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I’m surprised…. yet I’m not surprised. OU being 7th would have been more balanced though because Michigan does not have a Top 25 win and just lost one of its two rivalry games by blowing a lead to Michigan State.

Cincy at No. 6 doesn’t bother me because they have a better best win than OU with the Notre Dame win.

OU’s best win of the season to date is versus a swooning 4-4 Texas team which will be joining the SEC under the guise of being a current elite football program.

No. 5 Ohio State like Michigan does not have a Top 25 win since Penn State did not make any other polls this week.

I would say if any conference was given preferrential treatment it was the Big 10. As a conference what is the Big 10’s best nonconference win?

I would say probably Penn State’s home win over Auburn back in Week 3. But since that win the Nittany Lions have ‘almost’ tanked deeper than the feeble NBA entity known as the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Oregon at No. 4 doesn’t bother me because they have the best win of any team with a road win over the Buckeyes in Columbus.

Ohio State like Michigan hasn’t done all that much either.

In fact I would say O State, Baylor, and Auburn all have better resumes than Ohio State and Michigan to date. The manner in which Ohio State and Michigan were coddled by the Committee does grate at me though.

Alabama being ranked No. 2 doesn’t bother me as much because to stay in the Final Four they will need to beat Auburn on the road, plus beat Georgia in SEC Championship Game.. Surely the Committee wouldn’t put a two loss ‘Bama in the Playoff. If the Committee puts a two loss Bama in the playoff that might elicit a different reaction from me.

But again…why in the world would two underacheivers this season like Ohio State and Michigan be given preferrential treatment?

It’s vexing for certain. I might send Kirk a terse email. I hope ESPN didn’t meddle in all of this. Answer me this, Kirk…combined what is the best win for Ohio State and Michigan? The answer again is Penn State. Three teams from that conference in the Top 7…are you kidding me?

It was the same mindset in the most recent NCAA Basketball Tournament seeding bracket. Not one Big Ten team advanced to the Final Four. Not one as I recall even though Illinois, Michigan, Ohio State, and Iowa were all given either No. 1 or No. 2 seeds in different regionals. Only Michigan made it to an Elite 8 game. Again…are you kidding me?

It appears to me the Big 10 lobby is every bit or more than that of the SEC given none of their teams have won anything for awhile yet are given this type of treatment.

I had Georgia No. 1 and Michigan State No. 2 so I’m pretty much there with the Committee on those two teams.

O State, Baylor, and Auburn are pretty much where I had them as well. Same with Notre Dame and Wake Forest for the most part.

So…is OU still in the hunt sitting in the No. 8 position?

I would say definitely because OU regardless of the poll needs to win its last three games against Baylor, Iowa State, and O State–then win the Big 12 Championship Game.

If OU runs that gauntlet and stands 13-0 then I would think the Sooners are in the national semifinals.

Maybe this No. 8 ranking will light a fire under the Sooners’ collective football souls with the message…’Play All Sixty Minutes’.

Possibly this message from someone other than Lincoln Riley or Alex Grinch will tell these Sooners how they’ve been nationally perceived to date. The perception is the team is soft with the exception of Caleb Williams coming out of the bullpen to save the Sooners’ season to date.

Here…I’ll help the Sooners decipher the message even deeper… you were just sent a message from the Committee: Your goals are still intact. You might be a good football team. Show us why you should be in the College Football Football Playoff beyond Caleb Williams.

College Football Op-Ed by MJ

The Committee comes out with their first poll tonight. We’ll see how that goes. My poll goes twelve deep showing what we could have if we had a twelve team playoff in place. My poll allows me to have some flexibity, whereas the current system in place maybe six teams are in play every season….with maybe an outlier every now and again with an Auburn or Michigan State or Oregon making the field.

Here’s what I’m going to do moving forward…place Cincy where they belong in the poll in a twelve team concept and then project what my first round would look like if the playoffs started next week-end.

But of course we have a ton of football to be played so all of this is fluid.

But the point being imagine what the first round could look like if we had a twelve team tournament.

If you think Alabama is the second best team then tell them to beat two loss Texas A&M.

My poll:

1 Georgia

2 Michigan State

3 Oklahoma

4 Alabama

5 Oregon

6 Ohio State

7 Cincy

8 Notre Dame

9 Michigan

10 Auburn

11 Oklahoma State

12 Texas A&M

On my bubble;

13 Wake Forest

14 Baylor

15 Houston

Top four teams get a bye into the Elite 8. First round games are played between teams ranked 5 thru 12 with higher ranked team getting home field.

Round One matchups:

# 12 Texas A&M vs. #5 Oregon

#11 Oklahoma State vs. #6 Ohio State

# 10 Auburn vs. #7 Cincy

#9 Michigan vs. #8 Notre Dame

My Game Day will be in College Station this weekend with two hot SEC teams playing what in effect would be an elimination game using my format….Auburn vs. Texas A&M. This should be a great game. Imagine what it would be like if both teams knew twelve teams would make the field.

