College Football Week 5: What We Learned

This weekend could’ve been an all-timer for ya boy. The Pats are back from the dead, I’m not sweating buckets whenever I go outside, and Sunday morning I nailed a 30ft birdie putt on 18 for force a tie in our family’s captain a crew golf outing. I got my first of many pumpkin spice coffees, say what you want that shit’s delicious. Everything was going my way, except for Saturday afternoon. Try to keep up if you want to know what went wrong.

-Rutgers Update: Rutgers football updates are our bread and butter here at IPGFFT, at this point I’m expecting my lifetime media credential to show up in the mail any day now. This week was actually pretty great by Scarlet Knight standards. No it wasn’t a bye week and therefore impossible for them to lose another game, I bet they’d find a way. America’s team stay home in New Jersey to take on Indiana and managed to lose in a non-blowout fashion. Rutgers entered the 4th quarter down 24-7 but managed to put together a 10-0 final frame to pull the game to within one possession but alas Saturday would not but the Knights day and the final score of 24-17 held true. Shout out to future New York Jets QB Artur Sitowski, seriously adding that missing ‘h’ would do wonders, had his best performance of the season going 18/35 for 154 a td and an int. His QBR of 34.8 was his best of the season. Consistency is key.

-Mormon Dreams Die: I’m honestly fascinated by how BYU has managed to construct a typically solid football program through the very narrow recruiting base of mormons and guys who are willing to abide by BYU’s downright absurd honor code. It doesn’t hurt that their “freshmen” are actually about 26 after going on their mission trip but finding other guys to fill out the roster is extremely impressive. BYU came into week 5 ranked 20th after getting a big road win at Wisconsin and this week they had another shot at knocking off a top tier opponent against Washington. Well God, Buddah, The Fly Spaghetti Monster or whatever the hell they believe in wasn’t on their side because the Huskies smoked them 35-7. The honor code explicitly bans homosexual behavior, will the team be allowed back on campus after getting fucked that hard by a bunch of other dudes? I’ll have to consult the gold tablets on that one.

-Joe Knew, Urban Knew, No One Knows Anything Anymore: Ohio State beat Penn State in a really close game, playoff implications, conference championships blah blah blah. What’s really important here is that we learned just how stupid the people running Ohio State’s PR really is. Earlier in the week they tossed out a poster hyping the game with only one word across the top of it, ‘Silence’. The athletics department said that it was meant to mean silence Penn States crowd and that they used the same message a few years ago. Here are my issues with this: 1. You already used this, be original goddamnit. 2. Literally no one in that office saw that and thought hey maybe not the best time for this one, let’s let the heat in the streets die down a little bit. If it’s that hard to come up with hype up material for a top-10 college football game float me a few bucks and I’ll come up with something for ya next time.

-Moral Victories Feel Good in the Same Way Getting Punched in the Dick is a Handjob: Syracuse had that win in the bag, I’m still upset about this days later and honestly depending on how the rest of this season plays out I may never quite recover from this. The Orange came into Clemson as a national buzz team that was clearly expected to get put in their place as indicated by the -24.5 Clemson line at kickoff. That was not how this dance played out at all. In the first half Syracuse was moving the ball and putting up points, albeit field goals rather than touchdowns. But even with Clemson at full strength Syracuse was going blow for blow with them in their house. Then Sunshine got sent back into 10th grade by a brutal, but clean, hit on a scramble that really had not shot of being anything positive. This was it, Syracuse had a 16-7 halftime lead and now Clemson was going to have to go to a guy that was always meant to be a career clipboard jockey to finish the game. This next 30 minutes of football was going to send Syracuse from frisky up-and-comer to where-did-they-come-from with an inside track to the ACC title game. The scars from my years as a season ticket holder during the Greg Robinson years would finally be healed in one glorious afternoon. But then Syracuse forgot that run defense is important and Travis Etienne curb stomped my hopes and dreams into oblivion. Really though 2 years ago Syracuse lost 54-0 at Clemson and now they’re here, looking at their schedule the rest of the way Notre Dame is the only team left that Syracuse would be a clear underdog against. Am I still sitting at my desk seething over every missed tackle, wide open running lane, dogshit man down field call? Yes, 1000% yes. If Syracuse is for real and closes out the year on a tear will this result haunt me as a what could’ve been? 10000% yes. On to the next one. Dino Babers to a struggling traditional power takes in 3…2…1….

