Game Day Thoughts

Another Sunday without the Minnesota Vikings. At least this time it's with a win already in their pocket thanks to their Thursday night defeat of the Washington Redskins.

In the recent issue of Sports Illustrated, Jim Trotter listed his "down the stretch" must see games. Here they are:

Week 10: Cowboys at Saints
Week 11: Chiefs at Broncos
Week 12: Broncos at Patriots
Week 13: Saints at Seahawks

Well, it's pretty much impossible to disagree with those four games. Personally, my must see games are the games involving the Vikings. With the Vikings off today, I pick Panthers at 49ers as today's must see game. No matter how you value the games and teams, Trotter's four are must see games. His next four games drop a bit.

Week 14: Colts at Bengals
Week 15: Jets at Panthers
Week 16: Cowboys at Redskins
Week 17: Buccaneers at Saints

I wonder if Jim Trotter was trying to make some kind of joke with that last one. Still, this is one person's opinion. I have another. These are my must see games for the final four weeks of the season:

Week 14: Seahawks at 49ers
Week 15: Packers at Cowboys
Week 16: Saints at Panthers
Week 17: Packers at Bears

That's how I see it.

I think that I'll be watching the Seattle Seahawks-Atlanta Falcons game this morning. Atlanta's rough season has taken the luster off of this game. Going into the season, these two teams were considered two of the best. Injuries to receivers Julio Jones and Roddy White and running back Steven Jackson have wrecked an extremely potent Falcons offense. Heart-breaking early losses didn't help. The Seahawks are having some issues of their own. They may be 8-1 but they are a heart beat away from being about 4-4. They haven't played anywhere close to the dominant team that they are propped up to be. I'll be watching this game for the game that it could be.

It's all about the 49ers-Panthers in the afternoon. The Panthers have looked great since they took apart the Vikings about a month ago. The Vikings have done their best to boost the confidence of others.

College stuff:

Cal has been playing the Joe Roth Memorial game for years now. It's always the game against the Los Angeles school, USC or UCLA, that is played in Berkeley. Yesterday's game against the USC Trojans was the 2013 Joe Roth Memorial game.

I was fortunate to see Joe Roth play football. That Cal-San Jose St. game was the first college football game I ever attended. I think that my love for football started that day. Joe Roth throwing to Wesley Walker was magic. I've seen a few great college quarterbacks in person. Drew Bledsoe, Carson Palmer and Aaron Rodgers among them. Roth was as great as any of them. I would have loved to have seen him throw the football in the NFL. Cancer took Joe Roth way too soon.

As for yesterday's Cal-USC game. 62-28 USC. It wasn't that close. Cal was pretty much beaten when USC scored three special teams touchdowns in the first half. Two punt returns and a blocked punt. Very sad. Cal is routinely having offensive and defensive breakdowns this season. They really didn't have to add special teams breakdowns.

This is a rough first season for Cal head coach Sonny Dykes. Despite the 1-9 record, I have faith that Dykes' Cal future is bright. This season has been brutal in about every way. The team has not quit. Freshman quarterback Jared Goff has loads of potential. Chris Harper, Bryce Treggs, Kenny Lawler, Darius Powe, and Richard Rodgers are excellent receivers. Backs Daniel Lasco, Brendan Bigelow, Khalfani Muhammad, Darren Ervin, and Jeffrey Coprich have all shown real nice running ability. The offensive line will improve. The defense will one day get healthy. The Bears will improve.

I don't like USC. No fan of the other 11 Pac-12 teams likes USC. I do like interim USC coach Ed Ogeron. I hope that he gets the opportunity to lose the interim title. He was terrific in The Blind Side.

Wake Forest defensive tackle Nikita Whitlock is one of the most intriguing players in college football. His school lists him at 5-11, 250 lbs. The announcers of yesterday's game against Florida St. said that he was 5-9, 240 lbs. Either measurable is tiny for your usual monster defensive tackle. Florida St. won the game easily but Whitlock, at times, could not be blocked. One blocker couldn't slow him. Two couldn't stop him. He spent most of the game in the Seminole backfield. His short stature was actually a benefit when linemen nearly a foot taller couldn't get down to his size. His quickness made keeping him on the other side of the line a nightmare. It seems impossible that a defensive tackle that size would have a future in the NFL. Whitlock might have the strength and quickness to do so. His size isn't too far off of that of John Randle when he came out of Texas A&I. I tuned into the Florida St.-Wake Forest game to watch more of Seminole quarterback Jameis Winston. I can't watch enough of this kid. I ended up being amazed by this little Tasmanian Devil, Nikita Whitlock.

Michigan had -21 net rushing yards against Nebraska. That doesn't seem possible.

Minnesota might be the most quiet 8-2 team. There's been more talk about head coach Jerry Kill's seizures than the play of his team. Closing with Michigan St. and Wisconsin is tough. Win those and the Gophers will be quiet no more.

I haven't seen all of their games this season but it seems that Alabama starts playing football in the second quarter.

I really like Alabama linebacker C.J. Mosley. UCLA linebacker Anthony Barr might be my favorite player in the 2014 NFL Draft but Mosley isn't far too far behind.

Alabama sure has a great run of running backs going. Mark Ingram, Trent Richardson, Eddie Lacy, and now T.J. Yeldon and Kenyan Drake. There's always an overlap so there's never a running void. An always great offensive line helps.

So far, it looks like Alabama against Florida St., Ohio St., Oregon, Stanford, Baylor.....for the title. This year would be a great time to start that little playoff thing.