College Football Odyssey

As the Odyssey suggested last month, the Pac-12’s curtain call is going to be epic.

We attended the UCLA game at San Diego State on a perfect Southern California day (By the way, the Mountain West can boast 2 of the 3 best stadiums of relatively new vintage:  Snapdragon Stadium is nothing less than a dream.  Colorado State and Baylor both have beautiful stadiums.  The one commonality between these 3 beauties is that none are built to house 50,000+ fans.  That helps in terms of innovative design).

UCLA rolled 35-10 in a game that was never in serious doubt.  The Bruins cruised to a 28-10 halftime lead thanks to 354 yards of offense.  The Bruins’quarterback carousel came to a resounding stop as 5-star Freshman from Detroit, Dante Moore, impressed.   Moore and his mates made mincemeat of a proud defensive program.

Just how good is the Pac12? Amazingly good!  UCLA might be the 8th best team in the conference, as evidenced by the latest college football rankings which rank 8.  We have no certainty how the current pecking order should look but this is our best guess:

1.  USC
2.  Oregon State
3.  Washington
4. Oregon
5. Utah
6. Colorado
7. Washington State
8. UCLA
9. Arizona
10. Cal
11. Stanford
12. ASU

Wow!  Cal should have upset Auburn but were done in by red zone woes, lowlighted by 3 missed field goals.  Arizona extended Mississippi State to overtime at Cowbell U.

The NIL and transfer portal era have not been at all kind to the Mountain West.  Two of the conference’s bell cows in Boise State and San Diego State have both been drummed by the Pac 12.  Further, can you blame San Jose State for saying “no mas” after dual routs at the hands of USC and Oregon State?  Another piece of evidence of the increasing conference disparity:  In an embaressment of riches, UCLA will have 2 competent QB’s sitting on the bench in transferring Kent State starter, Collin Schlee, and Ethan Garbers.

The Pac’s power may result in cannibalization in regard to a berth in the sunset year of a 4-team national playoff.  The Odyssey will not be the least bit surprised if every conference member winds up with at least 2 losses.

As for the Mountain West, the beleagured conference badly needs an infusion of less-than-thrilled Oregon State and Washington State.

Thanks to Deion, Caleb and Company, the Pac will make for awesome week-after-week TV!

Abject apologies!

College Football Odyssey prides itself on giving our readers unvarnished truth.  Our August 19 post, “An Amazing Finale” spoke of the possibility that the QBs in the Pac-12’s final year might be the best ever in the conference.

We listed 6 amazing QB’s in the Pac.  OOPS!  Based on last weekend, 6 has morphed into at least 8.

Shadeur Sanders was 38 for 47 in throwing for 510 yards as Colorado pulled off a stunning upset of 17th ranked TCU.

Run-first Oregon State shone in its decisive victory at San Jose State.  Highly-recruited Clemson refugee, D.J. Uiagalelei, accounted for 5 touchdowns with his arms and his legs.

Oregon’s Bo Nix helped pin an 81-spot on Portland State.  Cameron Ward and Michael Penix Jr. each threw for 450 yards.  Caleb Williams lead USC to 668 yards of offense.

Probably the most unbelievable weekend ever for Pac-12 QB’s! The Pac has gone 13-0.  There is even the possibility of another QB star on the horizon.  Even though highly touted Dante Moore of UCLA did not start, he threw 2 TD passes and appears to be the heir apparent in Westwood.

Bottom line:  The Odyssey sandbagged in our August 19 post.  Let’s revise our comments:

This year’s crop of Pac-12 QB’s is THE best in the 108 years of the conference. EVER.

This year’s crop of Pac-12 QBs is THE best in any conference.  EVER.

There, we believe that we have appropriately updated our comment from last month.

The Odyssey’s latest doubleheader weekend started in Atlanta at the Mercedes Benz dome.  Georgia Tech was the quasi-home team against Louisville.  In the first half, the Rambling Wreck looked reminiscent of the Yellowjackets’ 4 national championship squads.  Haynes King, the Texas A&M transfer, led Tech to an eye-popping 321 yards of offense and a 28-13 lead.  The Odyssey was impressed with Georgia Tech fans, exuberant despite a fallow period in recent years.

