Week 3 Preview

Good morning and welcome to 4th & Forever, Rand & Tate’s College Football Newsletter. We consume college football through all mediums, but the number one platform we get intel from is Twitter. Therefore, I quickly wanted to share a few of the best things I saw on the indomitable app that will never die, no matter how hard Mars Man tries, and we will never quit.

First, Ohio State hosts Ohio in the Horseshoe this weekend for the first time since 2010. Last time they matched up in Columbus, the guy in the Ohio mascot - Rufus the Bobcat - tried out for the explicit purpose of tackling Brutus to the ground and promptly dropped out of school. Well, it got recirculated on Twitter, so here’s the video in all its glory. 

Also, we love the website FBSchedules.com because we can instantly tell you where we’ll be years from now. For example, no one better schedule a wedding for September 6, 2031, because Rand will be in College Park, MD, for the Deacs reunion with old pal Maryland. And while you’re at it, block off August 30, 2031, because I’ll be with Tate in The Horseshoe for Georgia’s visit. We can go as far into the future as the Georgia and Wake ADs will schedule, but we’re nowhere near the level and sophistication of Liberty & James Madison, who just announced a series through 2040. This sport is dumbfounding. 

Speaking of scheduling, we’ll let this tweet speak for itself.

The Three Week 3 Games to Watch

#6 Georgia (2-0) @ #15 Tennessee (2-0): UGA -3.5, O/U 49.5 - Saturday 3:30pm ET ABC

A week of nervousness is coming to a close for Dawgs fans as we’re only two days away from kickoff in Knoxville. Much has been said - and will continue to be said - about Georgia’s lack of explosiveness and aggressiveness in the passing game over the first two weeks, and much of that criticism is fair. Gunner Stockton currently ranks 126 out of 130 eligible quarterbacks in average yards per attempt, which is, as they say in Mongolia, not what you want to see. But as I discussed a bit in Monday’s edition, the plays downfield have been there - Gunner just hasn’t taken them yet. That has obviously been a sticking point for the offensive staff all week, as Kirby has been quite clear in his appearances with the media that those throws are what he’s looking to see Gunner make. I think we hit a few of them this week, especially with Tennessee’s two starting corners out. Despite the OL getting a bit banged up over the first two games, I’ve also liked what I’ve seen from our group of running backs so far. Frazier gives us the quickness and energy, Bowens gives us some thunder, and Dwight Phillips is gone if he sees open field. Tennessee’s front seven is much weaker than it was last year, too.

But what really has me confident in this game is the other side of the ball. This is easily our best group of linebackers since 2021 - these dudes are flying around so far this year. The defensive line looks to be much improved over the 2023 and 2024 versions in the quickness and athleticism departments, and our biggest question mark at edge rusher has been largely negated when we line Chris Cole up at EDGE. The dude is one of the freakiest athletes I’ve seen play for Kirby (which is saying a lot), and the Vols are still without former 5-star David Sanders, who was expected to start at tackle for them before the season. On top of all of this, the fact of the matter is that Kirby and Schumann have almost entirely shut down Josh Heupel’s offense since he arrived in Knoxville. While the Vols have scored points on the first possession of each of the four games Heupel has coached against Kirby, Heupel’s offense has scored touchdowns on only 6 of their 43 possessions in that timespan, with 10 turnovers. 6/43 with 10 turnovers, with one of those TD’s being in complete garbage time in 2022 and another being the first play of the game in 2023 before the Vols didn’t score again for the next 59 minutes in a blowout. Heupel’s offense takes advantage of defenses with glaring weaknesses, forcing teams to put extra guys in the box to stop the run and then hitting them with big plays in single coverage over the top. Kirby’s defenses have not yet been required to commit extra guys to the run against Heupel, and again, this defense looks like it might just be the best one in the country. 

Am I guaranteeing victory? No. Tennessee has enough talent to beat us if we’re still screwing around on offense, if our quarterback is playing timidly in a tough road environment. But I think everybody on this team, coaches and players, are ready to go let it rip, ready to go show everyone what they’ve been working for since the slog of the 2024 came to a close in January. More than anything, I just want this one. Moving to 3-0 with a huge road win headed into the bye week before Bama would be massive for this team. But even more than that, I want the bragging rights. I hate Tennessee. With the SEC moving to a new scheduling model next year, it’s likely we won’t see this team again until 2028. We haven’t lost to these morons since 2016 - for the love of all that is holy and good, please go whip their asses, Dawgs. Let them continue to fear the day they have to play us again.

