I’ve been high on the NFL the last few weeks. Usually, I’m often exhausted by it, often annoyed by it. It gets so much attention, and because I don’t love professional football as much as I love college football or college basketball or professional baseball, that can get on my nerves. I have arguments against it that go a little deeper, but this is the root of my discontent: I don’t love following the NFL, those who consume sports media do, it crowds out things which interest me more.
Lately, though, I’ve been high on it. It started before the Damar Hamlin incident—I got on a kick of appreciating how franchises like the Packers and the Steelers thrive in markets other sports view as “small,” dominating broadcast windows while teams in Los Angeles are pushed aside—but the Damar Hamlin incident did pour some gas on my fire. Obviously, obviously, obviously, what happened to Damar Hamlin is terrible. It would be better for it not to have happened. But the good it showed—the life-saving capability of NFL trainers; the humanity of at least two NFL coaches; the aggressive support millions of fans instinctively directed upon, ultimately, a toy drive—was unlike anything we’ve seen from sports in a long time, and as the biggest sporting body in America, the NFL was uniquely positioned for this good to occur on a grander scale and a grander stage than would be possible anywhere else.
I’ve been high on the NFL the last few weeks.
But this Wild Card Round stinks.
The most compelling game, I guess, is Cowboys vs. Brady. It isn’t until Monday night, and it includes a team below .500, but that’s the best we’ve got going on. Out of the other five: three are projected to be blowouts, each involving a backup quarterback; one is a Spiderman meme of two teams we’re all pretty sure are bewilderingly lucky; and the last is Jaguars vs. Chargers, two teams with no believable chance to win this Super Bowl who together occupy a place in the standings that, to extrapolate 32 NFL teams onto the whole of Division I college basketball, would only sometimes earn a CBI nod.
Next weekend should be great. The Eagles should be playing a division foe. The Bills and Bengals should finally get their game. Someone will go to Kansas City looking to turn the playoff situation on its head. This weekend, though, is a mess, and it’s not necessary. We don’t need 17 games in the regular season. We don’t need 14 teams in the playoffs. Would Lamar Jackson and Tua Tagovailoa magically be healthy if we were still watching a 16-game season? No. But injuries are going to be more common when seasons are longer. That’s how numbers games work. Would it be better to have only four games and have the Dolphins and Seahawks both excluded? Yes. This isn’t on the NBA’s level of underdog chancelessness, but those games are terrible on paper, and even if one of those two does spring the upset, do they really deserve their spot in the Super Bowl quarterfinals more than Buffalo or San Francisco, two teams good enough to win it all? Yes, I hear the counterargument, it’s a test for the Bills and 49ers. But weren’t the previous 18 weeks test enough? Given we have a larger sample now, with the expanded regular season, the expanded playoff makes less sense than it did.
Maybe I’ll be surprised. Maybe this weekend will be a whole lot of fun. It’d be a surprise, though. More likely, we’ll all gather on Monday to watch an aged great who only made the field because his division utterly stunk try to get himself a Division Round date with obliteration. Then, we’ll turn our focus to that Division Round. Which should actually be very good.
Iowa State @ Kansas
I wouldn’t say Iowa State has nothing to lose this weekend in Lawrence. Oklahoma had nothing to lose in Lawrence. Iowa State has played well enough to obtain something which they now can lose.
If the Cyclones play Kansas close, it’ll be hard to be disappointed, even in a loss (with a win, we’ll be elated, but that goes without saying). There’s a jockeying going on for the second slot in the Big 12 hierarchy, and in a game Iowa State is expected to comfortably lose, hanging with the best would go a long way towards making a claim.
If Kansas smokes Iowa State, yeah, that would be a bummer. It wouldn’t be fully back–to–square–one, but it would be a step backward. The thing you don’t want tomorrow to say is that Kansas is all alone atop the league and Iowa State can, at best, become king of the kids table.
How does Iowa State win it? We saw from the Oklahoma game—and we’ve seen other times as well—that Kansas is not immune from struggling. So far, though, they’ve consistently answered the bell this year, and aside from that Tennessee game they’ve yet to suffer a terrible night they haven’t survived. Maybe this is luck—maybe our explanation for the phenomenon will be, in two months, that they kept getting away with things—but for Iowa State, the assumption has to be that at any moment, Kansas is capable of going on a potent run. There are matchup pieces—you have to stay on top of Gradey Dick, you have to get in front of Jalen Wilson, you better hope Osun Osunniyi is healthy because you’re going to need to throw a lot of guys at the boards—but all of that stems from composure. This is such an experienced team that the moment shouldn’t be too big, but playing in Allen Fieldhouse, there’s no such thing as enough experience.
Hopefully it’s a hell of a game.
Tennessee Should Be Fine, Right?
Amongst our other national players…
- Houston’s idle.
- Tennessee’s home against Kentucky, which is almost more dangerous than if Kentucky was playing well? This was always circled for the Vols, but now the downside is way worse.