I hate football, god I love it so much. Isn’t it the best?

Holla at ya boy

Twitter: @LlFired

College Football Week 4: What We Learned

We’re back to football weather here in the Northeast and week 4 was probably the last one that was truly safe from an impromptu day at the apple orchard with the Mrs. Hand up, I actually love a nice fall day at an apple orchard, so long as it’s during Syracuse’s bye week or we get back in time for kick off. Hoodie weather, a crisp Red Delicious fresh from the tree, possibly a trip to the tasting room if you’re local establishment dabbles in ciders and hard liquor. Shout out Beak and Skiff and their apple vodka-mackintosh cider combo that tastes like apple pie and will put you on your ass and the top of any IG feed. Week 4 was for the boys though and we got a whole bushel of games to pick through (apple puns, I’m a goddamn beast).

-Your Weekly Rutgers Update: I never planned on IPGFFT to become the world wide leader in Rutgers Football coverage but here we are. I’m a man of the people and the people want to witness a train wreck without wasting their Saturday afternoons watching a D-3 caliber team get their brains beat in. 52-3 at Ohio State is expected, 55-14 at Kansas is embarrassing, 42-13 at home against Buffalo is downright sad. I hate to name names but to fully illustrate just how much of an exercise in futility the 2018-19 Rutgers season is I turn to their starting QB Artur (not a typo, it’s Artur and not Arthur) Sitkowski through 4 games is 39/80 passing for 329 yards 1 td and 7 interceptions. Football Jesus Tua Togoviola had 387 on 22 completions against Texas A&M while not playing in the 4th quarter. Again for the sake of the children, cancel Rutgers.

-Basketball Schools are the New Football Schools: Kentucky and Syracuse are a combined 8-0 on the season, the last time that happened was never. IPGFFT is a pretty bare bones operation so we don’t actually have a stats department to confirm this but it feels right. I said last week that I’m ready to sign in blood that Cuse is back and a 51-21 win over piss poor UConn obviously won’t change that one bit, I took Cuse -29.5, good teams win but great teams cover. Kentucky though is actually putting in work down in SEC country. A few weeks ago they beat Florida in the swamp and this week they laid a 28-7 beating on 14th ranked Mississippi State and is now going to creep up in the polls until Nov. 11th when they get smoked by Georgia. My only question is has Calipari’s bag man realized that serving a team with a 105 man roster a bit more lucrative than one with only 15? I’m not saying something’s up but people might be.

-Has Virginia vs UMBC Found its Equal: The worst performance of the week goes to those boys down in Blacksburg. Virginia Tech came into its home match up against Old Dominion ranked 13th in the nation, Old Dominion came in ranked 47th…in the FCS. Old Dominion was also 0-3 on the season, again they are and FCS team. Tech entered the 4th quarter with a 28-21 lead and then proceeded to get outscored 28-7 in the final frame. OD QB Blake LaRussa shredded Tech’s defense going for 495 yards and 4 tds and potentially kick started the first ever FCS Hiesman campaign? I’ll back that horse. This will probably draw memories of the App St Michigan game from 2007 but App St was actually coming off of back to back FCS national titles, Old Dominion came in ranked 47th in the FCS.

