Obviously we won’t have all of the conferences playing this year as two major conferences ( Big Ten and Pac 12 ) threw in the towel weeks ago. But as each week passes, it looks more and more promising that we may have a condensed 2020 College Football Season with three major conferences still on board (SEC, ACC, and Big 12). In the last twenty years, the Big Ten and Pac 12 combined have only hoisted the Champions Trophy a total of four times. The rest of the championships have been dominated by the conferences still planning to play ball.
High School programs began playing games this past week. Therefore, we should have a sampling of what to expect with positive Covid-19 cases after football games are played in a couple of weeks. This is probably a bit like comparing apples to oranges as most big-time college programs have gone to great lengths to keep players healthy by testing early and often. But it will give us a picture of if a couple of positive cases can bring down entire teams as seen in Major League Baseball.
If the 2020 College Football Season does go forward, the Covid-19 factor will play a big role in predicting football games. Thus far, transfers from non-playing conferences have not been allowed. The main Covid-19 factor will be keeping an eye on any team illnesses that may crop up during game week and keeping an eye on how fans are allowed to attend. The preseason unit rankings and all other factors taken into account when predicting early season games have still been generated even with the threat of the cancellation of the 2020 college football season.
Let’s take a look at a couple of the SEC matchups that have been announced for the first week.
Tennessee Vs South Carolina
Tennessee returns 17 starters including 9 on offense. The strength of Tennessee’s offense will be the running game at the beginning of the season with the 6th ranked offensive line in the country and the 22nd ranked running backs. South Carolina will return a pretty solid team across the board with the exception of its young running backs. Tennessee will have a solid defense with it defensive back, linebacker, and defensive line units all ranking in the top 20 preseason. Look for Tennessee to be favored by at least a touchdown in this one.
Kentucky Vs Auburn
This will be an interesting matchup that could turn out to be a low scoring affair according to the strengths and weaknesses of these two teams. Auburn will be more experienced in the passing game starting the season. Kentucky will have the 15th ranked defensive backs unit in the country along with the 29th ranked linebackers. Kentucky will have a solid and experienced running game with the 5th ranked offensive line and 31st ranked running backs. However, Auburn’s defensive strength will be its run defense with the 23rd ranked defensive line and 6th ranked linebackers in the country. This game may come down to the Auburn fanbase (all students) making some noise and causing some big plays. Look for Auburn to be favored by a touchdown in this one.
I think we can all agree that this Fall will have a huge void without College Football. The College Football Game Picker will be ready if the games go forward but will also be extending current season memberships till next year if things get canceled. At the end of the day, the health and well-being of the players, coaches, and staff will need to be carefully considered going forward.
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