1. Every college football season, there is a team or three that comes along and surprises folks. And of course, in this upside-down season of college football, with Colorado and USC making headlines out West, it could end up being Utah who holds the key to unlocking the Pac 12.
If you didn’t stay awake on Saturday night following the appetizer of Penn State and Ohio State, you missed a heckuva game from Utah and USC. The Utes eventually outlasted the Trojans, kicking a game-winning field goal despite being outscored in the fourth quarter. Utah took everything USC threw at them and fought their way to the W.
If you believe in Utah—and I do—it’s particularly fun to root for them right now, because their schedule gives them the chance to win their way to the playoffs. This week Utah plays at home against the no. 8 Oregon Ducks, and two weeks later they play at no. 5 Washington. If Utah wins out, they’re in the Playoffs. (Well, unless four other teams can manage to finish undefeated.)
Utah has played all season without their stud QB, Cam Rising. But they’ve got a former pig farmer starting at QB, and a coach who looks like he could appear on “The Golden Bachelor.” They can run the ball, play defense, and most importantly, they play with confidence. They’re worthy of your attention.
2. I watched the Tennessee/Alabama game with interest on Saturday, hoping to see one of these two teams separate themselves from the rest of the SEC middle class. Unfortunately, this didn’t happen, and while I think there are a lot of fingers to be pointed for both the Vols’ and Tide’s slides toward mediocrity, I was mostly disappointed in the play from the quarterbacks. Both of them.
Joe Milton lost his starting job at Tennessee last season, spent the season backing up Hendon Hooker, then basically picked back up where he left off this season. Milton is wildly talented, can throw a ball farther than anyone needs to be able to throw a football, and is 7-2 in his last 9 starts. Meanwhile, Alabama has moved on from Bryce Young, currently scrambling for his life each week in the NFL, to Jalen Milroe, who is similarly wildly talented, and is 6-1 in his last 7 starts.
But when I watch them play, I’m reminded of Chef Thomas Keller, the only American chef to receive simultaneous three-star ratings from Michelin. He’s a master of the technical, clearly, but a huge sign in his kitchen reads, simply, FINESSE. It’s fine to know how to do things, but it’s the feel and the tone and the touch that separates Keller from the rest. He reveres the idea of finesse so much that he used it to name his online store.
Maybe we should take Milton and Milroe to one of Keller’s restaurants? Both of these guys play such tone-deaf football, it’s almost tough to watch. They stand in the pocket, seemingly unaware that things are breaking down around them. There’s no feel for the game, no touch on the short passes, no reading the room. While I watched them play, I thought about Stetson Bennett, the scrawny UGA quarterback who walked on but became a two-time champ because he had all those intangibles.
Milton and Milroe may be incredible athletes, but sometimes it’s not what we can measure, but what we can’t measure.
3. I’ve avoided writing about my favorite NFL team, the Atlanta Falcons, because, well, they aren’t very good. That feels like a weird thing to say about a team that’s in FIRST PLACE in their division as we near the midway point of the NFL season, but it’s true.
To clarify, the Falcons aren’t very good on offense. Defensively, the Falcons are above average, sitting at fourth in the NFL at yards allowed per game, and slotting into the top ten against the run, pass and points allowed. But on offense? Whew. The Falcons are averaging 16.4 points per game, which is 29th in the NFL. The Dolphins are scoring more than twice as many points per game as the Falcons. QB Desmond Ridder has only started a dozen games in the NFL, is generally efficient, but has six turnovers in his last three games. Rookie Bijan Robinson has showed flashes of brilliance, but through 7 games he has just 81 carries.
I guess the good news is that the Falcons are in first place and there’s nowhere to go but up? I have no idea what to expect from these Dirty Birds.