Yearly Archives: 2020

This Weekend in College Football: Week 4

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

  • Kansas State @ Oklahoma (FOX): All right, it’s been a rough week, but I’m psychin’ myself up to do some picks, do some commentary, and, well, look, this shouldn’t be close, but hey, maybe K-State can limit possessions and keep it close.
  • Central Florida @ East Carolina (ABC): CENTRAL FLORIDA IS THE GREATEST TEAM EVER, AFTER I HAVE WITNESSED THEIR FULL GLORY. (Okay, happy UCF fans? Can you leave me alone now? Thanks.)
  • Florida @ Mississippi (ESPN): Well, fortunately for UF, Tennessee is playing South Carolina later today, so the crazy stuff equilibrium for the SEC should be satisfied by the prime time slot instead. Rest easy, Gators.
  • Georgia Southern @ Louisiana (ESPN2): Pedal to the metal now for the Eagles, but I don’t think there’s quite enough GATA-ness on this team to get after the Cajuns.
  • Kentucky @ Auburn (SEC): Kentucky may be ranked, but I think they’re about to realize exactly how much of their offense depended on one dude who is no longer on the team. (That dude being the incomparable modern-day single-wing quarterback Lynn Bowden.) I have Auburn all day in this game.
  • Louisville @ Pittsburgh (ACCN): I’m a college football fan who is extremely online, but yeah I’m not going to spend a lot of time watching Pitt in this one.
  • Georgia Tech @ Syracuse (ACC/RSN): Well, my primary concerns for this one are: 1) waking up at 9am on a weekend and 2) checking to see if I need to re-subscribe to YouTube TV to this one. We’ll find out both of these things in about 8 hours or so! Seriously, though, the UCF game, yeah, sure, there may have been some iffy officiating, but still, we were thoroughly outclassed by UCF. (See UCF fans, I mean it!)

1:00: Florida International @ Liberty (ESPNU): Georgia State and Charlotte got canceled, so I have to talk about this one. I suppose it’s good that was the only cancellation on this weekend that was, uh, canceled this week? I dunno, I guess we have to take progress where we can get it. In the rudderless ship that is college football, though, it’s somehow even harder than usual make sense of any of this. But hey, at least I can just pick FIU on principle.

1:30: Iowa State @ Texas Christian (FS1): TCU? Probably? Maybe? I don’t got nothin’ on these Big 12 teams right now.

2:30: Tulane @ Southern Mississippi (Stadium)

3:30:

  • West Virginia @ Oklahoma State (ABC): I have no reason to think WVU is especially good, so I’m going with Oklahoma State.
  • Texas @ Texas Tech (FOX): Well, the college football internet would have you believe that TEXAS IS BACK. And that could well be the case. Maybe. I mean, I’d pick them to win anyway, but this game gives me the heeby-jeebies.
  • Mississippi State @ Louisiana State (CBS): Okay, well, Joe Burrow plays for the Browns now, which is unfortunate, but LSU will persevere.
  • Army @ Cincinnati (ESPN): Cincy is a huge favorite in this one, which I don’t quite see? Army has looked good in the games I’ve seen them, and yeah, Cincy will definitely out-talent them and I think they’ll prevail, but this is gonna be close. Take Army to cover here.
  • Texas-El Paso @ Louisiana-Monroe (ESPN2): I’ll spare you having to watch UTEP by saying that ULM will win,

4:00:

  • Georgia @ Arkansas (SEC): This game will start at 1:00 Pacific, by which time I should be wrapping up pre-flight on an airplane and taking the sky, and by the time I’m finished, I will have not watched a single second of this game, and I think I’ll be better for it.
  • Duke @ Virginia (ACCN): I’m still coming to terms with the idea that UVA is good, okay? I just need time and space to process this.

