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Julie Bennett/Associated Press
When a college football team hires a new head coach, optimism for the long-term future of the program typically rises. The immediate future, however, is not always so rosy.
Since the 2020 season ended, 15 schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision have brought in a new head coach. Although a few programs may contend for a conference championship in 2021, most of them needed a change for competitive reasons anyway.
Rather than predicting a win-loss record, we ve organized the first-year coaches based on four tiers of expectations.
Each placement is subjective but considers the team s recent performance, returning production and 2021 schedule.
Update:
As of 5:00 p.m., here are the updated bet splits for the Conference USA Championship Game:
North Texas: +1.5, 25% of action, 24% of bets
Western Kentucky: -1.5, 75% of action, 76% of bets
The North Texas Mean Green and Western Kentucky Hilltoppers will battle for an automatic bid to March Madness when they meet for the Conference USA Championship Game on Saturday, March 13th. These two did not match up in the regular season, as both games they were scheduled to play were postponed.
North Texas (16-9, 9-5 C-USA) needed three wins in three days to get to this spot, and they grinded out a 54-48 victory over the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs on Friday. The Mean Green shot just 17.6% from the three-point line, but senior guard Javion Hamlet did it all with 18 points, six rebounds and five assists. He leads this team with 14.7 points per game and 4.5 assists, but North Texas is largely led by their defensive play.
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‘We didn’t deviate’: How UAB persevered through 42-day layoff
Updated Dec 18, 2020;
Posted Dec 18, 2020
The UAB football team withstood a 42-day layoff before winning its third straight division title. (UAB Athletics)
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42.
It’s also the number of days the UAB football team went between consecutive losses and a division-clinching win over the Rice Owls with a depleted roster, due to COVID-19 tests and subsequent contact tracing.
The Blazers (5-3, 3-1 C-USA) had the longest layoff of any team to play this fall but stuck to their weekly routine though the cancellation of four straight games and now have a chance to win its second league title against Marshall in the 2020 Ryan Conference USA Championship Game, Friday, Dec. 18, at Joan. C. Edwards Stadium in Huntington, West Virginia.
FIRST ALERT: Rain returns Saturday night
First Alert Weather: 5 p.m. 12-18-20 By J-P Dice | December 18, 2020 at 5:16 AM CST - Updated December 18 at 8:15 PM
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - A First Alert for another frosty start tomorrow with lows in the upper 20s.
Temperatures will reach the lower 50s during the afternoon. Clouds increase as our Next Big Thing approaches, but it will be dry for the Rock Run Christmas Parade or anything else going on in the afternoon hours. The rain arrives overnight and exits on Sunday morning.
A mild start to winter on Monday and as of now, viewing conditions should be good to see the “Star of Bethlehem” just after sunset, which has not been seen in 800 years. Saturn and Jupiter will get so close that they’ll appear as one bright star in the sky that evening.