Random Thoughts: The Glorious Return of College Football

College Football got off to an blazing start of craziness, college kickers (amirite?), scoring frenzies, nailbiters, upsets, and blowouts.

CRAZINESS

Florida State 24 LSU 23 - I could not cover the blunders on both sides of this game much better than Josh did on Monday morning. The fact that both of these highly paid coaches make millions to come up with so many basic mistakes is astonishing.

COLLEGE KICKERS, AMIRITE?

NC State 21 East Carolina 20 - Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, ECU missed a game-tying PAT with just under three minutes to play and then a 41-yard attempt with two seconds remaining that would have won the game.

SCORING FRENZIES

North Carolina 63 Appalachian State 61 - Appy jumped out to a 21-7 lead but UNC stormed back and held a 41-21 advantage entering the final quarter. Then the two teams combined for 62 total points and nine touchdowns in the fourth quarter. There are too many highlights for my fingers to type up here, but it came down to a couple of missed 2-pointers for the Mountaineers.

BLOWOUTS

Georgia 49 Oregon 3 - The difference of athletes on the field for this Kickoff Classic was glaring. Just watch 6-7, 270-pound Darnell Washington hurdle Duck defenders. It’s so sad the new Oregon head coach Dan Lanning thought Bo Nix would be his savior at quarterback. The real debate begins as to whether UGA has indeed reloaded and are just as good as last season or whether Oregon is just an overrated pile o’ crap. The answer is most likely somewhere in the middle.

Alabama 55 Utah State 0 - To absolutely nobody’s surprise, Bama dominated the Aggies. However, I think most people figured USU would manage to score a few points. This is a team that went 11–3 and won the MWC with the same quarterback last season. After 3,628 passing yards a year ago, Logan Bonner completed 3 of 9 attempts for 39 yards. He and two other signal callers tallied 8 for 22 for 57 passing yards. The Aggs were outgained 559 to 136. Bryce Young accounted for six touchdowns in a little over two quarters of play.

UPSETS

Unranked Florida stepped up and defended their home with a big win over PAC 12 favorite and #7 Utah. Gators QB Anthony Richardson did most of his damage with his feet (11 RUSH, 106 YDS, 3 TD) but made a few other plays with his arm.

It was the UF defense against QB Cameron Rising that was most impressive. The Gators had a goal line stand in the third quarter and picked off Rising in the end zone to seal the victory. October 29 is gonna be reeeeal interesting...

RIVALRY RENEWALS

Pitt 38 West Virginia 31 - Although they have not played for over a decade, these two teams/schools/student bodies HATE each other. More of this please!

It was a close one until WVU senior citizen QB JT Daniels sent a pass out to his receiver who let the ball slip through his hands and into the security of a Pitt defender. That guy took it back to the house for the winning points and then (not for the squeamish) lost his lunch on national TV. Some are calling it the “puke six.”

Ironically, the receiver with the greased up hands, Bryce Ford-Wheaton, has a Twitter tagline of “I’m tryna be a millionaire, I’m not tryna play around…” Try harder, bruh.

HOT SEAT

Lame answer... Lame duck?

Many of us here at RBR were big fans of Neal Brown when he was at Troy, but something has changed in the man. He has become gun-shy and conservative. No more has there been an example of that then when WVU had a 4th and inches at the Pitt 48 with a touchdown lead with six minutes to go. With all the momentum and 6’2/240 lbs CJ Donaldson (7 rush, 125 YDS, TD) at their disposal in the backfield, Brown chose to punt the ball away. Was it the right call? That is up for debate, but Troy’s Neal Brown would have gone for it. He may be gone after this season. Maybe sooner.

FLEX

Arkansas 31 Cincinnati 24 - KJ Jefferson put up some right purty numbers (18/26, 223 YDS, 3 TD, 0 INT, 18 RUSH, 62 YDS, TD), but the Hogs defense struggled at times allowing 438 yards to a team that lost their starting QB1 and RB1 o the NFL. Former Alabama LB Drew Sanders had sack.

SEC VS CUPCAKES

Tennessee 59 Ball State 10 - The Cardinals threw a pick on the first play of the game and UT would score a touchdown one play later. That about summed up how this game would go. It was so bad that even godawful QB Joe Milton completed 8 of 9 passes for 113 yards and a TD.

