Tigers Roar

Well the time has come to say adieu to Les Miles! As an LSU fan, I am pretty excited because Les Miles hasn't done squat when it comes to beating Alabama or Ole Miss in the past three years or so. In fact, he is 2-7 against Alabama, Ole Miss and Texas A&M in that span. Fans of LSU (myself his ability to manage the clock when it comes to the end of a half, thus costing the team the game on several occasions. His most recent game against Auburn was the last straw. The head of the athletic department cut the cord and replaced him. In addition to Les Miles, offensive coordinator Cam Cameron was also fired. The Tigers are ranked 111th in the country out of 128 FBS programs in terms of total offense. Talk about pathetic, right? Miles' interim will be Ed Orgeron, the current linebackers coach. Orgeron has experience in being an interim coach. When Lane Kiffin was fired at USC, Orgeron replaced him and eventually went on to beat #3 ranked Stanford in that year. Lane Kiffin is now the offensive coordinator at Alabama. Let us see what Orgeron can do, especially as the schedule turns to October and we look towards teams like Alabama and Texas A&M. Whoever wins the SEC West will be playing in the college football playoff (assuming they win the SEC championship). Here are your games for the week:

- (Friday) #7 Stanford at #10 Washington, 9 ET, ESPN
- #22 Texas at Oklahoma State, Noon ET, ABC
- #11 Tennessee at #25 Georgia, 3:30 ET, CBS
- North Carolina at #12 Florida State, 3:30 ET, ESPN
- #8 Wisconsin at #4 Michigan, 3:30 ET, ABC
- Oklahoma at #21 TCU, 5 ET, FOX
- #3 Louisville at #5 Clemson, 8 ET, ABC

In Petco Park, we have some amazing and exciting things going on for Padres fans. Of course, it means baseball. The top prospects for the Padres are putting on a show. Hunter Renfroe has 11 RBIs in two games thanks to a three-run shot and a grand slam on Tuesday and a two-run single and mammoth two-run shot last night. He has officially become the first player to hit a home run into the top of the Western Metal Supply Company building. Nobody has ever done it before in a competitive game until now. It has been done during batting practice and even during the home run derby earlier this season during the all-star game. Way to show the Dodgers what they deserve! Renfroe is hitting .381 since being called up and fellow call-up Manny Margot is also hitting a robust .333 in his short amount of time in the bigs. I'm excited for the future of this team. As they wrap up the 2016 season this Sunday in Phoenix, it has been a tough season to watch at times, with all the injuries and struggles in the rotation. But 2017 should be special. Just look at this potential lineup to start the year against Clayton Kershaw coming in April:
CF Manny Margot
2B Ryan Schimpf
1B Wil Myers
3B Yangervis Solarte
RF Hunter Renfroe
LF Alex Dickerson
C Austin Hedges
SS Luis Sardinas
P Tyson Ross (maybe)

Looks pretty legit to me! Meanwhile, are you excited for the playoffs? Comment below to tell me what you are looking forward to the most! Have a great week!

AAA Championships

The El Paso Chihuahuas (Padres) won the Pacific Coast League title against the Oklahoma City Dodgers last week, thus sending them to a one game, winner take all contest in Memphis against Scranton/Wilkes Barre (Yankees) on Tuesday. Turns out that it was a pitching duel. Walker Lockett yielded three runs in the first inning to the Railriders but held the team scoreless the rest of the way. The Chihuahuas could not muster any offense and only scored once in a 3-1 defeat. It was sad to see them lose, but exciting to see them make it all the way to the title game.

The big-league club is still struggling, but hey they are fun to watch. With just about a week left in the regular season, we ought to just sit back and watch the prospects that we have been heralding the past few weeks do their stuff. Meanwhile, A.J,. Preller began his suspension before the homestand began against the Diamondbacks. I'm not so sure that I feel the way I felt last week anymore. Sure, he deserved to be suspended because he did something wrong, but Andy Green defends him, saying that the Padres were in a transition phase back in spring training where certain things fell through the cracks. Who knew it would come back to bite us. Feel free to read that article and comment on your thoughts. It is my opinion that it would be unfair to judge A.J. Preller and thus not make a trade with him. He can be trusted. It's not like he's some thief trying to take advantage of every general manager in the league. He just neglected one small detail. I look forward to his return next month and know he will do all he can to fix this issue.

In college football, it's time for some upsets. North Dakota State, an FCS team, defeated Big 10 powerhouse Iowa on Saturday. North Dakota State is no small task, might I add. They have won five straight FCS national titles and defeated 7 FBS opponents since 2007, the largest of which came in Iowa City. Former North Dakota State QB Carson Wentz was selected second overall by the Philadelphia Eagles and has started his career 3-0 in the NFL, so it looks like there is some skill there in Fargo. Look out for the Bison. Here are your games for the week:

- #12 Georgia at #23 Ole Miss, Noon ET, ESPN
- #11 Wisconsin at #8 Michigan State, Noon ET, Big 10 Network
- #19 Florida at #14 Tennessee, 3:30 ET, CBS
- #18 LSU at Auburn, 6 ET, ESPN
- Oklahoma State at #16 Baylor, 7:30 ET, FOX
- #7 Stanford at UCLA, 8 ET, ABC
- #17 Arkansas at #10 Texas A&M, 9 ET, ESPN