College Football 2015: Things to Watch In Week 9

The last weekend of October – happy Halloween! – brings us another interesting week of games, and surrounding storylines. Here are a few things to keep an eye on as we enter the ninth weekend of football for the year:

The American Athletic Conference

The underdogs of the AAC are definitely punching above their weight range, with Houston, Memphis and Temple all ranked in the AP Top 25 coming into the weekend. Both Memphis and Houston have winnable games on Saturday – Tulane and Vanderbilt respectively.

An SEC scalp would be huge for first-year head coach Tom Herman and the Cougars, whilst the Tigers, with in-demand head coach Justin Fuente at the helm, are one of the more exciting teams in college football this year, thanks to their star QB Paxton Lynch.

Whilst Philadelphia goes crazy for the undefeated Temple squad, the Owls have a much tougher test, heading on the road to South Bend to face No. 9 Notre Dame. At present, that trip is one of the hardest in college football. A win is probably out of the question, but the Owls won’t be the easy-beat that perhaps Notre Dame envisaged when this match-up was set.

It’s fantastic to see smaller conferences putting teams in the AP Top 25 at this end of the season, and all things being equal, there’ll be at least two AAC squads still with undefeated records heading into the tenth week of the season.

Michigan

Their first game since the disaster in Ann Arbor against Michigan State. All eyes will be on the Wolverines, who have Minnesota this Saturday, to see how they bounce back from a loss that has surely cut the team deeply. In all the hoopla, we need to not lose sight of the fact that the Wolverines are still a good team.

Nebraska

The Cornhuskers are the kings of losing close games, and this week they will need to try and win against Purdue without experienced starting quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr, who aggravated a foot injury last Saturday in their – yep, you guessed it, close – loss to Northwestern. Ryker Fyfe gets the start this week, and Armstrong’s streak of twenty-two consecutive starts comes to an end. Back-up quarterbacks and heartbreaking losses: things are going from bad to worse in Lincoln this year.

Iowa

The undefeated Hawkeyes are undoubtedly one of the surprise stories of the 2015 season, and have Maryland this week. The way things are going, they’re on pace for an undefeated regular season and a berth in the Big Ten Championship. That makes this game, and the rest of Iowa’s schedule – Indiana, Minnesota, Purdue and Nebraska – red alerts as far as trap games go. Kirk Ferentz will need to ensure his team is focused on only the game at hand, and keep all talk of possible championship games to a minimum.

I love Iowa’s game at the moment, and it’s great to see Ferentz, one of the good guys (and one of the longest-tenured coaches) in college football succeeding again.

Texas A&M

The Aggies quarterback situation is dire, and the signal-callers have been the chief reason for back to back losses – Alabama, then Ole Miss – that have seen Kevin Sumlin’s team plummet out of the AP Top 25 rankings. The Aggies have South Carolina this weekend, another SEC squad with it’s fair share of struggles, and will need to generate offense and cut down on brutal turnovers if they’re to get their season back on track this weekend.

Miami-FL

The Hurricanes lost 58-0 to Clemson last Saturday, a record loss for the proud program, and a shellacking that saw Al Golden’s not-so-gold reign as Miami head coach terminated immediately. The task at hand for the U this weekend – Duke, on the road – isn’t quite as daunting as the Tigers of seven days ago, but the Blue Devils are ranked and playing good football. Interim head coach Larry Scott has his work cut out for him, but, as often happens the week after a coach is fired, teams have a habit of winning a game out of nowhere. Using that logic, the ‘Canes aren’t without a shot. Win or lose, it will be interesting to see what their mindset is, and how they play at the end of a tumultuous week.

USC

Another team with an interim head coach in place, the Trojans come off a dominating home win against then-No. 3 Utah, and travel to Berkeley to play a dangerous Cal Golden Bears. It’s week three of the temporary Clay Helton era, and although Sonny Dykes’ squad aren’t ranked, the Trojans would be crazy if they didn’t take the Golden Bear threat very seriously. Jared Goff can embarrass teams if they’re not prepared. Doubtless, this is the message being preached by Helton and his staff this week.

Concert Review: Robbie Williams (28 October 2015; Allphones Arena, Sydney)

It’s a well-understood fact Robbie Williams is an easy guy to make fun of. You know it and I know it. Yeah, the guy has an immense amount of love for himself, but, laying that to side for one moment, you can’t help but be impressed by the energetic live show that he’s toured around Australia over the last week or so.

You know what you’ll get from a Robbie Williams show: plenty of hit songs – including a Take That number as a nod to his previous life as a boy band performer – dropped in around generous helpings of RW swagger. On both counts, hit songs and swagger, the show is not lacking, and, oh yeah, he has a voice to rival most others. Honestly, right from the outset, it’s hard not to be completely impressed.

Not many performers have the audacity to start their show with arguably their biggest and most popular song. Robbie Williams does, taking the stage to the anthemic ‘Let Me Entertain You’, which I figured would be the last song played. It’s a bold opening, and a pulsating one. The opener is one of those songs that sounds pretty damn good on CD or on your iPod, but is catapulted into the stratosphere when you’re in an arena with twenty thousand people, a huge band and, of course, Williams’ innate ability to work the stage and give the crowd – a mixed bag of age groups, it has to be said – exactly what they want.

By about the third line of ‘Let Me Entertain You’, Williams has every single one of us eating out of his hand as he struts from one side of the stage to the other, doing his best to see as many people as possible in the audience. Is the guy a major flog? By all accounts, yes he is, but you can’t help but be impressed. I’d go so far as to say that he’s just about without peer when it comes to live pop performers. Longevity counts for a lot, and Robbie Williams has been doing his thing for more than a decade, and remains at the top of the pile. I saw him about eight years ago, after being captivated by his performance at Live Aid a decade ago, and he hasn’t lost a step. His band is just as impressive as their front man.

