Tag: 2020 Ncaa football

The picks are in, ESPN’s College GameDay selects winners for today

Find out who the ESPN panel with guest picker Derrick Henry selected for today’s games including Alabama vs. Georgia.

Today’s guest picker on ESPN’s College GameDay doesn’t need much of an introduction. Just go back to this past Tuesday’s NFL highlights and you’ll see this.

Derrick Henry is a bad dude, the former Alabama Heisman Trophy winning back is coming off a season where he led the NFL in rushing. And he gave us this fantastic meme.

Henry joined Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, Desmond Howard and David Pollack in picking today’s slate of games. Here’s who they selected to win today.

Illinois at Wisconsin (Next Friday)

Henry – UW

Howard – UW

Pollack – UW

Herbstreit – UW

Corso – UW

 

UCF at Memphis

Henry – UCF

Howard – UCF

Pollack – UCF

Herbstreit – UCF

Corso – UCF

 

Marshall at Louisiana Tech

Henry – La. Tech

Howard – Marshall

Pollack – Marshall

Herbstreit – Marshall

Corso – Marshall

 

North Carolina at Florida State

Henry – UNC

Howard – UNC

Pollack – UNC

Herbstreit – UNC

Corso – UNC

 

Pittsburgh at Miami, FL

Henry – Miami

Howard – Miami

Pollack – Miami

Herbstreit – Miami

Corso – Miami

 

Boston College at Virginia Tech

Henry – BC

Howard – VT

Pollack – VT

Herbstreit – BC

Corso – VT

 

Texas A&M at Mississippi State

Henry – TAMU

Howard – Miss. St.

Pollack – TAMU

Herbstreit – Miss. St.

Corso – TAMU

 

Ole Miss at Arkansas

Henry – Ole Miss

Howard – Ole Miss

Pollack – Ole Miss

Herbstreit – Ole Miss

Corso – Ole Miss

 

Kentucky at Tennessee

Henry – Tenn.

Howard – Tenn.

Pollack – Tenn.

Herbstreit – Tenn.

Corso – Tenn.

 

Auburn at South Carolina

Henry – S. Carolina

Howard – S. Carolina

Pollack – S. Carolina

Herbstreit – S. Carolina

Corso – S. Carolina

Georgia at Alabama

Henry – Alabama

Howard – Alabama

Pollack – Alabama

Herbstreit – Georgia

Corso – Alabama

ACC reveals preseason projected standings

The media, 134 members total, gave their projections as to how the 2020 ACC season will play out. Find out where they place Notre Dame.

One week from today, we will all be excited, exploding with anticipation as the Irish are set to kick off their season the next day. Today, the results of the annual ACC media poll were released.

The Irish were the only other team to get votes to finish first, although Clemson got all except 2. If the projections are correct, the Irish and Tigers will face off twice, once during the regular season and again in the ACC Championship game.

Although the media members don’t project records, the 134 polled think the season will play out with the Irish at least having a chance for an ACC regular-season championship. Hopefully, they are wrong, or at worst the Irish split the games with the Tigers and give the College Football Committee something to think about when it releases the final rankings.

Clemson’s quarterback, Trevor Lawrence, was selected as the conference’s preseason player of the year. This isn’t a surprise at all, since most pundits have Lawrence as the projected first pick in next spring’s NFL draft.

ACC Football to continue as scheduled

The ACC Presidents met this afternoon and it was very quiet after their meeting.

As the old adage goes, no news is good news.

That was exactly the case this afternoon as the ACC Presidents met once again to discuss the health ramifications of playing a football season in the fall with their team of expert doctors.

The key to this meeting was that the Presidents will continue use their doctors as resources in determining if a season is viable. That is the main difference between the Big Ten and Pac-12’s decision and the ACC, SEC and Big XII’s move towards playing college football this fall. The conferences that are allowing football currently have their medical advisors believing that it is safe to go ahead and play football, while the two that have shut things down don’t agree.