6:00: Texas State @ Boston College (ACC/RSN): As the crow flies, it is 1720 miles from San Marcos, TX to Boston, MA. But, yeah, we definitely can’t play Clemson-South Carolina or Georgia-Georgia Tech this year. Yeah, that makes sense. But hey, BC will be able to convert some cash into a win.

7:00: Alabama @ Missouri (ESPN): You know, it’s been a while since I’ve thought about… oh, no wait it hasn’t. Even Alabama football, of all things, has been in the news-cycle that his 2020. From the Bama AD exhorting partying students in Tuscaloosa to wear masks to Nick Saban marching with his players in a protest, to even then finding out that the reason while the otherwise robotic Saban being there likely because he was there when the Kent State massacre happened (you know, “tin soldiers and Nixon’s comin’/we’re finally on our own…”). 2020, y’all. And yea, ‘Bama’s gonna roll in this one.

7:30:

  • Florida State @ Miami (ABC): Well, FSU hasn’t played since losing to us, so… yeah, I’m defaulting to Miami in this one.
  • Kansas @ Baylor (ESPNU): Baylor isn’t good. But Kansas is, like, really, really, not good.
  • Tennessee @ South Carolina (SEC): I know this game will be awful. I know this game will be ugly. But… that’s kinda why I want to watch it? Like even to the point where I’ll pick an upset and give the Gamecocks the edge? I dunno, it’s just a feeling.
  • Vanderbilt @ Texas A&M (SECA): Good thing this one is on the alternate channel, ’cause TAMU should roll.

8:00: North Carolina State @ Virginia Tech (ACCN): There’s no way I can pick VPI in this scenario, so it’s NCSU I guess?

10:15: Troy @ Brigham Young (ESPN): Well, we’re still a ways off from Pac-12 After Dark, even though I live in Pac-12 country so for me it’s always been more “Pac-12 in Prime Time”, but anyways I like BYU here.

This Weekend in College Football: Week 3

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

  • Navy @ Tulane (ABC): Navy looked bad last week, and while it stands to reason they they’ll be a little more in shape this week, it’s still tough to call this one for them. I’ll take Tulane.
  • Tulsa @ Oklahoma State (ESPN):  Oklahoma State shouldn’t have any issues.
  • Louisiana @ Georgia State (ESPN2): Georgia State is kinda bad? I’ll take the Cajuns to rage here.
  • Liberty @ Western Kentucky (ESPNU): Go Hilltoppers!
  • Syracuse @ Pittsburgh (ACCN): Syracuse seemed to take a step back last year, and uh, without the traditional sources of internet previews I’ve come to rely on over the years this year, I have no idea what their current state is. I’ll take Pitt.
  • Boston College @ Duke (ACC/RSN): Duke isn’t what was in the past under Cutcliffe, but I can’t see them losing to BC just yet.

2:30: South Florida @ Notre Dame (USA): This doesn’t figure to be pretty, but hey I guess if you want the novelty of seeing Notre Dame on a cable channel you can watch this one.

3:30:

  • Central Florida @ Georgia Tech (ABC): Beating Florida State always feels good, even FSU is a shadow of its former self. (Seriously, I figured our d-line play would be improved, but FSU offensive line has somehow been atrocious for like three years running.) GT is still young, extremely young, and this actually figures to be a harder test than FSU was last week. This will be a yardstick, but it could well be one of our tougher games this year.
  • Appalachian State @ Marshall (CBS): App State figures to walk in this one.
  • Florida Atlantic @ Georgia Southern (ESPN): Is FAU still any good? Is Georgia Southern? Y’all, I don’t know. It’s early in the season, it’s week 3 and the teams that have played have played like one game, and I’m so slammed with work that I haven’t had time to do even the most superficial of research. So, uh, Southern?

4:00: Troy @ Middle Tennessee State (Battle for the Palladium; ESPN2): THIS IS ACTUALLY RIVALRY GAME. SUPPOSEDLY. MAYBE. IT’S GOT A WIKIPEDIA PAGE. But yeah I like Troy.