- UCLA’s home against Colorado, who’s famously feisty but should be beatable.
- UConn gets St. John’s to open an easier stretch of schedule, which—like Kentucky’s trip to Knoxville—might be more dangerous for the Huskies. Not a lot to gain. We already knew they could roll through mediocrity. (Iowa State’s gotten better, ok?)
- Alabama hosts LSU. Feels like a college football weekend. Not because Bama’s playing LSU, but because all these good teams are huge favorites.
- Purdue’s home against Nebraska tonight. More of the same.
- Texas is home against Texas Tech, which could be cathartic for some in Austin or could be a vicious twisting of the knife by Tech.
- Saint Mary’s is over at San Francisco, trying to stay undefeated in the WCC (they’ll play both their Gonzaga games in February).
- Arizona’s up in Eugene, trying to finish off a sweep of the Oregons while Oregon tries to get back after a disaster last night against ASU.
- Virginia’s down in Tallahassee against Florida State.
- Gonzaga’s home against Portland, having escaped Provo last night with a quietly gigantic win for themselves. It wouldn’t have been a terrible loss, but the Zags’ wins over Michigan State and Kentucky aren’t looking spectacular, meaning they’re putting a lot of wait on having beaten Alabama and Xavier. That added some team sheet depth.
- Ohio State played themselves off our radar last night. Although it was fun that they did it in an all-access game. Made me think Ben Johnson rocks. Maybe he does!
**
Viewing schedule for the weekend, second screen rotation in italics:
College Basketball (a smorgasbord)
- Friday, 7:00 PM EST: Nebraska @ Purdue (BTN)
- Friday, 9:00 PM EST: Michigan State @ Illinois (FS1)
- Friday, 11:00 PM EST: Utah State @ Nevada (FS1)
- Saturday, 12:00 PM EST: Kentucky @ Tennessee (ESPN)
- Saturday, 2:00 PM EST: Providence @ Creighton (FS1)
- Saturday, 2:00 PM EST: Kansas State @ TCU (ESPN2)
- Saturday, 2:00 PM EST: North Texas @ Florida Atlantic (ESPN+)
- Saturday, 4:00 PM EST: Iowa State @ Kansas (ESPN+)
- Saturday, 4:00 PM EST: LSU @ Alabama (ESPN)
- Saturday, 4:00 PM EST: Virginia @ Florida State (ESPN2)
- Saturday, 5:00 PM EST: Duke @ Clemson (ACCN)
- Saturday, 6:00 PM EST: Arizona @ Oregon (ESPN)
- Saturday, 8:00 PM EST: Texas Tech @ Texas (ESPN)
- Saturday, 8:00 PM EST: Colorado @ UCLA (FOX)
- Saturday, 10:00 PM EST: Portland @ Gonzaga (ESPN2)
- Saturday, 11:00 PM EST: Saint Mary’s @ San Francisco (WCCN)
- Sunday, 12:00 PM EST: Marquette @ Xavier (FOX)
- Sunday, 12:00 PM EST: St. John’s @ UConn (FS1)
- Sunday, 2:15 PM EST: Ohio State @ Rutgers (BTN)
- Sunday, 4:30 PM EST: Maryland @ Iowa (BTN)
NFL
- Saturday, 4:30 PM EST: Seattle @ San Francisco (FOX)
- Saturday, 8:15 PM EST: LA Chargers @ Jacksonville (NBC)
- Sunday, 1:00 PM EST: Miami @ Buffalo (CBS)
- Sunday, 4:30 PM EST: NY Giants @ Minnesota (FOX)
- Sunday, 8:15 PM EST: Baltimore @ Cincinnati (NBC)
NBA (best game each day, plus the Bulls)
- Friday, 7:00 PM EST: New York @ Washington (League Pass)
- Friday, 8:00 PM EST: Oklahoma City @ Bulls (League Pass)
- Saturday, 7:00 PM EST: Memphis @ Indianapolis (League Pass)
- Sunday, 3:30 PM EST: Golden State @ Bulls (League Pass)
- Sunday, 9:30 PM EST: Philadelphia @ LA Lakers (NBA TV)
NHL (best game each day)
- Friday, 7:00 PM EST: Winnipeg @ Pittsburgh (NHL Network)
- Saturday, 7:00 PM EST: Toronto @ Boston (NHL Network)
- Sunday, 5:00 PM EST: Vancouver @ Carolina (ESPN+)
Premier League (best game each day or by otherwise open time slot)
- Friday, 3:00 PM EST: Leeds @ Aston Villa (USA)
- Saturday, 7:30 AM EST: Manchester City @ Manchester United (USA)
- Saturday, 10:00 AM EST: Liverpool @ Brighton (Peacock)
- Sunday, 9:00 AM EST: Fulham @ Newcastle (Peacock)
- Sunday, 11:30 AM EST: Arsenal @ Tottenham (Peacock)
EFL Championship (best game each day or by otherwise open time slot)
- Saturday, 10:00 AM EST: Millwall @ Middlesbrough
