This was the fastest offseason in college football history. When you have the ongoing soap operas that are college athletics these days, the days run together in a hurry. Is he in the portal? Is he out of the portal? Will he make an NFL roster? Will he be cut and then go back to college for year 5? Did the conference just say that is a no-no? Are we really giving these players five years to play five years? Did a judge just rule otherwise? Where in the heck does it end? We didn’t start the fire.

In the summer of 2024, I was listening to The Paul Finebaum Show. A caller was complaining about the state of college football and said it was starting to look like pro football. Paul turned his head a quarter turn to the left, smirked a bit, and said, “I hate to be the first one to tell you, but this is pro football.” Then he went to commercial. Things haven’t been the same.

I have said it before I will say it again. When the ref gives the kicker the sign to kick off the game, it’s on. Your eleven against their eleven on each and every down for four quarters. There won’t be any lawyers in the huddle. The dimensions of a football field are still the same, no matter how wild and crazy things are off the field. These things are what make our gamedays that much more special now. When the parking lots turn into tailgate meccas. When the grills are cooking burgers that smell wonderful. When there is a line for the port-a-pots. When music is playing in all directions amid voices talking sense or nonsense. When satellite dishes show up next to tables filled with chips and dips and cookies and pie. We watch GameDay and Big Noon Kickoff as we await a big noon kickoff or a 3:30 kickoff or a 7:00 kickoff. The stadium fills up and life, for a few more hours, looks like an old friend that will take us away from the unorthodox state of play off the field that makes many of us hold our noses and swallow hard and still find something in us to relish every moment of the playing season.

Last year was incredible. Did you see the Indiana Hoosiers going 16-0 and redefining college football as we thought we knew it? No, you didn’t. Could it happen again this year? No, it won’t. Don’t get me wrong. The Hoosiers have as good a shot as anyone at making noise in CFP this year. Still, you can never go back again. There’s only one first kiss. If you were an Indiana Hoosier Football fan, you know what I mean. If you are an Alabama Crimson Tide fan, you are still in denial. If you’re listening to Paul Finebaum every day, you are still in denial. Why do you think the Rose Bowl was filled with 80% Indiana Hoosier fans? There were more fans there than Indiana can put in its stadium at home on Saturday. I saw it. I was there.

The Tide fans at The Rose Bowl couldn’t show out because they didn’t show up. It was Indiana. Aside from Tulane and JMU, Indiana was the last team Tide fans wanted to think about playing in the playoff last year. Had they put Ohio State out there, Tide fans would have showed up. That would have been a “real” opponent. Deny. Deny. Bryant-Deny.

Whatever the malady, the SEC fans need to come to grips. Things have changed. Tide fans should understand this, after going through Mike Shula, Mike DuBose, Dennis Franchione, and even Ray Perkins. No one wants to be the man to follow “the man”. That is why I tip my hat to Kalen DeBoer. He took that challenge. And don’t write him off yet. Things have changed, more so than any other era we can point to. In the meantime, Indiana has a coach that seems more Nick Sabinesque than any other coach prowling any of the 16 SEC sidelines. That has to hurt. That too will bring on a degree of denial. Fortunately, for SEC fans, we are living in a time of automatic excuses that can be hurled around. “They don’t play anybody.” “They had to buy their roster.” “Their conference schedule is weak.” Just “call Paul” and tell him about it. I think Paul would agree that right now the SEC leads the nation in “Talking Season” and the Big Ten leads the land in “Walking Season”.

Putting down the SEC is not my nature. This is awkward. There’s no way I write most of what I have written here had I not been in Pasadena to witness the most surreal football moment of my life. Playing Bama is one thing. Whipping them like a JV team is another. SEC Football is excellent to watch and follow. I hope Ole Miss wins every game. My family is rooted deep in Mississippi. I’ve seen the Rebels play in more stadiums that I have seen the Hoosiers play in. Things change. Seeing Arkansas in the shape they are in is sad to watch. There’s only so much room at the top and having conferences with 16 or 18 teams only makes it worse for so many teams that were once in much better shape. Ask the fans in Nebraska. Talk to some Husker fans my age and older and you’ll certainly hear talk about some great Orange Bowl appearances that had nothing to do with The Big Ten. There’s an identity crisis in Lincoln and it’s a shame.

PREVIEW

In years past, I have looked at every team from every major conference. Last year, I did not do this. This year I will highlight the teams I think will make the most noise in each major conference and attempt to tell you why I believe so. When I say CONTENDER, I mean conference and playoff.

The ACC Contenders:

Miami: They aren’t going anywhere. The date circled for all of us is November 7th @ Notre Dame. It’ll be cold. The first date circled for Hurricane faithful is October 3rd @ Clemson followed by Florida State on October 17th. I don’t care who you are moving from the QB spot at Duke to the QB spot at Miami is a HUGE leap. Darian Mensah has a task and half ahead. He’s shown he has the goods.

