Sunday’s College Football Summary

Now What?

The bad weather wiped out most of the yard lines that were painted on the field. Not a good endorsement for whatever paint company they used. “Good enough for the stadium…good enough for your house…except for the 150+ days of rain in Dublin each year.” Without the yard lines, the field looked more like a soccer pitch. Hey, does anyone know what they usually use that stadium for?

Next year’s season opener in Ireland features TCU against North Carolina with whoever will be the new Tar Heels coach in 2026.

Home Team Radio

When you listen to the games on satellite radio, you get that hometown feel. That’s because they are picking up the local radio feed from one of the two schools. You get a lot of “us” and “we” in the broadcasts. “Those refs really don’t like ‘us’ tonight.” “We need a first down here.” It seems to happen more with Learfield station affiliates, but that may just be a perception. It violates everything taught in journalism school. But you know what? Journalism school is not making your payroll deposits, and the radio station is, so…

Not The Start We Expected

UNLV needed to outscore Idaho State 14-7 in the fourth quarter to secure the late win at home in the Rebels’ coaching debut for Dan Mullen. Idaho State quarterback Jordan Cooke was 30 of 50 passing for 380 yards and a touchdown. There has to be some NIL money around in Vegas for Mullen to pay for a defense. And we would be remiss if we did not take note of the Idaho State placekicker being 1/1 in field goals. It was a good night in Vegas for Sinatra…sophomore placekicker Trajan Sinatra.

A Numbers Game

In the days leading up to opening weekend, the SEC made an unexpected announcement. The SEC will be going to nine conference games next season. The conference and its coaches had vowed all the way through conference media days last month that the SEC was so tough from top to bottom that their eight conference games were better than everyone else’s nine conference games. Mississippi State and Arkansas are still in the conference, but we digress.

Now, SEC schools will have three out-of-conference games to manage on their own. One of them must be against a Power 4 school. There will be fewer games against regional/directional FCS schools. And while “we” have long advocated that the SEC stop playing those games in the third week of November, we would be remiss if we did not acknowledge that this will have a negative financial impact on smaller schools. One game against Alabama or G eorgia can finance a large chunk of their athletic department for a year.

One thing we must see is Oklahoma using its one mandated P4 OOC game to renew the Bedlam rivalry with Oklahoma State. No excuses.

Everyone Is At Nine Games, Except

Hey, has anyone found ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips since the SEC announcement? The ACC is the only P4 conference that plays eight conference games. And you cannot make the same argument that the SEC had been making about the depth and toughness of the conference. The ACC is a top-heavy conference with three, maybe four, teams in contention for the championship. Time to get to nine conference games for everyone.

More Numbers Games

It was leaked this last week that Big 10 Commissioner Tony Petitti is looking over a potential playoff plan that could have as many as 28 teams. It is such a ridiculous idea that we became convinced that someone in his office leaked the plan so that it would get shot down in public before anyone else in the Big 10 offices became sold on the idea.

There is not even an agreement on the presumed expansion to 14 or 16 teams and the format. And there is a December 1^st deadline for that. If there is no agreement by then, the 2026 playoff will be exactly like the 2024 and 2025 postseasons.

Saving The Best For Last

No disrespect to the Big 12 teams in Ireland, but the most compelling game of the night was played in the afternoon sun of Hawai’i.

The Rainbow Warriors knocked off ACC flag bearer Stanford with a 38-yard field goal at the end of the game for the 23-20 win in Honolulu.

Hawai’i redshirt freshman quarterback Micah Alejado suffered a lower right leg injury early in the third quarter. He got his ankle re-taped and limped his way through the rest of the game.  Alejado was hopping on one leg to get downfield after pass completions. He finished the night 27 of 39 for 210 yards and a touchdown on one leg.

The Stanford defense gave up a touchdown at the end of the first half, with lazy, undisciplined penalties. Hawai’i took a 14-13 lead, and the future Mensa applications for the boys from Stanford were put in jeopardy.

And to make the story even crazier, the winning field goal for Hawai’i was kicked by Kansei Matsuzawa. He learned how to kick in Japan by watching YouTube videos. Matsuzawa went to a junior college in Nebraska so that he would have to learn English. He is now in his second year at Hawai’i with a game-winner to brag about for the rest of his life.

No Pressure

Stanford legend and current general manager Andrew Luck sits in the coaches’ box during games with the assistants. Do these guys worry if they say or do the wrong thing with the boss sitting three feet from them?