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TGS SPECIAL REPORT...2019 NFL DRAFT PREVIEW!

1-ARIZONA CARDINALS... It’s an understatement to say the Big Red is rolling the dice in 2019. The hire of HC Kliff Kingsbury off the USC staff, where he had landed after being dumped as Texas Tech HC, rates as one of the curious coaching moves in memory. (Can’t win enough at Texas Tech directly to an NFL job?) Of course, Kingsbury’s progressive offensive schemes in Lubbock, and mentoring of Patrick Mahomes in his college days, were the main (only?) reasons for his hire that also has GM Steve Keim’s job on the line. Speculation has run rampant in the desert that Kingsbury is not sold on holdover QB

MID-MAJOR PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Jordan Caroline, Nevada...Tough call here, as Murray State’s Ja Morant will almost surely be the first mid-major taken in the upcoming NBA Draft. By us, however, we have to make room for Caroline, who laid it on the line on both ends of the court while spearheading a Nevada revival under HC Eric Musselman (who moved to Arkansas over the weekend). The Wolf Pack was ten years between Big Dance appearance until Caroline showed up as one of Musselman’s first of the Reno transfer brigade in 2016-

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR: Zion Williamson, Duke...By acclamation, here, we suppose, though we admit to being a bit relieved that all of the Zion/Duke hype has faded with the Elite 8 loss to Michigan State. Obviously pushing a pro-ACC narrative in conjunction with its upcoming launch of its new network with the conference, ESPN became something of a shill for Duke, and, by extension, Zion, as the season progressed. By the time March came around, almost the entire national media had gotten on board. More on all of that in a minute.

Are we leaving the best for last in the East? We’re not sure with the Philadelphia Phillies (89), who are generating an awful lot of buzz for a team that only won 80 games last season. Of course, the main reason for the new-found attention is the addition of RF Bryce Harper, who moves up I-95 from D.C. and the Nats with a new mega-contract; does Harper realize what he’s in for from the Philly fan base if he goes into a slump? But even before the recent signing of Harper, the Phils made some notable upgrades with SS Jean Segura and C J.T.

Hey, they’re already 2-0! We’re talking about the Seattle Mariners (71½), who beat the A’s twice in Japan last week as all paid a salute to Ichiro, who retired after the brief series. But the “Ichiro bump” was good for only two games. Now the Mariners must deal with the reality of the rest of their season with a roster that went through a massive revamp. Seattle moved almost every player who could generate interest (Robinson Cano, Jean Segura, Nelson Cruz, Mike Zunino, James Paxton, Edwin Diaz, Alex Colome) and might

We’ve been quick to criticize far and wide on Selection Sundays past. From the mechanics of the Committee to the coverage (especially the “Selection Show” itself), we have often found a lot to complain about in past years. But not 2019. For once we can say that we at TGS were pleasantly surprised at the entire operation on Selection Sunday, with few complaints about the field, the seeds, or, in particular, the coverage. More on all of that in a moment. Selection Sunday is a special time for us at TGS, and as we begin to wind down

2 Duke (26-4, 3) vs. 15 Northern Kentucky (24-8, 117)...Can Duke move back onto the top line? Most definitely, but probably not if the Blue Devils can’t avenge their earlier defeat vs. North Carolina when the teams meet on Saturday at Chapel Hill, or win the ACC Tourney. Zion Williamson could possibly return for that one, but one thing is certain; Coach K’s team has not looked like a top seed since Zion went down with his knee injury. They’ve already started the Horizon Tourney and NKU won its opening round game on Wednesday vs. Detroit. Which means the top-seeded

MOUNTAIN WEST—Solid.. .Nevada. Bubble... Utah State.Conference-10th. Notes... Tourney March 13-16 at Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, NV (home court of UNLV). Last year...NCAA-2 (Nevada-Sweet 16, San Diego State); NIT-1 (Boise State). Notes...Remember, the Mountain looked like a one-bid league last year until Nevada was dumped in the conference tourney (by eventual champ San Diego State in the semifinals). Could the same thing happen again? Could be, as the Aztecs sent another warning shot to the Wolf Pack with a midweek win at Viejas Arena

Oklahoma City Thunder (37-19)...Paul George is surprising virtually everyone, playing by far the best ball of his career, proving he was worth every penny of the fat contract he signed in re-upping with the Thunder. George has scored 29 ppg this season, and 40 ppg in February, but it’s his defense that has made the difference in Ok City. George leads the league in steals, followed closely by teammate PG Russell Westbrook, who is, per his usual, averaging a triple double on the season. Westbrook’s shot is still not falling often enough, but he’s averaged

