To be honest, I want to write about more than just baseball. And now that college football is here, I'm going to try to my best with all my personal musings. Here at "One Big Mark," I'll be following the theme of the "On A Wimm Podcast," and writing about whatever I want to write about. Whether that would be wrestling (that's where the term "mark" comes from), music, soccer, baseball, it doesn't matter.
And here's a little treat for all of you, a little bit of a weekend guide to the the first weekend of college football that I made for a coworker of mine that's trying to get into college football. Hope you enjoy it, this will be weekly feature all-season long. In this guide, you'll find television listings, what to watch for, my picks and most importantly: a backup game to watch if the game I've selected ends up being a blowout. I apologize in advance for having a blogging boner over Alabama, but come on, the talent on that team is definitely more than boner worthy.
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There will also be three games on Friday and there’s one that is definitely worth checking out.
The number 8 ranked Stanford Cardinal will take on the Kansas State Wildcats in a Big 12 vs Pac-12 matchup out in Palo Alto. Stanford will walk in as a 15 point favorite and all the focus will be on the Heisman Trophy favorite, Christian McCaffrey. You won’t be able to miss McCaffrey, he’ll lineup at Wide Receiver, Running back, punt returner, and kick returner and he can do it all. Stanford has a new quarterback starting for them in Ryan Burns, who shockingly beat out the favorite to win the job in, Keller Chryst. Keller is the son of former 49ers offensive coordinator, Geep Chryst and Keller was supposed to be the anointed one at Stanford after drawing comparisons to Andrew Luck out of high school and was ranked as the 2nd best quarterback out of high school a few years ago. Not much is known about Ryan Burns since all the preseason guides thought that Chryst would run away with the job, this shouldn’t matter since Stanford’s offensive line is so imposing that they should be able to push around K-State. Don’t count the Wildcats out though, their legendary coach, Bill Snyder will have his kids ready to play. Stanford’s not known for having the greatest environments when it comes to going to games, but if you’re looking to do something on Friday night, heading to Palo Alto for this one wouldn’t be a bad idea with tickets being quite reasonable.
Now to Saturday. Since I’ll be at work at 7 am, I’ll be able to do what I always do on Saturdays and that’s watch College Gameday, which is the show that always gets me excited for the day’s action. If I weren’t working, I’d still try to be up at 8:30 and watch the College Gameday panel make their picks and we’ll see who Lee Corso picks with a mascot head.
Usually, the 9 am games leave something to be desired and just deserve a casual look, not so on this Saturday. Right away, the action begins with the 3rd ranked Oklahoma Sooners taking on the number 15 ranked Houston Cougars in Houston. Over the past few years, Houston has consistently been talked about every season as a non-AQ that could make the College Football Playoff, and in order to make that happen, they will have to upset the Sooners in this game. The Sooners probably can’t afford a loss themselves and after Bob Stoops’ boys got dominated by Clemson in last year’s National Semifinal, Oklahoma will look to prove that they are surely the team to beat in the Big 12. When it comes to players to watch, look no further than Oklahoma quarterback, Baker Mayfield. He put up monster numbers last season for the Sooners and will likely be in the Heisman conversation for much of the year. Expect a lot of points in this matchup as the experts have the over/under at 68. Both teams run spread offenses that score a lot of points, and it should be a fun one in Houston, Oklahoma will walk in as a 12 point favorite, you really can’t ask for a better game to wake up for.
If for some reason, the Oklahoma/Houston game doesn’t live up to the hype, I’d flip between the Michigan/Hawaii game and the Ohio State/Bowling Green game. Both of those games should be blowout victories for the Big Ten powerhouses, but you never know.
