I’m sure I’ve said this before, but this past Saturday was honestly the greatest day of college football I have ever seen. Almost all of the big games lived up to the hype, we had some thrillers in the G5, and, most importantly, we had actual rivalry games. It was the kind of weekend that reminds you why you put up with all the garbage and outside noise that comes with this sport. Nothing compares to the pure emotion and pageantry that is college football. So, let’s take a look back this incredible week with the usual categories. Continue reading
Category: Blogs
College Football Week 6 Recap
I always espouse the virtues of looking past the top 5 teams, and that’s never been more true than this season. Outside of that hegemony, it’s feeling a whole lot like 2007, which many consider to be the most exciting season ever. So let’s not waste any time and dive right in. Continue reading
College Football Week 4 Recap
Believe it or not, the season is already a third of the way over. Things have calmed down after a crazy start to the year, and this week ended up being relatively normal. We had some great games, a few ranked matchups, and a couple of major upsets, but nothing too shocking. Still, there’s plenty to talk about, especially when you dig a bit deeper. So, let’s look back at the week that was with the usual categories. Continue reading
College Football Week 3 Recap
After two insane weeks to open the season, things calmed down a bit in week three, which is fine. A band can’t play only closers for an entire concert. Sometimes you have to mix a ballad in. Finding the fun this week required digging a little deeper than usual, with both ranked matchups being total snoozefests. It could’ve been much better if USF and a Bobby Petrino led Missouri State team had pulled off hilarious upsets over Florida and Arkansas respectively, but oh well. That doesn’t mean there wasn’t plenty to talk about from this past weekend. So without further ado, let’s head into the recap. Continue reading
College Football Week 2 Recap
It’s the same story every year. We finish watching an incredible week one, look ahead to next weekend’s slate, and get incredibly disappointed. Week two always looks terrible on paper, but year after year it produces pure, unadulterated chaos. This year is no different. The Sun Belt was kicking ass and taking names, six games went to overtime, and we had our first coach firing of the year (and it wasn’t Auburn!). So much happened this week that I don’t have the space to write about all of it, but I wanted to hit the highlights with the usual ten categories. Continue reading
College Football Week 1 Recap
College football is finally back. We can all agree that this offseason was terrible in every way. College football is a sport that is always “on the verge of collapse” right until it kicks off, but this summer felt different. The headlines were dominated by issues of governance, conference realignment, spats over NIL, and a host of other boring, non-football related issues. Week 0 was a nice appetizer, but it didn’t feel like a true beginning. Finally, despite the best efforts of those in charge, we can just talk about football. Nobody can watch every game, and most people will only watch a handful each Saturday, but I’m not most people. I want to do something productive with the unhealthy amount of football I watch, so each week I’m going to give you a thorough recap of everything important that happened, no matter how small the game. We’ll look at the week that was through ten categories, and here’s a quick summary of each. Continue reading
Ranking Every Potential FCS Upset
Everyone likes to complain about cupcake games. They’re boring, predictable, and feel like filler in an otherwise thrilling season. Except when they aren’t. Outside of the condensed 2020 season, at least three FCS teams have pulled a major upset every year since 2009. Appalachian State’s win over Michigan in 2007 is remembered as one of the greatest college football moments of all time. We know these upsets will happen, but how do we predict them? There’s no perfect way, but our best chance is by using analytics. Enter SP+, the brainchild of college football Svengali Bill Connelly, it’s assigns each team a number that represents by how many points they’d beat the average team. Comparing these ratings between FBS and FCS is obviously not perfect, the scale is relative after all, but it’s the best way to compare quality without watching every Gardner-Webb game from last season. So with that explanation out of the way, let’s dive in and rank the likelihood of every FCS upset this season, with the SP+ margin in parentheses next to each game. Continue reading
6 College Football Teams Defined by Their 2022 Schedule
In my last post, I talked about a few teams that will surprise everyone this upcoming season. I briefly mentioned that a lot of different factors contribute to how Vegas sets their win total projections each year. One of the most important is the team’s schedule. Believe it or not, the scoreboard does lie to you. As fans, we’re very familiar with teams being overrated because they played an easy schedule, but the inverse is also true. Plenty of good teams are beaten down by a brutal stretch of games, ending up seeming much worse than they really are. Just ask any SEC West or Big Ten East fan. Without further ado, let’s look at a few teams that fall on each side of this coin. Continue reading
6 College Football Teams That Will Surprise You This Season
After a long summer of controversy, debates over NCAA governance, and conference realignment chaos, talking season is over. Media days have all wrapped up and, just like that, college football… is back. Almost. The actual season is still a few weeks away, but it’s close enough that we can finally talk about actual football again. A great example: those wizards in the desert have released their preseason win totals for 2022. Vegas is better at predicting these things than everyone, but they still aren’t perfect. Let’s start previewing the upcoming season by looking at some schools that will be better than you expect, and a few that will be worse. Continue reading
A Newcomer’s Guide to Sportswashing
To use an incredibly cliché phrase: sportswashing is having a moment right now. That term went from obscure political jargon to mainstream issue in just a couple of years. The practice of using sports to improve your country’s reputation and distract from any awful things your regime has done is nothing new, but it’s certainly en vogue. Still, sportswashing might not be a phrase you’ve come across before, especially if you don’t follow international soccer. Now that the practice is working its way up to the global stage, it’s worth taking a look at the issue John Oliver style: what sportswashing is, where it comes from, and why it’s booming right now. Continue reading