Random Thoughts: The Wait Is Over

The end of the last bowl season seems so long ago. On the flip side, the last few weeks have just flown by. And here we sit at Week 1. Despite the Big Ten Commissioner’s attempts to ruin the sport we love, the 2025 College Football season will go on as scheduled. Hold on tight because here we go!

Welcome back lovers of college football. For you newbies, we are glad you are here – even if Alabama is not your team. Just know that we here serve up weekly heaping spoonfuls of snark. There is a good chance your favorite player or team will get body-slammed a few times as we call out the B.S. To be fair, we don’t sugarcoat it when our Crimson Tide is not playing up to “The Standard” either. If you want sunshine pumped up your nether regions, there is plenty of click bait out there for you.

There are probably others, we’ll see as the season unfolds. Still with us? If so, let us proceed.

WEEK ZERO IS NOT THE BEGINNING OF THE CFB SEASON

But we’ll give you the scores and highlights anyway. (>ᴗ•)

Iowa State 24 Kansas State 21- Farmageddon got off to a wet sloppy start in Dublin, Ireland with a muff by K-State followed by a red zone fumble by ISU early in the game. The first reception came on the game’s fourth possession when a offensive lineman caught a deflection for negative yardage. Following an exchange of touchdowns, each team tallied another fumble before the half. In the second half, both teams gathered their bearings a little better and started to move the ball.

Perhaps KSU coach Chris Klieman could not see the lines so well, since he chose to go for it on 4th and 1 at his own 30 yard line with 8 and a half minutes to go.

The Wildcats failed to pick up the necessary yardage and the Cyclones scored four playes later to push their advantage to 24-14. K-State struck back with a 65 yard scoring pass, but ISU ground out the last six+ minutes of the game, ending with three kneel downs at the goal line.

Hawaii 23 Stanford 20 – The Trees jumped out to a 10-0 lead after a sack, strip, and recovery in the end zone. The Rainbow Warriors would retaliate with two touchdowns to lead by one at the half. Fast forward to 2 minutes remaining, the game is knotted at 20-20 after a UH field goal. Stanford starts their drive at their own 25. A 3-and-out takes up less than 30 seconds of game clock. Hawaii skillfully drove the other way with short passes out of a no-huddle offense and got down to the 20 yard line. With 18 seconds remaining and all three timeouts in Stanford’s pocket, they allowed the Islanders to run the clock down and kick the game-winner with no time left on the clock. Poor clock management by former Colts head coach and current Stanford coach Frank Reich caused them to miss out on a chance for a late charge.

UNLV 38 Idaho State 31 – Dan Mullen’s return to college football got off to a dubious start. Vegas’s first three possessions went fumble, 3-and-out, missed field goal, as ISU – who was 5-7 in FCS a season ago – jumped out to a 10-0 advantage. The Runnin’ Rebs scored 14 points but the Bengals answered to take a 3 point lead at the half.

Idaho State led by seven early in the fourth quarter until the Rebs tied it up. On the ensuing drive, ISU threw an interception on their own 28. Vegas would score the go-ahead and eventually winning touchdown for Cousin Eddie.

Kansas 31 Fresno 7 – Senior citizen Jalon Daniels was an efficient 18 of 20 for 176 yards and 3 touchdowns. Fresno was picked off twice, lost a fumble, and totaled only 37 rushing yards on 29 attempts.

Western Kentucky 41 Sam Houston 24 – You don’t really care about this one. Do you?

“K-S State vs Iowa State” in Dublin.

LEBRON JAMES MEMORIAL FLOP OF THE WEEK

So, is the ref supposed to call a penalty on himself in this instance?

It is also a new record for most National Championships won in one day. One fan likened it to North Korea “parading around 15 nukes while only three of them have functional warheads.”

Also last week, Aubie announced they would retire Cam Newton’s jersey number. AD John Cohen is doing everything he can to deflect away how lousy this season is going to be. It must be so painful to be an Auburn fan.

“I think Coach White and our defense is the hardest defense I’ll see all year.”

~ Florida State QB Thomas Castellanos from last Wednesday. This guy just doesn’t know when to keep his big yap shut.

Bowling Green linebacker Gideon ESPN Lampron. Yes, “ESPN” is his real middle name. “Jihaad” doesn’t sound so bad now. Huh?

SO, WE ARE DOING THESE IDIOTIC SHORT SHORTS AGAIN THIS YEAR?

Ya know when you look at old football reels and you laugh at the big shoulder pads? His kids are going to look at this silliness and think he is just as lame.

Name of the Week nominee Kilinahe Mendiola-Jensen

HOW TO TELL YOU ARE NO LONGER A BLUEBLOOD

TBH, the all-black Nebraska unis are kinda cool. But, yeah. The ‘Huskers aren’t BBs anymore anyway.

HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO LIVE RIGHT HERE?

Click here for Street View.

