Steveo’s Salvos: There is no “I” in team, but there is in NIL, Anti-trust, and lawsuits; three in litigation

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And that is where the non-thinking academicians of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) now lead college football, the greatest institution ever of American amateur athletics. In recent years, I have begun to accuse our educational system of no longer teaching students how to think, but wrongly, what to think instead. Now, the NCAA demonstrates that institutions of “higher-learning” themselves, don’t think at all.

Thanks for nothing, Doc

     How did Dr. Mark Emmert, CEO of the NCAA, present the “Name, Image, and Likeness” (NIL) policy to the board of the NCAA?  It seems to have gone like this: “Let’s allow potential college athletes negotiate with potential sponsors, donors, and corporate advertisers, and see how it goes.” Evidently, no foresight seems to have been analyzed to determine the ramifications that would impact not only Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) football. Most of college football including some FCS programs and other NCAA sports programs among all its members depend on revenues generated primarily by football and by men’s basketball.

      Great strategy? How about…no strategy?  Allow some 18-year-old high school kids and their families to negotiate NIL contracts with any benefactor they want. Of course, not every potential athlete will get an offer. Approximately an average of 20 players among 133 FBS schools annually sign letters of intent in the end.  That’s 2,660 kids per year applying that can end up playing for some program. Some will get more money than others; some will get none.  In this generation of “everybody gets a trophy”, no one in the NCAA saw this as a cause for dissension even “within a team”?  All of a sudden, this isn’t an issue?  Almost everybody goes to a bowl game now.  We heard rumors there was a particular power five program that had internal issues with this last season. Kids who had money flaunted it.  Others resented it.  So much for no “I” in “team”.

We plan to see the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers and Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders do battle again this season. Do you think all these players are candidates for NIL contracts?

Can’t “Pay for Play”? Really?

   The NCAA states, however, they want to be sure that no one violates illegal “Pay for Play” arrangements that could result in suspensions of NCAA teams who violate this.  Uncontrolled NIL policies and Pay for Play seem to contradict one another.  Who controls or monitors that to prevent violations?  Are schools allowed to solicit sponsor offers directly to players?  If not, who is going to know?  And take it from someone with over 40 years of professional Purchasing experience. There are online tools out there already to run auctions to select the highest bidder if desired.  Wait until the adept high school kids who are technology savvy start doing this.  Is the world of academia aware of anything like this?  It seems they live in a very small world void of business, laws, and/or common sense. 

As for the transfer portal

     Does anyone think alumni or big donors to universities with wads of cash (more than $60,000 spent by the former Tennessee coaching staff now under investigation) won’t approach coaching staffs to lure not only the best high school talent available?   Now, they can also can consider how they can lure proven college football talent from among the best of “The Group of Five” or FCS players. Through the wide-open transfer portal, of course. (Are these student-athletes really transferring all their course credits from school to school so easily?).  Maybe from even another Power Five foe.   Don’t believe that there’s really a one-time transfer limitation, submission of waiver requests provides even more flexibility.  Some players have played for three or four schools already within four-five years.

Not blind here

   Don’t get me wrong. We’ve all seen players like Joe Burrow sit out for four years at Ohio State and finally get a chance with LSU and win a national championship. Great! We’ve also seen Jalen Hurts win a national title his freshman year at Alabama only to be benched behind Tua Tagovailoa a year later.  He moved on and starred at Oklahoma.  Joe Flacco left Pittsburgh after sitting on the bench. He transferred to play at FCS Delaware before landing in the Super Bowl a few years later.  In these three cases, all QBs of course, they made one move and found success. If a player needs to make more than one move, maybe he’s not as talented as he thinks, or he’s not committed to play for any team he joins. Allow transfers, but relegate it to one time only, and that’s it.

     As far as health insurance, that’s a no-brainer.  Every player should be insured to avoid costly medical bills suffered from football injuries and any other potential losses of income.

Joe Burrow, “poster boy” for the transfer portal proved to be “the man” to leave Ohio State to lead LSU to the national championship as we witnessed here in the CFP Peach Bowl win over OU in 2019, 66-28.

Any NCAA members out there offer courses in Market Research, Business Law, or Econ?

    Oh, what poorly made plans initiated by the NCAA!   No foresight whatsoever.  No thoughts, no models tested, no in-depth discussions? Evidently not.   Whatever happened to Research Departments at institutions of higher learning? The very small number, but dominant, of the “rich” football programs get richer, and the “mediocre” teams among the majority not only become fodder to them on game day because of superior talent levels recruited (check out those rankings), but they also become feeder systems of talent to them as well. Competitive restraints start to expose the monopolization of a few among 133 schools playing FBS football.  Thus, anti-trust violations abound. Most of these academic institutions of “higher learning” depend upon the revenue-producing sports of football and men’s basketball to fund most of the non-revenue athletic programs for other “student-athletes”, both men and women.

Whatever happened to sportsmanship?

     With the advent of billion-dollar TV contracts for whatever eventually defines the Southeastern Conference, The Big Ten, and possibly the Atlantic Coast Conference (let’s refer to them as the “Super Conferences”), profits will benefit only about 48 FBS football programs.  What happens to the remaining 85 teams supposedly competing for the same national championship and the monetary rewards to be reaped from media contracts, ticket revenues, CFP bowl games, alumni donations, and national merchandising revenues afforded to the Super Conference teams?  They don’t equally compete for that same revenue stream opportunity. Does that seem fair?

    The non-Super teams may get other media opportunities but at much lower rates compared to TV contracts for teams of “more glamorous” NIL players in the Super Conferences.  With lower revenues than what some of these other programs make now, it might become too costly for them to continue playing college football at the FBS level, or in some instances, to continue playing at all.  If discontinuation of these revenues becomes reality for any, all their collegiate athletic programs may no longer be affordable at their current levels of competition. Other sports programs will have to fold because of a football program’s inability for increased revenue contracted with the minority of Super Conference teams. 

We at collegefootballfan.com may have to consider limiting ourselves to watching D-3 games where real student-athletes still play football. Seen here are Mt. Union and Mary Hardin-Baylor going at it in the 2017 Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl.

Great long-term, investment opportunities

     In addition, can we assume that the NIL money afforded to players contracted will eliminate these players’ needs to be awarded football scholarships?  It seems now that most should use their new-found funding to invest in their educations.  This will reduce the costs for these Super Conferences again allowing them the benefit of cutting costs and investing scholarship money elsewhere.  Whereas any hangers-on among the “non-Super” have to consider survival only if they can afford to offer scholarships.  However, will this all be worth it to them?

How about some compensation among “friendly foes”?

     After a year or two, a player for the non-Super may consider an offer of NIL money from the Supers that be and exits his current team through the transfer portal (Is this offer allowed? Who monitors?  If not, who monitors?).  Thus, the non-Super ends up offering another scholarship to a replacement with no guarantee that this will not happen again.  Is this unfair among 133 programs competing for supposedly equal advantages to compete for the same national championship and its rewards?  You bet it’s not fair.

Not these people again

     With everything else our US Congress has to be involved in to correct important issues to turn our economy around, to offset inflation, and to reduce crime, they’re probably going to have to be involved in Anti-trust legislation to assure competition is not being violated among 133 universities of higher education who cannot effectively govern themselves through a very inefficient, clueless, and leaderless NCAA. Hopefully not, but perhaps, Legislators will just let the entire system struggle until it’s no longer worth the effort save this great, but now out-of-control, American tradition from a slow death.

How this may all end

     Regretfully, the NCAA evidently never put much of any thought into what these new policies could do to destroy the enthusiasm for many who love college football as well as for the players who play hard and for the alumni and student bodies who take pride in them.  All might as well let the money people in the NFL start funding their own minor league system like Major League Baseball does.  Remember, college football spawned pro football – not the other way around.  Looks like it’s time now to let the pros invest in the development of their future players. Let the TV networks fund their minor league football since they’ve learned how to profit so much by controlling college football.  Let’s see how much benefit they can reap from another new creation – kind of like the USFL, WLAF, the XFL, or Arena Football.

Ed. – by Steve Koreivo, Author of Tales from the Tailgate: From the Fan who’s seen ‘em all! Click of the title to review and buy the book on Amazon.com.

Where do Army and Navy fit amongst this college football confusion? We’ll try to address this next time.

Steveo’s Salvos: Before conference realignment, first address NIL policy and transfer portal

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    Many wait for Notre Dame to make the move first for realignment.  Next, anticipate existing conference members to make desperate (or greedy?) moves based on that.  Which teams sell memberships to move for consolidating big money TV rights?  Other programs consider pleading to jump on the big band wagons of the SEC and Big Ten. Stragglers that find themselves left out seek others absconded to form new partnerships as distant, varied, and uninteresting they be, just to continue to play football.  Does anyone consider the loss of student athletes no longer able to participate in what was the great tradition of college football if some programs so fold up?

Notre Dame’s initial move supposedly starts other potential realignments in motion.

Let’s get college football priorities straight

   This current focus on conference realignment needs to take a back seat to issues regarding the current lack of a fair NIL policy or the wild, disorganized system of the selfish, transfer portal.  Until these are addressed, a few programs will continue to dominate. The chasm between the very few good football programs and the many mediocre grows wider and wider.  College football will lose its primary objective not of revenue, but of equitable competition on the playing field for all to possibly win a national championship.

