Game 587: Villanova opens 150th college football season with 34-14 victory over No. 9 FCS Colgate

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Hamilton, NY – Collegefootballfan.com attended the opener of college football’s 150th season (our 40th) as Villanova knocked off No. 9 FCS Colgate, 34-14.  Wildcat QB Daniel Smith, a former starting QB from Campbell, threw for 205 yards and three TDS.  The Villanova defense sacked Colgate QB Grant Brenneman four times and applied pressure through gaps in the Colgate line seemingly at will.  They held the Red Raider offense to 288 total yards.

Villanova QB Dan Smith (12) fires for one of his 14 completions in early action.

Second period lightning strike

    The two teams held each other scoreless during the first period.  However, in the second, Smith opened the scoring early as his run-pass option fake around left end drew in two Red Raider defenders to leave RB Jalen Jackson wide open down the left sideline for an 18-yard scoring pass. Less than a minute later, the Cats struck again quickly as DB Jaquan Amos picked off Brenneman’s pass, under pressure from LB Forrest Rhyne, past the line of scrimmage and returned it 27 yards for a sudden 14-0 Wildcat lead. 

Wildcat RB Justin Covington rambles for 23 of his 134 yards on this second period touchdown drive.

Armor leg didn’t help

    Colgate’s most effective weapon this day turned out to be Punter Barney Amor’s leg.  His booming spirals averaged 50.6 yards on the day to keep ‘Nova deep in its own territory.  Despite Armor’s performance, ‘Gate could not keep ‘Nova out of the end zone.  Later in the second, WR Changa Hodge hauled in a 45-yard catch over the shoulder beating the Raiders pre-season All American DB Abu Daramy-Swaray for a touchdown.  With only twelve seconds left in the first half, Davis tossed his third scoring pass for 15 yards to wide open WR Andrew Perez (Seton Hall Prep) for a dominant 27-0 halftime lead. 

The Wildcat defense applied the pressure all day to Colgate QB Grant Breneman.

Cocktail time

     My Colgate host and die-hard Colgate season ticket holder, Sam Cooper, and other Guest Game Analysts Bruce and Skip headed back to the parking lot for a cocktail at halftime to relieve their frustrations.  They were unsure if they would return.  Red Raider fans got spoiled last season by the Red Raiders fantastic 10-2 season, a home playoff FCS victory over James Madison, and an FCS-leading defense that allowed 9.3 points per game.  Villanova had already put up 27.  They didn’t expect this despite some key losses to graduation. Of the 4,519 fans in attendance, Villanova had a strong turnout.

Colgate fan Sam Cooper, in yellow and in shock, shares half time thoughts and a drink with other CU fans before he returned in the second half.

Third period

    By the time these shocked Red Raider fans returned to their seats, their defense had halted a Villanova drive and drove 68 yards for their first score.  Brenneman connected with WR Nick Draught to finish the drive with a ten-yard scoring pass.  Before the third ended, the Red Raiders forced a second turnover on downs and took over from their 23.  A 38-yard “escape” by TB Mailk Twyman and a pass to long pass to TE Nick Diaco put ‘Gate at ‘Nova’s as the third expired.

TE Nick Diaco snares a pass before time expired in the third.

Maybe a comeback?

     Early in the final period, Brenneman faked a dive to the TB and dove in from the one to cut the Wildcat lead, 27-14.  Our GGA’s all agreed the Raiders had to stop the Cats once again and get quick score by using the clock efficiently to have a chance to pull this out.  Instead, Villanova controlled the ball with the help of some costly and repetitive offsides penalties.  With 8:41 remaining, Smith ran an effective quarterback draw at the Colgate nine to take back the 20-point lead.  The Raiders could not sustain its next drive. The Wildcats held on to keep the score intact even though HC Dan Hunt kept Brenneman and other starters on the field until the bitter end, 34-14.

Sound person for CBS TV sports looks like a lonely job, but somebody’s got to do it!

Next!

    Villanova awaits its home opener on September 7 when they host another Patriot League team, Lehigh, under its new HC Tom Gilmore.  No let-up for Colgate though as they fly out to Colorado Springs to face FBS Air Force and its triple-option offense.  Hopefully Colgate HC Dan Hunt started prepping his defense for this during the weeks leading up to this opener.  Two weeks later, the Red Raiders very ambitious non-conference schedule continues at William and Mary, followed by 2018 FCS semi-finalist Maine at home, and then on to Ivy runner-up Dartmouth, 9-1 a year ago. Patriot League play starts after that for which Colgate is the anonymous choice to win it all.   Sam Cooper is banking on it. In the infinite wisdom coined by Lee Corso, after what we saw yesterday, “Not so fast, my friend!” However, Surely Dan Hunt sees where improvements will have to be made and will start working on them right away.

Chins up, Red Raiders!

Speaking of ambitious schedules

   For CFF.com, we plan to travel to Long Island this Thursday night to see another Colonial Conference member, Stony Brook, host NEC member, Bryant University, on our slate for the first time. The Seawolves return eight starters on defense while the Bulldogs feature WR Jean Constant, returning first-team FCS return man. The next evening, we will watch UMass under its new HC Walt Bell try to build something out of the Minutemen’s 4-8 season a year ago after graduating some of the team’s best talent against Rutgers.  Coming off an 1-11 season and sporting a 7-29 record after three years, HC Chris Ash sits on the proverbial hot seat.  Then on Saturday at 4 pm, we are at Chestnut Hill, MA for an ACC match when Boston College takes on Virginia Tech.  Toughness against quickness in this one.  On Sunday, we top off the weekend with a South Carolina Gamecock wedding in New Hampshire of all places.  Congratulations to Jocelyn and her husband to be!

HC Mark Ferrante leads the Wildcats after his mentor, Andy Talley, turned over the reins to him. In 1982, we watched Ferrante play QB for St. Lawrence under Talley in a 43-34 win over Wagner College in the D-3 playoffs.

   Not sure when this report will be out as Monday (Labor Day) is going to be a long trip to get back to give you all the updates on these.  Check back with us Wednesday. Two games follow the next weekend including Buffalo at Penn State on Saturday, September 7.  We’re keeping pace to be sure our Game 600 takes place this October 19!

Steveo’s Salvos: 2019 kick-off week

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Game One (really Game 587 in the long run)

Seven weeks from this Saturday, Collegefootballfan.com’s 2019 kick-off begins its 40th season of college football in Hamilton, NY at Andy Kerr Stadium, home of the Colgate Red Raiders, defending 2018 champions of the Patriot League (10-2, 6-0) and FCS semi-finalist. A solid D returns led by All-FCS DL Nick Wheeler and DB Abu Daramy-Swaray. Returning QB Grant Breneman starts his Junior year behind a solid, experienced group of linemen. They should dominate the Patriot League again and take the automatic bid back to the play-offs. We watched them defeat a great James Madison program last season in the play-offs under HC Dan Hunt…

Their competition comes from Villanova under third-year HC Mark Ferrante off a 5-6, 2-4 CAA season set back by numerous injuries including at QB. The Wildcats will return a good secondary on our 2019 kick-off led by CAA Defensive Rookie of the Year Christian Benford. On offense, Ferrante might start 6′-7″ Frosh QB Qadir Ismail who will have an experienced running game behind him. On a historical note, we watched current Villanova Wildcat HC Mark Ferrante quarterback St. Lawrence University past Wagner College in a D-3 Play-off game, 42-34, in 1982.

