The College Football 2020 season is certainly up in the air with the Coronavirus alive and well right now. There may not be another decision made on it until mid-to-late July. Looks like they’re waiting as long as possible to see if they can pull it off. Whether it’s delayed this year or they have a spring football season, there are a lot of interesting storylines for teams in the SEC and nationally. It’s hard to gauge whether we’ll have a season, and Oklahoma Coach Lincoln Riley has warmed up to the idea of having a spring season, and after hearing him talk about it, I kind of like that too.

The spring season would be an 8 game conference schedule for the SEC and they could add an extra highly competitive non-conference opponent, which would be terrific as it would keep teams from playing lightweight games. The PAC-12, the Big Ten, the Big 12 and the ACC all play nine conference games, so the SEC would make it up with a 9th non-conference opponent.

With the fall featuring the U.S. Open, and the Masters on the PGA major season along with the possible 43rd Ryder Cup, Professional tennis Grand Slams, the Preakness Stake and the Kentucky Derby, Major League Baseball and the NBA if they can pull those latter 2 off, it makes sense to have spring football. The NFL may go ahead and play and get everybody sick knowing them. The uncertainty of the Coronavirus makes it too difficult to predict what will happen by August. But a spring football season to me is highly appealing. There would be so much sports in the spring, and that would be pretty awesome after suffering through this drought of sports we had this spring and so far this summer.

The PGA Tour has been better than ever the last 4 weeks with no sports to go with it and some incredible individual play by an assortment of players. Bryson DeChambeau is the latest player to excel. He shot a 7 under 65 yesterday and finished -23, while bombing drives 30 to 50 yards past his opponents over the weekend in the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club. He won by 3 strokes over Matthew Wolff, who made a slight charge on the back, but DeChambeau’s 3 birdies in a row on 16,17 and 18 clinched it. DeChambeau sank a 30 foot birdie putt on 16 and wrapped it up on 17 and 18 with birdies. He led the field in driving distance, outdriving even the longest hitters by 30 yards. He hit drives that carried 325 yards and was routinely hitting his driver 350-360 yards leaving himself 9 irons into the green. He hits a 9 iron 175 yards and an 8 iron 190 yards. That’s phenomenal stuff. Wasn’t a big fan of his bulking up with 40 extra pounds, but his distance is historically long. He led the field in Strokes Gained Off the Tee at 6.672 AND in Strokes Gained Putting at 7.831. Pretty astounding stuff. DeChambeau was trending very well with top 10 finishes in 6 of the 8 tournaments he played in before the Rocket Mortgage. So he was due and delivered.

This week on Tour is the Workday Charity Open at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, Jack Nicklaus’s course. It’s a first time event that takes the place of the John Deere Classic, which was cancelled due to Corona in Illinois earlier this season. Another fine field is competing at the Workday. The week after this one, the players will compete again at Muirfield Village in the prestigious Memorial Tournament, Nicklaus’s tournament. DeChambeau won it in 2018, so he’s an obvious candidate to win the event. He is not playing this week but will of course be in a loaded Memorial field. Patrick Cantlay is the defending champion at the Memorial.

Golf has been spectacular since this summer. The PGA Championship will be held August 6th-9th at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, right at a month away. The Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin is still scheduled as of right now for September 25th-27th. There has been much speculation that it will be postponed until 2021, but that has not been confirmed by the PGA, so that will be a developing story in the coming days/weeks. It comes the week after the U.S. Open, so that’s a bit problematic. Not sure how I feel about it. The players would rather not play this year without fans, and the fact that it’s the week after a Major, there may be some burnout amongst the players from their major grind out at Winged Foot the week before (Sept. 17-20th). It might make sense to postpone it a year for the quality of the event. It’s such a high caliber event and you want the players at their best.I can see them postponing it a year. Will keep you posted on that.