     Clearly, the quality of competition already favors a few half-dozen or so Power Five Programs. Until someone in charge (that doesn’t seem to be the NCAA… maybe ESPN and Fox Sports?…maybe the NFL?… either, regretfully?) formulates a plan to make NIL fair to all members and rein in the false statement that the portal transfer limits every player to only “one transfer”, competitive decline will decimate the quality of college football.  Yes, it’s all about the money, but someone has to realize “it” gets bigger and better for everybody when there’s more competition.

Compare models

  Consider the college football way like the MLB way compared to the NFL way. What do fans across the country prefer?  The New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox, and LA Dodgers dominate baseball annually. Primarily, because they have the most money by commanding the largest TV market shares? Or, do fans prefer the revenue sharing strategy of the NFL? There, 32 teams share earnings equitably, spread talent fairly, and to some extent, level out schedules to play equivalent competitors annually.  These level parameters allow small TV market teams like Buffalo, Green Bay, and Pittsburgh to excel against New York, LA, and Chicago. 

Questions and answer

   College football recently approved three new programs to enter the Football Bowl Subdivision to total 133.  How many years until James Madison, Eastern Kentucky, and/or Jacksonville State qualify for the CFP? Even if under the current playoff format? Even if it expands to 12 teams? Why bother?  Already, these three newbies are on upcoming schedules of teams recruiting higher levels of talent than many players on their rosters right now. Ole Miss, South Carolina, and North Carolina have contracted them for games already. Surely like FCS Austin Peay, lowly New Mexico State, or ULM, these programs will end up on an Alabama or Georgia non-conference slate eventually.

JMU faced South Dakota State in the 2017 FCS Semi-final we attended here. How close will they ever get to the CFP?

   No doubt, The Tide and the Bulldogs already draw the best talent. Their large stadiums, superior television contracts, and merchandizing revenues bolster the budgets of their brands.  So do other schools like Ohio State, Notre Dame, USC, Clemson, and Oklahoma. So why should they tout their recruiting prowess and then schedule teams without similar clout?  Answer: to run up scores and impress pollsters with big victories to offset any close losses. This assures top rankings.  Why else?

The best get better because they can easily afford to

     If top programs continue to follow these practices, unbalanced competition becomes the biggest threat to college football. Ask Nick Saban. He conceded that he envisions this in a press conference this week. Click here.  Of course, we don’t see him scheduling nonconference games against Notre Dame, Penn State, and Clemson in home and home series every year.  However, if you’re getting the best players, put them to the test against comparable competition when you have a choice. Prove it!

     Let’s end this charade in college football. Both NIL policy and transfer portals will now allow the best programs to always remain on top.  The best players will want to play for these schools who don’t have to recruit.  They can just “reload”.  They not only continue to dominate, they get even better. In similar fashion, look at the FCS and D-3. North Dakota State and Mount Union/UW Whitewater dominate these subdivisions respectively. Of course, recent coaching changes have started to change the dominance at D-3.  Is that what we have to wait for in the FBS? Coaches there make too much money to leave, however.

Check out Austin Peay’s Fortera Stadium. Alabama hosts the Governors this year in Tuscaloosa. Similar football budgets, you think?

Unfairness of NIL policy

   The NIL now allows, whether legally or underhandedly, a program to approach a recruit or a transfer with a “package”. Whether provided by a corporate sponsor, anonymous donor, or rich alum to offer some kind of financial benefit, they can now provide their best bid possible to entice a player to matriculate at their institution of higher learning.  Do all 133 programs have equal opportunities regarding this?  Will all of them, some day?  The Los Angeles Dodgers revenue will always be higher than that of the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Who most likely goes to the World Series more often now?  And why? Have you checked out the salary scales of these two teams lately? Is that ever going to change?  How can it in college football?

A “pipedream” is all I got

   The only way to envision a change, and all fans know this will never happen, is if somehow all NIL funds are deposited into a centralized college football budget. From that, every recruited player on an FBS roster receives a “salary”. Maybe, base salaries by positions.  Every program requires an equal budget to be distributed to a recruiting class upon entry into the program under contract.  Should players leave before graduation, their salary goes back into the pool for the team’s next recruiting class to replace that position.  My pipedream is neither foolproof nor steam-lined by any means. This is only my desperate attempt to “level the playing field“ to enable playing football at the FBS level to be “more competitive” for all 133 programs.

Transfer portal – a matter of enforcement

  As for the transfer portal, the current rule in place needs to be enforced with one slight change. They say every player only gets once chance during his career to do this, but other opportunities for that same player can be reviewed. Strike the second part of that sentence.   Already, we know it’s been too liberal. The rule reads “if all of the schools are four-year institutions and your sport was offered at the previous two, then the 4-4-4 transfer rules NCAA come into play. Generally, you will need to lose a year of eligibility, but some exceptions exist.” Wide-open opportunities exist for individual athletes to play for more than two teams here!  Of course, players all look for a better situation.  Again, the portal becomes a free “grab-bag” for the top schools to attract the best talent – another mean to continue domination!

QB Kyler Murray (1) transferred to Oklahoma from Texas A&M before falling to Alabama in the CFP. Baker Mayfield transferred from Texas Tech to Oklahoma before him. Jalen Hurts followed Murray from Alabama. Maybe QBs should get more NIL money than the other positions.

OK, so I’m “old-school”, and here’s why

   To be honest, there’s jealousy here. This comes from yours truly. At the Naval Academy in the 70’s, I made the 150-lb team my plebe (freshman) year.  The sport is now called “sprint football.” I never cut to the required weight of 158 lbs. for game day while hovering around 163.  The following year, I played for our company, flag-football team. The next year, I transferred to D-3 Juniata in Huntingdon, PA.  Despite never having been part of the USNA varsity program, I was ineligible to play. However, that entire season, I practiced as a member of the scout team offense to run against the first team defense. That spring, I played club lacrosse for the first time to get in shape for football.

   As team captain in my first lacrosse game ever, I hyper-extended my knee over my own stick and further damaged it in a pickup basketball game a few weeks later tearing my ACL and menial meniscus.  I required major surgery and a hard cast for over a month before rehabbing.  Not fully recovered in time for the next season, my knee gave out in practice. However, right away I continued to work-out to get back into shape for football.  I went out for track to throw the javelin that spring to get more running in.  

    The writing was on the wall in the following fall. Coaches shoved thoughts of me to the side despite my efforts. I had great practices. However, I only got in for the last seven plays in our first scrimmage against Millersville State. Biggest regret of my life…I left realizing all my hard work wouldn’t pay off. I’ll only say this, I may have quit for the wrong reason, but I never quit on myself. I can still hold my head up for what I had done. I can say I was never a college football player, but I was definitely a football “practicer”!  And at age 65, I still envision myself having a year of eligibility left somewhere.  I think I can still hold for extra points and possibly make a run or pass into the end zone for a fake if the defense promises not to tackle me!  I can only dream.

This is as close to I ever got on the field for the Navy varsity football team when I was there, and I still had to sit out a season after transferring to D-3 Juniata!

Bottom line

   The point is that the transfer portal is all for the sake of “individuals”. To me, Football is the epitome of “team” sports.  One time to transfer may make sense for a legitimate reason. However, more than once over four years of college indicates a lack of commitment to the team, any team for that matter.  In life, individuals are always going to be part of teams – in a family, at a job or in the military, as a member of a church or of any charitable organization, and society as a whole.  This is a lesson learned outside the classroom and a great place to learn for these players early in life to be part of one team with a common goal. Two for a good reason, ok, but more, no! Individualism needs to be set aside more often than not throughout life for the good of many.  For that reason, one transfer makes sense enough for each college football player no matter what, but primarily if for nothing more than a most valuable lesson for life.

Ed. by Steve Koreivo, Author of Tales from the Tailgate: From the Fan who’s seen ‘em all! Please click on the title to consider buying. Then review the book for me on Amazon.com.  Thanks.

College football – it’s a team sport!

“Student-athletes” are no longer what college football is about

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We wrote about the pitfalls facing college football last preseason – sponsors, contracts, enticements. It’s not about scholarships and qualified “student-athletes” nor anything that this great American pastime was built on. Read our July Salvo from last season right here. NIL, transfer portals, conference realignments, TV money, booster money, contract money, and more money.    College football festered its cheaters, its scandals, and its deceptions to entice talent to win football games no matter what. Those who got caught eventually, paid a price. At least the threat existed to prevent this to some extent.  However, the power that was, basically Dr. Mark Emmert, CEO of the NCAA, just opened everything up for the benefit of the “student-athletes”.  Imminently, what we’ve seen since has blown up beyond expectations fueled by his inability to think long-term (short-term?).

How and where football started in 1869 – Rutgers vs. Princeton.

Student-athletes: “Give me money , or…”

    Think about SMU receiving the death penalty in the ‘80s.  What they did then becomes the legitimate way of doing college football recruiting now.   Coaches go into a player’s home or school with the money committed from boosters to ask, how much do you need to play for our football (basketball) program?  A smart 18-year-old says, ”I don’t know, let me check with the other schools.”  As we posted last year, who needs a scholarship anymore?  Maybe schools will offer more money now for academics, right?  Being facetious here.