All the big songs are there – ‘Angels’, ‘Millennium’, ‘Better Man’ (a surprising duet with his father, Peter), ‘Millennium’, a Kylie Minogue-less ‘Kids’ and more, everything you would expect to hear when you buy a ticket – and then there’s the encore, and an audacious cover: Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.

At first I was worried. I mean, it takes a pretty serious performer to own that song. Then I remember that it’s Robbie Williams on stage, and I relax. As expected, he belts the thing out of the park, clearly reckoning himself as a sort of modern-day Freddie Mercury, and, hell, he certainly has the on-stage gravitas. I start to wonder what the rebooted Queen might look like with Robbie out front rather than Adam Lambert, a talented guy, unquestionably, but not in the Robbie Williams realm – but few are!

The twenty-song set list flies by – Robbie is one of those performers where no one checks their watch, because there’s not a flat moment in the show – and Williams leaves the stage to enthusiastic applause. Hopefully to return very soon, because he’s a fantastic live performer.

Concert Review: Fleetwood Mac (24 October 2015; Allphones Arena, Sydney)



Frankly, it’s beyond amazing that the original Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac line-up – Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Stevie Nicks, Lindsay Buckingham and, returning after nearly two decades away, Christine McVie – are on each other’s Christmas card list and can stand to be in the same room as each other, let alone 100-odd shows deep into a World Tour that has sold out arenas everywhere it’s stopped, and produced rave reviews.

So, we should be thankful – and we are – that the Mac, as Mick Fleetwood told us all on Saturday night, is back with it’s original members. Not that they weren’t good when I saw them six years ago, but everything is more authentic with McVie back in the band, and, of course, that opens up the song choices.

Some of Fleetwood Mac’s most memorable and recognisable songs were sung by Christine McVie and in past tours, they’ve either been discarded from the set list or, as has been the case with ‘Don’t Stop’, sung by Stevie Nicks instead. Which wasn't quite the same. Now, it’s as authentic as it gets, and songs like ‘Songbird’ and ‘You Make Loving Fun’ are a big part of what is a mostly hit-filled set list, with a few obscure numbers – ‘Bleed to Love Her’ from The Dance, a song that the band loves, they told us – thrown in for good measure. Just because they can.

Fleetwood Mac have so many good songs. More than they can fit into a set list for a show that runs nearly three hours. ‘Seven Wonders’ and ‘Monday Morning’ are two of my favourites that were both missing. But you can hardly expect the band to include every single one of their hits. I mean, we’d be there six or seven hours if that were to be the case, because there are stacks of them.

Really, there was little to complain about, and plenty to like about a show that had large sections of the audience standing throughout. The vibe in the room was superb. The audience was made up of many and varied generations. I saw people younger than me singing along to every word, and, of course, people much older doing the same. For those folks, seeing the Mac back must be like jumping in a time machine and heading back to the heady days of the 1970s.

The band are in fine form – which is an impressive feat, considering how long they’ve been around, both over time and on this particular exhaustive global trek – both vocally and in terms of musicianship. Despite their considerable history, the band looks a cohesive unit, and you can clearly tell that they’re having a great time on stage together. That hasn’t always been the case with Fleetwood Mac, who’s complicated personal history threatened to derail a brilliant group at various stages.

Stevie Nicks is mysterious as she glides across the stage, reminding us why we paid as much as we did for a ticket – because her voice is sensational. Hearing her sing ‘Gypsy’, perhaps my favourite Fleetwood Mac song, was worth the price of admission alone.

Lindsay Buckingham, who’s style of guitar playing is more akin to someone picking a banjo, dominates the room (and earns rapturous rounds of applause) every time he hammers out an epic solo – hint: it happened early and often – and really deserves more kudos for being a killer player. His work is, at times, jaw dropping. It must be such an incredible rush to play and have twenty thousand people feting you like a god. Or, at least, a guitar hero, and he’s certainly one of those.

The returning Christine McVie was clearly happy to be back, despite the band being 100-odd shows into a massive tour. She remains behind her keyboards for the most part, making brief forays out towards centre stage and her vocals are on point. Her return to the fold really brings the band full circle.

The engine room of Fleetwood Mac is, of course, Mick Fleetwood, as eccentric a drummer as there is – and as talented a drummer as there is, too. Watching his facial expressions as he throws his sticks at the large kit spreading around him on three sides is priceless. His solo is entertaining, though I would’ve preferred one or two more songs instead. A minor complaint.

Far less flamboyant is the quiet man of the band, the legendary bassist John McVie, a seemingly understated guy – as far as rock stars go, anyway! – and definitely the backbone of the band. He barely says a word, and it’s kinda strange to hear Christine McVie refer to John as her “ex-husband,” multiple times throughout. I daresay they’re on better terms than most exes.

It should be mentioned that fleshing out the five-piece Fleetwood Mac are a number of backing singers and two guitarists/backing vocalists who are visible on stage. I’m fairly certain there was a percussionist hiding somewhere behind Mick Fleetwood, too. But that mysterious figure wasn't announced when the rest of the supporting cast were. No matter, they all do their job well.

So, yes, the Mac are most definitely back, in good form, and here’s hoping that we see them return to our distant shores at least once more before they call it quits.

