Week 0 - The Call Sheet

We made it, y’all. The long, cold winter is over and the longer, hotter summer will soon feel like a distant memory.

COLLEGE. FOOTBALL. IS. BACK.

We can collectively stop watching reruns from the 2022 season. We can stop spending Saturdays by the pool. And we sure as shit, can stop pretending to care what’s happening in random NFL preseason games.

Amidst the Northwestern hazing and ISU gambling scandals, transfer portal hoopla and mind-numbingly stupid realignment shakeups, we finally have real-life football to discuss. And I couldn’t be happier.

Now that the season is here, let me give you a rundown of what to expect throughout the season.

Every Thursday, you’ll receive The Call Sheet. Consider this your pre-Saturday primer. The Call Sheet will include:

Every Sunday, you’ll receive Sunday Storylines. Consider this your run-down of all the weekend’s action. Sunday Storylines will include:

Alright, enough explaining. Let’s take a look at our Week 0 slate.

Nothing to review this week.

Navy vs. Notre Dame

This game will likely be a blowout, but it’s 100% worth watching. The Ken Niumatalolo era is over for the Midshipmen, and I’m curious to see what this new offense looks like. Unlike Army, I think Brian Newberry and the Midshipmen will stick with the option, but I’m wondering if there might be some twists to it.

For Notre Dame, this will be an exercise in all of us starting to figure out what life looks like without OC Tommy Rees. I think Rees caught a lot of unnecessary flack as the Irish play-caller, despite some shortcomings like a loss to Marshall.

Last year, Navy’s defensive approach was to blitz the hell out of the Fighting Irish and it sorta kinda worked. It slowed them down at least. I’m curious to see if they have that same approach with Sam Hartman at the helm.

Regardless of whether you care about these teams, it’s football and that’s more than enough for me.

Ohio vs. San Diego State

SDSU did this whole song and dance about leaving the Mountain West for the Pac 12…and well, buddy, there’s nothing left to go to. On the field, the Aztecs are going to pretty much always be stout on defense and subpar on offense. Let’s call it the Brady Hoke effect.

You should watch this game alone for Kurtis Rourke, 2022 MAC Offensive Player of the Year. This dude is a gunslinger and insanely fun to watch toss the pill around. He comes from a famed Ohio QB family and makes mid-week MAC games incredibly entertaining. Despite being fresh off an ACL injury that cut his season short last year, news trickled out this week he’ll start against the Aztecs. We love to see it!

This should be a fun matchup with a nice clash of styles.

UTEP vs. Jacksonville State

This feels like an awesome who-the-hell-knows kinda matchup. Last year, Jacksonville State was horrific on defense but had a top-30 FBS offense. In contrast, last year UTEP struggled offensively but managed to reach five wins for the first time since 2015. Dana Dimel is sort of a wiley vet facing off against–you guessed it–Rich Rodriguez. Yes, that Rich Rodriguez.

CFB guru Bill Connelly’s S&P+ projections have this matchup with a projected margin of 0.3 points. I sneakily think that’ll be the game of the weekend.

UMASS vs. New Mexico State

It’s football, man. Kinda shitty football, but football nonetheless. This is a true sickos game and only for the most serious of college football nuts.

Hawaii vs. Vanderbilt

I think I’m going to be a Clark Lea stan. The guy seems to have it figured out. He’s notched some decent recruiting wins and seems to have Vandy on a path to relevance, which is a huge win in and of itself. Vanderbilt will probably win by a few touchdowns, but it doesn’t mean it’s not worth watching.

Plus, there is some stadium construction going on in Nashville, and I’m sure the broadcast team will blow it out of proportion. Could be a good drinking game to take a shot every time they mention/show it.

FIU vs. Louisiana Tech

FIU is in major reset mode. They’re going to be really bad. I don’t think La Tech will be anything to write home about it…but it’s still football and is sort of holding up the night slate.

Navy vs. -20 Notre Dame – +1 unit — I have concerns with Navy milking the clock down, but Sam Hartman and company should roll.

+2.5 Ohio vs. San Diego State – +1 unit— I’m Rollin’ with Rourke here and taking the Bobcats.

UTEP vs. +1 Jacksonville State – +1 unit— I like offense > defense here. Let’s ride, Rich Rod.

UMASS vs. -8 New Mexico State – +1 unit— Jerry Kill is an experienced vet. I think he takes care of business at home.

Hawaii vs. -17.5 Vanderbilt – +1 unit— I’m no scientist but this feels like a bad body clock game for Hawaii. I like Clark Lea to start the season off right.