Texas A&M 31 Sam Houston 0 - Despite the win, Haynes King threw a pair of picks and TAMU had only 110 rushing yards on 32 carries (3.4 ypc) against their FCS opponent.

Ole Miss 28 Troy 10 - Only four touchdowns from Lane Kiffin’s crew? Was he holding back or is this offense in trouble? OM committed three turnovers and had 167 passing yards.

Kentucky 37 Miami (OH) 13 - UK held a 13-10 lead at the half but scored 17 points in the third quarter to pull away. The Wildcats’ Will Levis was his usual erratic self and I would not want him as my QB1. He’s going to get some NFL GM fired.

South Carolina 35 Georgia State 14 - Spencer Rattler got off to a rocky debut for SC with his team trailing 14-12 in the third quarter. The Gamecocks special teams came to the rescue with two blocked punts returned for touchdowns for the final points scored in the game.

For some reason, Aubie had a white-out against Mercer. It was not exactly a full house.

Auburn 42 Mercer 16 - T.J. Finley was pretty bland (9/14, 112 YDS, 1 TD, 2 INT) against the FCS Bears and shared time with Oregon transfer Robby Ashford (4/7, 100 PASS YDS, 68 RUSH YDS, 2 TD) Yes, Stephen Garcia Zach Calzada is third string. Tank Bigsby ran for 147 yards and two touchdowns

Mississippi State 49 Memphis 23 - MSU got their revenge with Will Rogers slinging all over the yard (38/49, 450 YDS, 5 TD, 1 INT).

TECHNICALLY SEC

Missouri 52 Louisiana Tech 24 - It was a wide-margin win against a LaTech team that was 3-9 last year. The Tigers offense put up 558 yards but had two turnovers and committed 10 penalties for 100 yards.

Vanderbilt 42 Elon 31 - Vandy figured out the best way to win games: moar cupcakes.

THIS IS WHY P5s SHOULD NOT PLAY ROAD GAMES VS NON-P5s

Oops!

Old Dominion 20 Virginia Tech 17 - How many times have we seen Power 5 teams agree to play road games against non-Power 5 teams and lose? Answer: a lot. Clanga-Clang losing at Memphis last year comes to mind.

OTHER STUFF

Ohio State 21 Notre Dame 10 - The big marquee match up did not exactly live up to its billing. anOSU offense looked sluggish and the Irish sure did not look like the #5 team in the nation.

Clemson 41 Georgia Tech 10 - DO NOT BE DECEIVED BY THIS SCORE! Clemson and DJ Uigelelelele looked like crap for 3 and a half quarters and finally poured it on in the end over a visibly smaller and less talented Yeller Jackets team.

SHANK OF THE WEEK

DICK MOVE OF THE WEEK

No flag was thrown on the play. smh

WORST HOST OF THE WEEK

In a game at Old Dominion, Virginia Tech coaches got stuck in an elevator for 15 minutes, delaying the second half. In addition, several Hokies players had items stolen from the locker room during the game.

YOU HAD ONE JOB

PEACE OUT OF THE WEEK

As mentioned in RBR’s LSU preseason preview, the possibility of LSU’s Kayshon Boutte taking a powder on the season - a la Derek Stingley - is a real possibility. Against FSU, he had two receptions for 20 yards.

Astute social media followers noticed that the Tigers’ wide receiver deleted everything LSU related from his Instagram and Twitter profiles. Look for a mystery “injury” to befall him very soon.

ALMOST BEST TROLL OF THE WEEK

Some serious wussification going on at Pitt made the football social media team take this Tweet down. When did everyone get so soft? #StopApologizing

FBS VS FCS

FCS teams continue to close the gap on their big brothers in FBS. Once upon a time, it was beyond the bounds of possibility that a lower division team would win on the road to their elder brethren. Nowadays, it seems to happen with regularity.

Delaware 14 Navy 7 - Only 184 rushing yards and three lost fumbles.

William & Mary 41 Charlotte 24 - UNCC paid FCS William & Mary $300,000 to beat them in their house. I know the 49ers are still new to FBS but how do you lose to a school named for a King and Queen of England who died over 300 years ago and has 6,200 undergraduates??? (Charlotte has 30K+)

Another new normal seems to be FCS teams playing tight games against FBS and there were several this week.

