College football Week 1 predictions: Best bets, picks against the spread for all 15 marquee games

College football is broken. In a land where USC resides in the Big Ten and Stanford calls the ACC home, Lane Kiffin proudly wears the shards of the sport around his neck, as if it is his national championship trophy. The new LSU coach is the face of a sport in disarray after leaving Ole Miss before the playoff, overseeing at least $40 million in spending on college athletes who are illogically permitted to enter unrestricted free agency every year and, most recently, pursuing NFL players for his roster. “Honestly, it’s embarrassing [that] that’s where we are,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said this week.“I don’t blame the kids, but people trying to take advantage of the system.

It’s embarrassing, but we’ve been there for a while. “There’s no governance.I mean, it’s a joke.

There’s zero rules.And when you enforce rules someone just goes and finds a judge to say, ‘No, you can’t enforce that rule.’ Never did I think we’d be living in an era like this, but that’s where we are.” Prior to the unregulated professionalization of the sport, Swinney was slated to be the face of college football this decade after winning two national titles — against Nick Saban — and reaching the playoff in six straight seasons.

But Clemson has been back to the playoff just once in the past five years — finishing with its worst record (7-6) in 15 years last season — as Swinney failed to embrace a transfer portal that allows Kiffin to field an instant contender with 44 new players in Baton Rouge. Kiffin used one spot on former Arizona State star Sam Leavitt, giving his offense a chance to be as explosive as ever.Swinney — whose teams have lost their past three season openers by an average of nearly 20 points — stayed in-house, elevating former backup quarterback Christopher Vizzina to make his second-ever start in the most hostile stadium in the nation. For at least one night, LSU (-10) is a villain worth rooting for. It won’t be ...