Hello college football! ND eyes title, IU/Purdue hope for 6 Ws
The College football season begins in earnest this Labor Day weekend, including tonight.
Without question those of us that love college gridiron action are in for a season unlike any other we’ve witnessed.
For the first time ever, 12 teams will be playing in a dozen-team playoff beginning in December. An interesting twist to that will be the four first-round games will be played at campus sites.
The five highest-ranked conference champions and the next seven highest-ranked teams will earn a spot in he 12-team bracket. There is no limit to how many teams from one conference can qualify.
The top four conference winners according to the CFP Selection Committee, will get a bye in the first round. Then the next four seeds will host a first-round game on campus or a stadium of the higher seeds choosing.
Since Notre Dame is still a pseudo-independent, it can earn no better than a 5 seed. No, it’s limited ACC scheduling won’t suffice as far as the new college football playoff is concerned.
Of course, the Pac-12 is no more since USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington bolted for the green, green pastures of the Big Ten (a.k.a. as the largest media rights deal in college sports history that is more than $1 billion and will bring the previous 14 Big Ten schools between $80-$100 million each of TV revenue each season. The newbies from the West Coast will get a chunk of the media rights monies, but not as much as the other 14).
Big Ten games will now be featured on FOX, CBS, NBC and the Big Ten Network.
Colorado, Arizona State, Arizona and Utah also left the Pac-12, but for the Big 12.
SMU, Stanford and California now reside in the ACC.
No doubt there will be some long road trips. For instance, Rutgers plays at USC, and Maryland journeys to Oregon.
Some rivalries like Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are no more, but Texas will once again play Texas A&M.
Per usual there have been plenty of coaching changes, including at defending national champion Michigan where Jim Harbaugh bolted for the NFL and to escape NCAA sanctions that are on the horizon.
Nothing jolted the college football world, however, more than coaching giant Nick Saban decided to retire. All Saban did in Tuscaloosa, was win six national championships.
With seven national titles to his name, without question Saban is arguably the greatest college football coach of all time.
Despite losing two juggernauts in the coaching industry, the sky isn’t expected to fall in Ann Arbor or for the Crimson Tide. Bama enters the season ranked fifth and the Wolverines are ninth.
Without Saban and Harbaugh, only three active coaches remain who have won a national title – Clemson’s Dabo Sweeney, Georgia’s Kirby Smart and North Carolina’s Mack Brown.
Georgia is the heavy favorite to win the national championship this season.
The Bulldogs will have a chip on their shoulder after getting left out of last year’s playoffs following their SEC championship game loss to Bama.
If the Big Ten is to have a second straight team win it all, the odds-on-favorite is Ohio State. Per usual, the Buckeyes’ roster is absolutely loaded with talent, including SEC Freshman of the Year Caleb Downs, a safety who transferred to Columbus from Alabama.
Oregon and Texas also have to be considered title contenders.
Notre Dame, which hasn’t won a national championship since 1988, is definitely a team that should easily make the 12-team playoff. After all, the Irish schedule leaves a lot to be desired. Notre Dame plays just one team ranked in the top 10 – Florida State, which laid an egg in Ireland in its opener against Georgia Tech and will drop significantly when polls are released next week.
The only other ranked teams on Notre Dame’s schedule are No. 20 Texas A&M, the Irish season-opening opponent, and No. 23 USC, ND’s final regular-season foe.
Following is a brief look at the Big 3 state of Indiana teams, who open their seasons this Saturday along with their 2024 schedules.
INDIANA (Doug’s prediction 6-6)
The poor Hoosiers continued their revolving-door of coaches with last season’s dismissal of Tom Allen and newly-hired Curt Cignetti, who guided last season’s Cinderella James Madison to an 11-1 regular-season record before heading to Bloomington.
The Hoosiers are looking to improve on a 3-9 season.
If the positive preseason pub is to be believed, IU will be greatly improved this fall.
The Hoosiers have an amazing eight home games and only play two ranked opponents – Michigan and Ohio State, both in November.
IU will rely on a lot of transfers this season, including starting quarterback Kurtis Rourke, who can hurt you through the air or by scrambling. Rourke has thrown for better than 2,000 yards in each of the last two season, including a career-high 3,256 in 2022, and ran for 11 touchdowns in his last three seasons.
