Last weekend was a great time to watch college football. Recently I alluded to this year’s Indiana University Football Team as maybe being one of “those teams.” Last Saturday was one of “those days” to watch college football on television. Yes, I love to attend games in person. I have seen 74 of the FBS teams play in person in my lifetime. Still, there are days in my memory that harken back to watching college football games on television and most of them featured Keith Jackson as the announcer of my football life’s soundtrack.

The day Van Tiffin beat Auburn with a 52-yard field goal on the last play of the game giving the Alabama Crimson Tide a victory on The Iron Bowl in 1985. One to remember.

Notre Dame at USC the Saturday after Thanksgiving in 1978. We were at my Uncle Durwood and Aunt Barbara’s house on Dubarry Lane in Jackson, Mississippi. The late afternoon game was the perfect bookend to a storybook Thanksgiving.

The 1979 Cotton Bowl. In Shreveport, Dad and Granny wanted to watch something else. I retreated to my Granny’s bed that had a 9-inch black and white TV on a nightstand. Joe Montana led the Irish to a 35-34 win.

In 1979, I remember seeing John Fourcade and the Ole Miss Rebels play Tulane in the Superdome on ABC. It was regional coverage and the game I was watching ended quickly and they gave us the feed from New Orleans. I was glued to the TV for that 4th quarter. The Rebs lost.

Again in 1979, The Indiana Hoosiers played against BYU in The Holiday Bowl. The Hoosiers won 38-37 in dramatic fashion. It was on Mizlou or Raycom or some other non-network entity. Those were the guys who gave us many bowl games leading up to January 1st back then. There was no Capitol One Bowl Week on ESPN that lasted a month.

The Hoosiers showed up on ABC in a regional telecast in 1982. They were playing Iowa in Bloomington. A guy called Babe Laufenberg almost pulled the Hoosiers through. They lost 24-20. Still, it was one of those rare times at that point that I had seen Memorial Stadium on television opposed to being there in Bloomington.

We’ll leave with The Rose Bowl in 2006. This was Keith Jackson’s last call. It was a classic contest. Texas defeated USC 41-38. “He’s got the corner!”

Last weekend was filled with great games. The Gophers beating the Trojans. The Huskies handing it to The Wolverines. The Hoosiers taking care of the Northwestern Wildcats. Ole Miss beat South Carolina. Arkansas beat Tennessee. And the upset of upsets, sorry Brother Tim, was Vandy beating Alabama. The whole day was filled with great football.

Last week we had 9 winners and 5 losers. Bringing the season to 66 winners and 18 losers. There were those serious upsets that I flat missed last week. Let us see what this week brings.

Clemson beats Wake Forest… Clemson is rolling.

Washington beats Iowa… I think the Huskies will take that momentum and get Iowa in Iowa City. Big question here is how will the Huskies handle kicking off at 9 AM PDT?

Rutgers beats Wisconsin… Rutgers has something to prove at home against Bucky. They lost their first game of the year last week in a 14-7 mule fest against Nebraska.

Louisville beats Virginia… The Cards have a thing or two to work out after a defensive meltdown against SMU last week.

Texas beats Oklahoma… At least there is one tradition left in college football. These two teams playing in the 50-50 divided Cotton Bowl Stadium amidst the Texas State Fair, albeit these are SEC teams now.

Penn State beats USC… This is at the Coliseum, and this will be a good one to look in on. You know the USC folks will be fired up to play a college football tradition like the Nittany Lions.

Illinois will beat Purdue… Lots of happy parents in Champaign. Their boy is gonna play today!

Notre Dame beats Stanford… Look for Stanford to give the Irish a tussle. This is historically a pretty good matchup.

Georgia beats Mississippi State… I heard rumors that Kirby Smart is going to the New York Jets. Rumors is better a Fleetwood Mac album than anything else.

Tennessee beats Florida… Back home after getting a Pig-Soooie put on em’, the Rocky Toppers will have have One Cheek Hill rockying again.

Ohio State beats Oregon… This is in Autzen Stadium. One can only hope the visiting Buckeyes get tripped up by the Ducks. “And the Ducks are cooking at the 40!” That is what Keith Jackson once said.

Ole Miss beats LSU… I know Death Valley at night is tough for any team to withstand. Look for the Rebs to explode and make a statement. In the parlance of Boz Scaggs, I say to the Tigers, danger there’s a breakdown dead ahead.

Kentucky beats Vandy… Can Vandy keep it up? They might.

UCLA beats Minnesota… I gotta pick my Bruins here.

Hey! Enjoy your weekend.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

The Indiana Hoosiers did it again.  The Hoosiers are 5-0 for the first time in my life.  The 1967 team started 8-0.  That might happen again.  For it to do so, the Hoosiers need to take care of business this week along Lake Michigan at Northwestern in a cracker box of a temporary football stadium on what should be a beautiful fall afternoon. For Indiana football fans this is our Magical Mystery Tour.

