Seen 'em all – 133 FBS teams in action. Three new members to be added the next two years. All divisions: 712 games attended since 1979! Get my new book now available on Amazon.com in Kindle and in Paperback: Fifty Years of Tailgate Tales: The Good, the Fun and the Ugly! Follow our 31-game schedule in 2024.
With Ohio State, Georgia, and Clemson already on our slate this season, we figured somehow we needed to get pre-season No. 1 Alabama on our schedule. Originally considering the Texas A&M clash on October 8, the prices exceeded our budget. Figuring Alabama fans might take the Utah State Aggies for granted in the season opener on September 3 in Tuscaloosa, we found prices very affordable. We will see Penn State visit Purdue on Thursday, September 1. Lacking a local game near Nashville that really stirred our interest two days later, CFF.com figured we had to come up with a better contest than FCS Elon at lowly Vanderbilt in Week 1 on Saturday night. We found much better than we ever anticipated.
In addition to seeing No. 1 Alabama, we anticipate seeing the front-runner for the Heisman Trophy. We project that QB Bryce Young will repeat his performance of 2021 to take home the hardware once again. Among his competition this year, we will see Ohio State’s QB CJ Stroud, RB Treyveon Henderson, and WR Jaxon Smith Njigba when they play Penn State. Wake Forest QB Sam Hartman will be on our slate if he recovers from injury before the Vanderbilt game that we will attend. Former Oklahoma candidate QB Spencer Rattler shows off his stuff this year when he steps under center for South Carolina against Kentucky. RB Bijan Robinson of Texas appears on our watch list when we see him and his Longhorns face Baylor. Even Pryce’s No. 1 Alabama teammate LB Will Anderson vies for attention for that elusive recognition given to defensive players.
Our more recent Alabama sightings have been in CFP games. Here, they appeared against The Sooners in the 2018 Orange Bowl.
Aggies on the rise
Last season, we got to see these Aggies play in with the friendly confines of Maverik Stadium in Logan, Utah. They defeated Hawaii, 51-31. Last season under first-year HC Blake Anderson, Utah State improved from 1-5 in the Covid-19 abated season before to 11-3 in 2021. They matched their program’s high mark for wins in a season. Their 7-2 Mountain West mark put them in the conference championship game. There, they defeated San Diego State on the road, 46-13. In the LA Bowl, the Aggies triumphed over Oregon State to rank at No. 24 at the season.
QB Logan Bonner established five single-season passing records at USU. Accumulating 3,628 yards and 36 TDs, he missed the LA Bowl due to a knee injury. In his place, Cooper Legas took over and earned MVP honors. All five starters return on this year’s offensive line. RB Calvin Turner churned out 884 yards behind their push. Good experience returns up front defensively led by DEs Byron Vaughns and Patrick Joyner. Hunter Reynolds, playing a LB/S combo, returns as their leading tackler in 2021 with 83.
Better than expected?
This Utah State program may not be up to par with a top-recruiting team like No. 1 Alabama. However, the players State returns should add some more formidable, experienced players than what The Tide usually faces early. Plus, Bama may be thinking more past this game to their meeting the following week at Texas and their former OC Steve Sarkisian. We think this really adds a great game to our already formidable schedule with nine to ten teams among various pre-season Top 25s. Check it out our 2022 schedule by clicking here!
Utah State QB Logan Bonner added five yards rushing in addition to his 361 passing yards against Hawaii last season.
Our football history
In the annals of collegefootballfan.com’s history, this will be our first visit ever to Bryant-Denny Stadium. However, two of our first three Crimson Tide games attended were played at Legion Field in Birmingham, AL, former permanent home of the Iron Bowl. Back then, we actually watched Paul “Bear” Bryant prowl the sidelines. Over the years, Alabama’s record in our presence is 9-1. Utah State falls on our slate for the fourth time. Their record stands at 2-1.
ed. by Steve Koreivo, Author of Tales from the Tailgate; From the Fan who’s seen ’em all! Please click on the title to purchase our book about how we’ve seen 120 FBS teams (at that time) play for the first time in our ongoing 42-year adventure (we’re up to 130 now and adding JMU this year)! . And, please submit your review for us. Thanks!
Many players from Bear Bryant’s 1979 No. 1 Alabama graced the cover of the program of the Iron Bowl game the following year.
