Enough about NIL sponsors, transfers, and escape portals, let’s get the 2022 season started! We’re right on top of it. 11 am CST this Saturday, Austin Peay at Western Kentucky opens our season. FCS and Group of Five get rolling with similar starts breaking in a new QB. “Let’s go Peay!” – one of our favorite college cheers now!
Doege gone
If you haven’t heard, the WKU Hilltoppers starting QB of a week ago, Jarret Doege, who transferred there from West Virginia, turned his back and transferred to Troy! Fourth team in five years? Didn’t think that could happen without sitting out a season. Two years at Bowling Green. Three years at WVU. Tranfers to WKU. Quits. Now practicing with Troy. Not right. Bonus for us though. We already have Troy at WKU penned in on October 1. Think the Hilltoppers defensive front will pin their ears back for this one? We hope so. Let’s get the 2022 season started!
As for the Governors of APU, we figure we saw their two top QBs in action last season. Primary signal caller Draylen Ellis who led the Govs in our opener last season with an upset win over UT Chattanooga, transferred. We saw him later in a loss to Tennessee State. That’s where he is now! What a tangled web this portal weaves. In our third Gov game last year, we watched Soph Sheldon Layman lead the Govs to a convincing 47-7 win over Murray State. We attended the rivalry between Middle Tennessee and WKU last season. With MTSU starter Chase Cunningham out, two back-ups stepped in, Nick Vittiato and Bill DiLilleo. With Cunningham returning healthy this season, DiLilleo took the portal and found his way to Peay. We figure Layman and DiLilleo contend to start this Saturday. Another question to be answered as we get the 2022 season started.
Our standard response, “So what?”
Paul Finebaum, aka “Mr. Obvious” in this corner, reports the greatest threat to Alabama’s road to the national championship rests in Ohio State. Doesn’t just about everybody think that? Why do the internet headlines try to make such announcements so questionable when the majority of fans would reason the same? Surprise us when something out of the ordinary comes around. Waste of infinite cyberspace.
Top RBs to return on our schedule in 2022
This season, we will witness four top RBS returning from among last season’s yardage leaders. Happens that collegefootballfan.com has seen all play these last few years, but each will impact their teams even more this season. TB Chris Rodriguez of Kentucky led the Wildcat ground game last season with 1,379 yards and nine TDs. We plan to see him perform twice this year vs. South Carolina and vs. Georgia. Last year he romped for 144 yards against the Gamecocks, but for only a mere seven against the vaunted Dawg defense in a 30-13 loss.
Texas’ Bijan Robinson returns on the Heisman watch list with 1,127 yards and 11 TDs. The Baylor Bears will be his comp when we see him perform on Black Friday. Last season, the Bears knocked him off course from his 5.8 yards per carry to only 2.5 holding him to 43 yards. Despite a TD for Robinson, the Bears won, 31-24. Tank Bigsby of Auburn ran for 1,099 yards and ten TDs a year ago. He played a solid game against Penn State in a game we attended. He gained 102 yards and scored twice, but the Lions beat the Tigers, 28-20.
QB Malik Cunningham of Louisville returns as the nation’s top rushing QB tallying 1,031 yards and 20 touchdowns. We saw him in an OT win in 2019 win over Wake Forest, 62-59, when he produced 99 yards and two scores. This year, we will see him perform against first-year FBS program James Madison. Can’t wait to see what these guys will do once we get the 2022 season started!
Deacon D-Up?
For Week Two, we anticipate Wake Forest QB Sam Hartman hopefully returning to play from a non-related football injury when the Deacs come to Nashville to play Vanderbilt. Last season, the Deacs averaged 41.0 ppg. However, though the WFU offense could pour it on, so could their opponents against a very suspect defense. In three three-point wins, they allowed 34, 37, and 42 points. Against Army’s triple option, the Deacon offense outgunned the Cadets, 70-56, to overcome. In three losses, they allowed 58, 48, and 45 points to allow an average of 28.9 ppg for the season. Die-hard Wake alum Jim “Bug” Harton and collegefootballfan.com talked offseason as to when his team would upgrade their defense. HC Dave Clawson searched to hire new blood to inspire his “D”.
The offseason answer came from Purdue. Former DC Brad Lambert was brought to Wake to improve things on the other side of the football. His Boilermaker defense allowed 22.4 ppg in 2021. Only twice, did Lambert’s D allow over 30 points. To Ohio State, they surrendered 59. In the Music City Bowl we attended, the Boilermakers edged the Tennessee Vols in the end, 45-42. If Hartman and company, even in his absence, can continue to score like last year, and if Lambert’s revamped defense can keep most opponents to 30 or less, Wake could be ready to make a move. Hartman needs to be ready for Clemson by September 24. A “W” can only happen though if Lambert can hold that Tiger offense for Clawson’s program for the first time in nine years.
Pro portal?
Reading a recent update about two pro QBs we saw play as collegians, it struck us as “funny”. Looks like Baker Mayfield, seen play for Oklahoma and Heisman winner as well, beat out Sam Darnold formerly of USC as the starter for the Carolina Panthers. What? Darnold can’t go through the transfer portal? With all these current college QBs searching for “greener pastures” when they don’t start, how will they take this kind of news if they make it to the pros? Just quit?
Now, some actually may have more money they made from their NILs in college as they will make from the pros. Surely, it’s eventually going to happen. Another funny thing read later regarding this situation, a back-up QB who may take over for either of these guys could be PJ Walker, HC Matt Rhule’s starting, unheralded QB compared to these two when he was at Temple. Didn’t even know he made it to the pros. Of course we like the QB from Elizabeth, NJ High School.
Best of upcoming Collegefootballfan.com 2022 season
Top Teams – Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, Clemson, Baylor, Wake Forest, Kentucky, Houston, PSU. First-time Stadiums – Bryant-Denny, Clemson Memorial, Ross-Ade, Red Floyd, Yager, and Scheumann Best games – Ohio State at PSU, Georgia at Kentucky, Baylor at Texas, PSU at Purdue, PSU at Auburn Hottest coaching seats – Scott Satterfield (Louisville), Jake Spavital (Texas State), James Franklin (PSU) Best players- QB Bryce Young (AL),TE Brock Bowers (UGA), RB Bijan Robinson (TX), LB Will Anderson (AL) Best Tailgates – PSU at Purdue, Houston at Navy, ArmyNavy, PSU at Auburn, Wake at Vandy, Louisville at Clemson Best possible upsets – Navy over Houston, South Carolina over Kentucky, James Madison over Louisville, Utah State over Alabama Best Rivalries – ArmyNavy, Penn State-Ohio State, Middle Tennessee-Western Kentucky
Watch for Upcoming CFF.com Podcast for Week “0”
Check here again shortly for our preseason interview soon. Done with us by Stephen Hievel of JustCollegeFootball.com, it should release just in time to get the 2022 season started this weekend. In addition to our 11 am CST kickoff when Austin Peay goes at it with Western Kentucky, we plan to keep an eye on the results of two other games on Week 0 that include future teams on our early season slate. UConn visits Utah State, who we will see at Bama on September 3. Vanderbilt visits Hawaii. The Commodores return to Nashville to host Wake Forest on September 10.
-Ed. by Steve Koreivo, “Author of Tales from the Tailgate: From the Fan who’s seen ‘em all!” Please click on the title. It would be great if you would purchase “Tales” and submit a review on its page on Amazon.com. Thanks!
