We’re One Step Closer to College Football

Photo: Football Scoop

We’ve crossed another checkpoint in getting closer to college football.

The preseason AP Top 25 is out, and we’ve got the most pressing headlines for each ranked team.

25. Iowa Hawkeyes: How bad will Brian Ferentz be rooting against this team all season?

24. North Carolina State Wolfpack: Does it suck being the second best Wolfpack we know about?

23. USC Trojans: Since we returned Reggie Bush’s Heisman, can we get some of OJ’s stuff?

22. Kansas Jayhawks: When will this senseless lack of a Mark Mangino Day end?

21. Arizona Wildcats: Have we talked enough about the fact that from 2012-2020 this program was lead by Rich Rodriguez and Kevin Sumlin?

20. Texas A&M Aggies: You guys are weird, and you know it, just own it.

19. Miami Hurricanes: Has this program lost the “Back” race to Texas?

18. Kansas State Wildcats: Has there ever been a program that more represents being ranked 18th?

17. Oklahoma State Cowboys: This ranking matches Mike Gundy’s average BAC whenever driving.

16. Oklahoma Sooners: Brent Venables just signed a six year extension; why does it feel if he gets off to a slow start Bob Stoops is going to swoop in?

15. Tennessee Volunteers: How can this team survive without a QB who can’t throw an orange 100 yards?

14. Clemson Tigers: Without a shadow of a doubt, Dabo Swinney is using this ranking as a sign from above.

13. LSU Tigers: As Brian Kelly continues his transition into a true Cajun, we received an exclusive look at where he would like to be by the end of the season.

12. Utah Utes: Cam Rising continues to shatter glass ceilings in his 17th season as a college quarterback.

11. Missouri Tigers: We need some real journalism done on if there has ever been a better AD/Head Coach name combo than Laird Veatch & Eliah Drinkwitz.

10. Florida State Seminoles: If this ranking holds all season, will the NCAA keep the Seminoles out of the playoff again?

9. Michigan Wolverines: If you think about it, no one would actually expect Sherrone Moore to use Connor Stalions again…might be the perfect time to try.

8. Penn State Nittany Lions: Will this be the first year anything exciting happens for PSU since they’ve had Saquon Barkley?

7. Notre Dame Fighting Irish: This season should be more successful than last, The Golden Domers will have more time to focus on football instead of arguing who’s hotter between their quarterback and head coach.

6. Ole Miss Rebels: Lane Kiffin will call this ranking rat poison, but he continues to be the best head coach on Twitter so honestly the Rebs should be ranked number one.

5. Alabama Crimson Tide: If Nick Saban retired and the team’s still ranked this high, how much of the progrum’s success can we attribute to him?

4. Texas Longhorns: If we don’t see Arch Manning throw more than five passes this season we riot.

3. Oregon Ducks: With the conference move to the Big Ten, will The Oregon Duck mascot have to do less pushups than he did in his Pac 12 days?

2. Ohio State Buckeyes: While Ryan Day was born on third, his team opens up the season ranked second.

1. Georgia Bulldogs: Sure Kirby Smart and his boys can dangerously and irresponsibly race their cars, but can they continue their growing dynasty and keep up the pace in a new SEC?

We can all taste college football at this point. The release of the preseason rankings, however meaningless, gives us another thing to argue about online…and isn’t that what sports is all about?

Michigan Cheated – How the Rest of the B1G Did Too

Photo: Sports Illustrated

The Big Ten has a cheating problem; but who doesn’t?

If I have to hear the name Connor Stalions one more time I’m going to go full Vincent van Gogh. Yes, the entire saga is hilarious. He’s a total dork who is obsessed with Michigan football to potentially unhealthy levels. Each day the evidence continues to pile up that he went all out to help Jim Harbaugh and his coaching staff cheat.

My question is…who isn’t cheating?

If you’re involved in big money sports, with your and others jobs and livelihoods on the line, of course you’re going to gain whatever competitive edge you can get to win. Michigan definitely went overboard with it, but there’s a lot of glass houses throwing stones in this whole scenario.

So, how could each team in the B1G have maybe “bent the rules” to find any type of advantage they could?

