College Football Every Day - Nothing is Better

December 27th:

• After Rice was unable to end their eight-season losing streak against Texas State yesterday, there are only four teams left (Rutgers, Boston College, Virginia Tech, and Auburn) out of 668 NCAA football programs that are still able to control whether or not they will have a winning season or not. Once they play their bowl games, I will have my Winning/Losing Seasons Streaks spreadsheet updated through the 2023 season.

• This morning I started to update my All-Time Record spreadsheet for those 668 programs. The hard work was done last spring in setting up the document, so hopefully it will only take a few hours to reflect the new all-time records. I am also hoping that I put it to better use in 2024…

• Even ESPN needs to check their sources every now and then…Kyle Bonagura stated that it was a resurgent year for both UNLV and Kansas - and he was right in that the Jayhawks had gone 14 years without a winning record. but the Rebels had a winning season in 2013 (7-6), so they had only gone nine years without a winning record - not 22 years as written. That spreadsheet of mine comes in handy occasionally. Hahahaha

• It looks like the Golden Gophers would have had a winning record if only they had Darius Taylor for an entire year. The Detroit native had averaged 176 yards during a three-game stretch in September, but had played only one game since due to a leg injury. He comes back for the bowl game and he rushes for a career-high 208 yards.

• With their win over Bowling Green yesterday, Minnesota has now won seven straight bowl games - five of them under P.J. Fleck. Only Alabama is ahead of them with eight straight bowl wins, but they have lost two National Championship games during that run.

• Today’s Duke’s Mayo Bowl game will be the third matchup between the Tar Heels and Mountaineers, with their last meeting being on this day fifteen years ago in the Meineke Car Care Bowl - which was also in Charlotte.

• If UNC wins the game, it would be interesting to see Mack Brown, with 283 wins under his belt, getting a mayo bath.

• Tulane’s bowl game with Virginia Tech, who they are meeting for the tenth time (Hokies lead 5-4), will be a glimpse to the future because they have had a series of players leave the team via the transfer portal after Willie Fritz became the head coach of the Houston Cougars, and AAC Offensive POY, quarterback Michael Pratt, is sitting out the game to prepare for the NFL Draft..

December 26th:

• Post holidays, it is time to gain some focus again on this great game that is entering an exciting time- exceeded only by the rivalry weeks in November.

• If my calculations are correct, I have now topped 20,000 visitors to the site in 2023 - a stretch goal that I didn’t believe I could hit until a few days ago. Next year my goal is to further develop the site by getting my vision to be reality rather than rolling around in the space between my ears.

• Today’s bowl games hold interest to me because four of the six teams (Bowling Green, Texas State, Kansas, and UNLV) have ended long strings of losing seasons, and a fifth (Rice) hopes to end their eight-season losing streak. Meanwhile, Minnesota was fortunate to be in a game today, as they are the only team playing in the bowl games with a losing record.

• Familiar foes will be playing against each other in the Texas Bowl - for the second time since A&M left the Big 12 for the SEC. Oklahoma State and Texas A&M were Big 12 opponents from 1996 thru 2012 (Aggies got best of Cowboys 10-6), and they first met in 1913. Overall, A&M leads the series 18-10, but Oklahoma State has won 4 of the last 5 matchups.

November 25th:

• Another stretch goal has been created for the number of 2023 visitors to this site: 17,500 - which will be 5k+ more visitors than in 2022. For this I am very grateful! As I start thinking about 2024, the goal that I would like to meet is to add two more articles/lists that are frequently searched on the web, as I didn’t create anything new this year that was a big hit -so to speak.

• Being that it is rivalry week for the FBS teams and playoff time for the other three divisions, I am telling myself to not look forward to the next season (updating coaching changes), but instead focus on and enjoy the games being played in the present. So, it’s time to pour through some articles and Game Notes for the next 1:15 hours…

November 18th:

• With any luck, I will hit my stretch goal of 15k visitors today! Six months ago that number wasn’t even on my mind, so a very pleasant surprise to reach and surpass this number.

• I have been keeping an eye on this year, but must admit I am also looking ahead to 2024 and beyond. I hope that I can execute what is floating through my mind! The spreadsheets and documents that I have set up should help - and I still expect to make changes to my tabs on the site, so I am definitely moving in the right direction.

• Today Cal-Stanford and USC-UCLA play for the last time as Pac-8/10/12 opponents. Kind of sad when I think about it, but the series will continue - so maybe that’s the most important thing.

• Michigan goes for win number 1,000 as a college football program. They will be the first time to accomplish this huge feat. Could be that they have to do it all over again in the NCAA has them vacate wins.

• Final regular season games for the FCS - so there are some very big games, especially Montana-Montana State for the Big Sky championship and Harvard-Yale for the Ivy League championship.

• Dartmouth will be in their 100th “Tussle” with Brown this afternoon. If the Big Green win and Yale beats Harvard, Dartmouth will get a share of the Ivy League championship as well - their 21st title.

• Hard to talk about FCS games and not mention the 159th game between Lafayette and Lehigh. If the Leopards beat the Mountain Hawks, they will claim the Patriot League FCS playoff spot based on their win over Holy Cross earlier in the year.

• Drake is looking for their first-ever FCS playoff berth - and they will get it with a win over Butler on the road. Not sure they can get the victory over a tough Bulldog team, but a Davidson loss to Dayton will do it for them as well.

• Duquesne had the NEC title all but secured heading into last weekend, but Stonehill beat them at home - now the Dukes must play Merrimack on the road, and now if the Warriors beat them, then Merrimack claims the title and playoff spot.

• Three FBS teams can clinch spots in their conference championship games with wins today: Iowa, Louisville and Washington. All will face tough challenges to their spots clinched though.

November 6th:

• On Saturday I spent most of the day outside with my beautiful wife cutting our perennial beds. Thankfully, as I approach 60 (where does the time go????), I can’t spend all day bent over at the waist cutting and picking up flowers, so I did find time to enjoy some of the late afternoon games. I started with the second half of the Army-Air Force game, and when that was over I caught the tail end of North Dakota State-South Dakota State game. I then jumped to the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State game, and thoroughly enjoyed the Bedlam!

• Something I learned today - the Sooners and Cowboys played 40 years from 1920-1959 as non-conference opponents! Hopefully these schools will come to their senses sooner than Missouri-Kansas, and get some games on the schedule by 2030.

• I mentioned yesterday how well Jerry Kill is doing at New Mexico State - but how about the job that Jedd Fisch is doing at Arizona! Things didn’t start out well for him two years ago, but he has the Wildcats in the Top 25, and they are a 9.5 point favorite on the road against Colorado this weekend.

• Some coaching information: Dabo Swinney, with his 166th win on Saturday, makes him the winningest coach at Clemson. Mike Gundy won his 100th Big 12 game - joining Bob Stoops and Bill Snyder as the only coaches to achieve that milestone. Bobby Hauck won his 124th game at Montana, making him the Big Sky’s all-time winningest coach. Meanwhile 13 coaches, across all NCAA Divisions, are still looking for their first win.

• One coach actually got fired after notching his first win. Morehouse College fired Gerard Wilcher today after the Maroon Tigers beat their city rival, Clark Atlanta, 35-21 this past Saturday to finish their season at 1-9.

November 5th:

• Big day on the site yesterday - had over 900 visits. More than 400 from 10:00 to 11:00, so I must have been trending for a while!

• Congratulations to Harvard for getting their 900th win yesterday over Columbia. The Crimson’s next milestone will be Tim Murphy looking for win number 200 as the head coach - which could come as soon as next weekend against Penn.

• Kudos to Army with their surprising win over Air Force in Denver. The Black Knights probably won’t be in a bowl game this year, but if they beat Navy on December 9th, the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy will be theirs.

• Normally I’m neutral when it comes to the Bedlam Series, but I was actually thrilled when the Cowboys pulled out the victory!

• Jerry Kill has done a great job with New Mexico State. The Aggies win over Middle Tennessee yesterday gives them seven wins on the season, so they will be in back-to-back bowl games for the first time since the 1959-1960 seasons.

• I figured that UCF and Cincinnati would initially struggle after joining the Big 12 with Houston and BYU, but I didn’t think it would take until November 4th for one of them to get their first Big 12 win. And it took them playing each other for one of them to get that win.

November 4th:

• Dartmouth’s win over Princeton last night, opens the door for Harvard to win the Ivy League title. If the Crimson win out - the title is theirs outright. Also, with a win today against Columbia would give Harvard 900 wins - the tenth college football program to reach that milestone.

• Because Falcon Stadium is going through a renovation, the Air Force decided to move their game against Army to Empower Field at Mile High. As of Thursday 48,000 tickets had been sold - and by game time the crowd is expected to top 50,000. Should be a great atmosphere to see Air Force win their 22nd Commander-in-Chief’s trophy!

• Even though the Bedlam Series has been pretty much one-sided there have been some classic games over its history. This last one is shaping up to be one of those - especially with all the chirping that has been going on between the two programs.

• Something I found interesting - when NEC leader Duquesne travels to Wagner today, the Seahawks will attempt to not only end an 8-game losing streak to the Dukes, but to also score against them for the first time this decade.

• For the 115th time, North Dakota State and South Dakota State will be playing on the gridiron. The Bison hold a 63-46-5 lead in the series, but the Jackrabbits are riding a 22-game winning streak and they are the defending FCS champion.

• I was excited when Rice joined the AAC so that the Owls could resume their old SWC rivalry with SMU, but then the Ponies will up and leave the conference for the ACC next year. Ugh. Today the teams play for the 91st time - and currently the only scheduled game between the schools now.

November 3rd":

• Going into the season, I thought that South Alabama would be a team on the fringe of being in the Top 25. Instead, after their loss to Troy last night the Jaguars are now below .500 (4-5) on the season.

• Horned Frog fans must be hurting a bit in 2023 after their successful campaign last year! Last night’s loss to Texas Tech was their fourth in five games to drop them to below .500. Getting bowl eligible will be a challenge as Texas and Oklahoma are still on the schedule.

• Last night’s game between two one-win teams (Mississippi Valley State and Bethune-Cookman) probably didn’t win the battle of TV ratings.

• I like all three games tonight: Princeton is tied for the Ivy League lead with Harvard, as both are 3-1 in league play, but the Tigers have lost six straight road games to Dartmouth dating back to 2011.

• Wasn’t long ago that Jeff Hafley was on the hot seat at BC, but now the Eagles have won four straight. A win over the Orange in Syracuse will give them bowl eligibility, while possibly putting the final nail in Dino Babers coffin.

• Another thing regarding this series between these two former Eastern Independents - this rivalry is turning 100 this year! The Eagles and Orange first met in 1924, but would meet only once more (1944) before gaining traction starting in the 1960s.

• Last but not least is the “Border War” between Colorado State and Wyoming for the Bronze Boot. This series started in 1899 and is the oldest series for both teams. The trophy was created in 1968 from an actual boot worn in Vietnam by Dan Romero - a CSU ROTC instructor. The Cowboys have led the series since the boot introduction, 30-25 - while the Rams lead the overall series 59-50-5.

• Related to this game, yesterday the CSU and Wyoming ROTC cadets did the annual Bronze Boot Run, which started in Fort Collins at 5:30 a.m. The CSU cadets will run 38 miles up U.S. Route 287 to the state line, then hand off the game ball, in a ceremony involving both athletic directors and head coaches, to the Wyoming ROTC cadets for the remaining 32 miles to War Memorial Stadium. A great tradition born in 1991!

November 2nd:

• I can’t believe that we are through two months of the season! In nine days, Divisions II and III will be wrapping up their seasons, and the next weekend will be the end of the FCS regular season. And then it is the best weekend in college football - Thanksgiving weekend.

• Might be just me, but I’m thinking that Mike Locksley might lose his job after the season, because the Terps could end the season by losing seven straight games and miss a bowl invite.

• 18.7.2.1.3 Exception. This bylaw would allow James Madison and Jacksonville State to be invited to a bowl game if there aren’t enough .500 or above teams eligible to fill all the slots. The Athletic is predicting the bowls to be four short - so that might allow Northwestern, Wake Forest or Rice to sneak in as well.

• It’s funny, I was thinking earlier this afternoon that Wake Forest would miss a bowl this year and snap their seven year bowl streak.

• MACtion has been great to see so far. Toledo’s win over Buffalo combined with Central Michigan’s win over Northern Illinois pretty much hands the MAC West Division title to the Rockets, as it would take an epic meltdown for someone else to win it as they are three games up with three to play. Meanwhile Akron won the Wagon Wheel from rival Kent State last night for the first time since their OT win back in 2018. Also of note about that game - the series started it’s second century as it got started back in 1923.

October 31st:

• UNH has had a hard luck season, as the Wildcats have lost 2 overtime games and lost two others by a total of seven points. Ending their season with three wins, especially against the visiting Wildcats of Villanova this weekend, should get them back in the playoffs.

• Saturday’s Magic City Classic between Alabama State and Alabama A&M drew a crowd of 69,120 to Legion Field in Birmingham, AL. This is the largest FCS crowd since the 2016 Magic City Classic had an attendance figure of 70,813.

• Yesterday the ACC released their scheduling format for 2024 through 2030 season - which includes sixteen protected series/rivalries. I was pleased to see the Carolina schools games protected against each other, except for the UNC/Wake Forest rivalry - which happens to be the oldest rivalry in the state. But I understand that one of the Tar Heels rivals couldn’t be protected because of their rivalry with Virginia.

October 30th:

• Yesterday morning while looking at the visits to my site, I realized that I had passed my 2022 total with just over two months to go! Each day I can’t help but think that barring catastrophe, my stretch goal of 15k visits will become reality sometime in December.

• Numbers oriented today…just updated my list of 2024 Coaching changes - which is now up to eleven. Though one of the changes might be as simple as removing the interim title from David Braun at Northwestern - who is doing one heck of a job with the Wildcats.

• A couple of significant numbers from NC State’s win over Clemson: Dave Doeren won his 100th game as a head coach, and is now tied for the most all-time wins as the Wolfpack head coach (77 wins) with Earl Edwards. Also, with the loss, it looks like the Tigers run of 10+ wins a season will end at 12 years (since 2011).

• For the first time in 18 years, Tim Murphy faced a Dartmouth team not led by his best friend Buddy Teevens. But in front of 22,515 fans (biggest attendance game at Harvard Stadium for a non-Yale game since 2009), Murphy won is 136th Ivy League game - a new conference record.

• Wayne State (NE) gained only 20 yards in a snowstorm on Saturday. But it was enough to upset 12th ranked Augustana 14-12.

• Also, for the first time since the D3football.com Top 25 poll was created twenty years ago (260 polls), Mary Hardin-Baylor is not in their poll. It took four losses this year, the latest this past Saturday to Hardin-Simmons, to knock them out.

• USC fans have seen enough of the inflated numbers of their defense. Time for Alex Grinch to be removed as the defensive coordinator.

October 28th:

• This time of year brings out many, many squirrels as they gather their nuts and keep them warm for the winter, so there are many distractions. Perhaps it is time for blinders.

• I’m thinking that Florida might put an end to the Bulldogs run at the top today.

• Another very exciting game in the Pac-12. Should be a doozy between the Ducks and the Utes. Now if only Oregon would wear their throwback unis again…

• Though it has been a pretty one-sided series - it will be sad to see an old Big 8 rivalry end today when OU visits Kansas. At one point before the Big 12 formation, the teams had played for 95 straight years from 1903 thru 1997.

October 24th:

• If my count is accurate, Michigan currently has 997 All-Time wins, just three short of being the first football program with 1,000 wins. Obviously, they will be the first team to achieve 1k victories, but with the sign stealing accusations growing, and the timeframe it has occured, I’m thinking that the NCAA will make the Wolverines forfeit a chunk of wins, which might enable either Ohio State or Alabama to become the first official team with 1,000 football wins.

• Finalized the slate of New England football games this weekend - and I wouldn’t have believed that between all the divisions that there would be a total of 36 matchups! By pulling these games out of the long list of games being played, they might finally get the attention that they deserve from me.

October 23rd:

• I have loved creating and maintaining this website since its inception a few years ago, but just over a week ago I celebrated the 34th year of being with the one I love - and spending time with her and doing things together is getting more precious as time ticks away. Therefore, not a lot of time has been spent on this site the last few days as I have worked on enjoying other things that are important to me.

• With that being said, late last week, I bit the bullet and got Hulu TV because I have missed the hype and crowds that come with the biggest games in the sport I love. It was helpful that it rained so that I could spend some serious time in front of the screen keeping track of the Air Force - Navy game with time spent checking out what was happening in Columbus. And at 3:30 I was switching between Washington State - Oregon, Minnesota - Iowa, Texas - Houston, and of course Tennessee - Alabama. One thing I quickly realized is that I don’t miss the commercials when watching the small division matchups.

• Time away was beneficial because the mind kept spinning about what I could do to improve the site. I broke everything down and thought long and hard about why I began this love of mine - and it hit me what I could do to spruce things up and truly share what the game means to me. It will probably take a bit, but starting today, changes are being made with an eye on the future.

• And lastly, in 2022, I had just over 12k visitors to my site - which was pretty flat with 2021. This year, things started slowly compared to last year, but things picked up quickly in the summer and have continued into the 2023 season. At one point, 15k visitors was a stretch goal, that now looks realistic with just over two months left in the year.

October 9th:

• Took me a few days, but I have to mention how nice it was to see the Big Ten’s conference schedule for the next few years. Can’t help but drool at some of these matchups!

• Oldest Series (10/14 games): FBS - Georgia at Vanderbilt (1893), Iowa at Wisconsin (1894), Indiana at Michigan (1900) and Oregon at Washington (1900). FCS - Penn at Columbia (1878), Bucknell at Cornell (1888) and North Dakota State at North Dakota (1894). Division II - Washburn at Emporia State (1899), Lock Haven at Bloomsburg (1908), East Central (OK) at Northwestern Oklahoma State (1913). Division III - Bates at Bowdoin (1889), Wesleyan at Tufts (1892), Knox (IL) at Illinois College (1893).

• Most Played Series (10/14 games): FBS - Oregon at Washington (114 games, Huskies lead 61-48-5), Iowa at Wisconsin (96 games, Badgers lead 49-45-2), USC at Notre Dame (93 games, Irish lead 50-38-5). FCS - North Dakota State at North Dakota (114 games, Fighting Hawks lead 62-49-3), Penn at Columbia (101 games, Quakers lead 76-24-1), Princeton at Brown (88 games, Tigers lead 60-28), Montana at Idaho (88 games, Vandals lead 56-30-2). Division II - Washburn at Emporia State (118 games, Emporia State leads 59-53-6), Michigan Tech at Northern Michigan (95 games, Michigan Tech leads 49-41-5), Lock Haven at Bloomsburg (94 games, Bloomsburg leads 51-40-3). Division III - Bates at Bowdoin (124 games, Bowdoin leads 67-50-7), Beloit (WI) at Lawrence (WI) (106 games, Lawrence leads 62-39-5), Alma at Hope (96 games, Hope leads 60-32-4).

• Ranked vs. Ranked Game (10/14 games): FBS - #8 Oregon at #7 Washington, #10 USC at #21 Notre Dame, #25 Miami (FL) at #12 North Carolina, #18 UCLA at #15 Oregon State. FCS - #10 Montana at #3 Idaho, #7 North Dakota State at #15 North Dakota, #20 Youngstown State at #17 South Dakota. Division II - #1 Ferris State at #7 Grand Valley State, #5 Ouachita Baptist at #9 Harding University, #13 Indianapolis at #19 Truman State. Division III - #UW - Whitewater at #4 UW - River Falls.

• Trophy Games (10/7 games): FBS - Heartland Trophy (Iowa at Wisconsin), Jeweled Shillelagh (USC at Notre Dame), Fremont Cannon (UNLV at Nevada). FCS - Little Brown Stein (Montana at Idaho), The Silver Shako (VMI at The Citadel), NSU Trophy (Northwestern State at Nicholls). Division II - Miner’s Cup (Michigan Tech at Northern Michigan), Traveling Trophy (Ouachita Baptist at Harding), Miner’s Bowl Trophy (Pittsburg State at Missouri Southern), Anchor-Bone Trophy (Ferris State at Grand Valley State). Division III - Edmund Orgill Trophy (Sewanee at Rhodes), Rhine River Cup (Otterbein at Heidelberg), Tin Cup (Gettysburg at Muhlenberg), The Goal Post (Susquehanna at Juniata), Smudge Pot Trophy (Cal Lutheran at Redlands (CA))

• Named Rivalries (10/14 games): FBS - Cascade Clash (Oregon at Washington), The Tiger Bowl (Auburn at LSU), Battle for Nevada (UNLV at Nevada). FCS - Military Classic of the South (VMI at The Citadel). Division II - Turnpike Tussle (Washburn at Emporia State), Anchor Bone Classic (Ferris State at Grand Valley State), Battle of the Birds (Quincy (IL) at William Jewell (MO).

October 8th:

• After a couple of days off to concentrate on other things - which I enjoyed, it’s back in the saddle again for a bit…

• How about that Red River Rivalry game to start off the day? I hope that these teams get to go at it again in the Big 12 championship game.

• I was expecting Michigan to handle, and maybe dismantle Minnesota to lay claim to the Little Brown Jug once again, but I never thought that Georgia would dismantle Kentucky - as I believed that perhaps the Wildcats had a chance, even between the hedges.

• The ACC has a new threat to the title: Louisville. The Cardinals avoid Clemson and Florida State, and their biggest threats at this point is a game against Duke on 10/28, and a game against the Hurricanes in Miami on 11/18.

• Speaking of Hurricanes - what were they thinking? Not only the fumble, but giving up 75 yards on two plays. No one should have gotten behind the defense. The players have to take responsibility for this - not just the coaches. This is on those that were on the field for both the turnover and touchdown.

