Welcome back to summer school, fam! As I mentioned last week, GBCF is back and better than ever as we begin our content push towards the start of the college football season. Big week over here in the Mucci household as my lovely wife headed back to work and yours truly took over baby duty for the next eight (!!) weeks. Since this is a college football blog, I’ll put this change in roles in terms my loyal subscribers will understand: the whiplash in primary caretakers that my son is experiencing is akin to what Iowa fans experienced on a weekly basis in 2023: My wife is a lot like Iowa’s defense. She’s talented, disciplined, schematically sound, and a true delight to watch parent. I, on the other hand, am a lot like the Hawkeyes’ offense: clunky, lack creativity, and struggle my way through 60 minutes trying to make something good happen. But together, we make a solid pair, and will likely get to 10 wins given the schedule (son) we’ve been dealt.
Speaking of Iowa, before we jump into the main content, quick shoutout to new subscriber Rob! Rob is a Hawkeye and represents our 80th subscriber here at GBCF. Not that any one subscriber is better than the other, but respect to Rob for getting us closer and closer to our goal of 100 subscribers before 2024 kickoff. As always, I can’t thank all of you enough for reading my musings - if you know someone who may be interested in what I’ve got to say here, tell them to subscribe and help us reach our goal. I’ve said this privately, but I’ll state it publicly here: if we get to 100 loyal subscribers before kick off we will be making some GBCF merch.
Alright, back to the action. Last week I kicked off summer school off with part 1 of a breakdown of the best / sneaky best games of 2024. This week we are going to run through part 2 of the series looking at weeks 8-14 of the regular season. One note from last week: in a major faux pas, I incorrectly called the Penn State - West Va game the “Backyard Brawl.” No one seemed to notice, but I can’t, in good conscious, let this type of mistake slide. While that game is a fun regional rivalry that rebooted in 2023, I want to formally apologize to Pitt fans for getting this wrong. A sincere apology goes out to Pitt fan and loyal subscriber, Mark B. Sorry, Mark! And I hope you feeling better after some recent health issues - we love you, Mark, we hope you get well soon, and we acknowledge that the Pitt Panthers are the true rulers of the Backyard Brawl with a 62-41-3 record all time against West Virginia. Onto the games!
Week 8
Best Game: Georgia at Texas - Due to conference realignment, you could realistically fill this entire column with the Big 10 or SEC game of the week. While I’m trying to diversify away from the power 2, I must mention this game. These two teams will be top 5 coming into the season and will both make runs at the expanded playoff. Barring an early setback, this game won’t make or break either team’s resume, but it will be important for SEC title hopes and seeding. Georgia hasn’t made a trip to Austin to face the Longhorns since 1958, so this will be a novelty for both fanbases and that alone makes it exiting. When I think about the matchup, I think about Georgia’s relative strengths: strong o-line, strong d-line, and very strong secondary. Those to me seem to be clear advantages over Texas, who is returning a lot of great pieces but might not match up man to man. In fact, Texas’ losses along its d-line and at wide receiver make me lean Georgia, but who knows what these teams will look like by week 8.
Sneaky Best Game: BC at Virginia Tech - Come on, you didn’t think I was going to go through all 14 weeks and NOT mention a BC game, right? There’s something special about Lane Stadium under the lights on a Thursday night, and seeing this matchup set for a Thursday night in October brings back memories of Matty Ice quieting the Hokie faithful nearly two decades ago. On paper, Virginia Tech is a trendy dark horse pick for the ACC title. They've really found something at QB in Drones, will be in the third year of Brent Pry’s defensive system, and have an elite running game. BC on the other hand will be breaking in first year head coach Billy O’Brien, but have an underrated amount of talent returning, including shifty QB Tommy Castellanos, and a stable of backs and receivers from the portal. I think this game will be exiting, if not a bit chaotic, and I can guarantee it will be better than whatever Thursday night NFL game is on.
Week 9
Best Game: Oklahoma at Ole Miss - I discussed OU in my blog last week, and I’ll reiterate I think this might be the most talented OU team that Brent Venables has had yet. But to focus a bit on Ole Miss here: Lane Kiffin has built a media darling heading into 2024. The Rebels had the #1 transfer class in the county, they’ve got playmakers all over the field, and they have veteran QB Jackson Dart leading their offense. Additionally, Ole Miss got some luck from the schedule gods avoiding both Alabama and Texas in 2024. This OU game will be very important to them and their chances at getting to the playoff - prior to this game they will have only one true test at LSU, while after this game they have to go play Georgia. This OU game at home after a bye is a must have if they want to take it to the next level.
Sneaky Best Game: Boise State at UNLV - Friday night in Vegas! These two teams are getting a lot of hype as the cream of the crop in the Mountain West this year, so this Friday night matchup should be a must watch. As much as I love Barry Odom and the Runnin Rebs of UNLV, I think this is a down year for them. They lose 11 starters and lose their star QB Jayden Maivia to USC - Boise on the other hand had a down year last year, but finished on a major high winning the conference in the midst of firing their coach midseason, and now this year return the most production in the league. You know what they say, “Mountain West Football is a simple game, two teams run up and down a field for 60 minutes, and at the end, Boise State wins.”
Week 10
Best Game: Ohio State at Penn State - As the calendar moves to November, Penn State will get a chance to take the proverbial next step and beat the Buckeyes at home. As I mentioned last week, there’s a lot to like about both these teams coming into the season, but also a decent amount of question marks. For Ohio State it’s is Will Howard the answer at QB and who will step up at receiver. For Penn State it’s how will the new coordinators shape this team and can they rebuild their o-line. For the first time in a long time I think I am more bullish on the boys from State College than their counterparts in Columbus, so I wouldn’t be shocked if they took care of business at home in this one.
