Scattershooting a strong finish at Kyle Field, The Big Game, and a Return of the Mad Hatter?

Scattershooting while wondering whatever happened to Tommy Maddox...

- It all goes by too fast these days. A few blinks and we are at the final two games at Kyle Field for the season. And these last two seem pretty damn important for year one of the Jimbo experiment. Win them both and we finish in the Top 25, head to a nice bowl game, finish in second place in the SEC West, and have a winning conference record. Not to mention a win finally over LSU. Optimism would be riding high in Aggieland. Split these games and it’s another season ending loss to LSU, a 4-4 conference record, and a marginal bowl game. Nothing horrible about this season, but nothing truly great either. Drop both games and all of the momentum from early in the season is pissed away. Two more games at Kyle Field for the seniors on this team that have given their best. Hopefully they get to leave on a good run at home. Let’s help send them out right 12th Man!

- I should have mentioned this earlier in the season, but the best studio show in college football every week is on Tuesday nights on CBS Sports Network “Inside College Football”. They do a great job of recapping the prior week, previewing the biggest games, and having fun. Seriously they keep it as lighthearted and fun as possible, which is something most other studio shows struggle with mightily. Rick Neuheisel and Aaron Taylor are really good, as evidenced in their TV coverage vs Ole Miss. They are the “B team” for CBS, but I’d swap them out for Danielson in a heart beat. Randy Cross gives great stats and if I had to bet (pun intended) I’d wager he’s a closet gambler based on his weekly nuggets and trends, or why he’s got a lean on a game. Brian Johnson is a sip homer, but I can deal with it. He’s usually the butt of jokes from other hosts, so that’s fine.

- Laramie is expecting 6 inches of snow tomorrow and blowing wind. Keep Air Force and Wyoming on your radar for that one tomorrow.

- I expect a tough road for Les Miles if he ends up at Kansas, but I’ll be very happy to have him back in college football. It was good for the game to get Mike Leach back coaching at Wazzu, and I feel the same way about Les. Plus his son has a shot to be our starting fullback next season, so hopefully some of Les’s crazy good luck mojo passed on to the next generation.

- Other than Ohio State losing at Purdue, the season as a whole has been a little too chalky for the top teams. Just feels like we are due for some unexpected, bat shit crazy stuff to happen here at the end.

Rivalry of the Week

We are entering the most glorious time of the year when rivalry games start to really matter. Next week is loaded with them. But this week we have a couple of offerings like USC-UCLA (hope they go color vs color on the uniforms) and Florida State fans vs Spellcheck. But today we’re talking “The Big Game”. Stanford vs Cal. These two will be meeting for the 121st time this weekend, and the winner takes home the Stanford Axe. We will talk more about axe trophies next week, but a giant axe head mounted on a plaque is a nice start. Stanford has won 8 straight in the series, but this looks to be a coin flip game at home for Cal tomorrow night. I’m sure you know by now what happened to end this game back in 1982, but if not, familiarize yourself here.

Food Fight

Let’s make some chili. Start with four pounds of ground meat (venison if you have it). Brown it and drain the fat, and then sauté in a chopped white onion. Put in a large pot and turn the heat on low or simmer. Add the following...

3 tbsp. chili powder

1 tbsp. black pepper

1 tbsp. salt

1/4 tbsp. garlic powder

1 tbsp. cumin

1.5 tbsp. paprika

3/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

3 cans (14 oz) of diced tomatoes

46 oz of tomato juice

Cover and simmer until ready. If it needs to thicken a little, take the cover off and let it simmer until correct consistency. For a cool fall weekend and a bowl of chili, I highly recommend a Coors Original Banquet Beer. It’s perfect out of a cold keg, but otherwise I would grab some of the stubby bottles. Enjoy and Beat the Hell Outta u-a-b!!