Odds and Ends 8/28/19

Welcome Back!

Today is the day when I plan to give out interesting facts, figures, and thoughts on the current college football season.  A couple of features will be weekly, but mostly the content will differ from week to week.

My first feature is conference records in non-conference games.  I'll go ahead and post this even though we only had 2 non-conference games last weekend.  Next week, and throughout September, the number of games will increase exponentially.  Here's where we are so far:

SEC 1-0

MWC 1-0
Big Ten 0-0

Big 12 0-0

AAC 0-0

C-USA 0-0

MAC 0-0

SBC 0-0

Independents 0-0

ACC 0-1

PAC 12 0-1

Secondly, I plan to keep up with the QB who has the most attempts without throwing an interception.  Now, I'm only going to keep up with a QB until he throws his first interception; I don't have the time, nor do I have a research department, to keep up with who has the most attempts without an INT within the season.  Someone else will have to do that.  Anyway, here are the leaders now:

Jarren Williams, Miami 30

Yep.  That's it.  Feleipe Franks (2), Cole McDonald (4), and Khalil Tate (2) all threw multiple INTs.

Finally, a few thoughts, if you will indulge me.

I have been a college football fan since the early 1970s.  My first memories of  college football were watching a few games on TV in 1971, and listening to Larry Munson call Georgia games.  I used to tune my AM radio dial late at night to pick up games.  I distinctly remember listening to Iowa play USC one night, the game fading in and out between static.

Back then, the emphasis was on winning as many games as possible, beating your rival, and maybe making a bowl game.  It was pretty difficult to make one, as there weren't near as many bowls as there are now.  In fact, anything less than 8-3 and you were in danger of being shut out of the bowl scene.  But, for many teams, finishing 7-4 was considered a good season.  Since the national champion was decided by the two major polls of the era- AP and UPI- there wasn't as much "win a championship or else" kind of attitude among fans.

The 70s was also a time of great rivalries, and my brother and I inevitably took different sides.  I was Oklahoma and Colorado and Arkansas, he was Nebraska and Texas; I was Ohio St, he was Michigan; I was Alabama, he was Auburn; I was UCLA, he was USC.  You get the picture.  He and I both had several "favorite" teams that we rooted for.  The only one I think we agreed on at the time was Georgia!  Now, some of the great rivalries have ended, due to conference realignment and the demands of conference scheduling.  And I have a hard time rooting for some of the teams I used to.  Basically, like many fans, I root for every team to lose twice, and for my favorite (UGA) to go undefeated.  Sometimes that might mean rooting for USC over UCLA, for example, even though USC has always been among my least favorite teams.  And I also find myself moving away from teams I used to "love".  I was a huge Ohio State fan until Woody Hayes punched the Clemson player in the bowl game.  I was a big Miami fan until Jimmy Johnson took over and changed the culture there.  I was a big Notre Dame fan for many years, until I saw that they got the benefit of the doubt way more than they should have just because of their name (the same happens to Alabama now).

I say all this not to lament days gone by, but to give a little perspective into how, as a fan, my loyalties have changed through the years, for better or worse.  In many ways, I enjoy the game less than I used to, simply because of the high stakes involved.  In others, the best games are still exciting, and can get me excited for the weekend (like the Oregon-Auburn game this weekend).

My brothers and I have been predicting the outcome of college football games since the mid-70s.  At first, we only did SEC and Top-20 games.  Eventually, we moved to all FBS games, and have added my brother-in-law, my eldest son, and my niece.  We all generally finish around 75% for the year, and sometimes approach 80%, which I think is pretty good for a group of folks who have lives, jobs, etc. outside of football.  However, I haven't won in several years (decades?), so I'm hoping to break that streak this year!

Feel free to follow me on Twitter: @pbanderson

That's all for now.  Tomorrow, I will give my picks for this first (real) weekend of college football.  

Until next time, may you and your loved ones be blessed!