It’s time, people. The 2018 College Football season is upon us and on every Saturday in autumn there’ll be drama unmatched.

From Michigan’s winged helmet to the Red River Rivalry, from the Grove to Touchdown Jesus, Spirit of Troy to Uga, Smokey, Boomer Sooner, War Eagle and Ralphie. Is there anything more iconic in sport than Clemson’s players on The Hill alongside Howards Rock moments before careering down to the field? Or rolling Toomers’ Corner? Or the sound of cow bells ringing round Mississippi State’s Davis Wade Stadium?

Having been on the field with the Bulldogs leading Alabama in the fourth quarter, I can tell you first hand that not much beats those bells.

But I digress. College football is back and it’s back with a bang. Coming up, we’ll preview the biggest games of opening weekend, take a peek at Gridiron’s pre-season Heisman top 5, and give you three 2019 Draft eligible players to watch out for. But let’s start our first column of the year with some news and, in case you missed it, the season actually started last weekend with four FBS games.

THIS AND THAT
There were wins for UMASS and Rice, and the first game of the post-Josh Allen era in Wyoming started with a dominating victory over New Mexico. But the first upset of the season came with Hawaii – 17-point underdog – holding off a late rally on the road from Colorado State to win 43-34. As the Denver Post reported, “The Rams got their fannys [sic] kicked on national television”. It was a dramatic introduction to college football for sophomore Cole McDonald who passed for 418 yards and ran for 96 more…….

Things to look for this week include the naming of starting QBs. Nowhere more so than in Tuscaloosa, where Nick Saban will choose between a pair of outstanding college passers in Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa. Expect the sophomore to beat out Hurts…… Florida State has also had a summer-long passer battle between James Blackman, Deondre Francois and Bailey Hockman. Francois, who garnered some Heisman talk 12 months ago, is coming off an ACL tear and could end up losing out to Blackman…… Speaking of FSU passers, the former Seminole signal caller Malik Henry, one of the most highly-recruited quarterbacks of the past few years, is still without a team. Henry, a star of the most recent season of Last Chance U was hoping to join a Power 5 school, but was this week listed by the NJCAA on the Independence Community College roster…..

Scott Frost has chosen his first QB at Nebraska and he’s plumped for the first true freshman starting passer in Cornhusker history in 6’2, 220lber Adrian Martinez….. One of the great comeback stories of 2018 could be LSU CB Kristian Fulton, who was re-instated by the NCAA after a two-year suspension for tampering with a drug test. Fulton, who was the Tigers’ number one recruit in 2016 could start opposite likely first round prospect Greedy Williams…… Michigan WR Tarik Black, who looked like a superstar in waiting as a true freshman before breaking his left foot and missing the last ten games of 2017, broke his right foot in practice at the weekend.

GAME OF THE WEEK
There’s some great games on opening weekend and nowhere more so than at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, where defending SEC West champions Auburn, ranked number nine take on #6 Washington in a game that could have significant bearing on the College Football Playoff. This will be a tremendous battle in a stadium that’s not been generous to the Tigers recently – they lost their last two games of last season there – and features two of college football’s best passers in Jarrett Stidham and Jake Browning, the most accurate returning QB in the nation. However, this game may well be won in the trenches where Auburn’s fearsome defensive line could set the tone, led by Dontavious Russell.

A loss by either team this early might not kill their playoff hopes but, if Auburn come up short, they’ll have to win on the road in Athens and Tuscaloosa if they’re to make it to the final four. Washington need a statement win and it doesn’t get much bigger than getting one in the heart of SEC country on national television. Gridiron Prediction: Auburn win.

BACK-UP GAME OF THE WEEK
LSU-Miami has the potential to be a doozy, although it also could be a blow-out if The U’s stable of NFL calibre prospects gets rolling early. But there’s so much to love about Notre Dame v Michigan in South Bend. Michigan have struggled to win on the road against top 25 teams during Jim Harbaugh’s tenure and they’ll need Ole Miss transfer Shea Patterson firing from the first drive if they’re to snap that streak. The Wolverines’ defensive talent – led by DE Rashaan Gary and LB Devin Bush – should have enough to lift them over the Irish and their relative offensive inexperience.

HEISMAN FIVE
This poll could look very foolish if Dabo Swinney chooses to start Kelly Bryant over Trevor Lawrence but, on the podcast this week, we predicted that, in a very open race, the true freshman from Cartersville, Georgia has a legitimate shot at winning the Heisman. The group of running backs is incredibly deep and it’s really a case of picking a name from about 20 players. Which is our way of saying ‘don’t laugh at us when we get it badly wrong in December’. Anyway, here’s our first top five:

1. Trevor Lawrence, Clemson
2. Jonathan Taylor, Wisconsin
3. Bryce Love, Stanford
4. Tua Tagavaiola, Alabama
5. Jake Fromm, Georgia
Wildcard: AJ Dillon, Boston College.

NFL DRAFT PLAYERS TO WATCH
The Draft is eight months away but it doesn’t stop the projections. Let’s start with a top flight match-up between LSU CB Greedy Williams and Miami WR Ahmmon Richards. As aforementioned, Williams comes in as the highest-rated draft eligible corner after a sensational campaign that saw him grab six picks and knock away 17 more balls. But he’ll face arguably his toughest task of the season in the electric Richards who, at 6’1 and 190, broke all of Michael Irvin’s freshman receiving records.

Mississippi State DT Jeffery Simmons won’t face much competition against Stephen F. Austin, but he has top 10 talent and will be looking to get his season off to an explosive start and put pressure on Houston’s Ed Oliver in the race to be the #1 interior lineman off the board in April.

Washington LT Trey Adams would have been a top 40 pick in 2018 had he not suffered a torn ACL in October. He’ll need to be back to full fitness in the season opener against Auburn’s pair of Marlon Davidson and Nick Coe. Adams is huge at 6’8, 331lbs but has top 15 talent if he’s 100%.

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