Colgate’s defense will need to be tough up front again this year to halt a good Villanova running game at our 2019 kick-off.

2019 Game Two

In our 588th game ever, we will return to Stony Brook out on Long Island for only the second time. In 2008, Collegefootballfan.com was invited by the underground student newspaper to attend their opening day win over Colgate in the press box, 42-18. HC Chuck Priore, still there after all these years, brings back eight defensive regulars from his 7-5, 5-3 CAA playoff team. He looks to start up a whole, new backfield to try to make it into the FCS playoffs for the Seawolves’ third year in a row. Coming across the Long Island Sound from Rhode Island to do battle will be the Bryant Bulldogs 6-5, 2-4 of the Northeast Conference under new HC Chris Merrit who replaces James Perry who took the HC job at nearby Brown to try to turn football fortune around there. FCS All-America return man Jean Constant who doubles at wide-out will offer some excitement in this Thursday evening game. Rumors persist that the Bulldog starting QB will be Ohio State transfer Kory Curtis. On defense, stalwart DL Tomas Wright, LB Jesse Nemerovich, and CB Andre Brackett will lead the charge. It will be a tough home opener for Stony Brook.

2019 Game Three

Rutgers HC Chris Ash will be wearing “hot pants” this Friday evening entering his fourth season at Rutgers “on the banks of the old Raritan“. Coming off a 1-11, 0-9 Big Ten season, the Scarlet Knights’ stats look even worse. Of 130 FBS football teams, they finished 127th in pass completions, 128th in yards per catch, and dead last in scoring, 13.5 points per game. Soph QB Arthur Sitkowski returns for a second helping and hopes to gets some better pass protection around him and some open receivers down field. Last year he finished with only four TD passes and 18 INTs. A star at IMG in Florida, it once again reinforces my point that the best QBs don’t come out of these high school “football factories”. At that level, they get the best around them at every position on the field and dominate. At the college level, the surrounding talent around a QB is on more equal footing. All we can say about the RU team this year is that there is a lot of experience returning. How much of an improvement remains to be seen. The talent level fall far short of its Big Ten East brethren.

R-U! Rah! Rah! R-U! Rah! Rah! Upstream Red Team!

In this third game of our 2019 kick-off, like in 2018, Rutgers best chance to win a game is in their season opener. Last season, the Knights stirred their fans up with a 35-7 win over Texas State of the Sun Belt. This year, UMass comes to The Birthplace off a 4-8 record and under a new HC Walt Bell, former offensive coordinator at Florida State and Maryland. However, the Minutemen return without a key starters from last season at QB, WR (Dandy Isabella drafted by the Arizona Cardinals), RB, and MLB, all graduated. QB Michael Curtis played in six games last year and will probably start in the season opener. We’ve liked DB Isaiah Rogers when we saw UMass play the last few years. Despite future FBS schedules already announced by the UMass Administration, we bet the football program eventually settles back into the FCS where it will compete on a more equal level.

Last season our opening kick-off week included UMass at Boston College. This season, both open our 2019 season kick-off but on consecutive days against different foes.

2019 Game Four

We started our 2018 season kick-off with UMass at Boston College. The day after we see UMass play RU on Friday night, we’re on our way to a wedding on Sunday in New Hampshire. Luckily for our daughter Alex’s four-year roommate as South Carolina, Jocelyn, Boston College hosts Virginia Tech on Saturday the day before, otherwise we’d be scrambling our schedule to make October 19 fall on our Game 600 target. Good job, Jocelyn!

With Navy’s Bill the Goat’s “background” in our background, Collegefootballfan.com and friends along with Cincinnati fans get together of celebrate the Bearcats’ win at the Military Bowl after the game.

BC hosts Virginia Tech, the team we saw finish off last season with a 35-31 loss to Cincinnati in the Military Bowl. Tech 6-7, 3-5 returns eleven starters on defense under successful long time DC Bud Foster after one of his unit’s less spectacular seasons. A solid secondary returns and LBs Rayshard Ashby, Dylan Rivers, and Dax Hollifield return with a lot of experience under their belts. Offensively, HC Justin Fuente will rely on Ryan Wills a at QB again having thrown for 2,716 yards, 24 TDs, and nine INTs during his inaugural season. Four of five top receivers return to solidify the passing game. However, three new starters on the line need to develop quickly to provide protection and to open holes for RBs DeShawn McClease and Jalen Holston.

BC Eagles host an opener during 2019 kickoff weekend for the second year in a row. This game should be much more competitive.

The experienced Hokie defense will be tested by the BC Eagles’ offense who return AJ Dillon as their prime ball carrier. Last season he ran for 1,108 yards and 10 TDs in ten games. QB Anthony Brown fired 20 TDs with Kobay White as his prime target with 526 yards a season ago. The offensive line will make some adjustments, but will add some familiar football family names up front with C Alec Lindstrom whose brother Chris just graduated to go 14th in the NFL draft to the Atlanta Falcons. OT Tyler Vrabel, son of Mike Vrabel formerly of the New England Patriots, fills in to open up some holes for Dillon and to protect Brown. HC Steve Addazio’s defense will play typically tough despite one returnee on the D-Line and one in the secondary. Tech’s receiving corp will look to take advantage, but with BC LBs Isaiah McDuffie and Max Richardson leading the defensive attack, this should be a very competitive game in Chestnut Hill. We look forward to this one.

2019 – THE ANNIVERSARY SEASON

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FOR COLLEGE FOOTBALL AND FOR COLLEGEFOOTBALLFAN.COM, 2019 MARKS A HISTORICAL, MOMENTOUS, ANNIVERSARY SEASON FOR BOTH. COLLEGE FOOTBALL CELEBRATES THE 150TH YEAR SINCE PRINCETON (THEN KNOWN AS THE COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY) AND RUTGERS CLASHED IN THE FIRST INTERCOLLEGIATE GAME EVER PLAYED. WON BY THE HOST SCARLET KNIGHTS, 6-4, ON NOVEMBER 6, 1869, THESE TWO SCHOOLS OF HIGHER ACADEMIA IGNITED ONE OF THE GREATEST AMERICAN SPORTS TRADITIONS OF ALL TIME. SINCE 1869, THE PRINCETON TIGERS HAVE BATTLED IN 1,245 GAMES FOR A WON-LOSS-TIE RECORD OF 799-396-50. THE SCARLET KNIGHTS ENTER THEIR 150TH SEASON WITH 1,352 PLAYED GAMES SINCE THAT HISTORIC MEETING WITH A RECORD OF 652-658-42 HEADING INTO THIS HISTORICAL, ANNIVERSARY SEASON.

Ghost-like figures don the program of the next to last game 110 years later in the series that kicked off college football in 1869. Princeton dominated the series overall 53-17-1, but Rutgers polished them off 12-8-1 to end the series and move up to D-1A football.