• Was pleasantly surprised to wakeup and see that Wyoming beat Fresno State. The Cowboys had scored a total of 3 points against the Bulldogs in their previous 12 quarters before scoring 21 points in the second quarter. With this win Wyoming ended Fresno State’s 14-game winning streak, and made themselves serious contenders for the Mountain West title.

• Four weeks into the Ivy League season, I am ready to declare Harvard as the champion. Pretty bold after with half the teams having played only one league game, but form what I have seen so far in non-conference games the Crimson seem to be above the competition in 2023.

• Congratulations to North Carolina Central for beating Elon on the road in a Top-25 matchup. It was the Eagles’ third straight win over a top-25 opponent, as well as the program’s 500th win (according to the school) - though the NCAA recognizes appears to only recognize 477 of them.

• With Youngtown State’s big win over Southern Illinois (someone mentioned that an upset could happen…), it makes the Penguin’s game with South Dakota a new “Game to Watch and Follow” because Youngstown could go to 3-1 in the MVFC or the Coyotes to sneak up to 3-0 in conference play.

• The most entertaining game of the week could well be Western Carolina’s 52-50 win over Chattanooga. A back and forth game all day, the Catamounts big play ability came out on top at the end. Kerwin Bell, who won a Division II Championship with Valdosta State, has done a top notch job with Western Carolina, as he has them competing for a conference title after leading them to their first winning season last year since 2017.

• Montana might not be as bad off as thought. Last week they lost to Northern Arizona, the Lumberjacks first win of the year, and yesterday they went on the road again to beat UC Davis - a strong playoff candidate. Also this week, Northern Arizona went on the road and easily beat Weber State. The Lumberjacks seem to be better than their 2-4 record to start the season. Now UC Davis must visit Ogden and take on the Wildcats, where the winner keeps their playoff hopes alive, while the loser will in all likelihood be eliminated from playoff discussion.

October 5th:

• Like yesterday, I will start with the first FCS game being played this week: Cornell at Harvard on ESPN2 at 7:00pm tomorrow night. The Big Red is looking for their first 2-0 Ivy start since 2000, but it doesn’t look good because the Crimson are coming off a big win over Holy Cross and Cornell has not had success in Cambridge, as it has been 23 years since they won at Harvard Stadium.

• I can’t help but mention some milestones that Tim Murphy and Harvard should obtain at some point in 2023: The team should reach 900 All-Time wins - perhaps this month. Tim Murphy should get his 200th win at Harvard (he already reached 225 for his career earlier this fall), and he will set the most the record for most Ivy League conference wins with 136 (he has 134 going into Friday’s game). Can’t help but be impressed by each of those milestones!

• Defending Ivy League Champion Yale will visit Memorial Field up in Hanover, NH on Saturday. Host Dartmouth, who has won eight of the last ten against the Bulldogs, will be looking to avenge last year’s three-point loss. If they are successful, it will put a big dent in Yale’s plan to repeat since they lost to Cornell two weeks ago in New Haven. The Bulldogs lead the all-time series, but the Big Green holds a 33-31-2 advantage in the series since Ivy League play began in 1956.

• Brown will host Rhode Island for the 41st Governor’s Cup - and the 107th all-time meeting between the two schools. The Bears lead the all-time series 73-31-2, but the Rams hold a 21-19 edge since the Governor’s Cup trophy was introduced in 1981. This matchup will feature two top offenses (both average more than 400 yards per game) and two proficient quarterbacks in Kasim Hill and Jake Willcox. Exciting game and a big rivalry!

• Moving out of the Ivy League, but staying in New England…former NE10 conference rivals, now NEC rivals, Merrimack and Stonehill meet up for the 26th time. The Skyhawks had won seven of the last eight NE10 meetings, but Merrimack has won the last two matchups to reclaim the all-time series lead 13-12.

• Western Carolina and Chattanooga are meeting for the 49th time - but for the first time when both schools are ranked. The Catamounts have dropped two-straight road game in the series, but they managed to upset the 15th ranked Mocs at home last year to end the season. The winner of this game will stay atop the Southern Conference standings. A game worth checking out.

• The top dog of the Southern Conference, Furman will host The Citadel Bulldogs in the most contested football rivalry in the conference. The Paladins hold a commanding lead in the all-time series (67-32-3) that began back in 1913. Furman has won the last two games, but the series is tied 8-8 since 2007.

• A week after knocking off 4th ranked William & Mary, 14-6, Elon gets to host the 11th ranked North Carolina Central. The Phoenix have a habit of beating ranked teams, as they have done it at least twice every year since 2019. Of interest is that these teams have both played Campbell the last two weeks, and each were victorious - but by slim margins. I believe that this is one of the more underrated games of the week.

• Another game that is flying a bit under the radar is Southern Illinois at Youngstown State. The Penguins would have made this another ranked matchup, but they were unable to hang on against Northern Iowa - eventually losing 44-41 in the UNI-Dome. The Salukis beat Missouri State last week at home, 33-20 to remain undefeated, but they have lost two straight to the Penguins, and are only 6-12 when playing in Youngstown. Could see an upset here.

• Quickly - Butler was the first Division I win for St. Thomas two years ago. Last year the Bulldogs lost again to the Tommies, 27-13 at home. 2023 looks like the year that Butler will finally take down St. Thomas, and do it on the Tommies homefield. If so, they will be sitting 3-0 in conference play - with a potential first place showdown with Davidson next week at home.

October 4th:

• I am late today, so I will see how much I can type in the next 30 minutes or so…starting the week for Division II will be Concord (WV) facing Fairmont State (WV) on Thursday night. The teams will battle on the gridiron for the 87th time in series history on Thursday night, with Fairmont State owning a 49-35-2 record versus the Mountain Lions. The two teams first faced off in 1932, and the Falcons have won six straight, so I’m thinking that they will get win number 50 in the series fairly easily as Concord is currently 0-5.

• While in the Mountain East, Notre Dame College is the traditional powerhouse football program of the Mountain East Conference, but they find themselves in a strange position as they have already lost two conference games this year. Therefore they are looking up at this week’s opponent, West Liberty State - who is 4-1 this year (4-0 conference). Notre Dame College is hosting the Yellow Jackets this weekend, and after last week’s win at Frostburg State, I believe that these Falcons will beat West Liberty State for the 9th time in 10 meetings, and find themselves back in the race.

• This year Thomas More made the transition from NAIA to Division II. They landed in the G-MAC conference, where the preseason poll had them in last place - which was not surprising. Well, they gave Davenport, who was on the cusp of the Top 25 at the opening of the season, a game and then the following week , the Saints defeated UVA-Wise 37-0! Thomas More then proceeded to win their first two conference games before getting soundly beat by conference favorite Tiffin. This week the Saints visit Kentucky Wesleyan, who is the only team on the schedule in which they have played before this year - though the last meeting was almost twenty years ago. The Saints have a great chance at being 3-1 in conference play after this weekend.

• Surprise, I will stay in the G-MAC for a moment as I have to mention the Findlay at Northwood game. The Oilers and Timberwolves were GLIAC opponents for twenty years from 1997 through 2016, and this will be their third non-conference meeting since that time. Currently the series is tied at 12 games a piece - so someone will take the series lead.

• To the MIAA we will go…where we start with Emporia State at Pittsburg State. which is a Top 25 tilt. This will be the 101st all-time meeting between the Hornets and host Gorillas, in a series that dates all the way back to the 1915 season - which makes it the ninth-longest rivalry in NCAA Division II football. Emporia State, lost last week for the first time in 2023, and I see loss number two this week for the Hornets as the Gorillas will be too much at home.

• Staying in the MIAA for another tidbit…Northwest Missouri State has made the NCAA Division II playoffs for 18 consecutive seasons (26 playoff appearances overall) and has had 27 consecutive winning seasons. Currently the Bearcats are 1-3, and this week they welcome Central Oklahoma. Ironically, the Bronchos coach is Adam Dorrel, who was 76-8 and led the Bearcats to three national championships while coaching here. With a win, Dorrel could end one streak and seriously threaten the other.

October 3rd:

• First Division III game that I have to look at this morning is the St. Olaf at Carleton game, being played for the Goat Trophy. St. Olaf leads both the all-time series 56-45-1, and the trophy series (which began in 1931) 51-35-1. When these schools meet in Men’s Basketball, they also exchange a Goat Trophy - and that tradition started back in 1913.

• An interesting history between the Carroll Pioneers and the #1 Ranked North Central Cardinals. The Pioneers lead the all-time series, that began in 1914, 34-22-2, but since the series resumed 2016 after a 21 year hiatus, the Cardinals have won all 6 meetings. In fact, very convincingly - as North Central has outscored their opponent 378-38. This year’s game promises to be closer, but still an easy win for the Cardinals.

• On Friday night Gettysburg will be playing Johns Hopkins in Baltimore for their 50th meeting - since 1911. Unfortunately for things don’t look good for the Bullets because they have lost 14 straight to the Blue Jays, and 25 of 27 since 1995.

• Also on Friday, UMass-Dartmouth will host Mass Maritime. The two schools are less than 30 miles apart - with both institutions either on and close to Buzzards Bay. There is a difference though - Mass Maritime is pretty much the start of Cape Cod while UMass-Dartmouth is close to New Bedford - a rough area. By the way, the host Corsairs lead the all-time series 14-11.

• Back to the Centennial Conference for a moment - coming off the loss of the Conestoga Wagon trophy to Dickinson last week, Franklin & Marshall will look to bounce back against Ursinus. The Diplomats and Bears first met in 1894, and have played a total of 103 games (F&M leads the all-time series 67-32-4), with the Ursinus having won 3 of the last four meetings.

• There isn’t much history between Ithaca and RPI, as they have met only eight times in almost 80 years (series started just after WWII), but this weekend’s Liberty League game in Troy, NY should be exciting. Three of the last four meetings have been decided by three points or less.

• Since qualifying for the playoffs out of the ECFC last year, Gallaudet have lost five straight games (0-4 in 2023). The Bison have an excellent chance to end their losing streak because they take on Hilbert at home - a team that has lost their four games by a combined score of 241-14. Ugh!

• On Saturday, Marietta will host the #12th ranked John Carroll Blue Streaks. This will be the 36th meeting between the teams since the series began in 1926 with John Carroll winning 25-6, and they have never looked back since because the Blue Streaks have never lost to the Pioneers. They lead the all-time series 34-0-1, with the tie coming in 1995, when Marietta ended the season 8-1-1.

• Meanwhile Lawrence (WI) will attempt to even their all-time series against Lake Forest (IL) at 28 games a piece. The odds are stacked against them: the game is at Lake Forest, Lawrence is 0-4 and Lake Forest is 4-0, and the Foresters have won 13 straight over Vikings - including last year’s 55-0 game at home.

• Lastly, Birmingham-Southern and Sewanee first met over 100 years ago, back in 1922. Following the 1939 season, football was disbanded because of its cost and influence on the school. After a 68-year hiatus, the Panthers would once again take the field in 2007, and their first win after restarting the program was against Sewanee.

October 2nd:

• Since there are five days during the week and only four divisions to touch upon for upcoming games I have decided to use Mondays for the following:

• Oldest Series (10/7 games): FBS - Nebraska at Illinois (1892) and Michigan at Minnesota (1892). FCS - Lafayette at Princeton (1883) and Yale at Dartmouth (1884). Division II - Morehouse at Tuskegee (1902) and Tusculum at Carson-Newman (1913). Division III - Tufts at Bowdoin (1889) and Union at Rochester (1889)

• Most Played Series (10/7 games): FBS - Oklahoma vs. Texas (118 games, Longhorns lead 63-50-5), Michigan at Minnesota (104 games, Wolverines lead 76-25-3), Purdue at Iowa (93 games, Boilermakers lead 50-40-3). FCS - Yale at Dartmouth (106 games, Bulldogs lead 55-45-6), Rhode Island at Brown (106 games, Bears lead 73-31-2), and The Citadel at Furman (102 games, Paladins lead 62-37-3). Division II - Morehouse at Tuskegee (110 games, Tuskegee leads 72-30-8), Emporia State at Pittsburg State (100 games, Pittsburg State leads 64-34-2), California (PA) at Indiana (PA) (95 games, IUP leads 64-29-2). Division III - Olivet at Kalamazoo (128 games, Kalamazoo leads 67-59-2), Tufts at Bowdoin (116 games, Tufts leads 65-49-2), Union at Rochester (112 games, Union leads 59-48-2).

• Ranked vs. Ranked Game (10/7 games): FBS - #20 Kentucky at #1 Georgia, #12 Oklahoma vs. #3 Texas, #10 Notre Dame at #25 Louisville, #23 LSU at #21 Missouri. FCS - #1 South Dakota State at #22 Illinois State, #13 Montana at #18 UC - Davis, #17 Western Carolina at #20 Chattanooga, #23 UT-Martin at #25 Eastern Illinois. Division II - #20 Emporia State at #3 Pittsburg State, #8 Delta State at #19 Valdosta State. Division III - #14 UW - LaCrosse at #3 UW - Whitewater, #22 Utica at #19 Cortland.

• Trophy Games (10/7 games): FBS - Little Brown Jug (Michigan at Minnesota). FCS - Governor’s Cup (Rhode Island at Brown), Red Rock Trophy (Northern Arizona at Weber State). Division II - Coal Miners Pail Trophy (California (PA) at Indiana (PA)), Nyikos Cup (Colorado School of Mines at Colorado Mesa), Southwest Virginia Bowl (Emory & Henry at UVA - Wise). Division III - The Goat Trophy (St. Olaf at Carleton), The Hammer Trophy (Augsburg at Hamline), The Wilford Moore Trophy (Hardin-Simmons at McMurry)

• Named Rivalries (10/7 games): FBS - Red River Rivalry (Oklahoma vs. Texas). Division II - Battle of the Bearcats (McKendree at Southwest Baptist).

October 1st:

• The LSU-Ole Miss game might have been the most exciting game yesterday. The Rebels scored the last fifteen points of the game to beat the Tigers, who had clawed their way back from a 21-7 first quarter deficit. When all was said and done, the two teams combined for more than 1,300 yards.

• After a lethargic first half against Louisiana, some Gopher fans were calling for P. J. Fleck to be fired - maybe trying to ship him to Michigan State. Luckily, Minnesota overcame their 17-14 deficit to defeat the Ragin’ Cajuns 35-24.

• Eight ranked teams in the FCS lost yesterday.

• When Missouri Western beat Emporia State yesterday, 34-31, with a last second field goal, the Griffons had their first win over a ranked team since 2019.

• After winning just three games combined the last two years, Johnson C. Smith just won their fourth game of 2023 with their 21-20 win over Elizabeth City State.

• Millersville was looking to go 4-1 as they took on Lock Haven, but the Eagles had other plans for the Marauders as they beat them 38-31. This is Lock Haven’s third win this year, the most games they have won in a season since 2016.

• Colby got their first win of the year, beating Bates 30-24, in a tight contest. The Mules are now one win away from holding on to the CBB trophy for the third straight year. Unfortunately, they will have to wait until the last game of the season when they take on Bowdoin.

• While in the NESCAC, Trinity won their 14th straight game with a dominant win over Amherst, 49-0. After just three games, it looks to me like no one will be getting in their way of another NESCAC title.

• Grove City wrapped up a very successful September by defeating Washington & Jefferson 31-24, ending a ten-game losing streak to the Presidents. Now the Wolverines are now 5-0 for the first time since 1926.

• On Saturday, Ripon (WI) opened up their new Hopp Stadium, which is significant because for the first time the Red Hawks played a football game on campus! Unfortunately, Cornell College ruined the day by beating the home team 36-33.

• In looking at close series, Illinois Wesleyan beat Millikin for the 13th time in the last 14 meetings to bring the series record to 55-54-7 in favor of Millikin. This series started in 1904 and has been played every year since 1906.

• Meanwhile, Capital beat Otterbein for the first time since 2018 to bring their series to 47-46-3 in favor of Otterbein. These schools are only 15 miles apart, and just two years ago restored the tradition of the “Battle of the Oars” trophy - which the Comets claimed for the first time with this win.

September 30th:

• Quick thoughts to start the last September Saturday…Oregon State is the first team to put a dent in the conference championship plans of a departing Pac-12 program, as they dispatched Utah up in Corvallis. Who will be next, as the Beavers and Cougars will be shooting for everyone this season? Will Kansas or Iowa State do the same today to departing Big 12 teams Texas and Oklahoma?

• I expected Louisville to score a lot of points this season, but to have the defense help pull out a 13-10 win over NC State on the road, was not expected. The Cardinals could be a serious spoiler in the ACC race this year.

• BYU survived Cincinnati last night to win their first Big 12 game, despite being outplayed by the Bearcats. The win was in front of a sellout crowd of 63,834, marking their largest attendance in Provo since 2009. Maybe it’s a lot better being in a conference and not be independent.

• USC has to figure out things on defense because they won’t get by the likes of Oregon and Washington - who now look like the top dogs, well top dog and top duck, in the last year of the Pac-12. Caleb Williams is a remarkable player, but even he and his offensive mates can’t be expected to score 45-50 points every game.

• It didn’t surprise me that Kentucky beat Florida, but how easily they did it really surprised me. And it wasn’t Devin Leary throwing for over 400 yards - it was done on the ground with Ray Davis gaining 280 yards on 26 carries. Up next for the Wildcats - the Bulldogs between the hedges.

• Baylor wasn’t a kind guest for UCF’s first Big 12 conference game. The Bears did spot the Knights a 35-7 lead halfway through the third quarter, but Baylor erased that deficit by scoring 29 unanswered points to end the game. Biggest-ever comeback for the Bears.

• A quick shoutout to Jaylen Raynor, Arkansas State’s freshman quarterback, who threw for six touchdown passes against UMass to tie a Red Wolves record. Not bad for his second career start.

• How about South Dakota handing North Dakota State a loss in Fargo? The Coyotes ended a six-game losing streak to the Bison with this big victory on the road.

• Big day for Harvard as they look like they are going to get a big win on the road over Holy Cross! Great win for the Ivy league!

• The CAA race just got turned upside down with favorites William & Mary and UNH both losing today, as well as Villanova - a team that inserted itself into the race with a win over Rhode Island last week. Elon has emerged, but they have road games against Villanova and Delaware creeping up.

September 29th:

• First off, I have to commend Jacksonville State for their OT win over Sam Houston, making them 4-1 (2-0 conference) in their first FBS season. Rich Rodriguez has done well with the Gamecocks in his 1+ years with them. In that time he is 13-3 as the Jacksonville State head coach, bringing his career record to 176-122-2. Well done I would say!

• It’s a reunion of sorts for Houston and Texas Tech this weekend, though they did play two home-and-home series recently, as they will square off as Big 12 rivals for the first time. The Cougars and Red Raiders were Southwest Conference opponents for twenty years from 1976 to 1995.

• And it’s the final dance as conference opponents Iowa State and Oklahoma. They have been a part of the same conference since 1928, starting with the Big 6 Conference and eventually growing to the Big 12. Hopefully they will get to play a 90th game (or more) as non-conference opponents - but maybe the Cyclones might want to think hard about it because they have only won 7 out of the 88 meetings.

• The oldest series this week is the Illinois-Purdue game, which got its start in 1890. This will be the 99th meeting between the teams - and it has been a very competitive series, as the Boilermakers have a slim 47-45-6 lead in the series. In addition, there is also a trophy, the Purdue Cannon, that was introduced to the rivalry in 1943.

• And lastly, I can’t sign off without mentioning the Georgia-Auburn game, the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry. It’s the 128th meeting between the rivals, and the Bulldogs are bringing a number of streaks with them: 6 straight-wins over the Tigers, 20-straight regular season SEC wins, 31-straight regular season wins, and a school record 21-game winning streak. The Tigers would like nothing more than to end them all tomorrow.

September 28th:

• I’m thinking that before I even begin my thoughts on the FCS games this week, the matchups I mention will probably be heavy in New England and the East Coast - but I will start with a top-20 matchup happening out in the Midwest.

• North Dakota travels to South Dakota State for their 89th meeting. The Fighting Hawks lead the all-time series 47-36-5, but the Jackrabbits have won four of the five Division I matchups. Brookings, SD will be rocking with this sold out game.

• The best New England game this week will be Harvard at Holy Cross, a top-25 matchup in Worcester, MA. The Crusaders can pretty much punch their ticket to the playoffs no matter the outcome of this 74th meeting, but the Crimson could be on their way to a magical season with an upset on the road.

• Coming off an emotional win last week, Dartmouth finds their way to Philadelphia for a matchup with Penn. The winner of this game can dream of being a contender for the Ivy League crown, while the loser will be relegated to a pretender and potential spoiler.

• Last week Bryant sprung an upset over Princeton, and this week the go up against future conference rival Rhode Island. This is a must-win for both teams if they have hopes of getting into the playoff field. Even with 24 teams in the playoff field - a game in September can be do-or-die for a team when it comes to dreaming of the postseason.

• I knew I would struggle getting off the East Coast, and I haven’t even talked about the oldest series (1874) this week - Columbia at Princeton, or the most played series (103 games) this week - Colgate at Cornell. The Big Red are undefeated after upsetting Yale last week in New Haven, and they would love to continue that momentum with a big win over their in-state rival.

• The last game I will mention before bed…Houston Christian started up their program in 2014, and in their ten years of playing, the Huskies have only beaten one team more than once: Lamar. With a win this weekend, HCU would even their all-time record with the Cardinals at 4!

September 27th:

• Division II games have to start with the 138th playing of the Black Hills Brawl between Black Hills State and South Dakota Mines. This is the most played series in Division II, and the 4th most played when looking at all the NCAA Divisions.

• The Northern Sun has two games worth checking out this weekend: #4 Minnesota State at #9 Bemidji State and Winona State at #20 Minnesota Duluth. Both games will impact the top of the conference standings.

