Volume 26:38

College Football Season Preview

The College Football Season is approaching fast. So which teams do I expect to exceed expectations? Which teams will have disappointing seasons? What are some bold predictions? This is my College Football Season Preview.

Let’s project each conference’s possible champions.

The Atlantic Coast Conference has an obvious favorite… the Miami Hurricanes. Miami will go undefeated, with a 12-0 projected record. But we’ve seen this before. In the past, we’ve seen Miami get upset in November opening the door for someone else. This year, that team is the Louisville Cardinals. 

If the Cardinals get past their conference rival, the SMU Mustangs, they could definitely make a push at Miami. After their early Ole Miss Rebels and SMU games, they have a very winnable schedule. So, if they can defend their home turf versus SMU, an undefeated conference record could be on the books. 

Looking at SMU– they are in the same situation as Louisville. With a win early against Louisville, SMU would be favored to make the conference championship. So, circle September 19 on your schedule as the Mustangs take on the Cardinals.

The Big 12 favorite is the Texas Tech Red Raiders, as they are expected to repeat. However, the Big 12 is known for chaos. So if not Texas Tech, who?

I project the BYU Cougars to finish 11-1, with their only loss coming out of conference. Or they lose the Holy War to the Utah Utes, who then take BYU’s place in the Big 12 champsionship game. Houston could be interesting team, as they have a path to 12-0 if they upset Texas Tech. So, will Texas Tech win again, or will chaos reign supreme?

The Big 10 is where it gets interesting. Ohio State looks like the top team in the conference. However, with Indiana, USC, and Oregon all back to-back to-back, their season could go very wrong very quickly.

So what about Oregon? Well, the Ducks have road trips to both Memorial Stadium in LA and Ohio Stadium. On the road at USC and Ohio State, the Ducks may drop a game. Or both.

And what about reigning Big 10 and National Champion Indiana? Indiana hosts Ohio State, then turns around and goes in to the Big House and Michigan a week later. That’s not an easy stretch.

And USC? Although I do think the Trojans are playoff bound, with Oregon, Ohio State, and Indiana on the schedule, it’s going to be hard for them to make a push. What we’re looking at is that one of these four teams will win the Big 10, we just aren’t sure which one.

The SEC may surprise some people. You may think it’ll be the usual suspects in Alabama, LSU, and Georgia. However, only one of those teams has a realistic shot. Surprise, but not a surprise– it’s Georgia. The Bulldogs look to be once again the class of the SEC, and it would be surprising if they aren’t. However, there is one team standing in their way– The Texas Longhorns. This conference looks to be a two-horse battle. Texas and Georgia don’t play each other in the regular season. So it seems like both teams are Atlanta bound.

American: Memphis

C-USA: Jacksonville State

MAC: Western Michigan

MW: UNLV

Pac-12: Boise State

Sun Belt: James Madison

Over/Under. So who will go over and who will finish under their Vegas projections? That’s the question I will attempt to answer for every top team (9.5 o/u or better).

Over

Indiana, 10.5o/u, 11-1 projected record

Miami, 10.5o/u, 12-0 projected record

Texas Tech, 10.5o/u, 12-0 projected record

Georgia, 9.5o/u, 12-0 projected record

Ohio State, 9.5o/u, 10-2 projected record

Texas, 9.5o/u, 12-0 projected record

Under

Notre Dame, 11.5o/u, 10-2 projected record

Oregon, 10.5o/u, 10-2 projected record

North Dakota State, 9.5o/u, 9-3 projected record

Power 4 Bold Predictions

The Big 10 will have four playoff teams Oregon, Ohio State, Indiana, and USC

The SEC will have 12 bowl-eligible teams: Georgia, Texas, Alabama, LSU, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Missouri, South Carolina, Florida, Auburn.

The Big 12 will have seven ranked teams at the end of the season: Texas Tech, BYU, Utah, Houston, Arizona, Arizona State, Oklahoma State.

The ACC will have three playoff teams: Miami, Louisville, SMU.

Projected Playoff Field

1. Texas

2. Indiana

3. Ohio State

4. Miami

5. Georgia

6. Texas Tech

7. Oregon

8. Oklahoma

9. Louisville

10. USC

11. SMU

12. Boise State

Preseason Top 25

1. Texas

2. Ohio State

3. Indiana

4. Georgia

5. Miami

6. Oregon

7. Texas Tech

8. Oklahoma

9. USC

10. Notre Dame

11. LSU

12. Ole Miss

13. BYU

14. Alabama

15. Michigan

16. Texas A&M

17. Louisville

18. Washington

19. SMU

20. Utah

21. Iowa

22. Penn State

23. Tennessee

24. Missouri

25. Houston

MLB Update

Baseball season continues into its home stretch. Yordan Alavrez continues his triple crown push. The Astros slugger is batting .323, with 36 homeruns, as well as 88 RBIs. In that homerun race, Kyle Schwarber leads the league with 37. Matt Olson and Junior Caminero both have 35. On the pitching side, Jacob Misiorowski has a 1.76 ERA, and 204 strikeouts.

However, the main story is the playoff race shaping up. The Tampa Bay Rays are 74-47 and have the best record in the AL. Their division rivals, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, are 68-54 and 65-57 and very much playoff bound. The 63-58 Chicago White Sox and 63-60 Houston Astros are both in playoff position by virtue of leading their divisions. The Detroit Tigers are 60-62 and in the final playoff spot, but they are far from safe. Sitting just half a game behind at 60-63 are the Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers. The 60-64 Toronto Blue Jays and 59-63 Baltimore Orioles are both a game out. The Cleveland Guardians are 59-64 and only 1.5 games behind Detroit.

On the much stronger NL side, the Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, and Chicago Cubs are all battling for the top two seeds, which come with a bye. As of now, it’s the Brewers and Dodgers slimly holding those positions. The San Diego Padres are 66-57 and one game ahead of the 65-58 Philadelphia Phillies and Arizona Diamondbacks, who are battling for that final spot. It certainly is shaping up to be an exciting final month and a half of the regular season.