Sneaky Best Game: Air Force at Army - Ok, full disclosure, Oregon is playing at Michigan this same week which should be phenomenal but again, I’m trying to diversify away from the Power 2. Air Force is, in my opinion, the second best team in the Mountain West coming into the season. Army, for the first time in 20 years, will be in a conference having joined the American this year. Regardless, both teams will still play each other and for that I am thankful. The Jeff Monken hype at Army has slowed down over the last two years as the Black Knights haven’t gone to a bowl in either of the last two seasons. This year though, Army is bringing back their triple option offense and I think it will do wonders for them. Last year, Army upset Air Force seemingly out of nowhere, so I imagine the Falcons will have revenge on their mind coming into the season. This will be a fun one - take the under.
Week 11
Best Game: Georgia at Ole Miss - I don’t think I need to say much here. This is Ole Miss’s shot to truly arrive as an SEC power. Traditionally, Lane Kiffin and his boys have lost these games and its held them back from being nationally relevant. If there is any year they are going to take the next step, it has to be this one, and there’s no better opportunity than at home against the big bad Bulldogs. The SEC isn’t on CBS any more, but this game instantly sets off alarm bells of one of the best tunes in all of sports.
Sneaky Best Game: BYU at Utah - Dubbed the “Holy War,” Utah and BYU have been playing each other in football since 1896. In fact, the two schools met 85 times in 88 years from 1922-2010. Lately, this epic rivalry has seen some various interruptions due to conference changes and scheduling priorities, but it returns after a two year hiatus as the Utes join the Cougars in the Big 12. I’m not going to lie to you, this is perhaps the most underrated rivalry in all of sports. There is real animosity between these two schools and their fanbases, and that’s saying something considering the majority of their students and alumni don’t even drink. On the field, Utah has been, and probably will be this year, the superior team over the last decade. The Utes get star QB Cam Rising back and continue to have one of the toughest defenses in the country. They are a lot of folks preseason Big 12 favorites. BYU had an up an down year last year but there’s some steady optimism building in Provo. It’s hard to predict a lot of things 10+ weeks into the season, but I can predict that this game will be a fierce contest and I’m definitely excited for it.
Week 12
Best Game: Oregon at Wisconsin - Not a ton of great games in Week 12, but this one stands out to me as interesting. As part of the Big 10, Oregon will be ping-ponging across the country in 2024 and this game will end a three-week stretch where the Ducks go to Michigan, play home against Maryland, and then fly out to Madison to face the Badgers. I discussed last week my view on Wisconsin, but I think getting the Ducks at home in November is a real advantage for them. It will be interesting to see how Oregon prepares for this game after a bit of grueling stretch and if there’s any hangover from their matchup with Michigan two weeks prior.
Sneaky Best Game: Texas at Arkansas - Another rivalry returns in 2024 when Texas heads to Arkansas to play its old Southwest Conference foe. This is a border war, and one that was red hot in the 70s and 80s. I don’t expect this game to be particularly close this year as Arkansas is sort of a zombie program under Sam Pittman, but it will be fun to see these two historical rivals meet again.
Week 13
Best Game: Alabama at Oklahoma - Again, we could talk about these types of matchups all year, but it’s wild that this is a conference regular season game. Late in the season, I expect this game will have massive playoff implications and it will be fun to see the Tide roll into Norman which has historically been one of the toughest places to play in the country.
Sneaky Best Game: Washington State at Oregon State - Pac 2 title game, fam!! Hard to say what these programs will look like as they’ve lost a ton of talent in the portal, but we have to support the Cougs and Beavs and watch this de-facto championship game regardless. It’s unfair what has happened two these two programs, and I hope something changes to rectify the situation for both schools. At least they won their court case against the Pac 12 and will have a little bit of extra money in their pocket starting in 2024.
Week 14
Best Game: Michigan at Ohio State - Conferences change, players change, TV networks change, but Michigan at Ohio State remains the same. The premier college football rivalry (sorry, Harvard-Yale) will once again pit two top-tier teams against each other. I have a feeling that this game will be another elimination game this year as I think only one of these teams will make the expanded playoff. If that is the case again, then we can expect this game to dominate headlines and be must watch TV.
Sneaky Best Game: Texas at Texas A&M - So many to choose from during rivalry week, but I’ll go with the reborn Lone Star Showdown. These two bitter rivals have not met since Texas A&M jumped to the SEC in 2011. Now the schools find themselves once again in the same conference and able to meet formally on the field. It’s funny that after everything these programs have gone through since 2011, we enter 2024 in a familiar spot: Texas is a national power, and Texas A&M is trying to find its way (albeit with a hell of a lot more money and prestige). The waters are murky in College Station this year as first-year head coach Mike Elko has a major cultural rebuild he needs to undertake to get them playing the right way again. However, by week 14 he may have the boys clicking and we know they have the talent to at least compete with Texas. I can’t wait to see these two teams play again.
There we go folks. We’ve walked through my summer school thoughts on the 14 weeks of regular season football in store for us starting in August. I’ll be back again soon with a deep dives into the power conferences, the group of 5, and probably the Pac 2 for good measure (Go Cougs!). You can expect to see my first conference breakdown at some point next week starting with the ACC, until then, thanks for reading and drop a comment or two below.
Love and Overs,
Mucc