The Masters will be played November 12th-15th. The Fed Ex Playoffs begin August 20th-23rd at the Northern Trust at TPC Boston, followed by the BMW Championship at Olympic Fields in Illinois, August 27th-30th , and the final event is, of course, the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta Sept. 4th-7th. The top 5 in the Fed Ex point standings are 1. Webb Simpson, 1,660 points, 2. Justin Thomas, 1,543 points, 3. Sungjae Im, 1,537 points, 4. DeChambeau, 1,514, and 5. Rory, 1,270 points. Rory is the defending Fed Ex Cup champion. There are only 3 Fed Ex Cup Playoff tournaments which was changed from 4 tournaments in 2019.

The Fed Ex payout is beyond phenomenal. Here is Wiki’s explanation of it.

The Trophy

As of 2019, the player with the most points after the Tour Championship wins the FedEx Cup itself and $15 million of a $70 million bonus fund. The runner-up gets $5 million, 3rd place $4 million, 4th place $3 million, 5th place $2.5 million, and so on down to $70,000 for 126th through 150th place.[5] Beginning with the 2013 season, non-exempt players who finish 126th-150th in the FedEx Cup are given conditional PGA Tour status, but can attempt to improve their priority rankings through the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. Previously, conditional status was earned through the money list.

So, the Fed Ex Cup sets the winner up for life, and 2nd through 5th places pay handsomely as well. Major incentive for these guys to compete as much as possible the rest of this season.

College Football

In the SEC West I like the order of finish to be

1. Alabama, 2. LSU, 3. Auburn 4. A&M 5. Ole Miss, 6. Miss State, 7. Arkansas.

Bama

The Crimson Tide has a really fine and undervalued quarterback returning in Mac Jones who completed 97 of 141 passes, 69%, for 1,503 yards, 14 TDs against only 3 Ints. There is 5 star freshman Bryce Young as well who will compete for the job too. But to me, it’s Mac Jones’ job to lose. He proved at the end of last season that he can be a championship quarterback. He was a 4 star signee out of high school. He threw 5 TDs against Auburn in that highly entertaining game last November, especially if you’re an Auburn fan, but threw a couple of pick 6’s that were costly in the Tigers’ 48-45 victory. But he now has more experience, and I see a guy who can win an SEC and national championship for you in Jones with the pieces surrounding him. Najee Harris returns, amazingly. The maturity of Harris, Dylan Moses, DeVonta Smith and Alex Leatherwood to return for their senior seasons is beyond impressive. Harris rushed for 1,224 yards and 13 TDs and caught 27 passes for 304 yards and 7 TDs. I like him as the SEC Player of The Year this season, and a guy who will be clearly in the mix for the Heisman Trophy along with Justin Fields and Trevor Lawrence. DeVonta Smith caught 68 passes for 1,256 yards and 14 TDs last fall putting together a spectacular season. The electric Jaylen Waddle caught 33 passes for 560 yards and 6 TDs, and ran a kickoff and a punt back for touchdowns. Waddle had himself a day against Auburn catching 3 touchdown passes and taking a kickoff back to the house for 98 yards. He should provide major entertainment this football season. The offensive line returns 4 starters led by left tackle Alex Leatherwood, 6’6”, 310. Right tackle Evan Neal is 6’7”, 360, left guard Emil Ekiyor, Jr. is 6’3”, 327, center Landon Dickerson is 6’6”, 308, and right guard Deonte Brown, who’s gotten in some trouble but looks to be good to go now, is 6’4”, 338. Quite a force up front.

The defense got rocked at times last season, but injuries at linebacker played a part as starters Dylan Moses and Josh McMillan were hurt before the season started and missed the entire 2019 campaign. Both Moses and McMillan are back and now sophomores Shane Lee and Christian Miller have valuable experience under their belts. Lee is slated to start at Middle Linebacker with Moses at the other inside backer spot, a resurgent and former 5 star Ben Davis and Christopher Allen at the other LB spots. Expect Miller to see plenty of playing time though and he can definitely start. He’s a talent like the 4 others. The front looks imposing with 6’3”, 308 pound D.J. Dale in the middle, and bookends, LaBryan Ray, 6’5”, 292, and the aggressive Christian Barmore, 6’5”, 310. The secondary is led by corner Patrick Surtain II, who’s expected to have a tremendous year, an All-American caliber season. The rest of the secondary will be rebuilt somewhat. I’m a big fan of cornerback Josh Jobe. He has a chance to be special. Jordan Daniels and Daniel Wright are the first stringers at the safety spots as of right now.