6:00: Southern Methodist @ North Texas (CBSS): I’m going with the Ponies here? Yeah, I’ve just received word—I’m going with the Mustangs.

7:30:

  • Miami @ Louisville (ABC): I’m picking Miami here mostly on the assumption that Louisville is still garbage. That’s a college football opinion from like two years ago, but look, that’s what I got right now.
  • Louisiana Tech @ Southern Mississippi (ESPN2): Okay, one piece of current college football news that I am up on is that they were so good last week they fired their coach. Or he resigned, who can say? Either way, yeah, I’ll take LT over an interim coaching staff.
  • Texas State @ Louisiana-Monroe (ESPNU): Just picking ULM out of reflex out of this point. I’ll say this about the Big Ten: I definitely have a better idea of how, say, Indiana or Northwestern is doing in a given year than the Texas States of the world,

8:00: Wake Forest @ North Carolina State (ACCN): It feels like every year is the year NCSU is finally going to win more than 9 games, so this year seems as good as any to pick them.

This Weekend in College Football: Week 2

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

  • Arkansas State @ Kansas State (FOX): Yeah, we’re really doing this I guess. I guess if nothing else this gives me a good excuse to take my new mechanical keyboard for a test drive. The main thing I’m noticing that’s interesting so far is that I don’t seem to know what to do with my right hand. My left is definitely properly positioned, whereas my right is mostly just hunting and pecking, albeit very quickly and efficiently. At any rate, 20 Memphis players tested positive for COVID after playing Arkansas State last week. The initial report was that the players got it after celebrating the victory on a party bus, but one of the players said they hadn’t done anything and that “they should go test Arkansas State” (paraphrased). So K-State will win, but at what cost?
  • Louisiana @ Iowa State (ESPN): I believe I noted this earlier, but this year I’m going to start referring to “Louisiana-Lafayette” as just “Louisiana”. It’s a big thing, as it makes both Louisiana-Monroe and LSU fans mad. That said, the rage against the Ragin’ Cajuns is interesting, but it won’t help them beat the Cyclones.
  • Charlotte @ Appalachian State (ESPN2): I’m assuming that Charlotte is still bad and that App State is still good.
  • Eastern Kentucky @ West Virginia (FS1)
  • Syracuse @ North Carolina (ACCN): I haven’t re-upped YouTube TV yet to get the ACC Network, so I won’t be able to see this. I haven’t gotten yet mostly because I’m not super crazy about the price increase from last year considering that I use it pretty much just for a single network. That said, that will last for about as long as Georgia Tech isn’t on the ACC Network, so we’ll see. In the meantime, I guess this is the year that Carolina’s Back!!, so I’ll go with them.

1:30: Louisiana-Monroe @ Army (CBSS): Well, Army has played a game, which means they should look better than their Naval counterparts did last week. I like them over ULM.

2:30: Duke @ Notre Dame (NBC): So technically Notre Dame has been a member of the ACC since 2013, but yes, this will be their first season playing an exclusively conference schedule in football. And they should be able to get it started with an easy victory over Duke.

3:30:

  • Georgia Tech @ Florida State (ABC): Well, here goes I suppose. Tech still has a blisteringly hard schedule this season, and while this isn’t the FSU of old (or even a few years ago, for that matter) this will still be a good yardstick to judge the growth of Tech in Year 2. There’s just gotta be some measurable progress that will tell us if the program is going in the right direction. We have the most returning experience in the country, and let’s hope that they’re talented enough to make that experience worth it.
  • Texas-San Antonio @ Texas State (ESPN2): I have no idea if either of these teams is good, or even decent. UTSA was really bad last year though (I think) so I’m going with Texas State.
  • Campbell @ Georgia Southern (ESPNU)

4:00: Austin Peay @ Pittsburgh (ACCN)

7:00: The Citadel @ South Florida (ESPN+)

7:30:

  • Clemson @ Wake Forest (ABC): Wake Forest may actually be Woke Forest now, but no amount of Wokeness is going to help them against Clemson.
  • Tulane @ South Alabama (ESPN2): I don’t know why, but I like Tulane, and this could well be far more engaging than the Clemson-Wake bloodbath on ABC.

