College football truly kicked off last night. (I believe Week 0 earned its name because it’s worthless) with the first high-profile (Utah-Florida) matchup of a fascinating season, with too many storylines to fit in one newsletter:
The Pac-12’s last dance. The final four-team playoff. Is Texas back (and will Arch Manning play)? Is Florida State? Is Penn State finally ready to wrestle back control of the Big Ten after years in Michigan and Ohio State’s shadow? Deion Sanders’ debut season at Colorado. Jimbo Fisher teaming with Bobby Petrino. Nick Saban receiving a standing eight count.
The two biggest storylines, however, should remain relevant all season — and potentially be remembered for decades.
Georgia is attempting to become the first team in the wire service era (since 1936) to win three straight national titles, while USC’s Caleb Williams hopes to become the second player in history to win multiple Heisman Trophy awards.
Despite losing 25 players to the NFL Draft over the past two seasons, the top-ranked Bulldogs have +220 odds to win the national championship. The only other schools with single-digit odds are Alabama (+600), Michigan (+750) and Ohio State (+750).
Williams has +500 odds to take the Heisman home again. Sportsbooks believe his greatest threats come from LSU’s Jayden Daniels (+1000), Texas’ Quinn Ewers (+1200), Florida State’s Jordan Travis (+1200) and Clemson’s Cade Klubnik (+1400).
The odds suggest Georgia and Williams will make history. History counters, citing numerous examples of failure, including 10 Heisman winners unable to repeat in the years since Archie Griffin became the first to achieve the feat (1974-75).
Williams, the projected No. 1 overall pick in the next NFL Draft, opened his second season with the Trojans by throwing for 278 yards and four touchdowns in USC’s 56-28 win over San Jose State last week, but matching — or even exceeding — last year’s prolific numbers (4,537 yards passing, 52 total touchdowns, 5 interceptions, 66.6 completion percentage) might not be enough.
In 1991, BYU’s Ty Detmer was more efficient than during his Heisman campaign, but he finished third in the voting. In 2005, Matt Leinart’s equally special senior season was overshadowed by teammate Reggie Bush. In 2013, Johnny Manziel threw for more yards and touchdowns, with a better completion percentage and QB rating, yet finished fifth in the Heisman voting. In 2017, Lamar Jackson’s stats essentially matched his Heisman campaign, but the Louisville quarterback finished behind Baker Mayfield and Stanford’s Bryce Love.
Williams could find competition he doesn’t foresee, as Bryce Young did last season, when he finished sixth in the voting behind five other quarterbacks.
Williams could see his production dip, like Mark Ingram and Jameis Winston.
Williams could miss time to injury, as Sam Bradford did in 2009.
In a close contest, Williams could lose to the emotion of voters who are more eager to elevate a new name, like USC’s Charles White, who finished with fewer touchdowns and yards per carry in 1979 than reigning winner Billy Sims.
Williams could also come painfully close to repeating, like Tim Tebow (1,575 voting points), who earned the most first-place votes in 2008, but lost a tight three-way race with Bradford (1,726) and Colt McCoy (1,604).
USC’s success will also play a role in Williams’ efforts. The increased attention on late-season performances may ultimately hurt him, with difficult games against Notre Dame, Utah, Washington, Oregon and UCLA in the final six weeks.
Georgia’s three-peat bid has a better chance of coming to fruition, but the odds were also high for many of the 13 teams who’ve failed to win three straight national titles, like USC, which only needed two yards from LenDale White to finish the three-peat at the 2006 Rose Bowl, and Alabama, whose undefeated 2013 season died on Auburn’s forever “Kick Six,” and Oklahoma, whose 47-game win streak ended against Notre Dame in 1957.
Fortunately, the title will be decided without debates, like the ones that emerged in 1946, when Army (9-0-1) was snubbed of a third straight title in favor of Notre Dame (8-0-1) after the nation’s top two teams played a scoreless tie at Yankee Stadium, and 1948, when Notre Dame (9-0-1) never got the chance to meet champion Michigan (9-0).
Georgia feels invincible, coming off a record-setting 65-7 demolition of TCU in last season’s national title game, so it’s easy to forget it was a shanked field goal away from losing to Ohio State in the semifinals.
