Kicking it Around

For the third week in a row the #1 team lost, which illustrates the true value of the ranking systems. The BCS is the worst of them, but...

LSU lost to a better team and a quarterback that should win a Heisman. No hinky coaching this week, other than that idiotic rotating quarterback thing. Well, there is the small issue of LSU mostly running the ball against an Auburn defense that gave up 400 yards against Alabama's passing game. Les Miles might want to keep a low profile for a while yet. Still, a defense that gives up 86 rushing yards per game gave up 217 yards to Cameron Newton alone, 440 overall.

San Diego State has two players, the quarterback and the punter, who both wear the number 14. I have never noticed a college team where two players, both in the playing rotation, wear the same number. What's with that?

The Chargers play at home today and, with their 2-4 record, no running game and top three receivers injured, are actually favored by 3 points over the 4-1 Patriots. What idiot determines these point spreads? I'm not saying they won't win, I've learned never to predict what this damned team will do, I'm just wondering why anyone thinks they will.

Update: Well, the Chargers keep finding new ways to lose. No problem on special teams, and the defense was nothing short of spectacular. The offense defied description, so I won't even try.

Overheard during the Kansas City game; the "analysts" discussing the league's new policy on severe hitting. One of them observed that part of the problem was due to quarterbacks. The way they are throwing the ball, he said, is "leading the receivers into those head-to-head collisions." Sometimes I think those guys are just empty heads; somebody pours a dictionary in, and the words just come pouring out at random.

I'll be glad when October is over and we no longer have to be seeing football players wearing pink shoes and gloves. I'm all in favor of fighting dread diseases, but heart disease kills more women than cancer does, and it kills more men than it does women. What color does the NFL wear for that, and for how long? What color does it wear for men and women dying in foreign wars?