Charlotte Hornets (27-29)...Yes, the Hornets were a division leader into the All-Star break, though considering it’s the Southeast, it’s about like being named Mayor of Gilligan’s Island. No Southeast team is currently above .500, but at least Charlotte is close. That’s mostly due to heroic work by G Kemba Walker, a deserving All-Star, in front of the home folks this weekend. But Charlotte, which was supposedly in the race to land Marc Gasol, came out of the trade deadline empty-handed, which reportedly didn’t sit well with Walker

1 Duke (SUR 20-2, NET 3) vs. 16 Bucknell (14-8, 162)...We expect the ACC to gain two spots on the top line, with Virginia projected as the other No. 1 seed from the loop. The winner of the conference tourney likely gets the top slot in the East Regional, and given Duke’s recent win over the Cavs in Durham, right now it’s slight edge Blue Devils. (They meet again this weekend!) Those spots are not likely to be decided until the ACC Tourney completes. We’ll have an early preview of the conference tourneys in two weeks. Meanwhile, Bucknell has recently moved

32-50, Denver 24 - Carolina 10 (at Santa Clara)...No offensive showcase, but the Broncos would ride their defense in a performance reminiscent of the 1985 Bears and 2000 Ravens to shut down Cam Newton and the NFL's top-scoring team. Denver did not need to do much on offense thanks to a "D" that forced four turnovers and would score the game's first TD when game MVP Von Miller, a constant thorn in Newton's side, stripped the Panther QB on a sack and Bronco Malik Jackson would recover in the end zone. The game would stay taut until deep in the 4th Q

Philadelphia (10-8)...For a good while it looked as if the Birds weren’t even going to get a chance to defend their Super Bowl LII title in the playoffs, as they were sitting off of the pace in the NFC East and postseason picture for much of the campaign. After QB Carson Wentz went down (again), this time with back problems, in early December, and Philly sitting at 6-7, hope seemed lost. Until, that is, QB Nick Foles rode to the rescue as he had done down the stretch in the Super Bowl ride, rallying the Eagles to three straight wins (including a rousing 30-23 upset of the 13-point favorite Rams)

We’ve arrived at another Super Bowl, but if it feels like we’ve been here before with this matchup...well, it’s because we have. Not just because it’s the familiar form of Bill Belichick’s New England in the “Supe” for a third straight year and ninth time in the past eighteen seasons. It’s also a Super Bowl rematch, in fact, from 17 years ago in the first Belichick/Tom Brady Super Bowl appearance, when the Patriots faced these same Rams. Belichick and Brady, and owner Bob Kraft, are about all that remains the same from Super Bowl XXXVI. Certainly, not much is the same on the side of the Rams

This year marks Super Bowl LIII, but it is also 50 years after the game that really put the Super Bowl on the map...yet nonetheless remains a bit of mystery. We reprise our recount of the events of January 12, 1969, and Jets-Colts...

Fifty years later, Jets 16-Colts 7 seems as hard to believe today as it was back on January 12, 1969. And we’re not the only ones who still wonder what happened that afternoon at the Orange Bowl. Not to suggest that something was going on under the table that day in Miami, but the way that game unfolded has always invited some curious speculation

1 Duke (14-2) vs. Montana (11-6)...Yep, we thought about moving Coach K off the top line after the Monday night home loss vs. Jim Boeheim’s Syracuse. But there is already a lot of heft in the Blue Devils schedule (wins over Kentucky, Auburn, Indiana, and Texas Tech in pre-league play), and plenty more quality wins are on the plate in the ACC. Especially as Duke figures to be favored in every remaining game (even Saturday vs. unbeaten Virginia). So the Blue Devils stay as a 1-seed for now. The Big Sky figured to be Montana’s playground this season, but the Grizzlies

Some of the most compelling viewing in recent NFL seasons has come in Super Bowl prequels, since 1970 contested as AFC and NFC Championship games. There was a period of time when the conference titles were decidedly non-compelling, however, especially for much of the ‘80s and into the early ‘90s when AFC & NFC title games mirrored Super Bowls of the era and usually featured one-sided results. That pattern would mostly change into the new millennium, up until the last two years, when we’ve seen three

HOUSTON: OUT-Major Applewhite; IN-Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia HC...Impressing no one the past two years after inheriting a pretty full cupboard from Tom Herman, Applewhite’s ouster was not a big surprise, though it took over a week after the ugly 70-14 Armed Forced Bowl embarrassment for the plug to be pulled. With booster money sweetening the pot, the Cougs were able to swing for the fences and hit a home run by luring Dana Holgorsen from West Virginia