From Dan Wetzel of ESPN: “Kansei Matsuzawa is from Tokyo, where at age 20 he was a waiter at a Morton’s Steakhouse. On a vacation to the US he saw a NFL game. Returned home and taught himself to place kick via YouTube videos. Convinced Hocking College in little Nelsonville, Ohio to let him come and kick FGs. He spoke almost no English and had so little money he gave himself haircuts. Excelled in kicking and English. Transferred to Hawaii this summer. Just booted the game winner to beat Stanford, 23-20.”

He was 3 for 3 on field goals on the day and speaks better English than a lot of Americans LOL.

The yardage lines and hashmarks did a disappearing act even though the grounds crew re-drew the lines at halftime.

Hawaii scored a touchdown two plays later to take the lead.

DUMBASS OF THE WEEK, RUNNER-UP

Truly, this is the coaches’ fault.

When Micah Ford ran for a 2 yard score in the 4th quarter against Hawaii, it was the first rushing touchdown for a Stanford running back since September 23, 2023.

Lee Corso’s final College GameDay show comes on Saturday in Columbus, Ohio, before Ohio State hosts Texas. Sadly for his curtain call, he will likely put on that ugly-ass weird Buckeye head like he did in his very first one in 1996.

It is too bad that he will not be taking irrelevant Desmond Howard with him. But Nick Saban is back. So are Rece Davis, Pat McAfee, and Kirk Herbstreit.

Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff will also be in Columbus. The only entertaining crew member Mark Ingram is returning, along with jerky jerkmeister Urban Meyer, and a couple of overrated former quarterbacks with pretty hair. For some reason, Barstool idiot Dave Portnoy is joining them to make off-color remarks.

It’s too early for us to adopt a team, but start thinking about it. Let us know your suggestions in Comments. All I know is, chicken-sh*t Indiana will not be making a return.

Wake Forest is probably gonna suck again, but former Bama fan favorite Rob Ezell is the new offensive coordinator under new head coach Jake Dickert.

Of note, we’ll be looking in on the Division II West Alabama Tigers from time to time. If you haven’t heard the new head coach is one Scott Cochran, longtime S&C coach for Nick Saban. “Coach Yeah” has given his staff a Crimson tint, hiring several former Tide players:

Notably, former Ole Miss Reb C.J. Hampton is Defensive Backs Coach.

THAT ANNOYING GUY WHO PURPOSELY BUMPS WOMEN IN THE BOOB BUT ACTS LIKE IT WAS AN ACCIDENT

ELIMINATED FROM PLAYOFF CONTENTION

I suppose this means they won’t be winning the CFP Championship either…

Endangered: Boston College, Cal, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi State, Northwestern, Purdue, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest

Extremely Endangered: Every non-SEC, B1G, ACC, B12 team.

A way WAY WAY too early look at the College Football Playoff (CFP) picture

If you have money to burn: Tennessee is at +8000.

As it stand today, it sure feels like there are only nine teams that have a shot at winning it all this season. Those teams in my mind just happen to be the top nine listed above. Clearly, the playoff was expanded by numbskulls who think that more teams and more games means more eyeballs and more money. But seriously. Who wants to watch a Boise or a SMU get hammered by Big Ten or SEC monster every year. The opening rounds are going to become jokes.

For those who expanded the CFP with the belief that it gives the little guy a shot, the opposite will occur. We may see an occasional time in which that little David slays the Goliath. But they aren’t going to go on a run to the championship. Imagine if Indiana had an Any-Given-Saturday moment against Notre Dame last season. Do you really think the Hoosiers would have then topped Georgia? And then Penn State and Ohio State?

Once again, the College Football Playoff Committee has ridiculously decided to include the five highest-ranked conference champions among the 12-team field.

We might as well pencil Boise in there.

RANK ‘EM IF YOU GOT ‘EM

The first college football playoff rankings will be announced Tuesday, Nov. 4.

Twelve teams will make the playoff. 68 will play in 34 non-CFP bowl games.

As mentioned above, Akron is ineligible from bowl participation due to poor scholastic progress. Stanford is looking like ass this year. We’ll see if any team gets the dreaded Triple Golden Sombrero of a 12-0 season.

Krazy Kristi has moved from Orlando to Tallahassee and has re-upped with RBR for another year of editorial contributions.

Krazy Kristi’s “SHUT UP!” of the Week goes to Michigan. The NCAA fined Michigan a wrist-slapping $20 million and suspended coach Sherrone Moore for three games for their years of cheating that got them the tainted 2023 National Championship. And that’s it. No bowl ban, no stripped titles, no scholarship reduction, no limited recruiting. Nothing.

On the bowl ban, a common diatribe is that it hurts the players who had nothing to do with it. In that case, why not set the bowl ban for the 2026-27 season? If the “players who had nothing to do with it” don’t want to miss out on a bowl or CFP in that season, they can transfer after this season.

Now, here is the punchline: Despite getting off lighter than OJ Simpson (too soon?), the Michigan administration has been acting like petulant little children, all up in arms with protest about how they have been wronged. Just take it like a man and move on.

Below are FanDuel’s top Heisman picks in order of the money lines.

