Any non Michigan-related CFB storylines that interest you this season?
Is Texas back? The O/U is 8 wins.
Which is the real LSU?
Will ISU keep it up?
Clay Helton gonna do just enough to keep his job again?
Ohio State had the 123th ranked pass defense last year.
Indiana or USC legit?
Does TCU need to win some more games this year?
Miami...looking like a boom or bust type season, opening against Bama.
If Ole Miss plays defense, they might be pretty good.
Random trivia fact: Mississippi St won the CWS to get their first national title in any sport. There are now 2 Power 5 schools that have never won a national title. Do you know who they are?
I'll put the answer in the comments.
Virginia Tech is one of them I believe.
Speaking of them, will Fuente and the Hokies have a breakout season?
How will Matt Campbell do?
How much money will it take to get him here?
Va tech and Kansas St. Im shocked the Hokies never won a championship.
Im very interested to see how Texas does under Sark.
Remember in the late 90s when Kansas State was one game away from playing for the national title in 1998 and Virginia Tech played for it in 1999? That was fun.
I do remember watching that classic Big 12 title game. Kansas State subscribed to the Wisconsin school of scheduling having played just 3 teams with winning records all season. But overall, it was such a more exciting time. Back then, the first full Saturday of college football games was so epic. Now you watch that first Saturday and already know that Bama is light years ahead of everybody else.
Matt Campbell is an interesting one especially given how much he was discussed around here. I think he made the same mistake as Jeff Brohm by not striking when the iron is hot. However Iowa State has some key returning players so maybe they prove me wrong and win the Big 12.
Agreed about not striking while the iron is hot for Campbell (although it wasn't a normal job searching year after the season ended).
I like Campbell as a coach and he gets like 19 starters back, but I still think Brock Purdy (QB) is going to hinder his ability to win the Big 12. He already cost him a championship last year.
If he duplicates last season, he almost has to go somewhere else. Texas won't be down forever although I'm more lukewarm on Sark than most.
Iowa St is definitely an interesting team to follow.
My interests regarding college football are and have been exactly the same for the past 50+ years or so.
Root like hell for Michigan to win
Root like hell for MSU, OSU and Notre Dame to lose
Everything else is just pleasant filler to me. Same as it ever was......
hell yea bud .. same.
All those storylines interest me, but if Michigan plays like they did last season I will quickly lose interest in college football season on the whole and try to forget college football is occurring as much as possible.
The pass that put MSU inside the 5 while leading did exactly that with me.
Going down to Fayetteville to see Razorbacks for a game against Mississippi state this year so I will be paying attention to them. B-I-L is a gator so I also pay attention to them every year, I think they take a step back this year. Will UGA finally get the monkey off their back? If not kirby is gonna be in hot water.
What monkey? They won the SEC and played for the national championship in 2017 and have two more top ten finishes and a top five finish since.
You could make an argument that they are trending in the wrong direction, to be one of the top 3/4 most talented teams in the country. They are awful at WR and until they have an offensive revolution a la LSU 2 years ago, then they won't get over the hump. They don't have the same dominant feel as OSU or Bama or Clemson or Oklahoma. It's a program that feels like the initial excitement is gone.
Imagine being a Georgia fan. Kirby goes and buys all those good players and can't break through ('cept for that one season).
And yet all they hear is how they haven't won a natty since 1980. They also have the elite talent that rivals bama in the SEC this year. There is no excuse.
Yeah there was a SEC shorts video about Georgia fans pepper spraying the personification of 'Hope'; it can be argued that being a Georgia fan is more painful than being a Michigan fan the past few years, given the expectations.
I’m not sure I agree with this due to the fact that they were winning the national championship at halftime just a few years ago. With JT Daniels coming back and the huge transfer pickup of that tight end from LSU and the transfer kendricks they picked up at CB (position of need) they should have a top 10 offense and top 5 defense this year IMO
Not sure I've ever looked forward more to a college football season that I am this year. Missing REAL college football for a year - I miss seeing the fans on a college gameday set, a full slate of games all day, and fans making a different (outside of SEC last year).
Returning production is at an all time high this year due to a lot of players taking COVID years. The quality of college football this year, as a result, should be at an all time high as well.
Is Michigan going to be great? Probably not. But its still fun to watch and introduce my young kids to the game. Wil be fun to see what our new D structure looks like, to see if JJ gets some QB snaps, to see if Donovan Edwards and Blake Corum are the future. So much to look forward to.
Returning production is at an all time high this year due to a lot of players taking COVID years. The quality of college football this year, as a result, should be at an all time high as well.
This is what I'm looking forward to the most. We should see one hell of a season this year, as compared to possibly the worst season in history (from an on-field product standpoint).
A lot of that returning production is biased towards G5 and lower P5 schools. Is this the year we see an underdog make the playoff? Furthermore, Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State all have to replace their QBs. Perhaps an early challenge could trip one of them up (I assume they'll be full force by late October).
Cincinnati will have a shot. Their QB returns and I think they had a lot of other contributors back. They play both Indiana and Notre Dame this year and play in by far the best G5 conference. If they manage to go undefeated, I think they should get in. Fickell figuring out how to properly run the clock out against Georgia last year would have been a huge help in putting them in preseason position to be knocking on the door.
After a great season last year, if they go undefeated while beating Indiana and ND, it will be really hard to keep them out.
Definitely agree but I'll believe a G5 will make it in the 4 team playoff when I see it.
