College Football Newsletter: Which ACC Team is REALLY a Black Hole?
Closing the book on Week 1 and turning the page to a highly regionalized Week 2.
Welcome to The College Football newsletter, where you’re ranked No. 1 in SP+ in our hearts. Ohio State, however, is No. 1 in Bill Connelly’s rankings.
The first week is in the books and we’re already celebrating upsets and downfalls. Alabama lost to FSU. Tommy Castellanos talked trash, backed it up, and even put up some merch mocking Bama to boot. Miami won a rainy opener against National Championship runner-up Notre Dame. And North Carolina lost to TCU so badly that Michael Jordan, who was there to ring in the Bill Belichick era, hopped on his plane and left before the game ended. Now, Bill has to worry about a losing streak, on top of banning Patriots scouts from his practices.
One loss, even in season openers, isn’t the black hole it once was in college football. All of these teams still have a chance to respond and eventually make the College Football Playoff. Even UNC? Sure.
You know what is a black hole? Cal’s new fan section called the Black Bear, created by the Raider fans from The Black Hole. There’s a nonzero chance we get a Darth Vader decked out in Cal Gold and Berkeley Blue. The Black Bear is making its debut this upcoming week against Texas Southern.
Here’s what the SZD crew dropped this week:
Bill Connelly joined Richard & Alex to talk about his new book, Forward Progress, and the fallout from Week 1, and also what SP+ tells us about this upcoming week’s matchups.
The sky is falling in Tuscaloosa with the Crimson Tide starting 0-1 for the first time since 2001. Alabama beat writer Matt Stahl explained how bad things really are right now.
Tasting Menu! Alex and Richard get you prepared for the Week 2 slate.
Elsewhere in the college football world:
How bad was Belichick’s first game with UNC? Let Shehan Jeyarajah count the ways over at CBS Sports. It’s not pretty.
Richard was at that TCU-UNC game. He wrote about his experience witnessing the grand opening/grand closing over at CBS Sports
If you want more UNC schadenfreude, Alex talked about it at Hang Up & Listen.
A new season means a fresh start for everyone. But for UT Rio Grande Valley, it’s the first start of their entire football program. Extra Points’ Matt Brown visited Texas for the Vaqueros’ grand opening.
Michigan takes on Oklahoma this week. Richard explained how Brent Venables’ defenses are tough, particularly against rookie QBs. Good luck, Bryce Underwood.
SZD Social Fun of the Week
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Watch Richard’s brain break when Alex tells him that there is a Devin Hester Jr. who is not that Devin Hester Jr., even though Devin Hester does have a son named Devin Hester Jr. (And this other Devin Hester Jr. just returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown in Week 1, too.)
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I bet Bill Belichick couldn’t keep a disco open more than three weeks.