Saturday, October 5, 2013

What a day of football, and food.

What a wonderful day it has been, am I right? If you were like me this Saturday, you took full advantage of a weekend filled with college football battles.

Alabama had Georgia State, so I was too worried about the Tide, but Northwestern was hosting Ohio State, Washington was traveling to Stanford, LSU was on the road again, Florida State was playing Maryland, and the list goes on and on and on.

Alabama cruised to its fifth win of the season, beating Georgia State. A.J. McCarron threw for four touchdowns in the first half and the Tide defense did what it has done for the last four years, dominate. Bama had this game put away after the first five minutes, but what head coach Nick Saban said at halftime really made me realize just how great of a coach he is. Saban never waists a chance to coach up his players and to teach, saying, “It’s an opportunity to get some experience and learn.” Saban seems to pick up his intensity with his younger players, making them better and more reliable when they are called upon in the near future. 
Roll Tide.

Florida State, who features a red-hot freshman quarterback, took on undefeated Maryland today, and the Seminoles didn’t disappoint. Jameis Winston threw for 393 yards and five touchdowns as his eighth-ranked Noles beat the Terrapins, 63-0, welcome back to earth Maryland.

Garrett Gilbert completed what may be the craziest play ofthe year, on a 2-point conversion to tie up the game with little time left. Gilbert dropped back, rolled left, turned and ran right, looked ahead and then chunked the football all the way across the field to an open receiver. But the Mustangs fell to Rutgers in overtime. #AACFootball

I thought I was going to get a nice nap in until the night games started, but the surprise of the day has to be Tennessee showing up against Georgia and almost beating the Dawgs in overtime. Before we start to think that Georgia played poorly, keep in mind that UGA was without Todd Gurley to start this game and lost Keith Marshall to a nasty injury in the first half. Georgia would also lose receiver Michael Bennett and its punter before Tennessee started to score the football. Aaron Murray was needed big time in this game and was helped by Chris Conley. Butch Jones may have won over the fans in Knoxville though, as this was the loudest I’ve heard Neyland Stadium in a while.

The night games began, and there were lots of selections. I stuck with LSU because I have a rooting interest there. Mississippi State’s offense was able to move down the field on the young Fighting Tiger defense, but the Bulldogs defense had no chance stopping the explosive LSU offense. Odell Beckham III and Jarvis Landry may be the best two receivers in the country and Zach Mettenberger is slowly becoming one of the top quarterbacks in the country. Mettenberger’s my Heisman frontrunner thus far in the season.
Arkansas boasts the top rushing offense in the SEC and has a skilled freshman running back in Alex Collins, but Florida still has its defense.  Florida may not be able to score the football, but they sure can stop it. Arkansas is much better than last year thought, and I love seeing the Hogs run the football.

I’m currently watching Ohio State at Northwestern and Washington at Stanford, so I won’t be able to recap those for you here. The Buckeyes are learning not to sleep on the Cats, and Pat Fitzgerald has to be one of the top coaches not to be on a top program. Stanford jumped out to a quick lead by returning the opening kickoff but the Huskies have moved the ball on the Cardinal defense, could make for a great finish, if you can stay awake.

While I have Zach Mettenberger leading my Heisman vote, as if I got one, Marcus Mariota made a case for himself, throwing for 355 yards and seven total touchdowns. Aaron Murray put up another big game and ranks third on my list, while Baylor running back Lache Seastrunk is in fourth, but can quickly gain some ground on the signal callers. Crazy to think I don’t have Teddy Bridgewater on this list, but his Cardinals haven’t played that good of a schedule. Bridgewater will be in New York come December though, write that down. Also Tajh Boyd deserves a trip, since the quarterback threw for 455 yards and five touchdowns for Clemson today. I hope they have some extra chairs in New York this year, lots of players deserve to be there.

The day was full of football, and I am full of food. I woke up this morning and ate a sandwich before the Bama game. I ran to Freebirds and picked up a burrito at halftime, getting a monster with carnitas and all my usual fixins. The night games rolled around and I got sidetracked, so I threw some pizza rolls in the oven and munched on 57 of those bad boys, leaving me with one full stomach as I write this.

You may be wondering, why is he telling me what he ate? But it got me thinking, what is the best game day meal? Since I am the Wing Expert, I think I’m required to say that chicken Wings are the best and go-to football watching meal. But I found out today, that you can’t go wrong with a burrito and pizza rolls are quick and plentiful.  Other options to consider and may get a tryout next week are nachos, tacos and burgers. Let me know what you think is the best game day meal, email me at thewingexpert@gmail.com or follow me on twitter @thewingexpert.

I’m currently working on a piece that could explain why the defense in the SEC this year is missing. I may have an idea of why they are getting gashed.

Until then though, enjoy these late games and good luck to fantasy teams, especially if you’re playing against me, you are going to need it.

Thanks for dropping by and I’ll talk to you later,

Wing Man out.

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