Arkansas vs Cincy
Florida vs Utah
LSU vs Florida State
Pitt vs Tennessee
Auburn vs Penn State
Texas A&M vs Miami
Notre Dame vs Clemson
Will be interesting ones
Cinch lost their entire defense to the NFL, they will take a massive step back, but Arkansas is frequently disappointing so it could be a good game but I’m taking the Razorbacks comfortably. Cincy was the Boise of TCU of the year, don’t expect them to maintain that level of play. They’ll grind out wins behind high efficiency and discipline but the leading receiver will probably be the tight end.
Florida vs Utah is interesting because Utah could be a dark horse for the playoffs. I like that game.
LSU vs Florida State? If Florida State keeps it competitive that’s a victory for them. I see LSU line dominating both sides of the ball and Jordan Travis coming in at halftime.
That FSU line allowed 3 sacks a game last year, 17 teams in all of FBS averaged that.
Miami can definitely beat Texas A&M.
You think so? I like Miami and hope they do well but the talent gap will be huge in this game. New coach, on the road against a team that’a been recruiting in the top 10 with 4 and 5 stars across the board. Recipe for an ass whooping. We will see.
Even with the game that could be blowouts, the storylines are interesting -
Notre Dame/Ohio State: Marcus Freeman first true game as HC, OSU offense potentially picking up where they left off, OSU DC Jim Knowles debut
Oregon/Georgia: Dan Lanning coaching against his old team, UGA replacing all the defensive talent. Bo Nix facing a familiar foe in the Dawgs.
Alabama/Texas: First P5 road game for Alabama since 2011, Saban facing his former OC who brought a couple of Bama players with him. Stout Bama defense vs what should be an explosive Texas offense.
yeah these are some good storylines but the game is played on the field and I don’t expect any of these games to be close by halftime. Notre Dame just lost a receiver and Ohio State gonna put up video game numbers this year on offense. Talking better than 2019 LSU numbers. The current line is -14.5 and I’m seeing 15.5 in some places. Vegas is predicting a massacre and I think they are right.
Same goes for Oregon vs Georgia and Texas vs Alabama. -17 and -15 respectively. Just going by position groups and these are bad matchups for Oregon and Texas. Everything Bama does well I.e. line play is something Texas does not do well. And they will likely be breaking in a freshman quarterback. Considering he will also be a millionaire Saban might not have an qualms about actually killing dude.
I’m probably just being a cranky old man about this and more highlighting the talent gap from the elite to the mid teams but it feels like we could’ve had some real neutral site games with playoff implications instead of games between established powers that have been building talent for the last 4-5 years vs teams with new coaches just trying to get back to that level.