Denver (6-10)...Not sure where to begin with the myriad problems in Broncos Country. Quickly, start at the top; the ownership situation is in limbo, with Pat Bowlen incapacitated, and a nebulous succession plan causing a rift among some of the heirs, none of whom ever holding a position of any real significance in the organization. Lots of locals want the team sold, but that’s probably not happening soon, especially with values of NFL franchises skyrocketing faster than a SpaceX booster

While Division Round games were once fertile territory for home teams and favorites (almost always one and the same), their dominance has disappeared in recent years. Indeed, since the 2004 postseason, road dogs stand 32-23-2 against the number in these playoff games. Remember some dynamics worth mentioning that are unique to this round. Since 1990, when the playoffs expanded from 10 teams to 12, , all Division Round hosts are off a “bye” and a week of rest. And almost all of the “powerhouse” NFL teams in recent memory are from that first-round “bye” group, including 63 of the last 78

When Mort Olshan first published TGS in 1957, there was one pro football league (NFL) with 12 teams, and the playoffs consisted of one game (the championship), which was contested before New Year’s. (Those were also the days of 12-game regular-season schedules in the NFL.) The notion of “Wild Card” teams in 1957 was about as unlikely as orbiting satellites, though, with the launch of Sputnik that year, the public was starting to expect the unexpected. The football “Wild Cards” however would have to wait until man walked on

1 Duke (11-1) vs. 16 Abilene Christian (10-2)...For the moment, we move Coach K out to the West Regional because we think Virginia is going to emerge atop the ACC. We’re 2½ months away from finding out, so lots of basketball to be played, though we’re pretty confident that the Blue Devils end up on the top line in some region. This would be a first for Abilene Christian if the Wildcats can make the Dance; last year was their first with full-fledged postseason eligibility, and they qualified for the CIT. As usual, Stephen F Austin also figures somewhere in the Southland mix

Amid all of the forums and presentations made from various high-profile speakers and sectors of the sports and gaming universes at last week’s ICE Sports Betting USA conference in New York City, what stuck most with us was the above comment from Ohio State Senator Bill Coley, who is also president of the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States (NCLGS, or “Nickel Gs”). Which should be a sobering reminder to an entire industry that seems to have fanned out in various directions since last May’s landmark

Perhaps it’s a good thing the Chiefs and Rams had their respective “byes” the week after their breathless shootout last Monday night in the L.A. Coliseum. Of course, the game was originally scheduled to be played at Estdadio Azteca in Mexico City, and the NFL has carefully made sure that all teams playing internationally this season have their bye weeks immediately following games abroad. In the case of the Chiefs and Rams, however, both ended up not having to leave the country before they got a chance to rest last weekend.

If it seems like we bring up the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry on these pages every couple of years, well, it’s because we do. Throughout the span of our TGS publishing history, which dates to 1957, we’re not sure any rivalry has endured at the sort of fever pitch as the have the Wolverines and Buckeyes (though we’re sure there is an argument to be made for fans of the Alabama-Auburn Iron Bowl, which also renews this weekend), and offers so much to recall. Once again, another Michigan-Ohio State matchup come Saturday is a highlight

We’re about to enter the peak of college football “rivalry season” in the next two weeks as various regional bloodbaths will once again renew. In our 62 seasons of TGS publishing, however, one of these rivalry games remains singular. And we’re not sure we’ve ever lived through a game quite like...well, The Game. Allow us to digress for a moment. It might be hard for the present-day audience of the sports books in Nevada and various locales elsewhere to relate to an era when Ivy League football was a big deal and indeed featured weekly on the menu of available games to

1-DUKE...What we saw on opening night in Indianapolis had to scare the daylights out of the rest of the country. We suppose we don’t have to ask Kentucky which team should be top-ranked after the Blue Devils blitzed the Cats 118-84...and it wasn’t that close. With the one-and-dones perhaps soon to disappear, it looks like Coach K will end this era with a bang with what might be the best frosh class ever assembled, better than some of those John Calipari specials at UK. In explosive, tank-sized PF Zion Williamson, and 6-7 wings R.J. Barrett and Cam Reddish, Duke might have three of next June’s NBA lottery picks

We’re into “hot seat season” in college football, folks. That’s simply another gridiron name for November, when the walls begin to close in around the most-embattled of coaches. And, if recent history is any indicator, several will probably be getting their pink slips before the end of the regular season in a few weeks, a rather recent occurrence in “hot seat” history that used to be reserved for only the most severe of transgressions (read: losing too much) before a season would conclude. To this point in 2018, Maryland’s D.J.

