Miami vs Alabama (Atlanta): Here are some Bama facts that are all bad news for the Canes! The Tide has won 19 straight season openers, their last 10 games at neutral sites they won by an average of 25 points, & are 5-0 at Mercedes Benz Stadium, which also is the site used for the SEC Championship Game! The Canes have not played Bama since 1993, when Alabama upset Miami, in the Sugar Bowl, 34-13, to win the 1992 National Championship! Miami’s last win over the Crimson Tide was in the 1990 Sugar Bowl, 33-25, earning Miami the 1989 National Championship! The Hurricanes have lost their last 2 Neutral Site Games, LSU, 33-18 (AT&T Stadium / Arlington), in 2018 & Florida, 24-20 (Camping World Stadium / Orlando), in 2019! This game has produced a national championship, for the winner, the last 2 times the Canes & Tide have laced ’em up on the same field!
LSU @ UCLA: This is the 1st meeting between the Tigers & Bruins! LSU has taken on a PAC 12 opponent 12 times since 1981 and won all 12 games! The last time a P-12 beat LSU was in 1979, USC 17 LSU 12! UCLA is 18-15-4 vs current SEC teams, the Bruins last win vs the SEC, was against Texas A&M, 45-44, in 2017! In that game, the Bruins were down, 44-10, in the 3rd quarter, before scoring 35 unanswered points to win the game by a single point! One of the great comebacks in Rose Bowl history (not the Rose Bowl Game, but rather, in the history of games played @ the Rose Bowl!
Louisville vs Ole Miss (Atlanta) Monday: This is the 1st meeting between the Cardinals & the Rebels. Ole Miss is 2-1 in neutral site games, winning their most recent game (@ NRG Stadium / Houston), vs Texas Tech (B-12), 47-27. The Rebels rarely open their season against a Power 5 opponent, only on 2 occasions since 2009, as mentioned, beating Tech & losing to FSU, 45-33, in 2016 (Camping World Stadium / Orlando)! L-Ville last played in a neutral site game vs Alabama, getting hammered, 51-14, in Orlando! Louisville did beat an SEC team, Mississippi State, 38-28, in the 2019 Music City Bowl!
Clemson vs UGA (Charlotte): No doubt, but that this is, far and away, the best game of week one, in fact, it may be the best regular season game played in 2021. UGA dominates the all-time series, 42-16-4, including winning the most recent meeting, 45-21, in 2014. The Dawgs’ have won 7 straight opening games & won their last neutral site game vs UNC (Georgia Dome), 33-24, in 2016! That said, the last lime the Dogs lost a season opener was @ Clemson’s Death Valley, 38-35, in 2013! This Game will be played @ the Bank of America Stadium (Charlotte), which was the site of the last 4 ACC Championship Games … All won by Clemson! The last time Clemson played a season opener at a neutral site, they took down Auburn (Georgia Dome), 26-19, in 2012!
Penn State @ Wisconsin: This is shaping up to be the day’s 2nd best game. These cross divisional rivals have met only 5 times since 2009, the Badgers won the 2011 encounter in Madison, 45-7, outgaining the Lions, 450 to 233, while winning the Turnover (TO) battle, 4 to 1. Since then, it has been all Nittany Lions; PSU won in 2012, 24-21, @ Happy Valley, again in 2013, @ Camp Randall, 31-24, & again, in 2016, 38-31 (B-10 Championship Game in Indy), & their last meeting, 2018, @ Beaver Stadium, the Lions won a physical encounter, 22-10! Based on those last 4 wins, Penn State now leads the series 10 victories to 9 defeats. This is a very difficult start of the season for both teams. PSU has UW, Auburn, & IU in the 1st 5 weeks of the 2021 season; luckily 2 of the 3 are at home, yet all three of these teams are quite capable of taking down the Lions! While Bucky may have it tougher, PSU @ home, ND in Chicago (Soldier Field), & then Michigan in Mad-town, all in the 1st 5 weeks of their 2021 season!
Indiana @ Iowa: Another B-10 cross over battle that challenges both teams divisional hopes as they enter the 2021 season. The Hawks & Hoosiers are thought to be contenders for their respective, West & East, Divisional Championships. IU, clearly, has the tougher row to hoe, with Ohio State coming to Bloomington on Oct. 23rd. Yet hope abounds, based on their 42-35 loss to the Bucks @ ‘The Shoe’ in 2020. That said, a loss to Iowa and another to the Bucks, would mean OSU has the tie breaker with the Hoosiers and that Buckeyes would have to lose 3 B-10 games for IU to win the East Division outright. That, put simply, will not/never happen (OSU losing 3 conference games is as likely that whoever is reading this & Sul will be struck simultaneously by a meteor on September 4th). IU needs to find a way in Iowa City, last time there (2014) the Hawkeyes rolled the Hoosiers, 45-29! In fact, Iowa has won 6 of the last 7 and 3 in a row!
