College football season is finally here!

Every year, information published ahead of the college football season’s beginning seems to grow. There are top (insert number here) lists galore. 2019 is no different. Take your pick from the top five players, coaches, concessions to hate, stadiums that look great on television at night … you get the idea.

Well, we’ve come up with a top five list of our own. This is the criteria we’ve established for top-five lists and college football commentary in general for the upcoming season.

  1. Offsides:  My college football idea or commentary is the best out there, and if the sport doesn’t drop everything right now and listen/adopt it, it will not survive.
  2. False Start:  We can’t get enough college football, so we create problems that aren’t reality in order to incite drama and more media coverage.
  3. Delay of Game:  Charging headlong into issues in order to be “first” or “loudest” in writing or commenting on them.
  4. Illegal Shift:  ‘If it’s not broken, don’t fix it’ … so we need to break something in order to fix it.
  5. Unsportsmanlike Conduct:  (this is actually a 15-yard penalty) Shaming a player or condemning a coach on the basis of furthering an agenda.

Now that the top five list criteria has been established, here are our top five rules for fan fair play:

  1. Be Positive:  Disgracing players, coaches or other fans is of no benefit to anyone. Be passionate for your team, the game and great performances. Build up rather than tearing down.
  2. Be Grateful:  Show gratitude for the long hours of work that players and coaches have put into preparation. This includes the left guard as well as the quarterback.
  3. Smell the Roses: This does not mean book a flight to the Rose Bowl. This means enjoy each game in 2019. We will witness some players playing football for the last time. Many will go on to become teachers, prison guards and some NFL players. But we should enjoy the season and their performances for what they are.
  4. Support Your Team:  Be a fan of your team or teams for what they are. Only three percent of college football teams will end up making the playoffs. So don’t measure your team exclusively by what other teams are doing. If your team is playing up to (and perhaps even beyond) its ability, that is a wonderful accomplishment.
  5. Pray:  As we attend and watch games, we should pray for the safety of the players, fans and other participants. We should also pray that we would all enjoy this wonderful game and keep things in perspective. The lessons taught by the game of college football are long-lasting, and we should seek to honor God in all that we do.

With that primer, let’s take a look at a few of our top-five lists ahead of the 2019 season.

With the firm reminder that annual upsets that change the standings are what make college football exciting, here are our top five teams in preseason:

  1. Alabama Crimson Tide
  2. Clemson Tigers
  3. Georgia Bulldogs
  4. Oklahoma Sooners
  5. Ohio State Buckeyes

The top five most iconic sights and sounds of the season:

  1. Chief Osceola riding Renegade to plant the spear in the middle of Doak Campbell Stadium (Florida State)
  2. The outbreak of Houndstooth in tribute to coach Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant’s famed hat in Tuscaloosa (Alabama)
  3. ‘Fight On’ being played with the victory sign as USC scores
  4. Ohio State’s band dotting the ‘I’ before the Buckeyes take the field
  5. A richter scale in southeast Louisiana becoming nervous because of the raucous atmosphere at Tiger Stadium nearby (LSU)

The top five white elephant teams (teams with recent success that have fallen off and are seeking a return to glory):

  1. Tennessee Volunteers
  2. Florida State Seminoles
  3. USC Trojans
  4. UCLA Bruins
  5. Louisville Cardinals

The top five games to keep an eye on four weeks from today (in week three of the college football season):

  1. Arizona State at Michigan State:  Probably won’t be a preview of the Rose Bowl, but the game will be crucial for each program.
  2. Oklahoma at UCLA:  How will the Sooners do on the road against a Power Five opponent coached by Chip Kelly?
  3. Stanford at UCF:  This is a huge game for both teams but especially the Golden Knights as they seek to contend for the College Football Playoff.
  4. Cal Poly at Oregon State:  Believe it or not, this could be the only win for Oregon State this season.
  5. Shippenburg University at Slippery Rock:  Watch out for the Rock!

The top five players to watch this season:

  1. Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa
  2. Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence
  3. Wisconsin running back Jonathan Taylor
  4. Michigan State linebacker Joe Bachie
  5. Purdue wide receiver Rondale Moore

The top five transfers to keep an eye on:

  1. Quarterback Jalen Hurts (from Alabama to Oklahoma)
  2. Quarterback Justin Fields (from Georgia to Ohio State)
  3. Quarterback Jacob Eason (from Georgia to Washington)
  4. Quarterback Kelly Bryant (from Clemson to Missouri)
  5. Quarterback Hunter Johnson (from Clemson to Northwestern)

The top five overvalued teams (based on preseason commentary and data):

  1. Syracuse
  2. Nebraska
  3. Washington State
  4. Florida
  5. Oregon

There are more than five reasons to end this list and all lists. But now that the table is set, we hope everyone, whether fans, players, coaches, support staff, officials or other, has a very enjoyable 2019 college football season!