Monday Musings: Avoiding a final pothole on the road to ACC play

IIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTTT’S MONDAY!!!!

That means it’s time again to delve into the dark recesses of my brain and see what orange and green nuggets of fun we can dig out.

1) College football games are shortening due to the apparent need (that absolutely no fan asked for) to increase commercials and decrease actual football. The product has significantly worsened as a result. Commercial breaks during first and second half action now feel as long as draggy as halftime breaks. It’s truly unfortunate.

Conference realignment is killing traditional rivalries and marginalizing programs in the name of the almighty buck. Now the actual games themselves are getting worse for the same reason. It just saddens me that my favorite sport is getting worse and probably won’t ever go back to what it was, and that just flat-out stinks.

Oh, and because actual football is shorter with first-down stoppages taken out........

2) ......I should have known better than to take Miami -53.5 and over 62 in my weekly picks column. With these new stupid changes, that will mean less possessions, less plays, and less points. It would have taken a 100% perfect game for Miami to have broken those marks.

3) I don’t have many thoughts about the game itself. It’s Bethune-Cookman. I did the recap, so if you fancy a read, check out that. Also check out 3 Stars and Cam’s always very entertaining Good, Bad, and Ugly piece.

4) Temple constitutes the last non-conference game of the year, and then we can finally focus on conference play. The Canes haven’t gone undefeated in non-conference play since 2017, so that’s definitely something to strive for. The Canes are 23.5-point favorites over Temple as of the time of this writing, so Miami holds the clear edge when the schools meet in Philly this weekend.

5) Prediction: Miami 41, Temple 17. I dug into Temple a tad, and when I saw they beat Akron 24-21 and lost to Rutgers 36-7, I quit digging. This should be a game where Miami’s big offense line continues to pound on Temple, with Miami running the clock and just pulverizing Temple QB EJ Warner, who has completed just 52.5% of his 118 pass attempt this season with 4 touchdowns to 2 interceptions. I might be generous here giving them 17 points. Regardless, Miami rolls.