The college football season begins in earnest this weekend. There are a few intriguing matchups and a few cupcake festivals. As the 12-team playoff evolves, we wonder how many of those will lose their icing.
Last night there were a couple good games I kept an eye on. North Carolina went to Minnesota and defeated Goldy 19-17. The bad news is Tar Heel QB Max Johnson was sent to the hospital with a leg injury. Colorado beat North Dakota St. before a sold-out Folsom Field in Boulder.
I plan on being in Bloomington Saturday for the Indiana Hoosier’s debut under the tutelage new head coach Curt Cignetti. The Hoosiers are favored by three touchdowns. Let’s hope this will be a practice game ahead of Big Ten play.
On to the picks:
Louisville beats Austin Peay… Austin Peay reminds me of my brother and the story about the time he took me, my dad, and a friend away from the last play of the game between U of L and Southern Miss in 1989. Darrell had to Peay. We missed a Brett Favre’s last pass of the game doink off a Louisville player’s helmet and land in the arm’s of a Golden Eagle in full stride that went for 79 yards and the win.
Georgia beats Clemson… Is there a team with more to prove than UGA? Is there an uglier dog? I think not.
Purdue beats Indiana State… I will give it to the Boilerfolks. They show up. I received an email that said they had less than 2000 tickets remaining. My hat is off to them.
Penn State beats West Virginia…Beat them badly, please. For no other reason than to shut Pat McAfee up for five and half seconds.
Tennessee beats Chattanooga…There will be lots of mommas and daddies on hand to see their boy get a snap or two in the 4th quarter. Play the waterboy is what I say!
Ohio State beats Akron…Do the Buckeyes even show up in force? Will the starters come out in sweats during the second half. This is one of the cupcakes I was talking about. A cupcake Indiana beat in 4 OTs last year thanks to a missed field goal.
Texas beats Colorado State… Will we get to see Arch Manning sling it a few times? I sure hope so.
Indiana beats FIU… They darn well better. They have turned the pre-game around the stadium into a Ringling Bros. sideshow. Give’em something to cheer about. I will believe in that JMU talent when they beat the likes of UCLA.
Alabama beats Western Kentucky…Kalen DeBoer is a good one. I remember what it felt like when Bear Bryant’s shadow was at its largest around Ray Perkins. Time have changed. Or have they?
Michigan beats Fresno State… Things feel a little tarnished in Ann Arbor.
Oregon beats Idaho… Free taters for everyone! Welcome to the Big 10 you ducks you.
Texas A & M beats Notre Dame…Word is the Irish are loaded with skill players. A & M will hit hard, if you know what I mean.
UCLA beats Hawaii… The Bruins in the Big 10. Still hard to imagine. But if it has to be someone, I am glad it is them.
Kentucky beats Southern Miss… UK has been reeling a bit. Hopefully the Vandagriff QB will steady them a bit.
Enjoy your good times! Enjoy the games. I think LSU will beat USC. Hate that they are playing that one in Vegas. Imagine those two teeing it up in Death Valley at about 8 central time. That is where this game should be.
There are days and there are THOSE days. There are people we meet and THOSE (positive connotation) people we meet. There are games we played and there are a few of THOSE games we played.
Yesterday I went back to the football field that was once my playground. The first game I ever played was on the field at Brownstown Central High School. I was in the 4th grade. Terry Grider was my coach. I liked Terry. He’s not with us now. He had played for my dad. 1977 was the year I played for Terry. Our team was the Bears. We had a 1-1-1 record. 0-1-1 going into the last games against the Cardinals who were 2-0, We beat them 30-26 and I guess that too was one of THOSE games. That is the only score I remember playing 6 scheduled games in 4th and 5th grade. I caught a pass in that game. Brian Crawford threw the pass.
I didn’t hang around Brownstown Central for my 6th grade year. School politics can be nasty. I knew it as a child, and I lived it as an adult. As a child, my dad was told he was not going to be Brownstown’s coach in 1979. That is when we made our way to North Harrison. As an adult, the school politics war I waged is still playing out, if only in my head. Things are much better now. But a price was paid. Free speech can be oxymoronic at times. We’re not going to get into all of that.