NOT TO BE OUTDONE, COLLEGEFOOTBALLFAN.COM CELEBRATES NOT ONE ANNIVERSARY, BUT TWO SIGNIFICANT MILESTONES IN 2019. ON SEPTEMBER 8, 1979, WE VENTURED UP FROM OUR HOME IN NEW JERSEY, BIRTHPLACE OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL AND ARGUABLY ITS GREATEST FAN, TO KINGSTON, RHODE ISLAND. VISITING MY SISTER MARY KAY ATTENDING THE UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND, WE AND HER BOYFRIEND GUNTHER AT THE TIME ATTENDED THE OPENING GAME OF THAT SEASON BETWEEN THEIR RHODE ISLAND RAMS AND THE FIGHTING BLUE HENS OF DELAWARE.

LITTLE DID WE KNOW THEN, THAT I STARTED A TREK LASTING INTO THIS UPCOMING COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASON. URI VS. UD MARKED THE FIRST OF 586 COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAMES HEADING INTO 2019, MY 40TH SEASON SEEING AT LEAST ONE COLLEGE FOOTBALL EVERY WEEK IN EVERY SEASON SINCE (NOTE: STILL MARRIED TO THE SAME WOMAN FOR 30 YEARS, HAVE TWO GROWN KIDS, AND STILL GO TO WORK MONDAY-FRIDAYS). TAKE AWAY TWO TIES ATTENDED OVER ALL FORTY SEASONS, AND WE’VE SEEN ONLY 218 WINS LESS THAN PRINCETON HAS ACHIEVED OVER 150 YEARS! AS FOR RUTGERS, ONLY 66 FEWER THAN THE SCARLET KNIGHTS TALLIED OVER THAT SAME SPAN AND IN 110 YEARS LESS TIME!

The Rhode Island Rams didn’t chop up the Fightin’ Blue Hens as depicted on the Game Program on our first of 586 college football games. The Blue Hens pecked away at the Rams and all bur one other foe that season. We have a collection of programs from 99.8% of all the games we’ve attended.

AFTER THEIR GRAND OPENING IN 1869, THE TWO SQUADS MET AGAIN A WEEK LATER ON NOVEMBER 13 IN PRINCETON. THE TIGERS CELEBRATED THIS TIME WINNING, 8 “GOALS” – 0. DIFFERENT RULES FACILITATED EACH CONTEST BASED ON THE PREFERENCES OF THE HOME TEAM. A THIRD GAME WAS SUPPOSED TO BE PLAYED, BUT NEVER WAS, POSSIBLY BECAUSE OF DISAGREEMENTS REGARDING WHAT RULES WOULD BE USED. SHARING 1-1 RECORDS, THE TWO SQUADS SHARED THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP OF 1869 “RETROACTIVELY”.

NOT TO BE OUTDONE 110 YEARS LATER, COLLEGEFOOTBALLFAN.COM WITNESSED A NATIONAL CHAMPION COMPETE IN ITS HISTORICAL FIRST GAME AS WELL. AT MEADE STADIUM ON THE CAMPUS OF “LITTLE RHODY” , THE FIGHTING BLUE HENS DEFEATED THE RAMS, 34-14. UNDER LEGENDARY HEAD COACH HAROLD “TUBBY’ RAYMOND, THE HENS WENT ON TO RECORD OF 13-1 AND DEFEATED YOUNGSTOWN STATE FOR THE DIVISION 2 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP OF 1979.

IN ADDITION TO CELEBRATING OUR 40TH SEASON, COLLEGEFOOTBALLFAN.COM PLANS TO CELEBRATE ANOTHER MONUMENTAL ANNIVERSARY. ON NOVEMBER 19, 2019, WE WILL VENTURE TO RUTGERS FOR OUR ANNUAL BIG TAILGATE. THE OCCASION CELEBRATES THE 600TH GAME IN OUR COLLEGE FOOTBALL HISTORY. THE SCARLET KNIGHTS HOST THE MINNESOTA GOLDEN GOPHERS IN A BIG TEN MATCH-UP. MANY OF OUR FAITHFUL FOLLOWERS OVER THE YEARS WILL BE ATTENDING TO CELEBRATE WITH US.

WE INVITE YOU TO FOLLOW OUR CELEBRATORY YEAR RIGHT HERE. OUR SEASON KICKS OFF ON AUGUST 24. WE PLAN TO FINISH UP AS FAR AS POSSIBLE INTO BOWL SEASON FOR ATTENDING SOME OF THE BEST MATCH-UPS POSSIBLE AND FAVORITE PLACES TO GO FROM WEEK TO WEEK.

We celebrated Game 500 on November 21, 2015 when Rutgers defeated Army, 31-21. We’ll bring even more fans when Rutgers hosts Minnesota appropriately at the Birthplace of College Football on October 19 during the anniversary of the college football’s 150th season.

2019 Pro Draft preview

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Collegefootballfan.com has attended 82 college football games over the last three years, and with that you can see we’ve surely witnessed some great football talent eligible for the 2019 pro draft coming up this Thursday. Forget the pro days and forget the televised try-outs, we evaluate the players in action. We can’t remember the individual performances of all of them, but based on those we’ve focused on and the overall performance of their team on that day, we can give pretty good assessments of who we think will make it and who won’t despite what the “experts” say. As in the past few years, Collegefootballfan.com presents a pictorial analysis of players in action who you will see and hear about when the selections start this upcoming Thursday.