HOWEVER…..Jeff Brohm’s return to his alma mater was noteworthy.  If Brohm is deemed to be the Cardinals’ savior, their halftime adjustments would totally be in accord with such accolades.  The Tech offense was totally shut down in the second half, save for a last-ditch TD against a prevent defense.  Big 39-34 comeback win for Louisville.

Having the pleasure of attending the game with my son, TJ, his assessment seemed reasonable:  2 ACC teams of middle tier.

After a late-night drive to Macon, the Odyssey looked forward to the second leg of our journey to Statesboro for our first Georgia Southern game.   For football addicts, one of the great inventions is Sirius radio.  The trip whizzed by as the Odyssey enthralled with Prime’s debut with the Buffaloes.  At game’s end, we were thunderstruck that a team, projected to win 3-4 games, could suddenly have 3 Heisman Trophy candidates.  Sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction.

The road leading to Paulsen stadium was incredibly beautiful and unique.  A road was split by a huge median highlighted by rows of magnificent trees.  The stadium could use some renovation but that road is a vision that would have wowed Scarlett O’Hara.  And if we had to pick a locale which had the vibe of being most up for a post-game Country music concert, Statesboro would be very close to the top of the list.

Notice that I have said nothing about Georgia Southern’s game against FCS Citadel.  Simply because there is nothing to say in a 34-0 whitewash of an outclassed FCS team.  The Odyssey wishes these FCS sacrifices would stop.  The SEC had never recorded 10 wins of 30+ points on a single Saturday until yesterday.  Ironically, the worst of the slaughters involved Macon’s Mercer Bears, a 73-7 victim at Ole Miss.  Given that my toilet backed up in my Macon hotel room, create your own metaphors.

I am hoping that one of the fallouts of the crazy doings in college football realignment is that the two big daddies, ESPN and Fox, eventually get rid of most of these slaughter games in favor of more compelling tilts.

However, any college Saturday will never fail to offer some delights.  On Saturday, the Mountain Time Zone reigned supreme!  The day started with Colorado’s spine-tingling upset and ended with another upset by a decided underdog:  In Laramie, Wyoming threw a game-tying TD pass on 4th and 7 in double overtime despite a fierce blitz.  When the ensuing 2-point conversion succeeded, the Cowboys had their 35-33 upset over Texas Tech.   A giddy field storming ensued in Cowboy land.   COOL!!

Poaching in college football has been brutal to the Group of 5 Conferences — both in terms of its best teams accepting offers to greener pastures and in the exodus of its talent to the Power 5, thanks to NIL money, more TV exposure and the ability to insta-transfer.

Let’s consider the sad state of the once-proud Mid-American Conference.  Some of their biggest stars prematurely said goodbye:

Braden Fiske, 1st team MAC Defensive Tackle at Western Michigan, grabbed Florida State’s NIL money

A massive Western Michigan exodus to Minnesota included tw0-time 1,000+ yard rusher Sean Tyler,  LB Ryan Selig and WR Corey Crooms

Colin Schlee, Kent State QB threw for 2109 yards, left for UCLA

One of Schlee’s prime targets, Tez Walker, is now at North Carolina

UCLA, not content to settle for Schlee, also grabbed Ball State’s Carson Steele (1,556 yards rushing)

Dante Cephus, all-MAC wide receiver at Kent State, transferred to Penn State

John Paddock, Ball St. QB, transferred to Illinois — even though Paddock rates to be a backup

The MAC has become a farm club for the Power 5.  At least in Major League baseball, the farm clubs get some benefit from their relationship with the parent club.  Not so in the Wild, Wild West of college football.

The American lost Cincinnati, UCF and Houston.

Thus, Conference USA lost 6 teams for the American.  No offense to the 4 teams added to Conference USA (New Mexico State, Liberty, Sam Houston State and Jacksonville State), but this might be the worst Division 1 conference in 40 years (When the Missouri Valley was Division 1-A in the early 1980’s, that exercise in futility at the highest level comes to mind — Pre-North Dakota State and South Dakota State).

