Max Maoury
College Football Is Back and Better Than Ever
It’s finally that time of the year again. When the leaves go from a summer green to an Autumn orange, when the temperature drops to the perfect pants and t-shirt weather, but most importantly…Football is back! With the return of College football, there have been some interesting and big moves made in the transfer portal before the season started. With some quarterback news, UCLA’s quarterback Joey Aguilar transferred to Tennessee, while Tennessee’s quarterback Nico Imaleva transferred to UCLA. Carson Beck went from the powerhouse in the SEC, the Georgia Bulldogs, to the Miami Hurricanes. Penn State got a couple of wide receivers coming from Troy, USC, and Syracuse, helping out Drew Allar and an already stacked Nittany Lions offense.
To start the season, Lee Corso announced that he is retiring from College Football Gameday. The beloved tradition where the world watches to see if he puts on your favorite team’s headgear has officially come to an end. He is a true entertainer and master of the game. He went on for his final college gameday, and in every single one of his final picks, he went six-for-six. Including his headgear pick of Ohio State, the first headgear he ever put on. In addition to all his picks being perfect, every team he either coached or played for went on to win their games as well. Some things are just meant to be.
Away from Corso and his final gameday, the College football world is already rocking to say the least. In Week one, the biggest surprise was FSU taking down Alabama in a stunning 31-17 win. Along with this game, LSU took down Clemson in a shock as well, 17-10. Another surprise was Miami and Notre Dame, where Carson Beck led Miami to a 27-24 victory. During the College game of the week, Texas, now led by Arch Manning, went up against the defending National Champs, the Ohio State Buckeyes. Arch struggled, going only 17-30 with one touchdown along with an interception. Losing the game 14-7 in a defensive game. This game became the highest watched Week One College football matchup averaging 16.6 million viewers, topping out at 18.5 million.
In Week two teams like Penn State, Oregon, Ohio State, Miami, Tennessee, and Texas showed their opponents no mercy. The biggest surprise this week was Clemson and Troy where Clemson was struggling in the first half only managing to put up 3 and giving up 16 in the first half. After halftime Clemson managed to comeback and win the game but looked sloppy while doing it. College Football analysts believe Clemson will miss the playoffs after being one of the top teams in the preseason. In a wild and crazy game, South Florida upset Florida in the swamp, winning on a game-winning 20-yard field goal as time expired. Southern Florida entered the top 25 at 18 after this stunning win. Now to the game of the week, where gameday was hosted in Oklahoma. A true freshman quarterback with a cannon of an arm, Bryce Underwood faced his first loss as Oklahoma’s defense rattled him in his first away game. Bryce Underwood was only 9-24 with zero touchdown passes.
Onto a crazy Week three, starting with the biggest game of the week, Georgia at Tennessee. Tennessee hasn’t beaten Georgia since 2016 on a Josh Dobbs Hail Mary as time expired to the now 49ers wide receiver Juan Jennings. This game became an instant classic. Tons of lead changes between these two SEC teams came down to a field goal for Tennessee which their kicker Max Gilbert missed the kick which would have ended the 8-year losing streak to Georgia. The game went into overtime, where Georgia scored after Tennessee was held to a field goal on their first drive of overtime. Georgia won 44-41. In another SEC matchup, Vanderbilt beat South Carolina in an upset, 31-7. Luke Doty struggled, going 18-27, 148 yards, and an interception. In another rivalry matchup, Pitt and West Virginia faced off in the backyard brawl. West Virginia beat Pitt in an overtime ending, the final score was 31-24. Another great matchup was between the former National Champion runner-up Notre Dame playing at home vs the Texas A&M Aggies. The Fighting Irish fell to the Aggies 41-40 on a game-winning touchdown drive by the Aggies and made the extra point to walk away with the win. In another game, South Florida, which had just snuck into the top 25, got demolished by the Hurricanes 49-12. Arch Manning struggled in the win vs Utep, only going 11-25, 114 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception. Florida continues to struggle, especially DJ Lagway, going 33-49, 287 yards, 1 touchdown, and a whopping 5 interceptions. Florida loses in another SEC matchup to LSU, 20-10. With more big news, Virginia Tech and UCLA have fired their coaches after both starting 0-3 to begin their campaigns.
The first three weeks of the College Football season have proven that no matter your preseason ranking, or your current ranking, nothing will save you from actual gameday. With stunning upsets and instant classics, the college world has delivered on its promise to be exciting and unpredictable. As the leaves continue the fall and the temperature drops, the college football world will only keep heating up. The only thing that can be expected is more insane moments that will lead to the national championship.
