The 2019 College Football Season is upon us. So what do you need to know before we jump in?

I hate, hate, hate the way college football is run. I hate it. It is elitist. It is a country club where the big programs are invited and everyone else is searching for scraps. I’ve talked about this repeatedly during Bowl Season. Bowl Season is the travesty of Modern Sports. Yes, its is the worst thing about American sports. But we are not one to complain alone. We here have created an amazing Bowl Playoff System that would keep the traditional Bowls but allow Mid-Majors to compete for a National Title. You can read about it here.

But other than that fact that there are about 20 teams at the beginning of the season that have a chance to compete for the National Title, what are the story lines?

• Preseason Ranking
• Clemson and Alabama
• Trevor Lawrence
• Alabama Quarterback
• Ohio State and Michigan
• UCF
• Recruiting Class Rankings
• 1st Game of the Season

Preseason Polls

1. Clemson
2. Alabama
3. Georgia
4. Oklahoma
5. Ohio State
6. LSU
7. Michigan
8. Florida
9. Notre Dame
10. Texas

Talk about all the big-wigs. This is the who’s who of the best programs in college football. But also note, not a single PAC-12 team is in the top 10. Oregon is 11, Washington is 13 and Utah is 14.

The first Mid-Major to be ranked is UCF at 17 (We’re just proud that a Mid-Major was pre-season ranked at all).

Do these matter? More than they should. Because once your put on that pedestal it takes a lot to knock you down.

Clemson and Alabama

3 of the last 4 years Clemson has played Alabama in the National Title Game. Last year it was Clemson who defeated Alabama 44-16. Only Georgia has played spoiler but they lost to Alabama in 2017 in the Title Game to give Alabama it’s 17th National Title (though that number is suspect, here we have a whole history of the National Title in College Football).

Is He the Next Big Thing?

Clemson’s quarterback, Trevor Lawrence is amazing. Last year, as a true freshman, he won the starting job at Clemson and then took his team and won the National Title.

Did that game come down to him? No, but man is he good. All the experts agree, this kid could be the next Peyton Manning. So watch him, I will be.

My favorite descriptions of him: “With the arm of Zeus and the hair of Samson.”

Alabama Quarterback

Jalen Hurts was the Alabama Quarterback, until he lost his starting job in the National Championship Game two years ago to true freshman, Tua Tagovailoa. Hurts tried to win back the starting job last season but was unsuccessful. Last year he transferred to Oklahoma where he has barely won the starting job there.

Ohio State has a new coach, Michigan does not

After scandal broke about one of his past assistant coaches, Urban Meyer retired, again, from Ohio State. Meyer is the best college football coach of his generation, yes I think he’s better than Nick Saban. We discussed his great career at Utah here, which regularly gets forgotten. But he also won at Florida and at Ohio State. It will be interesting to see what Ohio State does this year.

Michigan still has the most entertaining coach in football, Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh was brought in to do 2 things, beat Ohio State and win a National Title. He hasn’t done either. He is in his 5th year with the Wolverines and has come up short every time, sometimes in freaky ways against the Buckeyes. November 30th is their shot. Can he do it?

Can Cinderella Make It on Time?

Yes, yes the Cinderella moniker gets used way too often. But seriously, does UCF have a shot this year?

No. Because College Football is not fair. It just isn’t. UCF needs everything to go right, they need to run the table, the play Stanford on September 14th. Other than that it’s their conference games they have to get through which includes Memphis and Cincinnati and some other quality teams in the American Conference.

To make it, they need some big teams to lose, a couple times. If they are undefeated and other teams are as well, they won’t make it.

But every year, I dream of complete destruction of this system (Sorry Condi). And I hope that it all blows up.

Recruiting Class Rankings

If you care about the incoming freshman rankings, here you go:

1. Georgia
2. Ohio State
3. Texas
4. USC
5. Alabama

First Game

#8 Florida and Miami will start of the 2019 football season on ESPN at 7 pme (ET)