I Tell Ya' Herbie

    Here's our latest scoop from the college football bowl that we call I Tell Ya' Herbie.

I Tell Ya' Herbie: 

                             Another Power Four job is open before the end of September, as Oklahoma State removed long-time coach Mike Gundy after a loss to Tulsa.

Gundy was in his twenty-first season, and despite his status, the time was right for the Cowboys, who had won only four of their last fifteen games after a loss to the in-state Golden Hurricane.

The Cowboys were expected to be a power in the Big 12 after the defections of Texas and Oklahoma, but those plans have gone up in smoke over the last two seasons.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                             The firing of Mike Gundy leaves four jobs available for the 2026 season- UCLA, Stanford, Virginia Tech, and Oklahoma State, and there could be three times that by season's end.

What job could be next? The SEC has two contenders with Billy Napier at Florida and Sam Pittman at Arkansas.

Napier and the Gators have a rugged schedule while Pittman's Hogs have the harder place to win.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:   

                              The SEC is going to a nine game conference schedule for next year (good thing) but the schedule will undergo changes so each team plays everyone at least every four years (good thing, but) .

The conference has assigned each team three regular game opponents that they will play every year but even so there are some lost rivalries and some questionable selections for "rivals" for some teams.

Ole Miss gets Oklahoma rather than Arkansas, Florida loses their rivalries with LSU (Florida plays Kentucky), who loses theirs with Alabama, and Texas A&M plays Missouri rather than Oklahoma.

The league has stated that they will reevaluate the system before the 2029 or 2030 season.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                             Indiana's run in 2024 was a cute story that ended with the Hoosiers making the CFB playoff bur their impressive thumping of unbeaten Illinois, who some thought could be this year's Indiana, could be a sign that they could be a candidate to return.

Curt Cignetti could be a candidate for bigger jobs should he desire them after the job that he's done in a short time in Bloomington.

Indiana travels to 3-1 Iowa this Saturday.

I Tell Ya' Herbie

     

      Another edition of I Tell Ya' Herbie with a few takes from the world of college football.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                             The ACC is in big trouble.

I can forgive Clemson's thumping against the hands of the powerful Georgia Bulldogs but Florida State's upset losses to Georgia Tech in Ireland and Monday's even bigger shocker at home to Boston College is very hard to let slide.

Clemson could still bounce back with a playoff berth ( if they can survive a sneaky game this weekend with Appalachian State) and maybe if Florida State could win out (something I find very doubtful after watching their first two games), the conference could be okay but it seems to me that the ACC might have their hopes pinned to N.C. State this weekend against Tennessee to bolster their non-conference resume'.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            One thing that has been overlooked about Deion Sanders and his Colorado Buffaloes' close win over North Dakota State has been how Deion himself allowed North Dakota State to have a final drive that fell five yards away from a miracle win.

Colorado could have run the clock out with a few runs (and first down) but Colorado kept calling pass plays that fell incomplete and gave North Dakota State a chance that they ordinarily would not have received.

Whether it was Deion attempting to run up the score or juice up his son's (quarterback Shedeur) passing numbers, neither was worth placing the game in jeopardy.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                             I wouldn't write Oregon yet but they didn't impress in a win over 1-AA Idaho by only 24-14.

Boise State will be a bigger test this Saturday night but one thing that was discussed when the game was a three-point game in the fourth quarter.

This would have been the biggest upset ever with a 1-AA team dumping a top-five team on the road.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                             Interesting game in Stillwater, Oklahoma with a ranked Oklahoma State team hosting Arkansas.

Arkansas coach Sam Pittman enters a pivotal season and was considered on the hot seat entering the season but scored seventy points in their opener against I-AA Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

Oklahoma State returns the nation's top running back in Ollie Gordon and some have the Cowboys as the preseason favorite in the Big 12, so it's a crossroads game for both teams.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            The CyHawk trophy is one of the more underrated rivalries and this year both Iowa and Iowa State have teams capable of winning the trophy.

The game is in Iowa City this season and Iowa did score forty last week against 1-AA Illinois State but scored only two field goals at the half.

Iowa State dumped North Dakota 21-3 and Matt Campbell thinks that his Cyclones are the most talented team that Campbell has had in the last several seasons.

Iowa has a fortunate Big Ten schedule playing only Ohio State among the league powers, so a win over Iowa State might bode very well for a potential playoff challenge.

I Tell Ya' Herbie

Back with more from the college football universe with I Tell Ya' Herbie.

I Tell Ya' Herbie: 

                             Right now, the biggest injustice in the sport isn't Connor Stallions or the other "honorable" Michigan Men involved in their sign-stealing scandal.

It's the NCAA for stubbornly sticking to their bowl ban for undefeated James Madison for moving up to 1-A and daring to go unbeaten thus far.

The Dukes still have to win have to win home games against UConn and Appalachian State along with a road trip to Coastal Carolina but if they finish unbeaten and things fall right with one loss teams such as the AAC's Tulane and the Mountain West's Air Force and Fresno State, the NCAA needs to do the right thing by an unbeaten team and say no adjustment time needed and allow the Dukes to take the automatic bid to the New Years Day bowl in its final year.

It's the right thing to do.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                             The most interesting conference race at this stage might be in the AAC mentioned above with three undefeated teams at 5-0 in the league (Tulane, SMU, and UTSA) and a 4-1 team lurking behind the three leaders in Memphis.

And sadly with each team with three games to play, there are only two scheduled between the four with SMU traveling to Memphis and UTSA visiting Tulane.

It's too bad there isn't more interaction between the four down the stretch.

I Tell Ya' Herbie;

                             The most anticipated game of this week has to be Michigan traveling to State College for the first test of note for the third-ranked and scandal-scarred Wolverines this season.

While Michigan has steamrolled all opponents, their best wins have been over Rutgers and UNLV, neither of whom would be confused with the sport's powerhouses.

Penn State failed their big test in Columbus but their best wins are better than those of Michigan to date with wins over West Virginia and Iowa.

This one is in State College, so Michigan's first test will be away from home, and considering the sign-stealing scandal, the crowd will be especially strong against the Wolverines.

This may be Drew Allar's last chance to score a career-changing win this season but from what I saw in Columbus, even at home this game may be more advanced than he can handle.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            The coach of the year in the Big 12 might be Mike Gundy for the rally-saving season for his Oklahoma State Cowboys.

The Cowboys have won five straight since losing to South Alabama at home and Iowa State on the road with wins over Kansas, Kansas State, and most importantly to them, the final (for now) Bedlam against Oklahoma which gives Oklahoma State final bragging rights and may have knocked the Sooners out of the Big 12 championship game.

Gundy has moved from the hot seat to the possible coach of the year and should the Cowboys win out against Central Florida (4-5), Houston (4-5), and BYU (5-4), it will be Oklahoma State as the Sooner State's representative in the league title game.