S. Evan Townsend's Blog, page 74

Washington is #5 in FBS Committee Selection Poll

Yesterday the FBS Selection Committee came out with their rankings for college football. This is important because the top four teams get to be in the FBS playoffs for the national championship (why we can't have a regular playoff, I don't know).

The University of Washington Huskies are #5. Texas A&M is #4, even though they are 7-1 and the Huskies are 8-0. The general feeling is the strength of schedule is what hurt UW. Those three easy, at-home games we played at the beginning of the season against Rutgers, Idaho, and Portland State.
However, if the Huskies manage to go 12-0, which they have a good chance of doing now that they beat Utah, the selection committee would be hard pressed not to have them at least #4 and in the playoffs.
Probably the next tough team they are going to play is the Washington State Cougars in the Apple
Cup. The game is in Pullman, which makes it harder to win. The Cougars are in second place in the Pac-12 North (under the Huskies) with a 6-2 record but are 5-0 in conference, just like the Huskies. The Cougars are looking better and better as the season goes on. And it is well known in Washington State that the Apple Cup is always a game unto itself. One year Washington was vying for Conference Champion and the Cougars were the doormat of the conference, and they still beat the Huskies in a very snowy game in Pullman.
So we have to watch the FBS poll from now on.
This Saturday the Huskies take on the California Golden Bears in Berkeley. Then they come home for two games (USC and Arizona State) then the travel to the Palouse to play the Cougs the day after Thanksgiving. Then a week later (December 2nd) is the Pac-12 championship game between the winner of the North Division and the South Division. I'm planning on the Huskies being in that game.

Oh, and the only other Pac-12 teams ranked by the FBS Selection Committee are Colorado (don't play this year), Utah (already beat), and Washington State.

The Huskies are 8-0!

I was in meetings in Lewiston, Idaho literally all day Saturday from 6:30 AM to nearly 9:00 PM with about an hour break around 4:15. Because of that, I had to DVR the University of Washington Huskies game against Utah and watch it today when I got home.

Before the game, the Huskies were ranked (AP writers poll) #4 in the nation and Utah #17. Utah was 7-1 and on top of the Pac-12 South Division. If the Huskies have any hopes of going to the playoffs, they have to stay unbeaten so they can stay high in the rankings (their soft pre-conference schedule is hurting their chances).  Also, this might be a preview of the Pac-12 championship game in December if both teams stay on top of their divisions. The Huskies went into this game undefeated.

At first it looked like it might be another Husky blowout game, even playing in Salt Lake City in front of a hostile crowd. They Huskies jumped up to a 14-0 lead by early in the second quarter.

The Utah made 17 unanswered points. One touchdown was basically due to a Husky player's Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty. The Utes had a running back named Thompson the Huskies struggled to stop. Husky quarterback Jake Browning threw one of his rare interceptions that the Utes capitalized on.

In the second half, the Huskies began playing better. Even though the Utes held the lead a short time, the Huskies scored on their next series. By the end it came down to stopping a Utah drive that could tie the game. And the Husky defense was up to the task. The final score was 31-24.

The Huskies are 8-0 for the first time since I don't know when.

On the AP poll, the Huskies stayed at #4. The Utah Utes, I guess for holding their own against a #4 team, moved up one to #16. And the Colorado Buffaloes, who had a bye this weekend, moved from 23 - 21. Also, The Washington State University Cougars are now ranked at #25.

Which means of the four Pac-12 schools ranked in the AP Top #25 poll, none are the big California schools that are usually so dominant.

Next week the Huskies take on California in Berkeley. Right now, I don't see a team in the Pac-12 that could beat them. Utah was their toughest opponent yet. And they beat them.

Halloween Giveaway Almost Over!