Still a roll of the dice

  The funny thing, what hasn’t changed is the crap-shoot recruiting can be.  There’s no guarantee that these high school “stars” will live up to expectations. We’ve witnessed this in the past. Of course, injuries can change some athletes’ fortunes as well. For this, universities should definitely compensate student-athletes who can no longer participate due to health limitations.

    Now, we will possibly see a new scenario.  For a million bucks, some kids will take the money and loaf, not run – on the playing field that is. Contractually, how does the school prevent this? Incentives? Complications set in.  Why do players have to listen to an assistant coach who’s paid less than they are?  The player’s got his money. What’s the incentive to play to get to the next level?   Some will be financially satisfied, some won’t. Grades?  Does it matter anymore?  Will they even go to class?  If they do, are teachers going to assure they have passing grades now no matter what their performance is in the classroom?

RB Marcus Lattimore of South Carolina was probably one of the best players we ever watched until a severe leg injury shortened his playing career in college.

Waiting game

    After the transitions of USC and UCLA into the Big Ten, Notre Dame is their next target.  After the Irish, Oregon, Clemson, Florida State, and a few others come under consideration among the elite teams that make sense to the Big Ten and SEC to join up to form the new super conference(s).  Traditional mediocre members like Vanderbilt, Rutgers, Northwestern, and Illinois of the two major conferences will probably be offered significant payments to leave.  Non-elite programs from the ACC, Big Twelve, and PAC -12 will realign to fend for themselves with the Group of Five (will Cincinnati’s recent success qualify them for super conference play?).

With the Trojans and Bruins now in the Big Ten, what becomes of the Rose Bowl? What will become of the Pac-12?

     To us, in the end it looks like there will be about 40-50 teams moving into a new “professional” subdivision (FPS). Perhaps, the NFL coordinates with the new FPS.  Envision the pros drafting high school players and assigning them to the members of this new faction for player development purposes. Hopefully, the tightwads of pro football will compensate these schools for their new found student-athletes to relieve some of the financial pressures of state and private institutions involved to develop the supposed best of the best (fat chance!).

 Throw traditions out the window

     Basically, the newly formed alliance under some jurisdiction other than the NCAA will have different recruiting by-laws and play amongst themselves for billions of dollars of TV money under some new playoff system.  Competition among those based on newly formed rules will be as different as the current FBS and FCS.  Traditions will dissolve.  We’ll miss them.  However, going forward, we think it will be best for college football overall.

One thing for sure despite all the changes, Army-Navy “student-athletes” will continue to battle. Besides Air Force, who else will they play in the future?

A lesson learned

      We give the Ivy League some credit when it comes to their perception of football.  They identified a standard they wanted to sustain, and they basically seem satisfied to play amongst themselves to standardize the level of play they want to compete within.  Granted, they have the money and alumni support to do this. The League isn’t among football elites by any means. Mostly, they play competition with common academic goals. They play ten games every season and crown a champion with student-athletes of equal talent among the traditions of the “Ancient Eight”. This model works for them.

   The 60+ remaining FBS schools and some FCS schools will join together to consolidate under some separate entity, possibly within the NCAA, possibly not, with the lack of any authority that organization seems to have. What remains to be seen, and most likely will have to be considered judiciously, will interaction be allowed among the new super conferences and the thrown-aside lower echelon? 

We would hope these new levels separate totally from each other similar to what the Ivy League established – meaning no inter-level games, no transfers or recruitments of players without adequate restrictions at least, separate television contracts, playoffs, bowls, and/or championships.  Not implementing separation continues to make things so murky.  How does basketball, in particular, and other sports including women’s student-athletes play into this? Title IX questions pervade already.  You know Congress will have to get involved.  Regretfully, they need to address more important issues right now. Regretfully, it comes down to legal solutions to resolve these matters here.

It’s not as big and fast as SEC and Big 10 football, but Harvard and Dartmouth still block, tackle, pass, and run in the Ivy League.

Light at the end of the long tunnel?

     What a mess.  At Collegefootballfan.com, as we surmised before last season, we’re just going to enjoy each game we attend this year for the competition we will witness on the playing fields.  As this entire fiasco about to occur somehow gets sorted out, we’re going to leave it up to some ultimate, albeit unknown authority to make it all work. The focus needs to balance fair play for all football-playing, academic institutions to continue to field teams in some equitable level of competition.  We just hope it doesn’t take too long, but we’re not sure how this will be resolved quickly once legal entities get involved.

     In the end, we hope everything is fair and just for all students who want to play college football at some level.  The game needs to be worthwhile for the majority of “student-athletes” who aren’t going to continue as professional athletes beyond their college years. College football preceded pro football.  College football developed originally to instill values outside the classroom for other valuable lessons in life.   These values must continue to be recognized today and in the future.

Ed. – Steve Koreivo, Author of Tales from the Tailgate: From the Fan who’s seen ‘em all! Click on the title to learn more about my book. Thanks!

Collegefootballfan.com announces 2022 schedule

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Rich results on Google's SERP when searching for Western Kentucky football
WKU Hilltopper cheerleaders will cheer their team on in our opener when their Toppers meet the Governors of Austin Peay on August 27!

With kick-off times finalized for most early season games, Collegefootballfan.com proudly presents its 2022 NCAA football schedule. Initially, we plan to attend 23 college football games this season. This year, due to higher costs for gas and other expenses, our initial plan to see as many top-ranked teams as possible reverted into a plan to see more games in close proximity to us. CFF.com still targets many ranked teams as well as traditional powers. Most game selections you will see, provide us with equally matched teams to anticipate competitive contests.

Even games we’ve scheduled between FBS and FCS competitors factor in early season starts. We take into consideration graduation rates, levels of returning experience, and impacts of dreaded NIL departures. Whoever becomes responsible for “equality” among all eventual 133 FBS programs of the future will hopefully develop guidelines to make college football more competitive to offset the dominance of so few teams. Collegefootballfan.com would prefer to see the current Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) possibly split into two separate levels.

To offset “big money” programs, we suggest to separate the Power Five from the Group of Five. Our long-term interest in college football focuses on the competitiveness among teams on the playing fields no matter what level. That’s our primary goal in selecting games for our annual schedule. That is also why we leave some schedule flexibility in place to change. If a particular game doesn’t look as enticing as we initially thought, we can find another.

Twenty-three at least…

Below, we depict highlights of our 2022 schedule as of May 27. As usual we continuously review to adapt to budgets, personal plans, or better opportunities that may become available. Twenty-three games fall into place today. For the first time because bowl dates have already been announced, we target three dates for such occasions earlier than ever. If the economy and cashflow improve during the course of the season, we will consider other possibilities to top off our 2022 schedule.

We couldn’t have finished off 2021 with a more competitive game. Purdue won a nail-biter over Tennessee, 45-42, in the TransPerfect Music City Bowl in Nashville. Our 2022 schedule features the Boilermakers hosting Penn State as our first FBS game on September 1.

Pre-season Top 25

We plan to see some of the obvious suspects. Georgia tops several preseason lists despite losing much experience on defense. Oregon (in Atlanta with former UGA DC Dan Lanning as HC), Auburn, and Tennessee play in the Peach State. Then the Dawgs head to Kroger Field in Kentucky on November 19 to meet the Wildcats who appear in everybody’s Top 20s. We plan to attend that one. Ohio State resides in most preseason Top Fives. The Buckeyes pop up in our plans on October 29 at Penn State. There the Nittany Lions will be pumped as usual for this Big Ten East battle. What’s unusual though, no “whiteout”!

Clemson returns to the thick of CFP discussions after a slow start last season. On our slate, we see the Tigers for the first time on our 2022 schedule at home. They’ll host ACC foe Louisville on November 12. Wake Forest, ranked between 10-15, comes to Nashville on September 10. Returning QB Sam Hartman and a lot of experience come to play SEC doormat Vanderbilt. The Deacs are 11-1 in our personal history dating back to 1979. Anticipate our new WFU nickname among our Deac friends to be “12 and almost 0 Koreivo”.

Houston can challenge once again in the American Athletic this season after an 11-2 season. They come gunning once again to Annapolis where we’ve seen some exciting, high-scoring contests between the Cougars and Navy. Once again, a tailgate weekend in Annapolis followed by a road trip to State College, PA forges ahead as our new annual tradition since we’ve relocated to the Volunteer State.

Houston Cougar QB Clayton Tune returns in 2022 after leading his team to an 11-2 record with 3,546 passing yards and 30 TDs.

Teams that will challenge for the Top 25

Aforementioned Penn State will need to challenge early and often if HC James Franklin wants to stay in State College. Before we attend the traditional showdown with the Buckeyes at Beaver Stadium, we travel twice to capture the Nittany Lions on the road. On September 1, we journey to West Lafayette, Indiana to enjoy their B1G opener at Purdue. The Boilermakers (9-4, 6-3 last season) and the Auburn Tigers (6-7) will both be formidable early season games on the road for PSU. After State’s 28-20 win over AU on our schedule last season, the Lions and Tigers battle again on September 17. All three teams will be vying for national attention. QB Aidan O’Connell returns for Purdue, and RB Tank Bigsby returns to Auburn.

