College Football Bowl Projections: New Years Six Still Possible for Notre Dame?

“So you’re saying there’s a chance?” as Jim Carey once said in Dumb and Dumber. It might not be a great one, but it’s not entirely done. At least yet. That being Notre Dame’s chances of making a New Year’s Six bowl game. The vast-majority of …

“So you’re saying there’s a chance?” as Jim Carey once said in Dumb and Dumber.

It might not be a great one, but it’s not entirely done.  At least yet.

That being Notre Dame’s chances of making a New Year’s Six bowl game.  The vast-majority of prognasticators still don’t see it happening that way, but we found one respected expert that did.

So where are the Irish likely headed?  Here’s what we found in this week’s edition of the Notre Dame Bowl Projections:

247Sports/Brad Crawford
Camping World Bowl vs. Texas

CBS/Jerry Palm
Camping World Bowl vs. Texas

College Football News/Pete Fiutak
Camping World Bowl vs. Texas

ESPN (2 Experts)
Bonaqura – Camping World Bowl vs. Texas
Schlabach – Camping World Bowl vs. Oklahoma State

The Sporting News/Bill Bender
Cotton Bowl vs. Memphis

Stadium/Brett McMurphy
Camping World Bowl vs. Oklahoma State

There you go.  He’s @BillBender92 on Twitter if you’re looking for more of his work but he’s got the Irish in the New Year’s Six with three to go.

Nine games into the year, Brett Brown is figuring out Sixers rotation

Nine games into the 2019-20 season, coach Brett Brown is still figuring out the Sixers rotation.

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The Philadelphia 76ers still have a lot to figure out after nine games. They still have to figure out things like who is going to be the closer with the game on the line, how will Joel Embiid and Al Horford really work together, and they’re still developing team chemistry.

One thing that will still need to be figured out is the rotation. Big things like who’s the backup point guard and what to do with rookie Matisse Thybulle who has been out of the rotation since Ben Simmons’ injury.

A big change in coach Brett Brown’s rotation, due to the Simmons injury, has been Raul Neto starting at point guard and Trey Burke being used as a backup. This is notable due to the fact that Josh Richardson was being used as the primary backup point guard when Simmons was healthy and in the lineup.

With everything that has happened in the first nine games, Brown is still experimenting as he stated:

I wouldn’t say anything is set. We’re finding our way and we have different options. I think that the phrase that I like to use, ‘horses for courses,’ is based on who you’re playing and who’s playing well. I don’t feel married to anything this early in the season. You just figure it out. I won’t put a death spell on any of the players either. I feel open to playing the people that I think it’s going to take to win that night.

Does that mean the Sixers will go back to Thybulle in the rotation once Simmons returns? Will Burke go back to being buried at the end of the bench? Will Richardson go back to backup point guard responsibilities? These are questions that Brown will have to answer and figure out.

I feel like there are outliers in every game. It is possible to put Raul Neto and Trey Burke in the rotation with Ben Simmons. Those two guards have played well and it’s exciting. It’s one of those in-game adjustments that you could make, knowing that it is a unique lineup.

At the end of the day, the team is 6-3 and they are in a good spot in the early going of the season. The challenge now is for Brown and his staff to figure out a solid rotation and settle on it. It doesn’t help that Simmons is out right now and Embiid’s absences have put a wrench into the plan, but it must be figured out soon. [lawrence-related id=19083,19074,19064]

4 big takeaways from Saints’ 26-9 loss to the Falcons

The New Orleans Saints put up a disappointing performance in their Week 10 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, showing a concerning lack of depth.

There wasn’t much to feel good about for New Orleans Saints fans, after their team got bulldozed by the Atlanta Falcons in a surprising upset on Sunday. Saints quarterback Drew Brees was sacked six times (tying his career-worst total for a single game), and coach Sean Payton frowned in disappointment on the sideline as his team slipped and fell all over themselves throughout the afternoon.

Still, there’s plenty to learn from it. Here’s what we picked up on when reviewing the game, hopefully giving an idea of what the Saints can correct moving forward. Their rematch with Atlanta (in prime time, on Thanksgiving) is just a few weeks away. They don’t exactly have much time to let this one linger, even if it was an embarrassing loss to a division rival.

The plan to use Alvin Kamara wasn’t up to snuff

The good news: Kamara went 8-for-10 as a receiver, picking up 50 yards. The bad news: his worst rep of the day came on the opening drive, in which Kamara slipped and fell on the Superdome turf. It was a designed pass to him on a route out of the backfield and the right call against Atlanta’s defense — the closest defender was in poor position to stop him before Kamara would have reached the end zone. Instead, Brees had to take a sack on third down and force New Orleans to settle for three points instead of seven.

There’s no way the Saints were going to ask Kamara to handle fifteen or more rushing attempts in his first game back from injury, but four carries (and 11 as a team) was pitiful. The Saints have run too well lately to call 51 dropbacks for Brees against just 11 runs. This was an example of Payton at his worst, allowing himself to get one-dimensional and over-reliant on his passing attack in a game that was close for three quarters. There’s no excuse for him to have abandoned the run so early.

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Brittany Lincicome set to return to competition next week at Pebble Beach

After giving birth to daughter Emery Reign Gouws in July, Brittany Lincicome will return to competition at Pebble Beach next week.

On maternity leave, Brittany Lincicome normally plays golf on Fridays. That is, until she received word that she’s in the field at the TaylorMade Pebble Beach Invitational.

Now she’s out on a Monday afternoon, sharpening her game for her first competitive round since giving birth to daughter Emery Reign Gouws in July.

“It has moments of brilliance and moments of ‘Oh my gosh,’” said Lincicome of her current form. She last competed on the LPGA at the Pure Silk Championship in late May.

Lincicome said she’s five to seven yards shorter these days but can’t tell if that’s simply because she’s playing against friends at the club rather an adrenaline-fueled tour event. She’s relieved to have longtime caddie Missy Pederson back on the bag at Pebble.

The pro-am event, held Nov. 21-24, features players from the PGA, LPGA, Champions and Korn Ferry tours compete against each other from different tee boxes for a purse of $300,000. The full field has not yet been released.

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LAZY DAY 💗💗💗. @dewald_gouws #emeryreign

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“When I heard there was a cut for this one,” said Lincicome, “I instantly got more nervous.”

Lincicome considered playing in mini-tour events against the men, which she has done in the past, to gear up for her return to the LPGA at the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions in January. Pebble, however, presented the best kind of tune-up.

“I miss the competition part of it and that feeling of being in contention on Sunday,” said Lincicome, a two-time major winner with eight career victories.

One thing Lincicome will have to work on for the 2020 season is figuring out how to pack for the tour with a baby in tow. For an overnight outing in Orlando, Florida, last month, Lincicome and her mother loaded up roughly 17 bags for the short drive.

Emery won’t make the trip to Asia next spring, but Lincicome is already thinking about the West Coast swing. If Emery is on the road, at least one of Lincicome’s parents will be there to help.

“I’m sure I’ll be able to squeeze some naps in there,” said Lincicome, laughing.

Naps have long been a crucial part of her winning formula.

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