Tag: sports

More NCAAF Drama

The University of Michigan just unexpectedly fired its head football coach. And the police are involved, f.

The University of Michigan has fired Sherrone Moore following an investigation into a situation that transpired within and outside the football building, sources tell OutKick.

Coming off a season that ended with a loss to Ohio State, the Wolverines’ administration had been looking into alleged allegations levied against the coach. Over the past few weeks, Board of Regent members have met numerous times to discuss the allegations levied against the coach, which violate university policy.

Wednesday night, Sherrone Moore was detained in Saline, Michigan, and then subsequently handed over to police in Pittsfield Township, pertaining to an investigation that is now tied to the relationship.

Multiple sources tell OutKick that once the school found out about an alleged extramarital affair with a staffer through an outside tip, a decision was made to launch an investigation.

“U-M head football coach Sherrone Moore has been terminated, with cause, effective immediately. Following a university investigation, credible evidence was found that Coach Moore engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a staff member. This conduct constitutes a clear violation of University policy, and U-M maintains zero tolerance for such behavior,” AD Warde Manual announced.

It looks like Indiana and Ohio State are going to be cleaning up in the transfer portal soon.

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The Ultimate Comeback

Every man over the age of 40 is going to be backing the Colts for the rest of this season:

Stuck at EverBank Stadium, and waiting for a new charter home with mechanical issues sending the team plane in for repairs, Colts coach Shane Steichen and GM Chris Ballard were staring down a quarterback situation in apparent disrepair.

Starter Daniel Jones, already playing through a fractured fibula, had sustained a season-ending torn Achilles hours earlier, in what became a blowout loss to the Jaguars. Then, in the locker room postgame, rookie sixth-rounder Riley Leonard—who’d put together an admirable, hope-provoking three quarters—revealed to coaches the pain he felt in a knee that he tweaked during the second half.

Former first-rounder Anthony Richardson, who underwent orbital surgery in late October after a freak accident with a resistance band, was already shelved with no timetable for return. Veteran Brett Rypien was stashed on the practice squad. The Colts, quite simply, were long on problems and short on answers at the game’s most important position.

“What about Rivers?” Steichen asked, in the bowels of the stadium.

Ballard, taken aback, responded, “Would he do it?”

And thus began a wild 48 hours that brought eight-time Pro Bowl quarterback Philip Rivers, a veteran of 17 NFL seasons, back to pro football after a five-year retirement.

Success, needless to say, is unlikely. Joe Flacco may have come off his couch and played quite credibly to hold down the fort for Joe Burrows, but he’d only been out for a few months. Rivers has been retired for FIVE YEARS.

That being said, the fact that he’s been coaching and working out with pre-draft QBs does mean that he’s been mentally engaged with the game and knows he can still throw it. As for the rest, well, let’s hope we get to see for ourselves.

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KOC Looks Wiser Today

ITEM: 16 23 163 69.6 7.1 3 0 21 4 129.2

ITEM: Daniel Jones fell to the turf in Jacksonville with an apparent Achilles tendon tear in his right leg. The Colts are in a mess because sometime on Monday an MRI is expected to confirm Jones suffered the season-ending injury and needs surgery.

The Vikings are 5-8. The Colts are 8-5. JJ McCarthy will likely be available for the last four games of the season. Daniel Jones will not be. It’s now possible, if not necessarily likely, that the Vikings will finish with a better record than the Colts.

Those of us who have been metaphorically murdering Kwesi and openly wondering if KOC had completely lost both his quarterback-whispering abilities and his marbles must admit that despite all of the travails of this season, their joint decision to roll with Nine instead of Darnold, Jones, and Rodgers might not have been quite as completely insane as it looked last week.

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The End of the College Bowl Game

It appears to be upon us, courtesy of the College Football Playoff committee’s bizarre decision to include Alabama and exclude Notre Dame.

On Sunday, the Fighting Irish were snubbed for the College Football Playoff, as the selection committee opted to put Miami in over them. It was a controversial decision that left many scratching their heads, but the Hurricanes did beat Notre Dame head-to-head earlier in the season.

Soon after being left out of the CFP, Notre Dame announced it would not be participating in a bowl this season.

The statement is below:

As a team, we’ve decided to withdraw our name for consideration for a bowl game following the 2025 season.

We appreciate all the support from our families and fans, and we’re hoping to bring the 12th national title to South Bend in 2026

-The 2025 Notre Dame Football Team.

Rather than have one more game and a month of extra practices, the Irish are essentially taking their ball and going home.

I have no problem with the team and its coaches deciding that playing in the Kraft Bleu Cheese Ranch Bowl or whatever it’s called this year isn’t worth the investment of time required. A 10-2 team that is quite obviously one of the best 12 teams in the country expects to be playing for a national title. It deserves to be playing for a national title.

Some observers have pointed out, quite reasonably, that this is a consequence of Notre Dame’s own decision not to join a conference. And it is, and that’s correct. But there is no duty to play in a lesser game that counts for nothing, and this, too, is a consequence of the committee’s actions.