Another team that deserves more attention this year after last season’s turnaround are the South Carolina Gamecocks. They finished 7-6 under second-year HC Shane Beamer. The Cocks will visit the Wildcats on October 8 in our rematch of one of only three games we on our schedule in 2020 where the Cats prevailed, 41-18. Last season in Columbia, SC, the UK margin whittled down, 16-10, despite finishing ranked No. 18 at 10-3.

Auburn and Penn State clash this year in a re-match at AU’s Jordan-Hare Stadium!

Rivalries

For the second season in a row, we venture to the rivalry called “100 miles of hate”. This time Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee will play on the Blue Raiders turf in Murfreesboro, TN. WKU dominated with QB Bailey Zappe (drafted by New England in Round 4), 48-21. MTSU HC Rick Stockstill broke in two inexperienced QBs that day replacing his injured starter. The Blue Raiders now have more depth at QB. WKU will be replacing Zappe who led the nation in passing yards and TDs.

Of course, despite our relocation, we revisit Philadelphia for the greatest college football rivalry of all despite what anybody else thinks, ArmyNavy! None means more. It’s the last of the regular season games played on the second weekend of December to end the season. For collegefootballfan.com, this will be our tenth ArmyNavy in a row (2020 doesn’t count due to Covid restrictions), and 17th overall. Our first game was in 1972. Navy leads the series in CFF.com’s presence, 11-6. Overall entering the 123rd edition of this series, the Mids lead the Cadets 62-53-7. Last season, USNA (4-8) upset West Point (9-4), 17-13. It’s a college tradition we don’t like to miss!

Unrivaled tradition returns to Philadelphia on our 2022 schedule- Army vs. Navy!

New Opportunities

Every season, we try to visit new venues and see new teams if possible at any level of NCAA football. We’ve seen every FBS team play at least once, but not all at their home venue. If we had done this in the past, we probably have changed jobs more than we ever wanted to and be divorced by now. However, we’ve done pretty darn good. Among 166 college football stadiums attended, 74 games played put us in FBS venues, 62 visited dwell on FCS, D-2, and D-3 campuses, and 30 other sites hosted bowl games or neutral site clashes.

Among venues we will witness gridiron battles for the first time this season will be Purdue’s Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, IN. Though we’ve been on the Middle Tennessee State campus for basketball and baseball, we’ll attend Johnny “Red” Floyd Stadium for the first time when the Blue Raiders host Conference USA foe, UT San Antonio, on September 30 under the lights. We finally get to see Clemson at home at Memorial Stadium for the first time. As mentioned, they’ll host Louisville on November 12.

Two “MACtion” weekday night games bring us to Miami’s Yager Stadium in Oxford, Ohio on November 8 and into Ball State’s Scheumann Stadium a week later in Muncie, Indiana. In both cases the hosts will take on the Ohio U. Bobcats. We’ll be able to get a pulse on the MAC this season.

Last time we saw Clemson play in 2017, Syracuse pulled off a 27-24 upset over the No. 2-ranked Tigers. Now we’ll get to see them play at home for the first time on our schedule.

Back to Birmingham

A new venue from a bowl perspective, The TicketSmarter Bowl featuring the SEC vs. the American Athletic in Birmingham, AL puts us in Protective Stadium, home of the UAB Blazers of Conference USA. We’ve ventured to past games in Birmingham way back in 1979 and 1980. However, those games featured two Iron Bowl brawls between Alabama and Auburn, back when Paul “Bear” Bryant roamed the sidelines.

As far as new teams coming on board, only Eastern Kentucky adds to our list when they visit nearby Austin Peay in a local FCS ASUN Conference game. The EKU Colonels find themselves a season removed from entering the FBS. We’ll probably see them host one of their first at that level in 2023. This contest looms as our only all-FCS game on our 2022 schedule this season, but it should be good one!

Many players from the Tide’s 1979 championship team graced the cover of the program of the 1980 Iron Bowl game we attended at Birmingham’s Legion Field the following year.

Annual traditions on our 2022 schedule

As mentioned, Army versus Navy in Philadelphia continues among our traditions. Of course, after 42 years of college football played basically on every fall Saturday, no season is complete for us without attending games in Annapolis and State College. A more recent annual trek started a few years ago with our daughter Alex now down in Austin , Texas. Her fiancé Zach works as Director of Development working with the Texas State Athletic Department in San Marcos, Texas. So once again we plan to be there late this season for the Bobcats’ clash against the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns, another rematch of a 2020 game we were able to attend.

For the third year in a row, our 2022 schedule brings us to Texas State in San Marcos when they host the Louisiana Ragin Cagins. For the third year in row, the Cajuns made our slate. However, their former HC Billy Napier joined the Florida Gators this season.

Inter-divisional games

In the past few decades, we tried to avoid games between FBS and FCS teams. We rarely found one that presented a better opportunity than a more competitive match-up between teams within a particular division. Due to more economic considerations this year that will allow us to consume less gas and avoid hotels, we have two planned early in the season that should be competitive.

Our week “0” opener that basically allows teams going to Hawaii add a 12th game features FCS Austin Peay of nearby Clarksville, TN visiting nearby Western Kentucky in Bowling Green. APU improved last season to 6-5 under energetic third-year HC Scotty Walden. The Governors won four of their last five games in 2021. WKU lost some key players to the NFL draft last season. They will be opening their season with new players in key positions for HC Tyson Helton whose Hilltoppers finished 9-5 a year ago.

Having seen Austin Peay play three times last season, they’ve become our local FCS favorite. QB Sheldon Layman played well for the Governors in his first start last season for their 47-7 win over Murray State. Let’s go Peay!

‘Dore mats

Then of course there’s Vanderbilt, a nearby safety valve if we need a game nearby to save on gas. Last season at home in HC Clark Lea’s debut, the Commodores (2-10) fell 23-3 to FCS East Tennessee State. The Buccaneers turned out to be no slouches. ETSU recorded an 11-2 slate ending its season to perennial FCS champ North Dakota State, 27-3, in the semi-final round of the FCS playoffs. This year, the Dore’s open September 3 vs. Elon of the Colonial Athletic. The Phenix have had some great teams in the past, but have struggled recently and finished 6-5 last year. A win for Vandy here will indicate some improvement in 2022. A week later we’ll be back to see them host Wake Forest.

No longer in the FCS, this game is all FBS. Effective this July, James Madison joins the Sun Belt and vies for the conference championship. On November 5, we will follow them to Louisville to see them play the Cardinals. The JMU Dukes will officially become our 131st FBS team. In the past, they’ve competed for us against Delaware, South Dakota State, and Colgate, the last two in playoff games. We look forward to their future in the Sun Belt Conference!

To show how serious we are about college football, here’s a photo snapped at Vanderbilt’s spring game!

Weekday Games

The addition of weekday games scheduled particularly for TV money gives us some good opportunities from our Tennessee location. With retirement from the world of reality, we look for day trips that get us to night games Tuesday through Friday. Where we can, we try to tie Friday night lights into a local Saturday contest not far away. PSU at Purdue on a Thursday night, gets us back to Nashville on Saturday for the Vandy-Elon game. Couldn’t find a Friday night game of convenience. A Friday night ruckus at MTSU hosting UTSA on September 30 allows us to see Troy visit Western Kentucky the next day. Could be a good battle.

October features all Saturdays with our road trip planned to Annapolis to Penn State and back. No evening games fell in the region during that excursion. However, November comes up big with our two MAC games on consecutive Tuesdays sandwiching our trip to Clemson. As for Bowl Week between Christmas and New Year’s, Tuesday and Wednesday offer us a one-two punch. We travel to Birmingham and then Memphis to attend The TicketSmarter Bowl and The AutoZone Liberty Bowl. The TransPerfect Music City Bowl ended up conveniently at noon time the following Saturday on New Year’s Eve. It allows us to watch the CFP semi-finals somewhere nearby later that day on TV in Nashville!

Let’s start a great big drum roll to get the 2022 college season started!

Built-in schedule flexibility

With a 2:30 start on September 24 to see EKU visit Austin Peay, we await the time to be announced when Florida International faces off against WKU that day. We could conveniently stop in if an evening kick-off is announced. Then, we keep our eyes open for post season opportunities early in December. Several conference championships may be available not too far away. With several aforementioned FCS schools along with ETSU, UT Martin, UT Chattanooga, or Jacksonville State (AL) in striking distance, we pay close attention to the FCS playoff parings for some interesting match-up. D-2 playoffs and D-3 playoffs become possibilities when the best of the best may meet. We thrive on finding the most competitive college football games possible, even when in a cost-cutting mode!

Looking forward to the 2022 season, now less than 100 days away starting on August 27. Click here for the latest updates of our Tentative 2022 season schedule!

Best of the 2022 draft: 84 selections among games attended by Collegefootballfan.com

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Enjoy our draft pictorials below! With the 2022 NFL draft completed, collegefootballfan.com got to see a lot of great and some unique talent perform over the past four years who advance to playing at the next level. Among 233 players in the draft, we watched 36% of these athletes compete on the gridiron. With the limited amount of games available to attend in 2020, we still got to see many of the best. Seeing the Cincinnati Bearcats against Central Florida in 2020 and against Houston in 2021 for the American Athletic Championship boosted our volume. This weekend, we saw the pros draft nine talented Bearcats. Had we ventured to Indianapolis for the CFP championship, the Georgia Bulldogs alone would have added 15 more amazing football players. Along with six more selections from Alabama, we’d have seen more, needless to say.

