| hi ALL, with recent things going on in my life in recent months, I tried to do my usual stuff from 2020 and before but I realize with my busy schedule in recent weeks, I have to resort to plan b like I did last year. I know these news stories are a year old now. I am DEAD-SET against college football having a 12-team playoff system. We are good where we are with a four-team playoff and using two major bowl games (such as the Cotton and Orange Bowls this season). I don’t like Oklahoma and Texas leaving the Big 12 for the SEC in a few years and USC and UCLA leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten..With adding those two teams from the Big 12, they will be forced to do a realignment. I hate to admit it but I think college football will start to SU((. No need to fix things that aren’t broken. Sincerely, RICH HERE ARE SOME PREDICTIONS: -Alabama will play Ohio State in the playoff final. Clemson will be one of the teams playing in a semi-final bowl game. Likely, the Buckeyes will play the Tigers in a semi-final bowl game (likely the Fiesta Bowl) for a fourth time (including a third straight season). The Crimson Tide will have that #1 seed and play in the Peach Bowl. -Expect teams like Boise State, Boston College, Kansas State, Kent State, LSU, Nebraska, Oregon State, Stanford, Tennessee, Texas, Washington State, and Wisconsin will be better than their record from last season. -Defending National Champions Georgia will have a great team but don’t expect them to make the college football playoff finals. -Michigan State will finish with a 9-4- the highest. Ohio State will be too much for these Spartans when the Buckeyes travel for an Oct.8 road game in East Lansing, MI. Michigan State has tough road games against Michigan (Oct.29) and Penn State (Nov.26) but will have tough home games against Minnesota (Sept.24) and Wisconsin (Oct.15). -East Carolina will finally play in a bowl game. The ECU Pirates had a 7-5 mark last season. They were supposed to play Boston College in the Military Bowl but that game got cancelled because of COVID-19. -Head Coaches on the hot seat include Nebraska Head Coach Scott Frost, Syracuse Head Coach Dino Babers, Stanford Head Coach David Shaw, Georgia Tech Head Coach Geoff Collins, California Head Coach Justin Wilcox, and San Jose State Head Coach Brent Brennan are favored to be relieved of their current job after this 2022 season is over. -Teams that could surprise are Arkansas, Florida, Florida State, Louisville, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oregon State, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Tulane, TCU, UAB, and Wyoming. -Don’t expect teams such as BYU (10-3), Cincinnati (13-1), Pittsburgh (11-3), and UTSA (12-2) to be better than last season. -A player from Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State will have a player win a national individual position award. I know an offensive player from Ohio State, such as QB C.J Stroud, RB TreVeyon Henderson, WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba, or someone in the OL corp will win a national individual honor. Don’t be surprised if an Alabama LB (Will Anderson Jr, Henry To’o To’o, or Dallas Turner) wins the Butkus Award. Don’t be surprised if Clemson wins the ACC Championship and makes it back into the college football playoffs, a player wins a national individual honor. The best contender for one would be Clemson PK B.T Potter pursuing the Lou Groza Award (best PK in the nation). -Notre Dame will play in a New Year’s Six major bowl game for a third straight season but won’t play in a semi-final playoff game. A season-opening road loss against Ohio State will eventually cost the Fighting Irish dearly. Don’t forget Notre Dame will have a home game against a reborn and rebuilt Clemson football team on Nov. 5. The OL will make life easy for whoever is the new starting QB and RB for this offense but it is a learning season for these new starters. -Alabama (West) will defeat Georgia (East) in the SEC Championship Game for a second straight season. The Crimson Tide will three-peat as SEC Champions but the Bulldogs won’t repeat as national champions. The winner of the Kentucky at Tennessee (Oct.29) will earn a berth to play in a New Year’s Six major bowl game. -Ohio State (East) will defeat Wisconsin (West) in the Big Ten Championship Game. I wish I could say the winner of the Purdue at Minnesota game will win the Big Ten West Division title but the Badgers will be reborn and rebuilt as the Big Ten West Division Champions. Don’t sleep on Michigan, who will remain to be a force to be reckoned with in the Big Ten. However, the Buckeyes will defeat the Wolverines to win an 