The 2022 college football season is underway with week zero in the books. I tend not to expect much from week zero as the marquee games are limited. It is usually Hawaii and some cupcake games. Week one is when the fun starts. The slate of games gets better but there are still plenty of mismatches. At least one game this last weekend was a good one. Northwestern upset Nebraska in Ireland. You have to wonder how many more lives Scott Frost has as the head coach of Nebraska. His decision to do an onside kick with Nebraska leading 28-17 midway through the third quarter backfired. It fired up the Wildcats and opened the door for a short touchdown drive. Hopefully, the free beers drowned out the Husker fans’ tears. While the coach can’t be blamed for his QB’s two costly fourth quarter interceptions, the single digit losses continue to mount. I don’t know how many more chances Frost will get, but he’s got to be on the hot seat at this point, especially with his buyout dropping in half to $7.5M on October 1. If Nebraska wins the remainder of their games to October 1, which includes a huge one with Oklahoma, he should be safe. If not, some realtor’s going to have a good fourth quarter.
I watched some other games, but they slowly turned into blowouts. Austin Peay hung with Western Kentucky for a while, but Wyoming didn’t last very long against Illinois. I wanted to watch the Hawaii game, if only to see the optics of them playing in the tiny Clarence T. Ching Complex while the Aloha Bowl is being renovated. It is not much bigger than a high school stadium, at a capacity of 9,300. Late night kickoffs are tough to stay up for when you are old, which I am. Vanderbilt rolled over Hawaii so there were no regrets for missing that game.
The real action, though, starts this weekend. Thursday night, WVU and Pitt kick things off with the “Backyard Brawl.” My pick, though, is for Penn State to cover against Purdue. It is a pedigree pick with literally no research. Friday night, I will be in Colorado watching the Buffs host the Horned Frogs of TCU, which is probably the best game of the night. The line has the Buffs getting 14, although I think that will come down. I am taking Colorado, abandoning the emotional hedge. The Virginia Tech vs. ODU game could be a good one because the Hokies always seem to struggle with the Monarchs. They may not cover the 7.5 spread. Saturday has a bevy of great games with Notre Dame against Ohio State being the top of the class. Hopefully Tulsa at Wyoming is a good game because I will be in Laramie for that match up. Again, we are taking the home team. Sunday and Monday have a couple of Power 5 match ups, FSU vs LSU should be decent on Sunday. I like LSU in that one as I still don’t trust FSU. Clemson is likely to torch Georgia Tech on Monday. Nonetheless, college football is back and I could not be happier.