8:00:

  • Western Kentucky @ Louisville (ACCN): I have this idea that WKU has been good recently, and Louisville has been really bad, but I don’t think it’s enough for me to put the Hilltoppers, uh, over the top.
  • Houston Baptist @ Texas Tech (ESPN+)

10:00: Coastal Carolina @ Kansas (FS1): Well, there’s no Pac-12 After Dark this season, so instead we get Kansas kicking off at 9PM Central time and plenty likely to lose to a team nicknamed the Chanticleers.

This Weekend in College Football: Week 1

Yeah, look, I’m just as surprised as you are.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Thursday

8:00: Central Arkansas @ Alabama-Birmingham (espn3.com): Mostly just posting this one because, well, for obvious reasons this weekend is greatly diminished, and also because I enjoy the Shutdown Fullcast joke about UCA being a bunch of Ozark ronin.

9:00: South Alabama @ Southern Mississippi (CBSS): I have no idea which, if either, of these teams are going to be good this year. But here you are: FBS vs. FBS football. I’ll pick USM.

Saturday

1:00: Eastern Kentucky @ Marshall (ESPN): Naturally, because of the pandemic there is no PAX this year. So I have plenty of time to watch the first full weekend of college football. Which is, of course, also not really its normal self during the pandemic. Also, Marshall.

1:30: Middle Tennessee State @ Army (CBSS): So instead we’ll get this nicely spaced out slate that features no Power 5 teams. Army will get in the first of its eight home games this year. Has that ever happened before? Well, since WWII anyway? Also, my site I use for TV listings started calling Army “Army West Point”, and while I do respect anyone’s decision to be called whatever they want, Army is still referred to plenty as just Army, so I’ll stick to that. (I have finally caved and started referring to Louisiana-Lafayette as just Louisiana, though.) Oh, and I like Army here.

4:30: Southern Methodist @ Texas State (ESPN): I am as unsure about everything as I about most of these contests, but I’m pretty sure Texas State will still be terrible.

8:00: Arkansas State @ Memphis (ESPN): I’ll also assume that Memphis is still fun and good.

Monday

8:00: Brigham Young @ Navy (ESPN): I need to check, but I think BYU may be the only FBS team west of the Rockies that is playing football this year. I’ll also take Navy here.

Rating the (Original) 2020 Non-Conference Slate

It’s that time once again. The methodology is the same as years past. The major difference is, of course, that none of these games will be played. That said, continuity weighed heavily on me and I decided to dig up each Power 5 team’s original 2020 schedule. This turned out to be way more work than I thought, but in the end I was reminded once again of some of the spectacular matchups we’ll miss this year.

This year, my brother and I rated 71 teams on a scale from 0 to 1 in .25 increments.

Legit Rating Number of teams
1 22
0.75 4
0.5 13
0.25 10
0 22

The 22 teams earning a “1” were: Alabama, Auburn, California-Los Angeles, Clemson, Florida, Florida state, Georgia, Louisiana state, Miami, Michigan, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma state, Oregon, Pennsylvania State, Texas, Texas A&M, Washington, and Wisconsin.

The Legit Rating for each conference was:

  • ACC: 0.43
  • Big 12: 0.5
  • Big Ten: 0.46
  • Pac-12: 0.52
  • SEC: 0.52

Since none of these games will actually be played, I will eschew my usual commentary on each team’s schedule, but I will provide the original schedules and their ratings. FCS teams are indicated in italics.

