Good Day Grover Pickers,
We remain in Professional College Football Only mode for “Week 1”.
I’ve decided to publish these blogs on Friday’s this season. So, if you wanted to read about the Thursday night games between Boise State vs USF or Nebraska vs Cincinnati, Yikes!
We’re on to Saturday.
Auburn at Baylor
The game is in Waco, the place where Dr. Pepper first poured, where Magnolia makes its home, and the old Chisolm Trail crosses the Brazos River. Baylor’s campus is connected to the stadium by a pedestrian bridge, which is cool. The campus architecture is referred to, technically, as “Drab and Boring”, with hints of “Baptist Austerity”. The campus does feature an enclosure with a live bear and a museum with giant dead mammoths.
Advice to Baylor fans: Auburn, and their coach, remain college football’s “Guests best invited only to outdoor activities.” You would never trust any of these khaki panted, sun-dress-sporting folks to cross the doorstep into your home.
Sure, they look like you, talk mostly like you, and all your youth pastors probably went to the same seminary.
But, if you let them inside, they might try to use your landline to call… you know who they are going to call.
Georgia Tech at Colorado
FINALLY- we settle the argument for all time.
Which team won the 1990 College Football Mythical National Championship?
Georgia Tech, 11-0-1 had a win over previous #1 Virginia (wow, that’s a long time ago!) and a 45-21 Citrus Bowl victory over Nebraska (so long ago!). The UPI Coache’s Poll (Egad, that’s an ancient reference!) named the Yellow Jackets the National Champions.
Colorado tied Tennessee in the season opener, used the infamous 5th down to ‘beat’ Missouri in a Big 8 Conference showdown (holy cow, it was so long ago!), and blew away Notre Dame 10-9 in the Orange Bowl. The Buffaloes finished the season ranked first in the AP Coaches Poll, led by future NFL Professional Head Coach Interviewee Eric Bieniemy.
This, young readers, was the last split national football championship, although the title remained ‘mythical’ until the advent of the BCS in 1998.
Georgia Tech and Colorado have never opposed each other on a football field until Saturday. The starting quarterbacks in 1990, Shawn Jones for Georgia Tech and Darian Hagan for Colorado, are both about 57 years old now because, as previously pointed out, it was long, long ago in an America far, far away.
Judgement day is here.
Syracuse at Tennessee -The Aflac Kickoff Game in Atlanta
Big Orange is 3-0 all-time vs Little Orangeman. UT will use a very talented former App State/former UCLA quarterback. Syracuse counters with a former Notre Dame quarterback.
A “Must Win” for Tennessee.
Texas at Ohio State
Corso’s last headgear game.
Manning debuts on the Big Stage.
Ohio State will dot the ‘i’.
Julian Sayin, the Bama transfer, debuts for the Buckeyes.
Noon kickoff.
This is the quintessential, the complete, modern college football game experience in-person or on TV.
Enjoy.
Alabama at FSU
The Seminoles have not defeated a ranked opponent in 2,454 days.
They beat #20 Boston College 22-21 on November 17, 2018.
That’s more than a year before you ever heard the name ‘Fauci’ for the first time.
Back then most people who worked had to drive to an office EVERY DAY!
Deion Sanders was still two seasons away from coaching his first game at Jackson State!
Since November 17, 2018, the Alabama Crimson Tide have won 81 games, spent 270 weeks ranked mostly in the Top 5, won 4 SEC Championships, 3 National Championships, and had two players win the Heisman Trophy.
Alabama enters this game ranked #8 in America.
FSU, currently clinging to just 2 wins in it’s lat 13 games, including a 63-3 bowl game loss to Georgia and a 31-11 loss to Florida, is in for a whooping’ that shall bring us all joy and fill the globe with justice and decency.
LIU at Florida
Anything less than an 72 point Florida victory means Billy Napier may not still be the coach when the Gators face LSU on September 13.
LSU v Clemson
There are exactly two Top 10 teams with returning starting quarterbacks and here they are. Is either of them good? Maybe? But, at least these quarterbacks are old and no fans had to spend money on new jerseys this season.
This is a much bigger game for Clemson. Win this, run the ACC because who will stop you, and welcome to a playoff home game. Lose, and, well, I guess Dabo can always go back to being an assistant pastor somewhere.
LSU can win or lose and so what? They have 6 more ranked teams to play and can recover.
Research Update: LSU fans, for the 39th consecutive season, still smell like corn dogs.
Hawaii at Arizona
You saw it, right? Hawaii’s 180-pound freshman QB, Micha Alejado led a game winning drive on one leg, probably some coaching malpractice involved, and the Rainbow Warriors beat Stanford. Hawaii kicker, Kansei Matsuzawa, who learned to kick by watching YouTube videos at his home in Japan, nailed the game winning field goal at the buzzer. Grover Picker and Hawaii long snapper Jack Mowrey delivered 3 perfect snaps on three field goal attempts and 4 more perfect snaps to the 29 year-old Aussie punter for Hawaii who was playing in his first football game. First FOOTBALL game, at any level!
Hawaii was the feel-good story of week zero. They visit Tucson Saturday night at 10:30. Watch it on TNT or HBO Max.
Arizona is a 16.5 point favorite.
BONUS: Scenes from the f T.C. Ching Athletics Complex at the University of Hawaii – Manoa courtesy of Grover Picker ALL ABOUT THE U.
Utah at UCLA
My AI assistant tells me this is a “high-stakes Pac-12 opener.”
Which reminds me, if you enjoy making fun of AI, I strongly recommend episode 3 of season 27 of South Park called “Sickofancy”.
UCLA features nine-foot tall Tennessee transfer and volleyball star Nico Iamaleava, who, and I swear I’m not making this up, a Vol friend told me last year would ‘Finally win a Heisman for Tennessee’.
Utah counters with former New Mexico Lobo Devon Dampier at QB. Dampier appears to have been a good student before joining Utah. He had a 3.8 GPA in high school. He was listed as an Electrical Engineering major at New Mexico. Utah makes no mention of his academic relationship to the program.
Reminder: There has never, not ounce in college football history, been an actual ‘High Stakes’ game involving the Bruins. The legacy continues.
VaTech v South Carolina the Beamer Bowl
This game will not use the traditional game clock. Instead, in honor of Frank Beamer, the game ends as soon as each team has blocked a kick, any kick. The team with the most points at that moment wins. This might end in the first quarter. Or it might end Tuesday. Should be fun.
Notre Dame at Miami
An ACC Championship Game Preview? No. These two ACC teams don’t have that kind of relationship. Strictly play-tonic.
Do these teams have any history with each other? No. I don’t recall any and an internet search only turns up article after article of mutual respect, clean competition, and noble behavior by the players, fans, boosters and administrations on both sides.
TCU at UNC
All 3,542 remaining ESPN employees will be working in Chapel Hill this Monday.
It’s unclear why.
Happy Picking,
The Commissioner
The Grover Picks 
Entertaining and informative as always! Small correction, 1990 was not the last split champions. Miami and Washington split the next season and there were 2 more in the era before the Rose Bowl conferences joined the BCS cabal.
LikeLike
Thank you! You may have this blog confused with ancient concept of ‘fact based media’. Also, I believe Alabama has also claimed part of all of those split titles based on their reasoning of, ‘Cuz’.
LikeLike