We’re now into November in college football and the first truly “Big Game Week” of the campaign is upon us. Multiple upcoming clashes will impact the top ten and help shape the next playoff rankings the following Tuesday, not to mention providing some of the best indicators yet of what the eventual “Final Four” might look like when announced on December 2. Among those battles this week are a couple of showcase games in the SEC, Georgia at surprising Kentucky in the East and the biggie on Saturday night in the West

Those who have perused the NFL record book might have come across...72-41. Over the decades that 1966 Redskins win over the Giants at then-called D.C. Stadium has grown in myth almost as much as Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game for the Philadelphia Warriors in 1962. More than 50 years later, 72-41 remains the all-time highest-scoring NFL game. We at TGS were finishing our first decade of publishing in ‘66 and recall it well. And with the Giants and Redskins ready to square off again this week,we thought it an appropriate time to recall a game that might come up in some

The New Orleans Pelicans (45½) caught lightning in a bottle down the stretch last season, winning 20 of their last 27 games to storm the playoffs as a No. 6 seed, then routing the Blazers in an eye-opening 4-game sweep before bowing out honorably vs. the champion Warriors in five games. The recipe for HC Alvin Gentry was MVP-caliber play from Anthony Davis, aggressive scoring from G Jrue Holiday, floor savvy and leadership from Rajon Rondo, and floor stretching from F Nikola Mirotic. This all happened after DeMarcus Cousins went down with his Achilles tendon tear, causing some to nod

Following is a quick look at how the various states are positioned at the moment, or will be positioned in the near future, to take advantage of the “Post-PASPA” world. There are various specifics about each of the states that make for an interesting read and could be a subject of a future feature piece. For now, however, we’re just basically providing a roll-call. ACTIVE STATES: Nevada, Delaware, New Jersey, Mississippi, West Virginia. Notes...Another topic in the industry is if Nevada is likely to fall from its perch anytime soon because of

Can the Houston Astros (2/1) succeed where all others World Series winner the past 17 years have failed, and actually repeat? Any chance the Astros were going to cruise into the playoffs as AL West champ was interrupted by an unexpected challenge from the upstart A’s, who at least forced Houston to remain focused and sharp into the last week of the regular season. Sensing a need to plug a leak in the bullpen when Ken Giles wasn’t handling the closer role, the ’stros made controversial move at the deadline for Toronto’s Roberto Osuna. But after a brief media firestorm over the

Those who have been following these pages of TGS for the past several years know that we were keeping a close watch on New Jersey’s attempts to introduce Vegas-style sports wagering into the Garden State. Exhaustively, we noted the progress of this fascinating tale almost from the outset, though it wasn’t until about this time a year ago that we actually began to believe changes in federal law were forthcoming. Indeed, a new chapter in United States sports gaming began when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of New Jersey and effectively

The college football season is now in high gear, with conference matchups finally beginning to take over the weekly schedule. And while early autumn is a bit soon for the most-heated of traditional rivalries (outside of the annual Texas-Oklahoma bloodbath at Dallas in early October), there are some tasty encounters over the next couple of weeks with a colorful history behind them that overlap with some of the earlier publishing years of TGS. Beneath the surface, some of these rivalries still bubble, and are worth a reminder before we commit this space to an MLB Playoffs preview next weekxt week.

Good luck trying to stop the San Jose Sharks (97 ½) on the power play; with Brent Burns and recently-added Erik Karlsson taking turns at the blue line, opponents might be advised to wear bullet-proof vests instead of pads. Wisely, GM Doug Wilson inked winger Evander Kane, added at the deadline from Buffalo and who bypassed free agency after fitting like a glove on Joe Pavelski’s line, which was the NHL’s most productive after Kane’s arrival. If Jumbo Joe Thornton is beyond last season’s injuries, San Jose could lift the

We thought we’d do something a bit different this September, a pre-emptive move, if you will. Though we have yet to experience the sort of earth-rattling upsets that we had already seen by this time a season ago in college football, a few have come close. And there are still plenty of chances for our all-time “upset list” to be breached in 2018, as it was four times a season ago. The reason?Nowadays, almost all games involving FBS entries, including those vs. FCS opposition, appear on the weekly board. Though many of those prices involving FCS teams don’t get posted until Friday or Saturday

There wasn’t a bigger surprise in all of the NFL last season than the Los Angeles Rams, whose return to the Coliseum from St. Louis the previous season more resembled some of the franchise lowlights during the Harland Svare era from 1962-65; the Rams finished 2016 as looking like perhaps the worst team in the league as they limped home with an interim HC (John Fassel) following Jeff Fisher’s well-deserved dismissal late in the season. (No coincidence, perhaps, that the pair of QBs who faced off in the NFC title game, Nick Foles and Case Keenum, were both benched by