Forty years ago in 1984, the North Harrison Cougars team I played for opened the season against the Brownstown Central Braves. If you read any of what I have written, yes, it was an important game for the only kid on the field whose dad had coached both teams. The date is at the bottom of the roster.
When the NH boys got off the bus, the high temperature that day was 76, and the low was 53, so you know we had a pleasant hour-long bus ride North up Hwy 135. We kicked off 8 PM EDT. Remember those? It was 7 in Brownstown and 8 in Ramsey. Fast time and slow time are what we called it back then. The temperature was probably heading for the mid-60s by game’s end.
The first extra point I ever kicked was in the endzone in the background. No, there was no turf field there then. That is not the same goalpost. But it is the same little piece of sky.
I wrote all about how the old field was changed to turf and how the old stadium was torn down and replaced. The place doesn’t look the same. But the faces do. Yesterday I was hanging out with Adam Disque. He’s an old friend from my Medora days. He played at Brownstown and now his son, Jaden, is a senior on the team. I am nothing short of blessed to know Adam. He’s a few years younger than I am. Most are these days. We always have a great time together.
Yesterday I was watching a JV game between the Braves and the Corydon Central Panthers. Adam Disque was in charge of the game. That meant I had a spot on the golf cart.
As I sat there in the blazing sun, every now and then I saw 40 year-old ghosts on the field. Mick Rutherford blocking a punt and landing on it in the endzone for a touchdown. Troy Osborne scooting down the field for six. Russell Harrell putting a lick on Mike Warren that he still remembers. The score was 27-0 at the half in 1984. 53-0 after the third quarter. 59-0 was the final. To this day, I smile when I think about, and I know I was a part of the worst beating a BCHS team has ever taken at home.
Photos from The Banner.
Photo from The Seymour Tribune.
When the old ghosts weren’t there to recall, I was enjoying the camaraderie of old friends. Barry Hall, Don Roberts, Jon Robison, Jeff Settle, all guys I have known for decades. Though the place doesn’t look the same, the friendship and the love still remains. That is the most important thing. Had I been on the other end of that 59-0 score, I would not feel the way I do. That is what makes it one of THOSE games. I needed it then to be here now. Sitting in that golfcart in turn one on the track was a comfortable place to be.
What I wouldn’t give to have a picture of that scoreboard at the end of the game in 1984
All I can do is think about that old field and stadium. There was some extra personal symmetry for this old boy the first time I saw a game after the new stadium was put in.
North Harrison playing Brownstown Central in 2017.
Ben Waynescott was true from 24 yards away kicking the winning field goal as time expired. North Harrison 17 Brownstown Central 14. It wasn’t 59-0, but it sure was fun.
As I drove away from Blevins Stadium yesterday, I could of swore I heard an old friend. I stopped the Explorer and looked to my right. There indeed was an old friend on the practice field. I said hello. I said thanks. I took a picture.
It was an old friend I have known all my life. 40 years ago, we had one great reunion.
Let us kick this thing off. Maybe when the ball starts flying and the pads start popping and the hits keep coming and we cringe when our team throws an interception, and we cheer when an unlikely hero makes a great play that we still can’t wrap our brains around; the one we will talk about for the next three decades.
Whether it is George Teague catching Miami WR Lamar Thomas and stealing the ball to give the Tide another National Championship, or Kordell Stewart uncorking a pass that travels 75 yards in the air on the last play of the game that gives the Colorado Buffs a fantastic finish in The Big House that still stings the Maize and Blue. Or maybe Vince Young running for the corner in The Rose Bowl Stadium against USC. Uh-oh. I did it again. We didn’t even make it two paragraphs in, and I am talking about the man who made the calls of those moments. Yes, Keith Jackson. I can hear them all. “He’s got three people down there!” He’s going for the corner…he’s got it!”
This past week I spent time introducing myself to the 9th and 10th grade students at North Harrison High School. I wanted them to hear from their new school counselor. We discussed many things, including learning styles and making the most of study techniques that suit them best. I told them I am an auditory learner. The best way I learn is to listen. My sweetest memories are those of sounds that I remember. Whether it is the voice of someone I can’t listen to anymore, or the sound of the ocean, or music experiences I have had, or hearing our son Cody yell “Charge!” as he was riding a wave off the coast of Orange Beach. That is why I am always listening to music. I need it.
