The Gould Standard: Predictions in an Unpredictable College Football World

The surprises will become fewer as the Have-and-Have-Not college football season goes on. But there will be some.

Well, here are we are. Are you ready for some football?

College football is a sport filled with emotion. With so few games compared to other sports, each game feels like a giant step forward or backward.

And with 22 generally large 18-to-22 year olds battling for such an odd-shaped, weird-bouncing object, it is filled with surprises. That, by the way, is a paraphrase of something Ara Parseghian once told me—in reference to what drives coaches crazy.

R.I.P. Coach Parseghian. They do not come any better—as a leader, a mentor and most of all, a sharp and caring man.

That said, it’s time for some predictions in a most unpredictable sport.

CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS

ACC...Clemson

Honorable Mention: N.C. State.

Big 12...Texas

Honestly, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are thisclose, too.

Big Ten...Ohio State

And the sun will rise in the East.

Pac-12...Utah

Parting gift for take-the-money-and-run USC.

SEC...Alabama

And the sun will set in the West.

NEW YEARS SIX

Orange...Notre Dame vs. Oklahoma

Actually, the Irish are a reach because of their new coach and QB.

Sugar...Texas A&M vs. Houston

This used to be a conference game. Now it’s the Cotton Bowl East.

Cotton...Texas vs. Oregon

The Longhorns have to play like the Longhorns one of these years, don’t they?

Rose...Michigan vs. Utah

After all that angst, Jim Harbaugh settles in.

FINAL FOUR

Peach...Alabama vs. Clemson

Same old. . .

Fiesta...Georgia vs. Ohio State

. . . same old.

NATIONAL CHAMPION

Ohio State.

Because picking Alabama is not a prediction.