Louisville: This will be one of “those” Jeff Brohm seasons. What tells me he finally has “that” quarterback this year? Miami and Clemson are not on the schedule until they meet Miami in the ACC Championship game. I said earlier that I hope Ole Miss wins all their games. I do. I’m a Reb fan. Look for the Cards to give the Rebs plenty. Jeff Brohm has a track record of pulling off some big ones. And he has a great run game too. This feels like one of those. That, or Trinidad Chambliss makes the Cards defense look bad.

SMU: You better believe it. College Football is alive and well again in Big D.

Clemson: How can you deny Coach Swinney a mention at the table?

The Big 12 Contenders:

BYU: A loss in the Big 12 Championship game last year had to smart. Then they had to turn around, and watch Texas Tech get shut out 23-0 against Oregon in the Orange Bowl. The Cougars have no less than seven starters returning on a returning defense that didn’t give up more than 29 points in their first 12 games that yielded an 11-1 regular season. QB Bachmeier is back. So is LJ Martin at running back. LJ ran for over 1300 yards last season. Don’t sleep on the Cougars. I am sure they are looking forward to their shot against Notre Dame in Provo on October 17th. That will be an important game for both of those programs.

Houston: Conner Wiegman. Heisman material. 25 TDs in the air last year and 11 TDs on the ground last year. Coming off a Texas Bowl Trophy addition after defeating LSU, these Cougars will be a force to deal with. The schedule is kind. Look for them to take care of Texas Tech in a Friday game on September 18th. Most of a very steady D will be back. So are the Houston Cougars.

The Independent Contender:

Notre Dame: I hear it every single day leading up to the season. This team plays a suspect schedule. Compared to an SEC or Big Ten schedule, perhaps. For all the folks that make note of a suspect schedule, many of them are the same ones who have the Irish playing in the CFP Championship on January 25, 2027. They’ll be good. Will they be that good?

The SEC Contenders:

Georgia: If they run the table in the SEC, it will be because they are that good. If they lose two conference games, we’ll all hear about how great the conference is from top to bottom. There will something to each of those theories. UGA has to visit Bama and Ole Miss. Those will be good ones. They also host Oklahoma. Gunner Stockton behind center won’t hurt their cause.

Texas: Oh yes, Texas. You remember them. The darlings of preseason last year. They didn’t make the CFP. The Horns have several on both sides of the ball returning. Arch Manning. That just sounds good. The play needs to improve, and I look for it to. If they beat Ohio State in Austin on September 12th, we’ll know something. The Red River Rivalry should be a good one. Both Mississippi schools come calling the last two weeks of October. Two weeks later, there is a little trip to Baton Rouge to be settled. That should be a good one. If Texas wins 10, they make the playoff this year.

Ole Miss: The Rebs have to get past Louisville. First game of the season and played in Nashville. The Rebs look to have at least 5 starters on both sides of the ball returning. Will Echoles anchoring the D-line and Suntarine Perkins behind him at linebacker will help a stout defense. Keywan Lacy is returning at running back and the best QB in the conference, Trinidad Chambliss, is back for more. Reb fans will get exactly that. The LSU game on September 19th is well placed. Get that one out of the way.

Oklahoma: Don’t sleep on John Mateer, especially if he has a running game. Bolstering the run game was a priority in Norman in the off season. A trip to the Big House in early September should help. Look for the Sooners to dismantle the Wolverines.

The Big Ten Contenders:

Ohio State: The Buckeyes deserve to be near the top of the heap. Julian Sayin has probably put in more reps this year than he has any time before. Losing the Big Ten Championship Game to Indiana was another dark day for Columbus. Can you stop Sayin and Jeremiah Smith along with a veteran o-line? No. You’re not going to stop them. You only try to slow them down, get the ball on your side when you can and run as much clock as you can. The Buckeyes are one of those. The Buckeyes D will have to reload they lost a great deal to the NFL. They reloaded. October 17th in Bloomington will be the game of the year in The Big Ten.

Penn State: Call me crazy. Bring that Iowa State bunch headed up by the quarterback Rocco Becht and Head Coach Matt Campbell to Happy Valley with some happy folks supporting them and I promise you’ll see good things happen for the Nittany Lions. Indiana AD Scott Dolson and Coach Curt Cignetti showed the mold. Penn State hopes they borrowed a part of it. USC at home, at Michigan, and at Washington are the toughest games on the schedule for this bunch. No Oregon, Ohio State, or Indiana until the post season.

Oregon: I am not going to give the Ducks as much love as so many others around the land have. I still believe coaching means something. If you don’t, you haven’t been paying attention. The Ducks lost two games last year – both to Indiana. One in Eugene and one in a playoff massacre in Atlanta. Both of the Ducks’ coordinators moved on to other things. That’s hard to replace. I don’t care how great you think Dante Moore is. And yes, he has some serious weapons back on the receiving end. Most of their stout defense returns. They will make the CFP.

Indiana: Folks who don’t know usually never know. Last season Indiana averaged 212 yards rushing a game and 239 yards passing a game. Fernando Mendoza threw for 300 yards or more in only one game. The last Heisman winner to say that was Troy Smith at Ohio State twenty years ago. Indiana’s new QB, Josh Hoover, comes from a TCU team that last year averaged 131 yards rushing and 290 yards passing. Those 13 interceptions folks are talking about that Hoover threw at TCU last year? They came in 413 attempts. Most of us would take that percentage. Indiana won’t ask Josh Hoover to pull every game out. The IU defense (too many names to mention- Hardy, Jones, Tucker, Landino, Ferrell et al) is stacked. Look for their D to be stronger this year. That’s good news for a veteran o-line, a room full of great receivers headed up by Charlie Becker and Nick Marsh, and a three-headed running attack from Lee Bebee, Jr., Khobie Martin, and Turbo Richard.

As a college football fan and writer of such, I have never been more ready for a football season to kickoff. This country needs it!

As an Indiana Football fan who spent decades in Memorial Stadium dreaming about what it could feel like to come run out on this field as last year’s National Champ, or better yet a participant in last year’s Rose Bowl (my gold standard), and now I know. I’d be good just hanging on to that for a few more months. Next week Big Noon Kickoff comes to Bloomington. I’ll be ready.

Best of luck to you and your team. That is easier to say and understand now.

Just like that. Poof. Magic happened. Indiana’s Memorial Stadium, a place I once referred to twenty-five years ago as the ‘Safest Place in America’, is now a goldmine. Recently I have heard some talking heads on TV and the interwebbers put this place down. Shame on them. I have said it before. Saying it again. I show up at a stadium to watch the game. I am not there to party. I am not there as a social caller. This place is the “friendly confines” of college football. If you are there to WATCH a game, there is no other stadium I have been to that is better with perhaps the exception of Wake Forest.

Coach Cig and other powers at be in Bloomington are making noise about expanding the place. I ($) get it. One day the entire west stands, the side with the press box, will be top of wall to top of wall with luxury boxes on both sides of the press box. Also, there will be a new press box. A new press box, I can attest, will not be a bad idea. An upper deck on the east side? Maybe. That’ll be decided after the numbers are run on just how lucrative those future luxury boxes will be. Either way, my apologies to Bob Dylan, the times they are a-changin.

More Indiana Memorial Stadium goldmine evidence is the “get in” price on one secondary market, Ticketmaster for the October 17th tilt between Indiana and the visiting Ohio State Buckeyes. Two tickets through TM start at $1110 as I put these words down. Most are MUCH more than that. Though it saddens me, looking at all the resale offerings, there will probably be more Ohio State Buckeye fans in Bloomington this year than any other visitors that comes to town. Times being what they are, I don’t begrudge anyone who would sell this game to finance next year’s seats. Me? I can’t do it. Games like these are the ones a guy like me has dreamed about for fifty years.

This was the opening kickoff of the 2017 Rutgers game. I realize it was Rutgers. Still. This was bad. Bad bad. Not unlike the bad bad of having this year’s game against Howard figured in with season tickets. Indiana should pay the fans to watch a practice game against Howard. Still, the place will be packed and that is a very good thing.

Being there (Memorial Stadium) to watch the Hoosiers will be at a premium this year. All games are completely sold out except the, wait for it, Howard game. I don’t know Howard. Is Howard a college or university or a community college. No offense, Howard. I was shocked to find they were the Howard Bisons. I was hoping for the Howard Cosells. Regardless, when the Hoosiers run out of the tunnel at noon on the first Saturday of the season, there will be thunder heard as some players from last year’s National Championship Team will return with a new edition filled with a great deal of promise. Folks like me are still getting used to all of this. That may never happen.

In the irony department, I received an email from Michigan State University trying to entice me to come to East Lansing on November 14th to watch Sparty take on the Washington Huskies. Tickets to this one can be had for 20 bucks. I just chuckled again.

You won’t be able to park in Bloomington for 20 bucks that day.

Go get’em Fernando.

Last week I watched Fernando Mendoza make his debut with the Las Vegas Raiders. Muscle memory had me reaching for the “O” as in Oakland. A man can dream.

I thought Fernando played well. The speed of the NFL is something you manage, or you don’t as an NFL quarterback. I will be shocked if he is not under center starting for the Raiders in late October. I hope not. I’ll never root against Kirk Cousins. He’s earned that.

Looking back on Heisman Trophy winning quarterbacks from the last 30 years, the list of didn’t do so well in the NFL to did well in the NFL is much longer. Danny Wuerffel, Chris Weinke, Matt Leinart, Troy Smith, Tim Tebow, Sam Bradford, RG III, Johnny Manziel; they had their struggles. The last ten years of Heisman winners have fared much better. Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow have done well. We’ll have to wait and see about Jayden Daniels, Caleb Williams, and Bryce Young. They certainly have not dropped the ball yet.

Next week: The 2026 College Football Preview.

The NCAA Football Coaches Preseason Poll came out this week. The Top Ten went like this (with their rank last year in the same preseason poll):

1. Ohio State (2)
2. Oregon (7)
3. Georgia (4)
4. Texas (1)
5. Notre Dame (5)
6. Indiana (19)
7. Miami (10)
8. Texas A&M (21)
9. Oklahoma (NR)
10. Ole Miss (15)

What do you think about that?

The only two teams up there that did not make the CFP last year were Notre Dame and Texas.

For me to see Indiana and Ole Miss in a preseason Top 10 for the first time in my life is still hard to process. But I don’t mind the process.

Notice there is a Big Ten team at number 1. This is the first time a Big Ten team has been name #1 in this poll since 2015. That team, too, was Ohio State.

This was the Indiana game against Ohio State in 2015. Indiana got beat by the #1 Buckeyes 34-27.

Notice too that a team that beat Oregon twice and Ohio State once last year is four and five places behind them in this preseason poll. What do think about that? Does Indiana really deserve a #6 ranking?

Am I the only one not disappointed that Alabama and LSU are not in the top ten? Bama lost 4 games last year. They are ranked #11. More bended knee and bowing to a by gone era will get you a #11 ranking. I can hear Bear Bryant now. “Any team that got whipped by a Big Ten school, and Indiana makes it worse, doesn’t deserve to haul water heading into the next season.”

LSU lost 6 games last year. They, with newly hired media darling Lane Kiffin, are ranked #13 in this preseason coaches poll. The only other two schools in this poll with 6 losses last year are Penn State at # 17 and Clemson at # 23. What do you think about that?

You know, the last thing I want to do is give an old coach the “business”. However, I am over Coach Nick Saban, with his office still on campus, showing up on ESPN Gameday with his “we” mentality when it comes to talking about the SEC and the Tide. It was fashionable for Coach Lee Corso to talk nice about the Hoosiers. They were the losingest team in history before Coach Curt Cignetti showed up to rewrite history. I know. I know. ESPN is in cahoots with the SEC where it just means more and all that malarkey. What do you think about that?

I fully understand why the Indiana Hoosiers are #6 in this poll after going 16-0 last season. Things take time. Coaches don’t want to accept what happened in Bloomington last year. It’s against the natural order of things. When the AP preseason poll comes out, expect a little more Hoosier love. I predict the Hoosiers will be either # 3 OR # 4 in that poll. The media will give Indiana a little more credit.

The Indiana Hoosiers just got a defensive bolster, thanks to the judge that said you got five years to play five years. Poor Stephen Daley, the DT who hurt himself celebrating after the Big Ten Championship Game, is back and will be on the field for the Hoosiers. He had 19 tackles for loss last year. Kellan Wyatt, an edge guy on defense, got hurt during the Michigan State game last year. He too is back. Think about what these guys will give after not being able to participate in the playoff run the Hoosiers had last year. They all want more. This Hoosier story is still be written. What do you think about that?

Finally, I don’t understand how the coaches can deny a place in this poll for the Louisville Cardinals.

Coach Jeff Brohm has done nothing but win consistently. WKU, Purdue, Louisville. His record is 94-56. Louisville’s offense is loaded. Just wait and see. How important is that 94-56 record? Well, it’s a winning percentage that qualifies him for the College Football Hall of Fame. Numbers his old coach, Howard Schnellenberger, does not possess. No, I am not saying the Cards will make it to the College Football Playoff. Only 12 can do that. Watch out this season. Remember in 2018 when Brohm’s unranked Purdue team beat #2 Ohio State 49-20? Look, I root for the Ole Miss Rebels. When these two teams meet Labor Day Weekend in Nashville, one can only surmise that money got them to this location, Ole Miss better be ready. This a game that a Jeff Brohm coached team has a great shot at. I look for the scoreboard to suffer power failure when this one is played. And know this, the Cards will reach into the bag of tricks and unleash a few plays that will make one wonder where in the heck that came from? What do you think about that?

We’re almost there, kids. I can’t wait.