By Ron Wynn The Tennessee Titans made a remarkable second half comeback Sunday, erasing an 18-point halftime deficit on the way to a 22-21 first round road victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in the first game of the 2018 NFL playoffs. Marcus Mariota had two touchdown passes and one touchdown catch of a deflection, passing for 205 yards and sparking an incredible rally for a team that looked totally defeated and confused through the first 30 minutes. Derrick Henry also had a career-high 156 yards rushing and a critical touchdown run, while the defense that was scorched for 18…
Author: Ron Wynn
Even as most of the sports world was gathering in Atlanta this week to watch SEC titans Georgia and Alabama go head-to-head for the College Football Playoff National Championship, there was another team laying claim to being the best among major colleges. The University of Central Florida (UCF) completed the only 13-0 season for any FCS team this season with a victory over Auburn in the Peach Bowl. However UCF finished 12th in the CFP final rankings, and didn’t make the top four contenders who met in the playoff semifinals. The problem with this is that UCF is the only…
By most accounts, 2017 was a rough year for the National Football League. It was marred in controversies, the biggest being the phony one manufactured by President Donald Trump with his claim that protesting players were disrespecting the American flag and veterans. But the fallout eventually led to the creation of a players council and the NFL agreeing subsequently to donate millions of dollars to designated player charities. Sadly, the players council also had its own internal problems, with some members eventually opting to quit because they felt there were ethical issues involved with certain players’ participation. But whatever the…
By Ron Wynn Any doubts that the Predators are legitimate Stanley Cup contenders were erased in Saturday’s 2-0 victory over the Calgary Flames. The Predators completed a three game sweep of Western Canada in decisive fashion. They romped over Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary, winning all three games in regulation and posting two shutouts in the process. Their overall record improved to 21-7-4, and they begin the week leading the Western Conference. They got another stellar game from Pekka Rinne. It was also an old school style, ultra defensive battle. Neither team scored in either the first or third periods. The…
Two more Black head coaches were hired last week by major colleges, bringing the total all the way up to 14. That’s FOURTEEN Black head coaches in FBS out of 130 schools. Not quite 10 percent, but it’s even lower for women or other nonwhites. According to November NCAA statistics, nearly 90 percent of major college presidents (89.2) are white, 83.1 percent of athletic directors and 86.9 percent of head football coaches. Of course the playing ranks are a lot more diverse, with Blacks accounting for nearly 60 percent of players at many major colleges (70 in some cases). But…
By Ron Wynn The Lady Tigers of Tennessee State University have had some close losses in the early season, but Saturday night they got their first victory in easy fashion 93-48 over Fisk University at the Gentry Center. The game was pretty much over in the first few minutes as the Lady Tigers scored the first nine points and soon had a 14-point lead at 19-5. It didn’t hurt that TSU shot over 50 percent for the first half, while building a huge lead and eventually nearly winning by as many points they surrendered. Their defense also held Fisk to…
The struggles that Black coaches have endured at Power 5 Conference schools are well publicized, whether it be Kevin Sumlin’s current troubles at Texas A&M, Charlie Strong’s issues at Texas, or the problems Tyrone Willingham encountered first at Notre Dame, then later at the University of Washington. But not every African-American who gets promoted to the head spot at a high profile school finds the going rough. Indeed David Shaw at Stanford has compiled one of the most glittering records of any coach over the past seven years, though you wouldn’t know it unless you took the time to research…
By Ron Wynn Despite their awful second half performance against Pittsburgh last Thursday, the Titans’ chances for their first playoff berth since 2008 look good. With six games remaining they stand at 6-4. Even though a game behind Jacksonville’s 7-3 (assuming that the Jaguars dispatched the winless Cleveland Browns), the Titans have already easily handled the Jaguars in Jacksonvillle. The key to the playoffs will be how the Titans navigate the remaining AFC South games. They still have a road game left against the Colts Sunday, and upcoming home games with the Texans and Jaguars. Win all three and they…
If all any college football fan in this state followed during 2017 was Southeastern Conference football, it has been a horrendous season. No one thought Tennessee was going to win the SEC or make the College Football playoffs, but they were expected to contend for an Eastern Division title. Instead they went through a nightmare season that has resulted in the firing of head coach Butch Jones, a slew of injuries, and seven straight SEC losses. There will be no bowl game for the Vols this season, indeed not even a winning year. Had Derick Mason not gotten an extension…
The college basketball season has barely begun, but the news has been mostly bad. First, the sport was rocked by allegations of corruption and scandal weeks before preseason practice even began. Reports surfaced that the FBI had been investigating all types of things from under the table payments to high school players to phony names on shoe contracts. Five assistant coaches were initially arrested, but the biggest name bounced thus far is Hall of Famer Rick Pitino. He was canned by Louisville despite his admonitions that he was totally unaware of anything illegal going on, and that he should remain…