Well week one of the 2006 college football season is almost in the books as Louisville marches up and down the field like they are playing the Berea Bulldogs. After speaking to my good friend John Beam I got sucked into to thinking Kentucky would at least be the game so I jumped on board and figured at least now I have some interest in the Sunday night game. (This is easily the most dangerous part of gambling. There is nothing else on TV and you badly want to have an interest in an otherwise not so appealing game….the only thing to do is bet on that game. Does that ever work well? Seriously) Unless things change quickly those 23 points I have aren't going to do me any good and I will be watching reruns of Entourage by halftime.
As for Saturday here are some opening weekend observations:

I am on the campus of Georgia Tech by 9am and we head to the Home Depot VIP section of the ESPN Game Day set-up. When we arrive at 9:15am Corso, Herbstreit and Fowler are already taping segments of the first 2 hour show of the college football season. For a school that is rarely compared to the Georgia's, Tennessee's and Florida's of the world the campus is already buzzing as several thousand students are gathered waiting to cheer and heckle the game day crew sitting a top the monster set in the middle of the Tech campus.
As we watched from behind the set in the muddy VIP area...(VIP meant nothing more than free water and muffins for 2 hours so we could take pictures and get autographs from Kirk, Lee and Chris….sign me up!) These guys are like the Beatles of college football. Lee Corso can't go anywhere without 2 giant security guards on either side of him....soon he will make even more enemies in Atlanta during his famous picks segment. Chris Fowler, on the other hand moves freely through the crowds and talks to the students during breaks like he is one of them. Ironically, he got his start 20 years ago on the ESPN show, Scholastic Sports America. Did anyone else love this show like I did? This guy has TV written all over him, perfect hair that never moves, a flawless dresser and a jaw that reminds me of my college buddy Daniel Cort...aka "Chin". Then there is Herbstreit, he is the John Lennon of the group....girls love him and guys want to be him. Some Buckeye fans came with his college jersey just hoping for a picture and autograph. Correct me if I am wrong, was he really even that good in college??
Along with the game day crew there were sightings of other ESPN analysts Brent Musburger (He looks old which makes me feel old), Desmond Howard (really tiny) and the one and only Bob Davie. By far the most disappointing moment of the day was not getting my picture with him. I could have put it right next to my Ty Willingham autographed business card. Aren’t we all lucky that he will be doing the best game of the week every Saturday night. Coward…..more to come on this later.

(I just flipped back and Kentucky has scored 14 unanswered points……hey maybe the 2nd half will be worth watching…..hmmmmm)

Here are some of the highlights from my visit to the game day set. The student signs (Tech students are smart) Signs with references with to Ball and Johnson are taken away by game day staffers…amazingly they give them back after the show. Remaining signs include: Brady’s sister likes the D! Rudy was offsides (Referring to his sack against Tech) and a comparison of Charlie Weiss to the Hunchback of Notre Dame. The saddest moment was seeing Tech students wearing t-shirts that said Rudy Swallows. I mean come on….these kids are the future leaders of Atlanta? Even my friends who hate me and Notre Dame like Rudy.
As the temperature rises 10 degrees the moment every one of the 5,000 or so onlookers has been waiting for is here, the picks segment. Honestly, the game day set-up is not that great for those there live……kind of like sitting on the 18th hole at Augusta all day just to see the last group come through. They finally get to the GA Tech vs. ND game and those of us in the VIP already know he is going to don a green hat and lift his grandson in a green shirt onto his shoulders. As soon as he does so the crowd goes crazy booing and someone actually throws his Home Depot hard hat at the stage…..luckily ESPN has seen this before and has a mesh screen protecting them. That’s it, show over and all of the fans that have been waiting since 5am leave angry and pissed that the Great Lee Corso……the same guy who earlier had picked CAL to win the National Title has not picked their team to win. At this point I have 2 thoughts: 1. These fans actually think Tech is going to win. 2. I will never wait 2 hours at the game day set again so I better get all the pictures I want today. After the show is over we wait another 15 minutes before taking pictures on the set and getting to meet the crew……unfortunately by now Bob Davie is long gone.