• When Slippery Rock hosts Indiana (PA) they have an opportunity to take a two-game lead of them in the PSAC West Standings. Indiana owns a 53-41-2 advantage in this series that dates all the way back to 1907, but the two teams are an even 8-8 in the last 16 meetings dating back to 2006.

• Under the radar game is Walsh at Lake Erie - who have played for the Pride and Passion Trophy since 2019. Last year, Lake Erie won an overtime thriller on the road to end a 4-game losing streak to the Cavaliers and claim the trophy for the first time.

September 26th:

• Trying something new this week with my thoughts…hope I can follow through with it. Came up with it while on vacation - with a cold beer in my hand and my baby (lab) at my feet…

• So starting with Division III games to follow this weekend…there are eleven series being played in Week 5 that got their start in the 19th century. Williams at Tufts is the oldest this week, as it got started in 1885. The Ephs lead the all-time series with the Jumbos (got to love the nicknames!) 55-28-7, though Tufts have won six of the last eight meetings including last year’s 35-28 win on the road.

• There are two other NESCAC games that got their start in the late 1800s…Amherst at Trinity and Colby at Bates. The first game, was competitive a few years ago, but the Bantams have dominated the last two years, outscoring Amherst 69-10. While Colby and Bates kick of the CBB Trophy Game (a three-team tournament that also includes Bowdoin). The Mules and Bobcats have played a total of 123 times, and Colby holds a solid lead in the all-time series, 70-47-6.

• North Central has lost only nine conference games since 2006 - eight have been to their rival Wheaton. The two teams meet for the 104th this weekend - and play for the Little Brass Bell. The defending champion Cardinals have won 26-straight CCIW games and 29-straight regular season games.

• Albion will be looking for their 95th win over Kalamazoo. I’m 99.9% sure that the Britons have the most wins over a single opponent in college football.

• This weekend Pomona-Pitzer (CA) and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps will be playing for the 6th Street Trophy. These two rivals actually share a campus.

• Lastly, Muskingum and Heidelberg are meeting for the 100th time. Muskingum leads the all-time series 57-36-6.

September 25th:

• Florida State’s win over Clemson ended two streaks: The Seminoles seven-game losing streak to the Tigers and handed Clemson their first loss at Memorial Stadium to an ACC team since 2016 - a span of 25 games.

• After playing for 79 straight years (1945 to 2023) and 113 times overall since 1901, the Baylor-Texas rivalry is taking a break because of the Longhorns leaving the Big 12 next year. No future meetings are scheduled at this time.

• One conference matchup that I am going to miss after just one game is the Oklahoma - Cincinnati series. This had the potential to become a serious rivalry!

• Another series that has been played more than 100 times (102 games played) is also coming to an end after last Saturday, at least for the time being…Cal and Washington.

• Two great MAC rivalries took place this past weekend - Ohio beat Bowling Green for the sixth time in their last seven meetings and Toledo had a big second half to overcome Western Michigan, 49-31. I hope that the Bobcats meet the Rockets in the MAC championship later in the year.

• Brent Pry’s (Virginia Tech) father was a backup quarterback for Marshall in 1971 - the year after the plane crash.

• In an old Big 8 clash, Iowa State and Oklahoma State played a one-possession game for the 9th straight year. This time the Cyclones came out on top.

September 22nd:

• Last night Georgia State beat Coastal Carolina, 30-17, to keep the series trend going - the visiting team has won each game in the series since it started in 2017. The Panthers are now 4-0, but with a challenging schedule ahead, they will be challenged to become bowl eligible.

• Oldest Series (FBS) this weekend: Wisconsin at Purdue - Friday Night (1892), Minnesota at Northwestern (1892), Ole Miss at Alabama (1894), Kentucky at Vanderbilt (1896), and Army at Syracuse (1899).

• Most Played Series (FBS) this weekend: Texas at Baylor (112 games, Longhorns lead 80-28-4), Oregon State at Washington State (107 games, Cougars lead 56-48-3), Cal at Washington (101 games, Huskies lead 56-41-4), SMU at TCU (101 games, Horned Frogs lead 52-42-7), and Minnesota at Northwestern (97 games, Gophers lead 56-36-5).

• Three of the five games listed above are seriously threatened by conference realignment (Texas/Baylor, Cal/Washington, and TCU/SMU). Only TCU and SMU have a future game scheduled (2024), but nothing on the books after that.

• Former Conference Opponents: Western Kentucky at Troy (Hilltoppers were in the Sun Belt from 2009-2014.

September 20th:

• Unfortunately, Buddy Teevens passed away from injuries sustained in a bike accident six months ago. The all-time winningest coach at Dartmouth, Buddy was very competitive, but also innovative and quite generous and giving. For me personally, he was the quarterback for the Big Green when I went to my first college football game against Princeton 46 years ago.

• One of his best friends, if not his best friend, is/was Tim Murphy - the head coach of Harvard. Last week against St. Thomas, Murphy won his 225th game - his 193rd as the coach of the Crimson. Other milestones he should hit this year - 200 wins as the head coach of Harvard and he should become the all-time winningest coach in Ivy League games with just three league wins this fall.

September 15th:

• Looks like the NESCAC season gets underway tonight because the Wesleyan at Bates game got moved up to 7:00pm this evening. The visiting Cardinals are 36-4 all-time against the Bobcats, including a 17-2 mark in Lewiston, ME.

• Another Division III game that deserves a peak tonight is the Springfield at Union game. This will be the 25th meeting between the two schools, with Union holding a slight 12-11-1 edge since they first met back in 1917. Union has won the last four meetings, and have outscored their first two 2023 opponents 128-0, but I think that Springfield might take this matchup.

• A side note - this is the first Friday game Union has played at home since November 7, 1890! In fact, famous alum Chester A, Arthur (class of 1848) had just finished up as the 21st President of the United States five years earlier.

• After the Stephen F. Austin - Northwestern State game is played tomorrow night, the world’s largest trophy will not be exchanged for the first time since the idea for it was created in 1961. The 7’6”, 320 pound statue called Chief Caddo is now in storage and out of public view at SFA since Northwestern State deemed it “deeply offensive”.

September 14th:

• Not sure I should admit this, but I had forgotten that Rhode Island was visiting Orono this weekend until I saw on FBSchedules that the game had been moved up to tomorrow night because of Hurricane Lee. It actually is better for me because it won’t get lost with all the other “significant” games on Saturday. This will be the 101st meeting between the schools - and last year the Rams snapped a 14-game losing streak to the Black Bears.

• Another game that got moved up to tomorrow night is the RPI-WPI game - that is being played for the Transit Trophy. This will be the 43th time the two teams have competing for the coveted Transit Trophy, in which RPI sports a 28-13-1 mark since the trophy was first awarded in 1980. Overall this will be the 116th meeting between WPI and RPI with the visitors from the Albany area enjoying a 62-48-5 advantage head-to-head.

• And now I might show my bias a bit - but this weekend to me is the real opening week of college football because the Ivy League and NESCAC will be playing their first games of the 2023 season. Looks like the best game of the week will be Holy Cross visiting Yale - the defending Ivy League Champion!

September 13th:

• I’m very happy that Maryland and Virginia are playing this year for the first time in ten years! At one point they had played for 57 consecutive years from 1957 to 2013 - until the Terps left for the Big Ten.

• Sad to see that former UMaine and current UConn quarterback Joe Fagnano is out for the year due to a shoulder injury. Hopefully he comes back for another season next year.

• In the past five meetings, if either Colorado or Colorado State were ranked, the ranked team lost. Wonder if the Buffs will stop this trend…

• Fresno State at Arizona State. I have to think that the Bulldogs should win this game, but if the Sun Devils refuse to rollover then perhaps ASU has found itself a solid coach in Kenny Dillingham.

September 12th:

• Not doing well - can’t tell you how many daily thoughts have been going through my head the last four days, but I’ll never get them all down.

• My latest thought though is getting a mention…the article by done by ESPN’s Chris Low about the Marshall - East Carolina football game and the 1970 plane crash is beautiful! Brought tears to my eyes. Much is written, as it should be, about the effects the tragedy brought to Huntington, WV, but the plane crash also shook the campus of East Carolina. Great read!

• Head coach Kirk Ferentz, the dean of FBS Head Coaches, won his 200th career game this past Saturday when the Hawkeyes beat the Cyclones, 20-13. Ferentz is the 27th head coach to reach the milestone at an FBS institution and just the 99th college coach across all divisions since 1890. Who will be the 100th? Willie Fritz of Tulane (198 wins) or Sherman Wood of Salisbury - Div. III (197 wins)?

• Am curious to see if Army is the next football team to be a part of conference realignment. Will they join the AAC and become a conference rival of Navy?

• One of the more interesting matchups in Week 3: Ferris State at Montana. The Bulldogs are two-time Division II National Champs, while the Griz are one of the most recognizable FCS programs - and they play in front of big crowds (by FCS standards). When Ferris State played in the 2022 Division II Championship game, the attendance was just over 6,300. Montana’s average attendance last year: 25,298. Should be a great game!

• Glad to see that Rice ended a seven-game losing streak to Houston that extended back to 2011. But I think that it puts Dana Holgorsen on the hot seat, right beside Dave Aranda.

• Miami’s win over Texas A&M suddenly makes their game with Florida State in nine weeks that much bigger nationally if both teams remain unbeaten.

• I hope that we haven’t seen the end of the Stanford-USC series after 103 games…and I also hope that Texas and Houston still find a way to get Rice on their schedules, harking back to the Southwest Conference rivalries.

September 8th:

• Very surprised at how long the gap has been between typing out my thoughts. Have to admit that once the season started and I did more analysis of what people view on the website, I was wondering if I should think more about 2024. After careful thought, I might have a solution where I can keep one eye on this season while turning the other eye to the future. Hopefully I can blend the two and get nothing but enjoyment from these next four months.

• One thing that I want to do is create a “2023 Coaching Milestone” sheet and see if it can traction on the web. For example Mack Brown would/might be at the top of the list because last week against South Carolina he won his 100th game as the head coach of the Tar Heels, and he won his 275th game in his head coaching career. And going back to his 100th win - he is the only FBS coach to win 100 games with two different teams, the other being Texas.

• I have also been dabbling with updating my 2023 Games to Follow spreadsheet as games happen so that I can keep track of feats in 2023 while also starting to prepare for the 2024 season. An example here would be Emporia State’s win over Northwest Missouri State last night. Both teams came into the game nationally ranked, and even though the Hornets were ranked 13 positions below the Bearcats and playing on the road, they eliminated 29 years of frustration by beating Northwest Missouri State for the first time since 1984. Updating this in my 2023 now will prepare me for their 2024 encounter.

• Now I have to wonder if another frustration will end tomorrow…Livingstone will make the two-mile drive to Shuford Stadium looking for their first-ever win over the Catawba Indians in what will be the 16th matchup between the schools. The Blue Bears have been outscored in the series 690-124, and they were the Indians’ only win last year, but maybe this will be the year that Livingstone finally claims the Mayor’s Cup.

• Two games I have added to my 2023 Games to Follow spreadsheet that play tomorrow: West Chester at Slippery Rock - this will be the seventh straight meeting where one of the two teams is nationally ranked, and seven of the twenty meetings between the teams came in the PSAC Championship Game. Wayne State (NE) at Minnesota State - Last season, WSC defeated MSU 41-33 in Wayne in week six, before the Mavericks bested the Wildcats 26-9 when hosting them in the playoffs last November.

August 28th:

• Yesterday was a day of moving back home, doing laundry, and reading up on the games of Week Zero. The least surprising result was Notre Dame’s win over Navy in Dublin, while the most surprising game had to have been the UMass win over New Mexico State on the road. And after USC’s performance against San Jose State, I am now doubtful that the Trojans can win the Pac-12 this year - unless the Spartans are much better than expected - which is doubtful.

August 26th:

• Momentarily, Navy (0-0) and #13 Notre Dame (0-0) meet for the 96th time on the gridiron and for the third time in Dublin, Ireland. The two teams previously played in Dublin in 1996 at Croke Park and in 2012 at Aviva Stadium. Notre Dame won the 1996 game 54-27 and the 2012 game 50-10. Notre Dame leads the series 81-13-1 and has won five in a row over the Mids as the Irish held on for a 35-32 victory last November. Navy's last win over Notre Dame was in 2016, 28-27, in Jacksonville.

• After thirty years in the FCS, Jacksonville State start their FBS era this evening with a game against UTEP. The Gamecocks head coach is Rich Rodriguez, who is entering his 26th season as a head coach with a career record of 172-121-2.

• One of the better Group of Five games this season takes place this evening when Ohio visits San Diego State. The Bobcats won ten games last year, their fourth 10-wiin season on program history, while the Aztecs have won 70 percent of their games (72-30) since 2015. The last time San Diego State was shutout - in the 2018 Frisco Bowl against Ohio, 204 games ago!

August 25th:

• In last night’s NAIA game, Valley City State reclaimed the Paint Bucket Trophy, as they defeated visiting rival Jamestown, 23-15. The Jimmies scored first, on a drive of 99+ yards, but the Vikings scored 20 unanswered points and held that lead until the final gun. Valley City State now leads the Paint Bucket series 44-32.

• I stumbled on to this game when I was reading a quick story on Jamestown applying for membership in the NCAA’s Northern Sun conference - which is Division II and looking to replace Upper Iowa. The big concern - losing their rivalry with Valley City State. My thought is that the Northern Sun has left room on teams’ schedules for a non-conference opponent. So if that option remains if Jamestown is invited to join, then there is no reason that the Jimmies couldn’t keep scheduling the Vikings.

• Two days ago, UConn named UMaine transfer Joe Fagnano as the Huskies starting quarterback when they take on NC State next Thursday. His advantage I believe is that he knew the offensive system because the offensive coordinator, Nick Charlton, used to be his head coach when he played for the Black Bears.

• Yesterday, FBSchedules announced that Middle Tennessee has recently scheduled four home-and-home series with the following teams: Northern Illinois, South Alabama, Troy, and Southern Miss. I like all four series as they are very solid Group of Five matchups.

• I’m reminded today while reading a preview of the Ivy League season that the conference will be missing two great head coaches on the sidelines this year. Al Bagnoli, who roamed the sidelines for Columbia, and before the Lions he coached at Penn, retired for health reasons. And Buddy Teevens, former quarterback for and current head coach at Dartmouth, will take the year off to recover from injuries suffered in a bike accident earlier this year. They will both be missed very much!

• Two days ago Marty Favret, head coach of Hampden-Sydney, announced that he was going to retire after the 2023 season. Now we have a second coach that will retire after the season - Buddy Pough, head coach of South Carolina State. Pough is the all-time winningest coach of the Bulldogs with a career record of 146-87. This will be Buddy’s 22nd year as head coach of SC State, and during that time his accomplishments include 15 winning campaigns, three MEAC Coach of the Year honors, two National Coach of the Year awards, and two national HBCU titles.

August 24th:

• I have been very pleased with the last two months in terms of visits to the website! For the first few months of the year, I was hoping to bounce back after a slower start as compared to 2022, but on the strength of a great July and August, the visits for 2023 are now almost 10% over 2022. Hope the momentum continues for the last four months of the year.

• The Big 12 and Pac-12 are going to have some great games filled with a ton of emotion because of realignment. In just one example - Texas is getting ready to “Embrace the Hate”, while the Big 12 Commissioner is telling Texas Tech to take care of business in Austin over Thanksgiving weekend. You know that teams that are “left behind” are going to tee off on those that are leaving.

• It has taken a few days but I want to mention the announcement of Bryant College leaving the Big South for the CAA in 2024. This will be the Bulldogs third conference since moving up to the FCS level - and it might end up being their best fit since it makes their rivalry with Rhode Island a conference game.

• Thinking about the Big Ten adding four West Coast teams and the ACC considering Cal and Stanford - the Pioneer League in the FCS has teams from Coast to Coast (San Diego and Marist) - and even down to Florida (Stetson), so it’s not like having teams far, far away from each other has never been done before. Still, regional conferences are much better!

• Back to the Big Ten for a moment - how about they add Cal and Stanford, as well as Florida State, Clemson, UNC and Virginia? Then they would have 24 teams, with six on the West Coast and six on the East Coast. Four divisions (East, Mideast, Midwest, and West) of six teams each. It would make things regional again and cut down travel for the East and West teams. Hmmm…

• In a few minutes, I guess you could say that the college football season kicks off because two NAIA rivals will be teeing it up at 7:00pm central time. The 76th battle for the Paint Bucket takes place as the Valley City State University football team hosts rival University of Jamestown. Jamestown won last year's game in thrilling fashion, defeating the Vikings 27-24 in overtime at Jamestown. Tonight’s game is the 124th all-time meeting in the VCSU-Jamestown rivalry, which dates back to 1909 and Valley City State leads the all-time series 64-54-5.

August 23rd:

• Have spent this morning bouncing around a bit - but now that I think about it, that’s a very common thing for me to do each day. Getting really excited about the new season, but I’m going to try and be like my good friend Kirk and try and chill a little bit more so that I can get maximum enjoyment from the game.

• Looks like I will have to start putting together my 2024 Coaching Changes documents, as Hampden-Sydney head coach Marty Favret will retire after this season. He will be entering his 24th season on the Tiger sideline with an all-time record of 145-86 and five ODAC championships.

• Also started listening to a Division III podcast - which I paused for the time being since I didn’t want to have my headphones in while Deb is in the same room. Now that I think about it - I should be it on speakers because I have no doubt that she would get as much enjoyment as I listening to it…

• I have been talking about key Division II games being played next Thursday night, but the competition for Division III playoff spots is crazy. There are 240 teams in 28 conferences, which leaves 4 at-large bids in the 32 team playoff field. That is one at-large bid for seven conferences! Some conferences in the FCS and Division II can field up to 4 teams - maybe 5 (Big Sky, MVFC or CAA). The positive in this Division III scenario is we should see better non-conference matchups!

• Can’t help but love the name of Albany’s last two quarterbacks. Jeff Undercuffler (who has transferred to Akron) and current QB Reese Poffenbarger. The Great Danes next quarterback will probably have a plain name like John Smith.

August 22nd:

• It happens each year, but I hate reading about season-ending injuries during camp no matter the individual or team. Part of the game, but I wish that things like that wouldn’t happen.

• As I start my work on Week 2 notes about each game, I can’t help but think 2024 will be easier because FBSchedules has already created weekly schedules for games that are already scheduled - no matter the year. So, with a just a few additions expected (mostly conference games), the September games for 2024 are already put together for me to grab…

• In the last few months, Chattanooga has scheduled some quality non-conference games: Tennessee in 2024 (series dates back to 1899), a four-game series with Tennessee Tech (40 games played since 1938) starting in 2025, Memphis (first met in 1942) in 2025 , and Middle Tennessee (series dates back to 1916) in 2028.

August 21st:

• Have been away from the internet over the weekend, as I had to put my efforts into getting ready for a vacation before the games get started - but I am now settled in and ready to get some more thoughts into words.

• For me there are three stages of college football for the next for Saturdays: Week Zero is when the season starts. Weeks 1 and 2 are when things really get going as all divisions have games being played. Then there is Week 3 - that is when the season truly begins for me because that’s when the Ivy League and NESCAC begin play. Obviously I will be watching and following games starting this Saturday, but there will be a little more excitement come September 16th.

• It appears as though the non-conference rivalry game between TCU and SMU is being put on pause after their 2025 game. This matchup has survived realignment before, and it might have to do it again. Two reasons have been offered up as to why this game might go on the shelf for a bit - one is that the Big 12 might go to a ten-game conference schedule (which I like), so it might take some time for the Horned Frogs to sort things out, and the second thought is that perhaps SMU will be invited to join the Big 12 in the near future. Lets throw out a third reason for the hiatus…maybe TCU is mad at the Mustangs for luring away Jordan Hudson (love the name), who was originally committed to SMU last year before Sonny Dykes left Dallas for Fort Worth. NIL dollars had to do with it…

• Two Division II games I will be tracking on 8/31 are First Meetings - which seems strange for me since I love traditional and rivalry games, but both of these games could impact who gets into the playoffs. An important Region 1 game will have Frostburg State visiting New Haven - two solid teams hoping to take a positive first step towards a postseason bid. Then Region 3 team Saginaw Valley State will host Region 4 team Winona State for the first time. The visiting Warriors will be the first of five teams that SVSU faces in 2023 that made the playoffs in 2022. Two very exciting First Meetings I would say - and worth keeping an eye on…

• On the flip side of the First Meetings is a conference game between Pittsburg State and Washburn. The defending MIAA champion Gorillas will host the Ichabods in what will be a fun matchup to follow. These rivals are meeting for the 93rd time in a series that dates back to 1921. Pittsburg State holds a commanding lead in the all-time series, 64-27-1, but Washburn had won four straight matchups up until last year’s Gorilla win, 37-23.

August 18th:

• Poking around Bemidji State’s (MN) website - I noticed that the Division II Coaches’ Top 25 Poll is out, and it’s no surprise that two-time defending champion Ferris State was picked No. 1 unanimously. Time will tell if these Bulldogs three-peat.

• No. 2 is last season’s runner-up, Colorado School of Mines. The Orediggers will begin 2023 by hosting No. 3 Grand Valley State (MI) on August 31st. Both teams were eliminated in the playoffs by Ferris State, and have new head coaches on the sidelines. Great way to start Day 1 of the new season!

• Back to Bemidji State - the Beavers were selected by the league coaches as the preseason favorite in the NSIC for 2023, even though Minnesota State had more first place votes. Senior quarterback Brandon Alt, selected as the NSIC Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, and his teammates will welcome Northern State to open the season - a team they have beaten the last seven times they have met.

