The NFL’s Wild Card Weekend was Wacky and Wild

Posted on January 5, 2020 by Aaron Yorke

We already talked about the big upset in New England and how Tom Brady’s future will be the conversation that dominates the NFL offseason. Before that, the Bills blew a 16-0 third quarter lead to the Texans and eventually lost in overtime when two Buffalo defenders bounced off of Deshaun Watson like pinballs, allowing him to set up the game-winning field goal. Watson is an incredible athlete with loads of potential, but I’m not ready to call him one of the elite quarterbacks in the league just yet.

Watson did a great job to lead the comeback effort in Houston, but he was also sacked seven times and should have been sacked an eighth time. After all, that play was more representative of poor Buffalo tackling than Watson’s skill, even if he did display plenty of that during the game. Maybe Watson can change my mind about him by beating Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs next week. Would love to see him put a little touch on the ball and make some plays in the first half.

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The Patriots Dynasty is Finally Over Until They Find Another Quarterback

Posted on January 4, 2020 by Aaron Yorke

Yikes. The Patriots just lost and blew the money line parlay I had with them and Tulane. You should have seen me cheering on the Green Wave as it came all the way back from 13 points down to crush Southern Miss. I was sure that Tom Brady and the boys would up their game for the playoffs and get one last win at home.

Nope. I was wrong. Brady looked washed up and only found success when he was dinking and dunking his way slowly down the field. He went 20-for-37 for 209 yards. The Patriots’ defense did all it could to keep the team in the game, holding Tennessee to 71 passing yards. Ryan Tannehill did come through with a huge completion to Anthony Firkser that converted a critical 3rd and 8, but for the most part the Miami castoff was just a complement to Derrick Henry in the run game.

Speaking of Henry, he was fantastic for most of the game. Old-school road graters like him are supposed to be a thing of the past in today’s game where the tailback has to be part of the passing game, but Henry is clearly one of the most valuable backs in the world not named Christian McCaffrey.

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Posted in Big Ten Basketball, National Football League, Penn State Basketball | 1 Comment

Remind Me That Penn State is Playing Iowa at The Palestra on Saturday

Posted on January 3, 2020 by Aaron Yorke

The NFL Playoffs start tomorrow and I’m going to be at work, so I’m probably going to forget that Penn State has a huge Big Ten game against Iowa on Big Ten Network at 2:00 p.m. That would be unfortunate, because 2020 is a make-or-break year for Pat Chambers at the Nittany Lions. With everything going right for the team, it might as well disband if it doesn’t make the NCAA Tournament this season. They have two star players in the frontcourt with Lamar Stevens and Mike Watkins, as well as a few guards who can hit three-point shots and even some bench scoring.

Plus, Penn State got off to a strong start in the non-conference season by scoring quality wins over Georgetown, Syracuse, and Alabama. There’s a couple more if Yale contends for the Ivy League title and if Wake Forest doesn’t get totally destroyed by the ACC slate. This is a big deal for a PSU program that has had previous Tournament bids torn to shreds because of a lousy non-conference resume.

There should be a big crowd at The Palestra in Philly, so I’m calling for a win over Iowa, although Luke Garza has the potential to cause major problems with his ability to both rebound and score from outside. Watkins will have his hands full.

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Big Ten Basketball is Back Tonight

Posted on January 2, 2020 by Aaron Yorke

2020 has not been kind to me so far. I had to work on New Year’s Day and almost got stuck on the air at NBA Radio when the David Stern news broke. Today I’m trying to enjoy the Birmingham Bowl, but a lightning delay and Boston College being objectively terrible are making that difficult. Plus, my wife is working late and I don’t know when to start the fish. First-world problems, I know. But I live in a first-world country where most football teams outside of Chestnut Hill have an offense.

Don’t worry too much about me, though. I nailed my Rose Bowl pick thanks to a wonderful pass interference call and I’ve got the return of Big Ten basketball to look forward to tonight. In the first game, Minnesota takes on Purdue in West Lafayette. The Gophers were supposed to be near the bottom of the league this year, and they started out November with three losses in their first four games. However, lately they have looked like they belong in the NCAA Tournament with wins over Ohio State and Oklahoma State this month.

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That Offensive Pass Interference Call in the Rose Bowl Makes a Lot of Sense

Posted on January 1, 2020 by Aaron Yorke

There was an offensive pass interference call in the Rose Bowl today that all but ended Wisconsin’s chances to win the game. With three minutes left, the Badgers were trailing 28-27 on their own 28-yard line and attempting to drive to take the lead. On third down, Jack Coan completed a pass to tight end Jake Ferguson for what appeared to be a first down. However, the referees called offensive pass interference on wide receiver Danny Davis III, which caused a 3rd and 20 and after that a punt.

At first, it looks like a ticky-tack call that was too ambiguous to make this late in the Grandaddy of Them All. Gene Steratore says as much in his tweet. However, if you watch the play, you’ll see that Oregon cornerback Deommodore Lenoir (No. 6) has his eyes on the ball and is in position to make a play when Davis — who is not looking at the ball — shoves him away from the play.

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The Game of the Century and also LSU vs. Alabama

Posted on November 8, 2019 by Aaron Yorke

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m overselling Penn State vs. Minnesota just a little bit. Or am I? The game might be more important to both sides than the one that kicks off in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in the middle of Saturday afternoon. With Ohio State looming for Penn State, the Nittany Lions likely need to win in Minneapolis in order to keep their Playoff hopes alive. The same is true for Minnesota, a team that needs to go undefeated to make the Playoff due to its super soft schedule.