It is interesting to note that the guy who left Alabama is at +2000 and the guy who stayed is +1800.

Kansas State starting running back Dylan Edwards injured an ankle on the first touch of the game for the ‘Cats when he muffed the opening punt. He did not return to the game.

Brother” Bill Oliver (November 1, 1939 – April 14, 2025) played defensive back for the Tide 1959–1961. He coached defense at Clemson (under former Tide player Danny Ford), Auburn, and Alabama, as well as head coach at UTC for four seasons and interim at the Barn after Terry Bowden was shown the door. His crowning achievement was as defensive coordinator for Gene Stallings for one of the greatest Crimson Tide defenses ever, the 1992 national champs.

We are starting to win this war, y’all. The rates of cable companies has been ridiculous for several years. Initially, streaming services were really good values. Then the prices were jacked up and up and UP. Basically, all I need is ESPN, SEC Network, and occasionally ESPN2. But these services wanted to bundle in a bunch of B.S. news channels, Español, the Basket Weaving Network, and other crap we will NEVER watch. So, why are we paying for this junk when all we want is a few channels?

Consumers fought back and someone is finally listening.

Streaming service SLING is now offering flexible Day, Week and Weekend Passes for short-term access to its Sling Orange package. A Day Pass is $4.99 to start. 14 Saturdays of the regular season comes to around $70 depending on if there are taxes or fees. However, this package only has ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, and something called ESPN4K. Other networks such as SEC Network require an add-on.

Another option is the newly launched ESPN standalone streaming service that will cost $29.99/month. This package gives access to all of ESPN’s linear networks – ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNews, ESPN Deportes – in addition to ESPN on ABC, ESPN+, ESPN3, SECN+, and ACCN+. Four months (Sept-Nov) comes to roughly $120.

Road Trip – Four Games in Four Days

Thursday, August 28
East Carolina @ NC State 6pm/7pm Carter-Finley Stadium, Raleigh, NC

Friday, August 29
Kennesaw State @ Wake Forest 6pm/7pm Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium, Winston-Salem, NC
~ OR ~
App State @ Charlotte 6pm/7pm Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, NC

Saturday, August 30
LSU @ Clemson 6:30/7:30 Memorial Stadium (Clemson, SC), Clemson, SC

Sunday, August 31
South Carolina @ Virginia Tech 2p/3pm Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA

Below is just a sampling highlight of games of interest this week. If you REALLY MUST know about the BIG Eastern Michigan-Texas State showdown, click here.

Thursday, August 28 – 16 Games in Total

Boise at South Florida 4:30/5:30 ESPN
^ East Carolina at NC State 6pm/7pm ACCN – No sarcasm: These two teams really despise each other. Do not bet on this one (NCSU -11.5).
Central Arkansas at Missouri 6:30/7:30 SECN
Nebraska vs Cincinnati 8pm/9pm ESPN – Kirkland version of a Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game, played in the Kansas City Chiefs’ stadium.
Miami (OH) at Wisconsin 8pm/9pm BTN – Scouting opportunity for Bama’s Week 3 foe.

Friday, August 29 – 11 Games

App State at Charlotte 6pm/7pm ESPNU – Low-key rivalry game in the Duke’s Mayo Classic.
Auburn at Baylor 7pm/8pm FOX
Georgia Tech at Colorado 7pm/8pm ESPN – We can FINALLY settle the 1991 National Championship! (as long as Auburn doesn’t claim that one too)

** Texas at Ohio State 11am/noon FOX
Syracuse at Tennessee 11am/noon ABC
Mississippi State at Southern Miss 11am/noon ESPN – Perilous game for MSU.
Toledo at Kentucky 11:45/12:45 SECN
Marshall at Georgia 2:30/3:30 ESPN
Alabama A&M at Arkansas 3:15/4:15 SECN
Illinois State at Oklahoma 5pm/6pm ESPN+
LIU at Florida 6pm/7pm ESPN+ – Sharks vs Gators. Sounds like a SyFy Original movie.
UTSA at Texas A&M 6pm/7pm ESPN – Better not look past these guys, Aggie.
Charleston Southern at Vanderbilt 6pm/7pm ESPN+
** LSU at Clemson 6:30/7:30 ABC
Georgia State at Ole Miss 6:45/7:45 SECN

Idaho at Washington State 9pm/10pm The CW Network – These two schools are about 7 miles apart.
Cal at Oregon State 9:30/10:30 ESPN – PAC12 After Dark LIVES!
Utah at UCLA 10pm/11pm FOX – see above
Colorado State at Washington 10pm/11pm BTN

Virginia Tech at South Carolina 2pm/3pm ESPN – in Atlanta
** Notre Dame at Miami 6:30/7:30 ABC – Catholics vs. Convicts 2025

** Three REALLY big games that in the past had national implications. However due to the new 12-team playoff, a loss by either team FAR from keeps them out of the chase. [sigh]

TCU at North Carolina 7pm/8pm ESPN – I heard UNC has a new coach. Does anyone have any details?