The Friday Tailgate: What We Know So Far

Hi y’all. You’ve got a solid 20 hours to kill before kickoff Between the Hedges. What are you going to do?

This.

It’s the Friday Tailgate. Maestro, the music.

We’re going to do something just a little different this week, as we’ve now seen two weeks of college football. That’s not enough to reliably understand what’s going on in college football. But it’s enoigh to speculate wildly about what will happen from here on out in college football. We ‘re going to do that by asking and answering a few questions.

Question One. Who’s a bigger mess, Tennessee or Florida State?

Answer: Tennessee. While FSU is 1-1 with an overtime victory of Louisiana-Lafayette and Willie Taggart actually came into the season on the hot seat, Jeremy Pruitt has passed him with gusto.

And while the Vols are almost assured of a win over the UT-Chattanooga Mocassins, it may be their last clear victory on the season. The Creamsicle Contingent have Florida, Georgia, Mississippi State, Alabama, and South Carolina coming up in the next five weeks and it’s conceivable Les Vawls could lose every one of those. At that point it may just be a question of who steps in as interim coach against UAB (just kidding, we all know it’s Phil Fulmer).

Question two. Which is more surprising, undefeated North Carolina or undefeated Southern Cal?

No doubt, it’s the return of the Mack in Chapel Hill. Sure, North Carolina has won their first two games by a combined 7 points. But those wins were over creditable South Carolina and Miami teams. And it’s entirely possible that the Tarheels will have a real shot in every game they play from here on out other than their trip to play Clemson in two weeks. I hope you’re ready for a nine win North Carolina team. Becaue it’s happening.

It is worth noting that USC, even with presumed starting QB JT Daniels replaced by something called a Kedon Slovis, has plenty of talent and should be pretty good. Slovis brought the Trojans back from a 17-3 deficit to defeat #24 Stanford 45-20, and deliver Clay Helton a win that will probably not look as great later in the year as it does now.

The sad fact for Helton is that his team was 5-7 last season and have matchups with BYU, followed by top 25 teams Utah, Washington, and Notre Dame taking them into October. There’s still plenty of opportunity for Helton to do what he needs to in order to get Urban Meyer hired at Troy.

Question three. Who is the most surprising individual performer in college football?

Answer: Your friend and mine Joseph Hezekiah Burrow. The LSU quarterback is averaging 374.5 passing yards per game and leads the nation in (admittedly misleading stat) quarterback rating with an impressive 219.1 rating after torching Texas for 471 yards and 4 touchdowns.

I can’t explain it. But if this holds and you had Joe Burrow at 200/1 odds in the preseason to win the Heisman, I hope you use the money to buy an airboat. Coach O would want it that way.

Feel free to regale is with your thoughts on the college football season so far in the comments, and...

Go ‘Dawgs!!!