It is a very touchy subject, as many players inside the Big Ten and Pac-12 would have liked to go forward with the season. Larry Scott, the Pac-12 commissioner, didn’t seem to have much push back on their decision as much as Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren did. A lot of it has to do with the state of California, where 4 Pac-12 schools reside, and the fact that they have had issues controlling the outbreak of COVID-19 cases.

The ACC will continue to move towards a season and hopefully, with no more hiccups along the way.

Rumor: AD’s believe moving football to spring inevitable

New rumors suggest the football season will move to the spring of next year.

First it was independent Connecticut opting out of a fall season, then all of the Mid-American Conference, the MAC, following suit. Now it seems as if the Power Five conferences could be next. In a report last night from CBS Sports detailing unknown Athletic Directors believing the football season won’t be played in the fall, but rather in the spring.

The report had one AD saying, “I think it’s inevitable (the season will not be played in the fall)” while another says “it’s not fair what we’re doing to our coaches and student-athletes.” When looking at the landscape of college football, a spring season just seems like it is not plausible. The Big Ten was scheduled to begin padded practices this weekend, but that was put on a hold. Their first-year commissioner Kevin Warren seems to prefer a spring season, as reported by the Detroit Free Press.  Oklahoma started practices but now pushed them back, partly due to a change in scheduling, but also to monitor what has been happening around the country with cancellations. Players in the Pac-12 and Big Ten have rallied together to demand more adequate testing procedure, scholarship protection and more with so much uncertainty surrounding the season.

Those two conferences are the ones that the unnamed AD believe’s will be next to move football to the spring, “The Pac-12 will be next and then the Big Ten. The Big Ten just going to no contact, what’s that going to do for you? With California being so prominent (with the coronavirus), I see the Pac-12 getting out there next.”

It’s time to prepare ourselves for a spring football season. This isn’t what any of us want to see, but it seems like it’s an inevitability at this point. The fall surely will be different if football is not played, but the safety of the players and coaches should be at the forefront of this decision.

Grim outlook on College Football from NCAA President Emmert

NCAA President Mark Emmert make some very discouraging comments regarding NCAA fall sports.

Last night NCAA President Mark Emmert and chief medical officer Brian Hainline made some very discouraging comments regarding the playing of college football this fall. While conferences continue to adjust their schedules, just this morning the MAC canceled all fall athletics following the lead of Division II and III, the COVID-19 pandemic keeps throwing wrenches at NCAA’s fall sports schedule.

Emmert said in an interview last night via the NCAA’s twitter that “this is going to be difficult, to say the least, going forward.” Hainline was even more pessimistic as he believes “we’re in a place that is exceptionally narrow. The boundaries are … there’s not a lot of places to move one way or the other. Almost everything would have to be perfectly aligned to continue moving forward.” Needing perfection to play sports this fall is something that is a stretch, at this point in time it just seems like it’s not in the realm of possibilities.

Many players and coaches have gone to social media to plead with fans to wear masks and do their part, but unfortunately that just isn’t working. We all want to see college football in the fall, along with every other sport that participates when the leaves change. As of right now, the season is set to begin but there is still plenty of time to make changes. It wasn’t all doom and gloom from Emmert as “everybody wants to have kids back on campus. Everybody wants fall sports to return. But we can’t do it unless we can find a way to do it with minimized risk for these young people.”

Brian Kelly: “We really don’t know” about season starting on time

“When you’re an independent and you have an open schedule, everyone is going to look towards Notre Dame as the first one you fill it with.” 

To me there is no better sports radio host in America than Dan Patrick.  His interview skills are superb, he doesn’t take himself too seriously and he doesn’t throw ridiculous “hot takes” at you endlessly in the hopes of getting retweets and more attention.

To me he’s the best at what he does but that’s not why you’re here.

Patrick welcomed Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly to his show on Tuesday morning to discuss the latest in regards to a 2020 college football season and everything else in regards to his Fighting Irish team.  Once a link is available it will be posted in here so you can listen instead of read the words but for the time being, this is what we’ve got:

On his message to the team:

“’What’s your priority?’ If you want to play college football this fall, you’ll have to do the things you’ve done over the last four weeks and the numbers speak for themselves. We’ve already said you can do this, but you’ve done it in a confined environment. They’ve had to do the things necessary. It’s staying out of the bars. They’ve stayed away from parties – social distancing, wearing masks and washing hands. All the things we already know.

