Bishop Media Sports Network
Frederica Academy Knights Coach’s Show w Brandon Derrick September 16
Glynn Academy Red Terrors Coach’s Show w Rocky Hidalgo September 16
Down South
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Week 1 of the NFL season is in the books. Let’s take a look at what happened around the NFC South after the first week of games.
Seattle 38, Atlanta 25: The Falcons defense looked just as bad as they have the last few seasons. Russell Wilson completed 31 of 35 passes for 322 yards and 4 touchdowns.
He also had three runs for a team-high 29 yards rushing. Atlanta sacked Wilson 3 times but that did not slow him down.
Matt Ryan threw for 450 yards, 2 touchdowns and an interception.
Julio Jones, Calvin Ridley and Russell Gage each had 9 receptions for over 100 yards.
In Todd Gurley’s first game as a Falcon he rushed 14 times for 56 yards and a TD.
Atlanta outgained Seattle 506 yards to 383 but came up short all four times they tried to convert on fourth down.
The one good thing for the Falcons is Ryan surpassed John Elway for ninth on the NFL career passing yardage list.
Las Vegas 34, Carolina 30: Matt Rhule made his coaching debut as the Panthers head coach.
They had the best defense in the NFL just a few seasons ago, now they need all the help they can get.
The Raiders offense did whatever they wanted.
Second year running back Josh Jacobs rushed for 93 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Derek Carr threw for 239 yards and a score.
This was the first game for the Raiders since moving from Oakland to Las Vegas. Gruden didn’t hold back on praising Jacobs.
“That was a little bit like Walter Payton used to play,” Gruden said. “It was hot as hell. He got beat up early. He insisted on coming back and he insisted on getting the ball as a runner and receiver. He is special. He deserves some national attention — and I hope you give it to him.”
This was Teddy Bridgewater’s first game as the Panthers QB.
He had a solid game, completing 22 of 34 passes for 270 yards and a touchdown.
Former New York Jets receiver Robby Anderson also made his Carolina debut and played well. He had 6 receptions for 115 yards and a touchdown.
Of course, Christian McCaffrey had another great game. He ran for 96 yards and 2 touchdowns and he had 38 yards receiving.
New Orleans 34. Tampa Bay 23: This was the most anticipated game of the day. We all know Tom Brady left New England this offseason to become a Buccaneer.
He has a ton of offensive weapons. The Saints also feature a geriatric quarterback surrounded by playmakers.
This was the first game featuring two starting quarterbacks in their forties and they played like it.
The game started good for Brady. He rushed for a touchdown to give Tampa an early 7-0 lead.
It was downhill from there. He threw two picks and one of them was returned for a touchdown. Jameis Winston had to see himself in Brady as he watched from the Saints sideline.
“I made some just bad, terrible turnovers,” Brady said. “I obviously have got to do a lot better job.”
Drew Brees only threw for 160 yards and 2 TD’s. Alvin Kamara had a rushing and receiving score.
Surprisingly Michael Thomas only had 3 catches for 17 yards.
The Return
By: JJ Lanier
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
When the NBA resumed their season, I heard Bomani Jones mention on a podcast that he didn’t realize how much he needed the return of basketball, until he watched the opening tip.
As someone who has been concerned with how the college football season was going to take place, while keeping everyone as safe as possible, I understood exactly where Bomani was coming from.
I paused my game of Red Dead Redemption 2 and took a break from binging The Big Bang Theory, to watch what was essentially the opening weekend of college football.
We all know this upcoming season is going to be something completely different than we’ve experienced before and if the first weekend is a taste of what the next few months hold, we’re in for a wild, unpredictable ride.
It didn’t take long for Covid to start wreaking havoc on the schedule with both Houston/Memphis and Virginia/Virginia Tech postponing their respective games.
There were also a few other games postponed, as well as some, Oklahoma/Missouri State come to mind, that were almost cancelled.
However, some of those cancellations brought on new games, (Houston replaced their game against Memphis with Baylor and Appalachian State’s game against UNC-Charlotte also took place because of previously cancelled games), so it was interesting to see teams adapt on the fly to that adversity.
Looks like you can add each team’s schedule to the list of things that will be fluid throughout the year.
There was also the news the Big Ten and possibly Pac-12 will vote to resume their seasons, with a start date sometime in October. If you thought the debates about who made the college playoffs in years past were contentious and heated, imagine what it will be like this year when two of the five conferences will have only played half the games.
As for the actual games, you had three Sun Belt teams (Louisiana, Arkansas State, Coastal Carolina) beating three Big-12 schools (Iowa State, Kansas State, Kansas) as well as Georgia Tech’s victory over Florida State.