TCU’s Gary Patterson stepped down this weekend as the head football coach at TCU. With Matt Wells at Texas Tech being fired the week before that makes two Big 12 coaches who won’t finish the season with their teams.

Nationwide that makes nine FBS schools who have their let their coach go or who have made it clear their coach will be gone next season.

This doesn’t shock me though. With the transfer portal and the Name-Image-Likeness stuff now being a part of college football coaching ….. I would think there will be even more coaching vacancies to fill after this season.

I’ve always liked Coach Patterson. Loved his passion on the sidelines and for the most part the way his teams have competed over the years. –

Hope to see more music from Gary Patterson in the coming years and wish him the very best down the road.

Here’s the OU-Texas Tech postgame presser with Lincoln Riley.

My helmet sticker list this week-end goes:

• Entire Michigan State team for their inspiring win over Michigan.
• Bo Nix for his steady play in guiding Auburn over Ole Miss, Arkansas, and LSU in succession.
• Key Lawrence and Isaiah Thomas for their big defensive games in getting the OU defense kick started.
• O State’s Spencer Sanders for his QB leadership overall these past two weeks.
• West Virginia’s entire team for changing the narrative of their season these past two weeks with Big 12 wins over TCU and Iowa State.
• Baylor for effectively ending Steve Sarkisian’s first season in Austin and reminding everyone in college football they really shouldn’t be headed to the SEC.
• That’s my helmet stickers for Week 9.

My first impulse Top Six would go…

1 Georgia

2 Michigan St.

3 Oklahoma

4 Cincy

5 Alabama

6 Oregon

My rationale for not having Alabama in the Top 4 is that they lost to Texas A&M and their best win is over Ole Miss. I think they’re the best one loss team to date.

My rationale for not having Ohio State in my top six is they lost to Oregon at home and don’t have a quality Top 15 win as of yet over anybody.

My tip of the hat to the hottest team outside of Georgia goes to the Auburn Tigers with successive wins over LSU on the road, Arkansas on the road, and at home over Ole Miss.

On my Top 12 Poll on Tuesday… I’m thinking of Oklahoma State at No. 9 and Auburn at No. 8.

We’ll see as I further explore best wins and worst losses for my Top 12 teams.

Some great games on tap throughout the country today….especially in the SEC, Big 10, and Big 12. Not really anything in the ACC or PAC 12 which will determine the Commmitte’s first poll other than keeping an eye on Oregon.

In the SEC it’s the Cocktail Party with Georgia v. Florida, plus a very interesting night game with Ole Miss at Auburn. I wouldn’t dismiss Kentucky at Miss State as well.

Big 10-wise it’s Michigan vs. Michigan State and then at night on the ABC game it’s the Buckeyes of Ohio State hosting Penn State.

Some very interesting games in the Big 12. OU hosting the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Texas at Baylor in a critical game for the Bears. And a game which fascinates me is Iowa State at West Virginia with the Cyclones favored at 7.5.

I think I’ll take Ohio State and Auburn.

Have a great day taking notes as we prepare for the first poll of the college football season this coming week.

Should be some very intriguing games on Halloween Eve.

Since I have my own eclectic award winning blog…Best Thunder Content on An Underground Blog…I think I’ll start a Tyler Herro magazine here on the blog. If you’re Woj or me you can maybe get away with it

If you’re Little Nick Gallo or one of the other hired Thunder drones….I don’t think so.

Tyler Herro and the Miami Heat are on fire coming out of the gate. I mean Tyler is on fire with a chip on his shoulder and something to prove to Eric Spoelstra, Pat Riley, and the NBA basketball universe.

I’m talking All-Star hot…as in on fire.

Presti attempted to get Tyler back when he tried to dangle Chris Paul to the Heat. But Pat Riley knew what he had in Tyler. Trust me…Pat Riley knew what he had in Tyler Herro.

Comparing Pat Riley to Sam Presti is like comparing Barry Switzer to Mike Gundy.

I love this interview Tyler did with Rachel back when the Heat made it to the NBA Finals in his rookie season.

That’s the Tyler we’re going to see this season.

Rachel is by far my favorite female NBA analyst or reporter. Maybe Doris Burke comes in a distant second, but Rachel is my favorite. If Presti had a half a brain he’d hire a smart, cute NBA reporter like Rachel, then exile Little Nick Gallo to the analytics department, and give us Thunder fans something to look forward to during this season of tanking.

With all the money Presti is saving on basketball payroll….he could make Rachel an outrageous offer and make her the highest paid female basketball commentator in the league.

I’d love to do exclusive Thunder podcasts with her. This market wouldn’t know what hit it. Rachel is to me as to what Bette Midler was to Kramer.