The colossal Halloween Giveaway is nearly over. Get your entries in before it's too late. Top prize: $100 PayPal cash. And there's lots of books and other goodies available. So check it out:

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The Speculative Fiction Cantina with Rebecca Besser and S.F. Edwards

Today on the Speculative Fiction Cantina we are pleased to welcome writers Rebecca Besser and S.F. Edwards.
Rebecca BesserRebecca Besser

Rebecca Besser resides in Ohio with her wonderful husband and amazing son. They've come to accept her quirks as normal while she writes anything and everything that makes her inner demons squeal with delight. She's best known for her work in adult horror, but has been published in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for a variety of age groups and genres. She's entirely too cute to be scary in person, so she turns to the page to instill fear into the hearts of the masses.

Rebecca's Books:


Zombies Inside

Nurse Blood 

Re-Civilize

Rebecca's Links:

Website
Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

S.F. EdwardsS.F. Edwards

S.F. Edwards and family recently relocated to the Pacific Northwest after spending the last nine years as a flight and operational test engineer for the United States Air Force. Prior to that he spent his time travelling the world ensuring that self defense weapon systems of the US Navy were ready able to protect thousands of American Service members. S.F. has a diverse background in engineering as well as in aviation and space education as a former instructor at the US Space and Rocket Center's Aviation Challenge program. To this day his passion for all things aviation and space permeates his life.

S.F. currently calls the area around Edwards Air Force Base home with his wife and five sons, one of whom is afflicted with a severe, lifelong disability. The boys are his greatest joy and he works hard to make sure that they will become responsible, capable young men.

S.F. is the creator and author of the Spiral War series of military science fiction novels. S.F. is also a regular contributor to and a Veteran Reviewer with the Science Fiction and Fantasy Online Writers Workshop.

S.F.'s Books:


Spiral War: On The Cusp

Spiral War: On Dagger’s Wings 

Spiral War: In Death’s Shadow

S.F.'s Links:

Website Blog Facebook Twitter
From Today's Show: The Universe has Ten Times the Number of Galaxies as Thought
Listen to today's program at 6:00 PM ET / 3:00 PM PT, or in archive here.

My Best Friend

I found a new blogging challenge and this one is a 52-week challenge so that should last me about a year (depending on how many I skip).

The first prompt is "Meet my best friend."

This might sound a bit unusual, but my best friend is probably Sarah. Sarah lives in Eastern Canada (and I live in Western U.S.). We communicate mostly via text, sometimes emails. We've met twice face to face when she was visiting a friend of hers in the U.S. not far from where I live.

Sarah is a walking dictionary. If I needed to know how to spell a word, I text her. She has proofread all my novels (and needs to get on the one I sent her quite a while ago).

Sarah is a Jeopardy! freak. She does the test online whenever she can and has twice advanced to auditions. They always way "we'll call you if we want you" at the end and they've never called her. When she watches the show, she gets frustrated when someone does poorly, wondering why they selected them and not her.

She used to have a blog but doesn't anymore.

And that's my best friend. Do you have a best friend?

Huskies are #4!

The biggest news this week for the University of Washington Huskies is that #2 Ohio State lost to unranked Purdue. This knocked Ohio State down in today's AP Poll to #6. And that moved Michigan from #3 to #2, Clemson (who had a bye this week) from #4 to #3, and the Huskies from #5 to #4. This is likely the Huskies' highest rating since sometime in the 1990s.

If they can maintain that ranking (i.e., not lose to somebody) they have a good chance of going to the FBS playoffs competing for the national title.

As for their game against Oregon State yesterday, they won 41-17. They were brilliant the first half of the game, zooming out to a 31 - 0 lead in front of a home crowd.

But in the second half they played as if they didn't care, allowing Oregon State to score those 17 points. Even quarterback Jake Browning, who is in Heisman Trophy contention, wasn't hitting receivers with the precision he normally does.

As happens a lot in Husky games, Browning came out in the fourth quarter (with about nine minutes left) and second stringers started playing.

Elsewhere in the Pac-12, Colorado beat Stanford who, since losing to the Huskies, have been fading fast. Colorado is now ranked at #23 in the AP Poll.