-Paywalls are Stupid: If you didn’t know that Army and Oklahoma played a fantastic game that ended with a Sooners win in overtime that’s okay, because the only people who saw it were the ones in the stadium. Not because there were better games being played on TV at the time, but because this game was a $55 pay per view. Hey NCAA, go fuck yourself $55. I’m defaulting the blaming the NCAA because they certainly had a hand in this and it’s a muscle reflex at this point to tell the National Communist Athletics Association to go fuck themselves. Seriously though, for $55 I could go down to BDubs and feast like a king while watching literally every single other game being played. The Superbowl isn’t even pay per view. Hey Oklahoma-Army, you’re not the Super Bowl, you’re not even Tiger v Phil. I’m not asking for much, I’m just asking you be better.

-Hey Nebraska, You Okay?: Last season Scott Frost kind of won a national title at UCF, depending on who you ask. Nebraska strolled on in and offered him a shit ton of money to revive their program back to the days of Tom Osborne, instead at least as of right now they’re getting Sharon Osborne. A home loss to Troy last week certainly was a swift kick in the corn cob for folks in Lincoln. The 56-10 thrashing they got against Michigan wasn’t necessarily unexpected but yikes that’s a good way to get people to hit the eject and pack it in, that’s a Rutgers score. Getting out gained 132 to 491 is not what you call championship caliber football, which Scott Frost is apparently familiar with.

The season’s starting to ripen up and early playoff bets are ready to be picked, just hope that your teams’ season doesn’t start to rot. Seriously, I’m a machine.

Holla at ya boy

Twitter: @LlFired

College Football Week 3: What We Learned

Another week has come and gone and now that a quarter of the regular season is in the books hot starts turn to sky high expectations, continued struggles become demands to clean house, and some teams are just sticking to the script. I have a first hand story to tell this week so lets run through some quick hits first.

-The Death Star is Fully Operational: Alabama came into the season with the most annoying quarterback controversy I’ve ever seen. Either you go with Jalen Hurts who started his career 27-2 and made it to back to back national championships as a freshman and sophomore, or Tua Tugoviloa who won a national championship as a freshman by coming in at halftime to put the team on his back like Bobby Bucher. Captain Insano shows no mercy and neither does Bama when Tua is at the helm. The Tide was up 49-7 at halftime against Ole Miss and I’m ready to declare this a scorched earth season for Alabama. The media angered Nick Saban with the constant QB questions and now his mission is to steamroll everyone in his path for the sole purpose of giving Hurts garbage time snaps to rack up his own All-Conference stat lines.

-Cancel Rutgers: I said last week the Rutgers should just stop playing Ohio State because no one should have to endure that type of consistent abuse. Well after a 55-14 loss to Kansas it’s time to widen that net. I’m pretty sure Kansas has a football team only because the Big 12 requires them to have one. They have been a non-bye week bye week for the Big 12 for years now so where do you go from here if you’re Rugters? Watching Rutgers play is like watching Apollo Creed get his brains beat in by Ivan Drago, I’ll do what Rocky couldn’t and toss in the towel before we need to call the paramedics.

-Coach O is a Gift to College Football: LSU opened a lot of eyes after their week 1 drubbing of Miami and after a comeback win on the road against #7 Auburn LSU is for real. The best part about LSU climbing the college football ranks is that we’re going to get all the Coach O we can. I love a good locker room speech but there’s just something about hearing a guy the sounds like Cookie Monster after chain smoking a pack of marbs scream “FUCK THEM” that puts a smile on my face. We already have great Ed Ogeron stories like how at USC he was still recruiting when there was no coaching staff and how he used to eat cups of coleslaw for breakfast, now that there’s going to be even more media surrounding the Tigers I can’t wait for what’s next.

