Pt 1: Spring Game Truthers Unite

Good morning and welcome to 4th & Forever, Rand & Tate’s College Football Newsletter. Congrats to Scottie Scheffler for winning his second green jacket and cementing his legacy as the most boring golfer since a bunch of tartan knicker-wearing Scottish dudes invented this infuriating sport 500+ years ago. Can’t Scheffler commit arson or something? Someone dig up his Facebook posts from high school. Unlike golf, college football is never boring. Just ask the 80,000 Ohio State fans who showed up to The Horseshoe to watch their tackle-free spring game last Saturday. Maybe that’s a function of the state of Ohio being boring as hell but anyway, in this edition we’re discussing Mason Ramsey, Joey Chestnut, Mormons, and Rand’s high school football team, so without further ado, let’s get to it!

Questions We Have Post-Spring Games

We’re nearing the end of spring practices around the country and the time to get wildly overconfident and optimistic about your team’s spring game is here. A time where your backup QB throwing a touchdown to a third-string receiver means the future is as bright as it's ever been, and your true freshman running back breaking off two big runs means nobody is going to be able to stop you on the ground this year. There’s nothing like it. 

But of course, some people believe spring games don’t actually do a great job of telling us what a team is going to look like in 6 months - just ask Brian Kelly. Obviously, this is a completely insane take. Just take a look at Ole Miss’ spring game this weekend, where legendary food-eater Joey Chesnut devoured 20 hot dogs in 90 seconds, fraternities and sororities competed in different games on the field, while the football team occasionally played 7-on-7 in the background. If that didn’t tell you all you need to know about the 2024 Rebels, we’re not sure what will.

In all seriousness, it is quite silly to take much of anything away from a spring game. Starters are playing limited snaps, playcalling is extremely vanilla, and you can’t even tackle some of the players. If you’re Ohio State, you can’t tackle any of the players. Regardless, spring games are our only chance to see teams before the season kicks off in August, so we focused on nine teams who have completed their spring games and answered some lingering questions they need to answer before the season.

Tate on Georgia: The buzz throughout spring practice in Athens was that the offense was absolutely kicking the defense’s ass day in and day out. This was encouraging news about the offense, which is attempting to replace Brock Bowers, Ladd McConkey, Amarius Mims and their top two running backs, but returns QB Carson Beck and a plethora of skill talent. But it was a bit concerning news to hear about the defense - particularly the defensive front, the 2023 version of which was a clear step back from 2022 and certainly 2021. While the spring game itself offered a different story that saw the defense shine at times (note: Carson Beck said after the game that the play calling was so vanilla that the defense knew what was coming most of the time), that defensive front is still going to be the question heading into the regular season in a few months. Georgia is absolutely elite at linebacker and has an unbelievable amount of talent in the secondary, but the defensive line is still somewhat of a question mark, even if about 125+ teams would trade their defensive line roster for Georgia’s in a heartbeat. For a few years the Dawgs were spoiled by the likes of Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter, Devonte Wyatt, and Travon Walker. The 2023 unit clearly missed those guys, and it was part of the reason they didn’t up three-peating. The talent is there - rising sophomores Jordan Hall and Jah Jarrett are behemoths and were highly touted recruits, while guys like Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins and Fat Chris Miller seem primed for breakout seasons in tandem with returning senior citizens Warren Brinson and Nazir Stackhouse. But all of that talent is relatively unproven and has not yet lived up to that Georgia Standard. Quite literally everything else about this roster looks like it could be the best in the country - if the defensive line improves from last year, watch out…

Rand on Utah: What were you doing seven years ago? I was a junior in college with singleminded aspirations of starting a college football newsletter as a side gig for you, my dear reader. My life is an unequivocal success and I’ve achieved nirvana at the ripe age of 27. Cam Rising on the other hand was a freshman QB at Texas under Tom Herman, Tiger was about to win his fifth Masters, and we all learned who Mason Ramsey was and we’re all undoubtedly better for it. If you can’t tell by now, Utah QB Cam Rising is back for his 7th year after missing all of last year with an injury. If Rising and fellow 7th-year pass catching tight end Brant Kuthie come back even 80% as good as they were in 2022 then Utah has a real shot to win the Big 12 in their inaugural year. What is it with all these 25-year-old Utah football players? It’s like they take Mormon mission trips or something. We know head coach Kyle Whittingham and DC Morgan Scalley will have their usual stout defense, the questions are all offensive, and I’m not talking about Scalley’s mouth. Utah is lucky Iowa existed last year because if not for their incompetence, we’d be talking about sending Utah’s offensive staff to Guantanamo Bay instead of Brian Ferentz. Transfer WRs Dorian Singer (USC) and Damien Alford (Syracuse) should help in Rising’s return as should a cakewalk of a schedule where the only tough road trip is going to Stillwater, OK. Utah should be the unanimous Big 12 favorite coming into the season, and if the offense clicks, you’re talking about a playoff team. I pity the team that would have to go to Rice-Eccles Stadium for a playoff game at night, in the middle of December. 

