2017 COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREVIEW
THIS IS HOW IT STARTED: Four SI editors were sitting around a table. One said a buddy of his had just retired, bought an RV and was going to spend the 2017 college football season traveling the country, going from game to game. A debate ensued. Where should he go? Suddenly, we had an organizing principle for our '17 preview. Staff writer Joan Niesen got the daunting assignment to draw up a 13-week itinerary with these parameters: Start and end in the same place, cover as much ground as possible and design a trip that is feasible—there has to be enough time to drive from game to game.
USING EXPERIENCE GLEANED from her eight years on the road as a sportswriter—plus stints living in St. Louis, Washington, D.C., New York City, Dallas, Minneapolis, Denver and Chicago—and tapping into the collected wisdom of her SI colleagues, Niesen put together a trip chock full of games that included at least one headline attraction: a rising program, a captivating player, a rivalry or an off-the-field tradition. She dropped in recommendations for places to eat and drink, sights to see and roads to explore. To supplement her suggestions we dropped in a few meals from Andy Staples's Top 25 College Town Meals (found in university towns of fewer than 500,000 people), which will run in its entirety this week on SI.com/eats.
THE TOUR PAUSES along the way to check in on the fate of the Big 12, the state of tackling and the new face of college football, Sam Darnold. The full trip is followed by our Top 25, with scouting reports that include insights from opposing coaches, statistical profiles and schedule analysis. So top off the tank, strap on your seat belt and rev up the engine. It's going to be a wild ride.
2017 College Road Trip Stops
1 USF AT SAN JOSE STATE
page 52
2 NORTH DAKOTA AT UTAH
page 53
3 COLORADO STATE VS. COLORADO
page 53
4 CENTRAL ARKANSAS AT KANSAS STATE
page 54
5 GARDNER-WEBB AT WYOMING
page 60
6 NEW MEXICO AT BOISE STATE
page 61
7 OREGON STATE AT WASHINGTON STATE
page 61
8 ST. JOHN'S VS. ST. THOMAS
page 62
9 TEXAS AT IOWA STATE
page 62
10 NORTHWESTERN AT WISCONSIN
page 63
11 MARYLAND AT OHIO STATE
page 64
12 CLEMSON AT SYRACUSE
page 70
13 N.C. STATE AT PITT
page 70
14 MICHIGAN AT PENN STATE
page 75
15 TULANE AT MEMPHIS
page 76
16 ARKANSAS AT OLE MISS
page 76
17 IDAHO AT TROY
page 76
18 LSU AT ALABAMA
page 77
19 NEW MEXICO AT TEXAS A&M
page 77
20 UCLA AT USC
page 78
21 NOTRE DAME AT STANFORD
page 84