For the 12:30 pm kickoff slot, the number 16 ranked UCLA Bruins heading to College Station, Texas to face the Texas A&M Aggies will definitely be a great matchup. This will be a Pac-12 vs SEC matchup and the unranked Aggies have been slated as a 3 point favorite. This is a little bit of a wonky line, which is typical for opening weekend games where there isn’t a whole lot of information for the bookies to make their lines, but reputation-wise, Pac-12 teams who go east on the road to the SEC generally have not fared well, historically. The question will be can the Bruins handle the SEC girth and speed that the Aggies possess and will the UCLA golden boy quarterback, Josh Rosen be given enough time to throw. Keep an eye on Josh Rosen, he should be one of the top QBs taken in 2018 NFL Draft and he’s a guy who never disappoints with a quote or two. For the Aggies, they run a spread system that should be a test for UCLA’s secondary that’s supposed to be quite good. On defense, the Aggies have one of the premier pass rushers in all of college football in Myles Garrett, I’d look for him every play to see how he does against the UCLA offensive line.
If that game doesn’t live up to the hype, you’ve got a hell of a back up plan in the number 5 ranked LSU Tigers facing the Wisconsin Badgers at Lambeau Field. It’ll be a fun SEC vs Big Ten matchup, and a chance to take a look at the guy who will most likely be the first running back taken in the 2017 NFL Draft, Leonard Fournette. Keep an eye on this one, I think the Badgers will keep it close going into the 4th Quarter, but you have to wonder how the Badgers defense will hold up having to contain Leonard Fournette for close to 30 carries in a game. LSU will be a 10 point favorite in Green Bay.
After the 12:30 games end, there’s usually a bit of a respite until the primetime games that begin at 5, but on this Saturday, there’s one game that will keep you busy before the big games at night and that will be between the 22nd ranked North Carolina Tar Heels and the 18th ranked Georgia Bulldogs in a ACC vs SEC matchup at the Georgia Dome. Technically, this is a neutral site game, but it will likely be a Georgia home game with the crowd. There’s been a lot of talk about Georgia in the offseason since they hired Kirby Smart to be their head coach, he came from Alabama where he was Nick Saban’s defensive coordinator for almost 10 years and has been given a lot of credit for making Alabama a defensive powerhouse. Over the past few months, Smart has battled Saban over a graduate transfer who wanted to leave Alabama for Georgia but Alabama wouldn’t let him because of SEC rules preventing inner-SEC transfers. Since then, the SEC has allowed the transfer to happen, but it was a fun exchange between the former pupil and the former master. I don’t really have much on North Carolina, but Georgia has a lot of talent and it will be interesting to see how Kirby Smart looks as the head coach. The Bulldogs have named the senior, Greyson Lambert as the starter but if he struggles we'll see if Smart turns to the higly touted true freshman, Jacob Eason who was ranked as the number one high school pocket passer in last season’s recruiting class. No matter who plays QB, the Bulldogs running game will be the focus with Nick Chubb and Sony Michel both being capable of having 1,000 yard seasons.
Now we head to the primetime slot, and what a game we got for primetime as we got the number one team in the country and the defending national champions Alabama Crimson Tide taking on the number 20 ranked USC Trojans from Jerryworld. Every year, there’s at least one big game to start the year at Jerryworld and Alabama has almost made Jerryworld a second home for them with how well they’ve played in that stadium. So much NFL talent will be on the field for both sides and there are so many subplots involved in this game, I’m just mad that I won’t be able to watch this one live. We’ll start with Alabama, Nick Saban is coming off a year where the Tide returned to the mountain top with a new innovative offense thanks to offensive coordinator, Lane Kiffin. Before, Alabama ran a traditional, pro-style offense that relied heavily on the run, while Bama will always find their foundation in their downhill running game, Lane Kiffin has provided a creative play-calling style that has set school records through its first two years in Tuscaloosa, albeit with not the greatest of quarterbacks. Much of last year’s team has left for the NFL, but make no mistake about it, there won’t be much of a drop-off, and you could even say that Alabama is even better at a few positions. The bedrock for Alabama lies in their lines, and Alabama has the man who will undoubtedly be a top 10 pick in Cam Robinson who will be the blindside tackle for the Tide once again. On their defensive line, Alabama continues their strong lineage of huge defensive lineman, this year it will be Daron Payne manning the spot at nose tackle, and he’s been rated in the top 10 freaks in all of college football for what he does in the weight room. Since Nick Saban has taken over at Alabama, Alabama has been a force in stopping the run, but at times they haven’t had the pass rushers that take defenses to the next level, that changed last year with the production of Tim Williams and Jonathan Allen. That combo combined for over 20 sacks last year, Williams will play as an outside linebacker, while Allen will put his hand in the dirt. Watch Tim Williams especially, his first step in beating opposing tackles to the punch is amazing. When it comes to the skill positions, Alabama is stacked in the secondary with two lockdown corners in Marlon Humphrey and Minkah Fitzpatrick and they will be tested by USC wide receivers, JuJu Schuster and Adoree' Jackson.
