Weekly World News Update

Good morning, everyone!  I hope you're all having a wonderful start to the week.  I hope this week is better than last week for me, which included a death in the family and some late nights.  But, at least I had some football to fall back on, including some great college games and even some fantastic NFL games.  Before I get to this weekend's recap, I would like to congratulate (This pains me...) the Boston Red Sox on their World Series championship.  Okay, I haven't hurt myself enough, so onto the college football recap from the weekend.

The first game I chose this week occurred on a Friday night in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.  Now, I was told by my family that lives outside of Boston that Chestnut Hill is the very wealthy section of Boston, and I was intrigued by this.  So, I went to zillow.com and I figured out that they were telling the truth.  A 2 bedroom 1 bathroom apartment of 700 square feet (which isn't that large of an apartment) is $320,000.  Are you serious?  I could buy an entire house with that kind of money in New York State.  Oh, you want a house, you say?  $800,000 and up.  Good luck not being "house poor" with that mortgage payment.  Ridiculous.  But, as a friend of mine in college used to say, "The only thing they're not making more of is land."  How right he was.  Okay, enough sidetracking.  Onto the college football.  Boston College came into the game against Miami a three point underdog at home.  I looked at that game and instantly said, "I like BC.  A.J. Dillon is going to have a good game at home, plus it will be cold and Miami doesn't play well in the cold."  Boy, was I right.  Dillon toted the football 32 times for 149 yards (a 4.7 ypc) and a touchdown.  AJ Dillon might be the best player that no one really knows about.  He shredded a Miami defense that had been playing very well up until that game.  BC was the first team to gain over 400 yards against the Hurricane defense this entire season, thanks in large part to AJ Dillon and Anthony Brown, the BC quarterback.  Anthony Brown is a very serviceable player in his own right, passing for a touchdown and running for one more.  Brown did a nice job of keeping the ball away from the Miami offense, and he spread the ball around to his receivers and backs.  But, I think the game ball has to go to the BC defense, which harassed Malik Rosier and the Miami offense into two turnovers, three sacks, and pressure all night long.  The BC defense scored a touchdown as well, on one of the most improbable interception returns you'll see in a long time. 

The ball seemed to stay in the air forever....

Boston College ended up winning the game outright, 27-14.  A good home victory for Steve Addazio and his coaching staff, which have the Eagles playing well (6-2).  The Eagles next travel to Blacksburg in a key ACC crossover matchup with the Virginia Tech Hokies, who play very well at home.  The Eagles have an extremely tough road to winning the Coastal division title, although it is not out of the realm of possibility, as Clemson comes to Chestnut Hill as well as Syracuse (which is nice to have two of your marquee games be at home).  B.C. needs to go 3-1 down the stretch to have a chance at winning the Coastal division title, with one of those wins being Clemson (they need to beat Clemson to have a shot).  Good win, Eagles!

Game #2 - Iowa (+6.5) vs. Penn State

Talk about a nail-biter.  I was at a wake/funeral on Saturday, so I didn't get to watch much of this game as I would've liked, but family comes first, especially in a large Italian family like mine.

Family comes first.

 But, what I did see from this game was exciting.  I saw Iowa jump out to a big 12-0 lead, thanks in large part to it's defense, which played well the entire game, except for a few lapses in coverage and NOT spying Trace McSorley with a linebacker when he came back into the game.  Iowa forced Penn State into a safety 52 seconds into the game, which was surprising with how well Trace McSorley played in the game.  Iowa added a field goal and a nifty touchdown catch by a defensive lineman, who just might be lining up at tight end for the Hawkeyes next week if he keeps making catches like this in the future.

https://www.foxsports.com/college-football/video/1354871875836

(sorry, the video isn't on youtube for some reason).

The Hawkeyes were up 12-0 on Penn State.  I can rest easy, right?  Not so, said Penn State.  McSorely scores a touchdown in the waning seconds of the first quarter, and then the Nittany Lions not only endure another safety, they endure Trace McSorely getting sandwiched between two Iowa defenders and being knocked out of the game for a little bit.

In comes backup quarterback Tommy Stephens, who promptly leads the Nittany Lions down the field and scores the tying touchdown, plunging in from three yards out to tie the game at 14.  The teams would trade field goals and go into the break tied at 17.  So, the third quarter starts, and McSorely does his best Clark Kent impression, coming back into the game and suddenly acting like the old Trace McSorely (I didn't even know Kinnick Stadium had phone booths anymore).

