..Last week, a suggestion was made to me by Denny Benne (a former basketball player of mine) to rename the article to …”Coach Ryan’s Rewind”. It hit the nail on the head since my articles are primarily are a review of the past week. Sooo…here’s this week’s “Rewind”.

…Yes, last week I said a win is a win, period. Still true, but… some are impressive, some expected and some are just unbelievable (both good & bad). The MU-Auburn game was a terrific game with Mizzou fighting to keep it’s NCAA Football 12-team tournament hopes alive.

…MIZZOU CLEARED THE BAR…BUT..JUST BARELY…The 23-17 Mizzou win in 2-OT saw momentum changing hands throughout the game. MU still trailed Auburn 17-10 with 3:52 left in 4^th quarter as Auburn kicked a 22yd FG to cap off an 8 play, 73 yd drive with only 3:52 left in 4^th quarter. It took Mizzou just 5 plays to march 60 yds to tie the game 17-17 with just 1:09 left in regulation. Neither team scored in the 1^st OT period. But in 2^nd OT period, MU QB Beau Pribula (transfer from Penn St thru portal, reportedly for $2.1m), ran for a 3-yard touchdown in double overtime. His run came after consecutive 6 yard gains -one on a running play by Jamal Roberts & the other on a reception by Kevin Coleman. The two St Marys’ grads being a key part of the winning drive!! Then the Mizzou defense rose to the occasion to make another strong “defensive stand” to give the No. 16 Missouri Tigers a 23-17 victory over Auburn. I must confess while watching the game, Auburn seemed less organized than Mizzou. Little things here & there would have bothered me as a coach but nonetheless, Auburn had talent.

…This game saw several momentum shifts, several botched opportunities for each team. However, from my view, the most significant shift in momentum came early in the game. Auburn’s offense marched right down the field in their first drive of 12 play/ 75 yards and took 5:06 off the clock. The drive probably make it seem like it might be a “long” day for Mizzou. A defensive stop that sent the offense quickly back on the field was about to give Auburn a real opportunity to set the tone early with a chance to go up two scores within its first two possessions. But…2 plays into Auburn’s second possession, Arnold threw his 1st interception of the season on a misfire to Toriano Pride Jr. Had Auburn gone up 14-0 quickly, who knows?  But… Mizzou finally CLEARED THE BAR and landed in victory territory with a vital win in a back & forth, exciting conference game.

…In order to keep their #15 ranking, or even climb up the rankings, the Tigers will have to CLEAR THE BAR in all of the remaining 5 games—3 of them are against ranked teams—next week it’s against #10 Vanderbilt; in 2 weeks, it’ll be vs #3 Texas A&M; in 4 weeks against #13 Oklahoma. Wins that come by in the “JUST BARELY” fashion are fully accepted in any of those games 😊

…CLEARING THE BAR IN THE DONOR RACE… Mizzou has spent approximately $31 million on NIL deals during the 2024-2025 year. Now, the vast majority of the money, we’re told, comes from donors & reportedly is dedicated to Athletics. It’s certainly helped on the playing field & on the court. But, has it helped in overall enrollment? Take a look at the numbers—Fall 2010—over 35,000;  Fall-2014-35,441; Fall 2015-36,000; Fall 2016-33,266; Fall 2018-29,407;  Fall 2019-29,677; Fall-2024-31,543. It appears that in the last 14 years, enrollment has fallen by approximately 10%! Does that raise questions?

…Texas A&M (6-0, ranked #4) CLEARED THE BAR….BUT JUST BARELY. They had a constant battle with a feisty Arkansas team(2-4). Arkansas scored the first points of the game with a Field Goal, making it 3-0. A&M came to life…scoring the next 14 points. It was 21-10 @ the half with A&M on top. Early in the 4^th quarter, Arkansas was still right on A&M’s heels as they sliced the lead to 38-25. But,A&M’s offense proved to be a bit too much for Arkansas (who fought right down to the last minutes as they scored in the final 10 seconds of the game.) Final exciting score:  A&M-45, Arkansas-42.

…Two teams that approached league play in completely different approaches met Saturday. UCLA began the season 0-4 with losses to Utah, UNLV, New Mexico & Northwestern. Two of the losses were blow-outs & 2 were close…but still losses.  Meanwhile, Maryland  was 3-0 in non-conference tilts. Now…both in the Big 18 (still called Big 10 by most), UCLA upended Maryland as they CLEARED THE WIN BAR..BUT JUST BARELY!  Mateen Bhaghani kicked a 23-yard field goal with two seconds to play, and UCLA beat Maryland 20-17 Saturday to extend its improbable season turnaround with a 3rd consecutive victory. UCLA has undergone a massive change….I mean a huge turn-around. After an 0-4 start that included the firing of head coach DeShaun Foster and the departure of both coordinators, UCLA has taken a totally different course in the past 2 weeks with stunning, maybe even “unbelievable”  victories over Penn State and Michigan State. UCLA is now 3-1 in the Big Ten & 3-4 for 2025!!!

…on the wrong side of not CLEARING THE BAR…but JUST BARELY is Penn State. A football “power” for decades, probably most of you remember the Nittany Lions glory days under Joe Paterno.  Paterno was the Head Coach for 46 years!! WOW!! In order to be there that long, he HAD to have a huge winning record…and he did!  In his 46 Years @ Penn State as Head Coach, he compiled an unbelievable record of 409-136-3, that’s a .749 Win%.  In 37 Bowl games, he was 24-12-1 (.66%). Sooo… while Penn State basked in the glory for decades as they CLEARED THE BAR EASILY …they are now seeing a different side of NCAA football now. The BAR SEEMS TO BE TOUGHER TO CLEAR IN 2025 as they carry a 3-5 record into the games of the final weekend of October.