There goes Louisville’s chance to go undefeated as Michael Bush breaks his leg and is out for the season. Kentucky might actually have a chance…..scratch that the Ville scores on about 3 plays…..wait now Kentucky scores…..oops now the Ville scores again 45-21……do these teams practice any defense?

Week 1 - Part Two

THE GAME
I should have known it was going to be a tough night for ND when my gambling buddy Mike “Flytrap” Pine calls me around 5pm and says I like your boys and I like them big…..I think I am going to put 5 bills on them to cover 6.5 points. Flytrap loves the action so much that before football season he was betting like crazy on baseball games…..and not the Braves or Yankees but west coast games involving the San Diego Padres…….Pine can you even name a Padres player…..no Dave Winfield doesn’t count. Wait he has no idea who Dave Winfield is. Right then I should have cancelled all bets and prepared myself for the worst.
I don’t know how Bobby Dodd stadium looked on TV but it was awesome to be there in person. The crowd was jacked up and ready to go, I can’t imagine what the players must have been feeling. I was 5 beers and 4 vodka red bulls in and I could feel the adrenaline.
Tech comes out and is very aggressive on D forcing ND to punt. When they have the ball they look to Calvin Johnson on almost every other play. He is clearly the best player/athlete on the field. What 5’9” or 6” cornerback can do anything to stop him? Only Chan Gailey/Patrick Nix/Reggie Ball can stop him from dominating. He just caught a pass in the flat and turned up field 30 yards. 1st and goal inside the 5 yard line. Now a fade…..Touchdown! Can you imagine if Charlie Weiss and Brady Quinn had this guy? Tech runs up the middle on third and goal from the 11 and I wonder if maybe Bob Davie, Ty Willingham or even Lloyd Carr called that play…..nonetheless Tech is up 10-0 and ND looks to be in trouble. Receivers aren’t open, Quinn is being pressured and rushed into bad throws. This looks a lot different then those 10 minute practice videos I have been watching on the ND web-site for the last month. I have bought into the hype, you would think I would know better by now.

ND scores on a gutsy QB draw with no time-outs and 16 seconds left in the half….phew. 10-7 Tech at the half. ND stops Tech to start the 2nd half and begins marching down the field….this is what I was expecting….wait 3rd down and Quinn runs out of the pocket and gets hit on the sideline in-bounds and a yellow flag goes flying. “Personal Foul GA Tech” and the stadium goes crazy…..fans are throwing cups and anything else that will fly onto the field or the seats in front of them. As an ND fan this is the moment you hate more than any other. I can hear all of the ND haters behind me saying we are lucky, how much did you pay the refs? etc. Duke fans hear the same thing every time they shoot more foul shots then the other team. From my view the hit looked fine and the flag looked unwarranted. For a moment I actually just want them to kick a field goal to tie the game so the play becomes a non-issue. Then the make up calls come, holding, black in the back after Darius Walker is already 5 yards into the end zone….now I am pissed too and want 7 points, Walker scores again making it 14-10 ND. After the game I found the picture above and it is clear Quinn was hit helmet to helmet….was it vicious? No….was it flagrant…no but it did happen. Sometimes you get the breaks sometimes you don’t…aka Reggie Bush push across the goal line.

All of sudden Tech’s aggressiveness is gone, Calvin Johnson is absent and the momentum has clearly switched. Our D is actually playing well and our offense is keeping the spirited Tech defense on the field for way too many plays. For the first time since my call from the Flytrap at 5pm I think about ND covering the spread. The ND drive stalls and some former soccer player misses a 2nd field goal this time from 35 yards….damn it. 3 seconds after the kick sails wide left I have an incoming call….Pine cell…….

ND continues to stifle Tech and Calvin’s last catch is over turned by the replay official (from the ACC) Now ND has the ball and can kill the clock. The spread is gone I know this…..just win the game and get to week 2 undefeated. 4th and 1 just on Tech’s half of the field and ND calls a time out so they can punt with just over a minute to go. Wait Quinn is coming back on the field…they are going for it….God I love Charlie Weiss, if nothing else he plays to win…..unlike the previous 2 coaches who always played not to lose. The best part of this scenario is that Bob Davie apparently questions his decision. Are you kidding me? Bob Davie who has no balls is questioning Weiss? Thank god we get to look forward to him doing the Texas – OSU game next week. Seriously, what was ABC/ESPN thinking? Why not add Jeff Hullinger and make it a 3 man booth. Quinn sneaks for the 1st down, game over. ND wins 14-10 after out gaining Tech 293-67 after falling behind by ten.

