Allen Kenney

3 weeks ago | keyholepod.com | Allen Kenney

Don’t waste time arguing about cherry-picked stats from individual games. This goes for any player, really. Eye-catching stats–both good and bad–from a single game can signal something about a performance, but those numbers frequently contain plenty of noise. Mateer certainly threw up some stat lines in a few games in 2024 that warrant concern. Versus Texas Tech, for instance, he completed just nine of his 19 pass attempts for 115 yards with one interception and one touchdown.

4 weeks ago | keyholepod.com | Allen Kenney

To understand what is happening, we need to recognize that teams in the SEC and ACC currently gain an advantage in CFP positioning by only playing eight conference games. Relative to the Big 12 and Big Ten, which play nine conference games, half the teams in the SEC and ACC avoid a guaranteed loss versus another team in the conference and pick up a likely win against an overmatched conference opponent.

1 month ago | keyholepod.com | Allen Kenney

Among the milestones of college football’s offseason, the release of Bill Connelly’s preseason SP+ rankings for ESPN stands out as one of my favorites. (For the record, all conference media days are tied for the worst.)If you’re new to the nerd game, Bill’s numbers represent measures of efficiency on offense, defense and special teams, adjusted for tempo and quality of opponents.

1 month ago | keyholepod.com | Allen Kenney

The next great transfer quarterback from Wazzu? Cam Ward left the Washington State Cougars last season to become QB1 for the Miami Hurricanes. The move paid off handsomely for Ward, who turned into a Heisman Trophy candidate and the first pick in the NFL draft. It also created an opening for Ward’s understudy at Wazzu, John Mateer, to make a name for himself nationally.

1 month ago | keyholepod.com | Allen Kenney

Time for nineThe members of the SEC have been talking for eons about the best scheduling format for the league now that it has 16 teams. Merely raising the possibility of moving to a nine-game conference schedule means the league will add an additional game against an SEC opponent to each team’s slate. It’s when, not if. And if new reporting is correct, we now know the hesitance to add the ninth game probably has nothing to do with ESPN’s willingness to pay for it.