Welcome to FTW Explains, a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world.
(Editor’s note: This story originally ran in 2020.)
If you’re clicking on this on Thanksgiving, I’m imagining it’s from your recliner after you had one too many slices of pumpkin pie as you’re settling in to watch an afternoon of NFL action. Suddenly, it hits you as you’re watching two mediocre teams playing on Turkey Day: why do the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys ALWAYS play on Thanksgiving?
Let’s go back in time for the answer as to when this all started and see if we can figure out why this is still the case.
When did Thanksgiving games start in the first place?
According to Princeton University, Princeton and Yale played each other in football in 1876, and the game would become a tradition until 1893. When professional football sprouted up in the early 20th century, Thanksgiving games did as well.
OK, can we get to the Lions and —
The Pro Football Hall of Fame lists Thanksgiving games starting in 1920 between teams including the Decatur Staleys and Chicago Tigers and the Dayton Triangles and Detroit Heralds.
Thanks for the history lesson but the tryptophan is kicking in …
Fine, fine. In 1934, Detroit Lions owner George Richards decided a good way to market his team was to play on Thanksgiving. He also agreed to allow NBC’s radio station network to broadcast that first game between the Lions and Chicago Bears. He had hit on something, per the Hall of Fame:
The 26,000 tickets for the Turkey Day clash in the University of Detroit Stadium, were sold out two weeks in advance of the game. It was estimated that another 25,000 would have attended had there been seats available.
They did it again next year and the year after that, and thus a tradition was born.
How bout them Cowboys?
I see what you did there. Dallas owner Tex Schramm, too, wanted some national attention, so he volunteered his team to play. The NFL was concerned about how many tickets the Cowboys could sell that day, but the same thing that happened with the Lions: after the league got a guarantee of minimum ticket revenue, the Cowboys had a reported 80,000-plus fans show up to watch them play the Cleveland Browns.
So why is this STILL a tradition? Why not let other teams play?
Regarding that second one: they do now! There was a third game added in 2006 that allows other teams to rotate in and play.
As for the first? I haven’t found a definitive answer, so here’s an educated guess: with the Lions — who are under .500 on Thanksgiving Day — it’s tradition. And the NFL likes tradition, even if it’s a terrible franchise that can’t seem to get it right year after year playing on a national holiday.
The Cowboys are a different story. The idea that they’re “America’s Team” seems long gone, but the fact is that they’re a big national draw to begin with. We watch what is sometimes a powerful offense steamroll an opposing team, or with some schadenfreude if they’re terrible.
A reminder, this is the only major that allows the devices.
The PGA of America announced back in 2021 that it would allow the use of distance-measuring devices in its three professional major championships – PGA Championship, KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship – starting that year.
The devices made their first appearance at the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island Golf Resort’s Ocean Course in South Carolina.
“We’re always interested in methods that may help improve the flow of play during our Championships,” said Jim Richerson, then the president of the PGA of America. “The use of distance-measuring devices is already common within the game and is now a part of the Rules of Golf. Players and caddies have long used them during practice rounds to gather relevant yardages.”
The PGA of America became the first major body to allow the devices in all its premier professional events. There had been speculation for years that such devices might help speed play, as players and caddies don’t have to walk off yardages to sprinkler heads and other fixed positions.
The United States Golf Association’s Rules of Golf have allowed the use of laser rangefinders and GPS devices in casual play and tournaments since 2006, but a local rule allowed a tournament committee to ban such devices. At elite professional levels of play, the devices still have not been embraced for competition rounds, though they have been allowed in the U.S. Amateur since 2014. They are still not allowed during competition rounds at PGA Tour events or at the U.S. Open and British Opens.
In keeping with Rule 4.3a (1), the devices allowed can report only on distance and direction. Devices that calculate elevation changes or wind speeds, or that suggest a club for a player as well as other data, will not be allowed.
Wyndham Clark checks the distance to the 11th hole during the second round of the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club. (Photo: Clare Grant/Louisville Courier Journal)
The devices aren’t new for the pros, many of whom already use laser rangefinders and GPS in practice rounds.
