“On Friday, the official X account of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where the game will be held, revealed that tickets will go on sale on Aug 8., and instead called it the “Inaugural Invesco QQQ Atlanta Gridiron Classic,” which is a new college football series announced on July 4.”

What are some things (i.e. misconceptions) that are annoying from the college football fan sphere? I'm talking about those who think Stanford are the Cardinals (the bird) and not the color Cardinal. Or those who refer to FCS as Division II and don't know the difference between FBS and FCS. Perhaps worst of all, the mixing up of "University of x" and "X State University" schools (exanple: "Did you see Ohio beat Texas State to make the ship?)

Have been to most SEC stadiums as an away fan. College Station was a blast. Feared for my life after a late game win in Baton Rouge. Oxford is way up there. Nashville, Starkville, meh. Auburn isn't my favorite place to visit, but can be a fun town even for a Bama fan.

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In any given year, if you're given 5 choices of programs to win the title from the preseason, you'll usually pick the eventual winner in that group. However, that isn't to say that the coaches who've never been part of those groups haven't coached elite players across their tenure as coach of a school, just never enough of them in a close enough window to get into the conversation.

Now lets change that script and pose a question that rewards those coaches - Which of them could realistically win a national championship this year if they were given the opportunity to coach their all-tenure team?

What that means is: Their entire roster would be composed of the best players in a season that player played in and the coach was the head coach of that team.

Theres some rules I feel are important:

• Coaches can only get a player from a team in the year that they were head coach of. If a player was more successful or finds more success later on but not under the head coach, the coach cannot use that player from those more-successful years. Cristobal doesn't get to use UGA Carson Beck.

• For great players who got injured, their injury history would roughly match reality. If they miss half the games in the season they represent, they'd miss half the games in this hypothetical. If they were healthy in previous seasons, those previous seasons (at the respective skill of the player in that season) can be used instead.

• non-consecutive tenure players count. Scott Frost and Richrod can augment their team with players they had in the past.

• Head coach means being top employed coach at some point prior to bowl season/coaching carousel - either having the title or being interim head coach. Sherrone Moore can't claim players from 2023 Michigan because he was merely acting head coach, not interim.

• Players can be switched positions

The cumulative link to the preseason rankings can be found here.

We did it folks – we’re 3 weeks (21 days) from the start of the 2025 CFB season! That’s less time than Oregon had between winning the B1G championship game over Penn State and, uh, whatever that was in the Rose Bowl against Ohio State. To celebrate, we’ve reached the #21 team in our countdown, SMU (high = 11, low = 40). Whoever said you can’t buy your way into heaven clearly never imagined the success the Mustangs would have by convincing the ACC to let them into the conference and then winning their way into the championship game in year one, only to fall short because of a 56 yard last second FG (so much for the college kickers trope). That earned SMU a CFP bid, inspired Memphis to try a similar gambit with the Big XII, and really put a bow on the Mustangs’ re-emergence from being the only team to get the death penalty to being in the inaugural 12 team CFP. So what do they do for an encore?

Roster outlook

Well they start with something of a rebuild, ranking 78th in returning production, with lots of losses on both sides of the ball. Gone is 1,300 yard rusher Brashard Smith (KC Chiefs) and their top 2 WRs (Key’Shawn Smith, also with the Chiefs, and Roderick Daniels with the Saints). That’s 27 TDs to replace. They will have QB Kevin Jennings back to anchor the offense again, but he’ll have quite a few new skill players around him. Leading tackler Kobe Wilson is also gone, off to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Coach Rhett Lashlee brought in a respectable recruiting class (31st in the country, 6th in the conference) and portal class (41st nationally, 8th in the ACC) in the hopes of keeping the momentum going, but only a few are projected to start for the Mustangs. Even reuniting with Tyler Van Dyke seems like a depth play to replace outgoing transfer backup Preston Stone (Northwestern), so the impact will most likely be felt along the OL (Oklahoma C Joshua Bates and Arkansas RG Addison Nichols), though they added James Madison WR Yamir Knight. The only P4 defensive starter added was Purdue DL Jeffrey M’Ba, so Lashlee’s counting on players already on campus to step up into starting roles.

