Big macro landscape themes/observations
The few marquee matchups were nice, and I think that will be the trend going forward in the new era of CFB. Whether it's starting of the season with conference games and upsets in the case of FSU v Gtech or going with big brand inter-conference play like USC v LSU, ND v Aggies, the ratings will dictate more. Even Vandy v Va-Tech was a nice early season surprise competitive match up that went OT.
Prime time Monday night game tonight BC v FSU will be interesting and fun. Something different, kind of like last night's Trojans v Tigers. CFB clearly creeping in on and flirting with NFL territory...something to keep an eye on.
Clearly some movement to expand and conquer new territory. We've had the Thursday and even some Friday night games here and there, but I think this is a pretty aggressive move to explore some more prime time options should they expand the schedule. More games, means you need more slots to put them.
Parity growing within the P4s. Whether it's NIL, portal, more money/resources overall flowing in, etc...I don't think Ga-Tech and Vandy wins are one off special events.
The other side of that coin being P4 separating from the rest of CFB. I mean it was basically track meets and basketball scores across the board for P4/top 40ish programs vs G5 and others. If our game hadn't been called, we'd have put up 45+ on So. Miss. Circling back to opening paragraph, those games are becoming more and more uninteresting to the fan and useless to the teams.
Zooming in on some specifics
Miami could be back. There's always surprises in every conference, especially in the ACC, but Canes right now with all the information we have available, look like they could walk through most of their schedule.
As one Florida program rises, one or two fall. Gators have the toughest schedule in CFB this year, maybe toughest for any program in a number of years. Us and the Vols are their "easy stretch." Noles, better schedule via ACC, but after Ga-Tech surprise all of a sudden, their road looks a bit more uncertain. Norvell might have peaked last year. I'm not saying his seat is hot, and he probably has a little grace period after 13 wins and conference title, but there's 3-4 losses on his schedule now that we know they're beatable.
Texas A&M overrated again. Ever since Jimbo rolled into and out of town, and they started spending some money people have been hyperventilating about them. I didn't understand it early on with Jimbo, nor do I understand it now. They've never been much more than a middle tier B12 program, hell, they may be a middle of the road state of Texas program. Bear Bryant won more games at UK than he did there.
Playoff picture already taking form with some big-name brands we haven't been able to see via limitations of 4 spots. The combination of potential match ups between big time programs is amazing, and why CFB's ratings will continue to explode. More teams in the hunt, more fans with hope, more casual fans with interest.
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