Like It Is

OPINION | WALLY HALL: Number of undefeated teams about to shrink


At the halfway mark of the college football season, only 15 teams are still undefeated and 13 of them are in Power 5 conferences, led by the SEC with four.

Obviously, those numbers will start to dwindle.

Clemson, 6-0, plays 5-0 Syracuse on Oct 22; Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State are undefeated, but on Saturday the Wolverines host the Nittany Lions, who two weeks later face the Buckeyes. Of course, Michigan and Ohio State will meet in their regular-season finale.

Oklahoma State and TCU are 5-0 but meet this Saturday in Fort Worth, while UCLA and USC will have their annual showdown on Nov. 16.

The SEC is a little complicated because Georgia and Alabama can't play unless they both make the SEC Championship Game, which most likely will happen,.

Georgia hosts Tennessee on Nov. 5 and Alabama goes to Ole Miss on Nov. 12.

The other undefeated teams are from the Sun Belt. James Madison, which is 5-0 in its first season in the FBS, and Coastal Carolina, which is 6-0. They play in their regular-season finale.

. . .

It appears former Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Bret Bielema is more comfortable in the Big Ten than he was in the SEC.

In his second season, Illinois is 5-1 and tied for the Big Ten West Division lead with Purdue and Nebraska, which is 2-1 since firing Scott Frost.

Bielema was 68-24 overall and 37-19 coaching Wisconsin and 29-34 and 11-29 at Arkansas.

Illinois beat Wisconsin 34-10, and the next day, Badgers' head coach Paul Chryst was fired. He won three Big Ten West titles in his seven years with Wisconsin.

It certainly won't be a surprise if Bielema's name comes up for the Wisconsin job, although he did voluntarily leave the Badgers for the Arkansas job, and some fans have long memories.

. . .

All horse players are looking for an edge when it comes to handicapping.

Now comes Loggins, who may have a trouble line that doesn't show up in the past performances.

Steve Landers is part owner of the 2-year-old colt who was sired by Ghostzapper and is trained by Brad Cox.

Loggins was the favorite in the $600,000 Breeders' Cup Futurity, a Grade I race, but he may not be favored the next time he runs because he finished second to Forte.

However, the race was tightly ridden and there was an objection that the judges took a long time to review before deciding it was incidental and didn't determine the outcome of the race.

That was their opinion.

Loggins took the lead at the head of the stretch and Forte overtook him and put a nose in front, but Loggins dug in and regained the lead by a nose.

The horses were very close and when Forte's jockey Irad Ortiz, who later said he tried to keep his horse on a straight path, went to a left-handed whip it appears he inadvertently hit Loggins in the face.

Loggins, of course, took back but only for a second, and he dug in and finished a neck behind Forte.

The race at Keeneland where the Breeders' Cup will be run Nov. 4-5, was 1 1/16 miles but had fractions of 22.94, 46.36 and 1:11.63 for 6 furlongs. The winning time was 1:44.74.

Those are blazing times for a two-turn race, but Loggins and Forte finished strong, with the winner having had an advantage in the stretch.

. . .

Maybe it is a trend, but it is over the top.

Trying to watch the Monday night NFL game between Kansas City and Las Vegas was hard because the crowd noise was so loud you couldn't hear the commentators.

Agreed some commentators -- Bill Walton comes to mind -- aren't worth hearing, but it was a great game and had lots of suspense.

Joe Kleine's Chiefs won.


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