Pat Dooley’s Back Nine: Tough Lexington Loss, But Here Comes No. 1

The Back Nine comes at you after a weekend so chilly it felt like our three-day winter is coming right around the corner.

10. We knew it was coming. We knew this Florida basketball team was not going undefeated. And we knew that Rupp Arena can be both the quietest and the loudest place in the country. But it was still a letdown for a Gator team that fought back over and over again in a game that had all of one lead change. What we did not see coming was that Florida would go soft on defense leaving Kentucky 3-point shooters wide open. There are some teams where that would not be as big a problem, but the Wildcats can shoot. They made 14 3s against the Gators defense we thought was better this year. Instead, it sure felt a lot like last year’s team losing in the first round of the tournament while scoring 100 points.

11. But really, this was a league-wide issue. Some teams were able to pad this historic non-conference season with too many easy wins and it showed up on the first weekend of conference play. Really, the big thing was home-court advantage. One team won as a visitor Saturday, the mighty Commodores of Vanderbilt who handled a still-bad LSU team. Florida lost by six. The other six visiting teams lost by an average of 22.5 points a game. Sheesh.

12. No time to lick your wounds. No. 1 Tennessee is coming to town Tuesday. It’s funny that Tennessee is No. 1 and most people in this league will tell you that Auburn is the last team you want to play.

13. As we near the end of the playoffs for college football, there is much debate about the seeding and the byes. Every team that had a first-round bye lost and while some will tell you that it is because they got rusty, I’m not buying it. This comes on the heels of every home team winning the first-round games. This is not the excitement we were asking for, said Joe College Fan. I think the solution is simply to seed the teams 1-through-12. The top four teams get byes and I guarantee they all aren’t losing. Me, I’d like to see them go to 16 and eliminate byes.

14. Just in the nick of time, Dr. Football had a good week on The Picks. A 3-1 record in the playoffs (those dadgum ‘Doggies) left the mark at 46-38-1 for the year which ensures Dr. Football a winning record for the college season. Two games this week and then the title game on, uh, I think it is in April sometime. On to the semis:

• Notre Dame is favored by 1.5 against Penn State in Miami Gardens and this feels like a game that should be played outdoors in Altoona or Soldier Field (I believe it is available). Who to root for? I think the Nittanies have a slight edge at quarterback, so I will take them to cover.
• Ohio State is favored by six against Texas even though the game is in Texas. The two best teams money can buy should be entertaining enough to stop us from flipping over to watch Yellowstone or Hacks. I will take the Buckies to cover.

15. Oh yeah, let’s get the professional players involved and by that I don’t mean the college kids getting $4 million a year. The NFL playoffs get me fired up and, hopefully, will have better games:

• In the AFC wild card games, I’ll take the Chargers to win at Houston as 3-point favorites, the Steelers to cover 9.5 at Baltimore and the Bills to cover 8.5 at home against Denver.
• In the NFC, Philadelphia will cover the 4.5 against Green Bay, Tampa Bay covers 3.5 at home against Washington (although I am rooting for Dan Quinn) and the Rams to win outright against the Vikes.

16. A special salute to the women’s basketball team (10-6, 1-1 SEC) for handling Georgia on Sunday, 73-57. Any win against Georgia (8-8, 0-2) in any sport is a good thing. And to all the senior swimmers who were honored on their day at the O-Dome. The men and women have a few rings to show you.

17. Jeff Cardozo and I return to The Tailgate today after three long weeks away. I can’t wait. How do we condense three weeks into a two-hour show? I better save some, because I’m going solo Tuesday.

18. Oh, it was chilly, but I did play golf this weekend. And I wondered if anybody really cares about my 10 favorite groups. Still, they are coming right at you with Nos. 5-7:

• 7. Weezer – Favorite song “Da Vinci.”
• 6. The Rolling Stones – Favorite song “Sympathy for the Devil.”
• 5. Pink Floyd – Favorite song “Comfortably Numb.”

WRUF.com sports columnist Pat Dooley can be heard on “The Tailgate” along with Jeff Cardozo from 4-6 p.m. Monday-Friday on 98.1-FM/AM-850 WRUF.