Now it’s time for what ya boy learned this weekend from his own experience. I went to the Syracuse-Florida State game on Saturday and the rumors are true, the Seminoles STINK. It was 6-0 Cuse at halftime and it was no doubt the most one sided 6-0 game I’ve ever seen. Florida State still has a roster full of 4 and 5 star recruits but somehow Willie Tagart has managed to turn them into St. Marry’s School for the Blind. Two weeks ago Western Michigan managed to put up 621 yards and 42 point on Syracuse’s defense. Even Wagner managed to score 10. Florida State had 240 total yards and only scored 7 points. Deandre Francois was taking such a whooping that he was telling his lineman to fuck off when they would try to help him up. Tagart said his offense was “lethal simplicity” which apparently means “too dumb to breath.” Stick that flaming spear in the ‘Noles THEY. ARE. DONE.

On the other sideline, Cuse is back baby. I’m ready to sign that in blood now. I was in the broadcast booth last year when Syracuse beat Clemson on Friday the 13th and could see that Dino Babers was actually building something real even if it didn’t always show up on the scoreboard. The past few years the wheels would fall off for Syracuse around the mid point of the season because Eric Dungey couldn’t stay healthy and behind him wasn’t much. Well Dungey missing snaps due to injury came earlier than expected but Tommy Devito stepped in and kept things rolling leading the offense to 24 2nd half points. Devito struggled a bit when he got garbage time snaps in the past 2 weeks but his performance on Saturday has got to be a huge boost to the young pup’s confidence. The defense in the past managed to find ways to struggle no matter what the caliber of opponent they were up against. That was not the case this time around mainly because their front 4 dominated from start to finish. To top it all off, Coach Babers delivered another classic locker room speech where he managed to temporarily replace my hangover with pure adrenaline by talking about the weather.

On the topic of that hangover. Knowing I’d be going to a nooner the next day I decided to spend Friday night living it up like an undergrad. I was at a Cuse bar named Harry’s the night before with a buddy because his frat had a bar tab there. Harry’s seemed a lot nicer than the last time I was there, probably because they cleaned up the river of piss flowing from the bathroom that’s connected to the middle of the dance floor (classy) and also moved the main entrance from inside a CVS (very classy) to around the corner. Here’s a tip, if someone tells you to order a drink called “Electric Gatorade” just don’t. I don’t know what was in it but the next morning I was praying for the sweet release of death. Combine that with the 100 degree heat and 100% humidity inside the Carrier Dome, I was way closer to booting on the little girl sitting next to me than I’d like to admit. It was so hot and humid in there that some concessions stands were running out of bottled water by halftime. There’s nothing like the Dome when it’s packed and the crowd is feeling it but if it’s going to be a real home field advantage then it can’t be a health risk to go to a game. Figure it out folks.

Never order a drink if it’s the same color as the matching shooter sleeve and Kyries the annoying rich kid at the YMCA is rocking. Next week I’ll stick to what’s on tap.

Holla at ya boy

Twitter: @LlFired

College Football Week 2: What We Learned

Week 1 scheduling in College Football was for the networks and ADs looking to cash in on our collective football starvation. Most of the match ups we saw were buzz worthy where top 25 teams scheduled a Power 5 opponent, a name the fans knew but a team the players and coaches didn’t fear, barring games like Miami-LSU and Notre Dame-Michigan. Week 2 featured a lot of non-bye week bye weeks where you get games with lines exceeding +50 almost too tempting for degenerate gamblers to pass up. It wasn’t all waxings though so let’s review the notes.

Trouble in Tallahassee?: Florida State STUNK last week against Virginia Tech, didn’t score a single touchdown. Up next is FCS Samford, exactly what the doctor ordered right? A game at home, in prime time against a team you’re clearly better than by miles. Florida State was supposed to come into Doak Walker and lay a whooping and get there season scoring margin looking nice and pretty, that’s what they were supposed to do. Not only did the Seminoles struggle with Samford, they were getting outplayed for 90% of the game and if it wasn’t for 2 tds in the final 5 minutes they’d be 0-2 and the state of Florida would burn to the ground. These little shockers happen every year where big time programs end up in a dog fight with an FCS team, we saw it week 1 when Penn St went into overtime against Appalachian St, and it usually ends up being just a funny footnote on the season and we all just give the classic horseshoes and hand grenades line. But after that piss poor performance in week 1 this feels a lot more like some real issues than just some stumbles out of the gate. We’ll really see where the Noles are next week when they come up to my town and take on Syracuse in the Dome. Coach Babers and the Orange are going to be looking to prove they’re legit this year and if Florida State doesn’t figure out what the hell is going on then it could get ugly.