ACC, AFC, it didn’t seem to make much difference to QB Deshaun Watson, who was tearing apart the opposition last fall for the Houston Texans (8 ½) just as he did in college until a fluke knee injury suffered on the practice field on November 2 prematurely ended his season. At that point, Houston was just 3-4, but after entering the starting lineup following an opening loss to the Jaguars, Watson had put the fear of God into both New England and Seattle on the road, barely missing upset wins vs. each when the defense couldn’t hold a late lead in the final minutes, and a 42-34 shootout loss vs. Kansas City when

“Week Zero” notwithstanding, another college football season kicks off later this week. As always, we are well-prepared for the new campaign (for some good reading, check out our homepage for all of our college conference previews as well as our annual Preseason Top 40). Yet, as is often the case at this time of the year, we at TGS are drawn into our vast memory banks that are swelled with 61 seasons worth of publishing recollections. Like birthdays, opening weeks tend to stick out to us a bit more, and we are often drawn back to 1970 and the most-electric day/night of college gridiron lid-lifters

All things considered, the Los Angeles Chargers didn’t do too badly last season when getting to 9-7. After all, it was hardly a distraction-free autumn, with the team relocating to industrialized Carson in the L.A. basin, near the intersection of a couple of busy freeways and close by where the Goodyear blimp has parked since the late ‘60s. All of that not what out-of-towners have in mind when they think of glamorous Southern Calfornia. But it was where the Bolts would play their home games in an undersized (for the NFL) stadium, StubHub Center

New Orleans...The NFC South has been a virtual game of musical chairs over the last nine seasons, with New Orleans, Atlanta and Carolina winning the division three times each. Last season it was Drew Brees and the Saints’ turn. New Orleans will be hungry again this year, after its playoff exit on a last-second miracle play at Minnesota prevented the Saints from a spot in the NFC Championship against Philadelphia Brees appears to have made a deal with the devil, as, entering his 18th season, he’s coming off yet another productive performance

In the world of good and bad steps, with Neil Armstrong’s first on the Moon being on the top end(though we have always liked Apollo 12 Pete Conrad’s “that might have been a small step for Neil, but it was a big one for me!” when he stepped on the Moon in November, 1969, as a close second), Deshaun Watson’s fluke practice injury in which he tore an ACL with a bad step last November 2 would rank near the bottom. At that point, the Houston Texans were the talk of the league and Watson was tearing up the NFL just like he did the ACC when at Clemson

Minnesota might have won the free agent musical chairs game at QB with the signing of Kirk Cousins to replace Case Keenum. Cousins is a career 65.5% passer who has tossed 81 TDs vs. 36 interceptions in the last three seasons with Washington. Keenum’s career stats are not as sharp as Cousins’ across the board (completion percentage, QBR, TD-int. ratio and yards per attempt). Viking head coach Mike Zimmer has been around the block, and he and offensive coordinator John DeFilippo made

Well, fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers didn't have to go through that again. We’re talking about the touch-and-go situation of last offseason when QB Ben Roethlisberger was slow to commit to 2017. Having shown plenty of wear and tear, Big Ben seemed at best a year-to-year proposition at that point. But that was last year. After losing a Division Round game last January 14 to the Jags, Roethlisberger announced he would not only return for 2018, but probably another “three to five years” even before the Patriots had qualified as the AFC rep for another Super Bowl.

What’s this? Nothing to complain about on 94.1 WIP for the past six months? Well, check it out. The Sixers are well beyond “The Process” from a few years ago and now a dangerous NBA playoff team. The Phillies were leading the NL East into mid-August. Villanova just won its second NCAA basketball title in three seasons. And the Flyers made it into the Stanley Cup playoffs. With not much reason to bellyache on the airwaves of the Delaware Valley, why not center all of the discussion, as usual, on the Philadelphia Eagles? After all, the Birds are off of their first championship in 57 years, since Norm

Quite a case study, these New England Patriots, who have managed to stay at or near the top since 2001. Such extended periods of dominance are not necessarily unique in NFL annals; the initial run of glory years for the Cowboys lasted from 1966 into the early ‘80s, while the 49ers stayed a title contender basically from 1981 into the new millennium. (Dallas, however, won just two of its five Super Bowls in the Tom Landry era.) But maybe the most famous glory era of all, Vince Lombardi’s Packers, lasted only from from 1961-67. The difference between the Pack and others