Our 2022 draft team leaders

Seven players from Penn State, who we make a point to see every year, provided us the second most from one roster. Our season opener in 2021 featuring surprising Baylor enabled us to see another six pro draft choices. Squads like these offer free agents soon to be signed who can “sneak” on to a some other NFL rosters.

Never know

A few surprises of note we got to see per our diverse schedules. Seeing as many teams as possible stir interest to see if unknown players make it big at the next level. For instance, we watched OL Cole Strange of UT Chattanooga, an FCS Southern Conference member play twice – versus Austin Peay and East Tennessee State. Who would think that he’d be the 29th selection by the New England Patriots in this year’s draft. Many already question the validity of this pick. But who’s to say Super Bowl HC Bill Belichick can’t see a diamond in the rough?

Then there’s Air Force DT Jordan Jackson selected by New Orleans 194th overall. How many players get drafted for the three service academies? Not many, but the epitome was always Navy Heisman-winning QB Roger Staubach, Dallas Cowboy Hall of Famer. The major difference is that Jackson can defer his military service after his playing days. Staubach served in Viet Nam first. Coastal Carolina got two players into the pros into the draft for the first time ever. TE Isaiah Likely went to Baltimore in the fourth round and LB Jeremy Guenther joined the Bengals in the seventh. We saw CCU fall to Appalachian State in a great Wednesday night battle in Boone, NC. Mountaineer LB D’Marco Jackson displayed talent that night that sent him to New Orleans as the 161st overall pick.

We watched Liberty QB Malik Wills wait to be called as the 86th pick overall by Tennessee. The Flames fell to the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns who entered two players in Round 4. OT Max Mitchell became a Jet and S Percy Butler headed to the Washington Commanders. You can never predict where some of the best pros will come from. It will be fun to see how draftees will do in the future. Also we find out what organizations truly know what they’re doing when it comes to scouting. And in conjunction, we find which ones best develop the talent they acquire.

Here is a pictorial history of some these players in action on the Collegefootballfan.com schedule:

First Round Draft Picks 1-32

Cincy QB Ahmad Gardner (1) turns Houston ball carrier here in AAC Championship. The New York Jets selected him fourth this year.
Selected as the sixth pick by the Carolina Panthers, NC State OT Ikem Ekwonu (79, center), seen here vs Wake Forest, turned out to be the first offensive player to be taken in 2022.
Wide Receivers were hot commodities in the first round. Penn State Jahan Dotson (5) came in as pick no. 16 by the Washington Commanders. He became the fifth of six wide-out selected in the first round.
At No. 17 came Boston College’s Zion Johnson (77) seen here opening a hole for breathing room against Wake Forest in 2021 loss. He will now be driving defenders back for the Las Angeles Chargers.
Dallas selected Tulsa OT Tyler Smith 24th overall. We didn’t snap his picture, but here is teammate OG Chris Paul (71) against Navy in 2019. Paul heads to Washington as the 230th selection overall.

Second Round Draft Picks 33-64

Baylor Safety Jalen Pitre picks off a Texas State pass, one of two INTs on the year. Pitre stays in Texas as pro landing with the Houston Texans in the second round as pick no. 37.
Penn State DE Arnold Ebeketie (17) goes down here against Auburn, but he rose to the occasion during the 2021 season to get selected at no. 38 by the Atlanta Falcons.
Kentucky DE Josh Pashcal (4), 6′ 3″, 278 lbs., in pursuit versus South Carolina went in Round 2 to the Detroit Lions.

Third Round

Tennessee WR Velus Jones scores on a 15-yard catch and run in the 2021 Music City Bowl. The Chicago Bears selected him at no. 71 to join their developing aerial attack.
U. of Cincinnati QB Desmond Ridder (9) tosses a 29-yard TD pass against UCF in 2020 season. Atlanta picked him 74th overall to develop him for their future behind veteran QB Matt Ryan.
DE DeAngelo Malone (10) of Western Kentucky seen here against Middle Tennessee also heads to Atlanta taken eight spots behind Ridder.
Baylor S JT Woods (22) provided solid run coverage for the Bears, and the LA Chargers will expect the same from their pick at no. 79.
New England selected Houston S Marcus Jones at no. 85 to continue tight coverages the Patriot secondary is known for.
Memphis runner followed block against Navy by OG Dylan Parham (56) who got picked up at no. 90 by the Las Vegas Raiders.
Draft pick no. 100 brought CU Bearcat DE Myjai Sanders (21) who earned all AAC honors these past two seasons to the Arizona Cardinals. His quickness off the snap garnered 112 tackles, 24.5 for losses while 13.5 resulted in sacks.

Draft break

Texas State Strutters strut their stuff at last year’s opener between the Bobcats and the BU Bears!
Going Coastal! Carolina that is.
Still our all-time favorites!

Fourth Round

Cincinnati Bearcat CB Koby Bryant (7) provided tight cover against UCF in 2020 like most of the CU secondary plays as the Seattle Seahawks like what they saw to select him at no. 109.
PSU LB Brandon Smith (47) puts the stop on Rutgers in 2019. This Lion will be playing as a Carolina Panther under Head Coach and former PSU LB Matt Rhule, a great developer of talent. Smith was selected at no. 120 overall.
North Dakota State OT Cordell Volson (67) throws his weight around here versus Delaware in 2019. He showed well enough since for the Bengals to select him as no. 136 to bolster protection for QB Joe Burrows.
Another Belichick surprise. QB Bailey Zappe who led the nation in passing yards at Western Kentucky comes in to challenge last year’s rookie QB Mack Jones. With the no. 137 spot in the draft, New England selects to develop more QB talent going forward.
Wake Forest center Zach Tom wipes out a Boston College defender to open a hole for QB Sam Hartman. The Packers picked him in the draft at no. 140 to do the same if called on for Aaron Rogers.

Fifth Round

In the Military Bowl of 2019, Game MVP, Freshman Sam Howell (7), looks down field on a touchdown drive in UNC’s win over Temple. Despite the Tar Heels’ record of 21-17 over his three seasons, they averaged 35.7 ppg with Howell under center. We think he will help improve the Commanders of Washington, D. C. who selected him first in the fifth with pick no. 144!
Kentucky OT Darian Kinnard (foreground) , 2021 Consensus All American, looks likely to move to OG in the NFL. At 6’5″ 322 lbs., he posted 46 starts, 39 in row for UK. The Chiefs drafted him no. 145. Watch out!
RB Tyler Allgeier of BYU bulldozed Virginia for four TDs the evening we saw these two play. The Falcons invited him at no. 151.
Appalachian State LB D’Marco Jackson (far left) played tenaciously for the Mountaineers versus Coastal. The Saints who have had stalwart LBs over the years, will expect the same from him at no. 161.
The LV Raiders who selected Tennessee DT Matthew Butler (94) will be looking for him to close the gap quicker than this on Sundays. He comes in at no. 175.

Sixth Round

Cincy LB Darrian Beavers (0) should bring some defensive leadership to the New York Giants in the long term. Even selected at no. 182, we look for him to excel.
South Carolina’s Kevin Harris impressed against UK as he led the SEC in rushing in 2020 despite a 2-8 record. The Gamecocks improved in 2021 as Shane Beamer diversified the offense. Another sleeper chosen by Bill Belichick? We’ll see what pick no. 183 brings to New England.
Air Force DT Jordan Jackson gets hands up against Navy’s QB Mason Perry (drafted by the Dolphins in 2020). The Saints see the potential to take another Academy player at no. 194.
Baylor’s Trestan Ebener (1) gains against Texas State. Ebner was named Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Year in 2021. As a kick returner, the Bears hope to have found a new weapon with pick no. 203.
Wake Forest DB Ja’Sir Taylor (6) covers tightly here against NC State in a 45-42 win for the Deacs. The LA Chargers selected him to play in their secondary at no. 214.
Penn State CB Tariq Castro-Fields (5) comes up fast for run coverage here versus Buffalo in 2019. The San Francisco 49ers closed out the sixth round taking him at no. 221.

Seventh and final draft round

Rutgers WR Bo Melton led the Scarlet Knights in receiving for three years. He was second team All Big Ten in 2020 though RU QBs struggled. Somebody noticed him from afar. The Seattle Seahawks give him shot at no. 229.
Penn State OT Rasheed Walker (53) started 32 games at left tackle. At 6’6″, 330 lbs. the Packers selected him at no. 249 looking for more assurance to protect Aaron Rogers.
Amazing! Another Rutgers RB? Isaih Pacheco (#1) falls short of first Rutgers score before a TD against UMass. However, the Kansas City Chiefs decided he was worth a draft pick at no. 251!
DE Jeffrey Gunter of Coastal Carolina (94) contained against Appalachian State. The Cincinnati Bengals selected him at pick no. 252 as LB to help shore up their defense.
Penn State LB Jesse Luketa (40) hung around late to be selected by Arizona at no. 256.
Western Kentucky WR Jerreth Sterns picks up yards against MTSU to break the Hilltoppers’ record for receiving yards in a season. He gained 1,902 receiving yards and scored 17 TDs in his only season of FBS play. He recorded big numbers at FCS Houston Baptist three years prior. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers recognized his potential and signed him as a free agent. He might be on the receiving end of Tom Brady’s extended NFL career.