#18 USF (2-0) @ #4 Miami (2-0): MIA -18.5, O/U 56.5 - Saturday 4:30pm ET The CW

The Battle of the Real South Florida, one of the three ranked vs ranked matchups of the weekend, is happening on The CW - just as God intended. Much has been made about USF’s ranking in various AP Poll voters’ ballots, but we’ll leave that discourse to psychos on Twitter for the time being. The fact of the matter is that both of these Florida schools are two of the few programs in the country with win(s) over ranked teams under their belt, and the hype for this game seems to only increase by the day. 

As much as I (Tate) would love to see another massive upset from South Florida, they’re playing a better team than they played in the Swamp last Saturday, and this one is going to be hard to pull off. The Bulls rely heavily on big plays to score points - their average touchdown comes from 31 yards down the field. That is unlikely to be sustainable against a Miami team that has a ton of talent up front and an ability to get to the quarterback consistently. We’d imagine that USF will try to get on the ground and run some clock early and often, but that only works if you’re moving the chains with consistency, and that will be easier said than done. The Bulls’ defense has also looked great so far, and in Gainesville, took advantage of a QB-WR combo that looked completely out of sync. Miami has looked incredibly in sync so far, with Carson Beck getting the ball out quickly for easy yards time and time again through two games. The USF pass rush - which again, has looked good so far - will really need to take advantage of their opportunities when Beck holds on to the ball for longer than a second in the pocket. Expect a lot of press man coverage with a tight front in the middle to try to force Beck to beat them downfield with a group of new Miami receivers.

We won’t be shocked if Miami covers here, but dammit, we won’t be the slightest bit surprised if America’s Team keeps things close enough to have a good shot at the end, either. The real South Florida is in Central Florida, regardless of the outcome of this game. Go Bulls.

#16 Texas A&M (2-0) @ #8 Notre Dame (0-1): ND -6.5, O/U 50.5 - Saturday 7:30pm ET NBC

Maybe it’s because I’m not Catholic and have yet to join the Gig em’ Cult, but I’ve heard very little buzz about TAMU’s second-ever trip to South Bend - 2000 being the first. If you recall, these two teams opened the year last year, where Notre Dame won 24-13 in Mike Elko’s debut. If the Aggies get by the Irish, we’re going to hear a whole lot about them in the coming weeks because their schedule is pretty light until Halloween. Dual-threat QB Marcel Reed is back and he’s a true dual threat, nay, quad threat, because on any given play he can run, pass, score a touchdown, or turn it over. God knows what he’ll bring to South Bend but it’s bound to be exciting. Behind him, he needs RBs Le’Veon Moss and Rueben Owens to step up to open up the play action and keep Notre Dame’s DL at bay. Le’Veon Moss was putting up video game numbers last year until an injury knocked him out for the rest of the season, while Owens is a former 5-star who has posted Olympic-worthy track times. On the outside, the Aggies rely on the dynamic duo of Mario Craver and NC State transfer KC Concepcion, who are both game breakers. As you’d imagine, NC State fans acted rationally when their best homegrown WR left Raleigh for the greener pasture$ of southeastern-central Texas, but we’ll get to State later. The Aggies top TE is 6’6 Theo Melin Öhrström from Sweden, whom I know absolutely nothing about, but I’m just trying to imagine the psychological whiplash going from Stockholm to College Station entails. 

As for the Irish, their OL was last seen looking back at CJ Carr getting demolished by the Miami defense but they have had a week off to lick their wounds. This offense will continue to run through RB Jeremiyah Love as CJ Carr takes his training wheels off. WRs Landry Clarke and Jason Street are this year’s edition of “ND needs a receiver, any receiver, to be average for the first time since Chase Claypool and if you don’t count that, then we’ll go Golden Tate or I’ll do ya one better…Jeff Samardzija.” Also, their names are actually Malachi Fields (Virginia) and Jordan Faison but props if you got the Friday Night Lights reference. We expect a rock fight here, given Elko and Freeman are coaching these defenses, but both teams are relatively unproven at this juncture, or Miami is winning the natty.