Iowa 7 South Dakota State 3 - Remember this summer how RBR told you that the B1G is nowhere near the level of the SEC? What an ugly display from the favorite to win the B1G West. The Hawkeyes managed a paltry 166 total yards of offense and 10 first downs. The defense recorded two safeties outscoring the offense by one point. FS1 actually chose a one play safety as the “Drive of the Game”.

The below FCSers did not win but they made it darned close. Note that none of these FCS teams are ranked or even received preseason votes.

FIU 38 Bryant 37 (OT) - FIU had to convert a two-pointer to put away this nobody team.
Washington State 24 Idaho 17
Akron 30 St. Francis (PA) 23 (OT)
Northern Illinois 34 Eastern Illinois 27
San Jose Canseco State 21 Portland State 17

Speaking of FCS rankings, below are the Top 4 FCS teams:

1. North Dakota State
2. Montana
3. South Dakota State
4. Montana State

Clearly there are talented football players in the Dakotas and Big Sky Country. Scott Frost is a dead man walking at Nebraska but he missed out on an opportunity to recruit these states.

BEWARE IF YOU ARE HEADING TO AUSTIN THIS WEEK...

If they will tow the Second Coming, they are sure as heck willing to tow you!

MUSTACHE OF THE WEEK

No word if he has an NIL deal as the Monopoly guy.

STATIONARY RUNNING BACK OF THE WEEK

Louisiana Tech had 11 yards on 22 rush attempts and against Mizzou.

STATS OF THE WEEK

• Purdue receiver Charlie Jones caught 12 passes for 153 yards and a score.
• According to ESPN, 44% of FBS starting quarterbacks transferred from another program.

THE WACKY WORLD OF DESI

Desmond Howard had a moment on Saturday. He got caught a little off guard on camera as to where former LSU QB Max Johnson transferred to. It was a little awkward as the other members of the GameDay crew tried to whisper “Texas A&M” to him and he couldn’t hear them.

I could be wrong because I am not that dedicated of a watcher of GameDay, but 87-year old Lee Corso was back on set for the first time in while. They had one segment with the octogenarian that had just Rece Davis and man-nurse Kirk Herbstreit “hand-holding” him and helping him finish his sentences. It’s like they didn’t want to scare grandpa too much. It’s really kind of sad.

GameDay had some awful whiteboy singer/rapper du jour do a performance in the middle of the show for absolutely no reason. With no connections to either Notre Dame or Ohio State, he was also the guest picker. I wonder how much ESPN got paid for what was basically an infomercial.

Making the fourth pick is a real crap shoot. I chose Clemson because they have the easiest path to 13-0. Give us yours in Comments.

GameDay will be in Austin this week.

BRANDO

No words...

ADOPT-A-TEAM

• New to FBS James Madison and their head coach Curt Cignetti?
• Still looking....

COUSINS

• Troy (0-1) - The Trojans actually made it closer than most people thought they would against Ole Miss in a 28-10 defeat. They will try to rebound against poor little Alabama A&M.
• South Alabama (1-0) - The Jags dominated Nicholls State 48-7. The first real test of the year comes in a trip to Central Michigan (-4.5).

THAT ANNOYING GUY WHO TOUCHES EVERY DONUT BEFORE PICKING ONE

• UAB (1-0) - The Dragons beat up on poor little Alabama A&M 59-0. Reality comes in a trip to Liberty (+5.5).

SALUTE TO OUR TROOPS

Photo by Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

• Army (0-1) - The Black Knights fell to Coastal Carolina 38-28. A good UTSA (-2.5) team is up next.
• Navy (0-1) - Well, this is just downright embarrassing. The Midshipmen lost to the Delaware Blue Hens 14-7, due in large part to three lost fumbles. Things are about to get real ugly when Memphis (-6.5) comes to town on Saturday. I honestly don’t know if Navy will win a single game this year. Maybe versus Temple?
• Air Force (1-0) - The Falcons whupped Northern Iowa 48-17. A hibernating rivalry with Colorado will be renewed this weekend and AFA is a -17 favorite.

Odds/lines are provided by DraftKings and subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.

ELIMINATED FROM PLAYOFF CONTENTION

Eliminated: all non-Power 5, Nebraska. NEW: Cincinnati, Boston College, Virginia Tech, Louisville, Illinois, Purdue, Colorado, Oregon, Georgia Tech.

Premature Elimination: Mizzou, Vandy, South Carolina, Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Oregon State, Washington State, Washington, Rutgers, Kansas, Texas Tech, Duke, Syracuse.