In closing and looking forward to next season

Hail Utah State! Look for them to be surprising in 2022. They visit Bama on September 3.
We still want to sneak away with the Sun Dolls of South Florida next time we see their Bulls play in Tampa!
Our 2022 opener will feature Hilltopper cheerleaders when they host Austin Peay for Week 0.

Steve Koreivo, ed. “Author of Tales from the Tailgate: From the Fan who’s seen ’em all!” Click on the title to buy your copy from Amazon today!

Pro draft preview 2022: Collegefootballfan.com’s Top prospects on defense seen in Action

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With the NFL draft scheduled for April 28-30, here we offer you Collegefootballfan.com’s top defensive prospects seen in action the past few years. These college players declared eligibility for the 2022 draft. Some you know. However, we provide some potential mid to low-round talent for draft considerations. These lower picks and even eventual free-agent signees make up the core of solid pro rosters over time.

Since 2019, (despite the 2020 Covid-19-impacted season limiting Collegefootballfan.com to only three games) , we watched many top prospects play against one another. Overall, we attended 48 gridiron clashes played among 69 different teams – 23 among Power Five programs and 23 among the Group of Five programs. We witnessed 14 FCS programs play as well. We even watched five D-2 and D-3 games among top-ranked programs compete. Sometimes, these lower schools truly offer some hidden top prospects for the NFL draft, but we didn’t see any players of note.

In the pictorials below, check out potential selections by position. We’ll see when and where our top prospects seen in action end up. After the three days of intense, team-building, draft strategies by the top level of professional football, we always enjoy being able to say, “Look at them now, we saw them when…”

Defensive linemen

Baylor DT Siaki Ika (62, 2nd white jersey from top) applies the pressure against Texas State here. At 6’4″ 350 lbs. can be a good run stuffer who attracts double teams, but did not display pass rushing capabilities. Could go late rounds or through free agency.

Defensive Ends

CU Bearcat DE Myjai Sanders (21) earned all AAC honors these past two seasons. His quickness off the snap garnered him 112 tackles, 24.5 for losses and 13.5 resulted in sacks. He should be called up on the third day of the draft.
Kentucky DE Josh Pashcal (4), 6′ 3″, 278 lbs., in pursuit versus South Carolina could go as high as Round 3.
DE Jeffrey Gunther (94) of Coastal Carolina contained against Appalachia State. He could be the highest defensive player ever selected from CCU. His versatility has him marked as a DE/OLB in the pros.
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Penn State DE Arnold Ebikete (17) gets taken down by Auburn OL Austin Troxell. Ebikete will go in the early rounds of the draft. Troxell elected to return to AU for his sixth season in 2022.
DE DeAngelo Malone (10) of Western Kentucky seen here against Middle Tennessee looks to compete at the next level. A five-year player for the Hilltoppers, among his 150 tackles, he recorded 34 sacks and forced nine fumbles. He’s a potential play-maker.

Linebackers

Cincy LB Joel Dublanko (41) at left shoots the gap for a stop versus Central Florida in 2020.
Cincy LB Darrian Beavers (0) signals Houston’ s final turnover on downs to punctuate the Bearcat victory and to start the night-long celebration! Look for him to go in middle rounds.
Penn State DE Derrick Tangelo (54) and LB Jesse Luketa (40) are late round considerations for a few teams.

Corners and safeties

Cincy CB Ahmad Gardner (1) turns in Houston ball carrier here in AAC Championship. He looks to be a first round choice in this year’s draft. He totaled 99 stops the past three years. Two of his nine INTs went for TDs. He’ll be somebody’s shutdown CB in a pro secondary.
Penn State CB Tariq Castro-Fields (5) comes up fast for run coverage versus Buffalo.
Auburn CB Roger McCreary chases down Penn State’s Jahan Dotson in their 2021 matchup. This scene may be repeated at the next level.
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Baylor Safety Jalen Pitre picks off a Texas State pass, one of two INTs on the year. He racked up 75 stops for a tough Bear defense in 2021.
Auburn S Smoke Monday (21) should go in the final rounds of 2022. He’s more effective as a run-stopper as opposed to a coverage guy. In 13 games for the Tigers last season, he had nine Tackles for losses among his 63 stops. He picked off one pass and broke up five pass attempts.

by Steve Koreivo, ed. Author of “Tales from the Tailgate: From the Fan who’s seen ’em all!“ Click on the title to get your copy today!

Pro draft preview 2022: Collegefootballfan.com’s Top prospects on offense seen in Action

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With the NFL draft scheduled for April 28-30, here we offer you Collegefootballfan.com’s top offensive prospects. Seen in action the last few years, these college players became eligible for the 2022 draft. Some are well known as you will see. However, we will provide some potential mid to low-round talent for draft consideration. These lower picks and even eventual free-agent signees make up the core of solid rosters over time.

Since 2019, (despite the 2020 Covid-19-impacted season limiting Collegefootballfan.com to only three games) , we watched many top prospects play against one another. Overall, we attended 48 gridiron clashes played among 69 different teams – 23 among Power Five programs and 23 among the Group of Five programs. We also witnessed 14 FCS programs play. We even watched five D-2 and D-3 games among top-ranked programs compete. These lesser schools truly offer some hidden top prospects for the NFL draft.

Check out our input by position. We’ll see when and where all these top prospects end up. After the three days of intense, team-building, draft strategies for the top level of professional football, we always enjoy being able to say, “Look at them now, we saw them when…”

Quarterbacks

We watched QB Sam Howell (13) lead UNC over Temple in a big win in the Military Bowl in Annapolis during his Frosh year in 2019. As experience around him dwindled the past two seasons, he learned a lot. We see him as the top QB prospect in this year’s draft.
A four-year starter at Cincinnati, QB Desmond Ridder (9) tosses a 29-yard TD pass against UCF to TE Josh Whylie in 2020. Tough, durable, and an experienced winner (44-5 record), Ridder may be a good mid-round, developmental choice. He led the Bearkats completing 62.1% of his UC career passes for 10,239 yards, 87 TDs, and 28 INTs. Whylie may be one of our top prospects of 2023.
QB Bailey Zappe, a grad transfer from Houston Baptist at Western Kentucky (9-4) in 2022, broke single-season NCAA passing records. He set records with 5,967 passing yards and 62 TDs. We saw his team lose by two two Indiana and defeat rival Middle Tennessee State, seen in action here. In our view, he’ll get selected in a mid-round and become a long-time journeyman , at least, in the NFL.

Offensive Lineman

NC State OT Ikem Ekwonu (79), seen here vs Wake Forest last season , looks to go early after a successful 9-3 season for the Wolfpack. Known to be tough and tenacious. He stands in at 6’4″, 320 lbs. “The Athletic” titled him “most feared lineman in ACC.”
Another ACC OL, Boston College’s Zion Johnson (77) opens hole here for breathing room against Wake Forest in 2021 loss. He weighs in at 6-3, 316 lbs. He’s projected to play guard and gone in the first round in several mock drafts.
Kentucky OT Darian Kinnard (seen center front), 2021 Consensus All American, looks likely to move to OG in the NFL. At 6’5″ 322 lbs., he posted 46 starts, 39 in row for UK. Seen here vs. South Carolina in 2020, he’s projected to go in Round 2.
Among top OL prospects in the Group of Five, OT Max Mitchell (74) of Louisiana stands out. A proven winner, the Ragin Cajuns finished 23-2 the last two years. We saw them in wins both years over Texas State and here at Liberty.
Penn State OT Rasheed Walker (53) started 32 games at left tackle. At 6’6″, 330 lbs. he might need some work on technique according to some reports. Expect him to go in the first three rounds.

Wide receivers/ Tight ends

Penn State WR Jahan Dotson dives for first of four Lion TD passes to take an early 7-0 lead for PSU. In 41 games, Dotson snared 183 passes for 2,757 yards and 25 TDS. Quick, fast, but small, he’ll bolster some team’s receiving corps.
Western Kentucky WR Jerreth Sterns pick up yards against MTSU to break the Hilltopper record for receiving yards in a season. He finished with 150 snags for 1,902 yards and 17 TDS. He starred previously at Houston Baptist.
Tennessee WR Velus Jones scores on a 15-yard catch and run in the 2021 Music City Bowl against Purdue. A transfer from USC in 2020, he started 19 games for the Vols making 84 receptions for 1,087 yards and 10 TDs. He returned a kickoff for a score and averaged 27.3 yards on kick returns and 15.1 yards on punt returns. He’ll be a top prospect for special teams alone.
Rutgers WR Bo Melton led the Scarlet Knights in receiving for three years. He was second team All Big Ten in 2020 though RU QBs struggled. Could be a late round pick or possible free agent. Seen here versus BC in 2019.

