In today’s Fact or Fiction National Columnist Mike Farrell looks at three big recent topics in college football and decides whether each statement is indeed FACT or if it’s FICTION.
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1. Breece Hall will be the best RB in college football next season. Â
Farrell’s take: FACT. It’s close, with Bijan Robinson from Texas in Hall's own conference, and Tank Bigsby at Auburn and Isaiah Spiller at Texas A&M. There are going to be a ton of talented running backs in college football next season and a few who could break out as well. But Iowa State's Hall is a potential 2,000-yard back when it comes to all-purpose yards, and he should be the guy to beat heading into the season.
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2. The most unlikely playoff team under expanded system would have been Arizona.
Farrell’s take: FACT. I looked at which teams that haven’t made the playoff would have had a chance if everything started at 12 in 2014, and here’s the list — Arizona, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Baylor, TCU, Kansas State, Boise State, Stanford, UNC, Iowa, Houston, Penn State, Michigan, USC, Western Michigan, Colorado, Wisconsin, Auburn, UCF, Miami, Florida, Utah, Memphis, Texas A&M, Iowa State, Cincinnati, Coastal Carolina and Indiana. Which one surprised me the most? Arizona.
The Group of Five teams are of course surprising but not when you consider an automatic bid to the top-ranked team out of that group. Arizona has fallen so far and so fast that it’s hard to remember its 10-4 season under Rich Rodriguez in 2014 that would have likely put the Wildcats in the playoff. They were 10-3 after getting blasted by Oregon in the Pac-12 title game and No. 12 in the country, so it’s not a sure thing they would have been selected as an at large but they certainly would have been in the discussion.
Maybe the powers that be might have moved them out of the top 12 to assure they didn’t get a berth after Oregon embarrassed them 51-13, but simply based on the numbers they could have made it. Since then they have gone 26-41 overall, including 0-5 last year.
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3. There is another Kyle Pitts out there for the 2021 season.
Farrell’s take: FICTION. The best tight end in the nation next season, at least to me, is Jalen Wydermyer at Texas A&M, and he has first-round potential. But no one will come close to doing what Pitts did last season with 12 touchdowns in eight games. Some might say Arik Gilbert at Georgia because he has physical skills that are similar to Pitts, but until UGA shows it can use the tight end properly in the offense I’m holding back on that. And Gilbert has been told he’s going to play wide receiver anyhow. There is talent, but nothing like we saw from Pitts.