October is my favorite month of the year. The month says football.  High school, college, and pro football are all going strong.  At this time of the year, we start to find out who the pretenders and the contenders are.  By the end of the month, we will know.

Last week saw 11 winners and three losers.  For the season, 57 winners and 13 losers. There were a few questionable picks that came true for me last week.  This week holds just a little of the same.

Texas A & M beats Mizzou… Not giving up on A&M to make a statement just yet.

Pitt beats North Carolina… The boys from Chapel Hill are having a time of it this season. Coach Brown asked the team if he should move on after JMU put 70 on them. Strange times.

Louisville beats SMU… The Ponies can run. The Cards can fly. Look for the passing game of Louisville to put up nearly 400 yards today.

NC State beats Wake Forest… NC State should run over, around, and through Wake.

Penn State beats UCLA… The game starts at 9 AM for the west coasters playing and watching back home. Such is life in The Big Ten.

Indiana beats Northwestern… As a Hoosier fan, you are still conditioned to wonder if this will be the one where Indiana farts. Nope. Not this year. Kurtis Rourke will carve up the defense of the boys by the lake and the Hoosiers ground game will take advantage. Look for a big win for Indiana. The Hoosiers will be 6-0.

Ohio State beats Iowa… This is the one I hope I miss. Seeing the Buckeyes go down is a wonderful sight.

Ole Miss beats South Carolina… The Rebs better come out on fire. This USC will be ready. Ole Miss played down to Kentucky last week and got what they deserved.

Nebraska beats Rutgers… Are we ready for a Rutgers team to go to Lincoln and beat a decent Cornhusker bunch? I don’t think so.

Clemson beats Florida State… The Tigers have a thing or two to prove to naysayers and this will be a piece of that puzzle.

Michigan beats Washington… Another game that looks like a Rose Bowl Days of Future Passed. Washington won’t hold up in a close game.

Tennessee beats Arkansas… I hope there is more “Pig-Sooie!” than there is “Rocky Top”. Pig Sooie is more entertaining. But we’ll get more Rocky Top.

USC beats Minnesota… Another classic Big Ten matchup! He typed that and shook his head.

Georgia Tech beats Duke… Look, Duke has a team and a coach in Manny Diaz. We can talk about fast starts by surprising teams. Have we ever seen Duke and Indiana both 5-0 in something besides basketball? I doubt it. That fun ends for Durham tonight in Atlanta.

A big shout out to the North Harrison Cougars for defeating Silver Creek last night to run the season record to 5 wins and 2 defeats. Get Clarksville next week! That’s always fun.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

There are names and there are those names. Pete Rose had one of those names. Pete Rose. Larry Bird. Elvis. Walter Payton. Tom Seaver. Willie Nelson. Alicia Keys. Those names. The ones that transcend and become symbols of a time and place and feeling. Names that keep folks younger and always leaves them with a smile.

Yes, Pete Rose bet on baseball. He has been denied a place in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Some are sympathetic. Or should I now say they were sympathetic. Either way, there is not a room or a building or a town that can hold all that Pete Rose meant to so many of us. Admittedly, I am not much of a Hall of Fame person. I have never been to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, though I have been through Canton more than a dozen times. On Interstate 90 in upstate New York, I have passed the exit to Cooperstown more than a dozen times. I have been drawn to neither. I can’t tell you why.

Maybe my mind is my hall of fame. Maybe my memory is my hall of fame. I was able to see Pete Rose play and the Big Red Machine play when I was a kid. Thankfully, we had a friend in the town we lived in that had season tickets in the green seats of Riverfront Stadium along the third base line. We never missed a summer not going in the 1970s. Watching Pete Rose bend down with that crouched batting stance was, in itself, worth walking through the turnstile at Riverfront for.

In the 1980s when Pete was a player-manager for the Reds, we saw those teams too. Yes, another friend had season tickets, and we never missed a summer not seeing the Reds in the 1980s. It wasn’t until the 1990s that I had to pay to see the Reds play. I did.

I got this scorecard at the last game I saw at Riverfront Stadium. I couldn’t tell you why I have always known where it was to put my hands on. I have never thought about that, until today.

When I was in the third grade playing kickball during PE class at Brownstown Central Elementary School, I kicked a one-hop line drive to the pitcher. The pitcher threw it quickly to first and I was out in a hurry. However, I ran as hard as I could to first base anyway. On my way back to my team standing against one wall of the gym, Miss Ault, our PE teacher, stopped me and told me I didn’t have to run that out. I told her if Pete Rose is going to run them out, I am too.

I’m not going to be able to tell you in a year where I was when I heard Pete Rose died. Elvis? Yes, I can show you where I was standing, one foot on parking lot and one foot on grass going to watch my dad’s high school football team practice. Elvis was 42. I was 9. Pete was 83. I am 56. There is a correlation there and we all know that. I never saw Elvis. But did I ever love watching Pete Rose play baseball.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson