Good – College Football is Back
The Greatest Sport in the World was back on our screens Saturday and it produced three very good games. The day’s slate started at noon with a Top 25 matchup between Iowa State and Kansas State in Ireland. Kansas State, the preseason favorite to win the Big 12 accoring to ESPN Analytics, was favored in the game by 2.5 points, but it was Iowa State who came out on top in the end. Another solid game from Saturday saw former Gator’s head coach Dan Mullen on the sidelines with his new team the UNLV Rebels, but I’ll talk more about that game further down. The last game of the night was a classic Mountain West Conference vs Atlantic Coast Conference matchup with Hawaii playing Stanford, marking the first ever time that Hawaii has taken the field against an ACC opponent in the history of their program. The Rainbow Warriors were not threatened by the Power 4 team though as they picked up a huge come from behind victory despite having a quarterback with basically one leg and a kicker that learned how to kick off of YouTube. This victory for Hawaii was their first over a Power 4(formerly 5) opponent since 2019 and their first win over Stanford in school history.
Bad – Preseason Injuries
From bootgate with DJ Lagway to Caleb Banks to Dallas Wilson, there have been a number of small, but nagging injuries our boys have been dealing with for what it seems like all offseason. Luckily none of the injuries seem to be that worrying as Caleb and DJ are both a 100% go for week one, while Dallas will likely be on limited snaps or we may have to wait an extra week to see the 5-Star Freshman make his Gator debut.
Ugly – Dan Mullen’s Debut with UNLV
New school, same Dan Mullen. Recruiting overrated prospects, electric offense with a great scheme and superb playcalling, and a defense that couldn’t stop a fly. Idaho State was a competent QB away from pulling off the upset as 30 point underdogs. Legitimately their QB threw 2 of the worst interceptions I’ve ever seen in my life, interceptions where there was not a Wide Reciever in sight as if they were actually intended for the defender. Now, a fanbase can never be upset with starting the season 1-0, but I doubt the Rebels fanbase was very impressed by their first game under Mullen.
Good – Week One Slate
3 Top 10 matchups in Week One alone is all and more any college football fan could ask for. It starts with Arch Manning and the Longhorns heading up to Columbus to face the reigning National Champions, the Ohio State Buckeyes, at noon on Saturday. Then later that night, a battle of Tigers as the LSU Tigers travelsto the other Death Valley to face Dabo Swinney’s Clemson Tigers. And to cap off the weekend, the Fighting Irish and the Hurricanes do battle in Hard Rock as Notre Dame hopes to win in South Florida for the first time in 35 years, while Miami hopes to start the season with a huge win as they hope to finally breakthrough and make the playoffs this year. The Top 10 matchups aren’t the only games of note Week One, other noteable matchups include G5 powerhouses Boise State @ USF Thursday night, South Carolina vs Virginia Tech Monday in Atlanta, Syracuse vs Tennessee Sunday in Atlanta, and Auburn @ Baylor and Georgia Tech @ Colorado both on Friday Night. With all these games, we are blessed with an elite Week One slate this year.
Good – Warmup Games
While our Week Three and Four opponents, LSU and Miami respectively, are facing off with other Top 10 teams in Week One, we are getting back-to-back weeks of weaker opponents that can serve as games where we fine-tune problems and get healthy. Now this can also be flipped as we won’t be tested until Week Three in Death Valley against LSU, but its a give and take scenario where I believe we come out on top as we should be 100% healthy and ready to go for our first real test of the season.
Ugly – Carson Beck
That’s it. He’s really ugly. The AI generated image I used for the graphic made him actually look a lot better than he does in real life.