1-ALABAMA...Sure, we could try to get cute with the top spot and stick our necks out with some team other than Bama. (Hey, it’s only the summer...if some other team emerges once the games begin, we can adjust accordingly.) Right now, however, there appears to be no perceptible differences between this upcoming Nick Saban edition and his various title winners (five of ‘em!) since 2009. We could nitpick and note the eight new starters on defense, but since when has a Bama Saban team not simply

Usually, we’re not too keen on fired coaches who immediately land jobs elsewhere. Those situations often turn predictably sour; recall Ty Willingham’s disastrous run at Washington after he was hired right on the heels of his Notre Dame dismissal, and aside from one good year, Ron Zook’s tenure at Illinois was not much to remember after he was hired almost immediately after walking the plank at Florida. So, we have a few natural reservations about Kevin Sumlin’s hire at Arizona after Texas A&M hit the eject button on him late last November

WASHINGTON—In Year 5 of the Chris Petersen era, the meticulous Washington coach will trot out a confident group that boasts 16 starters from a team that won 10 games. So, won’t hesitate to deem the Huskies as the clear-cut favorite in the North Division. U-Dub won the conference crown in 2016 and advanced to the College Football Playoff. But to solidify their place as a playoff contender again, the hustling Huskies will probably have to defeat SEC power Auburn in the season opener in Atlanta, a daunting task in SEC country.

Arkansas State...The Red Wolves have the top returning triggerman in the league back and are 21-3 SU in league play over the past three seasons, making HC Blake Anderson’s team a heavy favorite to get to the league’s freshly minted championship playoff game.Sr. QB Justice Hansen has thrown a TD pass in 17 straight games and was named the Sun Belt offensive player of the year last season as a junior after throwing for 3967 yds. and setting eight new ASU records. In 2017 the Red Wolves ranked 10th in the nation in total offense and 5th in

Troy...Trojan HC Neal Brown is 14-3 SU in his last 17 SBC games and 21-5 SU in the last two seasons overall, and has 10 returnees who were on the all-Sun Belt team last season, including three of his four returning starters in the offensive line. Jr. backup RB Jamarius Henderson gained 7.9 ypc last season, which makes you wonder if he didn’t deserve more than the 45 carries he received in 2017. Brown lost his bet on juco RB Kevin Perkins, a 230-lb. bruiser who washed out academically. Troy filled in the defensive depth chart with other jucos, and went the transfer route to pluck ex-Louisville WR Traveon

At the outset, we didn’t see what was coming with Lane Kiffin’s Florida Atlantic last fall, but by early October had jumped on board what would become a nice gravy train with the Owls that continued thru a C-USA title game romp past North Texas and a 50-3 blowout of poor, overmatched Akron on FAU’s home field in the Boca Raton Bowl. Along the way the snarky coach revved up his offense to one of the most potent in the land (40.8 ppg ranked eighth) and rehabbed his professional rep that took its latest hit when running afoul of none other than Nick

Looking for the most misleading record in the country last season? Try Louisiana Tech, which needed to scramble in late November to even get bowl-eligible for the fourth straight year. Along the way last fall, Bulldog HC Skip Holtz probably needed daily pep talks from papa Lou after his team lost three times by one point each, including a beyond-bitter 17-16 loss at South Carolina on September 23, when the Gamecocks hit a deep 41-yard pass from Jake Bentley to Bryant Edwards to set up a game-winning FG with 4 seconds

Notre Dame...In 2017, Notre Dame bounced back from a horrible 4-8 SU mark in 2016 to go 10-3 and score a January bowl win for the first time in a quarter century. The 2016 season was not only HC Brian Kelly’s first losing year in South Bend, it was also the only time in his eight seasons with the Irish that the team won fewer than eight games. Therefore, with 15 returning starters and some impact transfers coming onboard, the Irish have a chance to build on the 2017 recovery and step into the CFP Championship discussion again. Kelly has a 69-34

MEMPHIS...Though record- eaking QB Riley Ferguson is gone, we still pick Memphis to repeat as the West Division champ. We have faith that offensive guru Mike Norvell, who has posted an 18-8 record in his first two years, will keep the Tigers on top. Yes, UM?s upward trend continues in 2018, though we expect a tight race in the dangerous West Division. Norvell returns 16 starters and the schedule is conducive to eaking in a new QB, with three sure wins in September (Mercer, Georgia State, South Alabama) sandwiched around a trip to Annapolis. The Tigers also get

CENTRAL FLORIDA—It’s understandable why new HC Josh Heupel (Missouri o.c. previous 2 years) believes UCF is a great starting point for a first-year head coach. “Everyone in the country understands the success this place has had over the last decade.” Heupel says. “Six 10-win seasons over the past 10 years, five conference titles, two New Year’s Six bowl wins in the last five years. We’re right in the middle of a state that has as much talent as anywhere in the country. I’m excited about it.” The Knights, odds-on favorite to repeat as conference

We are not sure how many present-day MAC experts who populate the Las Vegas sports books or pen previews for a variety of non-TGS preseason publications have any clue that the most-successful player in conference history is also the winningest player in college football history. ?Winningest, that is, by percentage...and it?s hard to beat 100%. ?Further, this fellow?s teams were undefeated in his high school career, too. And, for good measure, won a pro football championship in his rookie year.

