2016 NCAAF: WEEK 1

[Dolfan in NYC]

It's a new year, it's time for new RANKINGS~!

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

SCHOOL'S IN!

[Ryan]

27th in the Coaches Poll and hopefully giving number five a game on Saturday since I'm going to it:

[RIPPA]

Quote

The Big 12 has narrowed its list of expansion candidates to at least 12 schools, sources told ESPN.

The 12 schools are Air Force, BYU, UCF, Cincinnati, Colorado State, UConn, Houston, Rice, South Florida, SMU, Temple and Tulane.

Eight of the candidates still alive in the Big 12's expansion sweepstakes are members of the American Athletic Conference: UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, Houston, South Florida, SMU, Temple and Tulane. Air Force and Colorado State are Mountain West members, Rice is in Conference USA, and BYU is an independent.

While at least a dozen schools made the cut, several did not, including Arkansas State, Boise State, East Carolina, New Mexico, Northern Illinois, San Diego State and UNLV, sources said.

ESPN could not confirm whether Memphis, which was also under consideration by the league, made the cut.

 

[EVA]

I could not be more hyped for this weekend.  Just too bad there are no good games tonight.  When the marquee game is SCar/Vandy, two teams expected to be fighting for 5th or 6th place in the SEC East...that's rough.

And there are no alternatives.  The only other game pitting P5 teams against each other is Minnesota/Oregon St.  Yuck.

Tennessee/App State has some upset potential, I guess, based on the App State brand name.  But if Tennessee is as good as they're supposed to be (I'm not convinced!), it shouldn't be close.

 

[Hail Sabin]

Tennessee will make it close it's what they do.

[Niners Fan in CT]

McElwain better have some tricks up his sleeve because this is looking like another rough year. If it is, he needs to go.

[sabremike]

Ped State is planning to honor the 50th anniversary of Paterno's coaching debut at the September 17th game vs Temple. I literally have no idea what to say, particularly after what came out a few months ago. These people are just sick beyond words. If they wanted to send out a message that they were in no way sorry or ashamed about what happened this was the perfect thing to do. They should drop a bomb on the campus and salt the ground on which it stood.

[EVA]

And an entire offseason worth of optimism appears to be dead by halftime in Tennessee.  The boo birds are already out with App State up 13-3 at the half.

[Just Dave]

App State doesn't care about your morals and values. They're lawless men from a lawless land....

[cubbymark]

And it's the 9th year anniversary of App State shocking the Big House. Could history repeat itself? 

But as much joy as I may get from the SEC getting egg on its face, it's shit like Ped State that makes me hate college football. I'd be happy if they nuked the fucking football field at Happy Valley. 

[hammerva]

I guess I can understand why but I really hate watching teams who are huge underdogs just settle for going to overtime and hope to win instead of doing all they could to win in regulation.  

[evilwaldo]

1 hour ago, cubbymark said:

And it's the 9th year anniversary of App State shocking the Big House. Could history repeat itself? 

But as much joy as I may get from the SEC getting egg on its face, it's shit like Ped State that makes me hate college football. I'd be happy if they nuked the fucking football field at Happy Valley. 

As someone who lives in NE PA I would be out in the street celebrating.  They actually believe it was all made up because poor JoePa.

[andrew8798]

One of the worse 2 minute offenses I seen

[Ryan]

I wish Louisville had put up 112 on Charlotte and not rested their starters just to point out scheduling idiocy.

[hammerva]

6 minutes ago, andrew8798 said:

One of the worse 2 minute offenses I seen

With one of the worst kickers in years.  

So lucky to have recovered that fumble in the end zone.  So many App State guys could have gotten it

[EVA]

Lordy, Josh Dobbs just got speared out of mid-air diving for the goal line in OT.

 

Like it was so picture perfect, you'd think it was a work.

[Ryan]

It is a work, all sports on all levels are, including injuries, all faked and staged, I thought we all knew that by now.

[Niners Fan in CT]

Preseason rankings are always a funny thing and Tennessee being in the top ten is no different.

[EVA]

Louisville QB Lamar Jackson scored 8 TDs in the 1st half last night.  Sure, it was against Charlotte, but that's absurd production, no matter who you're playing.

It'll be interesting to see if he can play spoiler for FSU and Clemson this season.

[EVA]

LAST CHANCE FOR PLAYOFF PREDICTIONS.