Maybe the Game Hasn’t Moved Past Herm Edwards: John Gruden and Herm Edwards are both head coaches again and I’ll be honest in saying that I thought bringing in these walking sound bytes was a bit of a stretch. We’ll see how Gruden fairs in his opener now that he doesn’t have his superstar in Khalil Mack but Edwards actually seems to have something going. Not only did he debut a fantastic new football guy quote with “leave it all on the grass” but now 2 weeks into his Sun Devil stint he already has a signature win. A 16-13 win over top 25 Michigan St highlighted by a 13-0 4th quarter to comeback and win it is what cliche football coaches live for. You know he’ll be able to recruit because what 18 year old kid isn’t going to want to run through a brick wall after having a sit down with him in their parents living room. I bet Herm is a big sweet talker to the parents too, complimenting the mom’s cooking and looking at the Dad and saying something like “look at you, no wonder your son’s a stud seeing where he comes from.” Combine that with some real results between the sidelines and Arizona St could make a quick climb up the PAC-12 ladder.

I See You Jimbo: One of the stranger coaching changes from last season was Jimbo Fisher leaving Florida State for Texas A&M. After this week it looks like Jimbo may have just gotten out of a burning building in Tallahassee, plus A&M giving him a blank check probably didn’t hurt either. This week the Aggies lost at home against Clemson in what was for my money the best game of the week. A&M has been reeling since they entered the post Johnny Football era and it culminated when Kevin Sumlin was fired, the past few seasons have been marred by players leaving the program and overall mediocrity. When you play in the same division as Alabama, LSU, and Auburn that’s not going to get it done. A&M left the game with a loss but considering they came into it as 12.5 point underdogs, a 2 point loss with a potential tie slipping away on a failed 2 point attempt in the final minute is certainly noteworthy. I’m not a fan of moral victories but Kyle Field is one of the best home field atmospheres and if Coach Fisher can build on this then the SEC West just got that much stronger.

Rutgers Should Probably Stop Playing Ohio State: Ohio State is a perennial national powerhouse even without Urban Meyer on the sidelines, Rutgers is not that. When these teams play calling Rutgers a D-1 college football team seems like a stretch. Ohio State crushed Rutgers 52-3 this week and since 2014 in 5 match ups Ohio State has outscored Rutgers 271-27. I know being in the same division forces this annual trip to the woodshed to occur but for the sake of the children Rutgers should probably just stay home and if the games scheduled to be played at Rutgers they should go to Columbus and say they misread the schedule. The seniors on that team have only seen 1 touchdown scored against the Buckeyes in 4 years, what the hell does that coaching staff tell them leading up to this game? I imagine practice this week sounded like this, “this is our year boys, I can feel it!” “Screw off I’m just trying to not end up in a hospital this week.”

The air’s getting colder and campuses all around the country are strong with the scent of Natty Light. Win or lose we still booze! See ya next week.

Holla at ya boy

Twitter: @LlFired

What We Learned From Week 1 of College Football

Football is so back it hurts. This first week of action is like that first pregame beer on a Friday night after a week of slaving away in the cube farm, might not be the best one of the night but goddamn does it feel good to finally get it in your system. Were the match-ups from this week the biggest we’ll see this year? No, but that still doesn’t mean that we didn’t learn a few things and pick up on a few possible trends to keep an eye on as the leave begin to change colors and marching bands play on. In no particular order:

-Texas = Not Back: Hey that didn’t take too long did it? Seems like every year since Mack Brown parted ways with Texas the Longhorns are at the forefront of preseason buzz. Sure they still manage to recruit with the best of them but for some reason it just doesn’t seem to work once the fans are in the stands. Back to back years now with opening losses to Maryland is not what makes a former national powerhouse back. On that note, what an incredible win that is for Maryland. The status of Texas aside after all of the turmoil going on within the Terps over the past few weeks following the death of Jordan McNair. I can’t even imagine what was going on through the minds of Maryland’s players as they lined up with 10 men on the field to open the game to honor McNair. Then to go out and get the win is something else. Watch out for Maryland, they’re playing for something bigger this year.

