Disclaimer: This thread is for debating and discussing the sport called "football" (more commonly known as American football, gridiron, or handegg) in the United States of America played at the collegiate level. For discussion of the sport called "soccer" in North America that's called "football" elsewhere in the world, try here.
It's time to, once again, start yet another college football thread. I didn't see one posted on the first five pages of General and since Week Zero is almost upon us I figured might as well start the thread up.
The 2019-2020 season starts, technically, on August 24th with the "Week Zero" games. Most notable of them is Miami vs Florida in Orlando, but there's a few others such as Samford-Youngstown State in the FCS Kickoff and Arizona and Hawaii for all you late nighters. Not the most exciting matchups but it's football nonetheless. The real entertainment starts on August 31st with games like Auburn-Oregon in the Cowboys Kickoff, Boise State-Florida State, and Alabama-Duke I guess. There really aren't that many "good" games that day. Week 2 is where it really starts with LSU-Texas.
A few things to look out for this coming season:
- Will Alabama rebound and continue to be a dominant team despite getting assblasted in last year's championship or is the dynasty finally dead?
- How will new transfers (specifically transfer quarterbacks) perform at their new schools like Jalen Hurts at Oklahoma, Justin Fields at Ohio State, Tate Martell at Miami, etc?
- Can Clemson run the table again and become the first team to have back-to-back undefeated seasons since Nebraska in 94-95 or will Syracuse beat them again?
- How long will Urban Meyer pretend to be sick and will he be the first candidate for the USC job at the end of the season?
- Will there finally be an 8 OT game this season even with the new rule change once we reach 5 OTs?
Going point by point here. I doubt that the dynasty is over at Alabama just yet. Yes they got utterly demolished against Clemson in the championship last season but that was to an undefeated Clemson team with talent all around the board. It isn't like the lost 44-16 to Lousiana-Monroe (although back in 2007 it felt like they lost that badly to them). And every time Alabama's lost in the postseason (2008, 2013, and 2014) and the media has stirred the narrative of Alabama finally going down the toilet they more often than not rise to the occasion and end up winning the national championship. So sorry to everyone, but the Alabama dynasty is still strong and probably will be strong until Saban retires or the NCAA reopens their investigation into Alabama from the early 2000s and finds even more violations and does give the program the death penalty for good. Whichever comes first.
The transfer quarterbacks will most likely do fine at their new schools, especially Jalen Hurts at OU because we all know Big 12 teams don't have defenses. But what really brings my piss to a boil is all these players getting waivers to be eligible to play immediately for seemingly no reason at all. Justin Fields got one because, according to him, he was subject to racial issues at UGA. Fair enough, but why the hell does Tate Martell get one when he transfers to Miami when, as far as I know, he had no reason to get one. He only left Ohio State because his starting job, which was originally thought to be guaranteed when Dwayne Haskins graduated, was not so guaranteed when Fields came in so he pulled a Blake Barnett and left. The NCAA is giving these waivers out like candy and for mostly the wrong reasons. It's unfair to these other players who transfer but have to sit out a year. There's going to be exceptions sure, but my god at least have some consistency.
Can Clemson go undefeated again? It's possible. Is it likely? Eh about 50/50 chance. Hard to tell in the preseason. But they would need two more undefeated season plus three more wins the season after to break the NCAA winning streak record. Given how weak the ACC seems to be right now I'd say there's potential.
Urban Meyer doing the same shit he did in 2010 and claiming he's sick and he'll just take a year off then take the USC job when it opens up at the end of the season so he can face Alabama in his first game there. Same shit different stretch of years. Yawn.
We'll get an 8 OT game eventually, but with this new rule where teams alternate 2 point conversion attempts at the start of the fifth overtime will make it more difficult. But when it does happen there's a 93% chance it will involve two SEC teams.
So what about you, college football fans? What are your bold predictions for the upcoming season? Is the dynasty over at Alabama and will they go 0-12 and lose by 35+ points every game? Will Kansas finally make the playoff with Les Miles at the helm? There are no wrong answers (except yours). Feel free to vote in the poll on who you believe will win the CFP championship (teams were picked based on the preseason AP poll so don't flame me for not having a certain team in there that's why I put 'Other'), and I'll try to change the poll as the season goes along.
Also Texas is still not back. No matter what Sam Ehlinger tells you.
