Whether you are looking for more space to host those game day parties or looking to upgrade, Stein & Summers is your #1 fan in helping you find the home of your dreams! We have over 100 licensed agents servicing Kansas City, St. Joseph, and surrounding areas - including Kansas! Interest rates are at a record low while homes sales prices are at a record high! Contact us today to get started.
1) Football is back. It is glorious and fun and needed...and weird. I watched Chiefs/Texans on Thursday night (more in a bit). Then I watched parts of Iowa State/Louisiana, Kansas State/Arkansas State, Florida State/Georgia Tech, North Carolina/Syracuse, Clemson/Wake Forest and Kansas/Coastal Carolina. And in all of them it seemed like I was watching a game, but maybe more like a practice game. I'm sure part of it is because of the lack of crowds and atmosphere. I think part of it is just that we haven't had the fall camp run up or the preseason games in the NFL. I'm used to having some things to watch before we watch a game that counts and we didn't have that. It's not necessarily worse, it's just different. I'm thrilled to have games to watch, but it's going to take a minute before I'm in full "Oh, hey, this is a football season" mode.
2) One thing the pandemic didn't change is the reaction of fans. I don't know why I necessarily thought it would. I think there will be some who take a long view of a season and understand all the things that are weird and that things are going to look a little bit different, and probably worse. But there are a lot of Iowa State fans that want Matt Campbell gone this morning. A lot of Kansas State fans suddenly don't think Chris Klieman is the savior. I doubt Matt Wells is hugely popular in Lubbock and Kansas fans are figuring out why Les Miles was available for them to hire. I thought Eli Drinkwitz put it well: "Nobody really cares about the excuse, they just expect the performance. Whether it’s the fifth left guard or the first left guard, they’re going to expect a performance that meets their expectation...They expect that when you compete your team wins.”
3) Here's my overwhelming takeaway from the first weekend I really watched: If you gamble on games this year, you should immediately enroll yourself in a 12-step program. Full disclosure, the last bet I placed was on Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl...when Ron Dayne was the tailback. I don't gamble on games in normal times. I don't have a problem with anyone who does, it's just not my thing. But if you gamble on a game this year, you're just asking someone to take your money. We're going to have multiple teams that take the field without double-digit players we didn't know about. Things are going to change drastically from Monday to Saturday. The favorites didn't look all that good this weekend. I think there will be more upsets than usual. I mean, the Sun Belt was unbeaten against the Big 12. Not against the powerhouses of the Big 12 or anything, but that didn't used to matter. I expect a lot of chaos this year. I like chaos.
4) The big question (which may have an answer by the end of the day) is whether the Big Ten is going to join the rest of the teams that are playing? Most reports last night have the University presidents voting on whether to play again today. The perceived start date is October 17 or 24. That gives you basically nine weeks to play eight games. Then play a Big Ten title game on December 19 and make yourself part of the playoff. I've already said I think the Big Ten looks stupid either way. What they should have done is what the SEC did which is say we're going to push it back as far as we can and wait to see what the landscape looks like. They canceled on August 11. So now, if they stick by that decision when other leagues are playing (and largely at least somewhat successfully) they have to continue to explain why. But if they backtrack, they have to tell everyone what's safe now that wasn't safe then. I would assume they'll hide behind the availability of rapid testing. You can buy that as the reason or not. I tend to think it's because everybody was throwing a fit and Ryan Day wants a chance at a national title. Either way, the Big Ten looks kind of stupid. That said, if they get games, everyone will forget about it pretty soon.
5) If the Big Ten does play, the playoff arguments are going to be epic. Is a team that goes 8-0 in the Big Ten (quite possibly without playing more than one of the best teams in the league) better than an SEC team that goes 8-2 with losses to Alabama and Georgia? Is it better than a Notre Dame team that goes 9-2 and loses to Clemson twice? Man there's going to be some all time complaining no matter what happens if the Big Ten joins the mix. And we didn't even touch on what happens if a team makes a league title game because it had to skip a week and played one less game than someone else. It's going to be hysterical.
