It’s hard to believe that the 2022 college football season is already waving at us from the rearview mirror. It feels like only yesterday that we were watching Northwestern completely derail the Nebraska hype train. Now, as we sit here having mind-numbingly watched Georgia take TCU to the wood shed for the National Championship after an otherwise electric bowl season, the somber feeling of a calendar without college football in it is settling in.
As is tradition here at SoBros Network, I’m going to look back at all of my hottest preseason takes and assess what I got wrong and what I got right. That’s what this whole thing is about – accountability. Those of us who express our ideas and opinions on the internet should be held to such a standard, though I know not everyone will outright say it. You don’t have to worry about that with us – our transparency is something we pride ourselves on. So, pop open a cold one and get ready to have yourself a good laugh looking back on what I thought would happen during the 2022 college football season.
Things I Got Right
It wasn’t much, man. Holy shit – what a rough year for your boy prognosticating. I look back at some of the things I jotted down in August and wonder just what in the rightful fuck I was thinking. I think just about the only thing I can hang my hat on this season is that I nailed the over on Mississippi State’s win total.
By and large, I do think I had a pretty decent grasp on the SEC West (Arkansas and Ole Miss aside). I thought Alabama would win it, but I did say that if LSU jells under Brian Kelly quickly, they had the talent to really surprise some people this season. Safe to say they did that, right?? I wasn’t nearly as high on Texas A&M as everyone else was, and I feel like that skepticism was validated. I didn’t get the Auburn hype at all, and predicted them to be the worst team in the division.
Outside of the SEC, I think I nailed it when I said “I’ll believe it when I see it” with Miami. It feels like every year, they’re ranked inside the top 15 of the preseason AP poll, and every year, they disappoint. So, I wasn’t going to fall for it yet again.
I’m iffy on whether or not to count my take on Clemson in here – I had initially said they wouldn’t win the ACC, which was obviously wrong. But, I think I was onto something with my general sentiment that they were being overrated and not nearly as good as they’d been in years past. There’s a legitimate question to ask about Dabo Swinney and his performances with and without generational quarterback talent.
I did have Ohio State as a playoff team, but really, these are the only things I really stuck my neck out there for that I actually got right. I look back to August 2022 Stoney and wonder why the hell anyone would listen to him.
Things I Got Wrong
Okay, here we go. This is embarrassing and laughable. Ohio State was the only playoff prediction I got right, but my other four teams were Alabama, Utah, and NC State. The Alabama pick makes sense, even though it’s wrong. The Utah pick was a bit of a long shot, but I was really buying in hard on the Utes. The NC State pick sounds crazy now, but hear me out. There’s always one team that comes out of nowhere to surprise us (hello, TCU). I thought that if the Wolf Pack got past Clemson (who I already wrote that I thought was overrated), they had a pretty good chance of running the table with that schedule. They lost to Clemson, of course, and it felt like their season was over from that point forward.
Even more laughable than that was that I said Georgia would lose twice. I still owe a friend a beer because of my dumb confidence in that prediction. I still hate you, Stetson Bennett. Elsewhere in the SEC, I called the Arkansas Razorbacks at least a 10-win team, and a playoff dark horse contender. I was so confident that Kentucky would beat Ole Miss that I made a Whataburger bet with Steven McCash.
I also called the Wisconsin Badgers a dark horse playoff contender. And, I boringly picked Cincinnati to go to the Cotton Bowl (but watch out for BYU!) just like every analyst who doesn’t actually watch the Group of Five. I’m so ashamed. I thought I was better than that. I love Group of Five football!
Finally, my “I don’t really want to pick Bryce Young” Heisman pick was Bijan Robinson. Maybe that doesn’t sound so silly given what a generational talent he is. But, he wasn’t even anywhere near the discussion of the most deserving candidates by season’s end. A swing and a miss.
Now’s your chance, folks – which takes did you get hilariously wrong? Drop ’em in the comments below.
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Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.
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