Illinois – Brett Bielema showed Iowa recruits his tattoo to get them to de-commit from the Hawkeyes and come to Champaign.

Indiana – made empty promises to players in the transfer portal that if they came to Bloomington they’d automatically get a spot on Shark Tank.

Iowa – confirmed fair and balanced decision making on playing time; denounced nepotism in all its forms.

Maryland – claimed that there is more to the state than crab cakes and football.

Michigan State – forged documents into showing Sparty the Spartan has never taken PEDs.

Minnesota – assured us all that PJ Fleck definitely isn’t a cult leader.

Nebraska – wondered aloud why the other 132 D1 football coaches don’t wear very cool smocks.

Northwestern – continued to swear, under oath, that they are Chicago’s Big Ten team, despite four other conference team’s alumni being in the top 10 in Chicago’s population.

Ohio State – Ryan Day persisted in his vow that he doesn’t color his hair and beard.

Penn State – promised their fanbase that it’s totally normal for a giant cat to be completely naked other than wearing a tie.

Purdue – leaked text messages from Ryan Day asking Coach K about his hair care routine.

Rutgers – “would be a real shame if you didn’t let the Knights cover here…”

Wisconsin – shut down any investigations that they’re working in an underground lab on another batch of high-motored athletic freaks using a certain family’s genes.

It’s really that simple, everyone cheats. It’s a widespread misdemeanor that is prevalent in big time college sports. Anyone with a few minutes and access to Google could find out all of the above-mentioned elusiveness of NCAA bylaws.

Sunday State of Mind: November 28th-December 4th

Photo: Wallpaper Access

Folks, we did it again. Another week in the books and more sports than we could handle. Our latest SSM is here to review it all.

College football playoff, final four is set
Ohio State and Georgia, could we see an upset?
Other side of the bracket, Michigan vs. TCU
Sad we only have three more college games to go through

Potential Super Bowl preview, a game all wanted
Dolphins and 49ers, two teams deep bonded
It wasn’t meant to be, you see, game just fell quite short
Both QBs ended up the injury report

Jacob deGrom, your newest Texas Ranger
AL West hitters are about to be in danger
Big hit for the Mets, another big arm gone
Had so many off years, Mets fans want to stay on

Jose Alvarado! We don’t know him either
Thirty eight on Sunday, didn’t take a breather
Undrafted to bucket getter, a great sports story
Pelicans are basking in some rarely found glory

Sunday State of Mind: November 21st-November 27th

Photo: House Beautiful

The only thing better than the food during Thanksgiving week is the sports. Feast week in college basketball, rivalry week in college football, and more, all in this week’s Sunday State of Mind.

Feast week brings the upsets, in college basketball
Early in the season, and number one did fall
Friday night the Cyclones upset UNC
Iowa State resumé building early victory

After all these years, feeling like big brother
Recently there seems to be a bigger, better, other
Two years in a row now, and they’re feeling great
Two straight wins for Michigan over Ohio State

A rare win for the Raiders, and even better yet
Josh Jacobs set all the records that ever could be set
Over 300 yards between rushing and receiving
Every time he touched the ball, defenders he was leaving

A NBA homecoming, loving all around
Ben Simmons came back to play in his old stomping grounds
His favorite fans in Philly, I’m sure it felt so warm
He had a double double so at least he did perform

Sunday State of Mind: August 29th-September 4th

Photo: Wallpaperup

It’s a special Labor Day edition of SSM! Take a break from the unofficial end of summer and look back at the week that was in sports.

The biggest story of the week, college football is back
Full slate of games during week one, games we did not lack
We’ll dive in more below, but are just glad to see
Tailgates, school bands and football all over our TVs

Weirdest and most on brand game, the Iowa Hawkeyes
Worst offense of the week, they surely won the prize
A final score of 7-3, a close game with no ease
Even stranger, no touchdowns, one field goal two safeties

Biggest matchup of the week, Irish and the Buckeyes
Game was closer than we thought, ND a nice surprise
Ohio State overwhelmed, finally pulled away
Won 21-10, but both teams came to play

Poor Virginia Tech, upset city in week one
Old Dominion hosted them and got the job done
The Hokies may have overlooked and thought it’d be a breeze
The Monarchs took advantage, brought them to their knees

Our final note this week, we saved the best for last
Serena Williams is now done, her career in the past
She lost the US Open, made it to the third round
Even without a tourney win, she still deserves a crown

Sunday State of Mind: November 22nd-November 28th

Photo: Jattdisite

Holy smokes, what a week in sports. College football rivalry week, NFL, NBA, and a partridge in a pear tree. We look back fondly in this week’s SSM.