I know upsets happen every year, and outside of Iowa State not much was expected from any of the losing teams, but with everything going it feels like a precursor of things to come.
A couple weeks ago I thought this might be the year a school from outside the power 5 would have a shot at the playoffs, and I’m still hanging onto that belief, if only by a thread.
Then you had the case of Georgia Southern, who squeaked out a win over Campbell, due in large part to 33 of their players not being eligible to play.
Not all their players sat out because of Covid, but many them did, even if the cause wasn’t directly related.
I realize this will only be a blip on the ticker at the bottom of your screen, but insert Georgia or Clemson in place of Georgia Southern and see how big a story it becomes.
The great 1980’s poet, Tom Keifer (Cinderella) once wrote “You Don’t Know What You’ve Got (Till It’s Gone)” and while I tend to agree with his sentiment, I would like to add a caveat to it.
In some cases, you know exactly what you’ve got, you just don’t realize how much you missed it until it comes back.
It was good to see you again, college football. Here’s hoping everyone can stay safe enough for you to stick around for a while.
MVP
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
It seems bonkers to be thinking about and talking about end of the year awards for the Major League Baseball season when not even two months have passed since the first pitch of the season was thrown, but here we are.
The pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign will be over soon and things like Cy Young Awards, MVPs, Gold Gloves, and Silver Sluggers must be given out.
So, with that in mind, I’d like to make a case for a player who should be the National League Most Valuable Player this season: Atlanta Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman.
Freeman has long been respected as one of the most consistent players in the game, if not the top player at his position.
He’s had All Star appearances, won Gold Gloves and Silver Sluggers, but the one thing (other than a World Series ring, of course) missing from his trophy case is an MVP award.
This year, for all its flaws and weirdness, presents the best opportunity for Freddie to fill that spot on the shelf.
As with most seasons, Freeman has hit for average and power, with good RBI numbers as well as a great OPS and WAR (for you sabermetric fans out there).
But it also seems like every year he hovers just under the radar for serious award consideration.
This year seemed to be shaping up much in the same way, but Freeman has gotten incredibly hot, slugging his first two career grand slams, tons of multi-hit games, and a two-homerun game to boot.
In that stretch, his batting average skyrocketed over .330 and his OPS topped 1.000 (a whopping, and league leading, 1.075). He also is the top of the league in RBI’s, driving in runs at a torrid clip.
But the case isn’t just made because of his numbers alone. The Braves, who have been favorites to win the NL East all season, have seen their starting rotation decimated over the course of the season, and Cy Young candidate Max Fried hitting the Injured List could very well have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Short of taking the mound himself, Freddie’s offensive explosion has seen him do everything he can to prevent Atlanta from slipping out of first place in the division, as the Philadelphia Phillies have given chase.
Freeman is also a team player. The Braves third hitter for almost his entire career, he responded well to being moved up to the two-hole after leadoff man Ronald Acuna, Jr. was hurt and kept out of the lineup for a few games.
He responded so well that Brian Snitker has kept him there after the young outfielder’s return.
Credit to where it’s due: Freddie always thrives when someone with some thunder hits behind him.
Last season, Freeman was awarded the Silver Slugger after a year of having Josh Donaldson batting in the cleanup spot.
This year Marcel Ozuna has been a revelation, protecting Freddie and giving opposing pitchers a veritable Sophie’s Choice of who to pitch for in any situation.
In fact, for a while there it looked like Ozuna would be the Braves’ most likely MVP candidate.
While Ozuna continued to thrive in Atlanta, Freeman has jumped into the forefront of the conversation both in Atlanta and, I hope, the minds of the MVP voters.
It’s time for Freddie to stop being the bridesmaid and get married. I now pronounce him the NL MVP.
You may win the World Series now.
Jason Bishop Show w Kipp Branch September 12
Killer Gator
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The SEC football season starts on September 26th.
Millions of college football fans, like me, in the South have that day circled on the calendar.
SEC football junkies tune into the SEC network to soak up all of the information we can regarding the upcoming season.
The SEC Network talking heads are asked their opinion on a variety of topics and one of those topics I heard recently was ‘who was the best returning quarterback in the SEC going into the 2020 season?’
That question was raised this week on the network and the answer given by one on the talking heads was Kellen Mond of Texas A&M.
I raised up in my chair and said ‘no way, can that be true’ because the obvious answer to that question from my perspective is Kyle Trask from the University of Florida.