Northern Illinois dominated the MAC from 2010 through 2015, appearing in six straight MAC title games while winning three conference titles. QB injuries have thrown some cold water on Rod Carey’s program the last two seasons, but the team uncovered a gem in soph QB Marcus Childers last season, when he was named MAC Frosh of the Year after starting the last seven games and throwing for 1674 yds. with a 16-5 TD-int. ratio while also rushing for 473 yds. and five scores. The entire offensive line returns, including LT Max Scharping, who is a

Ohio is the early favorite to take the MAC East and gain a berth in the conference final. The return of preseason all-conference QB Nathan Rourke and A.J. Ouellette along with six other sr. offensive starters makes the Bobcats appear to be the team to beat in the MAC East. On paper, Ohio has the best offensive line in the league, not surprising considering HC Frank Solich’s penchant for the run game. Sr. G Joe Anderson and T Joe Lowery were both second-team all MAC last year. The

What we love about the annual "Iron Bowl" is its place on the schedule each college campaign. Thanksgiving week is the closest link to the old late-November "rivalry weeks" that used to end every college football regular season with a bang. Until the conference shuffling that began in the 90s, many of the traditional rivalry games took place the weekend before Thanksgiving, with a handful held on the weekend immediately after Turkey Day. Often featured were annual showdowns such as Nebraska vs. Oklahoma from the old Big 8, and Texas vs. Texas A&M from the

ALABAMA—Though Bama finally dropped from No. 1 as the nation’s top recruiting class since 2010, we must stick with the defending champs (five titles over the last 9 years!) as the team to beat once again the loaded SEC West Division. Heck, last year, the Tide had to overcome a rash of injuries and a November loss to Iron Bowl rival Auburn. Sure, Bama will begin the season ranked No. 1 in the nation. And there’s a good chance the Tide will end the season in that spot as well. The offense (37.2 ppg; 250.6 ypg rushing) is simply loaded once again. Saban has one of his best-ever stable of RBs

GEORGIA—HC Kirby Smart isn’t sure if he will ever be able to get past the pain of losing to Alabama in last season’s National Title game on a stunning deep pass in overtime. The good news is that no matter how tough the aftermath has been on Smart and his staff, it seem as if the Bulldog players have been far more capable of embracing 2018 than their elders have. “Kids get past things much quicker than coaches,“ Smart says. “We have used it as a teaching moment.” We expect super-loaded Georgia, which brings in the nation’s No.1 recruiting class, will take the East

Rest assured they haven’t forgotten about the days of the “Wishbone T” at Texas. Among the glorious eras of Longhorn football, the span from the late ‘60s into the early 70s when the Darrell Royal “Wishbone” ran wild remain among the all-time favorites for the countless “Texas Ex-es” and college football historians. The high-water mark, we have always believed, of that great Wishbone era might continue to be mostly overlooked by college sports historians and the modern-day media. In fact, looking back

Maybe we saw something in Texas (2017 SUR 7–6; PSR 8-4-1; O/U 3-10) last season that few in the sports media bothered to see. While the majority of those sorts on ESPN and elsewhere seemed to be going out of their way not to put new HC Tom Herman in a more-positive light than the deposed Charlie Strong (who landed at South Florida), from our vantage point it looked like the Longhorns were much upgraded and very close to a breakthrough. After underwhelming (that‘s putting it mildly) in an opening loss to Maryland, Texas was a different team

One of the highlights of our TGS “Retrospective” series is to dive a bit deeper into college football history and either uncover, or re-live, some tales that might otherwise be forgotten. This story fits into the former camp, and a look back into the time machine at Florida State. It might surprise those of the ESPN generation and many patrons of sports books in Nevada whose sense of history goes back to the previous week that the Seminoles lived colorfully long before the Bobby Bowden era and have a background pretty unique to modern-day college sports. In fact