Tate on Mizzou: Missouri beat Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl last year and apparently caught some sort of Buckeye virus, as the Tigers decided they also would not be tackling in their spring game. We used to be a country. Regardless, this is quite possibly the most intriguing team in the entire country to me coming out of spring practice. Mizzou returns QB Brady Cook and future NFL All-Pro receiver Luther Burden. Fellow receiver Theo Wease is a stud himself, and a third receiver has apparently stepped up in Joshua Manning. It’s safe to say that the offense is going to be humming. The question is going to be about the defense. Mizzou certainly had a solid defense last year, but it got lit up by LSU enough to take a tough loss and could not get the stops it needed down the stretch to be in range of beating Georgia. Enter five-star defensive line/EDGE freshman and complete freak of nature Williams Nwaneri, along with Florida DL transfer Chris McClellan who was all over the field on Saturday, and we might be talking. The talk around the SEC seems entirely centered around UGA, Alabama, and Texas with a little bit of dark horse Ole Miss sprinkled in, but Missouri went 11-2 last year. They return a ton of offensive talent and the defense seems to be just a couple of difference-makers away. I am excited to see if the Alpha Nerd can make this team one of the top 3 teams in the SEC this year - I think he can, and frankly, I’m glad the Dawgs’ already brutal road schedule doesn’t include Mizzou on it this year.

Rand on Houston: Year 1 of the Willie Fritz era in H-town is upon us after billionaire asshole (are there any nice billionaires?) and megadonor Tilman Fertitta coughed up $15 mil to fire fellow asshole Dana Holgorsen and hired Willie Fritz from Tulane. On paper, this is a slam dunk hire given Fritz’s success at Tulane and previous coaching experience which includes two different stints at Sam Houston State. Cautionary tales of former ‘slam dunk’ hires include Dan Mullen (Florida), Jeremy Pruitt (Tennessee), and any Texas coach after Mack Brown and before Steve Sarkisian. In just over two months, Fritz was able to land a solid recruiting class with two four-stars, 14 three-stars, and more importantly, the 29th best transfer class in the nation. There could be some shell shock in the transition from the Air Raid under Holgorsen to a more ground-and-pound attack which might be advantageous given the presumed starting QB Donovan Smith is currently working his way back from a torn labrum. The question I have for Houston is can they show proof of concept in Year 1 or are they going to take the 2022 Virginia Tech (more on them later) route and look like my high school team (combined 2-20 record both my years on varsity) against the likes of Oklahoma, Utah, and the Sunflower State schools?

Tate on LSU: You may remember the 2023 LSU Tigers for the historic season that Heisman winner Jayden Daniels had along with his incredible receivers Malik Nabors and Brian Thomas Jr. Unfortunately, my football-warped brain will remember this squad for its abysmal defense that was genuinely, truly hard to watch for most of the season. The 2024 team is going to be fine offensively behind QB Garrett Nussmeier and, who woulda thought, a bunch of new incredible receivers they found throughout the state of Louisiana. The question, as it should be, is going to be about the defense. Is it going to be horrific again? Is it going to be pathetic? Is it going to be mediocre? Could it be good?? So far, it looks more like the former options are once again going to tell the tale of yet another LSU season. The defensive line is losing talent, the Tigers still seem to have no idea what to do with phenom Harold Perkins, and the defensive backs once again look to be tarnishing LSU’s claim as DBU. College football is better when LSU is not just good, but great. While Nussmeier and the offense look like they might put up video game-like numbers once again in Baton Rouge, I’m afraid the defense might hold this team back from being special. 

Rand on Virginia Tech: Way back on September 5, 2023, Tate and I were bashing Old Dominion’s sorry-ass coaching staff for punting on 4th & 2 late in the fourth quarter when they were down by 21 to Virginia Tech. It may be related to the fact we both took ODU +15.5 in the season opener but the moral of the story here is Virginia Tech was expected to be a bottom-feeder ACC team in Brent Pry’s second year. Turns out we were right…at least for the month of September. They followed up the ODU win with consecutive losses to Purdue, Rutgers, and Marshall. Then Grant Wells was finally benched in favor of Kyron Drones and the Hokies never looked back, winning six of their last nine games. There are high expectations with Drones and the 2024 Hokie squad that returns just about everyone. If spring game stats do anything for you, Drones was 6-10 for 122 yards and two touchdowns which means the offense will be good. Wait, Drones also threw two picks which means the defense is going to be really good. Whatever, spring games are stupid, but my question for the Hokies is how far can Drones take them in the ACC this year? Outside of a trip to Miami and a visit from Clemson, their schedule is a joke. What isn’t a joke is Lane Stadium when the Hokies are hot, so Clemson better be ready - just ask this sad Wake Forest fan. 

