Thoughts from the Valley: Thanksgiving Edition

The Day After Thanksgiving

How I am feeling: Not as bloated as usual. Breaking tradition here in The Beautiful Wissahickon Valley, Your Editor only had one serving of Thanksgiving dinner last night, folks. That's right. One. No seconds. No late-night snacks. I ate dinner at dinnertime. And then I didn't eat again. Is Your Editor on a diet? No, I'm not on a diet. It's just that I spent all damn day cooking. And when you spend all day cooking, folks, a strange thing happens: Your appetite goes away.

What I am drinking: Victory Hop Devil. As always, I am thankful for its existence.

What I am listening to: Conflicting and extremely odd reports about the Tiger Woods situation. That, and the roar of the crowd down at Jordan-Hare Stadium, where the Auburn Tigers are currently beating The Supposedly Mighty Alabama Crimson Tide, 14-7. War Eagle, folks. War Eagle.

Ten Thoughts About Thanksgiving Weekend 2009: Just a few observations here, folks, less than halfway into another Thanksgiving Friday:

1. I am getting really tired of Illinois' chronic underachievement under Ron Zook. I mean, seriously. The Illini allowed Cincinnati's Tony Pike to throw for 399 yards and six touchdowns in the Bearcats' 49-36 win early Friday. You can't tell me Illinois doesn't have the athletes to play with Cincinnati. These guys just don't care. It's ridiculous.

2. Brian Kelly is a genius. A really hard-working genius. This thing he built at Cincinnati is no fluke, folks. Kelly knew exactly what he needed to do to win there. He had a blueprint for success. And he followed it to a tee. He's still following it today. As he told the Cleveland Plain Dealer on Friday morning: “I had my work cut out for me. I needed this city to put their arms around BCS football. I had to go out there and convince the city that we could do it here. It was a lot of work, and it's still a lot of work.”

3. If Kelly does leave Cincy for, say, Notre Dame, it won't be because the university isn't committed to winning. It will be because Cincinnati fans aren't doing their part. Cincy officials have pretty much given Kelly whatever he's asked for. They've improved the program's facilities. They've beefed up coaching salaries. And they seem prepared to keep supporting the program. Unfortunately, there's not a thing administrators can do to make people in Cincinnati care about college football. In the end, I think that's the problem that will drive Kelly away.

4. Everyone is jumping all over Texas for its "unimpressive" win over Texas A&M. Which is ridiculous. Two points here, folks: First, a win is a win. That's all that matters. Second, as bad as A&M has been of late, the fact is, they always play Texas tough. This is a rivalry game, after all. So of course it was close. It should also be noted that the folks who are most loudly squawking about this one are the SEC apologists, who are looking for every possible reason to downgrade Texas. They do because they are not happy people, and live very unfulfilled lives.

5. Colt McCoy just earned himself an invite to New York in December. 304 passing yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions against the Aggies. That's good enough for m.

6. Speaking of the Suzuki Heisman Trophy, no Alabama player has ever won it. And if Tide tailback Mark Ingram doesn't win it this year, well, the Tide have nobody to blame but themselves. I'm sitting here watching The Iron Bowl (awesome game, folks; simply awesome) and am completely befuddled by the fact that Ingram, the nation's de facto Suzuki Heisman frontrunner as of, like two hours ago, is hardly getting any reps. Ingram is standing over there on the sidelines while freshman Trent Richardson takes his carries. Oh, and as you might guess, Ingram doesn't look very happy about it. I'm not sure SABAN really cares though.

7. I think my son loves college football. Young Jack and I are sitting down here in the basement of TCFA Headquarters, kicking back, relaxing and watching some Iron Bowl. A few minutes ago, he pulled out his markers and some paper and started working on a drawing, which I had assumed meant that he was no longer interested in watching the game. I was wrong. Because he just showed me the picture. It is a picture of football players on a football field. At the bottom, he wrote: "I like to watch Auburn football."

8. I really think Pitt is going to lose tonight. They'll be fired up down there in Morgantown. The Panthers might be looking ahead to next week's showdown with Cincy. Though I'm not sure it really matters, because I don't think Pitt can beat Cincy anyway.

9. CBS Sports is reporting that Brian Billick (snore) is a candidate for the Notre Dame job. Are you kidding me? Brian Billick? Brian Billick? That would officially be the end for Notre Dame football, folks.

10. Georgia plays Georgia Tech tomorrow, and Bulldogs coach Mark Richt had better make sure his boys keep it close. Georgia fans are already pretty upset about how things have gone this season. A blowout loss to the hated Yellow Jackets would certainly not help matters. Richt certainly isn't in danger of being fired--he's accomplished too much during his teetotaling Athens tenure--but he's almost certain to forced to make some staff changes. Which, as former Ohio State coach Earle Bruce pointed out this week, is never a good sign. “That's the start of the demise,” Bruce told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “The next step is you.”