$75M...it's the number Jimbo Fisher will be connected to forever. It's the amount of money Texas A&M felt was worth offering Fisher to leave Florida State and make the Aggies among the best in the mighty SEC. Fisher was more than ready to bail on the Seminoles. He became disengaged. Recruiting began to drop off. He openly talked how the Noles' were falling behind ACC rivals in facilities and it became clear he wanted a new challenge. Along came the Texas A&M opportunity and Fisher to College Station. But the honeymoon is over. Fisher is not in jeopardy of losing his job. No one is pulling a Willie Taggart and paying tens of millions to a coach, especially during a pandemic. But Fisher faces a challenging three weeks. After posting seasons of 9-4 and 8-5, expectations are high for his 2020 team. They have been favorably ranked and now the spotlight will shine on his team. Starting tomorrow, the Aggies face Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Next week they will host Florida and in two weeks travel to Starkville to face Mike Leach and his Air Raid offense. Should Fisher drop all three, the billionaire oil rich donors will certainly wonder why they are paying their coach the salary they thought he was worth. Fisher can ease the concern of his critics by winning even two of the three. But win one or none and the season can get ugly quickly. There's still games at South Carolina, Tennessee and Auburn and a home game against LSU that will be challenging as well. Fisher got everything he wanted when he jumped ship from FSU. But now it's time to prove he was worth the investment and so far the return has been lukewarm. Fisher was hired to win a national championship. The next three weeks may go a long way in determining if Fisher is closer to the goal or just a middle of the pack team in the SEC...
UCF faces Tulsa tomorrow. The Knights lost to the Golden Hurricane last year 34-31. It was the third loss of the year for the Knights, who lose all three games by a total of seven points. UCF owns the nation's second longest home win streak at 21. They have also scored a rushing and passing touchdown in 41 consecutive games, In 15 career college games, UCF quarterback Dillon Gabriel has thrown 37 touchdowns and already sits 9th on the all-time list for the Knights...
Will Muschamp returns to Gainesville this weekend as South Carolina faces the Gators. Did you know Muschamp was Nick Saban's assistant defensive coordinator in 2005 during Saban's first season with the Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins went from 4-12 in 2004, to 9-7. But Musuchamp missed the college game and returned in 2006 when he went to Auburn as the DC...
Known as the "Deep South's Oldest Rivalry"- Auburn and Georgia play Saturday in Athens. The Tigers and Bulldogs have played 124 times, with Georgia leading the series 60-56-8. Only Minnesota and Wisconsin have played more. When was the first game between the two SEC rivals? February 20, 1892. Auburn was that first game 10-0...
MLB, NBA, NHL and MLS- all figured how to be creative when it came to their playoff format by adding teams. MLB's decision to go to 16 teams for the post-season was worth an additional $200M from its media partners. Yet, when an idea was raised by Pac 12 commissioner Larry Scott to expand the College Football Playoff it was nothing more than a note during a zoom call. It got no traction and the idea died quickly. It would be the perfect time to expand for the many reasons we all know. But in the end, the same older, non-creative crowd did what they often do...nothing...
We are giving away tickets to the Bucs and Chargers game on the radio show today. And we also have a pair of Orlando City tickets for the match against the NY Red Bulls. Be the first caller (407-916-8255) when I ask for the key word for each. Here are the key words:
Bucs/Chargers: CATTYWAMPUS
Orlando City/NY Red Bulls: SNICKERSNEE
Final thought: A dog's sense of smell is so good that it can detect a teaspoon of sugar in a million gallons of water, or two Olympic-size pools.