That matchup we simply call “The Game”
Wolverines & Buckeyes, emoji flame
Jim Harbaugh finally got him one
Against their rival, losing streak done

Big coaching splash at USC
The Trojans have hired Lincoln Riley
Away from the Sooners, Oklahoma no more
That team out west is never a bore

One more college note, LSU
Coach O’s last game, and they bid him adieu
A walk off win against Texas A&M
Farewell to Coach O, an absolute gem

Game of the week in the NFL
Packers and Rams, defenses shelled
Green Bay did enough to secure the win
Packers chilling at the top of the North again

Student Athletes – 1, NCAA – NIL

Photo: CBS Sports

Tuesday was a historic day in college sports. The NCAA officially enacted a name, image, and likeness (NIL) policy that allows “student” athletes to earn money off of their…name, image, and likeness. This finally allows any college athlete to (legally) earn income that they rightfully deserve.

We’ve already seen Fresno State basketball/TikTok stars Haley and Hanna Cavinder signed deals with Boost Mobile and Six Star Nutrition, Miami quarterback D’Eriq King is the new spokesman for the moving company College Hunks Hauling Junk, LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne could crack a million dollars from her NIL, and Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz straight up released his own logo.

An NIL approval plan was looooong overdue. Of course, as most things with the NCAA, it wasn’t handled correctly. But you can’t have sunshine without rain, right? We’ll see our fair share of car dealerships, autograph deals, and card signing gigs after today’s announcement. But what kind of player endorsements could we have missed out on in years past?

College football seems to benefit huge from the NIL agreement. Can you imagine if we could have seen Reggie Bush RE/MAX Real Estate ads? Andrew Luck working with the Palo Alto Mathnasium? Tim Tebow could have been taking a cut of Sunday tithe in any of the churches in the greater Gainsville area; Cam Newton missed an opportunity with the local Edward Jones Financial branch in Auburn, Alabama.

College basketball has had plenty of stars who could have cashed in back in their day. You can’t tell me a Joakim Noah/Gainesville CBD Store partnership wouldn’t have slapped. Greg Oden linking up with the ATI Physical Therapy in Columbus? Get out of here. Tyler Hansbrough toting Off! Bug Spray? Cha-ching. It’s not just the fellas who missed out on securing the bag. Diana Taurasi and Rebecca Lobo, two of the most dominant UConn Huskies of all time, could’ve crushed it with an ad campaign for the Humane Society. Sabrina Ionescu, the 2020 number one overall pick in the WNBA Draft, played her college ball at Oregon. How great would it have been to have a (paid) cameo appearance on “Portlandia?”

Just scratching the surface here, but don’t want to get too deep and depress all of us even more on what could’ve been. We’ll just have to grin and bear it and accept the fact that that these kids who give an incredible amount to their universities will now be duly paid whatever they can get out there and earn on the free market.

The NCAA sucks.

Sunday State of Mind: December 14th-December 20th

Photo: Sven Vee on Unsplash

Last Sunday State of Mind before Christmas! Here’s a short, poetic recap of the week that was in this week’s SSM.

Championship Saturday in college football
Ducks, Tide, Tigers, and Buckeyes won ’em all
We’re winding down on what was an interesting year
Time for the college football playoffs, a whole other gear

Speaking of the CFP, the field has been set
It could be a playoff we won’t soon forget
Clemson/Ohio State should be a hell of a game
Alabama should absolutely boat race Notre Dame

Charlie Woods took the golf world by storm
The son of Tiger, not the norm
His gene pool is definitely doing him some favors
The kid looks like he’s on track for 200 majors