I got (in no particular order):

LSU - I had LSU as a darkhorse candidate last year, and they looked every big of it until they ran into the Alabama defensive buzzsaw and then fell apart.  Bama tends to be the default choice out of the SEC (after the last 2 years, that's tough to argue), and I really struggled over this one.  BUT on paper, this is LSU's year (crazy numbers of reurning players, a favorable conference schedule, plus the best player in college football), and there are some key differences that I think will keep Bama from winning big with yet another rookie QB (namely, 1st Round pick center Ryan Kelly won't be around to hold their hand, nor is there an obvious Heisman contender for them to lean on).  And I mean...surely, Les Miles and Cam Cameron have to have figured out how to use Brandon Harris by now.  Right?  RIGHT?

CLEMSON - I'm a little skeptical of this one, just becaus ethey lost so much on defense, but they're so loaded on offense (plus they have the OTHER best player in college football), I think they'll be tough for anyone to keep up with in a shootout.  That said, this year's Florida State team looks EERILY similar to the 2013 team that won it all:  a loaded offense with a talented redshirt freshman at the controls, and a defense that might be light on experience, but is as deep with talent as any team save maybe Alabama.  They're a genuine threat.  But I think Clemson has an easier path to get to the playoffs (save a trip to FSU).

OHIO STATE - Michigan has a lot of hype right now, and with what they have coming back and their schedule, I think they'll win a lot of games.  But I still think the talent gap between them and Ohio State is still pretty large right now.  The Buckeyes may be inexperienced, but they stockpile talent like nobody else outside of Alabama.  Granted, we've reached the point where things usually start to fall apart for Urban, and he certainly did his part to squader a team boasting the greatest NFL draft class in history among its ranks, but I think with JT Barrett to lean on for at least one more season, Urb will win at least 12 games for the 5th straight season at OSU.

UCLA - I don't even like this team that much!  BUT I don't think the Big 12 with have a representative in the playoffs this year (Oklahoma is a definite contender, but has an absurdly difficult schedule; TCU is taking a step back this season; and Baylor is talented but there's no way they overcome all the off-field stuff).  AND I don't think the Pac-12 looks very strong.  I'm not buying this Washington hype (yet)...Oregon is going to continue their post-Chip descent...USC's schedule is too tough...Stanford looks like a contender but I have concerns about how much they'll have to depend on one guy to win...So the door is open for UCLA, who brings back basically everybody on defense, also returns a talented QB who showed flashes of brilliance as a freshman, and has the schedule in their favor (they get Stanford and USC at home, and miss Washington and Oregon).

That said, it would not surprise me if this is the year a non-P5 team sneaks in (Houston has the schedule to build an impressive resume, but not the team) OR The Dreaded 2-loss SEC Team. 

First Four Out:  Alabama, Florida State, Michigan, Oklahoma

Darkhorses:  Stanford, Louisville, Boise State, Miami

In case you couldn't tell, I think the ACC might be kinda interesting this year.

 

[EVA]

Of course, I type all that and then I notice that all 4 of my playoff teams having returning QB starters, yet recent history suggests that the national champion won't (7 of the last 10 champs had 1st year starters at QB).

So maybe I should reshuffle that deck to...Alabama, Florida State, Michigan, and Stanford?

5 of those 7 champs with 1st year starters had a Heisman finalist/winner (the exceptions: 07 LSU and 14 Ohio State, althought JT Barrett almost certianly would've been if not for his injury).  Of the 4 teams I just listed, Stanford has a returning Heisman finalist in Christian McCaffery.  So advantage: Stanford?

The last 3 times Alabama won the national title with a 1st year QB, they did so with a Heisman finalist at RB.  So if one of those hasn't emerged by mid-October, you can probably rule them out.

As mentioned before, Florida State won a natty and the Heisman with a redshirt freshman QB playing on a veteran offense.  Just like this year.  They also had a Top 5 defense that year (5 of the 7 did, the exceptions: 10 Auburn and 14 Ohio State).  So if they throttle Ole Miss right out of the gate, they may have something there.

Michigan hasn't won anything in such a long time, there really isn't a relevant metric.

[Ryan]

Badgers to win the National title with a 7-5 record after every other team forfeits due to fear of Zika.

[EVA]

Houston receivers putting on a Cirque du Soleil matinee in the 1st half.

It really feels like Houston is dominating this game, but they're only up 2 on a FG at the end of the half.

[EVA]

By the way, in case I don't get a chance to say it later:  Anybody who thinks Bama/USC is going to be like all those Bama/B1G openers where Bama boatraces them from the opening kickoff is sorely mistaken.  USC has dynamic athletes of their own.  Bama is not going to just run by and away from them.  I expect it to be very competitive.

[EVA]

Houston just went Kick 6!