SEC Champions

UGA dominated on Saturday night, cruising to a win in the SEC Championship inside Mercedes Benz Stadium. Only a late unnecessary roughness penalty on UGA turned a drive ending play into an Alabama first down, then Bama drove for a score. But then Bama went for it on fourth down deep in Georgia territory. Not the greatest play call, and the Dawgs make the stop and score on 3rd & 11 to go up 28-7.

Gunner was 20 of 26 and 3 touchdowns, without his starting center. Gunner took a pounding, as well as their top two running backs.

In the fourth quarter the Dawgs backed off on the blitzes and pressure, and Bama started to move the ball a little more. The Georgia defense basically cost Bama QB Ty Simpson a shot at the Heisman Trophy. Held Bama to minus 3 yards rushing.

Ernie Johnson Jr was the celebrity guest picker on ESPN College GameDay, and did a great job.

Texas Tech looked dominant, beating #11 BYU 34-7. Dawgs and Red Raiders earn their first round byes, and get to rest until New Years.

Kennesaw State beat Jacksonville State for the conference championship, as did Tulane.

You’d think Bama would make the playoff, and they did. So did Miami. Texas was on the outside looking in.  

Indiana’s kicker hadn’t missed all year, but missed Saturday night. Hoosiers needed everything to go right in order to win. QB Mendoza may have had his Heisman moment. Some loved his postgame interview thanking God, others hated it. We’ll see what the Heisman voters thought.

Maybe if Ohio State QB Julian Sayin wins the Heisman, then it might jinx them in the playoffs.

Teams who turned down bowl bids: Notre Dame, Auburn, FSU, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, UCF, Baylor, Rutgers, Temple. By not playing in a bowl, teams miss out on a couple weeks of practice. This is when younger players can really develop. Fans love bowls, and bowls bring in more money for the school and conference. I wonder if conferences will start forcing teams to accept bowl bids.

No way to pick winners in bowl games, with all the player and coach movement. Even before the bowl bids there were daily reports of coaches changing jobs and players transferring. UGA has one CB leaving. Several Ole Miss coaches and probably players – and they’re in the playoff! Tech has two coaches leaving and a couple of players. Texas fears many will opt out of the bowl against Michigan. Tech’s offensive line coach is headed to the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Teams used to care about going to a bowl, becoming bowl eligible, etc. They’d list the bowls they’d been to, and how many years in a row they’d been to a bowl. Now there are so many meaningless bowls that no one cares any more. The bowls should’ve gotten together and told Notre Dame that they could go to whatever bowl game they wanted. Next year according to an agreement with the playoff committee, if Notre Dame is ranked 12 or higher, the playoff committee is required to have the Irish in the playoff.

HENRY AARON [SABR Bio] is baseball’s career leader in total bases, with 6,856 TB. The current active leader is Freddie Freeman at 4,145. Hank led the NL eight times, with four of those times leading the majors. Aaron led in TB in 1956 (340), 1957 (369), 1959 (400), 1960 (334), 1961 (358), 1963 (370), 1967 (334), & 1969 (332). Sportswriter Michal Clair tells us Aaron fondly remembered directing traffic as a Boy Scout down the busy main thoroughfare in Mobile, and even recorded a commercial for the Scouts in the 1970s.