1. My biggest takeaway from this weekend? This season’s college football national championship really is anyone’s to win. Because I can’t find a team out there I feel confident enough with going all the way. Georgia struggled against Auburn before finally winning. Michigan has blown everyone out for the first five weeks, but they also haven’t played anyone. Texas beat Alabama and has looked great at times, but do you trust a Sark team to go all the way? Will this be the year Ryan Day figures it out? Can USC play any defense? Does Florida State have the defense to play out of conference? Can Penn State get past Ohio State and Michigan? Are Washington and Oregon good enough?
There are a lot of really, really good teams out there, but I don’t know if any of them are great. During the UGA/Auburn game on Saturday, I saw a stat that crystallized this for me: There are only five active coaches who have won national championships: Nick Saban, Kirby Smart, Dabo Swinney, Jimbo FIsher and Mack Brown. And that’s it. It’s a super short list, and it reminded me of just how hard it is to win it all. Of those five, only Kirby Smart has a chance this season.
But I also think this is the year I’d finally be comfortable taking the field.
2. Is it too early to talk about Heisman contenders? I love Michael Penix and would love for a QB from Washington to pull this off, but man, sometimes Caleb Williams does stuff that just takes your breath away. Look at this…
3. On Sunday morning, I woke up bright and early to watch my Atlanta Falcons live from London, England, where the NFL had apparently exiled the Falcons in order to show the world what a talented football team with a severely mid-tier quarterback looks like.
I also woke up because I was curious about the Toy Story-themed broadcast that was going to air on ESPN+. My 10-year-old son and I settled in for the countdown, then excitedly watched as the show started. The announcers were virtual! The field was in Andy’s room! The football was delivered by the claw! The slinky dog was the yard marker! It was hard not to be impressed—there was clearly so much thought put into the production, and we loved it!
Then the game started, and nothing worked. The first few possessions were shown from the widest angle possible. The football rocketed across the field on its own. For an actual Falcons fan, like myself, there was no way to tell what was happening on the field. Which was probably to be expected. Eventually it seemed to work for a while, then we were sent back to the corner in Andy’s room. As my son lost interest, I flipped back over to the traditional broadcast.
In many ways, it reminded me of what it’s like to watch the original Toy Story now, how in retrospect the graphics aren’t that great and it seems pretty blocky.
Anyway, shoutout to ESPN/Disney for trying. And I hope we get a Toy Story 2 broadcast soon.