College Football 20-21’

Had to include 21’ in the thread since just putting 2020 is too painful.

Have started this late, because as a Pac 12 guy we are always late to the party. Speaking of which a special shout-out to the biggest scumbag/crook in college sports Pac 12 Commissioner Larry Scott. There is an uproar to get rid of this guy as ol’ Larry made sure to give himself and his cronies bonuses this summer (Larry paid himself 2.4 million), then promptly put over 90 employees on furlough...The only positive is the 7 game schedule means Arizona will only lose 7 games

Games this week:

#19 Va Tech at #8 North Carolina. No way the Tar Heels are a Top 10 team, but they’ll win this one.

#4 Florida at #21 Texas A&M Year 3 of the Jimbo Fisher redonkulous contract and the Aggies got boat raced by Bama last week (@AggieMatt what is going on? veteran QB Kellen Mond doesn’t look like he’s improved). Dan Mullen at Florida has the Gators back and in a hurry.

#22 Texas v Oklahoma in Dallas. The Red River Rivalry is way down as the Land Thieves have lost twice already and Texas is a mistake prone mess despite these great recruiting classes. Still it’s a game that is interesting to watch, going to take OU to heap misery on Herman.

#14 Tennessee at #3 Georgia. Have no clue about either team, not buying the Dawgs ranking w/an average at best QB, but not buying the Vols either, so going with the home team.

Game of the Week:
#7 Miami at #1 Clemson. The Canes have a great transfer QB from UHouston in D’Eriq King and he should keep this game competitive, but can’t see them winning at Clemson.
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UNC/A&M/OU/UGA/Clemson

 

Not a big selection of teams ranked facing off, but an early season hot seat game for coaches.

Before those have to give a shout out @astroevan, here’s a shocker I thought Coastal Carolina was making a mistake by moving up to D1. Surprise I was wrong about CC, they are 4-0 off a W over #21 Louisiana and could very well be ranked next week.

Hotseat Game: #15 Auburn at South Carolina. Both coaches need to have good seasons and neither off to a good start. Auburn to heap more misery on Will Muschamp.

Upset Alert: Pitt at #13 Miami. Canes might come in flat after losing to Clemson, Pitt coming off two last second losses are due for something good to happen.

Games of the Week:

#11Texas A&M at Mississippi State @AggieMatt @dtowndough This will be entertaining as the Aggies come in off their biggest win in the Jimbo era and the Cowbells will look to bounce back after throwing away a game (literally, 6 interceptions against Kentucky). Going with A&M to keep the momentum going.

#3 Georgia at #2 Alabama: Odd to see a regular season game between these two (rarely are they on each other schedules until a possible SEC title game). The big question as of now will be if Nick Saban will be on the sideline. I will hedge my bet and say Dawgs win if he’s not, Bama wins if he is.

 

I actually like S Carolina over Auburn. The Tigers offense is brutal, the o line is a bit of a mess and I trust Muschamp to be able to dial up some stuff to keep Nix confused. Cocks have enough on offense to get this done, especially if they can establish the run.

Interesting fact, Pitt’s k hit a 50+ yarder to force ot, then flat missed the game tying xp in ot. Doh! The Pitt qb is beat up with a leg issue and they haven’t looked as good the last 2. I’ll go with the Canes.

Jimbo does well against these B12/Air Raid offenses in his time at A&M. The State D is actually really good, especially against the run. Could be interesting if we revert back to excessive penalties and turnovers. The Dawgs looked great week 1 when Bo Pelini insisted on playing man the entire game. Teams have played zone against them exclusively since and State has struggled so much Leach isn’t announcing a qb until game time. Think the Ags win and hopefully avoid the letdown after last weeks big win.

Bama over UGA. No Saban is an issue (potentially) but I’m not sold Georgia has the offense sorted out enough yet. They appear to have a big advantage on D, but the Tide are ridiculous at getting non offensive td’s and forcing turnovers. Think that and not being able to keep pace with Jones and co. is the difference.

Ready for B10 to return. The SEC can’t carry college football weekends alone and the other 2 are too thin. When pregames are analyzing and picking Duke v NC State, you’re hurting for content.

 

I’m curious what Evan thinks as well. I think I’d rather compete for 1-AA National Championships than a New Orleans or Mobile Bowl win. But I imagine the $ is better in the FBS and that’s why they’re there.

 

I didn't know FSU was allowed to win games against rank competition anymore! What a nice surprise against North Carolina for FSU fans.

