The schedule won’t be officially be revealed until Monday on the Inside Blitz podcast at 6:00 PM CST. While that’s the case, we can still give you a bit of a teaser with some of the things you can expect in the reveal, so why don’t we get started with that.
1) WEEK ONE REVEAL
We all know that the National Title game from the previous season is a rematch to open the new season, meaning that Auburn and Texas will square off and that’s a huge game out of the gate that could and should have implications for the number one seed. If that’s not enough, opening night sees the debut of two CFSL teams and the number one overall prospect, who happens to quarterback the Alabama Crimson Tide, Balion Siege. He’ll roll his Crimson Tide into Reliant Stadium in Houston to square off with USC. Clemson and Oregon square off, Oregon who knocked Clemson out of the playoffs in the first round, and then Florida and their new quarterback Mathias St. John face Nebraska. Michigan and Miami square off and then Ohio State and Notre Dame take the field in what could be a deciding factor for the one seed in the Big Ten.
2) the sec playoff crew
So, per the standards, the playoff teams from last season have a “playoff caliber” schedule. Where top three from each conference square off in inter-conference play, while the same is true for the bottom three of each conference. That being said, there are five teams next season who face some variation of Clemson, Auburn, and Texas in consecutive weeks. The three playoff teams from the Big Ten last season and two teams from the SEC. Have fun with that noise. That said, four teams get Oregon and Notre Dame in back-to-back weeks. Three SEC teams, and one Big Ten team, not the Big Ten team you’d think either.
3) DEBUTS
Alabama, Nebraska, and USC will all make their CFSL debuts. Of those three teams, only one is unveiling a new quarterback and that’s Alabama with Balion Siege. Nebraska returns James Kovach and USC has Kingston Fox. With Alabama in the SEC, they’ve got a competitive road ahead to make the playoffs, while Nebraska and USC have better chances since the Big Ten tends to be an open conference every season (more on that in a bit). Outside of Siege, Mathias St. Johns will make his CFSL debut for Florida while Clemson will unveil quarterback Will Slay. Keep an eye on that.
4) S.O.S.
Strength of schedule isn’t a metric that is usually discussed, but all the playoff teams from last season will have a significantly tougher schedule than those who were eliminated. However, each team will play at least two playoff teams during the season, but each playoff team will have to face the other five. That’s not an easy schedule by any means, especially with how close together some of those games can be within an eight week schedule. Still, the SEC usually ends up a four team race by the end of the season for the playoffs, but the Big Ten tends to be pretty wide open. We’ll see how the schedule impacts all of that this season.
5) rivalry week
I always highlight this, but this season it’s for different reasons. See, there’s always some rivalry matchups we can count on, such as Ohio State and Michigan or Florida and Miami. This season, though, there are some changes. Auburn will not face Notre Dame this week, and for obvious reasons Oregon will have a new opponent. Don’t worry though, Clemson and Texas will still face each other to wrap up their schedules.
For the full CFSL schedule release, tune into the Inside Blitz on Monday, November fourth, at 6:00 PM CST. We’ll see you then.