Tate’s prediction: Texas A&M 21-20

Rand’s prediction: Texas A&M 27-17

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The Other Week 2 Games to Watch

This isn’t a Bloomin' Onion from Outback or Red Lobo biscuits from Red Lobster, but there is a nice appetizer for you on Friday night in the form of Colorado heading to Houston. After spending a reported $500k on Liberty transfer QB Kaidon Salter and another $1 million on blue chip freshman Juju Lewis, Deion has named Ryan Staub the new starting QB for the Buffs. Sanders’ confidence in Staub comes from a dream he had and then nicknamed him Martin Luther Staub. Houston is flying under the radar in Willie Fritz’s second year and has former TAMU 5-star Conner Weigman slinging the rock so we might need to pay attention to the Cougars if they win this one. And for the Dementors out there, Arizona hosts Kansas State, whose season is currently circling the toilet drain, and UCLA hosts New Mexico in a proof of life game for Nico Iamaleava and coach DeShaun Foster.

Immediately following College GameDay, which will be in Knoxville, we’ll see if Bobby-Dodd magic is still real or just a psychological mechanism Georgia Tech fans use to trick themselves into thinking they’re not at the most nondescript, irrelevant ACC school. But hey, at least they’ve got a really cool car. #12 Clemson’s in town to right the ship after an opening weekend loss to LSU and rock fight with Troy. Cade Klubnik is not the Cade Klubnik we saw against Texas in the playoff, their run game is nonexistent, WR Antonio Williams is still battling injuries, and mega-hyped DLs Peter Woods and TJ Parker have combined for 7 tackles and 1 sack. But other than that, things are just fine for the Tigers! Georgia Tech was without QB Haynes King, who would probably serve in a North Korean labor camp if the play called for it, but he’s expected to be back for this one. The Jackets are going to run, run, run, and play keep away from Clemson’s offense so the Tigers will need to take advantage of their limited opportunities. I don’t think we’ve ever endorsed player props in this newsletter, but if there’s one for tackles by Clemson LBs Sammy Brown and Wade Woodaz, mortgage on the over. Also at noon in a B1G vs SEC showdown, Wisconsin heads down to #19 Alabama to take on a Crimson Tide team that is looking to get rid of the horrid stink left upon them by FSU a couple of weeks ago. As much as we respect Bama for scheduling a major conference opponent, we simply can’t muster the strength to suggest this is going to be anything other than a blowout. Wisconsin has looked like a team that has an average-at-best ceiling, and they’ll be playing a tremendously more talented and furious team on the road. Star receiver Ryan Williams is a go after suffering a concussion in Tally, and Kalen Deboer knows that eyes across the nation will be taking a look at how his squad responds to the severe adversity they imposed upon themselves in Week 1. Tide by a million here.

Tag teaming the 3:30 slate with UT-UGA will be a whole bunch of bleh but there are some diamonds in the rough. 2-0 USC travels to 2-0 Purdue for the first time since 1976. The Boilers have taken care of Ball State and the Salukis of Southern Illinois to start the year which is not something we might’ve said this time last year. USC has also played dogwater and we’re interested to see if the Lincoln Riley QB whisperer thing is actually working on Jayden Maiava. If not and the Boilers spring an upset, it’ll be because of RB Devin Mockabee. The Backyard Brawl (Pitt-West Virginia) is also back, this time in Morgantown. You’ll remember the infamous loss Pat White and Steve Slaton took to Pitt that knocked them out of the 2007 national championship game. Well, they ran out of eligibility but Rich Rod is back but the hype of this game went down like the Hindenburg after they lost to Ohio last week. Nevertheless, cool rivalry in a cool place. 

The night slate will be SEC-heavy, starting off with #17 Ole Miss hosting Arkansas at 7:00. The story of the week here is the health of Rebels QB Austin Simmons, who is dealing with an ankle injury. We tapped in with our good friend, mega Ole Miss fan and 4th & Forever reader Waide here for some intel. Waide tells us that Lane Kiffin seems to be playing his usual Lane games with the injury reports, but by several different accounts around the program, the staff is preparing backup transfer QB Trinidad Chambliss (Ferris State) to run the show on Saturday night. Things will naturally be dicier for the Rebs with their starting QB out, but Ole Miss still has the talent advantage at nearly every position here. If Ole Miss wants to be a serious contender in the SEC in 2025, they need to find a way to win this game against a bottom-tier team in the league, at home.

