WEEK TWO

“Measuring Stick Saturday” (since when did ESPN turn into Fox or CNN) turned out to be blowout Saturday for most of the marquee games. Oklahoma clobbered Miami, Oregon destroyed Michigan, Virginia Tech got smoked at LSU, Penn State easily handled Notre Dame and Texas pulled away from TCU. Even Buffalo killed Temple. Only Georgia vs. South Carolina lived up the hype and that game only had one touchdown.

Random thoughts:

-The Penn State white out was one of the coolest things I have ever seen in a college football stadium. On the other hand the game sucked.

-Mark Richt would make just about anyone’s list of the top 10 coaches in college football, yet he continues to make some strange decisions at the end of games. (See BC and Auburn games) This time he chose to kick a field goal on 4th and 15 down 16 – 9 with 4:41 remaining in the game against South Carolina. Why? It did absolutely nothing as Georgia still needed a TD when/if they got the ball back.

-I purchased ESPN game plan Saturday afternoon at 3:30PM and no different games were on Pay per view…..So, I upgraded to the Sports Entertainment package on Comcast. I now get every Fox channel and the NFL Network. (This really comes in handy when you want to watch the replay of the Colorado – ASU game on Sunday morning.) Just for fun I flipped to channel 290 as I was typing this and I immediately got my money’s worth. Bobby Bowden was talking about FSU’s great win over UAB on the Seminole Postgame.

-Game plan came through Saturday night as several good games were available. The worst looking broadcast was easily the Vol Network showing of the UT – Southern Miss game. Shortly after Kimberly commented to me on how bad the TV feed looked I got an email from Whitey saying the following: “There is no bigger Mickey Mouse production in America than this Vol Network telecast. They are idiot homer factually inaccurate hillbillies. You and I could drink 16 crown and cokes and still do a better job than these inbred yokes.” I think that says it all.

-Saturday night starting at 5:45pm there were so many good games on TV I decided we needed two TV’s downstairs. It worked so well the 2nd TV will remain in the living room throughout the season. My wife was actually for the 2nd TV on Saturday night, she is less than thrilled with my long term plan for the living room.

-I predicted Cal, Nebraska or Auburn would lose and Kentucky might struggle against Kent but would still win. Auburn lost, Nebraska escaped and Cal held off a late charge by Colorado St. (For some reason I still doubled Cal and lost) Kentucky struggled early and ended up clobbering Kent.

-I can’t wait for Louisville at Kentucky next week. The early line is the Ville -8.5 (now 7) and the over/under is a whopping 74…….

-What the hell is on the back of Colt Brennan’s head? It looks like he fell asleep on a Sharpie.

- What will happen first: Steve Spurrier kills Blake Mitchell or Mitchell loses all of his hair?

-Why is Virginia Tech still in the Top 25? It must be because they beat East Carolina? That’s all you need to know about the polls. Bye bye Sean Glennon.

-Oops wait there is more…..Nice job by the coaches voting this week. Auburn received more votes than South Florida even after they lost at home to the Bulls.

-Two weeks into the season and I have picked against the Washington Huskies twice, I don’t know that I will go for the trifecta this week. It was a great win by UW and Ty Willingham, how are they not ranked? The oddsmakers are giving them some love as they are only 5 point dogs to Ohio State in Seattle this weekend.

-Michigan’s defense may be bad but Oregon is fun to watch. The second statue of liberty play by QB Dixon was one of the best fakes I have ever seen.
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=272510130&confId=5

-Michigan and Notre Dame are both 0-2 for the first time ever….that is a lot of years of football. Now they play each other and both teams will have true freshman at QB. I’m guessing that has never happened before either.

-Colt McCoy threw 7 interceptions all last year and has 4 in two games so far this year. What has happened to the Texas offense?

-Speaking of offense Notre Dame has yet to score an offensive TD. There are 120 teams in 1-A football and ND is in the bottom five in almost every offensive category including 120th in rushing yards with -8. Yes -8.

