Greetings fellow college football fans. For those that are new to the way this blog works in a normal season or just need a refresher, I aim for 4 blogs per week. As early as possible on Sunday (usually before now), I publish G’s Evaluation which is the GCR rankings without a lot of commentary (and boy do we need some commentary after the last few days). Because there is always the need for commentary, Sunday or Monday evening I publish G’s Explanation which highlights key games over the past weekend or some such thing. Later in the week, I usually publish G’s Exploration which are similar to the pre-season blogs about random thoughts or analysis. Then on the day of the first game (unless I’m on a plane or otherwise unavailable), I publish G’s Expectation also known as What to Watch. I like to write that one during the first game (so during MacNation in November, it’s Tuesday).
…..
Obviously, this is not my day job and I am otherwise often a slacker, so I don’t always get these all done, but it’s a plan. Usually I don’t publish an Evaluation until after week 4, but the pandemic schedule last year made me come up with a way to compare teams with a significant range of games played. An unintended side effect of that adjustment means the GCR rankings are publishable earlier! One caveat, again if you are new or need a refresher, all teams started out equally and only actual games played are evaluated (the IVY League and Marist of the Pioneer League have not yet played a game and are blank). This means that a team that the AP or coaches think are really good preseason that lose a game (e.g., Clemson, Ohio State, Washington et al), are going to be ranked lower and maybe not even close to the top 25. Some of the higher ranked teams will fade away once conference play begins in earnest, but as of right now… Without further ado here, from Iowa to Valparaiso, is the first 2021 GCR.
…..
