College Football

[CMJ]

The season started in earmest yesterday, though technically Thursday was opening night. It's hard to call any games an upset since who the hell knows how good the teams really are, but TCU knocking off OU was pretty surprising.

Games of note yesterday,

Notre Dame making a statement under Weiss. Tennessee surving a scare. Franchione pulling a brain cramp vs Clemson. Auburn's 15 game win streak going down. USC rolling in mid season form.

North Texas's contest with LSU was postponed for obvious reasons. Currently working on a makeup date.

[Figrin D'an]

Top 25 teams who lost this weekend:

#7 Oklahoma to TCU
#16 Auburn to Geogia Tech
#17 Texas A&M to Clemson
#18 Boise State to #13 Georgia
#23 Pittsburgh to Notre Dame



I don't really buy Notre Dame's "statement" against Pitt. Sorry, but Pitt is overrated. Palko is a pretty good QB, but the Panthers have no defense. Give Charley Weiss weeks to prep for one game against a sub-par defense and he could lead a Pop Warner team to victory. Things will get hairy for the Irish now. Look at their schedule over the next five weeks:

at #4 Michigan
Michigan State
at Washington
at #15 Purdue
#1 USC

Washingon might be winnable for them, but you can bet the Huskies are going to want revenge for Ty Willingham. Hope the Irish faithful enjoyed that win against Pitt, because they're staring five losses right in the face.

Oklahoma looks hung over from the end of last season. Yeah, losing some players to the NFL and graduation doesn't help, but when Adrian Peterson has 5 yards in the first half, it means trouble. I expect OU will still roll to 10 wins this season, but this could finally be the year that Texas beats them. Props to TCU though. They could be a pretty good team this year.

[CMJ]

I think ND will be 3-3 after their first six games. But who knows.

Patterson is a really good coach. I won't be surprised if they win the MWC this year. Especially since Meyer isn't in Utah anymore(though I still expect the Utes to be pretty good).

As a fan of the little guy, I was really disappointed in how BSU performed vs Georgia. Others looked goof though, like Bowling Green in a close loss to Wisconson.

[Figrin D'an]

Originally posted by CMJ
I think ND will be 3-3 after their first six games. But who knows.

Patterson is a really good coach. I won't be surprised if they win the MWC this year. Especially since Meyer isn't in Utah anymore(though I still expect the Utes to be pretty good).

As a fan of the little guy, I was really disappointed in how BSU performed vs Georgia. Others looked goof though, like Bowling Green in a close loss to Wisconson.

Bowling Green lost because they didn't know how to prep for Brian Calhoun. Wisconsin has had some great RBs in the past 10 years, but none as versatile as Calhoun. He tore BG's defense to shreds. That said, I still don't think the Badgers will be that great this year. Middle of pack in the Big Ten, IMO. The conference is too strong at the top with Michigan, Ohio State, Iowa and Purdue for them to finish any higher than that.

TCU has a great shot at the MWC title this year, I agree.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I think ND will beat Washington and Michigan State. I don't think MSU is that good this year. I don't see them though being better than 3-3 unless they can upset Michigan or Purdue. I was really happy with Clemson's win, I thought they were done for when Whitehurst got hurt (that should have been a pentality, he got hit while he was sliding, unless they don't have that rule in the NCAA). Big win for them, heck with the ACC wide open they could contended for the title.

[Sanis Prent]

Pitt wasn't really overrated as much as I think nobody gave Notre Dame a fair shake. Even without Willingham, they will always be a contender.

Also, I can't help but vomit a little on the inside at the worthiness of USC's conference play. Put the Trojans in a more fratricidal conference and see how they end the season already. The Big 10 or the SEC should have a school swap and see how that works.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I actually think USC could get beat, that game at Orgeon could be deadly.

[Sanis Prent]

USC certainly won't get beat by anybody in the anemic PAC-10, that's for sure. Certainly helps a "dynasty" when they can get to number one and then ride coattails of pre-season rankings because of a crappy strength of schedule.

