"The Stack" 9-19-17
The Stack is back on this Tuesday and we don’t have a whole lot to talk about today. Reaction to Monday Night Football is on the way. How about that fight Saturday night between GGG and Canillo Alvarez? Ends in a draw? That’s pretty weird. Hope there is a rematch on the horizon. Now let’s get right to it and see what’s in “the stack” for today, Tuesday, September 19th:
Lions batter Eli, beat Giants
The New York Giants are in a lot of trouble. The offensive line was once again a wreck leading to five sacks of Eli Manning. Three of those five sacks came from Ziggy Ansah. Brandon Marshall had a big drop in the second half that would have helped the Giants gain some momentum. He has been virtually invisible for two games. Odell Beckham Jr. came back, but that did little to help the Giants offense. This is a team that is really struggling right now. With a trip to Philadelphia next week looming, the Giants are facing a near impossible task unless they can figure out their offensive line woes. That’s not to say that the Lions didn’t play well, because they did. They were able to run the ball effectively against the Giants. Ameer Abdullah had a big game with 86 yards rushing. The Lions secondary also played well. Don’t know if I’m fully buying into the Lions, but through two games, they lead the NFC North with a perfect 2-0 record.
Week 3 college football reaction
The question began on Saturday what road teams would escape with wins against teams ready to pull off the upsets. Oklahoma State handled business with Pittsburgh and by handled I mean putting up over 400 yards in the first half alone and trouncing Pitt 59-21. Wisconsin had no troubles with BYU, beating them 40-6. BYU is bad this year. #25 UCLA was in a shootout with Memphis and Josh Rosen threw a couple of bad interceptions helping Memphis come out with a 48-45 upset. Memphis has played really well so far this season. Night brought a few upsets for ranked teams on the road. #12 LSU got their doors blown out 37-7 by Mississippi State. Penalties certainly played a big part in it, but their offense was a joke and defense wasn’t great either. Come on Ed Orgeron. #19 Stanford’s playoff hopes are essentially done after losing to San Diego State 20-17. The Aztecs are a good team. That’s a tough loss for Stanford. And how about Vanderbilt taking down #18 Kansas State 14-7? Jesse Ertz, the Kansas State quarterback finished with just 76 yards and two interceptions. That Vandy defense is good. They will have their hands full with #1 Alabama this upcoming week.
#24 Florida needed a Hail Mary at the end of the game to beat #23 Tennessee 26-20. Congrats to Florida for finally scoring an offensive touchdown this year. #4 USC survived a scare beating Texas 27-24 in double overtime. Texas took the lead with under a minute to go 17-14, but USC quarterback Sam Darnold led a perfect drive to set up the game-tying field goal. Then overtime he had a beautiful touchdown pass in the first overtime. After Texas fumbled it in the second overtime, USC would kick the game-winning field goal. And what about what #3 Clemson did in steamrolling #14 Louisville 47-21 in primetime? That Clemson defense is for real. They made Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson look human. Clemson quarterback Kelly Bryant played really well in his first true road test. This Clemson team is for real. A return to the College Football Playoff is not out of the question.
Can’t leave without mentioning that Northern Illinois went into Lincoln and beat Nebraska 21-17. This was a stunning upset. Nebraska is falling on some dark times and their athletic director actually spoke to the media. Unless something changes, both he and head coach Mike Riley may be gone before the year is done. Nebraska’s defense isn’t good and they aren’t getting enough done on offense either.
Week four doesn’t have a lot of stellar matchups, but it should still be good. We’ll forecast it on Thursday.
Coming up Thursday: TNF preview, college football weekend forecast and more.
