The Lou Groza Award

My Lou Groza Award Vote. Comparing the three finalist and UGA kicker Peyton Woodring. All four made 100% of their extra points.

FG-ATT % long 50+

25-28 89.3 55 1-3 Birr GT

15-16 93.8 53 3-3 Woodring UGA

25-26 96.2 52 1-1 Matsuzawa Hawaii

23-24 95.8 55 7-7 Sandell OK

4. Peyton Woodring, UGA. Currently the SEC’s all-time most accurate kicker. Went 3-3 from beyond 50 yards. Only missed one field goal all year, but only attempted 16.

3. Aiden Birr Georgia Tech. Tied for most made field goals in the nation. Two of the three field goals he missed were beyond 50 yards. Otherwise his stats are equal to Matsuzawa.

2. Kansei Matsuzawa, Hawaii. Tied for the most made field goals in the nation. Only missed one field goal all year.

WINNER: Tate Sandell, Oklahoma. Went 7-7 from beyond 50 yards, with a long off 55. Missed one field goal all year.  

What criteria does the college football playoff committee use? The five highest ranked conference champions make the field of 12. Then the next seven highest ranked teams. Principles used to rank the teams: (1) strength of schedule, (2) head to head competition, (3) outcomes against common opponents. 

What message does Notre Dame send to opt out of a bowl game? Notre Dame's athletic director is pulling the school out of the ACC. Basketball, baseball, women’s sports, etc. The Irish will have to pay a hefty exit fee – millions. The AD was mad that the ACC didn’t better support Notre Dame’s bid to be in the playoff – even though the Notre Dame football team is not a member of the ACC conference, and Miami is.

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.

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.

BABE RUTH  [SABR Bio] once endorsed a brand of athletic underwear called “Babe Ruth All America Athletic Underwear.” He was the first player to hit three home runs in a game in each league. Ruth only did it one time each. On 21-May-1930, he hit 3 HR off two A’s pitchers in a losing, 15-7 effort in Philadelphia. Babe was responsible for 6 of his team’s 7 runs. Ruth hit the last 3 HR of his career  for the NL’s Boston Braves. Playing Pittsburgh on 25-May-1935, Ruth took two Pirate hurlers deep, hitting career HR’s 712, 713, & 714. The Bambino only played five more games, had 9 more at bats, without a hit in any of them. At St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys in Baltimore, “little George” met a giant of a man (6'6") named Brother Matthias, who Ruth said was the most influential person in his life.

Article: things boomers understand that younger generations are still figuring out.

1. You won’t be able to get the big things you want soon after first starting out.

2. Financial stability comes from consistency, not intelligence.

3. The ability to focus is a superpower.

4. Relationships survive on effort, not vibes. Relationships often require compromise, repair after conflict, long term investment, and sometimes giving more than you get.

5. You can disagree with someone and still respect them.