"The Stack" 11-29-16
Aaron Rodgers was masterful Monday night throwing for over 300 yards and two touchdowns as the Packers ended a four game losing streak by beating the Eagles 27-13.
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
The Stack is back with a later post on this Tuesday and we don’t have a whole lot to talk about, but there are a few topics to get to and they all include the football field or pitch so let’s get right to “the stack” for today, Tuesday, November 29th:
Packers top Eagles on MNF
Aaron Rodgers was simply terrific and the Green Bay Packers are suddenly right back in the playoff talk following their 27-13 win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football. Rodgers got rid of the ball very quickly. As ESPN showed, there were several throws that were under a half second or even three-tenths of a second. What that did was negate what the Eagles defense could do. They couldn’t fly around the field. Their blitzes didn’t get to Rodgers in time. Rodgers was once again his masterful self with 313 yards and two touchdowns. The Packers defense also came up big. Carson Wentz was held without a passing touchdown and he threw one interception. Nelson Agholor was inactive for the game and perhaps this game showed the Eagles need him, because they just don’t have a lot of weapons for Wentz to go down the field to. This is a big win for the Packers and for the moment, keeps their season and postseason hopes very much alive.
College football coaching news
The writing had been on the wall for quite some time for Charlie Strong at Texas. Reports last week were that he would be fired though the Texas administration said they would meet with Strong at the end of the season and decide. After Texas lost to TCU 31-9 you knew it was only a matter of time before Strong was let go. Texas fired Strong on Saturday after three consecutive losing seasons. Granted now that Strong didn’t have much to work with when he got there, but he couldn’t get Texas to be where they needed to go. He never had the support of the boosters, most notably Red McCombs and I don’t believe everyone in the athletic department thought he was the right man for the job. Texas acted quickly too and offered the job to Houston head coach Tom Herman. Herman has done a great job at Houston and he was the flavor of the month if not the year right after Houston beat Oklahoma to begin the season. I’m not so sure he is as good as advertised, but he is a very good head coach and should do great things at Texas. Remember his team did lose to SMU this season and gave up 48 points last week to Memphis. Yikes!
Elsewhere LSU, after flirting a little bit with Herman, decided to remove the interim tag from Ed Orgeron and name him the next head coach of LSU. Orgeron is a Louisiana native and this is a dream come true for him. He also is targeting Lane Kiffin to be his offensive coordinator. Kiffin leaving Alabama would be a surprise. He is a head coach in waiting at Alabama and he’ll get some offers from smaller schools this offseason possibly, but he and Orgeron and friends and were on the USC staff when Kiffin was head coach. Orgeron is a player’s coach and he can recruit very well, but can he be a great head coach? If he has guys like Kiffin on his staff, that will be a big boost.
In Oregon, Mark Helfrich is still the head coach…for now. Oregon is letting Helfrich twist in the wind. There are really no good head coaches out there though that Oregon would like though unless they went after Les Miles to fix the defense and asked Helfrich to stay on as offensive coordinator. I don’t see that happening. Maybe Oregon is waiting to see if the San Francisco 49ers fire Chip Kelly and ask Kelly to come back to Oregon. I think that is certainly plausible, but in the end the Ducks will keep Helfrich and give him one more year to turn things around. Oregon’s 4-8 season was the worst season they’ve had since 1991 if memory serves me correct.
Plane crash kills at least 75
Tragic news to report out of Colombia where Brazilian soccer team Chapecoense was flying to play in Copa Sudamericana. Their plane crashed Monday night. The crash has killed 75 at last report meaning there are some survivors which is great news amidst this tragedy, but it’s terrible that this crash even happened. The tournament is one of the biggest in South American for the second tier of soccer. Officials have suspended the tournament. Thoughts and prayers are with all affected by this crash.
Coming up Thursday: College football weekend forecast, TNF preview and more