College Football 2015: Week 8 Villains

The eighth week of the season provided some nightmarish performances as undefeated teams fell by the wayside on what was a slow-boil day of football chaos – quiet in the afternoon, and frantic come sundown. Here are a few teams and players who didn’t do themselves any favours on the gridiron this weekend:

Miami

The Hurricanes, as proud a program as there is in America, were blasted 58-0 by Clemson on Saturday afternoon. It’s the worst loss in program history, and if the seat their coach Al Golden occupies isn’t absolutely red flaming hot this week, I give up. It’s a shame what’s happened to this traditional superpower, particularly when you consider that Golden was widely expected to bring the Hurricanes back to national prominence. If he sees out the season, I’ll be very surprised. In every way, shape and form, this game was ugly.

Texas A&M

The Aggies, who possess one of the best offenses in the nation, could manage only 192 yards against Ole Miss in a 23-3 loss. That was without Robert Nkemdiche, the best player on that Rebels defensive unit. How bad was it really for Kevin Sumlin’s team? Well, the coach opted to use his third-string quarterback after half time because Kyle Allen was absolutely ineffective, 12-34 for 88 yards. It’s been a bad few weeks for the sophomore, and for the Aggies as a whole. What Sumlin does with his quarterbacks is anyone’s guess.

Utah

Like the Aggies, the Utes, who had risen to No. 3 in the AP Top 25 Rankings, were beaten for the first time this season, losing 42-24 to an unranked USC Trojans squad – who, for some reason, were bookies’ favourites – to really throw a cat amongst the pigeons as far as the Pac-12 conference race goes.

The Utes had gotten to their lofty perch thanks to wins over Michigan early and Oregon more recently, and by forcing turnovers whilst not committing any themselves. On Saturday night, that all changed. Quarterback Travis Wilson threw four interceptions – three to freshman linebacker Cameron Smith, including a 54-yard return touchdown that just about put the game out of reach for the Utes. Conversely, the Utah defense couldn’t force one turnover from a Trojan team who had turnover issues last week against Notre Dame.

It’s fair to say that the final score line wasn't indicative of just how well USC controlled this game. Utah (and, particularly, Wilson) didn’t bring their A-game, and were punished on both sides of the football. Doubtless, the film review will worry plenty in Salt Lake City. This was a bad loss.

Florida State

Losing on a botched special teams play seems to be the flavour of the month. Michigan did it last week and Florida State did it this week. The difference is that the Wolverines’ blunder didn’t cause their first loss of the season, but that was the case for the Seminoles, who were poised to win the game on a field-goal attempt with only a few seconds left. Instead, it was blocked, and the Seminoles special teams unit were kept well away from the football by their Georgia Tech counterparts. The 22-16 loss is going to sting.

As a footnote, Everett Golson, a turnover machine when playing quarterback for Notre Dame a season ago, threw just his first pick of Season 2015. FSU suffered their first ACC loss since October 2012.

New Mexico State

The Aggies lost again, their seventh straight on the season, and have now lost seventeen straight over the last two seasons. They lost 52-7 Saturday to a one-win Troy team, and have up 482 yards. Yep, folks, it’s a dumpster fire!

Missouri

The Tigers have made this list multiple weeks in 2015, because they’ve spent multiple weeks in 2015 stinking up the college football landscape. They’re 4-4 after a 10-3 loss to Vanderbilt on Saturday. Despite a good defense, perhaps one of the best in the SEC, the offense isn’t getting anything going. They haven’t scored a touchdown since the South Carolina game on October 3. Yep, you read correctly. The Tigers haven’t scored a touchdown in three long weeks. That’s an insane stat.

Nebraska

Like Missouri, the Huskers have appeared on the villain list many times this season, and the team suffered yet another close loss, falling 30-28 to Northwestern. Here’s a bad stat: the Cornhuskers five losses have come by a combined 13 points. Being a Nebraska fan isn’t easy these days. Some of the losses came on fluke plays – Hail Mary’s and the like – but Mike Reilly’s squad clearly has problems closing games out. Trust me, as a USC fan, I know exactly how that feels. This proud program has had a season to forget.

Baylor

The Bears’ gun-slinging quarterback Seth Russell will see a specialist on Monday morning after being diagnosed with a fractured neck. The Bears need Russell more than perhaps any other team needs their quarterback in college football today. It’s simple: in 2015 the Bears only go as far as Russell can take them, and if he’s out for any length of time, that’s a big problem. One thing is for sure, backup QB Jarrett Stidham isn’t going to provide the same offensive spark as Russell can and does.

Texas Tech’s run defense

The Red Raiders gave up 405 rushing yards and seven scores to Oklahoma in a 63-27 loss on Saturday. 201 of those yards (and four touchdowns) were amassed by powerful OU sophomore back Samaje Perine. A lot of teams have had trouble stopping Perine, but the Red Raider defense couldn’t stop back-up Joe Mixon, either. He ran for 154 yards and two scores. That’s 42 of OU’s 63 points gained via the ground game. Back to the drawing board for coordinator David Gibbs.

College Football 2015: Week 8 Heroes

Clearly, this is going to be one of those seasons where even the best schools aren’t safe from upsets. There are so many contenders and even with two thirds of the season complete, we have no definitive answer to who the best team in the country is. But, man, did we see some great performances across three days of football. Here are some of the best:

Cameron Smith

If there’s a better defensive freshman in the Pac-12 conference – and, you know, maybe the entire country – I’d like to know who. The USC linebacker looks like being a good one. As in, Keith Rivers or Clay Matthews good, and that’s high praise indeed. It was Smith’s three interceptions of Utah QB Travis Wilson (including one that he took 54 yards the other way for a game-changing defensive touchdown) that helped the unranked Trojans knock off No. 3 Utah in the Coliseum on Saturday night. Smith had 122 yards of interception return yardage, and the Trojans’ 42-24 victory throws the Pac-12 race wide open. USC improved their record against teams ranked No. 3 in the AP rankings to 11-2 all time.

