The Optimistic Conservative

Football Follies 2026: NCAA Week 8 – Sooo-weeeee

Pigs, AI, and football, oh my.

We don’t think we’re the only ones who found the Big 10 Smackdown last week … frustrating.

Indiana came out of it #6, though we’re not quite sure why. We could just admit they’re not as good this year. Save some time. Ohio State was its usual self, if not particularly dominating. The Hoosier defense is hanging in there.

Miami (Da U) has some work to do to hold onto that #1. We think they’ve earned it, for now, and wish them the best. Our considered opinion is that we’re not currently looking at the ranked order for 1-8 when the playoffs are shaping up, but the teams will mostly survive.

Week 8 gives us a juicy Friday night two-fer from the Inner Circle, Continue reading “Football Follies 2026: NCAA Week 8 – Sooo-weeeee”

Football Follies 2026: NCAA Week 7 – Big 10 smackdown

A lot going on, but don’t forget those games of the week. Reality’s starting to set in for 2026.

Didn’t see Texas State 66-27 over Colorado State coming. Did see the outbreak of fires around Southern California, with the Santa Ana winds blowing the neighborhood recycling all over the streets. We learned some years ago to just wait and put the recycling barrel out next week. Local humidity: some unmeasurable square root of a negative number.

On to business.

Ooh, it’s big. We’re not going to keep you in suspense. We’re going to lead with proclaiming the game of the week: #4 Ohio State at #5 Indiana. Admittedly, we’re not so convinced about Indiana version 2026 at this point. Fortunes come and go, nothing in Creation is forever. (I mean, look at Alabama.) Continue reading “Football Follies 2026: NCAA Week 7 – Big 10 smackdown”

Football Follies 2026: NCAA Week 6 – Shootout!

High Noon in the Cotton Bowl, 2026.

Our Inner Circle weeknight game is playing as this goes to post, and updates are below. (Hint: it’s Wyoming, and it just went to overtime. … Wyoming wins!)

The totally humongoid big deal this week is, of course, the Red River Shootout. There’s more on that below as well. We know nothing about any connection between the Sooner totem, shaking like crazy, and a rumored magnitude 7.7 earthquake in Panama. But we certainly pray for the folks in Panama. Aftershocks have been major quake size, running in the 5s and 6s.

The Dallas Cowboys had their worthlessness window Thursday night, losing to Tampa Bay 24-16.

They’ll be at Packers on 18 October.

Inner Circle Continue reading “Football Follies 2026: NCAA Week 6 – Shootout!”

Football Follies 2026: NCAA Week 5 – Regrets, we’ve had a few

Sick, lame, and lazy, reporting for duty.

Opening question for the panel: Is there really that much interest in a multi-part documentary on Nick Saban? We’ve never hated the guy the way some folks do, but it’s an honest question for the non-obsessed.

As this goes to post, our Inner Circle action has already brought us an excitement-filled Thursday night game in which two official rulings pretty much decided the matter, if you weigh down your heart with such thinking, but the outcome was basically just.

Tulsa, hosting North Texas in the teams’ American Conference opener, was inexplicably awarded a touchdown on a bad official call in the third quarter. It really did look bad: the Tulsa receiver stepped out of bounds with his right foot in the end zone before he caught the ball, and by no rule should it have been a Tulsa TD. The officials awarded it anyway.

UNT was sportsmanlike throughout, but even a TU fan would hope the Golden Hurricane would win by more than a TD if that was going to taint the score.

No hope of that, however. Regulation play ended up tied at 38-all and the game went to overtime. Continue reading “Football Follies 2026: NCAA Week 5 – Regrets, we’ve had a few”

Football Follies 2026: NCAA Week 4 – Toledo, turtles, and turbulence

Drama, drama, drama. Weather, football, and fate collide.

Social enterprise update, as this goes to post. The Southern California beaches are going to see major surf action as the new week dawns (due to Hurricane Polo, a Pacific storm currently heading for Northern Baja). In preparation for this event, state officials are out tending to, you guessed it, unhatched turtle eggs on the apprehensive shoreline.

There’s no guarantee it will do great service to the kingdom of turtle eggs to collect the ones lurking in the sand for their protection. But we’re giving it the old college try. A spokeswoman for the effort told us moments ago that if we want to do something to contribute, we can – should we happen to “see anything” (I take that to mean “see turtle eggs”) – anyway, we can [chuckle sound effect] take a picture. We weren’t requested to forward the pictures to anyone, so it may be that we’re merely invited to enjoy memories of the public rescue attempt by cherishing our own photos of turtle eggs. Continue reading “Football Follies 2026: NCAA Week 4 – Toledo, turtles, and turbulence”