It’s opening weekend of the college football season and there’s a full slate of games. Everybody has either started playing or will finish Monday night. While there used to be made-for-television games involving highly ranked teams, the headliners on Saturday include East Carolina at Alabama, Baylor at Auburn or unranked Clemson at No. 12 LSU. The only game involving ranked teams is Louisville at Mississippi. More on that later.
That’s because most schools have changed their scheduling strategy in the College Football Playoff era because losing to a competitive team has consequences but defeating three Football Champion Subdivision or Football Bowl Subdivision weaklings does not. Without that hyped game, I’ll save the costs and watch from the comfort of my home. Having said that, it is a new season and even though we tell you preseason rankings are worthless, let’s predict who raises the trophy in Las Vegas on Jan. 25 by evaluating the top 12 ranked teams.
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No. 1 Ohio State, the only professional team in the State of Ohio (sorry, Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns). After the Buckeye roster gets purged of talent by the NFL draft each year, they simply reload with five-star talent at every position. This year, Julian Sayin and Jeremiah Smith are back to throw and catch the ball, which is a nightmare for the opposition and they are my favorites at the moment.
No. 2 Oregon is also stacked with talent and star quarterback Dante Moore returns. Unfortunately, head coach Dan Lanning has been unable to get the Ducks to the promised land. Instead, the Ducks always have that one game during which they play as if they don’t recognize each other, costing them a championship. That game was like last season’s shellacking by Indiana, 56-22, in the CFP. Expect history to repeat itself.
No. 3 Georgia is our other favored finalist as they bring back their quarterback, Gunner Stockton, and running back, Nate Frazier. Head coach Kirby Smart has a total of 14 starters returning, the most in the SEC, so expect the Bulldogs to contend.
No. 4 Notre Dame. The Irish are a popular pick. Quarterback CJ Carr is back and the Irish have added to their depth via the transfer portal and a nearly $40 million payroll. Their schedule is designed in advance to land them in the CFP every year, and this year, the Irish have only two games (at BYU and Miami) in which they won’t be prohibitive favorites. USC is off the schedule and they play only four road games. Heck, they’ve already unofficially qualified here for the CFP. But the Irish somehow have not won a national championship since 1988, a 37-year losing streak. So, like England in the World Cup, they find a way to lose and I’m writing them off but not before picking them for a semifinal slot.
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The other semifinal pick is No. 7 Miami. They got their $6 million quarterback Darian Mensah from Duke via name, image and likeness and return Malachi Toney, a threat to score on any play at any time when he is on the field. They also have an advantage of playing in the ACC, the weakest of the Power Four leagues. Favored in every game on their schedule except Nov. 7 at Notre Dame, they also have unofficially qualified for a CFP berth.
No. 5 Texas. Let’s see if Arch Manning has improved when he faces against Ohio State next week before anointing him as the Heisman favorite and the Longhorns as a national threat. I’ll plead the Fifth on this one.
No. 6 Indiana is here because of its coach and not the team. Unless AI can turn transfer quarterback Josh Hoover into Fernando Mendoza, the Hoosiers’ schedule is too difficult and they’ll be lucky to make the CFP. Still, love Curt Cignetti.
No. 8 Texas A&M has as much talent as anybody. They just don’t know how to win; never have, maybe never will.
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No. 9 Mississippi. See Texas A&M. Last championship was in the 1960 season.
No. 10 Oklahoma. See Mississippi. The Sooners haven’t won the big one since 2000.
No. 11 LSU. Every opponent’s Super Bowl game, so good luck when Tiger Nation turns on you. Yes, I’m talking to head coach Lane Kiffin. A winning season? Yes. A championship season? In your dreams.
No. 12 Texas Tech. Fuhgeddaboudit!
Now the SEC comes out to fight against professional athletes returning to college? In fact, people are calling for Kiffin to be suspended or fired if he signs an ex-professional. The SEC has actually filed a separate suit against LSU to ban them from adding ex-pros to their roster, which is a roundabout way of getting around the Louisiana Court’s ruling to allow it. All of a sudden, the SEC is the voice of reason, fighting the temporary restraining order, in effect? Did they just find their moral compass? The beef between LSU and the league is probably something Kiffin salivates over. He’s in the news for another controversial issue and that brings him attention. Attention for the right reason attracts players. That and a whole lot of money.
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If you watched any games last weekend, you saw embarrassing crowds that TV producers did their best to hide. But hide you could not as USC fans were disguised as empty seats at the Coliseum. An announced attendance of more than 51,000 contradicted what we saw, which was about 20% full. Stanford said there were more than 23,000 for the Hawaii game. It looked more like 2,300. In fact, Stanford’s 37-27 victory was so unimpressive and unattended, it tells you the Cardinal should go the way of the University of Chicago (they were in the Big Ten at one time) and eliminate its football team. Nobody would care.
No. 24 Louisville at No. 9 Ole Miss: The only game with two ranked teams. The most anticipated season at Oxford since Eli Manning was the returning quarterback. That’s because the pride of Ferris State, quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, is back for a fifth year. He may be the most exciting player in college football. The Cardinals were 9-4 last year and are very athletic. Louisville will be blitzing, but for me, Chambliss is magical. It’s a blowout. Rebels roll.
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This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Notre Dame’s $40M football roster has a clear path, but traps lie ahead