That’s it for the first edition of the Tyler Herro Magazine.

I’m going to go ahead and preview my Gameday-Week 9 song because I love this rendition by The Petersons so much I want to hear it twice.

Kirk and Lee Corso should consider some music to liven up the set a little. I would think Gameday will be in Lansing, Michigan tomorrow.

Here we are Week 9 and it just seems like yesterday the season was getting started. Before I get to my poll… I want to give a shout out to Kirk for his new book…Out of the Pocket: Football, Fatherhood, and College Gameday Saturdays.

The book was written by ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski and is a very readable book which goes beyond the scope of college football. If I were to describe the book I’d say it’s more of a book about Kirk’s relationships with his mom and dad. Of how the three of them came to terms with the divorce which took place when Kirk was eight years of age. Of how the divorce cratered Kirk’s confidence growing up and how he eventually reconciled with his parents.

It’s a relationship book written within the realm of Kirk somehow evolving into the face of college football even though as a young person he had a morbid fear of getting in front of his classmates and giving a speech. It’s a story of life, journey, and human resilence.

His relationship with his father is the part of the book which tugged at me. Nice book…not a Pulitzer winner, but a nice read given the times we live in.

My Top 12 Poll–Week 9

The committee’s first poll comes out next week. My major concern at this point is if the committee gives Alabama and Ohio State a free pass given each has already lost a game. This is why we need a twelve team tournament in my view. Don’t think for a second I would give OU a free pass, because I wouldn’t. It’s step up time for OU or else I would leave them out of my top four when that time comes. But for me it’s tough to do that right now given OU has the longest winning streak in the country while playing in a Power Five conference.

I don’t write this from an OU point of view because I’m not a homer, but I write it because the sport of college football would be enchanced if we see more than the same four or five teams in the playoff every season.

Hence…my twelve team poll with my three teams on the bubble.

1 Georgia

2 Cincy

3 Michigan

4 Oklahoma

5 Michigan State

6 Alabama

7 Oregon

8 Ohio State

9 Ole Miss

10 Kentucky

11 Oklahoma State

12 Notre Dame

On my bubble

13 Auburn

14 Iowa State

15 Texas A&M

The rookie guard from Australia joined elite company with his 18 point, 10 assist game versus the Lakers last night. He became the second youngest player in NBA history to record 10 assists in a game.

The youngest to cross that threshold was LeBron James.

Josh and Shai seem to be meshing pretty well as the Thunder’s guard tandem. Josh being the primary elite ball handler and Shai being the elite scorer.

You kind of see roles starting to be defined between the two. Team building is fun.

The late pick and roll basket with Josh hitting Derrick Favors was a pure thing of basketball beauty.

Just a beautiful basketball play. Maybe a future defining play for the Thunder.

The separation of player tiers is starting to manifest itself with Shai, Josh, Darius Bazely, Lu Dort, Mike Muscala, Kenrich Favors, and Derrick Favors composing a decent first seven players.

Isaiah Roby had his best game of the season by far, but it was with him being on the floor for the most part separate from Poku, JRE, and Tre Mann.

Coach D in these last three games has been much better at not putting horrible combinations out on the floor at the same time.

One game is one game and this team is still going to lose a bunch of games, but to me at least you can start to see the beginnings of some team building for next season.

You could ‘almost’ say Shai and Josh are the first two star pieces of a Big Three player core for the Thunder’s future.

So let’s visualize the Milwaukee Bucks for just a second. The Bucks third core piece turned out to be Khris Middleton who was a second round pick.

Maybe make sure the third star knows he’s a third star type so you don’t repeat the Harden situation. Most championship teams know from within who’s the 1, who’s the 2, who’s the 3, and who are the role players.

My question to Sam Presti would be with all those draft picks you have why don’t you just let Coach D coach the team this season like a legit basketball team and find your third piece either through a trade or mid-first round pick which could be what the Clippers’ pick turns into depending on Kawhi’s return.

Why not let the team play legit basketball with legit rotations and hedge with the Clipper pick?

Anyway…great games by both Shai and Josh last night with the role players doing their jobs as well in coming back from a historic 26 point deficit.

I’m contemplating inverting Shai and Russell on my Thirty Player Pyramid if Shai’s game keeps trending in the next two weeks.

Here’s my suggestion to Adam Silver as a possible remedy to NBA tanking… why not make the GM’s of every tanking NBA team make themselves available to questions with the head coach at every postgame presser?

What a great basketball game for the youthful Thunder!!!!

This game had everything you’d want and then some from a tanking team like the Thunder. This game was lit!

Russell Westbrook is a walking Greek tragedy. I don’t know how else to describe his play or behavior in the second half. The outburst towards Bazely was silly at best. If I were Bazely I would have heliocoptered the dunk and then grabbed my crotch walking by Russell.

