LSU Championship Celebration

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — The crowds are smaller.

Louisville lost its spot atop the list of teams with the largest total attendance during this strange 2020 FBS college football season, sliding from first to fifth while being overtaken by Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Texas A&M.

That’s right. Still ahead of most of the SEC.

The games are more competitive because most teams are unable to sneak the Campbell Fighting Camels onto their schedules.

But there is one thing the novel coronavirus has not been able to change about college football — fans howling with or at their coach after a game or two.

Follow along. It’s time for the Top Five/Bottom Five.

Top Five.

1. Mike Leach (1-0) — Last season Mississippi State lost six of its last nine by an average of 21 points. The Bulldogs scored more than 38 points twice — against Arkansas and Abilene Christian. Does that count?

On Saturday, Leach hung 44 points and 604 yards on L-S-U. I don’t care how many guys L-S-U lost to the N-F-L, Leach has already earned his first $5 million in S-t-a-r-k-v-I-l-l-e.

Sword, swung.

2. The Big Ten (0-0) — Guess which league just snuck four teams into the AP Top 25 — and none will play their first game until Oct. 24?

For the first time in weeks, Mr. Commissioner Kevin Warren was photographed smiling outside his office.

3. Miami (3-0) — Welcome back to the Top 10, Miami, even though it’s still too soon to say the Hurricanes are BACK. For Miami, BACK is legitimate national title contender.

Cam’Ron Harris leads the ACC in rushing touchdowns. D’Eriq King has thrown for six touchdowns without an interception. And the Hurricanes get an extra week to get ready for Clemson Oct. 10, likely their third GameDay appearance.

Beat Dabo Swinney and the Hurricanes will not only be back, they’ll be headed to the ACC championship game.

No wonder Don Johnson was trending on Twitter last week. Miami Nice.

4. Alabama (1-0) — Ed Orgeron loses a million players and coaches to other teams and jobs and Mississippi State happens to LSU.

Nick Saban loses a million players and coaches to the NFL and other jobs and the Crimson Tide never blink. Ask Missouri.

5. Notre Dame (2-0) — The Irish had their game against Wake Forest postponed until December because of the novel coronavirus. But take another look at the latest AP Top 25.

Brian Kelly’s team has jumped two spots to No. 5, They’ll still have to beat Clemson to make the national playoff. But the Irish are going to hang around the discussion in 2020. Their next two are Florida State and Louisville, a combined 1-4.

BOTTOM FIVE

5. Red River Shootout — Texas gave up 56 points and needed a furious rally to beat a Texas Tech team that nearly lost its opener to Houston Baptist. Oklahoma stumbled against Kansas State, which lost to Arkansas State, which lost to Memphis.

No playoff for you, Big 12.

4. David Shaw — Quarterback K.J. Costello threw for 623 yards and five touchdowns for Leach and Mississippi State Saturday. K.J. Costello threw for 1,038 yards and six touchdowns all season for Shaw at Stanford last season. In three seasons at Stanford, Costello never threw for more than 381 yards.

3. Pittsburgh (3-0) — The Panthers moved to 3-0 by outlasting Louisville 23-20 Saturday — and lost three spots in the AP Top 25.

Translation: The Pollsters said come back after you play Miami and Notre Dame next month.

2. Jimbo Fisher (1-0) — The Florida State program that Fisher jilted after the 2017 season gave up 52 points in a loss to Miami. The Seminoles looked like a team that Fisher and Willie Taggart left in bad, bad shape.

For $7.5 million per season, I’ll predict that Texas A&M fans were hoping for more than a 5-point win over Vanderbilt, especially with a trip to Alabama looming this weekend. The Aggie managed less than 400 yards and failed to score more than 7 points in any quarter. That’s not offensive genius territory.

1. Ed Orgeron (0-1) — It was reasonable to expect that LSU would discover how badly the Tigers missed Joe Burrow, Dave Aranda, Joe Brady, Ja’Marr Chase, Thaddeus Moss, Clyde Edward-Helaire and hundreds others that I can’t remember.

But not against a team LSU beat by 23 points last season.

Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney don’t do this while trying to defend a national title — and those are the coaches LSU fans watch their coach measured against.

Copyright 2020 WDRB Media. All rights reserved.