College Football Week 1
Saturday
Notre Dame #5 @ Ohio State #2 (7:30 PM ET on ABC)
Despite being ranked in the top 5, the Fighting Irish enter Columbus, Ohio as the heavy 17-point underdog. For Notre Dame, this will be the first regular season game of the post-Brian Kelly era. Now led by head coach Marcus Freeman, an Ohio St stud linebacker alum, much of Notre Dame’s pressure now lies on the legs and right shoulder of sophomore Tyler Buchner. In typical Buckeye tradition, 3rd-year Quarterback, CJ Stroud, has elite pass catchers in Jaxson Smith-Nijiba and Marvin Harrison’s son to throw to as well as a workhorse runner in TreVyon Henderson. Buckeye head coach, Ryan Day, is 4-0 on opening weekends and 23-1 at Ohio Stadium.
Not to get all history minor on you but these two teams met for the first time in 1935 in the “Game of the Century”, and that’s a Snapple fact. This will be just the 7th time these two blue blood programs matchup (Ohio St 4-2) and the fourth consecutive meeting with both teams ranked in the top 10 of the polls. You could change the players’ names, faces, and playstyle - it wouldn’t matter. For any big fan of college football, this is appointment TV. If you don’t have a dog in this one, maybe think about how nice a Guinness pint is on Saint Patrick’s Day.
Sunday Scouts
Notre Dame: Michael Mayer (TE), Isaiah Foskey (DE), Brandon Joseph (S), Tyler Buchner (QB)
Ohio State: Jaxson Smith-Njigba (WR), CJ Stroud (QB), TreVyon Henderson (RB), Denzel Burke (CB)
Oregon #11 @ Georgia #3 (3:30 PM ET on ABC)
The defending National Champions are back in business this weekend and making the Ducks fly out South East. This game features two stifling defenses with the classic “very solid dual threat college football QBs who likely won’t play on Sundays.” Georgia’s Stetson Bennett, the walk-on who defeated ‘Bama, and Oregon’s Bo Nix, the transfer from Auburn, should provide some upperclassman stability. Brock Bowers, the star Georgia tight end, will look to improve upon his freshman 13 (touchdowns). Linebacker Noah Sewell, the brother of the NFL’s 2021 7th overall pick, will be primarily responsible for guarding Bowers. This fun matchup is the first round between two guys who will play in the NFL.
Georgia under Kirby Smart as head coach is 25-2 against non-SEC opponents and although Oregon is not the typical week 1 out-of-conference cakewalk, the Ducks are 17-point underdogs.
Sunday Scouts
Oregon: Noah Sewell (LB), Justin Flowe (LB)
Georgia: Brock Bowers (TE), Jalen Carter (DT), Kelee Ringo (CB), Nolan Smith (Edge)
Sunday
Florida St. @ LSU (7:30 PM ET on ABC)
Both of these proud programs are unranked coming into the season and have seen better days. That said, this primetime game can catapult the winner into the top 20. This will be Brian Kelly and his new fake southern accent’s first test in Baton Rouge. Kelly recruited Jayden Daniels to leave Arizona State for the QB1 job. Daniels may not have the passing accuracy to play at the next level, but has elite speed and fits the Taysom Hill-type role in the NFL. I’m not saying Kayshon Boutte is the next Jamarr Chase, Justin Jefferson, OBJ, or Juice Landry, but you might be drafting him in fantasy within the top 8 rounds this time next year.
Florida State had a walk-through 47-7 victory over Duquesne in Week 0, where they had 3 rushers run for over 100 yards last week. Their QB Jordan Travis is also considered their best field general since Jameis Winston. Vegas has these teams as evenly matched, as LSU is only 3-point favorites (home teams typically get 3-points factored in their favor just from home-field advantage). Should be an interesting game to have on in the background if you’re BBQ-ing in white pants for the last time this summer. I don’t own white pants, but why is it again that you can’t wear white after labor day? When you buy white pants do you gain this knowledge?
