and HERE WE GO WEEK ONE!
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Welcome to Week 1 of College Football for 2024! Can you feel it? We finally made it and there are several key matchups this weekend. While several schools open the season with complete cupcakes, there are three games with AP Top 25 featured teams squaring off against one another. Several Top 25 teams also face intriguing opponents who could quickly implode potential playoff berths much like Ga Tech did to FSU last Saturday in Week Zero. The Noles still have a chance to squeak into the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff, but those odds have already plummeted to less than 10%. Let’s dive right into the three Top 25 opponents below, the rest of the ESPN 106.7 Top 20 and Auburn while we are at it. Why not pick as many games as possible against the spread and start the season with a bang?
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#1 Georgia –13.5 vs #14 Clemson – Border rivals with campuses only 75 miles away reunite for the 66th time on the field with UGA leading the all-time series 43-18-4. These two schools squared off consecutive years from 1962-1987 before taking a break from an emerging rivalry. As conferences expand across the nation from multiple time zones joining together, it is refreshing to see neighbors from different conferences get together to begin the season. Hint, hint. Auburn and Ga Tech. Enough with the history lesson and let’s turn to the game itself. With all the off-season troubles UGA has had, is there anyone happier for the season to begin than Kirby Smart? Dawg players have had traffic problems, duis, children abuse allegations and just all-around hooliganism thrown around for years now in Athens. The top issue for Georgia heading into this game is the availability of Florida RB transfer Trevor Etienne. Arrested for DUI last March, reports are circulating he will sit out against Clemson with a one game suspension. Does anyone really think Kirby Smart makes it this one game to sit him? If Etienne sits, QB Carson Beck must step up to Heisman candidacy immediately for Georgia to cover this line. Clemson seems to be lying in wait here. Head Coach Dabo Swinny is not taking conversations from fans anymore since being called out last year by “Tyler from Spartanburg” on the coach’s weekly radio show. The Tiger Defense will be stout, but what can they produce offensively with overrated QB Cade Klubnik? These two teams squared off in 2021 to start the season in Charlotte, NC in a nasty defensive struggle with UGA winning 10-3. History repeats itself on the “neutral field” in ATL this Saturday. Dawgs 10, Tigers 3.
#7 Notre Dame +2.5 at #20 Texas A&M – New Aggie Head Coach Mike Elko finds out fast what the pressure will feel like in College Station moving forward as The Fighting Irish come to town looking to ruin his debut. As the most overblown theory in college football of “oil money” and “more money than God”, has any team underachieved more with such lofty aspirations perennially than Texas A&M? Why do people now think that a 16-9 former Duke head coach is going to be able to change the trajectory of yearly disappointment for Aggie fans? Here is some news, Johnny Manziel is not walking back through that door ala 2012. Texas A&M does return often injured Conner Weigman at QB along with 5 other offensive returning starters. The defense was raided by the transfer portal and returns only 4 starters. Third year Irish Coach, Marcus Freeman, looks to build on a 10-3 2023 season. If Notre Dame can slide by Texas A&M on the road, the remaining schedule is a borderline cakewalk paving the way for a Notre Dame playoff berth. I am not sure they can. New Irish QB Riley Leonard played at Duke last year for guess who? New Aggie Coach Mike Elko. Texas A&M gets it done late and luckily leading fans in SE Texas to dream of an elusive championship run. Don’t dream to big Yell Leaders! Aggies 20, Irish 17.
