Mon.-Thurs., January 10-13, 2022
Just another solid few days of life in sleepy, Covid infested California, meant to be enjoyed with lots of American football news.
We started the week with college football's ultimate game of the season, the happily, highly competitive College Football Playoff Championship Game.
The #3 Georgia Bulldogs 13-1
vs.
The #1 Alabama Crimson Tide 13-1
Or as some would portray it, "Good vs. Evil."
These two universities met about a month ago in the Southeast Conference Championship game when Georgia was ranked #1 with a spotless 12-0 record and the Crimson Tide was ranked #3 having gone 11-1 on the regular season.
In a stunning upset, Alabama boat raced the Bulldogs that day 41-24.
Our TV was properly decorated
for Monday night's BIG GAME
If you like good Defense, then the First Half of this game was right up your alley. It was an all Field Goal affair with Alabama entering their locker room at the intermission with a slight 9-6 advantage.
The Second Half, it was all Georgia as the Bulldogs brought home their first National Championship since the 1980, 12-0, Vince Dooley-Herschel Walker led club did it by beating Notre Dame (9-2-1) in the Sugar Bowl, 17-10.
Final Score
Georgia (14-1) 33 - Alabama (13-2) 18
Georgia QB Stetson Bennett IV
was a great backstory to the game
When Bennett was in high school, he attended every camp and combine that he could hoping that some college would notice him and offer him a scholarship.
Apparently he always wore the same baseball cap to all of these camps and combines emblazoned with the United States Postal Service's logo. Coaches were not overly impressed by his skills but because of that cap they all just started to refer to this QB that was everywhere they went to evaluate talent as simply "The Mailman."
In the end, The Mailman did not get a scholarship offer so he followed his dream and enrolled at the University of Georgia and walked-on to the team in 2017.
Needless to say, he did not see the field and opted to transfer to Mississippi's Jones County Junior College in 2018 to get some playing time and a chance to develop his skills.
He returned to Georgia in 2019 and played sparingly that season (20/27 passing, 74%, 260 yards, 2 TDs, 1 Interceptions).
In the Covid disrupted 2020 campaign, our former walk-on took over the reins of one of the nation's premier programs when the starting QB was injured. He was 86/155, 55%, 1,179 yards, 8 TDs and 6 Interceptions.
Then the magical 2021 season rolled around for The Mailman who had told his Dad as a three year old that someday he would be the starting QB for his favorite team, the Georgia Bulldogs.
You can see his CFP Championship Game stats above. As for the overall season statistics for this fifth year Senior, he was 185/287, 65%, 2,862 yards, 29 TDs and 7 Interceptions.
Of interest is whether he'll come back in 2022 to be the Bulldogs' QB due to the NCAA declaring that the 2020 Covid campaign does not count as a year of eligibility for any athlete.
The Mailman DELIVERED!
And then there is this
Although I must commend Alabama's legendary Head Coach Nick Saban for the gracious way he handled the loss of potentially his 8th National Championship.
Interesting Final Poll
That the PAC-12 still had two teams ranked after the conference's dismal bowl record was good to see.
The PAC-12's 2021-22 Bowl Summary:
Los Angeles Bowl
Utah State 24 - Oregon State 13
Holiday Bowl
UCLA Covid cancelled vs. North Carolina State
Alamo Bowl
Oklahoma 47 - Oregon 32
Las Vegas Bowl
Wisconsin 20 - Arizona State 13
Sun Bowl
Central Michigan 24 - Washington State 21
Rose Bowl
Ohio State 48 - Utah 45
For me, despite the PAC-12 loss, the Rose Bowl was the best game of the bowl season.
The concept that the highlight of the PAC-12's bowl season was UCLA not losing on the field because of their Covid issues is disheartening to say the least.
Of interest in this final poll to me is that the state of Utah has three ranked teams in #12 Utah, #19 BYU and #24 Utah State.
By comparison the college football crazy states of Texas and Florida combined only have two teams in this final poll. The state of Texas has the two ranked universities, #5 Baylor and #17 Houston, while the state of Florida has nil, zip, nada, none, zero teams in this final poll.
Talk about climate change!
Kent State Golden Flashes
at
Washington Huskies
Saturday, September 3rd!
The Golden Flashes were 7-7 in 2021 having ended the season with losses in the MAC Championship Game to Northern Illinois 41-23 and to Wyoming 52-38 in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.
The Huskies are hoping to rebound from last season's painful to watch 4-8 campaign that ended with four consecutive losses to Oregon 26-16, Arizona State 35-30, Colorado 20-17 and Washington State 40-13.
Can't wait, should be a real barn burner!
In case you can't wait 228 days, the EuroBall season starts this weekend . . .
EXCITING NEWS!
Zay Woods is former Washington Husky and Portland State Viking who was the WR Coach at Westlake H.S. in 2021. He contacted me about the possibility of my helping him to resurrect his career with a EuroBall team.
I'm happy to report that he recently signed with one of Europe's traditional powerhouse clubs, Germany's New Yorker Lions.
I wish him the best this coming season.
Spain's Serie A starts play this weekend
On Sunday, the Mallorca Voltors will travel to Zaragoza to take on the hometown Hurricanes.
Serie A is Spain's top league featuring two, five team conferences that do not play cross bye games during the regular season. Thus the Barberá Rookies and Fuengirola Potros have byes Week #1.
The Rookies are in the Eastern Conference with the Badalona Dracs, L'Hospitalet Pioners, Mallorca Voltors and Zaragoza Hurricanes.
The Potros are members of the Western Conference that includes the Gijón Mariners, LG OLED Black Demons, Murcia Cobras and Rivas Osos.
I am working with the Voltors
as their Analytics Coach this season
The Voltors 2022 Eastern Conference
slate is a tough one
So is the Cobras' Western Conference
schedule of games
I was the Cobras Head Coach during the fun 2015 season that ended with a playoff loss to the Black Demons.
Meanwhile, in Italy . . .
The Varese Skorpions U18 team
is having a DOMINATING season
With the regular U18 season ending before the holidays, the playoffs resumed last weekend with two wild card playoffs games.
In this coming Sunday's Semi-Final contests, the Varese Skorpions (6-0) host the Bergamo Lions (5-2) while the HP team (6-0) hosts the Firenze Guelfi (7-0).
Like the NFL's Washington Football Team, the U18 team from Parma is simply known as the HP team.
Go Skorpions GO!
News of a new book to read . . .
A sports related, spy mystery
I've known the author, John Patrick Walsh, since we were classmates in the 6th grade at St. Philip the Apostle Elementary School in Pasadena, California back in the Fall of 1958.
John was ever the outgoing, loquacious type so I'm sure that this book will be an enjoyable read.
You can order it through Amazon, Barnes and Noble or, like I did, from a small, independently owned book store. To order your copy of John's book, use its ISBN number 978-0-578-97363-0.
I love football coaching clinics . . .
I'll be attending this one
on Saturday
These clinics mostly take place during the Winter months when for years I've been coaching somewhere on the Continent. Of course, the 2021 clinic season was mostly a Zoom affair because of Covid.
The Southern California Football Coaches Association's clinic is always a fun way of continuing the process of learning new ways to teach our great game.
Life is still GOOD!
