Week 5 was a swing and a miss. It turns out having a 2-month-old is hard!
Holy cow Tennessee is good at baseball. This has to be how the Patriots felt during Brady’s prime - knowing week in and week out, you are going to pummel your opponent and there isn’t a ton they can do about it. I’ll clip the Liam Bowl from last Friday night further down but Florida was overmatched and that doesn’t happen to them often.
Some Other Top 25 Notes
Duke is finally gone - thank goodness. That team is atrocious
UNC loses another ACC weekend to a Lousiville team who is, good?
Wake Forest is legit. Once they settle on a Sunday starter, watch out.
Stanford is for real. Good for them. Rintaro rocks.
My Daughter’s Favorite Team Update: Roll Tide! Wow Texas A&M is in trouble. A sweep of the preseason #1 Aggies is a big deal, with no bigger moment than Will Hodo’s go-ahead Grand Slam at the end of Game 2.
Alabama sits comfortably at #10 in the rankings this week and I for one, am pleased. I’m about two weeks away from potentially gambling on the Tide. Don’t tell my wife
“Never take for granted what it means to be a Volunteer " - Peyton Manning
Rintaro Hit Home Runs - Watch Them
MLB has two years to learn how to allow teams to trade draft picks because Rintaro cannot, I repeat, cannot go to a bad team. Japan’s greatest high school slugger cannot play for the White Sox or the Pirates.
Anyway, our sweet prince decided to leave the yard this past weekend after a season full of low-line drives. Let’s watch together:
Week 6 Games to Watch From This Past Week
If you’re not following Wheels on YouTube, you should.
#7 (now 13) Florida at #2 (now 1) Tennessee: The Liam Bowl did not disappoint. Liam Doyle (Tennessee), a likely top 5 pick in this year’s draft came out throwing fuel in the first touching 97. By the 5th, he was back in the 92-93 range. Liam Peterson (Florida), a likely top 5 pick in the 2026 draft, got hit hard a few more times than Doyle and took the Loss but when we look back 5 years from now, this may have been a $15-20 Million Dollar signing bonus match up.
#16 (now 22) Vanderbilt at #25 (now 20) Auburn: Last week was the week of go-ahead Grand Slams and Auburn uses this one in the bottom of the 8th as a way to get momentum on their side to take down Vanderbilt. Also - while we are here - why is Vanderbilt still starting Ethan McElwain on Saturdays? His ERA is 9.95 and he has thrown less than 13 innings in 5 starts. Seems bad!
Miami at #14 (now 11) Wake Forest: Miami is one year away from completing this rebuild. Such a better ball club than last year’s squad. A great match-up from start to finish with the unlikeliest of heroes walking this off for Wake Forest with third-string catcher, Brown Alum, and TikTok star, Jacob Burley hitting a ball down the line to win it for the Deacs
Weekend Matchups to Watch
#1 Tennessee at #10 Alabama: This matchup is why I am waiting a few weeks to bet on Alabama lol. If Alabama wins this series, my daughter may get some merch and we’ll run a Crimson Tide flag on the porch.
Disclaimer: This series started last night (Thursday) and I am fairly confident that I will not stay up long enough to watch the end of this but Alabama is up 6-3 in the 5th and Liam Doyle is still throwing fuel.
#11 Wake Forest at #7 Clemson: Friday’s matchup of Logan Lunceford (Wake Forest) and Aidan Knaak (Clemson) should be a high strikeout affair but bet the over on Sunday as both teams are struggling to find their Sunday starter.
#24 Coastal Carolina at #25 Troy: Both teams are led by what I think are the best draftable catchers in the country in Caden Bodine (Coastal) and Brooks Bryan (Troy). Coastal has the advantage in arms with Riley Eikhoff and Cam Flukey starting on Friday and Saturday Bryan recently said in an interview, “I just want to go out there, ball out, and be myself”. Sold - bet on Troy this weekend.