Many laser rangefinders provide information on elevation changes and “plays-like” distances. Most of those devices come with a switch to turn off such information, but many elite players opt for devices that do not provide elevation and other data as a precaution against forgetting to turn off those functions.
Editor’s note: This story was originally published in 2020.
Welcome to FTW Explains: A guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. You may have heard it’s Paczki Day and are wondering what that’s all about. We’re here to help.
It’s Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday, and you may have heard some people talking about paczki or Paczki Day as well and have no idea what they’re talking about. That’s OK because we’re here to explain.
There are countless ways people celebrate Fat Tuesday, the day before the Christian holy day of Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. And this is just one more.
Although Paczki Day is a particularly big deal in the Midwest, it’s certainly not exclusive to that area of the U.S. So let’s break down the basics.
What is are paczki?
RICHARD LEE/Detroit Free Press/USA TODAY Network
A paczek is a Polish-style fried pastry bun made with butter, eggs and sugar and filled with fruit or jelly. The plural of paczek is paczki — although it’s common for people to throw an S on the end of that.
As the Detroit Free Press noted a few years ago, traditional paczki are prune-filled, but nowadays, there are a wide variety of fruit or custard fillings. They can also have a powder, glaze or sometimes chocolate finish.
How do you pronounce paczki or paczek?
One Polish-style pastry, paczek, is pronounced poon-check, while the plural, paczki, is pronounced poonch-key.
What do paczki taste like?
They’re a delightfully sublime slice of heaven that melt in your mouth with each exceptionally high-caloric bite. It’s richer, and far better, than a typical doughnut and only comes in a spherical shape. And despite being fairly heavy — although the really good ones don’t often taste like it — they’re not greasy, thanks to a small amount of grain alcohol added to the dough, which, when it evaporates, prevents the dough from absorbing oil.
It’s along the same lines of Fat Tuesday, or the last day to splurge on sweets or rich food before fasting during the Lenten, the six weeks that precede Easter on the Christian calendar. Leading up to Lent, indulging with paczki has been a tradition in Europe dating back at least to the Middle Ages, the Detroit Free Press noted. But, of course, traditions and recipes have evolved in the U.S.
While the practice of Pączki Day is traditionally observed the day before Ash Wednesday in the United States, in Poland, pączki sales are the highest on Tlusty Czwartek, or “Fat Thursday.” (The Thursday before Ash Wednesday). This day marks the start of the final week of the pre-Lenten celebrations.
It’s #FatTuesday and this Michigan girl needs to find a paczki stat! Unfortunately, Floridians aren’t known for their paczkis 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/xAm9PFoQ7o
A reminder that Indianapolis Motor Speedway is enormous.
This story was originally published in 2020 and has been updated.
As the host to the Indianapolis 500, one of the biggest motor sports events in the world, Indianapolis Motor Speedway is absolutely massive with a capacity that can hold at least 350,000 people between the grandstands and the infield.
In fact, the infield of the iconic 2.5-mile track is so ridiculously gigantic that, at 253 acres, it’s large enough to simultaneously hold several other sports venues and international landmarks — if that were an actual thing that could happen, of course.
So, with the 107th Indy 500 on Sunday, we thought this would be a good time to remind everyone just how enormous Indianapolis Motor Speedway is. The IMS infield could hold eight major landmarks inside of it simultaneously: Churchill Downs, Yankee Stadium, Rose Bowl Stadium, Vatican City, the Taj Mahal, the White House, Liberty Island and the Roman Colosseum.
In the image below, Yankee Stadium, Liberty Island, the White House and the Colosseum are on top of the golf course inside the track.
As Snopes previously noted about this astounding fact, we’re only talking about the Indy track’s infield and not the total property acreage, so that is the standard applied here to exclude the landmarks’ surrounding areas. More via Snopes:
Adding up the footprints of Churchill Downs (80 acres), Yankee Stadium (15 acres), the Rose Bowl (10 acres), the Roman Colosseum (6 acres), Vatican City (110 acres), the White House (18 acres), Taj Mahal (less than 1 acre), and Liberty Island (12 acres), produces an overall area (252 acres) that is smaller than the size of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (253 acres). (We’re ignoring the issue of whether the shapes of these landmarks would allow them to be placed within the IMS without any overlap or stacking.)
