Initial pilot selection recorded before results
Select from existing Research Board questions before kickoff, using verified schedules and obtainable primary evidence. No market disagreement or future result is a selection input. Two cases selected before either game; results not evaluated here.
FSU at Alabama: passing when the run stalls: Passing dependence and protection against a new FBS defense; follows the FSU passing question. Kickoff Sep 19, 2026, 7:30 PM UTC.
Tennessee at Georgia Tech: run execution and protection: Tests the expected rushing mechanism and passing/protection fallback against Tennessee; adds context to the Colorado defensive-cohesion question. Kickoff Sep 12, 2026, 11:00 PM UTC.
Two of up to three slots filled. FSU and Georgia Tech have linked Week 1 questions and accessible primary evidence. A third direct Colorado cohesion test is deferred: its next opponent is FCS Weber State and later-opponent evidence was not researched adequately within this bounded pilot. No claim of representative coverage.
How to read these records
Observations describe sourced facts; interpretation explains a possible mechanism. Counterevidence and missing information stay visible. A new observation is not automatically a changed conclusion. Later updates carry their own dates and cite the hash of the original record; the original cutoff is preserved.
College rushing totals include sack attempts and losses. We do not compute an adjusted rushing measure or infer designed runs versus scrambles. Sacks per attempts plus sacks exclude scrambles and are not pressure rates. No pressure, clean-pocket, turnover-worthy-play, film or blitz grade is inferred from a box score.
This pilot uses named possession examples, not an aggregate “obvious passing” metric. Third downs do not represent every forced-pass situation. Any future play-by-play measure needs a definition fixed before calculation and disclosure of its exclusions.