Author: rickro51 Page 5 of 36

The Odyssey returns to the site where our journey began in earnest 25 years ago. In Birmingham (Alabama, not Michigan or England), we ventured to Oxford for the 2000 Egg Bowl.  We were hooked by the Grove.  10 acres of tailgating bliss as people celebrated life and friends.  SO  great, that the Grove was a catalyst in our decision to visit all the D-1 college football venues.

A quarter century later, mission close to being accomplished.  It is not trivial to reach all the campuses when one lives in San Diego!  At the Grove, we wondered what other treasures were available and undiscovered.  Turns out that there is ONLY one Grove, despite all the tremendous experiences we have had at other venues.

Tomorrow’s Rebel game against LSU is huge by any standards.  Both teams are undefeated.  Can LSU’s stout defense defuse the pride of Big Rapids, Michigan – Trinidad Chambliss?  Chambliss had led Ferris State to lower division, national championship glory before portaling to Ole Miss.  The Ferris State standout has taken advantage of an ankle injury to Austin Simmons to show his considerable prowess, both as a passer and a runner.  Who will play QB for the Rebs?  We suspect Chambliss but stay tuned.

Ole Miss lost a ton of talent last year but the Rebels seem to have the ability to “portal up” each year.  Ole Miss is a very slight favorite but this game is truly a tossup.  LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier seems to have recovered from a minor injury and was back to his stellar self against SE Louisiana last week.

No matter how great this matchup is, the highlight of any visit to this beautiful small town is The Grove.  As Ole Miss fans are fond of saying, “We may lose the game but we never lose the party!”  Hotty Toddy, indeed!

Let’s rewind to 2007.  All Rich Rodriguez had to do in West Virginia’s  finale against Pitt to make the BCS championship game was to beat their rivals as a 4 TD favorite.  In the most famous faceplant in Mountaineer history, John Denver’s favorite team was punked, 13-9.  Resulting dominos meant that LSU, amazingly, backed into the championship game with TWO losses (albeit both in overtime to Kentucky and Arkansas).   Thus, Les Miles could not timely return to his alma mater to take the open Michigan job because of the time frame to prepare for the national championship game.

Fate strikes for Rodriguez.  The native son leaves his wildly successful gig in Morgantown and bolts his native state for supposedly greener pastures in Ann Arbor.  OOPS!  His 3-year tenure included 3-9 and 5-7 records.  None of the games against Ohio State are competitive.  0-3 versus Michigan State.  After getting pink slipped, Rodriguez wandered the next 14 years in relative football wilderness, including head coaching stints at Arizona and Jacksonville State.

In 2025, the prodigal son returned to West Virginia and, despite a decimated team, engineers an upset of Pitt in the heated Backyard Brawl.  Rodriguez’ cautionary tale resonates in Madison, Wisconsin.  The tale of Luke Fickell in 2025 offers several parallels.  The Columbus, Ohio native was a star defensive lineman for Ohio State and was wildly successful as Cincinnati’s head coach, as evidenced by the Bearcats being the only Group of 5 team to make the 4-team playoff.  After 2022, Fickell could not resist the lures of returning to the Big 10 and  a big payday as the Badger coach.

His tenure was immediately problematic.  Fickell’s attempts to change the Badger’s “Ground and Pound” offense were dismal failures in 2023 and 2024 due in part to QB injuries and questionable staff hires. Rock bottom occurred last weekend when Maryland rolled to a 27-10 laugher in Madison.  Chants of “Fire Fickell” filled Camp Randall.  Maryland was the sole Big 10 game that one could see the Badgers handily winning.  Wisconsin has the most difficult Big 10 schedule and looks to be underdogs in each of the season’s remaining 8 games.  Our sense is that Fickell would have been fired over the weekend except for a daunting $25 million buyout.  Not every school is Texas A&M!

In matters other than the pocketbook, Fickell, like RichRod, should have stayed put.  The Odyssey predicts that FIckell will eventually resurface at Cincinnat1.  Scott Satterfield will not be there long-term.  The greedy missteps by RichRod and Fickell should be taken to heart by all coaches who think that the grass is always greener elsewhere.