Most eyes will be on Florida’s rebound attempt, which should come nice and easy against (checks notes), um, #4 LSU in Baton Rouge. DJ Lagway missed a ton of time in the offseason and, quite frankly, looks all out of sorts with the rest of the Gator offense, while LSU’s defense looks to be in pretty good shape considering they just held Clemson to 10 points on the road just two weeks ago. We’re not counting the Gators out here - UF could rely on RB Jaden Baugh who has more than enough ability to weather some of the offense’s woes, and it’s not like LSU’s offense has absolutely lit the world on fire. But damn, Billy really can’t catch a break, can he? Brendan Bett’s spit on a USF player last week might end up being the nail in the coffin for ole Billy, and it was the infamous shoe toss against these very same LSU Tigers that wrapped up Dan Mullen’s tenure in Gainesville. If nothing else, can we at least get some sort of madness here? A linebacker doing a backflip into a referee? A cheerleader falcon-punching a coach? Give us something here fellas!

The final SEC kickoff of the evening will happen in Columbia, SC - the Bora Bora of the south, many are saying - as 2-0 Vandy takes on 2-0 #11 South Carolina. Both of these teams blew out FCS opponents in the first two weeks, but both also, coincidentally, have already played Virginia Tech. The Gamecocks needed a late punt return to seal the game against the Hokies with their offense looking anemic, while the ‘Dores scored 34 unanswered points to smack VT at VT. So naturally, South Carolina is ranked #11 in the country while Vandy remains unranked. Great stuff this week AP Poll. We don’t know much about either of these teams yet, other than they will both likely be a threat to who they play on any given Saturday. But what we do know is that this is going to be an elite college quarterback matchup, between South Carolina’s future first-rounder LaNorris Sellers and Vanderbilt’s Diego Football, whose brothers were arrested for fighting some cops after the Week 1 game (we’ve all been there). This will be a war and we can’t wait. And finally, we have Duke’s visit to the Bayou to face Tulane in QB Darian Mensah’s return. Tulane is favored by a few points because A) they’re good and B) Mensah was last seen handing the ball off to anyone wearing an Illinois jersey. This is a great litmus test to see if we should take Duke seriously in the ACC race this year and if not, the AAC race between Tulane and USF could yield both of them a playoff bid. Tulane travels to Oxford next week in what might be a tryout for head coach Jon Sumrall if Lane Kiffin heads to Florida. Dominoes!

We’ve covered the games for Dementors on Friday night but if you’re a sicko we’ve got two great viewing opportunities for you on Saturday night. At 7pm, Virginia Tech plays host to Old Dominion - a team the Hokies have lost to twice since 2018. In a move that I’m sure was purely financial and had nothing to do with the fact VT wanted no business with the annual potential of losing to ODU, they cancelled four games including three trips to Norfolk. The Brent Pry tenure in Blacksburg is already cooked but if they lose here, he might be in Cancun by Sunday. In the late-late slate we’ve got 2-0 Minnesota heading to Berkeley to face undefeated Cal. PJ Fleck’s Gophers always resemble 1950’s era Big 10 football. They’re disciplined, tough, drink whole milk exclusively, and will grind you down in the trenches to win 20-17 all day everyday. Cal has our guy - freshman QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele (JKS) - who’s making NFL-level throws at the ripe age of 18 and 13 months. Saying shit gets weird in Berkeley is like saying water is wet, but when it’s (former) Pac-12 After Dark, shit will get weird in Berkeley. It’d be abhorrent if you chose Boston College - Stanford (also 10:30pm) in Palo Alto over the contest in Berkeley. They wouldn’t even show it at Alcatraz or during the Stanford Prison Experiment if either were still active. Instead, a second screen late night game will be Arizona State hosting Texas State. The Sun Devils look to rebound off their last-second loss to Mississippi State last weekend, while Texas State is 2-0 and just knocked off AAC favorite UTSA. 

OnlyRans

Last Week: 5-5 // Season Record: 9-8 (53%)

Oregon -27.5 @ Northwestern: Oregon just beat Oklahoma State at home by half a billion. Now they’re favored by less against Northwestern, who plays in a quasi-high school stadium? Lock of the day. 

Arizona +1.5 v Kansas State: Arizona ain’t played no one, but Kansas State has, and they haven’t been happy with a single result thus far. Give me the Wildcats at home on Friday night. 

Clemson -3.5 @ Georgia Tech and Under 54.5: This game opened as Clemson -9 and I think the public is overreacting a bit here. Clemson’s defense is getting some flack for not living up to its lofty standards, but it’s still yielded only 3 TDs. I think this rock will tilt to Clemson in a ‘Get Right’ game for Dabo & Co. 

Oklahoma -23.5 @ Temple: Why in the hell did Oklahoma schedule an away game at Temple, which plays in the Eagles stadium and regularly fills 5% of it? Is the top Class of 2028 recruit from Philly or something? Boomer.