No. 1 to Arizona Cardinals – Heisman winner Kyler Murray (1) of Oklahoma got outgunned in this showdown against Heisman runner-up Tua Tagovailoa of Alabama. Good arm and good speed, his stats impress with a 69% completion rate for 4,361 yards and 42 TDs against suspect Big Twelve defenses. We don’t think his stature will keep him in the NFL for the long term. For Kyler’s sake, we still hope he’s in one piece when he opts out to pursue a Major League Baseball career.
No. 9 to Buffalo – Houston DT Ed Oliver (10) was an early draft choice, but we thought LB Austin Robinson (22) could possibly make a bigger impact at the pro level. He racked up six sacks among 128 tackles during his senior season with the Cougars. No word on any free agency yet.
No. 11 to Bengals – Alabama LT Jonah Williams (73) will be providing adequate protection to some lucky QB in the NFL as he did for Tua Tagvailoa. He could be a dominating keeper for a long time.
No. 12 to the Dolphins – Clemson’s Christian Wilkins (42) will lead several fellow Tiger defensive line mates including Clelin Ferrel (No. 4 to the Raiders) and Dexter Lawrence (No. 17 to the Giants) into the early rounds of the draft toward stellar careers.
No. 14 to Atlanta Falcons Boston College Guard Chris Lindstrom (75) will be opening up holes to bolster somebody’s running game as he did for the Eagles.
No. 100 to the Panthers West Virginia QB Will Grier runs for first down against VA Tech in their 2017 opener. In 2018, he completed 67% of his passes for 3,864 yards and 37 TDs. Like Kyler Murray, the question is how do those Big Twelve stats translate to success at the next lever?
No. 53 to Philadelphia Miles Sanders (24) bursts through Maryland line for a big gain. He went early in this year’s draft after gaining 1,274 rushing yards and scoring nine TDs for the Nittany Lions.
James Madison CB Jimmy Moreland (6) didn’t follow South Dakota State receiver, Jake Wieneke (19), as an undrafted free agent into the pros. The Redskins made him draft choice no. 227. Weineke signed on with the Vikings before being cut in 2018 and going to the now defunct AAF. Moreland picked off five INTs during his senior season for the Dukes.
Watch out for this guy to make it big in the NFL. Wake Forest’s Greg Dortch torched the Louisville Cardinal secondary four times before he got injured falling on a pylon late in this game. He recovered and caught 89 passes for 1,089 yards and eight TDs from an inexperienced QB in 2018. He’ll be go-to guy for the New York Jets who signed him as a free agent. He’ll be returning punts, too.
Boston College CB Hamp Cheevers (4) looks to make stop against No. 62 to Cardinals UMass WR Andy Isabella who led the FBS in 2018 with 1,698 receiving yards. Cheevers opted out after his junior year to go pro after picking off seven passes. He did not get selected and awaits free agency.
No. 60 to LA Chargers – Delaware Safety Nasir Adderly (23) will seek to make an impact as a hard-hitter in the pros.
Liberty WR Antonio Gandy-Golden makes one of several sideline catches against UMass in a 62-59 OT shoot-out loss. His athleticism impressed us and hopefully some NFL scouts, too. He came down with 71 receptions for 1,037 yards and ten TDs in 2018. No one selected him, but someone will certainly get him into their camp as a free agent.
No . 65 to Cardinals Boston College DE Zach Allen (2) pursues Miami QB in the Eagles 27-14 win last season. He seems to has the size and toughness to make it on Sundays, but we’re not sure about his quickness to make any significant impact at the next level.
Ryquell Armstead (7) races around the right side of Golden Hurricane defense. He ran for 1,098 yards and 13 TDs during his senior season. We liked him in several games early in his Temple career. The Jaguars picked him up ant No. 140.
No. 87 to Patriots – Alabama RB Damien Harris (34) led a talented, balanced Tide rushing attack with 876 yards and nine TDs to the 2018 CFP. He showed his versatility with 22 catches for 204 yards. He runs hard and has a lot of yards left in him to add to the Pats running attack next season.
Over the past two seasons, Penn State’s Amani Oruwariye (21) has impressed at CB tallying 100 tackles and eight INTs. We look forward to him be a solid defender after being drafted by the Lions at No. 146.
No. 78 to Dolphins C/G Michael Deiter (63) of Wisconsin and his cohorts up front put the Badgers at fourth in the nation averaging 273.4 yards per game in the rushing department. He stands 6’6″ 310 lbs and should bolster someone’s line by end of the second round.
    Auburn QB Jarrett Stidham could go on late rounds to be considered for long term development. His performance fell off from junior to senior year at Auburn after transferring from Baylor, but with some development and his strong arm, he could be a worthwhile project for the future. Evidently Bill Belichick thinks the same as the Patriots picked him up at No. 133.
    Boston College’s Tommy Sweeney (89) blocking here against Miami was one of the last Tight Ends picked in this year’s draft by the Bills at No. 228. We also saw TE Irv Smith of Alabama perform against Oklahoma. We liked his toughness and strength. We predicted he’d also be one of the top selections taken at that position and he was by the Vikings at No. 50 .
    Breakfast in the afternoon: No. 90 Dallas Cowboy RG Connor McGovern (323 lbs) “pancakes” Terp DT Keiron Howard (290 Lbs) after Miles Sanders moves past line for PSU.
    Northern Illinois DE Sutton Smith (15) fights to get to Toledo ball carrier and got selected at No. 175 by the Steelers.
    Penn State defenders Kevin Givens (30) and Shareef Miller (48) opted out after their Junior season to risk going pro. The Eagles nabbed DE Miller at No. 138. Givens is waiting to hear what teams may have an interest.
    Alabama Center Ross Pierschbacher opens a hole for Crimson Tide running game and an opportunity with the Washington Redskins who selected him at as No. 153 in the draft.
    Trace McSorely (9) rushes against Maryland Terrapins. The record-setting Penn State QB will now be heading to Maryland instead of against them as the Ravens selected him at No. 137. They may consider him for action at another position so they say.

    Collegefootballfan.com builds 2019 schedule, our 40th

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       Today is Feb 24, 2019, in exactly six months from today, Collegefootballfan.com plans to be at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii for our first game of our 2019 schedule.  To kick-off our 40th season, we travel out over the Pacific to see Hawaii’s Rainbow Warriors (8-6) take on the Arizona Wildcats (5-7).  This will be our first game scheduled outside the continental US, and it fulfills a promise to St. Laurie that we would go back to the Islands to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary by going back to where we spent our honeymoon.  And she even gave her word in front of witnesses that we could go to a football game while there. Our timing couldn’t be any better!

    This game programs shows where and when our great adventure started 40 years ago . Rhode Island didn’t chop up the Delaware Blue Hens that day. UD defeated the Rams handily and started on their way to the D-2 National Championship in 1979. UD will kick-off our 40th season accordingly in 2019.

    Three new stadiums

         Games at Clemson and at Texas along with our far-off trip to the 50th state enable us to add three more FBS venues to our current total of 60. We plan to see the 2018 Champion Tigers off a record-setting 15-0 record host Florida State (5-7) on October 12.    On November 9, we plan to journey to Austin, Texas for the first time to watch the improving Longhorns (10-4) battle the Kansas State Wildcats (5-7) under their new Head Coach Chris Kleiman, just on board after two consecutive FCS National Championships at North Dakota State.

    HC Dabo Swinney will have his Clemson Tigers back in the hunt for another national title this season. We plan to attend our first Clemson home game in our 40th season.

    FCS first for us

        And speaking of North Dakota State, FCS titlists for six of the last seven seasons, the Bison compete on our 2019 schedule for the first time ever when they visit the Fighting Blue Hens of Delaware on September 14 in a key FCS non-conference game.  Last season, like Clemson, ND State finished 15-0 including a 38-10 win over UD at home in Fargo.  This upcoming season, new HC Matt Entz, the Bison defensive coordinator for the past five seasons leads his team into Newark where HC Danny Rocco has the Blue Hens improving in his third season there.  Last season, the Blue Hens finished 7-5 losing their last three games. 

    The Fighting Blue Hens will be looking to stop North Dakota State at home this season. We watched them halt Elon down in Newark last season, 28-16.

    GAME 600!!!

         The 40th year of our great adventure includes our 600th game since 1979.  It’ll be less than four years since we attended Game 500 when we traveled to West Point where we watched Army defeated Rutgers, 31-21. Well Rutgers (1-11), celebrating the 150th anniversary of the first college football game ever against Princeton this season, will be one of our two celebrants for our milestone game when they clash at home with the Minnesota Golden Gophers (7-6). 

    RU HC Chris Ash lives up to his surname this year being on the proverbial hot-seat with a 7-29 record after three seasons.  Across the way will be PJ Fleck entering his third season with the Gophers.  Fleck was former assistant under Greg Schiano at Rutgers.  This game marks our Big Tailgate event for the season!  We’re still planning a game or two beforehand to assure this falls in precisely as # 600 during our 2019 schedule.

