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 2023 season. We can stop spending Saturdays by the pool. And we can finally stop pretending to care what’s happening in random NFL preseason games.

Talkin’ season is over, and we finally have some real-life football to discuss. 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.

Florida State vs. Georgia Tech

Nine months ago, the Florida State football program faced a fate so cruel and so unjust, that any fanbase not named Miami had to feel for them. Mercilessly, that is all in the rearview mirror and all eyes are on Georgia Tech for the 2024 college football kickoff game in Dublin, Ireland.

The Seminoles lost a lot of talent from last year’s squad, including quarterback Jordan Travis and defensive end Jared Verse, among others. This year, the Seminoles are headlined by transfer quarterback DJ Uiagalelei and a slew of returners and promising talent on the defensive side of the ball.

Simply put: Will 2024 FSU be as good as 2023 FSU? Probably not. Can the Seminoles still be good and compete for the ACC and CFP? Yes.

Uiagalelei is a perfectly fine quarterback, and as long as you don’t expect something he can’t provide, can do some good things for an offense. If FSU can establish the run and not expect him to do too much, this feels like a nine or 10-win team in the making.

For this matchup specifically, I have a hard time pinpointing how things can go so south that FSU loses to Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets improved last year behind quarterback Haynes King’s growth and could be a squirrelly ACC team in 2024, but I don’t see a Week 0 upset on the cards.

I think we all do this thing early in the season where we pick a bunch of upsets because a) We want something fun to happen and b) Because our brains are still defrosting from a long offseason. This is bad from a logical-thinking perspective.

Let’s not overthink this. This should be a solid way to kick-start the season and nothing more.

Montana State vs. New Mexico

So you know how I said that we all love to will early-season upsets into existence, well, this matchup isn’t exactly that because Montant State is favored to beat New Mexico.

In 2023, UNM was woeful, finishing 4-8 after dropping four of its last five games. In the offseason, the Lobos looked to inject some life into the program by hiring former BYU and UVA head coach Bronco Mendenhall. Mendenhall is a coaching vet and is sure to bring some stability and adult operation into a program that desperately needs it in a post-Danny Gonzales world.

But even so, it looks to be pretty bleak for the Lobos in 2024. According to ESPN Bill Connelly’s 2024 Preseason SP+ rankings, UNM ranks 129th out of 134 FBS teams with a -20.6 SP+ ranking. Big yikes.

Conversely, Montana State enters the 2024 season ranked No. 4 overall in FCS, behind only defending national champs SDSU, NDSU and in-state rival Montana. The Bobcats also boast arguably the most lethal dual-threat quarterback in the division in Tommy Mellott. It wouldn’t shock me at all if Mellott and the Bobcat offense give New Mexico all it can handle in Week 0.

Keep an eye on this one.

SMU vs. Nevada

No need to sugarcoat it, this should be a mollywhoppin’.

2024 is a season of new for SMU. New league. A new set of challenges. And yet, this game should resemble that of SMU’s 2023 slate against inferior competition.

I’m banking on SMU slumping in Year 1 in the ACC, but the Mustangs should cruise against a bad Nevada team with a new head coach in Jeff Choate. The Mustangs rank 11th overall in returning production (76%) and should hit the ground running, especially on offense. Quarterback Preston Stone is back, and when healthy in 2023, SMU vaporized opposing defenses.

This feels like a game where SMU hangs 35 or 40 first-half points on Nevada in the first half.

Deleware State vs. Hawaii

Despite an up-and-down 2023, Hawaii closed last season winning three of four to finish 5-7. Hawaii has a lot working against it, and yet head coach Timmy Chang is giving it a go to make the Rainbow Warriors formidable once again.

I don’t suspect we will learn much from this game. Last year, Deleware State was a woeful 1-11 and traveling a bazillion millions to play Hawaii likely won’t help the Hornets start any stronger this time around. Hawaii should win and win big.

Fun fact: This game kicks off at the ungodly hour of 11:59 ET and is only available on Spectrum PPV, meaning very few of us will be able to watch it anyway.

Check the score when you wake up on Sunday morning and keep it moving.

-9 Montana State vs. New Mexico – Bobcat Nation, let’s ride.

-10.5 Florida State vs. Georgia Tech - FSU has a point to prove.

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