Ohio State @ Minnesota: Before you consider having me committed to a acylium for listing this game as one of the best, consider these elements! Minnesota’s QB, Tanner Morgan, is widely considered the B-10 2nd best at that position, behind only IU’s, Michael Penix. RB, Mo Ibrahim is often considered to be the B-10’s best by many and is never listed outside of the conference’s top 3 ball carriers! The Gophers have one of the top 3 offensives lines in the B-10, led by RG, Conner Olson, LG, Blaise Andries , & RT, Danny Faalele (6’9” 400) … yeah! … he’s a big guy! Finally, the WR’s, Chris Autman Bell & Daniel Jackson are capable of making plays of the perimeter! The Gophers defense is the rub, they gave up 6.3 Yards Per Rush (YPR), 30.1 Points Per Game (PPG), & 411.6 Yards Per Game (YPG). That “D” is why you are considering an Acylium placement for Sul. However, please note: they do have 10 defensive starters back for 2021 season! (?)
West Virginia @ Maryland: Maryland has lost 9 of the last 10 meeting vs the Mountaineers! The Terrapins lone win came in 2013, a 37-0 blasting of WV @ a neutral site, Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium. The teams last played in 2015, a 45-6, humiliations of the Terps in Morgantown’s, Mountaineer Field. Their last meeting @ Maryland Stadium was in 2014, a 40-37 Mountaineer victory! These teams are former rivals, having played every year from 1976 thru 2007 with WVU leading the over-all series 28-22-2!
Texas Tech vs Houston (NRG Stadium): A neutral site battle between old Southwest Conference (SWC) teams and the pitting of 2 Texas teams, of the 12 DI teams playing college football in the great state of Texas, against one another! The Cougars & Red Raiders have played 32 times, with Houston holding the edge in wins, 18 to TT’s 13, ( for those of you doubting Sul’s math; they did play to a 10 to 10 tie in 1987)! That said, the Red Raiders have won the last 3, including a wild, no D, light up the scoreboard affair, in 2018, a 63-49 score fest! This game has a little of everything, P5 vs G5, a Texas showdown, B-12 turmoil (OU & UT, jumping ship), TT & Et Al supposedly reaching out to the PAC 12, & Houston wanting a seat at @ a P5 table! Everybody is going to bring it in this game!
ND vs FSU: The Visiting team has lost 3 in a row, including the 2014 game when #5 Notre Dame lost to #2 FSU, 31-27! The Irish have won 4 straight season opening games. Their last lost to open a season was in 2016, to Texas, 50-47, in 2 OT’s. The Seminoles lead the all-time series 6 wins to 4 losses, yet have lost the last 2 games, 42-13, in 2018 & and 42-26 in 2020, both games were played @ Notre Dame Stadium. The Noles have lost 4 straight season opening games and 3 of the 4 were @ Doak S Campbell Stadium, FSU’s home field! The Irish & Noles have split their last 4 games, FSU won in 2011, 18-14 & as mentioned, in 2014! One subminimal, yet major factor in this game, is Cain Madden, an All-American offensive guard, who is a Graduate transfer to ND from Marshall. This gives the Irish, 2 All Americans on their O-Line (Jarrett Patterson), coupled with 6’7” 310 (RT) Josh Lugg, 6’6 330 (LT) Blake Fisher, & 6’3 295 (C) Zeke Correll, a different feel up front. I thought the FSU crowd noise (79,560 / chanting & chopping) would be a significant factor, with 4 new starters on the ND O-Line. The addition of Madden changes the math (from 80% to 60% inexperienced) and when one factors in that Correll started against Clemson & Alabama, that inexperience element is becoming a non factor! This is going to be one of the day’s best. FSU HC, Mike Norvell, is an excellent coach and the Noles will be back to national prominence as soon as he fixes the O-Line!
