College Football Preview Begins Today- NOT

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Welcome Back!

It's been a few weeks since I last posted.  Today is the day when I am supposed to start revealing my top 130 FBS teams, counting down from #130 to #1.  I give a brief preview of each team, covering things like non-conference games, returning starters, how warm the coach's hot seat is, interesting stats from last year, etc.  This takes 3 weeks, as I do 10 teams a day for 11 days, and then 5 a day for the last 4 days.  I then take 2 weeks previewing each conference giving my picks for who will win every division.  Just so you know, I was more accurate than any of the 4 major magazines (Phil Steele, Lindy's, Athlon, and Street & Smith's) for the 2018 season, and was 2nd (behind Phil Steele) last year.  

All this takes me up to the first game week, where I do my usual Monday through Thursday blogs:

Mondays- TWIF Notes- observations and impressions on every game played the previous week.
Tuesdays- Power Rankings- updated to include all games played, highlighting the biggest movers.
Wednesdays- Odds and Ends- a statistical look at what has happened so far.
Thursdays- Paul's Picks- my picks for every FBS game for the coming weekend.

All this is leading up to me saying that I am not starting on time this year.  Which is ironic because this is the first year when I am actually ready to start!  Usually, I've done about 20-30 previews, and then I'm scrambling to stay on time, often staying up to close to midnight to get the day's previews done.  It usually takes me somewhere between 30-45 minutes per team, so to do every team takes me between 65-100 hours, total.  Then, of course, there are the conference previews.  This year, I have already mostly completed 96 previews, so I am WAY ahead of where I normally am at this time, so I'm not delaying because I'm not prepared.

No, I'm delaying because- exactly why you think.  Right now, there is way too much uncertainty about the coming season.  Will there be a season?  Will there be non-conference games? Will the season be in the Spring?  Will some teams play in the Fall and some in the Spring?  Will there be a delay in the start, but still be in the Fall? 

As soon as there is some certainty to the future of College Football, I will begin publishing my preview, but I expect I will need to do some edits.  For example, if the Big Ten and Pac 12 stick with their conference-games-only decision, then I will need to go through all of those teams and delete all references to non-conference games, and make adjustments to their best and worst case scenarios.  Schedules are being changed as we speak.  That could affect best and worst case scenarios for nearly all the teams.  And if there is a Spring season, many players with NFL aspirations may choose to sit out.  That could have a huge impact on the season.  

So many variables.  Rest assured that I will get it all done before the first game happens, even if it has to be in one LONG blog post, but I hope it doesn't come to that.  If the season does start on time, and hopefully that decision will be made soon (by August 1, maybe?), I may just double up for a few days to get back on schedule.

As always, feel free to leave a comment.  Until next time, may you and your loved ones be blessed!

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