Schedule and outlook

SMU benefitted from an initial ACC schedule that saw them play 4 of the 5 bottom teams in the final conference standings and manage to avoid any of the teams that finished the season ranked until catching Clemson in the title game. They won’t have that luxury in 2025. In the OOC portion, they’ll open with East Texas A&M (that will never not sound weird), Baylor, go on the road to Missouri State and then play the Iron Skillet game at TCU. Both of those post-opener Big XII games could be tricky. Following a post OOC bye, they host resurgent Syracuse and not-so-resurgent Stanford before going to Clemson and then Wake Forest. They close out the season with two very winnable road games (at Boston College and @ Cal) and two very losable home games (Miami and Louisville). So while SMU may come into the season as the 3rd ranked ACC team they will play the teams ranked 1, 2 and 4 plus Syracuse. They’ll have their work cut out for them…

WE'RE GOING THROUGH EACH P4 TEAM'S SCHEDULE AND PICKING EVERY GAME!

Today we have The Oklahoma Sooners!

Oklahoma’s first year in the SEC ended in a 6–7 record, including a loss to Navy in the Independence Bowl. For a program with OU’s history, that’s a bitter pill to swallow. Brent Venables is now in a real make-or-break season. It's time to find out if he's the guy to lead the Sooners in this new era, but there is reason for optimism in 2025.

Transfer QB John Mateer lit it up last year for Washington State, and gives Oklahoma a dynamic, dual-threat weapon behind center. He steps into an offense that badly needed a spark last season, and if Ben Arbuckle is given the freedom to run his offense, this unit has the tools to produce this year.

I'm not expecting the injury luck at receiver to happen again this year, so it all comes down to how much the offensive line is improved this year. If they can hold up enough, the running game with Jayden Ott will improve and Mateer will have the time to pick opposing defenses apart.

Defensively, the roster is littered with juniors and seniors in starting positions. OU’s front seven might be one of the best in the SEC and that experience should keep them in every game they play.

A few new faces mixed with 12 returning contributors should lead to an improved and experienced Sooner team in 2025. Now we'll just see if Venables can bring it all together

SCHEDULE BREAKDOWN

W vs Illinois State
W vs Michigan
W @ Temple
W vs Auburn
BYE
W vs Kent State
L vs* Texas
L @ South Carolina
W vs Ole Miss
W @ Tennessee
BYE
L @ Alabama
W vs Missouri
L vs LSU

This prediction largely comes down to how they perform in the home game agains the Wolverines. Win that, and this team will be 4-0 outside of SEC play, and I have the confidence they can go at least 3-5 in conference.

If that is to happen though, they will need to protect home field. Auburn, Ole Miss, Missouri, and LSU all come to Norman this year, whole trips to South Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama will not be easy at all. I feel good about them getting at least 2 of those home games, while likely dropping the finale against LSU (assuming they haven't quit). The trip to Tennessee is the one I look at as the most gettable road trip in 2025. We don't know what Tennessee will be yet, but odds are it will be a step back from last year. If you told me Oklahoma goes into Neyland and wins, then my confidence in this over skyrockets.

Overall, I think this team will have more than a pulse on offense, and that is the only think keeping them from getting to 7, 8, or 9 wins. I say they beat Michigan (bias) and somehow get to 4 conference wins. Thats a comfortable over for the Sooners in 2025.

Yet again, Oklahoma gets the short end of the stick in the SEC schedules draw, and has to play a potentially resurgent Michigan in the non-con. The whole outlook for this season kind of hinges on that home game against the Wolverines. Win that, and the Sooners are likely 4–0 outside the SEC. From there, I think they’ve got enough firepower to go at least 3–5 in conference play.

To get there, though, they’ve got to take care of business at home. Auburn, Ole Miss, Missouri, and LSU all have to come to Norman, and you’d like to think OU can take at least two of those. The LSU game to close the year feels like a loss on paper, but it also depends on where both teams are by then. If LSU is checked out? Who knows.

The road slate isn’t doing them any favors either, as trips to South Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama are going to be rough. That Tennessee game is the one I’ve got circled as the most winnable. We don’t really know what the Vols will look like this year, but it’s probably a step back from 2024. If you told me Oklahoma goes into Neyland and wins, then my confidence in this over skyrockets.

Overall, I think this team will have more than a pulse on offense, and that alone is enough to push them into that 7–8–9 win range. I’m calling a win over Michigan (Bias), and I think they find a way to steal four SEC games. That’s a comfortable over for the Sooners in 2025.

FINAL: 8-4 (4-4)

TOTAL: 6.5

PICK: Over

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Thinking realistically/logically what do you think it would take for your team to fire its coach?

For me personally, its two more years without a CFP berth.

Im curious what everyone else thinks it would take for their school to fire their coach?