He breaks off a 51 yard run, and the Nittany Lions jump back ahead, 24-17.  Penn State adds a field goal, and then McSorely throws an interception to an Iowa defensive back who returns the INT for a touchdown and brings the Hawkeyes within three points.  Penn State adds a late field goal and holds off Iowa with TWO late stands deep in Nittany Lion territory, and Penn State escapes with a late victory, 30-24, but since I got the points at 6.5, I escape with a win.


Woo-Hoo!  Off to a good start!  Let the good times roll!

Game #3 - Army (+1) vs. Eastern Michigan

I learned my lesson earlier this year.  Don't bet against Army.  Not only can they blow up your house from a bunker 30,000 miles away with the push of a button, they can also play some football, too.

                                       The thing that could blow my house up from 30,000 feet



  Army went on the road last week and traveled to Michigan (Ypsilanti) to play the Eastern Michigan Eagles.  Not exactly a football powerhouse there, they've finished under .500 6 of the past 7 years.  Eastern Michigan is playing better this year, however, with wins over Purdue (yes, that Purdue), Toledo and Ball State.  They currently sit at 4-5, but Eastern is taking steps in the right direction.  Army built a 16-0 lead in the game, and eventually had to fight off a pesky Eastern Michigan team that clawed back to within one score, but couldn't wrestle the ball away from Army, which controlled the time of possession with a 3:1 ratio (45:42 to 14:18) and racked up 415 total yards on offense.  Army evened opened up the playbook and threw the ball 8! times, one half of last year's total of 16 passes that they threw in a season.  Army (and I) get the win.  Army wins 37-22.

3-0 so far!  Like every Jet fan says, 16-0 baby!  Super bowl bound!  and then the reality sets in (for the Jets, not me)....


Game #4 - Washington State (+3) vs. Stanford

Last week, I talked about Ol' Crimson, the Washington State University flag that flies at every episode of ESPN's College Gameday.  Well, I was watching College Gameday this week, and I didn't see it.......Oh, wait!  It was there, but it was the white version of the flag.  Good for the Cougars, who didn't let the win against Oregon force them into a let down against Bryce Love, J.J. Arcega-Whiteside and the rest of the Stanford Cardinal.  It was a little crazy, and there were a ton of points scored, but the Cougs ended up pulling out the win and avoiding the let-down after the huge win over Oregon.  Gardner Minshew threw for 438 yards and 4 TD's and led the Cougars to the go-ahead touchdown with just over 4 minutes left in regulation, but then Stanford came back to score again and tie the game up at 38.  The Cougars then had the ball for a minute and six seconds and drove the ball down the field to set up the game winning field goal.  On a side note, the Stanford field goal kicker has one of college football's best names (Jet Toner) which sounds like an 80's action hero.  Wazzou picks up the win, and so do I, with Wazzou winning 41-38.

4-0 so far!  L-E-T-S G-O!

Oh, well, it was bound to happen.  I knew it was too good to be true. I lost a game....but first, I'm still on a roll with my next pick, so I'll go 5-0 before I go 5-1.

Game #5 - Navy (+24.5) vs. Notre Dame

Notre Dame is always good at playing down to their competition.  Like the New York Yankees when they play the Baltimore Orioles this season, Notre Dame has struggled to put away lesser competition, barely escaping with a win over Pitt and struggling against Vanderbilt before eventually winning. The Yankees were 12-7 against the Orioles this year.  In contrast, the Red Sox were 16-3.  Go figure that out.  If the Yankees played the Orioles every game, they would be a .500 team, not the 100 win playoff team that they are.  But, back to football.  Notre Dame built a large lead in this game, but Navy didn't give up the ship.

Notre Dame built up a 27 point lead in the game, and by halftime I was getting ill, so I decided to head to the bar and have a few drinks.  After a couple beers, any college football game looks better, so I came back and decided to watch the game.  Lo and behold, I found that Navy was climbing back into the game.  They didn't win, but they did cover!  The final score was Notre Dame 44, Navy 22.

Ok, time for my loss.  It was bound to happen.  Yes, it was.

Game #6 - NC State (-2) vs. Syracuse

Oh, I thought the Wolfpack would be angry and play like a team possessed.  Oh, how wrong I was.  The Wolfpack played uninspired football and their defense stunk, giving up 51! points to Syracuse.  Syracuse, while they are much improved from last season, should not put up 51 points on anyone, let alone NC State, who was very close to contending in the ACC Coastal division.  Not so much anymore, with two straight losses.  The Wolfpack go down, 51-41.

                                           Live look-in at the NC State defensive huddle


Early games that I'm intrigued by this week:

West Virginia (+1) vs. Texas

Iowa (+2.5) vs. Purdue

Penn State (+10) vs. Michigan

Western Michigan (-1) vs. Ohio

Kansas (+14.5) vs. Iowa State

Georgia Southern (-7) vs. UL Monroe