Endangered: West Virginia, Notre Dame, Utah, LSU.

A way WAY WAY too early look at the College Football Playoff (CFP) picture:

• ACC - The new Clemsoning is looking like crap against crap teams and still winning big.
• Big 12 - It may take several weeks to figure out the power of this dying conference.
• Big Ten - Can Michigan make it back?
• PAC-12 - Bummer for this conference with Oregon and Utah getting beat. So Cal might be their last shot, but we are skeptical.
• SEC - After UGA and Alabama, can a third conference team finally make the CFP?
• Indies - Notre Dame’s lost wasn’t a total eliminator but it wasn’t great either. BYU has a tough test against Baylor this Saturday.
• Non-Power 5 - It’s highly doubtful Cincinnati returns to the Final 4 with a loss. Could Houston sneak in? They are at Texas Tech this weekend.

RANK ‘EM IF YOU GOT ‘EM

We are still at that point in the season in which rankings don’t really mean much. Did UGA really beat the 11th best team in the nation. Did UF really take down #7? Was Notre Dame worthy of #5?

The real rankings are as follows:
1. Alabama/Georgia
3. Maybe Ohio State
4.-25. Dealer’s choice

LET’S GO BOWLING!

The bowl game formerly known as the Outback Bowl has a new sponsor in something called the ReliaQuest Bowl. I have no idea what this company does but I am going to assume it is adult diapers.

LET’S GO BLOWING!

Four teams are already 0-2. Hawaii, Charlotte, UTEP, and New Mexico State will have to go at least 6-4 the rest of the season. New Mexico State and UTEP meet this Saturday.

Krazy Kristi’s “SHUT UP!” of the Week goes to Mark Emmert. The butterfly effect of the outgoing NCAA president’s ineptness and poor leadership has led to so many problems with college football. Number one is the NIL money grab. To pay for all these third string tight ends, the last adversaries of expanded playoffs has turned to the dark side - more accurately, the green side.

On Friday, the College Football Playoff’s board of managers unanimously voted to expand the CFP to 12 teams in 2026 but they are hoping to implement it as soon as 2024.

A second “SHUT UP!” of the Week goes to all the sports media “YES” men and women gushing over the news and saying such things as an expanded playoff “everyone was wanting.” These numb-brained bozos are either afraid to speak out because ESPN will fire them or all they care about is more games, more appearances, more talk shows, and more money in their pockets.

The thing of it is that the NCAA can expand it to 68 teams if they want. Alabama and other blue bloods will still keep on winning championships. I’m sorry to break it to the have-nots: there are no Cinderallas in college football.

HEISMAN HYPE

The new Bryce Young/Fansville ad has dropped and it’s actually pretty funny. Dr. Pepper has upped their game this year.

ODDS

Below are the top Heisman picks in order of the money lines and look who has moved to the top.

Odds are provided by DraftKings and many more options can be seen at that link including Auburn’s Zach Calzada who isn’t even stating at +15000. [Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.]

1. QB Bryce Young (JR, Alabama) from +400 to +300
2. QB C.J. Stroud (JR, Ohio State) +220 to +350
3. QB Caleb Williams (Soph, Southern Cal) +700 to +600
4. QB Stetson Bennett XIV (8th YR SR, UGA) from ??? to +1800
5. EDGE Will Anderson (JR, Alabama) +1600 to +2000
6. QB Anthony Richardson (RS-Soph, Fla) from ??? to +2200
7. RB Bijan Robinson (JR, Texas) +2200 to +2800 -someone’s due for a drop.
8. RB Jahmyr Gibbs (JR, Alabama) holding at +3000

DROPPING

• RB TreVeyon Henderson (Soph, Ohio State) went from +2200 to +4000 after an unimpressive showing against the Irish.
• WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba (JR, Ohio State) +2500 to +5000 after a flop in the same game.

WHO SHOULD WIN

CLARIFICATION: This section IS for who deserves to win it.

Still too soon, but here are a few nuggets to ponder.

• If Florida makes some magical run to Atlanta, look for QB Anthony Richardson to be in the discussion.
• I know the thought of Stetson Bennett lifting the trophy and then joining such company as JFF, RG3, Troy Smith, Jason White, et al, makes your stomach turn. However, if he gets to December with an unblemished record, there will be plenty of click-hungry idiots in the press throwing his name around.
• QB Will Rogers is in a system where he can stack up some boffo numbers. Plying his trade at Missy State doesn’t help his case but he’ll get some votes.

