Ranking the 20 best college football games of 2020

[ericd7633]

Cal is going to also have to beat two teams that were better than them last year in Utah and TCU early, and I think they drop both of them.

Be real eric, nobody gives a shit about the Cal-USC "rivalry". I guarantee Auburn-A&M had better ratings than Cal-USC last year, and Cincy-Memphis is actually relevant towards something since both of them are strong candidates to make a NY6 bowl. You say nobody gives a shit about that game outside of those fans, but who do you think gives a shit about Cal-USC? Hell I doubt most of their actual fans even care much, let alone the rest of the country. And with PSU-Indiana, you just said it's a 4/5 loss Indiana team against a top 10 PSU team, but somehow that's not as good a game as a game with maybe a ranked USC team and a likely 4/5 loss Cal team? At least there is an elite team in PSU, and Indiana was also better than Cal last year, so add that to the fact that B1G football is significantly more relevant than Pac12 football, and it means all three of these games are more relevant and better choices for this list.

I think they win both, hence why we are where we are.

And yeah it's not a great rivalry or anything, but they've played a shit load of times. I'm sure A&M/Auburn did have better ratings because it was a better game between better teams. Memphis/Cincy is only relevant for that aspect. Neither team would be deserving of a NY6 bowl without automatic inclusion. I don't think Cal will be a 4/5 loss team. That is why I have that game pegged better than PSU/IU. We'll see what happens.

 

[Deep Creek]

Cal is going to also have to beat two teams that were better than them last year in Utah and TCU early, and I think they drop both of them.

Be real eric, nobody gives a shit about the Cal-USC "rivalry". I guarantee Auburn-A&M had better ratings than Cal-USC last year, and Cincy-Memphis is actually relevant towards something since both of them are strong candidates to make a NY6 bowl. You say nobody gives a shit about that game outside of those fans, but who do you think gives a shit about Cal-USC? Hell I doubt most of their actual fans even care much, let alone the rest of the country. And with PSU-Indiana, you just said it's a 4/5 loss Indiana team against a top 10 PSU team, but somehow that's not as good a game as a game with maybe a ranked USC team and a likely 4/5 loss Cal team? At least there is an elite team in PSU, and Indiana was also better than Cal last year, so add that to the fact that B1G football is significantly more relevant than Pac12 football, and it means all three of these games are more relevant and better choices for this list.

Think you may be overplaying TCU. They weren't very good last year...in spite of having several players that were good enough to get drafted.

Then again, maybe I'm overplaying Cal.

 

[HammerDown]

"Golly gee, fellas! I just noticed Ohio State is #1 on this list!" - @Across The Field (again)

 

[Angry red]

No Michigan @ Washington makes that list a bad joke.

It has Memphis vs UCF.

 

[Rolltide94]

No Michigan @ Washington makes that list a bad joke.

Why are you in such a hurry for everyone to see day 6938 without a win over a ranked OOC regular season opponent.

I will be providing cake on the Huskies board for the Stanford game on day 7000.

 

[Across The Field]

You raise some good points that I don’t necessarily disagree with but keep in mind that TCU was not actually better than Cal last year. TCU was downright bad. They won a total of 5 games. Plus keep in mind that Utah lost a lot from last season. Not only did they close like shit, they’re replacing most of their skill position players and also that beastly defensive line. Both of those games are in Berkeley too. I would not be surprised if Cal is 5-0 going into that USC game.

I went by the Sagarin rankings when making the statement that TCU was better than Cal last year because those rankings are iron-clad to eric. I trust both coaches at TCU and Utah over any at Cal, and honestly, I just didn't see anything from them last year that was impressive. 7 wins against sub-.500 teams and an 8th win against a Washington team with a HC that already had a foot out the door.

 

[Across The Field]

I think they win both, hence why we are where we are.

And yeah it's not a great rivalry or anything, but they've played a shit load of times. I'm sure A&M/Auburn did have better ratings because it was a better game between better teams. Memphis/Cincy is only relevant for that aspect. Neither team would be deserving of a NY6 bowl without automatic inclusion. I don't think Cal will be a 4/5 loss team. That is why I have that game pegged better than PSU/IU. We'll see what happens.

If Cal beats Utah, that's a horrible look for the entire conference. Also TCU is much more talented than Cal so that's a loss for the Bears.

It's not a great rivalry so why should it be included? Who cares if they've played a shitload of times. North Carolina/Virginia have played more times, and I'd argue they're both going to be better than USC and Cal this year, so there's another game that should be added to this list before them. That's also some pretty ignorant talk about Cincy and UCF, considering both of them would be among the best teams in the Pac12 this year.

Call will need a ton of things to bounce their way to get to 10 wins this year. If they do, the Pac likely is sitting with maybe 1 or 2 ranked teams at season's end, because Cal should not be winning 7 conference games in any real P5 conference.