Utah beat UCLA, which moved them from #19 to #17 in the AP Poll. Those are the only other two ranked teams in the Pac-12 this week.

Washington State beat Arizona State in Tempe, which is not easy to do. I'm almost surprised WSU isn't ranked but that first-game lose to an FCS team probably keeps them out of the top 25.

While the Huskies are 7-0 (their best record for a long time, probably the 1990s), and 4-0 in conference, the WSU Cougars are 5-2 but also 4-0 in conference. That puts them squarely in second place in the Pac-12 North behind UW.

The Pac-12 South has the Utah Utes in first place at 7-1 and 4-1 in conference. The Colorado Buffaloes are right behind them at 6-2 over all, and also 4-1 in conference. The big California schools  (USC and UCLA) who normally dominate the Pac-12 South have to contend with being behind upstarts Utah and Colorado.

Next week the Huskies play Utah in Salt Lake City. This will probably be the toughest test yet for the Dawgs. And could be a preview of the Pac-12 championship game. The Huskies will have to contend with the elevation with is over 4,000 feet there while they are used to playing at near sea level.

Unfortunately, I have a meeting all day that Saturday. I will DVR the game and maybe watch it Sunday if I can keep from seeing/hearing the score. That means no social media. That'll be tough.

Author Appearance in Wenatchee, WA.

I will be at the Pybus Market in Wenatchee, WA today from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM selling and signing books including my latest, Treasure of the Pirate Planet. Come by and say "hi." I'd love to see you and talk to you there.

The address for the Pybus Market is 3 N Worthen St. in Wenatchee. Turn right on Orondo from Wenatchee Ave. to find it.

This is a multi-author signing.

The Speculative Fiction Cantina with Richard Keller and Trey Dunham

Today on the Speculative Fiction Cantina we welcome writers Richard Keller and Trey Dunham.
Richard KellerRichard Keller

Richard Keller is an author, speaker, talk show host, and owner of Wooden Pants Publishing. He started his life as an avid science fiction reader to the point he tried to get through Dune in one sitting while still a tween. His first writing experience was for his third grade teacher and his first short story, a terribly bad rip-off of Knight Rider was submitted when he was 12. Richard has written over two thousand pieces in newspapers, magazines, and online over the last several decades. His science fiction series, Saunders’ Savages, features an oversexed and wealthy CEO of an intergalactic corporation who moonlights as the leader of a pay-for-hire army.

Richard's books:

Coffee Cup Tales 2 – Extra Foam

Paradise Not Quite Lost

Authors, and the Zombies they Emulate

Richard's Links:

Website
Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

Trey DunhamTrey Dunham

Trey Dunham is a writer, speaker and storyteller with a proven ability to attract and motivate audiences.

He is the author of several books including: From a Gun to the Plow (New Hope Publishers, forthcoming, with Steve Finn), Strangers and Aliens: Thoughts on 1 Peter (CreateSpace, 2013), We’ve Never Seen Anything Like This: A new Look at the Gospel of Mark (CreateSpace, 2014), The Meaning of Technology: A Theology of Technique in Jacques Ellul (CreateSpace, forthcoming), and Loophole: A Novel (CreateSpace, 2015, with Jason Hostetler, movie rights optioned by JC Films). He has been blogging on spiritual, family and personal topics at TreyDunham.com since 2009 His published poetry has won awards from literary groups at Denison University.

Dunham wrote and delivered sermons regularly to as many as 3,000 people, as a teaching pastor at one of West Virginia’s largest churches. He quadrupled the size of the church’s campus ministry to over 200 students in his eight years there. He opened a popular Fair Trade coffee house as a satellite ministry near the West Virginia University campus. The café became a hub for service projects and social-justice events Dunham organized, drawing hundreds of students into volunteer projects for local charities. In 2010, he led a team to plant CityChurch in Morgantown, WV.