    Minnesota Head Coach P.J. Fleck will return to the Rutgers Stadium sideline to celebrate our 600th game this season, but he won’t be wearing Scarlet and White this time.

    Five Midshipmen…

        Of course, Navy and Penn State dominate our 2019 schedule. We hope to see the Mids (3-10) rebound from their first losing season in seven years.  To make it even more worthwhile, we’ll watch them do battle with both their primary rivals for the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy.  On October 5, they’ll host Air Force (5-7) in Annapolis for our traditional “Boyz weekend”.  This will be the seventh time we see Mids host the “Zoomies.” On December 14th, we’ll be back in Philly for our 12th meeting between Army (11-2) and Navy. Army’s won the last three meetings. For the storied rivals, this will be their 120th    meeting.  It’ll certainly be another hotly contested gridiron clash on a very cold, December Saturday afternoon.

    In 2019, Navy Senior football players will have their final shot at tradition singing “Navy Blue and Gold” with a win in Philadelphia after the Cadets of Army sing their Alma mater.

      …and three Nittany Lion games

    Penn State games for us will be at State College on extreme weekends of the season. The Lions (9-4) host improving Buffalo (10-4) on September 7, and we’ll be back on November 30 for Senior Day against Rutgers.  In between, we’ll see PSU visit Maryland (5-7) in College Park on Friday, September 27.  We hope we can get to a PSU bowl game this season. It’ll be a priority for us.  We’ll see how the Lion offense adapts with Tommy Stevens stepping in for the graduated Trac McSorely at QB.  The coaching of UB HC Lance Leipold still intrigues us with the improvements being made at Buffalo since he took over after six D-3 National Championships at Wisconsin-Whitewater. Another successful season with the Bulls could have him moving on to a Power Five program looking to improve in 2020.

    Penn State LB Micah Parsons (11) about to put hit on Terps’ Anthony McFarland. Parsons played LB during his Frosh year for the Lions. For the third year in a row, we’ll see PSU play Maryland. Their two previous combined scores have the Lions up, 104-6.

    Break a record or two

    In addition to all these FBS games, we look forward to helping set a D-3 attendance record on November 16 at The Meadowlands in East Rutherford.  On that day, traditional upstate New York rivals Cortland State (7-3) and Ithaca (8-3) will play for the 61st time for the Cortaca Jug.  The venue enables them to set the record for the largest attendance ever at a D-3 game. The current record was set in September 2017 in a game between Minnesota rivals St. John’s and St.  Thomas at Target Field.  The Red Dragons of Cortland and the Bombers of Ithaca plan to eclipse the number of 37,355 souls in those seats that day.  We plan to be part of it.

    Click here to find out how you can make D-3 history!

      During our 40th season, we also hope to eclipse our own record on our 2019 schedule.  Three times we’ve amassed 26 games during the course of a season. We should make that mark once again this year. However, with the discipline to make RU vs. Minnesota our 600th game on October 19, 2019, we will be looking for opportunities and convenient bowl scheduling to try to surpass our personal record for most games in one season.  Once again, we look forward to another great college football season!

    Colgate QB Grant Breneman carries closer to the JMU goal line on a scoring drive. Another FCS playoff game on our 2019 schedule within driving distance could help put us within striking distance to establish a new game record for www.collegefootballfan.com.

      For our current, tentative 2019 schedule which is subject to change, click here to see our most up-to-date plan.

    Steveo’s Salvos: Super Memories 2019

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        This season’s Super Bowl LIII between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams brings up fewer players from the annals of collegefootballfan.com history relative to previous years.   Very few photos as well.  Here are our notes featuring games played in by players in this year’s pro championship who have made it to the top at the next level in games collegefootballfan.com attended while playing at the collegiate level.

    New England Patriots

    RB James White –As a junior at Wisconsin in 2012, he ran seven times for 13 yards behind RT Rob Havenstein, starting for the LA Rams now at right guard, in a 24-21 OT loss to Penn State at Beaver Stadium to finish 7-5,4-4.

    RG Shaq Mason – Mason played his final game for Georgia Tech in the Capital One Orange Bowl on New Year’s Eve where.  His blocking for option QB Justin Thomas, game MVP, and the rest of Tech’s triple-option backfield set an Orange Bowl rushing record of 452 yards in the 49-34 victory over the Mississippi State Bulldogs led by Dak Prescott. The Yellow Jackets finished ranked 8th in the nation with an overall record of 11-3. 

    QB Justin Thomas (5) scores from 13 yards with Shaq Mason and company opening the holes for Georgia Tech in their 2014 Orange Bowl win.

    CB Stephon Gilmore – As a senior at South Carolina in 2011, the Gamecocks defeated Navy at home in an early season battle, 24-21.  In their regular season finale, the Cocks defeated Clemson at home, 34-13.  SC finished with an 11-2 record to finish 9th in the nation.  The Bills selected Gilmore in the first round. Now he plays for the Patriots in Super Bowl LIII.

    S Devin McCourty and CB Jason McCourty, Rutgers – The twin brothers played together in the Scarlet Knight secondary from 2006-2008 before Jason went to play in the pros a year before his brother. Devin played in all 52 games while at RU (36-16) when they won four bowl games under HC Greg Schiano.   Over that span, collegefootballfan.com attended nine games with the Knights winning six.  One included RU’s biggest win in school history defeating Louisville in 2007, 28-25.  Losses later to Cincinnati and to WVU knocked them out of major bowl contention. They finished 11-2 finishing at No. 12.

    Los Angeles Rams

    C John Sullivan – LA’s starting center leads the way as he is one of three starters for the Rams who played in games we attended.  Sullivan played on a 3-9 Notre Dame team in 2007 we saw fall at Penn State, 31-10.  Previously, we mentioned RT Rob Havenstein of Wisconsin.

    RG Austin Blythe – The Iowa Hawkeye’s memory is not much better that that of the guy playing to his left.  We watched the Hawkeyes get dominated by Tennessee in the 2015 Taxslayer Bowl ,45-28.  Three late Iowa scores made the final look respectable.  It wasn’t. 

    Where’s Austin? Look for No. 63 Austin Blythe starting Left Guard for the Iowa Hawkeyes entering the field before the 2015 Taxslayer Bowl where they got slain by the Tennessee Vols. Look for him blocking for the Los Angeles Rams at Right Guard in Super Bowl LIII.

    DT Aaron Donald – All-Pro and one of the NFL’s premiere players, the former Pit Panther and his teammates fell to Navy in Annapolis in his final season in 2013, 24-21, on a Navy FG with no time remaining.  Stats found reveals that Donald had four tackles, on for a loss.  Pitt finished 7-6 to a Navy squad that finished 9-4.  The Rams selected him in the first round and came up with a gem.

    Coming Up

    FCS Wrap, 2019 Schedule planning, Pro draft

    Collegefootballfan.com 2018 Defensive All-American FBS Team

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    We anticipated 2018 pre-season All-American DT Ed Oliver’s (10) talent coming into the Houston Cougar’s game against Navy, but LB Austin Robinson (22) impressed us with 21 stops that day.

