The big news this weekend is not the Chiefs but the Missouri Tigers…
The MU football team has surprised everybody with its 11 and 1 win-loss record. And we all know they’re one good kick away from being undefeated. We also know the national press is looking at MU with a skeptical eye since this is the first time in modern college football history that they are true contenders for a national title.
It’s pretty simple, MU must defeat Auburn Saturday, which would make MU the SEC champion. That, in and of itself, would be Missouri’s greatest achievement in football ever. If Ohio State is defeated by Michigan State – a game that will come on after Missouri has played Auburn – then MU, without argument, would face Florida State for the national title.
And yes, Florida State will crush Ivy League-like Duke.
So they’re in.
Maybe just as important to FSU, James Winston; the young man who is their quarterback and should win the Heisman Trophy this year, has been cleared of charges stemming from an apparently bogus sexual assault case.
How cool would it be to see MU face off against FSU?
Speaking of the Kansas City Chiefs, with the team’s three straight losses and with four games left to play, our Chiefs are pretty much locked into the number five playoff spot. I know some people now think the Chiefs will lose all four remaining games, but they won’t. While their record makes them look somewhat better than they really are, given the weakness of the AFC, they are still a potential top performer. When you look at their three losses, the Chiefs were definitely in 2 of the 3 games even with their horrible defense.
And they’ve found their offense. If quarterback Alex Smith continues to put up points as he has and the defense can at least play at an average level, the Chiefs could still be dangerous in the playoffs.
The team needs to start positioning itself for the post season by getting healthy, staying healthy and getting their receivers as best they can to hang on to the football. Moreover, I think their defense has bottomed out and will improve from here forward.
Now let’s get right to the point, the Chiefs will defeat Washington Sunday.
And Missouri – a slight underdog to Auburn – will take down the War Eagles.
College Football
Missouri (+2) over Auburn.
Florida State (-28) over Duke.
Baylor (-8) over Texas teased with Central Florida (-4) over SMU.
OSU (-4) over Oklahoma teased with FSU (-22) over Duke.
Pro Football
KC Chiefs (-2 1/2) over Washington.
Baltimore (-1/2) over Minnesota teased with New England (-4) over Cleveland.
Footnote: I’m ending the year on a strong run 47 wins to 28 losses.
Enjoy your weekend and follow me on Twitter @KCKingofSting.
War mizzou and I have not heard your take yet on the sporting match on Saturday yet.
Skc by a goal.
C’mon Dude, Craig doesn’t even know how many points you get for a goal!
The prosecutor said there wasn’t enough evidence to convict. He said the police botched the investigation and was very clear it was not a vindication of Winston.
Prosecutor is a Tallahassee native, a FSU grad and FSU Law School grad. My take is he was not influenced by his connection to the school. The police did such a poor job of collecting evidence and investigating he had little choice.
Hopefully it was a stupid young man’s mistake and he learns from it and forgoes the one night stands. The prosecutor called both Winston and the young lady victims in the case. She probably has a good civil rights suit against the police. The investigating officer was trying to get a security job with FSU and his conduct was very sleazy.
Heard a couple of national guys say they though MU should have been a 3-point favorite.
You success with betting is more a gambler’s smarts than a football smarts. But it shows how a knowledgeable fan is as smart as the so-called experts. That’s a compliment and not a slam.
I like MU as their big receivers will give Auburn’s DBs fits. Auburn will score but may not be able to keep up with MU.
I like Michigan State and Duke because I dislike their opponents. One reason I don’t bet ‘cept in pools. LOL
IF #1 or #2 lose and Missouri wins, I would not be surprised to see Alabama in the Championship Game. That’s the way the ol’ boy’s club works in college football.
Until they go to an eight-game playoff the National Championship is a joke.
I’m with you, Orphan.
Believe it or not I softened Craig’s pronouncement of Winston’s innocence a bit because I know that not being found guilty is far from being found innocent. I would have dialed it back more, but I hadn’t read the report yet.
Good sweet Lord when the prosecutor said him playing football had nothing to do with the outcome I nearly ran my car off the road in raging laughter. O RLY?!?!
Do you really think people in this cynical age are that stupid to believe that clunker. How he said that with a straight face shows he is a world class liar.
The Dude abides…
He also didn’t say it wouldn’t be prosecuted because it isn’t a slam dunk case.
Winning rather than justice IS what the judicial system is about now.
Given the bag-o-crap work done by the police I believe the prosecutor wasn’t biased.
The investigating officers big push for a job with FSU during his “investigation” certainly begs many, many questions about how the case was handled.
Didn’t read that or that he mentioned the girl having sex with her boyfriend (and that had WHAT to do with the case?)
A woman’s look at this case and how many college athletes get a free pass (when evidence is clear and conclusive) for sexual assault.
http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/jurisprudence/2013/12/jameis_winston_sexual_assault_how_did_the_florida_state_quarterback_evade.html
The two witnesses, who were with James when she got picked up at a bar, said they were making out and she was all over him on the way to the dorm/apartment room, they watched through a busted door while they began to have sex…she was into it..he stopped his pals from shooting some video of them in bed, she never complained….she had fun…this is likely a HE NEVER CALLED ME AGAIN, OH MAN I WAS A WHORE, I WAS WRONGED AND WHO IS HE AGAIN…she was a one night stand and didn’t like that…this kidd can sleep with hot chick he wants the guy doesn’t need to rape anyone, neither did Kobe, Tyson or Big Ben…all those except Kobe’s(he was set up for the money and she did get paid in the end) were ‘he doesn’t care about me bad feelings, I was wronged’ this happens all the time, cops know and remember YOU HAVE TO PROVE YOU DIDN’T DO IT, THEY BELIEVE ANYTHING THE FEMALE SAYS, OJ RULES…ANYTHING, THEY DON’T NEED ANY EVIDENCE NONE TO MAKE THE ARREST, WHICH 99% of the time they do…
THE GUY WAS NOT GUILTY…SHE WILL FILE A CIVIL SUIT AND GET A PAYDAY IN ABOUT ONE YEAR…they are already going for it…that’s what all this was about…”I didn’t know who he was” yes she did, she didn’t know he would be the NFL number one draft pick and make millions…she will get a couple hundred grand to go away…cause James legal bills and court would be more and keep him in the public eye as a thug…so he doesn’t want that, they know it…PAYDAY…yes he was NOT GUILTY OF ANYTHING.