Jaron- Keawe   Sagapolutele (“JKS”) haswhen been anointed as a freshman QB phenom, the savior for a Cal football team riddled by losses in the transfer portal.  JKS came to the mainland as a ballyhooed Hawaii prep star who is the Aloha State’s all time leader in passing yardage.   The Odyssey and Pat McAfee were among those bowing down to new royalty.  Cal’s 3-0 start even had one of the media on the ACC Network to suggest that there was a possibility that Cal could make the ACC conference championship game, in part due to a marshmellow conference schedule that excluded Miami, Florida State, Georgia Tech and Clemson.

A typically perfect San Diego night ended such dreaming as the brakes on the Golden Bear Express brought Cal to a screeching halt.  How did a double digit favorite get smoked 34-0?  SO SO Cal!!  For the second straight year, Cal’s balloon burst in a shocking manner.  Last year, when Gameday made its first visit to Berkeley, Cal was beating Miami by 21+ points in the 3rd quarter only to crumble to a Cam Ward comeback.  The Aztec squad that humbled Cal looked absolutely woeful in its last outing, a 36-13 whipping in the Palouse to a mediocre Wazzu squad.

The Aztecs looked anything but mediocre with Michigan transfer,         Jayden Denegal , smartly leading the Aztec offense with a 15/18 performance.  Cal let SDSU off the hook after dominating a scoreless first quarter.  A 19-play drive drove to the Aztec 1 but , on 4th down, JKS threw too late to a tight end who had been open in the back of the end zone. The power and accuracy of JKS’s arm was on view as he perfectly threw 2 long bombs in the early going.  Both dropped!

Cal discovered a hard lesson:  do not let a home underdog stick around and gather confidence.  The Golden Bears appear not to have significant offensive talent to surround JKS.  And the vaunted Hawaiian had freshman moments as the Aztecs intercepted two balls, including one for a 97-yard TD return.

The Odyssey roots for Cal but is worried about 2026 for the Golden Bears.  If JKS is not surrounded by significant talent, will he be tempted by the riches from the transfer portal?

We end with 2 two observations about San Diego State’s ticket policy.  The ticket count was 31,000 but the turnstile count was only 21,000, augmented by Cal fans. Swaths of prime, lower level seats were empty.  We suspect that exorbitant pricing was the culprit.  The cheapest seats were running $100, which seems pricy for a Mountain West program.   The empty seats are a very bad look for any program.  If you have to fill said seats with local prep football players as a comp, please do so.

Memo to Athletic DIrectors:  do not overprice your product!  TV is a comfy alternative.

If the article title leads you to think we would be writing about Bryce Underwood, GOTCHA!  The Odyssey is doing a “bait and switch.”

The Odyssey is eating LOTS of crow when the topic is the California Golden Bears.  Last month, we targeted Cal as the biggest loser in the transfer portal carousel.  True enough, but Cal is 3-0 behind the latest QB phenomenon from the Aloha State,  Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele.  JKS had committed to Oregon BUT Dante Moore seemed to have a lock on the job with years of eligibility remaining AND Fernando Mendoza left Berkeley for Indiana.  As a result, JKS migrates to Bear Territory.  Is Strawberry Canyon witnessing the next coming of Joe Roth, Steve Bartkowski and Aaron Rodgers?  Maybe so.

Cal has already beaten Minnesota and Oregon State.  Tomorrow night, the Odyssey will be in attendance at beautiful Snapdragon Stadium as the Golden Bears visit San Diego State.   Cal is a 12 point favorite and will roll if SDSU remotely resembles the team that got embarrassed  at the Palouse (No Aztec fan would ever believe that their coach, Sean Lewis, ran a fast-paced offense at Kent State.  The SDSU offense has been both MIA  and boring for 1+ years).

If Cal does triumph, they would be off to an improbable 4-0 start that could get some to start having wild dreams.  Cal avoids Miami, Florida State, Georgia Tech and Clemson in ACC play.  The imbalance in the strength of conference opponents can not be exaggerated when dealing with 16+ conference members.

The Odyssey loves dreaming big so our sentiment is “Go Cal!”

Being the unwanted orphans due to the dissolution of the Pac 12 conference has been painful.  No matter what Oregon State and Washington State have tried to do in a futile, flaying manner, their relegation has been inevitable in the Moneyball era of college football.

