Despite the soft openings last weekend, for many across the fruited plain, this Saturday – Labor Day weekend Saturday — is actually the day the Lord has made, the kickoff of the college football season in earnest.
With it is this prattle welling up to the surface, which can no longer be ignored.
Some people say it’s gas from a pitched battle in the great Chicken Sandwich War between Pastor Truett and Popeye, but I say it’s another form of self-expression demanding release.
It’s an act of faith, what you’re about to read herein, perhaps folly.
What follows are a couple of handfuls of bold predictions for the Big 12 college football season.
Who will be TCU’s starting quarterback? We’ll find out today, but in all the days leading up to the big quarterback reveal, Gary Patterson, the coach entering his 19th season at the top of the program’s hierarchy, of course wasn’t talking.
The coach is, to understate, guarded about such things.
Knowledge is power, especially in preparing for football games, and Patterson – every coach actually – doesn’t hand that out like beer after a 5k. Secrets are good, and every secret is as classified as the landing sites of Eisenhower’s Normandy blueprint.
Even for Arkansas Pine Bluff, the FCS outfit traveling to Fort Worth to play the Horned Frogs on Saturday. The Pine Bluffs will need quite the bluff with the cards they’ve been dealt for game one.
As a graduate transfer with good experience, there is lots of tape widely available on Alex Delton at Kansas State. None on true freshman Max Duggan, supposedly in the running for the starting job, at least as a college player in TCU’s offense.
To complicate matters, at the position is a skein, a flock that could fly over Amon G. Carter Stadium in a V-shaped formation, if they could fly, that is.
“In your estimation, have any of the six quarterbacks on the roster taken a step out from the others?” we ask.
“No hablo inglés, carnal.”
“Is Michael Collins back at practice?”
“Quien es, Miguel?”
Reason suggests the starting quarterback will be Delton, the graduate transfer from Kansas State, and why not? He is everything a college football quarterback needs to be. He’s mature with plenty of college football experience. He’s a good leader and smart, who knows the value of possessions and a good decision maker who treats the football as Cowboys running back Alfred Morris does the first dollar he ever made.
In other words, he’s perfect for a Patterson-coached team.
And, despite never really throwing the ball deep downfield in Kansas State’s ground-based offense, he has displayed an ability to do it.
So, what will the Frogs do in 2019?
That, too, requires a Nostradamus complex to predict for the same reasons.
The coach keeps everything close to the vest.
TCU will go 7-5 overall and 5-4 in the Big 12. The Magic 8 Ball reported that victories over Arkansas Pine Bluff, SMU, Kansas, at Kansas State, at Oklahoma State, at Texas Tech and West Virginia are “decidedly so.” Outlook not so good in games at Purdue, at Iowa State, Texas, Baylor, at Oklahoma.
The Horned Frogs really could use two quarterbacks out there with a corps of receivers that could be the envy of a number of teams. Jalen Reagor is the star appeal, but the Frogs quarterback should have plenty of options, among them a few super sophomores, Taye Barber, John Stephens Jr. and Derius Davis. Keep an eye on Dylan Thomas, who went to high school down the street at Paschal, also the former home of Billy Clyde Puckett and Shake Tiller.
Reagor will draw the most attention from that lot, but he’ll be a conversation piece among voters for the Biletnikoff Award. Alabama’s Jerry Jeudy, last year’s winner, will remain in the best focus of the watch list, but the Big 12 has a number of candidates, including Fort Worth South Hills’ Tylan Wallace, a finalist a year ago.
Mark this one down: TCU’s new in-and-out policy will be put to the test when 38 people watch the second half of the first game against Arkansas Pine Bluff. No one wants to watch a beating up on of an outclassed FCS outfit. And not a soul wants to watch a close game against an outclassed FCS outfit.
Oklahoma reinforces its reputation as Heisman U, winning a third consecutive award. But it won’t be the new quarterback from Alabama, the Honorable Jalen Hurts. Rather, it will be a running back, Kennedy Brooks, a product of the Mansfield schools, who will become only the fourth running back to win the award since Texas’ Ricky Williams was selected as college football’s Chosen One.
Despite the perception, the Sooners led the Big 12 in rushing and attempts a year ago, and Brooks – who averaged close to 9 yards a carry in last year — should get the bulk of the work in 2019.
Texas is back! The semi-annual mantra will endure a week longer than last year when No. 6 LSU turns Bevo to boudin in a Week 2 match against Texas. And watching this sausage being made is going to be ugly. That won’t be the only problem the Longhorns will face.
Prepare yourself for a Corn Flake shocker. In a meeting that will decide who meets Oklahoma at AT&T Stadium for the Big 12 Championship Game, Iowa State beats Texas in Ames. UT students will make safe spaces their permanent residences.
Oklahoma wins the big one in Arlington, however.
Baylor will be a bear. This Baptist revival under Matt Rhule might not be complete, but Judge Baylor’s boys will be a tough out with eight starters returning on each side of the ball from a vastly improved team and bowl winner. Plus, the Bears have Iowa State, Oklahoma and Texas all on the banks of the Brazos. Look out.
Texas Tech will be trending up. It won’t take long to see that AD Kirby Hocutt has hit on another good coach. The Matt Wells Administration will make the Red Raiders a more disciplined team than the sloppy mosh pit of the Kliff Kingsbury era, and, as a result, one of the most improved teams in the Big 12.
They’ll also re-prioritize the defense ahead of the concession stand hot dog. QB Alan Bowman, our homeboy from Grapevine, will open the eyes of the Davey O’Brien committee.
Speaking of Kingsbury: It will soon become apparent that he actually does belong in Hollywood after directing the most real-to-life account of the Hindenburg disaster in Arizona.
Rock Chalk Jayhawk will remain on a chopping block. Who needs a clairvoyant for the Lawrence 11s? By Week 3, Les Miles will remember that money isn’t everything.
Kansas will appear a throwback team, looking very similar to the team that played last year and the one that played the year before that and so on and so.
My dream finalists for the Davey O’Brien Award: Bowman, Brock Purdy of Iowa State and Mason Fine of North Texas.
And then there’s Texas A&M. If the Aggies can somehow negotiate their way through that schedule, they’ll be in the College Football Playoff. More likely is Jimbo Fisher will be looking for a professional’s couch at the end of the season. He’s got good insurance, I hear.
The lowest point in the season: After a loss at Georgia, Uga commits a postgame #metoo infraction against Reveille.
Let the games begin.