When Boise State joined the Mountain West Conference in 2011 -- the same year BYU and Utah exited, and one year prior to TCU's departure -- consensus dictated the Broncos would run roughshod over the league. It's been a half-decade, and Boise State has just one, outright conference championship. Meanwhile, once-sleeping giant San Diego State…
With the bustle of Pac-12 media days, Friday Q&A took a backseat. And yet, we persist! This is the best week of questions since Q&A's inception, so a hearty thank you is owed to you fine readers of The Open Man. Keep them coming, and hopefully my As live up to the standard of your…
Fewer than two months remain until the 2017 college football season kicks off. The Open Man's Preview Listapalooza transitions into a Rankapalooza! Fans and pundits alike often lament the imbalance and other imperfections of nonconference play. Why do some Power Five teams go without scheduling a single Power Five opponent? Why don't the leagues have…
With the July Fourth holiday in the rear-view, the road to college football season is clear. The first round of media day events kick off next week, marking the first major milestone on the way to opening weekend. The Open Man's 2017 College Football Preview revs into high-gear as the fall fast approaches. Setting us…
There's no escaping headlines in 2017. I wake up every morning petrified of reading the latest headline alert pushed through my smartphone notifications. But the headlines we are talking here at The Open Man are different. These are headlines for what might happen during the 2017 college football season: Notre Dame probably won't go 4-8,…
The inception of the College Football Playoff gave programs from non-power conferences new incentive with the introduction of an automatic bid into one of the prestigious New Year's Six bowl games. The Group of Five conferences have several worthy challengers for a New Year's Six bid, but it's likely only one will land in one…
In the first November Heisman Top 10 aggregate of media and voter rankings, some interesting names stand out. This most recent list includes a defense-only candidate; a primarily defense and special teams player; and a Group of Five star. Sure, the top three is populated with the prototypical Heisman contender: the starting quarterbacks of three…