 

[Across The Field]

Think you may be overplaying TCU. They weren't very good last year...in spite of having several players that were good enough to get drafted.

Then again, maybe I'm overplaying Cal.

TCU was arguably the most banged up team in the P5 last year. It was so bad in November that they had a kicker lining up a DE during practice just to have a body on the field. The good news is, they got a lot of younger players some experience. Despite all the injuries, they still had a decent defense. They lost 7 games, but 6 of those losses were by 7 points or less, including a 4 point loss to Oklahoma, and a 6 point loss in 3OT to Baylor. I expect them to bounce back this year if they can stay reasonably healthy.

 

[ericd7633]

If Cal beats Utah, that's a horrible look for the entire conference. Also TCU is much more talented than Cal so that's a loss for the Bears.

It's not a great rivalry so why should it be included? Who cares if they've played a shitload of times. North Carolina/Virginia have played more times, and I'd argue they're both going to be better than USC and Cal this year, so there's another game that should be added to this list before them. That's also some pretty ignorant talk about Cincy and UCF, considering both of them would be among the best teams in the Pac12 this year.

Call will need a ton of things to bounce their way to get to 10 wins this year. If they do, the Pac likely is sitting with maybe 1 or 2 ranked teams at season's end, because Cal should not be winning 7 conference games in any real P5 conference.

Why is it a bad look for the conference? Utah loses a ton of people from last year, and were 0-3 against the 3 best teams they played last season. It's not a great rivalry, but there's more to it than A&M/Auburn, Memphis/Cincy and IU/PSU. It's not ignorant. The AAC wasn't very good last year. The conference didn't really do anything OOC to lead me to believe that. You rag on how bad the P12 is all the time but it's still clearly better than the AAC.

 

[Across The Field]

Why is it a bad look for the conference? Utah loses a ton of people from last year, and were 0-3 against the 3 best teams they played last season. It's not a great rivalry, but there's more to it than A&M/Auburn, Memphis/Cincy and IU/PSU. It's not ignorant. The AAC wasn't very good last year. The conference didn't really do anything OOC to lead me to believe that. You rag on how bad the P12 is all the time but it's still clearly better than the AAC.

I see you completely ignore the fact that Virginia/UNC is more deserving a spot, but that's not surprising.

It's a bad look because Utah has been arguably the most consistently good team in the Pac-12 in the CFP era (55 wins over the last 6 seasons), and they'd get knocked off by a crappy team who hasn't been relevant in about 15 years. Cal isn't a good team, while Utah consistently is.

The "rivalry" (lol) may have more games, but it's a significantly less relevant game overall in the national landscape than those 3 other games. Literally nobody cares about that rivalry outside of the state of California, and not that many people in it care either. I rag on the P12 because it is a poor-performing P5 conference, and everything you just said about the AAC can be said about the P12, difference being P12 teams have larger budgets and get better recruits.

 

[Wild Turkey]

The list has Bedlam and Oklahoma State Texas in its top 10, but doesn't have the RRS as even an honorable mention.

I can't wrap my head around that.

Texas sucks.

 

[Boise4Life]

TCU was arguably the most banged up team in the P5 last year. It was so bad in November that they had a kicker lining up a DE during practice just to have a body on the field. The good news is, they got a lot of younger players some experience. Despite all the injuries, they still had a decent defense. They lost 7 games, but 6 of those losses were by 7 points or less, including a 4 point loss to Oklahoma, and a 6 point loss in 3OT to Baylor. I expect them to bounce back this year if they can stay reasonably healthy.

Wild that they only won 5 on a team with all those NFL studs, injured or not. Patterson will bounce back. He typically does after down seasons. Ole crazy pants pull-ups is a hell of a coach.

 

[Across The Field]

Wild that they only won 5 on a team with all those NFL studs, injured or not. Patterson will bounce back. He typically does after down seasons. Ole crazy pants pull-ups is a hell of a coach.

Well like I said, they lost 6 of those games by 7 points or less, three of them were by 4 points or less and one went to 3OT. If they didn't get slammed by injuries, they would've probably been a 9-10 win team. They were obviously pretty talented.

 

[Boise4Life]

I see you completely ignore the fact that Virginia/UNC is more deserving a spot, but that's not surprising.

It's a bad look because Utah has been arguably the most consistently good team in the Pac-12 in the CFP era (55 wins over the last 6 seasons), and they'd get knocked off by a crappy team who hasn't been relevant in about 15 years. Cal isn't a good team, while Utah consistently is.

The "rivalry" (lol) may have more games, but it's a significantly less relevant game overall in the national landscape than those 3 other games. Literally nobody cares about that rivalry outside of the state of California, and not that many people in it care either. I rag on the P12 because it is a poor-performing P5 conference, and everything you just said about the AAC can be said about the P12, difference being P12 teams have larger budgets and get better recruits.