    Collegefootballfan.com – We liked the talent we saw comprising our 2018 Defensive All-American team this year. As teams seem to score more and more at all levels of football, everybody in the pros is looking for that rush end, that stop-gap defensive tackle or that corner who can stay close in coverage and find his way to the football (not to the man before the ball as we all saw another reason regretfully for more replay reviews this weekend – pass interference calls).

        Check this out. Here is our Collegefootballfan.com 2018 Defensive All-American FBS Team.   On defense as opposed to offense, we made more selections here based on individual performances witnessed at games we attended as opposed to seasonal stats and reputations. Look for some Top Draft picks coming out of this bunch.

    Defensive Front

    BC DE Zach Allen (2) pursues Miami QB in the Eagles 27-14 win.

    DE Zach Allen, Boston College, Senior, 6’5”, 285 vs. UMass and Miami – 2nd team All ACC

    DT Quinnen Williams, Alabama, Soph, 6’4”, 289 vs. Oklahoma – Sporting News All American

    DT Ed Oliver, Houston, Junior, 6’3” 292 vs. Tulsa and Navy – Sporting News 2nd Team

    DE Sutton Smith, Northern Illinois, Junior, 6’1”, 237 vs. Toledo – Blocked punt, recovered, and returned for a TD 27 yards in the Huskies 38-16  win to make our 2018 defensive All-American team.  Totaled 15 sacks during the season.

    NIU DE Sutton Smith (15) fights to get to Toledo ball carrier.

    Linebacking Corps

    LB TJ Edmonds, Wisconsin, Senior, 6’1”, 242 vs Penn State – All Big Ten, 113 tackles and three INTs

    LB Austin Robinson, Houston, Senior 6’3”, 240 vs. Tulsa and Navy – AAC defensive player of the week vs. Navy with 21 tackles including 4.5 tackles for loss and two sacks in their 49-36 win.  128 tackles on the season. All AAC first team.  

    LB Cooper Edmiston, Tulsa, Junior,  6’3” 237 lbs. vs. Temple, Houston, and Navy. 113 tackles and four INTs.  Honorable mention for AAC team.  Made our team because we saw him make three of his four INTs. Two against Temple, one a drive-killer and the second setting up a Tulsa TD.  Against Houston, his pick resulted in a field goal in their loss. 

    Houston Cougar LB Austin Robinson (22) lurks for Tulsa ball carrier.

    Secondary stalwarts

    CB Hamp Cheevers, Boston College, Junior, 5’ 10” 180 vs. UMass and Miami. Seven INTs/one TD. Against Miami, his pick resulted in a FG in the third period to extend the BC lead on to a 27-14 victory. All ACC 1st team.

    Boston College CB Hamp Cheevers (4) looks to make
    stop against UMass WR Andy Isabella (5).

    CB Amani Oruwariye, Penn State, Senior, 6’1” 203 vs. Ohio State, Wisconsin and Maryland 51 stops, three INTs and 12 break-ups. All Big Ten

    S Deionte Thompson, Alabama, Junior, 6’2’, 195 vs. Oklahoma.  70 tackles, two INTs. Sporting new All-American.

    S Delvon Randall, Temple, 6’1”, 215  vs.  Tulsa. All- AAC

    Specialist

    P Jason Smith, Cincinnati, 6’5” 225 vs. Virginia Tech All-AAC


    Penn State CB Amani Oruwariye (21) fends off blocker to close in on tackle against Maryland.

    Collegefootballfan.com 2018 Offensive All-American FBS Team

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    Collegefootballfan.com All-American connection: Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa (13) to Jerry Jeudy (6)

    Collegefootballfan.com – Among our 27 college football games attended in 2018, we here at collegefootballfan.com saw 24 different Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams play during the course of our very entertaining season.  Okay, we did attend a few clunkers, but most games are memorable even from a negative context (Purdue losing at the half to Auburn in the Music City, 56-7, c’mon).  We usually can’t be at more than one place any given Saturday, but we did our best to see at least two or even three games over a three or a four-day period when things worked out for us. We did that eight times this past season.

    So many teams, not enough weekends

         Of course, we also attended FCS and D-3 contests as well when opportunities arose.  What can we say? We’re college football addicts. Put two teams of comparable talent on the field and we’ll be there – from the SEC to the NEWMAC (New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference).  With such quantity, we’re bound to see great quality when it comes to individual talent.  We can see three of four players everyone knows about when we add Alabama to our post-season bowl schedule, but we can also find some hidden gems when we put UMass or a few American Athletic teams on our slate when we start planning our season.   In the past, when people start raving about this pro player “out of nowhere”, we like to mention we saw him have great game for Mount Union.  Or, we can say we knew he had talent when we watched him play against the Naval Academy.

    Hey, you never know

        If we sat home and hit the remote from the comfort of our couch, we’d get to see a little bit of everybody play and a lot of that Geico Gecko.  Instead, we get out there to the stadium after a tailgate party to join an energetic crowd and possibly sit in the driving rain, or in intense heat, or on a windy, cold, snowy day, and we get to see some of the best talent perform in person. 

    Even limiting our All-American selections to 24 of 130 teams, you’d say that our All-American team from that relatively small sample rivals many of the other teams announced by the major publications, websites, and college football “experts”.  Some of the players on our team who you’ve heard little about will be analyzed and primped for the 2019 draft, and some whom you’ve not heard of yet could become household names beyond this April. 

    Our All-American offense

        Check this out. Here is our Collegefootballfan.com 2018 Offensive All-American FBS Team including individual performances that earned the each a spot on this team:

    QB Tua Tagovailoa, Soph, Alabama – 3,353 yards and 37 TDs:  we saw Tua outgun Heisman winner Kyler Murray of Oklahoma at the Capital One CFP Orange Bowl in a 45-34 victory. He completed his first nine passes finishing 24 for 27 for 318 yards and four TDs.

    Honorable Mentions: Kyler Murray, OU; Trace McSorely, PSU ; Dwayne Haskins, Ohio State; Jarrett Stidham, Auburn

    RB Jonathan Taylor, Soph, Wisconsin – led nation with 2,194 rushing yards. Scored 16 TDs.  Against Penn State in a 22-10 loss, he started the scoring with a 71-yard TD run.  He rushed for 185 yards on 20 carries against the Lions that day.   

    Badger RB Jonathan Taylor breezes downfield for his 71-yard TD romp against PSU.

    RB Darrell Henderson, Senior, Memphis – second in the nation with 1,909 yards on the ground. Led the nation with 8.9 yards per carry.  Against Navy in an early season 22-21 loss, he carried 12 times for 214 yards and two TDs.

    Honorable Mentions: AJ Dillon,BC; Miles Sanders, PSU; Michael Warren II, Cincinnati

    WR Andy Isabella, Senior, UMass – led the nation in receiving yards with 1,698 yards on 102 catches.  We saw the Minutemen lose early in their season opener at Boston College, but Isabella showed up big time in a 62-59 shoot-out in at home in Amherst against Liberty as we added them as our 130th FBS team.  That day, the 5’10” 190-lb WR made nine receptions for 305 yards and two TDs from his team’s back-up QB Ross Comis.

    Andy Isabella snags pass against Liberty for an 89-yard touchdown!

