There Is Always Yale

  I’m back from Atlanta. Not a minute too soon. I like the comfort of my home. 

On Friday, when we were in Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the amount of Tennessee fans resplendent in Orange and White was great. But the number of Georgia Bulldogs fans far exceeded the Volunteer faithful en route to Athens for Saturday’s game. 

Based on a very non-scientific algorithm, I had great faith in third-ranked Georgia prevailing at home over the visitors, then top-ranked in the polls. Moreover, given how the disparity was tilted heavily in favor of the ‘Dawgs, I believed that this would be not much of a contest. 

It really was not a very close game. The Bulldogs are vastly superior to Tennessee, and probably the rest of the SEC, as well as Ohio State, Michigan and TCU, the teams which followed them in this week’s BCS rankings. I expect Georgia to win out in the remainder of the schedule—the next two contests are on the road at Mississippi State and Kentucky, with the latter being the more formidable foe, before ending the season at home in the traditional match with Georgia Tech. 

TCU may not be number four for very long. While the Horned Frogs are 9-0, they have to play at #18 Texas this Saturday, with a road trip to ever-dangerous Baylor on November 19th, before concluding the regular season at home with the Iowa State Cyclones coming to Fort Worth. 

Tennessee, which dropped to the fifth slot this week, finishes up the home schedule this week with Missouri before traveling to South Carolina and Vanderbilt. Winnable games for the Vols as they seek to vault back into playoff contention. 

Second-ranked Ohio State meets Indiana in Columbus this weekend, then takes a trip to College Park to take on Maryland before the big game with Michigan in the horseshoe. The Wolverines, coming off a second half pasting of Rutgers after trailing at the half, are home to Nebraska on Saturday then host West leading Illinois on November 19 before going to Ohio State.

Alabama lost a close match to LSU on the road on Saturday night. I caught the end of the game, and it was a gutsy call by Tigers’ head coach Brian Kelly to go for the two point conversion and the win in overtime. LSU now has five wins over the Crimson Tide since Nick Saban, a former national championship winning coach in Baton Rouge, has been in Tuscaloosa. 

For now, LSU leads the SEC West. The Tigers have to play at Arkansas this weekend, which is going to be a tough test. Left on the schedule is a home game versus UAB before a clash with Texas A&M in College Station to close the regular season. 

For Alabama to reach the SEC playoff game versus Georgia, the Tide has to down Ole Miss in Oxford on Saturday afternoon then take care of business at home versus Austin Peay and arch rival Auburn and hope that LSU stumbles. It is a down year for Saban’s team in losses—two—but they have lost those games by a total of four points. 

I feel that Alabama would give Georgia a stiffer test in the SEC Championship game than LSU. If the Tide can get there. The winner of OSU and Michigan will prevail in the Big Ten Championship game and make the playoffs. The loser will go to a nice bowl game.

So Georgia and the Big Ten champ will be one and two in the rankings. A lot depends on who does what in the next three to four weeks to fill out the remaining two playoff slots. A wild card to this might be Clemson, but after their disastrous drubbing by Notre Dame in South Bend, I don’t see them making the Final Four. Ditto anyone from the Pac-12, where Oregon, USC and UCLA all sport 8-1 records overall, with the Ducks having the only unblemished conference record. 

It ought to be a real interesting time as college football winds down. As it should be. Of course, there will be a lot less speculation when the playoffs are expanded to include 12 teams in 2026. 

I liked that on our flight to Atlanta, with mostly clear skies, I could see the football stadiums of James Madison University, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech and Georgia State (formerly known as Turner Field, the home of the Atlanta Braves and the 1996 Summer Olympics). I also saw Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the home of the Atlanta Falcons, both from the air and while driving on I-75 & 85 in downtown Atlanta. 

Being true sports and weather geeks, we drove to see Truist Field, the new suburban home of the Atlanta Braves. Very nice. And not far from the site of the stadium was the home of The Weather Channel. A huge monument in my life. 

It made me think of what arenas I have seen in Atlanta. First off, we have seen the Peach Bowl in the former Georgia Dome. I attended a baseball game at Turner Field when the Braves played there. We have been to the Omni, the former home for the Atlanta Hawks and  the NHL Flames before they skipped town to Calgary. I have driven by the Hawks current home, State Farm Arena, as well as have been inside McCamish Pavilion, the Georgia Tech basketball coliseum, where the Hawks began their tenure in Georgia. Then there are the venues on the Georgia State and Georgia Tech campuses which remain from the Olympics. Not to mention Emory University, which hosted some practices in 1996. 

Atlanta is a strong sports mecca for the South. The SEC likes to hold its major championships there. The PGA and NASCAR make stops there. The WNBA has a team in town. The Peach Bowl is now a major bowl game. The Super Bowl periodically makes visits to the Peach State. Heck, there is a highway named after Braves’ Hall of Fame pitcher and 

FOX broadcaster John Smoltz. Plus there were girls’ softball and lacrosse tournaments in the area. 

No wonder I a number of Los Angeles Chargers fans returning after the team’s victory over the Falcons on Sunday afternoon as I awaited our return trip to New Jersey on Sunday night. There were a lot less college football fans in the airport on Sunday evening, and the line at the Avis desk for a car was a trickle compared to the 2 and 1/2 hour wait we endured on Friday, which forced us to skip lunch in order to secure our vehicle for the weekend journey to Alpharetta. 

Just a few other things to touch on. The Houston Astros won the World Series, dominating Philadelphia in the final three games, one of which was a combined no-hitter, the second in Series history. This was the best team in baseball. 

Now we can all turn to baseball free agency and sweat out what happens with 

Aaron Judge. It was nice to see that his wife ran the New York Marathon, rooted on by teammates Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo, who opted out of his contract and whom the Yankees hope to resign. 

The Jets came back from the New England debacle and shocked the Bills, one of the NFL’s premier teams. Buffalo QB Josh Allen has suffered an elbow injury which places his season and the hopes of the team to win the Super Bowl in jeopardy. 

Don’t get too carried away, Jets fans. The road ahead is littered with difficulty. Away games at New England, Miami, Buffalo, Seattle and Minnesota are as tough a schedule as can be. Home games are a bit easier with Chicago, Detroit and Jacksonville at Met Life Stadium. The question is this: are this season’s successes true growth or merely a mirage?

We watched the Chiefs come back against Tennessee while on the plane and then in the comfort of our den. So much fun to watch the Chiefs, year after year. Andy Reid’s team is definitely in the Super Bowl hunt. 

        Kudos to the LA Galaxy for an exciting MLS Cup victory over the Philadelphia Union. Not such a great week for securing titles in Philly.

One last mention. Shockingly, Columbia defeated Harvard 21-20 in Cambridge on Saturday. With two blocked field goals, one of which caught the fingertips of a Lions player and  struck the left upright, Columbia secured its first victory in Harvard Stadium since 1995. A big win for a historically victory-starved program. 

The loss did not sit well with the followers of the Crimson. Oh well, there is always Yale.