THE SICK REPORT

• LSU defensive lineman Maason Smith is expected to miss the remainder of the 2022 season with a torn ACL while celebrating a play.
• Liberty QB Charlie Brewer is expected to be sidelined 6-to-8 weeks with a broken hand suffered in the Flames’ win over Southern Miss.
• Arkansas starting safety Myles Slusher was taken to locker room late in second quarter with what seemed to be a head or neck injury. He was assisted walking off.
• Ohio State All-American candidate wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba (2 REC, 3 YDS) was hurt early in the Notre Dame game and was limited the rest of the way. His absence was felt as the Buckys struggled offensively. Will we see another Stingley/Boutte situation here?
• Michigan State lost starting LB Darius Snow (knee) for the season.
• Texas Tech QB Tyler Shough will be out at least 2 weeks with left shoulder injury.

R.I.P.

• Former Tennessee Vol DE Steve White died of cancer this past week. He spent seven years in the NFL and later wrote about the NFL for SB Nation from 2013 to 2020. He was 48.

DRAMA

• Jerry Kill took over Minnesota in 2011 and made them a decent team. In 2015, he resigned in midseason due to health issues that included seizure attacks. Kill’s longtime DC Tracy Claeys took over and continued into 2016. He went 9-4 but was fired for showing support for his players involved in an alleged sexual assault case. [The accuser would later settle with UM.] PJ Fleck would be hired and frankly has not been too much better that his two predecessors (36–23; B1G 21–22). Ever since Claeys was canned, Kill would take every opportunity to take shots at the Gophers and Fleck - who the press seem to be enamored with. A few years ago, Minnie innocently arranged a game with New Mexico State for 2022. Little did they know that Kill would be hired at NMSU in this past off-season and would be returning to the Twin Cities. The Gophers fans have been on a warpath defending their golden idol coach but Fleck settled things on the field with a 38-0 win while holding the Aggies to 91 total yards. It probably could have been worse but Fleck emptied his bench.

KOACHES KORNER

• Urban Meyer dosed 4,000 bottles of water with ipecac and sent them to Jackson, MS.
• Fat F*** Phil Fulmer celebrated his birthdays this week having been born on August 30th, 31st, and finally leaving his mama’s birth canal on September 1st.

TEEVEE

Folks in the Rust Belt are bragging about Purdue-PSU winning Thursday night with 3.51 million on FOX. However, that total is down nearly half from Ohio State-Minnesota in the same window last year (6.3M). #TopHeavyConference

THIS WEEK

• (Below is an abbreviated list of highlighted games of interest with lines provided by DraftKings. If you REALLY need to know about the big New Mexico State-UTEP showdown, you can find the details here.)

Friday, September 9

Louisville at UCF (-6.5) 6:30/7:30 ESPN2 - Can the ‘Ville rebound from a 31-7 pounding from Syracuse?
Boise (-16.5) at New Mexico 8pm/9pm CBSSN - ugh

Saturday, September 10

SEC

South Carolina at Arkansas (-8.5) 11am/noon ESPN - Watch during commercials.
Wake Forest (-8) at Vanderbilt 11am/noon SECN - Boring unis vs boring unis.
Missouri at Kansas State (-7.5) 11am/noon ESPN2 - Renewing an old rivalry.
Appalachian State at Texas A&M (-17) 2:30/3:30 ESPN2 - Appy is not quite the same team on the road.
Tennessee (-6.5) at Pitt 2:30/3:30 ABC - Johnny Majors Bowl Part 2
Samford at Georgia (n/a) 3pm/4pm SECN - zzzz
Kentucky at Florida (-4.5) 6pm/7pm ESPN - Can UF keep from patting themselves on the back too much?
Central Arkansas at Ole Miss (n/a) 6pm/7pm ESPN+ - bleh
San Jose State at Auburn (-22.5) 6:30/7:30 ESPNU - pass
Southern at LSU (n/a) 6:30/7:30 SECN - nope
Mississippi State (-10.5) at Arizona 10pm/11pm FS1 - PAC12 SEC After Dark!