Our QB season preview started with Jarret Doege of WKU stepping into a great opportunity after transferring from West Virginia. So what does he do now? Less than two weeks before his team’s opener on August 27, he announces he’s transferring. What? This reeks with shame regarding where college football is headed. No doubt, the NIL and transfer portal threaten this great game. Doege demonstrates the shams of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL), and the supposed “one-time” transfer portal. The NIL exudes greed, and the transfer portal is not a one-time opportunity for college football players. Doege started at Bowling Green, and transferred to and started at WVU. He entered WKU as a graduate student (?), and now Doege suddenly seeks an opportunity to play elsewhere. “Get along little Doege?” Funny, but outside the world of Academia, that equals “four” transfers for Doege. Don’t colleges teach basic Mathematics anymore?
College football needs better controls – and fast!
It’s bad enough that this “student-athlete” can turn his back on his currentteam. The Hilltoppers prep for their first game eleven days away. However, how could any other member school of the NCAA offer or accept this player on such short notice? Did some school intentionally come up with a monetary package to draw Doege away from Western Kentucky? Not only from an ethics standpoint, but whatever happened to restrictions on time? Doesn’t a university have a deadline when to accept students into their “academic” programs? At the pre-season Middle Tennessee Blue Raider Blitz, yours truly attended recently, Head Coach Rick Stockstill commented precisely on this. Players can transfer any time. The NCAA has to designate a specific term and a time limit to when players can make this move. Based on Doege’s fourth move which would require a waiver, how does the NCAA not put its foot down? How weak is this leadership?
In 2021, WKU QB Bailey Zappe (4) led the nation setting FBS passing records for yards and TDs. Becoming a fourth round draft pick for the New England Patriots, he leaves behind a coaching staff, a system, and players to run this same offense. Jarret Doege found a better opportunity than this two weeks before his first game with the Hilltoppers?
Forget life’s lessons – NOT!
As we argue in vain, is college football only supposed to be for the benefit of players seeking to make it to the professional level? By no means is there a guarantee that Doege will. The NCAA indicates that this must be its true purpose. It’s only about the money. No wants to recognize college football’s values about teamwork, commitment, loyalty, and dedication for teams to achieve goals together (Fantasy football undermines teamwork as well, but another story). These are life lessons well-learned for the students outside of the classroom. This sport teaches players life-long lessons in family matters, careers beyond sports, the value being a good citizen in society, and the dedication of being part of something greater than oneself. Not sure if this is college sports’ way of catching up with the rest of society? Or, does our educational system foster the “me” attitude to support selfishness and forget about everybody else?
World of Academia needs to learn how to teach
These charades called NIL and transfer portal have to be brought under control immediately. Not only is this great game of college football (and other college sports) in jeopardy, but so are the lessons of life that they were intended to teach. These institutions of “Higher Learning”, through their inept organization called the NCAA, needs to step up and tend to their intended purpose, to educate.
-ed. by Steve Koreivo, Author of “Tales from the Tailgate: From the Fan who’s seen ‘em all!” Click on the title to buy and review this unique story of college football over thirty years. With the pending changes to college football, you can remember what the “amateur” game was about as opposed to the professional level of what it’s about to become.
On Collegefootballfan’s schedule this season, we will see some of the top QBs in all of college football. Last season, we watched record-setting FBS QB Bailey Zappe at Western Kentucky, a transfer from Houston Baptist, perform twice. He set season NCAA records with 5,967 passing yards and 62 TD passes. He went on to become drafted in the fourth round by the New England Patriots. Our slate this year features some of the “Top Guns” aiming for similar marks and destinations.
The transfer strategy
Our season starts off with Western Kentucky, and with Austin Peay once again. HC Tyson Helton brought on another transfer to assure dominance through the air. Jarret Doege arrives fresh from West Virginia where he threw for 5,635 yards and 33 TDs the past two seasons. Despite last season’s OC Zach Kittley moving on to Texas Tech, his understudy Ben Arbuckle remains. He continues the pass dominated offense preferred by Helton.
We see the Hilltoppers open the season on August 27 hosting FCS Austin Peay. We watched the Governors start to turn the corner last season with a 47-6 win over Murray State led by first-time starting QB Sheldon Layman. The Govs won four of their last five games under young, energetic HC Scotty Walden. Another possible QB starter for APU could be MTSU transfer Mike DiLilleo. Both teams will be learning what they have at QB in this game. It should be fun to watch QB shuttles along both sidelines.
Another Belichick surprise. QB Bailey Zappe, led the nation in passing yards at Western Kentucky comes in to challenge last year’s QB Mack Jones. With the no. 137 spot in the draft, New England assures itself of QB talent going forward.
