Salutations from “Can’t Wait For Saturday,” your morning football snack, provided by veteran Illini beat writer, AP Top 25 voter, and state representative for Heisman Bob Asmussen. He’ll share his opinions with you on the game he adores every day.
For the greatest college football ever, are you ready? There will be eight more postseason games this year with twelve teams in the playoffs. There are now eleven instead of three to determine who is the greatest.
It’s possible that the favorites will win the first two rounds. Or the bottom seeds will be matched up in the semifinals. All we can do is hope.
Take a seat, unwind, and savor every second of it. I’ll be using this space over the next month and a half to compile my preseason Top 50 as a primer. I’m open to criticism and divergent opinions; in fact, I may use them in further articles.
Mike Norvell’s team was robbed in the penultimate year of the four-team College Football Playoff. The unbeaten winners of a Power Five conference were not included. That provides a great deal of inspiration for off-season exercise. The offensive line has three of its starters back. Darius Washington and Maurice Smith are All-ACC caliber athletes. Yes, Oregon State transfer DJ Uliagalelei, who began his career at Clemson, is a strong replacement for the departing quarterback Jordan Travis, who had a fantastic stint at the position. Florida State returns with a strong bunch of receivers that have improved via transfers. With 17 players acquired, Norvell has one of the strongest transfer classes. The majority are from the Power Five, and five are from Alabama. The experts are top-tier, with punter Alex Mastromanno in the forefront and
Last time around, Georgia humiliated the very depleted Seminoles 63-3 in the Orange Bowl, and it could not have gone worse. That one could hurt a little at first. Only four of the starting lineup return for offense, despite the line being in fantastic health. The defense, despite having stars, may not be as good as it may be overall. Florida State plays at Miami, Notre Dame, and hosts Clemson and Florida. Particularly for the fan base, the controversy around the ACC TV del may serve as a diversion.
