We are less than a month from kickoff and I am SO excited for football season, you?.
Ready for kickoff?
So many questions will start to be answered once the ball has left the tee. Will the SEC win yet another national title or will someone else finally steal the spotlight? Will another Heisman winner show up out of the blue? Come the final weekend of August, and this is August my friends, we will finally start to have these and a thousand other questions answered. Until then let’s get into some current news and thoughts from Around the College Football Nation:
1. We have already had our first SEC vs PAC-12 head-to-head contest. Unfortunately it was not on the field but in the locker room. More specifically the new upgraded football facilities at both Alabama and Oregon. Bleacherreport.com provided a great comparison of the two facilities and you can get a look here. It’s clear these teams are finding any way possible to compete, even if not on the field. I love Oregon’s cafeteria along with their coaches’ offices. Alabama does have an arcade in their locker room which is cool. They probably use the arcade as study hall. When you are a college football player, especially in the SEC, you got it good.
2. More courtroom drama is on the way now that EA has lost their appeal in the Sam Keller vs. EA SPORTS/NCAA case. Keller is a former Arizona State and Nebraska quarterback who is looking to cash in, and his suit just gained huge momentum. This whole situation of college football players suing the NCAA is becoming a mess! Let’s just go with what University of South Carolina head football coach Steve Spurrier said. He’s all about giving a little cash per game to each player. Yes it would place larger schools such as Oregon and Alabama at an advantage over smaller schools, but do those small schools really mean anything in the grand scheme of college football? Really? Just give Ed O’Bannon and Keller a couple dollars and send them on their way. This case can, and likely will, change everything within college football, and I fear for the worse. We could lose what makes college football so great… TRADITION and RIVALRIES. There is a distinct difference between schools maximizing income to benefit school athletics, as happens now, and those same programs maximizing profits to benefit school athletes. Universities will be chasing the “almighty” dollar instead of what is important. We’ll see more switching of conferences and before you know it Oregon will be traveling to play Syracuse for a conference game. Needing to expand the conference in search of an even more lucrative television contract, Larry Scott ends up inviting Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Florida State to join the Pac-12. It is going to be a cluster… enjoy what we have now before college football Armageddon arrives.
Entrance where Clemson football players prepare before “Running Down the Hill”.
3. Last but not least, the first coaches poll was released this week. Thoughts? Any winners or losers in the first coaches poll? Is your team ranked too high or too low? As a Gator fan I think they are ranked a bit too high and should be down around #15 or #16. Last season was great but they were just a breath away from going 6-6 again. I think the biggest winner in the poll is Louisville at #9. Have you seen their schedule? Louisville does not even play a team ranked in the Top-30 this season. If they win-out they could scoot in the back door for a title game appearance. Georgia, South Carolina and Clemson should not be a big worry for the Cardinals. Those three teams all play and will tenderize one another to Louisville’s benefit. I am still thinking Alabama is the favorite to win it all, and the coaches poll agrees. Alabama’s toughest two games follow bye weeks, giving Nick Saban an extra week to prepare and to have his team well rested. That’s just not fair. I am hoping for BCS chaos with Alabama, Oregon, Ohio State, Clemson and Louisville all finishing undefeated. It will be interesting to see how the voters and computers resolve that one. If that five way tie does occur, I will be pulling for Clemson to come out on top.
Folks, get ready for some football. We will have some great match-ups to look forward to early in the seadon. The college football Gods are going to reward us for waiting patiently (as if) with great contests such as: Alabama vs. Virginia Tech, Clemson vs. Georgia, UNC vs. South Carolina and LSU vs. TCU. Any predictions on who holds up the crystal ball in January? Time will tell, but until then let’s enjoy some football highlights.
NATIONAL NEWS:
1. Dyer has found a home
2. Oklahoma down a quarterback
3. Florida’s running game takes a hit
4. Penn State transfer rule expires
5. Sleeper teams of 2013
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Jeff Hostetler may not have won a Super Bowl with the Giants ( though his uncle of the same name did). He has been an obsessed college football fan living in Florida ever since the Gators beat FSU in the Sugar Bowl to earn the UF’s first national championship.
Ever since Jeff has immersed himself in everything possible related to college football. He enjoys watching, writing, playing, and otherwise obsessing over all things football. A graduate of the University of Florida, he brings a perspective to FishDuck free of our extreme green & yellow homerism glasses to look at the current landscape of collegiate athletics.