2026 College Football Thread

[WhiteTrash]

Incredibly impressed with the new Northwestern stadium. Thoroughly unimpressed with the Penn State QB.

Michigan just wrapped up another defeat, this one to Minnesota. Turns out Big Blue's loss to WMU wasn't a fluke.

And Fitz almost has Michigan State turned around. Only 4 hazing incidents so far!

Hazing is like a $5 parking ticket MSU.

[The Sultan]

Incredibly impressed with the new Northwestern stadium. Thoroughly unimpressed with the Penn State QB.

Michigan just wrapped up another defeat, this one to Minnesota. Turns out Big Blue's loss to WMU wasn't a fluke.

And Fitz almost has Michigan State turned around. Only 4 hazing incidents so far!

Hiring Fitzgerald was not a great decision. It never made a lot of sense to me.

[WhiteTrash]

Hiring Fitzgerald was not a great decision. It never made a lot of sense to me.

He's probably an Izzo hire.

[WhiteTrash]

First, I really enjoy the IU story.  Low key fan of Hoosiers football.

Just looking at Indiana's schedule. Defending Champs, Big10 "meat grinder" schedule and they will probably only face one top 25 team. Crazy.

[forgetful]

It's really about the lack of marquee games. Last year there were nine nonconference games pitting ranked opponents. This year? Two. One of them (Texas-tOSU) drew the largest Week 2 viewership on record.

Because of the playoff format, it's become a disincentive to play good teams in your nonconference schedule. So P4 teams have been canceling home-and-homes with other P4 teams left and right. USC dropped Notre Dame and replaced them with San Jose State. Nobody showed up, of course. Nebraska canceled its games with Tennessee. Georgia dropped Louisville and future series with Clemson and FSU. Indiana dropped Notre Dame. Texas is talking about canceling an upcoming series with Notre Dame.
That's left us with mostly massive mismatches on the early season schedule.

People will tune in to watch good teams play one another (see: Texas-tOSU). But they're going to find something better to do when the schedule is full of games like Oregon beating an FCS school by 84 points or Miami beating Florida A&M 77-7. Those kinds of games have always happened, but now they're becoming the norm.
 

I'm not sure that fully explains it though. Texas-tOSU game ratings were down drastically from the same game last year. Down 15% in viewership, so I'm not sure it is just a lack of marquee games.

Definitely part of it though. I think College Football is starting to shoot itself in the foot. Still clearly huge draws.

[jesmu84]

https://x.com/daveholmestv/status/2106465504969838882?s=46

[Uncle Rico]

Huge win for the Badgers yesterday.  Helps Marquette's cause.

[Uncle Rico]

WIAC Results that will help Marquette's cause:

UWEC 31 UWSP 9

UW-Lacrosse 32 UW-Oshkosh 31

UW-Whitewater 24 UW-River Falls 16

UW-Platteville 31 UW-Polytechnic Stout 27

[JWags85]

After Jeremiah Smith had yet another game, against a supposedly good defensive team, where it seemed like the defense didn't scheme for him AT ALL...I finally looked at Smith versus Marvin Harrison, number wise, and its almost laughable how much better he has been.  Absolutely freakish.

He's going to make a very real run at Devonta Smith's 2020 season, numbers wise.  So far, through 5 games...

J Smith 2026: 44 receptions, 823 yards, 9 TDs, 18.7 Y/R

D Smith 2020: 44 receptions, 556 yards, 4 TDs, 12.4 Y/R

Devonta Smith went crazy games 6-9 that year (35 rec, 750 yards, 11 TD) against bad Miss St/UK/Auburn/LSU teams that won less than 6 games that season which is what juiced his numbers for the year.

But OSU's next 4 games are Maryland, Indiana, USC, and Oregon.  Maryland is spiraling, has given up 46 PPG the last weeks and just gave up 147 receiving to a guy who had never had a 100 yard game in 28 previous games.  USC will be a track meet and considering powerhouse ULL and Rutgers both scored 30+ and Oregon scored 41 despite scoring 3 points in the first 20 min and losing their starting QB...don't see how OSU doesn't score 50.  IU really hasn't played anyone yet and while they beat Rutgers and NW, both teams had all their offensive success through the air.  Oregon will be fun in Columbus, but they've also already given up multiple 300 yard passers already this year.

I think 30-35 receptions, 600 yards, and another 7-8 TDs is pretty reasonable in that stretch.  Then he's over 1400 yards and 15+ TDs with 3 games left, not including a B10 championship or the playoff.  Think he probably cruises by Devonta in the like for like 13 game comparison, then obliterates Crabtree's absurd 2007 yardage for TTU with B10 Championship and/or playoff games.

[MU82]

I remember watching Harrison, thinking he was a sure-fire NFL star. So you can never be 100% certain.

Having said that, I am 99.99999% certain Smith will be an NFL star.

[Uncle Rico]

I remember watching Harrison, thinking he was a sure-fire NFL star. So you can never be 100% certain.

Having said that, I am 99.99999% certain Smith will be an NFL star.

Number of scouts had Nabers above Harrison

[The Sultan]

Number of scouts had Nabers above Harrison

[MU82]

Well, gahhhhh-lee!

[JWags85]

I remember watching Harrison, thinking he was a sure-fire NFL star. So you can never be 100% certain.

Having said that, I am 99.99999% certain Smith will be an NFL star.

Harrison had good size and caught everything you threw at him.  His only real knock was he wasn't the most athletic dude.  Sometimes struggled on press coverage, didn't always get great separation, etc... at OSU that didn't matter cause he still made catches over and around people, he was that good.

Smith has everything Harrison had plus he's taller, 15-20 lbs heavier, and WAY faster.  I can't remember a collegiate WR that gets so much separation and makes it look so easy. Not just a burner that streaks past people on a post, Smith runs a seemingly normal mid route or crossing pattern and then all of a sudden is 5 yards free of his man.  It's absolutely remarkable

[MU82]

Yea, he's great.

[JWags85]

Yea, he's great.

I think he's easily the best WR prospect since Calvin Johnson but a decent margin.  I could hear arguments for Amari Cooper, but Smith has way better physical intangibles.

[MU82]

I wasn't being facetious. He's great, incredible, superb, whatever adjective you like.

[MU82]

One reason Northwestern's new digs stand out is that the vast majority of college football stadiums are OLD! Average age of P4 stadiums = 77 years. 88% opened before 2000, 79% opened more than 50 years ago and 59% opened before 1950.

[MU82]

Arch spits the bit.

Texas ain't #1 no more.

[MuggsyB]

Penn St. lost again. Wisconsin football fans need to settle down and deal with reality. 

[MuggsyB]

The Alabama coach doesn't look happy.

[Pakuni]

Not PI.

[https://x.com/tpar141/status/2109115148015415806/video/1

[Scoop Snoop]

Wisconsin football fans need to settle down and deal with reality. 

Uh huh.