Put aside the Bazely dunk…Russell was 8-20 from the field, had 10 turnovers and was -12 on a night Coach Vogel needed leadersip with LeBron sitting out the game. I’ll be frank on here…Russell’s tenure on my Top 30 Pyramid this season could be a short one if I see much more of this bullshit. Kyle Lowery is still available for my Pyramid in that spot.

I love Russell and his little brother sent me a note when I started my blog…but this is complete bullshit.

• Darius Bazely,,,great night even beyond the dunk…No. 1 helmet sticker. Keep working on your defensive footwork.
• Josh Giddy…whoa. That perfectly executed pick and roll to Favors with the game hanging in the balance was something we’ll all be talking about two years from now. Sam Presti…for the first time since God knows when you actually picked someone who can play basketball in the NBA with a first round draft pick. Josh Giddy…No. 2 helmet sticker.
• Coach D…great job on the two challenges and the adjustment made to stem the bleeding in your defensive lane after giving up 54 points in the lane in the first half. Here’s what I’ll say though…you don’t need to make an excuse for the dunk. Embrace the fact the kid had already forgotten his gaffe on the half court violation. Coach D…3rd helmet sticker.
• Mike Jackson from okcthunderground.com for writing such a lit recap to make up for the fact there’s no adult content whatsover on the Daily Thunder. This is how Russell should have filled in for LeBron. No. 4 helmet sticker is mine.
• Shai…you played like a star tonight. Don’t think I didn’t notice. But this is how a star is supposed to lead and play every night who just signed a max contract. You get the 5th helmet sticker, stud hoss.

Next up..I believe are the Warriors on the road in San Franciso for the 1-4 Thunder.

BTW…great crowd at Pay.Com Arena tonight. Glad I didn’t buy a Lakers’ shirt.

Bad Little Dude… I still love you though, We’re both hopelessly flawed. Tell LeBron it’s no big deal.

The wife is asleep in the other room as is the diva lab Pauli on the couch. I think I’ll slip out to the back patio area looking into the Deer Creek forest and see if I can smoke a victory cigar without catching the sofa on fire. A song for the upcoming California road trip would be nice as well. Better savor every win like it was Game 7 is my feel as of October 27th. Carpa diem.

If I were advising Presti this would be my current list of ranked NBA players 1-30 for the upcomng NBA season. I have excluded both Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons from this list because both seem to possess serious emotional issues of delusion.

1 Giannis, 2 Lebron, 3 Steph, 4 Kevin Durant, 5 Luka, 6 Kawhi Leonard, 7 Anthony Davis, 8 Nicola Jokic, 9 Joel Embiid, 10 James Harden, 11 Jimmy Butler, 12 Paul George, 13 Klay Thompson (before injury) 14 Chris Paul, 15 Damian Lillard, 16 Devin Booker, 17 Jamal Murray, 18 Zach Lavine, 19 Jrue Holiday, 20 Donovan Mitchell.

21 Rudy Gobert, 22 Russell Westbrook, 23 Trae Young, 24 Khris Middleton, 25 Draymond Green, 26 Bradley Beal, 27 Bam Adebayo, 28 Jason Tatum 29 Ja Morant, 30 Domas Sabonis.

My next five on my Pyramid Bubble would be… 31 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, 32 CJ McCollum, 33 Karl Anthony-Townes, 34 Brandon Ingram, 35 Tyler Herro (no one else would do this except me, but I have a gut feel with Tyler).

I’ll need to go back and evaluate my list in a month and see who I missed, but for now this is how my 2021-22 Top 30 NBA Player Pyramid would roll.

My Pantheon Top 10 has been morphed since I last scribbled it on here. This is my new Top 10 Pantheon….

1 Michael, 2 Bill Russell, 3 Kareem, 4 LeBron, 5 Magic, 6 Kobe, 7 Bird, 8 Shaq, 9 Wilt, 10 Steph. All one namers except Bill Russell. Our affinity for the one namers reveals our deep affection for the way they played the game.

You youngsters and new Thunder fans to the NBA game must read ‘Wilt’ by Gary Pomerantz to have an understanding of his greatness. It’s a tremendous hoops book and centers around the night Wilt scored a hundred points in Hershey, Pennslyvania. Epic…just epic.

• Note: My gut feel tells me Shai could be better than #31, but his place on my list was held in check because quite simply we haven’t seen him play in a real NBA game with competitive ramifications since 2019. And in reality–in those Bubble Playoffs with Chris Paul his play was nothing special or worthy of note.
• Note: Klay gets a pass from me until we see how he’s moving by February. Klay is gold on my blog.

Note: Kobe scored 81 points in 2006 in a game versus the Toronto Raptors. Gary did this interview before Kobe’s historical game.