#13 LSU –4.5 vs #23 USC – The weekend will not be over until Sunday Night in Vegas when The Bayou Bengals plus their Cajun Brethen invade the Black Hole to take on The Southern Cal Trojans. Vegas Baby, Vegas! What are we missing here? USC lost the Number #1 overall pick to the NFL in QB Caleb Williams in last April’s draft. The Trojans return only 3 starters on offense, 4 starters on defense, and had to go across town and hire rival UCLA coach D’Anton Lynn to fix massive problems in last year’s pathetic defense. USC always has talent and head coach Lincoln Riley is known as an offensive guru, but there are way too many unknowns to not make this your “SEC Out of Conference Neutral Site Game of the Year”. Whatever that means. Full transparency, plenty of questions remain at LSU under Brian Kelly. Despite being 20-7 his first two seasons in Baton Rouge, Kelly has not been able to shake trust issues with football pundits and Tiger fans yet. LSU loses more than USC on the offensive side of the ball with 3 first round NFL picks gone from last year’s squad including the #2 pick, QB Jayden Daniels. LSU has laid back-to-back eggs in season out of conference openers under Kelly losing twice to FSU to start the year. Under LSU, Kelly has started seasons with a dud, beat the heck out of bad teams, had yearly head scratching losses, given Alabama all they wanted and finished the year with his team getting better. Will that end of year momentum finally carry over to begin a season for LSU under the former Irish coach. On the defensive side of the ball, LSU was even worse than USC last season and that is saying something. With the #1, #2 picks at QB in last year’s NFL draft, how did neither of these two squeak into the college football playoffs last year? One thing Kelly has done well since arriving at LSU is recruiting at a very high level. Currently Rivals has The Tigers ranked #3 in team recruiting heading into this season. They averaged around 8-10 depending on website preference since he arrived. Despite there being trust issues still at LSU under Brian Kelly, there are no talent issues and I trust him more than Lincoln Riley heading into 2024. Bayou Bengals 38, Trojans 31.
https://www.radiofreeauburn.com/blog/espn-1067-week-1-college-football-top-20
Georgia - Bulldogs -13.5 vs Clemson
Ohio State - Buckeyes -50.5 vs Akron – OSU 49, Akron 10
Texas - Longhorns -32.5 vs Colorado State – UT 35, CSU 21
Oregon - Ducks -44.5 vs Idaho – Oregon 49, Idaho 10
Alabama - Tide -31.5 vs Western Kentucky – Bama 49, WKU 21
Ole Miss - Rebels -42.5 vs Furman – Ole Miss 49, F*CK 10
Michigan - Wolverines -21.5 vs Fresno State – UM 27, FSU 26
Missouri - Tigers -47.5 vs Murray State – Mizzou 49, MSU 10
Notre Dame - Fighting Irish +2.5 vs Texas A&M
Penn State - Nittany Lions -8.5 vs West Virginia – PSU 26, WVU 27
Utah - Utes -37.5 vs Southern Utah – Utah 40, SU 10
Clemson - Tigers +13.5 vs Georgia
LSU - Bayou Bengals -4.5 vs Southern Cal -
Miami - Hurricanes -2.5 vs Florida – Miami 28, UF 30 LOSER LEAVE TOWN GOY!
Tennessee - Volunteers -38.5 vs Chattanooga – UT 59, UTC 10
Oklahoma State - Cowboys -9.5 vs South Dakota State – OSU 31, SDS 30
Kansas State - Wildcats -37.5 vs UT Martin –KSU 39, UTM 10
Texas A&M - Aggies -2.5 vs Fighting Irish
Georgia Tech - Yellow Jackets -22 vs Georgia State – GT 42, GSU 21
Oklahoma - Sooners -43 vs Temple – OU 59, Temple 10
LAST BUT NOT LEAST
AUBURN –49.5 HOSTING ALABAMA A&M – News Flash, AU will be much better in 2024. The Tigers 2023 season ended with 3 straight loses and a terrible thud. That was then, this is now. The Harsin ridden rank roster that Hugh Freeze inherited two years ago has been completely upgraded and so has the coaching staff. New names like Cam Coleman, Perry Thompson, and a bevy of others will shock the college football world this season. If QB Peyton Thorne lives up to any expectation, The Tigers have enough talent to scare a college football playoff appearance. Would it be the ultimate reverse JABA to see Auburn go crazy Cadillac and make a run to the Final 12 this season? We have seen it before. We have also seen the bad JABA too many times and until Auburn under Freeze steps up, begins to beat teams it should not, and handle business week to week, I will be in “see it to believe it mode”. That being said, an exciting season kicks off Saturday Night at 6:30 when Auburn hosts in-state HBCU Alabama A&M. This should not be much of a contest and if it is, 2024 will be a long season and a short career for Hugh Freeze. As a 49.5 favorite, what are you looking for Saturday Night? How about crisp offense, staunch defense, no injuries and Cam Coleman announcing his new presence to college football with authority? Will 13 catches, for 143 yards (about 130.76 m) and two TDs work from the Red Devil of Phenix City? Works for me. 49.5 is too many though for the 85 Bears, let alone the Auburn Tigers. Jump on AAM early, get some young guys some experience, pull the starters and move it along to next week against Kalifornia. Tigers 49, A&M 10.
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