It’s also important to remember how much harder it is to stay on top than it is to reach the top, how challenging it will be for Kirby Smart to keep the young players focused and driven , how unexpected landmines — like last year’s near-upset at Missouri — are always lurking, and how much pressure is being thrust upon new quarterback Carson Beck, who may need to save their season, as Stetson Bennett did so many times over the previous two years.
However the season ends for Georgia, and Williams, it will be an upset.
Today’s back page
Read more:
🏈 Aaron Rodgers’ joy has returned with Jets: ‘Like waking up inside a dream’
⚾ Hal Steinbrenner promises ‘deep dive’ into Yankees for ‘unacceptable’ season
🎾 Ailing No. 5 seed Ons Jabeur guts out win at US Open: ‘warrior’
🏈 CANNIZZARO: Isaiah Simmons’ tantalizing athleticism provides Giants’ ultimate wild card
⚾ Mets’ Ronny Mauricio, Brett Baty call-ups usher in look at future
Greatness is complicated
At 19, Coco Gauff is arguably already the biggest star in American tennis. The No. 6 seed arrived at Flushing Meadows as a trendy championship pick — most recently winning the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati after slaying top-seed and longtime tormenter Iga Swiatek — and enters Friday’s third round match against No. 32 Elise Mertens (Gauff holds a 2-0 head-to-head edge) with the third-best odds (+550) to win the U.S. Open.
If Gauff does capture the title, it would make her just the fourth female teenager to win a grand slam since 2004. It would also match her with Chris Evert — who won the first of her 18 grand slam titles at age 19 — and put her ahead of the pace of Venus Williams (20), Martina Navratilova (21), Billie Jean King (22), Lindsay Davenport (22) and Jennifer Capriati (24).
Five years ago, I watched Gauff — now, a fixture at Arthur Ashe Stadium — play as a junior on Court 17, where less than 50 people were in attendance. The story I wrote about her is nowhere to be found in the archives of nypost.com. Gauff was of such little importance that the story was bumped because of space and scheduled to run two days later. It was then killed after the top-seed and reigning French Open junior champion was upset in the quarterfinals against qualifier Daria Lopatetska (currently ranked 715th in the world) after Gauff hit 17 double faults.
The path to stardom can be complicated.
In 2013, I wrote about 15-year-old Tornado Alicia Black, who was one of the most promising young American players and reached the finals of the U.S. Open Junior Girls’ tournament. Her parents believed her name would give her — and her younger sister, Hurricane Tyra Black — greater marketability as future tennis stars. Injuries derailed Tornado’s career. Hurricane, now 22, shifted to professional pickleball.
Gauff, given the same weighty and unfair comparisons with the Williams sisters, embraced the pressure. Unprompted, the then-14-year-old discussed the 23-time Grand Slam champion, knowing most conversations inevitably steer in that direction.
“I look up to Serena, she is the greatest, but hopefully I can be even better than Serena,” Gauff told me in 2018. “A lot of people think I’m crazy when I say that, but you don’t want to limit yourself. If you have that ultimate goal to reach, it gives you something to keep fighting for.
“I don’t feel any pressure. It just feels pretty awesome that people are putting me in the same sentence that you can be the next Serena or you can be here one day. It gives me confidence and shows that other people believe in me.”
Gauff, like Williams, was coached by her father growing up. Like King Richard, Corey Gauff believed his daughter was the future of tennis.
“Parents can be dreamkillers,” Corey said then. “They always want a second plan, a just in case, but I always said, ‘Do what you love, and the money will follow.’ Who wants to play tennis and just be top 10? I don’t limit it. I say, ‘You can do it, but you have to be the most disciplined, the hardest worker, say ‘no’ to a lot of stuff and say ‘yes’ to stuff you don’t want to. I’m not gonna be the one to talk her off that dream.’
“There’s no rush. We’ll take our time. We just keep looking for the hole in her game. How do we fix it? And we have a lot of time to fix it.”
After Gauff’s fourth-round match of that tournament, a fan approached her father. He offered congratulations and good luck, commenting how much he enjoys watching Gauff play.