6) Okay, so let's get to Mizzou now. I told you last week I would project a depth chart here. So let's do that. Some of this is based on guesses, some of it's based on a little bit of information, some of it's based on common sense. We'll start with the offense:
QB: Shawn Robinson/Connor Bazelak
RB: Larry Rountree/Tyler Badie/Dawson Downing
WR: Keke Chism, Jalen Knox, Barrett Banister (starters)
Chance Luper, Dominic Gicinto, Tauskie Dove (second team)
The wild card here is Damon Hazelton. If he's healthy, he'll likely start. But at this point, the only information we have is that he hasn't been healthy all camp, so we can't include him
TE: Daniel Parker/Logan Christopherson/Nike Hea (this assumes Parker is healthy)
OL: Larry Borom, Xavier Delgado, Mike Maetti, Case Cook, Bobby Lawrence (starters)
Javon Foster, Mike Ruth, Drake Heismeyer, Dylan Spencer, Thalen Robinson (backups)
This is a total guess at this point. Drinkwitz said they've had five different starting guards in five days. Hyrin White is out for a little while or we would have him in place of Lawrence. The unit appears to have been ravaged by COVID/injury. Whatever it looks like today may not be what it looks like tomorrow
PK: Harrison Mevis
LS: Jake Hoffman
P: Grant McKinniss
7) Now let's take a shot at the defensive side of the ball:
DE: Chris Turner, Tre Williams/Sci Martin, Isaiah McGuire
DT: Kobie Whiteside, Markell Utsey/Akial Byers, Darius Robinson
Not impossible we see true freshman Montra Edwards here
LB: Nick Bolton, Devin Nicholson/Aubrey Miller, Jamal Brooks
CB: Jarvis Ware, Adam Sparks/Ennis Rakestraw, Jaylon Carlies
I think Chris Shearin and Ish Burdine could factor in here too
S: Tyree Gillespie, Joshuah Bledsoe, Martez Manuel/Jalani Williams, Stacy Brown, Tyler Jones
1) Football is back. It is glorious and fun and needed...and weird. I watched Chiefs/Texans on Thursday night (more in a bit). Then I watched parts of Iowa State/Louisiana, Kansas State/Arkansas State, Florida State/Georgia Tech, North Carolina/Syracuse, Clemson/Wake Forest and Kansas/Coastal Carolina. And in all of them it seemed like I was watching a game, but maybe more like a practice game. I'm sure part of it is because of the lack of crowds and atmosphere. I think part of it is just that we haven't had the fall camp run up or the preseason games in the NFL. I'm used to having some things to watch before we watch a game that counts and we didn't have that. It's not necessarily worse, it's just different. I'm thrilled to have games to watch, but it's going to take a minute before I'm in full "Oh, hey, this is a football season" mode.
2) One thing the pandemic didn't change is the reaction of fans. I don't know why I necessarily thought it would. I think there will be some who take a long view of a season and understand all the things that are weird and that things are going to look a little bit different, and probably worse. But there are a lot of Iowa State fans that want Matt Campbell gone this morning. A lot of Kansas State fans suddenly don't think Chris Klieman is the savior. I doubt Matt Wells is hugely popular in Lubbock and Kansas fans are figuring out why Les Miles was available for them to hire. I thought Eli Drinkwitz put it well: "Nobody really cares about the excuse, they just expect the performance. Whether it’s the fifth left guard or the first left guard, they’re going to expect a performance that meets their expectation...They expect that when you compete your team wins.”