The Mountain West used to be an excellent conference in the days of Utah, BYU and TCU.   Boise State’s lost luster in recent years is another element in the conference’s decline.

Which leaves the one Group of 5 Conference that has thrived in recent years:  The Sun Belt!

Judicious additions to the conference, emphasizing regional rivalries, has been important.  The tradition of schools such as Appalachian State has been invaluable.  The darling of the pandemic in 2020 was the dramatic ascension of Coastal Carolina.  One of last year’s newcomers, Marshall, won at Notre Dame.  Another 2022 newcomer also has long-standing tradition in Southern Miss.  The other relative newbie, James Madison, was an established FCS power.

Sure, the Sun Belt will get poached by the big boys  (DE Josaiah Stewart flipped from Coastal Carolina to Michigan and all-Sun Belt DE, Isaac Ukwu, bailed from James Madison to Ole Miss) but the conference’s staying power is clear.  Aside from Louisiana Monroe and Texas State, no other teams in the conference have been perennial weak sisters.  Such depth makes for many weekly matchups of quality.

Saturday, the Odyssey will be at another Sun Belt team with great tradition in Georgia Southern.  Clay Helton performed a magic act in his debut year in Statesboro.  Helton successfully  and shockingly converted a triple-option team into a passing circus which resulted in a surprise bowl bid and numerous single season records by QB Kyle Vantrease.  Although Vantrease has graduated, expect Tulsa transfer, Davis Brin, to pick up the slack.

The Odyssey is not done weeping about the demise of the Pac-12. With our Midwestern roots, Rose Bowls involving the Pac-8, Pac-10 and Pac-12 are indelibly printed on our souls.

HOWEVER!!!!!!!! …………….

What a last act coming in 2023!!

In the 108th and lost year of this legendary conference, the Odyssey wonders if this will prove to be the best year ever for Pac QBs….That is a BIG comment given that the conference has given us John Elway, Warren Moon, Matt Leinart, Andrew Luck, Steve Bartkowski, Joe Roth, Aaron Rodgers, Sonny Sixkiller, Jake Plummer, Pat Haden, Gary Beban, John Brodie, Frankie Albert, Marcus Mariota, Dorian Thompson Robinson, Terry Baker, Jim Plunkett, Ryan Leaf, Drew Bledsoe……..The Odyssey could go on and on and on in naming legends but you get the idea.

One of the most earth-shattering stats of 2023 after I finished reading Phil Steele’s preseason publication: Steele lists the his all-conference picks and, in typically comprehensive manner, he lists the first four teams at each position.

Arizona’s Jayden DiLaura did NOT make the first four teams!! This is not a slight to DiLaura given who he slotted behind. DiLaura was named Freshman of the Year at Washington State before transferring to Tucson in 2022. All he did was throw for 3,685 yards and scare the hell out of defensive coordinators with his mobility and play-making ability. Although DiLaura has been criticized for trying to throw for a TD on each play, the Hawaii native is clearly one of the country’s most dangerous QB’s.

Let’s consider another Pac-12 QB who could not crack Steele’s top 4, WSU’s Cameron Ward. Ward had an incredible 2021 at Incarnate Word before deciding to sample the Palouse. In Pullman, Ward completed 64% of his passes for 3,231 yards. Consider Ward the #6 QB in the Pac!!

An incoming transfer QB at Oregon State, DJ Uiagalelei is relegated to the second tier in pre-season analysis. The heralded 5-star recruit from Clemson had some poor games, including in a 31-30 home upset loss to South Carolina, BUT the talent is still there.

Who are considered Steele’s top 4 QB’s who sent this esteemed trio to the back of the bus?

1) USC Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams
2) Washington’s Michael Penix threw for a ridiculous 4,197 yards
3) Oregon’s Bo Nix
4) Utah’s Cam Rising

The Odyssey believes DiLaura will have a better year than Nix or Rising but, regardless, the Pac-12’s 2023 curtain call rates to nothing short of epic.

Growing up in Michigan, I was the son of Wolverine alumni. As big as the Ohio State finale was, the gold at the end of the rainbow was winning the Big 10 and playing in the Rose Bowl. The glittering venue would offer the Pacific Coast’s best squad as a more-than-worthy opponent. A great bowl at an unsurpassed venue befitting two great conferences.