11th straight Big Ten Division title, including six-peating as the Big Ten East Division titles. -The winner of the Oklahoma State at Oklahoma will take on the winner of the Baylor at Texas game in the Big 12 Championship Game. If the OSU Cowboys get to play in this game against anyone, expect them to win the Big 12 title for the first time since 2011. -The Pac-12 North Division appears to be wide open after Mario Cristobal left Oregon for the Miami head coaching job. It could be Oregon, Oregon State, or Washington State (North) playing the winner of the USC at Utah game (South on Oct.15) in the Pac-12 Championship Game (at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, NV). We can’t count UCLA out of the Pac-12 out of the Pac-12 South Division race. -This will be the last season in which the ACC has division champions playing each other in their annual championship game. Clemson (Atlantic) will defeat the winner of the Miami at Virginia (Coastal on Oct.29) in the ACC Championship Game. The defending ACC Champions Pittsburgh will fall short of making the ACC Championship Game because of road games against Virginia (Nov.12) and Miami (Nov.26). -I can’t count Cincinnati out of the AAC Championship Game because the UC Bearcats will reload with new talent but I don’t see them having a 13-1 mark this season. I think the winner of the Cincinnati at UCF game (Oct.29) will play Houston in the AAC Championship Game. I predict the UH Cougars will be the first-place team who gets home-field advantage, wins this game, and becomes that non-power conference team who plays in a New Year’s Six major bowl game. -I predict the winner of the Central Michigan at Northern Illinois game (West on Nov.2) will play Miami (OH). I can’t count Toledo or Western Michigan out of the MAC West Division race but I believe it will be the NIU Huskies or the CMU Chippewas playing in the MAC Championship Game. -Boise State will regain ownership of the MW Mountain Division. The Broncos will play the winner of the San Diego State at Fresno State game (West on Oct.29) in the MW Championship Game. Air Force, Utah State, and Wyoming will fight amongst each other for second place in the MW Mountain Division. -C-USA has no divisions anymore because there are 11 teams in that conference. I predict UTSA will take on UAB in a rematch from their Nov.5 match in which the UAB Blazers will have a home game against the UTSA Roadrunners. -The SBC is a bigger conference than you can imagine. The SBC took Marshall (East), Old Dominion (East), and Southern Miss (West) out of C-USA and will remain in those same divisions in which they were in from C-USA. James Madison has joined C-USA after spending the last 43 seasons (1979-2021) playing in NCAA Division I FCS (formerly NCAA Division I-AA) and will be apart of the East Division. Troy will move from the East to the West Division of the SBC. I predict that the winner of the Appalachian State at Coastal Carolina (East on Nov.3) will play the winner of the Troy at Louisiana (West on Nov.5) in the SBC Championship Game. -As far as national individual awards go, I don’t know who else will win one or be a finalist. Here is something I will tell you. I do predict a PK from the ACC, Big Ten, or SEC will be a finalist for the Lou Groza Award. The AAC has a great collection of PKs in their conference. Michigan PK Jake Moody is the defending Lou Groza Award winner. USC WR Jordan Addison, who transferred from Pittsburgh, is the defending Biletnikoff Award winner (best WR in the nation). I count out a repeat but somehow those players will fall short unless they have a better statistical season. A RB from the Big 12 and the Big Ten will be a finalist for the Doak Walker Award. Notre Dame, Cincinnati, Michigan, Ohio State, and Oregon have the best OL corp in the nation and one of their players will be a finalist for the Outland Trophy (best interior lineman in the nation) or the Rimington Award (best center in the nation). Questions, Comments, Concerns, and Objections ARE MORE THAN WELCOME!!!!Feel free to pass this email along to other college football experts, writers, and broadcasters you know of. PS: In case any one of you are wondering, the SBC stands for the Sun Belt Conference. The Sun Belt has become a better conference than you would expect because they added four more teams. The AAC stands for the American Athletic Conference, which will kickoff it’s ninth season since that conference was established. A lot of people refer to them as The American. I wish the MW could be called the MWC (as in Mountain West Conference) but their official acronym is referred to as the MW. I hope all that helps any of you all out there. |
