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Inspirational thought of the week:

Do you love me?
Do you wanna be my friend?
And if you do
Well then don’t be afraid to take me by the hand
If you want to
I think this is how love goes
Check yes or no
— “Check Yes or No,” George Strait

Here at Bottom 10 Headquarters, located among the giant concrete reinforcement pillars installed under the Indiana football offices to support Curt Cignetti’s self-confidence, we are still trying to process the ceaseless series of sea change/Earth change/mindset change/sleep-cycle change events that were thrust upon us over the course of only a few days’ time.

We had Halloween, turning the clocks back an hour, the release of a new Liam Neeson/Ron Perlman mob movie and a Week 10 slate that saw a gaggle of ranked teams pushed and/or upset by unranked teams, not to mention Pur-don’t and Northworstern going into OT.

And oh yeah, dummy me. I forgot the biggest event of them all. The one that was unfurling just as we were compiling these rankings Tuesday evening, Nov. 5, 2024. I am, of course, speaking of the #MACtion doubleheader of Boiling Green at Centralized Michigan and My Hammy of Ohio at Baller State. Oh, and the eve of “The Golden Bachelorette: The Men Tell All.”

With apologies to Joan Vassos, Jesse Palmer, Matt James, Tyler Cameron, Cleisthenes and Steve Harvey, here’s the post-Week 10 Bottom 10 rankings.


The good news is that the Golden (plated) Flashes, aka America’s last winless FBS team, did not lose their 18th straight game. The bad news is that it’s only because they didn’t play. Now they kick off Week 11 early with the first of four straight midweek games to end the season. It starts with a visit from fellow Ohioans Ohio, followed by a trip to fellow Ohioans My Hammy of Ohio, a visit from fellow Ohioans Akronmonious and then a trip to Buffalo, which isn’t in Ohio, but I’m pretty sure Ohio eats more Buffalo wings than any other state, so it feels like it is.


Brett Favre Funding U also managed to escape its open date without a loss ahead of hosting Marshall this weekend. The Olden Eagles are already eyeing their potential Pillow Fight of the Year of the Century in their season finale to Bottom 10 Waiting Lister Troy Bolton State. Actually, they’re already eyeing the weekend after that, when the season is finally over.


Speaking of the Waiting List, that’s where the Minors were just two weeks ago, but after back-to-back Pillow Fight losses to Fa-la-la-la-la La-la-la-Tech and Meh-dle Tennessee, they have jumped up off the bench outside and burst into the front door like me when the buffet hostess finally says, “McGee, party of one!” Now they will play in unprecedented Pillow Fight Three-peat against … yeah, like that hostess, we’re going to make you wait a minute.


Our old friends the Minuetmen also spent part of this fall on the Waiting List, but they answered the call of duty by following up their non-FBS win over Jack Wagner by getting housed by another Waiting List member, a fellow 2-7 squad out of the S-E-C, Miss Sus Hippie State. Now the Mess plays last week’s Coveted Fifth Spot winner Liberty. It’s always a weird headspace for a group of Revolutionary War soldiers to try to defeat Liberty.


The Tigers tumble down The Hill from the fancy-schmancy Coaches Poll top 10 into the Coveted Fifth Spot after losing to #goacc mid-packer Louisville. We were on the fence about whether to put Death Valley or Happy Valley into this slot, but our minds were made up after downing a bottle of refreshing water that had been winged at our heads from the Clemson student section.


I can hear the lobby conversation now. “Hey, Clemson, did y’all really just lose to Louisville and land in the Coveted Fifth Spot?” “Hey, FSU, did y’all really just lose by 24 points to North Carolina and is the only team you’ve beaten really Cal?” Then they both grab up their briefcases and head into the courtroom to explain why they are too good for the ACC.


The Buttermakers lost the B1G Bottom 10 Bowl presented by Rust-eze, falling to Northworstern in overtime. Now they finish the year with three of four games against top 10 teams in Ohio State, Penn State and Indiana. In related news, sources tell Bottom 10 JortsCenter that Purdue’s legendary engineering department is trying to invent one of those Tony Stark time machine thingies so they can fast forward to winter.


The New Owls have flown back into these standings after following up their first-ever win as an FBS program with their seventh-ever loss as an FBS program. Now they hit the road for their first-ever Pillow Fight of the Week, a matchup with border rival UTEPid. Told you we’d get to it.


