This article is part of our The Spread Offensive series.
Nobody followed college football where I grew up. OK, so that's a bit of an overstatement, but not as far from the truth as you might think. I grew up in the Northeast; Massapequa, N.Y., to be a bit more precise. A place on Long Island known colloquially as "Matzah Pizza;" I think you get the idea of the town's makeup.
Professional sports teams reigned supreme. The Giants dominated the front page; the Jets dominated the back page. There wasn't even a local college team to follow, really. Everybody loved scrappy New York Jets wide receiver Wayne Chrebet because he went to Hofstra University, which was the closest school with an even halfway decent football program. The program also churned out legendary quarterback Giovanni Carmazzi, who did not play a single down after being drafted by the 49ers. He's actually a farmer/goat herder now. I wish that was a joke.
Perhaps Hofstra's most notable football alum is New Orleans Saint wideout Marques Colston. Jets lineman Willie Colon has also had a long career since coming out of the Hof. However, the school thought so highly of its football program that it was discontinued after the 2009 season. You know why the program was dropped? "A general lack of interest." That was college football where I grew up.
In the pre-social media days, before I could hop on Twitter or post cat pictures on Instagram, you'd open up the sports section of the local paper, scroll past the box scores for
Nobody followed college football where I grew up. OK, so that's a bit of an overstatement, but not as far from the truth as you might think. I grew up in the Northeast; Massapequa, N.Y., to be a bit more precise. A place on Long Island known colloquially as "Matzah Pizza;" I think you get the idea of the town's makeup.
Professional sports teams reigned supreme. The Giants dominated the front page; the Jets dominated the back page. There wasn't even a local college team to follow, really. Everybody loved scrappy New York Jets wide receiver Wayne Chrebet because he went to Hofstra University, which was the closest school with an even halfway decent football program. The program also churned out legendary quarterback Giovanni Carmazzi, who did not play a single down after being drafted by the 49ers. He's actually a farmer/goat herder now. I wish that was a joke.
Perhaps Hofstra's most notable football alum is New Orleans Saint wideout Marques Colston. Jets lineman Willie Colon has also had a long career since coming out of the Hof. However, the school thought so highly of its football program that it was discontinued after the 2009 season. You know why the program was dropped? "A general lack of interest." That was college football where I grew up.
In the pre-social media days, before I could hop on Twitter or post cat pictures on Instagram, you'd open up the sports section of the local paper, scroll past the box scores for the Knicks and Rangers, and find College Football's Top 25. In size 8 font. At the bottom right corner of the page. There'd be names of places I'd never dreamed of going; Oklahoma, Nebraska, Michigan, Texas. I had the New York sports scene at my fingertips; why did I need college football? I was young, I was naive.
My true introduction to college football came much later than most. I went to the University of Miami for law school. The U. I walked into the Orange Bowl that first Saturday of the season, and I immediately understood. It was right in front of my face. The history, the pageantry, the tradition. INSERT COLLEGE FOOTBALL CLICHE HERE. I just never had the loyalty aspect, a team to root for. From that point on, I was hooked. I will try to keep my Miami fandom to a minimum in this forum. "Try" being the operative word. Brad Kaaya is a dark horse to win the Heisman Trophy this season. Just saying.
Miami served as a springboard for all of my college football needs. RotoWire fueled the fire. I started writing about the Big 12 in summer 2008, so I was forced to learn where Oklahoma was located on the map. However, it was easy to fall in love with the SEC. This was back when people actually believed in Tim Tebow. I will defend the conference's supremacy to the death, but Vanderbilt, you're really bringing me down, man. Watch out for the Vols this season, though.
In sum, I'll trade the beach for the gridiron any day of the week. But enough about me. The college football season is once again upon us, and not a moment too soon. How much more talking can we take? There's only so many times I can hear the pundits argue about whether Cardale Jones or J.T. Barrett should start at quarterback for Ohio State (it's Jones, by the way). It doesn't really matter, though, because the OSU schedule is soft and Ezekiel Elliott is an absolute beast at running back. I'll be shocked if the Buckeyes aren't back in the College Football Playoff.
