College football preview: Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh against his rivals (it’s not pretty), Stanford’s next great tight end
Wisconsin running back Jonathan Taylor was sixth in Heisman voting as a freshman and ninth last year.
Wisconsin’s running back, a South Jersey product, can climb up among the all-time greats. He might even pass Bo Jackson this week.
Notre Dame looks to get back to the playoffs. Michigan’s coach likes his team, but it doesn’t matter until he beats Ohio State and I’m not crying watching the Minnesota kid’s speech. You are.
Here is part two of our college football preview. (Read part one here.)
21. Wisconsin running back Jonathan Taylor is hoping to become the first repeat winner of the Doak Walker Award since Arkansas’ Darren McFadden (2006-07). Taylor, the 2016 Inquirer South Jersey boys’ athlete of the year for Salem High, was sixth in Heisman voting as a freshman and ninth last year.
22. The Badgers’ first big test is Sept. 21 when Michigan visits. Taylor has put up 132 and 101 yards in his two meetings against the Wolverines.
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23. Taylor (4,171 yards), a junior, will have to play his senior year to break Ron Dayne’s all-time Division I record (7,125 yards). But he would surpass Bo Jackson’s 4,303 career yards with 133 in the opener at South Florida. Through just two seasons, Taylor is 103rd all-time. Another solid season would get him into the top 10.
24. There was a strong call to fire Brian Kelly after Notre Dame went 4-8 in 2016. The Irish responded with consecutive seasons of 10 wins or more (a first since the Lou Holtz era) and enter 2019 thinking championship (which would be another first since the Lou Holtz era).
25. Notre Dame always has a tough schedule, but this year the Irish will visit Georgia, Michigan, and Stanford. Anything less than two wins in these three games probably keeps them from getting back into the playoffs.
26. Former Texas quarterback Shane Buechele has resurfaced at SMU, while former Notre Dame starter Brandon Wimbush is at Central Florida. UCF has won 18 consecutive games against American Athletic Conference opponents. Temple will be at SMU on Oct. 19 and will host UCF the following week.
27. Michigan, led by quarterback Shea Patterson, returns eight starters on offense and is the preseason choice to win the Big Ten. “That’s where I would pick us,” said Wolves coach Jim Harbaugh.
28. Harbaugh is 0-4 against Ohio State, 2-2 against Michigan State, and 0-1 against Notre Dame. All three of those games this year are in the Big House.
29. The NFL Network will televise Saturday afternoon Conference USA games this fall. NFLN previously did some bowl and all-star games, but this is the first time it is partnering with a conference.
30. Colorado star wide receiver Laviska Shenault Jr. was 10 years old when his father was killed in a freak accident. The family was returning home from a pool party and the father slipped and fell into the highway while getting into the car. Shenault’s dreadlocks are a tribute to his father, and he points toward the sky whenever he scores. “Laviska dedicates a lot to his dad,” his mother, Annie Brown Shenault told the Associated Press last season. “From basketball to football, they did it all together. His dad was such an influential supporter.”
31. LSU safety Grant Delpit will wear No. 7 this season, continuing the program’s tradition of honoring top players. Tyrann Mathieu and Leonard Fournette are two recent examples. Delpit is from New Orleans, but his family moved to Houston after Hurricane Katrina wiped out parts of the city in 2005.
32. This is the first time in 13 years there has not been a coaching change in the SEC.
33. Colorado State coach Mike Bobo was due to get an annual raise of $100,000 after last season. He turned it down because the Rams went 3-9. CSU was picked to finish fifth in its six-team division of the Mountain West Conference.
34. The next great tight end in the Stanford pipeline is Colby Parkinson, a 6-foot-7, 251-pound monster who lists playing guitar and ukulele as hobbies. Stanford opens the season by hosting Northwestern on Saturday, in what ought to be called the “GPA Bowl.”
35. Check out this monster schedule Texas A&M has in front of it: at Clemson (Sept. 7), home against Alabama (Oct. 12), at Georgia (Nov. 23), and at LSU (Nov. 30). South Carolina is the only other team playing Clemson and Alabama this year.
36. “We expect to play with them and compete with them and win those games,” A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said. “That’s why we’re here. We are not looking to spoil [opponents’ seasons]. ... They are great programs, but Texas A&M can be the same way.”
37. Michael Locksley has 10 custom-made plaques in his house representing every coaching stop he’s made. Wait, make that 11. He’s back at Maryland after serving as Alabama’s offensive coordinator last season.
38. Locksley is 3-31 as a head coach, which includes 2-26 at New Mexico (2009-11) and 1-5 as interim coach at Maryland in 2015. The Terrapins visit Temple on Sept. 14 in a revenge game, after the Owls won at Maryland last season.
39. Utah’s Zack Moss should become the school’s all-time leading rusher this season. He’s fourth now, but needs 569 yards to pass Eddie Johnson (1984-88). He was probably a terrific player, but anyone who knew Eddie Johnson was Utah’s all-time leading rusher likely has a closet full of John Stockton and Karl Malone jerseys.
40. Minnesota holder Casey O’Brien has had 14 surgeries and spent more than 200 nights in hospitals as a result of osteosarcoma, the most-common form of bone cancer. "I am thankful for every day that we get to spend together as a family -- the good ones and the bad ones -- because I know that tomorrow is never promised,” he said during a gripping speech at the Big Ten media conference in July.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.