1) It is WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24. Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown. I wonder if, anywhere on Earth, there is a man named Ross Hashanha? 2) In The Previous Blogpost (ITPB): Chiefs plow Dolphins, DSM poll, Hot Button Top 10 & more. 4) Follow us on Twitter @gregcote. Also Facebook, Instagram and Vine.
Fins, Canes lost in sea of frustration as fans grow impatient: I write in my latest column -- click on Lost at Sea to read -- how Miami fans are increasing angry and impatient as the Dolphins and Hurricanes struggle to find their way back to glory. It is this Petri dish of unrest that foments what we see and hear this week in the venom against UM defensive coordinator Mark D'ONofrio and in the speculation that Ryan Tannehill's job may be in peril.
Sean Taylor on 'A Football Life': NFL Network's terrific A Football Life series features the late great Miami Hurricane and NFL star Sean Taylor, premiering this Friday at 9 p.m. Click here to watch the trailer.
DOLPHINS BENCHING TANNEHILL RIGHT NOW WOULD HAVE BEEN PANICKY, PREMATURE, IDIOTIC: [Wednesday update: NFL.com reports Dolphins players have been told Tannehill will start Sunday's Raiders game in London. No shock. This was a faux Quarterback Controversy all along, with Philbin's public non-commitment -- a curious and really unwise tactic by him -- and media overreaction the co-conspirators]. Original post: Apparently many of y'all disagree the benching would have been dumb. A poll elsewhere on our website has almost two-thirds (it was 65.82% when last I checked) favoring Ryan Tannehill's immediate benching. Wow. Time to bring that number way down, comrades. I wrote in this column off Sunday's loss 
about the mounting pressure on Tannehill -- that he must perform better, and soon. But the idea Miami would make a quarterback change right now, three games in? Wow again. You don't do that to a young quarterback's confidence and risk losing him unless you are prepared to move on without him, and Miami shouldn't be, yet. They have invested too much, and Tannehill's potential still is too good. Remember that just last season, despite being sacked a record amount, he passed for 3,913 yards and 24 TDs. Benching Tannehill in favor of Matt Moore right now would be radical, panicked and premature, and therefore pretty idiotic. The idea the Dolphins might make a QB change bloomed as a media firestorm on Monday when coach Joe Philbin declined to specifically state Tannehill would start this week vs. Oakland in London. Philbin is pictured either exhorting Tannehill and preparing to punch him, it's hard to say which. The coach didn't say he wouldn't start Sunday; he simply was non-committal. But that was enough for Your Friend the Media to exercise its (very) broad right to interpretation and manufacture a Quarterback Controversy. This is what we do. Shark-like, we sniff blood in the water and attack. So might-bench-Tannehill becomes a story even though offensive coordinator Bill Lazor, asked if he had had any doubts Tannehill would start Sunday, said, simply, "No." Lazor with some validity chided the media for "questions based on panic," saying, "There’s no panic." Likewise Philbin did not sound like a man about to make a QB change when he said he doesn’t view the offensive problems as "a one-man issue," adding on Monday, "I think it’s a little bit early to draw conclusions as to where [Tannehill] is in his third year." Philbin should quash the story he helped ignite by recommitting publicly to Tannehill, at least for the short term. This quarterback must do better and now, yes. He is not above benching if he doesn't, no. But you don't do it three games in.
NFL PIX 'N FANTASY: THE GOOD AND BAD OF WEEK 3: We update you briefly every Tuesday on how 
we did the previous NFL weekend with our published predictions and with our fantasy-league team. Pix: The good. We went 11-5 overall in Week 3 and 10-6 against the spread, nailing our Upset of the Week call ("Aawwk!") with Bears winning at Jets to make it 3-0 on Bird calls. Fantasy: The bad. Greg's Lobos (our team logo is at left) fell 97-76, getting 27 points from Marshawn Lynch but single-digit scoring from five other starters. Dolphins-like, we're now 1-2 after a big win in our opener.
SOPY: UM'S KAAYA, JOHNSON NOW 2-3: Canes Duke Johnson (183) and Brad Kaaya (172.5) had Week 4's top totals and now both rank in the season top three in our latest blog-exclusive State Offensive 
Player of the Year (SOPY) rankings --"the State Heisman." This is a cumulative weekly list of the most productive quarterbacks, running backs and receivers from Florida's seven FBS college football teams: Miami, FSU and Florida, FIU and FAU, and South Florida and UCF. Our past two season SOPY winners have been FSU QB Jameis Winston (2013; 2,107 points) and Canes QB Stephen Morris (2012; 1,900.5 points). Our simple formula awards a half-point for every passing yard and one point for every rushing or receiving yard, with six points for every TD scored or thrown. The SOPY Top 10 entering Collball Week 5:
SOPY WEEK 4 TOP 10
Rk (LW) Player, team-pos. Wk4 Season
1 (1) Marlon Mack, SoFla-rb 119 552
2 (3) Brad Kaaya, Miami-qb 172.5 526
3 (6) Duke Johnson, Miami-rb 183 497
4 (5) Jeff Driskel, Florida-qb 117.5 437
5 (8) Rashad Greene, FSU-rec 139 428
6 (2) DeM. Robinson, Florida-rec 14 371
7 (--) Justin Holman, UCF-qb 113.5 364
8 (10) Jacquez Johnson, FAU-qb 99.5 356
9 (7) Phillip Dorsett, Miami-rec 48 350
10 (4) Jameis Winston, FSU-qb DNP 348
Bubble: Jay Warren, FAU-rb, 322. Other team leader: FIU--Alex McGough, qb, 297.5. Season's best week: Mack, SoFla-rb, 304 (Wk1). Note: UCF, Florida and FSU have played one fewer game (3) than the other four state FBS teams.
Cote's State of the State rank entering Collball Week 4: 1. FSU (3-0); 2. Florida (2-1); 3. Miami (2-2); 4. UCF (1-2); 5. SoFla (2-2); 6. FAU (1-3); 7. FIU (1-3).
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