Written by Andy Staples at SI.com
With the NCAA’s cases against Louisville, North Carolina and Ole Miss likely to yield news in the next few months, this space could get a little wonky. So let’s cleanse the palate today with a discussion of actual football.
We still have to wait three months before we can see one team play another, but it’s never too early to try to dissect the matchups. So for the fourth consecutive year, we’ll examine the Pivot Point games for teams across America.
What’s a Pivot Point game? It’s the game upon which a team’s season might turn. It isn’t necessarily a team’s biggest game. It might be an early-season matchup that predicts the future. (Think the Texas loss to Cal last September.) It might be an odd spot in the schedule. (Think Alabama playing at a fresh-off-an-open-date South Carolina at the end of a tough stretch in 2010.) Or it might simply be the most important game on the schedule. (Think LSU-Alabama or Clemson-Florida State in most recent years.)
No matter the reason for the Pivot Point, circling a few dates on the calendar will help us pass the time before the games begin…
Sept. 9
Oklahoma at Ohio State
Pivot point game for: Oklahoma, the Big 12 and Ohio State
The Big 12 has been left out of the College Football Playoff in two of its first three years. To buck that trend, the league’s best teams have got to win some marquee out-of-conference games. They don’t get much more marquee than this. The Sooners, who won the Big 12 but got whipped by Houston and Ohio State in their out-of-conference schedule in 2016, have a chance to put themselves and the league in a more comfortable position. But to do that, they’ll have to stop an offense that should be quite a bit better than the one that dominated their defense in Norman last season. Why? Former Oklahoma offensive coordinator (and Indiana head coach) Kevin Wilson is calling the plays in Columbus now. For the Buckeyes, this game could ease any lingering fears about the offense created by the shutout loss to Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl. Urban Meyer ran off co-coordinators Tim Beck and Ed Warinner and brought in Wilson to keep that from ever happening again, and an impressive display against the Big 12 favorite would help the Buckeyes’ confidence on that side of the ball.
Georgia at Notre Dame
Pivot point for: Notre Dame
The Fighting Irish will have had a chance to work out any kinks with their new offense and defense in the season-opener against Temple. Against the Bulldogs, Notre Dame can either leave behind the specter of a 4–8 2016 season or stoke fear of another collapse. A win or a close loss against Georgia should offer confidence that the Irish can compete with any team on the schedule. A blowout loss could foreshadow more ugliness. The back half of Notre Dame’s schedule is especially tough. It begins with a post-bye week visit from USC and also features visits from NC State and Navy. The Irish also have to play at Miami and Stanford during that slog. We should have a better idea how Notre Dame will fare during that stretch after seeing the Irish against Georgia.
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