Beech Tree News Network

I've been on an all-out football binge this week, so I have a lot of ground to cover and several things on my mind.

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Cam Newton is going to be an actual NFL superstar, if the Carolina Panthers don't kill him first. Newton is coming into his own, and getting the NFL game figured out. He knows when to run, and when to pass, but more than that he's beginning to lift up the players around him and make them perform better. The problem is that the talent level around Newton is pretty dismal, and he has to carry too much of the load. This will not only cripple the Panthers in the playoffs, but could lead to injury trouble for Newton. The best thing for the franchise might be to miss the playoffs this year so they can build around Newton a bit more, and get ready for some real playoff runs as he begins to mature as a quarterback.

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Third downs are when football games are won and lost. Good teams stop their opponents on third down. Teams with good offenses convert third downs. Great teams do both. My case in point is Kentucky. The Cats are beginning to look like a real college football team again, but they have to start winning third downs in order to win football games.

On offense the Cats still have to play four-down football too much, and it bites them in the backside at crucial times. On defense they have to learn to dig in and get the other team off the field on third downs. If they had been able to do a little more of either against Mississippi State they would have probably picked up their first SEC win since 2011. Instead thy sputtered on their own third downs, and let State convert their important third downs and gave away a potential win.

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Steve Spurrier isn't the same ball coach he was at Florida, but he still has his moments. Make no mistake about it, he was the reason for South Carolina's monumental comeback and win at Mizzou on Saturday night.

When Spurrier decided to put quarterback Conner Shaw into the game it was a last ditch move, but it exposed Missouri's defensive shortcomings. Spurrier started calling plays from the gut, and totally swapped momentum in the game. He also knew that if he could get the game into overtime that it would put unbelievable pressure on Missouri's young, fill-in, true freshman quarterback, and the Gamecocks would have the advantage. He was right on all counts and South Carolina wrecked Mizzou's dream season because of it.

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It's a shame there's not a four-team playoff this year in college football. It would be a blast to watch Alabama, Florida State, Oregon, and Ohio State lace up their cleats and decide the national championship on the field. Instead this year is setting up to be filled with lots of grousing and moaning about who should be in the BCS championship game, and the teams left out are probably going to have great arguments to make about why they aren't playing for the title.

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I had a dismal week picking the NFL winners in week 7. I barely broke .500 with a final tally of 8-7. That runs my overall record to 66-40. I nailed the Thursday night game again, so I'm holding a win going into the rest of a 13-game week 8 schedule.

My winners this week are; Lions, Chiefs, Patriots, Saints, Eagles, 49ers, Bengals, Raiders, Broncos, Falcons, Packers, and Seahawks.

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I'll close this week with a question, and I want to hear from my readers on this, so get ready to drop me some emails.

Is it realistic for the Kentucky basketball Wildcats to be shooting for a 40-0 season, or is running the board in this age of college hoops just a pipe dream?

Tell me what you think and I'll weigh in on the subject next week.

Send your thoughts to:
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