 

Welcome back Big 10. Nebraska was the lone school that voted to play, and was even looking to form its own schedule before the conference slapped their wrists. So shocker the Cornhuskers open at Ohio State. Speaking of which:

Nebraska at #5 Ohio State. Scott Frost has learned the hard way that the Corn needed a complete overhaul. The Buckeyes as usual lost a bunch of talent to the NFL, but still have Justin Fields at QB, closer game then expected but Ohio State wins.

#23 NC State at #14 North Carolina. Heels will be served well that a huge arch rival is on the schedule after their big disappointment.

Georgia Southern at #25 Coastal Carolina @astroevan congrats on the ranking. This is actually a really good game. GS is always well coached and this game will come down to a play or two.

#18 Michigan at #21 Minnesota. Not sure what they play for in this game (jug, bucket, pig??), but this is a really big game for both. Meatchicken will want to run it w/a couple good RBs, can the Gophers stop it, and get an early lead? @encorespanish Going with your boys just because seeing Harbaugh miserable is fun.

#17 Iowa State at #6 Oklahoma State. OU Lite tends to hate prosperity but will take them here.

#9 Cincinnati at #16 SMU. Got a buddy that’s a SMU grad that texts me every Sat. Time for the Ponies to lose.

Hot Seat Game
#2 Alabama at Tennessee. Vols fans still think Phillip Fulmer is the coach. They got humiliated by Kentucky, what’s Bama gonna do? Maybe the UT AD will put Fulmer back in charge. Who is the UT AD?...yep it’s Phillip Fulmer.

Upset Alert:
#3 Notre Dame at Pitt. (I must be loco bringing up Pitt again). Not a snowball’s chance in Hades that the Irish are a top 3 team. @jumpkutz Louisville is in complete rebuild and had a 2nd half lead before losing 12-7 in South Bend. The Irish should win ugly again, but Pitt will keep it close.

 

Haven’t seen who any of the Big 10 teams have coming back so I’m picking kinda blind on some of these.

Nebraska @ Ohio St - the Bucks reload every year and the Corn have been a mess for a long time. I’ll need to see something from Nebraska before I pick them to beat anyone, much less Ohio St in the Shoe.

NC St & UNC - I don’t buy the Heels even a little bit. But they’ll be well served by their rival losing their starting qb last week, likely for the year. Shame, because this would have easily been my upset pick if not. The Pack have won 5 of the last 6 v Carolina.

Ga Southern @ Coastal - haven’t seen either team play and, with apologies to Evan, don’t care.

Michigan @ Minnesota - has Harbaugh won any big games at Michigan yet? I’ll take the Gophers at home to lift the jug.

Iowa St @ Okie St - the Pokes haven’t played anyone with a pulse yet (Tulsa, Kansas, WV) and since Baylor has yet to show they can manage covid even a little bit (shocker!) State hasn’t played since 10/3. They get their qb back after being injured v Tulsa week 1, but that’s a lot of rust to overcome. Think the Clones get up on them early and hang on for the win.

Cincy @ SMU - haven’t seen either team but looks like the Bearcats have the better d and the Ponies are more explosive. SMU has a victory over Memphis as well. I’ll take them at home in a shootout.

Alabama @ Tennessee - I don’t think a loss to Bama makes anyone’s seat hotter these days outside of Auburn. So Pruitt will probably be fine after their beatdown this week.

Notre Dame @ Pitt - Pitt qb Pickett is questionable after missing practice all last week with a leg injury and not traveling to Miami. With him, I’d like the Panthers chances for an upset but without, Notre Dame gets to remain overrated for another week.

QB injuries killed my two favorite upset bids so I’m grasping here. If I take Joe’s beat the spread approach, give me the Huskers. 27 is a lot for a season opener, especially in conference. If I’m picking an upset win, give me the Turtles, spotting 11.5 at NW. They’ve got Tua’s little brother as their possible qb (won’t announce starter til game time) so I’ll roll the dice, even though I always seem to jinx the Terps when I pick them.

 

I'm excited that Coastal Carolina is ranked, although the pessimist in me knows that it's only because of COVID. They were supposed to start the season by going to Columbia and losing to the Gamecocks, but the SEC wiped off all non-conference games so Coastal adds.... the Campbell Fighting Camels!

All that aside, being in the Sun Belt has been okay. We were forced to expand the stadium to accommodate FBS rules, but that just makes the stadium look even more empty on game days. Yes, I'd rather see them play for a championship (which is also how I feel about Fulham on some days) and the move was most definitely all about money. I'm not too excited or certain about the direction of the board of directors and administration recently, but that's not a conversation for this forum.

The game tomorrow should be a fun one. It'll be interesting to see how well Coastal handles Georgia Southern's rushing attack. Redshirt Freshman QB Grayson McCall has been fantastic for Coastal - completing 68% of his pass attempts with 11 TDs to only 1 INT. As long as Georgia Southern doesn't dominate the time possession, I'm guessing both teams may reach 30 points. I just hope Coastal has at least one more at the end.