• Another Division II game that is being played on 8/31 will be Upper Iowa at Concordia, St. Paul - conference opponents until this year since the Peacocks moved to the GLVC (Great Lakes Valley Conference). The significance to this game - both teams have gone 1-10 the last two years, so the winner of this game will have already matched their win totals in 2021 and 2022, AND they will start the year with a winning record!

August 17th:

• In ten days, we can start watching college football again, starting with a rivalry I enjoy - Navy vs. Notre Dame, in Dublin. Next year at this time we will be talking about Florida State vs. Georgia Tech in the same venue!

• Absolutely can’t wait for the season to begin with all the negativity going on about realignment. It’s something that isn’t going to change, so you have two options…your glass is either half full or half empty. In my case, the glass is absolutely full since I love the game/games soooo much! What I wouldn’t give to enjoy just ONE game with Kirk Herbstreit and Pat McAfee…those are two individuals that really love the game - maybe more than myself!

• I have now progressed with my notes through the FCS Week 1 schedule. In working on this piece of the site, I have remembered my roots - though when I first put this info together on a spreadsheet for myself a few years ago, it was about the games I wanted to keep an eye on that day or days. Now, I have come to realize that no game is too big or too small, and every game has a story or a reason It is now on to Week 2!

• A Division II gem being played two weeks from today: Albany State at Wingate. Last year Wingate advanced to the playoffs and knocked off the SIAC champion Benedict. Preseason predictions have Albany State finishing second behind Benedict, so this will be a big non-conference game for both participants as they both hope to get this win on their resume for a Region 2 playoff berth. Wingate leads the all-time series 2-1…

• Another Division II game I will be looking at on Thursday night will be Ashland at Indiana (PA). Last year IUP ended Ashland’s season in the second round of the playoffs - and now in 2023, both teams are in the Top 25 rankings and favored in their respective conferences. Just like the game I just talked about, this game will have an impact already on the Region 1 playoff picture!

August 8th:

• Preseason polls and conference predictions are rolling in, and I am doing my best to keep up with going over them. Of course it only adds to my Games to Follow, but I have no doubt that it will help me enjoy the games even more before they happen.

• Have put notes together on 75 FBS games - and have a dozen left for Week 1. Then it’s on to either Week 2, or Week 1 FCS games and some Division II and III games. Not sure of my direction currently. All depends on the squirrel I see.

August 6th:

• What are the chances of the Pac-4 bringing in some Mountain West teams without penalty (and maybe Idaho for old times sake) - and then have the Dakota teams move up to the Mountain West from the Missouri Valley Football Conference? Slim to none I know - but I don’t want to let go of the Pac-12…

• The South Atlantic Conference (Division II) announced their Preseason Poll a couple of days ago. Last year this conference had five teams finish at the top with 7-2 conference records, so these set of teams are worthy of some serious following in 2023!

• A secondary reason that it’s good that BYU and Utah are now conference opponents - maybe they will start scheduling Utah State again as a non-conference opponent. The Aggies aren’t on either teams’ schedule currently, so here’s a chance to resurrect the three-way Beehive Boot Trophy!

August 5th:

• Health reasons caused Columbia head coach Al Bagnoli to retire yesterday. A very sad bit of news to read last night. He compiled a career record of 274-133, including a 132-78 mark in Ivy League play to go with nine Ivy League Championships during his 23 years at Penn. Bagnoli's win total is the fourth highest all-time in FCS history while he is No. 6 in career winning percentage (.680).

• After last night’s additions, the Big 12 is looking more like a combination of former Big 8 and WAC teams. Nice to see that Arizona and Arizona State will stay together and even better to see BYU and Utah as conference opponents once again!

August 4th:

• Eastern Michigan offensive lineman Brian Dooley gave up his scholarship to fellow lineman and walk-on Zack Conti - who sold his plasma to help make tuition costs. A video of the Eagle meeting where it occured is on ESPN, but Athlon Sports has an article on the story. Tearjerker.

• The “feel good” moment from this morning is turning to a sad feeling as the Pac-12 is falling apart piece-by-piece. It’s not a surprise, but the conference that I followed most as a child (with the Big Ten) is gone as I knew it. Maybe the Big Ten will grab Cal and Stanford as well, and we can have a Pac-6 within the Big Twenty, but there is no doubt that Washington State and Oregon State will be like SMU, Rice, and TCU when the SWC went under…teams without a home.

• Have to throw myself into providing quick notes about Week 1 games…and then Week 2…and so on and so on…

• A quick note on the recent realignment - even though BYU and Colorado have played only twelve times (Buffaloes lead the all-time series 8-3-1), these schools have been in the same conference on two occasions prior to the new Big 12: RMAC (1922-1937) and Skyline (1938-1947).

• Looking at BYU’s conference schedule for 2023, the Cougars have played their nine Big 12 opponents a total of 29 times - eleven of them being against TCU.

August 3rd:

• I hadn’t thought about it until just now, but Navy both starts (vs. Notre Dame) and ends (vs. Army) the college football regular season.

• Been working on quick notes about each game in Week 1 - and am now about 2/3 of the way through the week. Hopefully I can keep this momentum from the last couple of days throughout the next few weeks/months.

• After mentioning the current FCS teams with the most playoff appearances yesterday and saying that I thought they would all make the playoff this season, the NCAA gave their early FCS playoff projection, and they mentioned each of the teams as well. Funny thing - not one of them was projected to win their respective conference, they are expected to be at-large teams.

• For two years the Rhode Island Rams have been knocking on the door to get into the FCS Playoffs. Fingers crossed that Kasim Hill and his Ram teammates knock the door down and end their 37-year playoff drought in 2023!

August 2nd:

• Can’t resist making a comment after reading that Dylan Stewart, a five-star edge rusher, made a commitment to Shane Beamer at South Carolina. Stewart, a prospect out of Washington D.C., said “I’ll be good up there”. The first thing I would do if I were Coach Beamer - I would make sure that Stewart signed up for a basic Geography course.

• Looking at the current FCS programs with the most all-time playoff appearances (Montana - 26, Eastern Kentucky - 22, Northern Iowa - 22, Furman - 19, Delaware - 18, New Hampshire - 17), I believe that all of them will be in the playoffs again in 2023.

• Found myself in the Fact and Record Book for North Texas because I wanted to verify their All-Time Record because my spreadsheet was slightly different than the database I use for Series Records. Fortunately my document agreed with the Mean Green Record Book so I don’t have to question my data - which came from NCAA records.

• Another interesting tidbit about North Texas that I learned today: When they host Cal on 9/2, the Bears will be the first Power 5 team the Mean Green have hosted since 2011 (Indiana). Then while looking at their future non-conference schedules I noticed that starting in 2027, North Texas will host three Power 5 teams (Texas Tech, Baylor and Missouri) in four years.

• Just read that Rutgers and Princeton are going to renew their basketball rivalry in November - makes me think that they should get back on the gridiron again as it’s been 43 years (1980) since they last played.

August 1st:

• With the calendar turning to August, we are now less than four weeks away from the beginning of College Football! I’m ready for Navy/Notre Dame to start things off in Ireland, followed by a solid Group of Five matchup - Ohio at San Diego State. I might be able to get through half of the second game before I get dragged off to bed by my wonderful wife!

• Speaking of a new month, after a great July of visits to the site, 2023 is now trending slightly over 2022. This year had been looking up at last year since January, so that trend reversal has been a pleasant surprise - something I am hoping carries forward this month as we get into the start of the new season.

• Something tells me that the Pac-12 is going to be a blast to watch this year because of all the conference contenders and their returning quarterbacks. Add in the bullseye on each of the departing teams, which will only increase the motivation of both players and coaches - and we have a potential powder keg just waiting to explode with each conference game! And regarding Colorado - every opposing coach and player this year will now want to run up the score just to put it to Primetime and his team…

• It’s looking like we are losing a Division II team a month before the season is to begin. Alderson Broaddus (WV) is having a rough time with their finances because they owe just over $775k in Utility Bills. Football, and the other sports, are secondary in this issue because it is the students and school staff that suffer when schools are discredited or even worse, close their doors.

• If I want to get through my work on this site, I will need to stop reading the many, many articles that are out there…lol

• That didn’t last long…I was working on adding info about Week 1 games, when I dropped it to read another story. The University of Arizona’s Board of Regents are meeting today - looks like it was put on the schedule yesterday and the agenda is unknown. Might not be the news the Pac-12 wants to hear…

• It’s still just over two years away, but I have added a new matchup to my Games to Follow spreadsheet as Chattanooga and Tennessee Tech have agreed to a four-game series starting on 9/6/25. These two teams first met in 1938 and have played a total of 40 games with the Mocs leading the all-time series 30-10.

July 31st":

• Finally back in the saddle again this morning - in regards to writing things down. Have been reading a lot of information on a lot of different sites, but have had a hard time putting fingers to the keyboard. Hope that doesn’t happen again for a long time - as I will do my best to keep the squirrels away.

• So Colorado has left the Pac-12, which isn’t a big surprise. And quite honestly, I like the Buffs fit in the Big 12 better. Now the big question that is hanging out there - will the Arizona schools bolt as well to the Big 12, and/or will Oregon and Washington be invited to the Big Ten. Athlon Sports put out an article saying that the Big Ten could be adding both - as well as Clemson and Florida State! That would rock to Power 5 Conferences.

• I have been enjoying reading through the FCS Preseason Polls (both Coaches and Media) as they have been released - as well as some Division II Polls. All this information is very useful (though not all are created equal) in finding more games to follow over the course of the year.

• lsufootball.net/tvschedule is starting to populate tv listings for the upcoming season. One can start to make serious viewing plans for at least the first three weeks of the season - not including Week Zero. For myself, I can see a lot of game jumping on ESPN+.

• Before getting started with my day, I want to mention how nice it was to see Middle Tennessee add Tennessee Tech to their 2024 schedule. They first played in 1917 and have played 75 times overall with the Blue Raiders holding a slim advantage in the series 36-32-7. A worthy FBS-FCS matchup that has some history to it!

July 21st:

• Was surprised, but not shocked, that when the season begins this fall a school (Division III) will be playing on a black surface/field. Morrisville State (NY), whose school colors are green, black, and white, has installed black turf. The new design features white traditional markings for football. The red markings are for men’s lacrosse, powder blue for women’s lacrosse, lime green for soccer, and yellow for field hockey. Will be interested to see the temperature on the field on a hot September day…

• Another example of “Don’t believe everything you read”, (especially what I have to say), FBSchedules posted a quick blurb about Utah State scheduling three FCS opponents in the upcoming year - Robert Morris, McNeese, and Idaho State. The site said that they would all be first-time matchups, which isn’t true because the Aggies have played the cross-border Bengals twenty times - starting in 1904.

• By the way, Idaho State hasn’t fared very well against the Aggies, as the Bengals have lost 18 of 20, and two of the losses were 88-0 and 136-0 back in 1911 and 1919.

• Hero Sports put out a Group of Five Top 25 for the first time! I loved seeing it! The AAC and Sun Belt had seven of the top ten teams (the AAC had the top three).

July 20th:

• Must admit, I didn’t have thoughts about college football yesterday…it was more of a sun and beach day. lol

• Going over Richmond’s schedule, I saw two games on their slate against other CAA contenders that weren’t on my radar: Rhode Island (10/14) and Elon (11/11). This will be the Spiders’ first game against the Rams since 2015, and on the flip side, the Spiders will be playing the Phoenix for the fifth time in the last three years.

July 18th:

• Done with my Coaches Info spreadsheet - hope to put it to good use in the coming months (or years as I will keep it updated).

• Now I will use the above mentioned spreadsheet and Preseason polls - both national and conference, to see if there are any more Games to Follow this fall.

• A game I just added, North Carolina A&T at Elon on September 16th. The schools are about 15 miles apart and have met twelve times since 1999 - with A&T leading the all-time series 8-4. This also happens to be the Aggies first conference game in the very competitive CAA.

• Elon has now been added twice today, as now their game with William & Mary on 9/30 is now in the spreadsheet. The Phoenix are hosting the Tribe this year after beating them in Williamsburg last year, 35-31. A great opportunity for Elon to get a conference win if they can pull off another upset this year.

July 15th:

• The NCAA handed down their penalties to Tennessee, so I had to go into my All-Time Records spreadsheet and remove 11 wins from the Vols total. The NCAA now recognizes that Tennessee has a all-time record of 856-410-53.

• I have spent the last couple of days concentrating on finishing up my Coaches Info spreadsheet. I’m so close that I want to wrap it up so that I can round back to my Games to Follow and see if there are games I should be adding based on what I am finding out about head coaches.

• Nevada at USC: Found its way on my spreadsheet for no other reason than they first played more than one hundred years ago (1920), and are meeting for the first time in ninety-four years.

• South Alabama at Tulane: I just think that this could be one of the best Group of Five games in 2023. The first two games of the series have been decided by a total of five points, and this year both teams could be/should be on the cusp of being a Top-25 team.

• Colgate at Syracuse: The Orange will be looking for their first series lead when they go up against the Raiders this year. Syracuse has won sixteen straight games in this series, going back to 1951, just to tie things up at 31-31-5.

• UTSA at Houston: Last year’s matchup was a very exciting Group of Five matchup - the Cougars won on the road in triple overtime! This year will be a very competitive Group of Five - Power 5 game.

• William & Mary at Virginia: This could be a FCS win even though the Cavs lead the series comfortably 31-6-1 since 1908. I will be cheering for the Tribe!

July 13th:

• Started a bit slower than I wanted yesterday in regards to writing about lesser known games that I plan to watch and follow this fall - but maybe it’s good to start slow and build momentum…

• Before adding games, I must say that I just updated my post on the Youngest FBS Head Coaches, which changed quite a bit since I last looked at it last December.

• Texas State at Baylor: These teams are wrapping up a three-game series that had been agreed upon in 2015. Thirty-four-year-old G. J. Kinne, will be coaching his first FBS game after one year at UIW in the FCS. Baylor has won all nine of the previous meetings - with the first one being played in 1909.

• Northern Iowa at Iowa State: Another in-state FCS vs. FBS matchup that I enjoy following! The Cyclones have won three straight after losing to the Panthers 25-20 in 2016. Northern Iowa’s head coach, Mark Farley, will be starting his 23rd year on the sidelines, and he will be looking for win number 175 against the Cyclones.

• Northwestern State at Louisiana: Surprise! Real shocker to see another in-state FCS vs. FBS game. These schools, after having played for sixty straight years from 1919 to 1978, will be meeting for the first time since 2015 - and for only the sixth time in the last 46 years! I’m expecting a close game as the Ragin’ Cajuns hold a slim lead in the series, 38-35-3.

• Towson at Maryland: Don’t think that I need to point out any more in-state matchups. Maryland head coach Mike Locksley played football at Towson, so he will be hosting his alma mater. These teams first met on the gridiron in 2011, (28-3 Terrapins win) and then played a second contest in 2017, which the Terrapins also won, 63-17. Another game between the schools is scheduled in 2025.

• Old Dominion at Virginia Tech: The all-time series is tied 2-2, as the home team has won all four contests. This series has nine games left on the schedule, as it wraps up in 2031. My hat is off to the Hokies for agreeing to play six of the 13 games in Norfolk when drawing up this 13-game series.

• Rice at Texas: This could be the end of a series that I have followed because of its longevity, as there are no further games scheduled as of today. In fact, the Owls and Longhorns played every year from 1914 to 1995 thanks to being Southwest Conference opponents - a span of 82 years! Unfortunately for the Owls, the series has been one-sided as Texas has won 43 of the last 44 games dating back to 1965.

July 12th:

• From today until the season begins, hopefully I can share my thoughts about games that I plan to watch and follow that might fly under the radar of others…

• Akron at Temple: Both teams showed improvement in November under their new head coaches (Joe Moorhead and Stan Drayton), so they would like to start off their new seasons with a win. Played each other 16 times before the Owls joined the MAC for a short time (2007-2011). The Zips will try to end a six-game losing streak to Temple.

• Northern Arizona at Arizona: I love these in-state FCS vs. FBS matchups. When these teams last met in 2021, the Lumberjacks upset the Wildcats 21-19 for their second win against Arizona. This series began in 1931, and will be played eight times in the next eleven years.

July 11th:

• There is still a lot to learn for me regarding the internet. For example, the last couple of years I have updated my Longest Tenured Head Coaches - FBS blog, and it has had its share of visits. At the end of last week, I updated the title to include the date of my latest update (which now happens to be today) - and since that time the visits have shot up and for the last couple of days it seems like I am “trending on the internet”.

• For the last couple of days I have been updating my Coaching Info spreadsheet, which includes all NCAA divisions. I have now gathered information on 564 coaches - so I only have 115 to go! Soon I need to use all this information that I have put together!

July 9th:

• I wondered earlier this year if Pat Fitzgerald would be firmly on the hot seat after this year, but it now appears as though he will be done in 2023 one way or another. If the hazing incidents don’t get him before the season, a poor performance on the field this fall will surely do it. Very unfortunate after all that he has accomplished at Northwestern both as a player and a coach.

• On a most positive note, the Landmark Conference will get its start as a football conference this fall. The charter members are: Catholic University (from NEWMAC), Juniata (Centennial), Keystone (ECFC), Lycoming (Middle Atlantic), Moravian (Centennial), Susquehanna (Centennial), and Wilkes (Middle Atlantic). Catholic (best chance) and Moravian will get the first crack at winning the first conference game, as they both play on Friday night - but if they fail, Wilkes and Keystone will be up next at noon on Saturday.

• It will be a big day for new Moravian head coach, Jeff Long Jr., on Friday, September 1st as he leads the Greyhounds against his alma mater (and former Centennial Conference rival) Muhlenberg. Long, who is only the fifth head coach for Moravian since 1955, will have a chance to beat the Mules for his first career win as a head coach, as well as be the first head coach with a win in the newly formed Landmark Conference.

July 7th:

• Bryant doesn’t seem to be getting any love from those putting together preseason FCS polls, but the Bulldogs were much better than their 4-7 record in 2022. They lost five one-score games, including on the road at FIU when the Panthers scored a 2-point conversion to win the game. I wouldn’t sleep on Bryant this fall because they return quarterback Zevi Eckhaus, who led the Big South in total completions, total yards, yards per game, and touchdowns, and set a program record with 3,393 total yards of offense as well as kicker Ethan Gettman, who has been named to Preseason All-America teams.

• I forgot that last year’s Ohio Valley Conference title (or their representation in the playoff) was decided by a coin flip. Southeast Missouri and UT Martin shared the OVC title last year - but they didn’t play each other due to scheduling quirks. For this year, the OVC and Big South formed a joint association, and again because of scheduling conflicts, not everyone will play each other. Hope there isn’t another coin flip this year.

July 6th:

• Today is one of the three most special days in my life. Twenty-nine years ago our youngest daughter, Megan, was brought into our lives! Happy Birthday Megan - your Mom and Dad love you very much!!! It so happens that this day was also my parents anniversary. They had 63 years together - and I can only hope that Deb and I get to spend that much time together!

• Have officially scrubbed down the FBS schedule for the Games to Follow spreadsheet, and the number of games to keep an eye on for various reasons now sits at 400! During the season I expect the number to swing in one direction or another based on conference contender games that I have anticipated to possibly becoming duds. Hahahaha

• Pulled into the YMCA parking lot in Freeport yesterday to see the perfect Georgia Bulldog Red vehicle. Didn’t have to see all the Bulldog paraphernalia to identify it as a serious Georgia fan! Unfortunately Deb wasn’t as excited or impressed as I was…

• Have to confess, I didn’t know that Notre Dame and Northwestern played for a Shillelagh starting in 1931 - in fact it was the first of three that the Irish would have as trophies. The last time the trophy was exchanged was in 1962, and it didn’t reappear until it was offered up in an auction 7 years ago!

• Starting to scrub the Big Sky schedules a little more after seeing all the FCS Preseason Top 25 thoughts - and the same six teams are in each of the polls. Below Montana State, which is ranked third in each poll, the other five teams will find themselves jockeying for the other spots - as the polls think differently about each of the other teams.

• If Montana State ends up getting a bye in the FCS playoffs, they will have certainly earned it. They will be playing four of the five ranked Big Sky teams all on the road - as well as traveling to Brookings, SD to take on South Dakota State!

• Just discovered a new rivalry trophy that was created last year - Weber State and Northern Arizona now play for the Red Rock Trophy. The series started in 1964, and they became conference opponents when the Lumberjacks joined the Big Sky in 1970 - whereas Weber State was a charter member of the conference in 1963. The series has been quite competitive as the Wildcats win last year gave them a slim series lead, 28-27.

July 5th:

• No surprise that the Mountain West and San Diego State are at odds about the Aztecs notification of leaving the conference and then reversing course. Obviously San Diego State wants to be in the Pac-12, so the Mountain West wants them to pay for it - literally and figuratively.

• Must be a Mountain West day for me because I am scouring schedules (especially conference contenders) to see if games should be added to my Games to Follow spreadsheet. Did add Boise State - Air Force, Boise State - San Diego State, and Air Force - San Diego State. A game that would have been a good matchup, Air Force - Fresno State, is not scheduled this year.

• Air Force has won 10+ games in each of the last three full seasons and have gone bowling in 12 of Troy Calhoun’s 15 full seasons, but the Falcons have never won the Mountain West. Their last league title was in the WAC in 1998.

• Funny thing about MW titles - five teams (Boise State, Fresno State, BYU, TCU and Utah) have won four championships, but no one has won more than four. Maybe Boise State will get their fifth this year…

• When Pac-12 schedules get released, if Washington has to travel to the state of Arizona they would much prefer Tucson (10-7-1 on the road versus Wildcats) to Tempe (7-14 on the road versus the Sun Devils).

July 4th:

• Had to do some updates to my Longest Tenured Head Coaches - FBS piece. While making the changes I noticed that I was missing Brent Key. Oops. Corrected now.

