College Football Season Tailgate, Pt. 1

If you know me, you know I’m about to spend a lot of time with my favorite sport, college football.

Cannot wait.

I’ll leave picks and predictions to people much more expert than me—I’m just a fan.

But here are five storylines that interest me:

• Ohio State QB battle: Whether you have the Buckeyes just inside or just outside the CFP top 4, this is a rare moment. Ryan Day says Kyle McCord and Devin Brown will still be competing for QB1 up to, and into, Week 1, when they travel to Indiana Sept. 2.
• Deion Sanders takes over at Boulder: Colorado’s hire of Coach Prime has already yielded a lot of motivational clips and “culture-busting” stories around the Buffaloes. I have absolutely no idea what either he, or his AD, are really thinking. One year and jump to a bigger stage? Couple of disappointing years and a buyout? And with the realignment avalanche, do we even know which conference CU plays in two years from now? The only sure thing—it will be interesting.
• Is this it for Pac-12?: I’ve always loved this conference because it deserves more attention than it gets, talentwise. And because, no matter what my schedule is, I could at least catch a late night game, even if I missed a Saturday daytime slate. It seems like a merger with the Mountain West makes more sense than sprinkling the remaining four teams into the ACC or something. But that’s just me wanting late night games!
• Threepeat for Georgia: The Bulldogs are like a good generic brand—you aren’t excited about the packaging but you appreciate the value. Given the efficiency and master management of Kirby Smart, what would otherwise be almost impossible now looks slightly possible. I don’t see it, but I will applaud it if they can pull it off.
• A non QB Heisman winner?: The modern game is quarterback oriented—NIL makes it even more so. But it’s not an overwhelming field, after Caleb Williams and Drake Maye (and maybe Arch Manning?). My hope would be that TreVeyon Henderson at Ohio State has the big year and breaks the mold. Blake Corum at Michigan is special. And Georgia’s Brock Bowers would be the first TE to win it since 1949.

Part 2 will be players to watch. Part 3 will be my sneaky teams to watch.