DAILY DIRT: It’s Saturday, wake up, college football fans!

September 28, 2024 | By Steve Eighinger Muddy River News Minister of Culture and Doctor of Love

Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala. will be rocking tonight for Georgia-Alabama. Photo courtesy of UA Athletics.

The must-watch game today is Georgia at Alabama … Welcome to today’s three thoughts that make up Vol. 1,071 of The Daily Dirt

1. If you’re a college football fan, Saturday means fun day, and with it comes The Daily Dirt’s top 10 rankings.

This weekend’s schedule of games has one particular major matchups that should entertain us all:

1. Texas (4-0): Make no mistake, the Longhorns have been impressive. Texas has won its last four home games by at least 48 points, the best such streak in school history. Oh, and the ‘Horns are at home today vs. Mississippi State.

2. Georgia (3-0): This week’s marquee game pits the Bulldogs at Alabama. I’m going with Georgia by 3. By the way, Georgia remains No. 1 in the coaches’ poll, but is No. 2 in the AP writers ballot.

3. Ohio State (3-0): Buckeyes open conference play today against Michigan State. The first major test should be Oct. 12 at Oregon.

4. Ole Miss (4-0): The Rebels’ average margin of victory is currently 49.5 points per game, which is tops among all FBS schools. Ole Miss entertains Kentucky today.

5. Alabama (4-0): The Georgia game just won’t be the same without Saban on the sidelines. By the way, the Tide is a home underdog today, the first time that’s occurred since 2007.

6. Tennessee 4-0): The Vols are off today before traveling to Arkansas next Saturday.

7. Miami, Fla. (5-0): The Hurricanes rallied to beat Virginia Tech Friday night.

8. Oregon (3-0): We welcome the Ducks back into the fold. They should have little problem today with UCLA.

9. Penn State (3-0): The Nittany Lions, while hardly an upper echelon team (at least not yet), should have little problem disposing of Illinois tonight. Yes, I know Illinois is 4-0, but … come on.

10. Utah (4-0): Is it just me, or does “Arizona at Utah in a Big 12 game” still sound kind of strange?

Gone, but not forgotten: Missouri (4-0). JRG’s favorite team struggled mightily a week ago vs. Vanderbilt (enter head-slap emoji) and dropped out of our Top 10. Mizzou is idle until Oct. 5 when it travels to Texas A&M.

2. Did you know (Part 135)

That four new Whoppers are scheduled for November release at most Burger Kings, including one with fried pickles and pickle ranch dressing (plus swiss cheese and bacon), a maple bourbon barbecue entry with crispy onions and a Mexican street corn Whopper with spicy queso and tortilla chips … and and a fourth spotlighting barbecued brisket.
That Domino’s is adding some mac-and-cheese options to its menu.
That Arby’s will be adding a pumpkin-pie turnover.
That Texas Roadhouse’s mini-rolls with accompanying honey cinnamon butter are coming to Walmart.
That Spam has added a new flavor: Gochujang.
That Coca-Cola Classic is offering a new Oreo flavor, and so is Coke Zero.
That White Castle is expanding its Slider packages in supermarket frozen foods departments to include “double” cheeseburgers.

3. Our weekly celebrity birthday wishes go to:

Former TV newsman Bryant Gumbel, who will be 76 on Sunday.

Actress Jenna Elfman, who will be 53 on Monday.

Former MLB slugger Mark McGwire, who turns 61 come Tuesday.

Singer Don McLean (“American Pie”), who will be 79 on Wednesday.

Singer Gordon Sumner (a.k.a. Sting), who turns 73, also on Wednesday. He’s performing at Busch Stadium Sunday night in a concert with Billy Joel. The concert was supposed to be Friday night, but weather forced the two-day postponement.

Steve Thought O’ The Day – In 2007, Scotland spent six months of research and more than $160,000 to create a new slogan that would boost tourism. The end result was: “Welcome to Scotland”.