    WR Jerry Jeudy, Soph, Alabama – Biletnikoff Award winner who accelerates well to any ball thrown in his area.  1,103 yards, 12 TDs, averaging nation best 18.7 yard per reception.  Against Oklahoma CFP win, gained 73 yards on four catches and scored one TD.

    Honorable Mentions: Antonio Gandy-Golden, Liberty; Darius Slayton, Auburn

    TE   Irv Smith,  Junior, Alabama – Good hands, good blocker, tough to bring down.  Only two catches for 19 yards against Oklahoma, but his toughness and basic things he did well impressed us.  Caught 44 passes for 710 yard and 11 TDs for the season averaging 16.1 yards per reception.

    Honorable mention: Tommy Sweeney, BC: Pat Freiermuth, Penn State

    Alabama Center Ross Pierschbacher opens a hole for Crimson Tide running game in CFP Orange Bowl win over Oklahoma.

    Center Ross Pierschbacher, Senior, 6’4” 309 lbs. Alabama vs. Oklahoma

    Guard Ben Powers, Senior, 6” 4″, 313 lbs. Oklahoma vs. Alabama

    Guard Beau Benzschawel,  Senior, 6′ 6″, 315 lbs. Wisconsin vs. Penn State

    Wisconsin’s Beau Benzschawel (66) takes defender downfield to protect QB Jack Coan.

    Tackle Jonah Williams, Junior, 6’5”, 301 lbs. Alabama vs. Oklahoma

    Tackled Chris Lindstrom, Senior, 6′ 4″, 310 lbs. Boston College vs UMass and Miami

    Boston College OT Chris Lindstrom (75) seals the inside on a scoring drive.

    Game 586: Cincinnati comeback defeats Virginia Tech, 35-31, in Military Bowl to close out Collegefootballfan.com 2018 season

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    Annapolis, MD – The Cincinnati Bearcats (11-2) defeated the Virginia Tech Hokies, 35-31, in the McDonnell Douglass Military Bowl for one of their most successful seasons in school history. The two teams closed out Collegefootballfan.com’s 2018 bowl season with a much appreciated, exciting finish. After 25 consecutive winning seasons, Virginia Tech suffered its first losing season at 6-7, but not without a tough struggle to a much-improved program.

    Always an honor to attend and celebrate the McDonnell Douglass Military Bowl at Navy-Marine Corp Stadium in Annapolis.

    Setbacks to start the seesaw

       Despite the cold, wet weather, the two teams racked up 905 yards of offense. After six lead changes, Cincinnati came up with the seventh on Michael Warren’s second TD with 1:29 left in the game.  The Bearcats went toe-to-toe with the Hokies after losing their starting QB and American Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year, Desmond Ridder, during their second possession of the game.  Senior QB Hayden Moore, their starter in 2017, entered, passed for 120 yards, and scored a 19-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter.  Navy -Marine Corps Memorial Stadium favors Moore as he had a good game statistically here against the Midshipman his junior season. 

    Cincy DE Zane Wilson (97) knocks Tech receiver out of bounds in early action.

          With the score tied 14-14 at the half, Virginia Tech untied the knot with Brian Johnson’s 28-yard FG. Warren, who had a career best rushing day of 166 yards, countered with a 40-yard TD run to put Cincy ahead, 21-17.  Before the period ended, Tech QB Ryan Willis (20 for 31, 219 yards, two TDs, one INT) tossed a two-yard TD pass to TE Chris Cunningham to regain the lead.

    TE Chris Cunningham hauls in two-yard TD pass from Willis to take 24-21 lead for Tech late in the third period

    Final quarter of 2018

         Leading the Bearcat drive into the final quarter of our Collegefootballfan.com 2018 season, Moore had the Cats back on the prowl starting from their 25.  On a key third and eight, he completed a pass to WR Trent Cloud for a nine-yard gain and the first down.  Two plays later, Moore ran 19 yards into the end zone to change the lead again. Tech swung right back into an offensive mode with Terius Wheatley’s 50-yard kickoff return to Cincy’s 45.  A 40-yard reception by Tre Turner and another seemingly unavoidable and unintentional targeting penalty put the Hokies at the five.  Willis ran it in from there to give Tech another lead, 31-28.   

    Bearcats Charles McClelland eludes VT defenders in early action.

         The teams traded turnovers and then punts before Cincinnati got the ball on their 36 with 3:36 left on the clock.  Head Coach Luke Fickell’s Bearcats put the game on the back of their hot running back.  Michael Warren rushed four times on the next five plays with the last putting the Bearcats up 35-31 with 1:29 left.  Tech came out with Willis firing away.  On his fifth straight pass attempt, DB James Wiggin picked it off to take over for Cincy on the 48.  They ran out the clock for its 11th win of the season, only the third time in school history.  This exciting game and our 27-game season both became history with the Bearcats finishing it off on a winning note, 35-31. 

    The Bearcats Michael Warren II breaks through Hokie line on the way to the winning score with 1:29 left in the game.

    Great way to finish our season

        Outstanding game. Wonderful time.  At least the rain held off during our pre-game tailgate.  We still hung out in the rain afterward for our final college football celebration of 2018 on New Year’s Eve afternoon. We tailgated as the streets and parking lots around Navy-Marine Corps cleared out. After our two previous disappointing, bowl blow-outs attended the past week, collegefootballfan.com enjoyed finishing its 27-game season with an exciting, last-minute victory.    For us, the 27 games attended this season ties our record for most games attended in a season which we also achieved in 2014 and 2016.  We now stand at 586 games attended since 1979.  Our 600th game is within reach in 2019!

    With Navy’s Bill the Goat’s “background” in our background, Collegefootballfan.com and friends along with Cincinnati fans get together of celebrate the Bearcats’ win at the Military Bowl after the game.

    Wheels in motion for 2019

       The Bearcats look to continue their revival under Luke Fickell entering his third season. They open next year when Chip Kelly brings UCLA to the Bearcats’ Nippert Stadium.  When is the American Athletic going to be recognized as the Power 6 conference?  VA Tech looks to go back to its winning ways under Justin Fuentes with its opener at Lane Stadium hosting the FCS Furman Paladins. 

        For us at collegefootballfan.com to start the 2019 season in late August, we’re trying to kick off our season with a trip that just coincides with our 30th wedding anniversary.  St. Laurie and I spent our Honeymoon in Hawaii and she agreed that if we go back for our 30th, we could see a game there.  It just so happens that Hawaii hosts Arizona on August 24, so plans will soon be underway!    Continue to check out our site weekly during the off season. We will feature 2018 wrap-ups, our All-American teams, our draft preview, schedule building for 2019, Spring games, and special features. If nothing else, Steveo’s Salvos, our spin on things going on in the fun world of college football will give you the latest.  Enjoy Clemson vs. Alabama this Monday night. It should be a great game!

    Game 585: Alabama lowers boom on Sooners in CFP semi to advance, 45-34

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    Miami Lakes, FL – No. 1 Alabama dominated No. 4 Oklahoma and took an early four-TD lead to go on to advance into the CFP title game with a 45-34 victory.  Bama star QB Tua Tagovailoa impressed with his strong, rifle arm throwing deadly accurate passes to WRs Devonta Smith (6 for 104 yards, 1 TD) and to Jerry Jeudy (4 for 73, 1 TD). He completed his first nine attempts and finished by completing 24 of 27 (a bowl record) for 318 yards and four TDs.