-LSU is Not Messing Around: Football’s favorite Cajun Coach O had his bayou bengals ready to roll against Miami and man was it a real ass whooping. It’s weird to think that LSU came into this season pretty quietly since for so long they’ve been a talking point either because they seemed like the best challenger to Alabama or because Les Miles was a rather polarizing figure in college football. But following a relatively lackluster season and not having a dominate NFL bound running back to talk about LSU found themselves in the “yeah they’ll be solid but nothing special” category. That tone will probably have to change a bit now after their 33-17 win over Miami where 14 of those 17 points came late in the game and LSU went into clock killing mode and Malik Rosier connected on some deep balls. Now was this outcome being a surprise the product of Miami being overhyped or LSU being underrated? Most likely the answer lies within a combination of both. One things for sure though, LSU’s defense is ready to lay some beat downs this season and they might actually have a QB that can get it done in Joe Burrow.

-Eric Dungey is Good at Football: Dungey’s my guy so I had to slip this one in somewhere, but it’s actually warranted. A Friday night matchup of Syracuse and Western Michigan doesn’t really move the needle on a national scale but man it was a doozy. Syracuse dominated the first half to the tune of 34-10 and actually benched Dungey with a few minutes left in the 2nd but then as soon as the 3rd quarter started the game took a complete 180 and WM made it a 34-28 game before Dino Babers put his starting QB back in the game. From that point on Syracuse regained control en route to a 55-42 win resembling a score from a Syracuse Basketball game. The clear difference in this game was Eric Dungey and the difference he makes when he’s on the field. He’s not the most accurate passer, he doesn’t have blazing speed like Lamar Jackson did, but for some reason he’s just the right combination of something that makes him the type of backyard football all-star that makes opposing DCs nervous. He only completed 7 of 17 passes but still managed to put up 184 yards and rushed for 200 more with 3 touchdowns and the offense scored all 55 points with him on the field. With the tempo that Syracuse runs Dungey is going to have plenty of opportunities to put up big time numbers it’ll just be a matter of if he can stay healthy, he’s a senior and has never played in a game after November 7th.

-Jim Harbaugh’s Seat is Starting to Warm Up: A one possession loss to a team a lot of people picked to sneak into the playoffs really shouldn’t be grounds for murmurs for a hot seat but Coach Kaki isn’t your typical coach and Michigan isn’t your typical program. Compared to what Michigan was under Rich Rod and Brady Hoke they are no doubt better with Harbaugh as their head coach but the bar was set up in the clouds when he was brought in. 8-8 in his last 16 and really no signature wins yet in his tenure will not sit well with Michigan’s fan base because at the end of the day they’re looking at teams in their conference like Ohio State, Michigan State, and Wisconsin and thinking why the hell aren’t they on that level. Maybe this is just a bump in the road and Michigan will actually make a jump this year, lord knows all will be forgiving with a win against the Scarlet and Gray. We’ll have to wait and see but you can’t combine the expectations set forth with the circus Jim Harbaugh brings with his personality type casted for an over the top cartoon football coach and consistently find yourself sitting with Texas saying “next year is our year.”

