IT'S A NEW YEAR LET'S ALL HUG. James Franklin is a certified crazy person, and if you want to turn Vanderbilt as a football program around and win nine games for the first time since 1915, well, you have to hire those kind of people. Give us a hug.
Personal space: a Vanderbilt man does not respect it, particularly when it stands between you, us, and love.
READ THIS. Unless you have been imprisoned, you saw Jadeveon Clowney decimate Vincent Smith in the single most horrifying and justifiable piece of football violence we have seen since our lord's year 1995. Andy Staples did a nifty bit of deadline reportage, and it was what you thought it might be: a miscommunication on the offensive line, a tiny bit of space left unblocked, and then explosions death carnage oh god whyyyyyy.
DAMAGE.
BUT TELL US HOW YOU FEEL. FSU held Northern Illinois to under 100 yards of offense and 10 points, and that's when you get to say things like this if you like, Florida State.
"He's terrible," Williams said. "I can't believe they tried us like that. They tried our life, man. ... He's not good at all."
Underwhelming is the M.O. for Jimbo Fisher football--random pass plays, a refusal to run the ball, and racking up hundreds of yards and frittering them away with horrible redzone performance--but last night's Orange Bowl victory does mark E.J. Manuel's fourth bowl win in his career, which is laudable, praiseworthy, etc. Also: Jimbo Fisher got a fifteen yard penalty for arguing with a referee late in the game, which totally made the whole thing worth watching! <--Not at all!
BILLY JOEL IS SO SAD ABOUT NOT WINNING THE ROSE BOWL. He will mourn by writing a song called "I Lost The Rose Bowl (And It Made Me Sad)"
THAT IS CURIOUS. For a team headed up by a defensive coach, you see a lot of Fs and Ds on Nebraska's report cards Meanwhile, Aaron Murray just went 11-14 for 247 yards and two TDs on third down, and that is how you pull away late against a team determined to let balls fly unmolested through the air into the hands of Tavarres King (who is fast and likes to score touchdowns.)
BUT HEY: At least you're not Purdue. AT LEAST YOU'RE NOT PURDUE.
ETC: Trigger, Willie Nelson's ancient guitar, gets its own profile in Texas Monthly, and it is fantastic.