Interesting side note: When I started my job at Coastal in 2017, there were a couple of new employees from athletics in my orientation group. And one of them that I happened to be chatting with turned out to be current head coach Jamey Chadwell.

 

Saw a highlight from the Coastal game during one of the halftimes. Teal turf?!? Are you kidding me?

Congrats on the win though.

 

The truncated pigskin season around my neck of the woods is, in a word, typical. Neither Louisville or Kentucky has shown much overall improvement, although the every other epoch beat down at Neyland by UK was pretty sweet. But the Cats have been very inconsistent, losing to Auburn, Ole Miss and Mizzou whilst beating Mississippi State at home for a 2-3 record. This is Mark Stoops’ 8th season in Lexington. He’s 46-47 after yesterday’s loss in Columbia. Kentucky football fans are satisfied with winning seasons and bowl games, but they’re a bit picky about the bowl game. Too many Music City or carquestautoparts.com Bowls eventually irritate them.
Scott Satterfield’s sophomore campaign in The Ville is slightly worse. Before yesterday’s big home win over Florida State, the Cards had lost four straight conference games after beating Western Kentucky in the opener. The game in South Bend was within reach, but they made too many mistakes. They’ve made an exorbitant number of mistakes on both sides of the ball, especially turnovers, but there’s some talent on offense. The run defense is a sieve. Since it’s only his second season and things are wacky because of the pandemic, Satterfield will receive some grace for this season. But a similar start next season will have him on the hot seat early.
The bottom line here is a familiar refrain:
When’s basketball season start?

 

Haha. Yeah the teal turf is terrible - even more so in person. Definitely a gimmicky attempt to bring attention to the program. (See my previous comment regarding the decisions of the administration.)

Seems like the program is garnering a lot more attention with their ranking this year. Though it still feels like they’re getting the kind of attention that a roadside zoo gets.
https://www.espn.com/college-footba...road-becoming-college-football-see-attraction

As for the team, coach Chadwell has not definitively cleared QB McCall for this week’s game. The backup fared well against Ga Southern and would be expected to do the same this week. With either QB, I expect another win for the Chants.

 

Big news is Trevor Lawrence getting COVID, but luckily with mild symptoms (reportedly) he will be out ten days, which in theory would sit him out for this game and next week at Norte Dame, but theories tend to change in college football.

Games: BC at #1 Clemson; would not have been here without the Lawrence situation. The big freshman DJ Ulagalelei takes over and will worth a look. Still have to pick the Tigers comfortably.

Michigan State at #13 Michigan; Sparty won’t turn the ball over 7 times like last week (that’s a hard number to fathom), but it won’t matter as Michigan will roll.

Arkansas at #8 Texas A&M; Big rivalry game and while I’ll take the Aggies, the Hogs have the early coach of the year in Sam Pittman who has the pointed in right direction.

Texas at #6 Oklahoma State; Said last week OU Lite doesn’t like prosperity and just got a feeling @AggieMatt second favorite team goes in and stops the Cowboys dream of the playoffs.

GAME of the DAY
#4 Ohio State at #18 Penn State; Penn State dominated in that stats, but lost a crazy one at Indiana (still not sure about the 2 pt game winner). These 2 have played some classic games the last few years. Have to go with Justin Fields to find a way if need be in the 4th quarter.

Upset Alert
#19 Indiana at Rutgers; Greg Schiano is a really good college football coach. Rutgers won their first road conference win in 3 years at Sparty last week, will pick them to win in a huge upset this week.

 

BC @ Clemson - not enough drop off to give BC a chance. Tigers easily.

Mich St @ Michigan - loss v Rutgers vs a road win over Minnesota. After last night’s upset, the Gophers have gone from rowing the boat to bailing it and were probably overrated. But I’ll stick with Michigan. Sparty seems to be headed in the wrong direction in recent years.

Texas @ Ok St - Texas has been rather Jekyll & Hyde so I could see them rolling in and winning this one, but I’ll take the Pokes. The Longhorn d hasn’t been good enough.

Ohio St @ Penn St - Buckeyes and I don’t expect it to be close.

Upset
Arkansas @ Texas A&M - wait, what? Yep. The Hogs are plus 7 in turnover margin and should be 3-1 if the refs hadn’t blown the Auburn game. A&M has been prone to turnovers and bad penalties at times. I expect both teams to take away the run and put the game on the qb’s. Mond and Franks are pretty even and I think that’s where the Hogs turnover edge will come into play. Besides, they’re due. We’ve beaten them 8 straight.