Justice Ellison will start the season as the No. 1 running back after spending four seasons at Wake Forest
Cignetti really likes the weapons he has at receiver led by Donoven McCulley is coming off of a six-touchdown season a year ago.
If the Cream and Crimson is going to improve a lot, they’re going to have to on the defensive of the ball.
Cignetti was encouraged by what he saw in fall camp, as he expects his d-line to be a destructive force this season.
One of the coaches Cignetti brought with him from JMU was Bryant Haines, who is the highest-paid coordinator in program history – he’s IU’s first million-dollar defensive coordinator.
Cignetti is going to have to back up some strong words he had for IU’s last three opponents on the ’24 schedule.
Shortly after being hired, the new IU boss told an Assembly Hall crowd that “I don’t plan on taking a back seat to anybody. Purdue sucks, but so does Michigan and Ohio State!”
Keep in mind, the Hoosiers have not won a bowl game since 1991.
NOTRE DAME (Doug’s prediction 11-1)
A lot is expected from Irish coaches in Year 3. After all, of the five Notre Dame coaches who have won national titles, four of them have done so in their third year in South Bend.
No pressure Marcus Freeman, right?
Wrong.
Freeman and Co. will start another transfer quarterback. Gone is Sam Hartman so enter Duke transfer Riley Leonard.
Leonard won’t have to be great and, in fact, may only have to be average considering how stout the Irish defense is expected to be.
The D is one of the most experienced units in the country and when all is said and done it could be the best in college football and for good reason.
All-American defensive linemen Howard Cross III and Rylie Mills, safety Xavier Watts and cornerback Benjamin Harrison are some of the best you will find and can be difference makers at any moment.
Perhaps the only thing holding Notre Dame back from a deep run in the playoffs will be a young offensive line. Losing starting left tackle Charles Jagusah to a season-ending injury early in camp certainly didn’t help matters.
After going 10-3 and winning the Sun Bowl last season, another double-digit season looks to be a given in the Land of the Golden Dome, and who knows, maybe, just maybe playing for a natty could be in the cards.
PURDUE (Doug’s prediction 5-7)
Boilermaker head coach Ryan Walters enters his second season in West Lafayette and no question the Old Gold and Black will be improved, but that improvement may not translate to any more wins than a year ago (four wins and eight losses).
Why?
Because Purdue faces a schedule like no other.
Get this.
The Boilermakers will face four of the top-eight ranked teams in the country (three of those in Ross-Ade Stadium).
Purdue will miss receiver Deion Burks and Nic Scourton, who left town for bigger paydays at Oklahoma and Texas A&M, respectively.
The offense, however, is once again in the hands of Texas transfer Hudson Card. The senior is expected to be one of the Big Ten’s best.
Plus, Devin Mockobee returns in the backfield and Illinois starting back Reggie Love III transferred in so Purdue should be solid running the football.
The o-line is bigger and better, averaging 6-foot-5 and 308 per man.
The receiving corps will count on Florida Atlantic transfer Jahmal Edrine, who missed last season with a knee injury.
On defense, freshman All-American Dillon Thieneman, now a sophomore, is as good as they get. He has a chance to be one of the very best defenders in program history, and that’s saying a lot about a program which has produced defensive All-Americans Rod Woodson, Dave Butz, Keena Turner and Ryan Kerrigan.
Carmel rush end Will Heldt, at 6-6, 265, is one to watch, as is true freshman defensive back Tarrion Grant, who reclassified so he could start his college career early after being one of the few five-star recruits Purdue has ever landed.
The kicking game must improve and so does converting on short yardage.
It goes without saying that Purdue must stay healthy, particularly at the quarterback position where two freshmen back up Card.
Last season’s highlight was retaining the Old Oaken Bucket for the second year in a row. Purdue has won four of the past five matchups with IU and continues to have a commanding 76-42-6 lead in the all-time series.
The Boilermakers will face the Hoosiers in Bloomington in the regular-season finale.
Prior to that, Purdue will have plenty of opportunities to play “Spoilermakers.”
Keep in mind, Purdue has the most wins in the FBS over top-5 teams while unranked during the AP top-25 era.
Recently the Boilermakers defeated both No. 2 Iowa on the road and No. 3 Michigan State at home in 2021, and No. 4 Ohio State in 2018, without being ranked.
Purdue was picked to finish last among the 18-team Big Ten field.
No way are the Boilermakers that bad, but just how good they will be will depend on how they do against some of the very best competition around.
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