So yeah, Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a monster sports venue that could hold several major attractions if that were actually possible.
The 107th running of the Indy 500 is Sunday, May 29 with coverage beginning at 11 a.m. ET on NBC. The green flag is set for 12:45 p.m. ET.
It was five years ago that Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche introduced the UFC to women’s MMA with a historic bout that paved the way for more divisions and more women.
(Editor’s note: This story was first published Feb. 23, 2018.)
It was the evening of Feb. 23, 2013, and those roughly half a million souls watching the UFC 157 main event were in the process of experiencing a “gigantic cultural moment,” according to longtime UFC commentator Joe Rogan.
Wearing her trademark scowl, [autotag]Ronda Rousey[/autotag] made the walk to the octagon for the first time. Waiting for her inside the cage was [autotag]Liz Carmouche[/autotag], a challenger on a modest two-fight winning streak who also added another first to the UFC’s historic night – the first openly gay fighter to compete in the promotion’s cage.
Funny how, just a couple years earlier, UFC President Dana White had confidently insisted that this day would never come. Now that it had finally arrived, there were few people more outwardly excited about it than he was. But it didn’t happen overnight. And who knows when (if ever) it would have happened if not for Rousey, who burst onto the MMA scene in 2011 and quickly became the focus of the women’s division.
It all started in Strikeforce, the one-time rival to the UFC that embraced women’s MMA beginning in its first year of operations. While women’s bouts had flourished on smaller stages both overseas and domestically, with organizations like Jeff Osborne’s HOOKnSHOOT, it was in Strikeforce that key divisions like women’s bantamweight really started to grow up.
Fighters like Gina Carano, Miesha Tate, Sarah Kaufman, Marloes Coenen, Roxanne Modafferi, they all honed their skills in Scott Coker’s Strikeforce.
But in late 2011, it was an Olympic bronze medalist named Ronda Rousey who started stealing the spotlight with her quick submission victories. In three fights as an amateur and four fights as a pro, she’d yet to be taken past the first minute of the first round. Even more notable, all her fights ended the exact same way – with an armbar.
Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche face off at UFC 157 weigh-ins. (AP)
But it wasn’t just her performances inside the cage that drew people’s attention. Rousey also had a gift for the sound bite, stinging potential opponents in interviews and demanding a shot at the Strikeforce women’s bantamweight title after just two fights as a featherweight with the organization.
In addition to her good looks and natural charisma, Rousey had a certain urgency that set her apart from her peers. She wasn’t content just to win fights quickly; she wanted it all in a hurry, and she didn’t mind stepping on other people’s toes to get it.
[lawrence-related id=304327]
That’s how Rousey seemingly jumped to the front of the line for a title fight against reigning Strikeforce champion Miesha Tate in 2012. While Strikeforce had been purchased by the UFC’s parent company the year before, it was still operating as its own entity when the organization and its TV partner, Showtime, went all-in on promoting the Rousey-Tate fight. The effort included slick ads showing both women transitioning from evening wear to cage attire, leading up to an intense face-off in the end.
Tate would prove to be Rousey’s toughest test, which is to say that it took Rousey until the final minute of the first round to turn her arm into a twist tie. At the time, it felt like the biggest thing to happen in women’s MMA since Carano vs. Cyborg.
Then Rousey kept defending her title while Strikeforce played out its last days before a final shutdown, until finally in December of 2012 White announced what by then seemed inevitable: Rousey was coming to the UFC, and she was bringing the women’s bantamweight division with her.
White liked what he saw in Rousey & believed that she could help build women's MMA. In December of 2012, Ronda Rousey was declared the UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion.
Carmouche was by no means an obvious choice as Rousey’s first opponent. She’d put herself on the WMMA map with a surprisingly strong performance in a losing effort against then-Strikeforce champion Coenen in 2011, then dropped a decision to Kaufman in her next fight. But after winning two straight in the first two Invicta FC events, she seemed like a dependable, known quantity, and one with a personal story worth telling.
