Official 2019 College Football Thread
 

The games kick off tomorrow! Miami v. Florida and Arizona at Hawaii. Let the games begin!

Huzzah!

That was a fun game to start the season

Florida should drop some after a sloppy game like that one.

Either the Florida D-Line is loaded, or Miami's OL is as bad as FSU's was last year.

I didn't get to watch the game because of family obligations, but....Miami tool an OL last year who basically had no other offers. A kid I've watched in some camps and watched against my son specifically who wasn't very good. Very good kid not a good player...But had some good clay. MIAMI offered and he committed in about 7 seconds. We talked about him locally thought maybe by his senior year he could be a player....then saw he was STARTING at LT...that tells me all I need to know about their OL

No surprise that was the LT, that poor kid got abused all night

I can't wait for season to start

Starting tonight, at least one game per day for the next five days.

GT manages 294 yards offense while getting manhandled by Clemson. Despite questionable playcalling and player usage that's the most GT has gained vs Clemson since their last win over the Tigers back in 2014

Give the devil his due a little bit here. Mark Richt isn't awful as a lengthy analysis guy at the desk after a game.

I don't think his style would translate well in-game, nor do I think he'll be great at halftime (okay, but not great, pace may be too quick), but he's good with explaining the detailed minutiae of how a specific skill/situation is taught.

I'll also say that I felt like I could see him mentally choosing his words for a non-football audience - it's not automatic to him at this point - so he's probably going to get better at that over time.

UCLA is a QB away from being much of a bother to anyone. 8-24 and 5 TO's to a team like Cincy? Ugh

I'm not a huge college football guy, but isn't Cincy supposed to be sneaky good this year?

Did you watch tonight?

Cincy is a team with some decent players and they are well-coached. They aren't going to beat themselves.

But they showed themselves to be just okay tonight. They played a QB that hit 33% of his throws and turned the ball over four times, including twice on phantom self-fumbles, and the coaching staff (for UCLA) inexplicably started a scat back as not only their primary runner, but really, only runner. They were also missing seven starters, only two of whom were listed as out on the school's self-provided two deep.

The fact that despite all that, UCLA was a horrible refs' call away from being just a FG down with 3 minutes to go, says that UC is perhaps a touch overrated.

Don't get me started on what tonight means for UCLA.

I would be shocked if Chip cant turn this around. I mean if he could turn Oregon to what they were there is no reason he cant make UCLA a power. I cant figure out what he is doing at this point though. Have other coaches really caught up to him this fast?

That's the thing. I don't think they have. His offense by the end of the season last year looked phenomenal. Not Oregon phenomenal, but very very good. It appeared he was doing it again, finding new wrinkles and staying ahead of the game.

His problem seems to be that he just... stops... doing it. He gets in his own way. Maddening playcalling like tonight,.where he goes from looking like a genius one moment to looking like he pulled the next play out of a hat. For instance, he left his properly-sized star RB on the bench (admittedly seems he was dinged up) and started a RB/WR who is all of 5"8" 190 or something like that-- and stuck with him all game. He has plenty of other nornal sized RBs, including the backup on his own provided to media two deep for this game, but he runs the scatback ALL game.

His QB is clearly struggling to go through progressions and make even the simplest of passes. Does he pull him to give a look at a backup who is by most accounts not terribly worse than the starter? No. Does he do some short-throw easy completions to get the starter in a rhythm? Heaven forbid.

He's reading his own press clippings right now, like all he has to do is show up. It's pure ego. His own inexplicable decisions are the reasons for the utter failures and yet he's too egotistical and convinced of his own superiority to acknowledge these issues, admit he's wrong and actually do something like make an adjustment to his precious gameplan.

When did they hire Paul Johnson?

I thought he was talking Kirk Ferentz.

Hes getting blasted on Clemson boards today for his goofy SEC fellating post game. He said aTm would be ready for Clemson because they play in the SEC-W...on the ACCN...if the opposite had been said on the SECN he'd be unemployed already

I didn't see/hear that part. I think I was later maybe (he was discussing things like where to position throws on certain routes with, who was it, E.J. Manuel I think)

I thought for sure Dorian would clear through by mid-next week, but it just keeps getting slower and slower. Shouldn't be anywhere near a Hurricane in the Carolinas, but could have some weather effect on that A&M/Clemson game (or tailgate!)

