2021 College Football Discussion and Pick'em Thread

[NewYorkExpress]

I'd be interested in a pick'em... though I think we should do the games on August 28.

As for Texas and Oklahoma joining the SEC, I think that's about as likely as Florida State and Clemson joining the SEC.

Won't happen.

[NewYorkExpress]

Most likely scenario in my opinion if Texas and Oklahoma leaves is Texas A&M walks out of the SEC and goes back to the Big Twelve, and they also get Nebraska back from the Big Ten.

[NewYorkExpress]

South Carolina joining Clemson in the ACC in response to this is certainly plausible.

In terms of who the Big Twelve could get, I think they'll try and get two of Nebraska/Texas A&M/Missouri/Colorado back (My guess is they can probably convince Nebraska and Missouri, and not A&M or Colorado). Other options would be UCF (I can't think of a school in the Big Twelve that would be opposed to UCF joining now), BYU/Gonzaga (for all sports except Football. I think in that scenario BYU would remain a Football Independent), SMU (Used to be a conference member, and I can't think of anyone who would opposed to bringing them back, except maybe SMU themselves) and possibly Boise State.

[NewYorkExpress]

Just add Ohio State and Clemson to the SEC NFL Development League and get it over with, already. Drop any veneer of amateurism and just pay the players wages, too.

OUT: Mizzou, USC (the bad one), Vandy, UK, Arkansas, both Mississippis
IN: Oklahoma, Texas, Miami, FSU, Clemson, UCLA, USC (the good one)

Who (among ESPN executives) says no?

I think ESPN executives would prefer Kentucky over Miami in the SEC for basketball reasons.

[NewYorkExpress]

Just add Ohio State and Clemson to the SEC NFL Development League and get it over with, already. Drop any veneer of amateurism and just pay the players wages, too.

OUT: Mizzou, USC (the bad one), Vandy, UK, Arkansas, both Mississippis
IN: Oklahoma, Texas, Miami, FSU, Clemson, UCLA, USC (the good one)

Who (among ESPN executives) says no?

I think ESPN executives would prefer Kentucky over Miami in the SEC for basketball reasons.

"Conference realignment" wouldn't even be part of the vernacular if basketball mattered 1/10th as much as football to broadcasters.

Yeah, but this proposal (sending UCLA to the SEC) means they'd probably want Kentucky to stay for those reasons.

I'd add Tennessee to the list of "out" schools instead of Kentucky for that reason.

[NewYorkExpress]

Well, the Big 12 is now claiming the AAC is trying to absorb all 8 of its remaining members after Texas and Oklahoma leave.  This seems far-fetched to me; it would effectively amount to a Big 12-AAC merger, and if that were to happen it would make a lot more sense to keep the Big 12 name and standing as an autonomy conference. 

The resulting conference would also have 19 football members, which would be unwieldy unless they plan to kick out the AAC bottom-feeders.

Yeah that merger plan only really works in a world where the Big 10 invites Iowa State and Kansas and the ACC invites West Virginia (+ Cincinnati?) and gets the numbers down a little.

As I said before, the only way the ACC expands is if for some odd reason Notre Dame decides it doesn't want to resume being a football independent once COVID no longer wreaks havoc with the schedules, and then they'll add one team, most likely Cincinnati IMHO. Given the length of the college football season, and only a single-level conference championship game allowed, a 14-team football conference is the largest practical size. The ACC already has 14, not counting Notre Dame.  Going past 14 to 16 marginally makes sense if you're adding extremely heavy hitters financially, such as Texas, Oklahoma, or Notre Dame. Adding WVU, Cincinnati, or UConn to the ACC makes sense only if Notre Dame permanently stays in ACC football past the 2021 season. (Notre Dame is currently planning on resuming being an independent this year, but the COVID resurgence could change things.)

Now if the NCAA were to allow the college football season to add a game or two, then yes, the ACC would certainly expand to 16 football members. But that's unlikely to happen.

Beyond ND the ACC’s biggest target for a while has been to poach Penn State from the Big 10. Overcoming Big 10 money has always made that difficult but if the ACC were to add two that’s who they’d be looking at and those names would make a 16 team ACC more viable.

UCF would be a decent consolation prize (assuming they can get Florida State to agree to it) for the ACC. Also, possibly West Virginia (Big Twelve) and South Carolina (SEC) would be good fits.

[NewYorkExpress]

As an aside, I would like to start on August 28th with those first games and keep it rolling through the next week. We have some interesting games starting then like Illinois vs Nebraska and then Boise State and UCF play on the Thursday (sep 2nd) so plenty of interesting games during that whole period, which is nice. Anyone object?

No objections here.

If you're looking for games before September 4, Ohio State/Minnesota is on September 2, and North Carolina/Virginia Tech and Michigan State/Northwestern are on September 3.

[NewYorkExpress]

Legendary Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden died at 91 from Pancreatic Cancer.

Bobby Bowden, the longtime Florida State football coach who ranks second all time in Division I wins, has died, the school announced Sunday morning.

He was 91.

Bowden was diagnosed with a terminal medical condition in July. He did not disclose what the condition was at the time, although his son Terry later told reporters that it was pancreatic cancer.

[NewYorkExpress]

I'm surprised Alabama isn't a unanimous #1.

I'm betting one of the two coaches to rank Oklahoma at #1 was Brian Harsin. It seems like something the new Auburn Head Coach would do.

[NewYorkExpress]

I'm surprised Alabama isn't a unanimous #1.

I'm betting one of the two coaches to rank Oklahoma at #1 was Brian Harsin. It seems like something the new Auburn Head Coach would do.