Offensively, the Tide have had to replace their quarterback and their running back, but Alabama has proven time and time again that these are never problems for Nick Saban and co. Alabama has not named a starter but have just narrowed it down to two guys in Cooper Bateman and Blake Barnett. Given Saban’s history of starting the veteran no matter what, it will likely be Cooper Bateman who is known to be quite timid in the passing game, Blake Barnett is probably the better player but we’ll see. Whoever starts will have a lot of talent to work with on the offensive side of the ball, he’ll get to throw to one of the best deep threats in the country in Calvin Ridley who will definitely be a first round pick in the 2018 draft. Ridley continues a tremendous lineage of great wide receivers during Saban’s tenure starting with Julio Jones, then going to Amari Cooper, and now Ridley, himself. One of the top tight ends in next year’s draft will be OJ Howard who had a monster National Title game but was underutilized for much of the year, we’ll see if he’s the x-factor for Lane Kiffin’s offense this season. In the backfield, Bama will again have a thunder and lightning attack, last year it was Heisman Trophy winner, Derrick Henry, who provided the thunder, this year it will be Bo Scarbrough who looks a lot like Derrick Henry, which will strike fear in plenty of SEC defensive coordinators this season. Last year, Kenyan Drake was the one who provided the lightning and now he will be playing for the Miami Dolphins this year, replacing him will be Damien Harris who impressed many during Alabama’s spring game in April.
USC is not what they used to be, but make no mistake about it, USC has the talent to compete with Alabama, especially in the trenches. However, a tough injury for USC means that they will lose their star left tackle and replace him with a true freshman. That could be devastating for USC who will have to contain Jonathan Allen and Tim Williams, and this won’t make it easy for their new quarterback, Max Browne who’s making his first career start. The key matchup will be between JuJu Schuster vs Marlon Humphrey and that’s going to have to be a battle that USC wins for them to have any chance. No matter what happens in this game, USC will be among the favorites to win the Pac-12 South. Alabama will walk into Dallas as 11.5 point favorites. Let’s see if Lane Kiffin can embarrass the team who still has a lot of players that he recruited.
There’s definitely a possibility that Alabama could run away from USC, if that happens, have no fear, there will be another good game to watch and that’s number 2 Clemson heading to Auburn, Alabama to take on the unranked, Auburn Tigers. In another ACC vs SEC matchup, all the focus will be on DeShaun Watson who is another Heisman contender and was last seen lighting up the Alabama defense in the national title game and just falling short, and he drew praise from Nick Saban who called him, “the most exciting QB in college football since Cam Newton.” Watson is an amazing quarterback prospect, he’s fun to watch and he’s the key to Clemson’s success. For Auburn, Jordan-Hare Stadium has always been a tough place to play and shockingly, Auburn named the underdog in their quarterback controversy by naming pocket passer, Sean White which is weird since John Franklin III was the favorite and a dual threat that seemed like a perfect fit for Gus Malzahn’s offense. So keep an eye on how Sean White does and see if Auburn gets tempted to put in JF3 at QB.