Alabama got their shot last night. They blew it. Why they should be given another shot, over teams like Notre Dame and Vanderbilt, makes no sense to me. I have no problem with James Madison getting in; they did their part and they won their conference. But why the committee thinks anyone wants to see Alabama go to Oklahoma, again, and presumably lose there, again, is beyond me.

Notre Dame lost two games to teams in the playoffs by a combined 4 points. Alabama lost two games to two teams in the playoffs by a combined 23 points, plus to an unranked team by 14 points. As I said yesterday, Alabama should not have been included.

And now, a feeble attempt to protect the non-tradition of conference championship games, the entire bowl tradition is now in jeopardy. Because Notre Dame will not be the only team to decline a bowl; the Big 12 is already having to strongarm two of its teams with playoff aspirations to get them to participate in the bowls to which they’ll be invited.

I don’t have anything against Alabama. I didn’t even follow college football during the Saban years and I’ve never been an SEC guy. But I don’t like seeing other teams getting only one shot at glory when another gets three.

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Fixing College Football Conference Championships

The conference championship games were always stupid and should obviously be abolished in light of the way they now generate less revenue than the playoff games and create unnecessary complications for the College Football Playoff. Here is the correct way to determine a college football conference championship in these days of large conferences where all the teams can’t play each other every season.

  1. Conference championships are determined by the conference records.
  2. If two or more teams are tied with the same conference record, the team with the better overall record shall prevail.
  3. If two or more teams are tied with the same conference record and overall record, the head-to-head winner shall prevail.
  4. If two or more teams are tied with the same conference record and overall record and they did not play that season, or the result of the head-to-head game was a tie, the team that has gone longer since last winning the conference championship shall be declared the conference champion.
  5. If two or more teams are tied with the same conference record and overall record and they did not play that season, or the result of the head-to-head game was a tie, and one of the teams joined the conference from a different conference since 2020, the “last conference championship” calculation shall be based on its most recent championship in its previous conference.

In other words, if Minnesota and Washington were to finish in a tie for the Big 10 conference championship next year, Minnesota would be crowned the conference champion since its last conference championship was in 1960, while Washington’s last conference championship was in 2023.

That’s fair, reasonable, and most importantly, respectful of tradition and good for the sport. Look at how the entire country is excited about seeing Indiana being in the Big 10 mix for a change instead of Michigan. And look at how much everyone enjoys seeing new teams in the mix instead of the same six teams taking turns winning the national championship.

This will also permit the CFB to guarantee more spots to conference champions, which is desirable. I’d prefer to see 8 being reserved for conference champions, with 8 at-large invites. March Madness proves that everyone likes to see a dark horse or two included.

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    Alabama Should Be Out

    I’m not militant about the College Football Playoff one way or another, and I’d prefer to see the so-called “conference championship games” dropped from the schedules. But I do have one opinion, and that is Alabama absolutely does not deserve to be in the playoff.

    To lose so comprehensively and finish with -3 rushing yards means you are not a viable contender.

    UPDATE: I did NOT expect Indiana to beat Ohio State after being forced to settle for three FG attempts, and missing one, on their first three trips into scoring territory. And I think that if Ryan Day had coached like the Duke head coach did to upset Virginia for the ACC title, Ohio State would have won. The risk-averse NFL approach is correct on average, but in a big game, you have to coach to win, not to avoid losing.

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    I Don’t Vike That

    It’s truly astonishing how stupid rookie quarterbacks are. Not that their coaches and general managers appear to be much more intelligent.

    At this point, I’d have no problem with the Vikings firing both the GM and the head coach tomorrow. It’s not so much that they’re failing, it’s that they are repeatedly and reliably making the most obviously dumb decisions leading to obvious failure.

    It’s 4th-and-1 inside the Seattle 10. Down by three. Before the snap, I even said: “don’t get cute, just hand it off, don’t put the rookie under pressure.”

    So, naturally, KOC calls a pass because he’s a Smart Boy, Brosmer doesn’t throw the ball right away, but pulls the ball down and decides to try to get away from an onrushing NFL defensive lineman, which works about as well as you’d think. But just to complete the trifecta of retardery, as he’s inevitably going down, Brosmer decides to try flinging the ball with a backhand in the general direction of the end zone.

    Whereupon it is promptly intercepted and run back 90 yards for a touchdown. So now, instead of being tied 3-3, or being down 3-0 with Seattle pinned deep in its own end, you’re down 10-0. Congratu-fucking-lations, Smart Boys!

    Sweet Saint Lombardi, but these people are criminally stupid. Football is complicated, but it is not that hard! I swear, the combination of analytics and Smart Boys trying to be clever is leading to some of the dumbest possible decisions that I’ve ever seen in five decades of watching football.

    The Vikings fans are pretty near unanimous on this one. This comment from the Daily Norseman is one of the more calm and measured responses.

    Stupid fucking coach throwing the ball on 4th and 1 with a QB who doesn’t belong on a NFL roster. He just can’t help himself. Worst playcaller in the league.