It's time to, once again, start yet another college football thread. I didn't see one posted on the first five pages of General and since Week Zero is almost upon us I figured might as well start the thread up.
The 2019-2020 season starts, technically, on August 24th with the "Week Zero" games. Most notable of them is Miami vs Florida in Orlando, but there's a few others such as Samford-Youngstown State in the FCS Kickoff and Arizona and Hawaii for all you late nighters. Not the most exciting matchups but it's football nonetheless. The real entertainment starts on August 31st with games like Auburn-Oregon in the Cowboys Kickoff, Boise State-Florida State, and Alabama-Duke I guess. There really aren't that many "good" games that day. Week 2 is where it really starts with LSU-Texas.
A few things to look out for this coming season:
- Will Alabama rebound and continue to be a dominant team despite getting assblasted in last year's championship or is the dynasty finally dead?
- How will new transfers (specifically transfer quarterbacks) perform at their new schools like Jalen Hurts at Oklahoma, Justin Fields at Ohio State, Tate Martell at Miami, etc?
- Can Clemson run the table again and become the first team to have back-to-back undefeated seasons since Nebraska in 94-95 or will Syracuse beat them again?
- How long will Urban Meyer pretend to be sick and will he be the first candidate for the USC job at the end of the season?
- Will there finally be an 8 OT game this season even with the new rule change once we reach 5 OTs?
Going point by point here. I doubt that the dynasty is over at Alabama just yet. Yes they got utterly demolished against Clemson in the championship last season but that was to an undefeated Clemson team with talent all around the board. It isn't like the lost 44-16 to Lousiana-Monroe (although back in 2007 it felt like they lost that badly to them). And every time Alabama's lost in the postseason (2008, 2013, and 2014) and the media has stirred the narrative of Alabama finally going down the toilet they more often than not rise to the occasion and end up winning the national championship. So sorry to everyone, but the Alabama dynasty is still strong and probably will be strong until Saban retires or the NCAA reopens their investigation into Alabama from the early 2000s and finds even more violations and does give the program the death penalty for good. Whichever comes first.
The transfer quarterbacks will most likely do fine at their new schools, especially Jalen Hurts at OU because we all know Big 12 teams don't have defenses. But what really brings my piss to a boil is all these players getting waivers to be eligible to play immediately for seemingly no reason at all. Justin Fields got one because, according to him, he was subject to racial issues at UGA. Fair enough, but why the hell does Tate Martell get one when he transfers to Miami when, as far as I know, he had no reason to get one. He only left Ohio State because his starting job, which was originally thought to be guaranteed when Dwayne Haskins graduated, was not so guaranteed when Fields came in so he pulled a Blake Barnett and left. The NCAA is giving these waivers out like candy and for mostly the wrong reasons. It's unfair to these other players who transfer but have to sit out a year. There's going to be exceptions sure, but my god at least have some consistency.
Can Clemson go undefeated again? It's possible. Is it likely? Eh about 50/50 chance. Hard to tell in the preseason. But they would need two more undefeated season plus three more wins the season after to break the NCAA winning streak record. Given how weak the ACC seems to be right now I'd say there's potential.
Urban Meyer doing the same shit he did in 2010 and claiming he's sick and he'll just take a year off then take the USC job when it opens up at the end of the season so he can face Alabama in his first game there. Same shit different stretch of years. Yawn.
We'll get an 8 OT game eventually, but with this new rule where teams alternate 2 point conversion attempts at the start of the fifth overtime will make it more difficult. But when it does happen there's a 93% chance it will involve two SEC teams.
So what about you, college football fans? What are your bold predictions for the upcoming season? Is the dynasty over at Alabama and will they go 0-12 and lose by 35+ points every game? Will Kansas finally make the playoff with Les Miles at the helm? There are no wrong answers (except yours). Feel free to vote in the poll on who you believe will win the CFP championship (teams were picked based on the preseason AP poll so don't flame me for not having a certain team in there that's why I put 'Other'), and I'll try to change the poll as the season goes along.
Also Texas is still not back. No matter what Sam Ehlinger tells you.
Congratulations to the LSU Tigers on winning the CFP National Championship, finishing a perfect 15-0 season along with a Heisman Trophy winner. The 2020-2021 thread will be up sometime in August or something so look forward to that.