Tate on Kentucky: Look, it’s April 18th, so let’s just go ahead and talk about what you’ve all been thinking about all spring: Kentucky Football. The Wildcats have been the exact same thing for like a decade - tough, well-coached, good defensively - with really nothing to show for it due to some awful QB play through the years. Kentucky looks to once again be tough, well coached, and good defensively… so the question for this team will be about Georgia transfer, former five-star recruit Brock Vandagriff at QB. Vandagriff knew Carson Beck would be returning to UGA this year, so instead of entering his 4th year in Athens as a backup once again, he opted to move to Lexington to be the clearcut starting QB. He was supposed to be playing under offensive coordinator Liam Coen, who after a year in the NFL returned to Kentucky where he led the best UK offense in years in 2022. But after just a few weeks back in Lexington, Coen got plucked by the Tampa Bay Bucs, and it is very fair to wonder where the hell this leaves Vandagriff and the UK offense in 2024. Vandagriff is very talented, has a big arm, and is a legitimate dual-threat with his legs. If he can be even just above average for Kentucky, they’re going to be a tough team to beat all season. But that’s proven to be a big “if” in Lexington over the years.

Rand on Pittsburgh: The Panthers finished DFL in almost every offensive category for the ACC last year as they scuttled to a 3-9 record. To fix this atrocity, Pat Narduzzi brought in Kade Bell who oversaw one of the best offenses in the FCS last year at Western Carolina. While the offense will continue to be a work-in-progress even as the season begins, Pitt has the offensive playmakers to take the pressure off whichever likely white QB suits up for them and I say that because can you remember a single African-American Pitt QB? I need to do some research during work hours on this pressing topic and will keep you posted. While the offense is under construction, the defense led by DL Dayon Hayes promises to be a nightmare for opposing offenses. Hayes is a former 4-star recruit coming off a four-sack season but had been touted by teammates and coaches for his leadership. He was (note the past tense) such an integral part of the defense that Pitt’s collective signed him to the most lucrative NIL deal on the team. However, Hayes hopped in the portal earlier this week and offered the following remarks on his reasoning, “It’s just that I don’t believe we can win now…I believe we [were going to] win games, but I believe we are [in] a developmental stage. And I just can’t do that right now.” Therefore, my question for Pitt as they enter the offseason is what in all hell is going on in Pittsburgh? Zero clue but I’m fascinated to find out. 

Tate on Alabama: This one is simple: What the hell is their passing game going to look like this year? We all know the deal on Jalen Milroe by now. He is an elite athlete and is absolutely lethal on the ground with his legs, but the passing part of being a quarterback is still something that he’s… not great at, to say the least. Enter Kalen Deboer, a coach who is known for producing some of the best passing offenses in the country year after year. I cannot seem to wrap my mind around either of the following: A) Deboer turns Milroe into a legitimate QB à la Michael Penix and the Alabama offense shocks the world by throwing for over 300 yards per game, or B) Kalen Deboer has never had such a bad throwing-QB and his offense simply doesn’t work with Milroe, Alabama shuffles QBs and ends up sucking. Maybe those are the two extreme versions of outcomes, but none of it makes sense to me. The spring game didn’t really help us figure it out, either, as Milroe only threw nine passes (completing only three of them), and even opened up new question marks about who on earth is going to be catching passes from Milroe to begin with, after top receivers Isaiah Bond and Jacorey Brooks transferred to Texas and Alabama, respectively. Top tight end Amari Niblack joined Bond in Austin, too. Point being, I have absolutely no idea what to make of the Alabama offense right now and I’m not sure we’re going to really know until the season starts. That’s interesting.

Have a great weekend and we’ll talk to you again next Thursday. 

Thanks for reading 4th & Forever. Feel free to forward this to friends & family and if you have comments or suggestions on the newsletter, please let us know. We really appreciate any and all feedback on this project.

Check out our website by going to 4thandforevercfb.com where you can drop us suggestions, read and comment on previous newsletters, and argue with us and other readers. If you’d like to update your subscription settings, please do so using the following link: 4th & Forever Subscription Settings

Rand Fisher & Tate Smillie met a few years ago through their good buddy Dave Peljovich who went to college with Rand and high school with Tate. Tate went to Georgia and has spent two years of the last three years collecting championship rings while traveling to watch the Dawgs. Rand went to known CFB powerhouse Wake Forest and currently pays rent in Atlanta but is rarely found there with all the work & CFB travel he does.