3) Here's my overwhelming takeaway from the first weekend I really watched: If you gamble on games this year, you should immediately enroll yourself in a 12-step program. Full disclosure, the last bet I placed was on Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl...when Ron Dayne was the tailback. I don't gamble on games in normal times. I don't have a problem with anyone who does, it's just not my thing. But if you gamble on a game this year, you're just asking someone to take your money. We're going to have multiple teams that take the field without double-digit players we didn't know about. Things are going to change drastically from Monday to Saturday. The favorites didn't look all that good this weekend. I think there will be more upsets than usual. I mean, the Sun Belt was unbeaten against the Big 12. Not against the powerhouses of the Big 12 or anything, but that didn't used to matter. I expect a lot of chaos this year. I like chaos.
4) The big question (which may have an answer by the end of the day) is whether the Big Ten is going to join the rest of the teams that are playing? Most reports last night have the University presidents voting on whether to play again today. The perceived start date is October 17 or 24. That gives you basically nine weeks to play eight games. Then play a Big Ten title game on December 19 and make yourself part of the playoff. I've already said I think the Big Ten looks stupid either way. What they should have done is what the SEC did which is say we're going to push it back as far as we can and wait to see what the landscape looks like. They canceled on August 11. So now, if they stick by that decision when other leagues are playing (and largely at least somewhat successfully) they have to continue to explain why. But if they backtrack, they have to tell everyone what's safe now that wasn't safe then. I would assume they'll hide behind the availability of rapid testing. You can buy that as the reason or not. I tend to think it's because everybody was throwing a fit and Ryan Day wants a chance at a national title. Either way, the Big Ten looks kind of stupid. That said, if they get games, everyone will forget about it pretty soon.
5) If the Big Ten does play, the playoff arguments are going to be epic. Is a team that goes 8-0 in the Big Ten (quite possibly without playing more than one of the best teams in the league) better than an SEC team that goes 8-2 with losses to Alabama and Georgia? Is it better than a Notre Dame team that goes 9-2 and loses to Clemson twice? Man there's going to be some all time complaining no matter what happens if the Big Ten joins the mix. And we didn't even touch on what happens if a team makes a league title game because it had to skip a week and played one less game than someone else. It's going to be hysterical.
6) Okay, so let's get to Mizzou now. I told you last week I would project a depth chart here. So let's do that. Some of this is based on guesses, some of it's based on a little bit of information, some of it's based on common sense. We'll start with the offense:
QB: Shawn Robinson/Connor Bazelak
RB: Larry Rountree/Tyler Badie/Dawson Downing
WR: Keke Chism, Jalen Knox, Barrett Banister (starters)
Chance Luper, Dominic Gicinto, Tauskie Dove (second team)
The wild card here is Damon Hazelton. If he's healthy, he'll likely start. But at this point, the only information we have is that he hasn't been healthy all camp, so we can't include him
TE: Daniel Parker/Logan Christopherson/Nike Hea (this assumes Parker is healthy)
OL: Larry Borom, Xavier Delgado, Mike Maetti, Case Cook, Bobby Lawrence (starters)
Javon Foster, Mike Ruth, Drake Heismeyer, Dylan Spencer, Thalen Robinson (backups)
This is a total guess at this point. Drinkwitz said they've had five different starting guards in five days. Hyrin White is out for a little while or we would have him in place of Lawrence. The unit appears to have been ravaged by COVID/injury. Whatever it looks like today may not be what it looks like tomorrow
PK: Harrison Mevis
LS: Jake Hoffman
P: Grant McKinniss
7) Now let's take a shot at the defensive side of the ball:
DE: Chris Turner, Tre Williams/Sci Martin, Isaiah McGuire
DT: Kobie Whiteside, Markell Utsey/Akial Byers, Darius Robinson
Not impossible we see true freshman Montra Edwards here
LB: Nick Bolton, Devin Nicholson/Aubrey Miller, Jamal Brooks
CB: Jarvis Ware, Adam Sparks/Ennis Rakestraw, Jaylon Carlies
I think Chris Shearin and Ish Burdine could factor in here too
S: Tyree Gillespie, Joshuah Bledsoe, Martez Manuel/Jalani Williams, Stacy Brown, Tyler Jones
Attachments
Last edited:
