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San Francisco Treat Consider the Carolina Panthers' win at San Francisco as the official wake-up call to the rest of the nation that these guys are pretty good. The club now finds itself on a 5-game winning streak and a serious contender for some January football. It's one thing beating up on a bunch of scrub teams like the Falcons, Vikings and Bucs.....going on the road and getting into a fist-fight with the equally hot Niners and emerging victorious is a whole different story. It was a rock'em-sock'em football game and it had a playoff intensity.....the 10-9 final score will attest to that description. The Panthers' defense harassed the Niners for 6 sacks and gave up a grand total of 151 yards.....that's impressive. Next week the club showcases its talents on a national stage as Tom Brady and the Pats come to town for a Monday Night Football game....the Queen City will be engulfed by chowder heads wearing the Boston baseball caps and their Patriot sweatshirts. But this time the home folks will be jacked out of their minds to watch the home team continue to play at a playoff level. It will be a good time in Charlotte next week......and that's a good thing. The locals have been waiting on a moment like this for a long, long time. The Road to Pasadena got a little clearer over the weekend. Thanks to Stanford's punishing win over Oregon, the top two spots in the latest BCS Standings go to Alabama and Florida State. Southern Fried Football™ is 1-2 at this stage of the proceedings....but who knows if it will stay that way? Bama still has a roadtrip to Auburn, and a potential SEC championship match-up, too. FSU has an easier road....Syracuse, Idaho, Florida.....and then a trip to the ACC title game. If Ohio State, Baylor or Stanford are going to make it, they will need some help....and they also need to keep on winning. As far as last week goes, I wasn't surprised that Bama wore down a young, inexperienced LSU defense.....but I was dead wrong about Stanford manhandling Oregon. I thought the Ducks had improved their defensive toughness.....but the Cardinal punished Nike U. We'll see how the rest of November plays out.....you can never tell what happens next in college football. It is impossible to predict....and that's what makes it great. College hoops has started....who knew? But you can get a good view of the top teams on Tuesday night. #1 Kentucky plays #2 Michigan State.....and #4 Duke entertains #5 Kansas. All those great freshmen at Kentucky.....Andrew Wiggins of Kansas.....Jabari Parker of Duke.....it will be fun to get a sample of college basketball's best this week. NASCAR Update......there's only one race to go before we can put a bow on the racing season. French Vanilla (Jimmie Johnson) leads Vanilla (Matt Kenseth) by 28 points. All FV needs to do to win his 6th Cup championship is finish 23rd or better in the final race. As for Danica....who are we kidding? This might be a good time for NC State to change their marketing campaign. The Wolfpack has been barking that "This Is Our State".....I get it, it's catchy....but when you lay an egg like State has this year in football.....yikes. NC State has lost to Duke, Wake Forest and North Carolina. The Pack has a game scheduled in a few weeks with ( 7-2 ) East Carolina. There will be a bunch of pressure on first year coach Dave Doeren not to be swept by the "state" that they supposedly own. It's too late to schedule a last minute game with the Charlotte 49ers or Appalachian State....and to be honest, that's probably a good thing. The club is even winless in ACC play this season. Bag that catch phrase.....immediately. ESPN's Jesse Palmer has an infatuation with "Clemsoning"....he's beaten that drum all year despite the fact that the Tigers have won 16 straight games against non ranked teams by double digits.....only Bama has a longer streak. On Thursday, Palmer and his ESPN crew head to Clemson for a Thursday night game between Georgia Tech and the Tigers. What are the chances that Palmer brings up his alma mater, the Florida Gators? The Gators have been "Clemsoning" all season....and they took it to a whole new level over the weekend, when they lost at home to Vanderbilt for the first time since 1945. I think the term is now, "Palmering". |
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