Too early to fire Chris Ash?

Is it already time for the WTF Rutgers posts?

Looks like it was too early, Rutgers is going into half with a double digit lead

Jonathon Taylor is the real deal. He has a heisman type season and Wiscy is int he playoffs.

McClane Carter actually looks like a competent qb.

He's great. And it looks like there is another good one coming behind him in Nakia Watson. Like always, it will come down to QB play. With Quintez Cephus coming back, there some nice weapons at WR too. But if Coan isn't any better than Hornibrook (not a high bar too clear), they'll look great against teams like USF and Illinois but the better Big Ten teams will give them challenges offensively.

Purdue called.

Said WTF just happened.

Purdue being Purdue. "DEFENSE!? We dont play no stinking defense!"

Kiffin and FAU getting destroyed by Ohio State. 28-0 halfway through the first quarter.

I was grumpy about OSU playing such an obviously over matched opponent, but then they showed Kiffin and I felt much better about it.

If there's a coach in all the land that seems more likely to be - literally - inbred than Matt F'n Luke I'd hate to see them.

You'd think it'd be difficult for a guy who appears to have the IQ of a turnip to have less football acumen than general knowledge ... and then you see this misbegotten sumbitch & realize it's happening right before your very eyes.

5 of 13 passing for 43 yards
13 carries for -1 yard

Rich Rodriguez ladies & gentlemen

Yeah, I forgot they played last night (vs today). Wife told me the quarterly breakdown and I was basically "oh, they're doing this again, huh."

Iowa State down 13-10 to Northern Iowa late 3rd. South Alabama back within 7 of Nebraska also late 3rd. And on the flip side Maryland up 72-0 on Howard mid 3rd...

Northern Iowa playing lights out.

UNI is a tough in state opponent.

Iowa had to block 2 late FGs back to back to beat them a few years ago.

And ISU is really missing their studs from last year.

And FSU goes down. Willie Taggert remains an idiot.

There's overmatched and then there's Taggert.

Georgia State!

True FR QB Sam Howell looking good for UNC.

Not looking good? Bottom half of the SEC. At least Kentucky survived?

Unless UT wins out from here, I can see no reason for Pruitt to be retained.

And I'd bet that the season won't end without at least one coordinator being relieved of his duties by week 6 or 7.

The shocking part though is that they don't look nearly so much unwilling to compete physically as they look unable to compete physically. Whomever has been taking a paycheck under the guise of being a "strength coach" ought to be charged with fraud.

They had to practice all spring and fall against the SEC, no wonder they're already beat up

Somehow Willie Taggert doesn't have the worst end of game execution & playcalling today.

UNC just took a knee on 4th down & gave South Carolina the ball at the 47 with 10 seconds left. They sack Bentley anyways, but man what a bizarre ending.

I'm not anything resembling a "Mack Brown guy" but his emotion in the post-game was impressively real.

I’d remind you of Saban losing to ULM ...patience is the name of the game . But I’m not sure that a turn around is possible as long as Fulmer is roaming the halls.

Coastal Carolina opened the season on a down-note with the QB throwing four INTs and losing at home against Central Michigan. 30-23. :(

Whomever approved the hiring of Jim fucking Chaney as anything above janitor is the start of the problem. Nobody ever grieves his departure, you ever notice that? So how fucking dumb do you have to be to hire him TWICE?

As for Phat Phil, I've long been of the notion that he returned specifically with the intent to do as much damage as possible.

As for the ULM comparison,here's where it seems to fall flat: Saban at least tried by all appearances. He didn't go into that game ineptly causing the loss. That's what Pruitt, by his own words mind you, did this week. Midweek, his own words were about "keeping it simple". And what did that get him? A team that played with no energy at all.

That said however, the tone was set by GSU being not just the more physical team but appearing to be the stronger team. How the fuck do you spend the money that's spent in Knoxville and fail to get players to even a bottom feeding D1 level physically? The fucking food budget in Knoxvegas is likely the same as the entire football budget at GSU.