What do we know now: Tech will continue to be a dangerous team anytime they play the underdog role. The gambling rule of never betting for or against Tech is still in effect. I knew this before the game and completely ignored it. They are just too inconsistent on offense and get no help from their head coach. They could have easily won this game, but they failed to take advantage of their 1st half momentum. They will certainly beat someone of consequence this year, but they will also lose to UNC, Wake or Virginia. Classic Jeckel and Hyde.
As for ND, this may not be a great ND team…..the next few weeks against Penn State, Michigan, Michigan St. and Purdue will answer all of the questions and put them wherever they belong, but for now at least they are 1-0. Doubters will criticize Quinn and their offense and say Charlie Weiss is still best known for a game he lost. For now who knows? Maybe Ga Tech is better then we think or ND is worse, time will tell. One thing is for sure I love college football.

BEST AND WORST OF THE WEEK

Best Performance by a team: Tennessee - apparently David Cutcliffe does make a difference. The Florida game in 2 weeks will tell us if the Vols are really back.
Runner-up: USC - For those expecting an upset against Arkansas...think again. USC looks to have reloaded and with Cal's disappointing showing they could easily be looking at another title run. Nebraska is waiting for them in 2 weeks.
Most Disappointing Teams: Colorado - WOW Maybe Dan Hawkins should have stayed at Boise St. I don't think they would have lost to Montana St. They had a whooping 3 1st downs in the second half. Ouch.
Runner-up: Oklahoma- Is the Big 12 going to have anyone who can compete with Texas? Iowa St. barely escapes Toledo, Colorado gets beat by a 1AA team and Oklahoma struggles to beat powerhouse UAB
Best bets: Tennessee – Abs we called this in July when you found the first spreads. USC 70-17 and only -7.5. Thank god I did something right this weekend. Northwestern – College football is dominated by emotion.
Worst bets: Notre Dame – see GA Tech rule. Michigan St. – Bad coach, shaky play continues…..opposing coach at Idaho, Dennis Erickson. Drunk and cheater maybe, but he can coach college kids. Kentucky…..why why why 59-28 losers.
LYA – Dave Jones starts 9-1….who is this Dave Jones guy? The group is 55-32 with 3 games remaining…..We all know that will change.

Freshman QB watch:
Stafford UGA – 3-5 40 yards 1 TD; 1 rush for 19 yards
Snead Texas – 3 for 7 20 yards; 3-11 rushes
Tebow Florida – 1 rush for 1 yard and a TD
Mustain Arkansas – 4 for 6 46 yards and an int. 1 rush for 4 yards and a TD. He will start next week.
My top 5
1. OSU
2. Texas
3. Auburn
4. USC
5. West Virginia

Next week’s big games and early lines:

Thursday
Oregon St. +8 at Boise St. – Take the over.

Saturday
Ohio St. +2.5 at Texas – Game Day heads to Austin for the first game of the year.
Georgia-2.5 at South Carolina – Spurrier vs. Georgia again.
Penn St. +8.5 at Notre Dame – That’s a lot of points. Their first meeting since the Snow Bowl in 1992.
Arizona +15 at LSU - Zona getting better and better under Mike Stoops. LSU struggles vs. the PAC 10. (See games vs. ASU and OSU in recent years.
Clemson at BC Pick’em - Big early season ACC match-up.
Air Force +20 at Tennessee – Good luck Flytrap. Hard to not like the Vols minus 20.
Duke +20.5 AT Wake - Has Wake ever been favored by 20 points? Duke is coming off a 13-0 loss to the Spiders of Richmond.
Washington +17 at Oklahoma - At first glance this looks like an interesting out of conference game. In 1985 it was. Washington is pathetic barely beating San Jose St.