College Football brings great life experiences to listen to. Go to The Joan in Huntington, West Virginia and listen to the East side of the stadium answer the West side of the stadium. “WE ARE! …MARSHALL!”
You’ll be ready to run out on the kickoff team.
Walk into Neyland Stadium rooting for Ole Miss Rebels only to hear Rocky Top being played after eight Tennessee Vol Scores. You’ll be ready to jump in the Tennessee River. I have been there.
Or you can listen to the sounds of silence in Bloomington in late November when the last home game of the season for the Indiana Hoosiers holds little left with a merciful noon start time. And you know you are in the safest place in America.
The sounds of College Football… there is nothing like them!
It is that time, boys and girls. Time to talk about the 2024 College Football season.
This past week I read where, in the age of NIL and players wanting someone to show them the money, that Oklahoma State Head Coach Mike Gundy told his team he wasn’t going to acknowledge any of their agents until after the season. Believe it or not, these coaches do have to coach as well as negotiate contracts. With that said, let’s talk football.
LOCALLY
The INDIANA HOOSIERS! Yes, I have been a bit tough on new Coach Curt Cignetti. On these pages, we have discussed everything from his high school days in Morgantown to his dad getting fired at WVU when the man was ill, to the stops along his coaching career that included some assignments that were there for him not to screw up. He hasn’t. Fortunately, his Win-Loss record shines nicely. Just ask him. I am for the success of Indiana Football. I am DELIGHTED that this team has a schedule with only two preseason Top 25 teams compared to no less than four the last seven years. Face it, there is not much about Indiana Football to screw up. It can only get better and a season with a schedule like the one the Hoosiers have is made for improvement. If Kurtis Rourke, the QB from the Ohio Bobcats, can hit wide receiver Donaven McCulley, one of the best in the land, eight times a game beyond 12 yards downfield, the Hoosiers will have an offense that will be able to make defense coordinators do a little guessing for a change when they play the Hoosiers.
The Louisville Cardinals… Jeff Brohm really brought it last year. The Cards were 10-1 before they lost the last three games including a toe-stubber against the Kentucky Wildcats in The Govenor’s Cup. After the Indiana Hoosiers played Santa Claus for Louisville last year in game three at Lucas Oil Stadium, the Cards’ season took a turn for the better.
On this drive, the Hoosiers were looking to tie the game 21-21 late in the fourth quarter. On 4th and goal, the Hoosiers ran the ball up the gut which was a place they gave up yards all day. Louisville pulled out a 21-14 win. The tale of two seasons began. Louisville beat Boston College like a colonial drum the next week. In a game the Hoosiers should have lost, the next week, it took IU 4 excruciating overtimes to beat Akron 29-27.
Heading into the season, it seems the Cards defense is coming along nicely, according to Coach Brohm. But just yesterday I heard they lost a playmaker in wide out Caulin Lacy. He caught 91 passes at South Alabama for more than 1300 yards last year with some speed to boot. He will be missed. The QB this season is 7th year veteran Tyler Shough who brings his wares from Texas Tech.
The Kentucky Wildcats… The boys in Lexington were just handed a hard slap on the wrist by the NCAA with regard to some ghost employment issues some players dealt with during the 2021 10-3 campaign. The NCAA vacated those wins. I doubt the rest of the world noticed much, given what we are dealing with in 2024. Coach Mark Stoops has worked miracles in Lexington. If you know SEC Football history, you understand this assertion. This is the toughest place to guide a winner in the SEC. Vandy? Yeah, but they don’t have expectations like the rest of them do.
The Wildcats seem to have a defense that can play with most. Look at how many defensive guys are on NFL or CFL rosters. Providing junior Deone Walker hangs with the team, look for this mass of defensive tackle to give some QBs serious fits. Most of the D-Unit is returning for the Cats. If their offense can turn a few of the usual close losses to a W or two, they might shock too. The offense will go as long as Georgia transfer Brock Vandagriff keeps going. He is a former five-star recruit, if you believe in that kind of stuff. I don’t.