There may be a time when I'm ready to call for the heads of the (likely numerous) scholarship thieves on the roster but this one appeared to be 100% on the staff that does nothing but draw fucking paychecks.

NDSU paid Butler to come play at Target Field in Minneapolis, the second football game to be hosted there (hosted a D3 game in 2017), and as expected, put a 57-10 smackdown on them.



Our redshirt freshman QB, Trey Lance was 10-11 for 185 yards and 4 TD's. Oh, and he also ran 5 times for 116 yards, and 2 more touchdowns. It's early, but that is one helluva an opening game.

No opening weekend stumble for the Longhorns this year. College Gameday is coming to Austin next weekend for the LSU matchup.

I'll be damned, Auburn did it to a Pac-12 team again.

(No, I didn't think they'd pull that one off, not with a struggling freshman QB)

Quality control, sportswriting edition:
From the AP story about Wyoming upsetting Missouri

"It was the second upset win on the day by a Mountain West Conference team against a Southeastern Conference member. Earlier Saturday, Boise State beat Florida State 36-31 in Tallahassee, Florida."

Good to see Mizzou has a worse defense than last year... I didn't know that was even possible.

I thought Odom was going to be more hands on with the defense, or running it?

What happened?

That's a great question. If he's running the defense and this is the result, he might want to look at other options.

He got more hands on with the defense. :)

I know the skill position players are supposed to be faster but good lord our defense is slow. Not even pretending we are "SEC" quality but our secondary should be able to chase down Wyoming right?

That was a great game for Wyoming. Coach Bohl has made that them a strong team. He's finally been there long enough that his recruits have finally filled the system.

Alabama -55.5 vs New Mexico St. I think that's the largest spread for a game involving two 1A teams since Houston/SMU in 1989. (FSU/Savannah State closed at -67 a couple years back, but ended up being a no contests when the game was called at 55-0 after 3 quarters.)

It's the defensive play calling too.. how they let their QB run for that TD baffles me. Nobody around for miles... it's going to be a long season.

Congrats to Wyoming though, well done!

WVU is going through a rebuild with Neal Brown so Saturday should be interesting. I don't think there's enough experience on offense to score enough to win. The O-Line is inexperienced, the QB will be making his 2nd real career start, and the receivers are mostly freshman/sophomores other than TJ Simmons. Running back is a strength, but requires blocking up front.

The defense is solid on the front 7, but the weakness is the secondary which JMU wasn't able to test at all.

It will be interesting for sure. I'm not really sure what to expect out of us this weekend.

FWIW, the Razorbacks are 1-0 but many fans say we should have put Portland State away and had a more convincing win. No one is expecting a breakout season but I'm hoping for a minor bowl assuming a QB steps up.

Sad state of affairs for Razorback nation.

Ole Miss sucks tho. Should be an interesting pillow fight.


Pumped about playing the champs in Death Valley as I think we are a sneaky good team. I havent drank enough of the kool-aid to predict an Aggie win but I think we keep it within 7-10. Clemson is just too damn good right now.


Also excited to see if Ehlinger and the Horns are really back or not.

And that's putting it mildly.

You arent traveling in to watch the game are you?

Mond gave us fits last year. Lots of missed tackles last week. Jimbo always stresses Venables.

In fact I was actually going to be the upset. Then I saw the line was sitting at 17.5 and while Vegas screws up, they dont usually screw up that bad. In fact the only thing that gives me any confidence in this game is the Vegas line.

Strangely I think what I see as Clemson's weakness may end up being its strength. The DL is way down from last year....and despite aTm's OL issues (which haunt Jimbo wherever he goes) I dont think Clemson can exploit it and get significant pressure on Mond. I actually think this is a benefit though as Id much rather have Mond sitting in the pocket precision passing than letting him roll and play scramble drill. Clemson has a veteran secondary and I expect passing windows to be tight on designed routes.

Elko likewise gave us fits all the way back to his WF days. Hopefully we can open some holes and let ETN eat a bit on the ground.

All in all looks like one of the few games I will get to attend this year and Im stoked to check it out how ever it plays out.

Would absolutely love to be there but I'm blowing my road trip dough to Athens this year.


