It is unofficially college football season. I know this because the preview magazines are out, and that gives us all license to start wishing our way through the summer toward Aug. 29 ā opening night of the 2013 season.
To help get us from here to there, itās time for my second annual 40 observations on schedules from coast to coast, from have to have-not, from soft to suicidal.
1. If youāre looking for the trap game on Alabamaās schedule, give up now. There isnāt one. At least not one like the Crimson Tide fell into last year, when it staggered out of a donnybrook in Tiger Stadium and into a home game seven days later against Johnny Football and Texas A&M. This year, āBama has no consecutive killer weeks. The Tide opens with Virginia Tech in Atlanta, but then has a week off to prep for its trip to College Station for the rematch with J. Football. The only time Alabama plays 2012 bowl teams on consecutive Saturdays is Nov. 9-16, when its home game against LSU is followed by a trip to Mississippi State.
2. If Ohio State isnāt 12-0 headed to the Big Ten championship game, something went wrong. The Buckeyes play just five FBS teams that had winning records last year, avoid Nebraska and Michigan State in inter-divisional play, and draw Wisconsin and Penn State in Columbus. Take care of business in Evanston on Oct. 5 and Ann Arbor on Nov. 30, and the Buckeyes will quite likely be both undefeated and overrated.
3. The only team more likely to go 12-0 than Ohio State is Louisville. The Cardinals, who flash back to their any-night-of-the-week scheduling of a decade ago with five non-Saturday games, donāt play a road game against a team with a 2012 winning record until Dec. 5, at Cincinnati. The toughest test at home could be Oct. 18 against Central Florida. While there is a great chance of going undefeated, lack of competition could keep Louisville out of the national title conversation and compromise quarterback Teddy Bridgewaterās Heisman Trophy non-campaign.
I suspect we'll see the trend of "overrated" on more than one occasion as the season comes closer.
4-40 of his observations here:
To help get us from here to there, itās time for my second annual 40 observations on schedules from coast to coast, from have to have-not, from soft to suicidal.
1. If youāre looking for the trap game on Alabamaās schedule, give up now. There isnāt one. At least not one like the Crimson Tide fell into last year, when it staggered out of a donnybrook in Tiger Stadium and into a home game seven days later against Johnny Football and Texas A&M. This year, āBama has no consecutive killer weeks. The Tide opens with Virginia Tech in Atlanta, but then has a week off to prep for its trip to College Station for the rematch with J. Football. The only time Alabama plays 2012 bowl teams on consecutive Saturdays is Nov. 9-16, when its home game against LSU is followed by a trip to Mississippi State.
2. If Ohio State isnāt 12-0 headed to the Big Ten championship game, something went wrong. The Buckeyes play just five FBS teams that had winning records last year, avoid Nebraska and Michigan State in inter-divisional play, and draw Wisconsin and Penn State in Columbus. Take care of business in Evanston on Oct. 5 and Ann Arbor on Nov. 30, and the Buckeyes will quite likely be both undefeated and overrated.
3. The only team more likely to go 12-0 than Ohio State is Louisville. The Cardinals, who flash back to their any-night-of-the-week scheduling of a decade ago with five non-Saturday games, donāt play a road game against a team with a 2012 winning record until Dec. 5, at Cincinnati. The toughest test at home could be Oct. 18 against Central Florida. While there is a great chance of going undefeated, lack of competition could keep Louisville out of the national title conversation and compromise quarterback Teddy Bridgewaterās Heisman Trophy non-campaign.
I suspect we'll see the trend of "overrated" on more than one occasion as the season comes closer.
4-40 of his observations here:
