It's Friday and time for notes: Thank you virus. You can go straight to !*%$. We could've gotten a top 25 matchup to kickoff the college football season between 19th ranked North Carolina and 21st ranked UCF. The nationally televised game on Friday night would feature two of the best quarterbacks in the country in Sam Howell and Dillon Gabriel. UCF keeps a road trip to Georgia Tech, but the Knights could've been an early poll mover with a home win in the newly named Bounce House(new since they have trademarked the name and will use it as its official name)...Other Coaches Poll observations: coaches love Mack Brown, Texas always gets pre-season hype, and likely 20% of coaches actually put their ballot together...
UCF is finalizing their schedule and the Knights have their 8-game conference slate with non-conference matchups against FIU and Georgia Tech. Expect UCF to add a pair of games. One challenge is with the FCS reaching a 50% mark of teams moving to spring which would move their playoffs to the spring as well Will teams at that level still be allowed to play non-conference games in the fall and then a spring conference schedule. If they cannot, the Knights might struggle to get to 12...
Iowa State and UNLV were to play this season but had to move that game. The two agreed to play in...............................2030. One thing we have seen that has been a joke in college football is scheduling games 10+ years in advance. We have watched teams schedule games in two days for the coming season. For years, college basketball has had no problem scheduling games in their off-season for the following year. It's not that hard. Football teams should be more flexible and have the ability of scheduling a tougher matchup if you thought it was needed to improve a playoff resume. Or be able to schedule wins if a program had a new staff or just wanted to get close to bowl eligibility...
Hope Mo Bamba recovers from battling the Coronavirus. The Athletic's Josh Robbins spoke to Bamba who talked about coming down with the virus and how it has impacted him, He missed valuable practice time before heading into the Disney bubble and then Bamba has false positive tests which saw him miss more practice times. The virus has played a significant role in getting his basketball skill set up to par with his additional 20 pounds he put on. I have been critical of Bamba's development in his two years with the Magic and even criticized him for not being able to even get into games of late. That was before knowing his situation with the virus and now understand what he's been dealing with. Here's hoping he continues to get better and back into basketball shape and has no issues in the weeks and months ahead...
Bravo Orlando City. The Lions will face Portland in the MLS is Back Tournament. Nani has been incredible and maybe the key for this team is to play with no fans...Sorry, but they are 5-1-0(that's wins, draws, losses) at Disney...
Notes: With no fans allowed in their new multi-billion dollar stadium, the Raiders are projected to lose $551 million dollars in ticket sales this year...When the Rock finalized his purchase of the XFL, Stone Cold Steve Austin needs to be commissioner...Birdie tells me high school football in Florida may not start until late October. Another birdie tells me there is a serious issue with having enough officials to ref games. There has been a shortage in people officiating games in recent years and more are concerned for their safety during the virus and this is a story to watch when there is a season...
Final thought: There are male ladybugs. They are smaller than the female. And during mating season the two enjoy their time together for up to two hours.....You wish...
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