In the SEC game, LSU might be able to lose the game and still sneak into the Playoff. The same might also be true for Alabama because of how the Playoff Selection Committee has treated the program in the past. However, if you just look at this year’s Alabama team, its strength of schedule doesn’t match up to squads of the past. Its toughest non-conference foe is Duke and its toughest East Division opponent has been South Carolina. LSU in the same spots has played Texas and Florida. At the end of the year, a one-loss LSU would look better than one-loss Alabama.

The big question is, which program will have one loss at the end of the season? As much as I love Joe Burrow, Ed Orgeron, and those beautiful purple and gold uniforms, it’s probably going to LSU. Tua Tagovailoa’s injury complicates matters, but the Tide has the edge at home and should be able to put up points on LSU’s defense. We’ve already seen the Tigers give up big passing totals to Sam Ehlinger of Texas and Florida’s Kyle Trask. If Tua is healthy enough to avoid LSU’s pass rush, he should be able to find some openings in the secondary. What makes Bama’s offense such a powerhouse is that the passing game doesn’t get funneled through one receiver. DeVonta Smith, Jerry Jeudy, and Henry Ruggs III all have over 500 receiving yards already.

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College Football Review: Can the Pac-12 champ sneak into the Playoff if Clemson stumbles?

Posted on November 3, 2019 by Aaron Yorke

Wow, we finally made it to Sunday. Yesterday was one of my best college football gambling days in a while, and I went .500, so that should tell you all you need to know about my year so far. Let’s start at the beginning, when everything was rosy and nice; when the Michigan vs. Maryland game went exactly as I planned it to go.

Michigan returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and pounded out a 38-7 road win in smash-mouth fashion. The Wolverines weren’t even that great on offense, but their defense so thoroughly dominated Maryland that the spread barely came into question. Michigan added its second touchdown on a Zach Charbonnet rush before the 10-minute mark of the first quarter and cruised the rest of the way.

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Cocktail Party pick and the Pac-12 takes over Saturday

Posted on November 2, 2019 by Aaron Yorke

It’s Gameday. Penn State is off this week as James Franklin locks in his plans to ruin Minnesota’s perfect season — the Lions are simply more battle tested than the Gophers, lay the points — but there is still plenty of fun football action to watch today. The Big Ten may be mostly on bye and the SEC slate is just one big game, but that just means the Pac-12 and AAC get to shine. Don’t screw it up, guys. With the ACC stumbling around on a bender this year, one of you might be considered a major conference with a good showing today.

The biggest game of the day is the Cocktail Party in Jacksonville. Georgia (-6.5) and Florida go head-to-head in a battle to play spoiler in the SEC Championship game. The line feels like a trap because of Georgia’s struggles in the passing game lately. Jake Fromm threw for just 35 yards against Kentucky two weeks ago, but that game was played in a tropical storm. The week before at South Carolina, he completed just 55 percent of his throws and threw three picks. Fromm should be better against Florida, but I don’t think it will be enough to pull away from the Gators, who are coming off a game against the Gamecocks in which they gave up 7.0 yards per rush to Tavien Feaster and still won by 11. Gotta take the points in the rivalry game.

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Carlos Beltran will be the next Mets manager

Posted on November 1, 2019 by Aaron Yorke

The Mets’ search for a manager really hasn’t been as long as Twitter has made it out to be. When deciding on the guy to lead the franchise into the future, it shouldn’t be considered crazy to take one month, which is approximately how long it’s been from the dismissal of Mickey Callaway until now. It just seemed to take forever because there was a constant stream of rumors along with a secret candidate and a separate but equally bad “bombshell” candidate. Then the guy that everyone wanted got hired by the Phillies.

The search is over now, though. The Mets will hire Carlos Beltran as the 22nd manager in team history.

Former WFAN host Sid Rosenberg isn’t known for breaking news, so when he does, you know it’s a big freaking deal. Either that, or the Mets have grown tired of leaking news nuggets to the same handful of reporters.

I don’t like the hire. I’d rather the Mets go for someone more boring but more experienced. I think I know how the Wilpons think, and Beltran fits in too well with what they want. He’s a former player who doesn’t want to grind it out in the minors or as a bench coach, so he’ll jump at any big league manager opportunity. That makes him easy to manipulate. At the same time, he’s a beloved former player, so fans will get excited by the move and buy tickets early in the season.

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Posted in Major League Baseball, New York Mets | 1 Comment

The Mets have lost all momentum and now head to Arizona for the Snaaaaakes

Posted on May 31, 2019 by Aaron Yorke

In a shocker of all shockers, the Mets lost their first game after Wednesday night’s humiliating come-from-ahead loss. On Thursday, Jason Vargas made an actual case to be ace of the staff with seven innings of one-run ball, but Hyun-Jin Ryu did what he has been doing all season and completely shut down New York’s offense. The Dodgers won 2-0 and took the series 3-1. Drew Gagnon showed why he should be the new Mets closer by striking out the only batter he faced.

No one throws like Gagnon. No one owns like Gagnon. No one mops up a really bad loss like Gagnon.

It’s still a work in progress. So, what now? The Mets continue their west coast swing with three games in Arizona this weekend against the Diamondbacks. The Snakes are reeling and desperate for victory after dropping four straight in Colorado. Now they have top pitching prospect Jon Duplantier making his first career start to open this series with the Mets. It will be Zack Wheeler on the hill for New York.

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