If the Bottom 10 were a series “Game of Thrones” memes, this is where we’d see a photo of Boromir talking and giant white letters that read “ONE DOES NOT SIMPLY GET SMOKED 59-21 BY ONE-WIN UAB AND NOT END UP IN THE BOTTOM 10.” OK, sure, let’s go on and do it …


My OG Bottom 10 champs are back! The Panthers keep racking up moral victories. Their only actual victories came back-to-back in September over Chattanooga and Vanderbilt. So, if you’re scoring at home, and we are, Georgia State beat Vandy, who beat Bama, who has been ranked No. 1 and who beat Georgia, who has been ranked No. 1 and who beat Texas, who has been ranked No. 1. I almost printed this paragraph out on Georgia State stationery and nailed it to the door of the College Football Playoff selection committee meeting room at the Gaylord Texan, like Martin Luther at the Castle Church.

Waiting List: FA (not I) U, Akronmonious, Meh-dle Tennessee, WhyOMGing?, You A Bee?, Whew Mexico State, Temple of Doom, Utaw State, Charlotte 3-and-6ers, assistant coaches impersonating volcanos.

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Source: Belichick, UNC won’t be on Hard Knocks

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Source: Belichick, UNC won't be on Hard Knocks

North Carolina and new coach Bill Belichick will not be the subject of HBO’s “Hard Knocks: Offseason,” a source confirmed to ESPN on Tuesday.

Front Office Sports reported last week that North Carolina would be featured on this year’s show, which would have given viewers an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at how Belichick would manage his first offseason as a college head coach.

When asked about it on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Tar Heels general manager Michael Lombardi said that nothing had been signed with the university but that the program was receiving “a lot of offers from people all over to come in and look at our program.”

But, as CBS Sports first reported earlier Tuesday, a deal could not be reached.

UNC hired Belichick in December after he had spent his entire career in the NFL, where he won six Super Bowls as coach of the New England Patriots. The Patriots never were selected to appear on “Hard Knocks.”

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NHL trade grades: Report cards for the Trent Frederic swap, Seth Jones blockbuster, other major deals

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NHL trade grades: Report cards for the Trent Frederic swap, Seth Jones blockbuster, other major deals

The NHL trade deadline for the 2024-25 season is not until March 7, but teams have not waited until the last minute to make major moves.

For every significant trade that occurs during the season, you’ll find a grade for it here, the Colorado Avalanche and San Jose Sharks swapping goaltenders, Cam Fowler to the St. Louis Blues, Kaapo Kakko to the Seattle Kraken, the blockbuster deal sending Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes and Martin Necas to the Avalanche, J.T. Miller from the Vancouver Canucks to the New York Rangers, and the Canucks staying busy and getting Marcus Pettersson from the Pittsburgh Penguins.

March 1 featured three big trades, with Ryan Lindgren headed to the Colorado Avalanche, the Minnesota Wild adding Gustav Nyquist, and Seth Jones joining the Florida Panthers.

Read on for grades from Ryan S. Clark and Greg Wyshynski, and check back the next time a big deal breaks.

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Reports: Brewers add depth with lefty Quintana

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Reports: Brewers add depth with lefty Quintana

Veteran left-handed pitcher Jose Quintana is joining the Milwaukee Brewers on a one-year, $4.25 million deal with $1 million in potential bonuses, according to multiple reports.

Quintana, 36, is coming off a 2024 season in which he went 10-10 with a 3.75 ERA in 31 starts for the New York Mets. He struck out 135 and walked 63 in 170⅓ innings. Over his past six regular-season starts, Quintana gave up four runs — three earned — in 36 1/3 innings.

He started the deciding game of New York’s NL Wild Card Series matchup with the Brewers and pitched six shutout innings in the Mets’ 4-2 victory, though he received no decision. Quintana had a total of three postseason starts, allowing six runs — five earned — over 14 1/3 innings.

Quintana now will compete for a spot in a Brewers rotation that returns right-handers Freddy Peralta, Tobias Myers and Aaron Civale. The two-time defending NL Central champions also added left-hander Nestor Cortes in a trade that sent two-time NL reliever of the year Devin Williams to the New York Yankees.

The Brewers could use some rotation depth as two-time All-Star Brandon Woodruff and Robert Gasser come back from injuries. Woodruff missed all of 2024 while recovering from shoulder surgery, and he won’t be ready for the start of the season. Gasser, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery, isn’t expected to be available until late in the season.

Milwaukee got more bad news Monday night when left-hander Aaron Ashby, a candidate for a rotation spot, left his start against the Cincinnati Reds with an injury. Murphy told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Ashby appeared to have an oblique issue and would undergo an MRI.

When he makes his Brewers debut, Quintana will have pitched for every team in the NL Central. He was with the Chicago Cubs from 2017-20 and split the 2022 season between the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals.

Quintana owns a 102-103 record and 3.74 ERA in 359 career appearances, including 333 starts. He’s also had stints with the Chicago White Sox (2012-17), Los Angeles Angels (2021), San Francisco Giants (2021) and Mets (2023-24). He was selected to the All-Star Game in 2016.

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