No transfers needed here
In a Big Ten opener the following Thursday, Penn State visits Purdue. Unlike our opener, both squads start very experienced, top QBs. Purdue brings back three-year starter and 2021 second team All-Big Ten QB Aidan O’Connell. We attended his encore performance in the 45-42 Music City Bowl win over Tennessee. There, he spread his passes around to nine different receivers for 543 yards and five TDs. O’Connell found WR Broc Thompson who returns as his favorite receiver. That day, Thompson hauled in seven receptions for 217 yards and two TDS. O’Connell amassed 3,712 yards and 28 TDs for the season.
PSU returns its top QB in Sean Clifford for his fourth season as starting QB. Despite an injury against Iowa that slowed him down last year, he finished with 3,107 yard passing and 21 TDs. In his sixth season with the Nittany Lions, this will be the first time he will have the same OC in Mike Yurich. Despite the graduation of top receiver Jahan Dotson, Parker Washington and KeAndre Lambert-Smith return as top targets from last year. The addition of transfer Mitchell Tinsley from WKU adds to his experienced targets as well. For a Big Ten opener, this match-up could be a barn-burner. The burning question to ask, whose defense will be most up for this one?
In our Annals, Deacons should become “11-1”
On September 10, AP No. 13 Wake Forest comes to Nashville to play Vanderbilt. Demon Deacon QB Sam Hartmann returns with his offensive line and two top receivers intact. They should continue their 41.0 scoring average going into this one. We watched the Deacs in action last season beat NC State at home, 45-42. They finished their regular season defeating Boston College on the road with us, 45-10. Hartman, ranked seventh among top QBs in 2021, led his team with 4,435 passing yards and 46 TDs while only turning over six INTs.
Vanderbilt comes off a 2-10 season. We will scout them hosting FCS Elon the week before to make a true assessment if they have a shot at winning the SEC as some unknown pollster predicted. By the way, even our friends from Wake Forest can’t believe that we’ve seen their Deacs play eleven times since 1980 and that they won ten times (only loss in OT to Louisville in 2019). (Stop the presses – Hartman on the sideline indefinitely for non-football, medical issue. Waiting to hear more).
Wake Forest QB Sam Hartman returns in 2022, and with Demon Deacon cohorts, we’ll see him lead Wake against Vanderbilt in Nashville.
Auburn transfer: proven Bama-beater
We’ll see Penn State on the road for a second time when they and we travel to Auburn for a rematch of their 28-20 victory over the Tigers we attended last season. However, Auburn QB Bo Nixon has transferred out to Oregon. In his place, we expect to see Soph QB Zach Calzada who transferred in from Texas A&M. Zach’s “claim to fame” comes from his start for the Aggies in last season’s 41-38 upset win over No. 1 Alabama. He completed 21 of 31 passes for 285 yards and three TDs, only one INT. For the season, he threw for 2,185 yards, 17 TDs, but nine INTs. Replacing injured QB Haynes King, the Aggies expected to compete for the SEC West, but among Calzada’s ten starts, A&M finished 4-4 in the conference. Maybe Auburn will allow him to breathe new life as their sophomore starter.
Best meeting of transfer QBs
October 8 sends us to Lexington, KY where the Kentucky Wildcats with QB Will Levis, last year’s starter, will host South Carolina. Levis, who we’d seen previously on display at Penn State spring games, and as back-up to Sean Clifford, led the Wildcats at QB last season to a 10-3 season. He returns after tossing for 2,827 yards and running for 376 yards resulting in 33 UK touchdowns. He has two years of eligibility remaining if he chooses to stay with the Wildcats in 2023. Carolina will counter with their transfer, a top QB with “star potential” in former Oklahoma QB Spencer Rattler.
Rattler’s story is well known having been the starter and a Heisman candidate at OU. Too many turnovers led to his demise last season. Caleb Williams (now with the other USC) took over to lead the Sooners the second half of their 11-2 season. Rattler started the first six games (without a loss) passing for 1,483 yards, 11 TDs, but five INTs plus costly fumbles sat him down. Seeking new opportunities in the portal, he found his former Sooner QB coach Shane Beamer, new HC at South Carolina, a very welcoming option. He’ll undoubtedly be a big boost at QB for the Gamecocks. Pre-season reports caution success, however, with a suspect offensive line returning for Carolina. We’ll get to witness how the Gamecocks stack up first hand in early October.
Eastern Swing, part 1
Since we relocated to Tennessee, we continue to venture east to hit our two favorite eastern venues on back-to-back weekends as we started this tradition last year. We travel to Annapolis on October 22 to see Navy host Houston in the Cougars last season in the American Athletic. Then, we roll on to State College, PA to see the Ohio State Buckeyes tussle with the Nittany Lions for our ninth time. Among top QBs, Houston brings back QB Clayton Tune who pitched for 3,546 yards and 30 TDs leading the Cougs to an 11-2 record. We saw them fall to Cincy in the AAC championship game before defeating Auburn in the Birmingham Bowl.
