Former Kentucky star Tim Couch in the College Football Hall of Fame was long overdue
Random notes:
▪ Former Kentucky quarterback Tim Couch being included in the College Football Hall of Fame was long overdue. And Couch is also getting his own statue at Leslie County High School sometime during the 2024 season.
▪ Interesting SEC basketball game Wednesday at Georgia. Eric Musselman and Arkansas is coming off a 83-51 beatdown home loss to Auburn. Meanwhile, Mike White and Georgia have won nine straight games, including a 75-68 triumph at Missouri on Saturday.
▪ Since losing at Appalachian State 69-64 on Dec. 7, Auburn had won seven straight games heading into Tuesday night’s game at Texas A&M. Better still, the Tigers were No. 5 in Ken Pomeroy’s efficiency rankings, one spot behind Tennessee. (Kentucky was 17th.)
▪ In case you haven’t noticed, former Kentucky guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is third in the NBA in scoring at 31.5 points per game. His Oklahoma City Thunder are currently 24-11 and the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.
▪ Things are not going to well for Mick Cronin at UCLA. After the basketball Bruins’ 66-57 loss to 5-10 California, Cronin failed to show up for his postgame press conference. Cronin sent an assistant coach instead. This after the head coach was hit with a technical foul during a key moment in the loss.
UCLA is now 6-9 overall, 1-3 in the Pac-12. If matters continue to head south in L.A., might Cronin be interested in a Louisville opening? After all, Cronin was a U of L assistant under Rick Pitino from 2001-03.
▪ Speaking of Pitino, the now St. John’s coach tweeted/posted a picture of country music megastar and Kentucky native Chris Stapleton at his basketball camp at UK as a youngster. Pitino joked that he encouraged Stapleton to go into music instead of basketball.
▪ One more note speaking of Pitino, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said he promised his players he would get his first tattoo if the Wolverines won the national championship. That didn’t work out so well for Rick.
▪ What you want to hear from your national champion football coach in the press conference after the title game: “We’re innocent,” Harbaugh said.
▪ As an AP Top 25 college football voter, my toughest decision for the final poll was what to do with Florida State. I ended up placing the Seminoles 10th. They ended up in a tie with Oregon for sixth.
▪ The officials for Monday night’s College Football Playoff championship game were from the ACC, where apparently offensive holding is mostly allowed.
▪ It’s not a coincidence that national champion Michigan led the nation in turnover margin. The Wolverines turned the ball over eight times all season, compared to 27 takeaways.
▪ The SEC finished 5-4 in bowl games. Winners: Georgia, LSU, Missouri, Ole Miss, Tennessee. Losers: Alabama, Auburn, Kentucky, Texas A&M.
▪ The SEC finished 5-6 in bowl games if you want to include incoming members Texas and Oklahoma.
▪ By the way, Kentucky football finished 45th in total defense and 100th in total offense. The Cats finished 58th in scoring offense and 61st in scoring defense.
▪ With Kevin Steele retiring, Alabama’s Nick Saban is in the market for a new defensive coordinator. Might old friend Bill Belichick be available?
▪ Congrats to former Kentucky safety Mike Edwards, who returned a fumble 97 yards for a touchdown in the Kansas City Chiefs’ 13-12 win over the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday. Edwards has had a standout season for Kansas City. The Chiefs play visiting Miami in a wild-card playoff game at 8 p.m. Saturday on Peacock. That’s right, Peacock.
▪ Losing Joe Burrow is not what kept the Cincinnati Bengals out of the playoffs. A weakened defense kept the Bengals from postseason play. Look for Cincinnati to go heavy on that side of the ball in the draft. It needs help in the secondary.
▪ NFL wild-card predictions: Browns over Texans and Chiefs over Dolphins on Saturday; Bills over Steelers, Cowboys over Packers and Rams over Lions on Sunday; Bucs over Eagles on Monday.
▪ RIP to former Louisville basketball assistant coach Jerry Jones, a key figure in Denny Crum’s great run with the Cardinals. And Jones was one of the nicest people you’d ever want to meet.
This story was originally published January 9, 2024 at 11:26 AM.