Their former head coaches escaped, like rats diving off a sinking ship.  The departure of Jonathan Smith from Oregon State was doubly painful.  Not only had Smith been an excellent coach for the Beavers, he was a great QB for the Beavers’ most celebrated team of the past half century – the squad that rolled over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl.

Jake Dickert bolted from the Palouse last December for that renowned ACC power, Wake Forest (drumroll for sarcasm).,  That Smith also left for a lower echelon Power 4 team in Michigan State speaks volumes.

Last Saturday was their mutual nadir to date after nightmarish visits to the Lone Star state.  Washington State turned the ball over 5 times in the first half against North Texas and was annihilated, 59-10.   Texas Tech’s bloated payroll rolled to a 28-0 halftime lead against the Beavers and coasted home.

While last Saturday was a mutual nightmare, it might get even worse this Saturday.  Both squads face their intrastate Big Brothers who bolted for Big 10 money.  Oregon is favored by 5 TDs.  Even though Washington is travelling to the Palouse, the Huskies are 20 point favorites.

Next year, the Oregon-Oregon State game will not even be played.  OUCH!

Sorry for being so cheesy but we could not help but reference Florida defensive lineman, Brendan Bett, for his major contribution in South Florida’s major upset of the Gators, 18-16.  Bett’s spitting tantrum gave USF 15 valuable yards in their drive for the game-winning field goal.

Stanford looked absolutely woeful in the early going against BYU on Saturday night.  Toward the end of the first quarter, the “live” bet was available at BYU -24.5.  Looked like a great bet.  In fact, Stanford’s offense was woeful the entire game, gaining a pitiful 161 yards of total offense.

HOWEVER, the Stanford D bowed up near their goal line. BYU had to settle for field goals of 21, 23, 30, and 36 yards.     Final score:  BYU 27, Stanford 3.  That great looking “live” bet was a loser.  Gambling is not for the faint of heart!

Believe it or not, hidden behind 3 Top 10 matchups last week, was a rivalry game.  In the Palouse, Moscow, Idaho and Pullman Washington are 8 miles apart.  An old-time tradition was that the students of the visiting school would walk into their rival’s lair to watch the game.  The Odyssey found it heartwarming that the 93rd installment between the geographic neighbors would be played.

Sadly, the two schools do not play annually.  Idaho made a wise move to move out of the FBS ranks into the geographically friendly (and highly competitive ) Big Sky.  The Vandals’ former FBS home in the Sun Belt was very unfriendly from a geographic standpoint.  In recent years, Idaho’s fortunes have skied as they have become one of the many Big Sky powers.  Last year, Idaho traveled to Oregon and gave the Ducks all they could handle.

New coaching staffs (Wazzu became South Dakota State West) made the opener more intriguing for both squads.

The Odyssey always roots for the FCS in FCS-FBS matchups.  We love underdogs!  Idaho had a golden chance to pull off the upset but whiffed on its oppotunity.  With under 5 minutes left in the game, Washington State was nursing a 10-7 lead when disaster struck for the Cougars:  a strip-sack fumble deep in their own territory.  The Idaho defensive lineman who caused said disaster could not stay on his feet once the errant pigskin was covered.  Otherwise, a walk-in touchdown for the Vandals.

As it was, Idaho still had a golden opportunity on the Wazzu 11.  After two futile runs into the middle of the line and a pass sailing out of the endzone, Idaho settled for a game tying field goal.  After this totally uninspiring play call sequence, the Odyssey wondered to itself, why do said underdogs play it so close to the vest?

Predictably, WSU proceeded to march down the field and kick a game-winning field goal.  13-10 for the FBS.  I viewed this as karma for Idaho’s weak play calling at crunch time.  Sigh.  Oh well, at least Tarleton State provided some FCS magic last weekend.

Two days ago, the Odyssey ran a post titled “The Biggest Loser.”  The momentum in Cal football, triggered in no small part by the Calgorithm and a 2024 visit by ESPN Game Day, had come to a screeching halt.  The Golden Bears lost all their major offensive starts to the transfer portal.  OUCH!

