The CFB Degenerate's Newsletter: The Year of the True Freshman
The CFB Degenerate's Newsletter: The Year of the True Freshman
These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
- Revelation 7:14
Pigs, welcome back. What an opening weekend of collegiate football, am I right? As usual, I woke up early the next day to start (attempting) to digest the events of the pure anarchy witnessed on Saturday.
Upon waking, I slowly moseyed over to the kitchen, with a rumbling belly, thinking “why the hell did BK and LSU stop passing it to Lacy when it was working so well? That shotgun celly he did went fucking hard.” I buttered my toast with nearly pinpoint precision moments later and queried to my wife “do you think it’s too early to launch the #PaytonThorne4Heisman campaign?”.
I subsequently poured my hot cocoa, nearly spilling it all over the countertop as my attention was diverted to the fact that not one, but two MAC programs pushed a P4 team to the brink on Saturday; and, more importantly, each looked to have a shiny (fat) pig in the backfield that looks primed to absolutely decimate the MAC conference play. Hahaha, yes… YES… we are so fucking back.
I thought about what my key takeaways would be… what I’d write about in this week’s recap. As is usually the case with week 1, there are more interesting things that caught my eye than can be written about in one article. However, one thing that persisted at the forefront of my mind, and indeed, even insisted that I spend some time discussing it today was: week one was just strange. More than usual that is. There was an incredible amount of true freshmen contributors this past weekend, and I will speak more to why that might have been the case later on.
There was also the aforementioned two MAC programs (WMU and Ohio) that actually kept games competitive vs. P4 opponents (Wisconsin and Syracuse). That’s unheard of; and sure, it could be more a commentary of how bad those P4s are this year, but I take it as a really, REALLY, good sign for their prospects in MAC play. The offensive lines in particular looked competitive with P4 front sevens, and both teams’ running games could go cataclysmic come October. That spells good news for one Jalen Buckley, otherwise known as “Buckley’s medicine”. It tastes awful, but it works.
Anthony Tyus was the other MAC runner who stood out. The Bobcats were expected to rely on Rickey Hunt after his impressive performance in the bowl game, but that didn't happen. I'm waiting to see how this backfield situation unfolds. I don’t see Hunt disappearing into the ether after he proclaimed this offseason that his goal for the year was “to lead the state of Ohio in rushing”.
Looking to the least discussed CFB program in America, we were all duped by the great Colorado smokescreen at WR this offseason. As it turns out, despite taking in three major transfers at the position (including the FBS’s leader in receptions in 2023), it was the guys who were already on the Buffaloes’ roster that shined in week 1.
Travis Hunter will obviously be fantastic while he’s still healthy, which I have my doubts that he will be much longer if he keeps playing 129 out of 131 snaps. Jimmy Horn balled out just like he did early last year. I’m going to assume that it will be a different set of wideouts popping off each week until further notice (stubborn me).
There was probably nobody in the world (besides Kirk Francis’ parents) that was happier on Thursday night to see the local product ball out more than me, a shareholder of his in Nate’s dynasty league. Francis threw four TD passes vs. FCS opponent Northwestern State, which accumulated around 30 points in CFF. Kevin Wilson insists that they haven’t settled on a starter yet, however Francis threw all of the passes Tulsa attempted. Ok Kevin.
UGA did what it always does in week one: put on an advertisement for their football program. Consider this: three of out of the last four seasons, they’ve opened with a top 15 ranked team in Clemson, Oregon, and then Clemson again. AND, they originally had Oklahoma scheduled last year before having to cancel due to SEC scheduling rules. That’s about as bold as it gets when it comes to CFB scheduling, and I can almost guarantee you that your favourite team’s opening weeks over that same stretch is not on the same level.
Regardless of your affiliation, one has to give props to the UGA admin for embracing big games the way they have, especially in an era where Michigan opens with UNLV in back-to-back years, and OSU is puffing their chests out against Akron 😴.
On that note, I think it’s time to officially call a close on the Clemson era of CFB dominance. The Tigers were clearly outclassed on Saturday; a point that was made clear by the fact that seemingly 75% of the roster were Georgia kids that UGA didn’t even want. Clemson, who could still very well win the ACC this year by the way, doesn’t have the team speed to compete with the big boy SEC programs, and that was on display in a fairly matter-of-fact manner on Saturday.
Speaking of SEC vs. ACC, there was a nice hodge podge of matchups this week with SEC powerhouse, Vandy, taking on ACC also-ran Virginia Tech; and Miami vs. Florida in a classic in-state rivalry. I think at some point in the season we might look back on this game as potentially the nail that put Billy Napier’s tenure at UF in the coffin (hot take, I know).
Virginia Tech in particular was disappointing for me. Kyron Drones salvaged the day with some late game heroics before going down, but overall he looked dreadful. I’ll chalk it up to first game jitters. Something to note is that he left the game with an injury, and I’m not sure what his status is for week 2.