UNC @ V-Tech: This is the 1st time the Heels are opening a season away from Kenan Memorial Stadium since 2005. UNC has lost 7 straight when opening the season away from Tobacco Road, ugly! To make matters more challenging, the Hokes are 8-4 vs the Tar Heels in their last 12 meetings! The last 2 games played in Blacksburg (2017 & 2019) V-Tech scored 59 (59-7) & 43 (43-41, winning in 6 OT’s); UNC has to make sure their defense gets on the bus/train/plane/whatever & travels to Lane Stadium for this 2021 Coastal Division showdown! Especially, since they no longer have a pair of 1,000 yard rushers (Michael Carter & Javonte Williams) or a pair of 1,000 yard receivers (Dyami Brown & Dazz Newsome). UNC’s QB, Sam Howell, is really good/great and clearly, can make others on offense better, but he can not win big games w/o the D showing up and showing up big!!
Stanford vs Kansas State (Arlington): This will be only the 2nd meeting between the P-12’s Cardinal & B-12’s Wildcats. Stanford won the initial meeting in 2016, @ Palo Alto, 23-16, the season opener for both teams. K-State has not played a neutral site game since 2003, when they beat OU, to win the B-12 championship game @ Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, MO! The Wildcats regrouped after the loss to post a 9-4 record & beat Texas A&M, 33-28, in the Texas Bowl. Stanford finished with a 10-3 mark, beating UNC in the Sun Bowl, 25-23!
Arizona vs BYU (Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium): BYU has long stated that it wants to be the ‘Notre Dame of the West’! Well, good luck with that, yet never say never! What one can say, is the Cougars must play a better schedule to even get that idea on the runway. From 2016 thru 2019 the Cougars played 19 Power 5 opponents (an annual average of 4.75) contrasted with the Irish, who kicked it off against 37 P5 opponents (an annual average of 9.25), in that same time frame. This does not include 2020, which excluded BYU (thru no fault of their own) from having access to those conferences, while ND played 10 P5 teams & beat them all! In other words, BYU must play a better schedule & win the lion’s share of those contests. This year is a step in the right direction, as they are taking on 7 P5 teams (however, it needs to be a minimum of 8 / 9 would be better, as 8 is the number of conference games the SEC & ACC play/ plus they usually schedule, at least, 1 more NC P5 game), in 2021, the Cougars are playing 5 teams from the P-10, 1 from the ACC, & 1 from the B-12! To that end, BYU has beaten Arizona 5 of the last 7, including 3 straight! Yet, the Cougars have lost 9 straight to Utah & ASU has won 20 of their 25 meetings. BYU is coming off an 11-1 2020 season, yet, these numbers were earned against all G5 opponents. The time for BYU to step up & knock down P5 opponents is now!!
Miami OH @ Cincinnati: Miami leads the series 59-58-7, yet have lost the last 14 meetings by an average of 20 points. The Red Hawks last win in this series was @ home, in 2005, 44-16, at Yager Stadium. The teams 1st played in 1888 (a 0-0 Tie). The Bearcats & Red Hawks play for the Victory Bell, the oldest Non-Conference football rivalry in the United States. Cincy & Miami have played every year from 1945 thru 2019 (Covid-19 interrupted the series for the 2020 season)! If Cincinnati wins the 2021 meeting, it will be their 15 straight win and tie the series @ 59 wins apiece!
Boise State @ UCF (Thursday): Boise State & Central Florida (UCF) are two of the best G5 programs in the nation! This is the 1st meeting between these Universities. In fact, in the past 5 years, UCF has not played a single game vs a Mountain West Conference (MWC) opponent! The same is true for Boise State, they have not ‘kicked it off’ vs a single American Athletic Conference (AAC) team. That said, Boise is 8-1 all-time vs current AAC teams, however, none of these wins were earned while those teams were playing in the AAC (they were in different conferences at the time the game was played)! Boise State is 4-1 in road openers, beat Louisiana, 45-10, Troy 56-20, Florida State 36-31 & Air Force 59-30, their lone loss was to Washington State, 47-44, in 2017! UCF will be a formidable road opponent for the Broncos, the Knights are 23-2 in the Bounce House (the Knight’s home stadium & the fact that the stadium structure would move as the crowd bounced = the name of the venue … Sul will watch this one on TV!!!)! UCF has gone 4-1 in the last 5 home openers, their only home loss was to Tulsa, 34-26, in 2020!
