You probably wouldn’t know it based on how the college football season has unfolded so far, but we are now in Week 4. There haven’t been any attention-grabbing matchups yet. 3 of the 5 “Power” conferences have not played a single game yet. One of those three will begin this weekend. Another will begin in a month. The third won’t kick off until November.
Of the games that were to be played in Weeks 1-3 under the revamped scheduling, most have gone on. There have been notable exceptions. A total of 9 teams in the current AP Top 25 have had at least one game postponed or cancelled due to COVID-19 outbreaks. And then there are the Houston Cougars. They were supposed to play their 4th game this Saturday….but when the day comes to a close they will still be 0-0. For them at least, I think I’d take this as a sign.
Those who oversee the many entities of college football are not naïve. They knew things like this were going happen. Whether it was the right choice to proceed is another matter. Whether we will be able to call this a season when it’s all said and done remains to be seen. What I can confidently say is that with all the focus being on who will play and who will not, the actual football has flown completely under the radar. It doesn’t help the game’s visibility that the NFL has gone off without a hitch thus far, MLB has righted the ship after early COVID hiccups heading into the playoff chase, plus we have September NBA playoff games to divert attention too. And it goes without saying that there are no lack of other issues in the US right now weighing heavily on people’s minds. So it’s understandable that college football is the proverbial tree falling in the empty forest at the moment.
Hopefully, that’s about to change….and with that, here are a few musings about what’s upcoming.
Game of the Week:
Mississippi State at #6 LSU, 3:30pm ET, CBS (My Pick: LSU -16.5)
Welcome to the party, SEC. For all the eye-rolling over your belief that you are the end-all-be-all to college football, it really has been boring without you. And what’s this, Mike Leach is one of y’all now? Sweet!
LSU begins its title defense under less-than-desirable circumstances. Between high profile opt-outs, a hurricane, and “most” (per Ed Orgeron) of the players contracting coronavirus at some point during the pandemic, few give the Tigers much of a chance to repeat. But this is still a team loaded with talent and should be a force to be reckoned with in the SEC. In an era where blue-chip QBs are in no mood to hang around for long before getting their shot, Myles Brennan is the rare bird who stuck it out through thick and thin waiting for his turn. The reward for the former 4-star Les Miles recruit? He will have the task of replacing a record-setting, Heisman-winning, #1 overall NFL pick at the game’s most important position…no biggie. Co-OC Joe Brady and DC Dave Aranda have been replaced by Scott Linehan and Bo Pelini, respectively, who come with well-known credentials. The same can be said of many of the players who will have to fill in for the 17 starters that departed from last year’s squad, many for the NFL. It will be a challenging road ahead, but Ed Orgeron has never been one to lack in confidence….just ask him.
The Swashbuckler of Starkville, meanwhile, inherits the kind of talent he could only dream of at Washington State and Texas Tech. Stanford transfer KJ Costello will help run the air-raid, and if Leach decides to run the ball occasionally (though he never does) he has 1,300 yard rusher Kylin Hill in the backfield. The D-line looks pretty fierce too. Still, it won’t be enough to keep the Bulldogs from finishing below .500 playing an all-SEC schedule, and the losses should begin in Baton Rouge on Saturday.
If the Playoff Was Seeded Today:
For those of you who have been BSL readers over the years, you probably have heard of the Deified Dozen, the Top 12 rankings as determined by our board’s followers of college football. Well, for obvious reasons we have decided to give it a hiatus this year. Instead I plan to fill this space with my own Top 4 that I would put in the Playoff as of today.
1. Clemson
2. Oklahoma
3. Texas
4. Notre Dame
I see you sharpening your pitchforks, SEC-types. Relax. I only have one rule for this list….any team in my Top 4 must have played at least one game. I know that might sound silly, but in the Season of COVID, what doesn’t? If all goes off without a hitch this weekend, you can definitely expect this will look noticeably different next time.
Saturday is almost here. Enjoy the closest thing we have had so far to real college football!
College Football Analyst
Mike is a Baltimore native living in Portland, OR since 2007. He currently runs his own business specializing in video production and online marketing. Prior to that he was a legal technology consultant, worked for 9 years at Johns Hopkins University and served 6 years in the Air Force. He also enjoys travel, food, beer, and is a volunteer at the Oregon Humane Society.