Ka’imi Fairbairn

The UCLA kicker booted a 60-yard field goal at the end of the first half of what was an eventual 40-24 win over Cal. That’s a huge kick in the NFL, and even more so in the college game where kickers routinely miss attempts from half that range out. The 60-yard boomer was a school record.

Ohio State

It was really only ever a matter of time, and finally, the Buckeyes started looking like defending national champions. Apparently, all it took was a road trip to Piscataway, New Jersey, where the Buckeyes easily accounted for a Rutgers squad who looked out of their depth almost from the beginning. Quarterback J.T. Barrett, who started the season as back-up to Cardale Jones, threw three touchdowns and ran for two more, and looked pretty good as Ohio State pulled away to an easy 49-7 win and now all eyes turn to Urban Meyer to see whether he gives Barrett his second straight start of the season.

Georgia Tech

Special teams are important! If you doubted that before, watching the Yellow Jackets block an attempt at a winning field-goal by Florida State kicker Roberto Aguayo and take it the other way for their own game-winning score should make you a believer. From the block itself, through the well-judged return, which was brilliantly set up by the Georgia Tech blockers, it was yet one more crazy special teams ending on a season that seems to have provided a memorable one every week. With that somewhat improbable win, the Yellow Jackets handed the Seminoles their first loss on the season, and it could be a costly one.

Houston

Not since Kevin Sumlin had Case Keenum slinging the ball all over the place as Houston been so nationally relevant. The Cougars trailed nearing half time, and proceeded to score thirty five unanswered points in the second half to beat Central Florida 56-10 on Friday night. If Tom Herman, the first-year head coach responsible for this Houston revival, isn’t in the conversation for national coach of the year, there’s something wrong. Cougar RB Kenneth Farrow was the hero, rushing for 167 yards and three touchdowns,.

Ole Miss

The Rebels needed a big win like I need to win the lotto to be able to go and watch more live college football, and they got it to the tune of 23-3 against a Texas A&M squad that came into the game as fairly warm favourites. The Rebels defense limited Aggie starting quarterback Kyle Allen to just 12-34 for 88 yards before he was benched in favour of third-stringer Jake Hubenak. All told, the Aggies were held to 192 yards of total offense, a shockingly low number for one of the most prolific attacks in the country.

On offense, the Rebels gashed what is supposed to be an improved A&M defense for 230 rushing yards on 50 carries.

Temple

The Owls are 7-0 for the first time in program history, and are ranked for the first time in nearly forty years following a big 24-14 Thursday night win over East Carolina. It doesn’t get any easier for the Owls: they have a big game against Notre Dame next week.

Paxton Lynch

The Memphis quarterback threw for a career high 447 yards to lead the Tigers to a dominant 66-42 victory over Tulsa on Friday night. If you’re looking for a dark horse Heisman Trophy finalist, Lynch is as good a pick as any.

Washington State

Unbelievably, the Cougars are 5-2 under Mike Leach, following a big 45-42 win over Arizona, their third straight conference win, something that hasn’t happened up in Pullman since 2003. Say what you will about their defense, but the Cougars are fun to watch. QB Luke Falk has got the offense humming, and WSU are on track for a Bowl appearance. It seems a long time ago that they lost to FCS opponent Portland State, right?

NFL 2015: New York Giants vs. Dallas Cowboys Preview

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On Monday morning AEST, another chapter will be written in one of the great National Football League divisional rivalries, with the Dallas Cowboys heading to the Met Life Stadium in the Meadowlands of New Jersey to face the New York Giants.
Both teams have suffered through an uneven 2015 season, but with the NFC East title race still wide open, and destined to be a battleground right through the final week of the regular season, this clash at Met Life Stadium is a pivotal one, as both teams look to keep pace with the Philadelphia Eagles, who lead the division courtesy of their big win against the Giants on Monday Night Football.

It was a disappointing Monday night outing for Giants QB Eli Manning, who had his worst game of the season, tossing two interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown, as part of a team total of four turnovers. It was a lacklustre effort by the Giants offense, and their defence simply spent too long on the field to be effective, hence the comprehensive 27-7 loss. Twelve penalties and a season-low offensive production of just 247 total yards didn’t help either, of course.

Thankfully, redemption comes quickly, at home, and against another division rival. For Manning, the key is wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. No one knows exactly how healthy the second-year receiver out of Louisiana State is (he’s listed as having a hamstring injury, but will play), but even a slightly-hobbled OBJ is going to make plays. Manning will need to find him early and often – OBJ had ten catches for 146 yards and two scores in the corresponding game a season ago – and rely on some production from the run game, led by Rashard Jennnings.

Watch for the Giants defense, who’ve created turnovers with regularity this year, including three in their earlier match-up with Dallas, to do some of the same this time around. If they can give Manning and the Giants offense a short field, it might be a long day for the Cowboys.

The Cowboys have their own problems, twin ones on offense: namely, the absence of veteran quarterback Tony Romo and star wide receiver Dez Bryant. Romo is on the sidelines recuperating from a broken collarbone sustained in late September, and Brandon Weeden had been filling the spot under centre for the Cowboys, but a poor last start – part of a bad 30-6 loss to New England – has seen Weeden benched in favour of former USC quarterback Matt Cassel.

Meanwhile, Bryant, a guy who barely has to be in the same postcode as the football to make a play, has been downgraded to ‘out’ and will be sorely missed as Cassel aims to become the first Cowboys quarterback not named Tony Romo to win a game since Steven McGee in late 2010. It’s been a long time between drinks for back-up signal callers in Dallas, and an indication of how valuable the oft-maligned Romo is for the Cowboys.