You mention the PAC 12 and it is a weak P5 conference no doubt, but the ACC is absolute hot garbage. To me the gap between the PAC and the third best P5 is about the same as the gap between the PAC and the ACC. It’s the worst P5 hands down. Outside of Clemson that conference sucks. You mention the UNC and UVA match up. Those teams have done nothing. We’ll see if UNC is worthy of any of the hype they are getting but I’ll need to see it before I believe it. UVA was decent last year but they had zero business being in a NY6. The only reason they went is the ACC is miserable and they didn’t have anyone else to send. They lost a lot from that flukishly decent season too and I do not expect them to have much in 2020.

 

[Across The Field]

You mention the PAC 12 and it is a weak P5 conference no doubt, but the ACC is absolute hot garbage. To me the gap between the PAC and the third best P5 is about the same as the gap between the PAC and the ACC. It’s the worst P5 hands down. Outside of Clemson that conference sucks. You mention the UNC and UVA match up. Those teams have done nothing. We’ll see if UNC is worthy of any of the hype they are getting but I’ll need to see it before I believe it. UVA was decent last year but they had zero business being in a NY6. The only reason they went is the ACC is miserable and they didn’t have anyone else to send. They lost a lot from that flukishly decent season too and I do not expect them to have much in 2020.

I don't disagree with anything you've said here. Pac 12 is definitely better overall than the ACC. If Saban retires and Dabo goes to Bama, they might as well make it a G5 at that point.

I mention the UNC and UVA matchup because eric was pointing out how important the USC-Cal game is because it's a rivalry, but UNC and UVA have played more times, and I don't know anyone who considers that a "rivalry", just like I don't know anyone who considers Cal-USC a "rivalry", so it was a dumb argument on his point.

 

[Deep Creek]

TCU was arguably the most banged up team in the P5 last year. It was so bad in November that they had a kicker lining up a DE during practice just to have a body on the field. The good news is, they got a lot of younger players some experience. Despite all the injuries, they still had a decent defense. They lost 7 games, but 6 of those losses were by 7 points or less, including a 4 point loss to Oklahoma, and a 6 point loss in 3OT to Baylor. I expect them to bounce back this year if they can stay reasonably healthy.

The other side of the ball is the problem. They haven't been very good on the offensive side since Boykin IMO.

 

[Olyduck]

If Cal beats Utah, that's a horrible look for the entire conference. Also TCU is much more talented than Cal so that's a loss for the Bears.

It's not a great rivalry so why should it be included? Who cares if they've played a shitload of times. North Carolina/Virginia have played more times, and I'd argue they're both going to be better than USC and Cal this year, so there's another game that should be added to this list before them. That's also some pretty ignorant talk about Cincy and UCF, considering both of them would be among the best teams in the Pac12 this year.

Call will need a ton of things to bounce their way to get to 10 wins this year. If they do, the Pac likely is sitting with maybe 1 or 2 ranked teams at season's end, because Cal should not be winning 7 conference games in any real P5 conference.

it depends on how they finish. if Cal finishes 10-2 and Utah finishes 9-3 it isnt a horrible look for the conference.
Pac 12 has the most up and down teams in the country.

 

[Olyduck]

It's a bad look because Utah has been arguably the most consistently good team in the Pac-12 in the CFP era (55 wins over the last 6 seasons), and they'd get knocked off by a crappy team who hasn't been relevant in about 15 years. Cal isn't a good team, while Utah consistently is.

What???

 

[Tin Man]

 

[ericd7633]

I see you completely ignore the fact that Virginia/UNC is more deserving a spot, but that's not surprising.

It's a bad look because Utah has been arguably the most consistently good team in the Pac-12 in the CFP era (55 wins over the last 6 seasons), and they'd get knocked off by a crappy team who hasn't been relevant in about 15 years. Cal isn't a good team, while Utah consistently is.

The "rivalry" (lol) may have more games, but it's a significantly less relevant game overall in the national landscape than those 3 other games. Literally nobody cares about that rivalry outside of the state of California, and not that many people in it care either. I rag on the P12 because it is a poor-performing P5 conference, and everything you just said about the AAC can be said about the P12, difference being P12 teams have larger budgets and get better recruits.

I don't think UVA will be as good this year. It's why I skipped over it. And I can see USC being better than UNC as well.

And yeah Cal hasn't been relevant in a long time. But I can seem them being this year's Minnesota (maybe not quite that good). But still a top 25 team. I've said I think it'll me a matchup of top 25 teams. That's why I'm fine with it being in the top 20 game list. If they aren't it won't, it's that simple.

And I guess we can agree the AAC is worse than the P12.