The Fraud FIve by Mike Kern – October 18th Edition

Mike Kern’s Fraud Five

October 18, 2020

Tennessee — It might be OK to lose to Kentucky, even at home. But maybe not when you’re ranked 18^th and Kentucky isn’t in the Top 25. And certainly not by 34-7. And now they’ve got to deal with Alabama. Yo.

North Carolina — Tar Heels probably should have been ahead of Tennessee, but at least they were on the road. Then again, Florida State isn’t very good these days. And the Heels were ranked No. 5, which was the highest they’d been in over two decades. And even though they only wound up losing by three, it was 31-7 at halftime. Which of course in this case was almost impossible.

Auburn — Not as egregious as the other two, because South Carolina ain’t bad. But it isn’t all that, either. And Auburn, which lost by eight on road, was ranked 15^th. Good thing Tigers were up 16-7 early in second quarter. Too bad they only scored once more after that.

Syracuse — I know Liberty was a slight favorite, at the Carrier Dome. Still, Orange shouldn’t be losing at home by 17 to a good Conference USA team, should they? I don’t know anymore. Good thing it was tied early in the second period.

Georgia — OK, I admit this is a bit of a stretch. But there were a lot of games (and potential candidates) cancelled because of the pandemic that some or many for whatever reasons continue to say shouldn’t be considered that big of a deal. Anyway, I know the Bulldogs were a slight underdog at Alabama, which anyone would be. Even Clemson. But at some point, Kirby Smart has to figure out a way to beat Nick Saban. He’s had his chances, in some big spots. And still nothing. And his team led at halftime. Then it didn’t score again. And its defense, ranked first in the land, couldn’t keep Bama’s No. 1-rated offense from doing enough damage to make it a 17-point game. The Dawgs might get another shot in the SEC title game, if they both make it that far. Whether that will make any difference remains to play itself out.

And on a much different note, a very somber note, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the passing of Jack Scheuer, who in our profession was one of the truly good ones. I know that’s a term that gets passed around much too often, but in this case it really fits. He was 88, and had been a fixture on the Philadelphia sports scene forever. Those of us that got to know him were all better off for it. He was of course Mr. Palestra, for all the points he scored on that two-handed set shot of his in the Wednesday pickup games that he organized. Hell, he had a key to the building. And he was at just about every Phillies game, doing his thing for the Associated Press, for just as long. He will obviously be missed. You don’t replace people like that, who meant so much to so many. This has been a horrible year, and unfortunately it just got worse. He was, as they like to say, a Philly institution. We can never have enough of those. I’m just glad I got to spend the amount of time I did with him. He always found a way to make it special. Thanks, friend. Your presence can never be replaced.