Week of 10/26

10/30:

• Last night it was reported that Trevor Lawrence has tested positive for the coronavirus. Obviously, he won’t be available for the game tomorrow against Boston College, but now comes the question as to when his isolation period starts. If day 1 of his 10-day isolation is Thursday, then he would miss the November 7th game against Notre Dame.

• Another one-score game in the Sun Belt last night. Georgia Southern got two 4th quarter rushing touchdowns from Wesley Kennedy III to beat South Alabama 24-17. The Eagles win evened their Sun Belt record at 2-2, while the Jaguars suffered their first Sun Belt defeat of 2020.

• It’s official - the Bowl Season has a schedule. Thirty-seven bowl games will be played from December 19th through January 11th - the day of the National Championship. The day after Christmas will be the busiest day with six bowl games scheduled, and ESPN will be the busiest network, as they will televise 35 of the 37 bowl games. On December 31st, the Sun Bowl and Arizona Bowl will be broadcast by CBS and CBSSN.

10/29:

• Since 1978, NC State’s Ted Brown has held the record for most rushing yards in the ACC with 4,602 yards. On Saturday, if Travis Etienne gains just 43 rushing yards against Boston College, he will break Ted Brown’s record that has stood for over forty years.

• In an attempt to replace the lost Wisconsin game with an out-of-conference matchup against Chattanooga this weekend, the Cornhuskers have had their request denied by the Big Ten. Nebraska is accepting this decision, but how long will it be before the look for a new conference?

• Texas has been hit hard by decommits this week on the recruiting trail. 2021 four-star recruit Billy Bowman is looking at other options now (Sooners?) and late last night, the overall No. 1 player in the 2022 class, quarterback Quinn Ewers, posted on twitter that he was decommitting from the Longhorns. Things are not trending well for Tom Herman and the Texas Longhorns.

10/28:

• Not surprisingly, Wisconsin will not partake in any team activities for at least the next seven days - so their game against Nebraska will be canceled. This could also lead to canceling the game with Purdue on November 7th. News isn’t great for the Badgers because they could be down to their fourth-string quarterback when they return to action.

• In other cancellations…Marshall at FIU and North Texas at UTEP will not be played this week. Also, the East-West Shrine game will not be played in January 2021. I will miss this game because I have enjoyed watching it over the years.

• Austin Peay has announced that they have hired Scotty Walden as their new head coach. Walden has been the interim head coach at Southern Miss this fall since Jay Hopson’s resignation, and before that he was a successful head coach at East Texas Baptist. Scotty is replacing Mark Hudspeth, who resigned in July after being suspended.

10/27:

• Because of tough restrictions in New Mexico, the San Jose State-New Mexico game has been moved to San Jose. The Lobos had their game at Colorado State canceled last week because of the prevalence of the coronavirus in Bernalillo County - where UNM’s campus is located.

• Less than a week ago, the MEAC released their Spring 2021 football schedule. Now Bethune-Cookman has announced that they will not compete in any athletics during the 2020-21 academic year. When they begin competition again next fall, they will be members of the SWAC.

• In other FCS news, the CAA released their Spring 2021 football schedule. A mid-April game up in Orono between the Black Bears and Wildcats seems awfully inviting.

• Mississippi State running back Kylin Hill, All-SEC last year, is not expected to play again this season. In three games, he gained only 58 yards on 15 carries after gaining 1,350 yards in 2019.

10/26:

• At the expense of my Terps, Pat Fitzgerald picked up win number 100. And it was a very convincing victory, as the Wildcats scored 43 points with Peyton Ramsey (former Indiana QB) at the helm. Last year, Northwestern scored 41 points in total in their first six Big Ten games.

• Speaking of offense, LSU has scored at least 30 points in eleven consecutive games

• Thanks to the Spartans generosity (seven giveaways), Rutgers snapped the longest losing streak in Big Ten History - 21 games.

• What a heartbreaker for the Rice Owls! Score with :34 left in the game to take a 34-31 lead, only to see the Blue Raiders kick a 48-yard field goal as time expired in regulation. Then in the first OT, Middle Tennessee didn’t score. Rice lines up for 45-yard field goal attempt to win the game, and grad transfer Collin Riccitelli hit both uprights and the crossbar twice before the ball bounced back into play. Isn’t that impossible?

Week of 10/19

10/24:

• I was expecting to see Wisconsin last night, but I didn’t recognize the Badgers that lined up with Illinois. Five touchdown passes from freshman quarterback Graham Mertz and only 3.3 yards per carry from their running backs.

• With their win over FIU, Jacksonville State records the first FCS win over a FBS team in 2020. It’s their first win over anFBS school since beating Georgia State in 2013.

