By: Chris Romano

For the Yellow Jacket

While Covid-19 has brought a lot of sports to a halt, the NCAA has decided to push through with its decision to continue to have a season. At first, the ACC, SEC, and the Big 12 were the only conferences deciding to play. 

Players from the other conferences, like the Big 10 and Pac 12, were not happy with their decisions not to play, causing some of the big names from certain teams to opt out of playing. Also, some players entered the transfer portal to try and hopefully get on a team that would be playing. 

With the President of the United States pushing to bring back college football, other conferences like the Mountain West, Big 10, and the MAC are returning to play. With some of these big schools returning, players who had opted out of the season are now returning to their schools. 

One team that has had an interesting story on their journey to play is Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish are an independent school, meaning that they are not part of a conference. In order for the University to play, the ACC and NCAA chose to help the Irish and have them join the ACC for the season. This would be the first time Notre Dame would be in a conference in school history. 

With all these conferences returning to playing, the AP poll had to add teams to the list. Right now, the AP poll has multiple teams who haven’t played a game yet ranked higher than teams who have been playing since week one. For example, Ohio State (6), Penn State (9), Oregon (12), Wisconsin (16), and Michigan (20) are all ranked even though they haven’t even set foot on the playing field. 

The University of Pittsburgh, who has a record of three wins and one loss, entered last week ranked lower than multiple teams who haven’t played a snap of football. I understand that some of these schools might be a little better, but Pitt should’ve been ranked higher than 24th prior to last week’s loss against NC State. The panthers were ranked 21st, but somehow dropped after winning against ranked Louisville in week 3, who themselves were 24th. 

With the new layout of college football, some of these teams might struggle. I see Clemson winning the ACC, but with Pitt and Notre Dame giving them a run for their money. In the Big 12 and Big 10, I have Texas and Penn State winning their conferences. For the SEC it will probably either be Florida or Alabama, although Mississippi State and Tennessee could surprise people. 

These predictions will probably not turn out to be true but one can only hope to get at least one right in this strange season.