-PINE is coming back to Atlanta for a fake meeting, the Thrashers opening night, and the Georgia – Tennessee game in Knoxville. Does anyone have an extra ticket for him? Don’t worry he will be asleep and probably shirtless for most of the game. That blog will also be the most entertaining of the year.

-This is a crazy stat…..Georgia Tech has had 104 first down situations after 2 games. The second most in CFB is Louisville with 65.

-Miami is dead and leaving the Orange Bowl next year, FSU struggles to beat UAB at home and Bobby talks about what a big win it was and how UAB beat LSU back in 1999….…..life is good.

-Can it get any worse for the ACC? Actually yes it can…..Next week Maryland plays West Virginia and FSU is at Colorado.

-Road dogs in college were 5-7 last week. Road dogs by touchdown or more were 1-5. WVU was the only team to cover and they did it by one point with less than 2 minutes remaining in the 4th quarter.

-Don’t ever listen to Hank Goldberg even when he says Jacksonville has won its’ last 7 home openers by an average of 14 points…..just trust me on this one. I miss Pete Axthelm and Jimmy the Greek.

-Ok this is about the NFL but I couldn’t help myself. Referee Ed Hochuli called a penalty after TO scored a touchdown and then raised his huge arms as much as he could to signal Touchdown. Has anyone checked this guy for HGH? I’m surprised the NFL doesn’t mandate that he stop wearing size medium ref jerseys. Check Ed out: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/players/01/10/nfl.workout0116/index.html


Week 3 games I can’t wait to see:

Louisville at Kentucky – The game of the week and also the upset of the week. This game will come down to turnovers or who wins the coin toss. The winner will score in the 50’s and the loser may do the same. UK 55 UL 52….instant classic. Don't miss it as it actually airs live on ESPN Classic Saturday Night.

Boston College at Georgia Tech – This should be an exciting Saturday night game in Atlanta. Tech’s defense will show Matt Ryan all kinds of looks and will blitz the crap out of him. Can Taylor Bennett pass when Tech needs him the most? This is the week we find out. I like Tech to win in a close game, but take BC and the 7.5 points.

Tennessee at Florida – Both teams lost some key players to injury last week. Tennessee is better prepared for this game after playing 2 quality opponents, but I think Florida will win by a field goal. This will be the Tim Tebow coming out party.

USC at Nebraska – Sorry NO contest here. USC will walk all over the Huskers and their passionate fans. Nebraska is pretender that just doesn’t have the talent to compete with the nations’ elite. I think USC will lose a game….just not here.

OSU at Washington – Freshman QB against the OSU defense….this looks like a total trap. Two weeks ago this line would have been 16 points. I think the Huskies stay in it but OSU wins late by 7-10. (You won’t see this game on my LYA sheet)

West Virginia at Maryland – This week’s Thursday night game should be a good one……not. Maryland can barely beat Florida International. WVU will run away and hide, Marshall gave them a scare last week and it won’t happen again.

Texas at UCF – This is an interesting game only because Texas is at Central Florida to open their new stadium. (No more Citrus Bowl) The place will be rocking but Texas will have too much talent. The spread is low due to UCF’s upset of NC ST. and Texas’ mediocre play. Take advantage of it.

Arkansas at Alabama – Nick Saban’s first big-time game at Bama. I like the way Bama is playing and Arkansas only has one game under its’ belt. Roll Tide!

OK put Notre Dame at Michigan on here. I can’t really say I am looking forward to this game but you know I have to watch it. One team will leave this game with hopes of having a decent season the other heads back to the drawing board.....again. Lloyd Carr will play close to the vest with freshman QB Ryan Mallett. That means the key factor will be how ND contains Mike Hart. Hart has already guaranteed a Michigan victory and Charlie Weiss summed up his comments best. “If I watched our first two games I would probably feel the same way.” I refuse to pick this game, but I don’t see ND winning. Gil/Pfeif if you read this please pick Michigan this week and double them.