THE BIG TEN
I am not going down the road I have for the last ten years giving a dish on each and every school in the conference. I still have a soft spot for Goldy at Minnesota.
I still like the Iowa Hawkeyes where they are made to fire winning assistant coaches related to the head coach and where under former head coach, Haden Fry, the team did the Hokey-Pokey in the locker room after a victory. Coach Fry himself told me this when I was writing a paper in college about post-game celebrations.
The UCLA Bruins are now my second favorite team in the conference. During our two visits to see the USC game at The Rose Bowl, they have been kind hosts.
My Dad will be the first one to tell you that!
Hanging out in an empty Rose Bowl with a newly installed turf still being painted was a highlight I will never forget. And I didn’t miss a kick!
Who wins THE BIG TEN? Ohio State will. If Quinshon Judkins, that rascal that left the Ole Miss Rebels, stays healthy and plays like he can, look out. The worst of it is, he might have another year left in Columbus.
I look forward to seeing the Washington Huskies in Bloomington this year. I have seen every Big Ten team play now except Oregon and Washington. I think Oregon comes calling to Indiana in 2028. I don’t plan on going to Eugene anytime soon.
The Hoosiers? I see 5 wins. I see a possibility of 7. The ultra-realist is still waiting on the FIU game and looking for a two-score win. This old boy has seen too many incarnations of this movie before. Indiana is sinking more interest into the gameday experience than Memorial Stadium has ever seen. A concert stage on the south side of the stadium along with food trucks and I don’t know what all. They moved Hep’s Rock outside to the east side of the stadium where everyone can tap it and wish the Hoosiers luck. I will tap it and think of Coach Hep and the job he was doing when was here. If only… a lament Hoosier Football fans live with in perpetuity.
Game I am looking forward to early? USC at Michigan on September 21st. This one kicks off at 3:30 on CBS. Gary Danielson, an old Purdue QB, will be back in the Big Ten calling games. He needs to be there. The SEC fans need someone who played in the SEC and talks a little bit slower. Welcome home, Gary. That is same day I will be looking at, gulp…Indiana hosting Charlotte.
THE SEC
This is where the who’s who of college football live. They have the crowds, the fan bases, the tailgates, and that is just during the spring season.
There is nothing like SEC Football. For better or worse, there is nothing like SEC Football. Most of the time I think it is for the better. As long as Tennessee or Florida are not in the mix, I am usually all about it.
Don’t get me wrong. Being in Knoxville for the third Saturday in October in 2016 was an event of a lifetime. Neyland Stadium, aka “One Cheek Hill” is a place you will get to know the one sitting next to you, in front of you, and behind you. I know what I speak of.
What on earth is a football preview without remembering this kind gentleman leaning over to melt my earwax while I was the only one there wearing a neutral Ole Miss shirt in Knoxville.
The Tide whipped the Vols that day.
I still root for the Rebels. My family roots are deep there. Many of my kin ‘finished’ ‘there. Do they still say that? And I will say it one last time. This will be tough without my best Ole Miss buddy to share it with. I will keep talking to Aunt Barbara on 4th and short, even though she is not with us anymore. Our weekly calls during the season will be missed. Our speaks about the colorful callers on The Paul Finebaum Show will be missed. Without her, the SEC will just mean less to me.
I still have a great deal of faith in Alabama to take care of the SEC. Why? Kalen DeBoer. The pressure is more on UGA and that ugly bulldog than it is at BAMA. That is saying something, I know. Believe me, I know. I will tell it every year. In 2019, referenced in the photo above, Ole Miss was bested by the Tide. That day Tua threw 6 touchdown passes against the Rebs. After the game, an old boy said, “…yeah, but Tua left a few balls out there.” I thought I was going to faint. I think the last time I wrote about this, not long ago, I mentioned it was too hot to faint.
I made sure to take a picture of the of scoreboard that day while the Rebs were ahead. Kind of like the time when Lee Corso was coaching the Indiana Hoosiers, and they scored first at Michigan. He called time out and got the whole team together for a picture of them with scoreboard in the background.
Who wins the SEC?
