Bigtime college football is more professional than ever, with NIL and the transfer portal, but there’s at least one way the NCAA game isn’t all the way in quite yet.
The younger pros aren’t playing on Christmas Day. That’s left to the NBA and NFL.
Before then, the College Football Playoff starts Friday night with an SEC matchup sending Alabama to Oklahoma. Saturday gives us Miami at Texas A&M, Tulane visiting No-Lane, and James Madison all the way out in NikeTown to get quacked by Oregon’s Ducks.
The quarterfinal games kick off on New Year’s Eve hosted by Ohio State, followed on New Year’s Day providing homefield advantage to the other three top seeds: Indiana, Georgia and Texas Tech.
Sad to say, your TV sports options after Santa settles into his easy chair next Thursday are as appealing as Aunt Maxine’s fruit salad.
There’s the traditional Christmas Day NBA octo-header. OK, so it’s really five games, but for 12 hours and change, that’s what you’ll have on ABC and ESPN. Defense is legal only in the last two minutes and overtime.
The NFL serves up Cowboys-Commanders in a Consolation Classic, part of a trio of games (Denver-KC, Detroit-Minnesota) that looked salty on the preseason schedule and now are stale leftovers. At least Dak Prescott should have a merry Christmas, and we’ll get in-the-house singing from Kelly Clarkson and Snoop Dog.
I like Kelly and Snoop. And Dak. But I’m more likely to turn to the History Channel next Thursday, or maybe even (gasp!) head outside on a vintage 70-something degree Louisiana winter day.
Before I go fullscale Scrooge, let me bring some Christmastime cheer, via Will Wade.
His first North Carolina State basketball team won’t be playing Christmas Day. That’s too bad, because it means he won’t be doing a postgame press conference.
The former LSU (and more recently McNeese) coach is college hoops’ version of college football’s late, great Mike “The Pirate” Leach. Given an audience of one or more, and looking at a microphone like a rabbit sees a carrot, Wade’s eyes sparkle with glee. And his message often drips with sarcasm.
He was hailed as “Willy the Kid” before that nickname faded as he defiantly Waded into trouble at LSU, showing up on FBI wiretaps with colorful conversations as he dealt with agents – doing then what is absolutely legal now. Not that he was the only coach doing that then.
But I digress, which “The American Gangster” did not following his new team’s 108-72 slaughter of Texas Southern Wednesday night.
NC State fans were once treated to the joy of Jim Valvano, whose charisma, candor and authenticity was off the charts. Wade’s fans from his days in Baton Rouge and Lake Charles rate him highly in those categories.
His sophomore guard, Paul McNeil, poured in an ACC record-tying 11 3-pointers Wednesday night in a 47-point explosion. His Wolf Pack won by 36. Thirty-six. They’re 8-4, including a one-point overtime loss to Kansas (not too shabby).
My early Christmas gift to you is this partial postgame transcript:
“Got a great team G.P.A., over 3.0, all that stuff. It’s wonderful,” said Wade. “We’re running a day care. Got a lot of casual personalities on our team, don’t have people that are revved up and ready to go.
“I had one of the kids come to me and say, ‘I’m tough, I’m tough.’ I said, ‘(BEEEEEP) you’re not even in the top 50 of the toughest players I’ve coached, not even the top 50. I don’t want to hear that. Tough? You wouldn’t even make the top 25 of my last five years, and I sat out a year.’
“Lack of attention to detail. Lack of focus. That’s great when you have somebody who sets the ACC record for made 3’s, the school record for made 3’s, but we’re relying on hope, that one of these cats is going to go ballistic every night. Hope’s a bad strategy in my book.”
Is he concerned his team isn’t further along 12 games in, he was asked.
“It’s concerning it’s taken this long and we’re not there. We’ve got all high-major games from here on out. Kindergarten’s over. Yeah, it’s concerning.”
Plenty of people, including our governor, want to see Wade back at LSU. How lively would that make Tiger Nation?
Lane Kiffin, Kim Mulkey and Wade. With Jeff Landry weighing in from the suite seats.
ESPN would have to locate a studio for Marty Smith and crew on Highland Road.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com
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