OTHERS WORTH A PEEK

Iowa State at Iowa (-3.5) 3pm/4pm BTN - Cross-conference rivalry game.
Southern Cal (-9) at Stanford 6:30/7:30 ABC - Possible trap game for South Central Cal.

GOODNIGHT MOON

Baylor at BYU (-3.5) 9:15/10:15 ESPN - Potential eliminator.

Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.

SABAN vs. MACK, POP & BEAR

Below is a count of career FBS/Division I-A win totals for coaches.

For those of you new to RBR Random Thoughts, we count all on-field wins at the FBS/Division I-A level. So, before you go squawking about Frank Beamer, 42 of his wins came at Murray State. Mack Brown had six victories in one season with Appalachian State when they were still in what was known at I-AA (FCS today). Brian Kelly won 118 games with something called Grand Valley State. So, let’s stop talking about his win record with such reverence. In addition, we don’t recognize NCAA sanctioned forfeits. If you won on the field, it counts in our books.

Sad little Mack Brown barely won Saturday but could not pick up a game on Nick Saban.

#ALABAMA

• At the post-USU game press conference, Saban was back to his glorious grumpy old self that we like. Success usually follows when he shows up this way. Some jackass decided that Saban needed some kind of “press conference coach” and this jackass coach thinks that Saban needs to be nicer and smile more. Saban tried to smile but he got riled up, raised his voice over the depth chart questions, and bit some heads off. Of the depth chart they got this year, he threatened “you may have seen the last one.” He also stated “I know you all think I am crazy. It doesn’t bother me at all. Doesn’t bother me one bit.” Me neither, Coach. Me neither.
• Bryce Young had his first career 100-yard rushing game landing on exactly 100 on five carries. His previous high was 42 against Tennessee last season.
• Kobe Prentice (5 REC, 60 YDS) is only the second true freshman receiver to start for a Nick Saban Alabama team in a season opener. The other was Julio Jones who did so in 2008.
• The other nine true freshmen to receive playing time against USU were QB Ty Simpson, WR Isaiah Bond (2 REC, 23 YDS), WR Kendrick Law (2 REC, 22 YDS), WR Emmanuel Henderson, RB Jamarion Miller (7-32 YDS), OL Tyler Booker, TE Amari Niblack, TE Danny Lewis, and DL Jaheim Oatis (1 solo, 1 asst).
• Last minute diamond-in-the-rough juco tight end Miles Kitselman caught a 13-yard pass and 5-yard pass.
• KUDOS TO THE STUDENTS for sticking around to the end! It didn’t hurt that is was a beautiful night. #NoSeptemberDayGames

GAME 2: Saturday, September 10, 2022

Alabama Crimson Tide (1-0) at Texas Longhorns (1-0)

Austin, TX ~ 11am CT/Noon ET, FOX

• In the season opener, the Longhorns dumped UL Monroe on their backsides 52-10. God’s gift to American football Quinn Ewers was just okay (16/24, 225 YDS, 2 TD, 1 INT, -9 RUSH YDS). Texas’s outstanding All-Big 12 wide receiver Xavian Worthy had only two receptions for 24 yards. It might make one wonder if their is a lack of chemistry there between QB and WR (fingers crossed).
• Initially, the Tide was set to face off against three former Bama players who transferred to Texas. However, Jahleel Billingsley is suspended for the first 6 games for an NCAA issue stemming from his time at Alabama last season. We at RBR suspect it involves the intake of certain unauthorized chemicals. UNCONFIRMED.
• Steve Sarkisian’s suspension of pain-in-the-ass Agiye Hall has been lifted though the WR did not participate in the ULM game. RB Keilan Robinson had one carry for 7 yards in garbage time.
• ESPN’s College GameDay is headed to Austin for this game.
• Austin forecast calls for a high of 91° with Mostly Sunny skies and a scant chance of rain at 15%. SPF 50 recommended.
• TV Announcers: Idiotic Gus Johnson and SEC-hater Joel Klatt with some random blonde named Jenny Taft on the sidelines who may or may not be related to a former fat president who got stuck in a bathtub.
• Highly recommend Alabama Radio, even if there is a delay.
• The Longhorns held a 7-0-1 all-time record against the Crimson Tide until the 2009 National Championship Game that Bama won big. They two teams have not played since that day.
• The line provided by DraftKings has Bama opening as a -20 favorite. Get in early on that one. The Over/Under is 62.

Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.