• Tennessee’s three largest crowds at Neyland Stadium are when Florida came to visit in 2000 (108,768), 2002 (108,722) and the record crowd in 2004 (109,061). What’s most surprising to me is that the fourth largest crowd came to see UNLV (108.625) in 2004 - just two weeks before the Gators came to town!

• Linfield has had 66 consecutive winning seasons - a streak that began in 1956. On the Wildcats website, they maintain a list of the longest active streaks and the all-time streaks. When I was doing a spreadsheet on all college football teams current streaks (winning and losing seasons), I found out that Washington and Jefferson is missing on the Wildcats document. The Presidents have had 39 consecutive winning seasons starting back in 1984!

July 3rd:

• A little slow (6:15pm) with my entries today, but I got distracted watching some good videos - Best College Football Traditions, Best Fight Songs, and the best of all - watching the Ohio State marching band script Ohio and dot the I, all the way from the tunnel! Amazing!!!

• This video watching happened all because I reread Zach Barnett’s article “There is Nothing More American than College Football”. This piece was originally published on July 4, 2018. At the end of the article is a YouTube video of Englishman Stephen Fry taking in a college football game for the very first time: an Alabama - Auburn game! Great video!

• My Lindy’s magazine has been a very good resource for me. It’s given me ideas for additional games to follow, it has given me another Preseason Top 25 for the FCS (the third I have collected), and it has also given me the first Division III Preseason Top 25 that I have seen this year!

• Division III teams that Lindy had in their Top 25 that I didn’t: Aurora (knew I made a mistake as soon as I saw their name), Utica, Alma, and Springfield. I didn’t give Region I enough credit! Teams I had that Lindy didn’t: UW-Oshkosh (can only have so many WIAC teams), Heidelberg, Susquehanna, and Muhlenberg.

• The United Athletic Conference (the partnership between the ASUN and WAC) is represented by three teams when one looks at various FCS Top 25s: Eastern Kentucky, Central Arkansas, and Austin Peay. All are from the ASUN - no mention of any WAC teams…

• After the realignment on July 1st, there are a total of 261 Division I football teams (133 FBS teams and 128 FCS teams).

July 2nd:

• Conference realignment for 2023 became official yesterday. No surprise - CUSA had the toughest time maintaining its membership as it had to bring in independent teams and a couple of FCS teams.

• San Diego State plans to move forward with the Mountain West - perhaps for only two years though. Guess they didn’t want to be stranded on an island while the Pac-12 fumbles around with their media contract.

• Xavier, known as a basketball school - though they played football at one time, is thinking about adding football in the future. Their reasoning gave me a chuckle…they are looking to add to their male population on campus.

• Want a good size record book to thumb through? Tennessee’s record book in 2022 is 460 pages! Will probably grow in 2023…

• A fun fact regarding Neyland Stadium, and its going back to natural grass in 1994 - it takes 90 gallons of paint to complete the lines, centerfield “Power T” logo and the famous orange and white checkerboard end zones.

• Lastly - I got my Lindy’s magazine yesterday in the mail…I was so excited I almost kissed my wife!

June 30th:

• With one day to spare I made it through my Games to Follow spreadsheet for all divisions, and my current count for games to track is 1,645. If I were to include future games, with the furthest one going out to 2036, the number is at 1,876. In the next month I will comb through the games scheduled in more detail, so my best guess at this point is that I might get to 1,750 games to keep an eye on this fall.

• I have updated both the FBS and FCS Week Zero schedules with a quick note about each game. Will hopefully chip away at the other weeks in the coming months before the season.

• Reading an article from SI yesterday, I didn’t realize that Army will be going away from the option this year. A main reason: the NCAA is banning cut blocks.

• Last year Kent State played at Washington, Oklahoma and Georgia - a very tough non-conference schedule. This year the Golden Flashes get to open the season in the fun city of Orlando against UCF, and they get to collect an $800k check.

June 29th:

• Coming down to the wire in regards to wrapping up my Games to Follow in Division III. Worked on it yesterday - and actually added eight games, with most of them being non-conference games early in the season.

• The WIAC (Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) is considered by many to be the best and toughest conference in Division III. UW-Whitewater, which has won six National Championships, has a very challenging non-conference slate to go with their conference matchups. Those games are against John Carroll, St. John’s, and Mary Hardin-Baylor - and all three of these teams should/will be in the Top 20 Preseason Poll.

• I didn’t realize how poor Matt Rhule’s record is against Top 25 teams! His record is 2-16, and his two wins came while he was at Temple - and they were against Navy and East Carolina. He will have to improve that record if he wants to bring the Cornhuskers back to relevancy…

• Athlon Sports posted their Bowl Projections for the 2023 season - but I’m sure that those who bought their magazine have already seen it. No complaints from me regarding the New Year’s Six Bowls, which will have a distinct SEC, Big Ten, Pac-12 (sorry Oregon) feel to them. Athlon feels that Georgia will have a chance to defend their National Championships and go for a three-peat against the Wolverines. And with that being said, I know someone who won’t like that projection - or the Orange Bowl matchup prediction between Florida State and Ohio State. Who will it be Eric?

June 27th:

• Last fall when South Carolina upset Clemson in Memorial Stadium, it ended the Tigers 40-game home winning streak. That streak went back to 2016 when Clemson beat the Gamecocks after losing two weeks earlier to Pitt 43-42.

• Eight days ago I was bummed because former OVC member Murray State announced some non-conference games - and not one of them were against a former rival. Well yesterday, the Racers announced a 12-game series with Austin Peay, with the first game being played last year. Unfortunately, the next game isn’t until 2027, but at least the matchup will be played every year from that point until 2037. The Racers and Governors were conference rivals for almost 50 years!

• Today I found Lindy’s Division II Preseason Top 25 for 2023! Together with a piece I read back in January on the NCAA’s website, which listed the projected best 20 teams, I think I have a pretty good idea as to what teams to watch out for in the upcoming season. Remember…Ferris State will be looking for a three-peat - just like Georgia.

• Of course, I spent a good chunk of time looking for Lindy’s Division III Preseason Top 25 - but came up pretty much empty handed, though I did discover the Top 5, as well as five other teams included in the list. I can formulate one myself, but I broke down this evening and ordered the Lindy’s College Football Preview magazine through Amazon because I want it sooner than later. Hopefully it will be in my hands this Friday!

June 26th:

• Nice to see that Maryland is still third in ACC titles, with nine, even though they are in the Big Ten now. Only Clemson (21) and Florida State (15) have more ACC championships. I really like the Big Ten conference, but I wish that the Terps would go back to the ACC, though I know it’s not realistic because of the mighty dollar.

• On the strength of eleven Southern Conference titles, Duke has a total of 18 football conference championships, which trails only Clemson’s 27 titles for the most overall conference titles for current ACC members. Never would have guessed that if it were a trivia question…

• And Georgia Tech has won 5 SEC conference titles

• There are three active FBS Coaches within 5 games of becoming their program’s all-time winningest coach: Clemson: Frank Howard 165 wins and Dabo Swinney has 161 wins. NC State: Earle Edwards 77 wins and Dave Doeren has 72 wins. Wyoming: Lloyd Eaton 57 wins and Craig Bohl has 52 wins.

• Dabo Swinney has four fewer wins than Howard despite having coached 95 fewer games.

• Thought I was done with adding new coaches for 2023, but I have a new coach for Bentley (MA)…Saj Thakkar had been hired as the interim head coach back in April, but he has now been given the official title of head coach as of ten days ago. Unbeknownst to me, 2022 head coach Alvin Reynolds had stepped down after one year back in April, and now his offensive coordinator is in charge.

June 25th:

• With some efforts the last couple of days, I am on schedule to finish my Games to Follow this year in Division III by the end of this month. Have looked at 560 games - and have about 125 to go…

• This morning I saw that Athlon Sports had three contributors pick their dream road trip for this season - without seeing the same team more than once. I couldn’t resist giving it a go, so here is my dream road trip for this fall starting with Week Zero: Ohio at San Diego State, LSU vs. Florida State (Orlando), Nebraska at Colorado, Pitt at West Virginia, Kentucky at Vanderbilt, Arkansas vs. Texas A&M (Arlington, TX), Oklahoma vs. Texas (Dallas), Oregon at Washington, Minnesota at Iowa, Florida vs. Georgia (Jacksonville), Notre Dame at Clemson, Duke at North Carolina, UCLA at USC, Ohio State at Michigan, and Army vs. Navy (Foxboro, MA)

June 22nd:

• Since winning the Big Ten West in 2020, Northwestern has gone 4-20 (2-16 Conference), so it seems to me that their season opener in Rutgers is crucial for the Wildcats. With the Scarlet Knights improving under Greg Schiano, this could be rough for Pat Fitzgerald. Never thought I would see this, but will another poor season put Fitzgerald squarely on the hotseat?

• Not only did Alabama pass Florida State for the most consecutive 10+ win seasons in 2022, but they also forged ahead of Oklahoma for the most all-time 10+ win seasons. Coming into the season they were tied at 41.

• Michigan has the most wins all-time, but Oklahoma has had the most wins since the end of WW II (1946 - present). With the Sooners move to the SEC, will we see either Alabama or Ohio State pass them - though it will take a few years since the Sooners are 33 wins ahead of the Crimson Tide currently.

June 20th:

• Things happen in June, so we could see the Pac-12 extend invites to both San Diego State and SMU to see if they can get the San Diego and Dallas/Ft. Worth markets to support the conference. But like me, the timing of the Pac-12 isn’t anything to write home about - so expect it to drag out for a bit longer.

• College Football Nerds point out that Georgia plays one more Power 5 team than Ohio State in 2024 - and that there’s a chance that the Bulldogs will have to play the Crimson Tide a second time. Guess they don’t believe that the Buckeyes could play Michigan again that year, or that OSU’s 10th Power 5 opponent(s) in the coming years are Texas, Alabama, Georgia and Oregon. Seems to me that neither team is going to back down when it comes to scheduling - especially when the playoff bids expand. Slice and dice the schedules any way you want - it still comes down to winning your games impressively and getting yourself ready and healthy for a playoff push.

• Another tweet I saw on FBSchedules today…an impressive bucket list for those who want to do some “sailgating”. The four FBS stadiums that you can get to via boat (listed in order of my favorites): Washington’s Husky Stadium, Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium, Pitt’s Acrisure Stadium (not a fan of the name of the stadium), and Baylor’s McLane Stadium. Being that I have seen the ocean almost every day of my life, visiting these stadiums would mean a lot to me.

• A headscratcher for me…Miami (FL) was a powerhouse when the Big East started football in 1991, as the Hurricanes won or shared nine conference titles and won two national championships. Miami (FL) is now entering their 20th year in the ACC, and they have yet to win a title in the conference. I’m not a fan of the Hurricanes at ALL - but this baffles my mind.

• I didn’t realize it until I saw it on Clemson’s website: Alabama’s 15th consecutive 10-win season in 2022 broke Florida State’s FBS record of 14 from 1987-2000. Of course, Clemson has put together a pretty impressive streak themselves, as the Tigers have won 10+ games for twelve consecutive years.

• West Virginia is going through a bit of turmoil with Neal Brown having the hottest of hot seats going into 2023, but the Mountaineers next win will give them 775 wins! Only 14 other FBS teams have won that many games!

June 19th:

• Have a couple of thoughts that I think would be good additions to the site and to the web, but as I noodle it and realize the needed time to invest in them I should probably wait until early 2024 to pull the info together. Hope I remember. LOL

• Seeing that Murray State announced some future matchups today, it got my attention because I thought that I would see some former Ohio Valley rivals/opponents named. I was disappointed to see MVSU, SE Louisiana and Valparaiso instead of Austin Peay, Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee Tech listed as the matchups.

• Florida will look to extend the longest-active home-opener win streak in the FBS to 33-straight wins when they host McNeese on September 9th. Pretty safe to say that the Gators will do it - but the streak will be put to the test in 2024 because Miami (FL) comes to Gainesville on August 31st.

• The Gators will also look to score in their 437th consecutive game (dating back to 1988!) when they go up against Utah on August 31st. This streak almost came to an end in their Bowl game last December against Oregon State - as the Beavers pitched a shutout for the first 59:23 of the matchup.

• I noticed though that in the Gator Game Notes that this scoring streak is listed as a “NCAA record and 68 games longer than any other college football team in the history of the sport.” A source I have to verify says that a certain Division III team (Mount Union) has scored in 534 consecutive games…which dates back to 1981!

June 17th:

• San Diego State has told the Mountain West that they intend to leave, and I read online that the Board of Regents at Colorado had a meeting last week where delicate language used might indicate realignment is in the cards.

• With their move to the SEC, Texas is able to re-establish rivalry games with Texas A&M and Arkansas - but are they going down the road of Nebraska? A once mighty team from the past that has become irrelevant in today’s game. Will the same occur to Oklahoma as well?

• The other day I wrote that with a Sooner win over the Cowboys, OU would have the most wins over an opponent in the FBS - but in fact it would be for all of Division I. Harvard currently has 89 wins over Brown - so they will probably have the Division I title in three or four years. Overall in college football, Albion (MI) has the most wins over an opponent. They have beaten Kalamazoo (MI) 94 times since 1896. In fact, they are the only team to have beaten an opponent more than 90 times twice! The Britons have a 91-25-6 series lead over Olivet (MI), a team they first played in 1884.

• I was a bit premature by putting the Post Eagles into the Northeast-10 conference when pulling together my All-Time Records spreadsheet, because there was a news item on their website that they have been invited to join the NE-10 for football in 2024. As in 2022, the Eagles will be facing some NE-10 members, but their schedule in 2023 is technically independent.

• In 2024, after 50 years without football, the New England College Pilgrims will be returning to the gridiron. What’s most interesting to me about this announcement is that NEC is located in Henniker, NH - which is just south of Warner, where my Aunt and Uncle bought a retirement house in the mid-late 1970s.

June 15th:

• Looks like FBSchedules.com just completed a huge task! They have pulled together both past and future composite schedules for FBS, FCS, NFL, CFL, USFL, and XFL. Though there are readers I’m sure that are interested in the past schedules - which go back to 2008 for the FBS, I will be looking towards the future.

• The furthest scheduled out FBS game: Colorado at Colorado State in 2038 (the last of eight games scheduled between the Buffs and Rams). The furthest scheduled out FCS game: Northern Arizona at Southern Utah (the last of twelve games scheduled between these former Big Sky rivals). And ten years from now, there are currently four annual rivalry games scheduled for Week 13: Clemson at South Carolina, Florida State at Florida, Georgia at Georgia Tech, and Virginia Tech at Virginia.

• On Monday, it was announced that Northern Iowa will take on Drake in 2026. That completes the Panthers non-conference schedule for that year - and I love it because all three games are against in-state teams: Iowa (Hawkeyes lead series 17-1, and it started in 1898), Iowa State (Cyclones lead the series 24-6-3, and it started in 1899), and Drake (Bulldogs lead the series 24-21-1, and it started in 1900).

• LSU’s website lists Brian Kelly with a career record of 294-101-2 through 32 seasons of coaching - so it looks like he would reach 300 wins at some point during the 2023 season. Unfortunately, 21 wins during the 2012, 2013 seasons were vacated by the NCAA committee for infractions just over five years ago. So it looks like the milestone he will hit this season: 275.

• Oklahoma’s 91 wins against Oklahoma State are tied for the most against one opponent (Nebraska also has 91 wins over Kansas) in FBS history. Another win in 2023, and the Sooners will have the record to themselves. Unfortunately, this is currently the last scheduled Bedlam Game, so the record might not be held for long because Tennessee has 84 wins over Kentucky through 2022.

June 14th:

• Top FBS games to watch/follow in Week 12: Toledo - Bowling Green, UNC - Clemson, Baylor - TCU, Kansas State - Kansas, Washington - Oregon State, UCLA - USC (last meeting as Pac-8/10/12 opponents), Georgia - Tennessee, Nebraska - Wisconsin, Cal - Stanford, Kentucky - South Carolina.

• This morning I typed up and posted the FBS schedule for Week 13 - the biggest rivalry week (each week seems to have one or more rivalry games). Too many games to choose from - but if I did (putting myself under pressure): Ole Miss - Mississippi State, Iowa - Nebraska, Oregon State - Oregon, Ohio State - Michigan, Georgia - Georgia Tech, Indiana - Purdue, Alabama - Auburn, Washington State - Washington, Wisconsin - Minnesota, Clemson - South Carolina. I know, I know…I omitted Florida State - Florida.

• Tonight the SEC reveals who will play who in 2024. I have read that Georgia will visit Alabama and Texas. While Texas will have to visit A&M and Arkansas - as well as visit the Big House in a non-conference tilt. Wow! And I exclaimed that before I remembered that there is also the annual OU-Texas game in Dallas!!

• Meanwhile, when typing up UAB at Navy on November 11th, I was thinking “how the hell can this matchup be a conference game?”. Thankfully the Midshipmen have games against Air Force and Army to make up for this.

June 13th:

• I have continued posting November Weekly Schedules - as I have added FBS Weeks 11 and 12 and those same weeks for FCS as well. Week 12 is pretty much it for the FCS until they start the playoffs that next week, while I have one more week to type up and post for FBS.

• The top ten FBS games in Week 11 to follow: Central Michigan - Western Michigan, Michigan - Penn State, Duke - North Carolina, Miami - Florida State, Texas - TCU, Pitt - Syracuse, Utah - Washington, Florida - LSU, USC - Oregon. Tied for 10th: NC State - Wake Forest, Minnesota - Purdue, Northwestern - Wisconsin.

• I learned from the Georgia website that from 1917-1924, Georgia and Georgia Tech did not play because of a dispute. The dispute: a float in a Georgia parade ridiculed their rivals for playing football during World War I…

June 11th:

• A fifth factor that I thought of this morning when coming up with games to follow - this year and in the future: Former Conference Opponents - of which there will be more and more games because of conference realignment.

• For the first time in quite a few years, I have posted a November week of schedules for both FBS and FCS. It was fun going through the games that occur in that month. Week 10 FBS games that I look forward to the most: TCU at Texas Tech, Colorado State at Wyoming, Army vs. Air Force, Kansas State at Texas, Oklahoma at Oklahoma State, Washington at USC, LSU at Alabama, Notre Dame at Clemson, Penn State at Maryland, and Texas A&M at Ole Miss.

• I have no doubt that there will be many iterations of folks using the Big Ten scheduling methodology for the SEC. Here are my eleven protected rivalries for the SEC: Georgia - Auburn, Alabama - Auburn, Texas - Oklahoma, Texas A&M - Texas, Georgia - Florida, Ole Miss - Mississippi State, Alabama - Tennessee, Tennessee - Vanderbilt, Texas A&M - Arkansas, Oklahoma - Missouri and South Carolina - Kentucky. LSU is the only team without a protected rivalry - but they have so many competitive series with the other teams that it doesn’t matter who they play from year to year. Tough rivalries to exclude: LSU - Florida, Texas - Arkansas, Kentucky - Tennessee, and Alabama - LSU.

June 9th:

• Yesterday the Illinois-Kansas game got moved to Friday night, giving both teams a chance to shine in prime time. Being that this is an important game for each, and this brief series began in 1892, I went to my Games to Follow spreadsheet to adjust the date of play. Well - somehow I forgot to enter it, but now that lapse in judgement is now corrected.

• Happy to see that Iowa got three protected games - I was hoping that they wouldn’t lose the Nebraska game, but I was saddened to see that the Michigan-Minnesota “Little Brown Jug” game wasn’t on the list. I guess one team (Michigan?) didn’t feel its utmost importance. This is a model that the SEC could use, though they would probably have to still use a nine-game conference schedule to make it work.

• Though it’s not a traditional rivalry game, I still would have liked to see the Penn State - Ohio State game on the protected list. At least they are playing in 2024! Other games I am looking forward to: USC - Michigan, Penn State - Nebraska, Ohio State - Illinois, Penn State - USC, Nebraska - UCLA, Michigan - Minnesota.

• I have been reading the Big Ten Schedule Analysis articles on theathletic website and really enjoying them. Not sure if they will continue with writing about more teams, but has been written is certainly worth a read for any Big Ten fan - or for that matter any serious College Football fan.

• Lastly, this Big Ten scheduling model reminds me of how my Games to Follow spreadsheet has evolved from what was originally just for historical rivalries or trophy games. Now these are the factors considered when pouring over a team’s schedule and their future opponent (usually non-conference matchups) to see if they are worthy of being followed: trophy game, historical game, in-state or cross-border game, and competitive game. Hopefully there’s a combination of two or more factors to make it a easy choice.

• Putting these factors to the test - the Utah State/Idaho State just announced for 2026 (they are also playing this year) qualifies for the Games to Follow on two factors: Historical (first met in 1904) and it’s a cross-border game. Competitive it is not - Utah State leads the series 18-2 and they have won two of the games (1911 and 1919) by the scores of 88-0 and 136-0. At least the Bengals will get $400k.

June 8th:

• Wondering today who might be the most overrated team in the FCS this year when looking at the top ten teams in preseason rankings. The candidates I see are William & Mary, Furman, Idaho and SEMO. Picking two - I would say that the Vandals and the Redhawks have the roughest go of it. Idaho has a winnable FBS game against Nevada - but they have five tough Big Sky conference games: Sacramento State, Montana, Montana State, Eastern Washington and Weber State. Meanwhile SEMO will most likely win the Big South - OVC alliance, but they have a tough non-conference schedule. They start the season against Kansas State, then host rival Southern Illinois - and a couple of weeks later they have road games against Eastern Kentucky and Central Arkansas. Won’t be easy for those two teams.

