By Joe Joe Wright

Let’s talk football!  I was going to talk about the Atlanta Braves, but it is way to early to make any intelligent statement about their 2017 season.  I will say that choosing to make Brian Snitker the new permanent manager of the Bravos is a smart move. Snitker is player’s coach, much like Bobby Cox, so the players will naturally love him and he has done a good job since assuming the role from Freddie Gonzalez.  He has the right amount experience and temperament to do a good job.  So on the outside looking in, I like the choice.  There is a lot of work to do over the next several months, but the most important is to rebuild the farm system back to the level Bobby Cox had made it.

Now back to football.  The DAWGS ain’t impressing me at all.  About half the Bulldog nation said, “ We got better athletes than Alabama, more money than anyone, and we are constantly in the Top 5 of recruiting – our Coach, Mark Richt is killing us.” “All we need is a better Coach.” Well dog nation, ya’ll went out and got a very good coach and ya’ll have had the best recruiting class in Georgia history.  We have two losses –  one to Ole Miss and a miracle to Tennessee.  Oh, and we played awful football (Nicholls State).  The year ain’t over either.  Georgia has a date with Auburn, and that scares me this year and well, the “booger eaters” in Gainesville have owned us for the last hump-teen years or so.  I may have been against Richt’s forced removal, but I do understand the motivational factors behind it.

I still love the DAWGS; I’ve been a fan for 46 years. Now what ya’ll might want to watch out for are the bowl games.  If Georgia can finish 9-3 or 10-2, and I am almost certain that Miami will finish at that, WELL NOW!!!!!! Don’t you know that the powers that be will be just itching to line them up in one of four bowls: The Music City, Belk, Outback, or the Buffalo Wild Wing Citrus Bowl.  They will move Heaven and Earth to make it happen, I know I will be watching.  Well, Mark Stalnaker will be watching, after all he is the only Miami fan that I know of around here (A PRE Mark Richt era fan).

Now for the first time in my memory, I actually pretty much agree with AP top 25.  Big Bad BAMA looks unstoppable and they play Texas AM on the 22^nd of October, but first they have a visit to Neyland Stadium this Saturday.  Ohio State and Michigan play on November 26^th.  The Washington Huskie have really been very impressive out on the West Coast beating Stanford like a drum and Oregon, I don’t think that USC or UTAH can slow them down.  Clemson looks to be good enough to run the table, but I still think they get upset down in Tallahassee on the 29^th. I  can see mass confusion on November 3^rd for the Playoff Committee.

So here is how it looks to play out right now, anyway.  Alabama, Clemson, Texas AM, and Nebraska (5-0) right now all lose a game before November 6.  Alabama drops to 3^rd in the rankings and will be 3^rd in the Playoff Selection.  Clemson drops to 5^th in polls.  Ohio State moves to #1 across the board and Michigan moves to #2 across the board.  Of course, if Ohio State loses today, you can scratch half of this.  I really think that the Ohio State vs. Michigan game on November 26 will be huge.  The loser will drop out of the playoff picture, and the winner will be Number 1 seed.  So here is the first stab at the playoff picture.

11/6/2016 – Ohio State, Michigan, Alabama, Washington, Clemson, Louisville, Tennessee.

11/13/2016 – Ohio State, Michigan, Alabama, Washington

11/20/2016 – Ohio State, Michigan, Alabama, Washington

11/27/2016 – Ohio State, Alabama, Washington, Clemson

Next week we will delve into the high school arena.