Pitt -7.5 @ West Virginia: The Backyard Brawl lost a lot of its luster after West Virginia scored 10 points in a loss to Ohio last week, and their starting RB is now out for the season. Buy the hook if you can, but I like Pitt’s offense a whole lot more than whatever West Virginia cobbles together. 

TAMU +6.5 @ Notre Dame and Under 50.5: Notre Dame hasn’t played in 2 weeks while TAMU’s been on cruise control against Utah State and UTSA. Aggies QB Marcel Reed is a roller coaster, but his experience will help him here, and I think Mike Elko is licking his chops after watching Notre Dame’s OL give up 3 sacks to Miami. Aggies, and if you’re feeling dangerous, some ML wouldn’t hurt. 

Vandy @ South Carolina Under 48.5: All the offseason talk about LaNorris Sellers and the Cocks offense has been unfounded thus far. For instance, Vanderbilt scored 44 points on Virginia Tech, South Carolina scored 24. Sellers managed a mere 128 passing yards as the defense and special teams scored more than the offense in a win of South Carolina State last week. Keep your eye on Gamecocks punt returner Vicari Swain who has 3 punt return TDs on the year. 

Duke -1.5 @ Tulane: Maybe I’m underestimating Tulane’s familiarity with Mensah here, but he’s the best player on the field and I’m going to mark last week’s turnover fiasco as an aberration in my book. Additionally, Tulane’s offense has yet to click with BYU transfer Jake Retzlaff. 

Cal +1.5 v Minnesota: I’m going all in on Cal freshman phenom Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele (JKS) and the running game behind Kendrick Raphael. I don’t like it’s against Minnesota, who is always good for pulling wins out of their ass, but it’s a night game in Berkeley. 

Tate’s Great Picks 

Last Week: 3-2 // Season Record: 5-5 (50%)

Oregon -27.5 @ Northwestern: I’m right there with Rand - this is my lock of the week. The Ducks absolutely eviscerated Oklahoma State last week, and while Northwestern might be a bit better than the Cowboys, this Oregon team looks like a death squad at the moment. Hammering the Ducks.

Georgia Tech -3.5 vs Clemson and Under 54.5: I’m deviating from Rand on the line here but I’m with him on the under. Clemson has mostly looked like dog ass for the first two weeks while Georgia Tech is coming off a huge week 1 win in Boulder, playing at home where the place will be rocking, and frankly, has the better quarterback. I’d prefer a giant sandworm emerging from the 50-yard line to swallow both teams whole rather than either of these programs getting a big win here, but I think this is the moment Brent Key has been waiting for since taking over on North Ave. Don’t think it’ll be a high-scoring affair, though.

Pitt -7.5 @ West Virginia: West Virginia is ASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ole Miss -7.5 vs Arkansas: In my opinion, there are simply more scenarios where the Rebs beat Arkansas by 2+ scores than scenarios where Arkansas keeps this within a touchdown late. Taylen Green will make a few plays, but the Rebs are just solidly better than Arkansas is, and they’re back at home.

UMass +35.5 vs Iowa: UMass is a pretty horrid football team but Vegas is trying to tell me Iowa is going to score 36+ points? QB Mark Gronowski has thrown for 127 total yards through two games. Give me UMass to cover.

USF @ Miami Over 56.5: While both of these defenses have looked good through two games, I think this could get a little shootout-ish. Even if Miami managed to pull away from the Bulls, I could see a pretty easy backdoor Over here. Going Over.

TAMU +6.5 @ Notre Dame: As much promise as Irish QB CJ Carr showed in their opener against Miami, I just can’t count on a guy with such little experience to beat another really good team by a touchdown. Give me the Aggies to, at the very least, cover.

Wake Forest

NC State (2-0) @ Wake Forest (2-0): NCSU -7.5, O/U 51.5 - Thursday 7:30pm ET ESPN

Since the turn of the century, State owns 13 wins while Wake owns 12. A bystander might look at those numbers and think, ‘wow, what a close, competitive rivalry.’ You’d be right, bystander, but State should have like 20 wins since the turn of the century. They loathe Wake, despise playing in Winston, and the puppies always find a way to come up short when they’re favored, which is…most of the time. The second-oldest rivalry in FBS (Minnesota-Wisconsin has them beat by 3 years) gets a primetime slot on ESPN with both teams coming into the game 2-0. Before we get to the game at hand, let’s dig up some graves and reminisce on State’s recent shortcomings against Wake Forest. 

