College Football is Crazier Than Ever

The 2022-23 college football season has already given us some of the all-time classic finishes, with miracles and heartbreaks happening every week. New rule changes are coming to the game, on and off the field, with NCAA Madden 24 coming out soon, and the CFB Playoff expanding to 12 teams in 2026 once the recurring contract runs out, although many suspect that the college board did this just to appease the annoyance of fans and viewers of the sport from previous decisions. The SEC is dominating the AP polls so far this season, with #1 Georgia and #2 Alabama at the top, followed by teams like Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio State, Clemson, Arkansas, and USC, among others. Arkansas is the team that people sleep on the most that has the ability to beat a top 10 ranked team in the country, especially with their QB1 KJ Jefferson being considered as a potential Heisman candidate this season. In Week 4, Texas almost beat Alabama, who were ranked #1 at that time, but ended up losing 20-19 in a nailbiter. The Tide looked like they should have lost the game, but bad clock management on Texas’ last drive gave Bryce Young 1:32 to work with, and he led them into field goal range. Appalachian State might have the craziest season so far for an unranked team. Their first game was a loss to UNC, an unreal score of 63-61. They would have scored more if they had converted the 2-point try with 30 seconds left. Their third game resulted in a 32-28 victory against Troy, in which a 53-yard Hail Mary was converted, and disbelief fell upon a certain Troy sorority group party. Some other surprises have been the lack of recognition that some offensive lines have been giving to Will Anderson, Jr. from Alabama. This guy is the college football version of an Aaron Donald or a TJ Watt, just a one-man wrecking crew, and easily a top 5 draft prospect for this year’s 2023 NFL Draft. Bryce Young has been having a solid start to the season for Alabama, although some people would question his confidence taking enormous hits to the point where he loses confidence. I personally do not believe this, because every time he has a string of bad plays, he always seems to come back with a bomb play or a game-winning drive to make up for it. #1 Georgia’s Stetson Bennett IV has done his job well this season, leading the Dawgs, the greatest team in the nation, to a perfect record so far. The defense, although losing key seniors and pieces like Nakobe Dean and Jordan Davis (Eagles), Travon Walker (Jaguars), and Lewis Cine (Packers), has been just as stout, with guys like Nolan Smith and Chris Smith returning to this defense. The offense has looked elite, even though they lost James Cook (Bills), brother of Dalvin

Cook, and NFL YoungBoy, aka George Pickens (Steelers), who is a star in the making. Ladd McConkey has picked up where he left off for Georgia in the National Championship Game vs. Alabama, leading the team in yards. Ohio State still has most of its core coming back from last year, the main piece being C.J. Stroud, their exceptional quarterback. They did lose their top two receivers in Garrett Wilson (Jets) and Chris Olave (Saints), but that has not seemed to slow down their offense, with senior WR Marvin Harrison, Jr. looking like the top WR Heisman candidate thus far. Notre Dame has not exactly been a disappointment, but Marcus Freemans’ first few games have not gone as planned. They started off by blowing a lead to Ohio State in the season opener, then losing to Marshall after paying them a good amount of money to play them their second game. They will need to turn it around quickly if they want to have a slim shot of making the CFP this season.