Sunday Scouts
Florida State: Jammie Robinson (S), Robert Cooper (DT)
LSU: Kayshon Boutte (WR), Jayden Daniels (QB)
MLB September Races
Playoff Hunt
After weeks of awful baseball, the Yankees are currently in striking distance from the Rays with a massive 3 game series set in Tampa Bay this weekend. Somebody must’ve finally got to Hal Steinbrenner's yacht for him to think maybe they should try to win a World Series this year instead of saving money on Oswald Peraza’s service time in 2028. Why did it take this long for Oswaldo Cabrera and Peraza to make it to the Bronx? The Oswalds should have been a thing on August 1st, but hey I guess now is the time to just throw two rookies into the middle of catastrophe to see if they can keep them afloat. Oh yeah, also after Hal just bought a 10% stake in AC Milan, I don’t want to hear about how Aaron Judge’s contracts demands are too high… End of Yankee rant…
*Insert: “Everything is fine” dog drinking a coffee in fire GIF.*
The Astros and Dodgers are running away with postseason home-field advantage. The Mets still have the Braves pushing them to play 100+ win pace. The NL East has a chance to come down to the Mets traveling to Atlanta on September, 30 for a 3-game set. The underdog Orioles just called up their top prospect Gunnar Henderson, who homered while losing his helmet in his first MLB game. Very majestic.
Awards
*Aaron Judge hit the Bernie Williams 51 mark in Ohtani’s home ballpark. Paul Goldschmidt is in the mix for the NL triple crown with a .332 batting average, 33 homers (trails Schwarber’s 36), and 105 RBIs (tied with the Polar Bear). As far as the CY Young goes, all the names listed are having outstanding seasons but the top 3 pitchers in all of baseball you don’t want your team to see in a playoff series are still Kate Upton’s husband, Mad Max, and Jacob deGrom. Had Adley Rutchman been called up a month or two earlier, he may be the front runner for AL Rookie of the Year over the new $470 million 21-year-old, Julio Rodriguez. This week in only his 17th career start, Spencer Strider set the new Atlanta Braves record of strikeouts in a game with 16.
*I understand if you’re not a Yankee fan you might be sick of the whole Aaron Judge chasing the 61 home run mark but hear this out. In 1961, #9 Yankee right-fielder, Roger Maris, hit 61 homers to shatter Babe Ruth’s season record of 60. 61 years later, #99, the Yankee with his own Chamber in rightfield is 10 away from the record. Without the use of steroids, no hitter has ever topped Maris. Sure it is only sports, but we could be witnessing something that may not happen again for a very long time.
Spida to the Cavs
Woj Bombed that Donovan Mitchell is heading to Cleveland in a deal involving Colin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, Ochai Agbaji, 3 unprotected 1st round picks, and two pick swaps being shipped out to Salt Lake City. This had Knicks fans punching the air, as they were thought to be the favorite to land the tri-state local. NY misses out on a 25-year-old star (not superstar) combo guard who is a big Mets fan. He may now have to root for the Indians Guardians. (I know that was a bit of a reach, but I’m still trying to find my voice in this writing thing so bear with me. Also if this left a sour taste in your mouth, please reread the first sentence of this post where you didn’t bat an eye.)
The Cavaliers are now a real contender in the East for the first time without Lebron since when, the Craig Ehlo years? Mitchell teaming up with Darius Garland could be something really special, or the John Wall-Bradley Beal Wiz. The biggest difference there though is that Washington didn't have an Evan Mobley, who may just turn out to be the best of the bunch.
YouTube Rabbithole
“Game of the Century” Notre Dame at Ohio State (1935)
The phrase “Game of the Century” has been used quite a few times in college football history. This game, however, is known for being the original. Notre Dame first fielded its first football team in 1887, while Ohio State formed one in 1890. The two teams would not come together until 1935. When Notre Dame arrived in Columbus, they were given the key to the city by the mayor (something tells me that won’t happen this Saturday). Heading into the 4th quarter of the game, Ohio State led 13-0 before the Irish stormed back behind their QB, William Shakespeare (crazy how this same guy wrote Romeo and Juliet).
This Bill Shakespeare deserves more acclaim. He threw the game-winning TD in the “Game of the Century.” He was the 3rd overall pick of the NFL 1936 Draft selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates (now Steelers). Rather than playing pro football (which didn’t pay well at the time), he decided to join the Cincinnati Rubber Company - where he worked from 1936 until his death in 1974. Oh yeah, in between then he also was in a featured film called The Big Game (1936) and most importantly won a Bronze Star for gallantry during the Battle of the Bulge while serving in the Army in WWII. Not to make this week’s Rabbithole all about ol’ Bill but the next time you hear Shakespeare come up, remember just like Gary Cooper… now that was an American.
For great content on more important and interesting things outside the sports toybox check out What You Missed This Week.
Have a nice long weekend!