The Cougs averaged 35.9 ppg, but just beat Navy at home, 28-20. Navy will counter with QB Tai Lavatai running their triple option. He was out for several games last season. He returned to turn that rushing offense around late and upset 9-2 Army. The key to Navy success goes with the effectiveness of their QB running the option. This keeps Tune and the opposing offense off the field. Navy’s ball control helps their defense. Lavatai needs to follow in the footstep of Malcolm Perry and Kennan Reynolds. Both recent Navy QBs ran that offense so effectively that both got drafted as position players by the NFL.
Houston WR Nathaniel Dell sprints to Clayton Tune’s pass for Cougars first TD vs. Cincy. Dell and Tune both return to U of H this year.
Eastern Swing, part 2
At Beaver Stadium in State College, if Sean Clifford stays healthy up until this point for the Nittany Lions, he’s probably the best bet they have at QB to lead his offense to offset the strength of Buckeyes’ QB CJ Stroud. A pre-season All-American, Stroud returns from the 11-2 season and Rose Bowl win totaling 4,435 passing yards and 46 TDs. He finished fifth among top QBs. Despite losing top receivers to the NFL draft, his top target Jaxon Smith-Njigba returns. He snagged 95 tosses for 1,248 of those yards and 15 scores.
A day game here means no “white-out” in Happy Valley. However, if both schools come in to fight to lead the Big Ten, this will again be an outstanding game. In our annals, PSU leads this series (all at home), 5-3. If we deduct the score of the Lions’ 1994 63-14 win, the Buckeyes hold the edge in points, 157-154. We hope everyone remains healthy for this one which we anticipate as being a close one again.
Run, Malik, run!
On November 5 and 12, we will see Louisville with their top QB returning in Malik Cunningham. Last season he passed for 2,941 yards and 19 touchdowns. He led all QBs in rushing nationally with 1,031 yards and 20 TDs. To stay healthy, reports say HC Scott Satterfield may want him to stay protected in the pocket more often this season. We’ll see him in the first of two consecutive weekends hosting FBS newcomer James Madison.
Louisville QB Malik Cunningham go off to a hot start in the first half against Wake in 2019. Hurt later in this game, the Cards went on to win in OT, 62-49.
The Dukes will be breaking in a new QB after the departure of their impressive QB Cole Johnson. HC Curt Cignetti brought in another transfer (nobody needs to recruit high schools for the time being), QB Todd Centeio from Colorado State. Centeio completed 60% of his passes for 2,958 yards in 2021. That’s how this works. CSU brings in Jay Norvell from Nevada as HC, so he brings along freshman (aka first year player) Clay Millen to run his Air Raid offense.
The following week we will follow the Cardinals to see a game at Clemson for the first time. The big question mark for Dabo Swinney’s team is if his top QB DJ Uiagalelei recovers from last season (nine TDs, 10 INTs). Will DJ have to step aside for Frosh QB Cade Klubnik or some transfer in the pipeline? Will Cunningham pass more or run more against this Tiger defense? We get to see some interesting games impacted by QB play this season.
MVP! MVP! Top QB again?
Going back to Kentucky on November 19, we get to see defending champion Georgia. Returning comes their sixth-year QB Stetson Bennet intact. Over the years at Georgia, Bennet outlasted QB JT Daniels who transferred from Southern Cal who all UGA fans clamored for to start. Daniels opted out after last season. In a web of QB transfers, he goes to West Virginia to replace Jarret Doege who we will see play QB at WKU. Is this what college football has become? Transfer until you find a place where you might play? How good is Daniels if he hasn’t stepped up from previous QBs playing ahead of him? Let the pros just draft these guys out of high school and let them invest their money to develop them. Transfer portal – do once and done!
Bennet took MVP honors in their CFP semi-final 34-11 victory over Michigan last season. Defense dominated for the Dawgs last season. Will Bennett step up and lead the offense to offset some of the learning curve a basically new defense needs to undergo? Several offensive linemen return to block and All-American TE Brock Bowers returns as his leading receiver along with WR Adonai Mitchell. Last season, the Wildcats suffered one of their three losses, 30-13, to the Bulldogs on the road. Kroger Stadium will be pumped for this one and so will Collegefootballfan.com. We’ll see what a difference a year will make for both of these programs.
