Week of 9/21

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9/27:

  • Despite missing 23 players and four coaches, Virginia Tech looked awfully solid in their victory over NC State. When I heard about how shorthanded the Hokies would be, I thought that the Wolfback might have a chance in Blacksburg. With this performance, I am now looking ffoward to the Hokie-Hurricane game on Nov. 14th.

  • In two games, BYU has dismantled two solid Group of Five teams (Navy and Troy) by a combined score of 103-10. Looking ahead in their schedule, the biggest threat to their undefeated season will be the Cougars themselves. I would love to see BYU go toe-to-toe with UCF!

  • Best uniforms of the day: Oklahoma State’s throwback uniform dating back to 1987 to honor Thurman Thomas, who will be the first player inducted into the Cowboys Ring of Honor and the powder blue Ole Miss uniform. The Rebels last wore these uniforms back in 1994, but they were first used in the late forties into the seventies.

9/26:

  • Give Chris Klieman and the Wildcats a lot of credit for not giving up when they were down 28-7 more than halfway through the third quarter. The Sooners helped them by making mistakes, but this well coached team took advantage of each error.

  • Welcome to the SEC Mike Leach! His “Air Raid “ offense run by Stanford tranfer QB K.J. Costello shredded LSU’s new defense. The Tigers probably couldn’t face a tougher opponent for them with all of the losses (3 returning starters) they had from last year’s team. Thanks to Leach, it appears as though we will have a new champion in 2020.

  • The Bearcat defense put on a great show in their 24-10 win over Army. Cincinnati held the Black Knights to 182 yards rushing - more than 200 yards under their season average. They have some challenges ahead of them (at SMU, Memphis and at UCF), but this Bearcat team is going to be tough to knock off.

  • Got to give a shout out to the UTEP Miners. Their win over ULM on the road gives them three wins already this fall, which is one more than they have had in the last three years combined! Their schedule might be a bit soft to start the year, but you still must execute and win no matter the opponent.

9/25:

  • Both Footballscoop.com (first) and ESPN have now said that the MAC will indeed play this fall, making it ten out of ten FBS conferences playing this fall. With UMass declaring their intention to play as well earlier this week, that seems to leave out only UConn, Old Dominion, and New Mexico State.

  • The Georgia State - Charlotte game has been postponed due to……drumroll please…..coronavirus concerns. Both teams have stated that they hope to reschedule this game later in the fall.

  • Congratulations to UAB running back Spencer Brown for setting UAB’s record for rushing touchdowns at 36 last night. Brown is also the second-leading active career rusher (3,428 yards) in the FBS behind Clemson’s Travis Etienne (4,208).

  • I woke up this morning to hear that the Mountain West will indeed play this year, and start up with the Big Ten. After the Pac-12’s announcement, we are almost FBS complete.

9/24:

  • As I am heading off to sleep, the Pac-12 has rolled out their plan to play football this fall. With their Nov. 7th start and seven game schedule, there will be no room for error.

  • I am very excited to see Rondale Moore opting back in to play for the Purdue Boilermakers this year. I am looking forward to seeing this highly-skilled wide receiver lace them up for one more year. Now we just need to see Rashod Bateman return to the Gophers. His problemm though, is that he had hired an agent…

  • The Missouri Valley Conference has announced their Spring 2021 conference schedule. They are the third FCS conference to reveal their plans for Spring - following the SWAC and Southland conferences.

9/23:

  • I really enjoyed the Nick Saban article posted on ESPN yesterday morning. His career was so called “launched” while coaching the Toledo Rockets in 1990. His attention to the smallest of details, and his ability to teach shined through in Saban’s first head coaching assignment.

  • Cancelled games for this weekend thus far: Notre Dame at Wake Forest, North Texas at Houston, Tulsa at Arkansas State, and USF at Florida Atlantic. The Cougars and Owls have had multiple games postponed this fall. With their luck - they might start their season when the Big Ten does.

  • There is no doubt that almost all schools will be have a significant budget shortfall this year, which will force deep cuts that include loss of jobs, furloughs, and pay cuts. On NBCSports website, they detail Ohio State’s problems this fall with money. The interesting piece I picked up on was Ryan Day’s 5% pay cut. I thought it would be substantial since he will make $5.4 million this year, but the reduction is against his base salary of $850k. Therefore he loses only $42,500. Must be nice…

9/22:

  • The Air Force revealed their sharp uniforms for their game against Navy. The “Red Tails” uniform is a tribute to the Tuskegee Airmen - the first black military aviators. The unit earned 96 Distinguished Flying Crosses, and their success helped lay the groundwork for President Truman to desegregate the armed forces in 1948.

  • UMass has announced that they will indeed play this fall - with the hope of playing by mid-October. They will announce games as they are confirmed, but it might be hard to find opponents - although they might be able to dip into the FCS. It remains to be scene if UConn joins in the party.

  • In the “Good News Department”, TCU QB Max Duggan, like Georgia State QB Mikele Colasurdo, has returned to practicing after missing time with a lifelong heart condition. He had a procedure late last month to address the problem, and now Duggan will be available for the Horned Frogs Big 12 opener this Saturday.

  • Two newly scheduled games have gotten me a bit more excited (if that’s possible). It was announced that Southern Illinois will host Southeast Missouri in the “War for the Wheel”, while the U.S. Coast Guard Academy while meet the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, NY in their annual battle for the Secretaries’ Cup.

9/21:

  • Nice to see that the Mountain West feels like they can reinstate their season on 10/24 - the same week that the Big Ten returns to action. The Pac-12 seems to be leaning towards early November for their first games. I can’t help but think that their current plan of six games and a championship game will sink their playoff hopes. As for the MAC, they are still in discussions to come up with a plan - so a start date similar to the Pac-12 makes sense.

  • Not a good sign for the Seminoles with head coach Mike Norvell testing positive for COVID. He will be unavailable for Saturday’s game against Miami, but one has to wonder how many of his players will now test positive too. Might be good for the team if their game against the Hurricanes gets canceled.

  • Both Alabama and LSU have named their starting quarterbacks for their season opening games this weekend. Myles Brennan, who appeared in ten games last year, will be under center for the Tigers - who are replacing 19 starters from last year’s squad. While Mac Jones takes over the Crimson Tide - though he started the last four games of 2019 after Tua Tagovailoa was injured. Jones posted the second-highest QBR in those games, trailing only Joe Burrow.