Basketball Bluebloods are Flourishing in College Football

College football has taken on the form of March Madness…well sort of.

The bluebloods of college basketball are currently all undefeated in college football. Kentucky, North Carolina, Duke, Syracuse, UCLA, Indiana and surprisingly Kansas are all 3-0 to start the year.

There are 40 national championships between the seven historic basketball programs, but when it comes to football there is serious drop-off in terms of accolades.

As of right now, Kentucky is the only team representing the basketball bluebloods in the Top 25, and there is possibility there will be more than one in the future. But can the rest of the bluebloods become consistent threats the rest of the way?

Kentucky

Led by quarterback Will Levis, Kentucky has been one of the best teams in the nation.  They sit ninth in the nation and gave Heisman hopeful Anthony Richardson and his Florida Gators team their only loss of the season so far. The Wildcats could be in play for a College Football Playoff bid down the line but have a tough hill to climb with ranked teams (#16) Ole Miss, (#11) Tennessee and (#1) Georgia still left on their schedule.

North Carolina

Head coach Mack Brown and the Tar Heels have been in nail biters all season long, and from the looks of it that won’t change. In their first three games of the season, they’ve allowed a combined 113 points. Outside of the team’s horrid play on defense they’ve looked good on offense. So far, they are averaging 51.3 points per game, which is good for fourth in the nation. As long as Drake Maye(963 yards,11TD, 1 INT and 74%), brother of Tar Heel basketball legend Luke Maye, keeps up his high level of play the team should be able to be compete for a ACC Championship.

Duke

The Bluedevils where 3-9 last year and lost their last 8 games of the season, but in Mike Elko’s first year coaching he has them rolling. They shut out Temple 30-0 to start the year and beat Northwestern 31-23. The Elko era is off to a good start in Cameron. Elko could be the next legendary head coach to walk Duke’s campus, but it is way too early to tell.

Syracuse

Transfer Garret Shrader has arguably been the best quarterback to throw for the Orange since Ryan Nassib in 2012. In three games Shrader has thrown eight touchdowns with zero interceptions and has ran for 200 yards and three touchdowns. If Syracuse wants to remain successful, they will have to keep relying on their Mississippi State transfer to make winning plays.

UCLA

The Bruins wins this year haven’t been the highest quality of opponents, but since last year they’ve been on a six-game winning streak with wins against Colorado, USC and California. The Bruins opponents are averaging 18 points per game, while scoring 41, but their next group of games will be challenging. In their next four they face off against Colorado, (#18) Washington, (#13) Utah, and (#15) Oregon.

Indiana

Indiana won only two games in 2021, and now will have a chance to double that when they play Cincinnati. The Hoosiers have been in close games throughout the season and won two of them by only three points. This is head coach Tom Allen’s seventh season in Bloomington, and his best start since 2020. It will be interesting to see if this 3-0 start actually means something or just the beginning to an ugly ending.

Kansas

The Kansas Jayhawks have been the biggest surprise of the college season. Junior quarterback Jalon Daniels has been big time for the Jayhawks, picking up wins versus West Virginia and a formerly ranked Houston team. This is a historic start for the Jayhawks who’ve haven’t started the season 3-0 since 2009 under Mark Magino. At one point the Jayhawks were the laughingstock of college football for decades, now they look to be turning heads. Let’s see if they can permanently retire the notion as being one of college football’s worst programs in the last decades.