RIP to the Pacific 12 Conference. Yesterday’s death at 108 years old was as needless as a traffic fatality involving a drunk driver. Just as tragic car accidents can leave orphans, the implosion of the Pac 12 has left 4 orphans: Stanford, Cal, Washington State and Oregon State. While the Bay Area schools might deserve their fate due to indifferent fan interest, Wazzu and Oregon State are well-supported schools that happen to be located in rural locales. In 2023, Fox and ESPN thumb their noses at schools that are not located in major markets.

RIP to any more Big 10-Pac 10 Rose Bowls. The Rose Bowl is now an active participant in a playoff system that has greatly cheapened other bowls.

Undoubtedly, the certainty of an undisputed national champion certain has its attraction. However, the collateral damage has been considerable. For the majority of schools that are in football’s highest division, being crowned national champ is an impossibility. Such reality has served to diminish the brands of many schools as well as the Group of 5 conferences.

That the demise of the Pac 12 actually happened will always be extremely hard to fathom. In 2011, the Conference adopted the ill-fated Pac 12 Network that had difficulty getting in sufficient households. In 2018, ESPN offered to take the Pac 12 Network off its hands. Nope! Both decisions lay at the doorstep of the worst commissioner ever, Larry Scott.

The relative lack of primetime exposure on ESPN and Fox to eyeballs in more Easterly time zones resulted in many prominent California preps heading to colleges back East. One can easily lose count of the number of heralded prep QBs from California who became “reverse” Lewis and Clarks.

Scott’s successor, Gene Kliavkoff, did not prove to be Ivy League material either! A modern-day Nero, he fiddled as the Pac 12 burned. Among his black marks:  His refusal to timely expand and more aggressively pursue a contract with a “linear” TV partner left the conference more vulnerable to being poached.

The Odyssey weeps. One of the bedrocks of a great sport is no more.

3 months have passed since the NFL Draft and the college football fan in me is still left with a bad taste in his mouth. While college football has always had its “haves” and “have nots” , NIL and the transfer portal have greatly deepened the divide.

Jahmyr Gibbs was the #12 overall pick in the draft. He fled a losing Georgia Tech team to be the feature back at Alabama.

Vanderbilt had a decent offensive lineman in Tyler Steen. He fled Nashville for the Crimson TIde and became the #65 overall pick in the draft.

Before Tennessee had its renaissance 2022, linebacker Henry To’oTo’O transferred to, you guessed it, Alabama. To’oTo’O was a 5th round draft pick.

Does it help college football that Nick Saban gets to cherry pick from lesser squads? Like Alabama really needs the help after each year’s premier recruiting class!!

This is not just an “Alabama” thing. The MAC has become a de facto farm club for the Power 5. Kent State’s best 2 offensive players said adieu. QB Collin Schlee transferred to UCLA while his primary receiver, Dante Cephas, left for Happy Valley. Ball State’s Carson Steele was probably the MAC’s best back in 2022, as he rushed for 1,556 yards. The Indiana prep will be Schlee’s running mate in Westwood in 2023.

The Odyssey is torn. Some transfers are more than understandable (One can totally understand why Charles Jones’ ditched Iowa’s staid offense for pass happy Purdue. He had a much better 2022 in West Lafayette than he ever would have had in Iowa City). However, some of the transfers are thumbing their nose at the teams that believed in them coming out of high school. This scent of disloyalty does bother the Odyssey.

We are also concerned about the fan experience. If the “have” versus “have not” divide continues to widen, fans will be subject to more blowout games. In Ann Arbor, among other college football palaces, fans will be paying lots of money for a second straight season of paying for laughable non-conference sacrifices (The Wolverines’ non-conference victims in 2022:  Hawaii, Colorado State and Connecticut; 2023: East Carolina, UNLV and Bowling Green).

Unless the transfer portal gets tightened, maybe the only solution is to have one or two elite conferences whose schedules consist solely of playing each other.  For  other teams, the Odyssey would be very open to a promotion/relegation approach now employed by Britain’s Premier League.