Ronda Rousey at UFC 157. (USA TODAY Sports)
When people questioned Carmouche’s credentials as a challenger, White explained that the UFC had wanted to match Rousey up with featherweight phenom Cris Cyborg, but the bout didn’t come together.
“That was obviously the fight we wanted to make,” White said. “We wanted to do that at 135 pounds, and we worked hard to make that fight. I believe this fight will happen. I truly believe the next fight will be the Cyborg fight. This fight first and then Cyborg will happen at 135 pounds.”
In episodes of “UFC Primetime” leading up to UFC 157, Rousey predictably got the greater share of the spotlight, but Carmouche was there as the no-frills former Marine living a spartan existence with her girlfriend in San Diego. They may not have had a kitchen table, but they were happy, and here was Carmouche’s big chance to change their lives forever.
Of course, it wasn’t hard to see that few people wanted the bout to go that way. Rousey was the superstar driving interest in this fight. Throughout fight week in Southern California, she drew attention from mainstream media outlets, as well as crowds of fans at every possible turn.
White didn’t shy away from the fact that it was Rousey alone who convinced him to rethink his stance on women’s MMA, which left an unanswered question hanging over the impending event: What if she lost?
Was the UFC really interested in a women’s division, or was it only interested in the Ronda Show?
White attempted to allay those concerns at a Q&A the day before the event, telling fans that the UFC already had 10 female bantamweights under contract with plans to add five more. Still, only six fighters (Rousey, Carmouche, Tate, Cat Zingano, Sara McMann, and Alexis Davis) had been announced as UFC signees by that point. Longtime staples of the division like Kaufman and Julie Kedzie didn’t find out that their Strikeforce contracts had been absorbed until a tweet from a reporter announced it later on.
Many of those fighters were in attendance at Honda Center in Anaheim on fight night, and why wouldn’t they be? The day they’d been waiting for had finally arrived, even if it was Rousey in the spot they’d all hoped to claim for themselves.
Carmouche, the challenger, entered first, wearing the usual hodgepodge of MMA sponsors. Rousey walked second, wearing UFC branded gear (unusual in the pre-Reebok era), which only seemed to solidify the notion that the company had more invested in one of these fighters than the other.
“This is not just a moment for Ronda Rousey; this is a moment for women’s sports, period,” Rogan said during her entrance. “This is going to open the door to so many young women that never thought about doing this as a career.”
About Carmouche, Rogan noted that she had dedicated her training camp to defending the armbar and had reportedly been shutting down the training partners who tried it on her.
Liz Carmouche and Ronda Rousey at UFC 157. (USA TODAY Sports)
“Do (those training partners) have the skill of Ronda Rousey?” Rogan said. “Probably not, if they’re a woman.”
As soon as the fight began, Rousey did what she’d always done, charging straight across the cage and attempting to punch her way into a clinch. It wasn’t long before she’d trapped Carmouche against the fence, working a trip from a head-and-arm position to slowly drag her to the mat.
But as Rousey committed to controlling Carmouche’s head with one arm while trying to isolate a limb with the other, Carmouche managed to slip out and sit up to take Rousey’s back just as the champion got to her feet.
Not only was it a dangerous position, but it was also eerily reminiscent from a finish earlier in the night, when Urijah Faber submitted a standing Ivan Menjivar with a rear-naked choke. Now here was Carmouche, looking not unlike Faber when her hair was in braids, wrapping her forearm across Rousey’s jaw and squeezing for the finish.
Or, as Rogan put it on the UFC 157 broadcast: “She’s getting her face cranked!”
Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche at UFC 157. (USA TODAY Sports)
But Rousey stayed calm and soon she was out. She fought off the hooks and dumped Carmouche to her back, pausing a moment to adjust her UFC sports bra before stepping through Carmouche’s guard and spinning into side control.
Now Rousey was right back where she wanted to be, controlling Carmouche’s head while isolating an arm and peppering her with punches. Carmouche held tough and kept her arm close. But soon Rousey stepped over and latched on the armbar. When Carmouche stood to defend, Rousey rolled her over, then readjusted her grip and, in the final minute of the opening round, peeling off Carmouche’s defenses and extended her right arm.
