College football the cream is ...

College football is presently at a point in the season where we find the cream rising to the top of the milk jug, figuratively speaking of course. It’s either put up or shut up time because the powers that be are already talking about the 12 teams who will be either in or out of the playoffs and who will win the Heisman or go home empty handed. Sure, it’s early, but to be honest a picture is starting to form as to who will be around at the end of it all. I’m not making predictions of course; I like to call them educated guesses that are predicated on what I’ve been watching every weekend. Usually I’m wrong, sometimes I’m right. Go figure. 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; “This year’s National Championship Team will be from The Southeastern Conference”. It might be Texas, it might be Georgia, it might be Alabama but barring any act of God intervention it’s going to be one of those three teams. Trust me on this one. You can write it in stone, you can bet the farm and put down that down payment on that condo in Lake Tahoe because it’s gonna happen. Between now and then of course we’ve got some great football to watch and enjoy and of course anything can and will happen. 

I’m gonna be honest and let everyone know that I missed much of the Alabama vs Georgia game last week due to an intense work trip. Watching Bama beat the snot out of Georgia was not what I had envisioned in this game and Georgia coming back and taking the lead when they were down 27 was frankly pretty impressive. Of course, “The Luck of The Crimson Tide” pulled thru in the end with Alabama winning it but wow, what a game!! I actually had to watch it again on YouTube but it proved worthy of any late-night sleep loss. Everyone said that Alabama would slip a bit now that Nick Saban has moved on but they look as good as ever however letting a team get back into a game when you’re up 27 tends to make me wonder. Are they that good or just lucky? I’ll let you decide. 

It’s hard to describe my feelings about Texas. I’m not sure the long horns have been actually challenged this year because they look amazing on the field. Obviously a well-rounded team firing on all cylinders with one of the top quarterbacks in the country, Arch Manning. SEC match ups against Oklahoma (12 October), Georgia (19 October) and Texas A&M (30 October) I think we can all agree that October 2024 will be a make-or-break month for The Longhorns. I’ve got money on the winning all three. Not to be disappointed but I’m sure we’re gonna see a Texas vs Alabama match up in the playoffs, hopefully. Conversely, I picked Alabama to win it all weeks ago. 

There are without doubt other teams out there that could end up winning it all but let’s be serious we all like to put our money on a sure thing right? I don’t see a long shot sneaking in a taking advantage of a situation at the end of the season. The other schools can of course have their brief moment moments of glory but in the end the Championship Trophy is gonna live South of The Madon Dixon line once again. Bank on it. 

Before I write briefly about my Heisman hopefuls I want to remind everyone that only one Heisman winner has won the award while playing for a team with a loosing record, Paul Hornung for Notre Dame in 1956. This is a very hard statistic to ignore especially if you are a star for The Colorado Buffaloes playing both sides of the ball like Travis Hunter. Colorado May win a good game now and then but having a cupcake schedule where I don’t see them winning more then 5 or 6 games is not gonna put Hunter over the top against the likes of Arch Manning at Texas or Jason Milrose at Alabama. Considering the fact that Alabama, Texas, Georgia and the rest of the SEC play prime time slots every weekend will show us the exposure is everything. Besides, Dione Sanders literally anointing Travis Hunter the winner in week number 4 is bad karma. I have the kid from Colorado being an also-ran for the Heisman. Sorry Coach Prime, not this year.

So where does this all lead us? No where actually. It’s only week 4 for Gods sake. Relax and enjoy the season because we’ve got a long way to go. Thankfully my picks are on a rebound but I’m still short of breaking even. That condo in Lake Tahoe is still a distant dream but I feel I’m in for a run of luck this coming week. Maybe I can start planning a short trip to Tahoe just to make me feel like I’m getting ahead. I’m sticking to my present method of no crazy parlays, a more conservative approach. Hopefully it works out! Stay tuned for my picks coming up in the podcast and email blast and Play On I Say!!

Kev

Kev's Corner Our Staffs Weekly Sports perspective

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