[CMJ]

Yeah, since USC showed they couldn't play with the big boys of the Big XII last year. Oh wait.

Well....they can't play with the Big 10 Champ. Oh wait.

[Jedi Master Carr]

lol that is true. I still think Oregon could beat them that is a very possible upset.

[Sanis Prent]

Originally posted by CMJ
Yeah, since USC showed they couldn't play with the big boys of the Big XII last year. Oh wait.

Well....they can't play with the Big 10 Champ. Oh wait.

Certainly helps one maintain that standing when they only have one actual opponent a season, doesn't it?

[Figrin D'an]

USC won't go undefeated this year. Even in the less-than-stellar PAC-10, they'll lose a game. It will be to someone that no one suspects, too. The popular pick to beat them is Oregon. My pick to beat them... Arizona State. The Sun Devils get USC at home, and the week after the supposed "big game" in which the Trojans visit Autzen Stadium. Most people are sleeping on the Sun Devils because they lost Andrew Walter to graduation. Sam Keller is a pretty good QB himself, though, and they still have Derek Hagan, who is as good as any receiver in the nation this year. Arizona State will already have big game experience by the time the play USC, since they travel to Baton Rouge to play LSU this coming Saturday.


Texas at Ohio State is going to be interesting. Longhorn fans are all hyped up since Oklahoma looked so bad against TCU, thinking that maybe this is their year. The Buckeyes could all but shatter their national title dreams pretty quickly, though.

[CMJ]

Great game between Miami and FSU- as is typical in the rivalry.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I guess Notre Dame is for real, beating a good Michigan team in Ann Arbor. Are they now a threat to USC? Should be interesting to see them down the stretch. I was happy with Clemson's win, they showed some resolve in their comeback.

[CMJ]

Biggest news of the day so far was ISU destroying Iowa(to me). I actually had ISU as my darkhorse for the Big XII(because following the form of the conference - the North is due for the win), but I didn't expect the thrashing they gave the Hawkeyes.

I'm listening to NT's game right now. And I'm gonna make the trek out to see UCLA tonight. I've been meaning to see a game in the Rose Bowl, so I finally will.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Georgia barely beating SC was a shock to me. SC looked terrible in its first game, makes me wonder how good Georgia is.

[Figrin D'an]

Originally posted by Jedi Master Carr
I guess Notre Dame is for real, beating a good Michigan team in Ann Arbor. Are they now a threat to USC? Should be interesting to see them down the stretch. I was happy with Clemson's win, they showed some resolve in their comeback.

Michigan isn't even close to USC in terms of ability. Michigan was ranked #3 based on reputation and their two sophomore stars, Henne and Hart. Overlooked is that they have some very significant holes on defense, which were exposed last week by Northern Illinois. Notre Dame may be better than I initial wanted to admit, but they're still not as good as many pundits want to make them out to be.

The weekend, if nothing else, has given more support to my view that there should be no polls until the middle of the season. Rank the teams once they have played 5 or 6 games and demonstrated their quality on the field, not when the only way to judge them is by what they did last year and how many starters and how much talent they bring back.


Purdue beat Akron 49-24. It was kind of an ugly game, though. They'll have to play a lot better next week when they visit Arizona. I'm actually more concerned about that game than I am upcoming games against Minnesota and Notre Dame.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Well USC plays at Notre Dame that will make it tough. To me USC has three roadblocks Oregon, Arizona State and Notre Dame. I would say Cal, but I think they play that game at home.

[Jedieb]

Congrats to North Texas! 14-7 winners over Middle Tennessee.

[CMJ]

When I left for the UCLA game NT looked inept on offense, even though we were only down 7-0. I was kinda surprised to learn we'd won. Reading the recap, a pic six is what tuned the game around. Go DEFENSE.

The Rose Bowl is a terrific stadium. Tremendous sightlines. I sat in 3 different sections(as it was only about 2 thirds full). Not a bad seat in the house.

UCLA will beat OU unless the Sooners look alot better.