to pick up a key first down in the second half. They did it with a swing motion from the back to be the arrow route and the hook route sprung the corner route free. It was a fun twist on a classic concept.

• Ball State starts their running back in motion to create what would normally be an arrow route. The route combination is a route to the flat, the outside receiver running inside and then stopping (the spot route) and then a corner route from the inside receiver. I also have an arrow for the linebacker that is in man coverage to cover him. The combination creates space inside for the spot.
• Ball State has an athletic quarterback, so Northern Illinois ran a lot of cover 3 and cover 1. We see the free safety (dot 1) is over the quarterback and not shaded to the wide side of the field, even with the motion. He's very concerned about the run, to the detriment of the corners on the wide side (dots 2 and 3). They're playing back because they know not a lot of help will be there deep.

• The linebacker (dot 1) has the swing route covered, but there is a hole in the middle of the field.
• The outside receiver (dot 2) is heading inside to exploit that gap created by the linebacker and his corner (dot 4) is so scared about being beat that he is almost 10 yards away. College quarterbacks need bigger windows, so shoutout to the Cardinals for creating one by pairing the run with the pass.
• The inside receiver has outside leverage on the corner (dot 3) and can sprint to the sideline in his corner route. So two receivers will have room to make a play.

• The quarterback is going deep, but look at how much space the outside receiver (dot 1) has around him to settle down and make a short catch. The safety is late to drop, the linebacker is out of the picture, and the other linebacker is spying. It's beautiful for a quarterback.

• College QB's need the bigger windows because they aren't as accurate. The ball is thrown more towards the sideline than up the field, but that space created by an absence of help defenders means the slot receiver can sprint over and make the catch for a first down. Understanding your player's strengths and weaknesses and how your opponent is going to react is paramount for success. Chirp chirp.