The Odyssey would generally prefer a return to the “old days” but that horse has left the barn. Let’s hope the powers that be will be able to limit the damage.

Congrats to Georgia!

Condolences to the majority of college football teams.

A quality team from the Big 12 was decimated from one of the titans of the imperial bosses of the SEC.

Compound this with the rich getter richer via the transfer portal from the lesser schools.  Competitive balance is waning in a sport that richly thrives on competition.

The Odyssey likes a degree of competitive balance.  Monday night’s TCU trainwreck was not in any way healthy for college football.

We will be flying our flag at half mast until we start posting again in August.  TILL THEN!

FINALLY!!! Two semifinal CFP games that both delivered.  

Just when it seemed like the January 2 bowl games felt like yesterday’s leftovers, Tulane scores 16 points in the last 4 minutes to shock USC, 46-45, for the very biggest win in Green Wave history.

Another January 2 shocker from a betting standpoint. Mississippi State kicks a last ditch field goal to go ahead 13-10. The Bulldogs started off as small favorites but the line rose to 3.5 in the hours leading up to the game. Imagine having a +3.5 or -3.5 ticket. On the ensuing kickoff, Illinois attempted the standard throw-the-ball-around-like-a-hot-potato on the ensuing kickoff. At one point, an alert MSU defender intercepts an errant toss and runs it back for 6 on the game’s final play. 19-10 final. Assuredly, there were “Oh my Gods” and “F*ck mes” in the betting world.

Even with some truly meaningless games (IE, LSU beat an undermanned Purdue team, 63-7), college football always seems to deliver.

HAPPY NEW YEAR from the Odyssey!

Mike Leach is gone at age 61.  Shocking.  Unfair.  An irretrievable loss.

That Mike Leach could win at 3 of the most challenging jobs in the Power 5 (Texas Tech, Washington State and Mississippi State) is enough to put him on the Mount Rushmore of college coaches.  Sure, perhaps Nick Saban is the college GOAT but have you noticed where Alabama’s recruiting classes ranked every year.  Sure, Saban also won a national championship at LSU but talent down on the Bayou is always as ample as Dolly Parton’s cleavage.

I doubt that you could ever find one of Leach’s recruiting classes in the Top 25 but that just made his magic that much more singular.  He won 11 games at Texas Tech in 2008 before being forced out by yelps from the family of Craig James.  After Leach’s firing, football in Lubbock went into hibernation for the next decade . He resurfaced on the Palouse and after a rough 2 years, also got Wazzu to an 11-win season.

The Odyssey is happy for the Leach legacy that his last game coached was a 24-22 thriller over hated arch rival, Ole Miss, in Thanksgiving’s Egg Bowl.  Leach was an innovative pioneer in the Air Raid passing offense. All great stuff BUT what really set Leach apart were his outlook on life and his press conferences.  Both various shades of mesmerizing.  He had a fixation on pirates and wisely counseled couples on the wisdom of eloping in lieu of a formal wedding.  He was so unconventional and so hilarious!!  How many coaches have commented on his team’s “fat little girlfriends?”  If he had used his law degree, Leach would have been a brilliant lawyer.  He also would have been excellent as a stand up comedian.

Leach’s teams could be maddening in two regards.  His disdain of the run game caused occasional issues when his offenses were in the Red Zone, facing a compressed field.  Occasionally, the lack of said run game was costly in the sense that his offense could not “run out the clock” with a lead.  The most memorable Leach defeat in this regard was the 2013 New Mexico Bowl.  Washington State had a 45-30 lead over Colorado State with slightly over 4 minutes to play.  An inability to run the ball and a costly fumble cost dearly as the Rams came back for a stunning 48-45 win.  Sadly, Leach’s 3 Mississippi State teams were each steamrolled by the Nick Saban machine.  A few pimples on a terrific body of work.

However, his legacy will  easily transcend his solid won-loss record.  Given that the Odyssey’s Godmother is currently in hospice at age 96, Leach might have had one final blessing.  His death was quick and, hopefully, relatively painless.  His death will never erase his memory.  RIP, my friend.