Appalachian State vs East Carolina @ Charlotte’s B of A Stadium (Thursday) : The Sun Belt Conference is now the 3rd best conference in the Group of 5 (G5), Five Conferences are labeled as making up the G5 (AAC, C-USA, MAC, MWC, & SBC). Last year SBC members, Coastal Carolina went 11-1, Louisiana 10-1, Appalachian State 9-4, Georgia Southern 8-5, & Georgia State 6-4. Their 5 top teams went 44-15, better than any other G5 league’s top 5 teams! East Carolina is a member of the AAC (widely regarded as the G5’s best league, followed by the MWC) and has taken down App St 6 straight times (1976 thru 2012, yet these teams have not met in 9 years & App St leads the 31 game series, 19-12 (it should be noted these teams have never played as FBS programs (85 scholarships) all meetings occurred when @ least one team was in the FCS (63 scholarships)! Last time the Pirates played @ Bank of American Stadium, they lost to South Carolina, 56-37, in 2012! Last meeting between these programs was in 2012, ECU 36 Mountaineers 13!
17. South Dakota State @ Colorado State: Here is a name to remember, Mark Gronowski, QB @ South Dakota State! Listed here are awards Gronowski won as a freshmen in the 2020 season: 1) Hero Sports FCS Freshman: All-American Team 2020-21; 2) Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC): Offensive Player of the Year 2020-21; MVFC: Newcomer of the Year 2020-21, MVFC: freshmen of the Year 2020-21; All-MVFC: QB 1st Team; Stats Perform Jerry Rice Award: Finalist/Runner up; National FCS & MVFC Player of the Week: 3 times in 2020-21. Sadly Gronowski was injured in the 1st series of the FCS National Championship Game (Sam Houston 23 South Dakota State 21) and is not expected back for the 2021 season! Without Gronowski, Colorado State wins this game; with him, South Dakota State wins the game and it would not be an upset!
18. Louisiana @ Texas: Steve Sarkisian makes his Texas debut after breaking Alabama & NCAA offensive records as the Tide’s OC in 2 consecutive years. Louisiana went 10-1 last year, beating Iowa State, 31-14 (a 17 point win over ISU, a team who beat OU by 7 in the regular season & lost to Sooners by 6 in the B-12 Championship game), while losing to only Coastal Carolina (11-1), 30-27. Billy Napier, is one of the best coaches in the country, going 28-11, since his arrival in Lafayette in 2018! This is a game of interest, note: Iowa State beat Texas, 23-20 (in Austin’s Darrell K Royal / Texas Memorial Stadium) in 2020 & Oh yeah, as mentioned, the Cyclones beat OU, 37-30. The Horns better be ready, as the Ragin’ Cajuns are going to “bring it’!
19. Syracuse @ Ohio: Ohio ‘s legendary coach, Frank Solich, has announced his retirement after coaching at 2 schools for 55 years! Coach Solich went 58-19 in his 6 years as the head coach at Nebraska. Good, but not good enough for the Nebraska faithful! Prior to Coach Solich becoming the HC in Lincoln, the Huskers had won 3 national championships in 4 years, clearly a tuff act to follow (Tom Osborne: 255-49-3 .836 winning percentage / 1973-97)! Frank went 115-82 in his 16 years @ Ohio, who had only 2 winning seasons in the 22 years before Coach’s arrival in Athens. Solich was the oldest coach in the FBS @ 76 (the old guy is now Mack Brown, 70 in August), has an over-all record of 173-101 as a head coach, & retires as the winning coach in MAC history. Coach liked to say he served at only 2 schools in 55 years and was fired only once, in 5 plus decades! Quite a feat in today’s world! Watch this game and remember Frank’s great service!
20. Nebraska @ Illinois: Bret Bielema’s makes his debut @ Illinois as he returns to the B-10 coaching ranks! The Illini broke a 4 game losing slide to the Huskers last year (2020), winning 41-23! This was Illinois first win in Lincoln since 1924 (Chicagoans couldn’t have a drink to celebrate for nine (9) more years … Prohibition from 1920 thru 1933 …. or maybe not)! The Illini have been ‘scoring it up’ on Nebraska’s famed ‘Black Shirt’ defenders, putting up an average of 38 points in their last three meetings! While Nebraska’s ‘favorite son’, Scott Frost, has struggled in his 1st three years back @ Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium (12-20), since leading the Huskers to a split National Championship (Michigan) in 1997! The Huskers & Frost need a win here, they play @ Oklahoma & Wisconsin, host Ohio State & Michigan, and have difficult divisional games @ Minnesota and @ home vs Northwestern & Iowa! Frost needs a bowl game in year four!
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