I have to pick Ole Miss for no other reason than the heart wants what the heart wants and cards fall on occasion the way one wants them to. There is great deal of momentum in Oxford. The current climate of college football seems kinder to the Rebs and their coach, Lane Kiffin, than most places. And maybe I just want things to seem that way. I know they lost some players. I know they could lose to LSU, Oklahoma, and Georgia. They could also beat those teams and everyone else on their schedule. So why not? Let Georgia and Bama and Texas and LSU knock each other out. We know at least four of these teams will be playing in the expanded college football playoffs. So being the SEC Champ holds more pride and less necessity than ever. Why else did the playoffs expand? For Penn State? I don’t think so. We know who owns college football’s main street. It doesn’t stretch from coast to coast.
The ACC
Florida State and Clemson are still the shellers of the corn in this league. Again, I am not running down each team like we have in years past. Stanford and Cal are in this league for goodness’ sake. Do those ACC fans even remember the Standford Band? That was played after basketball season started in 1982. That 1982-83 NCAA Basketball season was an ACC doozy.
I still enjoy watching Boston College play. What I wouldn’t give to have had a camera handy the time I was standing with Gerard Phelan when BC was playing at Louisville in 1990, and he was calling the game on NESN. I shook the hand of the guy who caught Flutie’s miracle pass in the Orange Bowl when I was a junior in high school six years earlier. Also, my heart still roots for UNC and Mack Brown.
I see at least 8 wins for the Louisville Cardinals. Can they go up to South Bend and beat Notre Dame again?
Leagues with 17 teams or 18 teams calling itself The Big 10 will forever be hokey and just for marketing’s sake. I get that. Won’t we eventually make it a four-division big boy setup that is more geographically friendly than having USC in The Big Ten? I hope so, for the sake of West Coasters who’d rather see the Beavers come calling that the Gophers, if you catch my drift.
No one has more affection for The Rose Bowl than I do. That dream is gone. I can call up YouTube and watch a real Rose Bowl and listen to Keith Jackson or Curt Gowdy or Dick Enberg and sit there with a smile on my face knowing what I am fortunate to know. I won’t so much as sigh when they eventually move this game to SoFi Stadium, in town, since the Pac-12 has been dismantled thus ending the game for many of us. But I will feel terrible for the folks of Pasadena and the traditions that they hold all year as they plan the Rose Parade that holds hands with The Rose Bowl Game itself. The Pasadena Jaycees is where you can order the game program. That is quaint these days. And the folks of Pasadena, residency proof required, still hang on to a number of tickets to the game. I know they are trying to hold on to that game only being played on January 1, as it should be. Who will listen?
I will say again. I am enjoying watching the Canadian Football League. It is like old-fashioned football for me. No drama involved. There is nothing on my phone’s newsfeed telling me who the worst five coordinators are. The pregame show reminds me of watching The NFL Today when we listened in on Brent, Phyllis, and Irv. I don’t see a list of Paul Finebaum’s best or worse this, that or the other. I doubt Paul endorses these, though I am sure it is good for business. I just watch the games. I haven’t missed one and we finish week 11 today with Winnepeg at British Columbia. Go Blue Bombers!
My penchant for college football has not gone yet. Who would sit here and knock out these many words if that was the case? I just hope the college game lives up to what mixture of nostalgia and sincere interest I may have, and I wonder if others feel the way I do. Or am I just a hopeless romantic who needs to find a different outlet for this game I still love so much.
I hope I can feel the words I once stole from Keith Jackson and used during the days of calling high school games on the radio with my partner, Gus Stephenson. We can only hope, “It should be a good one.”
Beginning with week one, August 31st, we’ll look at the weekly picks of fourteen games.
Don’t do it. Don’t tell me about my realism regarding the 2024 Indiana Hoosiers Football Team is based on my positive affection for Coach Tom Allen. Yes, I liked the guy. I still do. That won’t change. I also implied that Coach Allen and Indiana University needed to hammer out a treaty that would facilitate his way out of town last fall before they did just that about a week later.
Coach Allen is off to greener pastures. I have not seen a game at Penn State. But I can tell you that Beaver Stadium is a thing of beauty, and the Penn State Berkey Creamery has the best ice cream in America. Being a part of a great college football history is not a bad place to hang out for a while. Of course, I hope the Nittany Lions win every game.