Carmouche had no choice then. Like everyone else, she saw what happened to Tate when she refused to tap. She could submit and lose, or hold out and give up the use of her arm for the next few weeks – and lose anyway. Wisely, she chose the former.
It was a triumph for Rousey, albeit an expected one. But now she could stand grinning in the cage with a UFC title belt that finally felt like hers, asking Rogan in the post-fight interview, “Is this real life?”
As she fought off the choke, she explained, she was also fighting off a potential wardrobe malfunction.
“I was trying to think about my bra falling down and her on my back at the same time,” Rousey said. “So next time, bigger bra.”
When it was Carmouche’s turn to be interviewed, Rogan showed her the clip of her wrenching Rousey’s face from the back, adding, “and it looked bad – well, it looked good for you.”
Ronda Rousey after beating Liz Carmouche at UFC 157. (USA TODAY Sports)
Afterwards, Carmouche would show up smiling at the post-fight press conference almost as if she’d won (or as if she’d made enough even in defeat to take some of the sting off the loss).
Rousey seemed mostly glad for the experience to be over. When she spoke, you could hear the fatigue along with the relief in her voice. She’d spent weeks carrying a heavy load, not only for the UFC but for women’s MMA in general. All those peers who’d resented her back when she was skipping the line and stealing the show? They’d end up counting on her, and she’d clearly felt the weight of their expectations.
“I felt like we really did live up to the whole hype of it,” Rousey said at the post-fight press conference. “The place was going nuts. I’m glad it was a full house. I was just honored to be a part of it. It was a special night.”
It really was. And it was also only the beginning.
Rousey finished Carmouche with an armbar. The first women's fight in UFC history & a historic moment for our sport. pic.twitter.com/Q82JFMmXUO
“Today in MMA History” is an MMAjunkie series created in association with MMA History Today, the social media outlet dedicated to reliving “a daily journey through our sport’s history.”
Fight footage courtesy of UFC Fight Pass, the UFC’s official digital subscription service, which is currently offering a seven-day free trial. UFC Fight Pass gives fans access to exclusive live UFC events and fights, exclusive live MMA and combat sports events from around the world, exclusive original and behind the scenes content and unprecedented 24-7 access to the world’s biggest fight library.
What are the top college football programs of from 2010 to 2019 going by the Coaches Poll?
\What are the top college football programs of all-time going by the USA Today Coaches Poll and UPI rankings? Here are the top teams from 2010 to 2019 according to a CFN formula using all the USA Today Coaches final polls.
Which college football programs are the greatest of all-time according to the UPI and USA Today Coaches final polls?
It’s been Alabama’s decade with three national titles making it far and away the best program of the 2010s so far according to the final USA Today Coaches Polls. Who else have rocked over the decade?
Clemson, Ohio State and Oklahoma, and they all ended up tied behind Alabama.
Taking all the UPI and Coaches Poll final rankings, CFN devised a scoring system giving every AP national champion 25 points, the No. 2 team 24, No. 3 23, and so on down to the bottom.
Note, again, this is based on the CFN formula. This isn’t any official ranking coming from USA TODAY or the Coaches Poll.
Heisman Trophy Winners Ranking: Who were the most worthy winners among the college football legends?
What would happen if you took all 86 Heisman winners and tried to figure out who were the most worthy and who had the best seasons in their respective campaigns?
The Heisman is supposed to go to the player who had the best year, so throwing out everything else you know about many of the greatest college football players ever, and only going by their Heisman winning years – and NOT factoring in how they did in the pros – here’s how their respective winning seasons would stack up.
This isn’t a ranking of the best players of all-time. It’s a ranking of how good each Heisman-winning season was compared to the rest of the field, and put into a historical sense.
There are several things to take into account with all-time Heisman rankings.
– The information available now is night-and-day better than it was in past eras.
With the internet, ESPN, on-demand stats, better television coverage, better direct marketing campaigns, and more sophisticated sports information departments, the Heisman voting is – 2020 finish behind DeVonta Smith aside – far, far stronger than it was in the old days.
