My Two Cents: Learning Quickly That Anything Can Happen in College Football 2020

We're seeing blue-bloods going down left and right in the first few weeks of the season, which give hope to everyone else.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — We don't have Big Ten football yet, but now that most everyone else is playing across the country, there's still a lot going on every Saturday.

And it's been crazy. 

It should come as no surprise to anyone in this wacky year of 2020 that things are happening that make you shake your head. And when Indiana gets back on the field, it's entirely possible that crazy things are going to happen during their Big Ten season as well.

The Oklahoma Sooners are a perfect example of a world being turned upside down. You don't get more blue-blood than Oklahoma, but in the past two weeks, they have lost games to unranked Kansas State and Iowa State.

It's the first time since 1999 that they've lost back-to-back regular season games. Their 37-30 loss to Iowa State on Saturday was their first loss in Ames since 1960, a mere 60 years ago. Oklahoma had won 24 straight there before Saturday, the longest streak of home losses by a team against the same opponent in the AP poll era, which started in 1936.

That's a long time.

Last week, when they blew a 17-point lead to Kansas State — a team that had lost to unheard of Arkansas State in its season opener — they fell to the Wildcats in consecutive seasons for the first time in 23 years. This is a team, mind you, that was ranked No. 3 in the country to start the season and has made the College Football Playoff four times.

Not this year.

What's that mean for Indiana? Well, considering that the Hoosiers play Penn State in the opener and Michigan two weeks later, there's some shining light that history can be reversed a bit. Indiana, as we know, is 1-22 all-time vs. Penn State, winning only in 2013.

Michigan, who comes to Bloomington on Nov. 7, has beaten Indiana 24 straight times. Maybe this year, in COVID-2020, that can change. 

The Big 12 is a mess this year. Even that Iowa State that woke up feeling so good this morning hasn't been immune to the injury bug. They were upset by Louisiana in their season opener.

Oklahoma plays Texas this weekend in the Red River Shootout, which was originally supposed to the game of the year in the Big 12. But No. 9 Texas lost Saturday too, so this is only the third time in 20 years that the Sooners and Longhorns will meet with BOTH  teams coming off a loss.

It might just be best to expect the unexpected this year. The Sooners, of course, aren't along. Weird stuff is happening elsewhere, too.

Florida State in big trouble

Another blue-blood experiencing hard times is Florida State. The Seminoles lost their season opener to Georgia  Tech, picked the finish last in the ACC, and then got boat-raced by arch-rival Miami 52-10, having to play their game without first-year coach Mike Norvell, who had contracted COVID-19.

You can't make all that up.

And then on Saturday, in a nonconference "breather'' against Jacksonville State, the Seminoles were trailing 21-7 just a minute before halftime. Thankfully the Seminoles scored on their next five possessions and won 41-24, avoiding a massive black eye 

SMU students flaunt rules

When the Big Ten said football would return in the fall, they were adamant right from the beginning that no fans would be allowed. The SEC is allowing fans, but at a 20 percent capacity, and it seems through two weeks that it's going OK.

But at SMU Saturday, there were further proof that some people just can't be trusted — especially students.

The Dallas school allowed 1,000 students to attend the game, but mask and social distancing requirements were in place and shared with students often throughout the week. 

What happened? Many chose to not wear mask and they all gathered together on a hill near the end zone, standing side by side. And when they were asked to spread out and then didn't, security cleared the entire area.

One thing we've learned through all of this is that following some protocol does help. That's why I'm all for not allowing fans this season, just to minimize that risk. I'm good with families only, which is still on the table.

But the SMU students proved once again on Saturday that staying true to protocols isn't easy.

Missing out on playoff opportunity

One thing that was disappointing this week was that the CFP committee said it will look expand the playoffs this year, despite the Big Ten not starting until Oct. 24 and the Pac-12 not starting until November.

That's too bad. This would have been the perfect year to at least experiment with that, because it's going to be hard to get a complete snapshot on every team. Finding four isn't the problem, it's leaving out four more with incomplete resumes that are really out of their control.

Especially with all the conference championship games being moved back to Dec. 19, it would have been simple to got to an eight-team playoff. Guarantee a spot for all five conference winners and then take the three best of the rest. Use the New Year's Day bowls for the first round, play the semifinals on Jan. 11 — the original date of the title game — and then play the final a week later.

In a year that makes no sense, that certainly does.