At least the journeyman Cassel will have veteran tight end Jason Witten catching passes. He’s been very good over a long period of time against the Giants, and Cassel will need Witten to be better than ever, if the Cowboys are to win. Some key injuries in the Giants secondary might give Cassel a better look at things. His main priority is to protect the football, so expect lots of short throws, especially early as he settles in.

This game is a desperation one, and I’ve got a feeling we’ll see a lot of points, and a narrow Giants win, purely because they have home field advantage, and I’ve got absolutely no confidence in a Cowboys offense without Romo and Bryant.

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Australia’s Ryan Briscoe tipped to drive a factory Ford GT in 2016

There should be some good news coming in the next few days for Australian motorsports fans who enjoy tracking the exploits of Australians on the world stage.

If the rumours are true – and they usually are – the news will come from America and it will involve Sydneysider Ryan Briscoe, a very talented driver who has had huge success in North America, both in sports car racing and IndyCar Series competition.

Most recently, Briscoe has been a co-driver for Corvette Motorsport for the long-distance events at Daytona, Sebring, Le Mans and Road Atlanta. A few days back, Corvette announced that the factory General Motors squad had resigned all it’s four full-time drivers, but there was little said about the co-drivers.

That carefully-worded release only added more fuel to the fire that is Briscoe’s apparent connection to the Ford GT program being spearheaded by Chip Ganassi Racing in America, and which will field entries in both the United Sports Car Series in America and the FIA World Endurance Championship, which, of course, counts the 24 Hours of Le Mans as the jewel in it’s crown.

Whilst there has been no official announcement – and Briscoe wasn’t part of the group from Ganassi who shook down the awesome-looking new Ford GT machine at Daytona International Speedway recently – there is certainly plenty of speculation linking Briscoe to the job.

As the old saying goes, where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and there’s certainly been plenty of smoke recently. Briscoe ticks all the boxes. He’s previously driven for Ganassi in the IndyCar Series (as recently as 2014) and has a number of sports car wins, both overall in the days of the Penske Porsche Spyder LMP2 program in the now-defunct American Le Mans Series, and more recently with Corvette in the GT ranks.

Importantly, Briscoe is also a smart, level-headed driver, who can look after a car, and is expert at coaxing every ounce of speed out of it. It’s well known that Ganassi hates drivers who wreck cars, and Briscoe rarely does that.

Given Briscoe’s noted pedigree – he won the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring with the Corvette squad this year, and might have added a 24 Hours of Le Mans victory to that list had it not been for a vicious practice crash resulting in a destroyed car – it stands to reason that Corvette wouldn’t hesitate to sign him if they could.

Why on earth would you wait? The guy has done nothing but go fast and win in your cars. You’d get in early and put pen to paper on a deal as soon as possible before someone else snapped him up.

If Corvette haven’t announced Briscoe, there’s likely a good reason: he’s off the table, likely headed to another program on a full-time deal .Sooner rather than later, we’ll hear the news officially, but if you believe the rumours, it’s already a done deal, signed, sealed and delivered. Given his ability behind the wheel of the similar Corvette machine and his previous association with Ganassi, all signs point to Briscoe being one of the drivers wheeling the new factory Ford program through it’s first season.

Who else is in the frame at Ganassi? Well, who isn’t? Every driver and his dog seems to be being bandied about recently, but you can almost guarantee that Ganassi driver Joey Hand, as good a GT driver as there is on planet earth at the moment, will be a part of the new assault. Briscoe and Hand would be an awesome combination.

Legendary American road racer Scott Pruett has long been a part of the Ganassi organisation, winning multiple races – including Daytona and Sebring – but the Californian is surely nearing the end of his career, and has spoken of winning again outright at Daytona to become the winningest driver in 24 Hours of Daytona history, and therefore would need to run that race, at minimum, with a Daytona Prototype team, which Ganassi was before launching the Ford GT program. It will be strange to not see Pruett in a Ganassi car, but something we might have to get used to.

The best news here for Briscoe is another assault on the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans, where Australian drivers have had mixed success in recent years. The fact that Ford are pouring factory dollars into this GT program means they’re desperate to win, and, with that in mind, it’s hard to imagine Briscoe joining a better program. He’s going to benefit from top equipment, great co-drivers and a top-notch crew.

Maybe they won’t see success straight out of the box, but it won’t take the Ford and Ganassi combination long to get up to speed. Chip Ganassi hasn’t won some of the biggest races in America – the Daytona 500, 24 Hours of Daytona and Indianapolis 500, let alone multiple IndyCar and sports car championships – by accident.

The notoriously prickly Ganassi is a hard task master, but his results are the pay off, and Briscoe stands a good chance at being at or near the pointy end of GT sports car racing, battling with Ferrari, Porsche, Corvette and Aston Martin, sooner rather than later. It will be a great challenge for the Sydneysider, getting in at the ground floor of the Ford program, and – hopefully! – journeying to the top.

Ford’s arrival signals the golden era of GT sports car racing, if we haven’t already gotten to that stage, with so many of the world’s best manufacturers jumping into the pool, and looking to win. I can’t wait to see another Australian fighting for wins in the FIA’s World Endurance Championship.

Hopefully the Ford drive will raise Briscoe’s profile in his homeland, too.

NHL 2015: John Tortorella is back

It’s fair to say that the overnight firing of Todd Richards, formerly the head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets wasn't a surprise. I mean, when a team that is meant to be very good starts out a season 07-0, the first time that’s happened since the 1990s, it doesn’t take a genius to recognise that the coach is on shaky ground.