Big 12 battle of QBs inexperience
On Friday of Thanksgiving weekend, we will see Baylor and Texas, preseason favorites with QBs in question early in the season. Baylor HC Dave Aranda favored Soph Blake Shapen after spring sessions which prompted incumbent Brian Bohannon to seek greener portal pastures. Shapen demonstrated his skill in the Big 12 championship win over Oklahoma State. He completed 17 straight passes and tallied 180 passing yards and three TD passes. However, he started only two games last season when the Bears finished 12-2. He sat out the 21-7 Sugar Bowl win over Ole Miss with a should injury.
The Longhorns big offseason story centered around HC Steve Sarkisian luring transfer QB Quinn Ewers away from Ohio State. Unlike Joe Burrows sitting along the Buckeye sideline for four years sopping up some value from that vaunted program, Ewers absorbed whatever knowledge exists there for only one season. He hasn’t played since his last high school game of 2020. How ready will he be?
By the time we attend this game, hopefully Shapen and Ewers will be healthy, “seasoned” veterans of the college game. Whether they both play or either does, we hope to see a game of meaning. If things don’t work out as things appear to be now, the lead story on both by then could be that they may be seeking the transfer portal. We hope not, but this lack of commitment among top QBs has to end somewhere. The lesson in life has to be that eventually, you have to stick it out and battle for what you want. You can’t always walk away. Whatever happened to, “When the going gets tough…”?
Collegefootballfan.com had the pleasure of attending a luncheon held by the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raider Blitz featuring Head Coach Rick Stockstill at CP Between the Lakes Pub in Mt. Juliet, TN on Monday. Coach Stockstill gave an overview of this year’s Blue Raiders and took questions. In C-USA clashes, CFF plans to see his charges go up against the UTSA Road Runners on Friday, September 30, and again Saturday, October 15, when they host their big rival, the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers.
Head Coach’s pre-season analysis
Stockstill, who played QB at Florida State (class of ‘82) under Hall of Fame HC Bobby Bowden, looks forward to this season with more depth at QB than last season (7-6, 4-4 in C-USA). When we attended the game at WKU last season, frosh QB Nick Vittiato started, taking over for Senior Chase Cunningham who left previously due to a leg injury that ended his season. Both return this season. Vittiato thrived last year as the Blue Raiders won three of their last four games including a 31-24 win over Toledo in the Bahamas Bowl. He earned the MVP Trophy completing 23 of 35 passes for 270 yards and two touchdowns. MTSU also recruited heralded, three-star freshman QB DJ Riles to the program to add more depth.
Stockstill feels good about his returning running game which will be bolstered by transfers, although the O-line requires some rebuilding. The defense returns key starters up front which will be a strong point for the team. In some cases, transfers will be stepping in on D, especially in the secondary where DC Scott Shafer, former HC at Syracuse, pulls the team together. So, when practice starts next week, work in progress begins putting the finishing touches to the Blue Raiders who welcome James Madison University from the FCS to the FBS in their first game on September 3 in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
SS Tra Fluellen (17) returns to step up in the Blue Raiders’ secondary this season.
New world of recruiting
Speaking of transfer portals and the NIL, Rick took some questions about how these are affecting not only his program, but college football in general. Whereas recruiting used to focus on kids and where they’d play, playing time, and their interests in the academic goals, the new focal points zoom in on money they can possibly make and what facilities a school offers. You hear about the sliding boards in the Clemson football facility, and Georgia’s new multi-million-dollar investment. This forces every FBS program to keep up. The NIL opens up a whole new world, but he envisions some changes will have to be made. We hope as soon as possible.
One change of utmost importance to him is shortening the open portal window. Currently, it’s constantly open. Coaching staffs are already overwhelmed by time spent on recruiting, but the portal requires even more time now focused on the future as opposed to the present. Programs have to prepare for anything, especially now, not knowing who they can possibly lose. He foresees changes for the better alluding to hearing about designating limited portal dates. One other attendee mentioned NIL offers made now to high school players. And in an honest answer to my follow-up question regarding, “Who is supposed to monitor this process?”, he rolled his eyes to the laughter among the audience and said, “No one.” That’s what scares me most regarding the future of college football.
Extra Points
I lunched with MTSU play-by-play radio broadcaster Chip Walters. We had a great conversation about MTSU and college football in general. He introduced me to the audience as a “sidewalk” alum and told of the 634 games I’ve attended. Even Rick Stockstill’s eyes opened up! Met several nice people, fans and athletic staff members. Chip plans to invite me to talk again before a Blue Raider game on his pre-game tailgate show. Go Blue Raiders! I look forward to seeing them play.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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. ofCincinnati 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.
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.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.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.