    These Alabama cheerleaders smiled all night and are probably smiling all the way to Santa Clara, California this week.

    Timing is everything

         Tagovailoa’s sense of timing with his receivers resembles nothing Collegefootballfan.com has ever witnessed so consistently before.  His passes looked overthrown and out of reach on numerous occasions, but both Smith and Jeudy accelerated to make the receptions for big gains bursting by defenders.  The timing between QB and receivers looked masterful.

    First play – Tua (13) to Smith (6) for 50 yards.

     Fast Start

      Alabama took a 21-0 lead by the end of period one. A fifty-yard bullet to Smith on the game’s first play set up a one-yard touchdown by Damien Harris on to finish the Tide’s first possession.  However, that was pre-empted by a lost fumble by Bama reversed under a pile of bodies difficult to fathom based on two replays shown on The Hard Rock Stadium video board.  Tua’s pass to Henry Riggs III at the OU ten extended the Tide’s lead on their subsequent possession.  Harris finished off a 75-yard drive with a one-yard run to give Bama its 21-0 lead before the first stanza ended.  I could not foresee leaving my second bowl game in two days after the first half, but the thought did regretfully cross my mind.  What a waste of a bowl tour this turned out to be, I thought.

    Damien Harris (34) keeps feet in bounds for another Alabama gain.

    Never saw this before

       In the second period, a 40-yard reception by Jerry Jeudy set up a diving TD catch by Josh Jacobs (15 rushes for 98 yards; 4 catches for 60 yards and 1 TD) going out over the end line to go up, 28-0.  OU finally got on the board with a two-yard TD run by Trey Sermon on their subsequent possession.  Things got a little interesting after two consecutive personal foul calls against the Sooners, one after the TD and one following the point after that sent the ensuing kickoff from the OU ten. It looked like another big break for Alabama.   However, a surprising fair catch by Bama only got them started from their 25. 

    That’s right! Oklahoma kicking off from their 10-yard line.

    The Sooners held to force a 34-yard punt that resulted with Austin Siebert’s 26-yard FG.  It seemed like the penalties threw Bama a little off kilter.  Maybe no one else challenged them physically like that before.  The Crimson Tide came back next though with Joseph Bulova’s 38-yard FG to reset their course to lead 31-10 at halftime.  CFF.com decided to stick it out in the second half just in case.  We didn’t buy a ticket and fly down to Florida for half a CFP game.

     Heisman moments?

      In the third period, OU crept back within 11 starting with another 26-yard FG by Siebert.  On their next series, Murray followed up with a 49-yard pass caught over the shoulder by WR Charleston Rambo to trail 31-20 with 3:03 left in the third. Would we see some Heisman magic from Kyler Murray?  Not if Heisman runner-up Tagovailoa could help it.

    Dropping back, the 2018 Heisman winner Kyler Murray (1) got outgunned in this showdown against Heisman runner-up, Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa.

        Continuing a drive into the final period, the Bama QB completed five passes to five different receivers in this series, the last one to Smith from ten yards out. No. 1 and No. 4 traded three more TDs nearing the end of play.  Murray threw a 10-yard score to WR Cee Dee Lamb to complete an 80-yard scoring drive.  Tagovailoa followed up with 13-yard TD pass to Jeudy after The Tide recovered an onsides kick at OU’s 46.  The Sooners were game but late as Murray tallied the final score of the game running it in from the eight with 4:23 remaining.  The Alabama Crimson Tide ate up the clock with its run game forcing OU to use up its last two time-outs before time expired.  The Tide rolls on to Santa Clara, California at 14-0 with it 45-34 victory. 

    Smith hauls in Tagovailoa’s fourth TD pass of the game.

        No. 2 Clemson waits for what will be their fourth post-season meeting against The Tide in four years.   This should be another classic battle.  We will watch it on TV and turn it off it the score gets out of hand, but we don’t think this will be the case.  Oklahoma (12-2) opens at Houston next season who just hired Dana Holgerson formerly head Coach as West Virginia after the release of major Applewhite.  He’s had some familiarity with the Sooners after seven seasons of Big Twelve play heading into that one. For what that’s worth, he’s 0-7 against the Sooners.  We at Collegefootballfan.com travel on to our final game of 27 this season to be held in Annapolis on New Year’s Eve afternoon.  The 10-2 Cincinnati Bearkats of the American Athletic face 6-6 Power Five team Virginia Tech of the ACC in the McDonnel Douglas Military Bowl.

    Extra points:

      We made up another new resolution (after the debacle in Music City)  for next year’s bowl season plan based on this experience. As long as Alabama and Clemson continue to enter the CFP’s Final Four (and we don’t expect them to miss out on this any time soon), we will only buy a ticket to a game if Penn State is involved.  At least we’d be fired up to root for somebody. We just don’t see either Alabama or Clemson fading away and out of CFP contention under the watch of their skillful head coaches. 

    Hard Rock Stadium hosts the CFP Championship in 2020. If Alabama plays Clemson again, count us out!

    Dominating Dynasties

        And domination’s not unusual in college football by any stretch if you are familiar with other divisions of NCAA college football. Dynasties basically already persist in all four divisions to some extent.  North Dakota State won five of the last six FCS championships and will be in it again on January 6 when they meet perennial contender Eastern Washington for its next title. 

    The closest we got to the FCS championship this season was seeing Colgate defeat James Madison in the second round of play. The victorious Colgate Red Raiders fell to finalist North Dakota State the following week.

    Mount Union in Division 3 has played in 21 national championship games since 1993 and won 13 D-3 titles. They fell to Mary Hardin-Baylor this season after defeating them last season.  The MU Purple Raiders and Wisconsin Warhawks met for the title nine times from 2005-2014.  The Warhawks won six and lost three.   Former UWW Head Coach Lance Leipold moved on to FBS Buffalo in 2015 and is already righting the Bulls’ program there.

     NW Missouri State is the closest to dominance in D-2.  They’ve won five D-2 championships from 2009-2016.  From 2005-2008, they made it to each championship game but came up short each time. The reason for success?  We say its outstanding head coaches who are highly skillful in five major areas.   

    ESPN’s Maria Taylor gets a few words of wisdom from Nick Saban on his way to the locker room at halftime.

    Alabama and Clemson successes can be attributed to the talents of their respective head coaches Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney.   The five areas that dynasty-leading coaches are highly skillful at above and beyond all other coaches in their respective levels are these:  1.) Recruiting talent, 2.) Building solid coaching staffs, 3.) Teaching (coaching) skills on the practice field, 4.) Motivating their players, and 5.) Game Plans (X’s and O’s) executed in the heat of competition.  This is what got them both to Santa Clara, and that is the result of these skills you will see on Monday night in the CFP championship game.

    Regretfully, this picture shows what college football is becoming all about, commercialism and TV time-outs. Because of this, the game finished well past midnight. Fans now get to watch how long the TV time-outs last.