That’s why many of the older winners are further down the list – they weren’t necessarily the best candidates. However, that didn’t stop a few major mistakes in recent seasons, too.
– Historically, the Heisman almost always went to junior or senior offensive skill players – underclassmen winning the thing is relatively new.
– Don’t just go by statistics. Different eras meant different things to the numbers.
– Who was the signature player in each season? That’s always debatable, but a whole lot of older winners got the Heisman because it was their turn, and not necessarily because they were the biggest stars of the season or had the best campaigns.
– Several players on this list had better seasons than their Heisman winning years, but they don’t count. For example, Army’s Glenn Davis would’ve probably ended up in the top three if either of the two seasons before his Heisman winning year were included. Nebraska’s Johnny Rodgers was better in 1971 than he was in 1972 when he won the Heisman. Only the Heisman winning seasons count.
And finally, all of these players were amazing, all of them are legends, and all of them are key parts of the history of college football. There’s no ripping on the players here – it’s all about the worthiness of the win in their respective seasons.
The strangest of all Heisman victories, Beban only threw for 1,359 yards with eight touchdown passes and eight interceptions. His one shining moment came on national television completing 16 of 24 passes for 301 yards with two touchdowns and an interception against USC. There was one problem … UCLA lost thanks to a scintillating performance from Trojan star RB O.J. Simpson.
Simpson led his team to the national title thanks to a historic 64-yard touchdown run against the Bruins to finish with 1,543 rushing yards and 16 total touchdowns. Beban did run for 11 scores on the season, but he only gained 227 yards.
85. 1953 Johnny Lattner, HB Notre Dame
runner-up: Paul Giel, HB Minnesota
Call this one for the Notre Dame hype machine. Lattner didn’t even lead the Irish in passing, rushing, receiving or scoring. He was a great all-purpose player and a fantastic defensive back, but his close win over Minnesota’s Paul Giel is among Heisman historians’ all-time arguments.
84. 2001 Eric Crouch, QB Nebraska
runner-up: Rex Grossman, QB Florida
Had Florida’s Rex Grossman been a senior and Nebraska’s Eric Crouch been a sophomore, and not the other way around, it would’ve been a Grossman landslide. Crouch had a great year rushing, but his claim to the honor was a touchdown catch to seal a win over Oklahoma. Grossman threw for fewer than 300 yards once, 290 in the win over Florida State, and in the team’s biggest games he threw for 362 against Tennessee, 464 against LSU and 407 against Georgia.
83. 1971 Pat Sullivan, QB Auburn
runner-up: Ed Marinaro, RB Cornell
Sullivan was a fine passer, but he was known more for being a great winner and leader, getting Auburn to a 9-0 start. However, he had his worst performance in the biggest game of the year, throwing for only 121 yards with two interceptions in a 31-7 loss to Alabama. On the year, he threw for 2,262 yards and 21 touchdowns with 13 picks, and he ran for 66 yards and two scores. He won partly because he was tremendous the year before – he had a better 1970 season.
82. 1992 Gino Torretta, QB Miami
runner-up: Marshall Faulk, RB San Diego State
Torretta’s name has become unfairly become synonymous for players who win the Heisman when voters can’t decide on a candidate. He threw for a solid 3,060 yards and 19 touchdowns with seven interceptions before the Sugar Bowl loss to Alabama, but it helped that he was a senior, and San Diego State’s Marshall Faulk and Georgia’s Garrison Hearst weren’t.
81. 1956 Paul Hornung, QB Notre Dame
runner-up: Johnny Majors, RB Tennessee
Either you could say Hornung won because of the Notre Dame name, or you can just call him a victim of circumstance as he was a great player on a lousy team. The only Heisman winner from a losing team, he only ran for 420 yards and racked up 1,337 yards of total offense. However, stats don’t measure quite how good he was on an awful team.
80. 1947 Johnny Lujack, QB Notre Dame
runner-up: Bob Chappus, HB Michigan
Sort of the early version of Gino Torretta, Lujack won the Heisman as the signature player on a ridiculously talented team. Along with being one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the first half of the 20th Century, he was also known for being a top tackler.