ACC

  1. Georgia Tech (2.75 legit, 1 FCS): Gardner-Webb, Central Florida, Notre Dame, @Georgia.
  2. Florida State (2, 1): N-West Virginia, Samford, @Boise State, Florida.
  3. North Carolina (1.75, 1): @Central Florida, N-Auburn, James Madison, Connecticut.
  4. Virginia (1, 1): Georgia, Virginia Military Institute, Connecticut, @Old Dominion.
  5. Virginia Tech (1, 1): Liberty, Pennsylvania State, @Middle Tennessee State, North Alabama.
  6. Wake Forest (1, 1): @Old Dominion, Appalachian State, Villanova, N-Notre Dame.
  7. Clemson (1, 1): Akron, @Notre Dame, The Citadel, South Carolina.
  8. Pittsburgh (1, 1): Miami (OH), @Marshall, Richmond, Notre Dame.
  9. Louisville (1, 1): Murray State, Western Kentucky, @Notre Dame, Kentucky.
  10. Duke (1, 1): Middle Tennessee State, Elon, Charlotte, @Notre Dame.
  11. Miami (0.5, 1): Temple, Wagner, Alabama-Birmingham, Michigan State.
  12. Boston College (0.25, 1): Ohio, @Kansas, Purdue, Holy Cross.
  13. North Carolina State (0.25, 1): Mississippi State, @Troy, Delaware, Liberty.
  14. Syracuse (0, 1): @Rutgers, Colgate, @Western Michigan, Liberty.

Big Ten

  1. Ohio State (1, 0): Bowling Green, @Oregon, Buffalo.
  2. Michigan State (1, 0): @Brigham Young, Toledo, Miami.
  3. Michigan (1, 0): @Washington, Ball State, Arkansas State.
  4. Wisconsin (1, 1): Southern Illinois, Appalachian State, N-Notre Dame.
  5. Pennsylvania State (0.75, 0): Kent State, @Virginia Tech, San Jose State.
  6. Maryland (0.5, 1): Towson, Northern Illinois, @West Virginia.
  7. Nebraska (0.25, 1): Central Michigan, South Dakota State, Cincinnati.
  8. Iowa (0.25, 1): Northern Iowa, Iowa State, Northern Illinois.
  9. Purdue (0, 0): Memphis, Air Force, @Boston College.
  10. Indiana (0, 0): Western Kentucky, Ball State, @Connecticut.
  11. Rutgers (0, 1): Monmouth, Syracuse, @Temple.
  12. Minnesota (0, 1): Florida Atlantic, Tennessee Tech, Brigham Young.
  13. Northwestern (0, 1): Tulane, Central Michigan, Morgan State.
  14. Illinois (0, 1): Illinois State, Connecticut, Bowling Green.

Big 12

  1. Texas (1, 0): South Florida, @Louisiana State, Texas-El Paso.
  2. West Virginia (1, 1): N-Florida State, Eastern Kentucky, Maryland.
  3. Oklahoma (0.5, 1): Missouri State, Tennessee, @Army.
  4. Iowa State (0.5, 1): South Dakota, @Iowa, Nevada-Las Vegas.
  5. Baylor (0.5, 1): Mississippi, Incarnate Word, Louisiana Tech.
  6. Texas Christian (0, 1): @California, Prairie View A&M, @Southern Methodist.
  7. Texas Tech (0, 1): @Texas-El Paso, Alabama State, Arizona.
  8. Oklahoma State (0, 1): Oregon State, Tulsa, Western Illinois.
  9. Kansas State (0, 1): Buffalo, North Dakota, Vanderbilt.
  10. Kansas (0, 1): New Hampshire, Boston College, @Coastal Carolina.