Will Reichard returns for his sophomore season as kicker, and shows promise. He’s got a powerhouse of a leg. Consistency has always been the issue for Alabama kickers, so Reichard will have to answer that bell. Ty Perine and Skyler DeLong will compete for the starting punting job. Waddle will return punts and kicks. Running back Brian Robinson Jr. has worked with Waddle on kickoff returns.

The Crimson Tide got the No.2 class in the country in 2020. Young is a 5 star quarterback and was on campus for very limited spring practice. Defensive end Will Anderson (6’3”, 230), defensive end Chris Braswell (6’3”, 220), and athlete Drew Sanders, 6’5”, 232, are also 5 star players in the 2020 class.

Georgia had the No.1 class in 2020 according to 247 sports and Rivals. Bama was No.2 in 247 and No.3 in Rivals. Clemson had the No.2 class in Rivals. Alabama currently has the 12th ranked class by 247 Sports in 2021 with 10 commitments. Five Star Offensive Tackle JC Latham, 6’6”, 305, and 5 star wide receiver Jacorey Brooks, 6’3”, 185, along with 97, 4 star defensive end Dallas Turner, who just committed on July 1st, headline the class. Turner is 6’4”, 235.

I like the Crimson Tide to a part of the College Football Playoff. Ohio State is another, Clemson is another. And I’ll take either Florida or Georgia as my fourth team. I’ll lean towards Florida. I’ll put Oregon in that discussion too. It’s hard to get 2 teams from the same conference, but there’s precedent for it as Alabama played Georgia in the 2018 National Championship game, played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, a thriller that will be remembered for Tua’s Tagovailoa’s 41 yard TD pass to DeVonta Smith to win the National Championship in overtime, 26-23. Oregon has arrived after their 12-2 season in 2019 including their 28-27 Rose Bowl victory over Wisconsin. Bama Golf made a great call on that game with a lot of the experts predicting a Wisconsin victory. Believe in what Mario Cristobal is doing in Eugene. They’ll have to replace quarterback Justin Herbert, who was terrific last season, but the talent is off the charts now.

Auburn

I’ve got the Auburn Tigers finishing 3rd in another highly competitive West Division. Auburn is @ Georgia October 10th and @ Alabama, Nov. 28th, so that’ll be tough. A&M and LSU are at home, but those will be tough too. I like the Tigers to win over A&M, but to lose to LSU. Bo Nix returns for his sophomore season after having a fairly successful freshman campaign. Nix completed 217 of 377 passes, 58%, for 2,542 yards, 16 TDs against 6 Interceptions. Nix is expected to take his game to the next level this season and have a breakout year. He had a good year last year, but some subpar performances, in the Georgia loss, the LSU loss and a disappointing 31-24 Outback Bowl loss to Minnesota. But that may have been due more to Gus Malzahn’s inept play-calling as anything else. He’ll have a pair of excellent targets in the great Seth Williams, who caught 59 passes for 830 yards and 8 TDs last season, and Anthony Schwartz, the world class speedster who caught 41 passes for 440 yards, but only 1 TD. That number is expected to increase this season. He did rush for 118 yards on 10 carries and 2 TDs. I’d like to see a 100 meter race between Schwartz and Jaylen Waddle. That would be a spectacle. Running back will have plenty of talent. D.J. Williams returns, redshirt talent Mark-Antony Richards and heralded 5 star freshman Tank Bigsby will also do the heavy lifting along with the scrappy and speedy Shaun Shivers. JaTarvious Whitlow transferred. The offensive line returns only center Nick Brahms, 6’3”, 301, but there is plenty of talent and new offensive line coach Jack Bicknell Jr. is an accomplished line coach, and should do well with his material. Another major factor for the Tigers offense is new offensive coordinator Chad Morris, who was fired as head coach at Arkansas last year, but had major success as offensive coordinator at Clemson. He will have a lot of control in the gameplans though Gus will play a big part like he always does, for better or worse. Morris will also be the principal play caller, though Gus may try to wrestle that from him too, which would most likely be a mistake.