• For fans who love to watch over 12 hours of college football games on Saturday - this is the day that it all starts. Great selection of games all day, and now with the Mountain West starting their season, there are some games starting after 10:00pm!

10/23:

• I am getting a kick out of the fact that Southern Miss will have to use an interim coach for their interim coach for their game with Liberty. Scotty Walden, who replaced Jay Hopson (resigned) as the Golden Eagles’ head coach, has contracted the coronavirus. Tim Billings, who was the head coach of Southeast Missouri State for six years, will takeover the reins this weekend.

• When Louisiana plays at UAB tonight, they will be playing in the hometown of their late offensive line coach, DJ Looney. To honor this special person, every Ragin’ Cajun player will wear Looney’s name across their shoulders instead of their own name. Members of Looney’s family are expected to be at the game to see this gesture of love.

• One of my favorite bowls has canceled their game this year. The Holiday Bowl, which has been played in San Diego since 1978, has been postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. This is the fourth bowl to cancel this year. The others are the Redbox Bowl, the Hawaii Bowl, and the Bahamas Bowl.

• Lastly, I find it hard to believe that 17 different Clemson players recorded a reception in last week’s game against Georgia Tech.

10/22:

• Another FCS Conference (MEAC) has announced its Spring 2021 schedule - which like the others is all well and good, but here are the six conferences that I am anxiously waiting for Spring schedules: Ivy League, Patriot, CAA, Big Sky, as well as two Division III conferences - the NESCAC and Centennial.

• When Kansas and Kansas State meet in the Sunflower Showdown, it will be the 110th-straight season that these schools have met on the gridiron. Because Clemson and South Carolina won’t be playing in 2020, this game becomes the third longest uninterrupted FBS series behind Minnesota/Wisconsin (113) and NC State/Wake Forest (111).

• The Wolfpack gets another mention tonight because they will be wearing some badass uniforms when they play UNC Saturday afternoon. Another sharp uniform worth mentioning is what Texas will be wearing at home against Baylor. They will be wearing white uniforms (paying tribute to their 1970 Championship team) at home for the first time since 1950!

10/21:

• Not sure that it is good news for UMass, but they have added two games to their Fall 2020 schedule this week. Both Liberty and Marshall have agreed to games this fall with the Minutemen. The two teams combined are 9-0 so far this year…

• The Southern Conference announced their 2021 Spring Football schedule. Unfortunately with the Citadel having played four non-conference games this year, the Bulldogs can only play seven league games instead of eight. The canceled game? The 100th meeting of the Citadel and Furman. Guess we can wait for that until Fall 2021…

10/20:

• Favorite story today was the piece on ESPN about Rufus the Bobcat planning and carrying out a sneak attack on Brutus the Buckeye. Replayed the video like four times and couldn’t stop laughing at the antic.

• For those who love watching college football, even on a Wednesday night, will get a chance to catch some MACtion on November 4th. Five games will be televised or streamed on ESPN and the sixth game will be televised on CBSSN.

• Without having played a game yet in 2020, the Mountain West has already had its first game canceled. The New Mexico at Colorado State game will not be played this weekend and there is no plan to reschedule the game this year.

10/19:

• After seeing the results of this past weekend’s games, it doesn’t take a scientist to recognize that Clemson and Alabama are the class of the Power 5 thus far. But, we get to see Ohio State this upcoming weekend…

• And speaking of Week 8, it’s great to see both the Big Ten and Mountain West back in action. One only has to look at the different TV slots to see that there are more games that are worthy of one’s attention.

• Nice uniform combinations from Saturday’s games: Kansas at West Virginia (look that WVU look!), Ole Miss at Arkansas, and Kentucky at Tennessee.

• Exciting to see Kentucky get their first win in Neyland Stadium since 1984 and what a game between Memphis and UCF! Over 1,500 yards of offense, of which almost 1,100 was through the air. Very happy for the Tigers - they deserved it.

• Like Sacramento State, Towson State has opted out of the Spring 2021 season to concentrate on a return to action in the Fall of 2021.

Week of 10/12

10/16:

• Another back-and-forth Sun Belt game last night between Georgia State and Arkansas State. Fifteen touchdowns (8 passing for Red Wolves) and almost 1,200 yards combined between the teams. Fun game for those who love offense!

• There are two more postponements because of the coronavirus, bringing the total to five this week. Cincinnati at Tulsa and Florida International at Charlotte are the newest cancellations. As the other FBS Conferences begin play over the next few weeks, will the number of postponements/cancellations reach double digits?