I'm not going to succumb to the practiced, time-honored tradition of making outlandish predictions in the hopes that one sticks, which I can then use to place myself on a pedestal above all others. I'll leave that to Skip Bayless.
Instead, here are some more storylines, teams or players that I'm excited about watching entering the 2015 campaign:
• What happened to defense? The high-octane, spread attack is here to stay. Nearly 30 teams averaged at least 35 points per game in 2014. By contrast, in 2004, only 13 teams averaged more than 35 points per tilt. TCU and Baylor are both TITLE CONTENDERS, and they played a 61-58 game last season. First team to 60 wins? You can't go wrong with either school. Trevone Boykin has been transcendent, but Baylor just keeps plugging gunslinging QBs into the spread system. Seth Russell shouldn't miss a beat replacing Bryce Petty under center. Make sure to mark your calendars for the day after Thanksgiving, when the Horned Frogs play host to the Bears in Fort Worth.
• Gone are the days of the 9-6 "Game of the Century", which took place only a few years ago between LSU and Alabama. Speaking of the SEC, Auburn lost its starting quarterback and running back, as well as its top wide receiver, and star wideout D'haquille Williams has barely practiced. That name is pronounced "Duke," by the way. Yes, I was surprised too. Yet nobody is concerned about the Tigers' ability to put points on the board. That's the beauty of recruiting at the top schools. The elite schools simply replace departing talent with younger talent of equal or greater value. Jeremy Johnson and Roc Thomas (or whoever starts at running back for the Tigers) are going to have monstrous seasons.
• Still, the SEC is in a title drought. OK, so the conference is not exactly approaching Chicago Cubs territory anytime soon, and there are eight SEC teams ranked in the Top 25 (no newspaper required). Florida State and Ohio State may have leveled the playing field a bit more the last two seasons, though, and the way the College Football Playoff is set up, the SEC will have a hard time getting two teams in, ever. There will be new quarterbacks starting for at least half of the schools in the conference this season, and the returning gunslingers (Brandon Allen, Maty Mauk, Patrick Towles, among others) aren't exactly a who's-who in college football today. Dak Prescott, Joshua Dobbs and Kyle Allen are the only noteworthy returning QBs among the group. Who will be the next star among the new crop? The battles still rage on at Alabama, Ole Miss and Georgia, all schools with championship aspirations. Yet these schools do not have a firm starter with less than a week until the season begins. Although turnover is somewhat the nature of the college game, and it would be foolish to count out the SEC in the national championship race, this could be a year of turnover for the vaunted conference.
• Can the Clemson Tigers unseat the Seminoles atop the ACC? The hopes hinge upon the play of neophyte Deshaun Watson, an athletic freak who was named ACC Preseason Player of the Year. Staying healthy will be the key, as Watson missed extensive time last season with right hand and left knee injuries. With Mike Williams and Artavis Scott at wide receiver, the Tigers have big weapons and even bigger expectations. Still, the ACC could be crowded at the top, with Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech also in the fold. And yes, Miami is in the mix as well.
• Shifting out west, there's a lot of pressure on UCLA's new quarterback, Josh Rosen. Dubbed "The Chosen Rosen," he has been handed the reins of the UCLA offense as a true freshman. Rosen's got the size, arm strength and pedigree, but he's being thrown right into the fire of an ultra-competitive Pac-12. He'll face a gauntlet of tough matchups early in the season, when the Bruins play at Arizona, at Stanford and against Arizona State, all ranked squads. By the middle of October, we'll know if Rosen can handle the heat and lived up to the hype.
• One team I won't be watching this season? Hofstra University. Did you know that Hofstra's nickname used to be the Flying Dutchmen? Maybe one day the football program will return. By that time, I'll probably be somewhere in Alabama or Mississippi.