…CLEARING THE ALL-TIME WINS BAR–Very quietly, the Big Ten now has a new All-Time Leader in wins as a football coach! Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz recently passed the all-time leader in wins for a Big Ten Conference coach as he won his 206th victory with the Hawkeyes. His win pushed him past Woody Hayes, the long-time Ohio State Coach.

…Somehow CLEARING ( or changing) THE ELIGIBILITY RULE is Carson Beck. Beck is a quarterback who began his college career at the University of Georgia (playing 5 seasons-2020-24) before transferring to the University of Miami. During his five seasons at Georgia (2020-2024), he redshirted his first year, served as a backup for two seasons, and then became the starting quarterback for his final two years (2023-2024). In his two seasons as the starter, he led the Bulldogs to a 24-3 record, won an SEC title, and was a key player in their 2023 Orange Bowl victory. He is now poised to be the starting quarterback for the Miami. I’m not sure that I understand the eligibility RULE any longer….he has played 5 years and now transfers to play again?  Sounds like too much NIL money is forcing changes in the eligibility of NCAA players!!?

…CLEARING THE BAR CONSISTENTLY is the UMSL Volleyball team. This year, the Tritons hold an impressive 16-4 record and are ranked #7 in the Midwest.  Led by Head Coach, Ryan Young, who has an excellent career record of 283-141 ( yes sir…that’s a 66% winning rate) is now in his 16th season as Head Coach. He’s been the GLVC (Great Lakes Valley Conference) Coach of the Year for 3 of the past 5 seasons!!  

…CLEARING THE BAR as they enter a new season are the St. Louis Blues. Currently holding a 3-2-0 record. The win-loss mark could be improved with a steadier power play.  The Blues power play started hot, going 6-for-15 (40% of the time resulted in a goal) in the first 3 games, but then hit a cold streak, going 0-for-11. This inconsistency on the power play, has been a factor in the early season play.  Newcomer Pius Suter has brought a positive impact to the team, scoring two goals and an assist in his first five games. Suter has also shown good production on the second line and power play, bringing several scoring opportunities. Good teams MUST have more than ONE strong offensive line.

…Seemingly, undaunted by the “pressure”, the Dodgers seem to be breezing through the NL playoffs.. The Dodgers have easily CLEARED THE BAR thus far in 2025. The #3 seeded Dodgers beat the Reds in the opening round 2-0; next round LA defeated the #2 seed- Philadelphia 3 games to 1. In the 3^rd round, the Dodgers swept #1 seed Milwaukee 4-0. NL opponents should have seen this coming, the Dodgers won 8 of their last 10 regular season games!

… As I write this the Dodgers wait to see Toronto for their next series. Toronto had a thrilling series against Seattle. George Springer launched a go-ahead, 3-run homer in game in the 7^th inning of game 7 of the series that led the Blue Jays to a 4-3 victory over the Mariners. It opened the door to their first World Series since 1993. It takes money, big money to win BIG.  Hate to say it…but if you want to win BIG, you have to spend BIG.  The Dodgers are 2^nd in the MLB in salary expenditures @$321m (app) . Toronto is 5^th in expenditures @ $239m. Where are our Cardinals?  19^th @ $141m. Sooo..if the Cards double their salary scale (fat chance), they’ll only be $40m behind the Dodgers!! Ugh!!!

….CLEARING THE BAR BUT FAR BEYOND BARELY is a strong, winning MLB pitcher for a long, long time in Max Scherzer. Scherzer, a St. Louis native, holds a very impressive life-time W-L record of  221-117. His career Earned-Run-Average (ERA)  3.22 in 27 seasons @ the MLB level with 474 starts on the mound in a total of 483 games is very impressive.  He certainly demonstrated his “competitiveness” this past week. While in the post-season game for Toronto, in Game 4 of ALCS in the 5^th inning with some runners on base, Blue Jays Manager John Schneider came out to visit (apparently to take him out of the game). Scherzer began yelling at him as he approached the mound and basically refused to be lifted from the game. He then struck out the next batter to end the inning. It was great TV to see his reactions but…I doubt that he’ll ever pitch for Toronto again…maybe, any MLB team for that matter! He broke the protocol for removal from a game. If teams tolerate it, we’ll see it more & more often in the future.  His temper tantrum was unique but it’d be frowned upon with frequent use.

….CLEARING OUT THE COB-WEBS–Little personal footnote here….way, way back in the day, I umpired. I umpired for many years at many different levels, from CYC kids, to the college level.  For some strange reason, I only remember one time a HS coach saying to me, ‘this kid has got stuff…I mean big-time stuff. He’s going someplace”. I remember it coming from some Parkway coach. As a home plate umpire, I could see that he had “stuff” but I couldn’t compare it to other higher levels or to his potential. Well… guess what… it was probably, Max Scherzer, who attended Parkway Central! I’m thinking (w/o any real evidence)…that HE WAS THE GUY! Some of my umpiring years match up to his HS years!

….Thanks for your time & read of Bob Ryan’s Rewind!  Please share your thoughts—either by sending to me on Facebook or on messenger (Bob Ryan). Please pass the ”Rewind” word to your family/friends. Bob