“They’ll have to continue that and there is going to have to be peer accountability. Guys will have to say, ‘you can’t do that because I want to play this fall. If you do that and you get me sick, I’m not going to be happy.’

“A big dose of peer accountability and a good dose of guys wanting to play this season is really going to be about what happens when the season starts.”

Does he think the season starts on time?

“I’m optimistic we’re going to start. Then students get on campus and our guys move off-campus. Essentially, we leave the bubble and start the season, unlike some of the professional teams like the NHL or the NBA. They move into a bubble and start the season. College football leaves the bubble and starts the season. We’ll get to the starting line and we’ll see what happens after that.”

Where Notre Dame is at in terms of season-prep:

“We’re in strength training and conditioning. It’s really about four weeks in. Most football programs would normally get about eight weeks in prior to their first padded practice. We still have some work to do relative to the time off. Remember, no spring practice, no real designated offseason. These guys were deconditioned a little bit. We’re getting back there, but we still need a little more time to condition our athletes.”

More…

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Notre Dame Player Preview: Avery Davis – RB/WR

Davis was recruited out of Cedar Hill, Texas as a quarterback but changed positions after the likes of Brandon Wimbush, Ian Book and Phil Jurkovec found themselves well ahead on the depth chart.  Davis might not have stats that jump off the page at you but some of his highlights certainly do.

vWe get a day closer to Notre Dame football returning and although we’re anything but certain as to what exact day that will be, we’re still excited for the idea of it.

Before the ball is kicked though we need to keep informing you on those that will suit up in blue and gold this fall (or next spring).

In this edition we look at a player who was recruited as a quarterback, has spent time as a corner and also at wide receiver and running back.  We’re talking about Notre Dame’s version of the Swiss Army Knife, Avery Davis.

Stats and Information…

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Notre Dame Intrigue Remains Undeniable

Who has the best non-conference schedules in college football this year? Hint: the teams that scheduled Notre Dame (and a couple others).

Love them or hate them, you have a feeling when you hear the three words “Notre Dame football”.

For some it’s love and admiration and memories of Ara Parseghian or Lou Holtz’s squads being an annual powerhouse.

For others it’s anger and a team that gets too much love from the national media and “is always overrated”.

Either way there is a feeling attached to Notre Dame football, even if they haven’t won a national title since 1988 and that feeling presented itself in a recent list put together by Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman.

Tramel ranked the non-conference schedules of the 64 Power Five teams based on how interesting they are.  The grand takeaway?

If you schedule Notre Dame gets major points.

On Tramel’s list you’ll find USC first, Georgia Tech two, Wisconsin fourth and Stanford fifth. Meanwhile, Louisville and Clemson can both also be found in the top eight.

Navy and Western Michigan are the two Group of Five schools that Notre Dame will play in 2020.

The common theme of the list in terms of the Fighting Irish?

Those six teams all have an out of conference schedule that features Notre Dame.

Wake Forest (14) and Pitt (17) also make the top twenty.  Arkansas (25) and Duke (29) round out Notre Dame’s Power Five opponents in 2020 as all ten of those teams appear in the top half of this list of intrigue.

Even without a national title to their name in decades, Notre Dame has again reached the point of national intrigue that had escaped it from the late-nineties until 2012, with the exception of 2005 and part of 2006.

Other thoughts on the list:

Georgia (13) is the only SEC program playing two Power Five programs out of conference (Virginia and Georgia Tech).  I get the SEC is loaded but that’s a pretty sorry fact.  I guess that’s what happens when so few are ever willing to travel out of conference.

Sorry case from the Land of Lincoln squads as Northwestern (63) and Illinois (64) check in as the last two on the list.  A combined Tulane, Central Michigan, Morgan State, Illinois State, Connecticut and Bowling Green between the both of them?  Keep it.