It has become the college football equivalent to the Warriors and Cavaliers meeting in the NBA Finals; will Clemson (2017 SUR 12-2; PSR 8-5-1; O/U 5-8-1) run into Alabama for the fourth straight year in the 2018 FBS playoffs? (We can safely assume that the Cavs-Warriors thing finally ended this June, but we digress.) Las Vegas sports books think it is a distinct possibility; several outlets have been posting a prop with a heavy minus price on the national title coming from one between the Tigers, Crimson Tide, Ohio State, Oklahoma, or Washington. The IPTAY crowd at Clemson, however, is feeling a bit less

Looking for a “super sleeper” this fall? Try Georgia Tech (2017 SUR 5-6, PSR 7-3-1, O/U 4-6-1). Maybe the Yellow Jackets are a bit of a hard sell as a title contender, but this is exactly the sort of situation in which shrewd HC Paul Johnson has succeeded before. Rewind to 2014, when Tech was off of a lackluster 7-6 campaign; Johnson, with a similar team to what he will have this fall, surged to 11 wins and an Orange Bowl romp past Dak Prescott and Mississippi State. After things went pear-shaped in 2015, and Tech lost almost

Say “Northwestern” to modern-day college football fans of the ESPN generation and the reaction is likely to be positive. Though not considered alongside Ohio State in the current Big Ten hierarchy, the Wildcats have been more than holding their own for almost a generation, with the past decade of the “Pat Fitzgerald era” featuring numerous contenders and bowl qualifiers. Indeed, for the first time in its history, Northwestern has won bowl games in back-to-back years. Those who recall the mid ‘90s also remember Gary Barnett’s “Miracle Cats” of 1995 who stunned

Wisconsin made its third trip in the past four seasons to the Big Ten Championship game last November. While the Badgers are heavy favorites to return as Big Ten West champs, Paul Chryst must retool his defense if Bucky Badger is to challenge the heavyweights from the East. Wiscy’s “D” allowed just 14 ppg last season, fewest in the Big Ten by a margin, and good enough to rank 3rd in the nation. That unit was 2nd against the run and yielded just 2.3 ypc at home and 93 ypg rushing in conference play last year. Unfortunately for second-year Wiscy d.c. Jim Leonhard, he must replace 7 starters from that unit, 4 of whom

Ohio State lost eight starters, including four NFL draftees on defense and A-A C Billy Price and OT Jamarco Jones left for the pros as well. Oh, and head coach Urban Meyer also has to replace his three-time all-Big Ten first-team QB J.T. Barrett, who’s now with the New Orleans Saints. Don’t shed any tears. Meyer collected the second-rated recruiting class in the country, and has three capable candidates to take Barrett’s place. At most schools such losses would trigger a rebuilding project, with the coach lowering expectations. Not in Columbus. While there are holes

Back where it should be on top of the Mountain West in 2017, Boise State (2017 SUR 11-3, PSR 8-5-1, O/U 6-8) is once again aiming higher this fall, with legit designs on a return to the New Year’s Six bowl mix as the rep of the “Group of Six” conferences. It wouldn’t be the first time for the Broncos, who turned a similar trick in 2014 in what was the first season for HC Bryan Harsin, topping Arizona 38-30 in a wild Fiesta Bowl. After subsequently kicking away the Mountain half of the MW in the next two seasons to Air Force

In English soccer, think Roy Hodgson, Sam Allardyce, or Tony Pulis, managers whose specialty seems to be pulling teams out of trouble and avoiding the dreaded drop. Their equivalent in college football could be Jeff Tedford, who took over at Fresno State (2017 SUR 10-4; PSR 102-2; O/U 4-10) just as the Bulldogs looked ready for relegation to the Big Sky when they collapsed to 1-11 in the preceding final season for the regime of Tim DeRuyter, who was humanely relieved before the 2016 campaign concluded. In the process last fall FSU won the

Lovie Smith, Illinois...This looks like bad idea from the start for the Illini administrators, who thought that Lovie could connect with recruits in Chicagoland. No evidence yet of that, and Lovie sure isn’t proving much of an upgrade on the field, with a 5-19 the past two years and working on 10 straight defeats. Illinois, who was rarely even within earshot in Big Ten action last season, saw a mass exodus of players transfer out after the season, while Lovie has made the obligatory staff changes, throwing several assistants (including o.c. Garrick McGee)

ARIZONA: OUT-Rich Rodriguez; IN-Kevin Sumlin (most recently Texas A&M)...It sure looked like the Cats were searching for a reason to get rid of Rodriguez, who became ensnared in the dreaded harassment trap well after last season concluded. That paved the way for Sumlin, who arrives with a bit more promise than other deposed mentors in recent memory, such as Ty Willingham and Ron Zook, who immediately got another chance after being dismissed; at least in Sumlin's case, the bottom never dropped out at A&M

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