There’s one game in the “Pac-12 After Dark,” slot that’s worth a look and that’s the Arizona vs BYU game. Should be a fun game with a lot of points that’s perfect to end the Saturday.
On Sunday, there will be one game to watch and that’s the 10th ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs the Texas Longhorns from Austin, Texas. Two traditional powerhouses facing each other is always pretty fun from a spectacle level, there’ll be 100,000 Longhorn fans singing “The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You,” in this game and that should be fun. On the field, neither team has named a starting quarterback so we’ll see how that affects the game overall. A couple players to watch include Notre Dame wideout, Torii Hunter Jr. who’s the son of longtime MLB outfielder, Torii Hunter and for the Longhorns keep an eye on their middle linebacker Malik Jefferson. The Irish will be a 3.5 favorite over the Longhorns.
The best comes last in week one, and that’s for the number 4 ranked Florida State Seminoles taking on the number 11 ranked Ole Miss Rebels in third ACC vs SEC battle of the weekend. This one will be a neutral site game at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida. Plenty of NFL talent in this one, for Jimbo Fisher’s squad it all starts with their junior tailback, Dalvin Cook. Cook is my favorite running back in all of college football, I suggest watching his highlight tape, it’s a lot of fun. Pro Football Focus loves them some Dalvin Cook and that’s because Cook had a better elusive rate than all the running backs taken in last year’s NFL Draft, and with all the talk centering around Christian McCaffrey and Leonard Fournette, NFL scouts say that Cook is just as good as Leonard Fournette. I look for him to have a huge game against a talented SEC defense and insert himself into the Heisman race. For the Rebels, it’s been a rough offseason with all that happened with how Laremy Tunsil left the program and brought an NCAA investigation. They still have one of the best quarterbacks in the country in Chad Kelly who is the nephew of Pro Football Hall of Famer, Jim Kelly. Chad Kelly’s a solid dual threat quarterback, but he lost some of his weapons that he had on the team last year, most notably, Laquon Treadwell. It should be a fun one, and you get to hear the Seminole War Chant to echo all game long. The Seminoles will be a 4 point favorite in Orlando.
Recap and Television Guide
Friday
6 pm: Kansas State Wildcats @ #8 Stanford Cardinal (-13.5) (Watch and see if it’s good) FS1 Pick: Stanford covers.
Saturday
9 am: #15 Houston Cougars vs #3 Oklahoma Sooners (-10) (Crack Open a Beer And Enjoy) ABC Pick: Oklahoma wins but fails to cover.backup: Bowling Green Falcons @ #6 Ohio State Buckeyes Big Ten Networkother backup: Hawaii Rainbow Warriors @ #7 Michigan Wolverines ESPN
12:30 pm: #16 UCLA Bruins @ Texas A&M Aggies (-3) (Crack Open A Beer And Enjoy) CBS Pick: A&M wins and covers.backup: #5 LSU Tigers vs Wisconsin Badgers ABC
2:30 pm: #18 Georgia Bulldogs (-3) vs #22 North Carolina Tarheels (OHHHH YEAHHH) ESPN Pick: UGA covers.
5 pm: #20 USC Trojans vs #1 Alabama Crimson Tide (-11.5) (Could be a blowout) ABC Pick: Bama smashes the spread.backup: 6 pm #2 Clemson Tigers @ Auburn Tigers ESPN
7:30 pm: BYU Cougars vs Arizona Wildcats (-3) (Underrated Game, worth a look to end the day) FS1 Pick: Arizona covers.
Sunday
4:30 pm: #10 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (-3.5) @ Texas Longhorns (Could be a fun one) ABC Pick: The Irish cover.
Monday
5 pm: #11 Ole Miss Rebels vs #4 Florida State Seminoles (-4.5) (My Game of the Week) ESPN Pick: FSU covers.
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