Well, that ground collapsed out from underneath Richards, a pretty good coach but a guy who has presided over some bad losses to start this season – one in which the Jackets, with a youth movement led by Ryan Johansen and recently-acquired former Chicago star Brandon Saad, were expected to figure in the Eastern Conference playoff race pretty heavily.

Instead, the Jackets sit languishing at the bottom of the NHL’s Eastern Conference standings and, as a result, Richards was shown the door. In his place comes John Tortorella, a famously irascible coach who has a method of dealing with his players – ‘tough love’ is putting it nicely – that has resulted in mixed success,.

Tortorella led the Tampa Bay Lightning to a Stanley Cup championship in 2004, but, even in the midst of that success, was famous for clashes with both the media and his own players. The same could be said of Tortorella’s time in New York, where he coached the Rangers after the comparatively mild-mannered Tom Renney was removed.

Again, Tortorella rubbed some of his players the wrong way. Brad Richards is the most famous example of this, and Brandon Dubinsky, once a Ranger and now in Columbus, didn’t always see eye-to-eye with his former coach. That dynamic in the Blue Jacket locker room will be fascinating to watch.

There’s little doubt that Tortorella isn’t a player’s coach. He has a sharp edge, doesn’t tolerate anyone who doesn’t fit into his system, which is big on defence and shot-blocking, grates on players. But, at the same time, perhaps that’s what the Blue Jackets need. If they’re not playing for one style of coach, what do you do? Go out and get someone at the other end of the spectrum.

Look out, Columbus media, because Tortorella doesn’t mind giving a proverbial middle finger to the press. His battles with the New York City reporters assigned to the Rangers, a prickly bunch themselves, was something to savour after every game – and particularly after a bad Ranger loss – even if it did make some people wince.

Suffice to say, these post-game press conferences were never boring. Indeed, they were sometimes more exciting than the game that they followed. When Tortorella and Larry Brooks locked horns, you weren’t sure if you wanted to strap in or be someplace else.

For mine, Tortorella is a good coach in the short term. If he can come in and have early success, that’s great, because he isn’t one of those guys who’s gonna stick around for an eternity. Sooner or later, someone is going to run him out of town. Sometimes it’s management, sometimes the players. It’s always fiery, and strangely compelling.

The other thing about Tortorella’s style is that it works much better on younger teams. The veterans in the locker room in New York and, a season later, Vancouver (he lasted just one year there) didn’t take kindly to the way he ran things. Tortorella does want he wants, and his beholden to few. His assertion in Vancouver that he’d have the Sedin twins on the penalty kill and blocking shots didn’t go down well.

Rumour has it, there was a revolt in the Canuck locker room and that fact combined with what could only be termed a sub-par season in the Olympic city, was enough for management to give Tortorella the boot after just one year.

Columbus management surely know what they’re getting, and perhaps they hired Tortorella because he’s likely to come in and light a fire under a bunch of guys in that locker room who’re woefully underperforming. The fact is, the Blue Jacket list is too good for them to start out winless after seven games. In that regard, you point to the coach has being the problem. After all, he’s the one charged with getting the most out of his list.

Maybe you think seven games is a little early to bin a coach. The thing about the NHL as it is these days – generally every even – is that even being seven games behind the rest of the field in the first month of the season is a pretty big hole, and one that could ultimately adversely affect the Blue Jackets’ run to the promised land that is the Stanley Cup playoffs in the spring. With that in mind, the Columbus front office did the right thing.

Now, we’re all wondering the same thing: can Tortorella turn them around. The answer is: yes. But the real question to be asked here is whether the controversial coach can keep his team on side for long enough to bring results. He had fairly good and sustained success in New York but was ousted almost immediately in Vancouver. Which way does it go in Columbus? If only I had a crystal ball!

And so, the John Tortorella era begins in Columbus. If nothing else, it’s sure to not be too dull.

College Football 2015: Week 7 Villains

A chaotic, controversial and exciting weekend of college football has provided me with plenty of candidates for villainy on the gridiron. Here’s the worst of the bunch:

Michigan

The story of the weekend. A soul-destroying loss for the Wolverines, who controlled large chunks of the Battle of Michigan inside the Big House, only to have a special teams nightmare, fuelled by Australian punter Blake O’Neill, fell them at the death. Literally, on the last play of the game, during the last few seconds of regulation. Football can be such a cruel game.

Jalen Watts-Jackson, the Michigan State player who took the fumbled punt into the end zone for one of the most unlikely victories in college football history – and certainly the most unlikely since the end of the 2014 Iron Bowl – will forever reviled in Ann Arbor, just as much as he will be feted and celebrated in Ann Arbor.

I feel desperately sorry for O’Neill, who was put in a bad position late, and is now being subjected to all sorts of abuse – see below – but we need to remember that football is a team game, and although it was O’Neill’s botched play that sealed the loss, there were plenty of other mistakes by the Wolverines throughout.

This one is going to sting for the longest time – defeat from the jaws of victory. Lost in the post-game chaos is the fact that Michigan proved they’re back in a big way. Not that that’ll make it any easier for Wolverine fans to get any sleep tonight.

Angry Michigan Fans on Twitter

At the end of the day, football is just a game. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not important and really never will be. Things happen in this game. Sometimes you, as a fan of your team, won’t like them. But, it’s how you deal with adversity that counts.

Unfortunately, in the wake of Michigan’s heart-breaking loss to Michigan State on an error by their Aussie punter, a group of unsavoury people on Twitter thought that abusing the life out of Blake O’Neill would be a good idea.