• Sacramento State, who shared the Big Sky title last year with Weber State, has announced that they will skip the Spring 2021 season citing concerns about a short turnaround before playing their Fall 2021 schedule.

10/15:

• A great way to get Week 7 started! Coastal Carolina and Louisiana went toe-to-toe as they answered each other’s score up until the Chanticleers kicked a field goal with :04 left on the clock. I have to admit that I am beginning to really enjoy the Sun Belt and the competition between some solid programs.

• The Texas Longhorn season bears watching the rest of this year - and quite possibly into the next few years. They have attracted a lot of solid recruits and have veteran players, but they have not played up to expectations. Now you have Sam Ehlinger standing alone on the field after the game against OU during the playing of the school song “The Eyes of Texas”. This team does not appear to be unified - so a Top-10 team in terms of talent will probably play .500 ball if they are lucky.

10/14:

• No surprise that the LSU-Florida game was postponed after hearing earlier in the week that Florida was shutting down football activities due to positive coronavirus tests. Probably a relief for the Tigers, who need time to pull things together.

• Will Nick Saban’s COVID-19 diagnosis impact the big Georgia-Alabama game - especially if he is unable to communicate with the team. Will this swing the game to Georgia or is this just the beginning of positive cases for the Crimson Tide, and we get another cancellation.

• Sad to see that another football team is getting axed. Occidental has decided to drop their football program - as they are the second D-III school to drop the sport this season, following Maine Maritime. They have been going through rough times the last few years, as they ended their 2017 early because they couldn’t field enough healthy players, and after restarting, the Tigers have lost their last 21 games.

10/13:

• A great read on grad transfers this morning at espn.com. The writer of the article - Ivan Maisel. Sonny Dykes at SMU has used the process to perfection the last couple of years at SMU.

• Speaking of the Mustangs, the got some tough news on the injury front. Leading receiver Reggie Roberson Jr. and starting running back TJ McDaniel will both miss the rest of the season. This will put their depth to the test. Other season-ending injuries: Texas A&M’s leading receiver Caleb Chapman, Syracuse’s preseason All-American defensive back Andre Cisco, and perhaps the most damaging injury - Kansas State’s starting quarterback Skylar Thompson.

• Longest current winning streaks among FBS teams: Air Force and Notre Dame - 9 games, Florida Atlantic - 8 games, Liberty and North Carolina - 6 games.

10/12:

• Two games that were supposed to be played this upcoming weekend (Oklahoma State - Baylor and Vanderbilt - Missouri) have been postponed until mid-December. The Commodore/Tiger game is the first SEC game to be canceled so far this year.

• After a dreadful game at Missouri, it is no surprise that LSU has fallen out of the AP poll for the first time since 2017. They are the first defending national champion to tumble out of the Top 25 since Auburn did it in 2011 following Cam Newton’s exit to the NFL.

• Some interesting stats/info from Week 6 games:

  • Kentucky shutout a Mike Leach offense for the first time ever, and they won by 22 points despite gaining only 157 yards

  • Navy’s offense had a 15 play drive, that gained 26 yards and took 9:06 off the clock - and they got three points

  • Houston lost the turnover battle to Tulane 5-0, but won on the scoreboard, 49-31

Week of 10/5

10/8:

• A great story about Earl Campbell at ESPN.com

• Hurricane Delta is impacting several games - for all the changes check out FBSchedules.com

• Baylor is going through another pause of all football activities (already have had games against Louisiana Tech and Houston canceled) due to COVID issues, while the Florida Atlantic - Southern Miss game for this Saturday is postponed because of virus issues at FAU.

10/7:

• A couple of games slated to be played in Louisiana have been impacted by a hurricane. The LSU-Missouri game will now be played in Columbia, Missouri, while the Louisiana-Coastal Carolina game will be postponed until Wednesday, October 14th.

• Because of continued coronavirus concerns, the Appalachian State-Georgia Southern game will now be played on December 12th instead of the original date of October 14th. This will be the second straight game the Mountaineers have had postponed - whose game with Louisiana will be plaed in early December.

• Continuing with the schedule theme, two conferences released their schedules for their upcoming season. The MAC will be back with a six-game schedule against conference opponents only. With an early November start, this will take their season to mid-December. In the FCS, the Ohio Valley sent out their Spring 2021 schedule that includes seven games against conference foes, and potentially room for one non-conference tilt. The coference will be down one team this spring, as Eastern Kentucky has chosen to play a full schedule this fall.

10/6:

• Probably not a surprise to many that after one fall game, Bison quarterback Trey Lance has elected to skip the spring season and enter the NFL draft. A projected first round selection, Lance led North Dakota State to 17 wins and 0 losses in his starts.

