Week of 8/24

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8/28:

  • My most exciting bit of news today could be that perhaps the Army-Navy game could be played at West Point!!! If so, it would be the first time since 1943 - the only other game played at Michie Stadium.

  • Also, as a huge college football fan….could we have our favorite sport played for 8 or 9 months this season (Sept. thru April)? The Big Ten, and perhaps the Pac-12, are considering a winter season that could start Thanksgiving weekend!

  • Uni Watch made my day with a look at some uniform changes that we will see this fall. Although there are some subtle detail changes that are a sep in the right direction for some teams, there are four changes that get a big thumbs up from me: Boston College and Texas A&M going back to their 80s look, North Texas uniforms reflecting their Joe Greene era in the late 60s, and Charlotte creating a new helmet emblem that I think looks sharp.

8/27:

  • Two games were postponed today (ULM at Troy and Marshall at East Carolina), with one of them, the Sun Belt Conference game, getting rescheduled. The other really needs to get rescheduled because it was supposed to be a tribute to the 75 people who died 50 years ago in a Marshall plane crash. One suggestion would be Dec. 5th, if neither team plays in their conference championship, and the other date would have to be Dec. 12th. I know it is the Army-Navy game weekend, but if any game is worthy of joining our service academies on their special day, it’s this game!

  • Depth is a key word this year for teams playing this fall because we will see athletes forgoing the season for health concerns. So, when there is a season-ending injury, a team can’t help but cringe. Georgia is that team today. They lost one of their top receivers, Dominick Blaylock, for the year with an ACL tear. Basketball fans willl remember his father - Mookie Blaylock, who played for the Oklahoma Sooners from 1987 thru 1989.

8/26:

  • Can’t tell you how exciting it was to see ESPN’s TV schedule for Week 1, even though it is a limited schedule. The Arkansas State/Memphis rivalry game is the best game on Saturday, with the Eastern Kentucky/Marshall not far behind. And I am always up for watching a Navy game!

  • Due to an outbreak of COVID-19 at NC State, the Wolfpack’s game with Virginia Tech that was scheduled for Sept. 12th, has been pushed back two weeks to September 26.

  • It didn’t take long for former UCLA starting tackle Jake Burton to find a place to play this fall. He is headed to Baylor to finish his college career. Even though the Bears are returning five players who started at least five games each last season, Burton will be a strong contender to start at right tackle.

8/25:

  • Last November, New Mexico defensive lineman Nahje Flowers took his own life. Today a lawsuit was filed alleging that the University of New Mexico, coach Bob Davie, and the NCAA didn’t protect Flowers. Documents supposedly say that a therapist recommended that Flowers take time off to deal with his depression, but Davie made the lineman play a game just days before Nahje died.

  • Vanderbilt got some good news when their leading tackler, linebacker Dimitri Moore, announced that he will play this season after all. The Commodores will now have all eleven defensive starters return from last year.

8/24:

  • In what could be a showcase for Trey Lance, North Dakota State announced that they will play Central Arkansas on Oct. 3rd as part of a three-game series.. There has been speculation that Lance might transfer so that he could play this fall, but that doesn’t appear to be happening. As for the Bears, they seem to be winners in all this because they get another game on their schedule, and they will play host to the Bison in 2025.

  • The Preseason AP Poll was released with Clemson being ranked first. It wasn’t unanimous though because the Buckeyes did receive 21 out of 61 first-place votes (the Tigers got 38). Unfortunately, nine of the twenty five teams have had their season postponed - so future polls will look completely different this one.

  • On Friday the NCAA voted to give an extra year of eligibility to fall athletes. In essence, there will be two freshman classes next year - and of course this has the potential to be very difficult to manage scholarships and rosters.

  • Cincinnati certainly wants to keep Luke Fickell around, as they have offered an extension through 2026 - and it will increase his salary to $3.4 million a year. The coach had been targeted by Michigan State earlier this year for its vacancy.