• The Pac-12 has four legitimate teams looking for the crown - and each will have their challenge or challenges before they start meeting head-to-head in mid-October. Oregon will travel to Washington on the 14th - but first will have to visit Lubbock (and former Duck QB Tyler Shough) on 9/9, while the Huskies will host Boise State to open the season before heading to East Lansing for a meeting with the Spartans two weeks later. A week later on the 21st, Utah will visit LA to take on the Trojans. The Utes path to LA will be the most arduous - before facing USC they will host Florida, visit Baylor, host UCLA and then travel to Corvallis to face Oregon State. Wow! The Trojans only big challenge heading into their meeting with Utah - a visit to South Bend on 10/14. I can’t wait to track and follow these teams heading into this first round of mid-season showdowns, as well as subsequent matchups between all of these contenders!

• Being one for milestone games - especially when it comes to rivalry games with trophies, I can’t help but cringe knowing that the next game between LSU and Tulane would be the 100th meeting between the two schools. Unfortunately, at this time, there are no future games planned against each other! What makes it tougher is that they played consecutively for 75 years from 1919 to 1994, but have only met six times since then - the last game having been played in 2009. The Tigers have a scheduled game against Louisiana Tech - but why not the Green Wave?

• Speaking of LSU, if their starters remain healthy (they don’t have a ton of depth), their combination of experience and impact players will make them a serious threat to Georgia’s three-peat. The FSU/LSU is very important to both teams, but I have to say that the Tigers will need to win because of what’s at stake for them. The discussion about the Seminoles is “Can they win the ACC and dethrone Clemson?” - slightly different expectations.

• This is turning into a SEC discussion day…the Big Ten will be announcing their “Flex” schedule for the next two years - which will put the SEC to shame after they decided to stick with 8 conference games in 2024. If they don’t respond with a better scheduling format - they deserve to be called pansies.

June 7th:

• A short time ago, I mentioned that Clemson and Auburn will be in a race this fall to see which program gets to 800 wins first. Well, if Michigan meets expectations in 2023, they will be the first college football program to reach 1,000 wins! The Wolverines are 11 wins shy of that magical number.

• Clemson just got their third top prospect in the last last three days for 2024 giving them a jump in the rankings. Their in-state rival has done well on the recruiting front as well, so the Clemson-South Carolina rivalry is heating up - not only on the field but also on the recruiting trail.

• The Lincoln Oaklanders are a Division II Independent team that started up their program two years ago. During that time they have played nineteen games - all on the road, and they have won three games - two against Division III teams. This fall will be the most challenging season for them thus far as they will again play all their games on the road AND they will be playing eight FCS teams! The results might be scary but at least they will have some nice paydays…

• Updating the Geneva (PA) - Westminster (PA) series record I have recorded (per Westminster’s Record Book), I was getting excited to see that this fall’s matchup would be the 125th game between the two schools. But my attention to detail made me confirm this, which got me into another can of worms. Westminster’s Game Notes, Series Record and Game Results are all different - while Geneva’s Series Record and Game Results are different from each other as well. The only match I found was Westminster’s Game Results and Geneva’s Series Record - so that is what I’m going with. Therefore, the 2023 game will be the 123rd in the series.

• Gettysburg College has had a rough go of it recently, going 1-9 in each of the last four years that they have played. The Bullets only wins during this stretch have come against one opponent: Juniata. Unfortunately the Eagles moved on to the Landmark Conference in 2023, but give the Bullets credit - they have made sure to schedule them as a non-conference opponent. So the former conference opponents will meet on September 2nd. Hopefully Gettysburg gets their season off on the right foot…

June 6th:

• Looks like QB Chase Herbstreit (2025 recruit) has a busy schedule of camps lined up in June: Michigan (7th), Ohio State (8th), Penn State (11th), Notre Dame (15th), Georgia (20th), and finally Alabama (21st). If he gets an offer from one of these schools it would be quite impressive.

• The end could be near for the ECFC (Eastern Collegiate Football Conference) - which is one of the weaker conferences (if not the weakest) in Division III. After the recent departures of Keystone (Landmark Conference) and SUNY-Maritime (NEWMAC), the conference is down to five members for 2023. Now I read that Castleton (VT) will be headed to the MASCAC in 2024. The four remaining teams (Alfred State, Anna Maria, Dean, and Gallaudet) might want to find new homes…

• Got into a discussion with someone from New York this weekend, and we were talking about SUNY schools (The State University of New York system), of which there are 64 colleges and universities (ten have football programs). I always pronounced it as “Sunny”, but it is actually pronounced like “Soon Knee”.

• Added a new game to my “Games to Follow” spreadsheet even though there are no future meetings scheduled at this time: Catholic vs. Gallaudet. This series fell through the cracks because the two schools have played only three times since 1994, and there really isn’t anything on their websites about the series. It’s a shame that the two don’t get together because their stadiums are only about three miles apart. For those familiar with the Metro in Washington D.C. - that is three metro stops. Both schools have plenty of non-conference games to schedule - so they should take the time to hammer out a series.

• Spent quite a bit of time yesterday looking at and comparing three different FCS Top 25/Playoff Projections. Five teams from the following conferences to watch: MVFC (South Dakota State, North Dakota State, North Dakota, Northern Iowa, and Southern Illinois): Big Sky (Montana State, Idaho, Sacramento State, Montana, and Weber State): CAA (William & Mary, New Hampshire, Delaware, Rhode Island and Richmond)

• Have enjoyed spending time going through the 2024 College Football Hall of Fame ballot found at the following website: footballfoundation,org. The ballot consists of 179 players and 41 coaches covering all NCAA divisions. An impressive fact and feat provided by the site: More than 5.6 million people have played the game - and only 1,074 players have been inducted. Very prestigious!

• Tough to see OL Mason Lunsford transfer from Maryland to LSU. Kind of suspicious to see him commit to the Tigers on the same day he entered the transfer portal…

• I hadn’t thought about it until reading it in an Athlon Sports’ article, but CUSA has lost 9 members since the end of the 2021 season. Three left for the Sun Belt last year, and six left the conference for the AAC in time for this fall.

June 4th:

• I thought that Zakhari Franklin would return to UTSA - and I certainly didn’t see him committing to Ole Miss. Big catch for Lane Kiffin!

• Texas got themselves another top quarterback commitment for 2025. Highly rated K.J. Lacey, who decided on the Longhorns over hometown Alabama, will enroll early (January 2025).

• Stumbled upon another Division III head coaching change - which makes 31 (footballscoop.com claims 25) new faces on the sidelines for the upcoming season. UMass Dartmouth head coach Mark Robichaud announced his retirement on February 2nd of this year. Robichaud coached the Corsairs for 16 seasons (70-81 overall record and 25-7 record the last three seasons of play), and led them to their first Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship this year.

• Framingham State had won four straight MASCAC titles (and ten of eleven) before UMass Dartmouth won in 2022. The Rams had gone 30-2 in conference play during that time, but were only 4-4 last year. Will the Rams regain their stranglehold on the conference in 2023 or will the Corsairs defend their title?

June 3rd:

• Another coaching change for 2023 - Demarcus White, who was the head coach for McDaniel (MD) in Division III, has resigned. Not good for the Green Terror because their website only lists two assistant coaches. Looks like a rough season for McDaniel.

• Last year I thought that I had all NCAA football teams represented in my Games to Follow spreadsheet. Well, as I was updating the spreadsheet today for some more 2023 Division III games I noticed that I didn’t have FDU - Florham listed. I quickly fixed that mistake by adding them three times for this fall with games against William Paterson, Delaware Valley, and Misericordia.

• Might be worth keeping an eye on the Devils this year because in the first 44 years of playing football, FDU - Florham had 39 losing seasons. In the last four seasons, the Devils have had three winning seasons, so another positive year might lead us to believe that they are really on the upswing.

June 2nd:

• Today’s thoughts are quick glances at the FCS games (2 Big Sky and 2 MEAC) that ESPN will televise this fall. All four Big Sky teams participated in the 2022 FCS playoffs while NC Central won the HBCU Football Championship after beating Jackson State in the Celebration Bowl

• On October 14th, Montana will visit the Kibbie Dome to take on the Vandals of Idaho for the Little Brown Stein - which is little for a stein. Last season’s game was a classic, and Idaho’s first win in the series since 1999. This will be the third straight year the Griz have been on ESPN, while Idaho makes their first appearance since 2018 - when they visited Gainesville to battle the Gators.

• Five days later (October 19th), NC Central play at Morgan State in Baltimore - the 45th meeting between the two schools. Morgan State leads the series against N.C. Central with an overall record of 24-18-2 since the teams first played on Nov. 15, 1930, but the Eagles have won the last five meetings including a 59-20 victory in their last matchup at O'Kelly-Riddick Stadium during the 2021 season.

• That Saturday, Sacramento State, the winner of 18 straight conference games, will host Montana State for the first time since 2016, and this will be their first meeting four years. Both teams tied for the Big Sky Championship last year, and the Bobcats made the FCS Championship game the year before - losing to North Dakota State. Montana State will look to end the Hornets’ conference winning streak.

• And the last of the four games takes place on Thursday, October 26th - South Carolina State will play at NC Central. The Bulldogs were the only conference opponent to defeat the Eagles last year, and they have won five of the last nine meetings since NC Central rejoined the MEAC back in 2011.

June 1st:

• The 2022-2023 Bowl Schedule was released yesterday. The former Cheez-It Bowl in Orlando is now the Pop-Tarts Bowl - which will be played on 12/28. And the Citrus Bowl is now the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl, which doesn’t make sense to me because the two don’t go together. And back to the Pop-Tarts Bowl for a moment…will the winning team have a contest to see how many pop-tarts can be consumed in a minute?

• I have learned to use the “Tweets from @FBSchedules” for more information on the website. It can be found on the right-hand side at the bottom of the page - the scroll bar will probably have to be used. I was making schedule adjustments from info there as some games were moved to weeknights - both in FBS and FCS.

• Eleven Power 5 head coaches were hired for the 2019 season. Only five remain after four seasons: Ryan Day, Mack Brown, Mike Locksley, Neal Brown, and Chris Klieman.

• Now that TV Schedules have been released, how long before we see lsufootball.net/tvschedule.htm populated with the games? I lean on this site quite often - both before and during the season.

• With eleven wins this year, Clemson will reach 800 wins and 50 Bowl Games played. Of course, if Auburn wins seven games, they too will reach 800 wins as a program. Could be a race into late November - early December.

• I used to really look forward to the Ivy League releasing their football schedule on ESPN, now it doesn’t mean much at all because you can see all the other games on ESPN+ - which is far better for me.

May 31st:

• Just moved another game to Thursday, August 31st: South Dakota at Missouri. Now there will be 28 Division I games that night. Only three months away…

• A game that I will be following that night: Washburn at Pittsburg State. These teams will be meeting for the 93rd time (Pitt State leads the series 64-27-1), having played for the first time in 1921, and met annually from 1941-2011. They didn’t face each other in 2012 because of an unbalanced schedule.

• Pittsburg State is the all-time winningest NCAA Division II football program. The Gorillas, who will be playing in their 116th season of intercollegiate competition, have compiled a 741-360-48 overall record. Pittsburg State is one of just two NCAA Division II institutions to have recorded 700 all-time victories - the other being Tuskegee. Pitt State should reach 750 wins later this season.

• Meanwhile, Washburn’s Craig Schurig, will be entering his 22nd season as the Ichabods’ head coach. Schurig has compiled an 137-92 record - first on the all-time wins chart at Washburn. He won his 100th career game back in 2016, becoming only the fifth MIAA coach to reach the century mark in victories. Before being named the Ichabod head coach , Schurig spent nine seasons on the Pittsburg State coaching staff.

• A couple of hours ago (7:30am?), ESPN’s staff posted a piece on things to see and keep an eye on in the month of September. Two things that jumped out to me: the Uigaleileis’ brothers in the pacific northwest - on opposite sides of the Oregon-Oregon State rivalry. Looks like the younger brother will be chasing down big brother. And Neal Brown (sitting on the hottest seat currently) has a difficult September schedule to navigate and survive: Penn State, Pitt, Texas Tech and TCU. Ouch.

• A lot of people seem to have faith in Joe Milton as QB of the Vols this fall. I don’t. He needs to develop some touch. For the sake of the game though - I hope he does.

• A simple realignment in Division III took away one of my “minor” Games to Follow this upcoming season…Maryville (TN) was Berry’s (GA) very first opponent when the Vikings started up football in 2003. Every year since, they have met during the first game of the season - until this year. With Southwestern’s (TX) move from the American Southwest Conference to the Southern Athletic Association - it meant one more conference game for Berry, so the Scots fell off their schedule for the first time. Of course I could be wrong, and think that the Vikings are just scheduling a playoff caliber team (Huntington) - just like themselves.

• Buffalo State, who has the longest current losing streak in Division III (24 games), appears to have three winnable games this year: Apprentice (9/9), Dean (9/16) and Hilbert (10/21). That is good news for the Bengals, who have lost 29 of 30 games since joining the Liberty League in 2019.

May 30th:

• Yesterday I officially sifted through ALL of my paperwork (some of it being five years old!) and finished organizing it hopefully in a manner to help me in the coming weeks and months. A lot of sheets were recycled, but I would say 50% of it is still relevant today.

• Tomorrow ESPN will release their first three weeks of tv listings - something I have been looking forward to for the last fourteen days. It will be fun to start planning my viewing schedule based on these listings and Games to Follow spreadsheet. Though I must admit, my schedule gets pretty (very) busy, so I mostly follow the scoreboard on ESPN and the games on ESPN+…

• I saw that CBS beat ESPN and released their SEC schedule. Outside of the first game on 9/16 (South Carolina at Georgia), the game in Jacksonville, FL (who could that be? lol), and the Black Friday matchup (Missouri at Arkansas), the network only provided their timeslots. Flexible scheduling I guess…

• The Bulldogs of Georgia have a lot of eyes on them to see if they can three-peat, but their is another Bulldog team (Ferris State) that has a better chance to three-peat this year. They have played in three of the last four Division II Championship games, and have been there with a different group of players under center. Ferris State is the new dynasty in their division.

• Back to college football on CBS - there are a couple more games to mention at this time: Air Force at Navy on 10/21 at noon, THE ARMY/NAVY GAME on 12/9 at 3pm, and a favorite bowl of mine - the Sun Bowl on 12/29 at 2pm.

• It’s going to be a challenge keeping track of the Big Ten on FOX, CBS, NBC, and the Big Ten network…

• More smoke around Colorado joining the Big 12. I’m surprised to hear myself say that it makes sense. Add Utah too.

May 29th:

• Less than 100 days until College Football begins again!

• Tracking transfers and where they go for the 2023 season is for the most part done as almost all the top players have found their new homes. Two names to still watch though: Zakhari Franklin - UTSA’s top pass-catcher, who is more than likely to return to the Roadrunners and Seydou Traore, a tight end who caught 50 passes for Arkansas State last year - who wants to play wide receiver this fall.

• It looks more and more likely that the SEC will play an 8-game conference schedule after adding Texas and Oklahoma next year. This means that we won’t see Georgia-Auburn, Alabama-Tennessee, and Texas-Texas A&M (among others) every year, but trying to find the positive - at least each team will face all the other conference opponents twice in a four-year period. Still, I would rather each team had 3 permanent rivals…

• I was hoping that Zach Wilson’s younger brother Isaac would choose BYU, but understandably he went with the Cougar’s rival Utah. Kyle Whittingham now has a solid option to replace Cameron Rising next year.

• Black Friday now has a second Big Ten game (Penn State at Michigan State) and a SEC matchup (Missouri at Arkansas). When you put these games with those that are already scheduled (which include Oregon State at Oregon, Iowa at Nebraska, TCU at Oklahoma and Texas Tech at Texas), you can’t help but get excited even if it’s still May!

• Even though Rhode Island lost two key players to Power 5 teams (CB Antonio Carter II to Notre Dame and OL Ajani Cornelius to Oregon), Athlon Sports projects that the Rams will make the playoffs for the first time since 1985. If so that would be great I think! This lofty expectation is because starting QB Kasim Hill (former Terp!) has been granted another year of eligibility.

• Adding to the Nebraska at Minnesota game on August 31st is the meeting on the sidelines between P. J. Fleck and Matt Rhule. Both got their first head coaching job in 2013 (Fleck at Western Michigan and Rhule at Temple), and even though their careers have taken separate paths, their roads will now intersect each other as Big Ten head coaches. A rivalry game that is more relevant and crucial to both schools because of these solid, above average head coaches.

May 27th:

• Way, way too long since typing up my thoughts - especially since things were headed in the direction where I had envisioned them to be, but I have been away from Wi-fi for a spell - and I have been going through paperwork that I have collected for the site since 2018, which I finished earlier this afternoon. There was a lot of recycling, but it surprised me as to how much was still relevant - especially rivalry game information.

• I am very happy with the number of visits I have had this month! YTD visits have been down from the prior year, but I was telling myself to be patient and keep on my current path. I just hope I have the time to execute what I envision in my head. Probably could use 48 hours in a day.

• Finding myself on Athlon Sports website quite a bit this month. It could be because I am trying hard not to purchase their College Football Preview magazine. Colorado seems to be front and center for a lot of articles they are publishing. One of them has the Buffs seriously considering joining the Big 12. Probably wouldn’t be them alone - as it would think that it would also include Arizona, Arizona State and Utah. To be honest - it wouldn’t be a bad conference realignment. Wouldn’t be bad to see Utah and BYU in the same conference again!

• I also noticed the Buffs added UMaine transfer Khairi Manns - an Edge Rusher from New York. Will be interested to see how much playing time he will end up with since he is the 15th Defensive Lineman to transfer in to Boulder.

• Lastly for tonight, I haven’t made as much progress as I wanted to with my Division III Games to Follow and Coaching Info spreadsheets. Was hoping for the end of May to have completed them - but it’s more like end of June now. Oh well…

May 19th:

• Discovered another two head coaching changes in Division III yesterday: Isaac Carter resigned from Millsaps (MS) to become the defensive coordinator at San Diego (FCS), while Joe Buehler retired at Lebanon Valley (PA).

• By my count - that brings the total of NCAA football coaching changes up to 109 for the 2023 season: FBS - 23, FCS - 27, Division II - 30, Division III - 29. I wouldn’t be surprised if I find more before the season begins…

• Kentucky kept quarterback Cutter Boley in-state, as Boley announced his commitment to the Wildcats yesterday. It sounds like a pretty sure thing for Kentucky as Boley plans to reclassify as a member of the 2024 class and enroll in Lexington this January. Perfect timing for Mark Stoops as he will be looking for a quarterback a year from now.

• An iinteresting transfer to follow this fall: Jaquae Jackson. A long list of schools were looking to sign this Division II (California, PA) receiver - but Rutgers got him. In three seasons playing for the Vulcans Jackson had 148 catches, 2,120 receiving yards and 23 touchdowns.

May 18th:

• Found a new website to sink my teeth into - nefootballjournal.com. Combing through it a bit last night, it provides some great information on Division I football teams in New England.

• The Seminoles continue to excel in the transfer portal. Yesterday they added wide receiver Keon Coleman - who lead Michigan State in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns. FSU is getting closer to taking the ACC title away from Clemson!

• Outside of the service academies (who have zero transfers coming in between them), here are the teams bringing in the fewest transfers: Clemson - 1, Iowa State - 3, Louisiana - 3, Georgia - 4, Vanderbilt - 4, UTEP - 4, Wyoming - 4

• I must be behind the times because I just noticed that former UMaine quarterback Joe Fagnano transferred to UConn back in the middle of January, Fagnano is reuniting with his former Black Bears head coach Nick Charlton, who is currently the offensive coordinator for the Huskies. If Joe can stay healthy he will provide some solid competition to expected starter Zion Turner.

• Sticking with UConn for a moment, 2022 was a pleasant surprise for Husky fans as they made a bowl game for the first time since 2015. Unfortunately, they lost to Marshall in the Myrtle Beach Bowl, leaving them with a 6-7 record on the year - the Huskies 11th straight losing season.

• Both Temple and Akron improved as the season went on last year with new head coaches Stan Drayton and Joe Moorhead - in fact, if they had won their one-possession games, they could have finished .500. On September 2nd, the former conference opponents (2007-2011) will meet in Philadelphia with both looking to kick the 2023 season off on the right foot. Perhaps the winning team might find themselves in a bowl game at the end of the season…

• For fans of FCS football - primarily the Ivy League, CAA, Big Sky and Southland - you can see what games (partial list I am sure) are currently scheduled for the subscription sites ESPN+ and FloSports. Go to FBSchedules.com, click on the FCS tab, and then click 2023 FCS Schedule.

• cbssports.com ranked all the Power 5 head coaches going into the 2023 season. Here are those whose stock climbed significantly after last year’s results: Mike Norvell (+28 spots), Sonny Dykes (+24 spots), Kalen DeBoer (+20 spots), Mike Elko (+20 spots) Chris Klieman (+19 spots), Lance Leipold (+19 spots), Josh Heupel (+17 spots), Bret Bielema (+17 spots).

• By the way, the top four coaches in this poll didn’t change: Nick Saban, Kirby Smart, Dabo Swinney, and Lincoln Riley.

May 17th:

• Three straight days of actually getting my passing thoughts typed? It’s about time that I got going in the right direction…

• Two running backs in the transfer portal announced their commitments yesterday - neither were a big surprise. Former Houston RB Alton McCaskill, coming off an ACL tear in 2022, will be joining Colorado and Louisiana native Logan Diggs (formerly with Notre Dame) will transfer back to the state and play for former head coach Brian Kelly at LSU.

• The other day I added Louisville vs. Georgia Tech to my Games to Follow spreadsheet. They will be meeting up at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in the 2023 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game in Atlanta. It will be a better than expected game as Jeff Brohm returns home to coach the Cardinals, while Brent Key led the Yellow Jackets to a very competitive 4-4 record over the final eight games of the 2022 season as the interim head coach.

