Welcome back!! After a pretty wild offseason, college football is making its return. While we were away, the conferences changed yet again, and the threat of two super conferences looms ever larger. It is extremely sad that college athletics is getting torn apart by the television companies who just want to make as much money as possible. Despite that, there are plenty of great games this weekend to get us back into college football season.
My Playoff Predictions:
Ohio State
Alabama
Clemson
Georgia
( SEC bias always wins out with the selection committee)
Potential Heisman Candidates:
CJ Stroud QB Ohio State
Bryce Young QB Alabama
Will Anderson Edge Alabama
Bijan Robinson RB Texas
Caleb Williams QB USC
My Predictions for this Week:
Louisiana Tech at Mizzou: Mizzou experienced quite a bit of change during the offseason, with losing their starting quarterback to the transfer portal, promoting a new defensive coordinator, and bringing in the best recruiting class in school history. The Tigers are favored by 19 points in this game, and I think they will cover, especially in front of a packed Thursday night crowd. Louisiana Tech is led by first time head coach Sonny Crumbie and will be running an air raid styled offense with a quarterback who has only made one collegiate start. However, the Missouri defense was one of the worst in the country last year, and will need to show major improvement in this game. Entering his third season borderline on the hot-seat, Eliah Drinkwitz needs all the wins he can, so expect him to put on a blowout here.
Penn State at Purdue: Stop me if this sounds familiar: Sean Clifford will be Penn State’s quarterback. The local St.Xavier product seems to have been the Nittany Lions quarterback forever, and his tenure continues on. Something to watch though is the fact that this will be his first time having the same offensive coordinator for two seasons in a row. Penn State looks to bounce back from two down years and prove to be a threat in the East. Purdue is led by quarterback Aiden O’Connel but will be without last year’s top receiver David Bell, who was taken in the draft. I think this will be a close game but am going to give Purdue the edge since they are at home.
West Virginia vs (17) Pitt: The Backyard Brawl is back and I really wish it wasn’t at the same time as the Mizzou game so I could watch it. I expect the emotions of both teams to be very high and the atmosphere to be great. Pitt is losing Kenny Pickett but brings in transfer Kedon Slovis from USC. They lost top receiver Jordan Addison to USC through the portal. The Mountaineers will also be starting a transfer quarterback with Neal Brown just recently naming JT Daniels as the starter. Interestingly enough, Daniels was also a USC quarterback before transferring to Georgia and now WVU. Despite having a quarterback who almost won the Heisman, Pitt coach Pat Nardozi has said he wants to go back to running the ball more, so it will be interesting to see what the West Virginia defense can do to limit them. I think Pitt will carry the momentum from last season and beat the Mountaineers.
(23)Cincinnati at (19)Arkansas: The Bearcats and Razorbacks are both coming off impressive seasons and looking to carry the momentum into this year. Arkansas will be led by KJ Jefferson, a dual threat quarterback who is returning from injury. UC lost their four year starter Desmond Ridder, and Fickell has yet to say whether local product Evan Prater or transfer Bryant Cook will be the new starter. Besides losing Ridder, the Bearcats also lost their biggest NFL draft class in school history, including top five pick Sauce Gardner. I think UC will be ok in the long run of this season, but I don’t see them being able to upset Arkansas on the road. Whoever the starting quarterback is, is not used to playing in packed SEC stadiums, let alone in their first start.
(11)Oregon vs (3)Georgia: After losing Mario Cristobal to Miami, it has been pretty quiet from Oregon this offseason. Their new coach Dan Lanning was previously the defensive coordinator at Georgia, so the Oregon defense is sure to see some improvement. Oregon has not named a quarterback yet, but it is expected to be Auburn transfer Bo Nix, who is quite familiar with Georgia. Georgia will be led by former walk-on Stetson Bennet, who was able to lead the Dawgs to a National Title. Although this game is at a neutral site, Atlanta is significantly closer to Athens than Eugene and I think there will be a big home field advantage. Although Oregon is a contender to win the Pac-12, I don’t think they’ll be able to hang around with Georgia.
(7)Utah at Florida: Utah has been a dark horse candidate for a playoff spot by many, but I am worried the Utes are getting a bit too much pre-season hype. Yes, the return quarterback Cam Rising, but I don’t trust them to go undefeated, which is what a Pac-12 team has to do in order to make the playoffs. I also think the hot weather and change of altitude will affect them in the Florida Swamp. The Florida crowd is going to be rowdy, especially with a new coach at the helm. I think Utah will still win, but it is going to be a very close game. If Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson plays very well it would not surprise me to see a Gators upset.
(5)Notre Dame at (2)Ohio State: This game has potential to be the game of the season. Ohio State is surrounded with pre-season hype and Notre Dame has huge momentum from the Marcus Freeman coaching hire. Ohio State has yet again one of the best offenses in the country and poached defensive coordinator Jim Knowles from Oklahoma State, which will only make them stronger. I think the first half of this game will be very exciting and close, but the Buckeyes will pull away in the second half.
North Carolina at App State: This inter-state battle should be a super fun game to watch. App State has consistently finished in the top half of the Mountain West and North Carolina has become more than just something to watch before basketball season under Mack Brown. App State has an extremely cool stadium and I think it will be rocking which will help the Yosef’s upset North Carolina.
Florida State vs LSU: To close out the first weekend of college football, FSU will be playing LSU in the Superdome. Florida State handled Duquesne with ease in Week 0, but they were not much of a test. Florida State is looking to make a jump in year three under Mike Norvell. This game will Brian Kelly’s debut as LSU’s coach. Kelly has selected who will be the starting quarterback, but will not name him until gametime. It’s really hard to tell how good LSU is going to be this year, but I do think they will be able to take the Noles and open the season with a win.
Thanks for reading!
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