Let’s start in 2003 when #14 NC State had a senior QB by the name of Philip Rivers and WR Jericho Cotchery. State came to Winston-Salem as eight-point favorites and were definitely not looking ahead to their trip to the Horseshoe and #3 Ohio State. Even though Rivers threw a career high of 433 yards, the Deacs held a 25-point first half lead and ended up winning 38-24. Wake went on to finish the year 5-7.

Two years later, we’re back in Winston, where Wake had future ACC Player of the Year RB Chris Barclay but were three-point underdogs. State’s team was pretty nondescript but I’m only mentioning this game because Wake punter Ryan Plackemeier kicked an 82-yard punt in this game. I can’t find video evidence of said punt but I can promise you it happened because I listened to it on the radio with my Dad before a soccer game. Wake won 27-19. Six months later, Chris Paul punched Julius Hodge in the crotch and promptly hit a buzzer-beater after listening to State fans make fun of his deceased grandfather all game.

Wake won in Raleigh in 2006 as three-point underdogs 25-23 on their way to the ACC Championship thanks to a Josh Gattis interception with under a minute to go and State driving for the winning field goal. It wouldn’t be until 2007 when we see Wake favored in a game, but that’s not a jinx; we won by 20 as seven-point favorites. 2009 is the same story. Wake favored = Wake win. Sorry, Russell Wilson. 

Alright, enough with this Wake-favored stuff. Let’s jump to 2018 in Raleigh, where #14 NC State was trying to move closer to an Orange Bowl berth with Clemson and Trevor Lawrence likely going to the four-team playoff. Wake was 1-15 in their previous trips to Carter Finley, and QB Jamie Newman (Georgia legend) was making his first career start with Sam Hartman suffering a season-ending leg injury the weekend before. Carter Finley was rocking even with the Pack turning the ball on downs deep in Wake territory. Wake used all their timeouts on defense so they had to drive 80 yards in a minute and a half. No problem.

Finally, we get to last year’s matchup in Raleigh. State had high expectations as the 24th-ranked team in the preseason AP Poll behind QB Grayson McCall and WR KC Concepcion. Wake came into the game 1-3 on the year and was sputtering. But thanks to a Demond Claiborne TD with a minute left and ensuing interception by CJ Bailey, the Deacs stunned the Pack yet again as underdogs. 

I didn’t even get to the 2017 goal line forced fumble by Demetrius Kemp or the 2021 battle in Winston, but I wrote about it a few years ago, here. For the 2025 edition, we’re going to have to contain CJ Bailey, who’s looking better and better with each snap but I also remember saying that about Ryan Finley, MJ Morris, and Grayson McCall so I’ve got some voodoo powers, it seems. Look out for WR Wesley Grimes, who was a heralded recruit and started at Wake before transferring to State. He had a huge game against ECU, but did squat against UVA last week. Not that he needed to because RB Hollywood Smothers rushed for 140 yards and 2 TDs in their 35-31 win.

Alright, I’m done here. Wake is a home underdog in Winston, and State is riding high on the CJ Bailey hype. Deacs by a million. 

Where in the World are We?

Tate: I’ll be with Rand over the weekend at our good buddy Ari’s wedding in 30A, which is going to be lovely. I’ll let Rand take it from here because his travel is naturally far more interesting, but if you don’t hear from us on Monday, you’ll understand why.

Rand: If you’re reading this between 2pm-3pm ET on Thursday, I cannot legally confirm if I am currently on The Quad, where SportsCenter is broadcasting live. I can confirm I’ll be at the Wake game on Thursday night before taking an early flight Friday to Martha’s Vineyard for a dear friend’s wedding. On Sunday, I’ll be meeting up with Tate for another good friend’s wedding in 30A before taking the first flight out to Buffalo, NY, on Monday morning. 36 hours later, after a hotel stay somewhere on Lake Ontario and a visit to Lake Placid, I’ll find myself in the NYC area, where I’ll reside for the ensuing week and a half to work some global golf tournament called Ryder Cup. Clearly, the Europeans are not concerned with the fact Wake and Georgia Tech play then or that the CFB slate that weekend is one of the best ever. I swore I’d never try those creepy sleeping pods in airports, but the situation might be dire. I’ll report back on my findings.

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Rand & Tate met a few years ago through a mutual friend who went to college with Rand and high school with Tate. Tate went to Georgia and has spent the last few years collecting championship rings while traveling to watch the Dawgs. Rand went to known CFB powerhouse Wake Forest, and currently pays rent in Charlotte, but is rarely found there with all the work & CFB travel he does.