Let’s do some stat comparisons from 2019:
Kyle Trask:
CMP: 237
ATT: 354
YDS: 2,941
CMP%: 66.9
TD: 25
INT: 7
Kellen Mond:
CMP: 258
ATT: 419
YDS: 2,897
CMP%: 61.6
TD: 20
INT: 9
As you look at the stats on paper you will see that the yards were similar between the two starting quarterbacks.
You will notice that Trask had a much higher completion percentage than Mond.
The most glaring stat is that Trask threw for more touchdowns 25 to 20 on 65 less passing attempts.
The thing that separates Trask right now from Mond, in my opinion, is confidence.
Confidence is a quality at the QB position that brings calm to the rest of the football team.
You could see it in Trask when he came off the bench last September when he led a huge 4th quarter comeback against Kentucky in Lexington after Feleipe Franks went down with a season ending leg injury.
Other than the 2018 classic seven overtime win over LSU, you haven’t seen that confidence in Kellen Mond in his entire Aggie career.
Mond is a pretty good QB, don’t get me wrong, but when the big games on the schedule roll around he just doesn’t seem like a confident QB in those games.
Mond led the Aggies to an 8-5 record in 2018 with a Texas Bowl win over Oklahoma State.
Trask led Florida to an 11-2 record that included an Orange Bowl win over Virginia.
Even in the two losses against LSU and Georgia, Trask handled the pressure of those two games well.
Yes, we know the SEC West is a better division than the SEC East currently.
Florida travels to Texas A&M on October 10th to play the Aggies. This game will match up the two top returning QB’s from 2019.
This will be a huge road game for Florida as the Gators deal with high expectations in the SEC East for the first time in 4 years.
Dan Mullen is building this thing back at UF and this game in College Station will be a huge measuring stick as to where they are.
The Aggies have to take the next step in 2020 or the heat may begin to build under Jimbo Fisher. I expect this to be a classic game.
Let me leave you with this question about this contest. With the game on the line in the 4th quarter, which QB do you want under center Mond or Trask? Give me Kyle Trask please.
Kyle Trask is the best returning QB in the SEC.
Here come the Auburn fans whining about how I have disrespected Bo Nix.
Saturday’s Buzzing Chant
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The Mike Norvell era begins on Saturday September 12, 2020 against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
It’s game week for FSU football, which means it’s time for Coach Norvell to unveil his plan to get FSU back to relevancy.
After four seasons as the head coach at Memphis, Coach Norvell was hired to replace Willie Taggart.
FSU comes into the game week as a 12.5 point favorite against Georgia Tech.
One of the biggest questions going into the contest is Mike Norvell; is he the right person to lead FSU back to prominence?
The past two seasons FSU has struggled with costly penalties, turnovers, personnel, alongside other detailed issues.
The first offseason at a new school is always a challenge for a head coach, as they set out to install their offensive and defensive schemes. FSU’s culture and expectations for the program remains high.
This offseason has been even more complicated by COVID-19, Norvell was attempting to operate the offseason remotely. The trying nature of this offseason has taken the anticipation to perhaps an even higher level ahead of Saturday’s kickoff.
Saturday is a great opportunity for the FSU football team and Mike Norvell to show their fans, alumni and supporters that the program is in good hands and is heading in the right direction.
Watching Coach Norvell’s press conference on Monday, Coach Norvell never stopped smiling. He beams confidence and leadership. His job is to rebuild one of the most dominant college football programs from a deflating down period.
Don’t get me wrong, FSU is not competing for a National Championship or even an ACC Championship this season, but Coach Norvell must show positive results on the field. He will be playing his home games on Bobby Bowden Field.
Norvell will be facing a program in Georgia Tech with second year head coach Geoff Collins.
Georgia Tech coming off a very disappointing 3-9 campaign in 2019. The Yellow Jackets look to rebound in 2020.
Saturday’s game is a big game for both teams as the Jackets look to take a big step forward in year two of the Geoff Collins era, while FSU looks to get the Mike Norvell era off to a good start in his first game as the Seminoles head coach.
With both programs having plenty to prove, I expect things to be sloppy at times with missed tackles, blown assignments, and penalties on both teams.
I think it will be a fairly high scoring game, but we do have to take into account the lack of practice time.
The Seminoles biggest problem on offense last year was their offensive line which allowed a whopping 48 sacks, that’s a weakness that Georgia Tech must exploit to win.
Look for James Blackmon to stay upright and FSU’s team speed will be the difference in this matchup, as Florida State simply has too many talented weapons at their disposal and that leads tips the game heavily in favor of the Seminoles.
Final Score Prediction: FSU 34 Georgia Tech 13
Frederica Academy Knight Coach’s Show w Brandon Derrick September 9
Brunswick High Pirates Coach’s Show w Sean Pender September 9