Gotta tell ya Glaze, I listened to the girls talk who claim to have ben raped by Big Ben and I believe them. Big Ben oughta be doing 20 years at least for those rapes.
P.S. I NEVER believed Tyson was guilty. That chick couldn’t keep her story straight.
Just my opinion.
Can’t reply to Glaze above so I will reply here.
No witnesses were talked to until two-months after the incident. Winston was a nobody when it occurred so it wasn’t a trophy hunt for the girl.
I hope it was a dumb mistake on Winston’s part. Lots of groupies hanging around the locker room so there is no need to sexually assault anyone.
But the way sexual assaults are handed and investigated on college campuses in college towns is a very ugly picture.
Taking advantage of a drunk woman is sexual assault. Police said she was 0.10, too drunk to drive a car.
The prosecutor said it best, he believes both parties are victims in the incident.
God knows when a woman says no it doesn’t always mean no. Then again it was never my style to wham-bam-dump-ya-off-on-a-street-corner.
I’m sure Craig Glazer can elaborate on that method better than myself. I gather that his KNOWING the innocence and what was in the girl’s mind goes hand and hand with the subject.
Eyewitnesses often are horrible at identifying their assailants. I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt for fingering Winston two-months after the fact.
I’ll give Winston the benefit of the doubt based on the sloppy investigation. The police left him twisting in the wind for two-months after the allegations came out it was him. Had they asked then for the DNA sample how much sooner would the prosecutor had an answer?
Winston had a couple of other stupid incidents where he acted immaturely and entitled. If he was wrongly accused of rape I hope he handles his sex life in a responsible manner now. No means no and there’s another groupie who will say yes so why bother.
The victim will file against the police for how they handled the investigation and rightfully so. They prolonged everything with their effort to protect FSU and a player which led to justice being tarnished.
Again NOT GUILTY. Hey I don’t know the kidd, I don’t know her, I know people. In most of these “domestic violence” cases that involve girlfriend/boyfriend, there really are no witnesses and I think if there aren’t marks and clear violence the “he pushed me” needs to go…in this case who knows…we will never know…her story isn’t good, she was drunk, she wanted to go home with the guy….so for what, to talk…come on…but see it your way…
As to Orphan, in my life I never had to force anything on a lady, girl, chick whatever…if they didn’t want to have sex, fine with me..in todays more open minded rules of engagement, if a girl goes to your place and is being cozy…odds are they want to have sex…you don’t have to force anyone, but if you don’t want to see them again, yeah, they don’t like that…neither do we, we just don’t make up stories to get someones life screwed over…huh.
A swing and a miss, again Mr Glazer.
Being unable to prosecute does not mean not guilty or innocent. It means the prosecutor didn’t have a slam dunk.
Of course I do not know but I would think you may have been in similar situations to Winston where you walked away from it. The stripper with her son comes to mind.
No doesn’t always mean no which is very confusing to young men. No. Don’t. Stop. It can turn into no, don’t stop very quickly.
While your conquest make for lots of hits, perhaps a tale of the one you sent away or decided was too strange could serve those whose little head takes control of the body from the big head.
I’ve heard tales from friends who took advantage of every young girl who came their way. Until they realized the sex was poor and that it could come back and bite them on the arse.
This incident could be a case of two stories and nobody is lying. She was drunk and he has been pursued by girls probably since his hs days.
As I said, had the police handled the case properly it would have never got the publicity and attention it received.
As I said above, if you look at how sexual assault cases are handled in college you will see why athletes seldom have the benefit of the doubt.
My ex-bil can tell you all about gals chasing the football star to catch a rich kid with sex.
While Missouri wouldn’t quit, their offense played catch up the entire game and James Franklin showed that he belongs, the Tigers were never really in this one. The Tiger Coaching staff was unable to school MU in the ways of the Auburn Option plays and in the end MU got run off their feet and badly. It was painful to watch Auburn run all over MU the entire game with runs of 10,20 30 yards a gash.
I said if MU won it would be their greatest College season, if they lost, the forgotten season, they lost. So only us locals will recall this years action and ending.
It seems our local college and pro teams just can’t win the pre big one let alone the big one…except KU basketball, which also went down today.
I don’t think MU will get a BCS game. Hope they get the Cotton Bowl. Again a nice year, better than we expected but no cigar.
Well we went to 49-30, going two and two…in college with a tie in one game Central Florida, so there is no 1/2 point we won the other side of the tease.
Now the MU loss hurts a bit more knowing a win would send them to the title game. The area’s first big time game since KU’s national title games in basketball and no offense to KU but football is bigger and MU/FSU championship would have been so great, huh. MU does have the offense to be a champ, but the defense, though highly rated all season, let them down…just got jacked, run over…it was painful. Still a good season for the Tigers.
Well a .500 weekend…now 50-31..on pace for a good finish…