College Football Odyssey

Sometimes, coaches overthink things….or want to show incontrovertible genius by tinkering.  Such was the case Wednesday inight n El Paso.

UTEP’s overcaffinated and underbrained coach, Scotty Walden, appears to be guilty of such malpractice.  Former five-star recruit via USC and Boise State, Malachi Nelson, was benched for last night’s game against Liberty.  Nelson was just two games removed from 404 yards passing against Louisiana Monroe.  True, UTEP was limited to 11 points in their last outing, albeit against a stingy Louisiana Tech defense that had previously LSU to 23 points.

Liberty should have represented a “get well” night for any offense as the FLames’ defense was downright offensive.  UTEP’s new starting QB was Skyler Locklear.  Too bad, his name was worlds better than his performance:  In 17 passing attempts, he netted 90 yards and 2 throws skied into Liberty’s waiting arms.  Locklear was benched and Nelson came off the bench with a 4 for 10 performance which netted a paltry 21 yards.  Way to break Nelson’s confidence , coach!  You now have zero QB’s!!

UTEP finally managed a consolation TD in the second half.  Big deal!

Walden’s post-game nonsense continued.  He exhorted his troops to win 5 of their last 6 to become bowl eligible.  This decrepit Miner squad might not be able to beat any of the 5 best high school teams in El Paso, especially with Walden at the helm.

Some trends, like pet rocks, make no sense.  However, underdogs are increasingly doing something quite clever this season.  Big underdog and score early?  Why not onside kick after a score?  UCLA and Syracuse have done so and scored after successful recoveries.  Down go Penn State and Clemson, respectively, after big momentum fueled starts by big underdogs.

Tulsa also executed a successful onside kick against favored Navy.  This tactic makes so much sense on many levels.  An underdog rates to have their defense on the field a good amount of time, so why not try to steal a possession that will result in a fresher D in the fourth quarter?  For an underdog, attempting to maintain momentum can be paramount to pulling off an upset.

Success breeds imitators.  Expect this tactic to be more common among the dogs.

Whose stock increased the most on Saturday?  Easy question!  Answer:  Nico Iamaleava, the belittled UCLA (and former Tennessee QB).  Portrayed as a greedy and overly entitled brat, Iamaleava did the seemingly impossible:  Leading woebegone UCLA to a shocking upset over Penn State.  The hapless Bruins  were 24 point dogs to a Penn State squad many had tabbed as the pre-season favorite to win the Natty.

UCLA had not held a lead all year – even more remarkable because 2 Mountain West teams ( UNLV and New Mexico) and Northwestern were among those who had punked the Westwood boys.  So, the shock when UCLA raced off to a 27-7 lead over the Nittany Lions was considerable.  Did Iamaleava do it with “pretty boy” passing throws?  No, not primarily.  While he did throw 2 TD tosses, the Tennessee refugee showed considerable grit by running for 128 yards and 3 TDs.

Iamaleava had considerable help from the game plan.  Jerry Neuheisel was newly tabbed as the new OC after Tino Sunseri’s firing earlier in the week.  Neuheisel’s game plan was brilliant, aided by a successful onside kick after the Bruins’ first score.  This was not the first time “off the bench” for Neuheisel to produce a memorable UCLA upset, as he was pressed into service as a Bruin QB in 2014 and engineered a memorable upset over Texas.

Penn State certainly contributed to this Nittany Lion debacle.  Clearly, the heartbreaking Oregon double OT hangover had not been fully dealt with.  Plus, the travel from State College to the West Coast is daunting as the nearest significant airport is 90 minutes away in Harrisburg.  As brilliant as UCLA’s play calling was, Penn State’s was questionable.  Only 8 rushing attempts for Kaytron Allen?  Down 42-35, with a climactic 4th and 2, running Drew Allar on an option?

The outcome was stunning and provided major rehabilitation for Iamaleava.  Still, perhaps not the biggest surprise on Saturday.  That may have been tuning to a game at Wyoming on October 4, only to see a snow-filled field!

If one wants to minimize aggrivation in their life, one of the last endeavors to be considered is betting on college football.

Two recent examples:

Auburn is trailing Oklahoma 22-17 in the final 2 minutes.  Auburn is a 6.5 point dog.  A safety for the Sooners makes the final score 24-17.

Last Saturday, Iowa and Indiana are locked in a 10-10 deadlock at halftime.  The halftime line is Indiana by 5.5.  A late TD puts the Hoosiers ahead 20-13.  However, a “preemptive safety by Indiana makes the final score 20-15.

To be in Oxford, Mississippi for a college football weekend is like going to an exquisite spa.  After your visit, you leave one of the small-town jewels of the South refreshed, rejuvenated and admiring the wonders of life.

Oh, by the way, a pivotal SEC game took place Saturday afternoon.  Fourth-ranked LSU came to town.  Not only is the Magnolia Bowl rivalry intense, but Ole Miss wanted to get the bad taste of their never-behind-until-the-final-gun, overtime loss to the Bayou Bengals in 2024.

Mission accomplished after a very slow start by the Rebels.  LSU totally shut down the Rebels on the first two drives and quickly took a 7-0 lead.  Then, Lane Kiffin opened up the playbook and let wonderkind, Ferris State supersub, Trinidad Chambliss, loose.  Nice adjustment, coach!

Ole Miss took aver the game, having a 480-254 edge in yardage.  Those offense stats did not tell the “hold” story.  Ole Miss committed so many holding penalties that the last time the Odyssey saw so much holding, we must have been watching a “Dancing With The Stars” segment.  LSU chipped in as one Old Miss TD drive was largely comprised of 3 major penalties on the Tigers.

The LSU offense remains an issue – a surprising develop given all the pre-season hype over QB Garrett Nussmeier.  Nussmeier was just OK and was the second best QB on the field.  A pre-season Heisman Trophy candidate outplayed by the pride of Big Rapids, Michigan??  Only in college football!

Clinging to a 24-19 lead with under 2 minutes to play, Ole Miss had a 4th and 2 in LSU territory.  The swashbucking Kiffin dials up a pass.  Ballgame!

A great week for Lane Kiffin!  The SEC Network rolls out a sympathetic hour piece on Kiffin and now his team is 3-0 in the brutal SEC.  The Odyssey hopes he does not leave for another college gig.  Ole Miss’ last SEC championship was during the Johnny Vaught salad days in segregated 1963.  Is this the year?

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!