-Turnover Props will Burn Bright but Fast: Chains, boxing gloves, a throne, plank from Ed, Edd, ‘n Eddy and Mardi Gras beads aren’t just what I like to call a fun Tuesday night. Last season The U brought back the Miami Vice flair that was their trademark during their peak in the 80’s and 90’s with the turnover chain and set the world on fire. From references in rap songs and around the clock chatter on every national sports talk platform the turnover chain was the smash sensation of the 2017 season and naturally copy cats have emerged. I actually like the turnover prop idea, you make a big time play go get your shine on son. I can’t hate on some 18-22 year old dude wanting to strut their stuff if they can back it up. But this just isn’t sustainable, I previously wrote about how the student loan bubble will soon burst and send us back to the Stone Age and I got a feeling that we’re looking at a prop bubble in college football. The biggest issue here is whether or not Miami is really back to their days of old. They got the brakes beaten off of them against LSU to the point where they were mocking turnover chain with a sweaty towel. If Miami slides back into being a good team but one that doesn’t really strike fear into other teams then the sky high level of flash the comes with the turnover chain will just be way to easy to mock. Yeah wearing a chain fit for a Two Chainz video is cool but have you ever tried having Coach Saban not threaten to kidnap your family and burn your house down for being 6 inches out of position? If the turnover chain dies then the rest of the props eventually die with it right?

Week 1 is in the books, see ya next Saturday to do it all over again. I’ll bring the beer.

Holla at ya boy

Twitter: @LlFired

‘Twas the Night Before College Football

‘Twas the night before college football, when all through the land no one was on the field, not even the band.

The goal post were raised, by the end zone with care. In the hopes that Lane Kiffin would be there;

The players were nestled all snug in their bed, while visions of Kirby and The Coach danced in their heads;

And Harbagh in his kakis, and Malzan in his vest, had just settled down for a quick pregame rest.

When out on the campus there arose sounds that elate, fans had already gone out to the lot to tailgate.

Away to the stadium I flew like a flash, tore through the banner and fireworks did flash.

The moon was on the breast of fresh cut grass, gave the luster of linebackers ready to whoop some ass.

When what to my wandering eyes should appear, but a running back, he turned the corner and was in the clear.

With short choppy steps, so dynamic and quick, he was moving like someone’s thumb was on the joystick.

More rapid than Bryce Love he charged to the endzone, and he called out the names of coaches ascending the throne.

“Now, Dino! Now, Dabo! Now, Gundy and Kelly! On, Fisher! On, Frost! On, Saban! On, Leach!

To the top of the poll! Now dive on the ball!

Have Phyllis from Mulga go tell PAUL!”

As yellow flags that nosy referees let fly, when met with adversity, the team never says die.

So up to the playoffs their game plans they drew, with a bag full of tricks, Coach Kiffin has two.

And then, in a rumbling, I heard in the stands, the roar of a crowd and clapping of hands.

As they rose to their feet, creating quite a sound, out of the tunnel Coach Kiffin came with a bound.

He was dressed in Adidas from his visor to shoes, and his players well coached at positions they choose.

A call sheet of plays he had gripped in his hand, and he looked like a general ready to command.

His plays — how they wowed! His schemes how cunning!

Play fakes like magic, defense never saw it coming.

His QB was set, in a pocket so clean, surrounded by linemen, so big, strong, so mean.

His headset held tight gripping over his ear, he was focused, the crowd may have not been here.

He had luscious locks and a smile so sly, it’s no wonder recruits see him and say “that’s my guy.”

He was clever and funny, a true modern day coach, sound bites galore when the media approach.

A change of play, a quick scan of the field, the fans need not worry, his offense won’t yield.

He spoke not a word, but simply winked his eye, this subtle note told his QB to let it fly.

And before the snap he already knew, a touchdown scored and they’ll go for two.

He leapt off his feet, to his team gave a cheer, for the owls knew this one would be their year.

But I heard him exclaim, as they celebrated into the night.

“WHERE ARE YOU SABAN, WE’LL GIVE BAMA A FIGHT!”

Football is back baby.

Holla at ya boy

Twitter: @LlFired