HOWEVER.  On Saturday night in Corvallis, a savior may have been found.   A true freshman QB from Hawaii,   Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele,  completed 20 of 3o passes for 234 yards and 3 TDs.  Unlike Arch Manning, this savior delivered on opening day!  We hope the media will just dub him JKS as spelling his name will generate as big a headache as what JKS will provide to future defensive coordinators.  In a game which Las Vegas deemed a tossup, the Golden Bears rolled, 34-15.

The fans in Strawberry Canyon look to have a treat in 2025.  Maybe Berkeley will be Bear Territory after all in 2025.

No, this is not a review of a hit, reality TV show.  The Odyssey is referring to the transfer portal.  For every winner, the rule of symmetry says there should a loser.  Clearly, the Group of 5 conferences now serve as a de facto farm system for the Power 4.  However, a Power 4 team appears to have also lost out prior to tomorrow’s Week 1 Saturday:  Cal.

We say this with great sadness.  The Odyssey was thrilled to be at Cal’s sellout against Miami last October on a perfect Saturday night.  For 2.5 quarters, Berkeley was definitely Bear territory as the Golden Bears built  a 20+ point lead against the undefeated Hurricanes.  But in a pratfall so typical of Cal, Cam Ward led a stunning Miami comeback.

The loss was especially frustrating as Game Day made its maiden visit to Strawberry Canyon, no doubt influenced by the Calgorithm.  The Calgorithm was endlessly witty and creative.  For example, they paodied Chappell Roan’s “Hot to Go” in a hilarious “Ott to Go” – a reference to star running back Jadyn Ott.  WIth such a unique form of adulation, one might think that Ott would have stuck around for his Senior year.  Nope, Ott sprinted to Norman, Oklahoma.

Star QB Fernando Mendoza also departed for the suddenly fashinonable QB gig at Indiana.  Other departees from the Bay Area include standouts such as Nyziah Hunter to Nebraska and Tight End Jack Endries to Texas.  In short, the transfer portal has gutted Cal’s offense.  We will see how the replacements fare in a pivotal opener at Oregon State.

The Odyssey has long been frustrated with the San Francisco – the anti-mecca of college football.  But for a fleeting moment last fall, the potential at Cal was visible for all to see.   To see the Golden Bear program seemingly flip into reverse is painful.

Adding a 9th conference game in 2026 makes SO much sense in a 16-team league.

Some of the advantages:

Offers a much needed added data point to determine the teams to play in the SEC championship game.  With the current 8-game schedule, the strength of conference opponents varies tremendously.  Florida and Oklahoma have brutal schedules while the opponents of Texas and Missouri are much more manageable.

Each team will have 3 permanent conference opponents.  Given the tradition-laden nature of the SEC, preservation of tradtional opponents is important.

In a 4-year period, each conference team will play every other conference team twice.  This regularity of seeing all conference opponents makes it feel more like a —REAL conference.

Last, a cupcake game is eliminated.  With the high cost of tickets and supporting one’s team, that is a better deal for the fans.

ESPN will have more great games to broadcast and is paying roungly an added $5 million per team for this privilege.

AWESOME!!

If we were running the show, we would designate the 3 permanent opponents for each school as follows:

ALABAMA:        Auburn, Tennessee, LSU

ARKANSAS:      Texas, LSU, Mississippi State

AUBURN:          Alabama, Georgia, Florida

FLORIDA:         Georgia, South Carolina, Auburn

GEORGIA:        Auburn, Florida, South Carolina

KENTUCKY:     Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Mississippi State

LSU:                    Alabama, Arkansas,, Ole Miss

OLE MISS:        Mississippi State, LSU, Vanderbilt

MISSISSIPPI STATE:     Ole Miss, Kentucky, Missouri

MISSOURI:       Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi State

OKLAHOMA:   Texas, Missouri, Texas A&M

SOUTH CAROLINA:  Florida, Georgia, Texas A&M

TENNESSEE:  Alabama, Vanderbilt, Kentucky

TEXAS:               Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Arkanas

TEXAS A&M:    Texas, Oklahoma, South Carolina

VANDERBILT:  Kentucky, Tennessee, Ole Miss

It is impossible to create equity among the 3 permanent opponents.  For example, Auburn would have the toughest trio of permanent opponents.  However, restoring the long-lost Florida rivalry would bring a smile to Southern seniors.  When the SEC makes the announcement as to the 3 permanent opponents, let’s see how close they come to the Odyssey’s preferences.