Pac-12

  1. Southern California (2, 0): N-Alabama, New Mexico, Notre Dame.
  2. Stanford (1, 1): William & Mary, @Notre Dame, Brigham Young.
  3. Oregon (1, 1): North Dakota State, Ohio State, Hawaii.
  4. Washington (1, 1): Michigan, Sacramento State, Utah State.
  5. Oregon State (1, 1): @Oklahoma State, Colorado State, Portland State.
  6. Colorado (1, 0): @Colorado State, Fresno State, @Texas A&M.
  7. California (0.75, 1): @Nevada-Las Vegas, Texas Christian, California Polytechnic.
  8. Washington State (0.5, 1): @Utah State, Houston, Idaho.
  9. Utah (0, 1): Brigham Young, Montana State, @Wyoming.
  10. Arizona State (0, 1): Northern Arizona, @Nevada-Las Vegas, Brigham Young.
  11. Arizona (0, 1): Hawaii, Portland State, @Texas Tech.
  12. California-Los Angeles (0, 0): New Mexico State, @Hawaii, @San Diego State.

SEC

  1. Alabama (1, 1): N-Southern California, Georgia State, Kent State, Tennessee-Martin.
  2. Louisiana State (1, 1): Texas-San Antonio, Texas, N-Rice, Nicholls State.
  3. Tennessee (1, 1): Charlotte, @Oklahoma, Furman, Troy.
  4. Arkansas (1, 1): Nevada, @Notre Dame, Charleston Southern, Louisiana-Monroe.
  5. South Carolina (1, 1): Coastal Carolina, East Carolina, Wofford, @Clemson.
  6. Florida (1, 1): Eastern Washington, South Alabama, New Mexico State, @Florida State.
  7. Georgia (0.75, 1): N-Virginia, East Tennessee State, Louisiana-Monroe, Georgia Tech.
  8. Mississippi State (0.5, 1): New Mexico, North Carolina State, Tulane, Alabama A&M.
  9. Vanderbilt (0.5, 1): Mercer, @Kansas State, Colorado State, Louisiana Tech.
  10. Auburn (0.5, 1): Alcorn State, N-North Carolina, Southern Mississippi, Massachusetts.
  11. Texas A&M (0.25, 1): Abilene Christian, North Texas, Colorado, Fresno State.
  12. Missouri (0, 1): Central Arkansas, Eastern Michigan, @Brigham Young, Louisiana.
  13. Mississippi (0, 1): Baylor, Southeast Missouri, Connecticut, Georgia Southern.
  14. Kentucky (0.25, 1): Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Eastern Illinois, @Louisville.

My alma mater, Georgia Tech, takes home the crown of the “most legit” schedule, as this year is their turn to face Notre Dame, and they had always feisty UCF on the schedule, along with annual rival Georgia. But this being 2020, what matchups will we miss the most?

Well, first I’m going to miss the inter-conference traditional rivalries that many ACC and SEC teams have. Good bye Georgia-Georgia Tech, Florida-Florida State, Kentucky-Louisville, and South Carolina-Clemson. And let’s not forget Bedlam (Iowa-Iowa State), and Notre Dame’s traditional rivals like Navy and Southern Cal.

Next I’ll miss what were some of the ones that the college football world had collectively circled on their calendars. This includes, but likely isn’t limited to:

  • Florida State vs. West Virginia
  • Florida State @ Boise State
  • North Carolina vs. Auburn
  • Ohio State @ Oregon
  • Michigan @ Washington
  • Texas @ Louisiana State
  • Texas Tech @ Arizona
  • Oklahoma vs. Tennessee
  • Oklahoma @ Army
  • Southern California vs. Alabama
  • Colorado @ Texas A&M

FSU on the blue turf, Michigan and Ohio State venturing to the West Coast, the Sooners making the return trip to West Point after almost getting knocked off by Army a couple years ago… it’s tough to think about.

Alas, it won’t be. All I hope is that what does remain of the season can be done as safely as possible and that something good can come from all the chaos of the offseason.

Finally, here are the conferences ranked by their average Legit Rating.

  1. Pac-12 (0.23)
  2. ACC (0.203)
  3. SEC (0.156)
  4. Big Ten (0.137)
  5. Big 12 (0.117)

This is nearly the exact same ranking as last year, but that’s not too surprising. It seems that the Pac-12 just cares the most about getting interesting games.