For four years, Dunham told the story of SustainU, a maker and marketer of recycled, natural-fiber clothing manufactured exclusively at U.S. plants. As the startup’s marketing director, he helped drive a thirteen-fold sales increase to $2 million. He used Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and press releases to generate positive coverage for SustainU in The New York Times and other metropolitan and local media.

Dunham, who holds a doctoral degree in Technology Education, has taught and spoken before a wide variety of audiences. He has travelled and lived around the world, heading a mission in the jungles of New Guinea and overseeing a hospital-construction crew in the Himalayas of Nepal. He has presented his research at two international conferences of scholars in his field. And he has led hundreds of campus Bible study groups in deeply personal discussions about faith, and finding meaning. Over the years, he has counseled dozens of singles and dating, engaged, and married couples.

Dunham lives in Morgantown, WV.

Trey's Books:

Catch for Us the Foxes

Jesus and the City

The Beams of Our House

Trey's Links:
Facebook Twitter
From Today's Show: Maybe Alien Life Runs on Cosmic Rays.
Listen to today's show at 6:00 PM ET/ 3:00 PM PT or in archive here.

The Final Frontier

I've been watching Star Trek the original series on Netflix in honor of the show's 50th anniversary. But the episodes on Netflix aren't entirely original. Somebody replaced all the cheesy 1960s special effects with modern state-of-the-art CGI effects. And they've been having way too much fun. They've put rings around planets, showed a small asteroid hit a disabled starship and break apart, and other changes. The most blatant were probably in the episode "The Galileo Seven" which, for old Star Trek, was heavy on the special effects.

And I can't decide how I feel about it.

I hate when they colorize films. To me that destroys the director's original vision. But with Star Trek, in the 1960s they were limited by technology and money and probably time. I admit, I remember the special affects looking pretty bad (every planet looked the same, except a different color, for instance). But every now and again I find myself trying to remember how they did a certain special effect originally. I wish they'd give you a choice, old effects or new ones.

At least the people who did the CGI are reasonably faithful to the original effects. For instance, in the Doomsday Machine, the machine is still a lumpy conical tube (it was originally a windsock dipped in concrete) but it looks black and menacing and not quite so, well, cheesy.

So, I'm conflicted. I like the new special effects, except I wish I could see the old ones.

Huskies Still Number Five!

My beloved University of Washington Huskies had a bye this week, so there's no game to talk about.

So what else happened in the Pac-12 and the Top 25?

In the Pac-12, The WSU Cougars beat UCLA in a soggy game in Pulman. The final score was 27 - 21.

That gives the Cougars the same conference record as the Huskies (3-0) but their overall record is 4-2 whereas the Huskies are 6-0. That also puts WSU solidly in second place in the Pac-12 North after the first-place Huskies.

The Nike Ducks (last place in the Pac-12 North) didn't lose yesterday. They, too, had a bye.

The Pac-12 South Division is wide open. The Utah Utes are still on top with a 6-1 record (3-1 in conference). But the Colorado Buffaloes (!) are in second place with a 3-1 conference record and a 5-2 overall record. Utah beat Oregon State yesterday. Colorado beat Arizona State.

The Pac-12 championship game might be Washington vs. Utah. A preview of that game will be on October 29th when Washington plays at Utah. Unfortunately, I will miss that game due to a previous commitment. I might DVR it and try to avoid learning the score but I won't be able to watch it until Sunday.

In the top five teams in the top 25 (Washington is #5), Michigan (#4) also had a bye. But Clemson (#3) had to go into overtime to beat unranked North Carolina State. That dropped them to #4 and moved Michigan to #3. Washington stayed at #5 (unfortunately).

And #2 Ohio State had to go into overtime to beat #8 Wisconsin. But they are still #2. And Alabama is, of course, still #1.

The only other Pac-12 team in the top 25 is Utah which moved up to #19 from #21.

This was Week 8 of college football. So we are half-way through the season. Should be exciting to see what happens in the second half. Go Dawgs!