ORLANDO, Fla. — If only Ole Miss could find a way to knock off No. 1 Alabama on Saturday, then we’d really have total parity in college football.
Georgia and N.C. State already took care of Clemson. Two losses and you’re out, Tigers. Or are they? During this season of wild scenarios, anything could happen as we make our way to the College Football Playoffs.
Remember, a football is oblong and pointed at each end. It never bounces the same way twice. And so far, it has rarely bounced the way many had though it would.
Never before in the history of the Associated Press Top 25 have 25 ranked teams already suffered one loss this early in the season. Some of those teams, of course, are no longer ranked.
It’s a whole new world out there in the ranks of the powerhouses, and if Cincinnati has anything to say about it, things could change drastically in South Bend, Ind., this weekend.
The storied Notre Dame Fighting Irish and their all-time winningest coach Brian Kelly are underdogs to the Bearcats this weekend, AT HOME. What is happening out there? Wouldn’t the Queen City faithful love to see their Bearcats knock off the coach that left them in 2009 for greener pastures under the watchful eyes of Touchdown Jesus?
This college football season is a wonderful thing, and we might even have a chance to see a rare champion crowned that isn’t Alabama or Clemson, or football gods be damned, from the SEC. Since the 2009 season, the Crimson Tide have won six national titles. Since the 2016 season, Clemson has won two.
Since the College Football Playoffs started with the 2013 season, the SEC has produced four champions in seven CFB title games.
Now the powers-that-used-to-be are looking over their shoulders.
Ole Miss and quarterback Matt Corral, a one-time Florida Gators commitment, have a chance to make some noise in Tuscaloosa. The Gators almost did two weeks ago, losing 31-29. Corral is the current Heisman Trophy front-runner, but ‘Bama QB Bryce Young is no slouch.
Saturday’s matchups are certainly binge-worthy. In Landover, Md., two unbeatens square off, and likewise between the hedges in Athens, Georgia. Maryland and the younger Tagovailoa — Tua’s little brother Taulia — entertain unscathed Iowa in a Big Ten battle, and in another SEC showdown Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs face an upstart Arkansas program with a new coach, a new philosophy and roster full of transfers that actually explains what we’re seeing in college football.
All of us bemoaned the NCAA’s changes to the transfer rules at the onset of COVID-19, basically allowing players to be immediately eligible upon transferring. Once that ruling came down, the transfer portal became an open invitation for players to leave their school at any time. Don’t like your coach? Want more playing time? Don’t want to compete against players better than you at your position? No problem. Get in the transfer portal and become an amateur free agent.
The transfer portal has obviously backfired on numerous players looking to go elsewhere. Some find out that not only were they not a big loss at their original school, but then comes the realization that they also aren’t wanted by anyone else.
In July at SEC media days, Commissioner Greg Sankey said of the estimated 1,600 players who entered the transfer portal this year that 1,100 of them still were searching for a home.
But 100s of players have landed at Happy Acres, where the coaches are happy, the players are happy and all is right with the world. Right? Well, we’ll just assume it’s that easy.
Right now, second-year head coach Sam Pittman is loving that portal at Arkansas. He’s not big on players transferring out, but if they want to transfer in, the big man has his arms wide open.
Top running back Trelon Smith was a pre-COVID-19 — and pre-Pittman — transfer from Arizona State, doing things the old-fashioned way by sitting out a transfer season in 2019. But plenty of recent transfers have been a big help for the Hogs, especially on the defensive front where three players have wreaked havoc with the first four opponents.
The front is led by defensive lineman John Ridgeway from Illinois State, a player who longtime Arkansas Democrat-Gazette columnist Richard Davenport told me has “NFL written all over him.”
He’s joined at the line of scrimmage by two former Missouri players, Tre Williams and Markell Utsey.
Arkansas also has former FSU receiver Warren Thompson of Armwood. He transferred after getting run out of Tallahassee following disparaging remarks he made and then deleted on social media that were aimed at the new coaching staff under Mike Norvell. He’s found a home with the Pigs and has contributed early.
Hey Dawgs. Better watch out for them Hawgs. Soooooooey Pig!
And if a team is a 31-point favorite on any given Saturday this season, they better not go into slack mode. Take a look at Bowling Green’s dismantling of Minnesota. P.J. Fleck’s rowboat has some holes in it. Big, bowling-ball sized holes.
It’s a crazy year. Two weeks in, USC fired head coach Clay Helton. That’s what the Trojan brass get for allowing that situation to fester. Now they have nearly a whole season with no head coach. Two weeks later, Chad Lunsford got the boot at Georgia Southern. Win or else, and don’t let your players jump on top of buses and chug beers thrown up to them by fans.
“My bad, coach,” said Georgia Southern beer guzzler Gavin Adcock. His apology was a little late. Lunsford was fired. The Eagles also were 1-3. Belch!
So a note to football teams that think they are all that and a bag of nuts this season: Don’t go beating your chest and revving up the braggadocio engines. You are only as good as your next opponent. If you win, you can march on.
And if Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin can pull off a victory over his old mentor, that will blow the lid off everything.
Darth Saban may have something to say about that. “Lane, I am your father.”
Buckle in for the ride folks. This college football season is proving to be quite a doozy.