Running backs

BYU RB Tyler Algeier bulls over for his first of five TDs and 266 yards on 29 carries when we watched the Cougars defeat Virginia, 66-49. Against UAB in the Independence Bowl we attended, he gained 193 yards and scored thrice. In three seasons at Provo, totaled 2,850 yards, 36 TDs averaging 6.4 yards per carry. At 5’11” 224 lbs., a good blocker with soft hands, he will be a valuable asset to any offense.
Baylor’s Abram Smith barrels in for his second TD of the day against Texas State in their 2021 opener. He converted from LB to RB his senior season toe lead the 12-2 Bears in rushing with 1,601 yards and 12 TDs. Will probably go as a late round pick to be used in tough yardage situations.
South Carolina’s Kevin Harris impressed against UK in 2020 when he led the SEC in rushing. His state declined in 2021 and scouts are not impressed by any blocking prowess. He could be a late draft pick or become a free agent.

Top Prospects on Defense coming up in next report

We’ve got many more top prospects for the draft on the defensive side of the football. Come back and see who we’ve got on our next edition planned for April 6!

Spring Games

Our choices are few and local this spring as only one weekend will be available to us to do some preliminary “scouting”, and to hear once again the popping of pads. We plan to see two nearby programs on the same Saturday April 16 respectively, one at 10 am and the second at 1 pm.

The first scrimmage plays out in Murfreesboro. There, the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders will shake out the cobwebs to see what they have in store for 2022. HC Rick Stockstill’s team comes off a 7-6 season with a Bahamas Bowl win over Toledo, 31-24. The key to his spring will be deciding what QB will start for the Blue Raiders in 2022. Soph Mike DiLello and Frosh Nick Vittiato shared time filling in after starter Chase Cunningham went down for the season after the UConn victory. They combined for a 4-2 record. They open next season at James Madison, newest member of teh FBS in teh Sun Belt Conference. Collegefootball.com plans to see the Blue Raiders host Western Kentucky on October 15.

Then we head west…

Toward Nashville to see SEC cellar dweller Vanderbilt who us what they’ve got going after HC Clark Lea’s inaugural season that ended 2-10, 0-8. The two wins came over Colorado State, 24-21, and at home over hapless UConn, 30-28. We’ll just be watching to see how Commodore blocking and tackling skills are coming along basically. They open their season at Hawaii. We will see them host formidable pre-season Top 20 Wake Forest with QB Sam Hartman and the Deacs coming off their 11-2 season. They will be looking to challenge for the ACC title with a solid core of returning players.

Scheduling twists and turns

With the price of gas and other costs climbing as we personally head into a fixed base retirement income, budget planning becomes more of a variable in our planning process for 2022. We’re cutting back a little on the number of games, looking at closer game destinations, avoiding exorbitant ticket prices to some top games under consideration, and cutting back on excess hotels rooms where needed in some cases. However, we continue to come up with alternatives that give us a very interesting schedule comprised of mostly competitive games.

We still maintain traditions such as attending at least one game at Penn State and one at Navy. We’ve also maintained our membership in the Navy Blue and Gold Club to attend the ArmyNavy Game in December once again. Focus remains on seeing more games within driving distance while still getting to some stadiums we’ve never been to yet. Some weekday games offer these opportunities. We’re still waiting to shake out some opportunities to meet up with friends who have ties to some campuses we’d still like to get to. Things continue to get moved around and we’re hoping to see some games move to Friday nights or other alternatives once TV schedules get settled. Continue to check out our game updates by clicking here as our slate develops as the 2022 season continues to draw near.

by Steve Koreivo, ed. and author of “Tales from the Tailgate: From the fan who’s seen ’em all!” The adventure of a lifetime, how he attended a game played by the original 119 FBS teams at least once. Click here to read this story today!

Click on our book cover to get your copy from Amazon.com now!

College Football: Steveo’s Salvos, March 2022, Same-old, same-old FBS.

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Same old, same old FBS – at least through 2026

After months of speculation to expand the College Football Playoff (CFP), the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) powers that be (SEC and Big Ten in particular) got what they wanted.  They maintain the limited participation among only four teams annually until the current contract expires in 2026.  Basically, among the 133 (or is it now 134?) FBS teams, we’ll most likely see the same old teams reach football’s Final Four each of these years.  Boring.  What ever happened to “competition”?  As pointed out in past Salvos, expansion inviting twelve teams – 10 conference champs and two at-large teams – would not only spread the financial wealth for all, but the talent would be dispersed around more evenly as well. 

    As long as Nick Saban remains at Alabama, figure The Tide is in.  Look for the SEC to keep playing nobody out of conference and play non-conference games all at home. This helps guarantee to get their second-best team among them a second bid.  The Big Ten will get a least one participant among 14 members. The FBS conference with the biggest market footprint draws the highest TV rankings. After these three slots, the fourth team is “pot-luck”.  That generally means Oklahoma, Clemson (with Dabo), or Notre Dame gets invited before anybody else even gets noticed.  Pollsters assure us of that before they hand the FBS rankings over to “The Committee”.  No favoritism among these so-called “experts”. Agree?

     Like this past season, we don’t even focus on who’s going to win it all.  We’ll continue to take our interest on a game-by-game basis.   We’ll enjoy our college football going into our 43rd year of attending games every weekend and beyond by traveling to the best match-ups we can afford to attend!  That includes Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) teams as well as FBS.  Also, we include the Group of Five as well as the Power Five.  We’ll do all we can to keep the average attendance at college games from continuing to slip.  Read below.

Nothing against Nick Saban personally, but his appearances in CFP games bore us!

FBS Football attendance declined for 7th straight season

     Attendance has fallen continually from 44,603 per game among all FBS programs back in 2014 to 39,849 in 2022.  Adding 15 FBS new programs since 2000 with stadium capacities of about 30,000 have contributed to the decline. Of course, we made our efforts to help offset this by attending games at the likes of UMASS, Coast Carolina, and Texas State!  Ha! Not enough evidently. However, the greatest impact comes from comprehensive TV coverage.

TV: the double-edged sword whacking away the numbers

    Every game is shown live in some form of media. And think about this: it has to be now because of the necessity of replays to assure correct calls. Despite the technological necessity, the primary factor impacting attendance is the capability for fans to stay home and watch as many good games as possible. Unlike us at collegefootballfan.com who love the enjoyment of attending games, more people can peruse multiple games.  Fans can also easily update bets which is more prevalent than ever. To each their own.

  The secondary impact of television affects those of us in attendance by making games longer and sitting through many, long TV time-outs.  It ruins the rhythm of games. One hundred eighty minutes plus embodies sixty minutes of actual playing time.  And instead of flipping a station to watch another game, how many award ceremonies, donation presentations, dance-cams, and uncoordinated students throwing or kicking footballs do we have to clap for?  Too many interruptions caused by media time-outs.  How many insurance commercials do you have to watch?   We came to see a football game.

We love football outdoors in the fall. The scenic mountains surrounding Logan, Utah on a sunny fall day make Maverik Stadium at Utah State, like many other venues we visit, the perfect way for us to enjoy college football on a Saturday afternoon!

Conference USA vs. Sunbelt

     Not on the playing field.  To start with, in court most likely.   With all the recent changes (once again) among FBS conference memberships, the biggest faux pas in the making comes from the miscommunications of these two conferences regarding when three teams can make their transition from C-USA over to the Sunbelt.  ConferenceUSA announced their game schedule for 2022.

Update

    Three current ConferenceUSA members – Marshall, Southern Miss, and Old Dominion – insist that they will compete in the Sunbelt starting July of 2022!  Despite C-USA insisting that their 14 members remain intact to play through 2022 until further break-ups and assimilations in 2023, there are no financial buy-outs holding absconders from leaving.  On March 1, the SunBelt released its 2022 schedule for all teams. These three are officially included. We now await the ConferenceUSA slates.

Golden Dome welcomes “Golden” Dome

    New Notre Dame HC Marcus Freeman brought former college HC Al Golden back from the Cincinnati Bengals to head up his defense.  Golden, a former Penn State TE, went on to turn a beleaguered Temple program around before he left for Miami.  We didn’t see Miami as good fit for him trying to correct off field issues with that program as well as bring it back up to standards of” The U” on the field.  As Defensive Coordinator for the Bengals, he helped them get to The Super Bowl after 40 years.

    With Freeman’s years of focus and development on defense at Ohio State and at Cincinnati before coming to Notre Dame, he must figure his defense will thrive in Al Golden’s good hands.  Freeman can step away and spread himself around as needed.  Knowing he has great experience in place with Golden to support his defensive schemes, he can provide more oversight on his offense and special teams.

Our 2022 schedule looking “up”

   As we piece together our upcoming schedule, we seek opportunities to see more pre-season Top 25 teams before the season begins than ever before.  Knowing that the pre-season does not guarantee all these programs will finish there, we know we have a solid second tier of schools also in Top 25 contention when others fall out.  Currently, ten top teams fall on our schedule. A few more still loom as we pursue other interesting options we await to unfold. 

    We still look for new venues to attend for the first time, and a few allow us to seek some of the games we consider “must-sees”.   The season starts six months from now, but here we list games that look like definites on our “tentative” schedule in 2022:

8/27 Austin Peay at Western Kentucky – Two locals we like; FCS vs FBS for our Week 0 opener.

9/1 Penn State at Purdue – Neither in pre-season rankings so far; first trip to Purdue. Thursday night.

9/10 Wake Forest at Vanderbilt – With QB Sam Hartman back, Deacs are ranked in Top Tens.