79. 1975 Archie Griffin, RB Ohio State
runner-up: Chuck Muncie, RB California
One of the great Heisman debates, Griffin won his second straight award despite only rushing for only four touchdowns – Pete Johnson took carries and stats away rushing for 1,059 yards and 26 touchdowns. Cal’s Chuck Muncie ran for 1,460 yards averaging 6.4 yards per carry with 13 touchdowns. Worse yet, Griffin had his only non-100-yard day against Michigan with a 46-yard performance. The Buckeyes still won and went off to the Rose Bowl where they lost to UCLA – Griffin ran for 93 yards.
78. 1958 Pete Dawkins, RB Army
runner-up: Randy Duncan, QB Iowa
Dawkins was the leader of a mighty Army team that went 8-0-1. He ran for 12 touchdowns and was a decent kick returner, but he primarily won the Heisman for being the American ideal. He was smart, good-looking, and the top player for the high-powered Army team.
77. 1959 Billy Cannon, HB LSU
runner-up: Rich Lucas, QB Penn State
Cannon was the heart and soul of the 11-0 LSU team … in 1958. He was good in 1959, remembered for a legendary performance in a 7-3 win over Ole Miss, but he won the Award off the year before. Had he won it in 1958, Cannon would be much, much higher on this list.
76. 1964 John Huarte, QB Notre Dame
runner-up: Jerry Rhome, QB Tulsa
Huarte had a good season leading the Irish to a 9-1 record, but it was nothing special, only completing 57% of his passes for 2,062 yards and 16
Colorado State fell to Boise State again last week, 49-10. The Rams got on the board early with a field goal, but could only muster one more score before being shutout in the second half. That score however, showed what this offense can do. As Clay Millen connected with Justus Ross-Simmons on a 76 yard bomb.
This week, the Rams leave the state of Colorado for the last time this year as they head to San Jose to face the west divison leading Spartans. The Spartans are led by Brent Brennan, who is in his 6th season in charge and has led San Jose State to a 25-39 record and a Mountain West title in 2020.
The Spartans are on another run to a title after taking a step back last year. They brought in a number of transfers including former Hawai’i QB Chevan Cordeiro and former Nevada WR Elijah Cooks. Those two have combined to lead this team along with Kyle Harmon and Viliami Fehoko on the defensive side.
Freshman center to… Freshman quarterback to… Freshman receiver 💥
The Rams haven’t had the continutity this season to show what this offense can actually do. They’ve started six different offensive line combinations and had four different quarterbacks under center at one point. Now is the time to show that that won’t hold them back.
Clay Millen has shown some improvement. The receivers have gotten better. Avery Morrow has stepped up to be the man at running back. Now the offensive line needs to step up as well. This Rams team knows what they want to be. Now they need to show what this team can be.
2. Defensive Intensity
The defensive side of the ball has been the better one for the Rams this year. CJ Onyechi and Mohamed Komara have been stout up front. Dequan Jackson has been stalwart in the middle. And the Rams have found their safeties of the future in Jack Howell, Henry Blackburn, and Ayden Hector.
Now it needs to come full circle. Chevan Cordeiro can hurt you through the air and on the ground, so Onyechi and Komara will need to play contain. Jackson or other LBs will need to spy. And the defensive backs will need to be prepared to come up and stop the run.
The Rams have struggled to finish the year the past couple of seasons. Jay Norvell seperates the year into quarters of four games each. Colorado State has a chance to finish strong on both fronts and it starts with this game. Win this one and you start the last quarter on the right foot.
Rams fans have shown out, even when the product on the field hasn’t matched that effort. Now the players need to show what they can do and give these fans a reason to believe. You give these fans a reason to believe in this team and they will show out in force.
what will happen
Colorado State heads into the final third of the year looking for something positive. They may get a chance to turn the offense around today, but they won’t walk out with the win. The Spartans have been a strong team the past couple of years and want to win another MW Championship.
The sim has spoken, and it’s not good news for the Air Force faithful. According to the simulated game efforts via the NCAA Football video game, the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy eludes Colorado Spring’s for yet another season. Not only did the Falcons lose to their rivals from West Point, but it came in pretty dominant fashion, falling 26-7. A far cry from the favor the simulation showed the them in their matchup against Navy earlier this year.