For the uneducated keyboard worries out there: it is not and never will be okay to suggest to any given player that they should go and hang themselves – or anything similar. Yet, that’s what happened. Run a Twitter search if you dare. It’s not pretty reading. The irony is that these guys don’t have anywhere near the talent required to play football at the level that the targets of their misguided and stupid abuse have achieved.

The sad thing is that a loud but definite minority of Wolverine fans have cast a dark shadow on the rest of the moderate and generally pleasant Michigan fan base. A few idiots is all it takes. There’s no place for such abuse.

We saw the dark side of social media today, and therein lies the one fundamental problem with Twitter and similar platforms: it provides a global soap box for people who definitely don’t deserve it.

UCLA

The Bruins had a chance for a big victory on the road, to really stamp their credentials as far as Pac-12 contention goes. Instead, they dominated by the Cardinal, and particularly RB Christian McCaffrey who gashed the Bruin defense again and again, running for 243 yards and four touchdowns on twenty-five carries. The Bruins scored two touchdowns in the meaningless fourth quarter, which made the scoreboard look fractionally better, but this one was well and truly over by the end of the third. Back to the drawing board for Jim Mora and his coaching squad.

Kansas State

Seven days removed from pushing Texas Christian right to the edge, the Wildcats apparently forgot how to play football. They were thumped 55-0 by an Oklahoma squad coming off an embarrassing loss to Texas in Dallas – and, clearly, out to make some sort of statement – and never looked likely to challenge the Sooners. Three turnovers and just 104 total yards of offense doomed them. It’s funny how much difference a week makes, isn’t it?

Kyle Allen

If Texas A&M were ever going to beat Alabama, they were going to need a flawless effort from their young quarterback, Allen. And they didn’t get it. In fact, Allen delivered the opposite, the stuff of nightmares. He threw three interceptions, all of them returned by Alabama for defensive scores of 33, 93 and 55 yards. Suffice to say, it wasn’t the day Aggie fans were hoping for.

Defense in South Bend

The annual renewal of the USC-Notre Dame rivalry at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend was an epic, eventually won by the Irish 41-3s1. USC gained 590 yards and the Irish a shade less at 476. Defenses stacked with immense talent were victimised by big plays seemingly on every second snap – I mean, how often do you see Adoree’ Jackson torched on multiple plays of 40+ yards. Not a game for the defensive purists.

Boise State

A week after a near-flawless demolition of Colorado State on the road, the Broncos, who seemed to be heading towards a New Year’s 6 Bowl appearance for the second straight year under Bryan Harsin, were blown out of the water by a rampant Utah State squad, 56-20 in a game where the Broncos turned the football over eight time. Eight! That’s unheard of in big-time college football, and you can’t win games when you commit that many turnovers.

For the first time since his stunning debut earlier this year, Boise’s freshman QB Brett Rypien actually looked like a freshman. The Aggies took full advantage and recorded a memorable victory.

Indiana

The Hoosiers, at home, had a twenty-five point lead in the third, and proceeded to give it up, letting Rutgers convert three fourth-quarter interceptions into touchdowns, leading to Kyle Federico’s 26-yard field goal that lifted the Scarlet Knights to an improbably 55-52 victory. A devastating day for the Hoosiers.

Northwestern

A week after being shut out 38-0 by Michigan in the Big House, the Wildcats returned to Evanston for Homecoming weekend and were embarrassed by Iowa, 40-10. The offense was anaemic, and the defense was shredded by the Hawkeye ground game, which amassed 293 yards – without their starting running back Jordan Canzeri. Didn’t matter. The Wildcats couldn’t tackle anyone.

College Football 2015: Week 7 Heroes

The seventh week of one of the more unpredictable seasons I can remember provided us with plenty of heroes. Here’s a few:

Trevone Boykin

The Texas Christian quarterback personally accounted for 500 yards of total offense and four touchdowns for the third time this season. This is a Heisman-worthy campaign so far.

Leonard Fournette

Speaking of Heisman-worthy campaigns, the star running back for Louisiana State was the difference in a tight 38-25 victory over Florida in Death Valley. He ran for 180 yards and two scores on thirty-one carries as the Tigers beat a Gators squad that hung around with LSU for much longer than I expected they would.

Michigan State

What can you say about the Spartans that hasn’t already been said? A big game with a crazy ending is what makes college football so damn entertaining, and MSU deserves huge credit for hanging around. They were down, but never out, and were able to take advantage of a giant Michigan error – the punt that became a fumble returned 38 yards for a touchdown by Jalen Watts-Jackson, a heretofore unknown MSU player, and now an MSU hero – to record a memorable win.

So many Spartans have a wealth of big game experience and knew not to panic. Good teams find a way to keep in touch, and take advantage of their opportunities. State did just that. Still, a totally insane and improbable win. We’ll remember this for some time, I’d suggest!

Francis Owusu

If you haven’t seen the Stanford receiver’s incredible catch, get yourself onto YouTube now and take a look. If you can think of a better catch than that, please let me know! Of course, Joe Tessitore was calling the game on ESPN, so you kinda expected something crazy, right?

Rutgers

The Scarlet Knights erased a twenty-five point deficit to Indiana on the road, and came away 55-52 winners on a wild day in the Big Ten. For the first time in school history, Rutgers had a player with three receiving touchdowns (Leonte Caroo) and one with three rushing touchdowns (Robert Martin) in a game where, as the final score suggests, defences didn’t play a major roll.

CJ Prosise

The Notre Dame running back ran for 143 yards and two touchdowns on a big night for offense in South Bend, where the Fighting Irish beat archrivals USC 41-31. Although their defense gave up a series of big plays, you get the feeling that Brian Kelly’s men are a legitimate college football playoff contender.