• Finally added the Florida State vs. LSU to the Games to Follow document - not sure how it fell through the cracks, especially since it will more than likely be a Top Ten matchup. Sorry Eric! Interesting thing about the series - this will be the eleventh meeting between the schools (Seminoles currently lead the series 8-2), but only one game has been played in Tallahassee (1990 game).

• Looking at WLT Streaks, I happened to notice that Northwestern has the FBS record for All-Time Losing Streak (34 games from 9/22/1979 to 9/18/1982), and the Wildcats also have the longest current FBS Losing Streak at 11 games. The current Northwestern team is looking for their first win since beating Nebraska in Ireland last year on 8/27.

• So far ESPN has announced a whopping four games for the 2023 season. Two weeks from today though they will announce the first three weeks of the 2023 schedule as well as the December/January bowl schedule.

• Read a nice article about new Charlotte head coach Biff Poggi. Things I learned about the first-time college head coach: 1) Was a successful head coach at two different Baltimore high schools. 2) He is expecting to bring in 40 transfers by the time the season begins. 3) Poggi is pronounced as POE-jee.

• Charlotte bringing in 40 transfers for the 2023 season isn’t an exaggeration - Athlon Sports has an article detailing transfer portal additions by team, and the 49ers currently have 39! Six are from Maryland!!! By comparison - Colorado has 48 additions to the team from the portal…

• My willpower is going to be put to the test. Athlon posted on their website that their 2023 College Football Preview Magazine is now available - it can be purchased online now and it will hit newsstands starting on May 23rd. For $12.95 + shipping - I think that I will pass…

May 16th:

• Yesterday I spent 99% of my time in Division III as I started gathering information on its head coaches, as well as working my way through schedules to see what games I want to follow. 42 done, and only 199 to go…

• Got a glimpse of the new uniforms for Oklahoma State for this fall. They were unveiled yesterday - and I love them all! Now I’m excited for Bedlam, but I have to wait for another 172 days!

• Speaking of Bedlam, when the Sooners beat the Cowboys 28-13 last year, it was their 91st win in the series. It ties Oklahoma with Nebraska (vs. Kansas) for the most wins in the FBS against one program - a record that can be theirs alone with a win this fall over the Cowboys.

• Another coaching change for 2023, as David Walker stepped down as the head coach of Concord (WV) - a division II team that plays in the Mountain East Conference. In his three years as head coach of the Mountain Lions, Walker posted a 14-8 record - including a 9-2 mark last year.

• By my count, that will make the 30th head coaching change in Division II for 2023.

• My first thought when I heard that Dylan Raiola committed to Georgia - tough loss for Matt Rhule and Nebraska. Second thought - the rich get richer. I was hoping that Raiola would pick the Huskers because I would love to see them be serious contenders in the Big Ten.

• And how about the Big Ten getting prime games on FOX, CBS and NBC? I’m still trying to adjust to the conference not being on ABC…

• I just saw that Concord (WV) announced that they promoted Brian Ferguson to head coach. Ferguson has been the offensive coordinator for the Cougars for the last three seasons.

• Also discovered today as I have been working on Division III Coaching Info, is that King’s College (PA) announced their new head coach - a month ago. Oops. Skyler Fultz, the team’s offensive coordinator for the past five seasons, will inherit a program that had its best season in program history last year.

May 15th:

• The Ohio Valley Conference lost charter member Murray State to the Missouri Valley Football Conference starting this year, but starting in 2024 the conference will now have Western Illinois. The Leathernecks’ Athletic Director feels that the OVC will be a better fit for Western Illinois in that the schools are similar in enrollment, athletic budgets, and in academic programs they offer. A new start might be just what WIU needs as they were winless in 2022, and last enjoyed a winning record in 2017.

• Must admit that I chuckled when I read that the SCIAC (Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) was going to establish a football championship game. This would be only the second conference in the division to play a championship game - the other conference being the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The reason that this story gave me a chuckle was because the conference only has six teams. These teams will be put into two pods, and each team will play the schools in their pod twice, and the teams in the other pod once for a total of seven conference games. The teams with the best record in each pod will get to play in the championship game - with a playoff bid on the line. The two pods are named the “Sun” and “Surf” divisions…

• Sticking with the conference theme today…starting this fall, BYU will be playing in their fifth conference after having been independent since 2011. The Cougars previous conferences were: Rocky Mountain Faculty Athetic Conference (1922-1937), Mountain States/Skyline Conference (1938-1961), Western Athletic (1962-1998) and the Mountain West Conference (1999-2010). They were charter members of the last three conferences. What surprised me most about their previous memberships was that they had a conference record of 87-127-16 in forty years with the Rocky Mountain and Mountain States/Skyline conferences, but then turned it around in the Western Athletic. In their 37 years with the conference, the Cougars posted a 187-69-2 conference record, with a total of 19 conference titles and one National Championship (1984).

May 12th:

• I have been so busy with things other than college football this past week, but last night I made it a point to sit down on our deck and shuffle through some paperwork to remind myself what info I have gathered so far this year. Had an amusing moment while doing this…I got up from the table to deliver my wife a beverage and snack (she was enjoying the sun while I hid under the umbrella), and a sudden breeze came up and blew some of my papers across the deck. Deb showed concern for me - but I think deep down she was laughing…

• While doing this paperwork, I was reminded by a Phil Steele email that it’s that time of year when preview magazines are available. In the past I have swarmed the bookstores to get each one of them, but this year could be different. I might go a year without purchasing one simply because there is so much information out there on the web. Never thought I would say that being how I poured through them cover to cover for years…

• Recently the world of college football learned that Buddy Teeven’s bike accident was more serious than originally thought - as it was disclosed that he had to have a leg amputated. So, he will not be roaming the sidelines this season as he continues his recovery from his injuries. Sammy McCorkle, who has coached 18 years under Teevens will lead the Big Green through the 2023 season.

• A few days ago Joe Kapp passed away at the age of 85. Besides being hardnosed, his claim to fame was that he was the only quarterback to play in the Rose Bowl, Grey Cup and the Super Bowl. He both played (he led the Bears to their last Rose Bowl appearance in 1959) and coached at Cal - where he was the winning head coach in the famous 1982 Cal-Stanford game.

• The new Ryan Field at Northwestern looks quite impressive from the drawings/blueprints. The seating will be reduced by 12,000 - and in the words of the school’s website “It will feature a lower and more appealing profile than the current stadium and will serve as a year-round hub for community activities.” There will also be a state-of-the-art canopy that will reduce light and noise for the surrounding neighborhood. Until it’s built, the Wildcats will play at Soldier Field.

May 4th:

• Last year when Oregon visited Oregon State in “The Rivalry Series” (not “The Civil War” anymore), the two rivals were meeting as ranked teams for the first time since 2012, and fourth time overall. If the 2023 preseason rankings hold true, it will happen again when the Beavers roll into Autzen Stadium on Friday, November 24th.

• I must admit that I have been reading quite a bit about what’s happening at Colorado with all the comings and goings on the Buffs roster. I feel bad for the kids that are being told to look elsewhere for playing time, but I can understand where Sanders is coming from because he won’t be able to win with the roster that was in place at the end of the 2022 season. I find myself feeling worst for the fans because as soon as Colorado starts winning, Sanders will bolt for another opportunity elsewhere - and the next coach will have to rebuild from scratch because the players Sanders recruits will bolt just as fast as “Prime Time”.

• Recently I read that someone (USA Today writer I believe) thought that AAC newcomer UTSA would win the conference. Not a bad pick since quarterback Frank Harris is returning to the Roadrunners for his seventh year after leading them to the last two CUSA championships. Somehow, I think that the reigning Cotton Bowl champs will have something to say about that. On Saturday, November 25th (moving to Friday, the 24th?), UTSA will be coming to New Orleans to take on the Green Wave. Should be an exciting game!

May 3rd:

• One thing I don’t do well with this blog or website - I don’t type out my thoughts when they come to me throughout the day or my work on putting together spreadsheets of info. Here are a couple of things I thought of at some point today…

• The last couple of days I have been working on pulling together a few more weeks of the 2023 FCS weekly schedules. I can now say that I have worked through the first nine weeks of the season, which gets it through October. Just four more to go…

• While doing this, I was wondering why Bryant College left the NEC to join the Big South - which now is in partnership with the Ohio Valley Conference. To me the Bulldogs should be playing other teams located in New England (Merrimack, Stonehill or Sacred Heart) - and not traveling to the likes of Lindenwood or Eastern Illinois. Realignment sometimes just confounds me.

• I also realized today that my Games to Follow spreadsheet is still not complete in the FBS tab. Troy will be visiting Kansas State - to not only collect a check ($1.4 million), but to also give the Wildcats one helluva a game (remember last year’s Tulane/Kansas State game?). The next week, the Trojans will host James Madison - a team that should be favored to win the Eastern Division of the Sun Belt. Both games are worthy of being in the spreadsheet…

April 30th:

• The draft has concluded and had some high points for me, as well as low points. Five Terps heard their names called - including first round pick Deonte Banks, who went to the New York Giants. It was great seeing Chad Ryland getting drafted by the Patriots, but a tad disappointing that Jaelyn Duncan dropped to the sixth round. The other high point was having two Division II players drafted - both in the 7th round. Wingate’s punter Ethan Evans and Jake Witt out of Northern Michigan were selected - and Witt’s story (which was told on The Athletic website) leading up to the draft was a great read.

• Low points: the lack of FCS players drafted - only ten heard their names, which was the third lowest total since the draft went to seven rounds, and down from 24 getting drafted last year. The second low point - Army’s Andre Carter not getting drafted after being projected as a potential 1st or 2nd round pick. Could have to do with his potential eligibility of not being able to play in the NFL…

• Made some updates earlier in the week - primarily to the schedule tab. The Big Ten had some games (Indiana State/Indiana, Virginia/Maryland, Wisconsin/Purdue and Illinois/Nebraska) move to Friday night - which makes the Friday night schedule through September worth watching, especially the 22nd.

• On April 21st it was announced that Texas State would renew its rivalry with Sam Houston in 2024 after Liberty canceled their game with the Bobcats. Former conference rivals, these two schools were charter members of the Lone Star Conference in 1931 before both moving to the Gulf Star Conference (1984-86) and then the Southland Conference (1987-2010). The last meeting between the two was in 2011 when Texas State was an independent FCS member and transitioning to the FBS level.

• My funny story (or discouraging depending on how you look at it) regarding the series above: I checked four sources against each other for the “series record” between the two schools - and all four sources had a different record. Since two sources (Sam Houston’s Record Book and mcubed.net database) had detailed series records, so I matched the two going year to year (starting in 1915!). Sam Houston had a series record that included 94 games, while mcubed had 90 games. I found two games that mcubed appeared to miss, and scratched my head as to why there was still a discrepancy of two games. So I counted the dates from Sam Houston, and discovered that they really had listed 92 games - not the 94 in the series total. Therefore my Games to Follow series record for this rivalry has a fifth series record…92 games (mcubed.net’s database + the two games it missed that Sam Houston had).

April 27th:

• A bit too long since the last time one of my many thoughts made it to my finger tips and keyboard - but since the NFL Draft starts tonight, there’s no better time to get this rolling again. My eyes will be on any Terps that get drafted - as well as any lower division player that has his name announced. Exciting next couple of days!

• Speaking of the Terps, I am thrilled to see that they are bringing back the “Script” uniforms. The word iconic was used in the announcement, which is true in my case - as the uniform was introduced in 1982 and I hit the campus in the fall of 1983. A lot of great games and memories those next few years!

• Since my last entry, I have worked gathering head coaching information - now through Division II. I have also put together my list of Games to Follow for that division by visiting each school’s website to see if there 2023 schedules have been posted yet. All this collecting of info has certainly helped me learn more about this division that doesn’t get much attention in the media.

• Now while talking about the Terps and Division II Head Coaches, I discovered that the Wingate Bulldogs (just southeast of Charlotte - on the South Carolina border) head coach is Joe Reich - Frank Reich’s brother. Joe has been the head coach of the Bulldogs since 2001, and his next win will be the 150th of his career at Wingate. The all-time winningest coach at Wingate has amassed a career 149-89 record! Of course, the program was only started in 1986…

March 29th:

• Continued collecting information on current FCS coaches today. When you have a bunch of data in front of you, it’s pretty easy to come up with little tidbits to pass on or write about. Will do my best to hold off sharing anything until I have the document finished.

• So good to see Louisiana Tech and ULM renewing their series - though it is still eight seasons away. These schools first met in 1953 and have played 43 times overall. The Bulldogs won the most recent contest in the series in 2000 in Monroe, 42-19, their eighth consecutive victory in the series which extended their overall advantage to 29-13.

March 28th:

• Today I noticed on a Division II football website (D2Football) that two of the openings for head coaches (Saint Augustine and University of Mary) were filled within the last few days. I was thinking that we were done with hirings in 2023, but then realized that there are still two openings: San Diego (FCS) and King’s (Division III)

• It appears that Dale Lindsey refutes the story that he is headed off to retirement. San Diego announced that he was retiring after ten years as the Toreros head man, but in Lindsey own words, “I did not f___ing retire” Seems like he’s got plenty left in the tank - even at the age of 80! Lindsey went 80-30 in 10 seasons with the Toreros, including a 68-8 record in the Pioneer Football League (San Diego had a 41-game conference winning streak from 2015 to Spring 2021). In addition, San Diego won at least a share of the conference title seven times and went to the FCS playoffs five times.

• Three FBS teams have Owls as a nickname: Temple, Rice, and Florida Atlantic. With the recent realignment for 2023 in the AAC (Rice and Florida Atlantic joining from CUSA), the conference currently has a monopoly on Owl mascots. It will last for only one year though because Kennesaw State moves up to the FBS next year…

• Another update has to be done to my Female Mascots in FBS College Football piece because Temple’s live mascot is named Stella.

March 27th:

• I continue to be busy revising and updating various spreadsheets that I have put together over the last six or seven years. Feeling pretty enthused because I’m currently quite a bit ahead of last year. Happy with my progress!

• My new piece of work is gathering key information on head coaches from each division. Not all divisions are created equal, so multiple websites must be used to get all the info needed: Head Coach, DOB, Current Team, Record with Current Team, Conference Record with Current Team, Overall Record, Alma Mater, and Previous Head Coaching Experience. Might be more than I need, but better to have too much than not enough.

• The above mentioned spreadsheet led me to a new “Game to Follow” as father and son (Dan Hawkins and Cody Hawkins) will meet on November 11th when UC Davis visits Idaho State in a battle of Big Sky teams.

• Updating my All-Time Record by Team spreadsheet made me realize how similar Central Arkansas and Eastern Kentucky are - both in longevity and success. They started their programs a year apart (1908 and 1909), both have over 600 wins, and both have won 60% of their games. Though they have met only four times - it feels like their games are worthy of keeping an eye on…

• My last thought of today - at this point almost all the FCS schools have posted their 2023 schedules. The ones that have missing pieces: Davidson, Dayton, Butler, Marist, St. Thomas, and Presbyterian. All Pioneer League teams.

March 20th:

• Long time since I got to this piece of the site…it has been a busy, busy, busy time updating my documents - which should be in good shape by the beginning of April. While waiting for Division II and III teams to post their schedules, I have moved on to getting current with Team Records (All-Time) and Teams by State and their nicknames.

• Speaking of Teams by State and their nicknames - I just put the finishing touches on that document this morning. Was surprised by how much has changed since the last time I worked on it back in 2016 - from conference realignments to changes in nicknames to new teams and discontinued teams. Will have more to share on this in the coming weeks.

• I have also updated the All-Time Records (have to change the name of the spreadsheet to this) for FBS and FCS teams. By the end of the week, I should be able to get through the other two divisions. Hopefully I will be on top of teams hitting milestone wins (or losses) as the season transpires through the fall. There are a lot of things I see when plugging through the work - it’s just a question of remembering it or seeing it again…LOL

• I am pleased with my progress in the Rivalry and Traditional Games spreadsheet - though I need to rename this as well (probably to Games to Watch and Follow) because it has evolved. Like the All-Time Records document, I have made it through the FBS and FCS divisions. I have 684 games to watch and/or follow for these divisions - and by the time I am done, I expect the total of all divisions to exceed 1,500! A lot of reading and watching in the fall months…

March 9th:

• Added two weeks of FBS schedules this morning - the first two of October (weeks 6 and 7). Never got beyond September’s schedule in 2022, so there is definite progress on this front in 2023. My hope is to add content to the games starting this summer.

• As I was typing in games for Week 7 (10/10 thru 10/14 matchups), I came across BYU at TCU. It hit me that this will be the third conference these teams share - though the first two were brief, as they were in the WAC for a couple of seasons and the Mountain West for around five years. I’m thinking that they will be in the Big 12 for a bit longer than the first two go rounds.

• I looked at Southern Utah’s current and future schedules yesterday as I determined how many of their games I would be following. Since they left the Big Sky after a decade for the WAC there won’t be much this year, but the Thunderbirds have been busy scheduling former Big Sky opponents starting with UC Davis this year. Next year, Idaho State will be on the schedule. Then in 2026, the Beehive Bowl with Weber State will be resumed for six years, and starting in 2028 Northern Arizona (HintonBurdick Grand Canyon Trophy) will appear as an opponent for the next twelve years. I like how the Thunderbirds have set up their future non-conference schedule with former Big Sky opponents!

March 8th:

• Wow - quite a while since I have had something to say! Guess I have been locked in on putting together my list of games to follow this fall in both the FBS and FCS. Currently the number is at 567. By the time I am done looking at Division II and III games (by June), that number will be over 1500 games! Kind of interesting that I already have 20 games listed for Week 1 of 2024…

• A couple of days ago I was getting ready to add a new head coach vacancy because Northern Michigan hired Finlandia head coach Mike DuFrane to become their defensive coordinator. Unfortunately, news broke on Monday that Finlandia was going to close their doors. Located in Michigan’s upper peninsula, tbe Lions were the smallest Division III school (current enrollment is about 430 students) to field a football team.

• By my calculation, there are still four head coach vacancies, not including interim coaches, between Division II (St. Augustine, SW Oklahoma State, UMary) and Division III (King’s College). I wouldn’t be surprised if I find more firings when I start looking at the 2023 schedules of these divisions.

• After the Mountain West released their schedule last week, I went in and updated the weekly schedules I have under the 2023 FBS Schedule tab. Never say never, but I don’t think that I will need to add or change any more games at this point. Soon I will have to start on the weekly schedules in October - something I never got to last year.

• FCS Transfers. I got the latest numbers from Herosports.com: Going from FCS to FBS: 205 players. Dropping from FBS to FCS: 265 players. And, going from one FCS team to another FCS team: 201 players. A couple of things that got my attention: Dartmouth is losing three players to Robert Morris - no idea why. While Northern Arizona is getting five player from Big Sky foes.

March 2nd:

• The Mountain West will release their conference schedule today at 3:00pm - the final FBS conference to submit their matchups. Conferences that still need to release their complete schedules (I believe): MEAC, NEC, Patriot League and the Pioneer League. Some teams from the Patriot and MEAC have released their schedules - but not all teams.

• A couple of things I was noticing about the MAC schedule: Ohio kicks off their season in Week Zero against San Diego State - a matchup of two solid Group of Five teams that should compete for their respective conference championships. The MAC’s conference schedule will start on September 23rd, when Ohio will visit Bowling Green (75th game in the series) and Western Michigan will travel east to Toledo and face off against the Rockets for the 78th time (Rockets lead the series 45-32). And lastly, MACtion starts off this year on Halloween night with two games!

• I was very happy to see that Memphis and Southern Miss have signed off on a home-and-home series that begins in 2027. The competition between the teams has been intense, and since the teams’ colors are black (Southern Miss) and blue (Memphis), the game is known as the Black and Blue Bowl. They haven’t met since the Tigers joined the AAC back in 2013, and so far the Golden Eagles have gotten the best of the series, as they lead it 40-22-1.

• Couldn’t help but notice Nicholls 2025 Non-Conference schedule: at Troy, at Stephen F. Austin, and at Texas State. All three of those teams are former conference opponents. The Trojans played the Colonels in the Gulf South and the Southland Conference, before moving up to the FBS. The Lumberjacks were opponents of Nicholls for almost thirty years in the Southland before moving to the WAC. Lastly, the Bobcats were also in the Southland, for about twenty years, before they also moved up to the FBS. Three familiar opponents for Nicholls - and $650k for their bank account. Nice scheduling!

March 1st:

• Busy end of February kept me from getting some thoughts into words, but I have been doing steady work on my spreadsheets in getting ready for the Fall. Nothing like keeping college football on the mind all year long - but I do admit that I have one eye focused on March Madness. Can’t wait for the conference tournaments to begin!

• Also keeping an ear to the ground regarding future realignment. There are always surprises, but my current predictions: Washington, Oregon, Stanford and Cal to the Big Ten. Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah to the Big 12. Clemson and Florida State to the SEC. Lastly, Washington State and Oregon State to Mountain West. Obviously, I don’t feel that the Pac-12 will survive, which is sad in my eyes, but without USC and UCLA, it really isn’t the same. And when they don’t get their media money folks are going to jump ship quickly. Also, I don’t believe that the Big Ten will leave the Trojans and Bruins on an island by themselves out on the West Coast.

• Good to see a home-and-home series between Mississippi State and Tulane on the books, but instead of being played in 2020 and 2023, it has been pushed out another seven years. The games are now scheduled to be played in 2030 and 2032. The Bulldogs lead the series, that started in 1901, 30-26-2. Two of the SEC charter members, these schools haven’t met since 2007.

• There is another great non-conference Division III matchup on the first weekend of the season: Delaware Valley at Cortland. The Aggies finished 12-1 last season, advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals, and will bring a 28-game regular-season winning streak into the contest while Cortland is the two-time defending Empire 8 champion. The Red Dragons finished 9-2 last season and went 11-1 in 2021.

