Wisconsin beat the doors off of Indiana 83 – 20 on Saturday. It is one of the worst beatings any team has ever taken in college football, I know that one of the first college football games played the score was 200 – 0, but there is no film of that game to see what happened. In modern day college football, losing by 63 points, is almost unheard of especially when both teams are from the same conference. You would expect this if the Badgers were playing a FCS school, but not a team from the Big Ten. Some are accusing Wisconsin of running the score up on the Hoosiers because they threw a 70 – yard bomb in the fourth quarter with the game already well in hand. I don’t believe it matters, when you step on that field your job is to stop the other team. If Wisconsin comes out in the fourth quarter and kneels for three plays then punts for an entire quarter, that would be the more embarrassing than giving up 83 points. Is 65 – 20 somehow so much more palatable than 83 – 20?
Jason Garrett coaches his first game with the Dallas Cowboys as a head coach, and they turn in their best performance of the season. They Cowboys ran all over the New York Giants, and they were able to win 33 – 20 behind a huge day from Dez Bryant and John Kitna. It was surprising to see because people all season talked about how much talent this Dallas roster had from top to bottom, but for most of the season they did not show it. Well the changes made by Garrett and the edict put out by Jerry Jones apparently woke up a sleeping Giant. The Cowboys had big plays all night, and their performance was so good people are saying that Jason Garrett purposely tanked offensive play calling to weasel into the head coaching job. I highly doubt that is the case, but with the Jeckyl and Hyde performances from the Cowboys I can see why conspiracy theorists would think that.
Cliff Lee is the prize of the free agent market. The 32-year-old left-hander figures to land a contract in the same zip code as CC Sabathia’s seven-year, $161 million deal from two years ago. He is not expected to sign with anyone until the Winter Meetings on Dec. 6-9 at the earliest. That has not stopped the Yankees from trying to get in with an early offer to Lee, but we all know that Cliff Lee is going to milk this for as much money as he can. Is Lee really worth it though? The Giants showed that Lee is not invincible in the post season, and all of the Yankees big money acquisitions recently have not been worth the money. Sure they won a World Series last year, but they are no where near the dynasty they had in the late 90′s. Either way Cliff Lee is going to cash in big time this off season, and recession proof his family in the process.
The Denver Broncos smashed the Kansas City Chiefs. Rather than receiving congratulations for the Broncos’ 49-29 win over Kansas City, Josh McDaniels got a finger-wagging from coach Todd Haley. McDaniels, the Broncos’ head coach, seemed confused. It didn’t seem like he was running up the score. When his team goes up 35-0 with more than 5 minutes remaining in the first half, and wins by a final score of 49-29, the numbers suggest if anything, the Broncos let up. This might go back to last year when Haley and the Chiefs were pummeling the Broncos, and Kansas City running back Jamaal Charles only needed 30 yards to break a single game record. Rather than let Charles break the record Haley called off the dogs, so in some ways Haley may feel that McDaniels did not call the dogs off enough. At the end of the day, you can’t complain if you can’t stop the other team from scoring.
If you were lucky enough to watch the Texans vs. Jaguars game on Sunday, then you had the opportunity to see one of the best plays this season. The game itself was good as well, as the Texans spotted Jacksonville a 17 – 3 lead before they came roaring back to take the lead 24 – 17. The Jaguars got a late score to tie the game 24 – 24, but then with 3 seconds left David Garrard threw a hail mary pass to the end zone hoping for a miracle. A Houston defender made a play on the ball and knocked it down, right into the hands of Jacksonville receiver Mike Thomas who took it in for a touchdown. Coaches always seem to preach knock the ball down, just go for the interception if it’s in your hands there is no chance of this happening. Watch the video below.