USC gets it.  Along with Notre Dame and UCLA they’re the only other program who has never played an FCS school and with Alabama and Notre Dame on the schedule the Trojans deserve credit for doing it right.

The list makes me remember how much I dislike the neutral site games.  Why can’t Notre Dame and Wisconsin play in each others home stadiums instead (they might, actually)?  Alabama and USC opened against each other in 2016 and will again this year – why not do a home-and-home instead of neutral field it up?  College campuses help make the great game of college football even greater and I’d never be opposed to the big-time OOC showdowns taking place in each others home fields.

88…scratch that, 95 (ish) Days Until Notre Dame Football Returns

Notre Dame football returns in 95 days. Or 96. We’re not fully sure but we do know the countdown went up, not down today. ’95 Notre Dame.

Happy Wednesday, folks.

A few days have passed by without updating the countdown but just to catch you up, we’re 88 days…scratch that…

94 or 95 days away from Notre Dame football returning.

Yeah I know, we started the countdown almost two weeks ago as we reached the 100 day mark and then the announcement came that Week Zero will instead be Week One and that Notre Dame and Navy will instead meetup on Labor Day weekend in Annapolis.

So with that in mind we go back to the future in a way and end up at 95 days.  If you missed 95 the first time around it was dedicated to Kyle Rudolph’s go-ahead touchdown against Michigan in 2010.

This time with 95 we will honor the 1995 Notre Dame team that went 9-3 after a stunning, season-opening loss to Northwestern, who would end up winning the Big Ten championship.

It started with the shocking defeat to a Northwestern squad who hadn’t won more than four games in a single season in 24 years previous.  As awful as things appeared to be headed Notre Dame bounced back with wins over Purdue and Vanderbilt before destroying No. 13 Texas, 55-27.

The season again hit a snag when Eddie George ran wild en-route to the Heisman Trophy as No. 7 Ohio State beat up the Irish 45-26.  Notre Dame would go on to win their final six regular season games which included a 38-10 win over No. 5 and eventual Rose Bowl Champion, USC.

Ron Powuls broke his arm against Navy in the second to final game of the year and No. 6 Notre Dame entered the Orange Bowl an 11 point underdog against No. 8 Florida State as leading rusher Randy Kinder was suspended for the game.  It was the third straight season Notre Dame and Florida State met with the teams splitting the first two games.

Despite that, backup quarterback Tom Krug used Derrick Mayes to his advantage and had the Irish leading 26-14 with just 11 minutes to play.  Danny Kanell led the Florida State comeback however as Andre Cooper snagged three scores for the Seminoles in their eventual 31-26 win.

Notre Dame finished the year 9-3 and ranked 11th in the final AP Poll in what was one heck of a roller coaster ride of a season.

Notre Dame/Clemson Line Update After Ross Injury

Justyn Ross’s injury certainly won’t help Clemson in 2020 as they contend for another national title. How does it effect their odds vs ND?

Yesterday we received news that Clemson star receiver and potential first round NFL Draft pick Justyn Ross won’t play in 2020 due to a congenital fusion that will require surgery and leave his future in football very much in jeopardy.

Obviously the sad news of this is the star player possibly not realizing his full potential on the football field all because of something he has no control whatsoever about.

I was curious what the odds-makers thought about the injury to Ross and if it changed the way Clemson was viewed at all.

Back when we looked over Notre Dame’s odds in seven games listed by BetMGM in April the Irish were a 7.5 point underdog against Clemson.

Checking back today we see that, well, not a lot has changed in that department whatsoever as Clemson is still listed as a 7.5 point favorite for the November 7 showdown at Notre Dame Stadium.

Odds via BetMGM. Access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated June 2 at 6:15 p.m. ET.

If you look at where Notre Dame has the biggest questions on defense you’d think this may matter a little bit more considering it’s a secondary that comes with virtually no experience playing together.  However, if the Notre Dame front seven is unable to to take care of business up front it could just be a Travis Etienne show.

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