Jump, it’s cheaper to pay and provide strippers for a hoops team and there isn’t enough money in Kentucky for both.

I’m never picking Maryland again. Great win last night after a total embarrassment in week 1.

 

HA! There’s really not enough money in Kentucky for ANY of that kind of stuff for ANY of those teams!

 

Have to do this quick, so I’m sure I’m missing a game or two;

#23 Michigan at #13 Indiana; Meatchicken was back last week, I have no idea which team will show up. However, will go with them in a mild upset in Bloomington.

#8 Florida at #5 Georgia; Huge rivalry thats usually one of the best parties in college football. The Dawgs defense is better so will take them in a close one.

Game of the Day
#1 Clemson at #4 Notre Dame. Lawrence still out, but the kid DJ is going to be a great one down the road. All the advantages go to the Irish, but can veteran ND qb Ian Book outplay the freshman?

Upset/Hotseat Game
Arizona State at #20 USC; Ah yes, Commish Larry Scumbag Scott has these teams playing at 9:30 am local time. The Scum Devils have a great qb and are more then capable of piling on more pressure on SC coach Clay Helton.

Underrated Player;
BYU has a rich history of producing QBs, but they’ve been dry for awhile. Zach Wilson is the best one the Cougars have had since maybe Ty Detmer. He and the #9 Cougars destroyed #21 Boise State on Friday night.

 

Joe please do me a favor and keep picking against Indiana. Can’t have any changes in whatever mojo the Hoosiers have grabbed hold of at this point.

 

Real Quick;

#10 Indiana at Michigan State; No doubt Sparty, fresh off of losing to Iowa by 42 will roll past the Hoosiers @BarryWhite I promise not to pick IU, but damn Sparty stinks.

#2 Notre Dame at Boston College; This should be interesting. Can the Irish play well after an emotional win? BC played Clemson almost as well as ND did, will take the Irish in a hard fought one.

#20 USC at Arizona; First time my boy tee it up. SC had to score 14 in final 3 minutes w/an onside kick to beat the Scum Devils, should have a much easier time in Tucson.

Arkansas at #6 Florida; see the ND game, Gators fresh off rivalry win playing a vastly improved Hog team. Florida will win going away in a game that will be closer then the score.

Hotseat Game:
#13 Wisconsin at Michigan; Something is terribly wrong in Ann Arbor. Why can’t Harbaugh develop a QB that is even in the top half of the Big 10? Seriously, his QBs are flat out terrible. Whisky to heap more misery and heat his way.

Upset Alert;
@AggieMatt No point spread upsets for the rest of the year, just straight winners (in my case so far, straight losers even though ASU had it). #9 Miami at Virginia Tech. Up and down Hokies take down the Canes in Blacksburg today.

 

Can I just pick covid? We’re losing more games with each week and I don’t see how they get this season in under the current timeline. CFP in February is looking more likely.

Indiana over Michigan St. Unless IU shows up wearing maize & blue, I don’t give Sparty much of a chance. Would have thought Ramsey transferring to NW would have hurt the Hoosiers but it’s been the opposite.

Notre Dame over BC. After looking flat early, the Irish appear to have put it together these last 3 weeks.

USC over Arizona. I know nothing about Arizona other than the last few times I saw them they were garbage. I don’t trust the Trojans, but they should be fine here.

Florida over Arkansas. Tip of the cap to the Hogs for rising up from their doormat status the last few years. But they’ve got way too many holes for the better teams to exploit. We killed them with our TE so Kyle Pitts should have a field day.

Wisconsin over Michigan. Turns out Michigan only wins big games when the other side is overrated (wtf, gophers?). We haven’t seen the Badgers in forever so rust could be a factor. But I just can’t pick Harbaugh’s boys.

Upset - Colorado over Stanford. The Buffaloes are a 9 pt dog at the Tree, but I like what they’re doing up there in recent years, even with losing last years coach. Think the Buff’s offensive advantage is the difference.

Did you see how VT lost that game to Liberty last week, Joe? Ugh! Not sure where their heads are after that.

 

Joe I thank you for your kindness with that pick but you are right the Spartans are awful because IU played poorly today and still won easily.

Matt, Ramsey was beaten out as IU's starter last season by Penix. Full credit to Ramsey for his performance for IU after Penix was lost for the season to injury after a hand full of games so Ramsey's transfer after finishing last season on a high note was no surprise to Hoosier football fans. He played too well last season to spend this season on the bench behind Penix. It had to be a difficult choice last season for the IU coaching staff but they have been vindicated. I think Penix has only lost one game as IU's starter.