Welcome to the greatest part of the calendar year: College football season. The full schedule kicks off this week, which means fans and media will begin hyperventilating about the playoff by Sunday. I'll do my best to just enjoy the weekly drama and wait until November to start obsessing over playoff implications and who should be in or out.
Speaking of which, here are the Top 5 in the preseason Associated Press poll: 1. Alabama, 2. Ohio State, 3. Georgia, 4. Clemson, 5. Notre Dame. Shocking! Never could have guessed those teams. College football has a parity problem that has existed for a long, long time. Expanding the playoff (which I favor, to 12 teams) won't solve the never-changing nature at the top. The only real way to create unpredictability is to reduce the 85-scholarship limit, which is simply not going to happen because coaches would revolt.
Nick Saban said in a recent radio interview that Alabama had "kind of a rebuilding year" last season. Rebuilding? The Tide lost in the national championship game. It's a different view from that perch.
There is considerable preseason buzz about Utah coming off a Rose Bowl season. The Utes have road games at Florida and Oregon, but speculation about them being a playoff team seems warranted considering what they have returning, starting with quarterback Cameron Rising and running back Tavion Thomas.
Example No. 1,082,047 of the importance of recruiting: Georgia's defense had five players selected in the NFL's first round in April. The Bulldogs remain national title contenders with a defense that features a projected Top-5 draft pick in tackle Jalen Carter.
Last September, when Texas and Oklahoma announced they were bolting for the SEC, I wrote: "The Big Ten should look west and extend an invitation to Southern Cal and UCLA. Why not be bold and creative in trying to strengthen its own brand?" Dang, apparently Kevin Warren was listening.
Phil Steele's preview magazine says the Gophers have the 64th-toughest schedule in the FBS. The rest of the Big Ten West: Northwestern (22), Iowa (28), Illinois (31), Purdue (39) and Wisconsin (36), Nebraska (47).
USC represents a perfect snapshot of the Portal Era of college athletics. New coach Lincoln Riley landed his starting quarterback Caleb Williams (who followed Riley from Oklahoma) and the reigning Biletnikoff Award winner Jordan Addison via the transfer portal. The portal can change a team's outlook drastically in one offseason.
Wayzata graduate James Laurinaitis traded the TV booth for coaching in the next phase of his post-playing career. Laurinaitis joined first-year Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman's staff as a graduate assistant. Laurinaitis and Freeman played together at Ohio State and became best friends. When Freeman got the Irish job full-time after Brian Kelly's departure, he invited Laurinaitis to give coaching a shot after working as a broadcast analyst for Big Ten Network.
Under the radar team to keep an eye on: N.C. State. The Wolfpack won nine games last season and return quarterback Devin Leary, who passed for 35 touchdowns as a junior. Coach Dave Doeren has built a consistent program that is primed to finish with a double-digit win total this season.
Sign of the times: In 2009, 32 teams in FBS averaged 30-plus points per game. In 2021, 52 teams averaged 30 points or more.
Perfect name for position: Bumper Pool, linebacker, Arkansas. According to his official bio, Pool legally changed his first name from James to Bumper when he was 16. He's also one of the top linebackers in college football.
Conference realignment has created such chaos in college sports that we'll soon need an annual flow chart to keep it all straight. Quick quiz: Name the Big 12's new additions next year without looking it up.
My current college football announcing dream team: Brad Nessler (play-by-play), Kirk Herbstreit (analyst), Holly Rowe (sideline) with Tom Rinaldi providing long-form features that make you cry.
The NCAA took a necessary step in tweaking the targeting rule starting this season. Targeting penalties called in the second half of a game can be appealed to the national coordinator of officials for review. If the call is overturned, the player does not have to sit out the first half of the next game. I have never liked the ejection portion of the targeting penalty because it is too punitive in most cases. Too often we see hits ruled as targeting that clearly are not malicious or are borderline. The potential to appeal at least will lighten the punishment.