He's not a voter

The USA TODAY Sports AFCA Board of Coaches is made up of 65 head coaches at Football Bowl Subdivision schools. All are members of the American Football Coaches Association. The board for the 2021 season: Tom Allen, Indiana; Blake Anderson, Utah State; DinoBabers, Syracuse; Walt Bell, Massachusetts; Mike Bloomgren, Rice; Craig Bohl, Wyoming; Neal Brown, West Virginia; Troy Calhoun, Air Force; Matt Campbell, Iowa State; Jason Candle, Toledo; Jamey Chadwell, Coastal Carolina; Paul Chryst, Wisconsin; Geoff Collins, Georgia Tech; David Cutcliffe, Duke; Butch Davis, Florida International; Manny Diaz, Miami (Florida); Dave Doeren, North Carolina State; Karl Dorrell, Colorado; Eliah Drinkwitz, Missouri; Sonny Dykes, Southern Methodist; Luke Fickell, Cincinnati; Jedd Fisch, Arizona; Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern; James Franklin, Penn State; Willie Fritz, Tulane; Danny Gonzales, New Mexico; Todd Graham, Hawaii; Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State; Will Hall, Southern Mississippi; Thomas Hammock, Northern Illinois; Bryan Harsin, Auburn; Clay Helton, Southern California; Tyson Helton, Western Kentucky; Brady Hoke, San Diego State; Skip Holtz, Louisiana Tech; Butch Jones, Arkansas State; Brian Kelly, Notre Dame; Jimmy Lake, Washington; Clark Lea, Vanderbilt; Tim Lester, Western Michigan; Sean Lewis, Kent State; Maurice Linguist, Buffalo; Seth Littrell, North Texas; Mike Locksley, Maryland; Chad Lunsford, Georgia Southern; Gus Malzahn, Central Florida; Chuck Martin, Miami (Ohio); Doug Martin, New Mexico State; Phillip Montgomery, Tulsa; Dan Mullen, Florida; Billy Napier, Louisiana-Lafayette; Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh; Ken Niumatalolo, Navy; Gary Patterson, TCU; Sam Pittman, Arkansas; NIck Rolovich, Washington State; Nick Saban, Alabama; Steve Sarkisian, Texas; Scott Satterfield, Louisville; Greg Schiano, Rutgers; Kirby Smart, Georgia; Jake Spavital, Texas State; Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee; Mel Tucker, Michigan State; Kyle Whittingham, Utah.

You were saying?

[NewYorkExpress]

Surprised to see Oklahoma at #2 and Clemson at #3.

I guess writers are punishing Clemson in advance for having a weak strength of schedule.

[NewYorkExpress]

One week until we start!

With a week to go, how soon will the schedule for the pick'em be up?

If you can't do this week, I can sub for you. Same with any other week, just let me know in advance.

[NewYorkExpress]

Picks for Week One

Illinois

UTEP


Boise State

Appalachian State

Ohio State


Wisconsin

Army

Alabama (I'm done picking against the Crimson Tide after the couple of years)

Navy

Maryland

Iowa State

Texas

Syracuse

Purdue

Texas Tech

Clemson

Illinois (picking the Fighting Illini twice this week)

LSU

California


Notre Dame


Louisville

[NewYorkExpress]

Apparently I missed four picks, and I'm not sure how I did that.

Anyways, in addition to the picks already listed, I'm taking Stanford, North Carolina, Michigan State and Iowa.

[NewYorkExpress]

I think the road game at Virginia will be a much better clue as to whether Illinois is going to have at least six wins this season.

[NewYorkExpress]

Upset Alert!

Twelve and half minutes to go, and Virginia Tech leads #10 North Carolina 17-7.

[NewYorkExpress]

Virginia Tech completes the upset, downs #10 North Carolina 17-10.

We've also got the makings of what could be an upset in Charlotte, as the Charlotte 49ers of Conference USA lead Duke 17-14 late in the 3rd Quarter.

[NewYorkExpress]

Virginia Tech completes the upset, downs #10 North Carolina 17-10.

We've also got the makings of what could be an upset in Charlotte, as the Charlotte 49ers of Conference USA lead Duke 17-14 late in the 3rd Quarter.

Can any Duke loss in football really be considered an upset?

Duke entered the game as 6.5 point favorites, and in any event, I would consider an ACC school losing to a Conference USA school as an upset.

[NewYorkExpress]

Why in the world was North Carolina a top 10 team in the first place?

I don't think they would be one of the top 10 teams in the SEC if that was their conference...

UNC was a bit overhyped but they're far better than SEC bottom-feeders, lol.

Agreed. UNC's definitely better than Vanderbilt, and I can make a decent argument for them being better than Missouri/Kentucky/South Carolina/Tennessee/Ole Miss/Mississippi State as well.

[NewYorkExpress]

Kansas fans just stormed the field after a 17-14 victory over FCS South Dakota

To be fair to Kansas, they had lost thirteen in a row before that game, and this might be their only win this season.

[NewYorkExpress]

Great game in progress between #19 Penn State and #12 Wisconsin in Madison. We're all tied at 10 midway through the fourth quarter.

[NewYorkExpress]

Penn State now up 16-10, following a Noah Cain TD run.

[NewYorkExpress]

#19 Penn State defeats #12 Wisconsin 16-10.

We also might have an upset brewing, as Fresno State and Oregon are tied at 21 in the third quarter.

Oregon entered the game as 21 point favorites.

[NewYorkExpress]

lol Miami

Were you expecting anything else from a non-Clemson ACC team facing Alabama?

[NewYorkExpress]

lol Miami

Were you expecting anything else from a non-Clemson ACC team facing Alabama?

I expected them to lose, but Miami looks completely hapless.

Nick Saban tends to make teams that aren't Clemson completely hapless...especially ACC teams.