    UPDATE: 26-0 was the final score.

    This wasn’t the worst loss in Vikings history, but it might be the most embarrassing. The worst part was the way Kwasi, everyone presumes, leaked stories to Adam Schefter of ESPN about how Max Brosmer was a secret weapon, that he was another Brock Purdy, and that some in the Vikings front office actually liked him better than McCarthy.

    He completed twice as many passes to the Seattle defense as he did to Justin Jefferson, and threw one more touchdown to the Seahawks than he did to the Vikings. Even Christian Ponder never looked this bad, or this unready.

    At this point, Minnesotans are rapidly approaching the point with JJ that they once reached with KG. Go and chase a ring somewhere else with our blessing. You’ve proven your loyalty, and we like you too much to insist that you stay here against your own best interests.

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    The Consequences of Stupidity

    Watching the Vikings implode against a mediocre Chargers team last night would have been painful if I was still capable of feeling anything in that regard. Fortunately, we children of the late, great Bud Grant all have ice in the place where our hearts should be.

    The Vikings are in a bind at quarterback.

    And they deserve zero sympathy for the dilemma because it is of their own making. This is, so far, a botched situation in which the Vikings sabotaged the Vikings.

    The Vikings, you see, could have any of three other quarterbacks starting for them right now and all of them – Sam Darnold, Daniel Jones and Aaron Rodgers – are playing very well elsewhere.

    All of them wanted to play this season for the Vikings.

    All of them.

    I’m absolutely fine with letting Sam Darnold move on to the Seahawks. He’s a good quarterback, but he’s not a great one and he hit his ceiling last year. His price-to-value ratio was just too high. I think, and I thought at the time, that letting an extremely affordable Daniel Jones go instead of telling him that the quarterback job was closed and no competition would be permitted was not only reprehensibly stupid, but indicative of a fundamental problem with whomever was responsible for making that decision.

    It was a classic Smart Boy mistake in which no deviation from the plan can be tolerated, a mistake which reliably leads to failure. If I were the Vikings owner, I would fire the individual responsible, because it is a mindset that is very, very unlikely to ever succeed in a world of variables and probabilities.

    The Jones mistake was compounded by the Rodgers mistake; who cares if the new star-to-be has to wait a second year before getting his shot, especially when he’s now missed 22 out of the 24 games in his short and thus-far unimpressive career. Rodgers sat for three years himself and Jordan Love sat for three years behind him. Both observably benefitted from their long launch ramps.

    The signing of Carson Wentz as a theoretical backup completed the trifecta of stupidity. His decision-making is observably too slow at the NFL level. Sure, the offensive line is terrible, but that means you know you cannot wait to throw the ball! Even an average NFL quarterback would avoid at least half of his sacks and interceptions. And if you know you need two quarterbacks, then why aren’t you signing Jones in the first place?

    Now, perhaps JJ McCarthy will show up next week as the second coming of Tom Brady and lead the Vikes to a rout of the Lions, but that’s highly unlikely. And an unnecessary, so-easily avoidable disaster of this magnitude absolutely calls for consequences at the end of the season.

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    They Have No Regrets

    Carson Wentz is really not giving the Eagles any reason to regret replacing him with Jalen Hurts.

    If he could deliver a reasonably accurate pass, the Vikings would have scored TWICE on one drive. I simply do not understand why the Vikings preferred him over Sam Darnold, Daniel Jones, and Mac Jones as a potential competition/backup to JJ McCarthy.

    UPDATE: Even modestly competent quarterbacking would have sufficed to beat the Eagles today. I truly have not understood some of the decisions made concerning the QB position in Minnesota since Christian Ponder was drafted in the first round in 2011.

    Even the announcers noticed that on the next drive, in the red zone, Wentz was looking RIGHT AT his first option, who would have walked into the end zone untouched, and instead of just throwing him the ball, pulled it down and got sacked.

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    When Change is for the Better

    When I was in high school and college, it was a regular ritual of fall for the Golden Gophers to get absolutely crushed by the nation’s top college football teams. Particularly memorable was the 84-13 defeat at home in 1983, which was part of a 16-0 run by Nebraska from 1963 to 2012.

    Somehow, the Gophers are still in the lead in the series, 38-25-2, a lead to which they added last night by upsetting the #25 Cornhuskers 24-6 thanks to no less than nine (9) sacks by an aggressive, bruising defensive front seven and excellent coverage in the secondary.

    In other sports news, I don’t pay much attention to baseball, but the historic performance by Shohei Ohtani merits a mention, considering that it was arguably the greatest baseball game by a single player in the history of the sport. He hit three home runs – including the first leadoff home run as a pitcher in the history of the major leagues – and struck out 10 batters and gave up only two hits while leading the Dodgers to a 5-1 victory over the Brewers to sweep the National League championship series.

    We never got the chance to see Babe Ruth or Ted Williams play, but we can watch Shohei Ohtani in action, which may actually, incredibly, be to our advantage.

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