9/17 Penn State at Auburn- Great rematch from last year, but neither ranked. Need turnaround seasons.

9/30 Utah State at BYU – returning to Utah for two more games; Cougars ranked, solid USU.

10/1 Oregon State at Utah – Utes favored in PAC 12; we venture to our first game at Salt Lake.

10/8 Texas A&M at Alabama – Our first trip to Tuscaloosa gives us two Top Tens.

10/22 Houston at Navy – Our traditional trip to Annapolis meshes with the ranked Cougars’ visit.

10/29 Ohio State at Penn State – Can Nittany Lions bring down a top-ranked OSU to move up?

11/12 Washington at Oregon – Oregon in; can Washington make a move up here? Possibly combine with Cal at OSU to see games played in the state of Oregon for the first time. A CFF.com goal.

11/19 Georgia at Kentucky – UGA back with defense is ranked near top again; Wildcats have high hopes as well.

12/10 Army-Navy – Our 14th edition of college football’s greatest rivalry: Go Navy!

We ended 2021 seeing Purdue in an exciting win over Tennessee, 45-42, in the Music City Bowl. Our 2022 FBS slate begins with the Boilermakers hosting Penn State on the evening of Thursday, September 1.

Our alternative “game strategies”

    Only March now, we analyze other fall weekends for other opportunities.  We weigh some Collegefootballfan.com goals aside from new FBS venues, best matchups, new teams, tailgate opportunities, meeting with friends, tickets costs, travel expenses, side trips, places we like, etc.  Some schedules have not been released yet.

 In particular, FBS conferences like the Mid-American and the SunBelt now offer some mid-week contests within range for our consideration.  We always look to kill “multiple birds with one stone” even though that is probably not politically correct today.  Our pre-historic ancestors sometimes had do to that to survive. With the MAC schedules released, we see viable opportunities to visit Ball State and Miami (O.) during the week.  Both are in driving distance and both will host Ohio U.   

   Below summarizes other weekends we continue to consider.  To us, this is the fun part of our off-season.  We try to put together the most exciting season we can based on the time and resources we have. 

September 3

     We return from Purdue on Friday Sept 2. We foresee the possibility of Vanderbilt hosting FCS Elon on that Friday night.  Last season, the Commodores lost such a game at home to Eastern Tennessee, 23-3. It could be competitive in HC Lea’s second season in Nashville. Easy ticket, close by. On Saturday, two decent FCS contests loom nearby.  The Wofford Terriers, a first-timer for us, visit the Moccs of UT Chattanooga in a SoCon opener for both. Between two microbreweries, UTC’s Finley Stadium will be primed for the 6 pm kickoff.  However, we await the completion of aforementioned ETSU’s possible home opener in Johnson City.  Finishing ranked No. 7 in FCS with an 11-2 record, we’d like to see ETSU if we can. This looks to be our best shot to see them this season.

September 24

     Maybe we coordinate with our Demon Deacon friends to see Wake host Clemson – both ranked of course.  Known by these dedicated Deac fans as “10 and almost 0” Koreivo for our personal 10-1 record when attending Deacs games over the years, they may want us there to overcome Clemson’s dominance in the ACC “rivalry”.

      Otherwise, it looks like we’ll head to Tennessee-Martin for the first time.  Winner of the Ohio Valley Conference last season, we will see them host struggling Tennessee Tech. Eastern Kentucky at Austin Peay looms as an option if both teams are off to good starts.  Both locations are drivable.

October 15 and November 5

     We may be considering another Purdue visit to catch up with friends who may be there when the Boilermakers host both Nebraska and Iowa (ranked) on those respective dates. Our alternatives for those games would be interesting.  October 5 offers our first trip to nearby Middle Tennessee to see them host Western Kentucky in their rivalry known as “100 miles of hate”. The November clash comes up with James Madison at Louisville.  As a member of the SunBelt now, JMU would be recorded as our 131st FBS team.

We’ll possibly attend a rematch of last year’s “100 miles of hate” when Western Kentucky visits Middle Tennessee State in Murfreesboro.

November 25-26

     As family gets older and kids leave for other parts of the country, some family traditions change.  Our annual trek to New England for Thanksgiving offered many opportunities to see a college game on the following Saturday at schools such as Boston College, UMass, or Rhode Island among others.  With our daughter now in Texas, we have new options.  We await the final SunBelt schedules to be announced. Her fiancé works for Texas State.  We hope the Bobcats will be playing that Friday or Saturday.  In addition, we note that LSU will be at Texas A&M at Kyle Field, where we’ve never been.  Also, Baylor is at Texas.  What we hope for is that one of these games will be rescheduled to Friday.  For us, two games after Thanksgiving would me much to give thanks for!

   Six months to go. Plans for 2020 are looking good.  With concern for inflation as the year moves along, this “tentative” schedule is our best-case scenario.  We are also building an “economy plan” to scale back costs if necessary.  Either way, we plan a full slate of games weekly.  We’ll stay positive for now. Check back in two weeks for more offseason input from us. 

 By Steve Koreivo, ed. Author of Tales from the Tailgate: From the Fan who’s seen ’em all!  Click on the title to enjoy our lifelong adventure as you wait for the upcoming 2022 college football season.

Super Memories of 2022: College Players from our history playing in this year’s big one!

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Before every Bowl Game with Roman Numerals (i.e. LVI) is played, we peruse the rosters of both participants to note who we may have seen during their collegiate careers. Some become household names. Some may have worked their way up as hard-working free agents. Others we may have lost track of making numerous moves among various pro teams. Here’s our collection of players we watched and luckily, in some cases. caught them in action. As usual, we surprise ourselves regarding how much great talent we get to see by attending about a could of dozen college games every season. Check these out!

Most memorable, we watched Joe Burrow of LSU take down Oklahoma in the 2019 CFP Chick Filet-A Peach Bowl on the way to the championship, 63-28. He tallied seven TD passes and 493 yards! He also ran for a score.
Texas A&M RB, Trayveon Williams (5) now with the Bengals, battles against Wake Forest in 2017 Belk Bowl. The Aggies fell to the Demon Deacons in an exciting 55-52 battle.

RBs Joe Mixon (25) and Sam Perine (32) of Oklahoma played together in a loss to Clemson in the CFP 2018 Orange Bowl, but they now have the chance to team up with the Bengals for a win against the Rams.
DB Jessie Bates (3) had two solid seasons for Wake Forest with 119 solo tackles, 58 assisted, and six INTs. He returned two of those for TDs. Now with Cincinnati, we saw him pick off a Titan pass in the Bengals victory in Nashville.
Delaware LB Troy Reeder (9) now of the LA Rams in action against Elon in 2018 in UD’s 28-16 win.
Penn State S Nick Scott (4) picks off a Wisconsin pass near the goal line in a 2018 win. He has 45 tackles and two INTs for LA this year.
PSU CB Grant Haley (15) turns in the Michigan runner in for a short gain. He’s now doing the same for LA.

College Football: Steveo’s Salvos, February 2022

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We already had to obliterate a game we looked forward to off our early 2022 schedule. We looked forward to this one, similar to seeing Power Five Indiana playing at Group of Five Western Kentucky last season. The Hoosiers got by the Hilltoppers at WKU’s Houchen’s-Smith Stadium in Bowling Green, Kentucky, 33-31. With a healthy Michael Penix at QB for IU before suffering a season-ending injury in his next start, the win turned out to be one of their only two the entire season. At least we attended a competitive, entertaining game.

During 2021, collegefootballfan.com watched Purdue defeat Tennessee, 45-42, in the Music City Bowl (above) and Penn State defeat Auburn, 28-20, at Beaver Stadium.

Mizzou cancels visit to MTSU

Middle Tennessee’s game scheduled against Missouri next September 3rd looked like another fun opportunity to have a Power Five team visit another Group of Five school at the Blue Raiders’ Johnny “Red” Floyd Stadium. However, read the feedback from FBSchedules.com below:

“Middle Tennessee was previously scheduled to host Missouri on Sept. 3, 2022, but Missouri backed out of the game and scheduled a home contest against Louisiana Tech instead.

‘We lost the Missouri game last fall as they chose to contractually buyout the game,’ said Middle Tennessee Director of Athletics Chris Massaro. ‘Every avenue was taken in order to keep the game but to no avail. Missouri will have to pay us $800,000 to exercise the buyout part of the contract. There were not a lot of options so we are thankful JMU was willing to work with us.’

UGA and Bama plus “Lower 12”

Just like Tennessee pulling out against Army this upcoming season (a home game for UT) and replacing the same team that defeated Mizzou in the Armed Forces Bowl in December, another SEC school backed out of a potential competitive situation to find a lesser one. Last season, Georgia and Alabama dominated the SEC conference and college football in general. So let’s drop the holistic “SEC,SEC” commonality. One size doesn’t fit all. There are two great SEC programs who dominate the rest of these other schools. The conference members that can be called the “Lower 12” fall in line with every other college football program in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Like Middle Tennessee State, Collegefootballfan.com seeks a more competitive college football opportunity on September 3, 2022.

-by Steve Koreivo, ed. Author of “Tales from the Tailgate: From the Fan who’s seen ’em all!” Click on the title to get this book about our adventure to see every FBS team play at least once!