“But don’t let her burn out,” the stranger said. “Just don’t let her burn out.”
The family was mindful of the possibility. Gauff had played in just seven tournaments that year and was limited to a few hours of training per day. She spent much of her time playing video games and hanging out with her friends in Florida.
The dream was a gamble, lost by countless parents lured by the longshot potential of money, fame and/or accolades. Still, her father — a Georgia State basketball player turned healthcare executive — and mother, Candi — a Florida State track star turned teacher, who homeschooled Coco — quit their jobs to devote all energy to their prodigy.
“We still foot almost everything,” Gauff’s father said of her tennis expenses at the time. “We’ve been fortunate. We saved and we planned, but by the time we leave New York we’ll have spent almost 21 days in a hotel. It’s expensive. I’m hoping she has success and then maybe next year we don’t have to do the juniors again.”
Less than a year later, Gauff became the youngest qualifier in Wimbledon history and the youngest player to win a main draw match in 24 years, defeating Venus Williams and making an improbable run to the fourth round. Gauff was given a wild card to the U.S. Open main draw and reached the third round, when she lost to top-seed Naomi Osaka in Gauff’s Ashe Stadium debut.
Just one year earlier, Gauff wondered how long it would be before — or if — she would be invited onto the feature court.
“When I hit the balls on [Court] 17, I think one day maybe I can be hitting balls in Ashe,” Gauff said. “I just hope that one day I can get there.”
Appreciating a unique American flag-bearer
It is also an exciting time for men’s tennis in the United States. Three Americans under the age of 27 (Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul) are currently ranked among the top 15 in the world, while rising talent like Sebastian Korda, 23, J.J. Wolf, 24, and Ben Shelton, 20, are ranked inside the top 50.
For much of his career, John Isner, 38, was forced to carry the flag by himself; the 6-foot-10 servebot who every American attached its hopes to and every player wanted to avoid in their draw.
Isner’s incomparable 17-year career concluded Thursday, following a second-round loss to Michael Mmoh at the U.S. Open, which appropriately ended in a fifth-set tiebreaker; the record-setting 829th tiebreaker of his career.
Isner, who will retire with an all-time record 14,470 aces and fastest serve (157.2 miles per hour), won 16 ATP singles titles and eight doubles titles in his career, while finishing among the world’s top 20 players for 10 straight seasons.
Despite playing along a steady crop of superior American prospects — including Donald Young, Jack Sock, Ryan Harrison and Sam Querrey — Isner, who reached as high as No. 8 in the world. was consistently the country’s best hope in the wake of Andy Roddick’s 2012 retirement.
“I did take pride in being the top-ranked American for as many years as I was,” Isner said. “At the same time, I also realized it wasn’t the 1990s, where America had five guys in the top 10. There were certainly times when I was the only person playing Madrid and Rome, the only American there, for a couple years. That was sort of weird for me. But, yeah, what my legacy is, I’m not sure.”
It is of a college star (Georgia) who helped reduce the stigma of going to school. It is of a player who squeezed so much every ounce from a devastating shot — “I believe he has the best serve in the history of the game,” Andy Murray said this week. “He was always a disaster to play against or see in your draw.” — that made its mark on any surface.
He reached the fourth round at the French Open three times — also taking prime Rafael Nadal to five sets in 2011 — made a pair of U.S. Open quarterfinals (2011, 2018) and an epic 2018 Wimbledon semifinals, which Isner lost to Kevin Anderson, 26-24, in the fifth set. At 6 hours, 36 minutes, it was the second-longest match in Wimbledon history. Isner, of course, also played the longest in the sport’s history.
In the defining match of his career — lasting 11 hours and 5 minutes over three days — Isner defeated Nicolas Mahut, 70-68, in the fifth set of the first round at Wimbledon in 2010. It is a record that will never be bested, with Isner’s marathon matches inspiring all four majors to adopt super-tiebreakers in the fifth set.
Isner was easy to like and hard to watch. He was impossible to ignore. And he will be impossible to forget.
“I think I’ve overachieved,” Isner said. “I never imagined myself having this much success for this long.”