Miami looked very good, and in a different class from UF. Cam Ward, in particular, looked like he was playing with his food at times. I expected this game to be competitive, mostly because I always assume Miami will do some dumb shit.
Well, they didn’t do any dumb shit on Saturday, and I think the sport of CFB is ready for Miami football to be cool again. It seems that all those months of me sending Scarface quotes to the UM staffers’ email accounts is finally paying off. Chi Chi, get the yeyo.
The Year of the True Freshman?
I mean… holy shit, right? Seemingly every five star freshman of the 2024 class went off last weekend with the sole exception being Texas Tech’s Micah Hudson, who had what seemed to be one of the clearest paths to playing time in the offseason. We might have to come up with a name for this feat if this type of thing becomes a regularity in CFB… Mr. Irrelevant maybe? Well, not so fast. I still think Hudson breaks out this year, whether that be in week two, or a late November rivalry game.
As far as five star freshmen WRs who did break out; Alabama’s Ryan Williams, OSU’s Jeremiah Smith, and Auburn’s trio of Perry Thompson, Malcom Simmons and Cam Coleman all had productive debuts. Jeremiah Smith, in particular, had a day that warranted our attention as CFF players. I mentioned him on this week’s Pig Market, and while I’m not totally sold yet, things are looking bright for his chances of being a CFF relevant asset this year. Could he be the first OSU freshman WR in the history of that program to break 500 yards? Only time will tell..
Now onto a more important position. There were some notable freshmen RB performances over the weekend. UGA’s Nate Frazier headlined the group with an incredible 100 total yards and one score on 12 touches vs. Clemson. Of course, his workload was bolstered by the suspension of Trevor Etienne, and Branson Robinson coming off a major injury.
Nonetheless, Frazier looked very effective with the ball in his hands, and he’ll probably get a lot of opportunities to follow up that performance this weekend vs. Tennessee Tech. By the way, it might have been an oversight on my part excluding Frazier’s name from the Pig Market. For the risk loving degenerates out there, he offers an intriguing one-week rental option this weekend.
Other true freshmen RBs who stood out were ULM’s Ahmad Hardy, who rushed 19 times for 100 yards and a score, and South Alabama’s Da’Marion Bothwell, who rushed only six times, but was effective with 30 yards and a score, in addition to one reception for 28 yards. Lloyd Avant of Tulsa put in a respectable shift with 11 carries for 64 yards as well.
A slew of injuries (plus a blowout) in Austin provided the runway for RB Jerrick Gibson to carry the ball 10 times and accumulate 67 yards and a score vs. the Rams. Brandon from DevyDeepDive did a nice job cutting up the highlights of that performance here.
Even a true freshman QB got in on the fun this weekend. UF’s DJ Lagway was thrust into the fire when Graham Mertz was knocked out of the game vs. Miami. Like most freshman, Lagway looked lost. It’ll be interesting to see where he transfers to when Billy gets fired later this year. USC? Texas A&M? See this week’s poll below.
In light of the emergence of all these fresh faced potential future pigs, it is logical for one to ask the pertinent question: why, exactly, are we witnessing this phenomenon this year?
From where I stand, there are a myriad of potential reasons, and in truth, they probably all have something to do with it (plus just pure coincidence). The first is that the transfer portal has thinned out depth across a lot of rosters. NIL has also made it almost mandatory to use your highly touted freshmen (lest you risk them leaving for more opportunity elsewhere). We are also reaching a point where a lot of the veteran-laden post-Covid rosters have filtered out of CFB, so naturally there is a lot of opportunity.
It’s akin to when there is large working class population that all retire in a three-four year span. All of a sudden a bunch of 20 and 30 year olds get their chance to open that business, or get that promotion. It’s sort of a similar dynamic where the ‘boomers’ of CFB have mostly left, and the youngins are now getting their shot.
This feels like a good thing to me, and it will carry benefits for those in C2C/CFF Dynasty formats because you will get more years of value out of these assets. It’s always good for a laugh when you see these seven and eight year CFB players; but at the end of the day, they are soaking up the opportunities that should be allotted to the new class coming into the game. That is the natural cycle of things, and I’m glad to see so many true frosh players shine on opening weekend. ◾
Poll of the Week #1
Poll of the Week #2
I’m going to be honest: I think UGA was the best team in CFB last year. I think they’ve been the best program in CFB for four years now. The only coach we’ve seen that stops Kirby from hoisting that natty trophy year over year is no longer prowling the sidelines of any collegiate football program. So… where do we go from here?
Well, I for one am curious as to which head coach not named Nick Saban can do the (seemingly) impossible task of defeating UGA first. I leave it to a poll for the readers to speculate.
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