• Since Texas gave the blessing for TCU to join the Big 12 back in 2012, the Horned Frogs have won seven of nine against the Longhorns. I’m thinking that Texas wasn’t expecting this…

• Two Division II conferences have decided to cancel their plans to play this spring. The Great Northwest Atletic Conference and the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Assoocation have postponed their football seasons - one due to COVID-19 concerns (CIAA) and the other (GNAC) because of the cost of travel supporting two seasons in one calendar year.

10/5:

• Congratulations to the Army Black Knights for winning their 700th game on Saturday. I believe that they are the 31st FBS program to reach that milestone.

• In Big 12 news, kudos to the Cyclones for hanging in there and beating the Sooners. Also, for those who didn’t know it, Texas is not back. Now come the calls for Urban Meyer.

• What does Tulsa have on Central Florida? The Knights were climbing the polls and playing at home before the Golden Hurricanes blew into Orlando and beat UCF for the fourth straight time.

• Most of the attention for FCS quarterbacks goes to Trey Lance, but Bailey Zappe (love the name!) of Houston Baptist quietly ended a very good senior year on Saturday. In four games (three against FBS teams), he threw for over 1,800 yards and completed 65% of his passes. Zappe also had 15 touchdown passes against one interception. Too bad the Huskies are passing on their conference season this spring..

Week of 9/28

10/2:

• Three uniforms to check out this weekend: Air Force’s Red Tails uniform to honor the Tuskegee Airmen (WWII), Iowa State’s black out uniforms, Vanderbilt’s new helmet with the Nashville skyline. And for a bonus - we will throw in South Carolina’s all whites, which look sharp.

• Perhaps the best Sun Belt game of the year has been postponed. Appalachian State is being cautious with the coronavirus, so they have pushed back (we hope) their game with Louisiana, which was to be played this upcoming Wednesday.

• The Mountain West has released their schedule that is to begin in three weeks - except for Air Force getting a jump start this weekend against Navy. Not all teams will be playing eight league games, and there will be no divisional play. What I like best - we will get to see an outstanding game between Boise State and BYU!

10/1:

• An article about the Wichita State plane crash fifty years ago tomorrow at ESPN.com brought tears to my eyes. Stories like this make me realize how much I love the game and admire those who play the game - and the families that move on from tragedies like this. Just amazing…

• I still like my Games to Follow piece better than Amy Daughter’s Breaking Down the Weekly Football Schedule found at FBSchedules.com, but she was the inspiration behind my similar blog and she does a great job providing info on the games week in and week out.

9/30:

• We have lost “The Battle for the Belt” - a version of a wrestling championship belt, for the time being as the Troy at South Alabama game has been temporarily been postponed because of COVID-19. There will be an attempt by the schools and the Sun Belt to reschedule the game if possible.

• We have found what great lengths a school will go in order to practice for their upcoming season. San Jose State is unable to practice in their county, Santa Clara County, because local restrictions currently prevent practices of groups larger than 12. Therefore the Spartans have moved their practices 320 miles to the north to Humboldt State - a school that cut their football program in 2017.

9/29:

• When Feliepe Franks went down with an injury against Kentucky last year, I thought that Kyle Trask had beginner’s luck to pull that game out. I thought that there was no way that the Gators could beat Auburn a few weeks later, but Trask again proved me wrong. Fast forward to this year and all the stories I have read about Kyle, and now I can honestly say I am very impressed with his abilities on the field and his beliefs/feelings as a person. This is hard for me to say since I am not a Gator fan at all, but I wish him all the best this year and I hope that he finds himself and his team in the CFB playoff.

• K-State, with their win over the Sooners, has now opened the Big 12 Championship aspirations to probably half the conference. This upcoming weekend could be the biggest game Iowa State has ever played, and there is a long way to go, but after seeing both the Sooners and Longhorns struggle, there doesn’t seem to be much separation between five (or even six) teams.

9/28:

• In scheduling/postponement news, North Carolina has found a replacement game for their cancelled game with Charlotte. The Tar Heels will now play Western Carolina on December 11th. Meanwhile, the Memphis-Houston game that was postponed, has now been rescheduled, and these teams will now play on December 5th. And in a piece of bad luck, the Georgia State game with Charlotte was canceled because coronavirus tests were incorrectly read as positive.

• I’m not sure why all teams are now eligible for the AP Poll, or for that matter any Power Indexes - especially when some teams are more than a month away from playing their first game. Go ahead and plug teams in the Sunday before the start of the season, but no sooner - especially since more than half the teams have already played half their schedule (we hope!).