• I forgot to mention earlier that the MAC will be releasing its conference schedule at around 11:00 this morning…

February 25th:

• The Sun Belt released their conference schedule, which means we are that much closer to have all the FBS conferences - just waiting on the MAC and Mountain West. New/changed games from the Sun Belt have been entered on my spreadsheet and this website to the best of my abilities.

• Not only were there conference games added, but a couple of non-conference games as well. In fact, Marshall announced a new game with Albany in early September, so their game with Central Connecticut in mid-September was canceled, and I found out that Kent State filled the Thundering Herd’s slot with the Blue Devils.

• Had three rivalry/trophy games resuming on 9/20/25 between former conference rivals (Louisiana Tech/Southern Miss, Marshall/Ohio, and Texas State/Nicholls), but I just noticed that the “Battle for the Bell” between the Thundering Herd and the Bobcats has now been pushed out until 9/11/27. Ugh.

February 24th:

• Have to be quick tonight as I am expected upstairs…

• Updated my All-Time Records by Team document today - reflecting all the conference changes for the upcoming season. Now that it’s organized, I will need to add all the 2022 team records to reflect the latest All-Time Records.

• I also spent some time looking for released 2023 schedules for Division II and III teams/conferences. Had some success (NESCAC, Centennial, Mid-American, Great American), so with this combination, I can get started on getting these schedules for the smaller divisions into my Rivalry/Trophy Games spreadsheet.

• Have to come up with a new name for the above mentioned spreadsheet that I maintain. It’s becoming more of a Games to Follow or Games to Watch document because I am starting to be more extensive or more inclusive in games that I am including. Competitive series are important or games between charter members of a conference are good as well - even if the conference has been around for only 30-40 years. The more I research, the more I find out about teams/games that makes me want to keep an eye on them this fall or in the future…

February 23rd:

• Did some work on my Rivalry/Trophy Games spreadsheet this morning - and was very happy to add a game between two old rivals. Louisiana Tech and Northwestern State will meet on Sept. 9th this fall. The schools are separated by less than 75 miles, and have a long history on the gridiron (haven’t played since 2017 though) as they have met a total of 79 times with the Bulldogs holding a 54-20-5 advantage in the series. The Demons will get $400k for playing the game!

• My attention then got me to looking at the 2023 schedule of the Hampton Pirates, who will be entering their second season in the CAA. One of their opponents will be North Carolina A&T - who are just entering the CAA this fall. Digging a bit into their history, I discovered that since 1925, the Pirates and Aggies have been in three conferences together before the CAA: CIAA (Division II - 1925 to 1970), MEAC, and Big South (very short time!).

• While looking into the membership history of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA), I noticed that Bluefield State will be joining the conference this fall. The Big Blue, who reside in Bluefield, West Virginia, were members of the CIAA from 1932 through 1955, when they departed to join the West Virginia Athletic Conference with West Virginia State. They disbanded football team after the 1980 season, but restarted the program just two seasons ago.

• Lastly, while poking around the CIAA’s website, I discovered that David Bowser had resigned as head coach and athletic director of Saint Augustine back in mid-January. This is an opening that had slipped through the cracks - but I got it now. Bowser was 2-15 in two seasons as SAU’s head coach.

• You never know where the long and winding road will take you from day-to-day in the vast world of College Football…

February 22nd:

• Spent some time this morning on updating my weekly September schedules for both FBS (some AAC games) and FCS (misc. games for teams that released their schedules the last few days). We are now waiting on three FBS conferences to release their schedules: MAC, Mountain West and Sun Belt. I’m thinking that we should see them between now and the first week of March.

• Last night I was working through Eastern Illinois’ schedule and I came upon an updated Most All-Time FCS Playoff Appearances by School list - of which the Panthers were listed - even though it has been seven years since their last playoff game. Here are the ten CURRENT FCS teams with the most appearances: Montana (26), Northern Iowa (22), Eastern Kentucky (22), Furman (19), Delaware (18), New Hampshire (17), Eastern Illinois (16), McNeese (16), Eastern Washington (15) and Villanova (14). Just missing this list: North Dakota State (13). Since the Bison are perennial playoff participants, they will be included in this list possibly as soon as next year…

• Did some updating to my spreadsheet that contains Rivalry/Trophy Games for all divisions - as well other games that are worth watching or following. The document is almost 2,000 lines, with more to be added as schedules get posted and I further scrutinize matchups in 2023 and beyond.

• Visited the website for the Centennial Conference to see if there is any 2023 schedule information. The conference is going through a membership change as Juniata, Susquehanna and Moravian have all left to join the Landmark Conference, which has added football for the 2023 season. Previous Centennial schedules have had nine conference games and one non-conference game, but this upcoming season will now require four non-conference games since there are only seven members remaining. By the looks of the schedule, the CC has moved forward with an agreement with the New Jersey Athletic Conference - probably for travel reasons. I would have rather seen games with the Liberty League in New York or the Old Dominion Conference in Virginia. :(

• One Centennial Conference team that has scheduled their 4th non-conference: Johns Hopkins. This first-ever meeting between Johns Hopkins and Ithaca next season will be one of the top games in the nation and provide Division III football fans a must-watch game in week one. Adding to the intrigue, current Ithaca coach Mike Toerner spent seven seasons as an assistant coach at Johns Hopkins from 2010-16 as he worked closely with Blue Jay head coach Greg Chimera, who had joined the Blue Jay staff in 2009.

February 21st:

• My original thought this morning was to bang out my thoughts for the day, but I became quickly distracted catching up on some reading - especially on The Athletic website. I absolutely got lost in the two articles Jayson Jenks put together on Mike Leach - and it wasn’t long before I was on Amazon looking at books on this unique coach. Shouldn’t have been surprised to see that he co-authored a book on Geronimo! I even found myself looking past 2023 and reading pieces by Sam Kahn Jr. and Andy Staples about what the future could look like in college football.

• I also spent some time this morning trying to find out if there are just two more head coach openings (UMary and King’s) - or if there is a third (Finlandia). Craig Bagnell stepped down at UMary to pursue another opportunity - but it has yet to be announced. When he was hired in 2018, Bagnell was the youngest head coach in college football. And a few days ago Jeff Knarr has stepped down after leading the Monarchs to one of their best seasons ever in 2022. Knarr was King’s head coach for thirteen seasons. I just can’t confirm that Mike DuFrane (Finlandia’s head coach) has been hired away to be the new defensive coordinator at Northern Michigan, so I will stick with two new head coach openings.

• The AAC announced their conference schedule earlier this afternoon. FBSchedules has a complete listing of the conference’s games, but the best piece I have found today on the released games means going back to The Athletic. What caught my attention most were the six games that are expected to be played every year. I’m in agreement with four of them - but would make one quick change that would alter two games. I feel that Rice-SMU and UTSA-North Texas would make for better annual games, especially since the Owls and Mustangs were former SWC rivals.

February 17th:

• I saw on FBSchedules that some more teams have released their complete schedules for next fall, so I spent some time this morning editing the weekly schedules on this site. Most of the changes were to the FCS schedules - where teams are either adding their final opponent or getting out their conference schedule.

• NC Central was one of those teams, as the Eagles announced their opening week game to be against former Division II foe Winston-Salem State. This will be the 47th meeting between NCCU and WSSU since the two teams first met in 1945, with the Eagles holding a slim advantage in the series, 24-22, after having won six of the last eight contests. Another interesting note is that the Rams’ head coach, Robert Massey, was inducted into the NCCU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2004.

• Looking at the early part of their schedule after the opening game listed above, NC Central has a couple of interesting games to follow: On Sept. 9, the Eagles visit Greensboro to face North Carolina A&T State University. This will be the 94th meeting between the Eagles and Aggies, who have split the last 16 match-ups. On Sept. 16, NCCU will become just the second HBCU to play UCLA on the gridiron, when the Eagles take on the Bruins at Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California. This will mark NCCU's first football trip to the west coast since 2008.

• One more thing regarding NC Central’s upcoming season…On Oct. 7, NCCU makes its shortest trip of the season, a 40-mile drive to Elon University for the Eagles' final non-conference contest of the regular season. Members of the Colonial Athletic Association, the Phoenix advanced to the FCS playoffs and secured a national ranking in the top-20 last season. And what I learned about Elon today is that the university’s 600-acre campus is recognized by the Princeton Review as one of the nation’s most beautiful college environments. The campus has been designated a botanical garden, and includes the 56-acre Elon University Forest, a land preserve and natural area for scientific research.

• Today’s thoughts are the way things should be with this blog - looking up one thing and then finding three or four other tidbits to write about that are in a way all connected. I love this sport!

February 16th:

• One more note regarding Tennessee State and their 2023 schedule. For the first time in 30 years, the Tigers will play someone other than Jackson State in the Southern Heritage Classic - which is played in Memphis, TN. TSU will play Arkansas-Pine Bluff, after Jackson State opted out of the Classic over financial issues related to traveling to Memphis.

• Something I didn’t know…Mississippi State was the first-ever team ranked #1 by the College Football Playoff Selection Committee (Florida State was ranked #2) back on October 28, 2014. In fact, they held that position for three weeks until Alabama beat them on Nov. 15th to take over the #1 ranking. Ultimately, the Buckeyes took the National Championship that year…

• Other tidbits regarding the College Football Playoff Selection Rankings: Both Alabama and Ohio State have appeared in all 54 rankings - though the Tide has been ranked 1st 24 times, as opposed to the Buckeyes, who have been ranked 1st on three occasions. Four other teams (besides MSU, Alabama, and OSU) can say that they have been ranked 1st: Georgia, Clemson, Tennessee, and LSU. And lastly, a total of 83 teams have appeared in the 54 CFP Selection Committee rankings since the fall of 2014.

February 15th:

• When going over Boston College’s schedule for next fall, I was discouraged to see that their trophy game with Clemson was not there. But I soon realized that my glass was half full because November will be loaded with former Big East opponents: Syracuse (11/3), Virginia Tech (11/11), Pitt (11/16), and Miami (11/24) - with three of the games being either Thursday or Friday.

• In addition to the games listed above for the Eagles, they will play three regional teams: UConn, Army and Holy Cross. These series all began between 1896 and 1917, so there is some history to these games. An exciting 2023 schedule for the BC Eagles!

• Ohio Valley Conference member Tennessee State announced their schedule today. TSU will kick off its 2023 schedule with a trip to South Bend, Ind., to take on Notre Dame on September 2. It will mark the first time in program history the Irish will face an HBCU when the Tigers make their trip north for the Irish's 2023 home opener. TSU will become the first FCS school to play Notre Dame since the subdivision split, and the game will be televised nationally on NBC. Big game for Eddie George and Tennessee State!

February 13th:

• A couple of days ago I read the most recent copy of Dartmouth’s newspaper. In its pages a saw an article about how Buddy Teevens, the school’s winningest football coach, has been shoveling the field’s midfield D every time it snows ever since Memorial Field installed artificial turf in 2006. The funny thing is, Teevens does it all by himself - declining offers of assistance from his staff and players.

• Looking at my Rivalry and Traditional Games spreadsheet, I noticed that the first rivalry conference game (outside of Week Zero) will be Nebraska at Minnesota on Thursday, August 31st. My first thought is that it is one of the better under-the-radar games between rivals - and deserves more attention. I’m already thinking that I am going to get almost as much enjoyment watching this game as I did when watching last year’s West Virginia at Pitt battle.

• Piecing together Army’s 2023 games that I can’t wait to follow - there is quite a list of games that are worthy of my attention. First off you have to start with the Navy (of which I hope to attend this year!) and Air Force games, but toss in old regional rivals that haven’t played the Black Knights in a while: Boston College, Syracuse and Holy Cross (a top 10 FCS team). And to top it off, Army will play the likes of LSU, UTSA, and Troy. Might be a tough season record wise for the Black Knights - but you have to love these matchups!

February 10th:

• The first thing I noticed this morning was the announcement that Oklahoma and Texas will thankfully leave the Big 12 after this season and join the SEC a year early in 2024. Now with the SEC going to 16 games, I am already looking forward to seeing their 2024 schedule (will they be able to release it in September?) - especially the return of the Texas/A&M rivalry!

• I was also reading an article this morning from a newspaper in Denton, TX. North Texas, who is now in a conference with longtime rival SMU (was going to make fun of “longtime rival” - but they did play their first game just over 100 years ago), is worried that it might be over before it really ever begins. The Pac-12 Commissioner is visiting SMU as they realize that the conference needs more members for a new media rights deal. The other target would be San Diego State. If the Mustangs do get invited to join the Pac-12, the Mean Green will still have three regional conference rivals in the AAC: UTSA, Rice and Tulsa

February 9th:

• Just finished posting FCS Weekly schedules up through Week 5 moments ago. Will pause here for a bit until more conferences announce their schedules for the year as I believe that we are waiting for three more conferences (MEAC, NEC, and Pioneer)

• Must admit I have enjoyed typing up these schedules the last couple of days. Seeing good non-conference games, a few matchups with Division II teams, with some conference games sprinkled in makes the first few weeks well-rounded. I look forward to digging into these games a bit more in the coming weeks/months…

• About a month ago, I was thrilled to see that Maine Maritime is going to reinstate their football program in time for 2025! When they return, the Mariners will be an associate member of the Commonwealth Coast Conference - which is much better from my perspective than the NEWMAC. Today’s CCC is comparable to the old New England Football Conference that was started in 1965. Maine Maritime was a charter member, along with Curry - which is in the CCC as well.

• Other former NEFC teams that are part of the CCC today: Nichols (1972) and Western New England (1981). The Mariners will also play Husson and the University of New England in the CCC, both of which should turn into great in-state rivals sooner than later!

February 8th:

• Has been a busy day opening and working on this document and that document…Week 5 of the FBS schedule has been posted on the site, as well as Weeks 1 and 2 of the FCS schedule for next fall. It is my hope to have through Week 5 for the FCS posted by end of day Friday.

• I have also been fiddling around with my lists of coaching changes. FBS teams finished hiring quite a while ago, and FCS wrapped up their hiring this week when Bethune-Cookman announced that they are bringing Raymond Woodie aboard as their head coach. Looking at all Divisions, there were 100 positions that needed to be filled - and 98 of them have been as of yesterday. The two remaining openings - Division II’s Southwestern Oklahoma State and Division III’s Allegheny College.

• To find all of these new head coaches for 2023, I have had to use numerous sources. Which gets me to thinking that I have the most comprehensive list of new hires when putting all of the divisions together…now I just have to spend some time to put together some notes on these new coaches

• A funny story to end today’s thoughts…quite often I have notes/papers on things I find from site to site, and I keep them in my lunch bag. Whenever I take the truck, I put my lunch in the bed up against the cab thinking all will be good. Well, the other day my wife and I were driving down the highway and it was quite windy - and unfortunately I didn’t zip my bag. Sure enough I looked in my rear view mirror and noticed paper flying out onto the highway. Not the brightest thing I have done - but I was smart enough to find the info again to replace what I lost to mother nature…

February 7th:

• Very obvious that my new year thoughts for this post aren’t going as planned since it has been three weeks of no entries and little to no progress. But like life, things don’t always go the way that you want them or think they should go - and I have been dealing with a good dose of that recently. So, in taking my own advice - where one door closes, another will open - you just have to find it and walk on through.

• With that being said, I can happily exclaim that I continue to enjoy college football every day - in one form or another.

• I have been guilty of being a gatherer and spending more time than I have available thinking about what to say or write, but to be successful with this blog, I’m now wondering if I should jot down my thoughts at the moment they happen to fit my schedule.

• So…I was proud of myself for diligently putting together a weekly September 2023 FBS schedule, but I was beaten to the punch by FBSchedules - and that site has ALL Division I games scheduled to date through the season! LOL! Putting aside my discouragement - I still plan to post the schedules by week for September very soon! In addition, I can provide a tidbit for each game, unlike the site previously mentioned! Hahahaha

• Well, I have now added the FBS schedules for Week Zero thru Week 4 to the site…and I noticed that between FBS and FCS, there are four fewer games in Week Zero in 2023 (10) versus 2022 (14).

January 17th:

• Today’s tidbits are from Illinois - who enjoyed their first winning season since 2011, and finished above .500 in Big Ten play for the first time since 2007.

• They also accomplished something for the first time in almost forty years - my high school graduation year - 1983: The Illlini beat Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota in the same year - and they did it in successive weeks in early October.

• The Illinois-Ohio State rivalry had a trophy (1925) twenty years before the more famous Illinois-Northwestern rivalry. Illibuck was a live turtle that was chosen/destined for a long life, but the travel between Champaign and Columbus was too much and it died in the spring of 1927. His successor: a wooden replica.

• Bret Bielema, who previously coached at Wisconsin from 2006 thru 2012, will be looking for his 50th Big Ten win in 2023. His current Big Ten conference record is 47-28, which I think is a pretty impressive winning percentage in this conference.

• Memorial Stadium (one of three Memorial Stadiums in the Big Ten!), will turn 100 this fall as it was built in 1923. The largest crowd in its history is 78,297 (current capacity is 60,670), when Illinois played Missouri back on 9/8/84.

• Speaking of Missouri, close to six years ago, these two teams decided to renew the Arch Rivalry after having not played since 2010. These geographic rivals decided to extend the original four-game series to an eight-game series in 2020. I’m excited about this rivalry getting reestablished - especially since it will now be played on campus for the first time since 1994.

January 16th:

• It has now been a week since Georgia’s big win over TCU to win their second straight FBS national title. Now they can set their sights on a three-peat - which hasn’t been done on the FBS level since Minnesota did it from 1934 thru 1936.

• South Dakota State won their first FCS national title by beating North Dakota State for the fourth straight time - and handing the Bison their first loss in a title game! The Jackrabbits will now take a program-record 14-game winning streak into the 2023 season.

• Georgia won’t be the only Bulldog team looking for a three-peat in 2023. Ferris State became the first Division II school to win back-to-back national championships since Northwest Missouri State did it in 2015 and 2016. The Bulldogs own a 28-1 mark over the last two seasons, and have played in three of the last four national championship games, so there’s no reason to not expect them back next year.

• Starting tomorrow I will start providing tidbits that I find interesting on a FBS team until I work my way through all 131 teams - then I will move on to FCS teams. I have been creating new spreadsheets and word documents to help me capture information that I believe will be useful for this site. As I have explored the websites of various Big Ten teams (started alphabetically) - I have found that not all websites are created equal (much like I discovered when reviewing websites of Division II and III teams) even within the FBS division…

January 2nd:

• Doesn’t seem possible that the bowl season is all but wrapped up after today as 42 bowl games have been played in 18 days! And to think that it all started with two 6-6 teams playing in the Bahamas Bowl where UAB linebacker Reynard Ellis made a game-saving tackle at the 2-yard line.

• Later that afternoon/evening we were treated to two Top 25 Group of Five teams (Troy and UTSA) going at it in the Cure Bowl. Had to be one of my favorite matchups, as the Trojans wrapped up an exciting 12-2 season under first-year head coach Jon Sumrall.

• We got a renewal of the rivalry between Louisville and Cincinnati - which got a bit more zesty when Scott Satterfield left the Cardinals to become the Bearcats head coach after Luke Fickell left for Wisconsin. Louisville got the last laugh by taking home the Keg of Nails Trophy.

• Fresno State started the season 1-4, but after beating Washington State in the LA Bowl, the Bulldogs finished their season with a 10-4 record.

• Frank Gore rushed for 329 yards against Rice to set a new bowl game record. On the bright side of things for the Owls, they were making their first bowl game appearance since 2014.

• UConn made a surprising appearance in a bowl game when they took on Marshall in the Myrtle Beach Bowl. Surprisingly, the Thundering Herd were the Huskies opponent in their last bowl back in 2015.

• Eastern Michigan got the program’s second bowl win - their first win coming in 1987. Ironically, both wins have come against San Jose State.

• Dave Clawson now has four wins as head coach of Wake Forest - they had just six bowl wins in their history before Clawson arrived in 2014.

• Meanwhile, Jerry Kill got his first career bowl win - and it was with New Mexico State! Shockingly, the Aggies have an all-time 4-0-1 record in bowl games.

• With a bowl win, Duke finished with nine wins - just the third time since 1942 that they have had that many wins. Great first year for head coach Mike Elko

• I haven’t even gotten to the most exciting games of the bowl season, so as you can see - there is a lot to look forward to in almost every bowl. These games aren’t irrelevant!

• Lastly, how can I not mention Tulane’s return to a major bowl game! The Green Wave’s played in the Sugar Bowl back in 1939 - but that was the last big bowl for them until this afternoon’s appearance in the Cotton Bowl. And what an exciting finish to an exciting season for them! Congratulations on a great year!

January 1st

Another year to enjoy College Football - and to revel in it every day in one form or another, whether it is reading, talking, writing or research. Nothing is finer for me than taking a few moments each day to reflect on this great sport, which is constantly changing but never loses its sparkle.

And with the arrival of 2023 it means a new year has started for this website that I created to further my love of the game. This last month I tried not to look ahead to the Fall 2023 season, but I have found it impossible to not look to the future to try and figure out the direction that I want to take this site. This year my motto: Stick with what got you here.

Looking back to December regarding this site, I was just hoping to match last year’s visits, which would require a solid last month. By Christmas I was accepting that it wasn’t going to happen, so I started to think about what adjustments I should and could make for the next year. Then, one of my lists started trending on the internet on the 28th, and my visits jumped - they jumped enough to get me just short of 12,300 visits for the year - an increase of almost 250 over 2021. A very nice kick to get me excited about 2023!

Lastly, I have to say how fun it is to see someone wearing college apparel and striking up a conversation with them about the area, the school, or shockingly, the football team. It’s even better when it’s a remote Division III school that gets discussed!

Happy 2023 to one and all!!!