On to the Hoosiers.
Am I the only one who is a realist when it comes to Coach Curt Cignetti? Has Indiana University Football become such a sympathetic/inspiring figure in the eyes of Hoosier fans that they automatically think the new coach will come in and win 7 games? This is the first time in my life that I have witnessed wishful thinking that seems a little more than just wishful.
Rest assured there will probably be no games in Indiana’s Memorial Stadium like the one they played against Michigan in the snow a few years ago. Coach Cignetti will see to that, providing he keeps blowing off as much hot air as he has since he made it to Bloomington. If hot air will give Indiana victories, the Hoosiers may land in the Music City Bowl.
Other media types don’t believe Indiana will face a challenge until the third game of the season. That is when the Hoosiers go to Pasadena to take on the UCLA Bruins in ‘some old stadium’.
Look, Coach Cignetti comes in from James Madison University with a great run there. 52-9 is darn good in five years of work. But where was James Madison in the five years before Coach Cig got there? 55-13. Coach Cig inherited a gold mine at JMU in terms of the Colonial Athletic Association.
We all know that these FCS and fledgling FBS programs schedule a “money” game with a traditional power. They need the money to help keep their football budgets as healthy as possible. That is why Alabama plays a JV team every year before the Iron Bowl. So, I asked how Coach Cig’s JMU teams did against the big boys in his 5 years there with his first three teams being FCS and last two at the FBS level. And how the five teams, all at the limited FCS level did in the “money” games before Coach Cig took over at JMU? Keep in mind the Covid year of 2020. That fall the CAA postponed the season until the spring of 2021. That was a season of attrition for sure. That saw the JMU Dukes play only five conference games before going 2-1 in the FCS playoffs.
The JMU teams coached by Everett Withers in 2014 and 2015 went 18-7 overall and lost to Maryland in 2014 while defeating SMU in 2015. Mike Houston took the JMU helm in 2016 and went 37-6 in his three years. The money games he played were losses against North Carolina in 2016, a win against East Carolina in 2017, and a loss to NC State in 2018.
It’s safe to say Coach Everett Withers and Coach Mike Houston had the refrigerator full when Coach Curt Cignetti made the move to JMU from Elon, unlike the empty cupboard he had to replace at IU. And, just like when he landed at Indiana and increased his salary seven times over, he said it was a tough decision to leave Elon after only two seasons.
During the Curt Cignetti five-year JMU era, the Dukes were 52-9. In the money games, minus the abbreviated 2020 Covid season, James Madison was 1-2. They were defeated by West Virginia in 2019, Louisville bested them in 2022, and JMU defeated Virginia in 2023. Coach Cig’s team did not play an FBS team in 2021 which was JMU’s last season in FCS. Not much there.
As I said earlier, many folks don’t believe the Hoosiers will be tested before the third game of the season when the UCLA Bruins host their first Big 10 game. And I think the Bruins will be ready.
Coach Cig recently said, “We’re just going to an old stadium to kick somebody’s ass. When I say that, that’s not directed toward UCLA. That’s the objective every week.”
For Coach Cig’s sake I hope he’s not expecting to play the Pasadena City College Lancers that day. The Bruins will be there, and they will be ready. You can get two tickets to the Indiana game at The Rose Bowl for 30 bucks less than I paid for one to see UCLA play USC eight years ago. The next week against Oregon, the same ticket as the one to IU is 77 dollars higher. So, I guess the Hoosiers have them right where they want them, if they don’t mistakenly show up at The LA Coliseum that day, you know, the other “old stadium”.
For me, the season starts at Memorial Stadium against FIU on August 31st. Coach Cig’s last four home openers have been against Bucknell, Middle Tennessee, and Morehead State twice. A two-score victory over FIU will give me a glimmer of hope.
This is The Big 10 boys, and it is a whole new ballgame, Google notwithstanding.
Nothing would please me more than to eat many words here. But as you know, I speak the rights. Google me.
Danny Johnson
NEXT UP: The 2024 speaktherights.com College Football Preview