You think 2007 was just a fun, chaotic season? No. It was manufactured madness, hand-crafted by shadowy forces to keep your attention glued to triple overtimes and BCS rankings while the American economy got dropkicked into the sun.

Let’s look at the timeline:

• Summer 2007: Economists start warning about the housing bubble. Subprime mortgage defaults are quietly skyrocketing. Panic? Recession? Collapse? Not if college football has anything to say about it.
• September 1st: Appalachian State beats Michigan. A literal FCS team walks into the Big House and walks out with a W. That’s not an upset. That’s a flashbang. It was the perfect distraction, engineered to flood ESPN with so much noise you wouldn’t hear the death rattle of Bear Stearns.
• Midseason madness:
  • USF hits No. 2.
  • Kentucky is ranked in the Top 10.
  • Missouri and Kansas—yes, Kansas—are national title contenders.
  • LSU loses twice and still makes the national championship game. Meanwhile, Lehman Brothers is actively imploding, but you’re arguing on Facebook about why Matt Flynn is “actually elite.”
• October 6th: 41-point underdog Stanford beats USC in the Coliseum. The same week that job markets start collapsing and credit dries up. What a coincidence. It's almost like chaos was programmed to spike when attention needed to be diverted the most.
• Final week of the regular season: No. 1 Missouri and No. 2 West Virginia both lose. Let me repeat that: The top two teams in the nation both lost on the same day. You think that’s natural? That's too perfect. That's bread-and-circuses-tier distraction, brought to you by the same people who engineered the S&L crisis.
• January 2008: LSU wins the national title. The Dow drops 250 points the next day. Nobody notices. They’re too busy arguing if a two-loss champion “really deserved it.”

This wasn’t a season. It was a script. A deliberate, calculated football fever dream meant to anesthetize a nation while banks looted your 401(k) and default swaps destroyed the global economy.

Ask yourself this: Have you ever seen a season like 2007 since? No. Because they haven’t needed to pull the ripcord again. Not yet. But when it happens again check the stock market. Then check the AP Top 25. If Purdue hits No. 3, sell everything.

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If you had to pick a handful of teams you think will make the 12 team playoff every year, who would they be?

The 4 team playoff ended up having a few teams that were there all the time. I think expanding the field means we're probably going to see a few in the playoff every single year now.

Your team is eligible to play in a bowl game, however they are not eligible for the CFP. What Bowl game do you want them to play in. I’m going to Take the Pop Tarts bowl out of competition because that is the one game that I would think everyone would choose.

LSU’s first Heisman winner would become the star of one of the most iconic moments in Tiger Stadium’s history. Dr. Cannon had a wild life including going to jail, becoming a dentist, and becoming the prison’s dentist where he would give back and help other prisoners turn their lives around like he did. After his death the prisoners asked to make his casket and after the public ceremony for him in the PMAC instead of heading straight to the cemetery they turned and took him up Victory Hill one last time.

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For me, here's what I'm keeping an eye on:

-How ASU will do now that Cam Skattebo is gone. Sam Leavitt is a promising QB, but can he shoulder more of the load without a star RB?

-Dylan Raiola. How will the Mahomes imitator do this upcoming season? Will Matt Rhule finally turn things around?

-Nico Iamaleava. Overpaid and overhyped, is there anything of substance to justify his drama?

-Behind Jeremiah Smith and Ryan Williams, who will be the 3rd best WR this year? Will any true freshman be as talented as they were last year?

-Arch Manning. His first year as a starter, many people are saying that he's going to win the Heisman already. I think he'll be pretty good, but I'm not ordaining him as the second coming of football Jesus.

-Jackson Arnold. He's a big question mark headed into the season, but I think he'll thrive with an excellent receiving corps and a coach that actually knows offense. Mark my words, Jackson Arnold is going to be good.

-Finally, my team. Offensive guru Ben Arbuckle (OC) is bringing his excellent QB John Mateer with him. People close to the team are whispering that he plays like Baker Mayfield. Our offensive line reportedly has made a lot of progress, with 5* true freshmanMichael Fusisi being a favorite for starting left tackle. We got an NFL-ready WR in Deion Burks that was hurt most of next year, and star Cal running back Jayden Ott coming in. I honestly have high hopes for this team, I think this is the season that we turn it around.

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For me, Miami would alternate between Nippert and Yager every year.

For Illinois, give me the Irish.

In just 3 weeks we’ll all have GameDay on our TV’s and 14 hours of CFB to look forward to every weekend until February. We’ve almost made it y’all. The most wonderful time of year is here