Solid preview and I was shocked Vegas had us as 20 point dogs (it has since gone down to 17) and that, like you, makes me worried that there is something I dont know. ETN scares me more than Trevor does but the way they complement each other puts a ton of pressure on defenses. We looked pretty salty last week there, but you obviously have to take into consideration the level of competition. We need our front 4 to keep the fat guys off our backers and they need to be sure tacklers.


As for Mond, if he can be more consistent then we have a shot. The problem is for a quarter or 2, he loses his shit and becomes highly inaccurate and makes dumbass decisions. This is starter year number 3 so it's time to put it all together. If he does, he can be a very good QB.


Very much looking forward to this!

Iowa - that number font is not an improvement.

Maryland making an early statement, though Syracuse is still in it.

Army triple option also keeping them around vs Michigan, like the Oklahoma game last year.

Army stops them to start the 3rd quarter and are driving. If they score a touchdown on this drive there will be a wave of panic in the stadium.

MO doing quite a job on WV.

Enjoying the Army MI game also. Rooting for the underdog but do think MI has a top 3 colors/uniform.

Targeting is stupid on a play like the one that got that kid kicked for Army.

The return of the NDSU/ UND rivalry game that's over 100 years olds returns today. The Bison are big favorites for the home opener, but having lost 3 times to them in college there is no point total that is sufficient to win by.

Also, I'm flying this weekend with a UND grad. In aviation, there aren't a lot of us NDSU guys compared to the UND guys so any extra chance to pile on is good. As long as we win I shouldn't have any problem working with him the rest of the trip.

Idle thing I noticed in the box scores ... one of the numerous RBs used by Kennesaw State today vs Kent State is Bronson Rechsteiner.

Yep, that's the son of Rick Steiner.

Yeah, that was rather bogus.

Iowa with their first B1G opener shutout since 1981. That was the year that Hayden Fry turned the program around and they went to the Rose Bowl.


Iowa is good. The defense is really good. You need to watch AJ Epenesa play. He has to be the best DE in the nation.

I guess I never noticed and dont remember a change. Still a great uni.

Nebby offense came to play today

Badgers......if they actually have good QB play they're gonna be tough to beat.

Probably over anyways, but I would have gone for that 4th & 5? if I was Texas A&M. Play to win.

I didn't expect 38-7 but it wasn't very far from my expectation. This offensive line is probably the worst of P5s. Neal Brown is all about creating a culture and too many guys left the program this summer to be competitive this year. He has his work cut out for him and he needs to show he can put a competent offense on the field because he failed to do that at Troy and isn't off to a good start at WVU.

In other news, Florida State putting up a hell of a fight against UL Monroe.

Those Michigan State uniforms are bad.

I still feel pretty good about Brown. I had talked myself into thinking there was more talent remaining than there actually is, but I like the discipline and the way he manages the program. There were just way too few, if any, positions where we were physically equal to or better than Mizzou today. Once we get a couple classes in, I think we can get back into the top 4 of the Big 12.

Don't look now but Coastal Carolina down 7-6 at the half at Kansas. Missed PAT from being tied. It would be Coastal's first ever win against a Power 5 conference team.

Does Kansas really count, though? :)

They all count baby :) kicker having a bad day though-just missed a FG that would have put them up by 8. :( 12-7 with over 5 mins left.

But Kansas just missed a 4th and 3 giving the ball back to the Chants at about the 30.

So LSU decides to freeze their own kicker...

Woot! Chants win! Didn't really see that coming based on their first game of the season.

He made it, but why the timeout? Seems like a wasted timeout to use in the 3rd quarter.

Lol Vols

LSU Texas game turning out to be pretty good back-and-forth.

Play clock was running out

Texas defense is weak. Need some DBs.

Apparently it wasn't new this year, but last year. Still, old numbers were better.

(Same goes for the Steelers.)

Tennessee about to get booted from the SEC

And Arkansas to follow. We are a sad, sad team

(Please Petrino, please come back ... all the action you want, we'll turn a blind eye!)

That was like watching two zombies fight over a chipmunk.

The defense however ...

That was a hell of a game. So close on recovering the onside kick