Memphis

So, the Big Ten wasn’t the only place for chaos and strange results. The SEC took a shot today, with Memphis, undefeated and considered by some a sneaky chance to defeat Ole Miss at home, did just that, recording a memorable 37-24 win. Head coach Justin Fuentes is a guy to keep an eye on in the future. He’s got this team up and rolling nicely. This was a giant win, perhaps the best Memphis can lay claim to in their history.

Akrum Wadley

Never heard of the Iowa running back? You’re probably not alone on that front. He’s the back-up, and was pressed into service when the Hawkeyes’ starting back, Jordan Canzeri, was struck down with injury. Wadley definitely made the most of his opportunities, becoming the first Iowa player to score four rushing touchdowns in a single game. He ran for 204 total yards, and was barely stopped by anyone on a shaky Northwestern defense, opening the way for Iowa to remain undefeated and play in the Big Ten Championship Game. The Hawkeyes start 7-0 for the first time since 2009.

Alabama’s defense

The Tide intercepted Texas A&M quarterback Kyle Allen three times, and returned all those picks for touchdowns, fuelling a fairly comprehensive 41-23 victory on the road.

Baylor

Seth Russell became the first Baylor quarterback since Robert Griffin III back in 2011 to throw for 300 yards and rush for another 100 in the same game. He was ably supported by Corey Coleman, who caught three passes for touchdowns, breaking the single-season Baylor record for touchdowns with his fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth on the year – the most anywhere in the country this season, too – and he Bears, sitting nicely at No. 2 in the AP Top 2 rankings, handled West Virginia 62-38.

Utah State’s defense

The Aggies destroyed Boise State 52-26 on Friday night after their defense forced eight turnovers. Huge night!

Christian McCaffrey

The Stanford running back destroyed UCLA on Thursday night, amassing 243 yards (a school record, if you don’t mind!) and scoring four touchdowns as the Cardinal defeated the Bruins 56-35. McCaffrey is a legitimate Heisman contender now.

Houston

Ranked for the first time since 2011, the Cougars, playing sensationally under first-year head coach Tom Herman, beat Tulane 42-7, thanks to three rushing and one passing touchdown from quarterback Greg Ward Jr. The Cougars were missing three starting offensive linemen but that didn’t stop them from rolling up 239 rushing yards, and 461 total. Herman, like Fuentes in Memphis, is another guy to keep an eye on as big-time programs begin to have vacancies at head coach.

Everett Golson

Who is the guy playing quarterback for Florida State? I want to know because he surely doesn’t look like the same one we saw under centre for Notre Dame a year ago. That particularly Everett Golson turned the football over with gusto, frustrating the you-know-what out of Irish fans.

Faced with losing out to Malik Zaire in the race for starting quarterback at Notre Dame this year, Golson opted to transfer down to Tallahassee in the off season and the sea change from the Midwest to Atlantic Coast seems to have done him some good. He’s yet to throw an interception all season, and has Florida State in a pretty nice spot, lurking just outside the AP Top Ten. This is a team to watch, thanks to Golson’s play.

Album Review: Thirty One by Jana Kramer

It’s often been said – and correctly so – that there aren’t a lot of women making waves in mainstream country music. Sure, you have Carrie and Miranda doing their thing, but that’s about the extent of it now that Faith and Trisha aren’t releasing music full-time. The interesting duo of Maddie and Tae, most famous for their anti bro-country anthem ‘Girl in a Country Song’ last year, are yet to prove they’re more than a one hit wonder. 

When you compare that to the incredible amount of men making waves in Nashville, moving truckloads of albums and selling out stadiums like Jason Aldean, Kenny Chesney, Luke Bryan and Florida-Georgia Line, we’re not exactly seeing a golden age for female country music. Reba and Dolly are mostly gone.

Enter Jana Kramer. The former One Tree Hill star – she played the obnoxious Alex Dupree late in the show’s nine-year run- has just released her second album, Thirty One, named for her age (which, unlike many her age, Kramer doesn’t seem too concerned with hiding), and if her self-titled debut, which had songs featured on One Tree Hill was a solid start, her sophomore effort bursts out of the blocks, and is an impressive listen from start to finish.

Per chance, Kramer is more famous for her failed relationship with country-rocker Brantley Gilbert or for her One Tree Hill appearances or three failed marriages, but that should change having released such a good album. Married once more, and with a child on the way, Kramer is obviously happy, in a good place in her life, and it shows on 31.

Whilst the music leans towards pop-country rather than the traditional brand, it’s Kramer’s strong voice that carries the collection, and there’. ‘Bullet’ leaps out at me instantly. I was hooked after the first listen, and I’ve listened to it dozens of times since. Suffice to say it’s rising steadily towards the top of my Top 100 Most Played playlist on iTunes. The chorus gets in your head, and it stays there. Belatedly, I learned that Steven Tyler, the Aerosmith front man, who has his own country album in the works – who doesn’t these days, right? – featured on this song. Rumour has it that ‘Bullet’ is about dodging one, in the form of her failed engagement to Gilbert.

The soft, thoughtful song ‘I Got The Boy’ was Kramer’s lead single for this project. It’s been out since the (northern hemisphere) spring, and recently has been climbing steadily up the charts. It’s a very traditional country song, the most traditional of all the songs on Thirty One, a narrative about love and relationship that is getting deserved positive press, and is already Kramer’s second-most successful single.

In some of the other songs ‘Pop That Bottle’ and ‘Don’t Touch My Radio’ are reminiscent of the hard-driving style of Miranda Lambert, and Kramer’s smoky vocals make it work. ‘Boomerang’ is another song worth checking out.

Three years passed between Kramer’s first album and her follow-up. Hopefully we won’t have to wait quite as long for a third release.