Sunday, November 1, 2020

Bye Bye OctRona

I hope everyone is doing well and thriving during the most unusual fall of our lifetime. So, let’s pick up where we left off at the end of September. DFT has been grounded through the first two months of the season. The majority of my Saturdays have been spent here at DFT World Headquarters watching my teams play along with countless other random games. I am unabashedly a college football polygamist as I announced last year, and you all will have to accept it. I am still strongly considering going to the Missouri game in Columbia against UGA to complete my quest of the SEC venues.

Let’s check in on what has happened since the end of September. The Big Ten and Mountain West rejoined the living the past two weekends. Sticking in the Big Ten, Rutgers under the return of Greg Schiano got a big upset win over Sparty in week one as did Indiana over Penn State. Harbaugh continues to lose games he must win by losing to the same aforementioned “Little Brother” Sparty in Michigan’s second game. Minnesota, after a great 2019 campaign, has a leaky boat as they rowed out to an 0-2 start, while the surprise may be Nerdwestern at 2-0. Ohio State won both of their games convincingly and Wisconsin canceled a game due to the Rona. In the Mountain West, San Jose State plays their home games at the Bedrock construction site under the supervision of one Frederick Flintstone. Boise has looked dominant using a different starting QB and RB in each of their first two games. Local Danville Boy Jake Haener had an outstanding second game as the starter for Fresneck State.

Fred rebuilding Spartan Stadium

Around the Rest of the Country – In the SEC, Alabama continues to dominate the action. The Pirate at Mississippi State and Sling Blade at LSU have stumbled badly most of the season. UGA has a great defense but poor QB play will keep them out of the elite status this year. Bet they miss Justin Fields now. Speaking of which, next Saturday UGA plays Florida in Jacksonville at the world's largest outdoor cocktail party.

The ACC is a two-team race with Clemson remaining perfect, although they were tested by a pesky Boston College this past weekend, and Notre Dame being part of the club for this season. We thought Miami and North Carolina would present a challenge to Clemson, but that has not been the case with UNC dropping their second game on Saturday and Miami getting obliterated earlier by Clemson. Clemson and Notre Dame will square off in South Bend this coming Saturday. Clemson will be without starting QB Sunshine Lawrence cuz [of the Rona, so we will see what both squads are made of.

The Big 12 has no clear front runner now as all teams have at least one loss after OK State dropped one in OT to Texas on Saturday. After a rocky start, Oklahoma seems to have their mojo on both sides of the ball and racked up three straight wins against Texas, TCU and TTU. Texas coach Tom Hermann continues to annoy people and win Bieber accolades. The rest of the conference has much parity with the exception of Kansas who is just plain awful.

In the Group of Five outside of the Mountain West, Cincinnati and BYU continue to impress with solid wins and undefeated seasons so far. Let’s not go to sleep on Coastal Carolina either. The Chanticleers are annihilating their competition on the teal turf and are sitting at 6-0 atop the Sun Belt Conference today. This could be the year where a Cinderella crashes the four-team ball along with Bama, TOSU and Clemson who stand out amongst the rest.

Next week, the PAC 12 will commence a seven-game season, and the MAC will begin a six-game slate. Welcome back to the party fellas! Aside from UCAN’T, I mean UCONN, all D1 AA schools will be playing.

Bieber

– This month the Bieber goes to ESPN Gameday personality Pat MacAfee. Why? He annoys the hell out of me and many other DFTers. Here is a former punter that would have you think he locked horns in the trenches with the big boys where in reality he probably made less than five tackles during his NFL career. Simply put, this guy tries far too hard to be a zany, maniacal guy to add some spice to a show that is losing its luster. However, his fabrication of trying to be Lord Humongous from Mad Max is akin to believing Jeffrey Dahmer is a Vegan. If that is what he is serving, we ain’t eating it! Enjoy your Bieber award you wild and crazy guy ... not.

Lord Humongous

Ginger – A salute to all the programs that have played a full schedule this year and braved the Rona. You have provided an outlet for many a fan to watch and even attend the game we love while being smart about it. Yes, the Rona is real. But for those in good health, you give us the option to attend these games in person and forget about the nightmare year this has been. Although it is not the same as a packed stadium with a raucous student section, you have presented us with some sense of normalcy. For that we thank you and bestow the prestigious Ginger award upon you.

The Casty – A new award lower than Bieber that stays in Danville, goes to DFT Diehard Alan Campbell for blowing off the Danville DFT gang and watching premier league soccer instead of viewing college football. Stand that trophy up proudly young man.

Next Up – Hopefully, DFT will finally get to a live game this year at Missouri on 11/14 when the Tigers host the Dawgs. Probably bar gating as I hear there is no on-campus tailgating.

For now, Happy Homegating!

No comments:

DFT

I live for college football weekends. I love tailgating before and after games and absorbing the atmosphere and traditions of the host school. I am on a quest to see a game in every "real" stadium for D1A football in the country and attend as many games and Tailgates as I can. It is more fun to accomplish this with friends and family, thus the DFT Nation has grown far and wide over the last 15 years. I have also added lower Division schools as part of my annual mix. Each Season, I will travel the country and attend numerous games in college stadiums that I have not previously been to and take in the whole experience and blog about it.

I also like to hear about your game day experiences each week. But it is not just about attending different stadiums, our Tailgate has many repeat locations each year for traditional games that are just plain fun like Army- Navy. Last but not least, I am a college football polygamist. Born a Notre Dame fan, Big OU Sooners and Boise State fan. And of course I root on Army and my Alma Mater Frostburg State. Nonetheless, I love all college football and there is no such thing as a bad game.