On defense, Kevin Steele always produces a stellar unit and this year should be no exception. While Steele lost his 2 studs on the defensive front to the NFL in Derrick Brown and Marlon Davidson, defensive end Big Kat Bryant returns to lead the Tigers upfront. BIg Kat is 6’5”, 247. Linebacker is the strength of the defense led by K. J. Britt, 6’0”., 236, and Owen Pappoe, 6’1”, 219. Christian Tutt is back at corner, and Smoke Monday returns at free safety. Roger McCreary and Jamien Sherwood are listed as the other starters at corner and strong safety respectively.

I like Auburn to win 5 SEC games and 9 games overall. I have trouble picking the Tigers over LSU, Auburn is at home, but I’ll take the Bengal Tigers in what should be considered an upset on the road if it happens . The LSU game is the week before the Alabama game, so that’s a major challenge for the Tigers.

Auburn posted the 7th best class in the country in 2020 led by 5 star running back Tank Bigsby, and has the 27th ranked class in 2021 with 10 commits.

SEC East

I like

1. Florida, Kyle Trask is the real McCoy at quarterback and Dan Mullen has recruited well and returns playmakers on offense and an aggressive defense under defensive coordinator Todd Grantham. 2. Georgia. Though I believe Georgia is a top tier team nationally, Wake Forest transfer Jamie Newman threw 26 TDs but 11 ints last season at Wake. And against the 6 winning teams Wake played in 2019, Newman completed only 56% of his passes. with 12 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. Florida’s Trask completed 237 of 354 passes, 67%, for 2,941 yards, 25 TDs against 7 interceptions. I like Trask over Newman in the Cocktail Party game on Oct. 31st in Jacksonville. No.3 Tennessee, Jarrett Guarantano led the Vols to 6 straight victories and a 23-22 TaxSlayer Gator Bowl victory over Indiana as the Vols completed an 8-5 season. Jeremy Pruitt has the No.2 recruiting class in the country for 2021 at present, so Pruitt is building a renewed powerhouse in Knoxville. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when Saban retires. If Pruitt has major success at Tennessee, he may be the next head coach at Alabama. Dabo Swinney will have his hat in the ring as well if he wants that. No.4 Kentucky, Mark Stoops keeps producing successful seasons and recruiting at a high level for Kentucky. 5. South Carolina, Will Muschamp needs to get better results this season or it could be curtains. 6. Missouri, Eli Drinkwitz takes over from Barry Odom, who was let go after last season. Drinkwitz went 12-1 for the Mountaineers before taking the Missouri job. App State defeated UAB in the New Orleans Bowl, 31-17, to complete a 13-1 season. App State keeps hiring great coaches which makes it hard to keep them. Shawn Clark is the new coach at App State after being a successful player and assistant there, so maybe he’ll be loyal for the long term. Drinkwitz has the 22nd ranked class for 2021, so he’s making some inroads. Might take him a year to get it going, but the Tigers will be competitive this season. 7. Vanderbilt, Who else? Under Derek Mason, who else? Mason is continuously on the hot seat year after year and you would think another 3-9 season would be it for him, but somehow, some way, he seems to survive. They don’t seem to care at Vanderbilt, but if they ever want to get better, they should try looking another direction for a coach if this season goes South. Again.

A lot of compelling possibilities this fall in College Football.

Ohio State has Justin Fields returning at quarterback. Fields completed 238 of 354 passes, 67%, for 3,273 yards, 41 touchdowns against only 3 interceptions. Wow. Ohio State will be there come playoff time and Coach Ryan Day has the No.1 recruiting class in 2021 so far. Clemson returns Trevor Lawrence, who completed 268 of 407 passes, 66%, for 3,665 yards, 36 TDs against 8 ints. He had his struggles in the national championship game against the LSU Bengal Tigers though. He pretty much got schooled by Joe Burrow and the the Tigers’ defense. But he’ll be back with a vengeance this season so expect to see Clemson in the playoff as well. Penn State and Oklahoma are also contenders for the Playoff.

So another extraordinary season in store if it’s this fall or next spring.