Looking ahead

Del Olaleye: The weekly update on college football

Del Olaleye: The weekly update on college football
Will Jimbo Fisher still be around when A&M plays Arizona State? Andy Lyons/Getty Images

Del Olaleye's weeekly college football report:

Georgia should put Jake Fromm in Bubble Wrap

The Georgia freshman has had an interesting off-season. Earlier this summer he somehow wound up with a fishing lure in his left calf. Not a huge deal for a guy from Warner Robbins, Ga. I can just hear Georgia fan now, “Oh look, Jake has a fishing lure in his leg, ain’t that something.” Fromm took the whole thing in stride. There are images of him sitting casually in a doctor’s office on his phone while a lure hangs from his leg. Clearly not a big deal. The latest summer injury is a little bit more serious but not enough to trouble Fromm’s coach Kirby Smart. Fromm broke his non-throwing hand in a “freak boating accident.” The accident happened on the 4th of July but fortunately for the Bulldogs, Fromm is already back to throwing the football. He’s not the only QB from the 2018 title game to suffer a hand injury in the offseason. In the spring Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa injured his throwing and had to undergo a surgical procedure that will keep him out until August. More injury bad luck hit the Crimson Tide this week as linebacker Terrell Lewis tore his ACL while training. Alabama had issues keeping linebackers like Lewis healthy last year. So far that trend continues as we approach the 2018 season.

Virginia Tech loses another defensive starter

The Hokies announced the dismissal of defensive back Mook Reynolds in what has been a disastrous offseason for Bud Foster’s defense. That is now seven starters that the Hokies have to replace from the 2017 defense. Two players who were expected to help in the rebuild also won’t be available. That includes Adonis Alexander who is now in the NFL Supplemental Draft. At one point Hokies starting QB Josh Jackson’s eligibility was in question as well but the Hokies were able to dodge that potentially crippling loss. Virginia Tech opens the season against ACC rival Florida State.

Arizona State and Texas A&M schedule a home and home

These two programs with first year head coaches agreed to play each other starting in 2026. The announcement isn’t particularly newsworthy. These types of announcements happen all the time. The two programs actually played in 2015.  It just struck me that it is likely that A&M’s Jimbo Fisher and Arizona State’s Herm Edwards won’t be around to be coaching against each other. Fisher has all the job security in the world. Ten years and $75 million is the epitome of security. Eight years is still a long time to keep your job in the SEC unless your name is Saban. Herm Edwards on the other hand didn’t start his Sun Devils career to glowing reviews. He’s everyone choice to be a disaster hire. Even if he turns out to be a good hire, a former NFL head coach staying in the college ranks for eight years seems unlikely. If action exist for such a boring prop bet, bet on neither one being on the sidelines for that game.

The Aggies are playing the wrong Arizona school anyway. The people over at NRG should look closely at Kevin Sumlin’s return to Houston as the Arizona head coach this season. The Wildcats play the University of Houston in September. A matchup in the Texas Kickoff Classic featuring potential Heisman candidate Khalil Tate from Arizona against the Aggies in both Fisher and Sumlin’s second year would be all types of intriguing. And would ya look at that, it just so happens there hasn’t been a 2019 game scheduled yet.

 

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Rockets defeat Clippers, 116-105 Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images.

Rookie Cam Whitmore scored 21 points and the Houston Rockets beat the playoff-bound Los Angeles Clippers 116-105 on Sunday to finish at .500 season and avoid a fourth straight losing season.

Rookie Amen Thompson had a triple-double of 18 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high 10 assists for the already eliminated Rockets, who finished 41-41 in coach Ime Udoka's first season. Houston was 22-60 last year and 20-62 in 2022.

The Pacific Division champion and fourth-seeded Clippers are headed to the playoffs, where they'll meet Luka Donic and the fifth-seeded Dallas Mavericks in the first round next weekend.

Terance Mann scored 24 points and Amir Coffey added 18 for the Clippers in their last regular-season game at Crypto.com Arena. It's where they've juggled dates with the Lakers and NHL’s Kings since 1999. The team is moving to its new Intuit Dome in Inglewood next season.

The Clippers couldn't avoid their first three-game losing streak since James Harden's first game with the team, when they lost six in a row from Nov. 1-14.

Clippers superstar Kawhi Leonard missed his eighth straight game because of right knee inflammation. The team went 4-4 over that stretch.

Coach Tyronn Lue gave his usual opaque answers about Leonard’s status for the upcoming playoffs before the game. “We’ll see. He feels OK,” said Lue, who, when asked if Leonard has been working out, said, “He’s been doing a little something.”

Also sitting out for the Clippers were Paul George, Harden, Ivica Zubac, Russell Westbrook, Norman Powell and Bones Hyland, who scored a combined 64 points in his previous three games.

Xavier Moon had 14 points, six rebounds and six assists in his first career start for the Clippers. Moon, a 6-footer, beat 7-foot-4 Boban Marjanovic in a jump ball in the fourth. They matched up again and Marjanovic stuck out his long arm to poke the ball away from Moon.

“He's a big boy,” said Clippers assistant Dan Craig who coached the game, “but X got that jump ball against him.”

Marjanovic scored 13 points in 12 minutes of the fourth. The former Clipper delighted the fans when he smilingly missed two free throws to ensure they would receive free chicken sandwiches.

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