Getting held to just seven points, the Air Force offense was shut down by Army. I guess the simulation scenario didn’t get the news that Jeff Monken’s defense was supposed to be about as bad as it gets when defending the run. Not so much, as the Black Knights held Air Force to just 84 rush yards on the day! Offensively, Army had their way as well, rolling up a total yards advantage to the tune of 341-189. If that were to happen, this could realistically wind up being the final score.
Not surprising, the players of the game were Andre Carter II and Tyhier Tyler for Army. Haaziq Daniels and T.D. Blackmon were the standouts for the Falcons. Quarterback and linebacker play impacting the outcome, is to be expected when you look at these two teams.
The turnover advantage also went to Army, which has been the case in recent years when they’ve met on the field. And while the difference on the scoreboard has been far more marginal, the results have been pretty much the same. Turnovers are not your friend Air Force!
We had some fun using the simulation again, please give us some feedback if this is something you’d like to see more of with other Mountain West matchups @MWCWire.
Additionally, if your not familiar with the game used for the simulation or the awesome work done by the College Football Revamped team, check them out @CFBRevamped. Everything they put out is free, and has kept the old EA Sports NCAA Football 14 game alive and well. Paired with a team of roster editors, the game is up to date players, teams (including new FBS member James Madison University), stadiums and other features.
The season is finally here, and with that we'd like to announce that V19 will be releasing TOMORROW on PC & PS3!! See you then! pic.twitter.com/uTmrDuKNRK
Colorado State is coming off of their second victory of the year; a 17-13 win over Hawaii thanks to a late touchdown from Avery Morrow and game sealing interception by Ayden Hector. Now their attention turns towards Boise State. In 11 previous attempts, Colorado State has never beaten the Broncos.
The Broncos are helmed by Andy Avalos, a former Boise State linebacker, who has led them to a 12-7 record in his season and a half in charge. The 2022 season got off to a rough start going 2-2 and mainstay quarterback Hank Bachmeier elected to transfer.
Avalos made the decision to fire offensive coordinator Tim Plough. Dirk Koetter, who started the year as an analyst, stepped in for the rest of the season. Taylen Green has taken the place of Bachmeier and his ability to run the ball has given the Broncos another demension to their offense.
The Broncos are averaging a nearly 50/50 split in terms of yardage per game, with 162.9 passing and 175.4 rushing yards per game. A big reason for that is Taylen Green. Green brings a dual-threat prescence that you must account for; opening holes for other threats including George Holani and Ashton Jeanty.
The Rams know they need to play smart against Green. Mohamed Kamara and C.J. Onyechi need to play contain instead of rushing straight up. The interior defensive line needs to get their head up and prepare to shuck the lineman in front to tackle. And the linebackers know they need to keep an eye on the backfield.
2. Take the opportunities given to you.
Boise State is ranked third in the nation in yards allowed per game at 241.1 yards given up per game. Norvell notes the Broncos play a sort of bend, don’t break style of defense. So the Rams need to hit those underneath passes and use the running game to establish themselves.
Trying to lull this Boise team to sleep on defense and then taking a shot over the top will be key. If you can sustain drives with the small stuff, the deep stuff with Tory Horton or others will eventually show itself. The Rams just need to remain patient and let the game come to them.
Due to various injuries, transfers, and leavers the Rams have had to start a dozen freshman and six others who would not normally see the field except for mop-up time. But those players have taken on the challenge and stepped up to show the improvement this team has made.
George Miki-Han was one of those players who wouldn’t normally see the field. He might miss this week and walk-on freshman Keegan Hamilton would be called upon to take his place. Louis Brown and Justus Ross-Simmons have stepped up at receiver. And Avery Morrow has become that bellcow running back. Whatever happens, it’s just next man up and the growth will continue.
what will happen
Colorado State has never beaten Boise State. And it probably won’t change this week, unless something absurd happens. The Rams are continuing to grow and this game will be closer than expected. The Broncos are the team to beat in the Mountain West, but CSU will give them a shot.