I'll stick my head out there, and perhaps I'm biased because I root for Cincinnati as my "second team" --- but I think the Bearcats roll into Bloomington and beat IU by at least 14 points. I think UC is a considerably better team than IU.
That would set the stage for the Notre Dame game.
After that, Cincinnati's conference schedule is very favorable. (1) All of UCF, Tulsa and SMU are at home, (2) Houston isn't on the schedule at all, (3) they are at Navy but Navy is projected to be down in 2021, (4) thus making the toughest conference road game a visit to Tulane (who will be under-the-radar good in 2021).
Anyway --- if UC does beat Notre Dame, "does a non Power-5 team make the playoff?" becomes perhaps THE story for 2021. I'm hoping that all happens.
OSU has to go on the road on a Thursday night to Minnesota at the start, then turn around and get Oregon. While I'm confident they should get through unscathed, you never know when the entire QB room has yet to take a college snap.
Clemson is in a similar but less treacherous spot. They get to play Georgia. Georgia is consistently hyped up only to putter out, plus Clemson has a QB that has played meaningful minutes during last season, and he is a monster talent. They should be fine.
Alabama, well they get to play Miami. This should be a no brainer win for Alabama, but maybe one time the mass NFL exodus bites them. I mean they lost 3/5 of a NFL caliber OL, QB, RB, TE, and both WR's. It will probably be a bloodbath, but you never know. I just don't have much memory of Alabama dropping games early in the season, and they have had to replace a lot of people many times in the past, so I'm not holding my breath.
Long shot playoff pick: UNC. They have been building momentum. But I'm not even saying this because I think they are great or will go beat someone in the playoff. I'm saying this because outside of playing at ND, their schedule lines up for them to do some damage, they avoid Clemson.
I actually think UNC is damn good and they have arguably the best QB in the nation. Mack Brown is a very good coach.
One of the reasons that Saban is so good is that his team is almost always in mid-season form by that first game. They've historically played their first game at a neutral site against a name opponent and they just throttle them.
you never know when the entire QB room has yet to take a college snap.
Miller and Stroud have both taken snaps. They have yet to attempt a pass. But, I just checked and was surprised to find that each of them rushed for a TD last season.
The WWII era would like to have a word with you. According to a story from the NCAA web site, in 1942, 52 schools dropped football, some of them permanently. In 1943, Alabama and Michigan State were among another slew of schools that dropped football. It's quite a fascinating read:
I love a good preseason snowflakes thread.
Texas is always back. Until week 3 or 4.
Matt Campbell will go 7-6 this year which will send the FIRE HABAUGH into an existential crisis.
COVID outbreaks in the SEC will be a pain in the ass for everyone - possible cancellations and much teeth gnashing. Uncertainty over how to shoehorn three SEC teams into the playoffs with uneven schedules etc.
Indiana's marginal improvement hurts MSU. And continues to be a pain in the ass for everyone not named Ohio State.
The Harbaugh apologists want Matt Campbell to have a bad season so bad so they dont have to admit me might be the next great coach.
I've got the cyclones at 5-7 without even looking at their schedule or returning production. It's going to be glorious when Michigan goes 10-3. Not even thinking about it critically, just talking shit.
How do you like your crow cooked?
Ok Sarah!
Choked on my chickpeas lol
The FIRE HARBAUGH! crowd wants their own team to lose so they can debate the genius of PJ Fleck, Tom Allen or some other flavor of the month.
To your other point, I really hope enough players just man up and get the shots so they don't have to mess with contact tracing or testing or any of that shit. I hope that the conferences have reasonable protocols in place to avoid those chaotic last second cancellations. Those are the worst.
Yep. I'm fearing we'll see NC State baseball situations play out in a few programs that don't require vaccinations. Saban would sell his children to win, so I won't be surprised if he's already implemented a mandatory vaccination policy. But Alabama is only above Mississippi in vacc rates and the politics aren't favorable for any improvement.
I don't want Michigan to lose. I have 6 years of evidence to back up that they won't win much.
Also it's looking like Harbaugh was a flavor of the month at this point.
So you’ll put more value into Campbell’s COVID year in a Mickey Mouse conference than what harbaugh has done in the 5 non-COVID seasons?
I get you guys want harbaugh gone, but Christ find a better savior than a guy who’s batting .500 outside of a loopy COVID season.
The bottom line is that no one knows how any coach will do in a new situation.
Iowa State could make an argument for being one of the worst power schools in the history of college football- they don't do anything.
What I like most about Campbell is that he's won games, at Iowa State, against teams that he has absolutely NO business winning.
You let me know when our guy does that.
I'll take the fire and potential of a Matt Campbell over whatever is happening here.
'our guy' already did that, at Stanford. how did that turn out?
Harbaugh got fortunate that a program-changing QB showed up at his door.
I don't think Campbell has had quite that level of talent.
Do you propose we keep doing the same thing that isnt working right now?
Sounds like rich rod 2.0 situation
I do not fault the school at all for Rich Rod- it was the right idea to try and invigorate a stale program.
Just didn't work out here.
This is the most ridiculous argument. You know who else went .500 at smaller power five schools before winning national titles? Jimmy Johnson and Nick Saban.
Bobby Bowden went 42-26 at West Virginia. Mark Dantonio went 18-17 at Cincinnati.
You must be proud.
Harbaugh haters want Michigan to fail so they have a tiny shot at getting an unproven Matt Campbell who has only ever shown he can win 1/2 his games at crappy schools.
What a weird situation.
We have already endured 6 years of weird.